Tonight begins with what is, in my opinion, the worst part of the game, The Nibelheim incident of five years ago. It’s not that bad of a section, per se, it’s just long and boring.
The party meets at the inn in Kalm, a village near Midgar, as Cloud tells us a story about his past. We start with Cloud acting very un-Cloud like. He’s chipper and excited; nothing like he is today or in the Tifa flashback. Himself, Sephiroth, and two nameless Shinra army men are their way to Nibelheim, Cloud’s hometown, for SOLDIER things (monsters and Mako). In transit, the van is attacked and we see the power of Sephiroth, firsthand, as he single-handedly takes down a green dragon. We carry on to the town itself and walk around exploring Cloud’s memories. His, optional, actions in Tifa’s house, his foggy memories in his own house, and miscellaneous memories around elsewhere.
The next day, the Shinra boys make their way up the mountain to where a Mako Reactor was built, with Tifa as their guide. As they climb, they learn about Materia. Materia is crystalized Mako, which is the “blood” of the planet (remember Lifestream). Sephiroth says that some people can hear the planet’s cries through it. Because it is the blood of the planet, it gives users mysterious magical powers. They come to the reactor, they make Tifa stay outside, and discover that monsters inundated with Mako are housed within and a room with "JENOVA" written above it in the back.
We then cut back to town, The Shinra Mansion in particular, which Sephiroth has holed himself up in. He’s been reading books about Professor Gast, who he looks up to, and other mysteries of the world. He pays no attention to Cloud. What is most important is, Sephiroth learns that his mother was named Jenova. She’s from a race of space nomads ("itinerant race who travel from planet to planet settling and moving on") named The Cetra, who nearly went extinct 2000 years ago when an asteroid struck the planet. Cloud’s ancestors only survived because they settled down and "sacrificed" The Cetra (ancients). This causes Sephiroth to go mad and destroy the entire town. It’s here the most well-known cutscene happens where Sephiroth turns around and walks through the flames and heads back to the reactor. Tifa, her dad, and Cloud chase after him. Tifa’s dad is dead when we get there And we see Tifa being cut down before our eyes. Sephiroth then walks into the Jenova room, calls out to his mother, and rips apart a steel statue covering her to reveal she still has a head. The game then gives players a seizure as we return to modern times. Cloud laments his broken memory not sure how he beat Sephiroth, who was declared dead, or how Tifa lived in general.
That took 50 minutes and there was one battle. That’s why it's the worst part of the game. It’s an hour of exposition and no gameplay. There is the potential of more battles, but they happen in a fashion as the only mandatory one: Sephiroth, who is not controllable, cuts it apart while level 1 Cloud does nothing.
The game continues as I cheese it across a marsh to avoid the giant, earth eating, snake of Viking lore. I got the Chocobo Summon last night, by the way. Then we have a meeting with the Turks, where their new member accidentally tells us their plans. We get Yuffie, who I'll never use, and we walk into Junon. In the slums of Lower Junon, we meet a young girl named Priscilla and her friend dolphin, Mr. Dolphin. They are attacked by a giant sea snake who kills me.
I had a problem here because of the job classes I chose for the battle lack attack magic and the boss being out of range of traditional weapons. There have been no places to buy attack magic since Midger, so my Red Mage lacked any real power (besides fire which I forgot), and I have Cloud bogarting the rest. I even used Yuffie only to learn she couldn’t attack despite her weapon description reading she should have been able too (long-ranged). She failed her first and only teat. Shame. Despite the frustration I've caused myself, I managed to beat the flying sea snake and then performed CPR on Pricilla, who was pulled into the water by the tide, in the dumbest mini-game in the game. Just let the breath meter s l o w l y build up and then let go. Five times...She wakes up and the party gets back together and goes to bed. Cloud talks to his imaginary friend about Tifa. As proper thanks, Precilla gives Cloud the Shiva Summon Materia (because children should be allowed to play with all-powerful, half-naked Ice Queens) and then allows Mr. Dolphin to jump Cloud up to Upper Junon, which is a mini-Midgar, Shinra owned and everything, with a giant cannon sticking out of it.
Junon is itself, a giant mini-game. The party has to dress up aa Shinra infantry and navy members and participate in a military parade honoring Rufus’ ascension. Or at least Cloud does; not sure how the others make it. At some point, I’m able to restock on Materia, making Nanaki an actual purple mage, get paid 5000 Gil by a news organization, and am gifted a stupidly looking, but powerful, sword by my enemy. We then get on a ship setting sail to “the new continent” which is where I called it a night.
I’m excited! I don’t like difficult games, but I’m enjoying the challenge here. How often am I gonna need to swamp characters? I usually only use three or four, but I might be needing to use most of them. I don’t want to sleep, I just want to fo back to Gaia. I feel like a kid again and I absolutely love it.
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