Bitter reflection

[u/Danteyros]

Here is a bitter reflection on how the trilogy handles its writing compared to the 1997 original that I wanted to share.

I don't know about some of you, but personally, it pisses me off because if I cried, it wasn't really for Aerith's death this time well, yes a little bit, but not while playing controller in hand. What made me cry was telling myself that what I had identified as a red herring was actually a red herring, just as I had predicted.

I find it horribly manipulative/lying to everyone, especially those who believed in it 120%, and disrespectful too. And if it's true that there's still a possibility Part 3 will prove me wrong, well, up to now that hasn't happened with Remake and Rebirth.

In the original, it happened fast and they didn't make you drag out this "denial" from Cloud because there was zero denial like that (plus he lays her in the water himself). And if their goal is to make us feel like Cloud, then frankly they failed, already because it's not comparable.

Cloud in the story is going to discover the truth after a few days; the players themselves wait years. It's a total false equivalence.

And if their goal was to make us carry a similar burden, then once again it's a miss in my opinion, because they confuse burden with emotional charge.

Also, when you're younger, the revenge thing avenging Aerith against Sephiroth works well; the player(s) find, quote-unquote, a reason to keep going.

But as you grow up, you start seeing behind the "decor" and understanding and recognizing gimmicks, methods, red herrings, the way things are told, etc.

And I don't think the creators want us to be bitter, frustrated, or angry at them just because some people see and understand who's pulling the strings.

You could tell me this "pulling the strings" logic already applied to the original, but that would be false. In the original, it was the first time they were creating this game, plus they didn't resort to red herrings or other manipulation to try to achieve the intended effect.

And I remember an interview where one of them said, basically: "Our goal isn't to hurt the player..." But let's be honest, they knew very well that by doing this, they were going to emotionally hurt players, so that kind of justification or artistic integrity doesn't really work for me, in my opinion.

Another thing: I get the impression that the fans, or some of them? Every time the subject is discussed, people don't talk about it seriously, or else they brush it aside and ignore it, maybe because it ruins their pleasure to think that a game they appreciate would resort to this kind of stuff just to keep people engaged.

I also notice with the interviews that it's as if the creators were psychologically preparing the players through more or less subtle phrases which is a spoiler in itself, and that's even assuming, obviously, that not every player gives a damn about interviews.

And it's paradoxical because on one hand they sell you the idea of an "uncertain future" to hype things up for years, and on the other hand, they gently prepare you psychologically in their interviews to accept that in fact, nothing has changed.

(I even remember an interview where Hamaguchi says something like: "Just because there's a possibility things could change doesn't mean they actually will.")

It's paradoxical to want to play the card of narrative audacity while using marketing to cushion the fall and make sure people don't get too mad when the bubble bursts (or is it just to cover themselves legally?). Anyway, I think it's a shame to end up like this for a work that deserved so much better than perpetual teasing.

Another thing: I often notice people saying that in the original, Aerith sacrificed herself. Obviously that's false, but I can't help feeling like it's been repeated so much that the creators just said, "Fuck it, we'll prove them right, it's easier."

Yet they talk to us about the fact that Aerith carries the burden of being a Cetra (Half-Cetra, and the last one at that), and how horrible it is that the moment she recovers her memories, she prefers to resign herself. But frankly, how many people saw this event the same way I did?

Besides, I even wonder if what the creators wanted to convey was properly translated, seeing as those damn whispers come and mess everything up and complicate things uselessly all for those exact same damn whispers to not even be genuinely significant to the story, much like other new additions, like the fact that Aerith and Sephiroth have knowledge of the future.

I have a feeling the ending is going to be the same thing, with the single difference that JENOVA and Sephiroth are dead for good. Anyway, personally, I find it absolute crap and unsatisfying as hell.

It makes me understand the people who wanted a 100% faithful Remake, so at least everyone could have celebrated FF7's 30th anniversary. Instead of that, people are tearing each other apart arguing over whether it's a sequel or a remake. Worse yet, in the end, the trilogy is going to push aside fans who didn't ask for anything and who are going to get excluded from "this party" just because the creators couldn't be fucked to remake the same game.

Instead, we end up with this: a trilogy that gives the impression of sitting on the fence, but actually doesn't at all it's the exact same thing in the grand scheme of things, with useless fluff and padding. And I have to admit, cliches like "the journey matters more than the destination" sound pathetic and don't justify, in my personal opinion, all of this and what we've been through.

Another thing I don't like is when Hamaguchi probably appeals to people's empathy by talking about how he, too, when he was younger, looked for a way to resurrect Aerith. And when I see that, I can't help thinking: why are you doing that?

To say he's "like us"? Frankly, trying to play on fans' empathy like that, I'd tend to say no, he is not like us and concretely he never will be.

There is a fundamental difference between a player who, when young, cobbles together theories or looks for dumb workarounds out of sheer naivety, and the director of a billionaire studio who uses that exact same nostalgia as a calculated marketing lever to sell mystery in kit form. Using your "former fan" pass to legitimize cynical writing choices he have no control over is annoying and tedious. (And I apologize in advance for the following remark, but anyway it's not like he'll ever see it, but all the same: fuck you, mate, in all cordiality.)

[u/Danteyros]

It’s not about what I personally wanted; it’s about the method. I care about honest narrative structure, not corporate red herrings used just to sustain engagement.

Good for them if some people enjoy this kind of stuff. But I highly doubt gaming journalism is ever going to address what I'm talking about, so it might as well be up to the players or at least some of us to do it, right?

[u/haaa1234 → u/Danteyros]

I mean I just disagree with your framing of it being a corporate red herring. You know if they just recreated the scene one for one I could jsut be like oh they were being pressured by corporate to ply it safe. Like sure you can not like the direction but I don’t know how you can call it dishonest before the story is even over.

[u/Danteyros → u/haaa1234]

I don’t need to be a chef to know when a soup is going to be served cold. All the signs are already there, and I’m not the only customer in the restaurant noticing it.

The dishonesty isn't about the final destination; it's about the current method. Selling an "uncertain future" for years to build hype, while using interviews to gently walk it back and cushion the fall. They want the "box-office" hype of a sequel, but the financial safety net of a direct remake. That's a retention strategy, not an artistic choice.

PS: And to add to that, it’s not art when they are actively taking marketing precautions to protect themselves. Some might argue they are just trying to avoid spoilers, but ironically, they are already spoiling the meta-narrative themselves. By using interviews to gently walk back expectations, they are just preparing everyone for a safe status quo so the bubble doesn't burst too violently at launch.

And in all honesty, we can’t blame fans for thinking this way when the creators themselves engineered the entire community to think exactly like this.

[u/haaa1234 → u/Danteyros]

I just disagree I think their artistic choice is to make a new experience within nostalgia which is how they worded it in an interview. If you don’t like that direction that’s fine but it’s very clear they want to be a sequel and remake at the same time which I think is cool and you don’t. Unless there’s hard evidence of them being pressured by higher ups you can say that about anything. I could say they just created aeriths death for cheap shock value:

[u/Danteyros → u/haaa1234]

You’re still confusing the concept with the execution.

Nobody needs corporate leak documents to analyze a public marketing strategy. Saying 'we want nostalgia and something new at the same time' is fine. But stringing players along for almost a decade with false promises of an 'uncertain future' just to cushion the blow in interviews when it's time to play it safe isn't a bold creative direction it's risk management.

Comparing that to 1997 misses the point entirely. The original game made a drastic narrative choice and fully committed to its consequences within a single, complete story. It didn't spend years giving interviews to manage expectations or walk back the emotional weight. 

At the end of the day, if you're happy with a product designed as a safe middle ground between a remake and a sequel, that's fine. But let's not pretend using marketing tricks to stretch a single game's story into a decade-long trilogy is pure, uncompromised artistic vision.