Hopes for Remake & Rebirth (story/content)

[Ryuman]

Is there something I can read that explains the issue with “Gaia”? Is it a perpetuated mistake? Or do people prefer “The Planet” because it makes it more general/relatable?

I imagine someone is going to post anyway but I'll just say the site has write-up
https://thelifestream.net/canon-of-ffvii/what-is-the-name-of-ffviis-planet/

 

[Shademp]

Thanks for posting that, Ryuman.

@cold_spirit
The short version in case you don't want to read the full article: An E3 pamphlet from 2004 in anticipation for Advent Children referred to the planet's/world's name as Gaia. Fans assumed this was the new canon name for the FFVII world and from then on the name would pop up in English marketing materials up to this day. The name however has never appeared in any of the FFVII titles proper and never been referenced in any Japanese sources, so it is purely a mistake perpetuated in English media.

For some people the prevalence of the name in English marketing material is enough for the name to be canon. I've even seen arguments that by virtue of how long the mistake has been around it has supposedly BECOME the correct name by now. I disagree with these assessments.


Recent example: Launch trailer for FFVII on Nintendo Switch and Xbox One, as posted on the official English Final Fantasy YouTube channel.

In other words while I disagree with the notion that the collective consciousness of "enough people" has MADE the name official, the fact is that this error isn't going away anytime soon if at all. Too many sources have used the name and will continue to use it. All because of one goddamn pamphlet from 2004 that made FF7 message boards go "Oh well, I guess this is a thing now".

 

[FFShinra]

Judging by Barret's line when using Big Shot, they are going with The Planet, at least in regular conversation.

 

[Cannon_Fodder]

Not to be pedantic, but Big Shot is called Fire in the Hole now

 

[Purple]

https://www.reddit.com/r/FFVIIRemake/comments/c3aryi
Will they remake this scene faithfully? Lol

 

[Ite]

Not to be pedantic, but Big Shot is called Fire in the Hole now

(List of must-have mods has increased by: 1)

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

In other words while I disagree with the notion that the collective consciousness of "enough people" has MADE the name official, the fact is that this error isn't going away anytime soon if at all.

I wonder if the prevalence of its use in English official materials has reached the ears of Nomura, Nojima and Kitase. If so, maybe they'll just go ahead and make it legit with the remake.

 

[Shademp]

I would not be surprised if they do end up canonizing the name due to its loud presence on the web. Will be interesting to see in that scenario if Gaia is only used as a name in the English script or if it is present in both the English and Japanese versions.

 

[Roger]

I'll believe it when I hear Barret go "Gaia's dyin', Cloud." or see Sephiroth's theme titled "Those Chosen by Gaia" and the like.

 

[Kain424]

 

[Pizzachu]

I do wish they would give the world a name other than referring to it as "the Planet". It sounds too formal when the characters only refer to it as "the Planet" in my opinion. But what if the world is called "Planet"? Hmm.

 

[Roger]

I love it, it's distinct to the FFVII world.

 

[Makoeyes987]

I think it'd be pretty hilarious and twisted if the world was discovered to be named...

Terra.

 

[Shademp]

You guys are all wrong

The planet's name is...Bob

 

[Pizzachu]

Pfft, it could even be something silly like "Tenalp".

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I do wish they would give the world a name other than referring to it as "the Planet". It sounds too formal when the characters only refer to it as "the Planet" in my opinion. But what if the world is called "Planet"? Hmm.

Huh, funny. I always thought it sounded implausibly informal for the entire species (+Red XIII) to only ever refer to it as what it is rather than by a name.

Like, who does that? What the hell is wrong with the people on that planet? It just doesn't seem believable. People name things!

I love it, it's distinct to the FFVII world.

Guess so. At the very least now it kind of is. Most every FF world since FFIX has received an official name. I don't think XII's ever has, though (Ivalice is just a region), and VIII's world is still without a name -- and presumably always will be.

Hell, even FFV's planet got a name.

 

[Pizzachu]

It could be some psychology where it doesn't have an official name because Shinra doesn't want people to get attached to the planet. //takes off tinfoil hat.

 

[Ite]

Or much like the eight towns that became Midgar, people just forgot or didn’t care.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Or much like the eight towns that became Midgar, people just forgot or didn’t care.

I thought about that comparison myself, but they didn't care even in Cosmo Canyon? That's where it just doesn't seem to add up.

 

[Odysseus]

Okay this is the most minor, insignificant thing in the world, but I've been thinking about it. Given that Cloud's appearance in Final Fantasy Tactics is canon (at least according to this site,) I think it would be fun if they threw in some low key reference to it. Say, have Cloud mumble about Ramza in his mako-poisoned state, or even have Cloud be in possession of the materia blade upon finding him in Mideel. I know square probably wouldn't, but I can dream.

 

[JBedford]

Like, who does that? What the hell is wrong with the people on that planet? It just doesn't seem believable. People name things!

I just imagine "the Planet" being what they called their planet, then using the term for all star-orbitting objects when civilisation figured out more about astronomy. Like the Moon is a moon, and the Sun is a sun.

Say, have Cloud mumble about Ramza in his mako-poisoned state

A billion mirror fragments... small...light... taken...angel's... singing voices... ...Xeno...gears...

Doing this with Tactics would actually make a lot of sense.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Okay this is the most minor, insignificant thing in the world, but I've been thinking about it. Given that Cloud's appearance in Final Fantasy Tactics is canon (at least according to this site,) I think it would be fun if they threw in some low key reference to it. Say, have Cloud mumble about Ramza in his mako-poisoned state, or even have Cloud be in possession of the materia blade upon finding him in Mideel. I know square probably wouldn't, but I can dream.

Cloud's gonna have new limit breaks in this remake, and I would bet cash that one of them will be Cherry Blossom.

Watch, people are gonna LOL when Cloud busts out with that Limit Break here again.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Our planet doesn't have a name. We call it "The Earth" but that's just another word for soil. If I think about the other languages I know:

Latin - terra = land
French - le monde = the world
Japanese - 地球 (sakyuu) = the ball of the earth or the round earth
Swahili - dunia = equivalent of 'le monde' or 'terra'


The point is none of these are really planet earth exlusive names. I think the Japanese name for earth used to be just 地. They all date back to a time before we realised the ground we stand on is really a ball hurtling through space round a bigger ball accompaned by lots of other balls. I don't know of a terrestrial language where they have a name for our world that's a proper name in the same sense that Mercury or Uranus are proper names. Even 'the sun' and 'the moon' are generic names rather than a proper name. So it wouldn't really make sense for the people of FFVII to have a proper name rather than a generic name for their planet. Even calling it "planet" (i.e., wanderer) assumes quite a high degree of astronomical knowledge, which maybe the Cetra had?

 

[Solordinn]

Has anyone ever felt that the third act weaker in comparison to the rest of the game's story. I find the problem mostly in the big materia arc, it felt like it just came out of nowhere and why was avalanche so determined to stop shinra from using it?

Besides that, something i've been thinking about pertaining to Tifa. What if after escaping Junon on the airship and in their quest to find Cloud, she gets wind of her old master Zagan, and goes to meet him. Now it may be before or after she finds and save Cloud, she has a sparing match with her master (like yuffie and the tower). They could have had a falling out at some point in the past etc.

I would like to see the remake adapt some of the story elements from before crisis, mostly the idea of other Avalanche cells. Like a sub-story, it could add to Barret's growth. Maybe have them at fort condor and other areas of the world. They are planning something unethical and Barret doesn't agree with, bringing him into conflict with them and making him introspective. They could even have the character Elfe to contrast with Barret's black preacher personality.

Just throwing ideas around.

 

[Vyzzuvazzadth]

I agree that the 3rd act has a lot of potential to be expanded upon. If I remember correctly, the 3rd act consists of the following segments:

• Execution at Junon
• Finding Cloud in Mideel
• Getting the Huge Materia in North Corel
• Getting the Huge Materia in Fort Condor
• Cloud's Mindscape
• Getting the Huge Materia in the Junon underwater reactor
• Getting the Huge Materia in the rocket heading for Meteor
• Learning more about the White Materia through the water projector in the Forgotten Capital
• Diamond Weapon appears
• Midgar Raid
• Highwind scene
• Last dungeon

That alone seems too little to fill a whole FF game, especially since several characters are lacking character growth or even meaningful moments. We do have a few good ones like Cloud and Tifa in the Lifestream (.net ) and Cid's arc conclusion and we do get some optional scenes for Vincent's backstory and with Red XIII and Bugenhagen and a few character moments like Reeve stepping more and more away from Shinra and Cait Sith calling out Barret for what he did with Avalanche, but besides that, there's just too little around to have the characters shine.

I like some of the suggestions @Solordinn puts forth and I'll add a few more.

• A second visit to Wutai to bring it back to its former glory
• More scenes and sub-plot quests with Vincent to properly set up the confrontation with Hojo on the Sister Ray cannon
• In general more side-trips to other or even new locations to liberate them from Shinra's grasp (optional but meaningful and lore expanding side quests)
• Delving deeper into the lore of the sunken Gelnika

I believe that this 3rd act has the potential to be a great open world game with the Highwind at our disposal pretty much after the intro segment. Choosing what to do in which order (the original already did that to a certain extent) with loads of optional stuff to do, kinda similar to the World of Ruin in FFVI.