It probably isn't worth it, truth be told, but that's neither here nor there for me.
The photograph and even Cloud's mom are worth something. 'Cause she's Cloud's mom.
She means something to him. Genesis means even less to Cloud than the nonsense he was saying in that scene would.
Yeah, and there are holes in Cloud's memory of talking to his mom because there's stuff there he cares enough about to bury there. Which meant something in regards to Cloud's character. Don't lump Genesis in the same category because you don't want to either declare him non-canon or deal with him.
I have no idea how what you said here is supposed to be a response to what I said, so I'm moving on.
Minato said:
Zack yelled at Genesis to stop talking, he, the person that related the story to Cloud felt he had an effect. Zack certainly didn't go "and then Genesis showed up, but let's skip over that, Sephiroth was a lost cause already, let's be real." If the dialogue lacked substance, they should add some. The only change to the Mako Reactor conversation Cloud not being present for it should have is that Genesis got blamed too much, given that the story got filtered through Zack, Sephiroth's friend.
At the time Zack was telling him to stop, he had no idea what Sephiroth was going to do. You really can't make the argument that Zack was telling him not to say it because "he felt he had an effect" when said effect hadn't even been seen yet.
For that matter, what Sephiroth thinks he discovers is wildly at odds with what Genesis told him. Genesis told him Jenova was a monster. What Sephiroth ends up thinking (i.e. what he told Zack in the basement of the mansion) is that she was an Ancient -- and that Sephiroth himself is consequently one as well.
Why is Zack going to, as you put it, blame Genesis too much when Sephiroth isn't even citing what Genesis told him?
If we are to believe that Cloud remembered everything Zack did, then he should remember defeating Genesis as well. Why bother bringing him up if he was just Sephiroth's friend that he killed on another adventure?
Zack didn't kill Genesis, nor did he think he did. He left him alive, healed of his degradation. Cloud either remembers that or the last thing he knows is his Genesis copies are cropping up all over the Planet again en masse before Sephiroth and Zack took him to Nibelheim expecting to encounter old friends. Unlike the Nibelheim residents we know he will talk about, he has every reason to think Genesis is alive.
Alive, but not necessarily a threat. As you said, Zack defeated him yet didn't kill him, satisfied that he had done all he actually needed to. As far as Zack -- or Cloud -- should know, Genesis was dealt with by this point as much as he would ever need to be.
To be clear, Crisis Core could've done anything. But they went out of their way to make clear that Cloud's memory was perfect in this regard, every part of the monster in the chamber that Cloud never met at all (unlike Genesis) being accurate to his recollection. How that means it makes sense for Cloud to not remember Genesis to you guys is beyond me.
It's mostly you who keeps harping on that idea, though. Most of us are content with Cloud not mentioning it because, if he
can remember the exchange, it's a confusing mess that only serves to confuse the things Sephiroth says and does later.
You'll recall from the original game that Cloud thought Jenova was both an Ancient and Sephiroth's actual mother all the way up until the team gets to Nibelheim:
Sephiroth: "Jenova will be at the Reunion. Jenova will join the Reunion becoming a calamity from the skies."
Cloud: "Jenova, a calamity from the skies? You mean she wasn't an Ancient!?"
----
Vincent: "You were also with Shinra...? Then do you know Lucrecia?"
Cloud: "Who?"
Vincent: "......Lucrecia. The woman who gave birth to Sephiroth.
Cloud: "...gave birth...? Wasn't Jenova Sephiroth's mother?"
His understanding up to this point (meaning it was also his understanding at the time of his story in Kalm) in no way fits with that of someone who a) remembers what Genesis said in the reactor, b) took some kind of understanding from it, and c) found it relevant --
Genesis: "The Jenova Project... was the term used for all experiments... relating to the use of Jenova's cells."
Sephiroth: "My mother's...cells?"
Genesis: "Poor little Sephiroth... You've never actually met your mother. You've only been told her name, no? I don't know what images you've conjured up in your head, but..."
Zack: "Genesis, no!"
Genesis: "Jenova was excavated from a 2000-year-old rock layer. She's a monster."
So pick whatever is more palatable to you: Either Cloud doesn't remember, or he thought Genesis was an inconsequential loon and left him out because he added nothing to the story.
