FFVII Character Details, Easter Eggs, and General What-the-fuckery

[Cthulhu]

Bloody bots. Now they use smilies as well. =/
Why is TLS so flooded with these?

Please report posts like this instead of spamming the site up with pointless responses to spambots, kthx . Now this bot has been able to poast for like two days already.

 

[Shademp]

I can reveal that the bar also contains invisible field models for the flowers you bought from Aeris and the cash that you receive from Barret. Someday I'll make a video showing the locations of these respective models in their various contexts. There are many unseen field models scattered around (although most of them are not "exotic", as in, most of them can be seen at different points in the game), which often do not have any script and are not involved in any events, so making a complete commentary for all of these is something I may do, I dunno, by the end of 2012 or somethin' like that.

Please report posts like this instead of spamming the site up with pointless responses to spambots, kthx . Now this bot has been able to poast for like two days already.

Noted.

 

[sswishbone]

Some really interesting stuff in here, especially the videos of the segments that never made it or just general game buggery. I'm sorry if this has been covered already but has any of the uncovering revealed the purpose of Aerith's ghost in the church? I know that you can trigger it at any time, but the thing is, if you are quick when you get in to the church you can have it so she stays around, and the girl character says the line

"I'll water them later..."

If you then go into the space between the pews, the Aerith ghost vanishes and if you go back her line changes to.

"Hey where's the flower lady?"

I have always been intrigued by this, many no doubt will point to an abandoned resurrection but I am wondering if there was some other factor in it, like a secret item or something?

 

[Shademp]

Some really interesting stuff in here, especially the videos of the segments that never made it or just general game buggery. I'm sorry if this has been covered already but has any of the uncovering revealed the purpose of Aerith's ghost in the church? I know that you can trigger it at any time, but the thing is, if you are quick when you get in to the church you can have it so she stays around, and the girl character says the line

"I'll water them later..."

If you then go into the space between the pews, the Aerith ghost vanishes and if you go back her line changes to.

"Hey where's the flower lady?"

I have always been intrigued by this, many no doubt will point to an abandoned resurrection but I am wondering if there was some other factor in it, like a secret item or something?

No discoveries have pointed towards any unused quests related to the ghost of Aeris. I know of this trick, that if you run towards the flowers while the field is loading you can stand next to the ghost.

I discovered a bug related to the ghost. Although it is programmed to appear right after you defeat Jenova-Life, the ghost will not appear if you, in the Kalm flashback, asked the old Nibelheim inn keeper about the situation of the town (third dialogue option, I believe).

This is because the old man and the ghost of Aeris share a flag, but nothing more. It is a programmer's mistake and has no relation to any unused/hidden sidequests.


As for the "second" ghost of Aeris, the one who briefly appears in the aisle, that's just the game having trouble loading the character positions fast enough. You will see that both kids also briefly appear in that position.

The only unused concept related to the church is the indication that one of the slum people saw the ghost of Ifalna there. See the second page in part 3 in my unused text article series.


Other than that, nothing special. You can speak to the kids before leaving Midgar for the first time and at that time trigger the girl's "I'm gonna water them later" line. In case you are unaware, if you enter the church at this point they will ask Cloud if they may take care of the flowers.

 

[Shademp]

Just realised that I should post the unused stuff in GlitterBerri's "unused content" thread, but here is a video showing a scene that is actually not unused.

People may remember me mentioning it many pages ago in this thread.

Description:
"Most FFVII fans probably do not know of this scene. It is available after Cloud rejoins your party on disc 2, but before Bugenhagen comes with you on your journey to save the planet.

There is nothing at this point in the game motivating you to go to this specific field, hence why it remained unknown.

The second and third party character lines are pretty much identical no matter which character you choose. Yuffie will say "My head's about to pop", rather than that it is about to be "crushed".

Cloud's line at 0:16 only appears if you've visited this field before with Cloud in your party. All the rest is triggered no matter what."

Cloud's dialogue may appear a bit weird. I'll ask GlitterBerri to retranslate it soon enough, but the jist of the scene is not lost. It adds a bit of detail to FFVII lore that is usually lacking in that fictional universe.

 

[Octo]

That was amazing!

There is nothing at this point in the game motivating you to go to this specific field, hence why it remained unknown.

It is possible though, that in the head of the player who had no pre knowledge of FFVII and its plot, that they might come here looking for a way to revive Aeris? That would be the first time the player has control of Cloud again after the end of Disc 1?

I was thinking that might be why it was put in...still doesn't really make much sense

 

[Shademp]

One theory is that it was meant as a prompt for the story to progress later on.

At 04:10 in this video, disabling player paralysis reveals hidden character talk-to dialogue. Apparently the player was meant to activate a certain flag elsewhere, thus causing Red XIII's response at 04:22 which happens in the final game no matter what you do.
Perhaps triggering the Forgotten City scene was to play this role to make Red XIII suggest that you go see Bugenhagen.

This is a very wild theory though. No flag affected in the aforementioned Forgotten City scene has any relation with the flags in the Highwind. The scene may be no more than a poorly placed event.

 

[Smaddy]

Not sure how to embed an youtube video, but at the 6:35 mark, when Cloud is in the temple of the ancients and tries to access a room he says "Sealed...? That sound brings back memories". Do you guys know what that means?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3isYw2WnJyU&feature=related

1. Old post, but got overlooked. I agree, it's an odd line.

2. Probably the biggest unknown of FFVII that bothers me is if you go to the City of the Ancients, in most of the shell houses there is a glowing stone (Materia?) next to the door. In one of the houses if you check it, Cloud will say something about it, and not being able to understand it.

As a kid playing, it always made me wonder if Aeris was supposed to be in your party in order to 'translate' those stones. Now I know it's not possible, but it still makes me question what those stones are and why you're able to get a reaction out of checking some of them.

3. I always wondered why Cloud and Tifa chose to sleep out in the open, in the cold on the last night before you go to the Crater. Why not sleep in the Highwind where it would be warm and safe? That line of thought always made me also wonder why there are no bunks/beds in the Highwind, yet there is a Chocobo stable and a meeting room (with no chairs).

4. That scene where Cait Sith takes the Keystone from you after the date at Gold Saucer, the dialogue always seemed weird in that. It seemed really awkward and forced, and didn't make much logical sense to me.

5. Gast/Ilfana's house in Icicle Inn always raised questions as well. Why would it have been left open, with power on, and abandoned for a long period of time? And as someone else pointed out earlier, why were the videos left behind?

 

[AerithLives]

I think the bit which worried me most in this game was the whole incident with Cloud being done by a group of gay men in the Honey Bee Inn...i mean did that have any relivence at all?

 

[Shademp]

Something just occurred to me. People have complained about how the green Mako glow in Cloud's eyes is very weak in ACC...but it turns out that a green glow has never been part of his actual character design.
Look at the original art:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Then some game graphics:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Or this piece from the normally unseen hi-polygon version of Cloud:

Spoiler

Not a trace of green, even less any glow.

From the looks of it, only ACC ever depicted anything green in his eyes, albeit only visible in extreme close-up and not actually being a *glow*.

Spoiler

Not even in Cloud_S' high quality DoC FMV upload can any of the green be seen, probably because of the lack of close-up shots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryg9-KfPppk&feature=related

I suppose the closest thing to any "green" in his eyes, in original Cloud, is this Cloud portrait, which makes his eyes look like a mix between blue and green (turqoise?).

Spoiler

Just something I never realised before, because the "eerie green glow" of Cloud's eyes usually gets overlooked despite its prevalence in the first disc of FFVII.

 

[Cthulhu]

That's liek because... it's imaginary glow!

But you're right, there isn't actually any green glow in his eyes.

 

[Octo]

I think they forgot what fucking colour Mako actually is, its the same colour as lifestream innit? More like turquioise. That seems to be present a little bit in the 3rd, 5th and 7th pics you posted there.

The green around his pupils in AC is far too green green. It wouldn't be the first bollock SE have dropped though.

 

[ForceStealer]

Something just occurred to me. People have complained about how the green Mako glow in Cloud's eyes is very weak in ACC...

Who the hell said that? Who ever thought Mako Eyes involved having green in your eyes? Your eyes are just supposed to glow, where in FF7 does anyone ever mention there being two different colors in his iris? They don't, they just say they glow. And they've hardly done that in any Compilation entry, as I've bitched about before.

I'm pretty sure the green in Cloud's eyes has nothing to do with Mako, Octo as iirc, Reno has it too. Furthermore, in Crisis Core when Zack and Aerith are talking about Mako Eyes, Zack's do appear pretty brilliant in that scene, and there's no green in them. They're just really freaking bright blue. And when Cloud's eyes DO glow in Advent Children (during Limit Breaks) they just glow blue. Where did people get this idea that Mako Eyes are green?

That's also confused me as to why people think the green in Cloud's eyes in Last Order are OMGMAKOEYES! when Mako Eyes aren't green. (unless, you know, your eyes are already green like Sephiroth's)

 

[Elisa Maza]

Even though something tells me there was an answer and I don't remember it.

So, I have a question: The Black Materia... it can be used again, right (I thought the theory says materia can never be destroyed)? If anyone ever finds it, s/he can use it to summon Meteor again, right? And THIS time, there's no Holy to counter it, because all the Cetra are dead and gone.

Is this possible?

 

[Blue]

Even though something tells me there was an answer and I don't remember it.

So, I have a question: The Black Materia... it can be used again, right (I thought the theory says materia can never be destroyed)? If anyone ever finds it, s/he can use it to summon Meteor again, right? And THIS time, there's no Holy to counter it, because all the Cetra are dead and gone.

Is this possible?

Maybe Aerith has a sister.

 

[ForceStealer]

Holy didn't really stop it the first time. Might come down to the Lifestream again. The biggest problem with using the Black Materia again is probably finding it. It's either at the bottom of the crater or floating around in the lifestream somewhere.

And really, if someone who isn't an Ancient can use the Black Materia, it'd be a pretty stupid failsafe if ONLY a Cetra can use Holy. It probably just has the same restrictions as Meteor, you need a shitton of spirit energy to activate it. Aerith may have prayed to circumvent that requirement.

/all total musings.

 

[Fangu]

2. Probably the biggest unknown of FFVII that bothers me is if you go to the City of the Ancients, in most of the shell houses there is a glowing stone (Materia?) next to the door. In one of the houses if you check it, Cloud will say something about it, and not being able to understand it.

So that really is never resolved? It has been bugging me since I got to the City of Ancient for the first time - I haven't finished the game yet, hoping to go back there with someone who can actually read those stones, but I guess I will never know. (If the Keystone can't read them, I guess nothing can.)

 

[Octo]

Is there an echo in here?

 

[Cthulhu]

No, but there is a spambot .

 

[Sylvie]

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Honey_Bee_Inn

There's a lot of weird and unused shit for this scene.

 

[Shademp]

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Honey_Bee_Inn

There's a lot of weird and unused shit for this scene.

"Original article"

See article index here.

 

[Sylvie]

You guys are more comprehensive on the subject than I had thought.

 

[Shademp]

I might as well spoil you guys with this discovery, or, "easter egg".
Turns out that the field where you recruit Vincent, has Sephiroth in it. If you make him visible he will be standing right next to Vincent's coffin. Then if you trigger an unused action by him...

...he slowly turns his head to the left, while being moved so he appears to be growing. EFFIN' CREEPY (and awesome)!

This action is not associated with any scenes, so we can only guess its usage.
I can think of three occassions where this fits.
1) Nibelheim flashback. With the background turned black, the image of "creepy" Sephiroth would foreshadow the threat he is becoming during his extended reading session.
2) Nibelheim, present. A way to foreshadow his presence in the basement, where he will meet Cloud and talk about the Reunion. Again, background most likely meant to turn black.
3) Recruiting Vincent. When Cloud (or Tifa/Cid, whoever is the party leader) tells Vincent about how Sephiroth went mad, the screen turns a different tone, while Cloud gestures, telling the player that Cloud is telling the story. This would fit perfectly with the appearance of CREEPY Sephiroth.

Wow, to think we'd find yet another unused occassion of Sephiroth being planned a dramatic sequence. Unlike with the giant Sephiroth in Sector 7 though, which Motomu Toriyama was in charge of, this is a field that Yoshinori Kitase apparently was in charge of.

 

[Octo]

Shademp, have I told you lately that I love you?

I'm guessing that its the 3rd option, seems like it would fit best.

 

[Shademp]

I'm guessing that its the 3rd option, seems like it would fit best.

Agreed.

I would like to make an article series about unseen animations and field models, but before doing that I want the software to view field models in the PSX version which...does not seem to exist. =/

The Nibelheim entrance, btw, has an unseen model where Sephiroth is laughing and holding his sword. Most likely intended for the scene when Sephiroth transports the team to an illusion of Nibelheim.

UPDATE: After some more modding attempts, it looks more likely that the 3rd option is true. There doesn't seem to be a "make background black" option which does not also blacken out all the field models. In those cases, the camera will zoom outside the map and place characters there (like in the Tifa's flashback of finding Cloud at the train station). The black space Tifa and dream-Cloud is in is simply a point outside of the field map.
But Sephiroth is clearly placed next to the coffin, so he was likely meant to appear when Cloud was telling the story about Sephiroth's madness.
I still hope I can find a way to place him in a black space and see his animation in that perspective...