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

[Shademp]

Don't forget the red battle models in Shinra HQ that look a bit more like the red commanders, but still very different. They are wearing this huge battle armor with guns on each arm. Then when they are stripped of their armor they are rolling on...skates?
It's all very weird.

About Red XIII and his eye...
http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/860/red-xiii-character-profile-p56-59/

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I have always wanted to know what the hell that creature was. What kinda mutants does Shina hire?

They don't hire. They make their own.

 

[Xpelair]

Don't forget the red battle models in Shinra HQ that look a bit more like the red commanders, but still very different. They are wearing this huge battle armor with guns on each arm. Then when they are stripped of their armor they are rolling in...skates?
It's all very weird.

Ooh yeah. I forgot about them, nice spotting. I always wondered why they had skates. They only seemed to use them once their armor had be stripped off like you said. They never seemed to 'skate' while they had their armor on. They only seemed to take a few steps. unless that's because their in battle.
When their armors been stripped they sometimes seem to skate towards you, but make a u-turn instead; I think. I'm not sure.

And about Red's eye. I'm not sure, but your probably right, it makes a lot of sense, seeing as how brutal Hojo is.

EDIT: Didn't see the source. My mistake.

 

[Octo]

I always thought the red/blue commander things were cool. Also those guys you fight on the way up the pillar who are sorta spinning their own propellers.

 

[Shademp]

I checked the submarine part of the game now. Remember when you can choose between fighting or not fighting the two Shinra Grunts and the (red) Shinra Commander? Well, if you fight them the battle uses the red Shinra grunt model which the game calls "Captain".
So there IS a battle model resembling the actual field model to a great extent, except that they don't change the captain's hat properly.

But yes, a weird battle model is at times used. Like when you fight the red commander inside the Shinra rocket. They actually use the blue version of the mutant battle model you first presented.

 

[ForceStealer]

I always thought the red/blue commander things were cool. Also those guys you fight on the way up the pillar who are sorta spinning their own propellers.

That's right, there are those guys too. I thought they were kinda cool as well...but also weird.

 

[Xpelair]

But yes, a weird battle model is at times used. Like when you fight the red commander inside the Shinra rocket. They actually use the blue version of the mutant battle model you first presented.

I guess SQUARE couldn't be bothered about making all the battle models into field models, so instead used the 'Captain'. to represent them.

 

[Shademp]

That's right, there are those guys too. I thought they were kinda cool as well...but also weird.

Mwahaha! Look, we are up in the air and you can't get to us! Now let me just attack you up close, without using any fire arms whatsoever, thus erasing the very point of being airborne and unreachable.

Seriously, they don't use guns. If they are gonna fly and gain an advantage from that they would HAVE to use long distance weapons.

I guess SQUARE couldn't be bothered about making all the battle models into field models, so instead used the 'Captain'. to represent them.

It seems to me that the team for the battle models and the "scenario" team did not properly communicate. They could have used the red Shinra soldier/grunt model that is used inside the submarine, but like the case with the inside of the Shinra Rocket the battle team must have been told "Yeah, just add a Shinra enemy here" without specifying which type.
Or maybe the battleVSfield model inconsistency just did not bother them.

EDIT:
However when I think about it more, the "mutant" battle model was among the first that the development team made (looking at beta footage). Interestingly from this earlier footage we also see the red Shinra commanders. Though we never see an actual battle transition in this early footage I think they always intended for commanders to NOT look like their battle models, which are these "mutants" as we are lovingly calling them.

Perhaps this retains back to FFVI, when the art/sprites for the battles could look significantly different from the field sprites. While this was more a question of a difference in detail in FFVI, the mindset that battle models does not have to look like the field sprites/models may be what is the cause here.

AAAAAND I am reading way too much into this.

See here for beta footage:
http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/11/final-fantasy-7-beta/

 

[Xpelair]

Wow that Beta Footage is interesting, I haven't seen it before.

Just like the mutants, I've noticed that when you first meet aerith at the church, you have an option to make aerith run, hold on a minute or fight. During these scenes the field models have been the Shinra grunts. However if you let aerith fight them all off -- theres one point where she encounters a hound instead of a Shinra grunt. The field model is displayed as a Shinra Grunt which interestingly enough may not be needed, because dogs are already in the game. So wouldn't it make sense to use the dog field model to represent the hound instead?

...With imagination I would have thought that maybe the Shinra grunt stayed back, letting his hound do the work maybe.

 

[Shademp]

She meets a hound only? Heh.

But there's no need to analyse this further I think. The transition from the normal field to the battle field is far from flawless. When Cloud and Rufus face off in-battle, we haven't seen his dog "Dark Nation" before. I can understand not paying attention to stuff like this because the battle field is sort of its own universe not necessarily in tune with the narrative of the world/main/normal field.

If I shall point to another "what-the-fuckery", this one related to Red XIII... What's with his use of hairpins? Come on. He uses hairpins and has an increase in strength stat? Where does this power come from? Is it his improved sense of *fashion* that makes him motivated to fight better?
Seriously that's just weird.
"Watch out for my DEADLY hairpins!"

 

[ForceStealer]

Even the way he attacks (that somersault) looks like he's literally attacking with his hairpin. ...Won't use tooth and nail Red?

 

[Xpelair]

I’ve always assumed that Red’s hairpins have some type of magic property’s of some type, hence the boost in attack etc.

You don’t actually see his hairpin though, which is a shame. though.. they are pretty small.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

You don’t actually see his hairpin though, which is a shame. though.. they are pretty small.

At least one of them is capable of slotting eight materia at once. Depending on how big you think materia is, some of them could be quite large.

 

[Xpelair]

I've always wondered that. Not just for Red's weapons because it holds true for Cloud's, and the rest of the team. They can hold Materia but not like they could in VII, like seven or eight. But that depends on how big or small Materia really is.

 

[Shademp]

Even the way he attacks (that somersault) looks like he's literally attacking with his hairpin. ...Won't use tooth and nail Red?

Which makes it even more strange that he allows Cait Sith to ride on his back in Advent Children, thus disabling his use of the hairpin and forcing him to actually bite his enemy. Just...why? Cait Sith doesn't help at all. Perhaps Red XIII still hasn't gotten over his parental drive from the Nibel Bears incident and feels the need to "take care" of Cait Sith. Or something ludicrous of the sort.

 

[Dana Scully]

I think the reason he didn't do the whole spinning attack in AC/ACC was because for anyone not familiar with the original game they would have been confused as fuck.

Having a dog-cat-thing attack using claws and teeth just makes more sense to most people.

 

[Lord Noctis]

This ones not such a big deal, but it always bothered me that Sephiroth doesn't say anything when you confront him at the end of the game. He just floats there and bitch slaps the party until its time for the battle to start. Come on man, you're the main villian, the guy I've spent thelast 35-40 hours of my life pursuing. This is the culmination of everything either of us has been working for. Say something damnit!

 

[ForceStealer]

He'd already spilled the beans on his elaborate plan back on Disc 1, nothing left for a villain to say I guess

 

[Lord Noctis]

He'd already spilled the beans on his elaborate plan back on Disc 1, nothing left for a villain to say I guess

This is Sephiroth we're talking about. Surely he could have a taunt? A contemptious remark? A mocking statement? These things are practicly his specialty.

 

[Alex Strife]

Well, I always thought that "silence" was actually mocking. He didn't need to say anything else, by that point. Sephiroth was THAT badass.

 

[Sigbru]

Was it just me that found Sephiroth flying around and passing through walls weird? Mostly because nobody on the party even comments on it! Makes it look like they think Sephiroth is just so awesome it's completely normal for him to fly around like superman

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Was it just me that found Sephiroth flying around and passing through walls weird? Mostly because nobody on the party even comments on it! Seems Sephiroth is just so awesome it's completely normal for him to fly around like superman

No, you're not. What I find weird about the flying around and passing through walls thing is that there's no mention of Jenova having the ability to do this. While it is know that Jenova can control cells, it is not shown that she can control atoms. The fact the Sephiroth can do this, but Jenova can't could be evidence that he is more powerful then she is. Maybe it's something he learned from the Lifestream...

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

JENOVA-SYNTHESIS could fly.

In any case, we were never told much about JENOVA's powers, so anything it could do isn't necessarily out of place. And like you said, Obsidian, all of Seph's abilities didn't necessarily have to come from JENOVA anyway.

 

[Kobato]

Ya they look like a Shinra Guard right? Well... take a look at their battle model. (SPOILER)

They don't really match do they? The battle model doesn't even look human. It has claws on its feet. The guards don't even stand up right like a human would, so what are they? Unless they've been in some incident or don't mind getting their nuts kicked in why would they stand like that? Furthermore they don't even look like the field model as shown above. The figure looks human, however their stance doesn't. Why would they stand like that? To hold the weapons in their hands? Looking more closely at it the guns look grafted into their hands... so what are they...? I know the games old so they wouldn't exactly try to match the battle model as closely, but still, you'd think they would resemble them more wouldn't you? The colours are same, however the model itself isn't.

I don't know if this has been already done. But here's what the blue Shrina grunts look like in battle.

This is a upclose design of them of how they look in battle.

And how the Blue Soldiers look like in-game.

 

[Octo]

^So basically.........someone fucked up baaaaad.

Heres one, its never definitively stated, but is the Shinra Manager who pops up here and there (the train in Midgar and in Junon and somewhere else I cant remember) the same guy? I just like the idea of this poor sod having a really shit time with his job