SPOILERS INTERmission Chapter 2 Spoiler Discussion

[Alex Strife]

What if Zack went to the Church while Aerith was kidnapped, then left Midgar... and it turns out he is the one person the party is chasing? The black-caped man? They think it's Sephiroth but actually it's was Zack.

Thing is supposedly that fellow had the tatoo "0". I don't think Sephiroth has a tattoo. But Zack having "0" because his body did not react to Jenova might make sese... maybe.

I don't know, things are getting weird.

 

[Odysseus]

Zack has a *very* crazy Limit Break in Crisis Core. It basicly mimics varrients of everyone else's Limit Breaks. So that's probably a good starting place for his move set. He's also got 5+ years of actually using the Buster Sword under his belt while Cloud has 2 months *at most*. So there would be a good way to make their animations feel different.

Zack move-set can feel a lot more "in control" of his sword work and then mix in some his crazy limit breaks (sheathing his sword to punch stuff for Angeal's, having healing/sealing for Aeriths, Meteor Shots for Cloud's, never mind what new Limit Breaks he could come up with based on *everyone else* in AVALANCHE as he gets more weapons and gains in levels). Cloud move-set can feel more "uncontroled" and can have only his sword-based Limit Breaks to mix in. In general... Zack would feel more "jack of all trades" while Cloud would feel more "sword only" just based on their skill sets.

These are fair points, but thinking about how much range Zack has with his abiities just makes it make even more sense why he'd be the star of a solo campaign and not a part of the main group lol. I'm firmly in the "he'll be implemented like Laguna" camp I guess.

Yeah, I find the debate amusing on whether Yuffie meeting Nero is a retcon.

Oh no, it's totally a retcon. I'm just wondering if Square thinks it is lol. The fact there are no whispers tells me that things happened "as intended" which is kind of ridiculous.

I can see them going either way with AC and DC still happening after the remake.

 

[Eerie]

We're going to have a 2 team with Biggs and Zack. In a probable DLC. He's the best one to explain to Zack what happened, he's in sector 5 at the orphanage where Zack will probably drop by because it's on his way to Elmyra's. However, what happens there depends if he is on his own timeline or a merged timeline. That's about everyone's guess lol.

 

[Fiz]

Even as somebody who tried making a case for the single timeline theory, I’m not willing to put THAT much thought into trying to figure out what the hell is going on, I’m just along for the ride…my default answer for anything involving skyboxes and pre-render cutscenes is “it’s just a technical thing” until proven otherwise lol

Same, I’m very much in the single timeline camp. I arrive there because it makes sense that if Zack, Biggs or others are alive they will want to capitalise on the character relationships and drama that brings about. Isolating them and canning those opportunities seems unlikely.

I don’t think it needs a deep analysis.

 

[Dark and Divine]

For a time now, with subtle changes of events like Yuffie meeting Nero, I've been wondering if the FFVII Remake project will include remade versions of AC and DC, either as separate entries or included in the Remake itself.

 

[Roundhouse]

It makes sense on another level to keep Zack away from the main events -- if he gets involved, he'll solve this whole situation within a day. He would form a team with Genesis and Biggs, and Sephiroth would run like hell. (Biggs is just there for moral support.)

 

[Maidenofwar]

Hmm ... I don't know, it does feel like if in the same universe that if Zack doesn't catch up with the party at Kalm because reasons then they'll have to keep coming up with increasingly more convoluted reasons as to why Zack doesn't catch up whenever there is a lull in party down time where it seems like he could have.

 

[KindOfBlue]

Oh no, it's totally a retcon. I'm just wondering if Square thinks it is lol. The fact there are no whispers tells me that things happened "as intended" which is kind of ridiculous.

I can see them going either way with AC and DC still happening after the remake.

But it’s not really a retcon because it still never happened in the OG continuity as far as we know, I don’t think SE is expecting us to now retroactively consider that Yuffie and Nero fought before the Sector 7 plate fell in the OG

For a time now, with subtle changes of events like Yuffie meeting Nero, I've been wondering if the FFVII Remake project will include remade versions of AC and DC, either as separate entries or included in the Remake itself.

In a way we kinda already got a remade version of the AC Sephiroth fight in chapter 18, that coupled with the stuff in the DLC I feel like might cement what I’ve been saying the whole time about the events of AC and DC not happening after the remake’s version of the OG events but we still see elements of those stories woven throughout

I don't see the Nomura-Kitase-Nojima trio saying to themselves "We want to implement this story idea but gosh darnnit that would retcon Dirge of Cerberus (one of the worst reviewed FFs). Shoot!" Especially after Chapter 18. Conforming to the canon set by AC and DC would only limit creativity at this point.

I see no financial benefit either. AC and DC have and can always be advertised as sequels to the original game. Everybody who experienced those titles went into them with that context in mind. 15 years later (and counting), having Remake lead into AC and DC isn't going to make enough people run out and buy those titles. Certainly not enough to guide creative decisions.

So if there's no financial gain, and they've gone so far as to write an in-universe way for them to subvert expected plot developments, I don't see any reason to reconcile Remake with AC and DC. I know this is one of those "well you don't know just wait and see" areas, but personally I'm not beholding Remake to anything that came before.

Exactly what I’ve been theorizing since the remake’s ending lol

Some people may look at it as a retcon or killing AC and DC but no, because the events of those titles would’ve never happened in the remake’s continuity in the first place. AC and DC are the canon follow-ups to the OG, that has not changed and it will not change. But as for the remake specifically, if they really wanna play the “unknown journey” angle, they can lead us towards something new after the events of the OG story are covered while also incorporating Compilation elements early on as they’ve already been doing.

So can we still have Edge built from Midgar? Sure. New Seventh Heaven? Sure. Strife Delivery Service? Sure. Cloud and Tifa living together and adopting Denzel? Sure.

But Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo? Killed them already with fate. Sephiroth, Jenova, geostigma? Maybe they’ll be gone for good. Deepground? Maybe we’ll beat them early. Cloud’s depression? Maybe whatever new stuff happens with Zack and Aerith will help resolve that. The sky’s the limit when you just think of the remake as a separate continuity without having to make sure that whatever happens it needs to fit into AC and DC, but who knows at this point.

EDIT: Reading through all the Zack discussion, I think whatever Compilation elements the remake wants to cover but can’t really fit in the main story with Cloud, maybe they should be covered by Zack’s story. Cloud and Zack do their own separate things for a while and then eventually, they either meet or if they are on separate timelines, they converge or something.

 

[Fiz]

Nobody knows they left Midgar, not even Shinra should. Barret's line telling Elmyra to go to Kalm isn't in the Remake. Last most people know, they were all in the Shinra building and escaped. Could be hiding in Midgar somewhere? No reason to be so assured they left that he'd book it to the next town right away. You can't assume Shinra was THAT good at keeping track of them if they were successfully hiding in a bar for years. Gathering enough info to reasonably suspect they left town at all would take some time.

Obviously his story is going to converge with theirs eventually, but I don't think he's going to haul ass to Kalm and join them at the beginning of Part 2, that would be ridiculous.

Also, again, how would they make Zack play meaningfully differently from Cloud if they were both in the party at the same time, and also all that other plot stuff I mentioned?

The Turks, the group bumps into them in Mythil Mines. Zack is close to the Turks so probably through them.

 

[looneymoon]

Just finished! Some immediate thoughts:

Nero is harder than Sephiroth is swear to god. I'm scared to fight him in hard mode.

Fort Condor is okay. Which is an improvement from what it is in the OG for me lmao.

Yuffie is great. Scarlet is great. Having these two interact was something I didn't know I wanted until I got it. My favourite line was, hands down, "teenaged ninjas."

Sonon... sucks. I don't have much to say other than the dude made me roll my eyes from the time he arrived to the time he left. I'm not really feeling the push to add more tragedy to Yuffie's backstory. The whole conclusion felt overly-saccharine and melodramatic for my liking, and I would have preferred if the tone of chapter 1 carried out through chapter 2 more.

That being said... I can't help but speculate on if his inclusion points towards getting Cid in pt 2. If that's the case, that means we'll be seeing... the whole party!?

The post credits scene was really good. I am admittedly very happy seeing the main party interact like this. It gives me vibes akin to the good parts of FFXV. This genuinely makes me look forward to a part two.

I don't really have much to say about Zack. I don't care. Same goes for Weiss and Nero for that matter (though I guess they're not really intrusive to the main story, so I care even less). The reminders of compilation elements continue to be something I get secondhand embarrassment out of more than anything else >__<

Overall this was good DLC. I didn't think it was omg fantastic or anything, but I had a decent time with it. Especially with the free ps5 upgrade (which looks incredible) it's definitely worth the investment. I'm sure I'll do hard mode at some point, but I'm not in any rush to right now.

 

[Eerie]

Sonon... sucks. I don't have much to say other than the dude made me roll my eyes from the time he arrived to the time he left. I'm not really feeling the push to add more tragedy to Yuffie's backstory. The whole conclusion felt overly-saccharine and melodramatic for my liking, and I would have preferred if the tone of chapter 1 carried out through chapter 2 more.

I'm not too keen on his character either, but he does make a good way for Yuffie to grow up a little and show us what she's like. Interestingly her line about not being his sister shows just what he saw in her (his sister) is completely wrong. I wonder if she keeps being misrepresented in Wutai (with people imagining what she is instead of looking at her true self), it would mean that the party would be the first people to really look at her and accept her for what she is. I could easily see that being integrated in her character, and it would explain why she becomes so attached to them. But that's just something my mind went on, who knows how it's going to get developped lol.

That being said... I can't help but speculate on if his inclusion points towards getting Cid in pt 2. If that's the case, that means we'll be seeing... the whole party!?

I think it really depends on how many parts we get. The more I look at Intergrade, the more doubtful I am about a 3 parts game. 4 parts seems more coherent with what we see. It would mean Cid and Vincent would be up for part 3, with Vincent being a guest in part 2 maybe, at the end of the game.

 

[cold_spirit]

Just wanted to post my favorite bit of dialogue from Intermission. It's also missable, just like my favorite dialogue from the main game . I love how it highlights the ideological differences between Wutai and Avalanche. Sonon's voice actor is also on point.

Yuffie
You remember what Nayo said? About helping us? That is was "necessary for building a brighter future"? What did she mean?

Sonon
Well... you know how it is between Wutai and Avalanche. We're never gonna see eye-to-eye. And we're bound to come up against each other someday. But, when we do, the fact they worked with us might help both parties put their differences aside and avoid a conflict. That's what I got out of it anyway.

Yuffie
Figured as much.

Sonon
Before you got here, I did a little bit or recon. Found out what they want. Free Elections, workers' rights, fair distribution of wealth... They don't see the world how we see it.

Yuffie
And when you look at the world, what is it that you see?

Sonon
Homes bombed to dust... plumes of gunsmoke... people pleading... bloodshed.

Yuffie
Me too. And I'll never forget.

 

[Odysseus]

Surprised how many people hate Sonon. He's not my favorite or anything, but I think he worked well enough as Yuffie's more mature counterpart. I like that he was clearly more radical and jaded than she was, but presented in a way that doesn't serve as a source of conflict.

 

[KindOfBlue]

Could be worse, at least Sonon’s not going on about CHAOS

 

[Makoeyes987]

Surprised how many people hate Sonon. He's not my favorite or anything, but I think he worked well enough as Yuffie's more mature counterpart. I like that he was clearly more radical and jaded than she was, but presented in a way that doesn't serve as a source of conflict.

Agreed. He's also a glimpse into the carnage Shinra unleashed on Wutai. Before, the only person who gave us any real indication of the consequences of Shinra's war against Wutai, was Yuffie herself. And she was pretty vague about it.

Now we have someone else. A direct perspective from Wutai. Someone who's lost family, friends and has a burning grudge against Shinra. The Wutai War isn't just some distant background history now, and its violence can still be felt in the present. Sonon is a laid back, mature yet surprisingly passionate person who definitely fits the big brother character trope, but it's not like FFVII has any of those characters...

Well, except for Weiss but he's definitely not a good big brother.

Just wanted to post my favorite bit of dialogue from Intermission. It's also missable, just like my favorite dialogue from the main game . I love how it highlights the ideological differences between Wutai and Avalanche. Sonon's voice actor is also on point.

You and me both. Definitely one of my favorite lines and interactions between the two. You could feel the pain in his voice. Really highlighted just what type of hell Wutai had suffered for simply saying no to a hostile corporate takeover.

 

[cold_spirit]

Same, I’m very much in the single timeline camp. I arrive there because it makes sense that if Zack, Biggs or others are alive they will want to capitalise on the character relationships and drama that brings about. Isolating them and canning those opportunities seems unlikely.

I don’t think it needs a deep analysis.

If it's a single timeline and Zack is in Midgar while Aerith and the party are near Kalm, then yeah she wouldn't be at the church when he goes there. What's the purpose of the scene then? We could've deduced that before Intermission released.

The developers only ever make a few minutes of this high quality prerendered footage. With that little time, why choose to show us Zack discovering that Aerith isn't at the church? With separate timelines, this scene offers a new mystery. Where's Aerith? With a single timeline, it doesn't offer much. We know where Aerith is, she's with the party. Of those two possibilities, and considering this is part 1 of a multi-part series, to me it only makes sense to end the game on a new mystery.

I feel like it's the Stamp situation all over again. Some thought that it was just a bag of chips, some thought the new Stamp design was a reference to Zack and that's all. But now we know from the Ultimania that it's deliberate and purposeful. It's meant to be analyzed and to raise questions. This scene is no different.

The last line of the game is "Aerith...?" That's the last impression the story makes on us. I know I'm repeating myself, but I just can't see the answer to that question being "she's with the party at Kalm." We know that already. I can only justify this scene if it takes place in a different timeline. Then this scene is necessary. It sets up a conflict for this new arc. "Where's Aerith?"

 

[JBedford]

With separate timelines, this scene offers a new mystery. Where's Aerith? With a single timeline, it doesn't offer much. We know where Aerith is, she's with the party. Of those two possibilities, and considering this is part 1 of a multi-part series, to me it only makes sense to end the game on a new mystery.

Since Zack's placement on single vs. multiple timelines is still a mystery itself, no matter what Zack's truth really is "Where's Aerith?" becomes a new question with that scene.

Like every new Question Arc in Higurashi gives more data points for viewers to puzzle things together and craft theories of what's going on, but they don't answer the reader's questions. The reader does not know the basic nature of the world, and therefore every new arc shows new events but only makes them further question what they think they know about the world.

That the new scene expands on the original mysterious scene while still not resolving the mystery is reason enough for the scene.

Before people could speculate "What was that with Zack?". Some people playing the game didn't even know he actually won. People who are not fed into Twitter users' translations of Ultimanias or dedicated FFVII communities now know that he did indeed win. Some people thought showing Zack survive could just be a possibility of how things could change in worlds without whispers, but now they know that Zack is going to be a continuous plot.

But still, everyone's asking "What was that with Zack?".

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Surprised how many people hate Sonon. He's not my favorite or anything, but I think he worked well enough as Yuffie's more mature counterpart. I like that he was clearly more radical and jaded than she was, but presented in a way that doesn't serve as a source of conflict.

The trouble with Sonon is that he bleeds "I'm a charming extroverted character with a tragic backstory that agrees with the Main Character on all the main issues (but teases them about the small ones all the time!) that the player is supposed to very easily like so that when I die only a few hours after the player gets to know me, they'll feel sad that I'm not sticking around".

I've seen his character type so often in games/anime that he feels less like an actual character and more like a character device the devs are trying too hard to make me like because something bad will happen to him later that they need me to feel bad about.

That's not to say he's a bad character; he's just a very familiar one in the corpus of character archtypes. And he's in a game that thrives off subverting common character archetypes. There's so far nothing subverted about Sonon's character, everything is played straight. (*Looks at theory I have for what I think actually happened to him at the end and think that SE is planing to subvert his character archtype a lot, we just won't see the outcome of that for a while*.)

This plays into general character personalities vs how long the character is going to stick around. Characters can afford to have... major friction... with other characters when they are going to be around a long time. Or can start out being unlikable even. But so long as they stick around for a long time, the creator can count on the player eventually liking them once they get more information. With a character that isn't around for a long time, the creator needs the player to like them immediately. And "charming extrovert with tragic backstory" is one of the fastest ways to do that. The inversion of that is when you have an introverted character that doesn't get along well with the main characters but is still part of the main cast. That's a pretty good sign that they're not dying anytime soon... like Cloud and Barret's relationship in the first chapter of Remake. Sonon and Yuffie's in the inversion of it.

 

[Torrie]

I've seen his character type so often in games/anime that he feels less like an actual character and more like a character device the devs are trying too hard to make me like because something bad will happen to him later that they need me to feel bad about.

I sometimes envy your experience, Obsidian. You've consumed more from the world art than most of us put together, so you're able to judge characters and tropes on a profound level. Does Sonon's presence feel so trite to you that you'd prefer another character with another type of personality in his stead? I wonder what you think.

Characters can afford to have... major friction... with other characters when they are going to be around a long time. Or can start out being unlikable even. But so long as they stick around for a long time, the creator can count on the player eventually liking them once they get more information. With a character that isn't around for a long time, the creator needs the player to like them immediately.

That's true, and that's why I'm unhappy with the way the Avalanche trio were implemented. I love the characters, yes, the NPC energy is on point, yes, and I understand we had been given their short bios in order to make them more likable. BUT not everyone follows the official social media, reads Ultimanias and listens to all the NPC dialogues. Why did we learn that Polk uses Fort Condor to devise strategies if no one talks about his skills in the game? Why did we learn that Billy Bob is a super-skilled bar-goer if we can't even enter Seventh Heaven? Why did SE introduce the trio in the Remake in Barret's resolution scene (which is extremely missable, by the way) but never explained if/why they were given nicknames in the DLC?

INTERmission was short enough for these characters not to stick around for a long time, but I have a feeling they could have been exploited a tiny little bit more.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

I sometimes envy your experience, Obsidian. You've consumed more from the world art than most of us put together, so you're able to judge characters and tropes on a profound level. Does Sonon's presence feel so trite to you that you'd prefer another character with another type of personality in his stead? I wonder what you think.

I don't think he's wasted. But a large part of that has to do with a theory I posted several pages back that got lost in the "Great Timeline Debate".

Sonon's "death" is... really suspicious. And by suspicious I mean... Nero kinda just flat-out kills everyone else ASAP. And then he drags Sonon's death out and lets Yuffie get away. And Sonon gets the mother of all death flashbacks. And Nero is *very* insistent on bringing Sonon's body into his darkness with him and he doesn't bother doing that for anyone else...

This has me side-eyeing the DoC Multiplayer story and thinking Sonon would make a *really* good candidate for taking the Restrictors out from the Tsivet's point of view. They know he's good enough to at least make problems for Nero. And they know he already hates Shinra enough to get into a fight with Scarlet. And actually win for the most part. And then you have him fighting against Shinra before they even *get* there. So they know they don't need to motivate him a ton to want to take the Restrictors out. Although I do think that part of why Sonon has such a long death flashback is because Shelke is rooting around in his head and seeing what's there (and making him see one "vision" that doesn't look like the others).

And... that last bit's important. It's too much SND that makes the Tsivets use a different person to take each Restrictor down in DoC Multiplayer. And I don't think Shelke would need to use *much* SND on Sonon to get him to want to kill off the Restrictors. If the Tsivets didn't have to keep starting from scratch... that could move up their timeline to kill off all the Restrictors by quite a bit. Enough that DG might break out much earlier than last time around.

Half of me likes this idea because it opens the door for Sonon and Yuffie to get into a situation where they fight each other. The other part of me likes this because this doesn't exactly make Sonon living instantly *fix* anything given how bad DG is. I could totally see Sonon not being alive at all. The other part of me thinks this would be a *really* good way to bring in DoC Multiplayer's story with a character everyone actually cares about and is not a random nobody.

I think they're having Sonon start out as a nice guy so that they can put him through Training From Hell down where everyone else is crazy. Having to survive the likes of Rosso, and Azul... yeah, sanity kinda takes a back-seat to that. Nero and Weiss are locked up for the majority of that based on DoC Multiplayer as well. So Sonon wouldn't actually be interacting with them much and they're... saner than Rosso and Azul are. Shelke though... Yuffie might not need Sonon to be a big brother to her.. But Shelke totally does. It's also... really obvious with Deepground as a whole that for all Deepground fights on Shinra's side, they vast majority of them are all victims of Shinra themselves. None of them ever got a say in what was done to them or what they are doing for Shinra. They all have to do what Shinra wants them to do or they'll get killed for it.

And that's probably going to do a number on Sonon's character and what he actually cares about in the process. It's one thing to be pissed at an organization/country because they won a war against your organization/country. That's just how being on the loosing side of war has worked since forever. It's another thing to be pissed at an organization because that organization is treating it's own people like crap. And that's where I think Sonon's character will see the most adjustment. Going from being anti-Shinra because they won against Wutai to being anti-Shinra because they don't care about *anyone*, including the people they should be all rights be protecting.

So... I think if Sono's arc *ends* in Intermission, then he is a really boring character that they could have replaced with someone more interesting. But I really don't think his character arc is going to end in Intermission. I think it's going to continue in... one of the worst locations to be in the game (to the point him not dying in Intermission is A Fate Worse Than Death). Nojima also loves playing characters against what it looks like their character archtype is in the long-run. So Sonon has *plenty* of room and opportunity to become a more complex and interesting character down the line. That is if they're doing with him what I think they're doing with him.

 

[looneymoon]

Sonon is supposed to be the "straight man" to Yuffie's more overt comedy. The thing about the straight man is that he is also supposed to provide comedy through how their personality reacts to their surroundings. Unfortunately it's like they completely forgot to give Sonon one.

That's not even touching all the really... mind-numbingly clichéd sob story. As is, he may be one of the most uninspired, lazy, and poorly conceived compilation characters brought to the table :/ Which is a shame, because Remake is otherwise very considerate about its character writing - Sonon stands out as a stain on that.

I mean I'm sure they will try to make him more interesting by bringing him back as evil, because death doesn't mean anything in this universe anymore. Unfortunately his debut is so weak, its hard for me to be invested in what the future may hold for him.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

I love the characters, yes, the NPC energy is on point, yes, and I understand we had been given their short bios in order to make them more likable. BUT not everyone follows the official social media, reads Ultimanias and listens to all the NPC dialogues. Why did we learn that Polk uses Fort Condor to devise strategies if no one talks about his skills in the game? Why did we learn that Billy Bob is a super-skilled bar-goer if we can't even enter Seventh Heaven? Why did SE introduce the trio in the Remake in Barret's resolution scene (which is extremely missable, by the way) but never explained if/why they were given nicknames in the DLC?

INTERmission was short enough for these characters not to stick around for a long time, but I have a feeling they could have been exploited a tiny little bit more.

The way I think about Remake and Intergrade is that they are like the First Season of a TV series. So we are introduced to a lot of characters, but not a lot details about them. Yet. The seasons afterwards will probably make more use of them.

One thing the the OG *really* suffers from is not having a lot of repeating NPCs on Cloud and Co.s side. They just bump into random NPCs that never show up again in different towns. So I think Remake and Integrade are introducing more named NPCs that we will bump into later. It's just that Remake and Integrade have very tight and fast-paced plots. So there's not a whole lot of longer interaction to do with them just yet.

 

[Fiz]

If it's a single timeline and Zack is in Midgar while Aerith and the party are near Kalm, then yeah she wouldn't be at the church when he goes there. What's the purpose of the scene then? We could've deduced that before Intermission released.

The developers only ever make a few minutes of this high quality prerendered footage. With that little time, why choose to show us Zack discovering that Aerith isn't at the church? With separate timelines, this scene offers a new mystery. Where's Aerith? With a single timeline, it doesn't offer much. We know where Aerith is, she's with the party. Of those two possibilities, and considering this is part 1 of a multi-part series, to me it only makes sense to end the game on a new mystery.

I feel like it's the Stamp situation all over again. Some thought that it was just a bag of chips, some thought the new Stamp design was a reference to Zack and that's all. But now we know from the Ultimania that it's deliberate and purposeful. It's meant to be analyzed and to raise questions. This scene is no different.

The last line of the game is "Aerith...?" That's the last impression the story makes on us. I know I'm repeating myself, but I just can't see the answer to that question being "she's with the party at Kalm." We know that already. I can only justify this scene if it takes place in a different timeline. Then this scene is necessary. It sets up a conflict for this new arc. "Where's Aerith?"

I don’t have an answer for this, but it could simply be a precursor to Zack going on a quest to find her. Which isn’t exactly a big nothing to raise to our attention.

I still think the most likely scenario is that they’re in the same timeline because to have them in separate timelines burns too many storytelling opportunities.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

That's not even touching all the really... mind-numbingly clichéd sob story. As is, he may be one of the most uninspired, lazy, and poorly conceived compilation characters brought to the table :/ Which is a shame, because Remake is otherwise very considerate about its character writing - Sonon stands out as a stain on that.

FF7 really has sob story fatigue. When *everyone* has the same general sob story, it gets hard to care about one more person with one more similar Sob Story. It turns into... Yes, we get it! We know Shinra is horrible and has destroyed things people care about in everyone's background! We don't need yet *another* person with that backstory!

It's honestly one of the reasons why Zack, Genesis and Angeal are so refreshing in a way. They're going through crappy stuff *right now* in front of us. But they didsn't have a tragedy in their background like everyone else does. That they grew up knowing about, at least. All of three of those guys grew up in a normal environment with normal families and basicly nothing bad happened to them in childhood. If anything, it was almost *ideallic* compared to everyone else in the game.

It also means that when really bad stuff happens to them *because* of Shinra, they react in *very* different ways than... literally everyone else in the game. They were genuintly *not expecting* Shinra to be what it is. Or for it to have done what it did to them (or is doing to them if you're Zack). So their emotional arcs of how they cope with it all are... honestly really refreshing compared to the rest of the FFVII cast. Which tend towards, yeah, Shinra sucks and we hate them. Instead it's, Shinra sucks... but we know genuinlly good people who work for them. Heck, *we* are some of the good people who work for Shinra. And they all do something *different* with that. One wants Shinra gone yesterday (which makes sense), the other two are a lot more conflicted (which also makes sense). So on the whole, it's something to shake up the usual "why everyone hates Shinra and what they do about it" motivation.

Sonon... has one of the most *generic* backstories in the game, and that kind just makes him more of a "get in line behind everyone else who has more interesting grievances against Shinra" character. He's not... interesting *enough*. Yet...

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I don’t have an answer for this, but it could simply be a precursor to Zack going on a quest to find her. Which isn’t exactly a big nothing to raise to our attention.

That isn't being newly brought to our attention, though. That has literally been his mission since the last chapters of CC -- a game that came out 14 years ago.

As @cold_spirit commented with regard to Aerith not being in the church when Zack got there, that's another bit of old info. The scene had us literally just cut away from her outside Kalm to transition over to Zack. =P

We, the viewer, already know he's not going to find her when he opens the doors. So what then is meant to be mysterious or unsettling to us about this scene if not "Aerith?" (with a concerned inflection)?