People tend to forget that he attacks Sephiroth from behind.
I have never forgotten this. Trying for a backstab on a distracted opponent is entirely sane and justified when the opponent is Sephiroth after all. Props to Cloud for being pragmatic in his rage.
And I think that's a pretty strong message.
And I don't. From how casually Sephiroth pulls ye olde impale and lift maneuver, he's clearly not weakened enough for just anyone to take on here. Could Zack take him in this state? Probably, if he wasn't already holding his own detached ass. But just some guy? Nah.
Yes, he underestimated Cloud. Precisely because in his new God status, which he seems to have attained, he's come to look down on everyone. To him, they're insects. He doesn't even calculate Cloud. He worships his mommy and doesn't even bother to accept the presence of the little blond boy in the room.
I somewhat agree, even if Cloud was legit a First Class Sephiroth still would've looked down on him. Maybe respected him a teensy bit as a potential threat and finished him faster, but not by much. Thing is, if Cloud were legit just some common shlub, he'd have been right.
Agreed wholeheartedly.
And it's this message that's lost with this idea of a Cloud with unlimited but hidden potential.
I do not see how. Sephiroth is above everyone. Canonically the strongest one there is, the guy we've never seen go all out ever. And I've never said Cloud has unlimited potential. Unlimited is a no. Just quite high, enough to do things he shouldn't be able to do without Tifa-like training or Hojo enhancements.
It's enough to survive long enough to ruin Sephiroth's shit (with surprise on his side twice), and then (if not for Hojo) bleed out and die. No more, but also no less.
I prefer the story of the achilles heel.
And I think Achilles was a moron for not protecting his one weak point better.
Sephiroth thought he was immortal. He wasn't.
I mean, in the sense that dying repeatedly won't stop him from plotting and acting he kinda is.
He was defeated by a simple human.
I agree, it's just power scaling shut shows that everyone is a "simple human" in Sephiroth's view. Hell Angeal and Genesis together couldn't make him put real effort in. Cloud doesn't need to be some powerless chump for that to be true, for me it'd do nothing but bring Sephiroth down.
And by the time Cloud has the resources to lift him and send him in direction of Mako Express to the North Crater, he's already diminished. You can see he's having trouble walking.
Not enough diminishing for me to buy it. Yeah, he
should be cut mostly in half by that stab. His organs should be in tatters. His spine should be gone. Instead he ... has a limp. Cloud was still fucked in a real fight, and would be just fucked without his reserves of extra potent spirit energy to break limits with.
At least that's always been my interpretation.
And that's fair. I'm not really trying to change your mind, exactly, just enjoying a respectful disagreement. If nothing else, I'm benefitting from having my view if Cloud pre- reunion project grounded. It's so easy to build people up too much with hindsight. And sure, I fully intend to build him up more than you want to, but too much is too much.
TL;DR: Thanks for the conversation friend.
Maybe I'll be wrong in the end.
Well, put aside the fall and the Sephiroth killing feat. Now tell me how Cloud handled those Ravens as a totally normal guy
Tifa has no knowledge of Zack's death or survival outside of Cloud. The last she ever saw him, he was alive, and the next thing she reliably knew was waking up in an entirely different geographic region after life saving surgery.
I wanted to say this, but words were failing me. Luckily we can count in Ryu.
I'm Jackass and this is Jackass.
Seems fitting for a lot of that game.
I mean, if I could actually jump back in time 15 years I might do it. Not to stay, just to make a few timely investments.
Yo, if you get hold of consequence free time travel, would you take a list of names back with you for... let's say cautionary removal?
I've got a few Hells waiting I would love to backdate 15 years.
Much like the extremist shipper's knowledge of anything, when you get right down to it.
If only there was any down to get to. But, y'know, no depth.
People are what make fairness in life.
I like my phrasing better, since people CAN be fair, they frequently MAY not
Yours is more poetic though.
Actually on second thought, what you said is more "what fairness exists in the world is made by people" so yours may just be better.
A hat to keep the fire warm and cozy!
I want an ironic firefighter's helmet for my fire.
All programmed to hunt him down and try and kill him, of course. It's considered a line item expense under the logistics and operations budget.
Sounds like good training. Geets is in.
If someone makes your job easier, let them.
And if they make your job harder, switch from Sloth to Wrath
Insults just aren't as much fun if they're unearned.
I was trying to say "striving" rather than "arriving" but danke.
Here I thought Pete's flaw was editorial, with the responsibility coming in a very distant second.
Editorial is definitely his true nemesis. Sorry Norman, it's true and you know it.
We can call it his purple suit arc, then.
Ahhh good old Son Gohan!Cloud.
I was referring to their early depictions of blatantly obvious pining that everyone could see but them, but yes, the nonsense SJ have gone through because of the need to have the next big twist is insane.
Yup. Everyone can see it. They both very much have the more wholesome sibling of "would you two just fuck and get it over with?" written all over them. Which makes UTH even funnier.
She was enjoyably evil and really tied her season together, neither of which can be said of the trio (or 6's actual final antagonist) or of Season 7 as a whole.
The First Evil tied things together ok, it was just... kinda boring. Caleb dying really hurt that whole thing.
This is chekov's artillery line at this point.
Chekov's Orbital Bombardment. It's the only way to be sure.