In the Remake Reno would be dead at Cloud's hands without the Whispers interfering at the church, you can't go around ignoring Whisper interference here and acknowledging it there.
That was a win. Sure.
They had to fight off a lot of enemies who were sincerely trying to stop them in both versions, though. And yes, someone let them out of a point of confinement both times too.
I just don't know how one can see the HQ mission as less than an achievement when they go in as a team of three and come out as a team of five after defeating many opponents along the way. Getting an assist from a villain with a long-term plan still unfolding doesn't undermine that for me, but that's just me.
Plus Domino cleaning up all their messes, and additional assistance from Wedge, Whispers, and AVALANCHE HQ. I dunno, seems like they mostly got through security by virtue of things outside their control.
It would be different for me if they successfully got in without having to kill the entire parking garage and Tifa shut down security herself rather than it being done for her. On its own is one thing, but when the reactors, pillar resistance, and breaking into the Shinra building are no longer AVALANCHE being players rather than puppets... I want them to have a win to call their own, you know?
But that's just me.
Well, not being puppets requires a fundamental change in at least Sephiroth's powers or his motivations and plan, if not all of it. I don't see how to avoid the team being puppeted while the plot still resembles the original.
Yes. Isn't that the point of defeating the Whispers, that we're not on the same path anymore?
I'm afraid Heidegger is meant to look bad. As is Scarlet. Whatever their portrayals in the OG, in the Remake they are portrayed as people whose arrogance and cruelty will eventually contribute to their own downfall. Shinra looks all-powerful from the outside, but on the inside it is rotten, like its city, which Shinra doesn't even have the will or capacity to properly maintain. Shinra is weak because it relies on people like Heidegger and Scarlet, people who don't listen to their underlings, and who make unreasonable demands that can't be fulfilled. (We've all had at least one boss like that.) Heidegger's underlings don't obey him because they respect him; they obey him because they fear him, and therefore they are focused on covering their own asses rather than doing the job right. Heidegger's already made it plain that he doesn't want to hear about problems. One can easily imagine the men in the Airbuster prep facility lying to him, assuring him the weapon will be ready on time, only to find themselves caught out in the lie when Avalanche break in to their facility. One can easily also imagine them choosing not to tell him that Avalanche had tampered with the preparation process.
I think you may be right. In which case, well, there goes a good chunk of my interest in this story. It's a curious choice, given everything outside Shinra is made more nuanced and complex -even the likes of Corneo's organisation, where we get perspectives from the likes of Leslie and Chocobo Sam.
Also interesting that they took out Rufus' 'I will rule the world with fear' speech, which would tie right into that perspective.
Kya ha ha and Gya ha ha are Reeve's derogatory nicknames for his colleagues (when they can't hear him) It doesn't make them not dangerous when they need to be.
Not being able to be bothered with trying to stop the reactor bombing and having no better way to deal with 5 hostiles then the obliterate a massive part of the city and then be saved from having to deal with the repair cost by blind dumb luck because the Ancient had come back into their custody through unforeseen circumstances makes them look far worse then them having alterior motives from the start.
Maybe they tried to defuse the bombs and couldn't, who knows? Were they planning to repair Sector 7 before Aeris was retrieved? Who knows?
Getting away from this conversation a bit, It's implied that Aeris and Sephiroth now have at least some knowledge of how things happened first time around. So, how do you think they would want to change it? What would they do to put their timeline further on the path they want?
