And Tres, I did say she'd just opened a can of worms before answering the question.
True enough, but it's one of those cans that wasn't big enough to contain its worms to begin with.
It really is. I pretend it doesn't exist.
You almost have to in order to make sense of it. =(
This isn't quite like FFVIII's setting where Ellone's special ability just being there is as easy to accept. It's an otherwise established part of the setting there that some people have higher magical affinities than others, so it's easier to swallow that someone might just be born with a magical power like hers, for whatever reason.
In FFVII's setting even, there are people that are inherently special. Aerith, obviously. Cloud as well, due to no less than three miraculous feats he pulled off even before being enhanced by Hojo (surviving the fall at Mt. Nibel with just scratches on his knees while trying to save Tifa, using a Raven's sword in BC, and everything he did in the reactor in Mt. Nibel when Sephiroth destroyed the village).
Those don't incite a wtf reaction quite as much because they're explained to some degree. Aerith is a Cetra, and, thus, more connected to the planet than most people, etc., while Cloud's probably just one of a lucky few who is able to draw upon his spirit energy more easily than others (though the established metaphysics make it clear that anyone can Limit Break, so Cloud's not special in an inhuman way to begin with).
But then with Reeve you've got this guy who can make stuffed animals walk around and talk on their own. And beat up bad guys. And no one else has this ability, it's not explained to any degree whatsoever, we don't even know what the process looks like, etc.
So, yeah, it's fucking retarded. They should have just stuck to Cait Sith being a robot. Hell, they could have even said he did it with a special materia and that would have been an improvement. There would still be questions that could be raised about the limits of this materia's ability, but at least the explanation for Cait Sith would be utilizing metaphysics that play so much of a role elsewhere, rather than some new ones from nowhere.
Tifabelle said:
I don't have encylopedic knowledge like you on the subject, but Reeve used Inspire on Cait Sith? I thought Cait Sith was fully AI robot, and he used Inspire on the Moogle. I figure Cait Sith acts on his own the majority of the time, and Reeve can assume control when necessary.
Reeve's 10th Anniversary Ultimania profile seems to indicate that he used Inspire on both the moogle and the cat, though: "By utilizing his special ability, 'Inspire', he is able to cause inorganic things to emit life; his 'child', the 'cat'-shaped robot, Cait Sith can be controlled from a great distance." The one idea seems to lead into the other, and they're even in the same sentence.
Even were it just the moogle, though, that still leaves us with the unanswered questions about the parameters of this
Shit Inspire ability. =(
Tifabelle said:
Now with that, I assumed Cait Sith's memories are downloaded to a database, which is probably why future Cait Sith's retain knowledge of people/places/events etc.
Don't see why that wouldn't be possible.