What are some underrated moments in FF7?

[Conr]

A bit of an odd question, but I'm curious! We all know about the major plot beats, but sometimes smaller moments stick with individual players.

For example, I really liked when Cait Sith called attention to the civilian casualties caused by Avalanche when confronting Barret on the Highwind. Sure, Cait Sith is not a saint, but I like the moral grayness in this moment. Cait Sith had spent much of the game under a critical eye, rightly so.

But this moment shows how someone working in a government has to deal with cleaning up the mess. Cait Sith, being responsible for public works, was likely most familiar with the direct impact of the reactor bombings. Avalanche isn't really shown to do any cleanup work after doing this, they fire and forget. Even an uncaring corporation like Shinra had to do disaster response work. Cait Sith is making a good point about the lack of consideration given by Avalanche to this.

If I may tap into some of my studies, it shows a fatal flaw that Avalanche had as a revolutionary organization; Endearing itself to the people. Che Guevara highlighted this in his book Guerilla Warfare, where he mentioned again and again how important popular support was in a conflict. For example, he would make sure guerillas were always in uniform, so that counterrevolutionary troops would only target his own men and not uninvolved civilians.

Avalanche is not so organized, and their lack of consideration for civilians is something I found objectionable, even if they're ultimately fighting for the cause of good. Shinra is of course evil, and Cait Sith isn't exactly a morally pure character, but his perspective as an insider adds to the game in a good way! To see the game add this layer of complexity, even if only in a single line or two, was quite special to me!

 

[Ite]

On that note, I really like Biggs’ early line, “That should keep the Planet going… at least a little longer.” The hopelessness and inevitability of extinction looms large even in this video game’s first successful mission. It’s difficult to describe just how hard that hit coming out of 90s video game tradition. It’s not a loss or a defeat, it’s a hollow victory. Like, damn.

There are so many little moments, I could write a paragraph about a line from every scene I’m sure. It’s all killer.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

One of my favourites is Barret's dialogue after they reach Holzoff when they're about to be headed up Gaea Cliffs:

Barret: "...Seein' a place like this, makes you realize how awesome nature is. But, if anyone ever told me to live here, I'd tell them to... you know... I'll tell you one thing though, If I did have to live here I'd change things around 'n' make it better. I guess the total opposite of this would be...... Midgar. – When you think of it that way, Shinra don't seem so bad... Uuuuuuurrrrrgh!! What the hell am I sayin'!? The Shinra, not bad!?"

He still struggles with a lot of the cognitive dissonance on his feelings towards Shinra & how they're wrapped up with everything because he ultimately made the decision to support the Corel Reactor because it would legitimately have made life better for his wife at the time. His extremism in blowing up reactors is also connected to Shinra blaming the damaged reactor on them, so he's always been sort of working to earn what they already punished him for, but every once in a while we see little glimpses outside of who he's forced himself to be because of that.

Remake had a little bit of this preemptively with during Barret's ideological confrontation with President Shinra, that always reminded me of this scene from the original game because of how it REALLY highlights that particular element of Barret's character that's mostly hidden behind the antithetical opposite to Shinra that he has to turn himself into most of the time and shows that even he struggles to see things in those sorts of absolute terms that he's constantly forced into operating under.



X

 

[Elkazor]

There are too many for me, far too many!

I quite like the optional scene at the Honeybee Inn where Cloud finds a ghost of himself. I know most people think of the silly bath tub scene with Mukki, but I prefer Cloud's ghost scene. It's more eerie and unsettling, and retrospectively it's almost like Sephiroth is mocking Cloud "what are you doing running around in a place like this?"

Also, the keyhole spying where you see the President engaging in his eccentric role-play is an underrated scene too. The employees bickering quietly about having to wear heavy knight armor just for the sake of the scene.

In Costa del Sol where depending on who you brought in your party you can find different scenes of the party members. Everyone remembers the Hojo scene but I particularly liked Aerith's scene here, it gives you a deeper understanding about how she feels about being a Cetra/Ancient.

I love all the hidden scenes and dialogue you can find. The game is filled with them.

I love the random Shinra manager in Junon lounging on his bed who says he's next in line to be promoted. I love all the different ways you can get the optional characters.

I love how you can find the key to Sector 5 in disc two to return to the Slums.

My favorite has gotta be finding the Waterfall cave and Vincent getting to talk to Lucrecia after everything, and seeing the flashback scenes.
When Lucrecia asks him "How is my son" and you actually see Cloud try to speak up about Sephiroth but Vincent holds him back and tells her "Sephiroth is dead"

This moment was poignant for me, every time I've played it. At first I was kinda sad and upset that Vincent would rather tell her a comforting lie, but the more I think on it the more I think it's a lot deeper than that. Sephiroth at that point had become someone Lucrecia wouldn't even recognize. Sephiroth never knew Lucrecia was his mother at all nor did he even seem to care. Sephiroth might as well be dead to her, and for her to witness everything he'd done would likely plunge her into a deep despair and depression. Even if Lucrecia screwed up big time entrusting her child with Hojo, Vincent still cares about her enough to save her from that despair, even if she might be partially responsible.

It's something that's still polarizing. Does Lucrecia deserve to be spared that knowledge despite having given up her own child to a sickening science experiment? Maybe not honestly, but Vincent still extends his kindness to her regardless. It could be interpreted as Vincent either staying loyal and being kind-hearted and noble even after all his hardship or just him fawning or a bit of both, and a lot of Vincent's behaviour and dialogue is vague so that it can be interpreted many different ways, and that's what makes him so endearing and the fact that he's a secret character completes the charm.