When you first played through you thought...

[The Twilight Mexican]

That boss gave me problems for a good while. I thought I was stuck. Like Lex, I had no idea I could do the Phoenix Down thing. Finally just got lucky and took him down before he could get me.

 

[Gym Leader Devil]

I beat Gi Nattak on the first try but it was a bitch to do. Thing beat my ass black and blue repeatedly and I all but cleaned myself out on Phoenix Downs and healing items. And then I learned the trick to it. And face-palmed so hard it bruised

 

[JayM]

...to this day I usually remember the Gi Nattak trick about five minutes after I beat it the normal way.

 

[Abortedj]

Alright, was a lot that I thought would be different when it first came out.

1. Thought Sephiroth would join your team at some point.

2. Going along with that, I thought Shinra would be the real antagonist.

3. Though there would be more that one black guy in the entire world. Guess Barret is one lonely motherfucker.

4. Thought much more of the game would take place in Midgar. Seemed like an interesting place, but you really don't see all the much of it in the final product.

5. Thought the optional bosses would actually be hard.

6. Thought Zack would turn out not to be dead, maybe join party. (admittedly this wasn't during first time playing the game, but a thought I had during first play-through)

7. Thought Aeris would be back; but who didn't think that? Maybe not as a party member, but like Yang or Cid in FF4. Or even as some kind of zombie boss fight in Clouds head.

 

[ForceStealer]

Its true that there weren't very many, but Barret's not the ONLY black guy either.

 

[Abortedj]

Its true that there weren't very many, but Barret's not the ONLY black guy either.

Got any screen shots to prove that? I have looked on a number of occasions, and Barret seems to be alone in the world.

 

[ForceStealer]

I'd have to go after some when I'm not at work. But Mr. Coates in Corel Prison. At least one of Mukki's buddies. The woman on the seaplane and another in the bar at Costa del Sol. There's a woman (I think its a woman) in North Corel. I can think of those off the top of my head.

Was one of Corneo's lackeys? Can't remember.

Edit:

Spoiler: Here's Coates

 

[Abortedj]

Well I stand corrected.

 

[Kermitu Kleric Katie]

I never thought Sephy was going to be a good guy. Having first played FFVII years after it came out, I knew he was the main villain. I also knew Zack would be dead, since I had already played CC. I was surprised at how lame Zack's death scene was(losing to 3 Shinra guards? REALLY Zack?), especially given how epic and heartrending it was in CC. I'll admit, if they ever remake FFVII, they should show Zack's death the way CC did. And I didn't think that Aerith would come back, though I played it
many years after the initial release so I already knew she died and didn't come back. What I would like to find is someone who played FFVII at least 3 years after its release and didn't know Aerith was going to die when they played it.

 

[ForceStealer]

As promised...

Spoiler: Three of Mukki's buddies in fact!

Spoiler: And I'm pretty sure I'm right about Corneo's flunky too, though I couldn't find a good screenshot, the guy at the top.

Spoiler: Costa del Sol chicks

 

[Abortedj]

I never thought Sephy was going to be a good guy. Having first played FFVII years after it came out, I knew he was the main villain. I also knew Zack would be dead, since I had already played CC. I was surprised at how lame Zack's death scene was(losing to 3 Shinra guards? REALLY Zack?), especially given how epic and heartrending it was in CC. I'll admit, if they ever remake FFVII, they should show Zack's death the way CC did. And I didn't think that Aerith would come back, though I played it
many years after the initial release so I already knew she died and didn't come back. What I would like to find is someone who played FFVII at least 3 years after its release and didn't know Aerith was going to die when they played it.

See, I had the game on release (actually a few days before), so there was not much information to base my expectations on.

Now when I play it, I just see a lot of homosexual subtext with Cloud and Sephy.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I was surprised at how lame Zack's death scene was(losing to 3 Shinra guards? REALLY Zack?)

When he runs off screen, you hear sounds of battle before he returns. I never thought there were only those three. Just that those were the three who survived and managed to take him down while he tried getting Cloud to safety.

 

[Kermitu Kleric Katie]

When he runs off screen, you hear sounds of battle before he returns. I never thought there were only those three. Just that those were the three who survived and managed to take him down while he tried getting Cloud to safety.

That does make moar sense. Though the CC version is still moar epic and tearjerking.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Well, yeah. When he walks up to that army, I always think "Damn, Zack, you badass."

 

[Kermitu Kleric Katie]

Yeah, speaking of characters you disliked the first time you played, I really couldn't stad Aerith the first time I played it. I had tons of reasons, none of them having to do with the LTD. I didn't like how she disobeyed her mom to go stalk Cloud, I didn't like how enthusiastic she was about dressing Cloud up as a girl(I found it rather disturbing), I didn't like how she foolishly wandered off on her own and got herself killed, etc. I've managed to warm up to her though.

 

[Abortedj]

I thought we would get a definitive answer as to what the hell Cloud actually is. We just get hints, and not very good ones.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

You serious?

 

[Novus]

I thought Cloud would kill Aerith because the strategy guide I was using told me he did.
It was a huge relief when Sephiroth showed up.

 

[Abortedj]

You serious?

Yeah. Based solely on the content of FF7 (and not any supplemental/filler material) we don't really get a complete answer to what the hell Cloud is. Sephy clone? Guy that just had experiments preformed on him? Soldier drop out? A little of each? We know he was held captive along with Zack, and that something happened during that time, but we don't really get much on the details of that, and what may of happened before that. So to sum up, we get the impression that Cloud is a grand cluster fuck. Not sure if that was the intent of Square at the time or not.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Before any of the supplemental material, I thought it was abundantly clear that he was a SOLDIER reject who still ended up getting the SOLDIER procedure in the form of Hojo's "Sephiroth copy" project to test the Reunion. All of it is explained in-game, and I'd be happy to point to the relevant text if you'd like.

 

[Poe-Lantern]

So, when you finished FF7, you didn't have an answer, about Cloud I mean? But don't you get these answers BEFORE the ending anyway?

What did you walk away thinking?

What other material/content touched up on what Cloud is, other than the original game? I don't recall. Compilation givez me headache.

 

[ForceStealer]

It took me 2 playthroughs before I was confident in my understanding of what/who Cloud was, but yeah it is in there.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

So, when you finished FF7, you didn't have an answer, about Cloud I mean? But don't you get these answers BEFORE the ending anyway?

What did you walk away thinking?

What other material/content touched up on what Cloud is, other than the original game? I don't recall. Compilation givez me headache.

Other than Ultimanias -- which I know not everyone has seen the translations for -- Crisis Core presents it pretty clearly.

 

[Lex]

It took me more than 2 playthroughs to understand what Cloud really is. Maybe around the number 5 mark. Probably because I was 8 years old when I first played it and barely understood most of it.

 

[Splintered]

I remember being somewhat confused what Cloud was, I blame the overuse of the word "clone" tbh. I eventually got it but I don't remember when or what playthrough I was on, I played this game so damn much it's all muddled.

Or it may have been an age thing, I was eleven when I played and I definitely understand things a lot better in the game now than when I did before. It wasn't until I was older when I realized that Cloud was beating Aerith up in the Temple of Ancients, but when I did I was like "WHARIEONG R U DOIN"