Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Trailer Reaction: Metaphysics and Pursuing the Right Timeline

Ever grappled with your conscience during a game? This episode sees Gene and Doc recounting our latest gaming escapades, from the moral crossroads of "Abomination" to the celebrated "Baldur's Gate 3." Discover how board games can make you question your values and witness the transformation of a video game from its humble beginnings to a Game of the Year phenomenon. We share tales from the trenches of "Baldur's Gate," reminiscing about our D&D-inspired adventures, and discuss how these experiences have shaped our gaming personas.

Prepare to be spellbound as we weave a narrative that links the enchantment of Dungeons & Dragons to the real-world magic of personal growth and professional development. I reveal a D&D encounter that could have spelled doom but for a timely Counterspell, drawing a parallel with my journey as an online educator mastering digital tools. We invite you to find your own secret quests in life, just as you might in a game by speaking with animals or deploying unique abilities, and I'll share my fresh start with Final Fantasy XIV, exploring its narrative depths alongside insights from my literary work, 'The Gamer's Journey.'

The excitement peaks as we dissect the latest "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth" trailer, delving into the heart-stopping implications for characters like Zack and Aerith, and what their altered fates mean for our heroes. We analyze the psychological undercurrents and explore how the game's themes echo the struggles of mental health and self-awareness. Wrapping up, we speculate on the combat system updates and how every character—from Cloud to Kate Sith—might offer a new level of engagement. Join Gene and me for a profound exploration of games, strategy, and the evolution of the self.

Chapters

• 0:14 Gaming Personas and Baldur's Gate
• 15:48 D&D Spells, Gaming Strategies, and Teaching
• 22:57 Final Fantasy VII Trailer Analysis
• 40:37 Analyzing the Final Fantasy VII

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:14

Welcome to the Gaming Persona podcast. This is the show that explores who we become when we play games. I'm your host, dr. Gamelogy from YouTube and online classrooms across the country. We're going to finish the year strong and talk about who we become when we play games, gene where you're listed, signed us.

Speaker 2: 0:32

Yeah, as usual. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, spotify, google and most anywhere else podcasts can be found. If you are enjoying our content, be sure to leave a review on your favorite listening app.

Speaker 1: 0:42

So let's go ahead and start our first segment, the Ordinary World, where we share everyday life through our games. All right, Gene, how has your weeks in the world of gaming been since the last time we came together to do this?

Speaker 2: 0:58

Since the last time we came together In the world of board games, I played a lot. We went through, like over Thanksgiving break and all that we went through many of our old board games that we bought and never played and we just tried them out and see to see if we hated them or not. So there's a bunch of those. Let's see. I'll just list off a few. We played something called Abomination, which is you're playing a sequel to the Frankenstein movie, where Frankenstein, the monster who survives the movie, comes and blackmails you a different scientist from Dr Frankenstein. He blackmails you into making him a friend. Yeah, and so the game is you have to run around and find body parts. That could be things like going to the grave and digging them up. You go to public executions and bribe the guards to let you have the bodies, stuff like that. So when you go, or you can pay criminals to just murder people and give them to you. So there's things like that. So there's this balance in the game of you juggling your humanity level versus your completion of the goals, because if you don't build your monster guy quick enough, the Frankenstein's monster will murder you for being a bad scientist.

Speaker 3: 2:30

Wow.

Speaker 2: 2:31

But so if you want to do your job quickly, your humanity level just drops off very fast because you have to kill people, you also have to invade the cops and things like that.

Speaker 1: 2:45

So there's a lot of side variables besides just completing the main objective.

Speaker 2: 2:51

Because so your computer against the other players who are also being blackmailed? And so there's things like there's a concept of how good of a monster you want to build. You want to use crappy body parts like dog meat for flesh instead of human flesh, like there's a lot of shortcuts into completing the creature, but then you will probably lose, because if your other play, if the other players build a better monster than you, at the end then Frankenstein's monster, it sounds as, implies that he kills off the rest that do a bad job. The guy that wins is spared.

Speaker 1: 3:28

For whatever reason, you just made me think of that competition where everyone builds their own robots and then they battle in an arena and but also with a build your own right now and it's timed kind of components. So you have to make a choice between do I build this quickly or do I go for quality and maybe run out of time and not have it optimized, but what I have built is higher quality.

Speaker 2: 3:58

There is that. But yeah, like I said, there's also the humanity slash, evading the cops problem. The lower your humanity because you're trying, you're doing more criminal stuff to get your parts, like hiring people to kill people, then you're more likely to run into the cops and possibly get arrested or killed or whatever.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Okay, so you're learning a little bit about morality and decision making.

Speaker 2: 4:24

Yeah, because to make a really high tier monster while keeping humanity is actually tough, though in the game, the way you do that is to you. You spend a lot of time waiting around the hospital hoping people die natural deaths and then get those guys. That's a intermittent thing. You can't just go kill people. You can do that every day.

Speaker 1: 4:49

Yeah, that's a variable interval kind of reinforcement system. Huh, that sounds really interesting. So, gene, on our list of things to talk about today, both of us have a shared game that we've been involved in since last time we were on an episode together. Oh, yes, yeah, and also, this game happened to win Game of the Year at the Video Game Awards less than a week ago. Yes, and the game I am talking about is Baldur's Gate 3.

Speaker 2: 5:28

Yeah, it's interesting in the sense that, like when the game first came out, it was in a. It was still a good game but it had some weird problems and at that point I might not have considered a game of the year. But they've released like many patches since the release, and it's at least five major patches.

Speaker 1: 5:49

Yeah, and everyone has only made the game better, so I feel like it totally deserves it now, when I was at one of the PAX conventions last year, they had by far the most impressive booth. It was actually a castle. It had a massive line that people were waiting in to play a timed run of the demo, which is actually the opening of the game. When you're on the ship, Okay, they plant the worms. So you see that it's the same intro. I was actually surprised by this when the game was released, that I played the real opening of the game. So I actually waited in line because I looked across the convention hall. This was the most eye catching thing. They had a wreck ship, they had cost players that were walking around the front 10% of the line taking pictures with people, and so I just felt at that moment that this game is trying to be something. Yeah, and I had no idea what Baldur's Gate was because I never played the originals. I'm not a D&D player Traditionally. I just joined my first campaign during the COVID-19 stay at home pandemic, so when I sat down to play, I didn't actually know what I was about to play. And so now that the game's out, it's about a year and a half since that story happened and I'm still playing roughly the same character. I'm a wizard and I actually am in Act 2, but I did not understand that I was in Act 2 because there's no big text that comes across the screen that says Act 2.

Speaker 2: 7:38

Yeah, there's just that one pop that says if you go farther past this point, it's a big deal or something.

Speaker 1: 7:45

Yeah, and I actually turned back and tried to find more things to do and I'm pretty sure I exhausted that entire map. So I went into that area and the thing that I just completed, just as an indicator of where I am, is there's this section where you're walking through a dark path and the darkness is a chaotic magic that seems to lower your health and maybe rip you apart from the inside or make you go insane, and it's turn-based walking and I hate it. Oh, did you?

Speaker 2: 8:27

not find protection from that before you got there?

Speaker 1: 8:32

We did kill the spider guy and take his lantern, but the people that ambushed the spider guy took the lantern instead of just giving it to me there. So I had to continue up that path even farther by doing the turn-based walking. But then I was in this inn and it got ambushed by a bunch of demons, but I did successfully repel the main demon and they all died. So it's fine. They didn't steal the person they were trying to kidnap. Okay, yeah, it's going well, but that whole turn-based walking dynamic is a real bummer.

Speaker 2: 9:10

Oh, you're free to turn it off, but you will find that you will die uncontrollably.

Speaker 1: 9:16

No, I got to the end of a bridge and talked to the demon that's got it out for Will.

Speaker 2: 9:23

Yeah, jeanne, no, I'm just saying if you turn off the turn-based mode when it took you into that, you will just die very quickly because that evil magic damage that only happens every turn is now happening every five seconds of real time.

Speaker 1: 9:39

Okay, got it. So you would have to know exactly where you're going, and just roll for it. Okay, I'm better off the way, jeanne, who is your main party, that you play most of the campaign with the three people going alongside your character.

Speaker 2: 9:55

Oh, okay. So I personally have chosen Gale the Wizard to be my main controllable character. My wife Alex. She is playing the Dark Urge. She has made the Dark Urge into a tiefling bard, okay. And then Shadowheart at the moment, just because she is so central to this act two. And then the fourth is Karlech, because we need a physical tank.

Speaker 1: 10:22

I'm using Lazell as the tank.

Speaker 2: 10:25

Yeah, lazell is arguably the best character in the game because the script favors her character so much yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:33

Shadowheart is my healer type. That's the role that she fills. I don't need Gale, because I'm the wizard, and having two wizards is just silly. Yeah, so I have Astarion in the group for my fourth person, so I removed the need for.

Speaker 2: 10:50

Astarion so to speak. I know he's like everyone's favorite, but I removed him by having. Gale raises dexterity all the way to 18 through items and buffs and he's wearing a whole bunch of dexterity based gear because that helps you with your spell attack For things like Scorch and Array and whatnot. So he's doing double duty as a rogue wizard. Okay, that's interesting, yeah, okay, and in my party, shadowheart is the secondary tank, because I don't know if you ever got the, if you found that legendary mace in the temple. I did find it. Okay, that thing is made for tanking.

Speaker 1: 11:49

Oh, I didn't realize that. I haven't had any success using her when she's at melee range so far. She misses a lot.

Speaker 2: 11:58

Yeah, no, I stack her full of armor. I don't rely on her hitting but that mace, when you're wielding it, anyone that walks into like within five feet of you, has to make a save or get blinded. And so she's made to just sit at the front and, hopefully, blind everyone that runs at her, and so she becomes a tank.

Speaker 1: 12:22

That's neat, okay, so you are showing off a little bit of the difference between you and me. You clearly understand the mechanics of DTRPGs and you're maximizing the potential of these characters, and I'm more using them the way they come after you unpackage them from the box.

Speaker 2: 12:46

Oh, okay. So the thing about that is that's mostly fine, but a few of the characters are really bad out of the box.

Speaker 1: 12:54

Yes, that's true. I was trying to use Will early in the game in that first area and he just kept getting killed by people and I was just like, okay, you're just going to stay at camp and I probably will never trust you to be in my party. Oh, you might have met her now that you've gotten to that last light in Chahira, chahira, I don't the druid that runs the inn, oh, that's holding up the big shield, or the one that is like the one in charge, like the one in charge, the one that's harder than you when you walk in. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, she didn't murder me, it went fine.

Speaker 2: 13:36

So later on she is a potential companion. Not really a spoiler, because she's actually a Baldur's Gate 2 character. She's a returning character.

Speaker 1: 13:45

That's really cool. I love when video games do that.

Speaker 2: 13:49

But her default in this game is bizarre. For one, they made her a dual wheel druid, which doesn't make any sense, because a druid is fighting in melee. They want to transform into an animal anyways. So why would you waste your abilities trying to dual wheel weapons when you should just be a bear? I don't know.

Speaker 1: 14:13

I feel like I waste a lot of my abilities trying to be a YouTube internet star when I have a PhD in counselor, education and supervision. So you just got to go with what your heart says, gene.

Speaker 2: 14:27

The thing is, though, it's like when you are in animal form, your weapons and your gear doesn't really matter. It's a different set of stats. So to build her to be a dual wheel scimitar fighter, it's a whole different thing than making her into a wild-shaped fighter, and it really clashes with each other. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:54

I do have one anecdote that I want to share with you, since I know UDM a lot of games too. I'm in an actual Roll20 game right now. That started during the pandemic the game I mentioned and I'm on my second character, which is a blade singing wizard, and I'm coming to realize the more spells that I add to his list, I really am a red mage at this point as far as the way I play, and that's one of my favorite Final Fantasy classes. So mentally, that helps to understand how I'm going to approach the fight is because I've played hundreds of hours as red mage. But then playing Baldur's Gate is actually really good practice for understanding what could be possible in a D&D game. So I have counterspell as one of my selected spells. I think it's a level three spell and there was a moment where I think my DM on Friday last week was about to kill me and I just put up the time out while he was explaining what was happening with this spell and I was like, Joe, is this attack magical in nature? He's like, yes, it is. I was like I would like to cast counterspell and he was so proud of me there was cheers. I was like, oh man he comes in, oh you have no idea what was about to happen to you, that kind of thing, and so I felt good in the. D&D game.

Speaker 2: 16:38

Yeah, yeah. As AGM, one of the things that really just bugs me from players is that and the hope is that they grow, but it's like when they just throw a character together and they have no idea what they're doing.

Speaker 1: 16:55

That's why my sister had to die.

Speaker 2: 16:56

Oh, but it's like let me look at your spell. If you just use that spell on this door, then you wouldn't have been stuck here trying to unlock it for an hour. Yeah, so it's like and then yeah, so one of the best, better feelings as a G is watching your team eventually gel and figure out what each other can do and actually work on that.

Speaker 1: 17:22

Yeah, I'd like to create a work parallel, for that, too, is one of the things that's becoming more and more a part of my online instructor role is using more creative elements from the internet, especially as new AI apps come out Now, and I really look at the things that I bookmarked in my Google Chrome browser, the apps that I have on my gaming PC versus my personal laptop versus my work laptop. These are all my abilities in my list, and there are so many things that I do better and quicker now than I did when my teaching career started, and it's that same mentality that you're talking about that game masters have for their players in their games. It's like this thing that you're complaining about work. Why no colleagues and things. It doesn't have to be this monstrous thing because you've done other things that are similar in the past that would solve this problem. All you have to do is sit down with some discipline and some creativity and do it, and that's what video games have taught me to bring that to the table more often than not, and I think that's why things like this show exist. I wanted to have people to talk with, like you and Jenny and our guests, and just encourage people to think about what you're capable of, like they're your ability list that you can call on when the situation merits it.

Speaker 2: 19:01

Yeah, and so yeah, and there's all. These games are all really ultimately about experimentation. I don't know if you knew about all the random death pits in Act 1, where if you cast Featherfall first, you can actually just be somewhere instead of bit dying.

Speaker 1: 19:22

No, I did not know that. You mentioned episodes ago, though, that you can find all kinds of extra quests just by talking with animals.

Speaker 2: 19:32

Yeah, there's talking to animals, there's going into strange holes. If you were, if you have some way to transform into a small creature like a mouse, there's all kinds of weird holes that you can burrow into that. Wow, there's all kinds of weirdness. And then, of course, there's a whole section of the game that most people won't touch on their first go because of alignment related issues. Like I'm imagining you didn't slaughter everyone in Act 1, the innocents, I would say technically. But yeah, you could slaughter innocents and get on the evil route and have different allies.

Speaker 1: 20:14

No, I very much. Am playing as if I'm a hero who is trying not to be manipulated by people.

Speaker 2: 20:23

Yeah, I'm doing a Geralt-ish run.

Speaker 1: 20:30

Geralt, though, ends up being a lot of the player's projection, though.

Speaker 2: 20:37

Yeah, that is true. But yeah, I'm playing as a guy that just wants to. I'm playing Gale's storyline and if you know his, he wants to not blow up.

Speaker 1: 20:48

I got to meet the Gandalf character and that was such a cool moment. He, straight up, is Gandalf, but wearing a red robe, yeah, and but also has the verbose way of delivering vocabulary that reminds me of oh, what's the character from Final Fantasy XIV? Oh man, everything he says is verbose. Let's see, there's a couple of ones. It's been too long since I played deeper in the game. I have actually started Final Fantasy XIV over.

Speaker 2: 21:31

Yeah, I saw some of your videos pop up.

Speaker 1: 21:35

Yeah, the reason for that is that when I first started the game, my goal very much was to make it to Shadowbringers, which was the current expansion, so I could play some raids with people in the guild AIE and, as a result, I don't remember a lot of the story. I just played it too fast and I also want to be able to stream the story and have the potential to talk about things that are important to me. That I realized while I was writing the gamer's journey, because back when I started Final Fantasy XIV, that book was only an idea that existed in my head and now, although no one's bought it and read it yet, it is a real book. It is a real book. I know everything that happens in it and I'm just waiting for it to get a final edit and then we can print it. Final Fantasy XIV potentially unlocks a lot of opportunities, of things I can talk about while I'm streaming and I'm enjoying it. It's very low-key and casual and a Railway Born is actually a really nice experience if you're not intending to be frustrated by it. It's a good start to an MMO game.

Speaker 2: 22:55

I would say mostly. I just feel like a handful of quests could be removed.

Speaker 1: 23:03

They have removed a lot of the content in the MSQ to streamline how the EXP flows from level 1 to 50.

Speaker 2: 23:14

Yeah, that is true. I've heard that. I remember a handful of quests like why are we doing this? Something's about to blow up, why are we doing this thing instead of addressing that?

Speaker 1: 23:25

Yeah, that's true. Have you ever seen any of those memes where there's like a mushroom cloud in the distance and the hero character is delivering mail?

Speaker 2: 23:34

in the foreground.

Speaker 1: 23:36

It's like every video game Hold on. I have a side quest.

Speaker 2: 23:39

Yeah, that is a Railway Born in spade.

Speaker 1: 23:43

Well, every Final Fantasy XIV expansion has its fair share of Eorzean postal service missions. Oh, speaking of the epic things, have you played the extra content that released for Final Fantasy XVI yet?

Speaker 2: 24:02

No, actually, because I haven't either. Yeah, because the Alan Wake New Game Plus came out yesterday and I started playing that.

Speaker 1: 24:11

Oh, how is Alan Wake 2? I believe that game got the second most video game awards.

Speaker 2: 24:17

For the most part it's fabulous, but and the New Game Plus is supposed to add more story and an additional ending. So depending on how that goes, it could be great. Awesome, Because so the thing is, the whole Alan Wake Plus control plus some other stuff is a shared universe. So I'm really hoping that the extended ending of Alan Wake 2 bridges more into that shared stuff. Okay, because, like characters from control, they only make these weird little poppins during the course of Alan Wake 2. And I'm hoping we're getting more of them.

Speaker 1: 25:00

Yeah, just to integrate it into the story more. Yeah, okay, we have actually a goal with this episode. It's not just us talking about random RPG games. We are talking about not random RPG games too. So during the video game awards, a trailer was released for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. So, jean, do you have this trailer up on your screen somewhere? Oh yeah we can watch it again. All right, we are going to watch it. We're going to react. You go as over the top as you want. We're going to put our squares on the video and we're going to have this be part of the episode.

Speaker 2: 25:46

What are we doing live? Are we watching the trailer and then commentating?

Speaker 1: 25:52

No, we're just going to go. The trailer is going to be playing. We can talk, we can cry, we can gasp.

Speaker 2: 25:58

The trailer is not all that long, so I feel like we need to agree to pause or something.

Speaker 1: 26:04

All right, let's watch it once without anything overlapping it then Okay, and then we can talk about it. Okay, all right. Three, two, one, all right.

Speaker 3: 26:28

I'm feeling every single bullet when I am, manifests once more. Do not underestimate this foe. You're foe, seferov. What am I supposed to do? There are a lot runs out of mind, doesn't it? I'm the only one who gets a pass. Sometimes I don't even know who I am. I forget things everyone else remembers, just fine, and no things. I've got no right. Knowing Cloud, it's okay. You saved me before, now it's my turn. Is it you, you or is it the pooch? I'm just messing with you that there is our man. When fate sets us a challenge, we must rise to meet him. Are you ready to rumble, erith? Is there anything I can do for you? I want a help. Look at me, barrett. Do you think I want Marlene to see what her father's become Promise not to tell when she wakes up? A scary man is gonna kill her. Could it be chance to the day that we meet again? Where are we? I wish I could say but believe, know that you'll find me. We won't ever be. Please, I'm begging you, lend me your strength.

Speaker 2: 28:56

All right, have you finished? Yep, okay.

Speaker 1: 29:02

All right, ah, okay, so let's just go and start it again and just whatever we want to stop, like, just start talking and then we'll pause it. Okay, so let's just hit play again. Three, two, one. I'm going to have a stop, like almost immediately, sure, so let's pause it here. So Zach has these bullets coming at him from the ending of Crisis Core, correct, and that scene is so important, not only to this franchise, but there's so many elements of the failed heroes journey that don't often get included in every story. But Final Fantasy VII has them because it was so ahead of its thinking when it created cloud that it had Zach built into the story back in the 90s, and so he says that he feels every bullet. All right, do you have any reaction to this scene?

Speaker 2: 30:18

So the feels every bullet part right. It seems to me that is not. He's saying that in a metaphysical sense. Yeah, because we know from the ending of VII Remake that Zach mysteriously survives the end of Crisis Core in this alternate timeline, alternate universe, whatever you want to call it. Yeah, so I'm thinking in this version yeah, so I'm thinking in this version he did not get shot a million times, but he somehow feels that he should have.

Speaker 1: 31:03

Yeah, I don't think that actually is good for reality, though I think that's. There are many hints in this trailer that reality is messed up.

Speaker 2: 31:14

Right, yeah, and just a few more seconds there is.

Speaker 1: 31:18

Yeah, let's play it now the Vincent stuff seems to be the same. Yeah, okay, I paused on the loveless flyer and the wanted poster. So that wanted poster shows only one member of Avalanche is alive in this timeline, where Zach didn't die. So right, we have some very doctor who kinds of things going on here, where the timeline seems the life stream, or the timeline seems to have a version of events that it needs, and the heroes defeating the whisper monster in remake and forcing time into a different direction. It seems like that different direction is spawning a multiverse of things that are probably going to collapse.

Speaker 2: 32:16

Correct. So yeah, and from what I'm taking from this is that, because Zach is alive, cloud did not awaken as a being to go assist on the bombing mission, and so the Avalanche crew just gets massacred.

Speaker 1: 32:36

Yeah, I think that's very true. Also, in several of the scenes with Zach, you see these, the four heroes, in rag doll mode. So when Cloud was being dragged away by Zach to safety, he was dormant because of Mako poisoning, right. But I don't think this is Mako poisoning. I think that they've become lifeless bodies because the timeline doesn't know what to do with them or something.

Speaker 2: 33:13

Yeah, that is one interpretation of it. Yeah, I don't know how metaphysically, I know I played the end of crisis core where somehow Cloud just osmosis absorbs Zach's ability to live, I don't know Well, cloud, no damage in that final battle.

Speaker 1: 33:33

They never discover his body.

Speaker 2: 33:36

And then, yeah, somehow he just absorbs identity, his abilities and his not quite his personality, but some of it. But yes, so without that weird mystical osmosis moment, I think Cloud just remains a coma person, whatever he is, but why would Aerith be a coma person that? Is, I'm not, so that might be a have you seen, Is it the brainwave generator.

Speaker 1: 34:08

Friday brain.

Speaker 2: 34:10

No, no, have you seen the newer Dr Strange? The multiverse of madness, yes, where people are projecting their minds across into other worlds. Okay, so in REAP7, remake, aerith is aware of the multiverse, or at least she implies it, because she's the one explaining hey, if we do this, blah, blah, blah, things are going to be different. She did, yeah, she's the one that's. If we go over there and fight the whisper monster, we're going to change the world Outside the door of light.

Speaker 1: 34:46

Yeah, okay, she does say that that's a really good callback.

Speaker 2: 34:51

I'm thinking that this Aerith has is a mind jumped version and so in the other time that came over from the timeline where Zach is alive.

Speaker 1: 35:03

Okay, you had told me 50 episodes ago in our show of the gaming persona that Sephiroth is also a multi timeline being in remake. Very clearly, he might even be a Sephiroth. That's after he gets defeated in Advent Children and he's just there to have to be humored while he watches all these events replay themselves.

Speaker 2: 35:32

Right yeah, he's working on some scheme to make it so that he is never defeated.

Speaker 1: 35:40

That's what every good villain is trying to do, right?

Speaker 2: 35:43

Yeah, I think, yeah, I think. He's basically rigging the timeline to where, no matter how many times they kill him, he just exists.

Speaker 1: 35:52

Okay, let's hit play again. I'm at the 25 second mark, so let's hit on three, two, one go.

Speaker 2: 35:59

Okay.

Speaker 1: 36:01

Yeah, biggs has this theory, cloud saying I know things I have no right knowing. So we see Titan, phoenix, bahamut. We got the Barrett storyline again, which is probably the part of the game I remember the least.

Speaker 2: 36:28

All right, and then, yeah, this part is worth pausing to.

Speaker 1: 36:33

Yeah. So Marlene knows that the scary man is going to kill Aerith if she wakes up.

Speaker 2: 36:40

So yeah, marlene, even in the first remake, has had this weird bond with Aerith. So I'm thinking, somehow Aerith has explained to her what she's doing. I'm going to jump across time to help the world somehow.

Speaker 1: 37:00

It might not even be literally a conversation they had. It might just be that her pure childlike innocence picks up on a feeling because Aerith is so connected to the life stream as the last remaining ancient and that has to be meaningful the deeper we get in this story. It's really cool also to see the flashes of all the side characters and little quests in different areas that are in the original game and just seeing those characters rendered in just such amazing graphics. Poor Cloud having to go one-on-one with that guy that looks ripped straight from Tekken. I need his workout routine.

Speaker 2: 37:45

But yeah, the interesting facet of this scene is to me is that so Aerith, along the lines of the original story, crisis Core and original Seven, she is waiting for Sack to come back For years, for years, literally years, like eight years roughly. And the thing is, if she understands the timeline, which implies she does, she is willingly sacrificing that. Instead of waiting for Sack to come and talk to her, she's like I'm leaving my body, I gotta go.

Speaker 1: 38:28

Okay.

Speaker 2: 38:30

Yeah, because if we meet and you and I talk, it's probably gonna break time. I don't know.

Speaker 1: 38:38

Oh, okay, so she has to be a potato. When Sack is running around talking to bigs, talking to people, he should never have even met in the first place, right? So she just vacates her place in the timeline to prevent the universe from collapsing maybe.

Speaker 2: 38:57

I think that's my theory. I believe that if her and Sack meet, then that means they're going to continue this cursed timeline that they don't want.

Speaker 1: 39:11

I just have a question about Sack and Aerith for Eugene. Is there any moment in video games that is more tragically emotional, but still powerful, than the ending of Crisis Core?

Speaker 2: 39:26

That is very hard, yeah, very tough.

Speaker 1: 39:30

So, for people that don't know, there is a mind wave generator mechanic the digital mind wave is what they call it and it is a roulette of all the people that Sack meets throughout the game, and the more he meets them, the more likely they are, in scenes that he's thinking about them, to pop up and give him a special move that's inspired by his bond with them. Right and Aerith is his girlfriend essentially throughout the latter half of the game, and as Sack is dying and getting assassinated by the Shinra troops, the digital mind wave is reflecting his final thoughts as he starts to realize I'm going to die here. This is the most peaceful way for me to have my life end. So that story on top of the story of what the roulette is doing and how the faces are just sticking with Aerith as all the bullets hit him.

Speaker 2: 40:37

Yeah, it's probably. I don't know if there was anyone that beats that, but it's pretty high.

Speaker 1: 40:44

I mean, we don't even have to answer the question. That's why it's so meaningful that Sack and Aerith being alive beyond that point in the timeline is a very big problem, depending on what you believe, you understand about metaphysics and true timelines and then corrupted timelines. We're talking about a corrupted timeline that seems like it would be a good thing for our heroes, but maybe our heroes are not meant to experience that good thing.

Speaker 2: 41:21

Right, because yeah. So further along with my theory is that I believe that Aerith understands that she's meant to go to the ancient city and get killed there, because that triggers the cast and the holy, ultimately the planet and all that.

Speaker 1: 41:38

And we know that scene is happening because it's in the trailer.

Speaker 2: 41:42

I think that she jumped time to her other self to ensure that that happens.

Speaker 1: 41:53

Okay, let's just play to get a little bit more of the trailer out in our minds again. Sure, so let's three, two, one go. So Aerith on stage singing this beautiful theme song for the game Jesse dancing. They're wearing these Greek inspired dresses. False timeline, psychological timeline, maybe that they're inside their own minds while they're in limbo? That's my theory here.

Speaker 2: 42:32

It could also just be hologram, because, as we've seen in Remake and original seven, shinra's hologram technology is nonsensical.

Speaker 1: 42:42

Okay, we also see footage that's probably the date from the Golden Saucer. We see Zach talking to Aeris lifeless body. We've been dissecting that. Then we have the city of the ancients and we see the black feathers floating right in front of her face with her hands in prayer position. So that's the end of the trailer. Right, that moment is notorious for all of us that played this game over 20 years ago.

Speaker 2: 43:19

Yeah, yeah. Like you were saying, I think it could be a mind thing or it could just be a very elaborate hologram. I don't put a passion to be able to hologram, Jesse.

Speaker 1: 43:31

I think Cloud's outfit is like a I only wear this in my dreams. I've never had this outfit kind of outfit.

Speaker 2: 43:39

Oh no, so that as far as I understand, not from this trailer but from reading an article about the trailer there is a opportunity in Gold Saucer to put on this show where Aerith is singing.

Speaker 1: 43:55

Oh, so this is real. This is not a psychological fever dream.

Speaker 2: 44:00

That aliveness of Jesse puts that into question.

Speaker 1: 44:03

Yeah, exactly. It was pretty compelling that she blows up in what was it? Chapter 14 or 15? Right?

Speaker 2: 44:15

Yeah, so either it's an elaborate hologram, because Shinra is capable of that, or, yeah, this could be a fever dream. Or after the show, cloud runs over to talk to her and she's like it's a totally different person and he like blurs her faces. That's a weird thing.

Speaker 1: 44:34

I would love to believe, though, that Biggs, wedge and Jesse are all alive somehow.

Speaker 2: 44:42

I think so. I think they are alive in the corrupted timeline and I told you 50 episodes ago, or whatever. I believe Sefroff wants Cloud to accept the corrupted timeline and not the true timeline, where we go all different avenues.

Speaker 1: 45:00

Everything's hard. Yeah yeah, life is hard and you have to earn victory there. It's the devil's, what do they call it? It's some, you know where. The devil offers you everything you want. It's too good to be true and you basically they call this something in literature. I'm so upset at myself right now.

Speaker 2: 45:27

Yeah, I know what you're talking about because all during remake Sefroff is very encouraging of Cloud to do certain things like take care of yourself, run away from your struggles. You got to live Like it's. This is not the typical villainous speech where it's like I'm gonna crush you.

Speaker 1: 45:47

It's it's very it's very you know what, though? there is a mental health conversation about the current state of mental health versus some of the things that were done very well in the past that are not necessarily done as often now. I think that a lot of the mental health awareness message is actually self care, take care of yourself, set boundaries, and those are good things. I don't want anyone to listen to the show and come out of it saying Dr Daniel Kaufman said boundaries and self care are bad things. They're not, but what I'm saying is, every moment that you step into a situation that is challenging for you, where you expend your energy and possibly exhaust yourself, but you keep going, that expands what you're capable of, and Sephiroth is offering Cloud a comfortable life, and the hero's journey is not comfortable. Ptsd and getting treated for it and getting better and learning how to integrate your sense of self back into the life you have. That's not comfortable.

Speaker 2: 47:02

And yeah, I think part of that is also. So long as he keeps running from his problems and all that, he will never, he won't realize that he's not Zach, and which won't trigger the future.

Speaker 1: 47:17

Yeah, and then Sephiroth wins without having anyone step up to battle him, right.

Speaker 2: 47:25

Or at least not battle him in the way that we're supposed to.

Speaker 1: 47:29

Right, we did battle him in remake, but that battle was staged to send us a message, I think.

Speaker 2: 47:38

Yeah, we definitely didn't defeat him, he just no, not even close. Yeah, and also, yeah, in that battle Sephiroth was not actually trying very hard. No, very clearly, oh.

Speaker 1: 47:51

but on that topic, some of the moves that you see Cloud and the rest of the party pull off are so cool. The combat system seems to be the same, but upgraded, and our abilities expand beyond where they were in remake. It's really cool to see Kate Sith in there. It's really cool to see Vincent and Yuffie.

Speaker 2: 48:18

I'm excited to like with the upgrade of this battle system, I'm excited to actually possibly care to use Kate Sith, because he's definitely my least used character.

Speaker 1: 48:30

Yeah, but on the PS1, it's really hard to tell what he even was supposed to be. Right, I think that's part of the problem. You had the art from the CD case, but that is not what Kate Sith looked like in the game. It was just a blob. It's like what is this? Also, I think it's really interesting that Sid is always a thirst trap. No matter which Final Fantasy game we get with modern graphics whether it's 15, 16, 14, now seven rebirth it's always like your name said the world is going to decide. You are hot.

Speaker 2: 49:13

Yeah, I think, sid, I think the only time. I think there's only been like two games where Sid isn't hot, three, three, so in nine he spent 90% of the game transformed into a bug. So there's that.

Speaker 1: 49:31

Okay, but they haven't remade nine in modern graphics. They could make that bug incredibly sexy if they ever make a PS5 remake.

Speaker 2: 49:41

That is possibly true, but then in six, in Final Fantasy 6, he was an old. He was a very old scientist man that wore like a weird laboratory outfit, so you couldn't tell if he was sexy, but he probably wasn't, because he was like an 80 year old in a hazmat suit.

Speaker 1: 50:02

Okay, Well, we're coming up on time here, gene, and I really think that us breaking down a game trailer has been one of the most fun episode things that we've ever done on this show. Before we wrap it up, what are some of your final takeaways, since we watched the trailer two times together tonight?

Speaker 2: 50:22

So one of the things so actually it's not even in this trailer. It was the previous rebirth trailer, where they showcase things like Chocobo writing that part imparted to me how much more massive rebirth is going to be compared to remake, because in the original seven you could go around the whole planet in 30 seconds. Yeah, yeah, maybe not even and I don't think that's going to be the case anymore you could see the pace that the Chocobo is climbing that mountain. I think this world is going to be immense and I'm very excited about it.

Speaker 1: 51:01

We're probably going to have quick travel points similar to Final Fantasy XVI.

Speaker 2: 51:04

Yes, but I think also walking around the world will be more robust than it used to be by a long shot.

Speaker 1: 51:16

Yeah, for me, I'm really interested in seeing what kind of party compositions we have the opportunity to do, because if you have groups of four, like most Final Fantasy games structure throughout history, there's going to be people on the bench. In this one and in remake, there really never was anyone that was benched because Red XIII never became a controllable party member, right. So I'm really curious to see if there's any combo moves. It really does seem like two characters can do moves together that seemed to have amazing combined power potential and just this story is such an amazing modern mythology and those two words together are really why I love video games. So I think Final Fantasy VII might be the game that is talked about the most in my book, even though my book is talking broadly about any video game can show up in order to talk about the hero's journey, but Final Fantasy VII is such a connective bridge to a game having a life that becomes meaningful like a mythological story. Mythology has a message right that people base their ideologies on what these heroes did and what that means for our culture, and I truly believe Final Fantasy VII has accomplished that in many ways. So us getting to relive it and also battle stories about. You've been hurt for 20 years by what happens in the city of the ancients. But you need that because look what happens if you change that. It's just another story where all the heroes live. It's like Return of the Jedi On doesn't die, Leia doesn't die, luke doesn't die. You're just singing with the Ewoks and I don't know about you, gene, but I haven't had many moments in my life where I felt like it was so totally positive that I was singing and dancing with Ewoks.

Speaker 2: 53:46

Right. If only George Lucas had his original budget that he wanted and we had a ton of Wilkins just destroying people. Oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 53:58

I don't think they would have sang with the Wilkins. Oh no, that would have been a very different scene, wouldn't it? Okay, thank you everyone for hanging out with us for our trailer review. We talked a little bit about the video game awards for 2023 and what games we've been playing. If these conversations sound fun to you and you're looking for some great people to play online games with, check out AIE at AIE-gildorg. And, by the way, if you're just working from home, you're on your computer. Pull up one of my Final Fantasy 14 streams. See how the game starts. Tell us if you like it. Tell us what questions you have on your mind. I really want to make my journey back through this epic game that's going to take probably a thousand hours to get where we're going as interactive as possible. I've been streaming on Sunday nights pretty consistently, and sometimes Wednesdays depending on work so and Tuesdays on weeks where we don't do the gaming persona. I have one last question for everyone to collect for the day Appreciate the timeline you are currently living and continue the journey.

Speaker 2: 55:05

Bye everyone.