The Story of Final Fantasy 7 .. So Far | A Comparative Analysis of the Original AND Remake

PLEASE READ: - Here is Part 2 to this series, my take on the Yuffie Episode: https://youtu.be/hg_cmeBylcs - This video is a gigantic and very varied rumination and exploration of both Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the original Final Fantasy 7. It covers personal reflections and anecdotes, character/theme/setting analysis, theories, speculation, discussions about the intent of the games and criticism and praise about the story. There is a lot in here, so if you’re not interested in a certain topic, you can use the Table of Contents below to skip through. - YouTube really screwed me with the compression of the video quality, so please watch on 1440p to limit the amount of visual murkiness and pixelation! - Something to clarify is that I say within this that Sakaguchi’s mother died in 1988. However, while this is a year I found on multiple websites, there are no concrete sources to confirm the year 100%, and the only thing that is for certain is that she died during the development of III (since Sakaguchi confirmed that himself). Table of Contents: 0:00 – Introduction, Disclaimers, and My Personal Experience with FF7 8:52 – The Music of FF7 11:44 – The Bombing Mission, Cloud Strife, Barret Wallace and the Mako Conflict 26:38 – Sephiroth Discussion and Theories + The Approach of the Remake + The Whispers 44:48 – The End of the Mission + Tifa Lockhart 53:26 – Midgar 56:54 – Jessie, Biggs, Wedge and Chapter 4 1:08:51 – Shinra and the Second Mission 1:12:33 – Aerith Gainsborough Discussion and Theories 1:28:36 – The Sector 5 Slums and Wall Market 1:42:22 – The Sewers and the Train Graveyard 1:52:23 – The Plate Drop and the Turks 2:05:47 – The Aftermath 2:12:10 – The Remake's Character Resolution Scenes 2:19:13 – Chapter 14 and Shinra Headquarters 2:31:27 – The Interlude and the Trail of Blood 2:42:02 – Rufus Shinra and the End of the Original's Midgar Arc 2:45:53 – The Remake's Ending - Discussion, Theories and Interpretations 3:03:15 – The Remake's Final Scenes + Concluding Thoughts, Interpretations and Speculation About Future Parts 3:17:36 – Personal Conclusion Sources: ⁃ A link to Lorerunner’s FFVII playthrough, which helped form some of my thoughts on the original game and also doubled as a source for the footage for the original Final Fantasy VII playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BxojKqZ-5Q&t=10179s&ab_channel=LorerunnerStreamArchives ⁃ Source 1 for the footage for the FFVIIR playthrough, as well as the source for some Crisis Core footage: youtube.com/user/gLPLayground ⁃ Source 2 for the footage for the FFVIIR playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCuOXpxJjGo&list=PL9wpzJw8GKy5NkqIPTrpBdKIq7TlEgdVB&ab_channel=dansg08 ⁃ Source 3 for the footage for the FFVIIR playthrough (Mentioned in the video as Gameplay Garage but have since changed their channel name to "Cipher"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJwIkLgCBE&ab_channel=Cipher ⁃ A link to a podcast entitled "Dropped Frames" that helped me gather my thoughts on the ending of the Remake (the discussion I mentioned about the Lifestream chapters starts at about 22 minutes in): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Ex8ILaJAA&t=2143s&ab_channel=itmeJP ⁃ Lifestream Black and LifeStream White excerpts, translated: thelifestream.net/novels-novellas/on-the-way-to-a-… ⁃ Two Twitter threads translating important bits of the FFVII Remake Ultimania: mobile.twitter.com/aitaikimochi/status/12555537132… twitter.com/istanleyff7/status/1256005845222961153 ⁃ A link to the Final Fantasy wiki, which was used for some fact-checking: finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Wiki ⁃ Additional lore tidbits provided from reading a physical copy of the original Final Fantasy VII Ultimania ⁃ An interview with Sakaguchi about the theme of FFVII: www.ff7citadel.com/press/int_sakaguchi.shtml - Let's Mosey: A Slow Translation Of Final Fantasy VII: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCeN2KjRHZk&list=PLsiJPoHlPqEEA07AKMQ2Hm2oRLiGkR_uJ&ab_channel=Kotaku ⁃ My video on Barret: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs6kkpAla8k&ab_channel=Aleczandxr

Cloud: "I don't dance..." Cloud a few chapters later:

1:13:00 The "scraped knees" line is a callback to a key moment in Cloud's childhood when he tried to follow Tifa up Mt Nibel but ended up falling and scraping his knees while Tifa fell into a coma. This indicates that it is the real Cloud still inside him that is trying to reach out to him and not other parts of his personality like the Jenova cells

I can’t imagine how much work you’ve put into this. It’s personal, funny, nostalgic, & introspective. I don’t know what else to say besides amazing work!

I haven't played either game but I know the feel of finishing something this huge. Congratulations on getting this one released!!

Hoo boy, see you in 5 years for part 2

Bruh, how did you know I was fiending for more FF7R content? Unreal. After watching the video, I'm amazed to find that you had a nearly identical experience with the original and the remake as me.

FINALLY! I know you worked on this one like crazy, thank you AJ <3

This is one of the few games I really really regret having spoiled for myself, both the original and the remake. At least I got to watch this video on account of that.

I can't believe I thoroughly enjoyed this 3 hour long monstrosity so much - thank you for making such effort! :)

Monstrous video, it must have taken you ages to script and finish. We appreciate your work ethic!

To me, in the night scene with Tifa, judging by his facial expressions, it's like Clouds emotions and his original peraonalty are on the verge of breaking out, but just can't find their way out of his fractured mind. He looks like he wants to cry with Tifa but dosen't know how, and can't quite understand what's happening inside him.

Had to watch this video in the course of several days due to limited free time, but having just finished it, this was a really great video! To be honest, a lot of the implications of VIIR's ending kind of soured the whole experience for me unfortunately, but watching this video helped me remember and prioritize all the things that the Remake did superbly well (many of which were things I wasn't really confident they'd be able to do as well as they did). I think a lot of my final thoughts on this are really going to depend on exactly what they do with Part 2, and how well it is executed. But I am definitely more optimistic, after having sort of revisited a lot of this game vicariously through this video.

Tell me why i was just thinking about watching some final fantasy 7 content a moment ago...and now i see this in front of my eyes. THANK YOU

In the character resolution scene with Aerith, I don't think she communicating from Shira HQ. I think she's already dead and speaking through the lifestream. Mainly because she doesn't fade away like a dream but fades away as the lifestream with the green glow. Also, there's no other mention of it later when they rescue her from HQ. It just goes as normal and there's no dialogue about this scene between cloud and aerith. I could be wrong and this gets touched on in part two, just my thought.

Time to watch a 3 hour long video about a game I have never played in my life.

"Cloud is essentially a 17-year-old in a 21-year-old's body due to being submerged in Mako unconscious for four years." I'm a 17-year-old in a 36-year-old's body, and I don't even have the excuse of being experimented on! XD

Great watch! I like to believe the destruction of Fate just gives the developers an ingame excuse to allow themselves more creative liberty in recreating/fleshing things out/slighty altering some parts of the game. It also makes it kind of exciting what to expect and might really emulate the feeling of playing Final Fantasy 7 for the first time again since you don’t 100% know what’s to come. I’m also on team “Tifa is best girl”. I love how gentle and just so full of kindness she is, yet is still willing to fight for what is right.

I really like the idea that this games sephiroth and aerith are experiencing the story again with knowledge of the first time it happened to them I think it’s a good way to get a super nuanced look at both characters and how they handle situations they’ve been through already

a better use of my time then watching Wonder Woman 1984