Day #240 Recap (Final Fantasy VII)

Current Game: Final Fantasy VII

Current Play Time: 24:26
Total Play Time - 456:15
Current Game Overs - 0
Total Game Overs: 44

Where I Currently Am: Icicle Inn (Disc 2!!!)
Stuff Did Today: Proceeded through the sleeping forest to the City of the Ancients which I thoroughly looted before happening upon Aeris who was on her knees when I almost sliced her in twain... I didn't though... Sephiroth did... and after that happened we headed off to follow Sephiroth who was going to the Promised Land to use the Black Materia and summon Meteor

Current Setup:

Cloud - Lv 43
HP - 2465 MP - 441
Str - 63 | Dex - 43 | Vit - 60 | Mag - 90 | Spr - 65 | Luck - 25
Atk - 125/103% | Defense - 118/13% | Mg. Atk - 90 | Mg. Def - 65/2%

Limits - Braver, Cross-Slash, Blade Beam, Climhazzard, Meteorain, Finishing Blow

Equipment - Organics, Dragon Armlet, Ribbon
Materia Equipped
Weapon -  Restore, Revive, Shiva, Bahamut, HP Plus, Sense
Armor - Fire=Elemental, Chocobo Lure, Steal, Enemy Skill (0/12), Barrier

Tifa - Lv 37
HP - 1517 MP - 345
Str - 63 | Dex - 44 | Vit - 48 | Mag - 73 | Spr - 57 | Luck - 23
Atk - 125/114% | Defense - 124/19% | Mg. Atk - 73 | Mg. Def - 57/3%

Equipment - Dragon Claw, Aurora Armlet, Power Wrist
Materia Equipped
Weapon - Time=All, Odin, Comet, Cover, Kjata
Armor - Restore=All, Heal, Enemy Skill (12/24)

Limits - Beat Rush, Somersault, Waterkick

Yuffie - Lv 37
HP - 1764 MP - 338
Str - 48 | Dex - 44 | Vit - 51 | Mag - 80 | Spr - 62 | Luck - 28
Atk - 109/107% | Defense - 108/17% | Mg. Atk - 80 | Mg. Def - 62/0%

Limits - Greased Lightning,

Equipment -Hawkeye, Diamond Bangle, Talisman
Materia Equipped
Weapon - Deathblow, Fire, Ifrit, Titan, Magic Plus, Luck Plus
Armor - Enemy Skill(11/24), MP Plus, Seal, Ramuh, Counter Attack

Other Party Members:

Barrett - Lv 37
HP - 2454 MP - 267
Str - 57 | Dex - 35 | Vit - 70 | Mag - 63 | Spr - 52 | Luck - 21
Atk - 120/101% | Defense - 144/16% | Mg. Atk - 63 | Mg. Def - 52/3%

Limits - Big Shot, Mindblow, Grenade Bomb, Hammerblow, Satellite Beam, Ungarmax

Equipment - Microlaser, Bolt Armlet, Protect Vest
Materia Equipped
Weapon -  None
Armor - None

Red XIII - Lv 37
HP - 2295 MP - 287
Str - 58 | Dex - 47 | Vit - 54 | Mag - 67 | Spr - 53 | Luck - 22
Atk - 126/110% | Defense - 111/17% | Mg. Atk - 67 | Mg. Def - 53/0%

Limits - Sled Fang, Lunatic High, Blood Fang, Stardust Ray, Howling Moon, Earth Rave, Cosmo Memory

Equipment - Seraph Comb, Diamond Bangle, Fire Ring
Materia Equipped
Weapon - None
Armor - None

Cait Sith - Lv 35
HP - 2260 MP - 272
Str - 50 | Dex - 33 | Vit - 45 | Mag - 69 | Spr - 53 | Luck - 23
Atk - 110/100% | Defense - 102/14% | Mg. Atk - 69 | Mg. Def - 53/0%

Limits - Dice

Equipment - Red M-Phone, Diamond Bangle, White Cape
Materia Equipped
Weapon - None
Armor - None

Vincent - Lv 38
HP - 2043 MP - 308
Str - 49 | Dex - 34 | Vit - 51 | Mag - 75 | Spr - 58 | Luck - 24
Atk - 113/120% | Defense - 108/14% | Mg. Atk - 75 | Mg. Def - 58/0%

Limits - Galian Beast

Equipment - Lariat, Diamond Bangle, Fury Ring
Materia Equipped
Weapon - None
Armor - None

Cid - Lv 39
HP - 2424 MP - 291
Str - 57 | Dex - 34 | Vit - 59 | Mag - 65 | Spr - 56 | Luck - 22
Atk - 115/102% | Defense - 116/14% | Mg. Atk - 65 | Mg. Def - 56/0%

Limits - Boost Jump

Equipment - Viper Halberd, Diamond Bangle, Jem Ring
Materia Equipped
Weapon - None
Armor - None

Materia Levels:
Restore - Lv 3
Restore - Lv 3
Revive - Lv 1
Fire - Lv 3
Fire - Lv 2
Time - Lv 2
Earth - Lv 2
Heal - Lv 2
Seal - Lv 2
Poison - Lv 1
Lightning - Lv 1
Transform - Lv 1 x2
Gravity - Lv 1
Ice - Lv 2
Mystify - Lv 1
Destruct - Lv 1
Exit - Lv 1
Barrier - Lv 1
Comet - Lv 1

Enemy Skill - 12/24 (Frog Song, L4 Suicide, White Wind, Big Guard, Flame Thrower, Laser, Matra Magic, Beta, Aqualung, Trine, ????, Death Sentence)
Enemy Skill - 11/24 (Frog Song, L4 Suicide, White Wind, Big Guard, Flame Thrower, Laser, Matra Magic, Beta, Aqualung, Trine, Death Sentence)
Enemy Skill - 0/24
Sense - Lv 1
Steal - Lv 1
Throw - Lv 1
Manipulate - Lv 1
Deathblow - Lv 1
Morph - Lv 1

Cover - Lv 3
Long Range - Lv 1
Chocobo Lure - Lv 2
HP Plus - Lv 1
MP Plus - Lv 1
Counter Attack - Lv 1
Luck Plus - Lv 1
Magic Plus - Lv 1

Elemental - Lv 2
Elemental - Lv 1
All - Lv 4
All - Lv 3
All - Lv 1
Added Effect - Lv 1

Choco/Mog - Lv 3
Shiva - Lv 3
Ifrit - Lv 3
Ramuh - Lv 2
Titan - Lv 1
Odin - Lv 1
Bahamut - Lv 1

Status & Notes:

Hooray!!! Talking Point time! So, we've reached the end of Disc 1... (finally)... which means we've reached what is considered one of the most influential plot points in video game history. So, let's set it up. We've now established that Sephiroth is a bad guy that needs to be stopped... and we've established that he has some kind of power over Cloud... so what do you do if you're square and really want to have the player want to kill Sephiroth... <spoileralert>You have Sephiroth KILL the main love interest in the game</spoileralert> Now, I don't want to hear that you always liked Tifa more... LIES!!! Sure, she had the more fun Limit Break mechanic, but storywise, Square led us much closer to Aeris then they did Tifa. So yes, they knew what they were doing here, and really they jammed as much into Disc 1 as they could so they could have this happen before you switch discs....  It is like they wanted the built in recovery break. The surprise is so supremely well executed, I can't help but agree. Also, it truly is probably the best FMV moment they've shown thus far in the game, and really brings out the change in generation.

Now, interesting to note. This isn't the first time Square has killed off a main character in a Final Fantasy game. If you remember, back in Final Fantasy V, Exdeath killed off Galuf. The problem of course is that outside of Japan, very few people knew about this when they played Final Fantasy VII. Sure there was a fan translation available, but that required some effort, and even then, they replaced him with another character who just inherited all of this stats, so gameplay wise you didn't feel the loss here. Here, if you were using Aeris as one of your main party members (as I was)... there's no replacing her, so it hurts there too. You just have to find a new healer.

So, time to move on now through Disc 2... which is much shorter than Disc 1... but full of FMV fun. Let's see how it goes