[ SECRET POST #1981 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1981 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 68 secrets from Secret Submission Post #283.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

22. http://i.imgur.com/5DYmm.png

[(Anonymous)]

Without the compilation, as much as it sucks, I think the fandom would have died much faster.

[raaj]

This, pretty much. (Although I'd qualify that while I had wtf moments and STILL have pet peeves, I've come to pretty much accept compilation as it is.) I'm fairly sure FF7's enjoyed more activity in its fanbase than most of the other Final Fantasies.

Without Advent Children and later entries, OP's secret would likely stop at "I miss when the fandom for the game was huge and active."

[ooh_mrdarcy]

I agree.
But I'm forever bitter that despite all the spin-offs we never got this:

[(Anonymous)]

That was canon. Barrett took Cloud on a date to that amusement park, remember? ♥

[dentedsky]

LOL aww.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm with you completely. I don't know if I'd blame the compilation, but I miss the fandom so much and wish it wasn't dead. It's tragic how, if you go on its archives on fanfiction.net now, most of the stories are about self-insert Sues in the FFVII world, and that a lot of the LJ communities are lacking in activity, too. :(

[(Anonymous)]

I feel you on this, they really beat the shit out of this series.

[laceblade]

I still feel like this fandom's alive, but maybe it's just the few people I follow who write stuff.

Write good FF7 fic, people! I'll read it.

[(Anonymous)]

I was there back in the day too, anon. I miss the old fandom every freaking day....

[dentedsky]

I don't know if I miss it since I feel like it hadn't been active in like ten years and I can barely remember what it used to be like. I remember returning to it when AC came out and enjoying it quite a bit then. But my experience of FFVII fandom, of what I can remember, wasn't that great? I don't know. I've been in other fandoms since including Dissidia which were far more fun.

But then perhaps that is the point you're making.

[(Anonymous)]

Never really understood the draw of FF7. Much like Nightmare Before Christmas, I think you really needed to experience it at its height and get some sort of nostalgia factor. (Yes, I played through it all. Got the gold chocobo and Knights of the Round, too.)

So... tell me what you like about/why you like it! Nothing generic like "story" or "characters". Gimme the nitty gritty details. I'm curious as to what people see in it!

[askerian]

Prefacing this to say it's all highly personal pings (of course) but I played that game back when it came out in my language and I wasn't in fandom then and not for several years after that, and I didn't actively join until the compilation reminded me I could do more than read in it. XD;; But anyway:

The dystopian worldbuilding = hngh my pings.

SOLDIER => Military organization (mm military men, mmm band-of-brothers) that still valued ... not "divas" but men who were so above badass it redefines the world = hngh some more pings

Unethical scientific experiments on people leading to weird, badass but angst-causing and potentially lethal and not always entirely functional results = *__*

Avalanche => disparate people who should not even get to meet forced to learn to understand and rely on each other and who forge a friendship and solidarity that'll endure forevers yes shut up it will NAKAMA FOREVER = ... iyaaaa~n.

There was a time everyone could still have been happy! BEFORE THE GAME BWAHAHA. After that you can fix things but it's one of those worlds/casts where you know there'll always be visible cracks, no matter if they're glued stronger than before there's no erasing that shit. (i think that's also what appeals in pre-game divergent AUs and timetravel so much in that fandom.)

"Who the fuck am I D:" = bwahaha yesplz.

I love that Aeris and Tifa are the Nonfighty Healer Who Gets Cloud In A Dress And Is So So Brave and Tifa is the Kickassy Kungfu Woman Who Is Kinda Shy. It's a bit like they flipped the tropes. And I REALLY love that both being interested in Cloud romantically didn't make them bitches to each other. They never did compete over him and were always friendly even in matters unrelated to his great penis-bearing awesomeness. I really hate it when fans make them enemies for stupid fucking reasons NO THEY WEREN'T REPLAY YOUR F** GAME AAAA sorry pet peeve.

Even the characters I don't care a ton for usually have some depth to them and are sympathetic in some way. Those who aren't really (ex. the Turks) are badass enough that I still can admire them a bit. I like the whole cast! not a one of them annoys me or gets on my nerves because X. I love Barret because he loves his daughter and Tifa in a way that's totally at odds with his rough and loudmouthed usual attitude, I love Yuffie because she loves her people, I love Cid because his grumpiness is hilarious even when he's being a dickhead, I love Red because TALKING FIRETAILED LION *and* because so serious for a teenager, etcetera.

Cloud is secretly a dork. This will never not be hilarious.

Sephiroth's hair.

Sephiroth's cat eyes.

Sephiroth's bondage cloak.

Sephiroth's whoops I used to be a decent guy who protected his men.

Sephiroth and Cloud having a sort of mental bond (i feel I should mention that my hugest ping *ever* is psychic pack-bonding. The deal with Sephiroth and his clones is not quite that but it edges in on it, even if in a really dysfunctional, terrifying, erasure-of-self way.)

Sephiroth.

Some of the towns are really awesome and I'd love to visit. Okay Midgar seems like a creepy and dangerous place but Cosmo Canyon's warren houses and green energy schtick, the Gold Saucer, the City of the Ancients, they really make me want to visit. Even that little town lost in the jungle down the map with watchtowers and stuff.

Also, chocobos are the cutest fluffy mounts ever and I want one. I'll bankrupt myself forever to buy a tiny hobo shack in a hugeass field if I can get to put a real live chocobo in said field.

[(Anonymous)]

I think only really liked it because it was the first RPG I ever played, plus the nostalgia you mentioned; I was like, ten or eleven years old when I played it; at that age every work you consume is influential, I think.

My favorite parts were the exploration and interaction, and all the numbers and bars to watch for during battle -which, uh, is typical RPG fare, I realize now with more experience.

That, and: dat boss battle music!

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, right, no embeds allowed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxUzIrhINP4&feature=related

[(Anonymous)]

Cloud's absolute dorkiness when his "real personality" comes out, and the absolute minduck of what is and is not "really Cloud", how willing he was the entire time, all that. The lack of an in-your-face love story for him - you can ship whatever you want, but I love that VII doesn't make an actual indication of who Cloud is and is not with. Because it's not important right then, and he's not ready for relationships anyway - and the story doesn't force him to ~heal~ and ~love~ as resolution.

The way the initial villainy of the Shinra falls apart partway through, but still lingers all the way until the very end.

The different aspects of the world, from the grunge you could feel in Midgar to the gorgeous natural landscapes. Junon felt like a fundamentally different place from Kalm or Mideel, and not just because of climates being slapped on top of each of them.

And speaking of places, Nibelheim will always be the eeriest goddamn location in a game for me. Just, that "off" feeling you get. Sticks with me more than any other.

It's not the only game that does any of this stuff, no, but I like it anyway.

[gardeningaia]

Cloud and Aerith, MY TWO BIG DRAWS.

I have to say I do love this fandom so much in part because of its persistence. There are still, to this day, fans uncovering more hidden parts of the game like scenes that aren't in normal gameplay, unused elements in maps, lines, etc.

There are also still fans that will argue the love triangle today. Which makes me headdesk on occasion but other times I actually really love it because in the course of these arguments you'll find people have all these other ways to look at things. And going to the game itself, I do love that like above anon said, while the romantic love is fun to look at and all, that isn't what Cloud needed, and both relationships of his with Tifa and Aerith aren't as simple as pure romances. (Seconding another thing they said--the locations really do feel unique to me, moreso than in many other games.)

I also love the spirituality of Gaia and I have to admit that the basic concept of the Lifestream is always what I've felt comfortable with when thinking about reincarnation. Or the afterlife in general, actually. So it pretty much just hit a huge ping with my budding spirituality back then, even if I wouldn't describe myself as that spiritual now.

Aerith's draw for me is in part because of that spirituality, but it's also her optimism and kindness--and how that's balanced out by her impetuousness and tendency to go foot-in-mouth. I love how her death was set up, even though I also wish there was a way to prevent it. (baaaaaw, I know.)

I love that you can have Cloud play a game about feeding a moogle kupo nuts until it flies with someone watching over his shoulder. The suicide couple in sector 7. Random odd animations. Pretty much all the odd moments with unnamed NPCs I love in this game.

Which is also what I love about Cloud in general, both his weirdness and his contrariness and the fact that he'll soldier on (ha, ha) past that. I also like that he's not afraid to focus on his deepest, self-centered reasons for fighting Sephiroth, even though he's ashamed of other things he's done--instead of flipping around as a complete 180 on the outside and saying it was all for the Planet, or Aerith, or _____, he stayed true to himself (which considering his story is the real 180) and shows a mix of both compassion and self-centeredness as they lead up to the fight. Yes, he wants to set Aerith free, he doesn't pressure anyone else into the fight (giving them an easy out, even), but he also makes it blatantly clear that he wants revenge and he wants to be okay with himself and those are his big reasons. Also, "This is MY villa." (I find his bits of selfishness amusing like that, okay.)

I love more things about it but those are the top ones and this is already getting long.

[denwa]

I like it because the graphics are that wacky PSX-generation lego brick style. I don't know what it is about ancient graphics, but there's something creepy about them to me and I love it. (Like puppets and old CG in 90's kids shows. You know what I mean? Unsettling.) I also like the fact that the first game is unfinished and FEELS unfinished. I've played it a billion times now but there are still little cracks or bugs in it that I'll find each time that amuse me. Maybe that's the appeal for me because I'm just that into game design... Or maybe FFVII is what got me INTO game design. Not sure which one influenced the interest in the other. lol

But yeah, the atmosphere of the game and the fact that it's so unfinished/unpolished-feeling is what makes it feel really cool and mysterious to me. I STILL feel like I'm going to see something new in it each time I play it. My favorite character isn't even one that many people care about. (Red XIII/Nanaki - the animal in the OP's image.) The thing I love about the characters is what an unexpected bunch of people they are. They all look like they could be protagonists from completely separate games and yet they all come together to be this weirdly endearing group of friends.

I also love how easy it is to make fun of it. Because the game is just WEIRD. You need to SNOWBOARD to move the plot. You chase your enemies in a SUBMARINE MINI-GAME. You can take a break from saving the world to BREED GIANT CHICKENS. You get to harass a pimp! Insult some prostitutes! ...Or ask them to put some makeup on you. For as serious as some parts of the plot are, it's just as zany and ridiculous as well. It's aware of how stupid some parts of its plot are and it doesn't hesitate to make fun of itself which is probably what saves the story from just being bad instead. It's just wacky and fun.

[(Anonymous)]

lbr op, without the compilation pumping new blood into the fandom, it would never have stayed relevant this long. you may not necessarily like the new fans but it is what it is.

[(Anonymous)]

Sometimes I feel guilty for being one of those fans.

My experience with FFVII should be a fandom secret, but I'm such a non-secretive person that if I could post this un-anon, I would. (My internet name is skibalovesya. Hello.)

I got into FFVII in August of 2010. I knew what it was before but never played it because of a stupid insistence of playing all the FFs in order, which was broken a year prior to that when my then-boyfriend shoved FFX into my hands and told me to play.

Over the course of a week, a then-friend proceeded to explain all of the game canon to me, excluding a chunk of DoC and all of BC because she didn't know much about BC at the time. I started playing Crisis Core first, but I'd been spoiled for everything beforehand. (Doesn't matter, I am a spoiler whore.)

I fell in love with Crisis Core, for the most part. Ignoring Genesis/Gackt (I hate Gackt, and I hate canon!Gen, but I'm totally okay with fandom!Gen), the game is amazing. I got sucked into this giant vortex and started churning out fic and headcanon and RPs and nonsense. It's so much fun. I love it more than anything.

But I really don't like the fandom for the most part. I hate the fanon so much. I insist that Sephiroth isn't a general, and that SOLDIER isn't military, and BC doesn't exist except for some parts that aren't stupid. I have the strictest headcanon ever and I want to convert everyone to my ideal so I can enjoy things more. But I can still enjoy the fandom with some fandom friends who have agreed to follow my stupid mind-rules. They're awesome like that.

I only acknowledge the first game, 90% of Crisis Core, and Advent Children, plus a little bit of the novels, as canon. Everything else, in my view, isn't canon.

I just about single-handedly reignited the kink meme for a while by filling about sixteen prompts, until LJ changed its rules and no one posts anymore because the kink meme's starter is out of commission for some reason.

FFVII means so much to me I'm borderline otakukin. It kind of scares me. I was afraid it would happen.

But I agree with you. I kind of don't like the compilation. BC and DoC are stupid. Crisis Core, for the most part, is lovely. But the original game, which I thoroughly thrashed (everyone level 99 with perfect stats, breeding the perfect gold chocobo, destroyed the WEAPONs, all limit breaks acquired), is just... yes.

I just can't read most of the fic in the fandom.

There are fics I love but they're so few and far between. There are people in the fandom I despise and just ignore their existences, but... I have a lovely relationship with it in my head. I feel like one of those weird shut-in people, despite having a job and a life, but... it makes me so happy. Zack is my favorite character and I feel like discovering CC and him was like discovering a part of my heart I didn't know was missing.

Thank you, FFVII, for completing me.

/end derpy rant-love-thing.