See, i always believed that, by the end, Sephiroth was perfectly aware of his true origin and what he was trying to accomplish. Sure, he went mad in Nibelheim, but after that he was merged with the Lifestream.j-e-f-f-e-r-s said:Regarding the whole FF7 issue:
Here's the thing. FF7 was a Squaresoft title. All those FF7 spin-offs, sequels and prequels? They're Square-Enix titles. They were made ten years after the original game came out, when Hironobu Sakaguchi and a whole load of other developers who actually created FF7 had either been sacked or simply left Square to form their own studios cough*Mistwalker*coughChris said:The ending is unfairly ambiguous around a plot that already confuses the hell out of me thanks to wonky flashbacks, and to cap it all off I genuinely cared about the characters, only to have zero resolution. I don't give a crap whether the planet survived. I didn't just play an 80 hour game because I had a deep connection to the planet. I didn't spend hours level-grinding the planet's abilities. I didn't watch the planet get stabbed and then told I couldn't go kick some ass for another two discs. Getting rewarded with a time-skip that says "Well, at least the planet is alright" isn't anywhere near satisfying. And if you're under the theory that it was meant to be open for interpretation, then why make so many spin-off games that slowly answer all the questions I was left with?
I remember even years after it had come out, playing FF7 and being wowed by the entire spectacle of the story, ending included. It wasn't until about 3 or 4 years after I'd played the game that Advent Children began the avalanche of FF7 spin-offs, and I was pretty late to the party anyway. Square managed to get all the way to FFX/XI before deciding to turn around and start making more FF7 related media. That, to me, doesn't come across as a group of artists deciding to further elaborate on their original artistic statement. It comes across as a corporate entity wanting to, and succeeding in making a lot of money cashing in on the nostalgia of older gamers, a suspicion I think borne out by the somewhat middling quality of the spin-offs themselves. So, to answer your question, money dear boy. The fact that it was Squenix, not Squaresoft themselves who felt the need to release more FF7 media point to it being less a dying need to make a further artistic statement, and more a somewhat cynical exercise in money-making.
Now, regarding the ambiguity of the ending itself... I'm pretty sure that most, if not all, the characters in FF7 had their resolution before the final battle.
Cloud's worked out his trauma and mental issues and patched things up with Tifa, making the both of them actually able to function as human beings. Barrett has committed himself to protecting Marlene and to fighting for a better future. Cid's come to terms with the fact that his planned space mission was a failure, and even got the chance of another trip to space as karmic compensation, Cait Sith's been outed as a mole but has decided to work with the Scooby gang for reals this time, Red XIII has learned the truth about his father and decided to try and live up to his legacy and protect Cosmo Canyon...
Hell, before they even go to North Crater, Cloud tells everyone to go off and find what it is they're fighting for, and to make sure they're absolutely committed to fighting the good fight.
With all that said and done, what was there really left to explore about the characters? They've worked through all their trauma, they've uncovered all the lies and falsehoods about their pasts, they've united themselves against a common foe and decided to fight him together... what would an extra ten minutes of ending really have brought to the table? Do we really need to see Barrett looking after Marlene to believe he was sincere in his promise to be a father to her? Would the ending really have been that much better for seeing Red XIII return to Cosmo Canyon with our own eyes?
It's my belief that FF7's ending serves as a wonderful summation of the game's environmental themes. By the time the credits roll, all the relevant character stuff has been tied up, and the main antagonist has been resoundingly defeated. The actual plot got its resolution the second Sephiroth got beaten down by the player. Where it remained ambiguous was on the stuff that was bigger than the characters, the actual world. We see Meteor heading towards planet, we see the Lifestream manifesting to defend the planet... then we see the ruins of Midgar 500 years later, overgrown with trees and plants.
If you look at the ending without bearing in mind the themes of the story, then perhaps it will come off as a bit of a crock of shit. But then, that could also be said about War And Peace, Citizen Kane, and any other great story told in the last 200 years. When watching the ending to FF7, you have to remember that the crux of the story is based around themes of environmentalism. When you do that, then the meaning of the ending becomes entirely clear: No matter how badly we mistreat it, the planet will always eventually recover, and it will always defend itself. But when it does respond to the pollution and the abuse that we have put it to, it may well decide (symbolically of course) that humanity is no longer welcome, and in defending itself it may well wipe us out. That is what the ruins of Midgar stand for. The planet is still there, and it is still alive, but it may well be that while the planet was able to survive, humanity was not.
When you look at the impending threat of climate change, the melting of the ice caps and the rising of the sea levels, the increase in drought and famine across the world, then it is easy to see the poignancy of the game's message. It would be the simplest thing for Planet Earth to wipe out humanity in the course of responding to the pollution and stripping of the environment we are responsible for, and such a cataclysm becomes more likely every day that we leave these environmental issues unaddressed.
The character themes in FF7 were always secondary to the themes of the planet itself, and it is those primary themes which the ending addresses.
EDIT
I thought the implication was always that he wrongly saw himself as the son of a Goddess. He believed Jenova to be the last of the Ancients, and saw her as a divine power. He also believed she was his direct mother. Putting two and two together, he ended up seeing himself as also being divine, and wanted a way to manifest that in himself.Lvl 64 Klutz said:See, that doesn't make any sense to me, because where was the plot going to go that it didn't go? Was Square just going to include several more failed attempts to get into the crater? I don't feel like they left any questions unanswered, other than why Sephiroth wanted to "become a god." But that answer seems to be "because he's a JRPG villain."
I mean, it's pretty batshit, but then again I'm pretty sure Sephiroth was meant to be portrayed as a few spanners short of a toolbox anyway. Out of all the videogame villains who try to justify their insanity, I think Sephiroth is one of the ones with a better case. Let's be honest, what would you do if you were a super soldier who found out you were the genetic offspring of a weird tentacley thing that fell from the skies?
He had access to all the information the planet had ever accumulated and made the conscious decision to carry out his "mother's" original plan.
In my eyes, he was the epitome of a genuinely Evil character, with a capitol "E", in the fact that he was fully aware after his blending into the Lifestream, despite his insanity beforehand.
The Lifestream cured his mental instability, and he decided that he would attempt genocide regardless.
You raise some excellent points, and i only quibble with my personal opinion.
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