No matter what, there's always a thought out opinion about this game: FF7 intro post

[zen_monk]

So I'm doing the Moogle University thing!


Have you ever played this game before? If so, what versions?

 Playstation and then PSP. 

 

What version are you playing this time?

 PC version, downloaded in 2012
 

Do you have a fannish history with this game? If so, what?

 Sure. Since playing during high school time (between 2004 and 2008...dates are fuzzy), I've been mostly putting it behind because I both didn't have the game until I found it in gamestop and also because of fandom saturation which made me shun all things super popular. So I've seen its iterations in Advent Children and in Kingdom Hearts. Those didn't have much impact on me other than "Mopey Cloud" and that it's a boring movie. I also didn't hold those against the game as a comparison. Then I played it and thought  "hey this is pretty fun" and started plotting out long epics from it. I actually thought first about Tifa's five years in Midgar... and then Turks epic took over and then various other shipping kind of stories that I wanted to make. 

I mostly read the fanfiction though. In hindsight, it's made me realize that there's a lot of tropes that fandom makes over the game in their fanfic works that seem too much like accepting the "reading between the lines" of things that fit their biases. The usual biases in FF7, of course. It's really unfortunate because knowing the source material and also authorial opinions on the matter (I refuse to accept Nomura as the end-all go-to FF7 guy, like come on he didn't write it and he made a shitty movie which then got re-made into less shitty but still messy B-movie kung fu chop socky flick). 
 

 

What are your expectations for this playthrough? (Things you've heard from other fans you want to look for, things you want to prove/disprove, etc.)

 
To get through fandom fatigue and just play the game to remember why I like it. Also, if on the by chance I do finish it early, try out a smattering of Crisis Core as a companion piece. I also expect myself to focus on world building and immersion, the "stuff that makes Midgar" and why things are put where they are as optional cutscenes and backstory reveal.