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MD/VA Wallstreet - "Street Fighter x Tekken!?"

Oh.

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
Messages
113
Location
The only brawler in Fredericksburg
WALL STREET PRESENTS: TRAINED SO HARD

When: Tomorrow
Where: Game Haven
Why: train hard
Huuu: anyone

Venue Fee: $5
Singles:
Doubles:

BMX is ******* to Fredericksburg via his friend Chris to come play at Game Haven all day and night. He also just told me about this 3 seconds ago.

If anyone in the Woodbridgey area wants to brawl tomorrow (till like 2 am) and needs a ride...I guess post here or call him. Usually Oath and Forte come but they have school and cant be out till like 2 am. If you dont have school/work wednesday then come play

Wallstreet will be there
 

Final Fantasy XIV

Banned via Warnings
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
223
convert? not interested in a game where all characters are the same

no offense to anyone but,
it's all the same thing in a different cover. FF7 is garbage made to make money and entertain 14 year olds. nothing ever happens, it's just fighting for the sake of broken materia combos. how is it that this "RPG" contains less depth in 300+ hours than others can manage in 20 or less? because they're not made with the intention of depth: they aren't art, they're bad spiky haired emo characters with "amnesia". they're made with every intention of doing monotonous chocobo racing for ridiculous lengths and never satisfying the viewer so that they'll come right back next FF7 spinoff to see the next episode. FF7 is to RPGs as pop is to music, as twilight is to literature. you can like what you want but i want nothing to do with it

I think it's a valid stance
FF7 is alright for Tifa's boobs, but they're garbage compared to Hinata's rack.

i think Advent Children is the same; it's bad, it's bad entertainment, but if you're looking for something bad you should be playing like, or ff7 or metal gear
 

Final Fantasy XIV

Banned via Warnings
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
223
" convert? not interested in mediocrity
dbz = naruto = bleach = one piece = yugioh = inuyasha = prince of tennis etc

no offense to anyone but,
it's all the same thing in a different cover. shounen garbage made to make money and entertain 14 year olds. nothing ever happens, it's just fighting for the sake of mindless conflict. how is it that these shows contain less depth in 300+ episodes (each) than others can manage in 20 or less? because they're not made with the intention of depth: they aren't art, they're entertainment. they're made with every intention of going on for ridiculous lengths and never satisfying the viewer so that they'll come right back next week to see the next episode. shounen anime is to anime as pop is to music, as twilight is to literature. you can like what you want but i want nothing to do with it

think it's a valid stance
dbz and naruto are alright as entertainment, but they're garbage as anything more than that
i think armored core is the same; it's fun, it's good entertainment, but if you're looking for something deep/artistic you should be playing like, xenogears or ff7 or metal gear"

l2decihper my trolling CK

btw i like ff7, but the same rule goes for it as it does popular anime
 

forute

Smash Ace
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
690
Location
Woodbridge, VA
why ff7 is the best, deepest ff:

Foreward:
I'm going to be referring to Aeris as Aerith since Square Enix evidently wants it that way!
Square Enix evidently also wants to kill all our childhood memories.
(That was a joke! It's not a big deal!)

What is FFVII About?

FFVII is about a guy named Cloud who wants to stop a guy named Sephiroth, once his ally, from crashing a meteor into the planet and killing everyone.

That is true, and yet it is also not true.

FFVII is a game about hidden truths and connections. It is perhaps the most popular game in video game history that so proficiently keeps the knowledge of what is really happening in its world from the player. It expertly presents itself as something less than what it is; 99% of the players who play this game--or maybe even more--are going to walk away from the experience thinking about Cloud this and Sephiroth that, when there is much more that they have failed to notice. Let's talk about that!

Just Who's the Real Hero Here?!

Cloud Strife: Main character? Yes! Hero? No!

Cloud:
-Cloud is essentially nothing but a hindrance to the party up until the experience in Mideel (The wheelchair part where he falls into the lifestream).
-Over the course of the game, Cloud manages to almost attack Aerith, literally hand Sephiroth the black materia twice, and more or less keep the entire party in the dark about the past with his false memories the entire time.
-Cloud's accomplishments? Well... he kills things. Monsters, bosses, Sephiroth, he kills 'em good!​

So who's the real hero? It's probably not very hard to guess at this point, but,

Aerith:
-Aerith is the summoner of holy, who sacrifices her life to save the world.
-Not counting the Red XIII scene, Aerith is both the first and last character that we see in Final Fantasy VII. It's true; check out the opening and ending movies on YouTube if you don't remember!
-She is the last of the ancients; the only one left with the power to stop JENOVA.​

What significance does that (stopping JENOVA) have? Well... if there's an apparent hero and a true hero, then there's probably an apparent villain and true villain as well, right...?

Sephiroth:
-When we first see Sephiroth (The Nibelheim flashback after escaping from Midgar), he's a quiet, slightly distant veteran accompanied by an energetic rookie (Cloud [But really Zack, as we learn later]).
-After seeing the monsters at the mako reactor in Nibelheim, Sephiroth becomes mentally unstable.
-Why? Because of the connection to Hojo; it causes him to question his humanity.
-This scene is important! It gives him emotion, depth! Traits not present in typical villains.​

JENOVA:
-The true villain of FFVII.
-JENOVA is described as the "calamity from the sky".
-Aerith's mother reveals that 2000 years before Final Fantasy VII, JENOVA nearly wiped out the ancients.
-Because of JENOVA's ability to replicate itself, the ancients couldn't defeat it. Instead, they had to seal it away.
-Indeed, Sephiroth was a mere puppet and it was JENOVA who was pulling his strings. (More on this later in the JENOVA section)​

Mindgamez (Or, Apparent and True):

Heroes and Villains summarized:
-Aerith:
-First and last character seen, last remaining ancient, summons holy, saves the planet.​
-Cloud:
-Almost attacks Aerith, gives Sephiroth the black materia twice, and hinders the party all along the way.​
-JENOVA:
-Kills almost all of the ancients, puts the world into its current grim state, and nearly destroys the world.​
-Sephiroth:
-Does nothing but kill Aerith, acquire the black materia which JENOVA needs from Cloud (albeit with JENOVA's power), and divert attention from JENOVA.​
Sephiroth: not as strong as he seems:
-The biggest reasons why nobody suspects that the real enemy is JENOVA and not Sephiroth are really quite simple:
-Sephiroth is quite entwined in not only Cloud's past but also his present. He appears throughout the game, he speaks, he is spoken to, he is spoken about, he even kills Aerith.
-The first time he's mentioned (In the flashback of Cloud and Tifa on the well as children at the beginning of the game), he's referred to as 'The Great Sephiroth', the best there is. Next time he's mentioned, Shinra HQ, he has infiltrated the building and slaughtered everyone in his path, leaving behind a trail of blood. We see a giant sword and are told that Sephiroth is frankly the only person capable of wielding it. Next, we experience Sephiroth's power first-hand in the Nibelheim flashback, where he dispatches a gigantic dragon in two hits--a dragon which will kill Cloud in a single blow if you give it the chance. After that, he's impaled the feared Midgar Zolom on a tree.
-It just goes on that way; when you can't do something, Sephiroth does, and so he appears powerful. Thus, the player believes he is powerful long before you ever get the chance to fight him and find out. You go into the experience with your mind already made for you.
-Conversely, JENOVA, while still a relatively common topic of discussion, is presented as nothing more than a monster. It kills things. It looks like a monster and it acts like one. Heck, you even fight it numerous times; JENOVA is just a boss for you to overcome. All throughout the game, it only delivers a single, significant (yet almost always glanced over) line.
-Sephiroth is strong, while JENOVA is weak, right? Sephiroth is presented as a threat and JENOVA is not, thus that's what most players believe.​
-In fact, it is JENOVA who is strong and Sephiroth who is weak.
-When we see the true Nibelheim flashback after Tifa fixes Cloud's memories in the lifestream, it is revealed that Cloud confronted Sephiroth on that day. Sephiroth stabbed Cloud, and then Cloud lifted Sephiroth and threw him into the lifestream.
-How is this possible? Maybe Sephiroth isn't as strong as we're led to believe...
-Perhaps the strongest evidence of all: the four last boss battles.
-First, we fight JENOVA Synthesis. Inherently, not a difficult battle. Further strengthening the illusion that JENOVA is weak and Sephiroth is strong.
-If not after this battle, then after the next one, we are misled into thinking that we've actually killed JENOVA.
-However, as shown by the ancients, you cannot kill JENOVA.
-This is further evidenced in Advent Children; JENOVA has clearly survived this fight.​
-Next, we fight Bizzaro Sephiroth. This is JENOVA's "fusion" with Sephiroth.
-Next is the most powerful form, Safer Sephiroth.
-Last is plain old regular Sephiroth. This fight is notoriously "anti-climactic" as the fight where Sephiroth dies in a single hit. However, there is meaning to this:
-Finally, JENOVA has been completely separated from Sephiroth, and we can see him for exactly what he is: weak. Yes, it was JENOVA's power all along that made Sephiroth strong and without it, he is helpless. It almost looks like Sephiroth himself realizes this when you beat him.​

JENOVA > You:

History of JENOVA:
-JENOVA is an alien organism that uses illusion and deceit to destroy.

Ifalna: "That's when the one who injured the Planet... or the 'crisis from the
sky', as we call him, came. He first approached as a friend, deceived them,
and finally...... gave them the virus. The Cetra were attacked by the virus
and went mad... transforming into monsters. Then, just as he had at the
Knowlespole. He approached other Cetra clans...... infecting them with... the
virus..."

-The ancients sealed JENOVA away. 30 years before FFVII, it was uncovered in an excavation and mistaken for an ancient.
-Shinra, originally a weapons manufacturer, rises to power. The JENOVA project and first mako reactor are approved on the exact same day.
-A war breaks out with Wutai.
-JENOVA essentially orchestrates Shinra's rise to power and the weakening of the planet via mako reactors.​
The manipulation of Cloud by JENOVA:
-In the beginning of the game when Cloud is setting the bomb in the first mako reactor, he goes all crazy. What's that all about, right?
-That is JENOVA. The mako reactors weaken the planet, thus creating a favorable situation for JENOVA. Cloud sets a bomb, the bomb will blow up the reactor, JENOVA does not like that.
-Thus, JENOVA lies; it bluffs, warning Cloud. (Remember, deception is JENOVA's most powerful weapon!)
-How can JENOVA do this?
-After Cloud threw Sephiroth into the lifestream, he passed out from his wounds. Shinra forces subsequently conducted a cover-up operation. The survivors--Cloud and Zack--were brought to the Nibelheim manor basement, where they were subjected to experimentation. It was during this time that Cloud was injected with JENOVA cells, which allow JENOVA to subtly, or sometimes not so subtly, control him.
-Eventually, Zack and Cloud escaped, but Cloud, sick with mako poisoning (like at Mideel), was unable to do much more than rock back and forth while moaning.
-Zack told Cloud stories about his time in SOLDIER, resulting in Cloud's false memories.
-When he falls into the lifestream at Mideel, he is able to get everything sorted out, and JENOVA's control is severed.​
-Cloud is even falsely told that he's just a clone at one point.​
The manipulation of Sephiroth by JENOVA:
-Sephiroth has a lot of misconceptions. He falsely believes that JENOVA is an ancient, that he is JENOVA's son and therefor an ancient himself, and that the ancients died out because of the humans.
-Why did Sephiroth betray Shinra?

"Sephiroth: You ignorant traitor. I'll tell you. This was an itinerant race.
They would migrate in, settle the Planet, then move on… At the end of their
harsh, hard journey, they would find the Promised Land and supreme happiness.
But, those who stopped their migrations built shelters and elected to lead an
easier life. They took that which the Cetra and the planet had made without
giving back one whit in return! Those are your ancestors.

Cloud: Sephiroth…

Sephiroth: Long ago, disaster struck this planet. Your ancestors escaped… They
survived because they hid. The Planet was saved by sacrificing the Cetra. After
that, your ancestors continued to increase. Now all that's left of the Cetra is
in these reports."

-Sephiroth, now mad with paranoia, believed that humans and Shinra were the cause of the demise of the ancients and all they had given the planet.
-Sephiroth moves to free JENOVA and the rest falls into place.​
Deception as a weapon: ...could JENOVA really do all that?
-"The ability to change ones looks, voice, and words is the power of JENOVA."
-JENOVA delivers one line the entire game:
-"Because you are... a puppet."
-Said to Cloud after Aerith's death.
-This is a very significant choice of words for the one time ever that JENOVA speaks. And yet, by delivering such an important line right after a shocking event (Aerith's death), attention is diverted and the player instead focuses on what is happening immediately in front of them.
-A pretty big visual cue: When you're fighting Bizzaro Sephiroth, you can see JENOVA sitting atop his head, motioning almost like a puppeteer controlling its puppet!
-The power of illusion: Super Nova
-You remember Safer Sephiroth's ridiculous attack which smashes through several planets before inflicting damage on the player? It's not real; obviously there's no way you'd survive. It's just an illusion.​

Symbolism in FFVII:

Even the Gold Saucer play is symbolic!
It's true. With a little bit of "fill in the blanks", it starts sounding an awful lot like this whole JENOVA thing...​
Aerith's ghost: just a glitch?
-If you return to Midgar later in the game, you can see Aerith's ghost in the church.
-So is it a glitch, or does it mean that she hasn't yet returned to the planet?​
Cloud and Sephiroth: not so different
-Both are deceived about their pasts
-Both are the puppets of JENOVA and are led astray by it
-Both received JENOVA cells from Hojo
-Both entered the lifestream​
Meanwhile, Aerith and JENOVA,
-The ancients travel from planet to planet, cultivating and living in harmony with them.
-JENOVA travels from planet to planet, destroying them and absorbing their life energy.
-Aerith = hope: optimism and her search for Cloud's true self
-JENOVA = destruction and deceit, Cloud's false memories​
Sefirot: It's about to get religious (aka confusing):
-In Kabbalah, the Sefirot are 10 attributes through which God reveals himself.
-This can be interpreted in two ways:
-Sephiroth's (Sefirot) plan to become one with the lifestream and be reborn as a God.
-"God" (JENOVA) reveals itself through the Sefirot (Sephiroth).​
-The 10 Sefirot are connected by 22 paths and represent the 10 branches of the tree of life.
-The first 9 Sefirot represent the main characters of Final Fantasy VII. (Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith, Cid, Cait Sith, Red XIII, Yuffie, and Vincent)
-Keter: Cloud
-Keter is referred to as "the most hidden of all things", representing Cloud's hidden memories
-It means "crown"; you can associate it with monarchy, leadership.​
-Chockmah: Red XIII
-Chockmah represents Wisdom. It is conscious intellect, the power of intuition.
-Its two features are the elder and father. (Bugenhagen and Seto [Red XIII's father])​
-Binah: Cait Sith
-Binah is Understanding; rational intelligence. (That may not sound much like Cait Sith, but remember that Cait Sith is really Reeve.)
-It is associated with the feminine. (Cait Sith is a cute cat riding a cute doll)​
-Chesed: Aerith
-Chesed is kindness and love without motive.
-It is proactive; Chesed is that which initiates action. (Summons holy)​
-Gevurah: Barret
-Gevurah is severity. It represents strength and judgment.
-It is understood as God's judgment of the wicked and humanity in general. (AVALANCHE, Barret's anti-Shinra eco-terrorist organization)
-Gevurah is the "left arm", that which repels, while Chesed is the "right arm", that which draws. Barret lost his right arm (remember what Chesed represents) and replaced it with his gun.​
-Tifaret: Tifa
-Tifaret is associated with beauty, compassion, spirituality, and masculinity, which represents Tifa and her martial arts.
-Tifaret's role is to balance and harmonize conflicting forces. (Cloud's memories)​
-Netzach: Vincent
-Netzach is endurance, patience needed to follow through on passion. It is kindness, but presented through a prelude of harshness. This is represented by Vincent's stasis in the Nibelheim Manor.​
-Hod: Yuffie
-Hod is majesty, splendor, praise, and submission.
-Whereas Netzach represents conquering an obstacle, Hod represents submitting to it. (Yuffie does that a lot to get what she wants.)
-It is retribution. (Yuffie seeks to restore Wutai to its former glory.)​
-Yesod: Cid
-Yesod translates spiritual concepts into actions that unite us with God.
-It is associated with the moon. (Cid wants to be the first man in space.)​
-The 10th Sefirot is Malkuth.
-Rather than an attribute of God, it is more an attribute of creation.
-Malkuth is kingdom. It translates all of the other Sefirot into physical form.
-Thus, Malkuth is the lifestream.​
-In addition, there is an "11th" Sefirot: Da'at
-Da'at and Keter are actually the same Sefirot but from two different aspects. When Keter is counted, Da'at is not. When Da'at is counted, Keter is not.
-Therefor, while Keter is Cloud, Da'at is Zack.​
-Aerith's age is 22--the same number of paths connecting the 10 Sefirot​
-Celtic Mythology:
-The ideas of the Kaballah heavily influenced Celtic mythology.
-In it, numbers often symbolize mystical ideas.
-Three and its multiples are believed to have magical properties.
-Nine is considered the most important of multiples.
-There are three characters in the party.
-There are nine playable main characters.
-Aerith--the real hero--is the third character you meet (after Cloud and Barret)
-There are 30 areas on the world map
-There are nine pillars in the mural room of the Temple of the Ancients
-There are six leaders of Shinra (President/Rufus, Hojo, Reeve, Palmer, Scarlet, and Heidegger)
-You fight JENOVA six times in the game. (Birth, Life, Death, Absolute, Bizzaro Sephiroth, Safer Sephiroth), etc etc etc​

So What Makes FFVII So Good?

So why is FFVII the best Final Fantasy? FFVII has a significant cast. All of the main characters develop, they're all forced to confront a false belief and overcome it. The world is fleshed out; there's a history to everything. It utilizes interesting story mechanics to be something more than just a hero saving the world from a villain, and perhaps most important of all, it is the only Final Fantasy that hides secrets for the player to discover. (And I mean real secrets--I'm not talking about plot twists here! I'm talking about things that are never actually revealed to the player.)

It gives the impression that the main character is a hero, when really he's a hindrance (who somehow isn't intolerable). Likewise, it gives the impression that a mere puppet is the biggest threat to the planet and that a being who is actually essentially in control of the entire world is just a harmless, decapitated head.

Simply put, there's depth!

"FFVII is stupid!"

-This JENOVA thing is well and good, but there's no solid proof.
-Listen, nobody is going to outright say any of this stuff. A hidden plot is meant to be pieced together on your own. The signs are there for you to see.
-In the past, JENOVA:
-Became a part of the dominant society (ancients)
-Manipulated it
-Destroyed it​
-In the present (of FFVII), JENOVA:

-Became a part of the dominant society (Shinra)
-Manipulated it
-Attempted to destroy it (via meteor)​
-All the while, its intentions are never revealed until it's too late.
-A line by Bugenhagen at the city of the ancients:

"The knowledge of the Ancients swirling around here is telling me one thing. The planet's in a crisis... A crisis beyond human power or endless time. It says when the time comes, we must search for 'Holy.'"

-"Beyond human power": The crisis goes beyond the power of humans, beyond the power of Cloud and Sephiroth. This is between the planet/Aerith/holy and JENOVA/meteor.​
-Aerith just sits there and lets Sephiroth kill her! That's so dumb!
-Aerith died on purpose. Why did she die?
-Aerith had to return to the planet (die) in order to summon holy.
-Evidence: Aerith's inability to use the white materia while living. (Aerith: ...but mine is special. It is good for absolutely nothing.)

"Bugenhagen: Holy... the ultimate White Magic. Magic that might stand against Meteor. Perhaps our last hope to save the planet from Meteor. If a soul seeking Holy reaches the Planet, it will appear. Ho, Ho, Hoooo. Meteor, Weapon, everything will dissappear. Perhaps, even ourselves."​

it's unfinished, in the future i want to add a comparison to other ff games section, but it gets the point across
"cloud is an emo" isn't really a valid insult since he does about zero crying and/or whining.
amnesia? get serious, geese. cloud's ****ed memories are an interesting plot mechanic, it's not like he straight up doesn't remember who he is LOL

but advent children sux ;P
 

Kenrawr

Smash Master
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
3,941
Location
Woodbridge, VA
Wtf Steven you actually came up with all that? Yay format!

Everyone should just agree that AC sucks and if you actually "enjoyed" it then you're probably an overzealous, blind fan boy.

LOL@Oh. and Cafe. This page has been a good read :D

TAJ YOU LEAVE MEDDLE GURR ALONE
 

Final Fantasy XIV

Banned via Warnings
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
223
I love Metal Gear (not MGS3 though) and FF7 lol, but I love DBZ X_X and Naruto, they definitely have major flaws (DBZ's horrendous plotholes and stalling in some eps, Narutos flashback frenzys) but you can't use the fact that they're long series against them, depth is a relative term, I've seen the "depth" in Neon Genesis Evangelion, and it's just a big cluster**** of wannabe religious crap, the same could be said about Xenogears (but it's an awesome game)

Also FF7 has really really bad quality music for a PS1 game. It's my 2nd favorite FF game, but it's pretty disappointing compared to FF6. I loved it when it came out, but it's aged horribly.
 

forute

Smash Ace
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
690
Location
Woodbridge, VA
ridiculous length is a perfectly legitimate criticism. i'm not saying, "this show does it in 20 episodes so every show should be able to do it in 20 episodes," but there is a point where length exceeds substance and that is when it becomes a problem. what i'm saying is, take what you need, nothing more, and sometimes less. shounen anime generally doesn't have substance; it's not supposed to. it's meant to be high-action cartoons to entertain kids roughly ages 10-18 because kids 10-18 generally don't care about anything but awesome fighting.

it's the same as wrestling. i liked dbz and wrestling and gundam wing and bad music when i was a kid because i just wanted to be entertained, but i'm not a kid anymore. these days i'd rather experience something thought provoking than see a guy get punched in the face

Wtf Steven you actually came up with all that? Yay format!
yes, i wrote that during pound after i finished all my homework @_@
 

Final Fantasy XIV

Banned via Warnings
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
223
Well the mega popular series like DBZ, Naruto, Bleach, etc. are gonna have longer series because it'd be dumb for the writers to stop when it's such a success, and the reason they're so long is cause of filler, the shounen manga are more modest, and to the point.

I don't watch them for the fight scenes, I watch to see what happens next (though I admit alot of it becomes predictable)

Still though, I take it as a lesser evil, have you seen the garbage they show on MTV and such nowadays? Jersey Shore? Ugh.
 

forute

Smash Ace
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
690
Location
Woodbridge, VA
length isn't a necessary proportion to popularity though, otherwise code geass, gundam seed, and haruhi would all be like 400 episodes each since they've basically dominated japan for the past few years (all the naruto/bleach stuff usually doesn't even get into the monthly top 10). the more popular series don't make a point of going on forever, why can't naruto/bleach/dbz do the same? even without filler, they're stupid long. i remember naruto and bleach both had 100 episodes before their filler even started.

i have thankfully avoided modern television
maybe it's the lesser of two evils, but nobody's making me watch either, so i won't~
 

TheTantalus

Smash Hero
Joined
May 19, 2008
Messages
6,887
Location
Hampstead, MD
I have to say, Oh, your sig is the worst sig i've ever seen in my life, the editing is awful

If it's gonna be a joke, at least make it look normal and not disproportionate. That way it doesn't hurt my eyes to read your posts
 

SOVAman

Smash Hero
Joined
Feb 28, 2008
Messages
5,313
Location
In VA **** MD
I have to say, Oh, your sig is the worst sig i've ever seen in my life, the editing is awful

If it's gonna be a joke, at least make it look normal and not disproportionate. That way it doesn't hurt my eyes to read your posts
His sig is awesome gtfoooooo
 
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