The Great Warrior, Seto

Final Fantasy VII Playthrough
Playtime 10:58-13:16

Played through the whole Cosmo Canyon sequence, from Bundenhagen's whole Powerpoint presentation about how the planet's going to die, to fighting through the Gi Cave. Cosmo Canyon is probably the coolest single locale in the game, with some of the coolest music to boot. I don't think anywhere else in the game has the same sort of character that it does, with the hut-like buildings set into the mountain and the whole tribal feel of it. I've never been one to think it absolutely critical that Square come out with a remake of FF7, but I think Cosmo Canyon is one area that would be very cool to see in a game without pre-rendered painted backgrounds where they could open it up more and let you explore a bit more.

I went through the Gi Cave with Red XIII and Tifa. Among the loot you can pick up there, is your first piece of Added Effect materia, which is very cool, but wow is it a pretty annoying little area. The big spiders that you run into at the five-way tunnel area towards the end especially hit hard. Its not that long, but there's no save point in the middle, which means you might be a bit depleted in MP by the time you get to the boss, which makes it a bit annoying. Got through with no serious disasters, though. Also what the hell is the deal with the face in the stone wall that comes alive just before you fight the boss? Kinda confounding and kinda creepy. The reveal of Red XIII's father, Seto, looking over the cliff with a bunch of arrows still protruding from him, is kinda cool, although when he literally cries big crystallized tears at the end, that was a bit much, I think. There's a lot of points in this game that are kind of short on subtlety. I'm still not sure I get the whole explanation for why Red XIII couldn't know until now that his father was actually a hero and not a jackass that abandoned his mother. Bundenhagen says his his mother told him to keep the cave sealed, which I guess makes sense since its still roaming with vengeful spirits, but I don't see how that requires making Red grow up hating his father. Whatever. Its a pretext for a little mini coming-of-age story for Red to grow his character a bit, and to give you an excuse to fight some more before getting on with the main plot.

I'm currently saved just outside of Nibelheim with Cloud at level 27.