5:50 I think initially Remake shows that Reeve has this mindset. He’s a higher up at Shinra and wants to do what he can with good intentions but ultimately can’t change much.
I never realized the contrast between Cloud and Barrett's perspectives as larger themes for the people of Midgar. That would have been pretty impactful if the writers made this a bit more potent in the world, even subtly. I think it would have made the world feel even more real. Great analysis by the way!!
To be fair, there is in fact a small/local government. In chapter 2 you can find signs pointing you towards a local townhall/congress for Sector 8. The bridge collapses before you reach it. Like the Mayor, however, I doubt this is little more than 'comfort'. The Republic of Junon is also a state/country government, but surrendered itself to Shinra control.
I'm pretty sure Shinra used its wealth to topple governments big and small around the world. Military police, the turks and SOLDIER aren't run by a national government, they're part of Shinra's payroll. Shinra has a monopolization of legitimate violence that's normally reserved for the State. After growing more politely aware awhile back I started to view Shinra as the endgame of anarchocapitalism, where the most successful company becomes the government.
Consider this: Shinra began as a weapons manufacturer. Small arms, eventually tanks. It sold primarily to the Republic of Junon, but then started to sell to the great (middle) continent. It even had limited success selling the concepts of guns to Wutai, which they used some pretty bizarre fun concepts of a gun-staff, gun-halberd, etc. It manufactured shells of many sizes, including naval ship sizes (there's a factory in the dump of sector 5, with an old/unusual Shinra logo design that has some similarities to the Peace Preservation (Heidegger's department) and the weapons division (Scarlet's department) logos. Some of these bullet shells are bigger than Cloud. It appears they even developed manned robots, also found in the junk with unusual Shinra logos. There's also farming equipment but it doesn't have Shinra logos. According to Cid in Red's novel, the gasoline engine was made a bit before Shinra, but it was a horrendous failure (tended to explode). At the time the Junon government didn't have a name in terms of developer creativity but he said Junon built an oil rig specifically for it, which was later abandoned. Gasoline was in use during the construction of the sewers for the old towns that became the slums, however, there are gas cans all around and the motors there are functionally gas-powered. Cid said the diesel engine was produced by Shinra. It, too, had problems. But when mako was discovered, it ran perfectly and safely in the diesel engine. Mako fuel is stored in propane tanks in ff7 remake, which can also be found in the original crisis core in very limited numbers. CCR got much more happy to place them. During remake's opening segment we see how a Beaufort brand car gets it's fuel changed, pulling out a mako storage (propane) tank and then inserting a new one. Soon, the government of Junon, interestingly a Republic with a single deity religion (America) where Midgar was once intended to be New York, where Seventh Heaven originally had the name Texas on the sprite art, where the police are militarized and privatized, where the news spits out what benefits the companies, where the pursuit of mako (oil?) leads this country and company into wars, where the citizens can buy assault weapons and are encouraged to open-carry despite being a police state, and a weapons company got itself into energy production, banks, etc.. It is no wonder Shinra went from buying politicians to quietly taking over. It no doubt used think tanks to ensure politicians passed laws to empower itself until it was able to have its own military. In first soldier, the Soldier program came from the expeditions to find Aerith's promised land, where they would get poisoned by mako and experimented on. These soldiers were normal, and similar to Republic of Junon's infantry but wearing blue. Eventually with the soldier program, the invention of the helicopter, etc... it gradually outpaced even the Republic of Junon. At some point, the Republic voted to make Shinra it's President, and the power was never relinquished. Something similar almost happened in America, where when that time came, a President motivated his followers with lies and propaganda to fight and make him a dictator. How does Shinra motivate the people into a war that they forced a cease fire on because the people didn't want more war? Lies, propaganda, and a selected scapegoat. It does sort of help that their story has a kernsk of truth to it. (the kanji for Shinra means Shin (web) Ra (a god), God-Web. (The corporation Mitsubishi is one such web-comoany, which manufactures cars, does energy production, makes weapons, etc.). Fun.
It’s shown quite clearly with the mayor Domino and with Wutai, these are puppet governments. It’s as he said in the video, giving the populace just enough illusion of political efficacy to keep them complacent.
Damn, great analisis. It really is hard to put yourself in these situations and even harder to know who is in the right before it all unfolds. I really like the ambiguity of this game, especially at the beginning. As someone who hasn't played the original yet, playing the first act leaves you with a lot of doubts about the justifiability of your actions. Excited for what you will discuss about the rest of the game, keep up the great work!
just my rambling but as a guy that just watches cutscenes and played the original way after the ps3 came out and didn't appreciate anything but action until nuanced stories till recently I use to cringe at some of the plot armor and stuff that happens in stories like this but then still shied away from more grittier stories so its interesting to see the makers of the remakes try to balance it all out esp since I suspect ppl who got into ff7 were just into it for its graphics not its low poly greenery stuff or prerendered 3d image arts or even concept art maybe some stayed for the music but the story was something that just seemed to happened like someone dies and you invested so much dialogue into it and 3d rendering towards it and kids had to learn from it and they had anime eyes on it I think in order to appreciate this and yet not appreciate things like this is to have ambivalent feelings towards japanese media and culture even tho it has elements of alot of major industrialized cultures in it the story and like the @gnosis_gaming's other vids say about other slice of life games this kinda was like a slice of life game on a planet level if you can kinda hotwire some thoughts together esp since I also watched the cutscenes and played ff10 ff12 and a bit of ff8 ff4 and ff2 and ppl becoming bandwagoning on it after kindgom hearts 1 and 2 which i also played but not ff dysida they try to add soo much content into games like these and wrote novels and other things to world build which they prop do w/ other things to its detriment like some say as a tldr that a troll to all of this don't play games they waste your time and don't inspire anyone and anything out of ppl edit I'd even go so far as to say the middle of the games and stories w/ side quests and stuff is kinda like all that stuff you said about caring about stuff your greenery and setting are just wackier since you just need it to progress for the story which is similar to the plot armor of things even after a while barret and areis even stop talking that much about the planet like their on a vaacy but also goes back to heavier deeper dialogue too but that swhy i said its kinda like an anime also think its a big miss that you didn't include septhroths big plan but idk if that would give away too much of the story or if that story would be changed in later remade chapters like turks didn't dismantel don corneo and its mafia like control of the sector the irony that shirna employees blindly try to say things should go publically while they know the blight of the ppl in sectors that suffereed the most from shinra makes him sort of evil or maleficently ignorant esp if he chooses not to look into the issues people face which is one thing a cold world society does esp if its highly inequal or class divided too so it was best to see him cower esp seeing the differences in wealth between the two one guy lost an arm over its not like he didn't see the effect of shinra which starts wars w/ turks or conflicts with mines or villages
Like you said in the last video it's a trade off between comfort in the now or the longevity of the planet. We saw Jessie's dad on life support or whatever medical equipment. Even in the orginal games for the reactors AVALANCHE destroyed hospitals could've existed on the topside of those sectors. As for under the plate AVALANCHE made thier already bad lives even worse. As we see in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, sure the world still exists but it looks like an even worse place to live without mako energy. Wutai and Cosmo canyon are used to not having the convenience of mako energy.
Great video idea! A topic people rarely like to touch upon because of either the fear of the consequences of ruffling some feathers, Or even just because of peoples own personal biases... But nevertheless, An extremely important topic that we should all be more open to discussing with open minds whilst still maintaining a healthy amount of skepticisim in the mix to ensure as many bases are covered as possible in pursuit of better lives not just for ourselves and only our families, But everyone. Including those less fortunate to being more capable of accepting &/or less fortunate to being ABLE to accept the bigger picture of things. Whether those factors are due to such peoples bias's or inability. As one person, Were only human and cant please everybody, But together through love, cooperation & compassion, We can all be a little more than that and accomplish big things, Things that do great good in the world 🙂 Kinda just like how our awesome FFⅦ protagonist's did in they're own world in they're own way! [ Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Arieth, Nanaki, Yuffie, Cid, Cait Sith & the rest of the Avalanche crew! ] 😀😁 Such an idealistic world is quite the daunting task for us all or even just most of us to realistically achieve someday... But it's certainly not impossible to achieve one day by any means technically But such things just take alot of time to develop, Lifetimes even. Even if in the unfortunate case that I/We never get to see such monumental feat's for humanity get accomplished during our lifetime's, But instead are accomplished during lifetimes spanning beyond that of our own... I still hope we ALL positively develop as a society for the greater good of our future families and even the future families we'll never know personally when we become ancestors & our species as a whole 😌🖤
Your channel is underrated man! Amazing video. Good editing, great calm delivery, great content. I am running through the Ff7 universe games atm(finished 7,now already playing Crisis Core). Anyway now that 7 is relevant again these Ff7 videos are a good idea imo. People wanna consume Ff7 content.(and will want more aftet Rebirth).
Yup, as a small channel, I definitely need to ride the FF7 wave for a while 🤣 though I do want to put out an FF9 video soon. And thanks for the high praise! Have you played Remake yet?
Yup. Played part 1 a couple of years ago. Loved it, that game had to tell a 7 hour story in 40 hours(since its only Midgar) so they used that opportunity to greatly expand on themes and characters. Put a spotlight on the smaller things in Midgar. After Crisis Core, i will definitely replay remake though so i can be ready for Rebirth!
Well it's similar, it's definitely not the same but you can see how Crisis Core influenced Ff7s remakes gameplay. When you got the chance you should definitely try it. The gameplay is fun, and the story is actually really important to the whole FF7 universe. It fills a lot of gaps.
You do a really great job at showcasing the parts of FF7's world that need to be discussed more. I think there's a lot to the game that most people feel when they play it but don't really know how to explain, and you do a really good job at explaining those things!!
I really like your videos! I was around 13 years old when I played FF7 (apart from Mystic Quest on SNES it was also my first RPG, actually) and I was already able to kinda 'feel' all those themes, but back then I couldn't (and later I wouldn't) have analyzed it all. There really is a LOT going on in this game in terms of philosophical themes and references to old literature or other media. Looking forward to more stuff like this :)
One of my major just... Icks... With FF7 Remake is the cleaning of the plot. I love scenes like walking around Midgar, seeing the destruction... People crying... It was fucking fantastic in the remake. Only issue? I don't feel conflicted. I don't go "damn... Did we do this?" Because they changed it to make AVALANCHE the objective good guys. They just meant to blow up the reactor not the entire thing! Shinra user their weapons on the entire mako supply to blow the whole fucking plant up! Its a subtle, but really annoying change. Avalanche only meant for the damage to harm Shinra. Meanwhile Shinra caused extra damage to harm their own citizens to pin it on AVALANCHE. Because it was changed theres no longer this conflicting feeling. You don't have to think about how Barret genuinely puts the needs of the planet above the needs of the people. Its boring.
Eh i liked how in the original the game didnt shy away from them being ecoterrorist but left it up to you to judge. The new one nudged towards them being good guys
Another thought provoking video. I went into FF7R with the same internet bias. It is by no means a perfect game but it was a lot better than the garbage pile that many have made it out to be. That aside, you opened my mind a bit more about some of the political undertones of the first chunk of the game. Great analysis as usual, keep them coming!
True. I mean, almost all of the gripe came from the addition of 3 things: the whispers, alternative timelines and time-travel, and shoehorning Sephiroth into a part of the story where he clearly doesn't belong. Most of this game was fantastic (aside for minor things like padding the gameplay), which is why it has an 8.5 metacritic audience score.
@@phillystevesteak6982 I haven't played but IMO the problem is that the adding of whispers and alternative timelines makes the game in a weird spot where it isn't exactly a re-make but kind of a fake remake/sequel. Also, there are only so many things a plot can hold and imo this is something even the original FFVII game suffered from. If the plot is about time-travels and avoiding destiny, which seems to be the case, the plot isn't about the environmental fight, it's about fighting with destiny. Which is also a plot Nomura has already developed in a bunch of other games so I'm not sure he really needed to bring this here, since "destiny" wasn't really a thing at all in the original game (maybe a bit hinted in Sephiroth's psyque, but not really a huge point) And sure, you can say that a game can touch a lot of different topics and you'd be right. But at the end of the day, the story usually advances only for a couple of them, and the stories tend to have big confrontations about certain things. If you add certain themes as main themes you're displacing other things to the side
@@gnosis_gaming i personally did, the blue background with the character sprites was distinct from the other vids in the sidebar and uniquely readable. really liking the vids ive seen from u. keep up with the fine tuning and im sure you'll hit your stride
I just want to say that I really love your videos so far just came across your channel because the algorithm led me here and I’m loving every second! Looking forward to many more videos and a lot of growth you deserve it.
As a child/teenager I was all about Avalanche and saving the planet, no matter at what cost. It was easy to separate the world between good and evil, and imposing our (us, the good guys) morals to the rest was the right thing to do. All in all it was for the planet's sake. As an adult things get far more complex, and even though in this piece of fiction Shinra is depicted as everything that is bad with the world, I can't help it but feel sympathetic towards the common people in Midgar. And coming from a country that has recently faced a somewhat violent revolutionary attempt to break the status quo, I'd rather advocate for stability over revolution.
Great video! There needs to be more FF7/FF7R Philosophy/Politics videos. It's a game so politically charged, and with such profound messages that it's important for us to think about it, and FF7R really rekindled that flame. While there might be comfort in taking the "middle path" of non violence with what you call conservatism here, the problem with its ideology is that it only perpetuates the system's structure. It can't create meaningful change, not when it goes against elites' interests. And I think that was what the game wanted to show, as well. We see it in Corel, when Barret initially allies with Shinra to progress the city, only for it to be trampled over when something went awry on the reactor. We see it in Gongaga, when the reactor exploded and people were abandoned. We see it with that merchant in Costa del Sol begging you to buy anything to make ends meet, right next to an ostentatious couple talking about going snowboarding after visiting Gold Saucer. And we see it the clearest in Midgar, ofc. An entire sector completely destroyed, upper and lower, for "getting rid of a few rats". Another (S6) abandoned to a mafia-like system with no plans to invest in or better it in any way. Hell, the whole town abandoned when plans changed, and suddenly attaining a greater resource was possible. That, all in the "heart" of Shinra. I believe that the whole point of the majority of the game was to show, through many different examples, that there's no significant change without action. And systemic action, for that matter. Ofc, FF7 is a much more complex game than that, too. There's much to talk about the Lifestream, or our "modern" materialistic perception of nature vs the religious/spiritual view, or Seph's viewpoint etc etc. Thanks a lot for this video, it was great food for thought!
@@gnosis_gaming overall I really liked it! Criticisms aside, I think it's a great work of art. I've been planning to replay it, and since I'm replaying the original right now because of the new Echo-S mod (which, honestly, gives a whole new layer to the game, I can't recommend it enough), I have it a little fresher in mind. I really enjoyed Midgar's complexity, particularly the beginning. Jesse's parents, getting to see the upper plate a little, deepening our relationships with the Avalanche trio. I also enjoyed getting to know Tifa's daily life in the slums (before bombing and all); it gives more weight to what we lost when they dropped the plate. I agree with you, they expanded Midgar a lot in the Remake, and it was an excellent idea. I thought they added a little bit more fluff than I expected, probably to fill content since Remake was all Midgar. Some were amazing, like Wall Market. Others... eh. Kyrie wasn't really my thing, and I honestly hated the ghost train plot. Felt dragged, while we had much more urgent priorities to handle. I'm still not sure how to feel about the Whispers thing, but I'm facing Remake/Rebirth as its own thing, different from the original. That opens up space for me to enjoy it as something new, not as associated with the original. Combat was fun as well, a great way to mix real time w/ ATB. Sometimes it felt a little confusing, but eh, so did the original. Now, the music... Holy Meteor, the music is simply genius. First time I heard Airbuster I almost cried. They hit gold with the OST. So yeah! I think any remake/remaster will face fan backlash, no matter the direction they take it. I think they're making a good job, given the challenge and weight of such an enormous project.
So far my impressions are that everything is mostly really well done. I just finished the train graveyard and it's for sure the worst part of the game for me right now. I didn't love the side quests in Sector 7 either. As soon as they started asking me to find hiding children, I moved on haha. But it's nice this part is skippable, unlike the train graveyard...@@johnnylouro
@@gnosis_gaming definitely! It hurts replayability a little bit, having those unskippable parts. But nothing unbearable. And it gets much better entering Shinra building. Hope you'll enjoy it!
I think you’ll really like around the end of the game where Barret is able confronted even further with the other side to his cause, don’t want to give too much away but I feel like it’s able to fit in well with this discussion
I'd like to see a review or analysis or whatever you have in mind for Remake once you've finished it! I really like your videos, you seem like a thoughtful person
Your videos are so good! Something I want to add about the utilitarianism vs deontology point is that, utilitarianism seems to be the best "macro" approach when we're 100% certain what would be better for the world. In the case of ff7, well it's a game and we know by the end that yes, the planet was indeed in danger, but in the real world unfortunately what's the best course of action is often a very hard thing to be sure of. For example, what if by the end of cd1 it was revealed that no, shinra wasn't harvesting the life blood of the planet, and mako was just a renewable, clean source of energy? I mean, it's not like barret is a scientist or anything to determine the truth of his beliefs, so although he had a tragic past with corrupt shinra personnel before, maybe he could be just wrong despite being a good person, and then he would have just blown a bunch of people for a cause that was false all along. And that's the problem with utilitarianism in real world: how can we surely determine, 100%, that a cause is true, worth sacrificing LIVES for? Even the smallest physical models stop being deterministic as soon as any complexity is added, how can we determine what will happen to a society so surely that it's worth lives for? And then, to add another layer of trouble, what if we do nothing when we should have, afraid that we weren't certain enough to act? We'll never know 🎉
I think the pitfall in logic is that, there is always a better way. Working together without suffering is technically possible. at times, it is others who make that seem like it has costs. Its like having so much food in the U.S. its thrown away yet people still starve. Hopefully there will be a day that makes it easier to help people
Another thing is, how can any of these world views guarantee their path will ensure the survival for the longest period of time. For example one of them could end up leading to space faring civilization in the future allowing them to leave the planet (planets usually aren't habitable forever anyway because sun is gonna "grow"). But at the same time maybe none of them can do it on their own and there should be some "hybrid" approach. I am glad FF7R is sparking these conversations because they are fascinating.
True - Shinra was already funding Cid's space research, probably because they knew their exploitation of the planet's resources was unsustainable. But it seems like the technology was still far from being ready.
Their abandoned space program and decision not to rebuild Midgar in favor of Neo-Midgar shows how dedicated Shinra are to short term profitability. Just like with the meteor, they only respond when a crisis provides an imminent threat to their bottom line, and by then it’s too late. Would be the same fate with space exploration and colonization.
"they only respond when a crisis provides an imminent threat to their bottom line, and by then it’s too late" I think that's very much how the real world operates.@@davidrich27
Hey man great channel! Loving your content. Its hard to argue the merits of any perspective especially any philosophical one without acknowledging its negatives. Avalanche was never 100% right , the game thrust us the players like Cloud into a conflict we didn't fully understand and then force the characters to reflect on their actions as they connect with the planet and really start to understand it. The lifestream, the people on the planet, final fantasy 7 builds our relationship with the planet by actually making us explore it and letting us understand and connect with it. Avalanche was wrong in some ways and right in others, similarly to Avalanche this is true for people of the planet. The game's most interesting question when it ends isn't did we save the planet? its was it worth cost? Depending on your interpretation of the ending , its kind of what makes the game so compelling, we don't really know.
Good video. I just want to point out that Barret really does not give a damn about the Planet at the start of the story. He is just using the talking points to justify his petty revenge mission for the burning of Coral. He admits as much in the original game. but the rest of the video was top notch.
Good point! I think it's hard for someone to devote themselves to big causes like 'saving the planet' ... We need someone or something more close to us to fight for.
Revenge may have started him on the path to AVALANCHE, but even early on, he’s not simply making up excuses to blow shit up. In FF7OG, when they are standing at the edge of Midgar, Cloud wants to chase after Sephiroth. Barrett responds: “Will that save the planet?” He doesn’t argue that they need to keep on bringing the fight to Shinra. He wants to fight the biggest threat to the planet, even though Sephiroth had nothing to do with Coral and he is even a mutual enemy of Shinra. He clearly feels guilty in retrospect that his activism was born from selfish intent, but its not so simply black-and-white as saying everything he did in Midgar was entirely in pursuit of revenge or that he didn’t care about the planet.
The Turks? Nietzschean? They're really not, might makes right isn't his philosophy. He even said to the mighty, to let kindness be your final conquest.
Nietzschean philosophy is highly axiomatic, rather than systematic, so it is always possible and very easy to find quotes that are in direct contradiction to his other assertions. However, his ubermensch ideas are, I think, an expression of 'might is right' ethics. He admired the Greeks and their 'heroic' mentality, which valued pride and strength over later Christian virtues like humbleness and meekness, which Nietzsche called the 'slave-revolt' in ethics.
Great video. Strange of you to omit that Shinra themselves blew up the reactors, both of them. Avalanche didn't do much but trespassing (and well killing the security guards and what not). Also, does this video really have 50 % dislike? Why?
Very true, though Avalanche does at least 'intend' to blow them up, which I think is important. In the original I don't think Shinra did the dirty work, if I remember correctly. BTW the video has less than 2% dislike. Are you seeing differently?
Small Correction: it's cait sith (Reeve) that calls out Barrett for the avalanche bombings, not Cid.
Thanks for the correction!
5:50 I think initially Remake shows that Reeve has this mindset. He’s a higher up at Shinra and wants to do what he can with good intentions but ultimately can’t change much.
I never realized the contrast between Cloud and Barrett's perspectives as larger themes for the people of Midgar. That would have been pretty impactful if the writers made this a bit more potent in the world, even subtly. I think it would have made the world feel even more real.
Great analysis by the way!!
I think it's part of Cloud's character arc as he learns to pay more attention to other people.
To be fair, there is in fact a small/local government. In chapter 2 you can find signs pointing you towards a local townhall/congress for Sector 8. The bridge collapses before you reach it. Like the Mayor, however, I doubt this is little more than 'comfort'. The Republic of Junon is also a state/country government, but surrendered itself to Shinra control.
Maybe these centers of local government are remnants of Midgar's past, before the political dominance of Shinra
I'm pretty sure Shinra used its wealth to topple governments big and small around the world. Military police, the turks and SOLDIER aren't run by a national government, they're part of Shinra's payroll. Shinra has a monopolization of legitimate violence that's normally reserved for the State. After growing more politely aware awhile back I started to view Shinra as the endgame of anarchocapitalism, where the most successful company becomes the government.
That's probably why it's important to crack down on monopolies!@@richardpankow4714
Consider this: Shinra began as a weapons manufacturer. Small arms, eventually tanks. It sold primarily to the Republic of Junon, but then started to sell to the great (middle) continent. It even had limited success selling the concepts of guns to Wutai, which they used some pretty bizarre fun concepts of a gun-staff, gun-halberd, etc. It manufactured shells of many sizes, including naval ship sizes (there's a factory in the dump of sector 5, with an old/unusual Shinra logo design that has some similarities to the Peace Preservation (Heidegger's department) and the weapons division (Scarlet's department) logos. Some of these bullet shells are bigger than Cloud.
It appears they even developed manned robots, also found in the junk with unusual Shinra logos.
There's also farming equipment but it doesn't have Shinra logos.
According to Cid in Red's novel, the gasoline engine was made a bit before Shinra, but it was a horrendous failure (tended to explode). At the time the Junon government didn't have a name in terms of developer creativity but he said Junon built an oil rig specifically for it, which was later abandoned. Gasoline was in use during the construction of the sewers for the old towns that became the slums, however, there are gas cans all around and the motors there are functionally gas-powered.
Cid said the diesel engine was produced by Shinra. It, too, had problems. But when mako was discovered, it ran perfectly and safely in the diesel engine. Mako fuel is stored in propane tanks in ff7 remake, which can also be found in the original crisis core in very limited numbers. CCR got much more happy to place them. During remake's opening segment we see how a Beaufort brand car gets it's fuel changed, pulling out a mako storage (propane) tank and then inserting a new one.
Soon, the government of Junon, interestingly a Republic with a single deity religion (America) where Midgar was once intended to be New York, where Seventh Heaven originally had the name Texas on the sprite art, where the police are militarized and privatized, where the news spits out what benefits the companies, where the pursuit of mako (oil?) leads this country and company into wars, where the citizens can buy assault weapons and are encouraged to open-carry despite being a police state, and a weapons company got itself into energy production, banks, etc.. It is no wonder Shinra went from buying politicians to quietly taking over. It no doubt used think tanks to ensure politicians passed laws to empower itself until it was able to have its own military. In first soldier, the Soldier program came from the expeditions to find Aerith's promised land, where they would get poisoned by mako and experimented on. These soldiers were normal, and similar to Republic of Junon's infantry but wearing blue. Eventually with the soldier program, the invention of the helicopter, etc... it gradually outpaced even the Republic of Junon. At some point, the Republic voted to make Shinra it's President, and the power was never relinquished. Something similar almost happened in America, where when that time came, a President motivated his followers with lies and propaganda to fight and make him a dictator.
How does Shinra motivate the people into a war that they forced a cease fire on because the people didn't want more war? Lies, propaganda, and a selected scapegoat. It does sort of help that their story has a kernsk of truth to it.
(the kanji for Shinra means Shin (web) Ra (a god), God-Web. (The corporation Mitsubishi is one such web-comoany, which manufactures cars, does energy production, makes weapons, etc.). Fun.
It’s shown quite clearly with the mayor Domino and with Wutai, these are puppet governments. It’s as he said in the video, giving the populace just enough illusion of political efficacy to keep them complacent.
This channel’s a hidden gem! Keep it up 👍
Thank you!
For real though
Damn, great analisis.
It really is hard to put yourself in these situations and even harder to know who is in the right before it all unfolds.
I really like the ambiguity of this game, especially at the beginning. As someone who hasn't played the original yet, playing the first act leaves you with a lot of doubts about the justifiability of your actions.
Excited for what you will discuss about the rest of the game, keep up the great work!
Any plans on playing the original soon? What was your first Final Fantasy?
Just checked out your channel. Looks pretty cool!
@@diogenes3300 Thank you for checking it out! Hope you enjoy it!😄
@@gnosis_gaming Definitely will, as soon as I get some extra time, your videos made me even more excited to try it out
just my rambling but as a guy that just watches cutscenes and played the original way after the ps3 came out and didn't appreciate anything but action until nuanced stories till recently I use to cringe at some of the plot armor and stuff that happens in stories like this but then still shied away from more grittier stories so its interesting to see the makers of the remakes try to balance it all out esp since I suspect ppl who got into ff7 were just into it for its graphics not its low poly greenery stuff or prerendered 3d image arts or even concept art maybe some stayed for the music but the story was something that just seemed to happened like someone dies and you invested so much dialogue into it and 3d rendering towards it and kids had to learn from it and they had anime eyes on it I think in order to appreciate this and yet not appreciate things like this is to have ambivalent feelings towards japanese media and culture even tho it has elements of alot of major industrialized cultures in it the story and like the @gnosis_gaming's other vids say about other slice of life games this kinda was like a slice of life game on a planet level if you can kinda hotwire some thoughts together esp since I also watched the cutscenes and played ff10 ff12 and a bit of ff8 ff4 and ff2 and ppl becoming bandwagoning on it after kindgom hearts 1 and 2 which i also played but not ff dysida they try to add soo much content into games like these and wrote novels and other things to world build which they prop do w/ other things to its detriment like some say
as a tldr that a troll to all of this don't play games they waste your time and don't inspire anyone and anything out of ppl
edit I'd even go so far as to say the middle of the games and stories w/ side quests and stuff is kinda like all that stuff you said about caring about stuff your greenery and setting are just wackier since you just need it to progress for the story which is similar to the plot armor of things even after a while barret and areis even stop talking that much about the planet like their on a vaacy but also goes back to heavier deeper dialogue too but that swhy i said its kinda like an anime
also think its a big miss that you didn't include septhroths big plan but idk if that would give away too much of the story or if that story would be changed in later remade chapters like turks didn't dismantel don corneo and its mafia like control of the sector the irony that shirna employees blindly try to say things should go publically while they know the blight of the ppl in sectors that suffereed the most from shinra makes him sort of evil or maleficently ignorant esp if he chooses not to look into the issues people face which is one thing a cold world society does esp if its highly inequal or class divided too so it was best to see him cower esp seeing the differences in wealth between the two one guy lost an arm over its not like he didn't see the effect of shinra which starts wars w/ turks or conflicts with mines or villages
Like you said in the last video it's a trade off between comfort in the now or the longevity of the planet.
We saw Jessie's dad on life support or whatever medical equipment. Even in the orginal games for the reactors AVALANCHE destroyed hospitals could've existed on the topside of those sectors. As for under the plate AVALANCHE made thier already bad lives even worse. As we see in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, sure the world still exists but it looks like an even worse place to live without mako energy. Wutai and Cosmo canyon are used to not having the convenience of mako energy.
Your vids are taking off recently congrats!
Thanks!
Been watching your vids for awhile now, and so far I'm enjoying them.
Good work, have a good one! 😎
@@RicoX-17 I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying the channel! 😄
great content. some good reflections to relate on what's happening in the real world.
Thanks for clicking!
Great video idea! A topic people rarely like to touch upon because of either the fear of the consequences of ruffling some feathers, Or even just because of peoples own personal biases... But nevertheless, An extremely important topic that we should all be more open to discussing with open minds whilst still maintaining a healthy amount of skepticisim in the mix to ensure as many bases are covered as possible in pursuit of better lives not just for ourselves and only our families, But everyone. Including those less fortunate to being more capable of accepting &/or less fortunate to being ABLE to accept the bigger picture of things. Whether those factors are due to such peoples bias's or inability. As one person, Were only human and cant please everybody, But together through love, cooperation & compassion, We can all be a little more than that and accomplish big things, Things that do great good in the world 🙂 Kinda just like how our awesome FFⅦ protagonist's did in they're own world in they're own way!
[ Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Arieth, Nanaki, Yuffie, Cid, Cait Sith & the rest of the Avalanche crew! ] 😀😁
Such an idealistic world is quite the daunting task for us all or even just most of us to realistically achieve someday... But it's certainly not impossible to achieve one day by any means technically But such things just take alot of time to develop, Lifetimes even.
Even if in the unfortunate case that I/We never get to see such monumental feat's for humanity get accomplished during our lifetime's, But instead are accomplished during lifetimes spanning beyond that of our own...
I still hope we ALL positively develop as a society for the greater good of our future families and even the future families we'll never know personally when we become ancestors & our species as a whole 😌🖤
Thanks for clicking! A lot of good ideas here.
@@gnosis_gaming No prob bruddah', Its the rising & upcoming creators like you that are always worth engaging with!
Det' do be de' wey' ma' bruddah' :D
Your channel is underrated man! Amazing video.
Good editing, great calm delivery, great content.
I am running through the Ff7 universe games atm(finished 7,now already playing Crisis Core).
Anyway now that 7 is relevant again these Ff7 videos are a good idea imo. People wanna consume Ff7 content.(and will want more aftet Rebirth).
Yup, as a small channel, I definitely need to ride the FF7 wave for a while 🤣 though I do want to put out an FF9 video soon.
And thanks for the high praise! Have you played Remake yet?
Yup. Played part 1 a couple of years ago. Loved it, that game had to tell a 7 hour story in 40 hours(since its only Midgar) so they used that opportunity to greatly expand on themes and characters. Put a spotlight on the smaller things in Midgar.
After Crisis Core, i will definitely replay remake though so i can be ready for Rebirth!
Does Crisis Core have the same battle system? I'm really liking the combat in Remake @@generic1g
Well it's similar, it's definitely not the same but you can see how Crisis Core influenced Ff7s remakes gameplay.
When you got the chance you should definitely try it. The gameplay is fun, and the story is actually really important to the whole FF7 universe. It fills a lot of gaps.
You do a really great job at showcasing the parts of FF7's world that need to be discussed more. I think there's a lot to the game that most people feel when they play it but don't really know how to explain, and you do a really good job at explaining those things!!
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I really like your videos! I was around 13 years old when I played FF7 (apart from Mystic Quest on SNES it was also my first RPG, actually) and I was already able to kinda 'feel' all those themes, but back then I couldn't (and later I wouldn't) have analyzed it all. There really is a LOT going on in this game in terms of philosophical themes and references to old literature or other media. Looking forward to more stuff like this :)
One of my major just... Icks... With FF7 Remake is the cleaning of the plot.
I love scenes like walking around Midgar, seeing the destruction... People crying... It was fucking fantastic in the remake.
Only issue? I don't feel conflicted. I don't go "damn... Did we do this?"
Because they changed it to make AVALANCHE the objective good guys. They just meant to blow up the reactor not the entire thing! Shinra user their weapons on the entire mako supply to blow the whole fucking plant up!
Its a subtle, but really annoying change. Avalanche only meant for the damage to harm Shinra. Meanwhile Shinra caused extra damage to harm their own citizens to pin it on AVALANCHE. Because it was changed theres no longer this conflicting feeling. You don't have to think about how Barret genuinely puts the needs of the planet above the needs of the people. Its boring.
Love your content. I'm excited for rebirth and the upcoming content from you.
I'm starting to get excited too!
Eh i liked how in the original the game didnt shy away from them being ecoterrorist but left it up to you to judge. The new one nudged towards them being good guys
Got my kids in overdrive this morning, but I can't wait to watch this later!
😆
Another thought provoking video. I went into FF7R with the same internet bias. It is by no means a perfect game but it was a lot better than the garbage pile that many have made it out to be. That aside, you opened my mind a bit more about some of the political undertones of the first chunk of the game. Great analysis as usual, keep them coming!
True. I mean, almost all of the gripe came from the addition of 3 things: the whispers, alternative timelines and time-travel, and shoehorning Sephiroth into a part of the story where he clearly doesn't belong. Most of this game was fantastic (aside for minor things like padding the gameplay), which is why it has an 8.5 metacritic audience score.
Most of the game is really great.
@@phillystevesteak6982All those things are enough to ruin it.
People need to stop convincing themselves it’s good. It has ruined FF7.
@@phillystevesteak6982 I haven't played but IMO the problem is that the adding of whispers and alternative timelines makes the game in a weird spot where it isn't exactly a re-make but kind of a fake remake/sequel.
Also, there are only so many things a plot can hold and imo this is something even the original FFVII game suffered from. If the plot is about time-travels and avoiding destiny, which seems to be the case, the plot isn't about the environmental fight, it's about fighting with destiny.
Which is also a plot Nomura has already developed in a bunch of other games so I'm not sure he really needed to bring this here, since "destiny" wasn't really a thing at all in the original game (maybe a bit hinted in Sephiroth's psyque, but not really a huge point)
And sure, you can say that a game can touch a lot of different topics and you'd be right. But at the end of the day, the story usually advances only for a couple of them, and the stories tend to have big confrontations about certain things. If you add certain themes as main themes you're displacing other things to the side
Watched the previous vid, subbed because of this one 😄
Thanks for coming back! 🥳
watched this vid on my watch later i think it had another thumbnail before, it looked really great . good vid
I changed the thumbnail because the video wasn't getting any traction from the algorithm. Did you like it more before?
@@gnosis_gaming i personally did, the blue background with the character sprites was distinct from the other vids in the sidebar and uniquely readable. really liking the vids ive seen from u. keep up with the fine tuning and im sure you'll hit your stride
Thanks for the feedback! @@gusmangamer
The dialog about casualties was between Barret and Cait Sith, not Cid. But otherwise, excellent video.
Thanks for the correction. It's been a long time since I played the original!
@@gnosis_gaming Too many "C" names in this game!
Well it definitely makes more sense that it's Cait Sith who said that 😅 @@GreatBrenton
I just want to say that I really love your videos so far just came across your channel because the algorithm led me here and I’m loving every second!
Looking forward to many more videos and a lot of growth you deserve it.
I'm glad the algorithm brought you here! Thanks for leaving a comment.
As a child/teenager I was all about Avalanche and saving the planet, no matter at what cost. It was easy to separate the world between good and evil, and imposing our (us, the good guys) morals to the rest was the right thing to do. All in all it was for the planet's sake.
As an adult things get far more complex, and even though in this piece of fiction Shinra is depicted as everything that is bad with the world, I can't help it but feel sympathetic towards the common people in Midgar. And coming from a country that has recently faced a somewhat violent revolutionary attempt to break the status quo, I'd rather advocate for stability over revolution.
Great video! There needs to be more FF7/FF7R Philosophy/Politics videos. It's a game so politically charged, and with such profound messages that it's important for us to think about it, and FF7R really rekindled that flame.
While there might be comfort in taking the "middle path" of non violence with what you call conservatism here, the problem with its ideology is that it only perpetuates the system's structure. It can't create meaningful change, not when it goes against elites' interests. And I think that was what the game wanted to show, as well.
We see it in Corel, when Barret initially allies with Shinra to progress the city, only for it to be trampled over when something went awry on the reactor. We see it in Gongaga, when the reactor exploded and people were abandoned. We see it with that merchant in Costa del Sol begging you to buy anything to make ends meet, right next to an ostentatious couple talking about going snowboarding after visiting Gold Saucer.
And we see it the clearest in Midgar, ofc. An entire sector completely destroyed, upper and lower, for "getting rid of a few rats". Another (S6) abandoned to a mafia-like system with no plans to invest in or better it in any way. Hell, the whole town abandoned when plans changed, and suddenly attaining a greater resource was possible. That, all in the "heart" of Shinra.
I believe that the whole point of the majority of the game was to show, through many different examples, that there's no significant change without action. And systemic action, for that matter.
Ofc, FF7 is a much more complex game than that, too. There's much to talk about the Lifestream, or our "modern" materialistic perception of nature vs the religious/spiritual view, or Seph's viewpoint etc etc.
Thanks a lot for this video, it was great food for thought!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! How did you enjoy Remake?
@@gnosis_gaming overall I really liked it! Criticisms aside, I think it's a great work of art.
I've been planning to replay it, and since I'm replaying the original right now because of the new Echo-S mod (which, honestly, gives a whole new layer to the game, I can't recommend it enough), I have it a little fresher in mind.
I really enjoyed Midgar's complexity, particularly the beginning. Jesse's parents, getting to see the upper plate a little, deepening our relationships with the Avalanche trio. I also enjoyed getting to know Tifa's daily life in the slums (before bombing and all); it gives more weight to what we lost when they dropped the plate. I agree with you, they expanded Midgar a lot in the Remake, and it was an excellent idea.
I thought they added a little bit more fluff than I expected, probably to fill content since Remake was all Midgar. Some were amazing, like Wall Market. Others... eh. Kyrie wasn't really my thing, and I honestly hated the ghost train plot. Felt dragged, while we had much more urgent priorities to handle.
I'm still not sure how to feel about the Whispers thing, but I'm facing Remake/Rebirth as its own thing, different from the original. That opens up space for me to enjoy it as something new, not as associated with the original.
Combat was fun as well, a great way to mix real time w/ ATB. Sometimes it felt a little confusing, but eh, so did the original.
Now, the music... Holy Meteor, the music is simply genius. First time I heard Airbuster I almost cried. They hit gold with the OST.
So yeah! I think any remake/remaster will face fan backlash, no matter the direction they take it. I think they're making a good job, given the challenge and weight of such an enormous project.
So far my impressions are that everything is mostly really well done. I just finished the train graveyard and it's for sure the worst part of the game for me right now. I didn't love the side quests in Sector 7 either. As soon as they started asking me to find hiding children, I moved on haha. But it's nice this part is skippable, unlike the train graveyard...@@johnnylouro
@@gnosis_gaming definitely! It hurts replayability a little bit, having those unskippable parts. But nothing unbearable. And it gets much better entering Shinra building. Hope you'll enjoy it!
Yknow I just realised that FFXVI basically did this again with the Mothercrystals. It's actually a lot closer to FF7 than 13 ever was thinking bout it
I think you’ll really like around the end of the game where Barret is able confronted even further with the other side to his cause, don’t want to give too much away but I feel like it’s able to fit in well with this discussion
I'd like to see a review or analysis or whatever you have in mind for Remake once you've finished it!
I really like your videos, you seem like a thoughtful person
Thanks for watching! Do you have a favorite JRPG you're interested in hearing about?
Deserves more views. Good shi.
Thanks for clicking!
I knew what the concept of deontology was, but I didn’t know the word for it. Thanks for teaching me a new word!
My pleasure!
Your videos are so good! Something I want to add about the utilitarianism vs deontology point is that, utilitarianism seems to be the best "macro" approach when we're 100% certain what would be better for the world. In the case of ff7, well it's a game and we know by the end that yes, the planet was indeed in danger, but in the real world unfortunately what's the best course of action is often a very hard thing to be sure of. For example, what if by the end of cd1 it was revealed that no, shinra wasn't harvesting the life blood of the planet, and mako was just a renewable, clean source of energy? I mean, it's not like barret is a scientist or anything to determine the truth of his beliefs, so although he had a tragic past with corrupt shinra personnel before, maybe he could be just wrong despite being a good person, and then he would have just blown a bunch of people for a cause that was false all along.
And that's the problem with utilitarianism in real world: how can we surely determine, 100%, that a cause is true, worth sacrificing LIVES for? Even the smallest physical models stop being deterministic as soon as any complexity is added, how can we determine what will happen to a society so surely that it's worth lives for? And then, to add another layer of trouble, what if we do nothing when we should have, afraid that we weren't certain enough to act?
We'll never know 🎉
'Final Fantasy VII Remake Betrayed Us | 1997 vs. 2020' pretty much sums up my thoughts.
I've watched that one! Were there any parts of the game you did enjoy?
@@gnosis_gaming The first bombing mission. Once they messed up Sephiroth's introduction it was all downhill.
Sephiroth is one of the worst parts of the game for sure@@BlackSailPass_GuitarCovers
I think the pitfall in logic is that, there is always a better way. Working together without suffering is technically possible. at times, it is others who make that seem like it has costs. Its like having so much food in the U.S. its thrown away yet people still starve. Hopefully there will be a day that makes it easier to help people
Another thing is, how can any of these world views guarantee their path will ensure the survival for the longest period of time.
For example one of them could end up leading to space faring civilization in the future allowing them to leave the planet (planets usually aren't habitable forever anyway because sun is gonna "grow"). But at the same time maybe none of them can do it on their own and there should be some "hybrid" approach.
I am glad FF7R is sparking these conversations because they are fascinating.
True - Shinra was already funding Cid's space research, probably because they knew their exploitation of the planet's resources was unsustainable. But it seems like the technology was still far from being ready.
Their abandoned space program and decision not to rebuild Midgar in favor of Neo-Midgar shows how dedicated Shinra are to short term profitability. Just like with the meteor, they only respond when a crisis provides an imminent threat to their bottom line, and by then it’s too late. Would be the same fate with space exploration and colonization.
"they only respond when a crisis provides an imminent threat to their bottom line, and by then it’s too late"
I think that's very much how the real world operates.@@davidrich27
Heidegger literally says "Bread and circus"
I think I'd put Heidegger in the Nietzschean category with the Turks.
Remake is class amazing how they faithfully recreated the vibe of the original
Hey man great channel! Loving your content. Its hard to argue the merits of any perspective especially any philosophical one without acknowledging its negatives. Avalanche was never 100% right , the game thrust us the players like Cloud into a conflict we didn't fully understand and then force the characters to reflect on their actions as they connect with the planet and really start to understand it. The lifestream, the people on the planet, final fantasy 7 builds our relationship with the planet by actually making us explore it and letting us understand and connect with it. Avalanche was wrong in some ways and right in others, similarly to Avalanche this is true for people of the planet. The game's most interesting question when it ends isn't did we save the planet? its was it worth cost? Depending on your interpretation of the ending , its kind of what makes the game so compelling, we don't really know.
Well said! Have you been playing Rebirth? I haven't picked it up yet.
Great video ps did you see my comment on edelgard
Yes, I did 😇 I think I replied.
@@gnosis_gamingi didn't get it
What do you think of the Wall Markey section?
May be one of the best sections of the game.
@@gnosis_gaming the wall market area is great. One of the better parts of remake!
Good video. I just want to point out that Barret really does not give a damn about the Planet at the start of the story. He is just using the talking points to justify his petty revenge mission for the burning of Coral. He admits as much in the original game. but the rest of the video was top notch.
Good point! I think it's hard for someone to devote themselves to big causes like 'saving the planet' ... We need someone or something more close to us to fight for.
Revenge may have started him on the path to AVALANCHE, but even early on, he’s not simply making up excuses to blow shit up. In FF7OG, when they are standing at the edge of Midgar, Cloud wants to chase after Sephiroth. Barrett responds: “Will that save the planet?” He doesn’t argue that they need to keep on bringing the fight to Shinra. He wants to fight the biggest threat to the planet, even though Sephiroth had nothing to do with Coral and he is even a mutual enemy of Shinra.
He clearly feels guilty in retrospect that his activism was born from selfish intent, but its not so simply black-and-white as saying everything he did in Midgar was entirely in pursuit of revenge or that he didn’t care about the planet.
Now play Rebirth! 😅
Haha, I'm starting to look forward to it! I also have Intergrade to play.
All Shinra are immoral and will pay.
Have you played Remake? What'd you think?
A S A B?
The Turks? Nietzschean? They're really not, might makes right isn't his philosophy. He even said to the mighty, to let kindness be your final conquest.
Nietzschean philosophy is highly axiomatic, rather than systematic, so it is always possible and very easy to find quotes that are in direct contradiction to his other assertions.
However, his ubermensch ideas are, I think, an expression of 'might is right' ethics. He admired the Greeks and their 'heroic' mentality, which valued pride and strength over later Christian virtues like humbleness and meekness, which Nietzsche called the 'slave-revolt' in ethics.
Great video. Strange of you to omit that Shinra themselves blew up the reactors, both of them. Avalanche didn't do much but trespassing (and well killing the security guards and what not). Also, does this video really have 50 % dislike? Why?
Very true, though Avalanche does at least 'intend' to blow them up, which I think is important. In the original I don't think Shinra did the dirty work, if I remember correctly.
BTW the video has less than 2% dislike. Are you seeing differently?
@@gnosis_gamingIt is updated now. Maybe the plugin didn't work.