Lunar New Year

Yes I got 4 days worth of holiday for Chinese New Year! And I busily spent those 4 days playing Final Fantasy VII on my PSX. Yes, slow as I am to discover this great classic 10 years after it's release and play 13 years after it was developped...eh, I still feel it's greatness even now.

The one thing that really attracts and pulls me in about this great game is the beautiful storyline. From Midgar to Gongaga, though the two are so dissimilar in terms of industrialization and such, one can feel the same sense of nostalgia flowing through these small cities and even feel sympathy for the slum dwellers. The golden saucer's joy and happiness was simply a facade for the hidden darkness and corruption that the world had, and one could feel through the setting and story that this happiness was just momentary. Yet people are struggling. AVALANCHE was not as much an impact to me as Cloud and Aerith were. Both may appear to be strong and uncaring for Cloud's case, but you can see that they are lost, lost in this whole bustling world of chaos. One could that Cloud did not the directions in his life and Aerith was all alone, despite having her companions, you could feel her loneliness and her desire to return to her kind. Sometimes, through the flashback of Cloud in Nibleheim, I kept screaming, "But that was Zack's story!", 'cos I had played through crisis core and sympatized greatly with Zack, but at the same time, this just showed how sad and miserable Cloud was, to not even know his own identity or remember the old friends that he used to have.

When did Cloud laugh? At the beginning of everything, on the rooftop with Aerith, when everything seemed so simple and safe. But no, FFVII presents to you a story so complex yet beautifully brought out that you will be hooked and screaming for more.
Aerith, if you leave, who will show Cloud the direction?