The Story of Final Fantasy 7:
Ok here I go, wish me luck.
First, some history on Midgar and Mako energy:
Mako energy is a highly concentrated form of magic that flows around the Planet in the same way that lava flows around our Earth. There is a component in Mako energy called the life-stream. When anything living dies, its body and soul join the planet in this life-stream "lava" flow. When a new living organism is born, it takes a portion from the life-stream into itself. Understanding the life-stream and Mako energy is one of the key components of Final Fantasy 7.
Mako happens to be a very profitable and dangerous source of energy. The Shinra realizes just how profitable Mako energy can be. By harnessing all this Mako energy as the main source of power in the world, the life-stream is becoming poisoned.
What the Planet does when it is in danger:
When the Planet is in danger, the life-stream attempts to heal the Planet by surrounding the wound. If the Planet is dying, or is in fear of dying, it summons its protectors as a last resort at survival. These protectors are extremely powerful fighters called WEAPONS. What gives the WEAPONS their energy is Mako.
Structure of Midgar:
The structure of Midgar is as follows: there are 8 reactors for harnessing Mako, all located on the outskirts of the circular city. The city consists of an upper plate, and a lower plate. The lower plate is the slums, and the upper plate contains the entrances to the reactors. In the middle of the city is the largest building and support structure, the Shinra Headquarters.
Cloud's Arrival:
At age 21, Cloud works as a mercenary for hire. As an ex-SOLDIER, (the military force of Shrina) his skills are in high demand. He decides to join AVALANCHE in their fight to save the planet from total Mako destruction. He is with them as they blow up the first Mako reactor. After the sucessful explosion, Cloud runs into Aeris, a flower girl from the slums. She is interested in what happened and Cloud shoos her off, but not without buying a flower. At the hideout, which is Tifa's bar, Seventh Heaven, Cloud demands his money from Barret. Barret is the leader of AVALANCHE. After a few choice words, Barret gives Cloud his stash - 1,500 gil, and Cloud agrees on staying with the group for another 3,000 gil.
Barret, Tifa and Cloud leave:
Barret, Tifa, and Cloud go on another reactor bombing. It does not go along smoothly and during a boss fight, Cloud drops from the upper plate, to the slums below and lands in Aeris' church on a bed of flowers. Aeris has special powers because she is what is called the Cetra, or the Ancients.
I'll go into detail on the history of the Ancients and Aeris.
The Ancients were the original civilization of the Planet. They had special powers to commute with the Planet. This power of communication was heriditary and was passed on from generation to generation. Eventually, an invader civilization, called Jenova, took over the planet and drove out most of the Cetra. At the time when Cloud meets Aeris, she is the sole Ancient left. Aeris' mother, Iflana, was an Ancient, and her father was Professor Gast. Both were killed in her early childhood. Elmyra, her guardian, took Aeris in as her daughter, and Elmyra came to understand the powers that Aeris had to communicate to the life-stream and the Planet itself. Because of this power, The Shrina want Aeris to help them achieve more of the power the Planet has. Also, there is a legend that exists...The Ancients can lead the way into The Promised Land, an area rich in Mako supply.
Back to the story:
Cloud decides to walk her back home, since the Shinra are on the loose and are looking for Aeris. He tells Aeris his story of joining Shinra on the way to her house, and she says that she is reminded of her ex-boyfriend, Zack. Cloud says that he doesnt recognize the name. Aeris wants to join AVALANCHE, and before Cloud can protest, he sees Tifa being led away to Wall Market, where they learn that Tifa is being held as one of Don Corneo's prize ladies. Don Corneo runs a pimp business. Aeris and Cloud find their way rather humorously into Corneo's mansion, where they rescue Tifa.
In the process of rescuing Tifa, they learn that Heideggar of Shrina hired Don Corneo to locate Barret's hideout. Their plan is to destroy the plate above the slums where Seventh Heaven is located, and wiping out the whole sector of slums. Corneo turns the tables in his favor and sends them to the sewers below the mansion via a trap door. Eventually they fight their way to the pillar that supports the doomed plate and they lose the battle to keep it standing. In the midst of the fight, Aeris gets taken hostage by the Shinra. The team of Barret and Tifa go after her in the Shinra Headquarters.
At the Headquarters:
While in there, they also discover that Professor Hojo, who took over Professor Gast's work when he died, is attempting to make Jenova come alive again after years of hibernating. Red, Aeris, Tifa, Cloud and Barret escape the Shinra Headquarters and leave for Kalm. They leave because Shrina is chasing them, and because the Shrina put the blame of the falling plate on AVALANCHE.
At Kalm:
Cloud tells his "story" to the remaining members of AVALANCHE. His story consists of working with Sephiroth, his first time fighting as a SOLDIER and how close Sephiroth and him were. Their relationship changed after Sephiroth reads books by Gast and Hojo in the Shinraa Mansion. He calls Cloud a betrayer and a traitor, and burns down the town of Nibelheim. From then on, Cloud and Sephiroth have been arch-enemies. Nibelheim was Cloud's hometown. Cloud doesnt fully understand why Sephiroth went crazy and called him a traitor. After the story, the team heads out for the Mythril Mines and Junon.
At Junon, Cloud disguises himself as a Shinra SOLDIER and learns new information that Shrina is following Sephiroth. Now, why would the Shrina be interested in Sephiroth? Because they believe that Sephiroth is also an Ancient that will lead them to the Promised Land. The team leaves Junon Harbor on a Shrina boat, and Sephiroth is on the boat with them. When they finally catch up to Sephiroth, he vanishes and leaves the team with a nasty Jenova suprise.
The boat ends up across the ocean, in a resort town called Costa Del Sol. Hojo is on the beach here, and the only key information he gives Cloud is that Sephiroth is headed to Mt. Corel. They leave first thing in the morning for Mt. Corel and the Gold Saucer. The Gold Saucer is the Disney World of Final Fantasy 7. Here you can test your skills at the battle arena, or just play games.
North Corel and the Gold Saucer:
Upon entering the mining town of North Corel, Barret recieves a cold welcoming due to the fact that people blame him for the destruction of thier town because he did not want to join Shinra. The people had gotten upset and wanted to blame Barret for anything that went wrong. They quickly use the ropeway and head for the Gold Saucer, where they run into a new character, Cait Sith. He joins your party. After the encounter with Cait Sith, they discover the battle arena. The battle arena is covered with dead bodies with bullet wounds. Could it be that Barret did this because he was upset at his town? They all get thrown in the Gold Saucer prison with no possibly of escaping...
Unless someone wins a Chocobo race. They all elect Cloud to be the jockey, and with a little luck, Cloud wins the race. With their new car as one of their gifts for winning, they can travel faster. And off they go for Gongaga Village.
At Gongaga:
The Turks (the group that does the dirty work for Shrina) are awaiting for them. How do they know AVALANCHE's whereabouts? Maybe it's a spy. After a battle, the victorious group heads for Cosmo Canyon.
At the home of Red VIII:
. It is here that they learn that Red's real name is Nanaki, and he is very ashamed of his father. Underneath the Canyon is a place called Caves of the Gi, where Red learns his fathers true heroic fate. They are assisted by Red's grandfather, Bugenhagen. After Red feels better about his father, they are all off to Nibelheim.
According to Cloud's memories, the town should of been burnt down by now. But it still stands, as un-burnt as it ever could get. Cloud thinks its a cover-up, and some people hint that Sephiroth is inside the Shrina Mansion again. Cloud goes into the Mansion, and discovers Sephiroth once more. This is where Vincent joins also. Sephiroth mumbles something about a "reunion" and invites Cloud to Mt. Nibel.
At Mt. Nibel:
After inviting him, Sephiroth leaves Cloud there at the Mansion. Cloud goes to Mt. Nibel and defeats the Materia Keeper. Cloud is then free to leave Mt. Nibel and head to Rocket Town.
Here, Cloud learns that Shrina used to have a program that financed space exploration. However, something terrible went wrong and the rocket never flew. AVALANCHE encounters Cid and he joins the team. They also get the Tiny Bronco, Cid's plane. They escape to Wutai, Yuffie's hometown.
Some trouble with Yuffie here, but everything works out in the end with little damage done.
The team than heads back to the Gold Saucer under Cait Sith's advice. On the way there, they stop at the weapon seller east of Gongaga. He tell you a little about the Temple of the Ancients. This legend intrigues Aeris. As it turns out, he just sold the Keystone of the Temple of the Ancients to Dio, the owner of Gold Saucer.
Back at Gold Saucer:
Dio offers it to Cloud, but only if he participates in the battle arena. Cloud does, and no matter what he does, Dio gives it to him. However, during the night, Cait Sith steals it and than hands it over to the Shinra. Dirty thief! Quick! Race to the Temple of the Ancients and see whats up. When you arrive, the man in black will mention Black Materia and then vanish.
Black Materia??
Black Materia is the key to Sephiroth's plan. The life-stream gathers around any of the planet's wounds to aid in healing. Sephiroth's plan is to make a wound that cannot heal, and absorb all the life-stream/Mako energy to become the ruler of all. His strategy is to summon a Meteor to kill the planet. Cloud must not let this happen and the gang follows him.
Here is the confusing part: Cloud actually hands over the Black Materia to Sephiroth at Sephiroth's command. Why? No one knows why......yet. Two difficult bosses later, Cloud realizes that Aeris has left and the team leaves for Bone Village in the northern continent. With the lunar harp in hand, the group enters The Sleeping Forest and than to the City of the Ancients. Cloud approaches Aeris, who is locked in prayer, communicating to the planet that there is terrible danger ahead. Sephiroth comes crashing down and kills Aeris while she is praying to the planet.
In the morning, the remaining AVALANCHE members head towards Icicle Inn and the Gaea Cliffs in search of Sephiroth to avenge what he has done. Crossing the Great Glacier is no easy challenge, but Cloud feels as if him and his group are up to it. Finally, there is light ahead - It's the crater where Sephiroth is. After defeating yet another Jenova and re-receiving the Black Materia that strange thing happens again.
Cloud again hands the Black Materia to Sephiroth and than he is thrown into the life-stream. Meanwhile, a Cloud-less Tifa and Barett are being lead to their execution. The Shinra blamed AVALANCHE for the summoning of Meteor. Tifa escapes from the gas chamber and she leaves with Barret on the Highwind (Cid's airship) to search for Cloud.
Several clues lead Tifa to believe that he is in Mideel. She discovers him alive, but he has contracted severe Mako poisoning and may not live. Tifa stays with Cloud for the moment while the rest of the team looks for a way to stop Meteor and they head for North Corel on a runaway train that is following the Shrina. At a brief stint at Fort Condor, Cid asks to go see Cloud and Tifa again, so off everyone goes to Mideel. After a battle with the Ultimate WEAPON there, Mideel is left in ruins, and the life-stream surges up to help repair the damages.
Ready to get seriously confused?
Cloud and Tifa have a discussion about Cloud's "real-self". Ok kiddies, this is where it becomes extremely complicated. And you thought it was bad before! It all sums up to this: Cloud has been lying to everyone straight to their face. He wasn't a SOLDIER. He was a Shinra 3rd class, which translates as effective as a fat police officer in front of a Dunkin Donuts on New Year's Eve. Than how did he get that uniform? He stole it from his friend Zack (does that ring a bell) after Zack tried to stop Sephiroth. The amazing part is that Zack attempted to kill Sephiroth, and failed, while Cloud had the strength to throw him over the Nibel reactor.
Hmmmmmmmm........Ok let's go back to Professor Hojo for a minute. It's clear that Cloud and Sephiroth have some bond between them. That was made obvious when Cloud handed over the Black Materia after the Temple of the Ancients. Cloud isn't your everyday Shinra 3rd class. He was taken from his mother at birth, and so was Sephiroth taken from his mother Lucrecia at birth. They were going to be a part of a Mako experiment together - to become Super-humans. Sephiroth was deemed the sucess, while Cloud was the failure.
The type of Mako they were infused with is very important to understanding the story. The Mako energy was the Mako that belonged to Jenova, the invador race to the planet. This Mako is poisoned. Hojo believes this Mako to be of the Ancients, and this is what he tells Sephiroth.
He believes Hojo, and Sephiroth than goes to fight for the Shinra 1st class, while Cloud is than thrown into Shinra 3rd class. So, in effect, Sephiroth and Cloud are of the Jenova race. Cloud has no recall of the experiment. What he does remember is that he promised Tifa a long time ago that he was going to be a SOLDIER and protect her. He invented this story of him becoming a SOLDIER and than became so used to telling it that he believed it himself.
This is why Shinra is after Sephiroth, because they think that Sephiroth is an Ancient. If you are thinking "why wasn't Nibleheim burned to the ground?", this is why. Sephiroth implanted that image into Cloud's head so that when the group arrived at Nibleheim, they would think that Cloud was a liar, and abandon him.
Whew!
I hope that helps you to understand. Anyways, now that we know Cloud's true past it should be much more easier to understand why Cloud wants to avenge Sephiroth.
Let's go back to the story.
After Mideel, Cloud follows the Shinra to the Underwater reactor in Junon. Shinra has been taking Huge Materia all this time this way they can attempt to shoot it out of a cannon so they can break up Meteor. Cloud, knowing that Meteor runs off of Mako energy, knows that the blast of Huge Materia will only help Meteor gain strength. Also, the real problem is Sephiroth. Cloud needs to destroy Sephiroth, in turn, destroy Meteor and save the Planet.
Shinra is going to use the rocket in Rocket Town to launch the Huge Materia. Cloud intercepts them and goes into the rocket. Shinra launches the rocket, and the team narrowly escapes with the Huge Materia from an escape pod. The team drops off the Huge Materia at Bugenhagens lab in Cosmo Canyon, and return to Midgar after fighting Diamond WEAPON. Hojo is busy overloading the Sister Ray. Why? Because Hojo is Sephiroth's father and he wants his son to suceed. Hojo and the team fight, and after the team wins, it's off to the crater to face Sephiroth for the final time. In the Crator: The brave team goes down the twisting paths into the heart of the crater for the final match. And, after defeating Sephiroth, Meteor stops a matter of a few hundred feet away from the planet. Aeris is present in the life-stream to make sure the damage done is at a minimum. It is really Aeris that makes the survival of the planet a true thing. 500 years later, Red XIII has his own grandchildren, and they go to visit Midgar. Midgar is overgrown with plants and trees and living creatures. Mako energy is once again rich and pure in supply.
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