Two other wildcards for me:

-Release (Holy, Cloud, Sephiroth).

-Reminiscence: Cloud and Sephiroth. Would make sense if there’s a last minute twist that Remake is late or even post OG Cloud reminiscing over his pas. It has also been referenced in the compilation, but not as marketable of course.

You can see the pattern in this cycle: “Crossing threshold”, “Death+Rebirth” then “Return changed”.

I was never big on Return but seeing these connections makes it an easy pick.

Not Yogacara, but rather Jung:

For me, FF7 is about Cloud finding his true self.

In his theory of the psyche, Jung talks about “individuation”, which is exactly that: a person diving in their unconscious, burying their fake ego and finally returning to their true self.

In Greek myth, Persephone is a goddess of springtime and closely associated with the blooming of flowers. However, she is also Queen of the Underworld, and the afterlife's most powerful female figure. Both these characteristics are paralleled by Aerith in Final Fantasy VII.

Will Sephiroth REDEEM Himself FF7 Remake Part 3? YouTube video by SteeD

It's upon us.

What this covers:

-Are there really multiple Sephiroths? (俺 vs 私 😉)
-His backstory.
-How can he be gone, and still return in Advent Children?
-What 7R is really setting up for him.

Bonus: Fans of Ultimania and Translation discourse - you will love this.

youtu.be/9eqpzUydSVI

Sephiroth Redemption Arc you say?
Let's put that to the test.

Tomorrow, 3pm.

Source Japanese quote and English Google translation for reference:

I think solutions that combine both conditions and don't treat them as one or the other are more likely to come close to the final resolution, but it will take hindsight, and dare I say humility, from us to reconsider some of our initial positions, particularly "AC not being a sequel to 7R".

Now in the interest of balance: I think the FF7 Remake narrative changes can both serve a purpose AND not undo Advent Children as a direct sequel, and we don't even have to go too wild in terms of interpreting the trilogy for that to work.

I've seen the other translation of this quote, which tbh was already clear.

But finally getting the source text in JP and seeing that it's possibly even clearer, as in "no changes that make it so that this doesn't lead to AC" is really just further confirmation for me..

(Source: t.co/Xn0vz7Ld4S)

hojo ff7 remake

The script for FFVII Remake includes an additional flashback headache where Cloud remembers Zack saying his dying words—"You'll be my living legacy." It would have occurred in Hojo's lab right after Hojo tries to tell Cloud he wasn't a SOLDIER, but was cut from the final release.