From: mimi_sardinia	Date: September 15th, 2007 04:13 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Screen Stretch!

Okay, now I've actually got through it (dial-up loading is a paaaaaiiiin) I can see why some folks a WTFing at the end there - Cloud says he won't forget, but then... he does? o.Ô

Though I do like how they tacked the updated OCG start (the tech demo except that bit with Cloud) on the end - kinda links it all back home to the start of the original game (even if canon is narfed five ways to Sunday).

	From: plotbunnydoom	Date: September 16th, 2007 07:35 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Screen Stretch!

*climbs on soapbox* I don't think Cloud ever really forgot Zack. But there are things that are simply too painful for people to deal with. If Cloud had not forgotten Zack for a while, I think the weight of his own pain and guilt would have been too heavy for him to do what he felt he needed to to avenge Zack.

*off soapbox*

	From: mimi_sardinia	Date: September 16th, 2007 07:43 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Screen Stretch!

That sounds fine but some of the really big events surrounding the first visit to the Crater centre around the fact that Cloud honestly believed himself to be the First Class Soldier present in Nibelheim and the dissonance caused when Sephiroth shows him that he wasn't.

So somewhere along the line, Cloud must have really repressed all of his memory of Zack because in OGC, he really doesn't remember him until the Lifestream swim with Tifa, after Ultima's attack.

	From: plotbunnydoom	Date: September 17th, 2007 02:48 am (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Screen Stretch!

I love your icon.

That said, I totally agree with you. I think it may come down simply to how you see things. Yeah, he repressed his memories of Zack, but at the same time he didn't completely forget him, because he was taking on many aspects of Zack himself in his personality and constructed history. So he forgot him but at the same time he couldn't have really forgotten him, because if Zack didn't exist, then where did all of that come from?

However, I'm a psych major and tend to think of things a bit weirdly. :D

I guess what I'm trying to say is that 'stealing' Zack's persona (among other things) is a form of memory in itself. He's remembering him by being him.

... Reading back that sounds extremely weird. *sweatdrops*

However, your point still stands: Cloud did not consciously remember Zack until his little dip in the lifestream.

What say you, Madamhydra?

	From: madamhydra	Date: September 17th, 2007 07:10 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Screen Stretch!

Sorry for the delay. Real Life(tm) has been demanding as hell. ::wilt::

Anyway, in regard to this discussion, I realy don't think Cloud 'forgot' about Zack at all, at least not in the conventional context of forgetting about someone. In a way, Cloud remembers Zack at the expense of his own memories -- in other words, Zack was more important to Cloud than his own identity.

So I have to agree with Naeta's interpretation -- Cloud's 'theft' of so much of Zack's identity was simply a way to keep Zack's memory alive. It was perhaps the only way Cloud have of carrying out Zack's last request.

When you think about it, Zack's 'parting gift', under those circumstances, would have been a tremendous emotional burden on anyone, even someone with a healthy psyche. And Zack goes and dumps such a heavy emotional load on poor broken Cloud?

I'm sure Zack didn't mean to do so. He probably was desperately trying to figure out a way for Cloud to survive and perhaps thought that giving Cloud a goal would help the poor guy focus (instead of wandering god knows where in his fractured brain). And hey, Zack was dying at the time (::sniffle::) so surely one can excuse him for not fully thinking things through.

So Cloud accepts Zack's dying request to 'carry on', so to speak. Cloud probably desperately wants to do just that, but his broken mind simply can not cope with the pain and grief involved in remembering Zack.

So now we've got a real dilemma -- Cloud refuses to forget Zack, but he literally can't bear the memories (especially about his death). Viewed that way, I think that Cloud's assumption of big chunks of Zack's identity (however imperfectly) was the best compromise he could manage under the circumstances. That way, he could fulfil Zack's last wishes while retaining some semblance of sanity.

::listens to crickets chirp::

Uh... does that make any sense to guys? ^_^;;;