Huge Materia Justification

[-N-]

What is the party's justification for stealing the Huge Materia from Shinra in Disc II? Shouldn't they support Shinra's goal of destroying Meteor by ramming Huge Materia? (Even though if you don't get any of the Huge Materia and Shinra takes it all, the plan still fails?) Why does the party need the Huge Materia?

[Big D]

I thought about that a lot.
Basically, they thought Shinra had little chance of success against the overwhelming power of Meteor. Also, the Huge Materia contain vast amounts of knowledge and energy from the Lifestream, simply letting them get blown up would've been a horrendous waste. The party wanted to borrow the Huge Materia's power for themselves.

Still, if all of the Materia had been on the rocket, things might've been very different - until Sephiroth simply used the Black Materia again, of course.

[DocFrance]

Plus, the four Huge Materia will one day become the four Crystals...

..what, no one else saw that connection?

[Big D]

I love those "all the FFs are a continuing series" conspiracies :D

FFVII follows on from X and X-2 (see Shinra's comments on using the planet's energy in Chapter 5 for "proof"), which in turn came after VIII; VII then leads onto I, II, III, etc. Not entirely sure where IX fits into the sequence, or VI for that matter.

[DocFrance]

Actually, I think II, VI, and VIII are all pretty out of place.

[The Man]

IX and I are probably the closest related entries in the series, actually. I don't know how they could be made to fit together though.

[DJZen]

I and III are actually really similar. I think more so than any other FF game. Well, I dunno, FFVI and FFVIII are also pretty dang close, unless we're talking about something other than gameplay similarity, in which case I'll go finish my other foot now.....

[Big D]

In FFVIII, Kiros Seagill's victory stance almost perfectly resembles X's blitzball victory pose, and the prayer bow used by Yevonites. That's its biggest link to other FFs... plus the Crystal Pillar, which is undoubtedly something to do with The Crystal from FFIX, or the other crystal that was broken into pieces and distributed to the various kingdoms to prevent its terrible power from being unleashed again.

...OK, so this thread is hopelessly off-topic, but for now I don't seem too concerned...

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I am! Start talking about the Huge Materia again or heads will roll. :aimsmile:

[-N-]

I second the motion. To go on-topic or to have heads roll. Or both.

[Big D]

Alright, the Huge Materia.

I think that the party was partially motivated by revenge, at least some of the time. Like they felt they had to oppose Shinra, because it's what they do. Cait Sith implied this after the Huge Materia quest, when he said, "Haven't we troubled them enough for now?" or words to that effect. I think that the plan to take the Materia might've been a pretty rash decision at first, it's just fortunate that circumstances provided some justification for it.

[-N-]

The point you raised first made sense, Big D. What if Sephiroth just cast it again? I didn't consider that. And the whole Planet thing. Yeah.

[Big D]

Yep. Bugenhagen noted the value of the Huge Materia as repositories for the knowledge of the Cetra; truly priceless relics, but Shinra naturally saw them simply as potential weapons, to be used and discarded.

Summoning the Meteor took a huge amount of energy, so it's possible it'd take a long time before Sephiroth could re-use it. But even so, destroying a single Meteor, and using all the available Huge Materia to do so, would be futile unless Sephiroth was defeated to prevent the Ultimate Destructive Magic getting re-used.

[-N-]

Speaking of Bugenhagen, he also says (if you visit Cosmo Canyon in Disc II before collecting all the Huge Materia) that using Shinra materia in battle will end up only harming the planet. (I forget the exact wording.) So isn't the party guilty of the same crime as the Shinra, only to a lesser degree? Even if it's to save the planet?

[Big D]

Yes, I believe that's the theory. Materia form when Mako energy condenses and crystallises. However, Mako energy is the life energy, the essence of every living thing. Materia form naturally, in caves and springs like those seen in the game; this is a natural process and the crystals don't remain forever, they return to their natural state. However, Shinra's Mako reactors are used to manufacture Materia artificially, outside of the natural cycles. Every time a Materia forms, there's a little less spirit energy in circulation. In theory, if enough Mako was processed into Materia, life would start to diminish - the same as what happens around Mako reactors themselves. So, to have and use Materia is to contribute to the problem, at least in a small way... but at least it's possible to return Materia to the Planet when you're done with them. This is mentioned in the Materia tutorial - "If you've got too many, you can always throw some away - I mean, return it to the Planet".

[-N-]

Ah. In a way, that's almost like MagiTek in FFVI - forced extraction of Esper powers isn't as useful as converting them to Magicite...

I remember that bit in the Junon's Beginner Room too... haha.

But then I guess the question remains: Is the materia you use Shinra materia or naturally occuring materia? I guess all the materia you can buy is made Shinra-style, whereas everything else (summons esp.) is natural...