Why was that Sephiroth fellow there?

[Cool Revolutionary]

make a sequel......and have sephiroth return once again.

[Sam250]

Which is pretty arrogant when they don't even know how the first one's going to be received yet, but that's another rant entirely...

I also remember them saying somthing like "We don't want the PS3 too do too well, so we'll put some games on the Wii aswell". Honest, i think they posted it on the News page.

Anyway, i also agree with the Sepiroth returning because of Fan Service thing, but on the other hand, i'm a fan, so make another sequal. I want Yazoo and Loz to survive and cause some trouble. And i want someone to die, anyone notcied nobody died (as far as i can remember, and i have to memory of a goldfish, so sorry if i missed somone obvious) in the film. The story didn't really move on at all.

[Big D]

Since Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz are all incomplete fragments of Sephiroth's spirit, it kinda makes sense for him to be reborn when Kadaj absorbed Jenova's cells. Spirit + flesh = person, after all. It's not made clear that the new trio are actually Sephiroth's spirit incarnate; it's hinted at, which I feel is a weakness of the film as it's easily overlooked or misunderstood. However, there's enough evidence from the dialogue and events to support it, not least of all that the trio are 'remnants" (i.e. leftover, remains) of Sephiroth, or avatars in the direct translation of the Japanese script. Of course, that falls kind of flat among western audiences, most of whom don't know the original meaning of 'avatar'.

...and him randomly mutating in the game

Nothing random about that at all. Mutation was always one of Jenova's powers - the ability to modify or completely transform living things. Sephiroth was gaining immense power in the game, and he changed to reflect that.

Does this mean that he will be coming back?

I don't think he will, at least not overtly. Sure he said he'll "never be a memory", but he also had a cocky look on his face when he pulled Cloud into that final spiritual battle in the original game. That happened after he'd already been beaten twice, but he still had a smile on his face until he got taken down for the last time. His final words in AC sounded pained yet belligerently defiant, rather than happy. Considering the secret ending of Dirge of Cerberus, and the revelations that are bound to come up in Crisis Core, I think it's fairly evident who the antagonist is going to be in the continuation/conclusion of FFVII...

*Edit*
In answer to the original question of the thread, "why was Sephiroth there"... AC is about wrapping up Cloud's story - the two main threads being the lingering guilt he feels about the harm he caused, which is primarily centered around Sephiroth and Aerith. It's about him being forced to confront and overcome his past so he can move on.
And on a less wanky note, it is indeed about fanservice. The original 'short film' draft of AC didn't include Sephiroth; he only showed up when they expanded it into a full-length movie. An essential part of the 'reunion' of the game's characters, and a key aspect of Cloud's story.

[Hazzard]

I just hate the way that us gamers are meant to guess at every occurrence in Final Fantasy VII, but in the other installments everything is cleared and covered with terms of the death of the main protagonist!

Just let the goddamn guy die and rest, we all know he's sick of reappearing and getting his ass licked by Cloud! I mean kissed...sorry, kicked...

[Jessweeee♪]

I hope for Square's sake that FFXIII is awesome...I mean it looks awesome, but if it's not, they're in serious trouble...


Aaaaanywayz, it's so he can come back in Kingdom Hearts :O

...but that's silly, I mean Aeris is there, and FFX-2 SpoilerTidus is there, and KH1 was made before plans of a FFX-2.

[The Crystal]

In answer to the original question of the thread, "why was Sephiroth there"... AC is about wrapping up Cloud's story - the two main threads being the lingering guilt he feels about the harm he caused, which is primarily centered around Sephiroth and Aerith. It's about him being forced to confront and overcome his past so he can move on.

And AC is a great movie. The problem is that if you want to understand the story, you have to... Play FFVII, read all the stories of "On a Way to a Smile", and read the Reunion Files. lol

[Markus. D]

They should have finished it after the original game :rolleyes2
Thats what i dont like about VII, all they do is change the story every 2 secs and make up coincidental occurences (like sephy not dieing...and him randomly mutating in the game)

Kadaj sees it coming from the beginning... just doesn't know why or who... and it's kind of been mentioned in this thread already as to ~~why~~

[Big D]

And AC is a great movie. The problem is that if you want to understand the story, you have to... Play FFVII, read all the stories of "On a Way to a Smile", and read the Reunion Files.

Reunion Files... I don't believe I've heard of those before. Do tell

[The Crystal]

Reunion Files... I don't believe I've heard of those before. Do tell

The Reunion Files is a book released by SE that explain everything about AC. It's like the UOG of AC.

Many things we know about the movie(like Kadaj and his gang being spirit bodies with Sephiroth's will), is because of what it's explained in the book.

And it's strange that you talked about this(Kadaj and the others being spirit bodies), but don't know what the Reunion Files is.

[Big D]

The movie gives enough clues and hints - the trio's obvious connection to Sephiroth and their desire to 'become whole again' by reuniting with Jenova's cells and bringing Sephiroth back, and so forth. It's also made quite clear that those fellows are manifest spirits, rather than 'real' people, when they absorb materia, and are completely dissipated by the healing rain at the end. Basically, a lot of things only truly make sense if you assume that Kadaj et al are incomplete remnants (another major hint) of Sephiroth.

Reading all the speculation and discussion around the forum was helpful, too.

[Sword]

Hmm I never thought of the possibility of him being the fake Sephiroth at the start of the game...I like that one. And some of your points too Big D - great stuff.

[sephireland]

FF VII without Sephiroth is like Jaws without the shark. The one thing that bothered me was the fact that he basically came into the game to have a fight and lose. This is an awful waste of a great character. I think if he'd come into the movie earlier and done some terrible things to Midgar and it's people it would've been a much better movie. And it would've made the stakes higher when Cloud and Sephiroth finally face off.

[Big D]

FF VII without Sephiroth is like Jaws without the shark. The one thing that bothered me was the fact that he basically came into the game to have a fight and lose. This is an awful waste of a great character. I think if he'd come into the movie earlier and done some terrible things to Midgar and it's people it would've been a much better movie. And it would've made the stakes higher when Cloud and Sephiroth finally face off.

Fine point there. However, I like that AC had a low death toll. The heroes actually managed to save everyone, or nearly everyone - compared to the grim and devastating loss of life in FFVII and the utterly wanton slaughter of innocents in DoC. The people of the world deserved a break, in my opinion

[The Crystal]

FF VII without Sephiroth is like Jaws without the shark. The one thing that bothered me was the fact that he basically came into the game to have a fight and lose. This is an awful waste of a great character. I think if he'd come into the movie earlier and done some terrible things to Midgar and it's people it would've been a much better movie. And it would've made the stakes higher when Cloud and Sephiroth finally face off.

But he did. Geostigma and the three "brothers" existed only because of him. He was fuc*ing the entire world(killing people and corrupting the Lifestream) during 2 years. This is very clear in his dialogue with Cloud in the begin of the fight.

And Midgar is a destroyed and desert city after the events of FFVII. He couldn't do some terrible things to the people of Midgar, because no one lives in Midgar anymore.

[Big D]

And Midgar is a destroyed and desert city after the events of FFVII. He couldn't do some terrible things to the people of Midgar, because no one lives in Midgar anymore.

I'm guessing he was referring to the former citizens of Midgar - those who now reside in Edge, which is more-or-less an extension of the old city...