Quote Originally Posted by Psychotic View Post
Disagree entirely. The war is a minor nebulous concept that is occasionally used as a plot explanation. We don't even know who it was fought between until we visit Wutai, and we don't know any of the major battles or leaders, the causes or the outcome. I like that you yourself described it as being "mentioned" in Aerith and Sephiroth's back stories - exactly! Mentioned! The war is used as a minor plot device in Aerith's backstory to explain why Elmyra took her in - the focus of that piece was firmly Aerith's special abilities and Shinra's attempts to recruit her. As for Sephiroth, we have no idea what he did or saw in the war other than him being a hero. His backstory firmly focuses on the events of Nibelheim.
The war is still a prominent element in the story background. As I said, it explains how Shin-Ra became noticed, it explains part of why Shin-Ra came into power because the foolish nations fought each other so long that people put their trust into Shin-Ra and their SOLDIER units who helped end the war. The war is largely why Shin-Ra has good PR and gets away with half the trout in the game. It's how Shin-Ra has a standing army and no one really cares. It's not the main theme of the game, I agree, but it's still there and it still fills in a lot of information the game doesn't spend time addressing. It can be both dude, it doesn't have to be one or the other and frankly most of the game's cyberpunk elements are dropped once Midgard is over.

What is the effect of the war on the people of Midgar? Do we see propaganda posters and statues? Do we see injured veterans? Do we even see any widows besides Elmyra? Compare that to the AVALANCHE vs Shinra conflict, the one that is on everyone's lips. We know the reasons, the battles, the victims, how the people of Midgar feel about it and are affected by it - from irritance at their commute being interrupted to having their homes and lives destroyed. All people in Midgar want to talk about is the modern conflict (AVALANCHE vs Shinra), poverty and mako energy. And that last one brings me firmly onto my final rebuttal. Shinra's power doesn't come from the war. Shinra's power comes from, well, its power! That concept is repeatedly and wholeheartedly mentioned at every turn. The convenience, the impact on the planet, materia, mako eyes, mako poisoning, pollution, it all comes down to Mako. And that is how a major element is handled. Anything that gets less airtime than Johnny or Don Corneo is not a major element.
Except no one cares about the AVALANCHE vs Shin-Ra conflict once you leave Midgard, in fact AVALANCHE isn't mentioned by anyone but Barret, Cait Sith and the execution scenario in Disc 2. It's completely dropped for the "search for Sephiroth" arc meaning after the first 5-8 hours of a 60+ hour game, the conflict doesn't mean jack trout.

Mako is how Shin-Ra maintains control, it's not what brought them to power. Even the Ultimania mentions that the War is what put people's trusts in Shin-Ra and Sephiroth's exploits in the war made children want to grow up being him including Cloud. Shin-Ra has power because they ended the war and as the premier weapons development manufacture, they have all the best toys which is why they even have power. The fact they have a monopoly on the best source of energy on the planet just made people keep loving them. The war is over, but it's effects on the current scenario are still completely there whereas the eco-terrorism conflict is largely new. None of this is helped by SE muddling the timeline with the Compilation. I agree that everything that gets less focus than two minor characters is not worth talking about, the issue is that AVALANCHE and what they stand for is one of those things. It completely drops from the plot after Midgard and while Shin-Ra is still there causing mischief, Cloud has the party so convinced Sephiroth is the bigger threat that even Barret stops wanting to pick fights with them for most of the game.

The party is trying to save the Planet and the game maintains a bit of a Green Aesop throughout, but the issue of Shin-Ra causing it is dropped for just mankind and evil extraterrestrials becoming more of the focus and shuntering Shin-Ra into "bad guys who give the party things to do while chasing after real bad guy". Shin-Ra doesn't become a factor in the plot again until the party decided to stop them from trying to save the planet. The other problem is that environmental issues are not necessarily an element of cyberpunk, it deals with social change caused by technology but after Midgard, the only effect we see of Mako Plants is Zack's hometown. Even Corel Town is more about Shin-Ra just being an oppressive force than some environmental or social commentary element. The fact Shin-Ra uses that army they used to win the war to suppress people kind of shows how beyond the thinly veiled use of name changes, Shin-Ra largely acts like a typical evil empire seen in the genre. I mean they won the war and now the world is either complacent or apathetic to their rule. AVALANCHE itself changes from eco-terrorist to oppressed people rebelling against the current regime, hell there is not even a single member of the team who really cares about the planet. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie seem more into for the fame than ideals and while they may have actually cared, it's not like any of them got enough screen time to show that since Don Corneo has more screen time than all of them. Barret and Tifa are out for revenge against Sephiroth and Cloud is ultimately the same way. The rest of the party is largely united by not liking Shin-Ra and what they've done to them as opposed to idealistic notion of saving the planet. No one cares about the planet until it actually gets put into real peril. The Aesop is kind of lost due to focusing on human failings and how people unite under a morally righteous cause for usually petty selfish reasons.