Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Forsaken Lover View Post
Garland was also the cause of Kuja, doesn't mean he should have been the villain.
I actually think Garland was a better villain than Kuja. He was at least something different from previous FF bad guys in that Garland fought for a cause he felt was justified that wasn't about stroking his own ego. He was surprisingly selfless and difficult to hate which is the type of villain I feel IX really needed as opposed to Kuja who is somewhat tragic but still a complete jerk about everything. Granted I love Kuja as a villain, but I would say that Garland was the more fascinating antagonist.

So same deal with Shin-Ra, especially if they didn't chicken out and play the game more realistically where AVALANCHE are actually treated as real terrorist and not an edgy but otherwise bumbling freedom fighter outfit. Imagine if VII had dropped Sephiroth and focused on working for an organization trying to stop people from using Mako despite people growing so dependent upon it? You know something actually reflective of the real world instead of Shin-Ra the evil empire. It would have been more groundbreaking than what we got.
I liked Garland and found him very interesting as well but he's just not very good FF villain material. He's too...impersonal. Even Vayne and his cronies were crueler than Garland.

As for Shinra and Sephiroth, it's simply a FF staple. Theopening act is some big evil empire but eventually they give way to a super badass individual ie. Golbez/Zemus, Kefka, Sephiroth and then after Sephy Edea/Ultimecia and Kuja. Even FF2 counts since the Emperor's Empire is no longer a thing by the end, it's just the Emperor himself that is the threat.

AVALANCHE killed a lot of innocent people, the game makes that very clear. It was just a case of Black and Grey Morality. AVALANCHE 's methods were not nice but Shinra was pure evil. I am replaying FFVII right now and I like that Kalm exists because if you talk to the NPC's there, you see what I would take is the "average citizens'" view of Shinra. All they know is this company provides them with this awesome power source and makes their lives easier. They think of Midgar as a "floating city" and as a wonder, instead of a hellhole like it actually is.

I just don't think you can make an entire game out of this. FF has a proud tradition of "gotta save the world!" And not save the world because it's slowly being leeched of life, but save it because it's in real, imminent peril. The only games that kind of avert this are X and XII.