Ok the first two lines are referring to the darkness in cloud's heart and the next two are referring to his awakening by Tifa. The price to be paid is the suffering Cloud goes through. and the two of them together is when Cloud and Tifa are in the lifestream.
Thus my answer is the Lifestream.
Noone can clearly see what I truly am nor can they see what I am not. In this I am the greatest of mysteries and noone has yet been able to solve it. If you see me you haven't seen me. If you don't see me then you might have just seen me. And in the end you are all left to wonder if I actually existed at all or if i was simply a trick played upon your feeble minds.
Man I thought I'd made this a lot more obvious... Llanowar is the closet to getting the right approach to the riddle, although his answer is again way off. I see the logic behind Cloud and Tifa, but its a bit to vague, try reading the first four lines more carefully, and more literally.
Weimar I guess you're used to my lines having hidden meanings, and whilst yes this riddle does have a trick, its a different sort than most of my others.
I don't personally think its a problem, and it confuses the line a bit, or give away that part of the answer if I explained it, but there is a slight issue with the wording of line three. Don't worry about it (or think about it in trying to solve this in my opinion), but if you come up with an idea, don't dismiss it on a technicality about that line.
I say what I think. If you disagree, then that is up to you.
Let's see....Originally Posted by PhoenixAsh
"In the hearts of the damned / Lies the scourge of the land"
The scourge of the land, from an initial reading, could arguably be any of the following: Sephiroth, Jenova, Hojo, Meteor, the original crater, Black Materia, Rufus, President Shinra, Shinra (the company), its employees, Midgar, Mako reactors, WEAPON, or humanity in general. Or even something else. I'll narrow this down as I consider the rest of the riddle.
"In an orb and a bird / Can a new hope be heard"
The most apparent connotation here is Phoenix materia, which incorporates the concepts of orb, bird, and (new) hope. However, Fort Condor has already been dismissed as an answer, so I'll reconsider the line's meaning. Bird, taken literally, could possibly refer to the following: anything Chocobo related, or it could refer to the fight for 10 Phoenix downs with the birds on the way to North Corel. I don't think bird is meant literally, however, and this will be reflected in my final answer.
"If the two are put together, / Then the price has been paid. / So the question I ask / Is just where was the trade?"
Price can, it seems, have a literal or metaphorical meaning here. I think the riddle ultimately hinges on, however, determining just what is being referred to by "trade."
I fear this is off, but I'm nevertheless going to guess that the location referred to is the Water Altar under the Forgotten Capital/City of the Ancients. Hearts of the damned/scourge of the land could refer to Seph, with additional emphasis possibly added to Jenova. The orb could be Holy materia; the bird Aeris' prayer (flying up?), and the potential effects of Holy the new hope. If Seph and Aeris are together at the Water Altar, we all know what happens. This then would be the trade, and the price paid: a prayer for Holy, at the expense of Aeris' life.
Last edited by Masamune·1600; 04-17-2005 at 11:19 PM.
Although that isn't actually how the riddle is solved, it was done extremely thoroughly... and a REMARKABLE stroke of fluke and reasoning produced the exact answer!
The actual solution to this riddle is as follows:
In the hearts of the damned,
Lies the scourge of the land. (This is talking about Jenova, the 'scourge of the land' referring to her past, and the first line referring to the clones, its all quite literal)
In an orb and a bird,
Can new hope now be heard. (New hope is referring to revival, which obviously comes from Phoenix, and also through the magic materia, the in game term being Life)
If the two are together, (Jenova Life)
Then the price has been paid. (Comes straight after Aeris' death)
So the question I ask,
Is just where was the trade? (The alter, the trade as masamune1600 said being that of Aeris' life for the prayer for Holy)
I think I may actually prefer masamune1600's reasons more though. Well done anyway, take it away!
I say what I think. If you disagree, then that is up to you.
Wow, that's pretty cool.And thanks for liking my explanation.
As to the next riddle....
By name we might be brothers,
though in form it not be so.
Though we serve the same master,
And in his service go.
Go before the blade,
Yet only one before the fire
Ironically to aid the source
Of limitation's ire.
Good luck!
That was slightly more obvious than I thought it would be Phoenix. What exactly was the point of the line about the Phoenix in there for??? Just to throw people off I am assuming since it has no real correlation to the answer in the end?
Oh well guess I have been dealing with the FFIX riddle too long I can't think in terms of a large event being the answer anymore LOL. Damn thingfish for oversharpening my thinking outside the box
And btw Masamune your riddle is referring to Zach and Cloud at Nibelheim during the flashbacks.
Last edited by Llanowar; 04-18-2005 at 01:15 AM.
Noone can clearly see what I truly am nor can they see what I am not. In this I am the greatest of mysteries and noone has yet been able to solve it. If you see me you haven't seen me. If you don't see me then you might have just seen me. And in the end you are all left to wonder if I actually existed at all or if i was simply a trick played upon your feeble minds.
Actually, what I'm looking for is a bit more obscure than Cloud and Zack. It's nothing, of course, compared to the FFIX riddle. I can certainly see why you guessed them, though. Keep trying!
Last edited by Masamune·1600; 04-18-2005 at 04:47 AM.
I am going to guess the scorpion and the other robot from the two mako plants. ( it's been too long dont hang me on not knowing the names.) Both of them fall before Cloud's sword, but only one is defeated before the fiery explosion of reactor no. 8 (I think it was 8).
Yea I went from the easy end of the spectrum to pretty obscure in terms of the "brother" reference, but whatever.
Noone can clearly see what I truly am nor can they see what I am not. In this I am the greatest of mysteries and noone has yet been able to solve it. If you see me you haven't seen me. If you don't see me then you might have just seen me. And in the end you are all left to wonder if I actually existed at all or if i was simply a trick played upon your feeble minds.
Guard Scorpion and Airbuster are not the answers I'm looking for, although the level of obscurity is approximately the same. Good luck!
I'll add a little clarification that might qualify as a hint. For that reason, I'll apply Spoiler tags. Feel free to look at it; it certainly doesn't give the riddle away. It will, however, make it much easier. For anyone interested in answering the riddle, I would suggest not reading the hint unless you're absolutely desperate.
(SPOILER)The "brother" comment refers to similarity between the names.
Last edited by Masamune·1600; 04-18-2005 at 06:36 AM.
Cloud Prod? I think that's what it's called. That thing Scarlet and Heidger come up with.
"... and so I close, realizing that perhaps the ending has not yet been written."
Sorry! Proud Clod's not what I'm looking for.
Ok we are looking for two "people" in the game whose names are similar, but they look nothing or at least nearly nothing alike. They work for the same person. They both die I am assuming by Cloud's or Sephy's sword.(I am assuming Sephy's) One dies before (either in time or in front of) a flame/fire while the other does not.
aiding the source of limitations ire I would assume means either Sephiroth or Jenova. Which on is anyone's guess, in reality they could be interchangeable in this instance.
Noone can clearly see what I truly am nor can they see what I am not. In this I am the greatest of mysteries and noone has yet been able to solve it. If you see me you haven't seen me. If you don't see me then you might have just seen me. And in the end you are all left to wonder if I actually existed at all or if i was simply a trick played upon your feeble minds.
This answer will be completely wrong if I've forgotten how the Yuffie sidequest goes, and due to that switches my answer between the Turks, and Reno and Rude only.
By name we might be brothers, (The Turks, OR the R in Reno and Rude)
though in form it not be so. (Either the standard differences between Turks, or the fairly opposite nature of Reno and Rude)
Though we serve the same master, (Either Shinra or the Turks)
And in his service go. (The missions)
Go before the blade, (They fight Cloud)
Yet only one before the fire (My only idea here is of the Wutai Mountains, which I can't remember if Reno and Rude go up, if its just Elena or both, then I guess Turks, if one or the other I guess Reno and Rude)
Ironically to aid the source
Of limitation's ire. (They help Yuffie...or possibly Reno says not to fight Cloud, I can't remember)
Llanowar the Phoenix/ Revive line was to point to the specific answer Life. A new hope is far too vague a clue if I wanted people to link two specific words together before they could solve it. I did make that riddle quite straightforward, noone gets my riddles if I do them normally now!
I say what I think. If you disagree, then that is up to you.
No one has it yet, although PhoenixAsh raised a few possibilities that should be reconsidered. Also, he broke the riddle down in the method I intended; it's just that the references apply to someone/something else.
The Weapons? they're basically all the same yet look different, they fight cloud (as an option but depends on if you're on about options or actual ingame play) and the only thing I can think of about aiding is they give you items which you can give to the kalm traveller to gain a gold chocobo.
I'll figure it out later...
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