Sephiroth's Legs: Gone.

[Skyblade]

Well, personally, I think that considering the way he looks when you fight him as Bizarro/Safer Sephiroth, this is one of his more human forms...

[Squall of SeeD]

Dammit. I didn't realize I had made a new Thread when posting this. I had meant to hit "Add Reply" and post it in another Thread. "New Topic" should never be beside of the "Add Reply" button. Ever. My apologies for the mistake.

Anyway, here's another image that makes the fact that the hair was behind his torso more clear: Linkage.

Also, note that Bizarro Sephiroth consists only of a torso and up, as does Safer Sephiroth.

[Yuffie514]

i always thought he was like sitting in the crystal .

[Camanche]

What're you talking about? His hair doesn't move at all during the FMV, go watch it again. The hair you see in the screnes Squall provided is behind his body.
You say they animated his hair to flow in front of him and cover his... his lower anatomy. :P And used lighting and the Mako to hide it. How is animating his hair, using lighting and shadows, and adding more Mako going to save more time than creating Sephy with a lower body in a non-animated scene? o_O

*Looks at own post. Wonder's where self said anything about animated hair*

All I meant by what I said is that his hair, which is solid and unmoving, was CG'ed to be in front of his lower parts. I didn't mean that it actually conviently flys around, and happens to cover his nether regions. And as for saving time, all I meant by that is that it would obviously take longer to make more of a CG model that they probably wouldn't be showing anyway because it could be considered 'nudity'. Around the time FFVII was released, that would of been a big no-no, and while it probably wouldn't of gave it a higher rating, it could make some parents questionable about the games content. It doesn't take a lot of effort to black/obscure the lower part of a CG model before placing using it in the environment of the FMV.

But then again, I can see what you mean in some shots when it comes to the layers. The only explanation I can think of for that is that the backgrounds/environment had already been created, and the character model of Sephiroth was placed over it.

We'll never know the answer for sure unless someone contacts Square and they respond. It's entirely possible that Sephiroth is missing his lower half, sure. But it seems rather strange to me for Square to make something like that that you only see for a few seconds in-game, when later in the game you see the very same Sephiroth that was encased in crystal, deep in the Northern Crater, legs attached. Overall, I just figured it was a subtle way of dealing with the nudity issue.

EDIT: Sorry, to clear up what I meant, when I said "animate" I didn't mean animate as in, a moving object or body part (ie Sephiroth's hair). I just meant to put into CG. You can "animate" an object, but that doesn't mean it has to be moving.

[krissy]

unforunate chocobo accident

[Squall of SeeD]

*Looks at own post. Wonder's where self said anything about animated hair*

...

EDIT: Sorry, to clear up what I meant, when I said "animate" I didn't mean animate as in, a moving object or body part (ie Sephiroth's hair). I just meant to put into CG. You can "animate" an object, but that doesn't mean it has to be moving.

Luthien obviously didn't mean anything to the effect of "moving hair," Camanche. "Animated" could have been swapped out for "rendered" there and the meaning would have been the same.


Anyway, this isn't a matter of his hair being in front of his lower areas. It's quite obviously behind his torso. It obviously flows behind his back in this first picture, and it's likewise as obvious in one of the others I've posted. Refer to the areas marked in red on the following picture:

Linkage.

For the record, nudity isn't as big a deal in Japan as it is in North America, so I doubt they would have really cared much if it was intended for Sephiroth to still have the lower half of his body. In any event, it likely wouldn't have taken as much effort to render the tops of legs and a waist wearing black pants as it did to render all that hair and the rocky background that are visible instead.

If it wasn't intended to convey that his legs were gone, then this wasn't a case of being lazy in making an FMV, but a case of outright stupidity, as the scene shows us beyond all reasonable doubt that his legs are not there, thus, meaning that they would have been irrefutably conveying something not at all intended to be the case.

By the way, concerning your earlier point about the FMV not being very long and not intended to be scrutinized to this degree, the obvious lack of legs is visibile for a solid 2.5 seconds. Considering how quickly the human eye can process incoming stimuli (a lot faster than that), it would be a vastly stupid assumption on their part to think that no one would notice without the aid of a video program. I know I did. Go to Blue Laguna.net and download the FMV entitled "Cloud Hands Over The Black Materia" if you must, as it's extremely obvious.

[Camanche]

Apologies, I thought he had taken what I said to mean literally "animated" as in moving. Rendered, that's the word I was looking for.

Yeah, I definately see your point. As for laziness vs. stupidity, of course it would not have been a large degree of extra effort to render the 2.5 seconds, I just thought the only logical reason for them to make such a doof was to speed things up if only in the slightest way, instead of them just making stupid mistakes on such a high profile project. Sure, there are grammar errors in FFVII, but that's just from the translation.

To be honest, if it's not to speed things up, I can't understand why Square would do something like that, but, in the end, I don't think it's something that should be intently scruntinized for some "hidden" meaning in-game.

[mike without a hat]

maybe his body deteriorated or even 'became one' with the lifestream from being in it so long and in that scene he was being rebuilt or reforming and it just wasnt done yet which also covers up the nudity issue

[Chocobilly]

maybe his body deteriorated or even 'became one' with the lifestream from being in it so long and in that scene he was being rebuilt or reforming and it just wasnt done yet which also covers up the nudity issue

Exactly what I was thinking. Go mschmidtFF!!!!

[Skyblade]

He's a psychotically deranged mass murderer who is trying to become a god. If he wants to go around without any legs, I'm sure as hell not going to complain...

But come on. If he can change forms to Bizarro and Safer Sephiroth, changing into a human form with no legs would be a piece of cake. The legs probably just wouldn't fit in the crystal.

[Weimar Pluto Knight VII]

Hmm, maybe his limbs got turn off or something, like he whacked something on his way down in the reactor. Or, his legs ripped off when he was in the lifestream.

Is the FMV different in the Japanese version? I read on gamefaqs that they did add FMV, and it happened to be in the long FMV not too long after this. Notice that all of the weapons warp away, the last one noticably Ruby.

[Skyblade]

Hmm, maybe his limbs got turn off or something, like he whacked something on his way down in the reactor. Or, his legs ripped off when he was in the lifestream.

Is the FMV different in the Japanese version? I read on gamefaqs that they did add FMV, and it happened to be in the long FMV not too long after this. Notice that all of the weapons warp away, the last one noticably Ruby.

Correct. The WEAPONs warp away in the order of Ultimate (before all the others), then it shows Saphirre (that's what I call the only one you never fight), Diamond, Emerald, and Ruby launching out. In that order. So that is definitely American version only.

[BahamutZer0]

Yah but Sephiroth is so cool he doesn't even need legs!

But to tell you the truth, maybe he doesn't APPEAR he has any legs is because the smudge of the crystal is blocking it out?

I dunno, just a thought...

[Luthien Rogue]

But to tell you the truth, maybe he doesn't APPEAR he has any legs is because the smudge of the crystal is blocking it out?

I dunno, just a thought...

Anyway, this isn't a matter of his hair being in front of his lower areas. It's quite obviously behind his torso.

If there's crystal covering his lower body, why can we see hair, which is behind where his lower body should be?

[Big D]

His hair is kind of wrapped around his lower body. Plus, he's wearing black trousers. Combine those two elements, and it might look a little like he's got no legs. In this picture, you can indeed see hair in front of him. However, that seems to be sprouting out of the front of his body, not just hanging down behind him. See how the hair blends into the flesh of his stomach? Either his body hair grew to unnatural lengths while he was in the Lifestream, or that's something to do with Jenova's head. For whatever reason, there are whisps of hair hanging down in front of his body.

In this picture, the "legless illusion" is caused by the density of the crystal he's inside, and by the reflections on the crystal's surface. Hos body just fades away as the crystal gets darker.

Look closely. At no point can you see a clear boundary, as though anything's actually been severed. He's obscured, he's hidden, but he's all there.

The very notion that he'd lose his legs and nobody would notice or care... that's just slightly unhinged.