umm question who's Zack

[Reeno the Alchemist]

ok im watchin ff7advent children for the million'th time and i have to ask who is Zack?i really like him and i wanna know if hes in the game and can you use him?oh and i already know that hes dead(let me guess Sephiroth killed him right)

[TheBrent]

Zack died right before the start of FF VII, him and Cloud were escaping ShinRa and got caught just outside Midgar. The soldiers killed Zack, but cloud got away with Zack's Buster Sword. Zack was a SOLDIER First Class, not Cloud. Watch Last Order, that'll clear it up.

[Reeno the Alchemist]

ooohhhhhh well that makes sence.man that sucks i cant belive it thats stupid i got my hopes up so high!umm another question why is shinra company after them (and this ones mixed in with that question)i thought shinra made cloud and sephiroth (tis what my sister told me)ive never played the game im waiting on my friend to beat it so i can play it so dont get mad cause im asking stupid questions im just trying to understand the movie.

[Acid Raine]

well, if you actually play the game, everything will fall into place.

[Reeno the Alchemist]

yea i know i know but its gonna take my friend frickin years to beat that game and cant wait (bangs head on desk)I CANT TAKE THE SUSPENCE I HAVE TO KNOW!I CANT FIND THAT GAME ANYWHERE ITS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET ITS DRIVING ME CRAZYYYY

[Stayin Dizzy]

yea i know i know but its gonna take my friend frickin years to beat that game and cant wait (bangs head on desk)I CANT TAKE THE SUSPENCE I HAVE TO KNOW!I CANT FIND THAT GAME ANYWHERE ITS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET ITS DRIVING ME CRAZYYYY

Go to your local video game retailer and say something along the lines of "Do you have any copies of Final Fantasy 7?" and they will either get it for you or have a clue as to the closest store that has it. These days its probably only 10-20 US dollars

[Acid Raine]

yeah, I got mine for 15

[cloud_doll]

amazon.com or ebay

[McLovin']

Zack was a SOLDIER 1st Class from Gongaga. While stationed in Midgar, he meets and dates Aerith. Five years prior to the start of the game, he is sent, along with Cloud, Sephiroth and some other soldiers, to investigate reports of monsters disrupting life for the workers at the Mt. Nibel Mako Reactor. After Sephiroth goes insane, Cloud and Zack are taken prisoner in the basement of the Shin-Ra Mansion and used as test subjects for Hojo's efforts to produce a Sephiroth "clone".

Zack breaks out and carries the incapacitated Cloud with him during their escape. Zack's ability to escape from his imprisonment is due to the fact that he -- being an individual full of self-confidence -- was unencumbered by the potentially negative side-effects of Mako treatment (known as "Mako Poisoning", in which the memories of the deceased within the Spirit Energy/Mako cause those with low self-confidence to become lost and confused within their own minds) and had handled the treatment before when being infused with Mako as part of the procedure to become a member of SOLDIER. He gives Cloud some of his clothes and gets them transport to Midgar, where he hopes to become a mercenary. However, upon arriving to the outerskirts of Midgar, they are discovered by Shin-Ra soldiers. Zack is shot to death, while Cloud, too sick to move, is simply left to die on his own. Subsequently, Cloud takes Zack's persona and Buster sword and, for much of the game, acts as though Zack's life was actually his own, having what appears to be severe headaches and mental pain when faced with a situation that would conflict with his life as Zack.

[Reeno the Alchemist]

im too poor i have like 3 dollars and ive done that ive asked every game store ive gone to and they say the same thing ("no we do not have it try somwhere els") i really want this game(THANKYOU SEPHIROTHS CAGE!)man why'd Zack have to die i really liked him he was awsome well now my questions answered now ill stop bugging you people

[McLovin']

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...932338-5759229

Check "used"

[Reeno the Alchemist]

yea i do i go to video trader all the time i think they had it once and i didnt have enough money and thats the one my friend got but everytime i ask same thing as what i said last time its VERY rare i ohio

[McLovin']

I didn't catch the last part.

[Masamune·1600]

i thought shinra made cloud and sephiroth

This is a common misconception. Cloud is a normal human; however, after being captured by Hojo, he was given JENOVA cell injections and infused with Mako. These processes create what is known in FFVII as a Sephiroth Clone--such a Clone is not a genetic duplicate of Sephiroth, but has merely undergone JENOVA and Mako therapy.

During the game, Sephiroth tells Cloud that, five years earlier, he had been literally created from living JENOVA cells.

Sephiroth: Ha, ha, ha...... I want to take you back to your real self. The one
who gave me the Black Materia that day... Who would have ever thought a failed
experiment would prove so useful? Hojo would die if he knew.

Cloud: Hojo!? What does he have to do with me!?

Sephiroth: Five years ago you were... ...constructed by Hojo, piece by piece,
right after Nibelheim was burnt. A puppet made up of vibrant Jenova cells, her
knowledge, and the power of the Mako. An incomplete Sephiroth-clone. Not even
given a number. ...That is your reality. Ha, ha, ha......

While this was not the case, Cloud's memories of what had happened five years ago were also inaccurate, and Seph succeeded in convincing Cloud of this idea. Because of this, Cloud told Hojo what he now believed--that he was a failed Clone (again, this was not the case)--and turned the Black Materia over to Sephiroth.

Later in the game, Cloud underwent an experience in the Lifestream where his memories of the Nibelheim disaster were reconstructed and restored; as it turned out, Cloud never actually entered SOLDIER; it was actually Zack who had accompanied Sephiroth. Cloud, however, was present as a regular soldier, but did not reveal his identity to anyone in Nibelheim.

Sephiroth is a slightly different case. His parents were Hojo and Lucrecia (the object of Vincent's unrequited love), but was injected with JENOVA cells while still in the womb. These merged with him on a fundamental biological level; as a result, Sephiroth is not fully human, but rather an "evolution" of JENOVA. While still somehow bound by JENOVA's fundamental goals, he has his own mind, and can act accordingly.

Zack breaks out and carries the incapacitated Cloud with him during their escape. Zack's ability to escape from his imprisonment is due to the fact that he -- being an individual full of self-confidence -- was unencumbered by the potentially negative side-effects of Mako treatment (known as "Mako Poisoning", in which the memories of the deceased within the Spirit Energy/Mako cause those with low self-confidence to become lost and confused within their own minds) and had handled the treatment before when being infused with Mako as part of the procedure to become a member of SOLDIER.

This is incorrect, actually. Cloud's incapacitation was due wholly to the negative of effects of JENOVA cell injections, not to Mako infusion. This is made very clear by Escape Report 2.

Escape report no. 2
Description at the time of capture.
A - Former member of SOLDIER/Number ( )
No effect could be detected from either Mako Radiation Therapy or Jenova on him
B - Regular/Number ( )
Reaction to Jenova detected.

Realizing, of course, that "B" is Cloud, it's important to note that a reaction to JENOVA cells is noted, but that Mako Therapy is not stated to have had an effect. As such, Cloud's difficulties derive from JENOVA, not Mako.

Cloud himself attests to this reality after restoring his memory in the Lifestream.

Cloud: I'm physically built like someone in SOLDIER. Hojo's plan to clone
Sephiroth wasn't that difficult. It was just the same procedure they use when
creating members of SOLDIER. You see, someone in SOLDIER isn't simply exposed
to Mako energy. Their bodies are actually injected with Jenova cells...... For
better or worse, only the strong can enter SOLDIER. It has nothing to do with
Jenova Reunion. But weak people...... like me, get lost in the whole thing. The
combination of Jenova cells, Sephiroth's strong will and my own weakness are
what created me. Everyone knew that. I'm...... Cloud. ......the master of my
own illusionary world. But I can't remain trapped in an illusion any more......
I'm going to live my life without pretending.

Cloud, in fact, likely has a particular affinity to Mako and Spirit Energy; he is able to survive his journey through the Lifestream, something the doctor in Mideel describes as a "miracle."

Doctor: I'll say it again, he's got Mako poisoning. I've never seen a case this
bad. An immerse amount of Mako-drenched knowledge was put into his brain all at
once...... No normal human could survived it...... It's a miracle he did!

Subsequently, Cloud takes Zack's persona and Buster sword and, for much of the game, acts as though Zack's life was actually his own, having what appears to be severe headaches and mental pain when faced with a situation that would conflict with his life as Zack.

In Cloud's JENOVA-weakened state, his self-doubt allowed for him to effectively superimpose Zack over himself in his recollection of the Nibelheim disaster. This process is actually depicted during the game; when Tifa finds Cloud in Midgar during a flashback, the player sees the screen blink several times, indicative of said superimposition of Cloud over Zack. Because this relates only to the Nibelheim disaster, and does not absorb Zack's entire life (Cloud knows, for example, that he was born in Nibelheim, not Gongaga) Cloud has no background story for how he joined SOLDIER.

[McLovin']

That sums it up