Cloud's Return To Nibelheim In Final Fantasy 7 Still Creeps Me Out

thegamer.com:

Final Fantasy 7 doesn't get enough credit for how creepy it is. Yeah, we all remember Barrett in his funny lil sailor suit, Tifa and Scarlet's slap fight, that dolphin flinging Cloud up to Junon, the squat competition, and Sephiroth's comically long Supernova summon. All that stuff rules and is rightly lodged in people's memories. But there are moments in this, the best Final Fantasy (don't @ me), that have always sent a figurative shiver rippling down my spine. Peering into that glowing tank in the Shinra building and seeing Jenova's weird, decapitated body ("Where's its $#&*&! head?"), exploring the eerily abandoned ruins of the Forgotten City at the end of disc 1, Cloud overdosing on magical Lifestream juice and ending up in a wheelchair spouting troubling gibberish. All incredibly unsettling, and accompanied by some of composer Nobuo Uematsu's most sinister music.

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But the creepiest moment in Final Fantasy 7 comes when Cloud and the gang visit the town of Nibelheim. This cosy little village, nestled at the base of Mt. Nibel, looks idyllic and peaceful at first glance. But then it hits you as you walk into the strangely familiar surroundings of the town square: this place was supposed to have burned down. Not long after escaping from Midgar, Cloud tells the story of Sephiroth burning his hometown down in a long, interactive flashback. We're treated to one of the most iconic pre-rendered CG cutscenes of the PS1 era, where a smirking Sephiroth stares into your soul, wreathed in flame, having reduced Nibelheim to ashes. So how the hell is it still standing? It's one of the game's most compelling mysteries, and the