AVALANCHE's Reputation

[Ite]

Hi guys!

SO MANY QUESTIONS!!

I'm looking for either text-based evidence or general fandom assumptions, although personal speculation is always welcome because I can't for the life of me remember...

What did the slumlings think about AVALANCHE? This is Barret's AVALANCHE I am referring to. At different times during the OG canon, how were they received?

Were they 'out' in the slums? Like, did everyone know that they hung out at Seventh Heaven?

Were they seen as champions of the people, or pot-stirrers? How much of Shinra's propaganda did the slum-folk buy? How much of AVALANCHE's propaganda did they buy?

... in general.

I ask because I'm working on the latest draft of the novel (This is DRAFT #5, holy shit) and feel like AVALANCHE needs to see their impact on the slums, for better or worse. Otherwise it's the Cloud-is-an-asshole-for-Book-1 story. But also for general curiosity, since this section seems to be running a bit dry on debate, the game being almost fifteen years old.

 

[Ghost X]

I have a feeling they were liked in the original for some reason. I don't tend to analyse these things though, so I could be wrong.

 

[Ite]

My inkling was that after Sector 7 fell AVALANCHE fell out of favour, seeing as it was pinned on them -- but the only text I have about the blame for Sector 7 is that kid on the wall whose dad told him it was Shinra, so I have no idea what to believe.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I'm pretty sure that the NPCs in the slums represented a broad range of opinions, just like the ones in Kalm and other places. The gang who were gathered outside Johnny's house in Sector 7 seemed suspicious that something was going on in Seventh Heaven - don't they talk about the funny looking characters who are always coming and going and the smell of gunpowder? But maybe they are being cuatious around Cloud because they don't know yet if he can be trusted? But then, why drop hints....?

I think some of them were pro-Avalanche; some slum NPCs were pro-Shinra and had ambitions to get a job with the company and move up in the world, and a lot of them were just trying to scratch around making ends meet. People like the gun shop owner in Wall Market were real opportunists who saw the dropping of Sector 7 as a great way to cash in on scrap. And then we have the philosophers like the guard at the train station.

 

[Ite]

Hmm yeah now that I think about it, the lack of unified vision was something I really liked about the slums -- the game mechanic of a large cast of varied one-liner NPCs was probably more brilliant than we give it credit for.

Do you think that most people in the slums didn't give a damn about the AVALANCHE/Shinra conflict, as long as they found food enough for the day?

 

[Splintered]

I'm going with broad range. The npc's near Sector 7 seemed okay with them. You see at least one kid running around talking about how awesome Avalanche is, but he's obviously a child so I don't know how much stock you put in it. There are some people who are bitter about the conditions they live in, some who want to move up, and iirc, there's a shinra soldier and a girl hitting on each other during the collapse of pillar so I don't think there's too much animosity.

A lot of people in the slums just seem to want to mind their own business so I'm not sure it actually matters to them unless it directly impacts their lives. Just my head canon: they don't like Shinra just because they just don't like people living over them and there's something romantic about a rebellion group. But when Avalanche takes out their power they're opinions obviously flip. And when sector 7 came down, Avalanche became unpopular because Shinra blamed everything on them.

 

[Octo]

I think quite a few slum dwellers were quite switched on as to what was happening and how Shinra were the 'bad guys' but they probably had their doubts about Avalanche too. Then there are others which remind me of the proles in 1984 and are pretty ignorant about everything.

Other than the aforementioned kid I can't think of anyone who is overtly 'Pro-Avalanche', but then people may be sensibly keeping schtum about their affiliations.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Hmm yeah now that I think about it, the lack of unified vision was something I really liked about the slums -- the game mechanic of a large cast of varied one-liner NPCs was probably more brilliant than we give it credit for.

Do you think that most people in the slums didn't give a damn about the AVALANCHE/Shinra conflict, as long as they found food enough for the day?

There's a spectrum of wealth in the slums. For example, there's Elmyra, although she's unique. At one end of the spectrum there's Don Corneo, and then there's all the various people running successful businesses - the Inn, the pharmacy, the aforementioned Gun Shop Owner, the Brother's gym, the clothing shop; there are shops in sector 5 and sector 7. And then there's the more obviously poor like the street vendor selling noodles and the guys picking through the scrap for the Gun Shop Owner... If it were the real world, I'd say there would probably be no correlation between how poor they were and how much they cared about the Planet. Most people are primarily interested in doing well for themselves. If anything, those who have nothing to lose (in a material sense) would be the most likely to support Avalanche, I'd guess.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

If anything, those who have nothing to lose (in a material sense) would be the most likely to support Avalanche, I'd guess.

I agree with this 100%, and somehow disagree at the same time. I think there would be those who felt exactly like that, and others who -- while in the same socio-economic standing -- have ambitions to move up within the existing structure and enjoy what it has to offer. Being deprived of that opportunity wouldn't sit well.

Then there'd also be those within that demographic who have nothing to lose, despise the current system, have no aspirations or hopes to move up within it, but are complacent with it because they've learned how to make it from one week to the next. Turning things upside down on them, even with the promise of improvement, would just piss them off, as they would see it as on an attack on their livelihood -- no matter how poor that way of life may be.

 

[Flintlock]

This thread really makes me want to start a new game of FFVII where I meticulously talk to every single NPC. Usually when I play nowadays I just talk to the people who I need to talk to, as I know exactly who they are.

I won't get around to that for a couple of weeks, though, and I have something else in mind for my next FFVII play-through

 

[Ashiel]

I've just recently began a new playthrough, and I'm in Cosmo Canyon. I do meticulously talk to everyone; especially since I haven't played in a while. I freshly recall that there is a lot of division between opinions on the Shinra/Avalanche situation; both before and after Sector 7's destruction (though there was more doubt in Avalanche afterwards I believe; as signified by the guy watching the TV in Sector 6; in the building where the lil' boy gives you to the Hi-Potion if you didn't steal his 5 gil).

I think that there is a lot of controversy over it. They also note that people died during the reactor explosions, and that it left the citizens without power (be they in the slums or on the "pizza") which doesn't seem particularly cute to anyone who isn't personally invested in the Shinra/Avalanche conflict. Truthfully, I think this is pretty realistic. Some people are curious about the group, some don't trust Shinra, some believe Avalanche isn't so benevolent, etc.

It's probably a good thing that FF-VII came out in America in 1997 and not post 2001, as any way you slice it, you are playing team "Good-Guy Terrorists" through at least the first major arch of the game. I'm really not sure how well it would have been received when real life terrorism bombings were getting more notoriety and coverage, and the country was reeling from its own pains at the hands of terrorists. Given how frantic some people were at the time (even going so far as to take some System of a Down songs off the radio because they reminded people of terrorist bombings), it might have not been pretty for FF-VII.