Final Fantasy VII is one of those eternally classic, fanatically revered video games that anyone who would ever suggest anything even remotely negative or question anything about its narrative or gameplay structure would incur the wrath of a million angry fans. Much like other breakout hits of the 1990s, from Neon Genesis Evangelion to Titanic, there are plenty of cynics that will accuse it of being “overrated” while conveniently ignoring the millions of fans around the world that prove its long-standing popularity.

Ironically, Final Fantasy fans love to rip on each other constantly, particularly when debating which entry in the long-running RPG series is the best ever and which one is the worst (spoiler: whichever one isn’t your favorite is automatically the worst). Even a gem as marvelous as Final Fantasy VII can’t be admired without noticing a few of the cracks, which is why this latest list will go over a combination of erroneous moments found throughout the 50+ adventure as well as some oddball and... controversial... situations that aren’t likely to find their way back when the eventual remake comes along. At least, one can only hope those problematic elements won’t return.

Incidentally, be prepared for a new generation of online debates once the remake hits, in which it will no doubt be labeled inferior to the original in every conceivable way, even the improvements that are objectionably better by proxy of modern console technology. Such is the nature of the fanbase, as passionate and hostile as it can be.

25 The Translation

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Final Fantasy VII’s English translation is infamous for its numerous spelling errors, grammatical failings, and inaccurate localization. In fairness, there were far worse translations for Japanese games back in the day, but it’s still disappointing that Square Enix has never bothered to re-translate the game to be more faithful to the original script as they have done with their other re-releases.

Incidentally, the Spanish translation is even more embarrassing, with even more errors present (including the misgendering of characters and translating “Party” (as in “Party Members”) into the literal Spanish word for “Party” (like a birthday party).

24 Hojo’s Experiment With Aerith And Red XIII

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Shinra’s resident mad scientist is responsible for many of the most creepy monstrosities Cloud and company must face, including the creation of main villain Sephiroth.

But it seems he was having an off-day when his plans to reproduce Aerith and Red XIII’s races came to light, both teetering on the verge of extinction. Hojo’s brilliant scheme was to put Aerith and Red XIII, the latter thought to be a wild animal, in the same cage in the hopes that they would... well, needless to say Hojo needs to go take the classes on species reproduction that he clearly skipped.

23 The Turks Destroyed A Whole City

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For most of the game, the Turks are framed as lovable villains, like Team Rocket but with cooler suits. Yet it still can’t be ignored that Reno and his cohorts played an active hand in demolishing Sector 7, with Reno himself pushing the detonator that doomed thousands of people in an instant.

Much like Cid’s mistreatment of Shera, this is a major character detail that gets ignored in the following sequels and spin-offs. Fans will never forget the traumatic FMV showing the city’s downfall, even if it turns out Square prefers they did.

22 Where Has Zangan Gone?

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Tifa’s martial arts master was only present for a few flashback scenes, but there are unanswered questions regarding the cape-wearing trainer, including his whereabouts following the destruction of Nibelheim.

Turns out that Zangan originally was going to appear later in the game, giving Tifa a personal lesson that teaches her the Final Heaven, her ultimate Limit Break. This is one of several scrapped scenes that would be perfect to insert into the remake, so hopefully Zangan won’t be forgotten again when the time comes.

21 Cid's Bad Behavior

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Of all the characters named Cid throughout the different Final Fantasy games, VII’s Cid Highwind is easily the most popular. But while most Cids are considered kind old men with words of wisdom (minus the couple of villain Cids), the one in Final Fantasy VII comes with a few problematic caveats.

Due to a mistake that cost Cid the chance to be the first person to travel to space, Cid spends several years verbally attacking his assistant Shera. It’s an ugly relationship that eventually mends itself, but it’s a character flaw of Cid’s that tends to get ignored in subsequent appearances.

20 The Weird Enemies

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The Final Fantasy games are no stranger to strange enemies, taken from various mythologies and cultures. Most of the time, there is a cohesiveness to the monsters in each world, such as Final Fantasy VIII’s wildlife being animals that were mutated by demonic radio waves from the moon.

FFVII, on the other hand, has all sorts of bizarre enemies with no canonical explanation, including a house monster. Is it a monster pretending to be a house, or a house that turned into a monster? So many questions, so much EXP to gain from these oddball adversaries.

19 How Is Tifa So Strong?

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Final Fantasy VII’s leading lady and Best Girl (it’s true, don’t deny it) isn’t just a pretty face: Tifa may not have the Mako strength enhancement of her spiky-haired love interest, but she can still perform all sorts of superhuman feats.

But how does she have the strength to lift dragons and tanks above her head with no effort? Did Zangan’s training grant her these abilities, or were they always dormant? Perhaps a young Tifa ended up playing in a lake nearby one of Shinra’s many Mako Reactors...

18 Why Didn't They Freeze?

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The party’s pursuit of Sephiroth leads them to the Great Glacier, a massive mountain at the world’s coldest place. The temperature is so below freezing that players must mash buttons just to keep Cloud and friends warm.

But why didn’t the group just buy warmer clothes? Prior to the climb, Cloud had stopped at Icicle Inn, a small town that must have had a shop selling area-appropriate clothing. The simplest answer is that the developers probably didn’t want to have to create new character models to reflect the clothing change.

17 Sephiroth's Missing Gloves

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There is no shortage of iconic FMVs found in Final Fantasy VII, but the sequence where Sephiroth drops from above to claim Aerith is one that is permanently seared into many traumatized fans’ brains.

Many have also pointed out that for half of this scene, Sephiroth is missing his black gloves, instead shown with bare hands as he plunges his blade downward. An obvious animation error, but that hasn’t stopped some from over-analyzing the scene thinking that it represents a deeper message about how Sephiroth is willing to get his hands dirty or…no seriously, it’s just an animation error.

16 One Clean Sword

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As brutal and merciless as the final sword strike that did away with Aerith was, there was a noticeable lack of anything red during this infamous sequence.

Turns out this wasn’t another animation error, but an intentional omittance from the developers. Worried that the game’s rating would have increased had the red stuff been included, they chose instead to let the sequence play out with this inaccuracy. Understandable, considering the game is already pushing content boundaries further than most games within its intended age rating.

15 Really Deep Water

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Another example of over-analyzing during a tragic scene, the FMV where Cloud silently buries Aerith in the lake is another iconic image that has led to many tears and sniffled noses from players around the world.

But upon closer examination, it is odd how Cloud can stand in the same body of water where Aerith sinks into the seemingly endless bottom. Unless Cloud possesses the secret ability to extend his legs like the comic book character Stilt Man, this was likely another oversight by the animators.

14 Aerith's Ghost

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The rumors about being able to revive Aerith later in the game started up almost immediately since its original launch. The developers were very quick to deny this, but that didn’t stop thousands of heartbroken fans claiming otherwise.

But if the group revisits Aerith’s church after her tragic passing, she can be seen attending to the flowers before abruptly vanishing. This has led to further debates, some believing it to be a simple glitch while others believe it was just put as a morbid Easter egg. To this day, the developers have stayed silent on this sequence.

13 The W-Item Exploit

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Often in classic RPGs, there exist unofficial methods for players to gain big rewards that the developers did not originally plan. One of these is the W-Item glitch, which takes advantage of a Materia that lets players use two items in one turn.

By cancelling the command at the last step, the game will instead duplicate the selected item by one, meaning that players can create as many stocks of rare items (such as Megalixirs) up to the 99-stock cap.

12 The Overflow Exploit

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Another beneficial glitch is the Overflow method, which is a far more complicated glitch to pull off but is even more beneficial than the W-item method.

Involving too much math to list here, the purpose of the glitch is to cause the numbers that float above an enemy’s head to indicate HP damage and stack them in a way that the game can’t properly display, essentially causing an “overflow’ that can destroy most targets with a single (literally) calculated attack.

11 The Locked Treasure Chest

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In the town of Kalm, there is a mysterious treasure chest in one of the buildings. Inspecting the chest gives a “Locked” message, leading many players on a wild goose hunt to open the chest. Could it contain the long-rumored secret of reviving Aerith?

Nope: turns out it’s just a leftover chest from a quest that the developers couldn’t implement. There isn’t even a way to hack the game just to see what was supposed to be inside, as the chest isn’t even rendered like a standard treasure chest. Instead, it’s nothing more than a static background image.

10 The Tifa Vs Scarlet Slap Fight

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Final Fantasy VII features some of the most popular heroines in the history of RPGs, but that doesn’t mean they don’t suffer a few embarrassingly sexist moments in the game. As established before, Tifa is a martial artist with Wonder Woman-esque levels of strength, while her enemy Scarlet is just a normal woman with a lot of firepower at her disposal.

So why do both of them devolve into a Dynasty-level slap fight? The intent was obviously meant to be comedic, but comes across more like a pandering catfight.

9 Don Corneo’s Seediness

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One look at this sleaze ball is enough to determine what kind of character Don Corneo is. While mostly written off as comic relief, the implications of what the mob boss likes to do with people paints a far uglier picture.

This is especially apparent when Corneo takes Yuffie and Elena hostage; deciding which of the two will be lucky enough to entertain him, Corneo chooses Yuffie, a decision that the ninja is understandably horrified about. Thankfully she is rescued before things go further, but this sequence would definitely not pass muster these days.

8 Cloud's Father

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In RPGs, very few mothers and fathers make it through the opening sequence or featured briefly in tragic flashbacks. Cloud’s mother is part of the latter trope, in addition to both of Tifa and Aerith’s parents, respectively.

But what about Cloud’s father? While Cloud seemed to have a normal relationship with his mother, the topic of his father never comes up, even in the many spin-offs and side stories following FFVII. Was he a deadbeat dad who ditched the family, an unspoken tragedy that drove them apart, or could he still be around somewhere?

7 Rufus' Half Brother

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In Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, it was revealed that one of the principle characters, Lazard Deusericus, is the illegitimate son of President Shinra, and the older half-brother of Rufus Shinra (who later takes over his father’s role as president).

Interestingly, this was spun off a small, easily miserable sequence in which Cloud could spy on the former president in the Honeybee Inn, the implications suggesting a kinkier side to the normally stoic businessman. In a later novel, it was revealed that Rufus had yet another half-sibling, proving that his father wasn’t very discrete with his private dealings.

6 Tseng's Fate

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Tseng was a constant thorn on the heroes’ backside, though the group never fought him directly. That is because he was taken out by Sephiroth during a later cutscene and is never seen for the rest of the game.

It turns out that Tseng had survived this encounter, even though his partner Elena stated that he had perished. Once again, this was an error in the Western translation, where in the original translation he was said to be critically wounded. No doubt this mistranslation led to many confused fans when Tseng made a return in the sequel movie Advent Children.