Post by Melissa Foxworthy on Dec 4, 2007 0:18:01 GMT -5
Before Crisis's story begins shortly after the ending of the war between the Shinra Electric Power Company and the Wutai tribe, a conflict mentioned in passing during Final Fantasy VII. With Wutai defeated and the people of the world now dependent on their Mako Energy and materia, Shinra finds itself the dominant economic, military and political power in the world. But there are those who remain dedicated to the destruction of Shinra, chief among them being the newly emerged insurgent movement known as "AVALANCHE". Before Crisis focuses on this conflict between Shinra and the original AVALANCHE group, which began six years before the events portrayed in Final Fantasy VII, and lasted up to the time immediately preceding the events that took place in that game. In contrast to Final Fantasy VII, which was focused mainly on the viewpoint of the second incarnation of AVALANCHE, Before Crisis centers around the Shinra Company's Turks, with AVALANCHE serving as the game's main enemies.
The game unfolds through a series of periodic "episodes." Because of the subscription-based nature of the game, the game's story unfolded over a period of time. The last episode of the Japanese version of Before Crisis was released on April 1, 2006 — the series officially ending at a total of 24 episodes, one of which is divided into two full-length parts. Special episodes are also released periodically, and further expand the backstory of certain characters, some of which aren't normally playable. The first, "Special Episode of Tseng", and the second "Special Episode of Legend", further expanded on those character's backstories and their role within the Turks. The most recent, "Special Episode of Reno", was released to coincide with Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and portrayed a key event in the game from the perspective of the Turks while delving into Reno's character.
Additionally, several other features are available to players, including the Gold Saucer, which contains a number of minigames (such as Chocobo Racing), the Battle Square, which revolves around player versus player combat, Free Mode, which allows players to revisit ares from completed missions, and Rescue Mode, in which players who have failed missions and been captured can be rescued by other players. More recently, WEAPON Mode and WEAPON D Mode revolve around players traveling the world and hunting down the Jade WEAPON, which is released after Zirconiade is defeated.
Gaia (Final Fantasy VII)
The game's setting follows in the footsteps of Final Fantasy VI by presenting a world with considerably more advanced technology than the first five games in the series. Overall, the game's technology and society approximates that of modern or near-future science fiction.[18][19] The world of Final Fantasy VII, retroactively named "Gaia"[20] but referred to in the game as The Planet, is composed of three land masses. The eastern continent features the city of Midgar, an industrial metropolis that serves as the headquarters of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a ruthless mega corporation that operates as the de facto world government. Shinra's major military base, Junon, is also located on the continent, along with a chocobo ranch and a small town called Kalm.
The western continent features most of the playable areas, which include the Gold Saucer(an amusement park), a seaside resort, and a settlement constructed on a plateau called "Cosmo Canyon". The tribe inhabiting the canyon places a strong emphasis on living in harmony with nature and dedicate great consideration to the planet's well-being.[21] Their settlement features an observatory and serves as a research facility for those who wish to participate in a philosophy known as "the Study of Planet Life", an environmentally conscious way of life that encourages utmost deference for nature, and teaches that the planet has a life of its own.[21] The northernmost continent is a heavily glaciated wasteland covered in snow and ice, with its few settlements largely concerned with excavation or research. It does, however, feature a ski resort. There are also underwater locations accessible via submarine.
Final Fantasy VII begins with Cloud joining AVALANCHE in a raid on one of eight mako reactors that surround the city of Midgar. The mako reactor is destroyed and the group makes their way back to their base. During their next mission at another reactor, AVALANCHE is trapped by President Shinra before they can escape. Although they defeat the Shinra's machine, the reactor's explosion sends Cloud flying from the upper levels of Midgar into the slums below. Falling through the roof of a derelict church in Sector 5, he lands on a flower bed unharmed, where he is formally introduced to Aeris.[39] Cloud agrees to work for Aeris as her bodyguard, an agreement prompted by the arrival of operatives of the Shinra Company's Turks organization, who have been ordered to capture Aeris.[40]
After Cloud defends Aeris from her would-be kidnappers, Aeris offers to show him the way back to Sector 7. Along the way, she reveals that her first boyfriend had been a 1st Class SOLDIER, as Cloud claims to have been. The two spot Tifa entering Wall Market, an area of Sector 6 infamous for criminal activity, to which they follow her. After infiltrating the mansion of crime boss Don Corneo, the three learn that Shinra has discovered the location of AVALANCHE's hideout and plans to collapse the upper level of Sector 7 onto the slums below.[41] Despite AVALANCHE's efforts to prevent it, Shinra successfully destroys Sector 7, killing its population and three members of AVALANCHE. The Turks finally capture Aeris, who the player learns is the last living member of the "Cetra" race.[42] The Cetra, it is explained, are closely attuned with the planet. Therefore, President Shinra believes that Aeris can lead him to a mythical land of fertility known as the "Promised Land", which he expects to be ripe with mako energy that can be easily harvested.[43]
As the only remaining members of AVALANCHE, Tifa, Barret and Cloud infiltrate Shinra's headquarters to rescue Aeris. After freeing her and Red XIII, who joins the party, they escape when most of the personnel in the building — including President Shinra — are killed. Finding the body of the president skewered by a long sword, Cloud suspects a man called Sephiroth who has returned from his presumed death. These suspicions are confirmed by an executive spared during the massacre, who claims to have witnessed Sephiroth murder the president and state that he would never allow Shinra to claim the Promised Land.[44] The party also learns that during Sephiroth's attack on Shinra, the headless body of a creature named "Jenova" disappeared from the building's research facility.[45]
While Rufus Shinra, the president's son, assumes control of the Shinra Company, AVALANCHE pursues Sephiroth across the planet, fearing his intentions for the Promised Land may be more destructive than Shinra's. During this pursuit, the party is joined by Yuffie, Cait Sith, Vincent and Cid. As the journey progresses, each member of the group must come to terms with personal conflicts from their past, and the full scope of Sephiroth's plan is eventually revealed to the player: if the planet is significantly damaged, the Lifestream within will gather at the point of injury, attempting to heal the wound. Sephiroth explains that he intends to use a powerful spell known as "Meteor" to fatally injure the planet, inciting a reaction in the Lifestream to heal the wound before it can cause the planet's destruction. Entering the fissure created by the meteor's impact, Sephiroth would merge with all the energy of the planet, granting him god-like power over it.[46] At an ancient temple erected by the Cetra, AVALANCHE attempts to undermine Sephiroth's plot by claiming the Black Materia needed to activate Meteor, but Sephiroth displays a mysterious power over Cloud, forcing him to relinquish it.
Fearing that Sephiroth may cast Meteor, and having gained a greater understanding of her heritage from scholars in Cosmo Canyon and the memories of her ancestors in the Cetra's temple, Aeris sets off to stop him on her own. Concerned for her safety, AVALANCHE follows her to the northern continent, where the player must enter an ancient Cetra city. After finding Aeris praying to the planet for aid, Sephiroth, unseen, begins affecting Cloud's behavior once again, and attempts to force him to kill her. Although Cloud resists Sephiroth's command, however, Sephiroth himself appears and kills Aeris.[37][47] After laying her body to rest, the surviving characters resolve to defeat Sephiroth and avenge her.
Later, Sephiroth begins causing Cloud to doubt his memories and insists that he is not a real human, but rather a specimen created from Jenova's genetic material by Professor Hojo. Jenova, the player learns, was an interstellar creature who crashlanded on the planet approximately two thousand years earlier, arriving via travel on a meteor. This collision formed a large impact crater, grievously harming the planet.[48][49] Jenova soon emerged from the crater, intending to infect all living organisms on the planet with a virus that would induce insanity and incite monstrous transformations.[50] Among its victims were most of the Cetra, who were approached when Jenova used its mimic abilities to appear as their relatives. Attempting to defend itself, the planet created giant monsters called "WEAPONs", while the majority of humans fled rather than fight Jenova. However, a small group of Cetra survivors fought to defend the planet and managed to defeat Jenova, confining it within the fissure created by its landing.[51] Afterward, the WEAPONs entered hibernation to await any future threat that could harm the planet. Eventually, the mummified remains of Jenova would be unearthed by Professor Gast, a researcher for the Shinra Company. Mistaking the creature for a Cetra, Gast was given authorization to conduct an experiment to artificially produce a Cetra by combining cells from Jenova with the fetus of an unborn child.[50]
Five years before the present-day events seen by the player, Sephiroth learned that he was the product of this experiment while on a Shinra mission in Nibelheim, the hometown of Cloud and Tifa. However, unaware of all details involved, he concluded that he was a Cetra who had been produced solely from Jenova's genetic material. Enraged, he burned down the town, intending to kill all descendants of those he believed had abandoned his ancestors in the defense of the planet. According to Cloud, he confronted Sephiroth during this massacre, after which Sephiroth vanished under unknown circumstances and was presumed dead until his reappearance in the Shinra building. When AVALANCHE reaches the Northern Crater, Sephiroth tells Cloud that he was not in Nibelheim, showing him images of a 1st Class SOLDIER with dark hair who occupies Cloud's place in his memories.[52] With Tifa unable to refute Sephiroth's claims, Cloud breaks down and allows him to cast Meteor, resulting in the WEAPONs' awakening. During the earthquake that follows, Cloud is separated from his companions and falls into the Lifestream.
As the meteor summoned by Sephiroth slowly approaches the planet, the Shinra Company focuses its efforts on protecting humanity from the WEAPONs,[36] who have begun to perceive everything as a threat to the planet. Meanwhile, AVALANCHE searches for Cloud, eventually locating him on a tropical resort island where he washed up following the casting of Meteor, they learn that he is in a catatonic state. The WEAPONs' destructive activity quickly causes the island to split open, depositing Cloud and Tifa into the Lifestream below. There, she reconstructs Cloud's memories and learns the truth about his past. Although the player learns that he is a real human being and had actually been in Nibelheim during Sephiroth's attack, he never actually succeeded in joining SOLDIER and only managed to attain the rank of private in Shinra's military. The player learns that the previously-seen dark-haired SOLDIER is named "Zack", and was Aeris' first boyfriend. During Sephiroth's destruction of Nibelheim, Zack, Tifa and Cloud fought Sephiroth in Nibelheim's mako reactor. Although Tifa and Zack were defeated, Cloud and Sephiroth severely wounded one another. After decapitating the body of Jenova, which had been stored in the mako reactor, Sephiroth is thrown into the Lifestream by Cloud, taking the creature's head with him. Rather than dying, however, his body and consciousness were preserved in mako inside Jenova's crater.
While Tifa was taken to safety in Midgar, Cloud and Zack were among the wounded survivors who were apprehended by Shinra as part an elaborate cover-up of Sephiroth's massacre. Professor Hojo subjected these survivors to an experiment, in which he performed the same enhancements given to members of SOLDIER. However, because Hojo conducted the experiment without any concern for the subjects' mental capacities to handle the procedure, all but Zack entered a comatose state. Nearly five years later, Zack broke free from his confinement and took Cloud with him. The player learns that the procedure used to enhance members of SOLDIER involved both mako showers and the injection of cells from Jenova. The alien cells inhabiting Cloud's body allowed his mind to construct a false persona, built around Zack's behavior, fighting style, and description of Sephiroth's destruction in Nibelheim, but they also allowed Sephiroth to modulate his behavior. The cells' inherent ability to duplicate information led Cloud to believe that he had been the 1st Class SOLDIER in Nibelheim, as Zack was shot and killed outside Midgar by pursuing Shinra soldiers, shortly before the beginning of the game. Afterward, Tifa discovered Cloud, who was wearing Zack's spare uniform, and offered him a job with AVALANCHE.[50]
With the truth revealed, Cloud awakens and rejoins AVALANCHE. The player learns that, in her final moments, Aeris was casting a spell known as "Holy", the only means of opposing Meteor. Though she succeeds, Sephiroth's focused will prevents the spell from taking effect and has been restraining it since. Deciding that humanity must be protected from the WEAPONs before Sephiroth can be approached, Shinra and AVALANCHE destroy the WEAPONs, but nearly all of Shinra's executives are killed in the process. Among the few survivors are Reeve Tuesti, revealed to be the repentant controller of Cait Sith,[53] and Professor Hojo, who is revealed to be Sephiroth's father. He explains that he and his wife were assistants to Professor Gast, and offered up their unborn child as a test subject to research involving Jenova.[50][54] When Hojo attempts to help Sephiroth to gain mastery over the Lifestream afterward, AVALANCHE is given no choice but to fight and kill him.
With each member of AVALANCHE at peace with his or her past and all other opponents defeated, the group travels through the mantle of the planet to its core, where they defeat Sephiroth and free Holy. However, due to Meteor's already close proximity to the planet's surface, Holy is unable to destroy it alone. Selected as Meteor's target, Midgar is almost completely destroyed by the storms that spawn from its presence. However, sent by Aeris' spirit, the Lifestream itself rises from the planet to aid Holy by pushing Meteor away, allowing Holy to destroy it.[55] During the epilogue that follows, the ruins of Midgar are shown five hundred years later. While the landscape had once been desolate due to Shinra's operations, it is now a land of lush greenery.
The game unfolds through a series of periodic "episodes." Because of the subscription-based nature of the game, the game's story unfolded over a period of time. The last episode of the Japanese version of Before Crisis was released on April 1, 2006 — the series officially ending at a total of 24 episodes, one of which is divided into two full-length parts. Special episodes are also released periodically, and further expand the backstory of certain characters, some of which aren't normally playable. The first, "Special Episode of Tseng", and the second "Special Episode of Legend", further expanded on those character's backstories and their role within the Turks. The most recent, "Special Episode of Reno", was released to coincide with Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and portrayed a key event in the game from the perspective of the Turks while delving into Reno's character.
Additionally, several other features are available to players, including the Gold Saucer, which contains a number of minigames (such as Chocobo Racing), the Battle Square, which revolves around player versus player combat, Free Mode, which allows players to revisit ares from completed missions, and Rescue Mode, in which players who have failed missions and been captured can be rescued by other players. More recently, WEAPON Mode and WEAPON D Mode revolve around players traveling the world and hunting down the Jade WEAPON, which is released after Zirconiade is defeated.
Gaia (Final Fantasy VII)
The game's setting follows in the footsteps of Final Fantasy VI by presenting a world with considerably more advanced technology than the first five games in the series. Overall, the game's technology and society approximates that of modern or near-future science fiction.[18][19] The world of Final Fantasy VII, retroactively named "Gaia"[20] but referred to in the game as The Planet, is composed of three land masses. The eastern continent features the city of Midgar, an industrial metropolis that serves as the headquarters of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a ruthless mega corporation that operates as the de facto world government. Shinra's major military base, Junon, is also located on the continent, along with a chocobo ranch and a small town called Kalm.
The western continent features most of the playable areas, which include the Gold Saucer(an amusement park), a seaside resort, and a settlement constructed on a plateau called "Cosmo Canyon". The tribe inhabiting the canyon places a strong emphasis on living in harmony with nature and dedicate great consideration to the planet's well-being.[21] Their settlement features an observatory and serves as a research facility for those who wish to participate in a philosophy known as "the Study of Planet Life", an environmentally conscious way of life that encourages utmost deference for nature, and teaches that the planet has a life of its own.[21] The northernmost continent is a heavily glaciated wasteland covered in snow and ice, with its few settlements largely concerned with excavation or research. It does, however, feature a ski resort. There are also underwater locations accessible via submarine.
Final Fantasy VII begins with Cloud joining AVALANCHE in a raid on one of eight mako reactors that surround the city of Midgar. The mako reactor is destroyed and the group makes their way back to their base. During their next mission at another reactor, AVALANCHE is trapped by President Shinra before they can escape. Although they defeat the Shinra's machine, the reactor's explosion sends Cloud flying from the upper levels of Midgar into the slums below. Falling through the roof of a derelict church in Sector 5, he lands on a flower bed unharmed, where he is formally introduced to Aeris.[39] Cloud agrees to work for Aeris as her bodyguard, an agreement prompted by the arrival of operatives of the Shinra Company's Turks organization, who have been ordered to capture Aeris.[40]
After Cloud defends Aeris from her would-be kidnappers, Aeris offers to show him the way back to Sector 7. Along the way, she reveals that her first boyfriend had been a 1st Class SOLDIER, as Cloud claims to have been. The two spot Tifa entering Wall Market, an area of Sector 6 infamous for criminal activity, to which they follow her. After infiltrating the mansion of crime boss Don Corneo, the three learn that Shinra has discovered the location of AVALANCHE's hideout and plans to collapse the upper level of Sector 7 onto the slums below.[41] Despite AVALANCHE's efforts to prevent it, Shinra successfully destroys Sector 7, killing its population and three members of AVALANCHE. The Turks finally capture Aeris, who the player learns is the last living member of the "Cetra" race.[42] The Cetra, it is explained, are closely attuned with the planet. Therefore, President Shinra believes that Aeris can lead him to a mythical land of fertility known as the "Promised Land", which he expects to be ripe with mako energy that can be easily harvested.[43]
As the only remaining members of AVALANCHE, Tifa, Barret and Cloud infiltrate Shinra's headquarters to rescue Aeris. After freeing her and Red XIII, who joins the party, they escape when most of the personnel in the building — including President Shinra — are killed. Finding the body of the president skewered by a long sword, Cloud suspects a man called Sephiroth who has returned from his presumed death. These suspicions are confirmed by an executive spared during the massacre, who claims to have witnessed Sephiroth murder the president and state that he would never allow Shinra to claim the Promised Land.[44] The party also learns that during Sephiroth's attack on Shinra, the headless body of a creature named "Jenova" disappeared from the building's research facility.[45]
While Rufus Shinra, the president's son, assumes control of the Shinra Company, AVALANCHE pursues Sephiroth across the planet, fearing his intentions for the Promised Land may be more destructive than Shinra's. During this pursuit, the party is joined by Yuffie, Cait Sith, Vincent and Cid. As the journey progresses, each member of the group must come to terms with personal conflicts from their past, and the full scope of Sephiroth's plan is eventually revealed to the player: if the planet is significantly damaged, the Lifestream within will gather at the point of injury, attempting to heal the wound. Sephiroth explains that he intends to use a powerful spell known as "Meteor" to fatally injure the planet, inciting a reaction in the Lifestream to heal the wound before it can cause the planet's destruction. Entering the fissure created by the meteor's impact, Sephiroth would merge with all the energy of the planet, granting him god-like power over it.[46] At an ancient temple erected by the Cetra, AVALANCHE attempts to undermine Sephiroth's plot by claiming the Black Materia needed to activate Meteor, but Sephiroth displays a mysterious power over Cloud, forcing him to relinquish it.
Fearing that Sephiroth may cast Meteor, and having gained a greater understanding of her heritage from scholars in Cosmo Canyon and the memories of her ancestors in the Cetra's temple, Aeris sets off to stop him on her own. Concerned for her safety, AVALANCHE follows her to the northern continent, where the player must enter an ancient Cetra city. After finding Aeris praying to the planet for aid, Sephiroth, unseen, begins affecting Cloud's behavior once again, and attempts to force him to kill her. Although Cloud resists Sephiroth's command, however, Sephiroth himself appears and kills Aeris.[37][47] After laying her body to rest, the surviving characters resolve to defeat Sephiroth and avenge her.
Later, Sephiroth begins causing Cloud to doubt his memories and insists that he is not a real human, but rather a specimen created from Jenova's genetic material by Professor Hojo. Jenova, the player learns, was an interstellar creature who crashlanded on the planet approximately two thousand years earlier, arriving via travel on a meteor. This collision formed a large impact crater, grievously harming the planet.[48][49] Jenova soon emerged from the crater, intending to infect all living organisms on the planet with a virus that would induce insanity and incite monstrous transformations.[50] Among its victims were most of the Cetra, who were approached when Jenova used its mimic abilities to appear as their relatives. Attempting to defend itself, the planet created giant monsters called "WEAPONs", while the majority of humans fled rather than fight Jenova. However, a small group of Cetra survivors fought to defend the planet and managed to defeat Jenova, confining it within the fissure created by its landing.[51] Afterward, the WEAPONs entered hibernation to await any future threat that could harm the planet. Eventually, the mummified remains of Jenova would be unearthed by Professor Gast, a researcher for the Shinra Company. Mistaking the creature for a Cetra, Gast was given authorization to conduct an experiment to artificially produce a Cetra by combining cells from Jenova with the fetus of an unborn child.[50]
Five years before the present-day events seen by the player, Sephiroth learned that he was the product of this experiment while on a Shinra mission in Nibelheim, the hometown of Cloud and Tifa. However, unaware of all details involved, he concluded that he was a Cetra who had been produced solely from Jenova's genetic material. Enraged, he burned down the town, intending to kill all descendants of those he believed had abandoned his ancestors in the defense of the planet. According to Cloud, he confronted Sephiroth during this massacre, after which Sephiroth vanished under unknown circumstances and was presumed dead until his reappearance in the Shinra building. When AVALANCHE reaches the Northern Crater, Sephiroth tells Cloud that he was not in Nibelheim, showing him images of a 1st Class SOLDIER with dark hair who occupies Cloud's place in his memories.[52] With Tifa unable to refute Sephiroth's claims, Cloud breaks down and allows him to cast Meteor, resulting in the WEAPONs' awakening. During the earthquake that follows, Cloud is separated from his companions and falls into the Lifestream.
As the meteor summoned by Sephiroth slowly approaches the planet, the Shinra Company focuses its efforts on protecting humanity from the WEAPONs,[36] who have begun to perceive everything as a threat to the planet. Meanwhile, AVALANCHE searches for Cloud, eventually locating him on a tropical resort island where he washed up following the casting of Meteor, they learn that he is in a catatonic state. The WEAPONs' destructive activity quickly causes the island to split open, depositing Cloud and Tifa into the Lifestream below. There, she reconstructs Cloud's memories and learns the truth about his past. Although the player learns that he is a real human being and had actually been in Nibelheim during Sephiroth's attack, he never actually succeeded in joining SOLDIER and only managed to attain the rank of private in Shinra's military. The player learns that the previously-seen dark-haired SOLDIER is named "Zack", and was Aeris' first boyfriend. During Sephiroth's destruction of Nibelheim, Zack, Tifa and Cloud fought Sephiroth in Nibelheim's mako reactor. Although Tifa and Zack were defeated, Cloud and Sephiroth severely wounded one another. After decapitating the body of Jenova, which had been stored in the mako reactor, Sephiroth is thrown into the Lifestream by Cloud, taking the creature's head with him. Rather than dying, however, his body and consciousness were preserved in mako inside Jenova's crater.
While Tifa was taken to safety in Midgar, Cloud and Zack were among the wounded survivors who were apprehended by Shinra as part an elaborate cover-up of Sephiroth's massacre. Professor Hojo subjected these survivors to an experiment, in which he performed the same enhancements given to members of SOLDIER. However, because Hojo conducted the experiment without any concern for the subjects' mental capacities to handle the procedure, all but Zack entered a comatose state. Nearly five years later, Zack broke free from his confinement and took Cloud with him. The player learns that the procedure used to enhance members of SOLDIER involved both mako showers and the injection of cells from Jenova. The alien cells inhabiting Cloud's body allowed his mind to construct a false persona, built around Zack's behavior, fighting style, and description of Sephiroth's destruction in Nibelheim, but they also allowed Sephiroth to modulate his behavior. The cells' inherent ability to duplicate information led Cloud to believe that he had been the 1st Class SOLDIER in Nibelheim, as Zack was shot and killed outside Midgar by pursuing Shinra soldiers, shortly before the beginning of the game. Afterward, Tifa discovered Cloud, who was wearing Zack's spare uniform, and offered him a job with AVALANCHE.[50]
With the truth revealed, Cloud awakens and rejoins AVALANCHE. The player learns that, in her final moments, Aeris was casting a spell known as "Holy", the only means of opposing Meteor. Though she succeeds, Sephiroth's focused will prevents the spell from taking effect and has been restraining it since. Deciding that humanity must be protected from the WEAPONs before Sephiroth can be approached, Shinra and AVALANCHE destroy the WEAPONs, but nearly all of Shinra's executives are killed in the process. Among the few survivors are Reeve Tuesti, revealed to be the repentant controller of Cait Sith,[53] and Professor Hojo, who is revealed to be Sephiroth's father. He explains that he and his wife were assistants to Professor Gast, and offered up their unborn child as a test subject to research involving Jenova.[50][54] When Hojo attempts to help Sephiroth to gain mastery over the Lifestream afterward, AVALANCHE is given no choice but to fight and kill him.
With each member of AVALANCHE at peace with his or her past and all other opponents defeated, the group travels through the mantle of the planet to its core, where they defeat Sephiroth and free Holy. However, due to Meteor's already close proximity to the planet's surface, Holy is unable to destroy it alone. Selected as Meteor's target, Midgar is almost completely destroyed by the storms that spawn from its presence. However, sent by Aeris' spirit, the Lifestream itself rises from the planet to aid Holy by pushing Meteor away, allowing Holy to destroy it.[55] During the epilogue that follows, the ruins of Midgar are shown five hundred years later. While the landscape had once been desolate due to Shinra's operations, it is now a land of lush greenery.