About

Description •
Although you'd never know if you looked at her, Yuffie comes from a long line of ninja ancestors. She forced herself into the group just to get a certain something... She's sneaky, arrogant and "way" selfish. But with her super shuriken and her special skills, there isn't anyone else you'd rather have on your side in a fight.

"Powerful ally.. sneaky.. pain-in-the-neck.. arrogant.. and way selfish."
She's Yuffie Kisaragi, an untraditional traditional sixteen year old ninja thief girl. Got that? Hailing from Wutai, a lonely village at the end of a long island, she leaves home to see the world, and pick up a few souvenirs for the folks. Being that her hometown is predominantly oriental, it stands to reason that she would act and look like it. However, someone up in Square goofed up and gave us Yuffie, rather than a well mannered, meek, quiet little Japanese schoolgirl. Cool.

Yuffie's got a pretty big ego. But with talents like hers, it's understandable. Although she doesn't look like a ninja, she's got all of those "mad ninja skills" that you always see in the movies, or hear about. Can she sneak around unnoticed? Yes, she can. Does she have the smarts to go with the shuriken? Yes, she does. Could she easily level anyone who got her mad? Why, of course. In short, Yuffie Kisaragi is not a force to be reckoned with, it's one that you want to stay out of the way of.

Yuffie is a see-saw. Most people either like her or hate her. Maybe you're like me, falling first for her great theme (still one of the best pieces of Final Fantasy music ever) and let her grow on you over time. Or maybe you decided that she was annoying, aggravating, irritating, and a thief to boot. Let's not paint any illusions- she is. Particularly around Wutai, which is when I think a lot of people turned against her. She doesn't care about anyone but herself, and simply tags along to better herself. She's a smartass, a wisecracker, sometimes a coward, and always looking for fun or a fight. But those are only facets of her personality, and it's best to have the full story before judging anyone. Yuffie is no different.

A coward, I say? Why yes. But everyone has pre-game jitters. A football player gets nervous before the championship match, and that self confidant actress has a small surge of stage fright before they step out under the lights. It's no different for Yuffie, it's how she acts when it counts that matters. Maybe she's not fighting for what you would call the "right" reasons, but whatever the reason, she gives it her all and she doesn't back down.

Square pulled out all the stops for the FF7 cast, everyone- and I do mean everyone, has more to them that meets the eye. Far too often they get written off as what's at face value, especially the less popular characters. Yes, Yuffie is a selfish young materia thief. But is that it? Not at all. What's hidden behind her mischievous smirk and crafty leer is for her to know, and us to find out.

She kicks butt •
(Very short) explanation on her fighting style and my rambles about various weapons and materia. You want lists? Buy the stradegy guide.

Fighting Style: Yuffie fights with projectiles and is labeled as a ninja. I don't know her battle stats (does FF7 even have battle statistics? It's not like there are character classes.) but countless times outside of battle she's shown her stealth and speed. How strong she is is pretty much up to you, since she's obviously going to be really weak if you don't use her a lot. Yuffie was extremely strong for me, though. Especially after I got her final weapon for her. She did as much (or more) damage as Cloud, and it was largely due to her that I beat the game. Equipping her with good materia doesn't hurt, either.

Weapons •
Please note: These are not, in any way, all the weapons that Yuffie has. These are just the few I thought were interesting and decided to talk about on a Saturday night, because I obviously have no life.

(4-point) Shuriken: The shuriken is the weapon that Yuffie comes equipped with. It's one of the traditional projectile weapons for a ninja. Rather than having many small throwing stars, though, Yuffie's Shuriken is gigantic- half as tall as she is. Just another testament to her strength, if she can carry and throw that thing with such ease. It's her weakest weapon, though.

Oritsuru: Apparently Yuffie can fight with a paper crane. Just when you thought she couldn't get any better. You can't tell if it's made of paper or metal but it's a goddamn crane. Some badass dragon is going to get his a** kicked by a paper crane and never be able to show his face to his friends again. Oh yeah, and the Oritsuru is her second strongest weapon, right after the Conformer. Oritsuru can actually be considered superior since your materia can still evolve.

Conformer: Her ultimate weapon. If I remember correctly it looks like a really bright pinwheel. It's huge, and definately her best weapon. When equipped properly she does so much damage it's insane. Your materia can't evolve, but killing Sephiroth with a pinwheel is worth it.

Materia:
No character has their own materia (except Aeris) but there are a few that are Yuffie related.. I guess.

Leviathan Summon: The most obvious, since it's Yuffie who gets this summon for you, after she beats Godo. Also, her village, Wutai, reveres the "Water God Leviathan" so it's kind of her holy icon. So I guess she's controlling her god, which will someday start a religious revolution within Wutai, I just know it.

Throw: Yuffie comes equipped with this, I guess because she's a ninja or something like that. Totally useless


Deep Roots •
Yuffie's cherished hometown and it's darker history. (forgive the numbers, I scanned this out of the stradegy guide.)

Wutai is a small village tucked away in some obscure corner of the world, at the far end of a very long island. It's difficult to reach without an airship, and requires crossing numerous bridges and desolate rocky terrain. Once past the dry canyon, Wutai is right off the coast slapped against mountain ranges.

A far cry from the desolate countryside, Wutai is a lush green, bubbling streams smoothly carving out a city with an obvious oriental background. The central area of town is set a ways from a series of impressive stone carvings and intricate paths set in the mountain side. A standard town, Wutai has all the essentials, and places to simply relax, if the soothing landscape didn't do it. The natives aren't very friendly, however, and might even be labeled rude- or to a sharp mind, suspicious. Maybe because when you arrive, the 'princess' of the town has specifically told them not to get to chummy with Cloud and company. Once the whole Wutai adventure is resolved, though, you see that the inhabitants are actually quite friendly and courteous.

Things are slightly different at the other end of Wutai, though. A resentful and easily irritable 'king' Godo broods in his luxurious house (but he doesn't notice when Cloud loots it, oddly.) Later he waits for Yuffie to challenge him in the Pagoda of the Five Gods, and the outcome might affect the current state of Wutai itself.

See, all cities have a once upon a time, and Wutai's is somewhat more painful than normal. Once Wutai was a great village, the people who lived in her were proud and believed to be blessed by the water God, Leviathan. Yet after they lost the war between Wutai and Shinra, the leaders of the town stepped back and allowed the proud city to dwindle into a mere tourist trap. Yuffie became tired of it and makes it her mission to restore Wutai, in any way possible. But there might be hope for the town yet.. Once defeated, Godo realizes the truth behind Yuffie's harsh words and promises to do something about the situation.

Completely biased-like, Wutai is one of the best places to go. The ancient oriental architecture has it's own vivid originality, and stands out in the mind. If you're a big fan of asian influences, Wutai can be as beautiful (or more so) than the legendary City of the Ancients. Despite how far the town has fallen, the sense of pride and dignity hasn't escaped from it, and it's obvious why Yuffie would go to such lengths to bring honor back to her hometown.

Personality •
At first, Yuffie's personality looks like it can be summed up easily. However- as soon as one side is dusted off and displayed, another more subtle one emerges.

As you become acquainted with Yuffie, her large ego and smug attitude stand out like a sore thumb. She's a strong, talented, smart kid- and she knows it. Self confidence is not something she lacks, a major reason why she's so different from the others. When taken too far, self confidence can become overbearing, which is often the case with Yuffie. Not only does she know she's good, she assumes she's the best. This attitude leads to tension between herself and others, after all, normal people don't like to be snubbed. She's irritating and annoying, and extremely self centered. Is she going to save the world? What a joke! In the tradition of heroic, but practical, Hans Solo, she's in it for the gold, and out when she gets it. At least at first.

Sixteen is an adventurous age. At sixteen, kids are confidant, daring, self assured and ready to take the world on at any time. They haven't learned yet that the world eventually gets the final say in everything, and still believe they can top it each time. Yuffie is "just a video game character", but she's still a teenager in a virtual world. She has many of the teenage qualities we see in young adults today. Over-exaggerated, but all teenagers are dramatic. Not to mention, "misunderstood" and the other woes that go along with our oh-so-trying pre-drinking years. The thing to remember about the exhilarating and treacherous years past thirteen is that while we look back and cringe at our stupidity, we learn from our mistakes and (hopefully) grow into more mature and responsible adults. Will Yuffie evolve in the same way? Most likely.

Yet underneath her impulsive and immature exterior is another girl entirely. Compassionate and vulnerable, determined and desperate. While her mission seems selfish and another point to tack onto her self centeredness, Yuffie doesn't play the part of a thief for her own personal benefit. In Wutai, she reveals that she wants materia to redeem her fallen village, to return to it it's honor. When no one will stand up to Shinra and defend the town's pride, she takes matters into her own hands, fighting tooth and nail to restore the legendary Wutai.

Despite all attempts to stay unattached to the group, Yuffie inevitably forms bonds with all of them. Some weak, some strong, all there. The best example would be when Aeris dies in the City of the Ancients. Emotional, hysterical and deeply hurt, Yuffie begins to laugh in disbelief before collapsing onto Cloud and sobbing uncontrollably. Still in a state of shock and tears, she flees from the scene. Uncaring little brat? Doubt it.

People are complex creatures, and it's impossible to explain one with a few broad terms. Yuffie is just a video game character, but like a real person she has layers upon layers of quirks and emotions, melting together to form the entity that is Yuffie Kisaragi.


Evil? •
In comparison to her peers, Yuffie is young and annoying. She lacks the grace of Aeris, the compassion of Tifa, and the general maturity of everyone else. She doesn't have the age or experience that her teammates have; she hasn't had the time to grow.

I'm assuming that everyone out there has gone through the normal aging process. No one jumped out of their mother's head a fully formed and perfect human being. RPGs try to emulate real life, so usually video game characters have some immaturity to work out of their system as well.

We assume that Yuffie was on her own a good deal of the time. What, with leaving Wutai to wander and her family relations not the greatest. Yuffie learned independence, and a part of being independent is learning how to look after yourself. Being selfish is a survival skill, as strange as it sounds, and being alone reinforces the need to consider yourself at all times.

But in another sense, depending on yourself leads to responsibility and maturity. Yuffie doesn't act like a responsible kid, but in order to get as far as she did, she has to have been. Not to mention, she's basically looking out for Wutai, a huge obligation, especially for a teenage girl. Further proof of her level headed-ness.

Yuffie hasn't had a horribly painful past. Seeing your home burned to the ground is a tad different than seeing it dwindle into a shadow of itself. She hasn't had the degree of trauma that her teammates had to suffer through to sober her up. However, losing faith in your town and father is never a pleasant experience, and it's worse when there isn't anyone to turn to. Yet rather than brood, Yuffie pushes hopelessness aside and maintains an optimistic attitude. Because, in her naive point of view, everything will turn out okay.

Naive? Yes. Yuffie has a lingering air of naivete clinging to her. She acts tough, looks tough, but doesn't really know all the fast balls the world can throw at you. She's sixteen, which is the time when you start to really figure out stuff about yourself and realize that everything you've been spoon fed to believe might not be right after all.

Haven't we all done stupid things in our past? It's part of growing up, and Yuffie is still doing that. We all are. Everyone looks back and thinks "Wow, I was incredibly dumb when I was thirteen." I would guarantee that given time, Yuffie would do the same. Her nature is just beginning to settle down, and if we were shown a peak into her future, I'm pretty sure we'd all be surprised at how grown up Yuffie became.


Does Yuffie put her life on the line for her selfish obsession with materia? Well no. Contrary to popular belief, Yuffie isn't a thief for her personal pleasure. To understand her situation, it's necessary to understand the history of her hometown, Wutai. The tragic tale of the once proud village, disgraced beyond belief, and the girl's furious determination to restore it to it's former glory.

If, just if, she could obtain enough strong materia, Yuffie believed that she could single-handedly recreate the legendary Wutai of the past. It's true that her methods aren't honest, but her motives don't leave anything to be desired. Yuffie is fiercely protective of her home, and would go to great lengths to keep it's honor intact. That in itself is admirable, even if her trickery isn't.

Yuffie didn't have a grudge against Sephiroth, and wasn't tagging along with the group to stop him.. at least not at first. Her first priority is, and will always be, Wutai. However, as time progresses, could it be possible that she's grown somewhat attached to her teammates? Everyone loved Aeris, somehow, and Yuffie was no exception. The least she could feel was some sort of respect, or admiration for the Ancient girl. When Sephiroth decided to off Aeris, it was the first time he did anything personal against her, and it was enough. While most of her hatred had been channeled towards Shinra, with Aeris' murder Yuffie was shaken into anger against her killer. Not to mention, Sephiroth would be the one to destroy the planet- and Wutai. And nobody, not anybody, messed with her Wutai.

Yuffie's motivated by a good deal. The determination to put Wutai back on it's feet. Revenge for Aeris. The need to prove herself as the best. Maybe she's not mindlessly fighting to save the world. But she's devoting herself to saving what she loves, which is honorable in itself. A lot of people claim to be patriotic, but just how far would they really go to protect their country? Yuffie willingly steps out into the fray, and doesn't back down, ever.



Cloud Strife •
The main character of the game, Cloud is a stoic, at times rude, and all around messed up guy. He was born and raised in Nibelheim, with Tifa Lockheart. Although they were practically neighbors, Cloud was a solitary child while Tifa was a social butterfly. The truth was that Cloud always wanted to be friends with Tifa, and even something more.. but he was never given that chance; He was considered the freak of town, the other children made fun of him. Yet when it really counted, he went after Tifa when her other friend's abandoned her. Rather than become a hero, he was blamed for the whole incident and told to stay away from her. He and Tifa met in secret from then on, and on one such night he announced that he was going to join SOLDIER. What Tifa didn't know was that he was doing it to impress her.

From that point on, everything about Cloud's past takes a U-turn. As the game progresses, what's true and what he thinks is true doesn't always match up, and in the end nothing can be taken at face value. All that we know for sure is that he ended up in Sector 7 years later, garbed in a high class SOLDIER uniform, dazed and unsure of his surroundings. It was Tifa who found him and took him in, and the game begins some time afterwards.

While Cloud may come off as rude and uncaring, he honestly does worry about his friends and cares about them, especially after he's done searching for himself. True, towards the beginning he's kind of a jerk, but it doesn't take him very long to get readjusted. On a number of occasions he's been kind to Yuffie, putting up with her youth and giving her advice, particularly on the subject of motion sickness. Which doesn't mean to say that he puts up with her all the time. During the incident in Wutai, Cloud is rather short with her and quite bluntly tells her that he doesn't care about what's happening to Wutai or her involvement in it, he just wants his materia back.

A few people have brought up the possibility of a romantic or sexual relationship between Cloud and Yuffie. I personally can't see it happening ingame, ever, even if Yuffie was the only one with the balls to kiss Cloud on the gondala ride. More opinions on this subject here. Romantic issues aside, these two work pretty well as teammates, simply because Cloud is the natural leader type that Yuffie would actually listen to, and Cloud is level headed enough to be able to tolerate Yuffie's antics.

Barret Wallace •
Short tempered and trigger happy, Barret is the first person Cloud meets- and his employer. Employer? Barret runs the small rebel group in Midgar known as AVALANCHE. While he made be hot headed, you couldn't ask for a more enthusiastic leader. Luckily for the faction, Tifa's more collected behavior checks Barret's "go get 'em" attitude.

Although he's set up shop in Midgar, Barret's real hometown is North Corel- a dusty, poor, coal mining town.. or, so it used to be. Life was hard for the villagers, but they managed to get by. However, with the changing times and rapid increase in Mako consumers, coal was becoming more and more a thing of the past. Shinra appeared on the scene, then, and made a proposal to make a mako reactor in Corel. The town leaders came together to discuss, and although Barret's friend, Dyne, had his reservations it was decided that the reactor would be built.

Things seemed to perk up for Corel, and the inhabitants looked with hope to the prospect of a better future. However, with an explosion at the reactor, Shinra overreacted and blamed the event on the townspeople- believing it a terrorist attack. They burned the town while Barret and Dyne were away, killing nearly everyone, including Barret's wife Myrna. The two friends could only look on in horror until they were ambushed by more Shinra troops. Dyne was knocked off a cliff, Barret only just managing to grab his hand. The soldiers continued shooting and fired at both their arms until Barret was forced to let go. Barret lost use of his right arm, and seemed to have lost his best friend.

When he returned to North Corel, Barret found Marlene, Dyne's daughter, still alive. He adopted her and moved to Midgar, as he was no longer welcome in North Corel (and wasn't for anytime afterwards).

Due to Barret's hot headed nature and short temper, it's not likely he and Yuffie get along. Barret doesn't take insults too well, even if they're not serious, and especially if they're directed to himself. Yuffie would probably use this knowledge to her advantage, and continue to plague him at every turn. However, when the going gets tough they can pull together and get the job done (as in the "execution" scene). Not that they particularly want to, but the end effect is all that matters, right?

Tifa Lockheart •
A sweet and optimistic girl, Tifa takes the position of the lead female character after disk one, during which she shared it with Aeris. Like Cloud, Tifa was born and gently reared in Nibelheim, although they didn't know each other. Tifa belonged to the popular group, and had other friends. However, after the shock of her mother's death, she isolated herself from her friends, until she remembered the legend that a dead person's spirit travels to the Mount Nibel. Determined to see if her mother spirit still lingered, she went to search for it. Her friends accompanied her part of the way, but one by one chickened out. Only Cloud continued to follow her to make sure she came to no harm. Unfortunately, she DID come to harm when both of them fell down the mountain and Tifa went into a coma. Cloud was blamed for the incident and forbidden to go near her again. However, the two met in secret one night, and Cloud revealed that he was going to join SOLDIER. Tifa didn't seem to crazy about the whole idea, but she didn't stop him, merely asked that if she was ever in trouble, he come and rescue her. Which he did, when Sephiroth came to town and burned everything down- almost killing Tifa in the process.

Later (when the game really starts) Tifa has migrated to Midgar where she's opened a bar called "Tifa's Seventh Heaven". The bar is the (secret) headquarters of the rebel group, AVALANCHE- of which Tifa is a member (possibly leader). When Cloud ends up in sector 7, Tifa finds him and brings him back to health, until he leaves to become a mercenary. Strangely, Cloud seems to have become aloof, uncaring, and more than a little confused. It's Tifa who knows all the secrets of his past, but she believes that it's best not to reveal the harsh truth to him- yet.

Tifa and Yuffie share a "stay out of my way" relationship. They don't get along, but they don't hate each other. She's extremely upset and angry when Yuffie steals their materia, and Yuffie does insult her when they first meet (this only happens if you go find Yuffie with Tifa in charge, or so I heard.) but I wouldn't call their relationship one based on animosity. I'm positive that if Yuffie ever had a problem, Tifa would be willing to help. Yuffie, however, would probably rather drink paint thinner than attend a slumber party with Tifa and talk about her feelings.

Aerith Gainsborough •
At first glance Aeris is a simple girl selling flowers she cultivates in a run down church. Yet all her life she's been hunted down by Shinra, her childhood friend behind one of the members in the group that persecutes her. The reason behind the abnormal interest Shinra has in her is that Aeris is the sole survivor of an ancient race- the Cetra. Although she attempted to fiercely deny it in her youth, the simple truth was that Aeris was not a normal child.

Her real mother fled with her from the north, before she finally collapsed in Midgar. By chance, Elmyra was at the train station when she came upon the dying woman, who begged her to take care of Aeris before she passed away. Elmyra consented, but didn't realize exactly how different Aeris was until the child informed her that her husband had died, several days before the notice from the army arrived. Because of her strange powers, Aeris avoided Shinra all her life, managing not to get caught by determination and sheer luck.

With a very bright personality, Aeris draws a lot of people towards her. She's cheerful, determined, and ready to give it her all to get what she wants. Flirtatious and considerably forward, on her second meeting with Cloud she asks if he'd go on a date with her in exchange for protecting her. She's initially drawn to Cloud because she sees a lot of her old boyfriend, Zack, in him-- and for good reason, as we find out later in the game.

While Yuffie and Aeris didn't interact much, it's obvious that Yuffie felt some connection to her- as did everyone. She becomes quite hysterical when Aeris dies, shaking in either unbelieving laughter or suppressed sobs before crying on Cloud's shoulder and running away. While I doubt they were the best of buds, Aeris would probably at least try to understand her. She was very annoyed when Yuffie stole the materia, though (everyone was). I doubt that Aeris would hate or be angry at her, simply because.. she's Aeris. On the other side, it's possible that Yuffie grew to like the girl very much, or at least respect her a great deal.

Red XIII •
RedXIII looks like some breed of a wild cat, but his true identity is a lot more unique. His real name is Nanaki, and he's the survivor of an ancient race, which makes him an interest for Hojo. He was caught and placed in captivity by Shinra, and is first seen when Hojo is attempting to breed him and Aeris to create a Cetra with a longer life span. Red is quite intelligent, and grateful towards Cloud for helping him. However, he doesn't intend to stick around forever- only going as far as his hometown before separating from everyone.

Red was born and raised in Cosmo Canyon, his guardian being Bugenhagen. Although he had great respect for his mother, he felt nothing but contempt for his father, who left his mother and forgot their tribe's mission to protect the Canyon. For a long time he's ashamed of being born to a coward, until Bugenhagen shows him the truth behind his father's actions. Seto, his dad, left to protect the Canyon from Gi warrior, until their poison arrows turned him to stone. His statue still remained at the end of the Gi caves, keeping the Canyon safe.

Although Red is 48 years old, in his time he's considered about 14 or 15. While extremely intelligent and brave, he's unsure about some things scared of others. Most of the time, however, he's calm, collected, and patient.

Nanaki and Yuffie are often shown in fanworks together, since he seems to interact the most in-game with her. When the party stays in town for awhile, Yuffie is usually chatting with Red. Also, even if Nanaki is 48 he still is a teenager in his time, like her. So they most likely have a lot of issues relating to age and teenage mentality in common. True, Red is probably a good deal wiser than her, and much calmer. However, the age link is still there. But while they might get along, Red isn't free from Yuffie's mischeif- not by a long shot.

Cid Highwind •
A salty old man living in Rocket Town, Cid Highwind is one of the best- no, the best- pilots out there. His entire life has been dedicated to flying, and his dream is to someday make it to outer space. His ambition seemed to become a reality when Shinra began the space program. Along with his enthusiastic crew, they built the rocket that Rocket Town was christened after and waited eagerly for the day of take off.

The day finally arrived, and Cid proudly took his seat in the cockpit as the countdown began. Then the report that one crew member was still in the engine room came. Shera, an overly cautious mechanic, was unsatisfied with the results of tests on the oxygen tanks, and remained to complete her checks. Despite Cid's orders to get out of the room, Shera insisted that he continue with the launch. Unwilling to sacrifice a crew member, Cid hopelessly aborted the launch. The space program was canceled shortly afterwards, shattering Cid's dreams.

Ever since then, he remained in Rocket Town, working on the deteriorating spacecraft. Bitter over his failure, he snaps harshly at anyone and everyone. Shera remained with him, meekly waiting on him hand and foot in order to "make up" for ruining him. When Shinra returned to Rocket Town, Cid hoped that they would reinstate the space program- and was deeply disappointed. However, his life did take a turn that day, although not in the direction he expected. He willingly joins Cloud and company, commenting on their insanity in the same breath.

While Cid sounds rough and uncouth, he's actually pretty caring.. when he wants to be. Most of the time he's cynical and ready with a smart comment. He probably thinks Yuffie acts too immature and more annoying than everyone else, however, they're actually kind of alike when you think about it; confident, driven, and mood setters. Their personalities are too strong to back down on something, so they probably wouldn't work well together since they wouldn't agree on who to follow. Yuffie will always be an inexperienced kid to Cid, and Cid will always be an old fashioned geezer to Yuffie. But when push comes to shove they'll heckle each other to the finish line.

Vincent Valentine •
Although Vincent appears to be around twenty, he's most likely fifty or older. A former Turk, Vincent worked closely with Hojo and other scientists who were working on the Jenova project. One scientist in particular, a woman named Lucrecia. After awhile, Vincent developed feelings for her and it looked like he tried to propose. However, Lucrecia ran away in tears. Later he spotted her and Hojo embracing, and turned away, saying that as long as she was happy, he didn't mind..

Whether Lucrecia loved Hojo or Vincent will always be a question, but in the end she married(?)Hojo and had his child. The child was extremely important to the Jenova project, as Jenova cells were injected into it while it was still in Lucrecia's womb. As a result, Lucrecia became very sick and later unable to die. The child was born and taken away from her and would later become an elite soldier. His name was Sephiroth.

When Vincent learned that Hojo was experimenting on humans (and Lucrecia in particular) he was furious and confronted him in his lab. Hojo became frustrated with the Turk, and shot him. Not yet dead, Vincent woke up to find that in his unconscious state Hojo had experimented on him and replaced his left hand with a metal claw. Considering himself a failure, he locked himself in the basement of the Shinra mansion where he slept in a coffin for many years. He woke up when Cloud lifted the coffin lid, and joined the party to seek revenge on Hojo.

Vincent is a dark and brooding young(old) man. Cloud is the angsty character? I think Vincent fills that role much better. Cloud's confused, Vincent's depressive. But he does have a warm heart, and is genuinely relieved when Tifa returns to Highwind safely.

I don't think Yuffie and Vincent have a relationship. I'd bet Vincent tries to ignore her, and Yuffie might try to annoy him. Although this is a pretty popular fan pairing, it's pretty obvious that ingame Vincent/Yuffie can't work out, since Vincent's still emo-obsessed with Lucrecia and eyeliner.

Sephiroth •
Sephiroth was born to Hojo and Lucrecia as part of a scientific experiment. He was injected with the cells of Jenova to become a superhuman, nearly. He didn't know who his parents were, and only heard that his mother's name was "Jenova". Although he never knew what Jenova really was until a fateful mission in Nibelheim.

By the time he was sent to Nibelheim, he was a famous soldier and even considered a hero. Cloud was among those who hero-worshiped him, and was thrilled at the prospect of working alongside him. All went according to plan until Sephiroth and his party entered the Mako reactor. There he witnessed the horrifying sight of a mutated creature bursting out of one of the pods- Hojo's previous experiments. Shocked and doubting his own humanity, he locked himself in the basement of the Shinra mansion and studied the old notes left there until he realized the truth.

Learning the truth wasn't such a good idea for Sephiroth. Once he figured out that he wasn't exactly human, he went insane. His first act as madman was to burn Nibelheim to the ground. The second was to return to the Mako reactor and pull down the torso of Jenova. On his way he managed to severely injure Tifa, who tried to stop him singlehandedly. After checking on Tifa, Cloud confronted Sephiroth and managed to kill him- he thought.

However, years later, Sephiroth re-emerges and continues to wreck havoc, eventually gaining the power to summon Meteor and destroy the whole planet. Cozily camping out in the Northern Crater, Sephiroth displays a disturbing control over Cloud and his actions which slowly but surely drive Cloud towards the edge.

If Sephiroth had not been trying to destroy the world (which Yuffie happened to be living on at the moment) Yuffie wouldn't have cared about him. She had no personal grudge against him, and as far as she was concerned, he wouldn't be worth her time. Sephiroth didn't even know she existed. However, he was trying to destroy the world and Yuffie, being the bright child that she is, knew that if the world exploded, so would she. Sephiroth's other mistake was in killing Aeris, who everyone, even Yuffie, felt some liking for. Sephiroth's blow hit close to home, and Yuffie didn't like that. Also, Yuffie, who was obsessed with proving herself to be the best, wasn't about to let some mama's boy take that title from her.


Kingdom Hearts •
Kingdom Hearts is a collaborative effort by Disney and Squaresoft. The main character, Sora, gains posession of a keyblade as his home is destroyed and his friends disapear before his eyes. He joins forces with Goofy and Donald (who are searching for their missing King Mickey) in an attempt to find Riku and Kairi- his friends. To do so, he travels from world to world, defeating the heartless that terrorize each one. Throughout his journey he meets new friends, new enemies, and DARKNESS/FATE/DESTINY/INSERT PSYCHOLOGY 101. You know. Typical rpg s**t. But THIS rpg is different. It has it's VERY OWN out of control CAMERA that's GUARANTEED to ******** you up just when you least need it to.

His journey really starts in Traverse Town, the world he is whisked to after his home, is destroyed. There, he meets a teenaged ninja who is very familiar to us all: DonatelloYuffie Kisaragi.

- Traverse Town to Hallow Bastion
- Colleseum and combat
- From old to new
- And The Sequel
- General opinion


Advent Children •
Back in the day, a million fanboys and fangirls played their way through Final Fantasy 7. Fighting the weapons, getting the ultimate limit breaks, leveling up for hours and hours-- only to get this acid trip ending with all this glowing stuff and symbolism and tentacles- thanks a lot, Japan. Ever since that day, the million fankids have been writing up theories and arguing over what REALLY happened in that ending. Did Livestream really help the planet? Did everyone in Highwind really survive? And how the did Red pilot the thing himself if they didn't? Also, who the hell did he shack it up with?

Well, Square Enix decided after ten years that they should answer the question themselves, and like a god born of fanfiction.net, they rose to the occasion. Meteor was stopped. Years passed. Lifestream helped, only to slap everyone in the face with a freakish disease that makes you ooze out motor oil. Later it was revealed that with proper hygeine, the masses could be rid of the disease, reminding us all once again to brush and floss after every meal. Black came back into fashion. Three Generic Square Badguys came onto the scene, with hopes of resurecting Jenova. Fans originally thought that, perhaps, they were tied into the Reunion and Hojo's experiments, but no, apparently, they were just hanging out. Everyone who died in the original game was revealed to be actually not!dead, and furthermore, not even injured, despite canon blasts to the face from ancient weaponry. Sephiroth came back-- again. Fans rejoiced, recoiled, and rejoiced again. Amusing fan-subtitles were spawned, which, depressingly enough, made more sense than the actual dialogue. SquareEnix made money, and more plans to cash in on their newly revitalised franchise.

And that about wraps it up for Advent Children, and this small blurb about Yuffie's role in it, which was little more than a cameo towards the end. What we know about her is that she's been living in Wutai since the game ended, as evidenced by a phone call she makes to Cloud. She also left all of "her" materia with Cloud for safekeeping, and this is what prompts her to show up at the very end, as the three Sephiroth clones have stolen it. Although she isn't given much screentime, what she is given is a dramatic entrance as she parachutes down from the Highwind to help fight against Bahamut. After nearly throwing up (she does get airsick, after all) she shoots off a line to Tifa demanding to know what's happened to her materia. And then we're treated to a 20 minute long sequence of everyone fighting a summon that once bowed to their will and therefore shouldn't be so hard to kill if they could beat all five thousand of Sephiroth and Jenova's forms.

Afterwards, Yuffie hangs out on Highwind, cozying up to a bag full of materia while all of them watch Cloud fight Sephiroth. She states that they should help Cloud out, while everyone else agrees that this is something that he needs to do on his own. So Avalanche merely watches the fight from air, and I'm sure throughout the fighting Cloud thinks: "You dicks." No worries, though, Cloud's long since mastered Omnislash and mops the ground up with Sephiroth, after another 40 minutes of manly grunting and flashy animation. Everyone cheers then hangs out at the church to cure all the little children. The credits roll and that's it for Yuffie, until the next installation of the FF7 franchise (I'm looking at YOU, Dirge of Cerebus).

Obviously there wasn't enough of Yuffie in Advent Children to really analyze her character, or write detailed rants on how she's changed, grown up, gone to medical school and birthed twins who later went to Sweet Valley High. However, for the sake of being accurate, I, Ru, owner of this sad little site, would like to state beyond all shadow of a doubt, that Yuffie Kisaragi is, in fact, in this movie. I know it might be hard to believe, I mean, what? There were characters in there besides the three generic Square bad guys, Cloud and Sephiroth? I too didn't believe it at first, but after watching the movie several more times I have come to the conclusion that yes. Yes, all the characters we knew and loved do make an appearence. Praise be. Praise be.


Spinoffs •
First there was Final Fantasy VII, the 7th installation of a long loved franchise, the first Square game to move from sprites to polygons, and the game that dragged many fans into the fray. Even people who don't know what FF7 is about (and those are few and far between) know that Aeris dies. Regardless, this is the game where it all started, and in this game Yuffie was nothing more than an optional character.

Optional character or not, however, she's made several appearences in the Final Fantasy spin off games that have been created since. The first being Ehrgeiz, a fighting game for the Playstation where you were given the option of playing as Cloud, Tifa, or Sephiroth. Yuffie was once again included as an optional character, along with Vincent and Zack.

After Ehrgeiz Squaresoft took a break from FF7 for awhile, concentrating on other projects, merging into a new company and renaming themselves SquarEnix, normal stuff. Along the way, however, Squeenix launched a new franchise along with Disney, starting the Kingdom Hearts saga which included characters from FF7. For the first time Yuffie wasn't an optional character, and actually key to the plot (more information in the Kingdom Hearts section). Her role continued unchanged throughout Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II, and Square had finally capitalized on FF7 again, after years of it lying stagnant. It was at this time that someone must have decided that the game should be brought to the forefront again, and made the decision to launch Advent Children.

After years of fan speculation on what the end of the game REALLY meant, Square was finally ready to give an answer- in the form of a full length CGI movie detailing what happened after the game. Yuffie's role isn't really that important in the movie, and I have it detailed more here, but Advent Children was really just the begining. After the movie was made, Square decided to launch several more FF7 related titles, some also including Yuffie. For example, there was Before Crisis, a prequel to FF7 focused on the Turks and made for mobile phones. Yuffie was included briefly during Episode 14, when the Turks check out Wutai. Also started during the wave of Advent Children love is the Vincent centric RPG style shooter game, Dirge of Cerebus. Yuffie is another key character in this game, who aids Vincent throughout. Although DoC was supposed to be the last installation (chronologically) of the "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII," the producers have said that there's still a chance that it'll be added to. And "Compilation" or not, Yuffie is still making her way into other games, such as the Itadaki Street Portable which will be coming out soon for the PSP.

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