Genesis Sucks

I'm warning you, Shut up!

Oh it's time. I'm sure this is the very same dialogue that every old school fan of Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core has had at one point or another, but I was lucky enough to be spared that pain. Instead it took playing 'Reunion' for me to be introduced to quite possible the worst Final Fantasy antagonist the world has ever seen and I just need to rant about his awfulness for my own well being if nothing else. And yes, it expands far beyond the quality of his dub- although it should be stated that the Reunion Dub was especially poorly handled and crappy. (I suspect Square put literally no effort behind it's production.) Genesis' terribleness transcends translations and dubs- it's seeped right into the bone. And for a franchise typically resplendent for it's angst and melodrama- who'd have thought this one side-game antagonist would stand head and shoulder above the rest as the king of 2000's angst cringe?

First some backstory. Genesis is to Final Fantasy 7 what any sub standard fan fiction's 'super cool OC bad guy' is to those stories- trite and heavily dependent on the source material to have any ounce of weight. Genesis is a copy of the original games core antagonist Sephiroth in all the ways that matter, general looks, narrative significance and even his inexplicable biblically-intertwined naming conventions. (At least his name is better than 'Angeal') The only distinctions of note being that Genesis communicates primarily in poetic verses of an in-universe fantasy story he seems to hold as 'prophetic', and Genesis seems to display some vague desire to want to save the world where Sephiroth wants to destroy it. But Genesis is conveyed so poorly in his desires and intentions that it's impossible to devise what he wants to save the world from nor how he intends to do it- he has no substance.

Now of course, Genesis is probably best known for the way that he is actually an insert from a Jpop star known as Gackt who was a Final Fantasy fan who wrote music for Dirge of Cerberus. Genesis was based on the likeness of Gackt, and the singer actually played Genesis in Crisis Core. Now I don't know Gackt from Adam, but I do genuinely feel bad for the amount of hate delivered to a character so intrinsically linked to a real life person in appearance and performance. Therefore I want to make clear that my problems with Genesis start and end with the fictional character, I hold nothing against the man behind him and honestly- I blame the writing style of the team rather than the people behind the pixels. Just as I don't blame any of the Reunion cast for that pigs-ear of a dub. This is corporate baby, all the way up! 

Much has been said in defence of Genesis' mannerisms, particularly how he employs Loveless and his many endless quotes of the book as a coping mechanism to come to terms with his revelations about his own nature. Well let me just stick a knife through that cope because I'm going to be honest- that doesn't amount to much of anything either. The amount of weight that Crisis Core expects to stand behind the revelation of "I'm actually not a human, I'm a monster that looks like a human!" is shameful, as though that plot point means anything in a world where the label of 'monster' is as esoteric as the fantastical concept itself. If you expect me to believe that Genesis is shaken to the core by the revelation that he shares genetics with Monsters, you have to spend time establishing what that even means at a basic level! Does that mean he lacks human emotions? Because other similar effected Soldiers seems able to access their full range of emotions. Does it mean that Genesis is wracked with an inexplicable hunger to hunt and hurt humans? Nah, he's more driven by a desire to preserve his own life. All it really means is that his body is constantly decaying, which would be strong enough motivation if that bore any relevance in the man's characterisation!

The urgency that any 'man with a time limit' story demands is lost in the plodding, endless drone that is Genesis' laborious dialogue tendencies- monotonous and circular, unresolved and endlessly quoting. But quoting what exactly? "The wind sails over the water's surface. Quietly, but surely" That one is apparently so impactful it earns the prototypical 'You just don't understand the beauty of those words' refrain, despite the phrase being a painfully unlyrical characterisation of determination. That is the level of the 'depth' you can expect to hear crooned out by this absolute headache machine in lieu of actual character work or introspection. Just surface level poetry that Genesis conflates with some secretive high art that only he appreciates. It almost wraps around to 'Sonic Forces: Infinite' levels of self aware mock-commentary, but just as with that villain- there's a sad earnestness underneath it all.

"My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment, to find the end of my journey, in my own salvation and your eternal slumber." We are blessed enough to hear this one twice, once on his own and then in front of the cast- which makes me think he was actually rehearsing this absolute zinger, hoping for maximum effect, no doubt. And it's a decent, if predictably barefaced, passage for literally anyone else other than Genesis. Any ideals of vengeance he has are fleeting and short lived and his end goal is some vague gift of 'power' from some vaguely addressed 'goddess' figure he rambles on about endlessly and self preservation- to characterise his own journey as 'corrupted by vengeance' and tied to completion of 'your eternal slumber' is to utterly mischaracterise Genesis. It makes the man sound like he doesn't even know why he does the things he does, which clashes heavily with his infuriating presentation as some 'enlightened connoisseur of transcendent art.'

And the classic- the line that everyone who has played Crisis Core has heard so much they could inscribe it in their sleep. Genesis' actual catchphrase: "Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing can forestall my return". It's almost humours how actually depth-less that is, and yet he coins it like the most profound sentiment the world has ever conjured. The most barefaced, blatant stanza plausible and it's the one Genesis repeats over and over to no-one and everyone. At the very end of the game he offers a new addition to it as his own creation of the long lost act 5 of Loveless. "Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return, to become the dew that quenches the land, to spare the sands, the seas, the skies, I offer thee this silent sacrifice" More affectations. Pretty sounding. But substanceless. Which is fine for a poem, brilliant for a love letter. But for the final act of a epic story? Especially considering the fact that the original quote comes from act 3, before the speaker departs for a duel- why would the line be repeated for act 5? Unless its meant as a peaceful reprise to signify the end of life, as represented by the becoming of the forces that make up the land. Yes, that would be fitting, and a very sweet sentiment for Genesis to coin at the end of his- wait a minute, Genesis doesn't even die! He's probably going to be in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth! So WHAT THE HELL IS THE POINT OF THIS LINE!

I'm not so bitter against the concept of poetry. I quite like poetry and the significance it can hold when well handled. Nothing about Crisis Core is cleverly handled, cleverly written or clever in any abstract sense. Characters are blunt and obsessively one-note and consequently aggressively bland in that quirky fan fiction-esque way. If one character's core value is about maintaining honour, you best bet that one character trait is his entire personality! If another character likes poetry- oh that is going to be his all and everything! Nevermind what the poetry actually says! Who cares how any of it relates to his character or reflects to the situation around him? That's not the point! The point is having him read poetry because that makes him mysterious and brooding and hot! Do you know what else that makes him? Unbelievably and unforgettably boring! Genesis may fancy himself as some enlightened poet with a gentle soul, Angeal may be a rigid honour obsessed freak, Tseng may be a guy who was paid to read out every line like a first generation TTS drone, but I refuse to subscribe to any of their pitiful standards of being. I'm my own man. Me? Gongaga.