“Contempt”: the controversial motivation of a user to complete an almost impossible challenge in ‘Final Fantasy VII’

Reach level 99 in ‘final fantasy 7‘ without leaving the first zone of the game is a challenge extremely difficult. Impossible? Not exactly, but very few people on this planet would dare to go for it for a good set of reasons. Some of them are that to overcome it you have to invest more than 500 hours eliminating enemies over and over again to add few experience points each time.

‘Final Fantasy VII’, certainly, offers a much more interesting adventure that consists of joining forces against Sephiroth, the evil character of the story who seeks to harness the essence of the planet as a source of personal energy, a desire that comes with a worrying and destructive effect. Intentionally staying stuck early in the game may make little sense, but not for some players.

The desire to reach the unattainable

As collect our 3DJuegos companions, the roots of this achievement, if we can call it that, go back a decade or so. In 2012, a user whose pseudonym was “Dick Tree” promised to get Cloud and Barrett to the level 99 in the first reactor from ‘Final Fantasy VII’. That promise left some users stunned and others wondering if this person would follow through on what he said.

The truth is that the word agreement with the other members of the forum community did not progress as expected. Although the user in question did not say when he would reach the challenge, he began showing his progress in different posts until his presence in it became sporadic. At some point he claimed to have reached level 99 with the aforementioned game characters, but preferred not to share the achievement.

Cloud Strife, one of the game’s characters

Certainly no one knew if “Dick Tree” had really risen to the challenge. And since he refused to provide evidence, almost no one was betting on believing him. Faced with this scenario, a user named CirclMastr decided to assume a very personal position: He set out to overcome the challenge, even if this required hours and hours of playing in the same stage of the reactor, something completely monotonous and very laborious.

The user CirclMastr got down to work and after two years he finally got Cloud and Barrett to reach level 99 in the first reactor of ‘Final Fantasy VII’. His “journey” to fulfill the broken promise of the other member began in 2015 and ended in 2017. Much of the process has been documented in multiple videos on his Twitch channel, but the most memorable is the final outcome posted on YouTube.

A screenshot showing the CirclMastr achievement

For many, the reasons that motivated CirclMastr to invest a large part of their time in this challenge did not make sense, but the same user was in charge of clearing up the doubts with a message in the forum where the story began. His position has been understood by some and rejected by others. The most controversial aspect of it is that the main driver of her motivation has been her thirst for revenge towards the other user.

“Getting to level 99 in the first reactor is pointless. So why do I do it? I do it to express my hatred and contempt for Dick Tree. I do this to express the camaraderie I feel for those of us who have followed this topic for years only to be let down by it. I do it, too, to prove to myself that I can persevere. The act itself does not make sense, I give it meaning, ”he explained.

Images: Square | Screenshots

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