When the time came to the fourth day, most players had already progressed through the middle to late stages of the plot.
As for Joshua, who had been playing day and night, he had already completed the game.
The entire storyline of the game could be described as full of ups and downs, always easily stirring the emotions of players.
In the plot, he walked out of Midgar and gradually came to understand the whole world, including the ancient races, the Jenova project, and all related background stories.
At that time, he was still deeply immersed in this fascinating worldview.
But soon he was affected by another event.
That was the death of Alice in the later stages of the plot.
The main antagonist, Sephiroth, personally pierced Alice's abdomen with a weapon.
The animation effect of this scene was no less impressive than the initial CG at the beginning of the game.
And the more intense it became, the stronger the emotional stimulation it brought to Joshua.
He stared blankly at the screen, watching the dialogue in the game interface linger without continuing to play.
At that moment, a tremendous sadness made it difficult for him to continue playing the game.
That quirky girl had died just like that.
It was really hard to accept.
In movies and TV shows, tragedies and imperfect plots are the most memorable.
It's the same in games.
Of course, this doesn't mean that your game plot has to be tragic in every aspect. First of all, your game plot must be reasonable.
Forced tragic plots will only backfire.
But this time, the plot of Final Fantasy 7 seemed so reasonable in every aspect.
There was nothing abrupt about it.
Alice's death seemed destined and almost impossible to change.
This was the biggest reason why Joshua found it so hard to control his emotions.
In the plot, Alice decided to face Sephiroth, the main antagonist, herself in order to prevent Cloud from suffering any more.
And naturally, Cloud was unwilling and wanted to find out what was going on.
In the end, he witnessed Alice's death with his own eyes.
At that moment in the game, there were no flashback scenes, but Joshua's mind began to recall various scenes related to Alice from the plot.
Alice was mischievous, but also very understanding, always supporting Cloud whenever he was lost.
One by one, these scenes actively appeared in Joshua's mind and lingered for a long time without disappearing.
This was the first time Joshua had felt sadness in a fictional story, and tears couldn't help but well up in his eyes, but he managed to hold them back.
Then he relied on his last bit of willpower to persist until the end of the story.
Cloud was about to face the final boss of the game, Sephiroth himself.
The main culprit who killed Alice with his own hands.
No matter how charismatic Sephiroth appeared through the performance, Joshua now just wanted to fiercely eliminate Sephiroth and avenge Alice.
In the end, he did succeed in defeating Sephiroth.
The Lifestream danced in the scene.
Cloud vaguely seemed to see a hand from the Lifestream.
Joshua almost had no doubt that it was Alice's hand.
Great, Alice is still alive, just in another form.
That's what Joshua thought at the time.
However, the crisis was not completely resolved.
Sephiroth's ultimate goal was to destroy the entire world.
And he seemed to be succeeding.
A huge meteor was about to crash into the ground.
Once a meteor of this size landed, the entire world would inevitably be destroyed.
The civilization of this planet would never exist again.
But at this moment, the Lifestream suddenly appeared from all over the world.
The music also changed from a state of crisis to a sudden transformation.
That music seemed to have a real vitality, reigniting hope in Joshua, who had been somewhat despairing.
Just music alone, along with the energy of the Lifestream continuously emerging from the ground, turned the entire planet into a sea of green.
At this moment, although the meteor seemed terrifying, the Lifestream seemed to possess infinite power, completely blocking the meteor from the outside.
The scene of the collision between the Lifestream and the meteor was the most beautiful game scene Joshua had ever seen.
Then, a flash of white light passed, and Alice's image flashed by. At that moment, Joshua finally couldn't hold back his tears, and they flowed out.
The story also came to a complete end.
And at the end of the game, there was a scene from five hundred years later.
Five hundred years later, it was obvious that everyone had already died, but Red XIII, as a special experiment, seemed to still be alive. It witnessed the last remaining history of humanity, a Midgar city covered with green vitality.
The title and logo of the game appeared again at this moment.
The story also came to a complete end.
Until this moment, Joshua seemed to have some kind of relief in his heart.
Alice's death was indeed very difficult to accept, but... it was really beautiful.
This game, it's really beautiful.
At this moment, he couldn't help but want to share his feelings on the internet.
He was obviously one of the first batch of players to complete the game.
And in Japan, Takayuki stood behind a community maintenance staff, looking at the screen.
"It's about time, some players should have already completed it. Has there been any change in the content on the community forum?"
The employee nodded, "Yes, there are more and more discussions about the ending now. Should we control it? Isn't this equivalent to spoilers?"
Takayuki shook his head, "No need, it's about time. Let them discuss it freely. The discussion about the ending will also make many people curious and want to enter the game to find out, which is also a good opportunity for promotion."
"Okay."
In the community forum of Final Fantasy 7, one discussion after another about the ending began to gradually appear.
And those players who had not yet completed the game were left in shock.
But they weren't angry about being spoiled, but rather had a feeling of shock.
"What? Alice actually died? How is that possible! This can't be! I don't believe it! I'm going to play the game!"
"You guys wait, I don't believe Alice is dead, such a lovely girl definitely wouldn't die!"
"Heh, it seems like you guys still don't believe it. Let me tell you how she died..."
"Upstairs, please don't maliciously predict the plot. We won't believe what you say!"
Sometimes, when a story deviates too much from their expectations, it is still difficult to accept.
But at the same time, it also stimulates players' eagerness to continue playing in person.
This became one of their biggest motivations.
However, the plot would not change.
When the vast majority of people had completed the game and had to accept Alice's death, the topic of Final Fantasy 7 was completely ignited.