1. Cloud’s Shenanigans In The Honeybee Inn (FFVII)
The number one spot on this list belongs to a scene taken from what many consider to be the best Final Fantasy game ever released. The critical and commercial success of FFVII helped popularize role-playing games in the West and due to numerous re-releases on different platforms, the game has since become the best selling installment of the entire franchise.
Winning numerous game of the year awards at the time of its release, FFVII is still held in high regard for its innovative gameplay and powerful storyline, which reduced a number of gamers to tears after the death of one of its principal characters.
Aside from that pivotal moment, one scene that shocked players more than any other is the Honeybee Inn sequence, where Cloud had to dress up as a woman to infiltrate Don Corneo’s mansion and rescue his companion, Tifa. This unusual instance of cross-dressing alone would warrant a place on this list, but something far more disturbing happens as Cloud gathers the materials needed to transform into a woman. Players who explored every area of this brothel eventually stumbled across a ‘group room’ where a number of semi-naked men surround Cloud upon entry.
[zergpaid]The groups leader, Mukki, steps forward and asks if Cloud would like to bathe… with the entire group! If the player agrees, Cloud then proceeds to bathe with the numerous men and at one point almost disappears under the water with them. Some fans have since argued that Cloud was violated, while others think that whatever happened in that group room was consensual.
The developers were either being incredibly progressive for the time by making Cloud a bisexual protagonist or they were doing the exact opposite by portraying this homoerotic moment as one of violence and non-consensual sex. Either way, Cloud’s ‘experience’ in the Honeybee Inn is one that stuck in our minds long after the game had ended.
WTF indeed…
Can you think of any more WTF moments from the Final Fantasy franchise? Are you looking forward to Final Fantasy XV? And what the hell happened in the Honeybee Inn? Sound off in the comments section below.