limit breaks

Contrary to popular belief, FFVII was not the first FF game to feature limit breaks: FFVI's characters had "Desperation Attacks" they very rarely used when they were low on health. (So rare, in fact, that I've seen them maybe once in the five times I've played the game.) FFVII popularized them, though, and now they're here to stay.

Cid's limit breaks either have to do with explosives or the classic dragoon jump. Both of these are fairly peculiar when you think about it. I mean, Cid developed an interest in dynamite to the point that he carries it around with him. I dunno about you, but I associate dynamite more with mining than, y'know, building rockets, so you'd think Barret would be the one with a stick of dynamite in his repetoire. Nope, it goes to the guy who's more flammable than a stack of matches. Maybe Cid was that kid who tried to make homemade napalm just to see if he could. I can see that.

Anyway. The other thing is Cid's status as a dragoon. I mean, obviously, he can do the moves, and he carries around the spear (a homemade one, according to his profile): he's a bonafide, card-carrying dragoon. But how the hell can he jump that high? FFVII takes place in a fairly realistic world, in which normal people cannot actually do amazing physical feats unless they're scientifically altered that way. Sure, we don't know anything about Cid's past, but I don't exactly think he was part of a top-secret Shinra Dragoon Training Program.

(Yes, I know he can jump because he's a Highwind and they can just Do That. Let's ignore that for the sake of the argument.)

There's no "real" answer, because Cid's backstory is a giant mysterious hole, but let's consider some theories. Did he grow up around a high concentration of mako, or fall into a mako pool as a kid and end up affected by it? Is it something passed down through his family? (Does some form of Kain Highwind exist in the far past of FFVII, for that matter?) Did he figure it out by accident, or did he specifically train with the spear? Cid's the only guy we ever see wielding one, and while FFVII has a pretty wide range of weapons as it is, a spear is downright odd as far as the setting goes. It's not like people are fighting battles on chocoboback and need the reach of a spear to attack each other.

Finally, there's that one other limit break Cid has: Dragon. He summons a dragon out of thin air to attack an enemy, and absorbs HP and MP. No other character has any limit remotely like it. Where does the dragon come from? How can he do that?! I mean, sure, Tifa summons a goddamn dolphin out of thin air to attack, but it doesn't heal her. (Also, the dolphin was retconned out of Advent Children because it was goddamn ridiculous. Cid has yet to receive such a luxury.) Does he just have a personal dragon spirit he can call on whenever he's in a bind? Like "hey yeah I need you to go attack these enemies for me okay thanks."

In summary, FFVII is a video game and none of these things are that serious. But I still wonder.

(Dear Inevitable Third Remake Title: please give Cid fun limit breaks.)

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