It's not a little known secret that Final Fantasy VII is one of my most beloved games. I first played the PC version of the game way back in the days of middle school at a friend's house (Angie, that means you). She was at the end of the game, and I watched in acute awe as she executed Cloud's Omnislash on Sephiroth in the hazy dreamscaped battle within the Lifestream. I had no idea what was going on or how important the event I was bearing witness to was, or what exactly everything meant. I was simply amazed at what I was seeing, filled with wonder at the characters and the outstanding graphics. I'd known of the game from long before: as a Game-Pro subscriber, I already knew the characters (and had battled my friends over who "got" which character—kids do these things, okay?) and I also knew a bit about the game, but I never expected to play it, not having owned a Playstation (we were a Nintendo-Genesis family). When my friend showed me the PC version and in doing so proved I could play it, I immediately wanted to.
Much later, after unending requests and ample amounts of persuasion, I managed to convince my parents that this was the most fabulous present they could ever get me, and so they did. And it pretty much was. I hadn't been exposed to anything like the subject matter Final Fantasy VII refused to dodge around before—technological corruption, social instability, monopolisation, self-invoked psychological manipulation—and the impact it had on me was huge. Over the years, I played the game so many times that I can now conjure a visual narrative of certain pivotal (and some not so pivotal) events of the story in my head. It has become hugely nostalgic for me. Without a doubt, Final Fantasy VII has taken up a piece of my heart, a piece that it will never release.
Cait Sith is one of those characters that really gets a person scratching his or her head in bafflement. What does this character stand for? What's this character's purpose? After being introduced to a cast of complex characters, meeting a character like Cait Sith was a bit of a throw-off. I didn't get it. Sure, Cait Sith was cute and cuddly and wee bit annoying, but he seemed out of place amidst such an intense troupe. As I progressed through the game, I was quite surprised—and also quite delighted—to find there was more than what had met my eyes to Cait Sith. As more and more was revealed about Cait Sith's character, I grew increasingly fascinated with him. The contrast between the two personalities that dominated his character captivated me.
Usually comic relief characters aren't included in a plot for much more than comic relief, but Cait Sith was an exception.
Cait Sith was blatant in all the wrong ways, and the underlying depth of his character was hidden so deep I felt it was missed by most fans of the game. I was unsurprised but nonetheless dispirited with how overlooked Cait Sith and his inner human core—Reeve—were. Thus, I was inspired to create this fansite.
History
Created in 1999, Cryptic Puppet has withstood the test of time, enduring 9 years of life in the online world. Like the now 11-year-old game of its inspiration, it plans to remain for some years more to come.
