For Years, I Mistook this Final Fantasy VII Character's Ears for Goat's

• Introduction to the mystery of Final Fantasy's "Goat Woman".
• Author's journey of understanding Final Fantasy without playing it.
• First encounter with the "Goat Woman" character in Kingdom Hearts.
• Realization that the character was misinterpreted due to graphics.
• Understanding of Final Fantasy's evolution and graphics improvement.

The Mystery of Final Fantasy's "Goat Woman"

To the uninitiated, the world of Final Fantasy can be a mysterious place. Fans of the series speak in cryptic codes, referring to this woman as "the goat".

Image courtesy: Square Enix

My Final Fantasy Journey

Full disclosure: I've never played a Final Fantasy game. Despite the upcoming release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and the series' lauded influence on the gaming industry, I've never engaged with it.

My knowledge is limited to internet tidbits and coworker chatter. The most I've learned has been from editing articles on FF7 Rebirth's bonus materia or the endless debate about whether FF8 is the best in the series. In the world of Final Fantasy, I am Jon Snow. I know nothing.

My Brush with Final Fantasy

The closest I've come to the Final Fantasy universe was through Kingdom Hearts. That's where I first saw this character, who I immediately identified as some type of goat lady:

Screenshot courtesy: Square Enix

Admittedly, I played Kingdom Hearts on a PlayStation 2 from a distance greater than recommended. And yes, I needed glasses at the time. But, let's be honest, don't those look like goat ears? In a universe where Disney characters meet anime-styled characters, couldn't she be a satyr or elf? It's not completely implausible!

The Truth Revealed

It took me almost two decades to realize that this woman (who I later learned was Aerith) did not have goat ears, but a bow. I'm not alone in misinterpreting a Final Fantasy sprite, so my mistake isn't that hard to believe, is it?

Despite the teasing from my colleagues, I know there are others like me. Others who once thought that this brunette woman had large ears flanking her pigtails.

Final Fantasy's Evolution

Once I moved on from Kingdom Hearts and entered the gaming industry, the updated graphics of Final Fantasy were never on my radar. Aerith's red bow is far clearer in the remake trilogy than in Kingdom Hearts or the original Final Fantasy 7. But for a long time, I only knew her as the character with what looked like a pair of ears. So, I naturally assumed that one of Final Fantasy VII’s lead characters was a human-goat hybrid. After all, this is a game franchise with rideable ducks, so why couldn't Aerith be a goat?

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