Thanks to satsumaclementine for the inspiration!
The bit in FFVII where your party wants to stop Shinra from launching the Huge Materia at the Meteor doesn’t really make sense. Or how everyone in Corel blames Barret…when he didn’t do anything to deserve it did he? He lost as much or more as everyone else. Also, how Dio blames Cloud’s party for the Battle Square massacre…when they didn’t have any guns and everyone was shot…and Cait Sith was there and he was supposed to work there… That whole Desert Prison idea is really weird as well. Who is sentencing these people there? Dio? There are no proper nations or police outside of Shinra it seems. That Desert Prison must be less than four years old yet there are loads of people stuck there. I feel like storytelling wasn’t quite polished yet at this point in the series.
And I think satsumaclementine is generally correct.
The Black Materia side quest serves no purpose other than to elongate the game. It’s a plot device “used to summon the “Ultimate Destructive Magic”, Meteor, which has the power to destroy the entire Planet”. Maybe it makes sense to launch the Black Materia at the Meteor. But it would only work if the rocket could destroy the Meteor. And I don’t think Shinra thought this far ahead.
Why did everyone blame Barret for what happened at Mt. Corel? He, along with an elder and Dyne, was among the leaders who greenlit a mako reactor. Without the elder and Dyne around, they took their frustration out on Barret.
Why does Dio blame Cloud and his party at the time of the massacre? I guess simply because they were there. Why didn’t Dio search for the gun? Probably because that would be really boring, who wanted to stay around for a police procedural?
Why is there a Prison under the Gold Saucer? I guess it’s like a detaining center. Only, a prison? I don’t know either, but that’s where you have to go next so…whatever I guess? And satsumaclementine’s assumption is correct: for as far reaching as Shinra is, it doesn’t have a solidified law enforcement. I guess the people under the Desert Prison are from Mt. Corel (those that snuck in). Maybe they’ll make this clear for the Final Fantasy VII remake?
They don’t bother me as much since they lead to fun gameplay later on in the story. Don’t get me wrong, these are plot holes in a sense, and it’s a stretch to believe them. But…I guess we can let them slide…
I hope for more explanations in the Final Fantasy VII remake, but who knows?