Crisis Core - Slaying the Goddess

[Anomaly]

WARNING - If you have not completed Crisis Core or 100% of the missions, and you want a surprise when you get there, do not read on!

For those of you that have completed the game and all the missions, or even for those of you who have made it as far as the final mission and can't press further until you do a little more materia fusing, I've a few questions. More I want your thoughts.

I made it a priority to go after the Goddess as soon as I found out her existence. More than defeating Genesis I wanted to beat her (just as I was more interested in killing the Weapons than Sephiroth or Ozma than Kuja). Yeah I admit I referenced a guide to see what they thought was the best way of handling the situation, and I found that their choices were obvious if you complete the missions leading up to her and pay attention to the rewards you receive. But I'd like to know what materia and equipment did you use when you beat her for the first time? Did you find any of her attacks (aside from the unblockable Ultima) particularly difficult to deal with?

As to the goddess herself, what do you think of her? Is she a manifestation of the will of the Planet? Is she the goddess of war as her name would imply? What do you think her relationship is with Genesis, truly? Is she his mother, like Jenova is to Sephiroth? Could she be a more successful alien lifeform that has become one with the planet? Or is she truly a god written about in Loveless that he worships? Doesn't it seem odd that the artifact referred to as 'the Gift of the Goddess' exists beneath Banora, and in Hollanders research facility there?

What is the 'Gift of the Goddess'? Is it just stagnate mako energy, or is it something else? Mako infused knowledge, some kind of materia? Or something less tangible? What baring do the Seven Goddess Materia have to it?

Finally, what do you think Genesis goal is upon awakening at the end of Dirge of Cerberus? He picks up his 'brother' Weiss in a similar fashion that Weiss and Nero pick him up at the end of Crisis Core, but if all he sought was his own salvation...why even continue the fight with Zack? Why bother re-awakening with the final destruction of all that was Shin-Ra? with no Shin-Ra to hate and no cure to seek, what could his goal be?

[1WingedRonin]

I found the battle itself to be time consuming. For me, it was a neat battle, but I dont know if it ranks above the enjoyment for me of the Sephiroth and Genesis battle. Those meant something to me, while this one felt more like a bonus. Goes back to the whole knocking Gods off their pedestal thing. The ultima attack was annoying more than anything else.

I think that the Goddess is who Loveless referred to. I like to think that Loveless is essentially Shakespeare actually meeting some Goddess and writing about them. I think that she is NOT a goddess of peace, but rather of war. I also think that Genesis loves her as a artist would love a muse.

If we go by the quotes that Genesis kept quoting, the gift of the goddess seems to be alot of things. It ranges from sanity to hope, to cells to whatever he used the quote for at the time. I like to think that the Gift of the Goddess will be something akin to war. IT would almost have to dependant on what she looked like and her name.

From what I have read on other forums, I am of the mindset that Genesis is going to be the Anti Sephiroth. With no Shinra, Genesis can focus on being just that. Sephiroth still exists to a point in the life stream and I think he is trying to become the calamity from the sky that his mother Jenova was. I think if the Planet needs to defend itself again, I can see Genesis and his followers coming to the rescue. And I am looking forward to that fight!

Thats my short answer anyway...I will try to post more when I am not at work.