While I realize that NPCs in video games can't say something new every time you talk to them, I always thought that conversations like these were always a little strange. Especially in a particular situations such as this, pulled straight from Final Fantasy 7, in which an NPC seems to imply that they hold more information than they'll actually give you. He obviously has some idea of what you're referring to, but he won't bother to answer the original question.
And yeah, I've recently started playing FF7. Not for the first time, although This is the first time that I've managed to play it long enough to reach the end of the first disc. My previous attempts failed to get me hooked, but I keep coming back to it since many sources describe it as a contendor for the best RPG ever made. That, coupled with the fact that I still have yet to actually finish a Final Fantasy game (even though I've reached near-completion on two others) have driven me to make one more attempt at this particular installment, and now that I've got some steam going, I'm determined to finish it.