Playthrough thoughts thread

[Aulayna]

Figure we can do what the internet is so good at hosting, and use this thread to provide some thoughts as we playthrough for the first time.

I guess in the interests of spoilers we could say what chapter we're on, and hide anything really spoilery behind spoiler tags.

Me:

Just started Chapter 3

Pros

Combat feels great
Judging by the trophy list there is a Hard difficulty which I guess acts as a NG+
Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie are so much more fleshed out as characters
Generally the game looks fantastic
Boss fights have been pretty fun so far
It was really staggering getting to see the destruction caused in Sector 8 by the explosion from the Mako Reaction 1
The Senior Guard and New Recruit in the Sector 7 slums are fantastically voice acted lol
I knew from interviews that Sephiroth was going to be featured a lot more, but I did not expect to be seeing so much of him so early on.


Cons

Some quite low-res textures at times that take ages to load in higher res versions.
Some of the music choices for locations are... interesting, not sure if this is a con but there's some locations I feel could've benefited from a brand new track rather than re purposing an existing one.
Not sure how I feel currently about Weapons having their own crystarium like skill point system on top of Materia.


Overall so far it feels like a brand new game but still maintains the distinct essence of FFVII.

[Aulayna]

Just started chapter 7 now, around 10 hours in and just entering Mako Reactor 5 (which would be like 90 minutes in in the OG).

Pros:

Can use summons more often than I imagined from the interviews, and they actually feel useful rather than XV's random ones.
The storyline with Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie that involves a dinner at Jessie's house was great. I love these characters so much in this game, I'm not ready for them to die...
The sidequests I've done so far have all been ok, nothing groundbreaking, but at least they feel more connected with the world than XV's inconsequential hunts.
Cloud, Tifa, and Barrett all feel different in the way they play.
Tifa already has had more character development than she did in nearly all of Disc One in the original.


Cons:


Couldn't choose whether to give the flower to Tifa or Marlene. It gets given to Tifa.

(Haven't had much time with Aerith yet but right now it feels like the game is really setting up Cloud x Tifa as the pairing. Not really a con, just an observation)


Still not sure what I think of the Weapon Upgrade system, on the one had it allows more flexibility on customizing each characters stats, but on the other hand it removes a lot of the optional depth of the materia system from the original.
During story segments it can get a bit frustrating when the game bars you from exploring the area you're in. For example near the end of chapter 6 there's a section where once you hit a certain point the game won't let you backtrack until you've traversed a specific bit of terrain for no other reason than it's forcing you to move forward to see a dialogue scene.
The game still feels a tad on the easy side, and throws consumables at you. But again, looking at the trophy list there's a "complete the game on Hard" achievement, and Hard isn't available yet - so I assume it's NG+
Roche, the 3rd Class Soldier, is annoying and feels completely worthless to the story right now.


Storywise it feels very much like the RE2 Remake, the core key beats are still there - but the who/why/what/how has been changed in some cases, but still feels generally true to the spirit of the original.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I’m on chapter 5 right now and really enjoying it so far. I’m really digging how they expanded on Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie (particularly the latter two). I also like that Wedge is voiced by Badger from Breaking Bad even though it distracted me at first. They are all very loveable and a bit goofy, and it’s great. I also like that it seems to humanize Shinra a little more while dwelling a little more on how questionable Avalanche’s actions are. I also like how Cloud is portrayed so far. The game is also very pretty, and I like the scope of being able to look up and see the pizza in the sky up above.

I’m neutral about the new ghost looking things. I don’t really like them, but it hasn’t been offensive enough to bother me too much. It all depends on where they go with it, but I don’t have high hopes. I also find the new SOLDIER antagonist to have a pretty annoying personality, but I’m still mostly neutral. I also find the battle system mostly neutral. Doesn’t wow me, but I’m still having fun with it.

I don’t really like the appearances of Sephiroth. Could grow on me over time, but the scenes were kind of weird. Something just felt kind of off with those scenes.

[Mr Gashtacular]

I'm only a couple hours in, at the Sector 7 slums.

I'm enjoying the world-building. The one thing I wanted to see was more of Midgar above the plate and I certainly got that. I like how they've stayed pretty true to the original, down to the style of advertisements and posters, etc.

I liked little easter eggs, such as arriving at the train station and seeing the horny couple under the streetlight. I like recognizing "bits" from the original game.

The voice acting isn't....terrible?

Nibelheim appears to be some kind of desert town, which I never caught in the original

It's nice to hear some of the NPC dialogue, which often adds context. It's a bit weird walking past a group and hearing 3 or 4 different conversations. I suppose it's realistic, but I often find myself doubling back to find out who said what and if the conversation is actually interesting or not.

My only real con so far is that the job-based side-quests exist at all. I'm kind of bored of these in gaming in general. I've only done one so far but I hope it's not going to be a lot of "go to location, and kill X enemies, and come back".

[Psychotic]

I've only just got my copy and just started Chapter 3. Wow. The panic and the horror of the bomb attack, listening to terrified people wondering where their family and friends are and just how they're going to get home felt more real, more human, than any Final Fantasy game location has yet.

I only wish that the revelation from the Demo that Shinra made it worse was revealed a little later or didn't happen at all, as it would've felt like even more of an emotional gutpunch. As an audience we get a free pass that our characters don't.

They've done a great job with the dialogue, and even potentially dorky scenes like the &^#$# 'pizza' have been handled really, really well. The aesthetics of Midgar are smurfing superb, honestly tremendous, and Shinra feels even more corporate than ever with their bulltrout slogans and posters, I love it.

And that soundtrack. Wow. :heart:

[Aulayna]

Airbuster fight was super cool. Also had an interesting setup mechanic inside the Sector 5 reactor before you fought it.
No dropping barrels on Shinra grunts in the church
You actually get to control the cranes in the collapsed tunnel between Sector 5 and 6!
Aerith's house and the surrounding area looks stunning.
Wall Market looks incredible.
Haven't got to Corneo's mansion yet but it seems that the option you choose for what Tifa should wear for Cloud and Tifa's proposed night out way back in Chapter 3 affects what she wears to Corneo's



One slightly negative thing I've noticed about the Battle System as I get later into the game and don't just destroy everything with no strategy:

This generally applies in all cases but is most noticeable in fights against single stronger monsters (so boss fights, and quest objectives) is that the AI has a habit of switching to focus on whatever character you happen to be controlling. This can be somewhat mitigated with the Provoke materia and in the boss fights isn't super noticeable due to more narrow areas and a lot of AoE damage etc.

But for some of the side quest objectives, you're fighting in a big open area and you can "cheese" them by just kiting something around in a circle with either Barret or Aerith and then just imputing abilities for other characters as their ATB bars fill. Then if for any reason your kiting goes a bit awry you just switch characters for 5 seconds so the AI switches to that character instead.

Also there's more and more "Kingdom Hearts" style abilities from boss enemies coming in where if you mistime something you then get pounded by a barrage of abilities that you can't guard against due to your character being animation locked.

Incidentally out of curiosity I looked up how to unlock hard mode and what it actually changes, and I'm putting this behind spoilers even though it has no spoilers but anyway:

Once you beat the story you unlock the ability to go back and replay chapters keeping all you current gear etc. Hard difficulty is available for this, and what Hard mode means is:



Items cannot be used (no items of any kind, including healing items).
HP is only restored at Rest Spots (however, you can still use Spells and Abilities to regenerate health during combat).
Certain Manuscript Collectibles are only available on Hard.
Certain Bosses, Combat Simulator Missions, Item Rewards, Enemy Skills are only available on Hard Difficulty. This means you cannot 100% complete or platinum the game without finishing hard difficulty.
Enemies become even stronger.
You get to keep all of your equipment (it’s basically New Game Plus). All your Items, Materia, Character Level etc. carry over into Hard Difficulty.
You earn twice as much XP and three times as much AP.
Level 50 is the Level Cap.

[Shiva95]

I'm currently in chapter 7, probably toward the end. I'm really enjoying the game so far.

Pros

Avalanche characters are much more interesting than in the OG. I really liked the mission with them in chapter 4 when we go to Jessie's house and learn more about her backstory, and we see more of Biggs and Wedge too. I think my favorite of the group is Biggs, but they're great.
I love how they fleshed out pretty much all the characters.
The interactions between Cloud and Tifa are beautiful.
I love how Cloud has both parts of the "fake" Cloud and the "real Cloud". He's really well nuanced.
The music is beautiful and the graphics are amazing too.
I really love the gameplay and the possibilities of each character. I haven't played as Aerith yet, but for now, I really love playing as Cloud and Tifa and Barret isn't really my type. It's fun how different they all feel though, and they are useful at some moments.
Not too much sidequests; they just gave more opportunities of banters between the characters, which is great.


Cons



As much as I like Jessie with Avalanche, I don't like how she acts with Cloud. It made me uncomfortable when she wraps her arms around him and kisses his cheek and asks him to come the next night even if he was clearly not interested
It's not really a con, but I'm still surprised of how early we see Sephiroth.

[Aulayna]

Ok the entire Wall Market section was fantastically well done. Maintained all the campness and gaudiness of the original, took it to the next level and added modern twist on parts of it. There were also some subtle, and not so subtle, easter eggs to the original game.

They definitely didn't chicken out on it as some people thought they might, they owned it and ran with it.

And my earlier gut feeling was right, your actions with Tifa in Chapter 3, Aerith in Chapter 8, and what you do in Wall Market itself all affect the dresses Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith wear.

Make sure to talk to Chadley when Cloud is "en femme" :lol:

[Psychotic]

I actually don't mind a certain new antagonist that people in this thread have commented on. Roche. It's Final Fantasy VII, home to hammed up and wild enemies like Palmer, Don Corneo, the comedy Turks, and so on. Strange man who apparently is in a sexual relationship with his motorcycle? Why not! Welcome to the club. He's a junior member of the club of course, but he's still a member.

Like Scotty, I also really like that Badger plays Wedge. I also realised Biggs' voice actor also played Balthier which is kind of random, Jessie is Kaori from Your Lie in April and yeah, basically the same voice and oh god :(

Like everyone else, I greatly enjoyed the expanded depth to her character and backstory. It was really surprising! I don't quite know why they made the change of her being this shy quiet girl into the megathirsty epitome of wanting the d, but hey, it's spiced things up.

smurfing LOVED Wedge and his cats. Oh my feels. That boy. :heart:

Hoping to see a bit more of Wedge as he's been a wee generic so far but we'll see.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I don’t mind Roche, I can just potentially see his personality become grating. I had fun with his fight and appearance though. He does fit in with some of the sillier aspects of the original.

And I loved how Wedge was characterized by stopping to play with all of the cats. I want more Wedge.

I’m now in chapter 8 I think? I’ve heard some people complain about linearity and feeling like the hallway simulator of XIII, and I can kind of see it. At the same time, it feels better here to me than it did in XIII. With the chapter format and linearity though, it feels more like a weird mix of Final Fantasy and something more like Uncharted or new Tomb Raider.

[tony123]

Ok I just finished watching a playthrough that someone put up on youtube. Since I watched it and didn't play it I won't comment at all about the gameplay and instead just focus on the story and how it relates to the original game.


Oh and if you havn't finished the game or played it yet at all probably won't want to read.


All in all the FF7 remake just has a weird story. They took a section of the first game that only took about five to eight hours to get through and turned it into about a thirty hour long game. I'll get to the characters later and I did somewhat enjoy the added depth they gave the characters because it was a longer game however unfortunately the main way they were able to turn this beginning section of the original FF7 into as long as game as they did is largely through extra long dungeons and way too many sidequests.

The pacing is just absolutely terrible. You will be introduced to some of the major characters and then all of a sudden they will vanish for about 10+ hours of playing the game because you will have to trudge your way through dungeons that are far too long and sidequests that really take the momentum away from the main story. The original game had sidequests as well but most of them were in the second cd where the story was moving slower and was affording you time to go around and explore the world. In this game they try to cram all those sidequests and extras right in the middle of the bombing missions plot. It really makes the game feel like it doesn't have much focus and it often feels like you are playing an Elder Scrolls game where it is all about taking missions from NPC's instead of a game that is supposed to have a serious and timely story going on.

I liked how they expanded the character of Jessie. They expanded the characters of Biggs and Wedge as well but of the three Jessie definitely saw the most additional development. However at the same time the problem with that is they practically just dropped her and she saw virtually no screen time again after having that initial development. Other than Cloud Jessie was probably the most developed character during the first five or so hours of the game but then you don't see her again for probably about fifteen hours and then probably around the twenty hour mark or so she appears for her death sequence.

Though they toned it down in the second portion of the game for the first half however the flirting was just really in your face. There was a bit of flirting in the original as well but it was often subtle flirting. Not in this game. Jessie was acting like she was constantly wanting to jump Cloud's bones right then and there and Tifa was far more flirtatious with Cloud as well than she was in the original game. It was getting to the point to where I really wouldn't have been all that surprised if Jessie or Tifa asked Cloud to go to bed with them. During the first five to ten hours of the game members of Avalanche seemed more like a group of horny college kids who had Friday night orgies with each other than an underground group trying to overthrow a government.

The ending just seems really out there. It was clear that they were trying to make the ending of the game seem like a finality when the ending of the Midgar arc was just getting the game started. The simpler version works better in my opinion.

All in all it was very obvious they were trying to adapt a video game story that was over twenty years old. The FF7 story was groundbreaking when it was released in the late '90's however at the same time games were only beginning to have detailed stories back then. The bar for video game stories is much higher now where some games truly feel like cinematic movies. Even though this game has ps4 graphics I still feel like that if someone wants to experience this story for the first time they need to play the ps1 version. I think you need to have sense of nostalgia for these characters to feel like the story in FF7 remake is all that good. The story in the remake just doesn't flow that well by todays standards.

[Aulayna]

TIL that Chadley's VR battles use whoever is in your party at the time of entering.

So needless to say I unwittingly made Shiva a harder for myself by doing that battle back when only Cloud was in my party xD

[Scotty_ffgamer]

So I definitely made Shiva harder for myself too. Once I got the pattern down though, she was pretty easy. Took me several tries thanks to my dog though, haha.

Edit: So, I’m really liking how each person is different in combat, and it really makes me want to switch between characters. Going around with Aerith, she was just sipping through enemies that Cloud was chipping away more slowly. Something seems a little off to me with guarding and dodging, but I’m starting to get the hang of it more. Only character I don’t care for is Barret so far. I just let him do his thing until I want to use his abilities.

In any case, I’ve been thinking about what could have been with XV. It would have been more fun having this level of control over the entire party.

[Mr Gashtacular]

TIL that Chadley's VR battles use whoever is in your party at the time of entering.

So needless to say I unwittingly made Shiva a harder for myself by doing that battle back when only Cloud was in my party xD

awww bugger. that's something to look forward to then :erm:

[Psychotic]

It took one ass beating from Shiva for me to figure that out! I thought I had a good plan, with Ice-Elemental in my armour, but nope. She didn't fuck around. Brought Aerith along a bit later and it went a lot more smoothly.

[Psychotic]

Chapter 8/9 thought: Aerith is the Donkey to Cloud's Shrek.

[Aulayna]

Just started Chapter 17 and doing stuff in Hojo's lab, which is substantially bigger than the original. So I guess I'm quite near the end, will post some thoughts once the credits have rolled.

[Example]

Beat the game last week, still don't know how to feel about it. I really loved the parts of the story that were faithful to the original, the portrayal of almost all the returning characters were on point, and (most of) the new characters were likeable enough and gave greater depth to the lore and worldbuilding of Midgar. However, I absolutely despised the increased focus on Sephiroth, shoving him in our face since almost immediately after the first bombing mission, the time travel ghosts/arbiters of fate nonsense did not belong in this game, and the ending was just a hot mess that pretty much ruined the game for me. Besides that, everything else about the remake was solid, if lacking polish in some areas.

[Mr Gashtacular]

I hate the Weapon Upgrade feature.

i pick up, say, a new pair of gloves for tifa. i go to equip them and the stats are less than my current ones. ok, it's because ive forgotten to upgrade them. so i spend a minute or two pressing X in the crystarium thing to bring the weapon up to level? seems so dumb and pointless. at least making weapon abilities permanent involves using them in battle. i dont really want to interrupt my current gameplay to do menu stuff. lame.

[Aulayna]

Ok... well I was not expecting THAT to be the final act. smurfing Nomura man.

I'll have to think about this before posting my thoughts.

I'm kinda disappointed Roche didn't show up in the escape from Midgar. Makes his addition as a character feel even more redundant unless he's intended to become the "shows up at the worst possible timing, comedy slapstick minor villain who probably has a redemption arc" of the next part(s)

[tony123]

Ok... well I was not expecting THAT to be the final act. smurfing Nomura man.

I'll have to think about this before posting my thoughts.

I'm kinda disappointed Roche didn't show up in the escape from Midgar. Makes his addition as a character feel even more redundant unless he's intended to become the "shows up at the worst possible timing, comedy slapstick minor villain who probably has a redemption arc" of the next part(s)

I think Roche was created merely in order for the group to have a battle while they were riding motorcycles.

[Nice]

I'm on chapter 14 and I put the game down. I don't intend to finish it.

LIKED
Aside from some low polygon backgrounds, the game looks amazing.
The voice actor for Barret nailed it, plus he had all the best lines.
The main story beats brought over from the original were awesome.
I love some of the new music, really good stuff.

DISLIKED
The side missions were boring, except darts and whack a box.
The game lost the atmosphere from the original.
FF 7 remake is padded with filler to extend the play time. Some of that padding is OK, but most of it is really annoying. I just want to move forward with the story. I don't want to fight X boss monster in an area that only lasted 5 minutes in the original.
The game loves to slow you down and make you walk.
The voice acting, aside from Barret, Jessie, Wedge and a few others, was pretty bad. Side note, my girlfriend heard me playing one day and asked why all the women in the game sound sexual. I couldn't argue with her or defend the game.
I love the music for Wall Market in the original and can't fathom why they changed it in the remake.
Too much padding in the story.
The game is effectively now a dungeon crawler?

I actually got really frustrated playing and put it down. I was simply enraged. I can't really explain it, but I was not having fun with the game after a while. Maybe my nostalgia goggles are on too tight.

What really bothers me is that all of the review sites and YouTube reviewers are foaming at the mouth over how great the game is. It boggles my mind. Even some of my go to reviewers, who are usually brutally honest about games, are tripping over themselves. Not one iota of criticism. I don't mind folks who like the game. My opinion is my opinion but I have yet to hear any constructive criticism of this game anywhere. If you do, please let me know, I'd love to read it.

As a fan of the original game, I am deeply disappointed in this game.

[tony123]

I'm on chapter 14 and I put the game down. I don't intend to finish it.

LIKED
Aside from some low polygon backgrounds, the game looks amazing.
The voice actor for Barret nailed it, plus he had all the best lines.
The main story beats brought over from the original were awesome.
I love some of the new music, really good stuff.

DISLIKED
The side missions were boring, except darts and whack a box.
The game lost the atmosphere from the original.
FF 7 remake is padded with filler to extend the play time. Some of that padding is OK, but most of it is really annoying. I just want to move forward with the story. I don't want to fight X boss monster in an area that only lasted 5 minutes in the original.
The game loves to slow you down and make you walk.
The voice acting, aside from Barret, Jessie, Wedge and a few others, was pretty bad. Side note, my girlfriend heard me playing one day and asked why all the women in the game sound sexual. I couldn't argue with her or defend the game.
I love the music for Wall Market in the original and can't fathom why they changed it in the remake.
Too much padding in the story.
The game is effectively now a dungeon crawler?

I actually got really frustrated playing and put it down. I was simply enraged. I can't really explain it, but I was not having fun with the game after a while. Maybe my nostalgia goggles are on too tight.

What really bothers me is that all of the review sites and YouTube reviewers are foaming at the mouth over how great the game is. It boggles my mind. Even some of my go to reviewers, who are usually brutally honest about games, are tripping over themselves. Not one iota of criticism. I don't mind folks who like the game. My opinion is my opinion but I have yet to hear any constructive criticism of this game anywhere. If you do, please let me know, I'd love to read it.

As a fan of the original game, I am deeply disappointed in this game.

I think we will find out once everything settles that this game will end up being fairly divisive. I honestly do think it would have been the better move to cover more ground in the first game. I have seen reviews that have brought up a lot of the unneeded padding that this game has. It isn't a bad game but it did do some things that some fans of the original game aren't going to be to keen about.

[Nice]

I'm on chapter 14 and I put the game down. I don't intend to finish it.

LIKED
Aside from some low polygon backgrounds, the game looks amazing.
The voice actor for Barret nailed it, plus he had all the best lines.
The main story beats brought over from the original were awesome.
I love some of the new music, really good stuff.

DISLIKED
The side missions were boring, except darts and whack a box.
The game lost the atmosphere from the original.
FF 7 remake is padded with filler to extend the play time. Some of that padding is OK, but most of it is really annoying. I just want to move forward with the story. I don't want to fight X boss monster in an area that only lasted 5 minutes in the original.
The game loves to slow you down and make you walk.
The voice acting, aside from Barret, Jessie, Wedge and a few others, was pretty bad. Side note, my girlfriend heard me playing one day and asked why all the women in the game sound sexual. I couldn't argue with her or defend the game.
I love the music for Wall Market in the original and can't fathom why they changed it in the remake.
Too much padding in the story.
The game is effectively now a dungeon crawler?

I actually got really frustrated playing and put it down. I was simply enraged. I can't really explain it, but I was not having fun with the game after a while. Maybe my nostalgia goggles are on too tight.

What really bothers me is that all of the review sites and YouTube reviewers are foaming at the mouth over how great the game is. It boggles my mind. Even some of my go to reviewers, who are usually brutally honest about games, are tripping over themselves. Not one iota of criticism. I don't mind folks who like the game. My opinion is my opinion but I have yet to hear any constructive criticism of this game anywhere. If you do, please let me know, I'd love to read it.

As a fan of the original game, I am deeply disappointed in this game.

I think we will find out once everything settles that this game will end up being fairly divisive. I honestly do think it would have been the better move to cover more ground in the first game. I have seen reviews that have brought up a lot of the unneeded padding that this game has. It isn't a bad game but it did do some things that some fans of the original game aren't going to be to keen about.


Agreed. I feel like they could have ended the game after Cloud and company left Junon for Costa Del Sol. That may have been a better idea. Extra content is welcomed, but it should be quality content.

[Mr Gashtacular]

Pros (so far, since my last update i'm only one scene past the plate drop):
Turks fights have been enjoyable so far. I liked that reno showed at least some guilt and hesitation before the plate drop, no matter how short lived. i like that these characters are being humanized early

Wall Market was great. My gf and I really enjoyed the camp of everything. We loved the honeybee inn segment. She was really "wtf", having not played the original game, so that was fun to see. I was worried about how certain elements might be handled (a lot has changed since the 90s) but I think they did a really good job at maintaining the humor of the situation without resorting to harmful stereotypes or jokes.

Bosses typically require a bit more thought than the original, and are more entertaining. This is definitely true of the first two bosses, although it tapered off in the middle.

Cons:
The train graveyard section was way too long. at this point in time, our three characters know about the plot to drop the plate, and there's a rush to get there. but, i'm supposed to also care about this boring ghost subplot? should have been an optional side-quest/dungeon, imo (although I understand that it would be hard to find a place or ideal time to put it, so maybe it shouldn't exist at all). the whole thing from when you leave don corneo to the plate was a boring slog that took maybe 20-30 mins total in the original

[Example]

I'm on chapter 14 and I put the game down. I don't intend to finish it.

LIKED
Aside from some low polygon backgrounds, the game looks amazing.
The voice actor for Barret nailed it, plus he had all the best lines.
The main story beats brought over from the original were awesome.
I love some of the new music, really good stuff.

DISLIKED
The side missions were boring, except darts and whack a box.
The game lost the atmosphere from the original.
FF 7 remake is padded with filler to extend the play time. Some of that padding is OK, but most of it is really annoying. I just want to move forward with the story. I don't want to fight X boss monster in an area that only lasted 5 minutes in the original.
The game loves to slow you down and make you walk.
The voice acting, aside from Barret, Jessie, Wedge and a few others, was pretty bad. Side note, my girlfriend heard me playing one day and asked why all the women in the game sound sexual. I couldn't argue with her or defend the game.
I love the music for Wall Market in the original and can't fathom why they changed it in the remake.
Too much padding in the story.
The game is effectively now a dungeon crawler?

I actually got really frustrated playing and put it down. I was simply enraged. I can't really explain it, but I was not having fun with the game after a while. Maybe my nostalgia goggles are on too tight.

What really bothers me is that all of the review sites and YouTube reviewers are foaming at the mouth over how great the game is. It boggles my mind. Even some of my go to reviewers, who are usually brutally honest about games, are tripping over themselves. Not one iota of criticism. I don't mind folks who like the game. My opinion is my opinion but I have yet to hear any constructive criticism of this game anywhere. If you do, please let me know, I'd love to read it.

As a fan of the original game, I am deeply disappointed in this game.

Just wait about a week for the honeymoon phase to be over and people to start being more critical of the game.

[Rantz]

I'm still only in the starting points of the game, but I find myself frustrated that they don't seem to have done much, if anything, about the antiquated portrayals of women in the game. That's just based on first impressions though.

Other than that I'm liking all the added detail so far. Not super fond of the filler missions.

[Shiva95]

I'm currently in chapter 7, probably toward the end. I'm really enjoying the game so far.

Pros

Avalanche characters are much more interesting than in the OG. I really liked the mission with them in chapter 4 when we go to Jessie's house and learn more about her backstory, and we see more of Biggs and Wedge too. I think my favorite of the group is Biggs, but they're great.
I love how they fleshed out pretty much all the characters.
The interactions between Cloud and Tifa are beautiful.
I love how Cloud has both parts of the "fake" Cloud and the "real Cloud". He's really well nuanced.
The music is beautiful and the graphics are amazing too.
I really love the gameplay and the possibilities of each character. I haven't played as Aerith yet, but for now, I really love playing as Cloud and Tifa and Barret isn't really my type. It's fun how different they all feel though, and they are useful at some moments.
Not too much sidequests; they just gave more opportunities of banters between the characters, which is great.


Cons



As much as I like Jessie with Avalanche, I don't like how she acts with Cloud. It made me uncomfortable when she wraps her arms around him and kisses his cheek and asks him to come the next night even if he was clearly not interested
It's not really a con, but I'm still surprised of how early we see Sephiroth.



I'm now in chapter 11, so adding a few comments!

Pros

Aerith's church and home are beautiful.
Reno and Rude are still so great.
Aerith talking about Zack broke my heart. She looks and sounds so sad.
The entire Wall Market sequence was amazing, and I really enjoy the train graveyard too.
I love everything that is faithful to the original and how some parts of it are fleshed out.
The friendship between Tifa and Aerith is finally shown and it's amazing.
I prefer the relationship between Cloud and Aerith in the remake than in everything else. They tone down the love triangle and it just makes everything more interesting.


Cons

I'm not really fond of the dementors-like creatures. I'm not sure it was necessary and we don't see them enough to care.
Still not fond of Barret's gameplay, while I love playing as the other three

[tony123]

I'm still only in the starting points of the game, but I find myself frustrated that they don't seem to have done much, if anything, about the antiquated portrayals of women in the game. That's just based on first impressions though.

Other than that I'm liking all the added detail so far. Not super fond of the filler missions.


Yeah that is definitely an issue with this game. They are still making 90's style of video game characters for a game that was released in 2020. That was one of the things that made it difficult for me to get into the story. My deal is that if the characters are going to be looking more realistic I want them to act more realistic as well. I think though that is just a JRPG type of thing though. JRPG characters aren't meant to be realistic. They are more or less just fantasy characters. With the original FF7 you could still use your imagination and were still able to turn the characters into the types that you wanted them to be. With this game you can't really use your imagination and just have to take what the JRPG developers gave you.

[Nice]

I'm still only in the starting points of the game, but I find myself frustrated that they don't seem to have done much, if anything, about the antiquated portrayals of women in the game. That's just based on first impressions though.

Other than that I'm liking all the added detail so far. Not super fond of the filler missions.


Yeah that is definitely an issue with this game. They are still making 90's style of video game characters for a game that was released in 2020. That was one of the things that made it difficult for me to get into the story. My deal is that if the characters are going to be looking more realistic I want them to act more realistic as well. I think though that is just a JRPG type of thing though. JRPG characters aren't meant to be realistic. They are more or less just fantasy characters. With the original FF7 you could still use your imagination and were still able to turn the characters into the types that you wanted them to be. With this game you can't really use your imagination and just have to take what the JRPG developers gave you.

The characterization in FF7 has always been problematic, even in 1997. But I disagree with you. I think, as much as I dislike the remake, that depth was added to some characters, especially Tifa. Her conflict with the nature of Avalanche's actions is one such example.

[tony123]

I'm still only in the starting points of the game, but I find myself frustrated that they don't seem to have done much, if anything, about the antiquated portrayals of women in the game. That's just based on first impressions though.

Other than that I'm liking all the added detail so far. Not super fond of the filler missions.


Yeah that is definitely an issue with this game. They are still making 90's style of video game characters for a game that was released in 2020. That was one of the things that made it difficult for me to get into the story. My deal is that if the characters are going to be looking more realistic I want them to act more realistic as well. I think though that is just a JRPG type of thing though. JRPG characters aren't meant to be realistic. They are more or less just fantasy characters. With the original FF7 you could still use your imagination and were still able to turn the characters into the types that you wanted them to be. With this game you can't really use your imagination and just have to take what the JRPG developers gave you.

The characterization in FF7 has always been problematic, even in 1997. But I disagree with you. I think, as much as I dislike the remake, that depth was added to some characters, especially Tifa. Her conflict with the nature of Avalanche's actions is one such example.

It is true that some good depth was added to a few of the characters. For me a lot of that depth was offset because for the first ten hours of the game it seemed the characters were just as focused on their desire to bang each other as they were in completing any of their missions. Their actions didn't seem to fit the portrayal of an underground terrorist group. They would have fit in better with a game that was meant to take place during a spring break vacation.

[Jiro]

I'm still only in the starting points of the game, but I find myself frustrated that they don't seem to have done much, if anything, about the antiquated portrayals of women in the game. That's just based on first impressions though.

Other than that I'm liking all the added detail so far. Not super fond of the filler missions.


Yeah that is definitely an issue with this game. They are still making 90's style of video game characters for a game that was released in 2020. That was one of the things that made it difficult for me to get into the story. My deal is that if the characters are going to be looking more realistic I want them to act more realistic as well. I think though that is just a JRPG type of thing though. JRPG characters aren't meant to be realistic. They are more or less just fantasy characters. With the original FF7 you could still use your imagination and were still able to turn the characters into the types that you wanted them to be. With this game you can't really use your imagination and just have to take what the JRPG developers gave you.

The characterization in FF7 has always been problematic, even in 1997. But I disagree with you. I think, as much as I dislike the remake, that depth was added to some characters, especially Tifa. Her conflict with the nature of Avalanche's actions is one such example.

It is true that some good depth was added to a few of the characters. For me a lot of that depth was offset because for the first ten hours of the game it seemed the characters were just as focused on their desire to bang each other as they were in completing any of their missions. Their actions didn't seem to fit the portrayal of an underground terrorist group. They would have fit in better with a game that was meant to take place during a spring break vacation.

I think the existence of Avalanche HQ undermines their portrayal, tbh. In the OG it felt a lot more like AVALANCHE was the equivalent of Final Fantasy VIII's Forest Owls: well-intentioned but disastrously under-prepared and ill-equipped for the reality of the situation. That's still kind of the case—each of the characters is basically moonlighting as a terrorist out of a sense of moral obligation—but it makes less sense that these three lovable bozos would be part of the Blow trout Up™ branch and not Avalanche HQ.

[tony123]

I'm still only in the starting points of the game, but I find myself frustrated that they don't seem to have done much, if anything, about the antiquated portrayals of women in the game. That's just based on first impressions though.

Other than that I'm liking all the added detail so far. Not super fond of the filler missions.


Yeah that is definitely an issue with this game. They are still making 90's style of video game characters for a game that was released in 2020. That was one of the things that made it difficult for me to get into the story. My deal is that if the characters are going to be looking more realistic I want them to act more realistic as well. I think though that is just a JRPG type of thing though. JRPG characters aren't meant to be realistic. They are more or less just fantasy characters. With the original FF7 you could still use your imagination and were still able to turn the characters into the types that you wanted them to be. With this game you can't really use your imagination and just have to take what the JRPG developers gave you.

The characterization in FF7 has always been problematic, even in 1997. But I disagree with you. I think, as much as I dislike the remake, that depth was added to some characters, especially Tifa. Her conflict with the nature of Avalanche's actions is one such example.

It is true that some good depth was added to a few of the characters. For me a lot of that depth was offset because for the first ten hours of the game it seemed the characters were just as focused on their desire to bang each other as they were in completing any of their missions. Their actions didn't seem to fit the portrayal of an underground terrorist group. They would have fit in better with a game that was meant to take place during a spring break vacation.

I think the existence of Avalanche HQ undermines their portrayal, tbh. In the OG it felt a lot more like AVALANCHE was the equivalent of Final Fantasy VIII'sForest Owls: well-intentioned but disastrously under-prepared and ill-equipped for the reality of the situation. That's still kind of the case—each of the characters is basically moonlighting as a terrorist out of a sense of moral obligation—but it makes less sense that these three lovable bozos would be part of the Blow trout Up™ branch and not Avalanche HQ.

That is one thing they could have done to really improve the narrative of this game is to spend time developing the other cells of Avalanche and their relationships with each other. But instead of being developed the game pretty much just name drops them and takes us on another side quest to go find cats or help out a little kid.

[Psychotic]

So I've started Chapter 11 which is the Train Graveyard.

Chapter 4/5ish: Man, it kind of broke my heart a little when Cloud was Out Of The Gang and they were all celebrating together and I just stood there like a lemon and slowly left.
Chapter 6: I wasn't a big fan of the train tunnels or Reactor puzzle dungeon, it felt a little bit of a drag and slowed the pace right down. Could've been half the length. The best thing I can say is that the sun lamps were some interesting lore.
Chapter 7: I really enjoyed the Airbuster set up and subsequent fight, that was pretty cool and inventive. More of this please!
Chapter 8: smurfing beautiful. The church and Aerith's house. Both, just, wow. I also really like Aerith which might make me one of the few that does and that's fine. I wasn't a huge fan of her in the original but I've warmed to her in this. She's fun, she's passionate, she doesn't take any crap. The perfect foil to Cloud, and it's nice to see the ice start to melt. The whole "Save me Mr. Bodyguard" is a little eeeh at first pass, but it's not so jarring when you realise that actually it's Cloud who is being saved. I ship it, sorry Zack and Tifa.

The section in Aerith's garden with the flowers was a genuinely sweet moment.

THE GIANT CLAW HANDS ARE CUTE hahaha Aerith yes! Yes they are! I like how random things like that from the original have been reused. I always wondered what that thing was.

The scene in the playground where she actually said Zack's name was touching.
Chapter 9: Wall Market is good clean fun. And by clean I mean sleazy. I never got all that much of a skeeviness vibe from the original, outside of the Honeybee in and The Don's place, but they really captured that grody dive atmosphere well. I liked the sidequest that ripped off all the steps you needed to take to get the best step in the original too, that was a good reimagining. I also liked the reimagined Honeybee Inn song and seeing Palmer.

I've always found battle arenas in games to be kind of trite and unimaginative. My mind hasn't changed. I was psyched for the return of the Hell House! ...less psyched when I realised it was the Sperimorph from FFX and I didn't have a lot of elemental materia equipped. It soon became a real grind.

And... oh dear. The dancing. Jesus Cloud what the smurf hahahaha. I love it but well that came out of nowhere!

I have nothing to say about Chapter 10, it was another dungeon crawl. A little bit better than the one in Chapter 6 though. Chapter 11 looks like it'll be the same but a bit more interesting.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

So Psy, what did you think about Don Corneo’s belly jiggle physics ?

[Psychotic]

So Psy, what did you think about Don Corneo’s belly jiggle physics ?Oh gosh yes! I meant to talk about him and how much I loved him, and I loved that! Genius. The only thing that upset me is that you can't flirt with him when he picks Cloud like you can in the original! Come on little kitten and give daddy some sugar!

[tony123]

So Psy, what did you think about Don Corneo’s belly jiggle physics ?Oh gosh yes! I meant to talk about him and how much I loved him, and I loved that! Genius. The only thing that upset me is that you can't flirt with him when he picks Cloud like you can in the original! Come on little kitten and give daddy some sugar!

Lol, there was too much flirting going on in the game already.

[Psychotic]

So Psy, what did you think about Don Corneo’s belly jiggle physics ?Oh gosh yes! I meant to talk about him and how much I loved him, and I loved that! Genius. The only thing that upset me is that you can't flirt with him when he picks Cloud like you can in the original! Come on little kitten and give daddy some sugar!

Lol, there was too much flirting going on in the game already.True, but it would've been funny that after everyone throws themselves at Cloud he only has eyes for the Don!

[Aulayna]

I must admit, I liked:

a) That when Andrea was throwing Cloud around, at the end when he says perfection, Clouds usually stiff bottom lip quivers and drops slightly. Cloud's totally secretly into it.

b) When Cloud's getting changed back into his SOLDIER gear in front of the Don, the Don isn't all that outraged and is almost like - ehhh, I can roll with it.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I wished we could have gotten some more of the silly choices like in the original like flirting with the Don, calling Aerith the slum drunk, etc. I was also hoping to see Mukki even if only in the background of Honeybee Inn. But oh well.

I also had a dream last night that I was playing the game, and there was a scene where you go back to 7th Heaven and see Marlene at the bar counter, drawing with crayons. You had the option to go pick up the drawing, and it was a drawing of Barret, except he was all blocky looking like how he looks on PS1. I now wish that was actually in the game.

[tony123]

I also had a dream last night that I was playing the game, and there was a scene where you go back to 7th Heaven and see Marlene at the bar counter, drawing with crayons. You had the option to go pick up the drawing, and it was a drawing of Barret, except he was all blocky looking like how he looks on PS1. I now wish that was actually in the game.

Lol, just be thankful you didn't have a dream about Jessie hitting on you. Trying to tell her no wouldn't work, lol.

[Psychotic]

Thought of the day: Keep those gloves up

[Aulayna]

Thought of the day: Keep those gloves up

Sure thing coach.

[Psychotic]

Thought of the day: Keep those gloves up

Sure thing coach.Would kill for a shower.

[Psychotic]

Actually jokes aside I've got something that's kind of irked me about Chapter 10/11.

So, you're in the sewers right after the Don reveals Shinra's big plan to collapse the pillar in Sector 7. Holy smurfing trout! How many people will die! We gotta get there. Now. And Tifa's very worried about this throughout the sewer, wondering if they can believe the Don. The sewer drags on a little but okay we're Ahead On Our Way.

Oh wait we're in the Train Graveyard... and the tone just suddenly shifts. Ah no, it's spoooooky! MY bodyguard will protect us! Ahh child ghosts! Like, don't get me wrong, in and of itself the Train Graveyard is a nice improvement on the original and has an interesting little substory but it's at the wrong time in the wrong place.

It frustrates me as I play because I'm desperate to make it to the pillar but there's no end in sight. As a result I'm not really as into this ghost story as I would be ordinarily. And then when the ghost story comes to an end they re-introduce Shinra and the pillar but the urgency that I feel still isn't there with the characters because you're now smurfing around with trains and turntables.

There's a couple of other examples of this too. "We gotta go help Biggs in the reactor!" which was first said about three hours before you actually finally get to him, and then Chapter 13 I just found Wedge in the wreckage, oh good, I'll help him OH NO HERE'S A RESEARCH LAB! it happens again.

This is the biggest consequence to the fleshing out of various sections from the original - the pacing of the game is just completely thrown off balance. I get what they were going for, and I've used the term fleshed out instead of padded out because much of it is fun and interesting, but I'm not sure it's really gelled with the story as it was.

[Aulayna]

Yeah I felt the same about the Train Graveyard, it was a really cool little self-contained narrative but really bad placed in the overall flow of things, but I guess they were broadly sticking to the order of locations from the original so were a bit constrained there - but even then they could've made it a cool sidequest chain in either Chapter 3 or 8, but then perhaps revisiting the Train Graveyard later on would mean the area had less gravitas, idk.

[Nice]

Actually jokes aside I've got something that's kind of irked me about Chapter 10/11.

So, you're in the sewers right after the Don reveals Shinra's big plan to collapse the pillar in Sector 7. Holy smurfing trout! How many people will die! We gotta get there. Now. And Tifa's very worried about this throughout the sewer, wondering if they can believe the Don. The sewer drags on a little but okay we're Ahead On Our Way.

Oh wait we're in the Train Graveyard... and the tone just suddenly shifts. Ah no, it's spoooooky! MY bodyguard will protect us! Ahh child ghosts! Like, don't get me wrong, in and of itself the Train Graveyard is a nice improvement on the original and has an interesting little substory but it's at the wrong time in the wrong place.

It frustrates me as I play because I'm desperate to make it to the pillar but there's no end in sight. As a result I'm not really as into this ghost story as I would be ordinarily. And then when the ghost story comes to an end they re-introduce Shinra and the pillar but the urgency that I feel still isn't there with the characters because you're now smurfing around with trains and turntables.

There's a couple of other examples of this too. "We gotta go help Biggs in the reactor!" which was first said about three hours before you actually finally get to him, and then Chapter 13 I just found Wedge in the wreckage, oh good, I'll help him OH NO HERE'S A RESEARCH LAB! it happens again.

This is the biggest consequence to the fleshing out of various sections from the original - the pacing of the game is just completely thrown off balance. I get what they were going for, and I've used the term fleshed out instead of padded out because much of it is fun and interesting, but I'm not sure it's really gelled with the story as it was.


I actually felt myself begin to dislike the game because of the train graveyard sequence. There's also a moment when you think you're done and you're about to rush to the pillar and nope, they take Aerith away and guess what, another ghost boss battle. And you're right, in and of itself, it was a nice contained story. However, it totally smurfs with the flow.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Train Graveyard would have worked better as a side quest to come back to. Could have had some of it still in a much shorter fashion with hints to come back. There was that bit with Marlene that could have had more pertinence. Maybe even shown Biggs, Wedge, Barret, etc. Hint that they might already have died or just it be a constant reminder to push forward to hopefully save them.

I honestly really liked the train graveyard if it weren’t for the placement in the story for your reasons.

[ham]

I beat the game and here are my thoughts on the mechanics:

My biggest gripe is the camera FOV and the battle camera. You'd have to get good at switching on/off the 'locked on' camera in various situations to fight efficiently (without button smashing). The 2nd thing is during some battles, there would be events that would mess up my flow. Over time, I got better at wielding the camera and the mechanics of the game, but it's still small rock in my shoe.

I felt there was a lot of padding to make the game longer but I guess that goes along with expanding the FF7 lore & world.

Overall, I think the game's worth it.

I don't want to get into the story stuff because I don't want to spoil it since people are still playing through the game.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

So I just got through the Sector 7 plate stuff today. It actually all hit me emotionally a lot harder than I thought it would. It was rough getting to the parts with Jessie and Biggs. I also hated seeing everything come crashing down while Wedge held his cats. My heart hurt for Marlene when Aerith went to her.

This was one of the parts where walking through the aftermath to reflect is effective. You get a sense of the weight and guilt the group feels. It’s kind of funny because it is really similar to what it is like walking past people and such in XIII, but everything is just done so much better in this game in terms of the characters and story,

I’ve also been thinking about the transition of Wall Market to the plate dropping, and the in between really needed to be shorter. I honestly think things would have been better had Don been more vague such as, “They found out where that guy with the gun arm and his band of terrorists are holed up, and Avalanche is about to get their reckoning.” Drop into sewers with the feeling of urgency to get back and warn Barret but not know the seriousness. Shorten the events of the sewers by a good amount and then have the train graveyard just have hints for going back for the ghost side quest and all the stuff I said in my previous post. Briskly get to sector 7 only to find it to be a war zone and maybe have some clue there that they are just going to destroy the entire sector and blame Avalanche.

We all already know what is happening anyways, but i feel like going from the utter silliness of Wall Market quickly into the devastation of sector 7 would have just made it that much more emotionally resonant and devastating.

Also, I’m really digging all of the music.

[Shiva95]

I really enjoyed the events of the plate. It was so sad. They managed to make us love Jessie, Biggs and Wedge much more than in the OG, so I was really emotional during that moment. I also really liked Aerith's interactions with Marlene.

I also really like the beginning of chapter 14, when Cloud hugged Tifa. I think that scene is probably an optional one influenced by our previous choices, but it was so beautiful and emotional. Even Cloud looks so sad. It's really well done.

[tony123]

I really enjoyed the events of the plate. It was so sad. They managed to make us love Jessie, Biggs and Wedge much more than in the OG, so I was really emotional during that moment. I also really liked Aerith's interactions with Marlene.



There definitely was a lot more development given to them. However at the same time I think the pacing of the game really hurt them. They receive just as much development in the first five hours as any of the other characters did and then they just vanish until the scene you are referencing. That and the fact that they could have found ways to develop Jessie without turning her into an apparent sex addict (yeah I know they never officially said she was a sex addict but it is easy to make jokes about her being one based on how her character was developed).

[Psychotic]

I really enjoyed the events of the plate. It was so sad. They managed to make us love Jessie, Biggs and Wedge much more than in the OG, so I was really emotional during that moment. I also really liked Aerith's interactions with Marlene.

I also really like the beginning of chapter 14, when Cloud hugged Tifa. I think that scene is probably an optional one influenced by our previous choices, but it was so beautiful and emotional. Even Cloud looks so sad. It's really well done.I think that chapter 14 one is optional - I got a scene with an Aerith ghost or dream or something instead!

[Mercen-X]

Wedge makes a point of clarifying her behavior is all superficial in his statement that it's all an act. Probably comes from her original choice of career and needing to be cheerful and optimistic to be popular.

By the way, I'm replaying now. After finishing the game, the ending has me questioning everything I know about 7.

Zack... did he survive? A lot of people on the internet are reporting that he survived due to a "change of fate" after defeating the Harbinger. However, most people are assuming this because he walked away with Cloud after defeating an army of MPs. The problem is that we saw him do this in the original game, in the animation, and in Crisis Core. Facing the army isn't what got him killed. Zack was shot in the back while tending to Cloud. Then the MPs continued to riddle his incapacitated body with bullets until they were sure he was dead.

Basically, what we saw in the ending is not clear evidence that Zack's fate has been altered. What is clarified is Biggs fate in the final scenes. Like Wedge before him, he wakes up in bed with a bandage on his head (that rhymed). Only member left up in the air is Jessie. One could say Biggs and Wedge were spared this go around because they're Biggs and Wedge. But who knows? There may be a sidequest in the sequel to find out what happened to her.

Speaking of Jessie, we find out her surname is Rasberry. Her father, whose name can be found on his security clearance, is Rowan Raberry, a possible reference to the NPC of the same name in Lord of the Rings Online (or just something they didn't know existed).

There are a lot of references in this game insomuch as the Compilation goes. The "assassination attempt", the bike fight with Roche, Banora White, Type G, Kunsel, Avalanche HQ, hints at geostigma, the "edge of creation" mentioned by Seph at the outskirts of Midgar could be a shoutout to Edge City, Cloud/Seph's showdown.

For those who doubted, I'm pretty sure they'll find a way to include Genesis in the sequel.


At one point, Tifa makes a gesture I've noticed a lot of the stereotypical "cute Japanese girls" make in anime and other Japanese media. It's like a slight raising of one foot and one hand almost to their eye. I can't totally describe it without seeing it again. Seeing it took me out of the moment though because suddenly I'm made aware of just how Japanese Tifa really is because I've seen NO other culture in the world make this pose. Only "cute Japanese girls". Not to say I'm bothered. I like Japanese girls. This one aspect of their behavior is just weird to me though.

[Aulayna]

I really enjoyed the events of the plate. It was so sad. They managed to make us love Jessie, Biggs and Wedge much more than in the OG, so I was really emotional during that moment. I also really liked Aerith's interactions with Marlene.

I also really like the beginning of chapter 14, when Cloud hugged Tifa. I think that scene is probably an optional one influenced by our previous choices, but it was so beautiful and emotional. Even Cloud looks so sad. It's really well done.I think that chapter 14 one is optional - I got a scene with an Aerith ghost or dream or something instead!

Yeah that thing for the beginning of chapter 14 is based on your interactions with the characters throughout the game, you can get Barret, Tifa, or Aerith.


Wedge makes a point of clarifying her behavior is all superficial in his statement that it's all an act. Probably comes from her original choice of career and needing to be cheerful and optimistic to be popular.

By the way, I'm replaying now. After finishing the game, the ending has me questioning everything I know about 7.

Zack... did he survive? A lot of people on the internet are reporting that he survived due to a "change of fate" after defeating the Harbinger. However, most people are assuming this because he walked away with Cloud after defeating an army of MPs. The problem is that we saw him do this in the original game, in the animation, and in Crisis Core. Facing the army isn't what got him killed. Zack was shot in the back while tending to Cloud. Then the MPs continued to riddle his incapacitated body with bullets until they were sure he was dead.

Basically, what we saw in the ending is not clear evidence that Zack's fate has been altered. What is clarified is Biggs fate in the final scenes. Like Wedge before him, he wakes up in bed with a bandage on his head (that rhymed). Only member left up in the air is Jessie. One could say Biggs and Wedge were spared this go around because they're Biggs and Wedge. But who knows? There may be a sidequest in the sequel to find out what happened to her.

Speaking of Jessie, we find out her surname is Rasberry. Her father, whose name can be found on his security clearance, is Rowan Raberry, a possible reference to the NPC of the same name in Lord of the Rings Online (or just something they didn't know existed).

There are a lot of references in this game insomuch as the Compilation goes. The "assassination attempt", the bike fight with Roche, Banora White, Type G, Kunsel, Avalanche HQ, hints at geostigma, the "edge of creation" mentioned by Seph at the outskirts of Midgar could be a shoutout to Edge City, Cloud/Seph's showdown.

For those who doubted, I'm pretty sure they'll find a way to include Genesis in the sequel.


At one point, Tifa makes a gesture I've noticed a lot of the stereotypical "cute Japanese girls" make in anime and other Japanese media. It's like a slight raising of one foot and one hand almost to their eye. I can't totally describe it without seeing it again. Seeing it took me out of the moment though because suddenly I'm made aware of just how Japanese Tifa really is because I've seen NO other culture in the world make this pose. Only "cute Japanese girls". Not to say I'm bothered. I like Japanese girls. This one aspect of their behavior is just weird to me though.

One of Jessie's gloves is on the bedside cabinet next to Bigg's bed

[Fox]

Zack... did he survive? A lot of people on the internet are reporting that he survived due to a "change of fate" after defeating the Harbinger. However, most people are assuming this because he walked away with Cloud after defeating an army of MPs. The problem is that we saw him do this in the original game, in the animation, and in Crisis Core. Facing the army isn't what got him killed. Zack was shot in the back while tending to Cloud. Then the MPs continued to riddle his incapacitated body with bullets until they were sure he was dead.

Basically, what we saw in the ending is not clear evidence that Zack's fate has been altered. What is clarified is Biggs fate in the final scenes. Like Wedge before him, he wakes up in bed with a bandage on his head (that rhymed). Only member left up in the air is Jessie. One could say Biggs and Wedge were spared this go around because they're Biggs and Wedge. But who knows? There may be a sidequest in the sequel to find out what happened to her.

Speaking of Jessie, we find out her surname is Rasberry. Her father, whose name can be found on his security clearance, is Rowan Raberry, a possible reference to the NPC of the same name in Lord of the Rings Online (or just something they didn't know existed).

There are a lot of references in this game insomuch as the Compilation goes. The "assassination attempt", the bike fight with Roche, Banora White, Type G, Kunsel, Avalanche HQ, hints at geostigma, the "edge of creation" mentioned by Seph at the outskirts of Midgar could be a shoutout to Edge City, Cloud/Seph's showdown.

For those who doubted, I'm pretty sure they'll find a way to include Genesis in the sequel.




Ending: Alternate timelines, not the one we're watching. Notice that crisp packet that flew by with Stamp on it? Totally different dog to the one we've seen. There are other clues that suggest the reconstruction of sector 7 and Biggs waking up are alternate timelines as well, a way of showing us that "look, now destiny has been destroyed, big changes to events such as these are now possible! Going forward who knows who might survive..."

The timeline we're looking at however still has Zack, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie deceased, I'm feel fairly confident about most of those. Wedge's fate is unknown but he was thrown out the window by the whispers while they were still around making sure fate stuck to the correct path, so it could go either way I guess.

[tony123]

One of Jessie's gloves is on the bedside cabinet next to Bigg's bed

Cool find. Guess that is probably confirmation that they were sleeping together.

[Madame Adequate]

I finished FF7R and I thought it was extremely good.

[Mercen-X]

One of Jessie's gloves is on the bedside cabinet next to Bigg's bed

Cool find. Guess that is probably confirmation that they were sleeping together.

I think it's supposed to mean she's alive.

Anyway, I have a gameplay problem. My first run got me Aerith's red dress. Cool. My replay, I followed online instructions to get her pink dress... I still got the red dress. I don't know where I could've possibly screwed up.

[tony123]

One of Jessie's gloves is on the bedside cabinet next to Bigg's bed

Cool find. Guess that is probably confirmation that they were sleeping together.

I think it's supposed to mean she's alive.

Anyway, I have a gameplay problem. My first run got me Aerith's red dress. Cool. My replay, I followed online instructions to get her pink dress... I still got the red dress. I don't know where I could've possibly screwed up.

She very clearly died in Cloud's arms. If they want to turn it around and say she is alive now then this game is an even bigger mess than I thought before .

[Madame Adequate]

One of Jessie's gloves is on the bedside cabinet next to Bigg's bed

Cool find. Guess that is probably confirmation that they were sleeping together.

I think it's supposed to mean she's alive.

Anyway, I have a gameplay problem. My first run got me Aerith's red dress. Cool. My replay, I followed online instructions to get her pink dress... I still got the red dress. I don't know where I could've possibly screwed up.

She very clearly died in Cloud's arms. If they want to turn it around and say she is alive now then this game is an even bigger mess than I thought before .

The timeline changed, that was the whole point of killing the Arbiters and Zack being alive and stuff.

[tony123]

One of Jessie's gloves is on the bedside cabinet next to Bigg's bed

Cool find. Guess that is probably confirmation that they were sleeping together.

I think it's supposed to mean she's alive.

Anyway, I have a gameplay problem. My first run got me Aerith's red dress. Cool. My replay, I followed online instructions to get her pink dress... I still got the red dress. I don't know where I could've possibly screwed up.

She very clearly died in Cloud's arms. If they want to turn it around and say she is alive now then this game is an even bigger mess than I thought before .

The timeline changed, that was the whole point of killing the Arbiters and Zack being alive and stuff.


Ugh, One of the worst things video game writers can do is start messing around with timelines like that. In anycase it is probably just left up for people to interpret how they want since chances will be slim we will see Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie in any future games.

[Madame Adequate]

I can understand that perspective, but there was a recent interview where they explicitly said "We didn't see the point in just making FF7 with better graphics and with voice acting. We thought it was only worth doing if we tried to do something new and interesting. That is a risk, because it might end up worse off, but it's worth trying to make something better too." Which is pretty explicitly the plot of the time ghost plot itself; Aerith clearly knows a lot about the future and says out loud she's scared of deviating from that, because she knows it results in ultimately beating Sephiroth and Jenova. But she also says it's worth trying for a better outcome than the one she foresees.

I know not everyone likes that, and some people would rather have a more direct remake, whilst others would be fine with changes but without bothering to justify/explain them, but I thought it was pretty good.

[tony123]

I can understand that perspective, but there was a recent interview where they explicitly said "We didn't see the point in just making FF7 with better graphics and with voice acting. We thought it was only worth doing if we tried to do something new and interesting. That is a risk, because it might end up worse off, but it's worth trying to make something better too." Which is pretty explicitly the plot of the time ghost plot itself; Aerith clearly knows a lot about the future and says out loud she's scared of deviating from that, because she knows it results in ultimately beating Sephiroth and Jenova. But she also says it's worth trying for a better outcome than the one she foresees.

I know not everyone likes that, and some people would rather have a more direct remake, whilst others would be fine with changes but without bothering to justify/explain them, but I thought it was pretty good.

Yeah but that statement doesn't say anything regarding the fate of Biggs, Wedge, or Jessie so I still think it is just open to interpretation and they likely won't be seen again anyways so it won't matter.

[Madame Adequate]

It's absolutely wild to me that there are people who think we had scenes about Zack surviving or Biggs waking up, but that we're never going to see them going forward. That contravenes every single principle of storytelling that there is.

[Fox]

It's absolutely wild to me that there are people who think we had scenes about Zack surviving or Biggs waking up, but that we're never going to see them going forward. That contravenes every single principle of storytelling that there is.

First of all, I never said they wouldn't appear any more, just that I don't think it happened in the same timeline our protagonists are in, and they won't have a direct influence on the main plot. Maybe in visions of some kind, heck maybe we'll even get to play as Zack is his own little timeline for a bit and see how things are different.

[Psychotic]

What the fuck, Nomura? Jesus Christ.

[tony123]

What the smurf, Nomura? Jesus Christ.


Yep. It's just weird. I really think that if they try to do another game it isn't going to sell nearly as well as this one did.

[Psychotic]

It's weird, but I'm down with it. It's just... I did not see all of that coming.

[Nice]

Did anyone notice the mouths of NPCs during gameplay. I found that most, if not all, had some weird animations where the mouths appeared too big when characters spoke. It was off-putting at times.

[Aulayna]

Did anyone notice the mouths of NPCs during gameplay. I found that most, if not all, had some weird animations where the mouths appeared too big when characters spoke. It was off-putting at times.

They spoke about this in the final part of the Inside the Remake series ( https://youtu.be/d0A2uTnEUfE?t=433 ) basically they used AI to do all the mouth movements for each language.

For the most part it worked pretty well, but yeah there were a few awkward moments for sure.

[Aulayna]

Unrelated to all of this, I want to run my own Honey Bee Inn :lol:

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Got it yesterday morning, have played through to the chapter 8 sidequests just now. I'm playing on normal difficulty.

A few thoughts:

-I really like that running doesn't have a stamina meter. I get that in other games it helps add to the realism, but from a gameplay standpoint, it's kind of a nuisance that makes you get to places slower with frequent pauses. R1 all day :cool:

-I'm so glad this game doesn't have a battle rating system at the end of every fight. I know I'd be getting like one S for every 37 D's lmao.

-It took me a while to get the hang of fighting, maybe playing the demo would have helped. I had a lot of trouble with the Guard Scorpion in Reactor 1, but after getting the hang of things I think I do alright as long as I know the enemies weakness to build up the stagger. Very XIII in that aspect.

-I'm glad to have the game divided into chapters. They're not immersion breaking, and they serve as good checkpoints for me to check the time to make sure I'm not playing longer than I should be.

-I kind of wish that items didn't go by the ATB bar. If your characters are low on HP, you have to attack to fill it faster, which puts you at risk of being KOed before you can use an item. I'm sure there are materia or level up abilities later that speed it up.

-I could take or leave the XIII approach to weapons. I kind of like just getting a new weapon and having that one be better, instead of leveling up every weapon for different needs. I can see the perks, but it can be a bummer to get a new weapon and then not want to use it because it's not as good as an old one.

-I missed a few early sidequests because I didn't realize there was a "point of no return" walking into Seventh Heaven after a certain point. Lesson learned, I did every side quest in chapter 8 before advancing.

I'm doing a thorough playthrough, looking through every nook and cranny for chests and materia. Since I know I've missed a few things due to the above missing sidequests, I'm just going to enjoy this playthrough without too much worry and at some point, probably right before the second game comes out, I'll do a 100% complete playthrough with an online walkthrough.

[Mercen-X]

I found that with maxed stats, neither your original nor newest weapon is strongest (except maybe Aerith's). Cloud's Hardedge and Tifa's Metal Knuckles are the most powerful physical attackers. Same for Barret's Wrecking Ball. I haven't actually modded the EKG Cannon yet, but I'm fairly sure it won't hold a candle to the ball. Frankly, I'd be surprised if it outmatched Big Bertha.

[Shiva95]

I finished the game yesterday. I really enjoy it and I'm excited for part 2. At first, I was really not sure about the last chapter because it's really different than the original game, but I'm curious about that alternative universe they created. Zack will probably play a role from that timeline, but I'm pretty sure everything will go back to the og one in the end. Now, Sephiroth can win, so they'll have to work to make sure he meets his fate. I also hope Aerith will stay dead. I love her, but her death is too impactful and meaningful for the story and that's the same for Zack.

[Mr Gashtacular]

ive been thinking a lot about the "Eggs and Chips" sign in Seventh Heaven. it reminds me of being a kid when we were quite poor and couldnt afford another protein, lol. does Eggs and Chips have some kind of Final Fantasy or culture significance I've missed or is it just a random meal they put in neon?

[Mercen-X]

Eggs and Hashbrowns (chips is what europeans call fries)

By the way, on replaying the OG up to the glacier, I've realized that a lot of the "touching" moments in the game don't really hit me anymore. They just reek of NES-style story-telling where the dialogue is supposed to relay the emotion but the text is too short or badly translated. Now they just feel like emotionless blips, just story beats I slog through to get to the next section. I feel like I'm hurrying through the game simply by virtue of the fact that I can.

Yeah, on my first playthrough, I made four attempts before I got Shiva. Of course, Aerith was busy delivering flowers so I was flying solo. But it was a moment of pride for me to know I spanked Shiva's ass on my own.

Edit: Yeah, anyway I have a habit of being physically aggressive in my playstyle. Also, I guess I wasn't really alone. I had Ifrit for a minute. It's alway fun though to watch Cloud take down a huge enemy with his Cross-Slash (or in later chapters/replays, his Ascension is even better).

Something I noticed about the Shinra Building chapter. Domino points out that the group "scared an accountant half to death." But this only makes sense in the context of having taken the elevator.

Something else I noticed about defeating Hell House on Hard Mode. It doesn't do its last Chair Salvo that Cloud and Aerith have to save the crowd from.

Edit2: the PS4 version messed up one of my favorite scenes. I just got Cloud aboard the Highwind and after his speech, everyone shouts "There ain't no gettin' offa dis train we on." But one of my favorite lines from the original was one of those three voices misremembering the line as "This train we on don't never stop." To me it just added character. Now it just bland. Why bother having three separate text boxes if they all say the same thing?

[Fynn]

Yeah, I’d say it has less to do with the brevity and more to do with how terrible the translation is. Luckily, if you have the PC version, there’s a translation mod available.

[Depression Moon]

This game is a lot harder than the original. I never had to use so many potions before and I'm actually taking the time to really think when I'm in battles especially during boss and side quests. That Shiva fight was a challenge. I got pretty close on my first try, but it was a struggle after that. I really had to take a good look at my equipment and materia set up. I tried putting the Fire elemental on Cloud's sword so he would always hit her weakness, but for some reason it was still saying Reduced so I instead used the elemental materia to give Aeris Ice resistance.

[Depression Moon]

Yeah, on my first playthrough, I made four attempts before I got Shiva. Of course, Aerith was busy delivering flowers so I was flying solo. But it was a moment of pride for me to know I spanked Shiva's ass on my own. YOU BEAT THAT SHIT WITH JUST CLOUD?

Wall Market Yo having the Hell House come up during the tournament was the biggest WTF moment ever and taking it down was amazing. I know those spectators had a great time watching two people fight a house and then an Ice Goddess coming out too.

[Oaktree]

Yeah, on my first playthrough, I made four attempts before I got Shiva. Of course, Aerith was busy delivering flowers so I was flying solo. But it was a moment of pride for me to know I spanked Shiva's ass on my own.

Defeated Shiva with Cloud only as well! Didn't take me four attempts, though, just two!

[Depression Moon]

Man, this game is good as fuck. I'm in the Shinra building and this is pretty cool. I always had a high pitched cartoony voice for Hojo in my head when I played the original, but his voice here is more serious. I like it.

[Depression Moon]

Cloud: Binding Materia - Warding, Fire - Elemetal, Deadly Dodge, Item Materia, Healing, ATB Boost and First Strike
Twin Stinger
Chain Bangle
Protective Boots




Barrett: SubversionLvl1, Cleansing Lvl2, Healing, Fire Lvl1, Lightning, HP Up, and BarrierLvl1
Big Bertha
Supreme Bracer
Headband




Tifa: Poison, Luck Lvl2, Time, Barrier, Refocus, Enemy Skill, Chakra Lvl4, and Luck (I haven't learned enemy Blue Magic I just put it on her because I had an empty space. Not sure what to replace it with.
Purple Rain (Prince LOL)
Heavy-Duty Bracer
Revival Earrings (I feel like I should place a Status preventer instead?)


Aerith: Pray Lvl3, Revival Lvl1, Magic Up, Wind Lvl2, Auto-Cure, Ice, Magnify Lvl2, Healing Lvl1
Reinforced Staff
Rune Armlet
Star Pendant
Am I good to go? Should I change something?

[Oaktree]

If you are really talking about the final battle (or the last sequence of battles)…

Remove the Elemental from Cloud's Fire materia. Since you can't be 100 % sure what the party will be, everyone should have something to restore health (Healing materia and Chakra) — I was fortunate enough to get Barret with Healing + Magnify, but Cloud and Tifa both had Chakra and the last one also had Healing with Auto-Cure. You don't need those accessories, choose those that will boost your character. Also, spread the elemental materia through all of them… when the silver haired man starts drinking infusions, while Cloud is guarding or using Counterstance (timing must be perfect), the others can cast the opposite Materia to stagger him quicker!

Patience is your ally in these fights, don't rush through it and you'll be fine!

[Mercen-X]

Is it really truly random? I didn't realize. I don't remember if I had Barret in my first playthrough. I just finished Hard Mode and I had Aerith and Tifa. Got my @s$ kicked once with Cloud. Got wiped out by Hell's Gate when Aerith joined. Thankfully, I didn't get trashed again once Tifa joined up. It sucked enough having to start over twice (and the GD cutscenes can't be bypassed).

[Oaktree]

It probably isn't random, but I've read so many different opinions that I can't be sure. I'll try the various outcomes on my hard mode run.

I forgot about Prayer, but I wouldn't recommend it since it costs too much to use… In fact, I don't recall ever having two ATB bars to use, unless the enemy was already staggered and my active character (either Cloud or Tifa most of the times) was beating him senseless. So, a non-active character with two full ATB bars is something I can only dream of (perhaps with the right combinations of Complete materia)!

[Mercen-X]

It probably isn't random, but I've read so many different opinions that I can't be sure. I'll try the various outcomes on my hard mode run.Hard Mode is the last place I would test alt-outcomes (I do wonder if it has to with defeating Croceo before Viridi)


I wouldn't recommend [prayer] since it costs too much to use… In fact, I don't recall ever having two ATB bars to use, unless the enemy was already staggered and my active character (either Cloud or Tifa most of the times) was beating him senseless. So, a non-active character with two full ATB bars is something I can only dream of (perhaps with the right combinations of Complete materia)!Cloud and Tifa should do Chakra and Aerith should have Healing+Magnify. Her Soul Drain restores MP, so she should be good to heal throughout the battle. Never cast with the character you're controlling. Switch and pop Sephi, then hit the menu with another character's healing or ability if you're good on health. It took me fifteen minutes to get all three characters to a good health place to go full-throttle (and also Summon Bahamut).

[Depression Moon]

Oh it was taking too long to get replies so I just went ahead and fought with the set up I had. I died tree times, but ultimately won once I got to Sephiroth. The part I kept dying from was from the rainbow Bahamut's Mega Flare. I had to make sure everyone had Shell on at all times to make sure I could survive it.

@Mercen-X I didn't know Bahamut was in this game. All I had were Ifrit, Shiva, and Fat Chocobo and I thought that's all you get.

[Aulayna]

Yeah, Leviathan and Bahamut are summons that you can get through doing the Battle Intel stuff with Chadley. :)

[Oaktree]

It probably isn't random, but I've read so many different opinions that I can't be sure. I'll try the various outcomes on my hard mode run.Hard Mode is the last place I would test alt-outcomes (I do wonder if it has to with defeating Croceo before Viridi)

Yeah, you are right. Through chapter selection, then!

[Depression Moon]

Yeah, Leviathan and Bahamut are summons that you can get through doing the Battle Intel stuff with Chadley. :)


What about Choco Mog? That was the first summon you got in the original or did it just get replaced with Fat Chocobo.

[WarZidane]

Yeah, Leviathan and Bahamut are summons that you can get through doing the Battle Intel stuff with Chadley. :)


What about Choco Mog? That was the first summon you got in the original or did it just get replaced with Fat Chocobo.

You can find the Chocobo & Moogle materia in chapter 6

[Mercen-X]

STAMPEDE!

@Dep: You have to talk to Chadley every few chapters to see if you met his criteria. Completing his battle intel reports will unlock the VR battle against Lev and then further reports will unlock VR against Bahamut. A lot of them have to do with Stagger percentage and materia usage. The one I missed until I got chapter select was Refocus, I think. Didn't know it was important.

[Oaktree]

The Refocus intel was a pain… I went to the Colosseum, chose Cloud versus Wild Animals, and left to do some other stuff… Once in a while I came back to see if Cloud needed healing and where was his limit gauge… Then, repeat!

[Mercen-X]

So I just noticed, if you let the two minute timer lapse during chapter 5 as you fight Slug Rays on the train, Cloud jumps from the train without Barret and Tifa. It's not much of a difference, Cloud has to fight one battle by himself and then he finds Tifa, but it is neat to see that something different happens. I let this happen on purpose because even playing through on Hard Mode armed with only my un-upgraded Buster Sword, this train battle was not difficult.

[Depression Moon]

It's funny to me how I played two RPGs this year with a grappling hook mechanic and a darts mini game.

[Mercen-X]

So I replayed the pillar battle. If you wait out the 28 sec counter, nothing happens. It's literally a false alarm. I stood around for 20 seconds longer to be sure. Nothing.

[Wolf Kanno]

Welp, my GF surprised me and got me a copy of the game that just arrived today. Currently downloading the install disc. Time to fill this thread with commentary from someone who has no nostalgia or love for the original to give their hot take on this Remake. :wcanoe:

[Fynn]

Lies. Even if you didn’t care for it then, you still played it back in the day and it still made an impact, so nostalgia will play a part :p Still looking forward to your thoughts though!

That reminds me that I’m really curious what FFVIIR is like to a complete newcomer. Members of this community have been familiar with FF for longer, and it’s impossible to not know about VII, so it’s honestly just hard to wrap my head around what someone from outside this bottle might get out of it

[Wolf Kanno]

So I finally started and reached Chapter 3. I decided to save after dealing with some monster cleansing while Tifa drags Cloud's sorry ass through the slums.

Pros:

Seeing everything updated is certainly treat. I feel the expansion with Sector 8 was especially good.
Glad to see the demo did hold a few things back, got at least one extra scene not featured in it.
Of all the characters I've met so far, I feel Barret has benefited the most from having VA work. He's a little over the top in the Mako Reactor 1 mission just like in the original, but many of his scenes afterwards have already begun to show layers to his character.
Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie are still fairly charming.
I am happy that Aerith has finally gotten a decent English VA. It just always seems like the previous choices were okay at best and terrible (I'm looking at you KH2) at worst.
Scorpion Sentry pulled off an attack I don't remember him having in the demo which caught me by surprise and made the fight a bit more interesting.
I'm happy the game has stayed true to the aesthetics of the original in terms of the NPCs and some of the architecture. I always felt the Compialtion modern up the design too much, so it was nice seeing people wearing clothing that fits into that Americana 1940s vibe the original had. There are still some modern touches of course, but the original had a very schizo tech world in both fashion and style.
I like the new weapon mechanics in this game. The idea I can keep the Buster Sword viable for the whole game is nice, especially considering the Compilation made the BS an even bigger deal the the original. I have not gotten too far with it of course since it just got introduced, but it looks like it will add quite a bit to combat.
Though I haven't had a chance to play with them properly, I'm liking that the game added some new materia, including a few classic FF skills like Chakra.
While I consider the stagger mechanic a chore, I did appreciate the shield enemies which really forced you to change how you approached a fight. This is how you make action combat more dynamic, not just forcing the player to spam skill so they can fill a bar and score some free hits afterwards. Force me to adapt dammit.
I am glad they kept some of the iconic dialogue during the train descent into the slums. I was curious if they were going to change it or embellish it.
The music is growing on me, and I do feel that Tifa lucked out in terms of having a pretty good arrangement for her theme.
Speaking of Tifa, though it has been very subtle so far, I am happy the game is taking some better steps to address the OG's original plothole concerning Tifa. We've already had two subtle hints that Tifa doesn't remember Cloud being at Nibelheim and showing a bit confusion, so at least they are finally addressing this oversight.


Cons:

Holy crap Sephiroth is a drama queen in this entry. I knew he was going to pop up more in the Remake, but hot damn if he hasn't made more appearances in the first three chapters of this remake than he did in the first half of the game's first disc. At least they remembered that he talks and doesn't always just stand in fire with a smouldering stoicism though we've had that image already shown so far. I'm not digging his new VA either, his voice feels a bit too high and less menacing.
While I was never fond of the idea of the Whispers, especially when I learned what they are, I can now say from first experiencing them that they feel a bit too invasive. They already feel less like a fun new expansion and more like "Genesis inserting himself into Nibelheim and your nostalgia" kind of deal.
It is really weird seeing the slums in daylight. Like I get that they would technically see daylight but it still feels a bit jarring. Same thing happened when they did it in Crisis Core. Perhaps it was the perspective of the original, but I always saw the slums as more subterranean. Not helped that I'm getting serious Fallout vibe from the slums design. Of anything, it sort of just shows how absolutely weird Midgar's architecture really is. I mean why would you build a city 300 meters into the air? Also, speaking of Midgar's architecture, what is up with these weird platforms jutting out from the city center? Really through me off in the opening.
I never got around to mention this in the demo, but some of the contrived fights in the first reactor are a bit weird. Like how the hell are the Shinra guards not noticing the rest of the Avalanche team? I get it's being played a bit for comedy, but it does lose it's humor around the fifth battle.
I feel the first real sense of how updating the graphics and writing has made the game feel a bit more awkward than in the original is the train sequence. On the one hand, I'm glad the NPCs acknowledge how weird Cloud and Barret are since they are openly brandishing weapons. IOn the other hand, how the hell are these people not getting reported to Shinra? They stand out like a sore thumb in this game and their designs do feel at odds with the design of the NPC characters.
Why do I feel like this game is going to have serious power creep kick in? I mean I'm looking at the materia growth and I'm already close halfway to getting the -ra class spells for a few pieces of materia. Makes me wonder if when we reach the sequels, they are going to have us go to -ja levels and higher. I also just found out Bahamut is in this entry. I'm getting a feeling SE is sort of jumping the gun here and rushing this experience.
Also, SE, what the smurf? This like the third game I've played from you in the last year where you've hired some really experienced English VA's and have relegated them to background characters or "additional voices". I mean Crispin "The Voice of Sex personified" Freeman is doing backup? You did this to him in Type-0 and Trials of Mana had Gene Starwind's VA as a background character as well. What the hell?
My other gripes at the moment are still in the "too early to tell camp" on things. Combat isn't wowing me, but the Weapon system may change that. I'm already feeling a bit turned off from Sector 7 being turned into a hub world where the story is going to stop and have me do a bunch of side missions until I hit the quota and get back to the compelling part of the game, but I'm also trying to see this as a chance to broaden the scope of the setting and world, so I don't want to completely nail this yet since I'm still in the slow introductory part.


Now the interesting thing for me with this remake has been talking to my GF about it. She's been playing it and what makes this interesting for me is that she's never played the original, so she is going in blind. Been interesting hearing her thoughts. I'll comb through her texts and maybe post her thoughts as well.

[JJ Strife]

Speaking of Tifa, though it has been very subtle so far, I am happy the game is taking some better steps to address the OG's original plothole concerning Tifa. We've already had two subtle hints that Tifa doesn't remember Cloud being at Nibelheim and showing a bit confusion, so at least they are finally addressing this oversight.





What plothole was there in the original?

[Wolf Kanno]

What plothole was there in the original?

Plothole might be the wrong word, poor writing would be better. The issue is the fact Tifa always knew Cloud's story about Nibelheim was wrong and went along with it cause she was concern despite it endangering everyone. Originally, there was meant to be a scene in the game where she tells the party that Cloud's story is wrong, but it was cut for some reason. The dialogue for this scene is still in the code of the original. It's a part of her character that has always bugged me and the only explanation I can give for why she does it is so the reveal would be a bigger surprise, but instead it just makes Tifa look dumb to me. I appreciate the fact the Remake has already dropped clues that Tifa last remembers Cloud from before he left the village to join SOLDIER, whereas Cloud's dialogue is implying he saw her five years ago in Nibelheim.

I'm also hoping the Remake addresses the fact that as Sephy pulls more influence over Cloud the more of a threat he is to the party and their goal, so you know, maybe have a scene where the party actually tries to sideline Cloud.

**************************************************************************************************** ******
I have just reunited with Aerith in the Church.

Pros:

Sector 7 Slums was interesting. I like the fact it gives a better idea of what life is like below the plate. The topside was interesting as well for what little we see of it. The best part is just noticing sections lifted from the original. I kept wondering what these two Shinra guards were there for when I suddenly realized from their familiar banter that they were guarding the entrance to the Plate tower.
Yeah the more characterization given to Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie is really nice. Though it is annoying that Jessie is the one getting the most backstory of the three.
It was also nice to see us ease into Tifa and Cloud's relationship. Did a better job of watching them reconnect.
Good to see old Johnny.
I'm glad the Sight materia is more useful in this entry.
I like the fact the weapons have more nuance to them in this entry. Cloud's second weapon is built to be more magic friendly with lower ATK power than the Buster Sword but more materia slots and situational bonus abilities. It really becomes apparent with Tifa's gear with her first weapon being balanced, her second weapon being pure melee focused, and her third weapon having all these elemental bonus powers making it perfect for a magic build. The one thing VII fixed for me that I always found annoying about the original was the lack of individuality among the cast in terms of gameplay. It's going to make the later Episodes tough to choose who is in your party now.
I also appreciate that I don't have to ration Skill points for weapons between all of them and they each get an equal amount when you level up, and new weapons will start with the accumulated points you've acquired up until that point to div out. That is some good QoL design.
Another improvement over the original is that I do appreciate the game giving me more materia so early. I'm actually really customizing characters in this one, and it's been tough since I actually have real options for a change and I'm not just working with three basic elemental materia, a healing materia, and a few not so useful Command materia. Not to mention my gear doesn't have enough slots to fit them all so I really do need to plan out builds. It was always a nagging issue for me in the original.
I'm happy to see Heideggar is just as boisterous and cartoonishly evil as I remember him.
It's interesting to see how many ideas have been taken from Tabata's games. The overall world and NPC interaction is very reminiscent of FFXV with a lot of the new NPCs feeling like cut characters from XV. It was also interesting how the scenario around Airbuster was lifted from the Type-0 mission where you deal with Brionic and have the ability to weaken it's functions before the actual boss fight.
Finally met Roche, and surprisingly, I really liked him.
The motorcycle minigame actually doesn't play like ass anymore. Yay! Sadly, I didn't do well enough in it to get the Trophy from Jessie. :cry:
Found the Darts game and got the highest score and prize. Suck it Wedge.
I've been really impressed with Barret's characterization in this game. I think he is honestly my favorite character so far. He's more boisterous than just racist stereotype "angry black man" which has been nice. He makes Cloud feel like the angry dull character.
Summon materia! and I actually like how it's implemented in this one. Choco/Mog is especially cute.
I forgot to mention this last time, but the scene where Cloud is in his apartment and has a vision of Sephy and he goes to draw his sword in the doorway and it gets stuck was hilarious.
I am digging all of the cats in this game.


Cons:

For anyone who is silly enough to think that Episode 2 is somehow going to magically cover the rest of Disc 1, just no. In the time it has taken me to finish what was originally the second dungeon of the OG, which you'll probably finish within the first two hours of the game, has been stretched out and taken the time it would have taken to finish the entire Midgar section in the original. I couldn't believe how I looked at my game time and realized I should be in the Mythril Mines in the original, and I'm just now meeting Aerith in the church. SE is going to stretch this game out as much as possible, especially if they can get a decent release schedule figured out.
Going with the above, the pacing of this game is not the best. There have definitely been a few sequences that have just been tediously stretched out to add clock time to this game. It was amusing how the Reactor 5 sequence, which is one of the shortest sequences in the original, was stretched out into three chapters in this game with each part being turned into a full dungeon. Between that and doing all the sidequests in Sector 7, my initial concern of this game feeling overly padded seems to be ringing true.
While Barret and the rest of Avalanche have been a hoot, I can't say the same for Cloud and Tifa. Cloud's "I'm too cool to be here" attitude is starting to get grating and while it's nice to see that facade get slowly chipped away, it has not been enough to make him endearing. Tifa on the other hand just bugs me. She's never been one of my favorites in this game but her wishy washy attitude, the Mary-Sueish chorus of the NPCs in Sector 7 singing her praises, and her annoying habit to emote her feelings through constant posing and gestures is starting to really irk me. I'm happy I'm going to have a small break from her for awhile.
Yeah, I'm really not digging the Whispers, their first real big sequence since the opening was really silly and stupid. I honestly feel they hurt the narrative more than help it. Like I was enjoying the plot twist where Avalanche decided to kick Cloud out but the silly sequence of events the Whispers cause just so Cloud is forced to be put pack in is incredibly contrived and draws too much attention to the Whispers' purpose in this plot. I've actually been fine with many of the story changes so far, except for their inclusion.
Holy hell flame throwers are annoying in this game. I'm also finding it annoying how this game is trying hard to be an action title but it has these annoying little elements that keep it from being any good such as a lazy lock on camera that is bit too reminiscent of KH1's camera. Not to mention the fact that dodging is pretty much useless in this game because several enemy attacks have unnatural homing elements to them. It's been annoying thinking I can dodge some attacks only to learn I was suppose to block because the attack was guarantee to hit me cause the game is still treating combat like a turn based one on some levels.
I'm a little annoyed I finally finished two of the requirement that stupid and out of place researcher wanted me to do, but now I'm not sure if I'm going to see his sorry ass to turn them in since he was in Sector 7 and we all know how that turns out. I imagine he's going to travel but I really wish I could have finished it before leaving for the Reactor.

[JJ Strife]

What plothole was there in the original?

Plothole might be the wrong word, poor writing would be better. The issue is the fact Tifa always knew Cloud's story about Nibelheim was wrong and went along with it cause she was concern despite it endangering everyone. Originally, there was meant to be a scene in the game where she tells the party that Cloud's story is wrong, but it was cut for some reason. The dialogue for this scene is still in the code of the original. It's a part of her character that has always bugged me and the only explanation I can give for why she does it is so the reveal would be a bigger surprise, but instead it just makes Tifa look dumb to me. I appreciate the fact the Remake has already dropped clues that Tifa last remembers Cloud from before he left the village to join SOLDIER, whereas Cloud's dialogue is implying he saw her five years ago in Nibelheim.




Yeah I didn't consider that a plothole. I thought they handled that just fine. They obviously didn't want to reveal Cloud's fake identity that early in the story, and if you watch the Kalm flashback segment, there's clearly something wrong with Tifa. She repeteadly says "..............." (meaning she's not saying something at a point she'd be expected to), and she doesn't agree with anything Cloud says. She then asks him a question about what happened, which she wouldn't have to do if she was there.

I think that's a fairly good way of handling it so that first-time players might not notice anything, but second-time players can see that it's consistent with the fact that she's confused. I didn't see it as making Tifa look dumb. I thought she was just genuinely confused as to what was going on, and she stayed quiet because she wanted to wait and see what was happening with Cloud. She probably didn't know whether he was insane or just lying.

[Lord Golbez]

Except Tifa is confused because she know that most details of the story Cloud was telling were accurate except for the weird detail that the SOLDIER member who came with Sephiroth wasn't Cloud. It's still pretty odd that she wouldn't say anything, but don't act like she knew exactly what was going on. She doesn't know why Cloud knows what happened but is inserting himself into someone else's role. Yes, obviously they have her keep quiet so they can make the big reveal later, but her silence isn't entirely unreasonable. Maybe she's doubting her own memory somewhat or doesn't want to challenge Cloud on it because it doesn't seem like that big a deal to her at the time. It's only later on when Sephiroth suggests this means he's not the real Cloud at all that the inconsistency seems to take on greater importance.

[JJ Strife]

Well the only likely explanations from her point of view are that Cloud has gone insane in some way, or is just deliberately lying.

Both of those possibilities are something that she would naturally be very cautious about confronting with him, so she probably thought it was better to stay quiet until she figures out what's going on.

[Fynn]

It’s hard to deny it’s contrived

[Wolf Kanno]

The issue at hand is that while I can agree that Tifa is simply confused by this issue because despite Cloud not being at Nibelheim, his story is accurate to what Tifa remembers, but I do feel that it was a red flag for her and combined with some of Cloud's psychotic episodes and nearly killing Aerith twice, she never once stops to really discuss with the team that Cloud is not stable and something is wrong. If I was Barret and the others, I would be pissed that she vouched for someone like Cloud who screwed up so much and is responsible for the Meteor crisis to begin with. She makes attempts to talk to Cloud, but she never bothers talking to the team about it. If I had a childhood friend show up on my front door after several years, claimed we talked two five years earlier than I remember, whigs out all the time, and knows intimate knowledge of one of the most traumatic moments in my life despite me remembering they were not there, I don't think I'd spend my time humoring them and spend more of my time trying to get them some professional help. It just ultimately feels like a contrived element to force a bigger shock out of the player despite the game spending most of its time foreshadowing Cloud isn't right in the head. It was overkill.

**************************************************************************************************** ****
Update time: Didn't have a whole lot of time to play this evening. I basically did the Church sequence and reached the Sector 5 Slums and did sidequest hell until I reached the next significant plot point.

Pros:

I definitely like Aerith's VA in this one. I feel she really captures her personality and still manages to convey her spunkiness. She is also just a better foil to Cloud's grumble personality and she's done more to get him to actually talk and get the rod out of his ass than Tifa and Jessie could in the last five chapters
Her gameplay style is interesting, her starting weapon skill is broken as all hell and she even gets an MP stealing move as a natural skill.
Reno and Rude were both amusing.
I really love the layout of Sector 5 Slums. Much closer to how I imagined the slums in the original. Sector 7 feels like a shanty town from Fallout, but Sector 5 Slums feel like people living in a landfill and making due.
Aerith's house may be one of the most gorgeous locations seen so far in the game. I mean it was a shock in the original, but they definitely went all Studio Ghibli in its execution here.
While I was sad that the barrel mini-game in the church was removed, I am happy the chandelier element existed as a callback to it at least.
The Nail Bat is an amusing weapon.
Finally got Shiva, though it took a few tries with a solo Cloud since she loves to chaincast Blizzaga at low health. Grateful I had the Ifrit materia equipped to him for the fight.
Likewise, I did meet up with the silly researcher kid and I have managed to fulfill all of his current quests.
Finally found out what all these Moogle Medals are for.
I'm really happy they kept the rooftop sequence from the original.
Despite it being a bad thing, I enjoyed watching Cloud get suplexed and then pile-drived by Rude.


Cons:

Okay, the Whispers have officially overstayed their welcome after butting into one of my favorite sequences with Aerith. This is as bad as Genesis being retcon to have been at Nibelheim in Crisis Core. I am not amused.
Just as I figured, while I do like Aerith's gameplay design, she just can't be used effectively by the A.I. which wouldn't be a problem since switching is pretty easy, except it's obvious the game has all the enemy A.I. set up to switch targets to the player controlled character. Her survivability is better when I'm not using her, but her usefulness in battle is less effective. So it has been a bit annoying in combat to have to keep switching back and forth between her and Cloud just to have a workable party. This game should have used a limited version of XII's Gambit system. There is some materia that works a bit like a gambit set-up but I really feel it should have just been a separate thing.
I feel the padded nature of the game is running a bit thin here. I'm feeling very conflicted with the sidequests cause I do feel they add to the characters and setting, but I also find they are disruptive to the narrative. I blame being far too familiar with the original. I'm at the point where I wish we could just get on with things.

[JJ Strife]

I feel the padded nature of the game is running a bit thin here. I'm feeling very conflicted with the sidequests cause I do feel they add to the characters and setting, but I also find they are disruptive to the narrative. I blame being far too familiar with the original. I'm at the point where I wish we could just get on with things.



That is the worst-paced part of the game in my opinion. You can return to that area later though, so don't stick around for too long on your first visit.

[Mercen-X]

You can't technically return to the area. But after completing the game, you can return to the chapter. Or you can just create a save game and come back to it. Although loading a save file that exists prior to say, cometing the game on hard mode, will not preserve such accomplishments, so take precautions.

[JJ Strife]

You can't technically return to the area. But after completing the game, you can return to the chapter. Or you can just create a save game and come back to it. Although loading a save file that exists prior to say, cometing the game on hard mode, will not preserve such accomplishments, so take precautions.

Say what?

You definitely can return to the Sector 5 slums area. It's available right up until you climb up to the plate.

Are you confusing it with Sector 7 slums?

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time: I am currently in Chapter 11 I think? I'm polishing off the Training Graveyard.

Pros:

Sector 6/Wall Market was a blast. Even though it has a bunch of extra stuff to do, it never felt quite as padded as other sections. Probably helped by the fact it's the only town part of Midgar you spend any significant amount of time in.
While the scenario concerning getting the dresses and into Corneo's mansion is changed significantly, the new stuff is just as amusing and fun as the old one.
I bombed the first dance off with Andrea despite being pretty good with Rhythm games because I was laughing too much. I got a really good score when I reloaded my save and tried again.
The new characters in this section were all amusing. I wonder if Chocobo Sam is going to turn out to be related to Chocobo Bill and his crew later on.
For those wondering, I wound up getting all three classic outfits for the team instead of the new ones, simply cause I wanted to see these outfits in high-def.
I was very happy they kept the amusing bodybuilder characters. I figured they were going to be axed but was happy to see them return, simply toned down so they weren't as offensive.
The Battle Arena was amusing. The Hell House was an amusing surprise, though I found the fight more annoying than fun.
Weird that the Fat Chocobo is now a separate summon, but it was fun getting them regardless.
I'm happy the whole Don Corneo scene was largely untouched, though I do wish they kept the joke where Cloud says Barret is his boyfriend.
The three recurring bandits are amusing.
I find it amusing that the All Materia is kind of a superflous materia in the original, but here, the Magnify materia is actually pretty useful.
Glad the Hardedge is still a pretty badass weapon. Like the new redesign as well. Speaking of, Aerith's Mythril Scepter is also just as broken as it was in the original.
Happy I finally discovered how you unlock new Limit Breaks.
While their roles were largely removed, I was happy to see some of the familiar NPCs of Wall Market are still here like the Materia Shop owner, the crazy guys running the weapon shop, and the Ramen chef.
I do appreciate the fact the game is trying more to establish a real relationship between Aerith and Tifa that doesn't center on fighting for Cloud's affection.


Cons:

Man, what is up with this game dragging dungeons out indefinitely? I mean do we really need to turn them into full chapter sequences? I never thought I would get out of the sewers, and to have it segue into the long ass Train Graveyard sequence has been a drag on the game's story pacing. I'm already dreading the plate battle, cause I imagine it's going to take five times as long as the original.
I am really disappointed in the Steal materia. Not only does it feel like it has an abysmal success rate, but since all the good stuff is now relegated to hidden chests in dungeons or quest rewards, it's not like enemies have anything worth stealing.
Speaking of bad materia, Independent Materia really loses a lot of it's luster in this game. I'm sure it's going to be super useful in hard mode where the extra HP/MP or stat gains will come in handy, but so far they've all been collecting dust in my inventory. Partly cause I just don't have enough slots to spare for them, and largely because the weapon upgrade mechanics make them moot since several of the upgrades raise your stats.
Combat has been a real mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I feel that for cannon fodder enemies, it has reached a real good balance of the fights being tough enough to warrant using skills and magic to make it go smoother, but the fights are still fast and frantic enough to not overstay their welcome. I can't say the same with boss fights though. These just drag on forever and I'm getting annoyed how often I Stagger a boss only for them to activate a cutscene to switch their mode and change the stagger gauge back to zero, forcing me to start over. Staggering really does just make boss fights drag on in this game. Not helping things is the lazy party A.I. that is too passive for their own good. It's been really annoying getting into a few fights where things would go smoother if both Aerith AND Tifa were actually being played to their full potential instead of only one working well cause I'm controlling them. This game needs an online co-op mode or something. I get that the design of the game is that it wants the player to consistently switch between party members in order to mimic the originals ATB system, but the action based combat makes it so there is often too much going on in battle to effectively use everyone proficiently. Not helped that the ATB bar only fills quickly when the player is actually controlling things, so too often I would love to activate one of Tifa or Aerith's special abilities that boost their basic skills but since they only have a single ATB bar filled and because the boss pulled off a devastating blow my non-controlled party stood there and blocked with their faces, I have to waste the turn on healing/reviving instead. I'm grateful I can control the whole party directly, so at least I can avoid the FFXIII issue of half my battle strategy was working around the faulty A.I. but I don't think it's quite where it needs to be yet. I'm hoping the sequel episodes will tinker around here a bit and fix this issue.
This is largely going to come down to how Episode 2 handles things, but I also feel the game may have shot itself in the foot by letting power creep come into the gameplay. I feel like they should have capped materia growth like your levels so you have something to look forward to in the sequels, cause I'm not sure how fun it's going to be to have to either relearn all these skills or watch as the games add more suffixes to elemental materia to give them higher ranks. They should have handled this like the .hack//: games did.

[JJ Strife]

Man, what is up with this game dragging dungeons out indefinitely? I mean do we really need to turn them into full chapter sequences? I never thought I would get out of the sewers, and to have it segue into the long ass Train Graveyard sequence has been a drag on the game's story pacing. I'm already dreading the plate battle, cause I imagine it's going to take five times as long as the original.



The only good part about that is it does make Midgar feel huge. It's less meaningful in a place like the sewers of course. But in some parts I really appreciated how it'd been padded out. The climb up to the plate, and then the entire Shinra building area, are examples of where the padding really does help with the world building, in my opinion.

[Wolf Kanno]

Man, what is up with this game dragging dungeons out indefinitely? I mean do we really need to turn them into full chapter sequences? I never thought I would get out of the sewers, and to have it segue into the long ass Train Graveyard sequence has been a drag on the game's story pacing. I'm already dreading the plate battle, cause I imagine it's going to take five times as long as the original.



The only good part about that is it does make Midgar feel huge. It's less meaningful in a place like the sewers of course. But in some parts I really appreciated how it'd been padded out. The climb up to the plate, and then the entire Shinra building area, are examples of where the padding really does help with the world building, in my opinion.

I would appreciate the scale better if I felt it was meaningful to the narrative. Instead my patience is grinding slowly away. :lol:

I feel my real issue here is that if the game hadn't padded itself so much with these extra long dungeons and HP sponge bosses, we could have had an Episode 1 that would have contained all the events of the starting continent. The game feels padded for the sake of padding as opposed to making the narrative better.

[JJ Strife]

Yep those were my thoughts exactly. The total amount of padding could probably be swapped out for the rest of the first continent. Even though some of the padding I enjoyed, I still would've happily switched it out for more story content.

But there is a very specific reason they chose to end at Midgar. It's not just that it seemed a convenient place to end. You'll realize once you've finished why they chose to do that.

The upside is that it probably means there'll be a bit less in the next game.

[Depression Moon]

One thing I thought I was going to see when this got announced as being only in Midgar is that we would see all 8 Sectors in Midgar. It;s been years since I've played VII, but I think the three in here are the same 3 we saw back then. Just a teensy eensy little disappointment there.

[Mr Gashtacular]

is it explicitly stated where Jessie's parents live? I don't recall if they stated which sector, and the length of the bike race suggests it could be pretty much anywhere.

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time!

Just finished the pillar sequence and reached Aerith's house to hear her backstory from Elmyra.

Pros:

Didn't realize I was going to have to fight Eligor, nice treat.
Finally, the game gives us a few bosses with worthwhile items to steal. Switching to Tifa with her higher speed helped the steal %.
Overall, I like how the pillar sequence worked out, even if I had to still deal with the whispers.
The rematch with the Turks was nice, and I appreciate Reno getting his signature Pyramid attack.
Is it mean of me to say that I was more sad about Wedge's cats getting killed in the plate fall than the rest of Avalanche?
I did like that we get to play Aerith's parts of the events. I mean this is the type of stuff I was hoping for with the "expanded" narrative.


Cons:

Still don't like the Whispers. Though I think I've finally just resigned myself to having them being here now which is a bit depressing.
I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have missed a weapon for Barret somewhere. It just feels weird I only have two weapons for him while everyone else has like four or five to play with.
The Provoke materia is useless. Still didn't stop both Turks tag teaming whoever I was controlling in battle.
I only have one more task to do or the stupid researcher kid, but it involves that Refocus Materia which only activates when I use Limit Breaks, and thankfully, unlike the original, getting a full Limit Meter is actually a challenge. I have only seen Barret use his limit break once and Tifa has only managed to use her twice. I doubt even Cloud has used Cross-Slash ten times at this point and I think he's only used Ascension twice. So my point is that this challenge is going to be a bit harder to pull off. I'm hoping I can cinch it when I go back to the Coliseum to get Barret and Tifa's second Limit Breaks.

[JJ Strife]

I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have missed a weapon for Barret somewhere. It just feels weird I only have two weapons for him while everyone else has like four or five to play with.



Nope, there are just 4 different weapons available for him in the last few chapters. (so only 2 in the first half)


is it explicitly stated where Jessie's parents live? I don't recall if they stated which sector, and the length of the bike race suggests it could be pretty much anywhere.

Yeah it does mention Sector 7 at several points in that chapter. They live directly above Tifa's bar.

[Depression Moon]

I too felt like I missed a weapon for Barret. I ended with Big Bertha, but since Cloud got another one I felt like Barret and maybe Tifa had another one I missed out on.

[Mercen-X]

I didn't get the EKG Cannon until Chapter Select. Still don't think it's a very useful weapon.

[JJ Strife]

Most of the "final" weapons weren't that good. They were worth getting just to get the abilities really.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I feel like the way they did the battle system would have worked better either A) you could have more control in the A.I. like with a gambit system and/or B) had the A.I. members fill their ATB bars quickly. I didn't really mind switching constantly to work on filling up the ATB since by the end of the game it fills up really quickly for whoever. you control, but it would have been better to stick with the character you have the most fun playing as while focusing more on using everyone else's abilities when needed. I feel like the way the ATB bar functioned the way it did to force you to use everyone and to learn how to use them, and I did like being forced to a bit because I was genuinely happy with how everyone played except maybe Barret (though, he grew on me quite a bit by the end).

I never did try messing with the Provoke materia, but it's a shame to hear that it wasn't very useful. I would have liked to skirt attention away from the person you are controlling with a possibly more tanky character. I never really struggled to keep any of the characters alive usually, and when I did I was struggling with the tanky characters just as much.

[Wolf Kanno]

I feel like the way they did the battle system would have worked better either A) you could have more control in the A.I. like with a gambit system and/or B) had the A.I. members fill their ATB bars quickly. I didn't really mind switching constantly to work on filling up the ATB since by the end of the game it fills up really quickly for whoever. you control, but it would have been better to stick with the character you have the most fun playing as while focusing more on using everyone else's abilities when needed. I feel like the way the ATB bar functioned the way it did to force you to use everyone and to learn how to use them, and I did like being forced to a bit because I was genuinely happy with how everyone played except maybe Barret (though, he grew on me quite a bit by the end).

I never did try messing with the Provoke materia, but it's a shame to hear that it wasn't very useful. I would have liked to skirt attention away from the person you are controlling with a possibly more tanky character. I never really struggled to keep any of the characters alive usually, and when I did I was struggling with the tanky characters just as much.

I pretty much agree with everything here. Honestly I feel just letting the party have faster ATB increase alone would fix my gripes with the party dynamics of combat without hurting the intentions of the design.

[JJ Strife]

A) you could have more control in the A.I. like with a gambit system and/or B) had the A.I. members fill their ATB bars quickly.

I think A is because they wanted you to switch manually quite often, and B is because they didn't want you to be able to keep healing constantly, like you could in FFXV, which kinda broke the game a bit. It became a matter of how many healing items you'd bought ahead of time.

[Aulayna]

The Provoke materia does work but not against some of the more strongest enemies toward the game. In Hard Mode you can make Barret soak a lot of damage by using the Provoke + Steadfast Block combo, even more so if you use his ATB on Steelskin This can be useful in sections like the Corkscrew Tunnel in Chapter 4 when you're doing a lot of fights back to back in the train tunnels, and likewise in the Corneo Colosseum and VR Arena.

The deeper into Hard Mode you go, the more the AI actually seems to target other party members more often rather than tunneling whoever you're controlling at the time.

Provoke only generally activates when a party member gets critically low on HP though, much like Auto-Cure, and has a hidden cooldown so it won't constantly activate.

That being said it's definitely a VERY situational materia.

[Wolf Kanno]

That's good to know.

Small Update!

Pros:

Pretty interesting to see Barret get his own section. I honestly think Barret has probably gotten the best characterization out of the remake. He just feels like less of a caricature in this one and that's super groovy.
Speaking of improved characters, Marlene is also just cute as a button as opposed to the afterthought of the original.
I am so happy Wedge's cat made it.
I had more fun than I feel I should using Barret's gun arm to mow down Shinra boxes and make walls. He also got a really nice ability off of his newer weapons.
I find it amusing that Cloud not only seems to remember Hojo, he's already calling him names most players do.
I managed to get the Refocus Materia research completed. It's an interesting idea, but I don't like the fact it wastes a Limit Break use considering they are more rare in this version.
I finally got my Enemy Skill materia, I've already learned two skills for it, but the ATB cost is pretty steep. Interesting how one of the skills wasn't even a skill in VII despite being a common Blue Magic in other entries.
The Chocobos are actually really cute in this game.


Cons:

Once again, we interrupt your roller coaster plot to bring you sidequest hell!
Okay, so you weaseled in Leviathan and Bahamut as summons in this game, but once again give a middle finger to Ramuh and Titan? I really feel like this games main issue with materia and summons is that it is not going to leave much to look forward to in future installments. At the rate we're going Comet and Ultima will be the first materia you pick up in Episode 2 unless they are already in this game...
Man the heavy foreshadowing in this game is starting to reach comical levels. I love Aerith, but she may need to stop talking for awhile.
I feel it's a little late in the plot to be introducing new NPCs for me to stop caring about. Like VII needed another bratty thief character. Not helped that she kind of dresses like Marie from P4G.
The Barret section made it more apparent to me of a lost opportunity with changing your character leads for exploration. I felt it was slightly annoying how the game always defaults to Cloud, but having sections showing another character actually using their unique traits to get through an area tells me the dev teams probably should have incorporated that a bit more in some of the earlier dungeons.
Ugh, I just got the research request to master all the different magic materia types, but I'm not sure if I really have enough to do in this lull in the plot to get it done. I've had the revive materia on for awhile and it's still only half way to getting mastered. Fell I'm going to have to wait until I beat the game to get that one done...
This is not necessarily a con, but I just noticed the game removed the idea that materia creates an "offspring" when it's mastered. It's not really a big deal, but it did throw me off when I finally noticed.

[Aulayna]

I'd leave the materia thing until after you've cleared the game. Once you've unlocked Chapter Select you get a boost to XP and AP gains, which combined with an AP Up Materia means you can max-out the magic materia's pretty quickly by farming one of the easier stages in the VR Battle Arena.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'd leave the materia thing until after you've cleared the game. Once you've unlocked Chapter Select you get a boost to XP and AP gains, which combined with an AP Up Materia means you can max-out the magic materia's pretty quickly by farming one of the easier stages in the VR Battle Arena.

Good to know, but I'm not really sure if I'm going to bother playing this after I finish the main story campaign.

[Lord Golbez]

Then maybe just don't do it period? You definitely won't need to for completing the game and you won't be able to get everything without some replay/chapter select anyway.

[Wolf Kanno]

Then maybe just don't do it period? You definitely won't need to for completing the game and you won't be able to get everything without some replay/chapter select anyway.

Oh that's the plan.

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time, finished Side quest hell and I'm now heading to the Shin-Ra building.

Pros:

I've decided I really do like the Battle Arena in this game. It adds enough nuance to be interesting, offers great prizes, and is short enough not to feel like a slog unlike Star Ocean. Not having to farm GP and simply using standard Gil to enter is also a blessing.
I will also give the game mad props for making each character feel distinct, made the arena more interesting and reminded me of Xenoblade in a good way.
After Aulayna's advice, I've come around to the Provoke materia.
I finally managed to take down Leviathan, who has been one of the tougher fights in this game.
I had a sneaking suspicion I was going to have to fight Abzu again, so I'm glad I was right.
The Music quest was amusing.
The Behemoth fight was interesting and I like the small shout out to Type-0.
I've apparently gained 3 out 4 Enemy Skills I can obtain in this game. I'm aware the final one is locked away in Hard mode. Shame Missile isn't one of them...
I've obtained an AP Up materia.


Cons:

Fuck Jules and his pain in the ass exercise mini-games. The first one wasn't too bad, but the new one with Tifa is a pain with the funky direction of the buttons.
I feel this section has pretty much shown me that I really feel nothing for most of the new NPCs. They're just quest dispensing machines as far as I'm concerned except for Madam M and Andrea. I remember when all the characters from Sector 7 appeared and Barret and Tifa were getting all happy and I was like Cloud thinking "who the fuck were these people again?"
I'm a little surprised that Barret's second limit break was Catastrophe. Bad enough Cloud's second one was a mini-Omnislash, but whatever. I know the serial escalation is coming.
I find it amusing I've probably been killed more often by being careless against normal enemy's with annoying status magic or multi-hit attacks than I ever had with a boss. I didn't realize this until I fought Leviathan and watched it bulldoze my party with Tidal Wave. I don't think I've ever had a boss fight yet in this game that made me have to really pay attention to what the boss was trying to do.
I'm kind of disappointed with the Enemy Skill materia in this game. I mean it was OP as hell in the original, but the spell selection in this one is pretty terrible.
I really hope the pacing improves in this game. I feel these sidequest lulls in the plot are detrimental to the flow of the game. I was pretty excited to head to the Shinra Building, but now I'm feeling less excited since I killed an entire evening doing quests instead. It's really been the greatest criticism of the game's design for me.

[Depression Moon]

Yeah, on my 2nd playthrough I'm going to kill the arenas.

I missed the Tifa pull-up mini game on my first playthrough.

[JJ Strife]

Update Time, finished Side quest hell and I'm now heading to the Shin-Ra building.



I'm kind of disappointed with the Enemy Skill materia in this game. I mean it was OP as hell in the original, but the spell selection in this one is pretty terrible.




Lol, I googled what the actual Skills were, and then just didn't bother learning them because it seemed so limited and uninteresting.

I don't understand why there were so few. There are 24 in the original game.

[Mercen-X]

I have the sense that "offspring" will return in Part 2. There's no way most traditional players would have stuck around Midgar in OG to max their materia. Someone else can tell me how long that grind would last.

So it makes sense storywise that the ability to clone materia would go completely unknown to the characters (hell, the scriptors could argue it was the Arbitors that kept the materia in check too, because plot).

Open world is not a place for sporadic restrictions. Unless they actually plan to handle that part differently.

[Lord Golbez]

The first reasonable place to insanely level grind in the original game is Junon. If you hit that alarm by the elevator to the submarine level you can watch those levels go up real quick. Playing normally, you'll probably only start learning the second spells on Fire, Ice, and Lightning around Corel.

[JJ Strife]

How are they going to deal with the fact that everyone already has Firaga?

Reset that materia between games? Or just keep introducing more and more advanced stuff in the next games?

[Lord Golbez]

I think they bit themselves in the foot on that. Either way they go it's probably going to look kind of ridiculous. Will we get Ice-9 in the last game and the entire world freezes as.the spell effect?

[Depression Moon]

How are they going to deal with the fact that everyone already has Firaga?

Reset that materia between games? Or just keep introducing more and more advanced stuff in the next games?
I mean just reset it. Simple as that.

[Fynn]

Yeah if they’re treating the installments as separate games - which they are - I imagine they’ll be reset

[JJ Strife]

That may be simplest solution.

But one of the things I was really looking forward to, when the whole thing is finished, is playing them all in sequence in a massive marathon playthrough.
Cos that will be unbelievably epic. It'll be like the biggest single player game ever.

That would get really annoying if your materia keeps getting nerfed every 30 hours, Lol.

[Mercen-X]

If they really entered into an alternate timeline, I hope materia behave differently in the new one with different animations and characteristics. It can still be the old familiar */*ra/*ga formula but just present differently. Also, will there be Earth materia? We don't know.

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time

Reached the final chapter, but it was so late I called it a night after getting trounced in the bike chase boss fight. Will probably finish the game later today.

Pros:

I liked the gimmick in the Hell Gunner fight where you had to lure the satellite strike onto the boss to raise it's stagger gauge.
The Stair sequence is absolutely hilarious and probably the best change in the Shinra Building.
I love the fact that the Cetra's airships are based off the designs from older FFs. It looks like the Blackjack, but it's color scheme seems to be taken from the Invincible in FFIX.
Mayor Domino was also amusing, I kind of expected him to get written out but his expanded role is amusing and helps to add a bit more logic to the infiltration mission.
Red XIII is a bit more charming and amusing in this entry. I'm actually surprised he wasn't playable considering how much he actually helps the team.
The President Shinra sequence was a bit contrived, but it was also a good character moment for Barret.
I appreciate the fact the game setup a sequence to keep the whole party useable. I tend to like multi-party dungeons.
The Rufus fight was pretty impressive.


Cons:

Overall, I found the Shinra building to be a let down. It's a bit more linear than the original, drags out dungeon sequences that start off interesting, but get tiring really quickly. I never thought I was going to get to the Shinra building while climbing up there, and Hojo's lab got boring really fast despite the multi-party gimmick. The battle simulator was also some contrived nonsense.
Wow, the Whispers have upgraded themselves into literal Plot Armor. How quaint.
I'm not digging Hojo's portrayal in this. Like he works sometimes, but other times I feel he lays the crazy on a little too thick.
Wow, Cloud's sword upgrade in here is ugly, and useless. I mean even it's innate ability is something Cloud could already do with his Punisher stance.
I really don't care for the new Jenova boss music. The first two movements are boring and don't have that otherworldly vibe the synths gave in the original, and then when the third movement pops up and it's basically an update of the original track, the fight ended so quick in that final phase, I barely got to enjoy it.
I am seriously getting fatigued with this game. Like I can't wait to finish it so I can finally move on to something more interesting. I realized that last night when I was trudging through the Drum and I wished the game would just get on with it.

[Mercen-X]

Using the beam on Valkyrie is less fun on Hard Mode. I just railed on it for 40 minutes and called it good.

For the Stair Sequence, I have yet to test if you can go back down and use the elevator like I did in OG. Once you reach the top, the next scene occurs automatically, but nothing suggests I "have" to reach the top.

I love Rufus.

Battle simulator: so damned stupid.

I love Twin Stinger. It's got a neat look like a combo between Ragnarok and Organics. Counterstance is kind of useless since the actual counterattack is when the ability does the most damage but you are less likely to be attacked while using it. At least in Punisher mode, you can move toward the enemies.

The last three battles of the game can be tiresome. They renamed Motorball "M.O.T.O.R." and dealing with that thing can be into the back of your head annoying. The whispers come back in a annoying way. And then there's Mr. Big Bad himself. [collective sigh]

[Wolf Kanno]

Just finished and... wow. Not "that was AMAZING!' wow, more like just disbelief in a "WTF did I just witness?" kind of way. I bet Nomura was so proud of himself for sneaking in a Kingdom Hearts boss expy.

Pros:

After a second attempt, I ended up liking the bike mini-game end section.
Hey, it's Zack!
Some of the visual callbacks to the OG were neat. Special shout out to Cloud and Sephy's final scene together.


Cons:

What I just played was stupid.
Did we really need to fight the Arbiters of Fate trio like three times? Talk about milking this fight.
I honestly don't know why we fought Sephiroth. Like thinking as a writer, and ignoring the obvious fan service answer, there just doesn't seem to be a reason for that whole fight to even take place.
Maybe it's simply because she unlocks so late in the game, but Leviathan is not as impressive as a summon.
Are the Whispers even really gone? I mean it doesn't seem to make sense that fate can simply be punched out and that will be the end of it. I mean we can't have the party magically defeat Destiny itself, yet somehow Sephy shrugs off everything and gets to stick around.


Overall, I feel the ending leaves the title on a sour note for a game that was stretched way too thin for it's own good. If I had to summarize the game in one word, exhausting would probably be the best fit.

[JJ Strife]

The fight with Sephiroth did feel like pure fan service. Wasn't needed and didn't make that much sense for the story.

I thought the whole ending would've been so much better if Sephiroth had just cut the hole in the whisper wall, walked through, and then the party follows him and it immediately cuts to the credits. That's the end. It would still imply that same "escaping fate" thing, but you wouldn't need the crazy Kingdom Hearts fight against the heartless, and you wouldn't need to ruin the story pacing by having a Sephiroth fight this early.

I don't see any way in which it would be inferior to end it there.

[Aulayna]

I can concur that the drum section dragged on and on. It felt like it was done just to check off most of the remaining enemies from the original that hadn't made appearances yet.

Although having said that, I wonder if that was due to having the anticipation from the original of knowing what was coming. One of my colleagues who never played the original loved the drum section.

[Wolf Kanno]

I can concur that the drum section dragged on and on. It felt like it was done just to check off most of the remaining enemies from the original that hadn't made appearances yet.

Although having said that, I wonder if that was due to having the anticipation from the original of knowing what was coming. One of my colleagues who never played the original loved the drum section.

Yeah, the interesting part of the Remake for me is talking to my GF who is playing it, but never played the original.

I also wondered if a lot of my issue was also simply knowing how the plot is suppose to go and thus getting impatient as well, but on further examination, I concluded I probably would openly dread some of the dungeons in a replay. They stuck out to me a little too much as kind of taking their time. Generally, if I got bored during the dungeon, I felt it was valid.

[JJ Strife]

Although having said that, I wonder if that was due to having the anticipation from the original of knowing what was coming. One of my colleagues who never played the original loved the drum section.

I got this feeling during a lot of points when I felt like it was being padded.

Final Fantasy 8 has an insanely annoying sewer section that goes on a bit too long, but no-one ever said it was padding because that's just the original game. Yet FF7 Remake does the exact same thing and it now counts as padding because the original sewer section was like 10 seconds long.

[Lord Golbez]

The sewer section in FF8, while pretty stupid, is not nearly as long. I wouldn't say it goes on too long beyond the fact that it's kind of stupid it exists to begin with and the set up for it is ridiculous. It's really quite brief. Not as brief as the sewer segment in the original FF7, but definitely much shorter than the version in the remake. And all of them are shorter than the monotonous Xenogears sewer, so count your blessings.

[Wolf Kanno]

Even Xenogears sewer dungeon is actually short if you know what you're doing. The hard part was just keeping your orientation so you didn't get turned around. For VIIR it just dragged in places though I'll give them props for at least putting more stuff to actually do in the dungeons. It wasn't like XIII where the dungeons were monotonous and barren of content. My real issue is that they overstayed their welcome in VIIR. I don't think there was a a dungeon outside of the opening reactor mission that didn't get a bit boring for me halfway through it.

[JJ Strife]

XIII is probably a better example. Those "dungeons" were probably a lot worse than Remake, but because it was an original game you never had an earlier shorter version to compare it to, so you never had that anticipation of what was coming next.

[Wolf Kanno]

XIII is probably a better example. Those "dungeons" were probably a lot worse than Remake, but because it was an original game you never had an earlier shorter version to compare it to, so you never had that anticipation of what was coming next.

Thinking on it more, VIIR's dungeons felt like FFX's dungeons for me. Not much to explore, a few things to distract you, but ultimately a majority of the dungeons felt like they linger way too long for my taste.

[JJ Strife]

Much less puzzle-oriented than X dungeons though.

[Wolf Kanno]

If you ignore the Cloister of Trials (which were good) most of X's dungeons didn't really have much of a puzzle aspect anyway, more optional mini-games sprinkled through really. It's why I feel the comparison works because VIIR's puzzles were really more of a simply distraction than an actual puzzle when you really think about it.

[Lord Golbez]

FFX didn't really have a lot of what I would call dungeons aside from the Cloister of Trials. Mostly just in lieu of world map trails from one destination to the next. I guess tjey can count though. It made sense in the context of FFX to have most of the game be "on the road," as it were.

[JJ Strife]

Yeah I assumed by "dungeons" you just meant the cloisters

[Vincent, Thunder God]

I can't wait to try the remake out, I don't care about spoilers! :jess:

[JJ Strife]

I think all of dungeons that annoyed me were the ones that were just stretched versions of the original game, whereas the ones I enjoyed were new additions.

The ones that annoyed me were the second reactor, the sewers, and the route to wall market with the controllable claw/cranes.

The ones I was OK with were the new train graveyard area, the underground lab, the hojo's drum place, etc

[Lord Golbez]

Train Graveyard was not a new area. It was in the original. It was another stretched area.

[JJ Strife]

I know, but they added new stuff is what I meant. The new little subplot with the ghosts and that new building. So it didn't feel like it was just the same thing being stretched.

Compared to that stuff in the second reactor, where they just made you repeat the same rooms over and over again.

[JJ Strife]

Didn't anyone ever figure out why some characters could see the Whispers and some couldn't?

I haven't heard an explanation for this yet.

[Fynn]

I heard it has something to do with whether or not someone touched Aerith

[JJ Strife]

I heard it has something to do with whether or not someone touched Aerith

Thought you hadn't played it yet?

[Fynn]

I read. A lot.

[JJ Strife]

Won't that kinda spoil it ahead of time?

It might be anyone who has touched someone else who has touched Aerith, but it can't just be anyone who has touched Aerith. That's way too few people to make sense. All of the Avalanche people can see them before they meet Aerith. Rufus can see them at the end.

So it could be that Cloud transfers it to all of them? I don't know if he touches every single one of them though?

[WarZidane]

There's also the matter of the Turks not being able to see them, so there's more to it than that considering both Reno and Rude have more contact with Cloud than Rufus, and Tseng has direct contact with Aerith.

[Wolf Kanno]

Aerith touching people does seem to grant some people the ability to see them, but I kind of think it really has more to do with people who have the ability to change destiny simply have the power to see them, especially when they try to alter events like how Avalanche finally sees them when they try to do the Reactos 5 missions without Cloud. I say this because of the Shin-Ra members, only Hojo and Rufus ever see them, yet Hojo tried to change history by revealing Cloud's true nature to him, whereas Rufus just seems to be able to see them whereas Tseng couldn't.

The only people who seem to know what the Whispers actually are seem to be Aerith and Sephiroth, though Red XIII knows a little after Aerith touched him and imbued him with knowledge. These little moments are probably why a large part of the fanbase is theorizing that Aerith and Sephy are somehow channeling their future incarnations from the Lifestream.

[JJ Strife]

Well Sephiroth is definitely either a time-traveler or is able to use the lifestream to see the future.

I didn't think Aerith was though. I thought she was just using her ability to communicate with the planet to essentially ask what's going on. Because she seems clueless at the very start, but then suddenly knows a lot more when you see her in the church.

Although now I think of it, I guess that's kinda the equivalent of just using the lifestream to see the future.

[Wolf Kanno]

Yep, as I said, this is a stealth sequel.

[JJ Strife]

Except if most of the story ends up being the same, it'll be hard to call it a sequel.

As I've suggested in another thread, my theory is that the only reason they're doing this is to cast some doubt onto certain events in the story (Aerith's death).

So it won't end up being very different in the end. It'll be a bit of a bluff to keep people guessing and speculating about what's coming.

[Wolf Kanno]

I expect the plot to go off rails the further we go in. This is going to be like the Rebuild of Evangelion series which also "follows the plot of the original" but radically changed a lot of things before going in a completely new direction. I expect the remake will go beyond the original story's framework and won't end after Holy stops Meteor.

[JJ Strife]

I guess I'm gonna have to watch Evangelion, given that everyone is using that analogy.

[Fynn]

Nah, it literally is just us two :p

[Wolf Kanno]

I guess I'm gonna have to watch Evangelion, given that everyone is using that analogy.

Rebuild is just a film remake of the TV series, the first film is a faithful adaption of the first third of the series, but the second film followed the plot but changed things like removing some characters, adding new ones. It still follows the plot but in broad strokes. By the third film though, the story goes in a very different direction and the eventual fourth film is suppose to give the series a new ending. I just imagine, the VII Remake will follow a similar format. We're probably going to get a very different finale for these games from the OG, and since it's being hinted that time travel may be involved, it just makes sense that if the real villain turns out to be a post-AC Sephy trying to change things for the better of himself, then these changes could hint that the remake will be revealed to be the sequel the Compialtion kept promising. That's my reasoning at least, but a lot of that will depend on how Episode 2 plays out.

[JJ Strife]

Nah, it literally is just us two :p

Like 5 different youtubers I watch have also made the analogy.

[Mercen-X]

Irony escapes the conscious faculties.

[Depression Moon]

It's been many years since I played the original, but it wasn't until I saw a YouTube video that reminded me that the prison scene with the blood trail was taken out. That's disappointing. That shit would've been dope to see with these graphics and then there was that container with Jenova with her missing head. I remember that shit creeping me the fuck out.

[Mr Gashtacular]

Yea, I was really disappointed. That was one of the most tense scenes in the OG and now it's just....not there? Quite lame.

[JJ Strife]

Well once they'd decided that Sephiroth was going to show up quite a lot, it wouldn't have really made much sense.

[Mercen-X]

When I first saw Jenova, I didn't know what it was. I saw the eyeball on its "breast" and assumed that was its face. Then Barret starts screaming "where's its head?" and I'm just thinking: it's an alien.

[JJ Strife]

I can't even remember why Sephiroth cut the head off to start with?

[Fynn]

For the Reunion. I guess.

[Lord Golbez]

Is that how he controls where the Reunion occurs? That could make sense but did Sephiroth even know about the Reunion when he cut off Jenova's head? He thought Jenova was an Ancient. I think maybe he was just losing it.

[Fynn]

Yeah VII’s original scenario was... in need of a couple more rounds of editing, if you ask me.

[Aulayna]

IIRC he only took her head because Cloud stabbed him while he was breaking the container so only had the strength to recover the head rather than the whole body.

[JJ Strife]

For the Reunion. I guess.

Does that make any sense? I thought the point of the reunion was that all Jenova cells would naturally find their way back to the body. How does separating her body help that? Unless he was just testing the theory or something?

[Fynn]

See the post I made later.

[Lord Golbez]

IIRC he only took her head because Cloud stabbed him while he was breaking the container so only had the strength to recover the head rather than the whole body.


This dovetails with my statement that he was losing it, because "I can't carry my mother's body, so I'll sever her head and take that" is not a normal line of thought. It's more of a Norman Bates line of thinking.

[JJ Strife]

See the post I made later.

Editing?

I think the original story was just so complicated, as video game stories go, that there are some parts they didn't think through.

Another thing that was never really explained was how Cloud managed to suddenly develop super strength and kill Sephiroth in the Nibel reactor.

[Fynn]

There are many games with stories much more complicated than FFVII that are much better thought out. Beyond the very tightly plotted Midgar FFVII does tend to just... be a bit contrived at several points.

[Lord Golbez]

I wouldn't say FF7 is terribly complicated, but I would say that's mostly a good thing. Most games with more complicated plots are more concerned with inane worldbuilding details that don't really make for a good narrative. Most of the "complicated" aspects of FF7's plot only appear that way because of bad translation.

[JJ Strife]

There are many games with stories much more complicated than FFVII

I really don't think there were in 97. Not that I'd ever seen anyway. This was the most complicated at the time.

Especially when you take the size into account. Most complicated stories tend to be much smaller.

[Fynn]

Xenogears. FFVII actually outright copies some of its ideas. It was actually pitched as FFVII. Is much more complicated and yet less contrived than FFVII. Incidentally, it also has a much more competent translation, despite also being done by one dude.

[Lord Golbez]

I don't want to disparage Xenogears too much, because it's one of my favorite games, but Xenogears is largely a cobbled together mash of everything from 2001 A Space Odyssey to Evangelion. Xenogears is undoubtedly more complicated than FF7, but whether it tells the story more effectively is highly debatable. And there's plenty of contrivance in Xenogears. Including probably a record setting use of unclear pronoun references to obscure plot details, which is pretty close to the same kind of contrivance you complained about with Tifa in FF7. I won't argue the better translation part. Off course, that's true. Although I would say a more competent translater might get rid of the excess of "howevers" which might be a literal translation but comes off pretty awkward in English.

[JJ Strife]

I never really got into Xenogears, so I didn't finish it. I'll probably retry it at some point.

Although that was 1998, so still technically after FF7, even if just barely (it also didn't release in Europe so I had no chance to play it at the time).

[Mercen-X]

I won't argue the better translation part. Off course, that's true.

I just wanted to say, this reference did not go unseen. Good on.