What do you want to see in Episode 2?

[Wolf Kanno]

For those who have finished the remake, what do you want to see in the sequel?

Please mark spoilers for those who haven't played or finished Episode 1.

[Aulayna]

Honestly depending on how much they stick to the original (despite the ending of part one) I'm looking forward to seeing the Midgar Zolom and how they handle it, whether it will be avoidable or a forced encounter or not. Then I'm looking forward to seeing Junon and hopefully Barret in his sailor outfit.

Also I hope they add a lengthy side quest chain in which we help Leslie track down his lost wife. That story thread was deliberately left hanging so they obviously have something in mind for it.


I expect that when it comes to character progression they'll probably pull something along the lines of much of the latent power of equipment and materia was drained in the Destiny defying finale of part one and put everyone on a similar power footing to begin the next part with.

But honestly right now, above all else, I just want a trailer so I can get a feel for what direction they're going in.

[ham]

Game mechanics wise I'd hope to see an improved camera system and targeting system.

Other than that, I want to see how they will handle the Over World part of the game. Will it be similar to how you travel in the slums via route or something else entirely? And being able to ride a chocobo.

[Shiva95]

I hope they will keep the same gameplay because I really enjoy it and I'm curious to see how the other characters will play. I'm also curious of how they would do the open world, Maybe it will be a traveling system more with like FFX because the game is so huge, I'm not sure they will do a real open world. I also hope to see Aerith's death in the next part. It will be really sad and painful, but it's so important for the story, it would be terrible if they make her survive. It just wouldn't be FFVII anymore.

It's not really about what I want to see in it, but I also really wish they would do 3 or 4 parts and not more.

[Fox]

MR DOLPHIN OR RIOT

[Jarvio]

I don't know why so many people suspect Aerith's death will be in part 2 - The party visits so many locations before Aerith's death, that it would at least need to be at the end of part 3.

Here's how I think it should pan out:

Part 2 - Kalm flashback to Nibelheim/Mt Nibel (Vincent as a guest like Red XIII was in part 1)
Part 3 - Rocket Town to City Of The Ancients
Part 4 - Ice continent to Final dungeon

These are the obvious narrative choices IMO. Part 2 would effectively open with Nibelheim (Kalm flashbacks) and also end with it (visiting Nibelheim for real). Part 3 would be the next step of the journey, possibly with some sea exploration added with the tiny bronco, and also Wutai being compulsary. And part 4, the final part, would both open and close with the northern continent.

I also think Cid should feature in part 2, during some scenes with Shinra maybe where he tries to get the space programme running or something. And then he doesn't join the party until part 3. This way, Cid would not miss out on part 2, thus every playable character would be introduced by part 2, but with Cid and Vincent not being actual party members until part 3. This would work best IMO.

As for new stories and stuff - I welcome them, AS LONG as they are not at the expense of the main story we all know. I don't want them to axe anything.

[Jarvio]

Just came up with a thought that maybe each part will have a different name, that goes something like this:
Part 1 - Remake
Part 2 - Rebirth (Could relate to Jenova Birth among other things)
Part 3 - Resurrection (Could relate to Aerith surviving death among other things)
Part 4 - Reunion (Will feature the reunion scene)

[Shiva95]

Just came up with a thought that maybe each part will have a different name, that goes something like this:
Part 1 - Remake
Part 2 - Rebirth (Could relate to Jenova Birth among other things)
Part 3 - Resurrection (Could relate to Aerith surviving death among other things)
Part 4 - Reunion (Will feature the reunion scene)

As much as I love Aerith, I hope she will stay dead, and same for Zack. Their deaths are too impactful and meaningful for the story of FFVII.

[Mercen-X]

I actually think Part 2 would be most likely to be called Reunion and they'll wrap up that part of the story pretty quickly before we move onto Meteor and Holy. Maybe the third part will be called Regenesis. I predict the story will reveal that the Ancients summoned Meteor to destroy Jenova.

I also predict that Rufus is the secret leader/financier of Avalanche (with the goal of assassinating his father and becoming President).

Also, Shiva, I disagree. Aerith and Zack's deaths no longer have the same meaning and impact as they did in the original game. Unless Square Enix handles the approach differently. Also, I believe that if they do off Aerith, it will be in the third installment (yes, I'm holding to that). Giving us two whole games to utilize and grow to love her (and a second foreshadowing) before ripping out our hearts in the third game.

[Wolf Kanno]

I also predict that Rufus is the secret leader/financier of Avalanche (with the goal of assassinating his father and becoming President).


Technically that has already been confirmed, since that was a plot point in Before Crisis.

[Mercen-X]

Technically.
Yes, technically, I had checked on that after developing my theory so as to further concrete my claim. But fans prefer to digest the material firsthand and all us Americans get is Japan's hand-me-down info because we can't play Before Crisis.

Another of the reasons I believe Genesis and Weiss will both feature in the upcoming installments because fans prefer the info to feel like it's coming from the same source. The mistake of the Compilation and the KH franchise (and XV) was that info was spread out across different mediums, different platforms. And if SQEX truly has no plans to remake BC or CC, then they've got to feed their hungry fans another way. Yay?

[Jarvio]

I actually think Part 2 would be most likely to be called Reunion and they'll wrap up that part of the story pretty quickly before we move onto Meteor and Holy. Maybe the third part will be called Regenesis. I predict the story will reveal that the Ancients summoned Meteor to destroy Jenova.

I also predict that Rufus is the secret leader/financier of Avalanche (with the goal of assassinating his father and becoming President).

Also, Shiva, I disagree. Aerith and Zack's deaths no longer have the same meaning and impact as they did in the original game. Unless Square Enix handles the approach differently. Also, I believe that if they do off Aerith, it will be in the third installment (yes, I'm holding to that). Giving us two whole games to utilize and grow to love her (and a second foreshadowing) before ripping out our hearts in the third game.

But the Reunion happens way after Aerith's death, and quite late on in the game. Unless you're saying they will drastically switch the order of things?

[maybee]

I also predict that Rufus is the secret leader/financier of Avalanche (with the goal of assassinating his father and becoming President).


Technically that has already been confirmed, since that was a plot point in Before Crisis.


Wait. What ?

Is this why they removed Rufus's "I like to control the world with fear", speech ?

[Mercen-X]

But the Reunion happens way after Aerith's death, and quite late on in the game. Unless you're saying they will drastically switch the order of things?I am saying. They pretty much already have. Introducing Sephiroth. Showing a bunch of Cloud's flashbacks. The flashes forward. Zack's attack. Fighting "the Valkyrie"/Heligunner as you climb the plate. Hell, the holotheater is pretty much just a reworking of the one we see in Cosmo Canyon. Also, we were obviously never meant to meet Leslie who only ever made any appearance in The Kids Are Alright. Don't forget Marlene looking out the window like she did at the end of the OG.

Some changes may not seem significant as much of it is just rearranging Midgar events. But don't forget the OG didn't introduce the idea of Sephiroth clones until Aerith's death sequence.

[Madame Adequate]

I also predict that Rufus is the secret leader/financier of Avalanche (with the goal of assassinating his father and becoming President).


Technically that has already been confirmed, since that was a plot point in Before Crisis.


Wait. What ?

Is this why they removed Rufus's "I like to control the world with fear", speech ?

Honestly I think that was removed because it just didn't serve any purpose or really make much sense. His dad just ordered the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people in order to wipe out a 5-person terrorist cell and their merc buddy, it's not super easy to see where you escalate from there. And the events of the story keep Rufus from doing much proactive anyway, Shinra's almost constantly one step behind except for the Huge Materia plot and moving the Sister Ray, and it's really Heideggar and Scarlet who carry on the evil corporation side of things anyway while Rufus seems more interested in actually stopping Sephiroth.

[Shaibana]

more Zack please :crying::crying::crying::crying:

[Madame Adequate]

I want to see Sephiroth deliver a Fastmateria Special straight into Cloud's diaphragm in the Shinra Mansion basement.
Fight with Palmer that involves using the Tiny Bronco somehow and does indeed end with him getting flattened by a truck.
The slapfight atop the Sister Ray obviously needs to be Tifa snapping Scarlet's spine.
Buugenhaagen floating around being 130 years old and having no legs.

[Mercen-X]

Apparently, Scarlet has her own automatic weaponry according to the digital artbook. But I have the feeling the slap fight will become an actual brawl.


Edit: By the way, on replaying, I realize that Sephiroth repeatedly says he'll "create the future".

[Lord Golbez]

An apology.

[maybee]

Chapter One : The Road To Kalm. Cloud and group traveling to next town with a now playable Red and perhaps the location of the Chocobo Farm moving so we can ride the Chocobos here. The world map is quite like or is familiar to FFXII's. We can help some NPCs here and do some FFXII like hunts.
Chapter Two: Cloud's Faux Past. Cloud sharing his faux past to everybody in the Inn. Playable Sephiroth here with a dragon boss, as the CPU helps us out with "young Cloud".
Chapter Three : Cloud's Faux Past. Cloud continuing his story, but with Y! Cloud being playable this time as Nibelhiem is burnt to the ground.
Chapter Four: Princess of Wutai. Yuffie. No longer optional ! Midgar Zolom boss.
Chapter Five : Junon. Basically the same as the OG. Though maybe we can get some Kunsel here now, since he was confirmed via part one.
Chapter Six : Junon Boat. Jenova boss. Sephiroth smurfery. etc.
Chapter Seven: Costa Del Sol. FAN SERVICE TIME. Give us the topless Cloud, Tifa and Aerith in bikinis and yes, the ultimate anime nosebleed fuel- Barret in a sailor costume. GIVE US HOJO ON THE BEACH WITH HIS FANGIRLS.
Chapter Eight: Corel. Travelling to Corel and Barret sharing his past. Some more NPCs to help and some more hunts available on the way.
Chapter Nine: Gold Saucer. A new challenger arrives ! Cait Sith takes a gamble !
Chapter Ten: Jail. Gold Saucer prison. Dyne boss fight. This time it's Kunsel that gets them out. Though the party doesn't know that. Cloud gets a Jenova migraine.
Chapter Eleven: Gongaga. Zack's old home. Cissnei is there. Another Cloud Jenova migraine. Cloud faints out in Zack's old parent's place. Concerned Tifa looks after him. Aerith spends some time alone. Cissnei joins the party.

Maybe we can play as some Timeline B Zack here


Chapter Twelve: Cosmo Canyon. Nanaki learns about his Father.
Chapter Thirteen : Nibelhiem. Vincent joins. Mt Nibel.
Chapter Fourteen : Rocket Town. Cid joins as guest.
Chapter Fifteen: Wutai. Avalanche travels to Wutai. Yuffie steals Materia. Some Leslie, Turks and Don showdown. Leslie gets his fiance back. Wutai blames Avalanche for everything at first, but then they fix all misunderstandings.
Chapter Sixteen : Gold Saucer date. Cloud goes on a date with Aerith and she hints about his future. Cloud has a nightmare and learns what's going to happen.

[Shiva95]

I'm pretty sure the Gold Saucer dates will remain optional. pretty much like the resolutions in chapter 14. Maybe they will even add more options.

[Bubba]

Buugenhaagen floating around being 130 years old and having no legs.

A common misconception. Bugenhahen does indeed have legs.

77024

[Fynn]

I'm pretty sure the Gold Saucer dates will remain optional. pretty much like the resolutions in chapter 14. Maybe they will even add more options.

Can we have a serious date with Barret? :D

[Psychotic]

An apology.This, but about forgetting to include Mukki.

Also, Mr. Dolphin.

[Fynn]

An apology.This, but about forgetting to include Mukki.


Andrea is a worthy replacement though

[Psychotic]

An apology.This, but about forgetting to include Mukki.


Andrea is a worthy replacement thoughhttp://www.quickmeme.com/img/8e/8e56e930f42b66d54ef9dcb1080966a360e240c3d4310e3cb9aea49534dba42c.jpg

[Aulayna]

An apology.This, but about forgetting to include Mukki.


Andrea is a worthy replacement though


https://media.giphy.com/media/U4vVpQBSSZHUHGrmPk/giphy.gif

[Lord Golbez]

An apology.This, but about forgetting to include Mukki.

How do you know that isn't what I meant in the first place? ;)

[WarZidane]

Less "here's a section where you walk/crawl/saunter/shimmy in one direction for 10-20 seconds while we load assets" is what I'm hoping for. It's a trick that's used in most AAA games these days but FF7R goes a little overboard with it, so I hope the next game is next-gen only and designed with those SSDs in mind.

[Mercen-X]

The area in which that very thing irritated me was when Cloud and Avalanche were "shimmying" past some trucks. And you realize there was plenty of room for them to just walk normally.

What becomes of my excess exp pts? Because of how many times I've had to replay the chapters to get items and trophies not available during the initial playthrough, I now have well-over 700k. Is this all going to be reset in the next game?
What happened to Marco?
Will I see Jessie in her actress dress (even if in flashback)?
The Loveless play
Footlocker at Kalm (what's in it?)
Zangan's 128 students... come Chekhov, fire that gun
Tifa's mother (I get she's dead but...), Cloud's father (doesnct even get mentioned..?)
The mystery MP (Sephiroth abandons the chap and we never here about it again)
Orthopedic Underwear (likely a bra, it would still be funny for Cloud to make this joke. A sign that Part 1's events have lightened him up a bit)
The Photograph (this cannot be omitted)
1/35 Soldier (what the hell are these things?)
Expansion of Mt Corel (plenty of places to explore with no payoff)
Updates to all Gold Saucer mini-games
Dio meets Mukki ('cause hilarity)
Expansion of Coral Valley (wanna climb that vine)

Also I know there may be answers somewhere in Compilation, but this is SQEX chance to consolidate all info into one place: who is Heidegger (what's his scar about?), who is Palmer (why does he care so much about the Space Program?), who is Scarlet (why is she such a b-?), who is Reeve (why is he moonlighting as Cait Sith?)

Ooh! Something also irritated me about the materia system. You had swap orbs between characters one by one. What the hell?

[Lord Golbez]

No way you're getting all of his students, but you might get one or more other students besides Tifa, which would be nice.

1/35 Soldier is self-explanatory, if a bit unclear at first blush. They're just 1/35 scale models of a SOLDIER - toys, basically. Still it would be nice to get a clear look at them.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

I suspect Yuffie (and Vincent, whenever we get to him) will not be optional characters this time around. They'll be included in the full narrative of the story, and I'm looking forward to that.

[Oaktree]

I'd like to play as Zack (even if it is on an alternate reality) and Red XIII (which will probably happen either way), at some point I would also like to ride chocobos (more than mere fast travel mechanics)… More important still, the equipment and materia menus need adjustments (something like «remove all equipped materia» would be awesome, and different tabs for the different types of materia too)… While we are at it, I'd love seeing more CGI too — it doesn't have to be Hideo Kojima-ish though!

That's all I can remember for now…

[Mercen-X]

A "walk" button, damn it.

Also, reference some of the following characters:
1) Luxiere, Angeal, Genesis (not just "G"), Sebastian, Essai, Weiss, Azul, Shelke
2) Cissnei, Emma, Elena
3] Elfé, Shears (Cutty was a total fakeout), Shalua Rui
4) Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz
5) Denzel, Lazard, Argento (my idea to make the DGS character one and the same as BC Turk "Legend")

Also, I want the Scissors character in the Crater to more greatly resemble the demon folkmonster Manangal (https://www.google.com/search?q=manananggal&client=ms-android-metropcs-us&biw=360&bih=517&sxsrf=ALeKk00icAuK-LpS1YRnXTGd2hCXFkQ-AA:1590808435795&source=lnms&tbm=isch#imgrc=8K647fF6-v5CxM).

[JJ Strife]

I'm mostly looking forward to see how they manage to create the world map, and whether it will be open-world like FFXV style or more a kind of segmented pseudo-open environments like FF12 style.

Either way I want to see lots of exploration and sidequests out in the world, with places Kalm and the Chocobo Farm expanded to include more things to do. They're both so brief in the original game. Kalm especially feels like it was underused, cos it was quite a nice quaint little town, but then it's just used for the flashback scene in the Inn.

[Mercen-X]

I always was a bit disgruntled on the fact you could obtain Vincent's Peacemaker in Kalm. When you finally get V, you have no reason to use his init.eq. Quicksilver even a minute because you already have a better weapon. Obviously, that's no longer the case with Remake as Quicksilver and Peacemaker likely will have unique weapon skills to learn. Still, I think it'd be great for Cloud to "find" it only to say something like "A decent weapon, but I don't collect guns."

[Lord Golbez]

That doesn't seem terribly abnormal to me. There's plenty of FF games/characters where multiple equips are available from the start or near enough. It's also not that different from the situation of multiple weapons becoming available at a shop at once with one being clearly more powerful than another, which often happens in RPGs. If you didn't pick up Peacemaker earlier, you use the initial equip. If you don't have enough money, you buy the cheaper, weaker weapon. Seems like about the same concept to me. There's no guarantee of a particular weapon being useful, but for some players it could be.

[JJ Strife]

I always was a bit disgruntled on the fact you could obtain Vincent's Peacemaker in Kalm. When you finally get V, you have no reason to use his init.eq. Quicksilver even a minute because you already have a better weapon. Obviously, that's no longer the case with Remake as Quicksilver and Peacemaker likely will have unique weapon skills to learn. Still, I think it'd be great for Cloud to "find" it only to say something like "A decent weapon, but I don't collect guns."

I always liked that sort of thing actually. It made it feel more realistic. Like why on earth would the shops around the world happen to conform to who you have in your party at any given point. They wouldn't. If guns are a common weapon in this world, they'll be available everywhere. It's just good world building.

[Lord Golbez]

On the flip side, it's a bit weird that shops in most places carry weapons for each character even if they have unusual weapon types. Like why do most shops carry weapons for Red XIII or Cait Sith? Why would any weapon shop even recognize a megaphone as a weapon, when it's pretty much particular to Cait Sith? Did Reeve work out some kind of deal with weapon shops throughout the world and, if so, why did he set it up so some shops would get weak megaphones and some would get stronger ones?

Heck, whose locker has that megaphone in Shinra HQ? Is it Reeve's? If so, why didn't he just equip Cait Sith with that weapon from the start?

I mean, it's fine to hand wave it and say that's just game mechanics, but if you're going to praise one aspect of weapon availability as world building, then it definitely opens the whole subject to criticism on what kind of crazy world did you just build.

[Mercen-X]

I always liked that sort of thing actually. It made it feel more realistic. Like why on earth would the shops around the world happen to conform to who you have in your party at any given point. They wouldn't. If guns are a common weapon in this world, they'll be available everywhere. It's just good world building.

Don't mistake me. It never bothered me it was there. It bothered me that Cloud took it with him. Just earlier at the Shinra building, Cloud left behind a megaphone because he would "have no use for it". Now he takes this gun despite the fact no one in his group has any use for it. If he's thinking he could just sell it, he could have reasoned the same of the megaphone.

I can't help feeling that though you were meant to find Peacemaker in Kalm that, like the megaphone, Cloud was just supposed to leave it there and you come back for it later when you had Vincent like "oh, I know where there's a gun" and you'd have at least been using V's Quicksilver for a hot minute while you trekked back to Kalm.

This comes down to either a mistake or lazy game design/narrative.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'd say it's a mistake. Very likely a hold over from an earlier draft of the game when Vincent was still being envisioned as a Occult Detective working in Midgar. He may have been intended to have already joined the party by this point, at which point it would make sense he would be seeing a new weapon. When they scrapped that story idea for him and changed it to the version we know, they may have forgotten about it and probably kept it as a hint of his existence since he got relegated to optional status by that point.

[Lord Golbez]

Except a megaphone and a gun are not equal. Cloud saying he has no use for a megaphone makes perfect sense, because a megaphone generally does not register as a weapon. Cloud saying "I can't imagine what possible use I could have for this gun" while they traverse the world fighting monsters and Shinra troops is not so credible. Even though none of the party members can equip guns (except Barret who equips customized guns) because it's not their preferred weapon type, presumably they can pull the damn trigger in a pinch.

Whether that makes it worth carting around might be a different question, but since they apparently have access to hammerspace, why not?

[Example]

I'm looking forward to seeing how they will integrate the alternate timeline stuff into the game, maybe have us switch between alternate timelines like FF8 did with its flashbacks by having Cloud be the main character of the primary timeline and Zack the main character of the secondary timeline, and what happens in one timeline affects the other like in Chrono Cross.

I expect Biggs, Wedge and Jessie will be making more appearances, maybe even joining up with other AVALANCHE factions around the world.

I'm expecting Yuffie to make an appearance early on, maybe by having her steal the party's materia to justify the power reset, and for Vincent to appear later on.

The one thing I DO NOT want to see is Genesis forcibly retconned into the plot again, which unfortunately probably will happen after Hojo referenced G-Type SOLDIERs.

[JJ Strife]

I think that's a combination of Golbez's point about a megaphone not naturally being a useful weapon.

Also, the megaphone in Shinra HQ is Cait Sith's ultimate weapon. So they wanted you to remember it so you could return for it later. That's not true with that gun you find in Kalm. It's a mid-level weapon that you'll very quickly throw away for something else. So remembering it might not be useful.

[Mercen-X]

And yet, again, it didn't have to be written that way. Maybe instead of Peacemaker, this could have been a more powerful weapon like Cerberus or Death Penalty. Or the Peacemaker could have the weapon whose power level is just below Death Penalty. You know what other location would have made sense to have a gun lying around..? JUNON! Of all the weapons you can purchase in Junon, they mysteriously offer up no handguns. And you can buy Peacemaker here... on Disc 2. But why?
Considering the criminal element, wouldn't make sense to find a gun at Corel Prison? Maybe one of the bandits' drops or stealable...

You know what would have been a neat unique skill for Vincent, to set him apart from Barret as "ranged guy", let him wield two guns.

[Fynn]

Honestly, I thought it was fun. It rewards exploration while also delaying gratification. A lot of first-time players would miss it, while those who didn’t will be like “huh, interesting. I wonder what new interesting character could I use this for!” And then when you finally get to Vincent, you’re rewarded for not only snooping around and finding a thing but also for sticking to something that was at that point useless. Accident or no, I think it’s brilliant.

[Mercen-X]

Meh. Lol. I actually may have felt similarly on my first playthrough. Maybe it's just the way Remake is constructed kind of makes me prejudiced against such old-school game design. Again, I don't mind Cloud finding the thing, I just kind of hope he voices a logical reason to take it with him. It would be cool if they reworked it so that it could function like a grenade and you could just use it as a one-off in battle. But otherwise, I hate the thought of the party "pretending" this item is going to be useful down the line. Better still, maybe an NPC can say something (tell a story) which leads to Cloud finding it and trying to give it over to which the NPC simply says "keep it". Absolutely anything at this point is a better reason than Cloud simply pocketing a random gun... or a boomerang (if it happens that we find one before meeting Yuffie which we still don't know how that'll play out).

Of course, for all we know, SQEX will toss this one easter egg aside in the name of a linear story and force the party to continue onto Bill's farm without being able to check out Kalm. Hell, maybe at the end of the Nibelheim flashback, we'll already be at the Ranch. And just like Part 1, your party members will whine that you're going the wrong way if you try to head over to Kalm. So maybe, all in all, we won't even return to Kalm until after recruiting Vincent and SQEX will find some way to force us to return to Midgar, I mean Kalm, just so we can look around for V's gun. Who knows?

[Jairus]

One of the things I'd like to see is Jessie return, alive - it's possible that she is, the ending hinted at it. And if she does, I hope they'll give her more than just a measly 4 chapters to be in but rather a more significant role like Cloud said at the end of Chapter 4 - "There's always next time."

Also, hopefully if she does come back, she'll get a Gold Saucer date of her own with Cloud, considering she's the Princess of the play that's central to that event. The remake is about changing fate and moving away from the way things were done in the OG, so this would fit right into that theme by allowing us something that wasn't possible in the OG. And by making her into a viable third option, it allows us to still have a choice after Aerith's gone instead of Tifa possibly getting him by default merely because she was the last woman standing. This would also allow SE to continue to avoid playing favorites after Aerith's departure and make fans of all three main ships happy. The HIghwind scene could possibly happen with either Tifa or Jessie, depending on whose affection is higher by that point, and letting Cloud help Jessie with something very personal to her (such as saving her dad if he's still alive, which is possible since there were plateside survivors) after he's come back to himself could potentially give them a special moment comparable to his and Tifa's in the Lifestream so each of the girls has something like that.

Jessie could even be made playable - she already has the foundation for a hybrid ranged/melee fighting style with her gun and martial skills (remember the flying kick she does in the opening scene?), though I admit it's a long shot. But her popularity has grown a lot since the remake came out, she was #4 in Famitsu's popularity poll, right behind Aerith. SE even said she was more popular than they expected. So doing things like what I've said could be a way for them to take advantage of that.

[JJ Strife]

They can't just let everyone survive! It won't be the same story at all.

[Aulayna]

Hopefully we go far enough to see Barret's sailor suit and Red XIII disguised as a Shinra troop.

[JJ Strife]

If Part 2 didn't get that far in the main story, this would be like an 8-part series.

[Del Murder]

I'm not sure Part 2 will be able to keep up with the pacing scene for scene as well as Part 1 (with several more scenes thrown in), especially with the ending with the Whispers suggesting they are seriously going to mess with established canon. However, I can't imagine they'd skip out on Gold Saucer for this episode and that's the place I'm looking forward to playing the most. Also with Cosmo Canyon (which I think they will need to get to since Red XIII will be a character), I am very interested in seeing how they re-imagine it in HD.

Also, based on how much it was mentioned in Remake, I'd expect a huge subplot with Wuitai making it a large and non-optional section of the game. Depending on when they introduce Yuffie, we may get the big Wutai part in the next game or the following game. My kids and I have a fun theory that the next game will start with Yuffie stealing all your materia and equipment outside of Midgar so you have to start the game from scratch. :p

[JJ Strife]

suggesting they are seriously going to mess with established canon

They're not gonna mess with it too much, because they know the fans would riot. Too many of the key locations and story events are iconic.

They can't change Kalm, Gold Saucer, Junon, Nibelheim, Cosmo Canyon, Rocket town, Wutai, too much without some serious backlash.
They can probably change Mideel, Gongaga, Costa Del Sol, Bone village, North Korel and most people probably wouldn't care.

That's my guess of the general fans mood. Maybe there are some people who are mad about Gongaga though, and I just haven't noticed.

[Fynn]

They're not gonna mess with it too much, because they know the fans would riot. Too many of the key locations and story events are iconic.

You really don’t know who you’re dealing with, do you

[Wolf Kanno]

Yeah we are talking about Tetsuya Nomura here.
77274

And Kitase himself said a straight remake would be boring.

[Fynn]

It’s funny to me how it turned out that it was Kitase that wanted all the off-the-wall changes while Nomura was all about sticking to the original

[Psychotic]

They're not gonna mess with it too much, because they know the fans would riot. Too many of the key locations and story events are iconic.

They can't change Kalm, Gold Saucer, Junon, Nibelheim, Cosmo Canyon, Rocket town, Wutai, too much without some serious backlash. Are people really going to riot over Rocket Town? Do people even remember the town itself outside of the actual rocket and Cid’s House?

Every one of those locations, if included, will change. We know this because they already heavily changed Midgar to suit the new gameplay. Look at how very different the Shinra Building was from the original as an example. The key thing is that it kept the feel.

Nobody will riot with changes though imho. And if they do, well, who cares? They already gave Square their money and will continue to give them their money.

[qwertysaur]

I fully expect part 2 to be heavily focus on the flashback at Kalm.

[JJ Strife]

Are people really going to riot over Rocket Town? Do people even remember the town itself outside of the actual rocket and Cid’s House?

Every one of those locations, if included, will change. We know this because they already heavily changed Midgar to suit the new gameplay. Look at how very different the Shinra Building was from the original as an example. The key thing is that it kept the feel.


Yeah that's what I meant, keep the general feel and style of it, not just copy it identically. Shinra building was a great example of something that was completely changed but was perhaps even better at recreating that same feel of extreme wealth and power. Easily one of the best locations in Remake.

I just mean don't ditch any of those locations entirely, and don't change them beyond recognition, like they did with Kalm in Dirge of Cerberus, where they took this really quaint and charming location and just turned it into 'generic medieval town #1'

And yeah I don't care about the actual town in Rocket Town. I just like the setting of a small village built around a Rocket (or vice versa) in the middle of nowhere. It felt like it was a visual metaphor for Cid's personality.

[Example]

It’s funny to me how it turned out that it was Kitase that wanted all the off-the-wall changes while Nomura was all about sticking to the original

I honestly kinda feel bad for Nomura since he cops so much flak for things that aren't even his fault. Sure he directed one of the worst movies ever made but he's far from the only thing wrong with Square Enix.

[Del Murder]

I wouldn't be surprised if they entirely skipped the Kalm flashback and instead told it throughout the game. I would be surprised if they skipped an opportunity in Costa Del Sol to put the characters in swimsuits.

[JJ Strife]

I hope they don't do that. They've already gone a bit too far without actually explaining Sephiroth as a character. It worked fine in the original because you still haven't seen him at this point.

But with him appearing a lot earlier in Remake, it's already made the logic of the story fall apart a bit. Like why do none of the other characters really ask about him at all? I mean Barret, Aerith and Red XIII weren't supposed to know who he was at that point, and even though Tifa knows who he is, it hasn't been explained yet why she does. But in Remake they all just kinda go along with everything that's happening.

Given how much Barrett is the driving force for the party for most of the first game, you'd really expect him to just bring everything to a halt and be like "So who's this guy then?".

[Lord Golbez]

I hope they don't do that. They've already gone a bit too far without actually explaining Sephiroth as a character. It worked fine in the original because you still haven't seen him at this point.

But with him appearing a lot earlier in Remake, it's already made the logic of the story fall apart a bit. Like why do none of the other characters really ask about him at all? I mean Barret, Aerith and Red XIII weren't supposed to know who he was at that point, and even though Tifa knows who he is, it hasn't been explained yet why she does. But in Remake they all just kinda go along with everything that's happening.

Given how much Barrett is the driving force for the party for most of the first game, you'd really expect him to just bring everything to a halt and be like "So who's this guy then?".

That's not true. Sephiroth was a "war hero." Everyone knows who he is. They just don't know what happened to him, Cloud's story about Nibelheim, or why he would be against Shinra now after suddenly turning up again years later. Tifa knew who he was in the seven years ago flashback before she had ever met him. In the original, Cloud even mentions stories they may have heard about Sephiroth's strength during the flashback. Cloud assumes that the rest of the party has probably at least heard of Sephiroth, and so should we.

[Del Murder]

The remake assumes you know who Sephiroth is because it assumes you played the first game. Although the characters likely know who he is, it is never explained to the player. That's terrible storytelling. All it needed was a Shinra propaganda video on a TV somewhere that showed off all Sephiroth's accolades and explains his death/disappearance.

[Lord Golbez]

That's true. Honestly, kind of surprised they didn't bother doing that in the Shinra HQ tour portion. It would have fit right in.

[Del Murder]

Yep, a perfect place for it! In fact, they covered basically everything else except him. I wonder if it was there and we missed it?

[JJ Strife]

That's not true. Sephiroth was a "war hero." Everyone knows who he is. They just don't know what happened to him, Cloud's story about Nibelheim, or why he would be against Shinra now after suddenly turning up again years later. Tifa knew who he was in the seven years ago flashback before she had ever met him. In the original, Cloud even mentions stories they may have heard about Sephiroth's strength during the flashback. Cloud assumes that the rest of the party has probably at least heard of Sephiroth, and so should we.

Yeah that's true, I was wrong to say they wouldn't know who he was. Although that's barely explained in Remake. I think the only time it's suggested is in that flashback with Cloud and Tifa as kids where Cloud says he wants to "be like Sephiroth", and Tifa doesn't question it so he's obviously quite famous (at least where they live).
But still, I kinda feel like they'd want some explanation as to what's going on, even if they did know him by name. There's basically no discussion from the time he appears in the Jenova tank place, all the way until the end, no-one stops and says "so what's going on then?"...."why can this famous soldier turn into a tentacle demon and also fly?"

[Lord Golbez]

To be fair, there's not really a lot of downtime for them to do that from that point on. That's why they wait until Kalm to ask for an explanation in the original. The problem now is that means the explanation gets delayed to another game. The only real chance I feel like they had to ask for an explanation is maybe before they venture into the fate portal thing at the end, but considering every wacky thing that's going on at that point, I'd kind of understand them being beyond the point of bothering to ask about Sephiroth in that moment.

[maybee]

It’s funny to me how it turned out that it was Kitase that wanted all the off-the-wall changes while Nomura was all about sticking to the original

I honestly kinda feel bad for Nomura since he cops so much flak for things that aren't even his fault. Sure he directed one of the worst movies ever made but he's far from the only thing wrong with Square Enix.

Yeah, it's a bit of a meme right now to hate on him. Nomura is the Nickelback of Final Fantasy.

[Example]

It's been a meme for well over a decade. I mean I can understand getting tired of Nomura's constant "style over substance" and "rule of cool" approach to storytelling, game design, character design and even filmmaking, but it seems like every time a new piece of FF media turns out to be a monumental disappointment or an unmitigated travesty, it's always somehow Nomura's fault even when he had little-to-no involvement, and people act like just as soon as Square Enix fires him they'll return to the golden age of Final Fantasy.

[JJ Strife]

Well people associate Nomura with a certain style of characters (i.e mopey emos who look like they want to be fashion models) and a certain type of storytelling and themes (overly melodramatic, slightly self-absorbed, eager to appear deep and philosophical).

Whether he actually deserves that or not, I think it's quite hard to know from outside of the company, because you never really know how much of the final product each developer is responsible for.

I would say though, the 2 main games in the core franchise that he had almost no role in, FF9 and FF12, are quite notable in how they don't exhibit any of those characteristics I described. So it might be true that he's responsible for that aspect of the series.

[Cordis]

Hello, i'm new here. I'd love to see some flashbacks. I'd love to see them dive into Sephiroth, Tifa and Cloud's past.

I'm going to deviate from the popular opinion here and say, I'd really enjoy seeing their new take on certain character changes and I'd love to get a glimpse into stories on characters like Ifalna, Lucrecia and Gast.

[JJ Strife]

Hi Cordis! I'm generally good with flashbacks too, although my only worry is that they might end up diverting resources from the storytelling in the present.

I think Ifalna and Gast stuff would work quite well when they go to Icicle Inn and visit his lab, but that almost definitely won't be in Part 2. I'm not that confident that Vincent will be in Part 2 either, given that they probably already have 3 new playable characters, in Red XIII, Yuffie and Cait Sith. I think they'll want to save Vincent and Cid for Part 3, for the sake of dividing it up between the games.

My current prediction is that Part 2 ends at Nibelheim, and so Vincent might play a similar role to what RedXIII did in Remake. He'll be revealed toward the end of the game, but won't become playable until the one after.

[Lord Golbez]

Vincent can join as a non-playable right before the climactic fight with Sephiroth in Shinra Mansion during/after which Sephiroth chucks some materia at Cloud.

[JJ Strife]

Yep, although it might be a bad location for the final boss fight given how epic they like them to be. Maybe they'll do it at Mt Nibel instead.

I do definitely think we'll get to Nibelheim in Part 2 though. If for no other reason than the simple fact that they need to design that whole area for the Kalm flashback. So it just makes good sense they'd reuse it during the same game for the sake of sharing storage space. Otherwise they need to put that whole area into 2 different games.

That's assuming they don't go with any kind of open-world approach anyway, in which case they'd need to put the same areas in all future games.

[Mr Gashtacular]

To be fair, they turned Hojo's lab from one screen to some massive dank area. I wouldn't be surprised if the Shinra Mansion now hides a lab of similar size. I would prefer a Mt Nibel final fight though, just for the opportunity of scale.

[JJ Strife]

Yeah but they're really gonna have to limit how much they expand the locations for the rest of the story, cos it'll end up taking like 6 games to finish it if they expand everything the same amount they did with Midgar.

There's almost no chance of that happening. Especially when you take into account the fact that it didn't destroy sales expectations as they probably hoped, I bet we're just looking at a 3-part story overall. Which means that almost none of the other locations will get expanded in the same way Midgar did.

[Lord Golbez]

Most locations would not be of sufficient interest to justify expanding them as much as Midgar. However, Nibelheim is a key location for the story. Some expansion may be justified.

[JJ Strife]

I'm interested in loads of them!! FF7 has one of the most interesting worlds they've ever made, imo.

That said, I don't want it to take 5 or 6 games to finish. And also, some areas wouldn't really benefit from expanding that much anyway. I mean Kalm is supposed to be a fairly small town because it's supposed to contrast directly with Midgar to show you how varied the world is. At least I assume that was part of the intention behind it.

[Lord Golbez]

WTF? How did I end up in the wrong thread when I was just responding ....

[JJ Strife]

This youtuber built a version of Kalm using Fallout 4 mods. Looks fairly good in 3D, although obviously not up to the graphical standard of Remake.

I think it nicely illustrates the idea that some locations look good if they're still quite small and quaint though. I'd definitely prefer this over the large sprawling town they did in Dirge of Cerberus.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL064MTIGUA

[Mercen-X]

Don't know how many heard or youtubed... but it was either Final Fantasy Peasant or (more likely) Night Sky Prince that read a "leaked" synopsis for Pt2 though they continued to drop the line "grain of salt", a lot of what was said made sense but some other suggestions irked me.

A lot of people would probably be thrilled to hear they won't bring back Genesis, though the reasoning is ridiculous. SE's contract with Gackt is expired and so they can no longer use his likeness... um... redesign him then. Whatever...

However, trouble seems to come in the form of Pt2 being the final installment with the caveat being that neither Cid nor Vincent will be playable in the game (Vincent may not even make an appearance). W...T...F..?

Supposedly, the entire plot will take place on Midgar continent and all vital locations (i.e. Junon, Nibelheim, Gold Saucer, maybe Cosmo Canyon and the Crater) will be conflated into this one area...... w.t.f? Yuffie will be met almost immediately, Cait Sith will ride Nanaki and fill out his moves set, and... you know, ultimately, the very idea that Pt2 could be where it ends is just unsettling to me. Particularly with the way they're proposed to be handling it.

And I'm not ashamed to admit that seeing Zack made me hopeful of getting more Genesis. There, I said it.

[JJ Strife]

Yeah that was Night Sky Prince a week or so back. I seriously hope that isn't true.
The rumour said it was because the sales weren't high enough for Part 1, so they were just gonna cut it short and finish it in Part 2.

I dunno how much I buy that. Even though the sales have definitely not been as high as most of us hoped, it's still done fairly well. Probably hit 6 million on PS4 by the end of the year. Then PC and Xbox releases next year should knock it up to at least 8 million I'd imagine.

Then you have to take into account that future installments of a series nearly always sell less than the first entry. But at the same time, future installments also have a much smaller budget because they reuse so many assets. (FFX-2 and FFXIII-2 were both developed in about 2 years). And in the case of FF7 Remake, future installments will probably do relatively well because it's not just another random story they invented after the first one. It's a continuation of the main story that people will have a strong desire to see through.

If you look at the XIII series, the sales numbers were more or less FXIII- 8 million. FXIII-2- 4 million. LR- 2 million. It really did lose its audience quite rapidly. But that seems less likely to be true with FF7. I imagine it'll be more like Part 1- 8 million, Part 2- 7 million, Part 3- 6 million, which would surely be extremely profitable overall.

[Lord Golbez]

I'm sure much of the initial dropoff was because people hated FFXIII. I haven't heard much on FFVIIR in awhile but it seemed like the initial reception was mostly positive.

[Fynn]

lol nobody asked for the XIII sequels, while the VII remake was on everyone’s lips. I sincerely doubt they’d settle for two (though tbh I’m sure people’s wallets wouldn’t complain lol)

[Lord Golbez]

To be fair, while a TON of people asked for an FFVII remake, nobody asked for it to be released over multiple games. Sure once that was definitely happening and people were resigned to that, plenty of people laid out how many parts they were hoping for/expecting, but I doubt anyone asked for it to be multi-part in the first place.

[JJ Strife]

lol nobody asked for the XIII sequels

True, although I would say I ended up liking XIII-2 significantly more than X-2, even though I like X more than XIII. So I don't think it just automatically follows from the quality of the first game.


but I doubt anyone asked for it to be multi-part in the first place.

I certainly wasn't ASKING for it, but I did say ages ago (before they announced it) that I thought it would be inevitable they divided it into several games. Just based on realizing how huge the original game world would be if translated into modern 3D. You'd be looking at probably the biggest single player game ever made. Meaning a GTA 5 type budget. Which it seems very unlikely they'd be willing to spend given that it had very little chance of selling 50 million+ copies like GTA.