Issues with the narrative in FF7R that people had

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04-13-2020, 04:43 PM
tony123

Issues with the narrative in FF7R that people had

I don't know what the timeframe generally is on this site after something is released to when it is ok to talk about things freely so I'll just put everything in spoilers until the mods say it is ok.

(SPOILER) Though I thought it was an ok story and enjoyed certain elements of it at the same time it became clear that they were trying to adapt (a section) of a story of a twenty+ year old video game. FF7 was revolutionary for its time in regards to narrative however that also was a time when they were just beginning to include stories in video games. Essentially for most games back in the late '90's video game stories existed merely to connect one boss fight to the next. Around 2010 or so though gaming companies really started upping the standards for narrative storytelling in games to the point now we have games on the market that basically feel like cinematic movies that you can play.

In regards to FF7R the biggest problem in my opinion is that they tried to make a 30+ hour game out of an eight hour section of the original that was merely intended to introduce the characters to us and kick off the story. Sephiroth for instance in the first game I believe was still only a name and I'm not sure we even saw him during the Midgar section. Here in the remake though since they needed to make it feel like a complete game they showed Sephiroth way too much.

Though I enjoyed the added development they gave some of the characters at the same time I don't think they handled the cast of characters that well in regards to pacing. Characters will receive a lot of development and then just disappear from the game for probably 10+ hours for most people. In regards to Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie they receive a lot of development and then disappear and then show up again for their death scenes. Tifa and Barret disappear for long durations of the game as well. It just makes the game seem really choppy in my opinion.

I would get on the game about how unrealistically the characters act as well (Avalanche through the first part of the game just seems like a group of horny college kids who want to sleep with each other instead of an underground group of terrorist trying to overthrow the government). But characters tend not to act that realistically in JRPG's in general (these are fantasy characters instead of characters that are supposed to act realistically) so I will let that slide. My main issue is the narrative pacing in the game and the fact that I think it was a poor decision to try to make an entire game out of just the eight hour beginning of the first FF7.
04-14-2020, 02:31 PM
Nice

Quote:

Originally Posted by tony123

I don't know what the timeframe generally is on this site after something is released to when it is ok to talk about things freely so I'll just put everything in spoilers until the mods say it is ok.

(SPOILER) Though I thought it was an ok story and enjoyed certain elements of it at the same time it became clear that they were trying to adapt (a section) of a story of a twenty+ year old video game. FF7 was revolutionary for its time in regards to narrative however that also was a time when they were just beginning to include stories in video games. Essentially for most games back in the late '90's video game stories existed merely to connect one boss fight to the next. Around 2010 or so though gaming companies really started upping the standards for narrative storytelling in games to the point now we have games on the market that basically feel like cinematic movies that you can play.

In regards to FF7R the biggest problem in my opinion is that they tried to make a 30+ hour game out of an eight hour section of the original that was merely intended to introduce the characters to us and kick off the story. Sephiroth for instance in the first game I believe was still only a name and I'm not sure we even saw him during the Midgar section. Here in the remake though since they needed to make it feel like a complete game they showed Sephiroth way too much.

Though I enjoyed the added development they gave some of the characters at the same time I don't think they handled the cast of characters that well in regards to pacing. Characters will receive a lot of development and then just disappear from the game for probably 10+ hours for most people. In regards to Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie they receive a lot of development and then disappear and then show up again for their death scenes. Tifa and Barret disappear for long durations of the game as well. It just makes the game seem really choppy in my opinion.

I would get on the game about how unrealistically the characters act as well (Avalanche through the first part of the game just seems like a group of horny college kids who want to sleep with each other instead of an underground group of terrorist trying to overthrow the government). But characters tend not to act that realistically in JRPG's in general (these are fantasy characters instead of characters that are supposed to act realistically) so I will let that slide. My main issue is the narrative pacing in the game and the fact that I think it was a poor decision to try to make an entire game out of just the eight hour beginning of the first FF7.

I wholeheartedly agree. The game was padded to death and the decision to not have your characters leave Midgar was a poor one. The game would have benefited if Square ended Part 1 at the end of Junon. Way more development happens in Junon, and you get to have the flashback scene with Sephiroth at Kalm.
04-15-2020, 11:44 PM
ham

I agree with your points but I'll take the game as it is for now since it's not completed yet (though I wish they wouldn't do this anymore for future games).

(SPOILER)
I've had a lot of gripes about the padding in the game - I felt like a lot of it could've been reduced to side quests and just release a full-game instead part of a game. I think Nomura wanted to do something different with the remake and added a timeline split to the mix. Essentially, what I got from the ending was that it won't exactly track the original FF7. There are subtle differences and some key differences that happened throughout. Aerith & Sephiroth seem to understand their fate through whispers and we see flashforwards/backs of events from the past game and the prequel. It seems Aerith knew a lot more than she was letting on and the Sephiroth we encounter knew what would happen as well. I'm in the camp that part 2 might be very different from what we expect from the original FF7. Maybe that's why the pacing and story changes were what they were.