Comments (spoilers galore)

So I finished this today after it was finally released to the UK a couple of weeks ago :D

Cracking game. My thoughts are...

* Plenty of puzzles and such, but it could probably do with more.

* I thought it was incredibly short. Just as it was getting going it was over?

* As well as a much longer game, I was fully expecting SE's usual... bringing back one of the enemies e.g. Rosso over and over again when you think you've defeated em. But no, with the exception of Nero once, when they were dead they were dead.

* Fantastic storyline, really absorbing/gripping and great to hear things about Vincent that I guess were often hinted at in FFVII but not really explored.

* What's with the ending music, they basically took the soundtrack from the trailer that was released years ago, including the muffled / low quality sound and those bits of voice-overs, and shoved it in?

* Loved the twists at the end, I was sure Vincent had sacrificed himself and that the end was the end, only to find that the real ending was after the credits and that he survived. In a way it's like every other FF ending, as they've always had the "nice bit" after the credits but it seemed a lot more prominent here.

* I'd have liked to control some of the other characters at some point such as Cloud and Yuffie, maybe let us control the van when Barrett's driving etc. Vincent would remain the star and main player, just let me have a crack at "being" Cloud again instead of watching him. It was soooo weird having Cloud as an NPC.

* I wish we could've seen more of the actual town of Nibelheim and maybe Rocket Town or Wutai, but I guess they wouldn't have really been relevant without major changes to the story. What we did see of old locations was excellent.

* I loved most of the boss fights. Some were just plain annoying (that one where you're trying to shoot the chinook type thing down and gargoyles and robotic spiders keep coming out of nowhere) but some were really cool (Rosso, etc). I was frequently reminded of the cyberdemon boss in Doom 1, where you have to keep running out of the way, spotting patterns and then getting a few shots in bit by bit.

There's more but I'll add them when I think of them. Overall an excellent game and a perfect follow-up to FF7. It could've been a lot longer, but I enjoyed it.

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Originally Posted by Cloudane

So I finished this today after it was finally released to the UK a couple of weeks ago :D

Cracking game. My thoughts are...

* Plenty of puzzles and such, but it could probably do with more.

i wouldn't say puzzles have much to do with this game but there are things like shooting the right barrels and stuff to kill a chain of enemies.

* I thought it was incredibly short. Just as it was getting going it was over?

true. theres about 10 hours of gameplay in the main story but seems as its a shooting game and the story seemed good enough im o.k with it. if they made it a 15-20 hour game, it would probably be boring and too long for what it is.

* As well as a much longer game, I was fully expecting SE's usual... bringing back one of the enemies e.g. Rosso over and over again when you think you've defeated em. But no, with the exception of Nero once, when they were dead they were dead.

well they do bring hojo back. and there are repeated bosses but nothing like ultros or gilgamesh. i wasn't really expecting a villain that keeps on turning up to foil your plans.

* Fantastic storyline, really absorbing/gripping and great to hear things about Vincent that I guess were often hinted at in FFVII but not really explored.

yep. some people say the spinoffs are pointless but i like the addition to the story.

* What's with the ending music, they basically took the soundtrack from the trailer that was released years ago, including the muffled / low quality sound and those bits of voice-overs, and shoved it in?

you mean the gackt song? meh. i dont know about that.

* Loved the twists at the end, I was sure Vincent had sacrificed himself and that the end was the end, only to find that the real ending was after the credits and that he survived. In a way it's like every other FF ending, as they've always had the "nice bit" after the credits but it seemed a lot more prominent here.

at first when i saw the purple/pink chaos thing i thought vincent was dead but while the credits were playing i thought that it just didn't make sense for him to die for some reason. that was just instinct though. and i also though it would be a bit stupid for him to die. hes a main character of FF7 and i dont know how the fans would react to him dieing.

* I'd have liked to control some of the other characters at some point such as Cloud and Yuffie, maybe let us control the van when Barrett's driving etc. Vincent would remain the star and main player, just let me have a crack at "being" Cloud again instead of watching him. It was soooo weird having Cloud as an NPC.

i was hoping to play as yuffie or at least have some NPCs help in battle. i wasn't expecting loads of playable characters but more NPCs that actually do something, would be nice.

* I wish we could've seen more of the actual town of Nibelheim and maybe Rocket Town or Wutai, but I guess they wouldn't have really been relevant without major changes to the story. What we did see of old locations was excellent.

yeah. people refer to some locations but there not really important.

* I loved most of the boss fights. Some were just plain annoying (that one where you're trying to shoot the chinook type thing down and gargoyles and robotic spiders keep coming out of nowhere) but some were really cool (Rosso, etc). I was frequently reminded of the cyberdemon boss in Doom 1, where you have to keep running out of the way, spotting patterns and then getting a few shots in bit by bit.

some bosses were fun or challenging but some were just frustratingly hard. arch azul was just annoying and not fun. i beat him fine but it was pretty annoying. i enjoyed the shelke fight and have replayed it a lot of times because its easy but fun.

There's more but I'll add them when I think of them. Overall an excellent game and a perfect follow-up to FF7. It could've been a lot longer, but I enjoyed it.

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Thanks for your counter-comments! All true enough

In some ways I think of this a bit like FFX-2 (of course it's vastly different) - in that it's... easy and fun, even the end boss. That said, I did play it in normal mode to start off with - I'm sure the 'hardcore' mode would be a lot more challenging. It'll be a matter of working up to that, which is fine as it's an addictive enough game that I won't mind playing it again a couple of times.

It's a fair point that a shooter doesn't tend to be as long as an RPG. I guess it makes it all the more replayable. 15 hours would've been a nice length, but you're right - maybe anything longer than that would've got a bit tedious in this genre. I'm just soooo used to Final Fantasies being big epic things that take forever hehe

As for if Vincent would've died - well they've done it before with Aerith, and that FF movie where everyone died except the main character and it had a very bittersweet ending. I'm sure I've seen it done in other shooters (MGS might've, I've only played the first one though) and even one of the early 2D FFs. I'm really glad they kept him alive though - and knowing the FF7 spinoff churning machine it leaves the door open for more with him as the main character ;)

I dont think vince will be quite the same in the new FF7 games (if there are any after crisis core) And I dont think they will make another FF shooter... for a while. But I throughly enjoyed the game and only died a handful of times half do to my own wish to improve my gun :) Genisis will be a welcome addition in the gets ass kicked club. Im like you cloudane an am working up to Ex hard.
On a finishing note I would just like to display my pleasure for when Vincent breaks Azul's barrier then says to Reeve "You shouldnt leave those lyin' round"

yeah. i did find quite a few parts of the game funny. like when you see the clumsy guy from the highwind crew, in FF7, working on the shera.

"hey vincent! remember me. im from the highwind crew?"
but dont worry, your safe in my hands though.
hey wait a minute. where'd this button come from?!
what!..er.. no. you didn't hear anything!"

yuffie was pretty annoying but i found it funny.

i was sort of hoping for a half decent fight between rosso and cloud in that FMV but it just shows about two moves and some exposion. oh well.

^^ Yes. They turned Yuffie into Rikku Mk. II, which I found annoying/disappointing.

with the cloud v rosso fight rosso wouldnt of survived we all know cloud is the ultimate fighter and wwell Vince just shat on rosso azul nero weiss and omega so cloud site on them with his ass stapled up.