The Opening Cinematic has been officially released!

[Aulayna]

[Fynn]

It’s very pretty but I feel all the new stuff is redundant. The original’s built the atmosphere masterfully by just sticking to the minimum. I appreciate the effort in world-building, I just don’t think it adds anything of substance.

[Jinx]

WHERE'S THE GODDAMN PIZZA?!

[Lord Golbez]

Free the dream within.....

Yeah. I agree with Fynn. They should have started with Aeris like in the original. That starting slice of life stuff could have gone anywhere. It didn't need to fill up the opening.

[Aulayna]

I was expecting the opening to be changed somewhat as the ~60 seconds of the panning back and forth over green dots until Aerith's face appeared from the original was a bit drawn out even back then.

To me what's more jarring is how different the art style for that "slice of life" stuff seems compared to the more true to the original section. Obviously one is during the day and one is during the night, but there's a very different visual feel to them beyond that - It's kinda cool to get an impression of Midgar during the day and the wastelands devoid of life on the outskirts of Midgar, there's just something about the movements of the children that feels "off." If I wanted to be very critical of it then I'd say that, for me, the fully pre-rendered "slice of life" stuff goes into uncanny valley pretty damn quickly - I think it's just the heavy white lighting used on it, IDK. That being said, a lot of it seems to be alternate camera angles of the cinematic they made for the E3 2015 reveal so I'm guessing they made this ages ago and didn't want to leave it on the cutting room floor as cinematics like that don't exactly come cheap.

But smurf nitpicking. Overall: I have goosebumps, I am hyyyyyyyyyyyyyyype! The transition from the playground to Aerith appearing; I squee, when the logo appears and the music swells up; I'm a awe-struck 14 year old all over again, and the use of the steam from the train breaking to blanket the screen and transition from pre-rendered to the more in-engine stuff is legit. I can't wait!

(ALSO, I want to ride the Tube in Midgar...)

[Big D]

Personally, I love it. It's true to the original, but builds on it in remarkable ways. It highlights the sheer scale of the desolate wasteland surrounding Midgar, and the city itself. There's a great contrast of new and old technologies in the city, along with a pervasive, uneasy sense that natural life is being marginalised by Mako's demands on the planet. And, just as in the original, Aerith clearly knows and feels more than she's letting on. All in all, that was an evocative, atmospheric re-imagining of the opening, and it's fitting considering how much more time we'll be spending in Midgar in this version of the game.

[Mr Gashtacular]

I really like it. It's nice to see the "above the pizza" world, which wasn't seen enough in the original. I always wondered what above the plate looked like, as there's really only a few scenes depicting it in the original.

Above the plate still looks rough and grim, I can't wait to see how desolate the slums are in comparison.

[Loony BoB]

I'm cool with it. I would have preferred the darkness of night over the entire thing, although I'm glad the flashing back and forth of the train as the Bombing Mission music kicks in is still there (but it could have kicked in just a bit faster). But I like seeing new things and this allowed me to see new things, so that's okay.

Also, was heavily reminded of the Advent Children opening scenes for the daylight stuff.

[Del Murder]

It had some great polish and upgrade from the original but went on a little longer than it needed to with some unnecessary changes. However, it was still close enough that it gave me the same feels I got 20+ years ago. Which will probably sum up this entire game for me.