The Demo is Officially Out

[Aulayna]

Hype!

https://store.playstation.com/en-us/...VIIREMAKETRIAL

[Shiva95]

I'm currently downloading it I'm so hyped!

[Levian]

Finished playing it! I'll hide my feelings under a spoiler tag, I don't want to influence anybody who don't want any of that influencing.

(SPOILER)The visuals and audio are great obviously, it's a nice feeling when you recognize areas you've been in so many times so many years ago. Can't really clock anything in the graphics department, characters are good too. The dialogue in the original game is quite a burning trainwreck, Cloud's attitude problem in particular, so it's fun to see how they've stayed true to the awful personalities of the characters while still fleshing out the dialogue. Good move. Now, the gameplay. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth. From watching the videos I was concerned that the game would mostly want to play itself, with little input from the player. My concerns weren't gone from playing this demo, gameplay felt somewhat automatic. If the game was called something else and the characters were named Ethan and Jake, I don't think I'd care much for the gameplay, or the genre, at all. I'll probably pick up the game eventually, but it probably won't be at launch for full price.

[Aulayna]

Well, I loved it.

The graphics are completely stunning, although camera blurring is used at points to hide some of the rougher edges which is largely unnoticeable until some of the downtime segments. But the opening cinematic with Aerith and the pan-out of Midgar looks R I D I C U L O U S L Y good ingame.

I had a lot of reservations about the combat system, but figured I'd face them head-on and jumped in on Normal. It feels like FFXV combat wise (in that you can just hold the attack button down to chain combos out) but a lot more fluid. Importing the stagger system from XIII means your ATB spending abilities feel much more impactful than the magic and cross-links did in XV. Cloud's 2 combat modes feel distinctly different to each other, and switching to Barrett changes up the gameplay style completely and switching between the two is very necessary. I also found dodging some of Guardian Scorpion's attacks to be surprisingly difficult and you do get punished if you just chump everything to the face, but not enough that it feels frustrating or unfair. I was surprised how much you could get through without using ATB charge spending abilities at all though (and the charges were mostly spent on using potions), but figure it's the early part of the game so not supposed to be overly challenging.

Sadly there was no materia to dive into with the demo though.

The banter between Barrett and Cloud is very reminiscent of the bro-banter from FFXV and even just from Reactor 1 alone Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie have more personality than the original but still feel faithful. Even the layout of the reactor feels both familiar and new at the same time.

This has cranked my hype level and I can't wait for April 10th now!

Will give it another playthrough tomorrow on the Classic battle setting to see how that feels.

[Wolf Kanno]

FINALLY! I figured they were going to release the demo around the time of the game's original release. I'm downloading it now and in the middle of other projects, so it may be a little while to get around to it. It will be nice to get a better idea if this is going to be a good game on its own, or if I'm going to have to muster up my nostalgia of the original to getting around to picking this up. We'll see.

[Fox]

Came home from work 3 hours early to download it. Hehehe.

Very good! I definitely need to put in more time with the combat system to get used to it, but after I started using the shortcuts later on it really started to flow. I definitely disagree with the comment suggesting the game 'played itself,' there was more depth in the bombing mission than in OG VII's, that's for sure. At this point in the original game Cloud and Barret had 'Attack' and a couple of offensive magic spells each. Now we have attack combos which are slightly different depending on how you handle your input, you have abilities that build up stagger/do bonus damage when staggered, an alternate Stance for Cloud for slow movement but with stronger hits, counter attacks AND the ability to gain the 'Berserk' status effect at the end of a combo. Barret has his own unique ability as well with the overcharge. You have to worry about positioning, evading, blocking, countering...

There's a heck of a lot going on here, and so far: it's great stuff. I can't wait to start playing around with materia, equipment, new abilities and TIFA. TIFA TIFA TIFA TIFA <3

[Aulayna]

Just played it through on the Classic setting instead and... yeah - the game pretty much plays itself then. It uses the Easy battle difficulty (which I guess is so that it's not too punishing if the AI gets confused - which happened for me, Cloud got stuck pathing around in a circle trying to hit a Monodrive that had gone up in the air), and you can either take control directly or just input commands as and when the ATB gauges fill. I guess enemies have less health too as the whole thing felt like a walk in the park. Still, it's a nice option for those who just want to enjoy the FFVII story in better graphical fidelity without having to worry about the more hands-on part of the combat system such as evading and blocking.

(SPOILER)Also this battle theme is L E G I T

[Scotty_ffgamer]

While I’m not the biggest fan of VII, I found myself smiling the moment the demo started up. I started getting that same feeling I bet people were getting back when VII first came out and they first booted up the game. It’s so pretty, and the music was fantastic.

I didn’t get a chance to play all the way through because I have to work early tomorrow, but so far I’m feeling good about the game. Everything feels spot on, and the combat on normal seems about as good as I could hope for with an action rpg that leans more towards the rpg side of things (at least from the little I’ve played). I’m just excited about picturing how future battles and moments will be. Tomorrow I should be able to play through to the end of the demo, and we’ll see if I’m still feeling positive by the end.

[Mr Gashtacular]

I enjoyed it overall. I'll pick up the game when prices drop a little (i dont really care about special download edition stuff)

Positives:
Beautiful looking game. The intro really looked spectacular.
They seem to have fleshed out Jessie and Wedge (didn't get much time with Biggs), which is nice. I like flirty Jessis and Wedge's voice sounds exactly how it always did in my head. Scorpion battle was really fun.
Music is excellent.

Cons:
I still need to get used to the battle system, maybe the demo wasn't enough time. As someone said, there is a LOT going on. A few more battles and I think I'll be fine.
Random quips during video games have always annoyed me, so I'm not looking forward to characters repeating the same things over and over. "I'm not gonna die to no scorpion!" or whatever is a nice quip for a boss battle, but not 3 or 4 times in that battle.
The laser walls were dumb filler. Go away.

[Shiva95]

I really enjoy the demo too! The music is beautiful and I really love the banters between the characters, and the gameplay is really fune too. I'm not a fan of playing as Barret, but Cloud was really fun to play with and I can't wait to try the others!

[Wolf Kanno]

Nostalgia it is then. Just finished this tonight. Will probably have to play around with it to really get a good feel for everything. For the most part, the demo confirmed a few of my concerns, but I can see this being something I may pick up down the line. There was a part of me that was really hoping the demo would pull from the classical demos of the game and maybe let us test drive Aerith or Tifa, and perhaps access to a summon, but overall, it was a fairly well done demo.

Pros:

• Production values are pretty top notch here, no one will deny the game is pretty.
• The Command Menu does give combat a nice break up and allow more tactical fighting. I also appreciate that using items is not a free action.
• The VA work is pretty good. No real complaints except maybe Wedge since he sounds like a doofus but then I remember that's what he was...
• I liked the fact you could choose the(SPOILER) final timer for the bomb. Though even twenty minutes is really generous. I wonder if the final game will drop it down to ten.
• Switching between characters is pretty seamless, though the different playstyles of the characters can be a little difficult to accustom to when you first switch over.
• New Limit Breaks sounds interesting. I never got to see Barret's new one, but I'm intrigued we'll get a few new ones from the cast.
• I really liked the change (SPOILER)concerning the bomb, that was actually a pretty sly story change.
• They did a great job of not messing too much with the feel of the original story and characters. So I feel long time fans will be happy.
• Bombing Mission is still a great track, and the new version is pretty good.
• This might sound silly, but I appreciate the game keeping treasure chests.

Cons:

• Combat at this point, is just not for me. While I appreciate the fact there is still more tactical elements thanks to the Command Menu and enemies having certain weaknesses, the combat wasn't too impressive. Cloud just auto-combos into things. Blocking would be more helpful if there was a better way to see what all the enemies are doing, and not getting sniped from offscreen cause you were too busy trying to anticipate what the enemy you were actually targeting was doing.
• The biggest issue is that everything in this game is tanky except for a few very common enemies, but I'm including Cloud and the party in this. I mean we start the game with over a thousand HP and I never died once and I was playing on Normal difficulty. It's too easy to just tank damage from enemies and trade blows than it is to actually bother with blocking or dodging. Considering I never ran out of Potions either. This game better have a hard mode, otherwise the core design is way too easy.
• The Scorpion Boss fight drags on way too long. Just as I expected, it felt less like I was fighting a difficult boss, and more like I was just fighting an HP sponge. Despite all the pyrotechnics going on in the fight, I never felt pressured, so why did we have to drag this fight out so long? I get it, he's a starter boss, but a starter boss that takes almost ten minutes to kill? Let's be reasonable here, they should have either made him tougher or more practically made the fight take less time.
• I'm conflicted with how magic is being handled in this game. On the one hand, it's actually potent and useful, which is very good and I'm happy cause I've played too many Action RPGs where magic is usually useless after awhile. My issue is that Magic requires both MP and ATB to use, while Commands only need ATB. Why can't magic just be restricted to one thing or the other? Why does it have two handicaps in place? Like its useful, but I almost feel like its only useful because the devs programmed scenarios to make it feel useful, whereas I'm just spamming my non-MP using Braver skill over here to bring the hurt on things.
• I'm still not a fan of the Stagger mechanic, it just feels like it drags out combat more than necessary.
• I was very disappointed that I couldn't grab a few free potions off the unconscious bodies of the guards Jessie and Biggs took out like in the original.
• Also, to no ones surprise, the Compilation is referenced. Though, there is still a strong possibility the incidence referenced is different in the remake.

[Mr Gashtacular]

• I really liked the change (SPOILER)concerning the bomb, that was actually a pretty sly story change.

I actually really, really disliked this.

(SPOILER) In the original, Avalanche are responsible for all those deaths because of their direct action. Shinra respond with something far more catastrophic (plate drop), and for far more evil reasons.

Avalanche's guilt was barely addressed in the first game, mostly because the magnitude of Shinra's evil overshadowed Avalanche actions. Also because it was a controversial topic then (and now).

I enjoy Avalanche as eco-terrorists and the whole morality issues it brings up. Shifting that blame to the Big Evil we already know is a Big Evil is a pretty weak move (especially because within an hour or so of gameplay they *REALLY* commit a horrendous crime), and seems to be to allow the story writers to avoid something controversial (and compelling)

[Wolf Kanno]

• I really liked the change (SPOILER)concerning the bomb, that was actually a pretty sly story change.

I actually really, really disliked this.

(SPOILER) In the original, Avalanche are responsible for all those deaths because of their direct action. Shinra respond with something far more catastrophic (plate drop), and for far more evil reasons.

Avalanche's guilt was barely addressed in the first game, mostly because the magnitude of Shinra's evil overshadowed Avalanche actions. Also because it was a controversial topic then (and now).

I enjoy Avalanche as eco-terrorists and the whole morality issues it brings up. Shifting that blame to the Big Evil we already know is a Big Evil is a pretty weak move (especially because within an hour or so of gameplay they *REALLY* commit a horrendous crime), and seems to be to allow the story writers to avoid something controversial (and compelling)

Okay, here's the thing.

(SPOILER)The original game may have started with that premise, but it never really went there after Midgar with the exception of Cait Sith calling out Barret once in Disk 2. Considering we're dealing with a party that was otherwise law abiding and heroic for the rest of the game. It just never felt right that such an edgy opening never panned out. So I'm not surprised that SE is going to keep their record a little more squeaky clean, even if this means we'll now be dealing with the FF equivalent of "Han shot first" nonsense.

The other issue at play here is that SE just won't go there. They may occasionally kill a character here and there, but they tend to stay clear of heavy handed subject matter and VII easily has the most elements in the series. It makes sense to me that SE would choose to make Avalanche (thank god I don't have to capitalize all of it anymore) a softer brand.

The last issue at play here is that the sequence falls closer to a bit more realism. A bomb of that size could never take down a reactor realistically. Especially if Jessie only made it based off instructions she got off the web. They would have either needed multiple bombs placed in structurally sensitive areas or they made a bomb with some more pop, which I doubt Barret's meager outfit could get their hands on and would likely be the size of a truck. The funny thing was that I was actually thinking about this when I reached that point in the plot and was amused when the bomb that went off did minor damage.

Of anything, the new element simply makes new players know exactly what they are dealing with. I was curious to know if SE planned on making the top brass of Shin-Ra less cartoonish, but that moment showed me we'll still be dealing with out usual puppy kicking, mustache twirling villains we all know and love. They just decided to play their hand earlier.

[Mr Gashtacular]

My only argument would be that maybe (SPOILER)avalanche are more saboteur than terrorist, and primarily want to knock the thing offline rather than blow the entire place to smithereens. indeed, shinra making the explosion bigger would allow shinra to escalate the media outcry, etc etc Otherwise I see your points, but it stills feels like a missed plot opportunity to me.

[Example]

I was a bit confused by the lack of materia, the laser security system was a waste of time, and I'm not a fan of how they made Barret too over-the-top and dramatic, even when compared to the original, but otherwise it was everything I expected it to be.