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Thread: Playthrough thoughts thread

  1. #106

  2. #107
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    • Former Cid's Knight

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    The issue at hand is that while I can agree that Tifa is simply confused by this issue because despite Cloud not being at Nibelheim, his story is accurate to what Tifa remembers, but I do feel that it was a red flag for her and combined with some of Cloud's psychotic episodes and nearly killing Aerith twice, she never once stops to really discuss with the team that Cloud is not stable and something is wrong. If I was Barret and the others, I would be pissed that she vouched for someone like Cloud who screwed up so much and is responsible for the Meteor crisis to begin with. She makes attempts to talk to Cloud, but she never bothers talking to the team about it. If I had a childhood friend show up on my front door after several years, claimed we talked two five years earlier than I remember, whigs out all the time, and knows intimate knowledge of one of the most traumatic moments in my life despite me remembering they were not there, I don't think I'd spend my time humoring them and spend more of my time trying to get them some professional help. It just ultimately feels like a contrived element to force a bigger shock out of the player despite the game spending most of its time foreshadowing Cloud isn't right in the head. It was overkill.

    **************************************************************************************************** ****
    Update time: Didn't have a whole lot of time to play this evening. I basically did the Church sequence and reached the Sector 5 Slums and did sidequest hell until I reached the next significant plot point.

    Pros:
    • I definitely like Aerith's VA in this one. I feel she really captures her personality and still manages to convey her spunkiness. She is also just a better foil to Cloud's grumble personality and she's done more to get him to actually talk and get the rod out of his ass than Tifa and Jessie could in the last five chapters
    • Her gameplay style is interesting, her starting weapon skill is broken as all hell and she even gets an MP stealing move as a natural skill.
    • Reno and Rude were both amusing.
    • I really love the layout of Sector 5 Slums. Much closer to how I imagined the slums in the original. Sector 7 feels like a shanty town from Fallout, but Sector 5 Slums feel like people living in a landfill and making due.
    • Aerith's house may be one of the most gorgeous locations seen so far in the game. I mean it was a shock in the original, but they definitely went all Studio Ghibli in its execution here.
    • While I was sad that the barrel mini-game in the church was removed, I am happy the chandelier element existed as a callback to it at least.
    • The Nail Bat is an amusing weapon.
    • Finally got Shiva, though it took a few tries with a solo Cloud since she loves to chaincast Blizzaga at low health. Grateful I had the Ifrit materia equipped to him for the fight.
    • Likewise, I did meet up with the silly researcher kid and I have managed to fulfill all of his current quests.
    • Finally found out what all these Moogle Medals are for.
    • I'm really happy they kept the rooftop sequence from the original.
    • Despite it being a bad thing, I enjoyed watching Cloud get suplexed and then pile-drived by Rude.


    Cons:
    • Okay, the Whispers have officially overstayed their welcome after butting into one of my favorite sequences with Aerith. This is as bad as Genesis being retcon to have been at Nibelheim in Crisis Core. I am not amused.
    • Just as I figured, while I do like Aerith's gameplay design, she just can't be used effectively by the A.I. which wouldn't be a problem since switching is pretty easy, except it's obvious the game has all the enemy A.I. set up to switch targets to the player controlled character. Her survivability is better when I'm not using her, but her usefulness in battle is less effective. So it has been a bit annoying in combat to have to keep switching back and forth between her and Cloud just to have a workable party. This game should have used a limited version of XII's Gambit system. There is some materia that works a bit like a gambit set-up but I really feel it should have just been a separate thing.
    • I feel the padded nature of the game is running a bit thin here. I'm feeling very conflicted with the sidequests cause I do feel they add to the characters and setting, but I also find they are disruptive to the narrative. I blame being far too familiar with the original. I'm at the point where I wish we could just get on with things.

  3. #108

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post
    • I feel the padded nature of the game is running a bit thin here. I'm feeling very conflicted with the sidequests cause I do feel they add to the characters and setting, but I also find they are disruptive to the narrative. I blame being far too familiar with the original. I'm at the point where I wish we could just get on with things.
    That is the worst-paced part of the game in my opinion. You can return to that area later though, so don't stick around for too long on your first visit.

  4. #109

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    You can't technically return to the area. But after completing the game, you can return to the chapter. Or you can just create a save game and come back to it. Although loading a save file that exists prior to say, cometing the game on hard mode, will not preserve such accomplishments, so take precautions.
    Jack: How do you know?

    Will: It's more of a feeling really.

    Jack: Well, that's not scientific. Feeling isn't knowing. Feeling is believing. If you believe it, you can't know because there's no knowing what you believe. Then again, no one should believe what they know either. Once you know anything that anything becomes unbelievable if only by virtue of the fact you now... know it. You know?

    Will: No.

    If Demolition Man were remade today

    Huxley: What's wrong? You broke contact.
    Spartan: Contact? I didn't even touch you.
    Huxley: Don't you want to make love?
    Spartan: Is that what you call this? Why don't we just do it the old-fashioned way?
    Huxley: NO!
    Spartan: Whoa! Okay, calm down.
    Huxley: Don't tell me to calm down!
    Spartan: What's gotten into you? 'Cause it sure as hell wasn't me.
    Huxley: Physical relations in the way of intercourse are no longer acceptable John Spartan.
    Spartan: What? Why the hell not?
    Huxley: It's the law, John. And for your information, the very idea that you suggested it makes me feel personally violated.
    Spartan: Wait a minute... violated? Huxley what the hell are you accusing me of here?
    Huxley: You need to leave, John.
    Spartan: But Huxley.
    Huxley: Get out!
    Moments later Spartan is arrested for "violating" Huxley.

    By the way, that's called satire. Get over it.

  5. #110

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mercen-X View Post
    You can't technically return to the area. But after completing the game, you can return to the chapter. Or you can just create a save game and come back to it. Although loading a save file that exists prior to say, cometing the game on hard mode, will not preserve such accomplishments, so take precautions.
    Say what?

    You definitely can return to the Sector 5 slums area. It's available right up until you climb up to the plate.

    Are you confusing it with Sector 7 slums?

  6. #111
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    • Former Cid's Knight

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    Update Time: I am currently in Chapter 11 I think? I'm polishing off the Training Graveyard.

    Pros:
    • Sector 6/Wall Market was a blast. Even though it has a bunch of extra stuff to do, it never felt quite as padded as other sections. Probably helped by the fact it's the only town part of Midgar you spend any significant amount of time in.
    • While the scenario concerning getting the dresses and into Corneo's mansion is changed significantly, the new stuff is just as amusing and fun as the old one.
    • I bombed the first dance off with Andrea despite being pretty good with Rhythm games because I was laughing too much. I got a really good score when I reloaded my save and tried again.
    • The new characters in this section were all amusing. I wonder if Chocobo Sam is going to turn out to be related to Chocobo Bill and his crew later on.
    • For those wondering, I wound up getting all three classic outfits for the team instead of the new ones, simply cause I wanted to see these outfits in high-def.
    • I was very happy they kept the amusing bodybuilder characters. I figured they were going to be axed but was happy to see them return, simply toned down so they weren't as offensive.
    • The Battle Arena was amusing. The Hell House was an amusing surprise, though I found the fight more annoying than fun.
    • Weird that the Fat Chocobo is now a separate summon, but it was fun getting them regardless.
    • I'm happy the whole Don Corneo scene was largely untouched, though I do wish they kept the joke where Cloud says Barret is his boyfriend.
    • The three recurring bandits are amusing.
    • I find it amusing that the All Materia is kind of a superflous materia in the original, but here, the Magnify materia is actually pretty useful.
    • Glad the Hardedge is still a pretty badass weapon. Like the new redesign as well. Speaking of, Aerith's Mythril Scepter is also just as broken as it was in the original.
    • Happy I finally discovered how you unlock new Limit Breaks.
    • While their roles were largely removed, I was happy to see some of the familiar NPCs of Wall Market are still here like the Materia Shop owner, the crazy guys running the weapon shop, and the Ramen chef.
    • I do appreciate the fact the game is trying more to establish a real relationship between Aerith and Tifa that doesn't center on fighting for Cloud's affection.


    Cons:
    • Man, what is up with this game dragging dungeons out indefinitely? I mean do we really need to turn them into full chapter sequences? I never thought I would get out of the sewers, and to have it segue into the long ass Train Graveyard sequence has been a drag on the game's story pacing. I'm already dreading the plate battle, cause I imagine it's going to take five times as long as the original.
    • I am really disappointed in the Steal materia. Not only does it feel like it has an abysmal success rate, but since all the good stuff is now relegated to hidden chests in dungeons or quest rewards, it's not like enemies have anything worth stealing.
    • Speaking of bad materia, Independent Materia really loses a lot of it's luster in this game. I'm sure it's going to be super useful in hard mode where the extra HP/MP or stat gains will come in handy, but so far they've all been collecting dust in my inventory. Partly cause I just don't have enough slots to spare for them, and largely because the weapon upgrade mechanics make them moot since several of the upgrades raise your stats.
    • Combat has been a real mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I feel that for cannon fodder enemies, it has reached a real good balance of the fights being tough enough to warrant using skills and magic to make it go smoother, but the fights are still fast and frantic enough to not overstay their welcome. I can't say the same with boss fights though. These just drag on forever and I'm getting annoyed how often I Stagger a boss only for them to activate a cutscene to switch their mode and change the stagger gauge back to zero, forcing me to start over. Staggering really does just make boss fights drag on in this game. Not helping things is the lazy party A.I. that is too passive for their own good. It's been really annoying getting into a few fights where things would go smoother if both Aerith AND Tifa were actually being played to their full potential instead of only one working well cause I'm controlling them. This game needs an online co-op mode or something. I get that the design of the game is that it wants the player to consistently switch between party members in order to mimic the originals ATB system, but the action based combat makes it so there is often too much going on in battle to effectively use everyone proficiently. Not helped that the ATB bar only fills quickly when the player is actually controlling things, so too often I would love to activate one of Tifa or Aerith's special abilities that boost their basic skills but since they only have a single ATB bar filled and because the boss pulled off a devastating blow my non-controlled party stood there and blocked with their faces, I have to waste the turn on healing/reviving instead. I'm grateful I can control the whole party directly, so at least I can avoid the FFXIII issue of half my battle strategy was working around the faulty A.I. but I don't think it's quite where it needs to be yet. I'm hoping the sequel episodes will tinker around here a bit and fix this issue.
    • This is largely going to come down to how Episode 2 handles things, but I also feel the game may have shot itself in the foot by letting power creep come into the gameplay. I feel like they should have capped materia growth like your levels so you have something to look forward to in the sequels, cause I'm not sure how fun it's going to be to have to either relearn all these skills or watch as the games add more suffixes to elemental materia to give them higher ranks. They should have handled this like the .hack//: games did.

  7. #112

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post

    • Man, what is up with this game dragging dungeons out indefinitely? I mean do we really need to turn them into full chapter sequences? I never thought I would get out of the sewers, and to have it segue into the long ass Train Graveyard sequence has been a drag on the game's story pacing. I'm already dreading the plate battle, cause I imagine it's going to take five times as long as the original.
    The only good part about that is it does make Midgar feel huge. It's less meaningful in a place like the sewers of course. But in some parts I really appreciated how it'd been padded out. The climb up to the plate, and then the entire Shinra building area, are examples of where the padding really does help with the world building, in my opinion.

  8. #113
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    • Former Cid's Knight

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    Quote Originally Posted by JJ Strife View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post

    • Man, what is up with this game dragging dungeons out indefinitely? I mean do we really need to turn them into full chapter sequences? I never thought I would get out of the sewers, and to have it segue into the long ass Train Graveyard sequence has been a drag on the game's story pacing. I'm already dreading the plate battle, cause I imagine it's going to take five times as long as the original.
    The only good part about that is it does make Midgar feel huge. It's less meaningful in a place like the sewers of course. But in some parts I really appreciated how it'd been padded out. The climb up to the plate, and then the entire Shinra building area, are examples of where the padding really does help with the world building, in my opinion.
    I would appreciate the scale better if I felt it was meaningful to the narrative. Instead my patience is grinding slowly away.

    I feel my real issue here is that if the game hadn't padded itself so much with these extra long dungeons and HP sponge bosses, we could have had an Episode 1 that would have contained all the events of the starting continent. The game feels padded for the sake of padding as opposed to making the narrative better.

  9. #114

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    Yep those were my thoughts exactly. The total amount of padding could probably be swapped out for the rest of the first continent. Even though some of the padding I enjoyed, I still would've happily switched it out for more story content.

    But there is a very specific reason they chose to end at Midgar. It's not just that it seemed a convenient place to end. You'll realize once you've finished why they chose to do that.

    The upside is that it probably means there'll be a bit less in the next game.

  10. #115
    Depression Moon's Avatar
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    One thing I thought I was going to see when this got announced as being only in Midgar is that we would see all 8 Sectors in Midgar. It;s been years since I've played VII, but I think the three in here are the same 3 we saw back then. Just a teensy eensy little disappointment there.

  11. #116

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    is it explicitly stated where Jessie's parents live? I don't recall if they stated which sector, and the length of the bike race suggests it could be pretty much anywhere.

  12. #117
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    Update Time!

    Just finished the pillar sequence and reached Aerith's house to hear her backstory from Elmyra.

    Pros:
    • Didn't realize I was going to have to fight Eligor, nice treat.
    • Finally, the game gives us a few bosses with worthwhile items to steal. Switching to Tifa with her higher speed helped the steal %.
    • Overall, I like how the pillar sequence worked out, even if I had to still deal with the whispers.
    • The rematch with the Turks was nice, and I appreciate Reno getting his signature Pyramid attack.
    • Is it mean of me to say that I was more sad about Wedge's cats getting killed in the plate fall than the rest of Avalanche?
    • I did like that we get to play Aerith's parts of the events. I mean this is the type of stuff I was hoping for with the "expanded" narrative.


    Cons:
    • Still don't like the Whispers. Though I think I've finally just resigned myself to having them being here now which is a bit depressing.
    • I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have missed a weapon for Barret somewhere. It just feels weird I only have two weapons for him while everyone else has like four or five to play with.
    • The Provoke materia is useless. Still didn't stop both Turks tag teaming whoever I was controlling in battle.
    • I only have one more task to do or the stupid researcher kid, but it involves that Refocus Materia which only activates when I use Limit Breaks, and thankfully, unlike the original, getting a full Limit Meter is actually a challenge. I have only seen Barret use his limit break once and Tifa has only managed to use her twice. I doubt even Cloud has used Cross-Slash ten times at this point and I think he's only used Ascension twice. So my point is that this challenge is going to be a bit harder to pull off. I'm hoping I can cinch it when I go back to the Coliseum to get Barret and Tifa's second Limit Breaks.

  13. #118

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post

    • I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have missed a weapon for Barret somewhere. It just feels weird I only have two weapons for him while everyone else has like four or five to play with.
    Nope, there are just 4 different weapons available for him in the last few chapters. (so only 2 in the first half)

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Gashtacular View Post
    is it explicitly stated where Jessie's parents live? I don't recall if they stated which sector, and the length of the bike race suggests it could be pretty much anywhere.
    Yeah it does mention Sector 7 at several points in that chapter. They live directly above Tifa's bar.
    Last edited by JJ Strife; 05-12-2020 at 02:12 PM.

  14. #119
    Depression Moon's Avatar
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    I too felt like I missed a weapon for Barret. I ended with Big Bertha, but since Cloud got another one I felt like Barret and maybe Tifa had another one I missed out on.

  15. #120

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    I didn't get the EKG Cannon until Chapter Select. Still don't think it's a very useful weapon.
    Jack: How do you know?

    Will: It's more of a feeling really.

    Jack: Well, that's not scientific. Feeling isn't knowing. Feeling is believing. If you believe it, you can't know because there's no knowing what you believe. Then again, no one should believe what they know either. Once you know anything that anything becomes unbelievable if only by virtue of the fact you now... know it. You know?

    Will: No.

    If Demolition Man were remade today

    Huxley: What's wrong? You broke contact.
    Spartan: Contact? I didn't even touch you.
    Huxley: Don't you want to make love?
    Spartan: Is that what you call this? Why don't we just do it the old-fashioned way?
    Huxley: NO!
    Spartan: Whoa! Okay, calm down.
    Huxley: Don't tell me to calm down!
    Spartan: What's gotten into you? 'Cause it sure as hell wasn't me.
    Huxley: Physical relations in the way of intercourse are no longer acceptable John Spartan.
    Spartan: What? Why the hell not?
    Huxley: It's the law, John. And for your information, the very idea that you suggested it makes me feel personally violated.
    Spartan: Wait a minute... violated? Huxley what the hell are you accusing me of here?
    Huxley: You need to leave, John.
    Spartan: But Huxley.
    Huxley: Get out!
    Moments later Spartan is arrested for "violating" Huxley.

    By the way, that's called satire. Get over it.

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