Final Fantasy VII Remake

[Maf]

Spoiler

This is just thinking out loud but I wonder if splitting it up in to acts works better. I’ve said before that Midgar is my favourite part of the game, and that’s because once you leave Midgar it’s kind of jarring. Y’know, when that game starts for the first 6 hours of the prologue or however long it takes, Midgar is this entirely dystopian, cyber punk, corporation ruled, grimy, slummy city where there’s only one last band of rebels left fighting for the planet. And when you meet Aeris she is coveting the last bit of green that there is, the last bit of nature fighting against the industry and essentially the dark. Like she and her church are the ray of light. It’s always been nice and a nice little metaphor for her also.

 

But then when you leave Midgar, like right outside the front door, the grass is green, the skies are clear, the water is blue, the music is singing, there’s a chocobo farm and it’s like hang on. What happened to the planet dying, everything is fine? Shinra is still sucking the shit out of it and yes it will die but just from a setting perspective it’s really weird and for me is one of the many things in the original game that just doesn’t work narratively. 
 

I have one suspicion that the reason they are only doing the Midgar stuff first is because they really wanted to just get the gameplay and the technology down and working. Just focus on the core things that people really want to see in FF7 ring true without having to then worry about a full open world, and different travel mechanics and all that sort of stuff. This is why they are only doing act 1, which if that is the case I’m fine with and make sense to me from a production stand point. So now they have gone in to act 2 they can expand on the design and combat systems (probably) but they know what it is they’re working towards next instead of starting from scratch. 
 

But also I think it would really help stop that jarring feeling of the rug being pulled out from underneath the player. One of my frustrations with the original is how you are told what the world is, and then when you see it that’s not really true, or at least doesn’t feel true because the atmosphere and scenery is so much more brighter, nicer and softer than what was set out in the prologue.
 

I think having act 2 so separated will actually benefit the story because there will be a cleaner break for the shift in tone, atmosphere and presumably the look of the game as well. 
 

I could be wrong as well but this how I’ve thought about it for a long time. Will see how that changes when I play it, though  

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Original FFVII spoilers

Spoiler

But you can clearly see around Midgar that the sky is darker and there is no grass, telling you that it is sucking up all signs of life in that area.

 

Shinra's whole deal was to build a 'Neo Midgar' at the 'Promised Land' (which they thought was the North Pole for some reason). Shinra wanted to expand and take over the whole world. Midgar itself was like the first sign of a tumour which would eventually spread.

 

At the end of the game when Midgar is destroyed 500 years later you see it is overgrown with vegetation and nature has returned, no longer like a desert

 

(Not trying to derail here but when I see someone have a wrong opinion about FFVII well)

 

[Maf]

Spoiler

Yeah, you can see that Midgar is destroying the section is on. But the way Barrett tells it is the situation in Midgar is the situation planet wide, and you never see any sign of it until you leave. All you get of nature is Aeris, which further brings home nature is dying and there’s not a lot left. Then when you do leave it’s like oh, it isn’t actually that bad. Pockets of areas are messed up by Shinra but a lot of it is fine. In the future it would all be dead if the characters didn’t do anything. But I always found what was set up and then what you’re given are two really different things and like a lot of FF7, just doesn’t work and can be out of place. 
 

The first thing you see when you leave Midgar is this

 

 

It’s like I thought nature was dead? ? It’s not doing too bad 

EDITED

[one-armed dwarf]

Having a pretty bad time with this atm. The Wall Market section was immense and had lots of superb moments, but they 'expand' the hell out of the parts after that too, so instead of spending a few minutes in these locations you spend hours pulling levers

 

I wish Square wouldnt be so afraid to just release a short game here. It might have helped with things.

 

I guess the back half makes up for these parts

 

Played up to chapter 13, chapter 12 was a lot better. If you know the OG story you can figure out which part of it it is.

 

I like how they handle Sephiroth in this, he isnt as annoying as I expected (overexposed like Och said) and more like this weird ghost that sort of haunts the story. It's not like other depictions in AC, actually it might be the closest they've ever gotten to original Sephiroth

[one-armed dwarf]

Dare I say it.. the FFVII remake is a VII out of X game?

 

Some parts are great. But man, who asked for hours and hours of sewers.

 

Like it is hard to imagine that a game that looks like this took 5 years to make (at least). Minor location spoiler but not really a spoiler

Spoiler

 

On the other hand it's really good at action scenes

Spoiler

 

[Maf]

Yikes, I just found out this game is £60 to download and Amazon are out of stock ?

 

Anybody want to give me £20? It’s a very good deal for you, worthwhile investment ? 

[AndyKurosaki]

That’s why I never buy new games via digital. fuck that. £60, for a game with no box, or instruction manual. There’s absolutely no way to justify such a ridiculous price.

 

The sewer section is definitely the worst, least interesting part of the game. And I hate to say it, but....

Spoiler

Towards the end of the game, that exact same sewer gets used for another equally dull level.

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Someone accused me before of a lack of imagination when I imagined that Midgar would be expanded in exactly this way.

 

It really is a blessing that the combat is so incredible in this. I think it and the characters carry everything.

[AndyKurosaki]

The characters are definitely brilliant, I especially like how Wedge and Jessie are developed. 
However, there was something about the ending that didn’t sit right with me. Obviously it’s a spoiler, and this didn’t happen in the original. So I’ll obviously tag it, and say avoid until you’ve completed it. 
 

Spoiler

So in the original, Wedge, Biggs and Jessie die when Shinra drop the plate onto the Sector 7 Slums.

 

Here, that seems to be the case also. Until later, when Wedge has somehow miraculously survived, despite a massive chunk of debris being shown dropped onto him. Which did happen, as two of his three cats are never seen again, presumably dead as he was holding them at the time.

 

But right at the end, Biggs is also alive, recovering in bed at the Orphanage he used to run. How? He was shot, and appeared to die in front of Cloud. He was still on the pillar when it collapsed, so how the hell did he survive? 
 

Jessie isn’t seen again, so presumably she died. 

 

[OCH]

So "expanding" Midgar equates into Fanwank and padding. As I expected it would.

[AndyKurosaki]

I’d hardly call it “fanwank”. It gives more time for the characters to develop, which is done to a brilliant effect. In the 30 hours I put into it, the vast majority of that time i was extremely happy and entertained. It has its flaws. But it’s undeniably a considerable achievement, and it absolutely does the classic original justice.

 

”Fanwank” it most definitely is not.

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah I mean I have significant complaints but this is still a great game (albeit a great 7/10 game ?)

[Rikzilla]

20 something hours into this - Chapter 12, level 44.

 

I'm absolutely loving it so far, it feels like Yakuza and FFVII had a weird baby. 

 

The best way I could describe it to my friend the other day was "I think the best way to describe FF7R so far is, remember how we felt in '97 playing FF7 for the first time? I have that feeling again", and now he's playing it himself he shot back with "I think what they’ve managed to do is capture what was in all of our imaginations at that time" and that pretty much sums it up. 

 

I'm a huge fan of the combat now I've got my head around it. The melee stuff is basically just there to get your ATB filled quicker to unleash the real pain, so don't expect Devil May Cry or anything. Each character plays so differently though it's a lot of fun to jump between everyone see what that they can do. 

 

For the most part it looks fantastic. The world and the main cast are gorgeously rendered (apart from when the textures don't load in), but a lot of the inconsequential NPC's fall into the "lol that'll do" category as far as looks go, and it really sticks out when stood next to the main characters. 

 

There are some story decisions I'm not a fan of, but I do appreciate the filling of various plot holes from the original, and I love that certain characters get full back story's now,. It's nice to actually give a shit about people the original wanted you to give a shit about but didn't give you anything to give a shit with.

 

There are a couple of the gameplay mechanics that I really didn't like, weirdly all surrounding Sector 6 and taking the form of "puzzles" and "mini games" and some other stuff I can't talk about without going into spoiler territory.

 

So it's so far so good. I have a ways to go but it's a 9/10 from me at the moment.  

[Maf]

I was watching some of this on Twitch and I think Jesse is surprising dark horse contender for best girl 

[radiofloyd]

Played it for four hours and love it. It looks beautiful. The sector 7 slums are a work of art. Music is lovely, characters and cut scenes are great. There was a few laugh out loud moments, it’s nice to see a sense of humour back in FF. Combat is fantastic. Absolutely blitzed the first boss this time around.  
 

A+ for first impressions.

[Rikzilla]

Totally agree about the laugh out loud moments. Definitely had a few of those myself. 

[one-armed dwarf]

So just beat it now. The last chapter and a half were tremendous and emotionally overwhelming if the game this is a remake of means anything to you at all.

 

I still kind of stand by what I said tho, I do think it's a bit like a Yakuza game but that's not a series I could ever get into. The padding did hurt the experience for me. But when the game is good it is immense. Easily the best combat I've ever seen in an RPG, when the fight design is good enough to show it off (which it generally is, especially

Spoiler

Rufus, omg what a fight)

 

The best description I've seen of it is that it is less a remake and more like the HBO or anime adaptation of FFVII (tim Roger's twitter).

 

Now for spoilers, danger high voltage

 

6 hours ago, AndyKurosaki said:

The characters are definitely brilliant, I especially like how Wedge and Jessie are developed. 
However, there was something about the ending that didn’t sit right with me. Obviously it’s a spoiler, and this didn’t happen in the original. So I’ll obviously tag it, and say avoid until you’ve completed it. 
 

  Reveal hidden contents

So in the original, Wedge, Biggs and Jessie die when Shinra drop the plate onto the Sector 7 Slums.

 

Here, that seems to be the case also. Until later, when Wedge has somehow miraculously survived, despite a massive chunk of debris being shown dropped onto him. Which did happen, as two of his three cats are never seen again, presumably dead as he was holding them at the time.

 

But right at the end, Biggs is also alive, recovering in bed at the Orphanage he used to run. How? He was shot, and appeared to die in front of Cloud. He was still on the pillar when it collapsed, so how the hell did he survive? 
 

Jessie isn’t seen again, so presumably she died. 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thing is this: FFVII Remake isnt just a remake, it is a sequel set in a parallel universe. The ghosts that haunt you throughout the story are trying to ensure the events of this remade universe are going according to plan. Hence all the 'defy destiny' stuff.

 

Eg, when Cloud fought Reno he went to chop his head off at the end, the whisperers came in and stopped him because Reno still had stuff to do in the original FFVII story. The whisperers attacked sector 7 to make sure Cloud would be on the second mission, things like that. They even killed Jessie. Cause that's how it occurred.

 

This is also why they are visited by visions of things like the ending with Meteor and Aeriths death. It already happened in a different timeline.

 

So the reason Biggs is alive (and Zach, he is alive now too) is cause Sephiroth made the party fight the whisperers to stop them from allowing him to change fate. Cause the version of Sephiroth in this game has either seen the future or is the version from Advent Children trying to make it so he wins this time, cause he knows if fate follows the same path that he will lose.

 

Its hinted that Aerith had also already seen the future. She has knowledge of stuff the party doesnt, probably knows she will die too (unless that is changed too in the new timeline)

 

This is the KH stuff people were talking about. This means the next part of the remake might just be completely new stuff cause the destiny ghosts are all dead now.

 

 

So uh yea that's why Biggs isnt dead lol

 

 

I'll add that this is the best version of Cloud to exist, like the original without that game's weird translation.

 

Now to play hard mode, I need to see what Airbuster is like on that

[one-armed dwarf]

Clipped the chapter 7 boss in hard mode.

 

Spoiler

 

 

When this game is good it is incredible.

 

Anyway, I'll probably look to plat this. Although that trophy with the dresses seems like it will be annoying.

 

After I plat it maybe I'll look back at something more slow paced and plat OG FFVII. I nearly got it before I dropped it

[DANGERMAN]

I'm a few hours in. I had a weirdly tough time against some doom rats or whatever they're called. I probably needed to be using magic more, but I wasted a turn on analysing them, then having to heal. I'm enjoying it so far but it doesn't feel like it's really started yet. Because of that I'm trying not to hold against it how corridor-y it feels, which the first game felt too tbf, very linear what I played (it may have opened up later, I never played enough and I don't care)

[Rikzilla]

Just finished it.

 

I loved the combat system, even more so after it clicked. It's fast paced and absolutely devastating once I got used to ordering my other characters. I would have preferred some kind of AI control, not quite to the level of FFXII but something would have been nice.

 

I mostly loved the story. There were some changes to the original I really liked, and some I wasn't a fan of at all

 

Spoiler

I hated the idea of the whispers, and the last hour or two was essentially Kingdom Hearts.

 

I have theories about the changes, but I'm getting into it here.

 

Most of the new soundtrack was superb, and a couple of the tracks were absolute bangers.

 

I'll play it again at some point, but I'm already at level cap and after almost 44 hours played since Wednesday I'm ready for a break.

 

Solid 9/10 from me.