Final Fantasy VII Remake

[bellow]

I really liked XV, but even I'm surprised by that last comment.

[one-armed dwarf]

Tbh I preferred KH3 also. Not XV tho, yuck.

 

Just out of interest I started up FFXIII on PC to have a look at it, knowing that it's by the same team as this. That game also does the pre-rendered backgrounds like VII does but they seem much higher quality, given that these assets were never supposed to be seen at 4K resolution.

 

 

It's a mix of 2D and 3D that makes the effect (mostly) work

 

The spoiler block is cause it's a screenshot that's big, not cause it's a spoiler

 

Looks pretty good still for a 10 year old game.

Spoiler

 

[Rikzilla]

I prefer this to KH3, I found that game utterly disappointing story-wise until the last couple of hours, and the Frozen and Big Hero 6 worlds were awful. I don't actually remember much else about it. 

 

I've just finished hard mode on this, and I did not enjoy that final fight at all thanks to the bullshit aggro mechanics. 

 

Just got a few more trophies to mop up and that's the platinum. 

[DisturbedSwan]

32 minutes ago, bellow said:

I really liked XV, but even I'm surprised by that last comment.

 
You haven’t played this ?

[one-armed dwarf]

I knew Tifa's parry materia seemed a bit broken, like it can sort of cancel attacks I think. But I didn't realise that it could be used to juggle enemies too

 

[bellow]

2 hours ago, DisturbedSwan said:

 
You haven’t played this ?

No. I won't play it. Played the demo tho.

 

I was really referring to the universal praise for the remake, and the lacklustre reception for XV. 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Fair enough, for me I’d say so far the critical response to this is a little overrated and to XV as a little underrated. Only way to see where you stand is to play it though @bellow

 

Also, the critical reception to XV was actually good (81% average on MC) it’s just the vocal minority of fans who hated it managed to drown everything else out (as usual). 

[one-armed dwarf]

I think a lot of Remake's appeal lies in how you feel about the first game tbh.

 

Like I cried lots when playing this game, in spite of my withering takes above. In a way that no other game has made me feel.

 

That's partly why it might get a ratings bump. When it hits it hits hard, but it's also hard to explain why simple scenes of characters talking have that kind of impact or the way a track of music is played. This game is very aware of the legacy of the original and takes advantage of it. On the face of it it just seems like nostalgia baiting but imo it's more like how MCU fans feel about scenes in a film that don't seem that impactful to outsiders (like myself). I can see the other side of that with this game here and actually get it

[Rikzilla]

And that's the platinum!

Spoiler

 

[one-armed dwarf]

So what you think of (endgame spoils)

Spoiler

it not really being a remake but about changing the outcome of the original game?

 

Those last few boss fights are not fun. Even the last one which should be fun isn't. Chapter 17 bosses would have made a better final boss rush.

[Rikzilla]

Spoiler

I enjoyed the ending far more on my second playthrough, I actually really like it now. 

 

I still hate the whispers though. I love the idea, I just think the design and execution is horrible - when they're all swarming together they look like sperm.

 

It's such a superficial thing but if they looked better I think it would have been less jarring. Even something like none descript green wisps would have been better, at least then it would have looked like it was related to the life stream.

 

But no, Nomura is gonna Nomura and instead we got something that looks like a KH1 design was left out in the sun for too long.

 

Super excited about what's to come next though, and looking forward to speculating with everyone for the next couple of years.

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Speaking of the ending I watched that EZA podcast I posted somewhere else the other day

Spoiler

Max doesn't shut up on it and barely gives any of the EZA crew time to share their own thoughts, which I found disappointing. I get that he's the internet's biggest VII superfan or whatever but geez.

 

Some of his theories are interesting though. Like I think they are way overthought and probably wrong, but I like the one he had about FFVII being a Groundhog day loop and the very last scene of original FFVII (Aeris' looking into the camera after meteor is destroyed) is supposed to flow into the Remake opening. I don't think that's what they're going for here at all though. Instead of actual time travel it's more like magical deja vu or something that the characters are experiencing

 

[Rikzilla]

Spoilers for Remake AND Original ahead. You have been warned. 

 

Spoiler

I interpreted as the Lifestream is kinda like the Speed Force in DC comics in that it exists everywhere at once at all points in time, and after his defeat in VII (or even Advent Children) a part of Sephiroth's conscience is still in the Lifestream and has used it to travel back to the point before the party get together to change his fate.

 

Sephiroth being here now is like a stone being dropped into a pond, by just being in Midgar at present he is already changing his own fate. He's an infection and the whispers are the planets white blood cells trying to keep everything on track.

 

We know Sephiroth is from the future because he knows who Cloud is. When they meet face to face for the first time in the original game it's on the ship to Costa Del Sol and Sephiroth has no idea who Cloud is.

 

Alot of the head fuckery was in the original, it's the Jenova cells in Cloud reacting to Sephiroth, but the Arbiter showing the party flashes of the future is another attempt at the planet trying to protect itself, but seeing Aerith die no doubt had the adverse effect.

 

As for Zack, I don't know. Snap is designed differently in the Zack scene so it could be alluding to a multi verse, or Snap was just redesigned in the short time after Zack's last stand which wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen.

 

Maybe Zack surviving is also part of Sephiroth's plan. It's the death of Zack that puts everything into motion for Cloud, but without Cloud being a merc and ultimately Aerith dying there would be nothing to stop him. If Aerith was still alive she wouldn't have been able to will the Lifestream to stop meteor.

 

I think a lot of the weird shit is going to be explained away as "just Lifestream stuff", and honestly I'm ok with that. I don't need the spectacle to be weighed down with fake science.

 

[Rikzilla]

I'm playing through again on normal to capture footage for a spoiler talk video.

 

I'm taking most bosses out with 2 spells and a limit break ?

[one-armed dwarf]

16 minutes ago, Nag said:

After I finished this on Sunday I went straight ahead and restarted it from Chapter One on normal again to chase some trophies I'd missed... for all the bitching and whingeing about the combat I'm really enjoying feeling like an overpowered badass during the early game. Who knows, after finishing this run I may attempt hard with a fully levelled up, maxed materia team.

Yeah you level up fast on chapter select, which is nice.

 

I got some good materia strats if you need them (hint: purple materia is great in this)

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah it's broken on Tifa. FFVIIr doesn't have cancelling except it seems like it does with Tifa and parry materia.

 

Don't neglect ATB assist. It gives your party members a big ATB boost if the member with it equipped uses the same ATB action twice in a row. Could be useful for Tifa if she uses unbridled strength, or Cloud if he spams focus thrust. Maybe just give it to whoever you use the most. You only get one I think/

 

Skill master gives you ATB for using 2 (or is it 3?) different techniques. So that is nice too.

 

Steadfast block is good for characters that aren't Cloud and don't have punisher mode. Eg, Barret. Maybe Aerith. ATB boost while taking damage while guarding, so you can get a skill ready while turtling up

 

These are just a few ideas I have anyway. Obviously you will also want at least one character loaded up on loads of magic materias, they will not get to have loads of pink ones.

 

I really like the way they did the system in this. You don't have a lot of materia slots but it really forces you to work within your limits and really spec out different characters.

[Jimboxy]

From this point forward, can we please use the following thread for all general FF chat, so each game thread doesn't descend in to wider chat about the Final Fantasy games. 

 

From this point forward, off game discussion about wider Final Fantasy games will be deleted.

[one-armed dwarf]

Spoiler

Imagine how Disturbed Swan will feel. He's deliberately avoiding 1997 FFVII spoilers so he can experience Advent Children's parallel universe sequel fresh.

 

To your question I did see some stuff on twitter translated from Ultimania which suggests the three Whispers you fight are time traveling incarnations of Sephiroth's remnants from Advent Children, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo who are manifestations of his cruelty, intelligence and strength respectively trying to maintain their existence in the future

 

I hope this makes sense to you because it is very easy to understand.

 

[Rikzilla]

I noticed a little Easter Egg last night.

 

Spoiler

When Cloud gets recognised in the ShinRa building by the guy he trained with the dude says "I'm going to go an get Kunsel"

 

Kunsel is the SOLDIER 2nd Class who gives Zack all his training emails in Crisis Core. He's one of Zack's best friends.

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Uh, Remake and original spoilers. I know we have rules about discussing different games in different threads but its impossible to talk about this game and ignore the game it is remaking

Spoiler

I've always been in favour of a Rebuild of Evangelion type situation. I'm not saying that now just to be fashionable (we talked about it in the news thread last year so it's on this site), but I much prefer the idea of using Midgar as a springboard to tell new stories than to slowly tell the exact same story over a decade.

 

But I don't think the execution here is very good. Partly cause as 'crazy' as FFVII can be the weirdest stuff always was consistent with the cosmology of its universe. Like its world is this weird convergence between magic, science and mysticism. Sephiroth is a mutant who doesn't fit in the ecosystem of the Planet and causes a virus to spread which allows him to challenge the life of the Planet itself. It's all super consistent and works really well if you think of Jenova and its 'children' as viruses and infected hosts.

When you bring in time travel then that's something completely separate.It's hard to to accept this new part of VII's plot. It's got nothing to do with Jenova, or powers or aliens or anything else and hurts speculation about future parts cause of how ill fitting it currently feels.

 

I've seen theorized that the whispers are some manifestation of the Planets will, but I feel they did that much better before with the Weapons trying to kill all humans cause it saw them as a threat, or the Lifestream destroying meteor. If the planet can send stuff back in time then it's something we've never really seen hinted at I think.

 

Dunkey's review

Spoiler

 

 

"Old game, you grind the combat to get to the story. New game you grind the story to get to the cool boss fights"

 

Wow he described my playthrough perfectly lol