Final Fantasy VII Remake

[Maf]

Fall Guys happened. I’ve not given up on it at all. I like it a lot and will get back to it at some point. 

[one-armed dwarf]

That's how Shinra wins

[one-armed dwarf]

Chip Cheezum doing a LP of FFVII Remake now

 

 

There's a surprising amount going on in this game's systems and the LPs these guys did for Metal Gear Rising and Phantom Pain were really good at picking stuff like that apart.

 

Wonder if they will explain how the fuck to play as Aerith.

[Maf]

I picked this up again yesterday for a couple of hours. Went from the train to the slums and did the 3 or 4 side quests. 
 

One of them was beating a big dog and man was it hard to do. It cost me a Phoenix Down but I managed it. The other quest I haven’t finished yet is to kill a Drake in a factory. To get there I need a key card which is in a room I can’t access. I put the pad down there because I couldn’t work out how to get in the room.

 

Also met the character that gave me the Assess Materia and am unclear how I complete his missions. Do I have to Assess enemies once, multiple times, complete battle records. I dunno. 
 

I really liked playing as Tifa. Her punching is really satisfying. It also made me jump when I was fighting a flying enemy and press square and Cloud launched himself into the air I was like what the fuck the game never said you could do that. It’s cool, though.

 

I might need to get better at the combat but so far I think it’s maybe too fast for how mashy it is. I got killed a few times yesterday because enemies were attacking me while I was stuck in an animation I couldn’t cancel out of with the dodge or block. Which makes me think the game wants me to play in a very controlled style. But then most of the combos come from holding the button down while Cloud goes nuts so I don’t know what it wants. It’s like it wants me to be controlled but the way it actually plays is mashy. Maybe I need to get better but I don’t get it. 
 

I also don’t like how Cloud switches back to weak mode when you roll. Why the game won’t let me move in strong mode I dunno. 

[one-armed dwarf]

It does want you to play in a very controlled way. The best way I can find to describe its combat is it's like a real time take on FFXIII trying to be Dark Souls

 

 

I've heard from lots of people who couldn't figure the combat out even after completing the entire game so it's not just you I guess. You need to sort of suppress your Bayonetta/DMC instincts a bit, like if you do a single combo string after one enemy attacks you you might be fine but if you start to do a second one you'll probably get interrupted. 

 

I think this is the fight you might be talking about

 

The game isn't always very good at telegraphing bullshit that's going to hit you but more often than not you're picking openings to do the mashy attacks to build up ATB for the actual consequential skills.

 

One annoying thing I find about that strong stance for Cloud is his AI is programmed to spam roll to close distance, which is stupid and it means the AI will never ever stay in 'Punisher' mode for more than a single attack string. 

 

Spoiler

You get a materia later on which lets you dodge while in punisher stance

 

[Maf]

No I haven’t seen that fight yet. I mean it was like a big dog that head charges Cloud and Tifa and knocks them the fuck out.

 

I never got a game over yesterday just Cloud and Tifa got knocked out in separate battles.

 

I learned with the dog to hold block, let him run at me,

build up meter and focus thrust him into stagger and then wallop him with everything. But it was a massive adjustment because all the enemies I fought up to that point was just mashing square. 
 

There were also bug enemies that literally leach on to Cloud and drain his health while he can’t move. It was that attack where it was telegraphed for a good second or so but Cloud was locked in to his attacks and then got grabbed and died. Block or roll wouldn’t do anything.

 

It was these two battles that made me realise that the game doesn’t play the way that it looks like you would play the game. If that makes sense.

 

The game is very fast paced, the camera is like an action game camera, you have an auto-combo, it has a block and dodge buttons. All of this stuff combined made it appear as though the game has heavy emphasis on fast action and reflexes. Now I don’t think it actually plays like that at all. It’s a lot more patience and deliberate than what it looks like.

[Maf]

Feel like I’m missing a lot of side missions in this game. I keep hitting bits where it’s effectively asking me if I want to continue the story. I haven’t got any new side missions except for the first round of missions it gives me so I feel like I’m missing them. Just completed chapter 4, I think.

[one-armed dwarf]

There's a menu that tells you every sidequest in the game, there's not very many.

 

Sidequests aren't a big thing tbh, there's like one or two really good materias you can get from them but I think the best rewards might be the chadley ones iirc.

 

If you're after trophies then you have to play the game more than once to get the sidequest trophy anyway

[Maf]

Just trying to make sure I stay levelled and my material gets chance to level up

[Maf]

Just got to chapter 7. I adore Cloud’s, Barrett’s and Tifa’s chemistry in this game. I’m honestly surprised at a Japanese, anime heavy game to get interpersonal stuff down so well. It still has quirky moments and some strange humour especially from the supporting cast with Jessie and Wedge and whatnot, but the main 3 interact so well with each other. When they get to pose for the camera as a unit it’s really evocative of something I can’t quite remember. 
 

I’m getting my head around the combat. Basically always start as Barrett and use his charge shot. I’ve died twice so far and both of them were in random fights where I just got beat down it’s like what the fuck happened. It’s a weird comparison but it reminds me of XCom in the sense of sometimes you have really big fights and do Ok and other times you have random skirmishes and get put on your fucking knees and it’s hard to tell what the difference is. 
 

But I am getting better at it. Switching characters, managing ATB gauges. It’s cool. The only thing that isn’t getting better is the camera and the horrible lock on system. I was just in a fight where Cloud had free reign to mash out a combo on someone right in front of him, but the combo made him travel forward and past the enemy and instead of turning around he just kept going and got shot in the back it’s like what the fuck are you doing. 
 

Really fucking enjoying this game. This is triumphant so far. Struggling to think of the last time I played a single player story, heavy game like this. I can’t think of any it’s been such a long time. 

[one-armed dwarf]

I still play this a bit to take cool videos of hard fights and I can't figure the lock-on either.

 

There's settings for it and I think it feels better when you map it to left and right on d pad but it's still really terrible.

[Maf]

Think I messed up and missed the material in the church 

[Maf]

Wait, hang on how does the weapon upgrade system work? Can I swap weapons and still keep the upgrades or are they only in effect when using a specific weapon? Also I just realised they have separate SP? Have I been fighting handicapped the whole time?

[one-armed dwarf]

Weapons in this work like FFXIII or Dark Souls, ie every single weapon is viable at endgame even the Buster Sword.

 

Everything earns SP at the same time and it isn't shared so you should spend it. Weapons have their own unique properties, eg one weapon will have better mana regen, another will offer better MP spend or something like that

 

Buster Sword is probably the best weapon in the game tbh, that or Hardedge.

[Maf]

Yeah I’ve had default weapons equipped the whole time but thought I would focus on fully upgrading each weapon at a time. 11 hours in I just noticed all weapons are getting their own SP. 

 

I take it if I have +100hp on one sword and swap to another sword I lose that health bonus, though? 

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah

[Maf]

This game is really starting to annoy me. As soon as Aeris shows up it jumps off a fucking cliff. 

[DANGERMAN]

12 minutes ago, Maf said:

This game is really starting to annoy me. As soon as Aeris shows up it jumps off a fucking cliff. 

she's awful

[one-armed dwarf]

This is the thread with bad opinions not the mario one

[Maf]

Got up to the ‘Chasing Tifa’ mission. Last night I was playing to 2am because I couldn’t turn it off and today I couldn’t wait to stop. God damn that sucked. 
 

Firstly Aeris is trash. After how much I enjoyed the interactions and relationships of the main 3 characters yesterday to then immediately be saddled with this very annoying, typical, dizzy, JRPG character is so less interesting. I never got the big deal about Aeris in the original. She was fine but I never cared about her at all (What happens to her was shocking and it subverts expectations but in terms of character I don’t care). I thought with how well they were doing characters in this version I was excited to see what they would do with Aeris but she is the worst cast member easy. Very boring. True to the source material. 
 

The thing I will say is I am interested in what she knows. That I am interested in. But her I tired of after 30 mins. 
 

Also how overly controlling chapter 8 was really grated. The game has kind of been like that the whole way through. But at first it was the beginning of the game so that was fine, and then there’s a huge linear dungeon section so you just go forward then and that’s fine. Chapter 8 any kind of exploring I want to do the game just wouldn’t allow it. Couldn’t go where I wanted, couldn’t run when I wanted, couldn’t even look where I wanted because the camera would take over. 

 

It got to the point where all I wanted to do was look behind me and Aeris would shout “Hey, Cloud! Over here!” Lady I’m just trying to have a look. That was so annoying. That piece of Materia in the church as well. Haha. They put it just out of reach so you have to run back and hour later and it’s a power I already have. What and why. 
 

The bosses that have to be fought in Chapter 8 are the worst. Bosses that have unblockable/undodgeable sleep attacks can do one. Bosses that counter attack if certain parts are hit when Cloud throws his sword around like his trying to dance with it can do one. Bosses that move like DMC enemies when playable characters are so planted and animation heavy is really starting to fuck me off.

 

I said in the beginning that the combat feels too fast for how mashy it is. Now I would change that and say that a lot of these enemies feel like they’re in a different fight to me. They’re so fast, sporadic and full of moves that crush or power through mine while playable characters are very sluggish, slow. Anything I want them to do feels like it takes forever compared to the bosses I’ve been fighting. It’s like we’re on two different speed settings. I’ve got more to play but honestly I think this combat is a good idea it’s just not quite there. The enemies, the speed, the camera, the lock on, how bad it can be at communicating when your gauges are ready or even just what is happening in a fight. For example I just fought a guy that looked like he was doing the Pokemon equivalent of a Bide attack but I actually don’t know. That’s just a best guess. 

I didn’t understand Aeris power either. The one where she creates a ward where attacks get to happen twice. I tried that over and over and it never seemed to work. I dunno what that was about. I think when the combat works it’s very cool but it falls apart so easily. 

 

Then I reached the park, it plays the music, the characters have a moment and I’m happy again. This game’s ability to wipe away any frustrations with a few music notes is borderline unfair. I would be lying if I didn’t say it was 100% effective, though.

 

I dunno. Yesterday I was on the tracks of this might be my GotY. Now. I really do still like the game whole lot but that was a really frustrating chapter. Hopefully when I get back on the main story path I’ll get back in to the game again but that was a really frustrating, suck ass chapter. 
 

EDIT: And the cranes fucking hell. At least the crane music was awesome. The best new song (I think it’s a new song?) in the game so far.