Final Fantasy VII Remake

[bellow]

I've had a look at @one-armed dwarfs analysis, and I think I might go back in and try again. It still looks awful noisy to me, but if that's the system then I suppose it's worth the effort to get to grips with it.

 

A gambit for healing would be nice, though. In fact, thinking about it, a gambit system would really fit this nicely.

[Jimboxy]

Regarding the writing, I agree that it is terrible but I think what they've done (for better or worse) is to either retain dialogue from the original, or write the new dialogue in the style of the original. That kind of worked for written text and bobble head cartoons, but seems odd coming out the mouths of these super well rendered characters. 

 

I enjoyed the demo, also think it looks amazing, although my ps4 was trying so hard to keep itself cool it nearly flew out the window. The battle system is cool, seems a clever mix of ATB and real time. I prefer my JRPG's to have a more sedate battle system, but that's personal preference. I wasn't bothered about playing it before (but hoped it was good), but now I'd quite like to pick it up (but won't as playing on my ps4 is a very unpleasant experience at the moment)

[one-armed dwarf]

12 minutes ago, bellow said:

A gambit for healing would be nice, though. In fact, thinking about it, a gambit system would really fit this nicely.

Preach. Every action RPG needs gambits. 

Already at the start of these fights I have to manually switch to both Barett and Cloud to make them both dodge the AOE stomp. C'mon, XII fixed these issues. I mean kind of it didn't have a 'dodge' gambit but that's the direction that things could have gone in if Square weren't cowards about it.

 

What do Dangerman and Jim think of these graphics then? I'm not trying to be a contrarian I just don't really think it looks that good. But I'm using the PC version of Gears 5 as a measuring mark which is obviously going to look better. Some stuff like geometry and textures is just miles behind.

[DANGERMAN]

I'm playing on a pro and I think it looks good. You can see the upscaling in the shadows and some of the edges (Cloud's hair). Aside from that, I'm struggling to think of an rpg that looks better. Witcher 3 is a very different looking game, but that maybe, even then maybe not 

[Snaggletooth]

Guess pretty hard to compare in that regard, until you can get your hands on PC release when it comes. 

 

Even Ps4 pro isnt gonna spec up to a top level Pc these days

[DisturbedSwan]

Played the demo last night after the Missus fell asleep.

 

I've only played the original for around 30 minutes way back when and I believe it was this section right at the beginning I played as I vaguely remembered climbing down lots of ladders and the escape sequence. I didn't remember any of the characters (apart from Cloud) or dialogue though - because I skipped all of it in the OG -  but still got goosebumps at times when the music swelled up, I've no idea why but somewhere in my brain I must've remembered that soundtrack from when I was little. The only FF game I've finished and loved is XV.

 

Now that's out the way I thought the game looked magnificent, but I do kind of agree with @one-armed dwarf that the art design looks a little washed out at times and overall it was a little grey but yeah that section was in an industrial complex so that can be forgiven for me. I disagree with @Maryokutai that it looked loads better than KH3 though, I'd say on par.

 

It's the combat that really stood out to me though. It seemed to me like a mix between FFXV and KH3 really, less fast paced than both of those and with more of a tactical focus via the commands but still similar to their mechanics. I was quite shit at it though, I managed to get Cloud downed 2 times and Barrett downed once, had to use a load of potions and 3 phoenix downs so I'm yet to fully understand it properly. I think knowing when to switch character at the right time and when to use which weapon for which enemy will be key although after my experiences in the demo I'll most probably be putting it down to Easy in the full game, at least until I understand the system better.

 

I didn't really have any issues with the voice acting, it was over the top for sure but in that typically 90s kind of way  - and I assumed the lines were all the same as the OG so that's why it sounded the way it did - gave it a kind of nostalgic 90s vibe which I dug. I quite like the characters already, Barratt seems like an ass but a loveable ass if that makes sense and Cloud is kind of mysterious and aloof at this point to me, I've no idea what all the headaches were about either but I'm intrigued to find out more in the full game.

[HandsomeDead]

Barret is a character I thought they'd struggle with in the remake but I like what they've done, which is pretty much keep him intact.  I was worried it wouldn't fly with the new graphics but to me it's stylised enough for it not to be a problem. 

He's still a big, excentric goofball who's worried about the planet, man!  And watching him get all animated about it totally rings true to how he is originally. 

 

It is just gonna come off silly to people.  It's never going to be played as straight as a Shin Megami Tensei game or something.  I guess theres definitely some subjective preferences in how the story is presented to some but I definitely can't see this as a misfire. 

[bellow]

So my second run was more of a success. I had character switching and spell scrolling under my fingers, although there still seems an awful lot to remember, and I'm still not sure what instigates a limit break - but the game sure is stingy with them.

 

The boss fell a lot easier, though. And only about nine potions used ?. Reminds me a bit of horizon zero dawn in the combat.

[one-armed dwarf]

I only just learned how the limit break stuff works, they dont explain it at all. But you can see it in this video this guy does where when Barett does a 'stagger' it gives him a bunch of limit.

 

So I think it is damage taken and damage dealt as well as punshing the boss and causing its state to change. A little too mysterious for my liking, I keep killing the boss before even getting a limit.

 

 

(I'm going to try and beat this guy's time, grr....)

 

 

[AndyKurosaki]

I’ve downloaded the demo, I’ll give it a go tonight, if I can manage to get Zombie Army 4 finished. If not, I’ll try it tomorrow.

 

I loved the original FF7. So I’m certainly interested in seeing how this turns out.

[OCH]

7 hours ago, Nag said:

I'll hold my hands in the air as another one who's completely fine with Barret...

Same. I watched the demo on YouTube, he seems on point to me. It was only during the demo that I also realised these are all brand new voices too. Maybe this was brought up before, but I was expecting the voice cast from Advent Children. Impressed that it isn't.

[DANGERMAN]

As someone who only spent a couple of hours with the original, I don't have the nostalgia for it. I'm willing to believe it's deliberate, but it would be cringey in a cheap anime, never mind an expensive, big-budget game. The Final Fantasy team aren't very good at writing characters, there is a way to do this without it making me wince my spine out, they're just not up to it based on what's here. 

 

Hopefully things pick up as the story goes on, it'd be really harsh to judge it based on that one scene

[soundwave5150]

27 minutes ago, OCH said:

Same. I watched the demo on YouTube, he seems on point to me. It was only during the demo that I also realised these are all brand new voices too. Maybe this was brought up before, but I was expecting the voice cast from Advent Children. Impressed that it isn't.

It doesn’t seem to have had great localisation. I’ll be playing the full game with Japanese voices, so it won’t seem as cringe, plus they have the original Japanese Advent Children cast who are all top VA’s whereas a lot of the American ones are TV actors mainly it seems. 

[OCH]

2 minutes ago, soundwave5150 said:

It doesn’t seem to have had great localisation. I’ll be playing the full game with Japanese voices, so it won’t seem as cringe, plus they have the original Japanese Advent Children cast who are all top VA’s whereas a lot of the American ones are TV actors mainly it seems. 

 

Oh the irony. Ted Woolsey would be so proud.?

It was the potential use of the English Dub VA to Advent Children I was worried about. Most of them were okay at best. I hope nothing of AC (or Crisis Core) makes it into the final game here. But there is a more than likely chance of that sadly...

[soundwave5150]

I think there’ll definitely be a lot of expanded AVALANCHE stuff

[one-armed dwarf]

Speaking of I was watching a preview of some gameplay and it had Advent Children music in it. I thought that was neat, well it's a leitmotif but still cool (1:20)

 

 

 

 

Advent Children is older now than FFVII was when Advent Children came out.

[Maf]

I watched someone else play the demo and they were bad at it but it’s really pumped up my excitement for it. Before I was at a 3 now I’m at about an 8. This game looks really cool. I love Midgar, it looks amazing.

[one-armed dwarf]

Oh, fucking fantastic. It's possible to beat the boss without taking any damage whatsoever. Well my OCD isn't going to let this one go. I need to do the same and I'll probably put more hours into the demo than the full game now.... ?

 

 

[Jimboxy]

it doesn't look that hard to do that. I'm not going to try it, but that fight seems much more managable once you are more fluent with the battle system.

[OCH]

On 03/03/2020 at 22:50, soundwave5150 said:

I think there’ll definitely be a lot of expanded AVALANCHE stuff

Spoiler

 

Which is really unnecessary. Considering Barrett is the only member that means anything to the game. Like this "new rival" for Cloud... ?

I'm looking forward to seeing how Dyne and that sequence will look in the Remake though.