What Are You Playing?

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Streets of Rage 4 landed tonight. It's also free if you're on Xbox Game Pass for PC. I played up to Stage 3 tonight.

It's fun! Would probably be even better with more than 1 player... Definitely enjoyable for people who played the originals back in the day. SoR 2 is one of my all-time favorites. This one does some new, more dynamic stuff with comboing multiple enemies, small chains of them in the air, so there is some more skill involved than just mashing the attack button. I was kinda ho-hum about the whole game until I switched from Axel to Blaze in Stage 2 (it lets you swap between stages) and realized the characters actually play dramatically differently this time. Blaze is faster, combos easier, but naturally doesn't hit as hard as Axel.

Give it a chance if you're on game pass, but I think priced at $20, it's juuuust right.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Well, I finally gave the FF7 Remako mod a try, but with the Reunion mod active as well, which adds faithfully revamped character models to go with the HD backgrounds, 60fps battles, a more accurate translation and numerous other options (like switching X and O in dialogue prompts if you want to switch those controls to the modern standard =). Check it out:


Now THIS is the remaster I was looking for! :badbone:

Of course, it was all a pain in the ass to get running and required a bunch of programs I'd rather not have downloaded, but if you want to give it a shot here's the guide I used to figure it out: https://steamcommunity.com/app/39140/discussions/0/2653116677226375280/

You'll still have to tinker with some shit that post doesn't quite explain, but I could at least tell you what I did to get it working like the video.
 
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Dar_Klink

Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
I've been playing the original on Switch and am already past the first Gold Saucer trip... kinda wish I had tried that mod, but it's nice to play while in a car or just to take it wherever I want.

I enjoyed the Remake a lot even if I found some of the extra sidequests and the expanded lab segment to be a bit tedious. I'm okay with the story stuff as long as I can still do a weird RTS segment to save a giant Condor's egg in the next one. :carcus:



Also in Japanese it's funny that Cloud and Sephiroth are voiced by the actors who have played Griffith.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
I enjoyed the Remake a lot even if I found some of the extra sidequests and the expanded lab segment to be a bit tedious. I'm okay with the story stuff as long as I can still do a weird RTS segment to save a giant Condor's egg in the next one. :carcus:

Haha, given the amount of mini-games in this one I'm sure they'll turn that into a full-fledged game within the game.

Also in Japanese it's funny that Cloud and Sephiroth are voiced by the actors who have played Griffith.

Seems fitting to me given their inspiration for these characters. :schnoz:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Damn, that does look really good... Tempting... If only I could have the best of both worlds and play that version on Switch...

I'm about to head to the second reactor and yeah, so far it's pretty damn cool. Not jarringly different, but how it should look from your memory. Like, literally, the in-game models are almost identical to their full-scale FMV counterparts, so you actually have genuine recall when you see them. The translation is more nuanced too, stuff already makes more sense, and I hear it clears up all the awful confusion about the nature of the antagonist, his "mother" and "clones" later on, which they badly botched and/or altered in the English versions.

Oh, and as expected Cloud is generally cooler in this version and you can be a real dick to Wedge and the gang too, "Do you think I'm cool, Cloud? Will you be my friend?":judo: "No, I don't care." :badbone:

I enjoyed the Remake a lot even if I found some of the extra sidequests and the expanded lab segment to be a bit tedious. I'm okay with the story stuff as long as I can still do a weird RTS segment to save a giant Condor's egg in the next one. :carcus:

I would NOT miss that, but would bitch like Hell if it wasn't included. I got your back. :ganishka:

Haha, given the amount of mini-games in this one I'm sure they'll turn that into a full-fledged game within the game.

Yeah...the prospect of some of these already lengthy segments being translated to the Remake's pace is a little foreboding. Is Wutai its own game like Midgar? :shrug:

Also in Japanese it's funny that Cloud and Sephiroth are voiced by the actors who have played Griffith.
Seems fitting to me given their inspiration for these characters. :schnoz:

Whatever do you mean?

f3108d2462df1c3d9052903775865379.jpg


SmrBfLD.jpg


Cloud did steal a spiky, black-haired swordsman's identity. :carcus: :miura:
 
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With all the talk about FF7 as of late I thought I would ask what are some other FF games that forum members would recommend to me?

It took me awhile to actually complete a FF title considering I enjoyed Square RPGS like Chrono Trigger and super Mario RPG on the SNES back when I was a kid. I remember renting both titles multiples times until I could convince my parents to buy them.

I guess it took me awhile because I never owned a PS1. I got a PS2 toward there end of the that generation. Around the time the series started to become less relevant as a whole.

My interests were always geared more toward Nintendo growing up. So when I saw that they remade FF4 for the DS I thought “hmm seems like a great place for me start and I get to make more use out of my DS.” Well turns out that game was arguably the worst to start :shrug: It was soul crushingly difficult. So much that I actually lost interest when I found out that certain characters that I had equipped aguments to died and I could not reassign them properly without starting a new game. There were too many point of no return areas combined with the extra difficulty that turned me off altogether. I hate to admit it but I was literally one of those players that developers worry about when they make games that will bad mouth it due to “difficulty.” Except I did not bad mouth. I just ran away from the series for awhile.
Obviously this game was meant for fans that had already played the original in some capacity though. Or at least a final fantasy game for that matter. It’s actually an amazing remake and I wish FF6 got the same treatment.

Many years later I decided that I wanted to give FF another try so I researched what people thought and concluded that I should try FF6 first. So I dug out my game boy SP from my parents basement and ordered a used copy of the game online. I was not disappointed at all. The game wasn’t as flashy as SNES titles like Chrono trigger or super Mario RPG. But the story was solid and the combat managed to scratch that square itch I had been missing for so long. Other little stuff like exploring was great too. I will admit that I did read a guide from time to time. People talk about stuff like dark souls not explaining anything but some of these older titles are the real culprits :iva:

Next I got FF7 on switch because portability seems to be my thing. I was surprised that the game actually lived up to the hype I often saw on messages boards with people praising the game nonstop. I almost felt like the sometimes overly loud fan base for that game can turn some people off from being curious about it to begin with. I wasn’t sure how I felt about every character being able to cast huge spells. But after awhile I became addicted to the materia system. I also loved how the game feels like it’s an SNES titles with early 3D graphics. It’s a weird but cool thing. Except when cloud gets lost on a huge screen. Thank god it was the PC version with some quality of life stuff added.

I posted before that I missed out on a March sale for FF8,9,10. I could not decided which one I should try next. I’m leaning toward 9.
 
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Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
I posted before that I missed out on a March sale for FF8,9,10. I could not decided which one I should try next. I’m leaning toward 9.

Hard for me to issue a recommendation on these. I haven't played these games in a long time, but what I'll say is none of them stands up to FFVII or even to SNES titles like FFIV or FFVI in my opinion. Out of the three you cited, the one I most enjoyed is probably FFVIII, and it's in fact the only one I finished. I stopped playing FFIX in the last area (didn't know that at the time) because I was just bored with it. I had meant to pick it back up but never did. With FFX, the characters just annoyed me and I stopped mid-game. That said, FFX has the benefit of better graphics, voice acting, and a more refined gameplay over FFVIII and FFIX. Of the three, FFIX was the least memorable one to me. With FFVIII, I didn't like the premise (the whole school thing), but it's got some cool stuff going for it, and there's a card game!

You know which one I'd recommend though? FFXII! Meh story but great gameplay.
 
I posted before that I missed out on a March sale for FF8,9,10. I could not decided which one I should try next. I’m leaning toward 9.

I finished both ff8 and ff10. Hated 8, but 10 grew on me after several aborted attempts. But that was years ago (and I'll probably hate it now).

I only like FF7 and hear a lot of good things about FF6 but I haven't really played that one. Seems to me you already played the best of the series. I also played some of FF9 and it was okay. It's a love letter to earlier entries in the series, so it's a bit more "old-school". I got the feeling that could be up your alley.
 
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Finally got around to beating Dragon Quest IV. All around an amazing game.

I played the DS port of it throughout the past couple of months, and it took me roughly 40 hours to beat the whole thing.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
With all the talk about FF7 as of late I thought I would ask what are some other FF games that forum members would recommend to me?
Just play Suikoden dude. Start with the first and load your saved game (if it's 100%) and get the expanded Suikoden 2. You will not be disappointed.
 
I finally got around to beating the first RE2 playthrough last week and beat the second campaign tonight... on assisted mode because I'm a total chicken shit about that game :ganishka:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
FF7 Reunion/Remako - Blew the second reactor and am taking Aerith home, and in a fraction of the time! Walter's right that these events almost seem perfunctory here by comparison. =)

FF7 Remake - Beat Bahamut, which was a pain in the ass since he has like 90,000 hp, resistance to everything, can kill your whole party at full health with Megaflare, is aggressive and only gets hyper-aggressive as the fight continues. But, it was worth it because now I have his summons, which I guess I can use against him on hard difficulty? Now I'm finishing up all the odds and ends, maxing my dudes and materia, on normal before doing a dedicated hard playthrough, which I think I'll do in Japanese with subtitles.

I posted before that I missed out on a March sale for FF8,9,10. I could not decided which one I should try next. I’m leaning toward 9.

I can vouch for IX being ok, especially since it's a throwback by design, the only exception being your main guy is an androgynous, egg-headed, monkey-tailed weirdo in a vest that looks like Calista Flockhart.:shrug:

I would personally try FF8 again too just because I probably wasn't fair to anything that followed FF7 (it's my own personal Walter FF6/FF7 situation, except his games are both classics and FF8 is... not in bad standing). It was a big improvement in terms of character animations in cutscenes and that kind of storytelling. I love the intro to this day. I'm also kind of curious about FFX since it seems to be the most prominent entry between VII and XV, but at the time it looked like everything I wasn't into with the series' change in direction and character design.
 
Finished REmake. You guys were right, it was worth the time, so thanks for the recommendation. It was certainly a refreshing experience, and it shows how more streamlined games are nowadays with their (relative) hand holding. Aaz was also right about the inventory management/planning your trips (I lost track of the round trips I had to take to fetch an item I needed :ganishka: ). Great game. They certainly don't make'em like that anymore.

Conveniently, a friend of mine bought Code Veronica and I watched him play it on share-play. You guys were holding out on me! I had no idea the RE universe had such a great character. I'm talking about Steve, of course, with his soul-shudderingly bad voice acting. Every scene he's in has me burst out laughing. Yeah...hope he dies in the end.

On a more serious note, it was interesting to see how the series evolved back then with this game. If they ever remake this, I'll be keeping an eye out.

---

I also just finished Doom Eternal. Took me long enough. I just needed to build up the motivation to play it (like I said before, it's a great action game in and of itself, just not my cup of tea). Near the end I was just waiting for it to be over to be honest. Still, it got intense toward the end and the last fight was a lot of fun.

---

At chapter 17 of FFVII Remake as of now. Will wait until I finish it before saying anything substantial. All I'll say for now is that I'm not as thrilled with it as I'd hoped I'd be before release. It's got a lot going for it, but all the "filler" parts (like the whole of chapter 11) are really taking their toll on this game.

I'm thinking of just doing the original after this is over.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
At chapter 17 of FFVII Remake as of now. Will wait until I finish it before saying anything substantial. All I'll say for now is that I'm not as thrilled with it as I'd hoped I'd be before release. It's got a lot going for it, but all the "filler" parts (like the whole of chapter 11) are really taking their toll on this game. I'm thinking of just doing the original after this is over.

I'll be curious to hear what you think of my review once you've finished it.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Finished REmake. You guys were right, it was worth the time, so thanks for the recommendation. It was certainly a refreshing experience, and it shows how more streamlined games are nowadays with their (relative) hand holding.

Sometimes it's just the difference between figuring a game out yourself or it telling you how to figure it out, or it being so unchallenging there's no trick to it anyway. Some games feel like they're not meant to be mastered at all and thus feel the most gratifying if you do solve them.

Conveniently, a friend of mine bought Code Veronica and I watched him play it on share-play. You guys were holding out on me! I had no idea the RE universe had such a great character. I'm talking about Steve, of course, with his soul-shudderingly bad voice acting. Every scene he's in has me burst out laughing. Yeah...hope he dies in the end.

:ganishka:

On a more serious note, it was interesting to see how the series evolved back then with this game. If they ever remake this, I'll be keeping an eye out.

Well, if they do hopefully they actually remake it and just make it better instead of basically unmaking it like RE3. Although, in the case of Steve that wouldn't be so bad as you pointed out.

I also just finished Doom Eternal. Took me long enough. I just needed to build up the motivation to play it (like I said before, it's a great action game in and of itself, just not my cup of tea). Near the end I was just waiting for it to be over to be honest. Still, it got intense toward the end and the last fight was a lot of fun.

I thought the second half was better than the first, but it also didn't have the same steady cohesion of Doom 2016.

At chapter 17 of FFVII Remake as of now. Will wait until I finish it before saying anything substantial. All I'll say for now is that I'm not as thrilled with it as I'd hoped I'd be before release. It's got a lot going for it, but all the "filler" parts (like the whole of chapter 11) are really taking their toll on this game.

It works out nice when something like the 2nd reactor mission goes from being three empty rooms to what it ends up being in this version, but then when you take multiple short back-to-back transitional segments like the sewers and train graveyard and turn them into entire chapters unto themselves, it's a bit grueling. Same thing for the Wall Market segment, which was already involved but becomes interminable if you're doing the side quests. The problem is they don't seem to know when to stick to a quick pace and when it should be a slow burn (or how), it's all sort of drawn out whether it works that way or not.

I'm thinking of just doing the original after this is over.

It's definitely interesting for comparison one way or another, and it's not like there isn't a ton more material in the original after Midgar. I don't know how they're going to make sustainable progress if they turn every five hour chunk of the old game into forty hour solo games. I don't know how long will people keep buying them at that rate either.
 
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Finished Final Fantasy VII. Here's what I think:

So here is my Final Fantasy VII: Remake review.
Excellent review. I was planning to write some sort of review myself, but then I read yours, and you pretty much covered all the major aspects/issues with the game. So instead, I'll use your points to give my own take on the same issues.

The short version is: I have mixed feelings. I feel like it did some things well and I enjoyed playing it, but I'm not a fan of the overall direction it took with the plot, and I'm not super confident about where they're headed with it. The episodic nature of the project also rubs me the wrong way, or at least the manner in which they're approaching it does.

I felt the same. I think this game would have benefited from being remade in its entirety, with a tight plot and well designed quests. Sure, it would take longer development time and would lack the element of player feedback (supposedly, they'll use the feedback to improve future installments. But we all know the real reason this game was made into multiple episodes), but I'd still take the one episode.

But it goes further. I think calling this game "Final Fantasy VII Remake" is deceptive to the casual buyer. Not everyone follows gaming news or would know that this game is made in multiple parts. They should have added something like "Part One" to the title. And that's not even mentioning the issue of whether this game should be called a remake to begin with, given the changes they're doing, and the fact they're selling this one at full price.

Now for the long version (heavy spoilers). I'll start with what I like about it. I think the characters were exceptionally well redesigned. They feel modern and brand new while also being very faithful to the original game. During cinematics, the scope of Midgar is also appropriately awe-inspiring. By the end of the game, the Active Time Battle system is enjoyable and allows for some interesting strategy. The original game's OST is easily one of the greatest video game soundtracks for all times and this one makes good use of it with only some light remixing. The weapons, materia and limit breaks also felt very faithful to me and I enjoyed customizing them, although the "upgrade weapon" menu being accessed through a different sub-menu and then a different interface was quite annoying.

Agreed on all points. I was especially surprised at how entertaining the combat was. The soundtrack is iconic even to people who didn’t play the original, and I honestly felt emotional when certain tracks played.

I’m glad the characters were well-done and distinct enough from one another, even if the portrayals weren’t flawless, as we see below.


To give some context, FFVII was the first Final Fantasy game I played back when it came out, as it was the first game of the series to be released where I live. I loved it and it had a strong impact on me at the time, I spent hundreds of hours on it. I also have not replayed it since then, so my memories of it were fuzzy enough to make me what I deem the perfect candidate to enjoy this game. I also have not played the side games like Crisis Core as they seemed subpar to me.


I played Crisis Core more than ten years ago. I don’t remember too much of it, except that the soundtrack and the animations were stellar.

But I’m glad I did actually, as it gave more context to the character of Zack, and made it more emotional for me when you see him at the end (though they quickly killed that with the change they made about his death).

As for the main game itself, it’s been a part of my life in one way or another, despite the fact I only played a bit of it before and never the whole thing. So this remake was something I’d been anticipating quite a bit, and even as someone who didn’t finish the original, I still didn’t like that they seem to be messing with the established story.


FFVII Remake succeeded in that I was hooked right from the beginning, I absolutely loved the intro sequence and first reactor mission, and I thought the side missions in the Sector 7 slums with Tifa were good enough as a way to get to know her. After that point it gets more mixed. First, the "Whispers" happened. These guys are one of my main gripes with the game, and not because I don't like their design. I felt the dev team was too heavy-handed with them throughout the game and that it got worse at the end (obviously). But I'll get back to that later. I also felt that story segments get more drawn out, and not always in a seamless, enjoyable way. For example having to power down lights to cross over to the second reactor in Chapter 6 felt like what it is: busywork. Later side quests in Sector 5 and Sector 6 are also hit or miss. Some I loved, like those with Mireille, and some felt like padding to be able to say "it's a 40 hours game!".

That also applies to main story segment, where it's actually worse. Getting back from the sewers after Corneo to the tower takes way too long, it's drawn out for no good reason, and the train graveyard segment would probably have benefited from being moved to a different part of the story, or at least from being handled differently. Don't have Tifa tell me every 3 minutes that she's worried and we gotta hurry up, but maybe not, but what if, and then have a "ohhh I'm scared of ghosts" sequence while the timer is still running. It just doesn't work and it's bad storytelling. There should be a sense of urgency, and it can't be there if you drag it for too long and interspace it with unrelated stuff.

Another thing: fleshing out the story is good. Great. That mission with Jessie to get other explosives? Sure. I liked it a lot, even though I think the character of Roche has no reason to exist. Or more specifically, had no reason to survive that fight and act like a rival that'll be returning. This is made worse by the fact he doesn't return, so he's going to intervene in later events that take place around the world. Anyway, yeah so fleshing out the story is good, as long as it's well done.


And here’s my main issue with the game. All the filler and long-winded sequences they added not only unnecessary, they actually make the game worse at certain points. Like the entire train yard sequence. God I hated that chapter. It added nothing but game-time to the experience (and I didn’t like the annoying boss fights either).

It’s also weird when the fact sinks in that they crammed so many events into just ONE day. From Cloud crashing into Aerith’s church to all the main/side missions he does with her to the whole Don Corneo part and then the train yard and then the tower sequence. It’s ridiculous to say the least.

And then there was Chapter 17, where we split the party two ways in order to progress. I turned off the game partway through because I was just bored. I never thought I’d be bored in a Final Fantasy game, but that’s what happened (though the chapter did get better later to be fair).

As for the side-quests: Ultimately, the side-quests were pointless reskins of each other (find some missing cats turns into find some missing Chocobos in a later chapter). I don’t remember any side-quests that struck me as worth doing. Like I said in a previous post, Square isn’t exactly great in that department. Final Fantasy XV proved that to me a long time ago.


The pillar fight was clumsy and awkward to me. Biggs and Jessie's deaths were cheesy and too squeaky clean for my taste. This is meant to be a gritty "makopunk" world, but it's also filled with potions and phoenix downs. If someone's gonna die, show me that they're actually badly wounded and not just lightly covered in dirt.

This game suffers from a “disconnect” between what happens in game and what happens in the cut-scenes. Like, when you play, you regularly get crushed by monsters, shot by bullets, spammed with grenades and explosives, and so on. And not only do you survive them anyway, you can use spells and potions to heal. Like, they couldn’t do the same with Biggs or Jessie?

This disconnect applies to other parts of the game too. In the cutscenes, Cloud is a super soldier with superhuman physical feats, but in the game, he can’t do those things. I’m not necessarily speaking of combat, but the exploration too. Like, couldn’t he just leap over a door that can only be opened from the other side?


Beyond that, the fight with Reno and Rude is really poorly done. So you beat them up enough that they can't stand... and then they still achieve their goal and escape. What that means is: the main characters are incompetent idiots. This could have been done much better with minimal changes. Have Rude start the countdown after the helicopter crash, while everybody looks over there thinking he's dead. Then, after they're defeated, have the two of them escape while the team tries to stop the system. Or have a fucking drone press the button, but just showing Rude overpowering both Tifa and Cloud after being beat is dumb. Either I win or I lose, but don't make me lose after I've won.

The fight itself was very enjoyable. But yes, it falls apart when it’s done. Rude running all the way to the console while Barret is spamming him with bullets from his mini-gun (and missing every shot) was cringe inducing. It comes down to the disconnect I mentioned above: The characters are great in the in-game battle, but turn into idiots after.


Now about the plate falling. Like I said earlier, the scope of the city is breathtaking in cinematics. But that contrasts jarringly with the sectors themselves as you experience them. They're WAY too small. Now of course Square wasn't going to recreate a megalopolis in its entirety. But they should have instead made it clear you were only seeing a portion, a small part of each sector. Instead we have this dissonance of a huge scale... that turns out to be a place housing maybe 50 people? Again, this would have been easy to fix. A simple mention of "the area where we lived, around Seventh Heaven, was mostly spared... but they weren't so lucky further into the sector, they didn't have time to escape". Bam, done. One sentence.

I was disappointed with that too. I would have loved to explore more freely, to be able to go top-side or to other sectors (or more areas of existing sectors) and back. I guess it wasn’t part of the original story, but then again they’re changing stuff, so…I want that feeling I got exploring the FF XII world (more on that below) again!



Another thing: Shinra are the bad guys, I get it. But do they have to be so caricatural?

Heidegger was the worst offender of the bunch. I cringed every time he appeared. He was far too cartoony to take seriously. And then there’s Hojo. Actually, I don’t know who’s worse at this point.


The war with Wuhai stuff I thought was a fine addition. A fitting modernization, and kind of explained by the whole plan about creating other Mako Cities. But I felt like there was an opportunity to show a more contrasted view, with greedy, immoral corporate bastards, sure, but also a real desire for technological progress, even if misguided. On the other hand, our heroes are wiping out guards and other nobodies, but they won't off Reno and Rude on the pillar even though these guys are about to kill "tens of thousands" of people... why? Again, makes no sense in the context, especially since they get bested immediately after. Their leniency killed everybody. That goes for President Shinra too. Guy's obviously an evil fuck, so it's hard to believe Barret would spare him. I get that it's done to show that Barret is a principled man, but honestly, he's the leader of a terrorist cell. He's made his choices.

True. They wasted too much potential for moral ambiguity unfortunately. Instead, we get a typical good guys vs bad guys story (not that dislike that, mind you).

I feel like Square simply doesn’t have the balls for that kind of storytelling anymore. Like it’s apparently wrong to sympathize with the villains or to question the actions of the heroes.

Take that bit at the beginning when you walk around the city after the reactor blew up. How much more powerful it would have been if we weren’t shown that it wasn’t Jessie’s bomb that did all that damage but was just the “bad guys”?


That's yet another thing: Barret's team is now just a cell within a bigger Avalanche organization. I can see the logic behind it, but I don't like it. It lessens their role and Barret's engagement. It also brings absolutely nothing to the table. Why not have made Barret the leader of Avalanche, and have other less central layers to the organization? Have Biggs, Jessie and Wedge be the main lieutenants, the people he can trust, and the rest of the members be common people. Not an organized para-military group with unknown motivations. Barret could have still trusted only these guys for the reactor missions, and could have still needed Cloud because he's referred by Tifa and an ex-SOLDIER, i.e. not a pushover against Shinra.


Yeah, I also think having Avalanche just be a small-time organization waging war with a massive company like Shinra would have been a lot better. This is how the previous FFs were anyway (if I remember right), with their small, intimate groups struggling against massive empires/organizations/etc.

Going against overwhelming odds, I love that kind of story. I mean, it’s part of the reason I love Berserk too.


Back to Shinra, having a secret lab below Sector 7 felt overkill to me in the "evil megacorp" department, even though I enjoyed it gameplay-wise. Even Barret wonders how they could have possibly built it beneath their feet, and you know why? They couldn't have, that's the thing. The Shinra tower section felt drawn out to me, especially Hojo's lab. The Cthulhu boss was great, loved it. But THEN you're trapped in his maze like mice, mhuahahahha! Fuck off with that shit. Yeah OK have me do one or two of these and then have Red XIII turn the tables on him or something. But four? And he's still satisfied in the end? Meh. The Sephiroth confrontation I wasn't a fan of either, and I'll expand on that later. I thought the Rufus fight was good, and the motorcycle escape from Midgar was as good as they could have possibly made it, so kudos to them for that.


I’m honestly burnt-out of the secret underground lab trope at this point (especially after playing through three Resident Evils recently). They have more creative options for locations, especially in a fantasy universe.

And yes, the Hojo segment was the first time I stopped playing an FF game out of boredom, like I said above.


So about Sephiroth. I get that he's the main bad guy and all, and that Cloud is supposed to be obsessed with him (this being a Berserk forum, I have to point out that this was definitely inspired by Guts & Griffith in Berserk). And I get that they had to work him into the story somehow, even though in the original he's only revealed later. I actually think the way the original story set it up was much better though, and I think they overdo it with Sephiroth here.


What I like about some of the old FFs is that the villain is revealed later. Like, it’s almost never the one you think it is initially. I enjoy that type of storytelling. So yes, having Sephiroth continuously show up from the beginning was a bad decision.


Now I can't really mention this without getting back to the Whispers, because it's kinda linked. So the Whispers are trying to keep "Destiny" from changing. They're basically the old fans' expectations for what the story should be that the developers had to contend with, or the legacy of the first game. In short it's just meta bullshit.

Now, I get wanting to change details of the story. It's to be expected, and it was done in this game, and it's fine. But when you make it a central plot point, that can only be justified one way: you're going to alter something major to the story, so important in fact that you have to prepare the player for it long in advance. Translated: they're going to have Aerith not die. I started to suspect that early on, basically when Cloud began not only having flashbacks during his episodes but also flashforwards. That's nonsensical, so it could only mean they were going to do something with alternate realities and stupid shit like that. And it's what they did. And I think it's stupid.

I’m really hoping they won’t go for that. Removing Aerith’s death would take away whatever emotional force left in this story (changing Zack’s fate is already bad enough).


More specifically, I think they were too heavy-handed with the Whispers and it was too transparently a plot device so they could do whatever they wanted. It's not all bad though: when Sephiroth kills Barret at the tower I was shocked, and when the Whispers undo it I was like "Ok you fuckers I get it". But at that point they've hammered you over the head with it during minor events, so it was less impactful than it could and should have been. Now here's the other thing: I'm not actually convinced they won't kill Aerith. Will they have the balls to do it? It's such a key event that I'm not sure. And that's the kicker, because literally any other event aside from this one would NOT warrant this Whisper bullshit. I felt the Whisper stuff really made the game's story more convoluted than it already was (and it is already a very convoluted story), and were a distraction from the plot. So if it's just to change minor shit that old fans like me don't even remember (or barely), then it was a deeply stupid decision to include them.

All in all, you’ve covered the Whisper’s quite nicely. I have nothing more to say about them except that I didn’t care much for them either.

Moving on, I'm not sure I even want them to let Aerith live anyway. I mostly like her portrayal in this game, and it's great they gave her more focus. But I don't want Barret to die instead either, or Red XIII, or Tifa. Aerith dying made sense in the overall plot because she's "the last living Ancient". And I'm up for her living too, why not, but only if it's perfectly well executed. Because if it's just to have her reunite with fucking Zack (who's also alive...?), I'm going to be mad. Zack was just the first guy she fucked, making him her soul mate beyond time and space, having them reunited in the lifestream like in Advent Children, that's the corniest shit ever. She's supposed to be falling for Cloud right now (who I admit has pretty much usurped Zack's identity lol), and she's shown doing just that in the game too so the Zack stuff feels conflicting (more on that later).

Still about her portrayal, the Aerith/Tifa/Cloud love triangle is a mess here. They tried to make Aerith and Tifa instant BFFs but they overcompensated and at several points it's just a little too much. The Aerith voice actress almost feels like she's flirting, which is compounded by Cloud acting as the third wheel. They're meant to be rivals in love, and I like that they're shown to get along well and all, but I just felt they didn't quite catch the right nuance of the situation. And by focusing so much on Aerith, it takes away from Cloud as well. At the end, Aerith is shown leading the group, and it's implied she knows all there is to know about Sephiroth... While Cloud just says nothing. That's not how it's supposed to be. Cloud is the one with experience here (Tifa too), he's the dude hallucinating about Sephiroth every three hours. It's a case where by trying to add more, they actually lessened the story.

Oh man, I hope we’re not heading into a high-school drama in the next episode. And yes, Tifa and Aerith act like they’ve know each other for years, which was quite jarring. At least have some more time pass before we get there (all this also happens in that one long day I mentioned above).


On character portrayals, Cloud is also super awkward. The original game is terse and low poly so you have room to imagine him as a cold, silent kinda guy. But here he can go from standard hardass SOLDIER cool dude having sarcastic but normal conversations and social skills to being unable to high five someone as if he had a serious cognitive deficiency. That's just incoherent and unrealistic. Tifa sobs her heart out on his shoulder but it takes him a full minute to laboriously but his arms around her? And then he squeezes like he's in the WWE? Again I get what they're going for, but it wasn't well executed. His grunts and pauses are also awkwardly timed sometimes. This is made all the more frustrating by the fact that at other points they really nail it. My favorite characters this time around were probably Barret and Tifa, and Jessie I guess, who I feel they really did justice to.

I didn’t mind Cloud for the most part, but yes he feels as if he was written by multiple people who didn’t check each other’s material. Still, it didn’t bother me too much. Maybe because I was distracted with the game’s other issues. But also because, like you said, some characters were done right.

I really enjoyed Barret here, both in gameplay and as a character. He seemed ridiculous to me when I played the demo, but I warmed up to him quickly. I only wish he didn’t have to wear his shades all the time, even in fully dark places. Jessie was pretty cool too. Wish she had a bigger role to play.


So about the ending. It's very obviously a "we had to end this on a big battle and we didn't know how to transition to it" thing. Sephiroth appears and creates a portal to an alternate dimension where the heroes fight DESTINY ITSELF. Again, if that shit isn't about saving Aerith from death, then it will have been a huge waste of time. Then after that fight (it's not very memorable IMHO) you randomly transition to fighting Sephiroth, because of course they had to. That was the equivalent of recent Zelda games just teleporting you in a field at the end to fight the N64 Ganon on horseback while Zelda's shooting Light arrows, regardless of what form and story are in the game. And like, sure, how could they NOT have done that. I can't even say I didn't enjoy it, because the nostalgic music was there to get me pumped up. But it's nonsensical and it didn't have to be.

I didn’t care much for that fight, especially since I was expecting to jump straight into a Sephiroth battle. It wasn’t bad, but it just felt like another filler moment in a game that abounds with them.


I guess a nonsensical plot is just a must-have for a Final Fantasy VII game or something. Speaking of nonsensical, I still don't understand that "Zack is alive, but in an alternate dimension" thing. So Zack actually sees the Whispers surrounding Midgar in real time as he confronts the Shinra soldiers. He survives and he and Cloud pass by the group and Aerith... Not sure if it's meant to be an echo of the past that has been changed, or a bona fide alternate dimension, which would really make no sense at all. Will Zack-who-secretly-lives actually take the Masamune bullet that was meant for Aerith, heroically saving her life and making her a neutral grieving widow so Cloud & Tifa can still become pseudo-lovers? The suspense is killing me here (no, but that shit does get on my nerves).

I don’t think even “Reboot” would be a good word to describe the game if that comes to pass. :ganishka:

Something also worth pointing out is that the decision to end at Midgar is responsible for a lot of these problems. Part of what made the original FFVII great was that Midgar was just the beginning of it. The full game was huge. Now I get that they couldn't do the full game, but pushing it till the Temple of the Ancients would have made for a grand finale, they could have had their last battle against Sephiroth AND the HARBINGER OF FATE, and saved Aerith. Would have been a fucking masterstroke that I would probably have teared up at. It also would have allowed them to do Red XIII justice instead of him being a token NPC, which I did not like at all because I love his character. They never even focus once on his Solar Ray attack, it's just in the background a few times. Pfffffffffff. Beyond that, it would have also given them a bit of an open world to let the players wander in after finishing the main story. As it is, replaying story chapters while keeping your equipment and XP is kind of cumbersome and uninviting.

All of that (plus removing the filler content they added) would have definitely made this game considerably better. Instead, we’re relegated to a main menu we can’t exit without selecting a chapter to replay first.


It's a direct consequence of how the Midgar segment of the story was conceived in the original game, and they should have anticipated that it wouldn't lend itself to what they were attempting to do. I'm also surprised they weren't more ambitious with the scrap yards and other such transition zones where you fight enemies. There's just not enough roaming enemies in this game, to the point that it almost all could be scripted. This is kind of a big problem on the gameplay side, because I felt like they saddle you with the full combat mechanics too early, when blocking or evading is barely even worth learning, and by the time materia/equipment strategies and the complexity of the gameplay become interesting, well the game's almost over. That means most of the good combat is done in arena battles and post-game replay chapters. I'm sorry but that's just not how it should be. It shows bad pacing.

They could have at least added a long “monster-hunting” side-quest. They already did something like that in some of them (even though most were forgettable). I would have loved to be able to go around hunting unique enemies like in FF XII.


Speaking of combat, obtaining Materia through Chadley felt super cheap and lame to me. Fighting VR battles against summons? Ok, why not, cool. Having Chadley make summon materia from nothing? Lame. The character in general sucks, by the way. A Shinra R&D intern turned traitor? Really? And he's like 12? Hojo and all the other Shinra bozos can't get shit done with their research other than creating freaks, but this little shit is producing rare materias by the dozen? That felt like a cheap cop out to ensure you'd get summons in Midgar. I wasn't a super big fan of how these work in-game either. Maybe it could be made to work better, but I don't know, it felt kinda off. Limit breaks were handled better I thought, although still not perfectly. Not enough focus put on them when you're not controlling the character for example. And it's really just in the last few boss battles that they're useful.

The fat-chocobo I got from him was quite nice though. I summoned him in the Sephiroth battle. You can imagine how that killed the tension.

But yes, I didn’t even bother with Chadley until the time when you infiltrate Shinra, which shows how unimportant he ultimately is.


One more thing that's annoying on the gameplay front: I'm sure the next game won't take your gear or progress into account. It'll unlock some bullshit bonus, but maxing out materias will do jackshit, and you'll have to remax them, or maybe you'll start with 3-starred materias and their max will be 10 or something. It'll be weird. What's the max level going to be, 999? I'm already level 40 here. This feels lazy and not well thought-out to me. It makes the story seem disconnected.

Yikes. That would definitely suck. It doesn’t even have to be this way, since it shouldn’t be difficult for them to take your progress and apply it. There’s just no excuse at this point.


To conclude... Mixed feelings, like I said. The graphics, the characters, the music... They evoke strong emotions for an old fan. This is not a bad game. I enjoyed playing it. But it still fell short of my expectations, and mostly because of what the developers chose to do or not do with it. That makes me very uncertain about the next title in the series. I'm afraid they're high on stupid incoherent plot twists and alternate timeline ideas instead of focusing on upgrading the original story. In the end, the word "remake" is a misnomer here, as this is more of a reboot, and even gets in sequel territory. I also have to point out that some of the plot points must be simply impossible to understand for someone new to the story. That's not a good thing. All I can say is I hope they do a better job with the following games, and that they don't fuck up.


Pretty much. I hope in what I’ve said above, I’m in no means making out this game to be bad or not worth playing. It’s because I hold the FF series to a high standard (or used to, at any rate) that I expect better. They’re certainly capable of it, and I’m waiting to genuinely be wowed by the series again.

For me, the series hasn’t climbed back to the heights of FF XII. That was such an experience, back in the day. The plot and characters may not be the most entertaining (except Balthier, he was great), but Ivalice felt like a real place. The sense of adventure and attention to detail was astonishing. Killing a monster and then receiving a letter from a research association thanking you for making their job easier is one example of how alive that world felt. I don’t know how much of my admiration for XII is from the game itself or just my impression of it, but I’ve yet to feel that way from a Final Fantasy game since.

Here’s hoping that changes in the future.

As for this game, I suppose I’d give it a solid 8/10.

Some other points I’d like to add:

  • The rest bench where you get your hp/mp back was poorly done in some places. I mean, it breaks the immersion. Like, you supposed to “chase after that guy!” but you still have the opportunity to relax on the bench first. And they’re always paired up with functioning vending machines. Why would there be one of those in the train yard, for example? They should have come up with another mechanic for healing your party, in my opinion.
  • I didn’t like the constant cut-scene interruptions that happen in the middle of boss fights. They break the flow considerably, especially when they change your party’s position and actions. It was especially annoying with the second-last boss battle.
 
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Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Excellent review. I was planning to write some sort of review myself, but then I read yours, and you pretty much covered all the major aspects/issues with the game.

Thanks! After a break I've been replaying the game in Hard. It's been a slog to be honest, and while the lure of achievements is real, I'm not sure I'll have the patience to go through with it.
 
Thanks! After a break I've been replaying the game in Hard. It's been a slog to be honest, and while the lure of achievements is real, I'm not sure I'll have the patience to go through with it.
I'm debating whether to do that too, but I feel like I should just jump to another game at this point. Maybe even start that RE4 playthrough...

I edited the above post with my take on your full review.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Final Fantasy VII Remake - I beat the Secret Boss last night and basically to get there and do it was a lot of Arcane Ward plus Firaga, getting Cloud to his limit break, and having Barret draw enemy fire while raising their stagger bar with constant gunfire (Tifa is probably better overall, but too complex when you're just trying to survive a fucking guantlet). The secret weapon though is use Cloud's Twin Stinger with the 20% MP reduction on Healing linked with Magnify and Cloud can fully heal the entire party instantly with one ATB bar for only 9mp! Plus easily keep regen up all the time (and never let him cast offensive spells to preserve mp). With that in place I stopped blocking and countering Bahamut intentionally because I wanted to sustain max damage to refill my limit breaks! The reward is actually worth it too, maybe too much, it's like a hard mode game breaker that's basically cheat mode. Oh, and you get a special Chadley cutscene that both makes better sense of him and is the fucking worst! The true ending. :ganishka:

Aaz and I were also discussing our favorite character powers, so I thought I'd share mine here as well:

Cloud - Braver, for when you absolutely have to do big damage fast, useful from start to finish! Triple Slash is second for the ease and AOE. Infinity's End if you have the opportunity, especially if you have it ready on a stagger in lieu of a limit break.

Tifa - Unbridled Strength + various uppercuts. Starshower for me too of her pure special moves. Least favorite: True Strike, which seldomly strikes true.

Barret - Overcharge, alternated with Max Fury. Plus, Steelskin when I'm tanking with him. I think I used the others by accident sometimes. =)

Aerith - Arcane Ward, though for most of the game Ray of Judgement was what I actually used.

I'm debating whether to do that too, but I feel like I should just jump to another game at this point. Maybe even start that RE4 playthrough...

It's a classic once you get used to the older controls. Story of Resident Evil's life; that, and running itself into the ground. =)
 
Aaz and I were also discussing our favorite character powers, so I thought I'd share mine here as well:

Cloud - Braver, for when you absolutely have to do big damage fast, useful from start to finish! Triple Slash is second for the ease and AOE. Infinity's End if you have the opportunity, especially if you have it ready on a stagger in lieu of a limit break.

Tifa - Unbridled Strength + various uppercuts. Starshower for me too of her pure special moves. Least favorite: True Strike, which seldomly strikes true.

Barret - Overcharge, alternated with Max Fury. Plus, Steelskin when I'm tanking with him. I think I used the others by accident sometimes. =)

Aerith - Arcane Ward, though for most of the game Ray of Judgement was what I actually used.

Interesting. Here are mine:

Cloud – Triple Slash. It’s just a thrill to use, especially when there’s only one enemy. Only downside is that I can’t choose who Cloud strikes next if I’m fighting a group, he just goes after everyone.

Tifa – Unbridled Strength + Rise and Fall. It’s been a battle-ender throughout this game for me, even against bosses. Tifa’s a monster.

Barret – Overcharge. It’s fun to use and it’s effective. What more needs to be said?

Aerith – Arcane Ward. Very useful just for allowing you to cast spells twice.

How about your favorite summons?

Mine is the Fat Chocobo. I started using him as a joke, but he’s a beast, especially with his finisher. Using him in the final battle was weird, but worth it.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
I guess I should list mine as well then, since I started this.

Cloud: Triple Slash
Tifa: Starshower
Barret: Maximum Fury
Aerith: Pray is what I use the most by far, but it's a Materia. A distant second would be Arcane Ward ex aequo with Ray of Judgment.

For summons, I don't really have a favorite. Shiva is probably the one I've used the most. The three big ones are cool but using two ATB bars limits their usefulness.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I finished Mysteries of the Sith and Wario Land II this week.

Mysteries was a really good expansion. I liked the gameplay a lot more than Jedi Knight’s, but I really missed the cheesy live-action cutscenes. The use of in-game graphics for the cutscenes in Mysteries didn’t look that great, even for the time. The story was pretty decent, and you get to play as Mara Jade, so that was awesome.

Wario Land II was great. I loved that they got rid of the Lives system. The sprites were big, beautiful and very funny during Wario’s transformations (Zombie Wario!). The puzzles weren’t that hard, but the boss fights were really fun and challenging. I didn’t like it as much as the first game, but it was still a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to playing the rest of the series.

Next up is Parasite Eve!
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Final Fantasy VII (Reunion + Remako mods custom remaster) - I really only play during daughter downtime if she's watching Clifford or something and the wife isn't working on the computer, so I'm still not far. I just did the Wall Market segment, which felt like it took about 10 minutes, and Don Corneo, the two screens of sewers and two of the train graveyard(!). That's like three Remake chapters in a dozen or so pre-rendered backgrounds (it all took less than a half hour). I should point out it's way better and clearer with the new translation, especially the more risque material, which is still as sanitized as can be. Cloud to Aerith heading into the Honeybee Inn, "I'm SURE a crucial ingredient to my disguise is in there!" :ganishka:

Now I'm at the pillar, another "Chapter" that I'm sure will take about 10 to 15 minutes including combat and the boss fights (which is all still painfully rudimentary at this point). They really need to find a happy middle ground to reasonably augment this material in the Remake project because the precedent and pace they set is truly unsustainable unless they plan to release the final part on PS7 in 20 years (that's not even a radical estimate =). Speaking of which...

Final Fantasy VII Remake - With the ultimate accessory in hand, I'm now replaying on Hard Mode leveling up my weapons and materia (which actually ups the challenge since I'm not at all optimized for combat with offensive materia, etc). Between Hard chapters I'm still going and stocking up on random items I missed along the way like extra Championship Belts or Iron Maidens (though I can't imagine giving up armor materia slots, even for double the physical/magic defense). I've put over 70 hours into this shit and am I'm now wondering if I'll platinum it... really don't want to do all the dumb dresses or side games though.

It's also giving me deeper existential gaming questions concerning an experience like this versus Half-Life Alyx, and the limits of immersion in traditional gaming versus how to achieve immersion itself can ironically limit not only accessibility but also possibilities we otherwise take for granted in games today, and then how do you cross-apply those lessons to achieve mutually beneficial progress to overcome those limitations...?

They really need to develop a Covid-19 vaccine. =)
 
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