What Are You Playing?

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
So, I'll just say having played Dark Souls and the starting area doesn't mean you know what you're missing here.

Yeah he's missing out on 50 hours of roaming the same procedurally-generated labyrinth corridors populated with the same enemies and fighting that rotating roster of same bosses! But there's a special boss at the very end so it's worth it! :troll: How's your rage meter now!? :guts::beast:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Yeah he's missing out on 50 hours of roaming the same procedurally-generated labyrinth corridors populated with the same enemies and fighting that rotating roster of same bosses! But there's a special boss at the very end so it's worth it! :troll: How's your rage meter now!? :guts::beast:

Oh, you mean the optional, customizable procedurally-generated endless dungeon crawler on top of the transcendent single player campaign containing unique weapons, monsters and bosses that players are still exploring and discovering new things today (and which can be shared via level codes aka glyphs)? I'm feeling pretty, pretty good about it! Bloodborne's bullshit side-game is still better than most games. You just improved my mood.

Actually, I take back everything nice I've said about Bloodborne because all this talk about it got me to resume that test game I started on PS Now and I lost like 5,000 souls... er, blood echoes getting ganked before I had access to leveling up! I hate this fucking game, nobody should play it!! :mozgus:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
the transcendent single player campaign
I lost like 5,000 souls... er, blood echoes

I think the fact they could only be bothered to rename the "souls" but kept the game mechanic and animation is a good commentary on exactly how transcendent it is compared to what came before. =)

containing unique weapons

There's more than five weapons in the game?! Personally I played it all with my starting axe. :iva: The guns are useless too, right? A surprisingly crude and broken system, so didn't bother with it, since it's meaningless. :casca: But hey at least there are... two, three, four spells! And the various shades of grey and brown on the clothes you wear are pleasing to the eye if you position the camera at an angle that allows you to distinguish them, even though the stats don't matter (played the entire game with the starting garb). :troll:

Ok I'm done lol. I did enjoy the game and I do think it's the one most worth playing after Demon's Souls and Dark Souls.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I think the fact they could only be bothered to rename the "souls" but kept the game mechanic and animation is a good commentary on exactly how transcendent it is compared to what came before. =)

What came before were merely prototypes; creating Bloodborne is the reason for which they were invented. =)

There's more than five weapons in the game?! Personally I played it all with my starting axe. :iva:

Well let's see... 26 Trick Weapons better than any typical arms, each with 2 fighting modes, 10 upgrade levels, 3 variations, 3 sockets with 85 gems choices, plus 16 firearms, 7 with sockets, and 10 levels and 12 hunter tools... hmmm, the game has approximately 138,904 weapons! But even the starting ones are formidable as you attest. :daiba:

I went with the axe too this time to mix it up, I'd always chosen the others for serration before, yet landed on heavy hitters like Ludwig's Holy Blade later.

The guns are useless too, right? A surprisingly crude and broken system, so didn't bother with it, since it's meaningless. :casca:

They're as useful as one knows how to use them. :badbone:

For instance, I like to use them to add balancing weight to my belt while I two-hand my Trick Weapon.

But hey at least there are... two, three, four spells! And the various shades of grey and brown on the clothes you wear are pleasing to the eye if you position the camera at an angle that allows you todistinguish them, even though the stats don't matter (played the entire game with the starting garb). :troll:

Those things are as they should be, no casual spellcasters or fashion-fetishizing fops welcome here! :azan:

Ok I'm done lol. I did enjoy the game and I do think it's the one most worth playing after Demon's Souls and Dark Souls.

Indeed you are right, after the release of all three it is the one most worth playing! Fear the old blood, and may the good blood guide your way, Hunter.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Well I'm definitely ready to wake up from this nightmare. :schnoz:

I almost used a similar line, except it was you waking to the nightmare. :guts:

Bloodborne - One thing I wasn't kidding about above was not being happy about losing all those echoes. I was collecting/holding onto them a long time, couldn't remember how to activate the leveling up (you need to die from or at least access a boss), and I don't think the game was designed for you to collect/lose so many, at least all at once, before you can use them. That was like four levels worth, it felt like I never lost so many before even though I probably lost like 60,000+ in the late game but it wasn't even enough to level. Anyway, Aaz and I were discussing Souls fatigue, I felt it with Sekiro, we both wonder if Elden Ring will suffer from it, and this made me realize that when you're removed from the mentality of these games a while they're not exactly fun to return to casually.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - So I'm pretty deep into it now and one area where this game really shines over the original is the story elements. Characters just talk more and have more to say than basic exposition or gameplay info. There was even a whole personal and geopolitical discussion about the Cold War that was pretty impressive for 1990 (which helps keep it concise too, Kojima can't let it run on for an hour =). Speaking of which, God damn it has the fucking sneezing mechanic from MGS2! I thought that was novel in the early 2000's but they did it over a decade earlier. Very cool. I don't know if I'm more impressed that Kojima was doing these things back in the 80s and early 90s or incredulous that he's been repeating himself for decades. :guts:
 
Speaking of which, God damn it has the fucking sneezing mechanic from MGS2! I thought that was novel in the early 2000's but they did it over a decade earlier. Very cool. I don't know if I'm more impressed that Kojima was doing these things back in the 80s and early 90s or incredulous that he's been repeating himself for decades. :guts:

The sneezing was also in the original MGS.

And I get what you mean with that last statement. MGS was always my favorite game, but I was a bit turned off after finding out it had so much in common with MG2. MGS2 had that stupid MGS1 simulation thing that gave them an excuse to do it all over again, which I was ok with, until I found out about MG2.

At the same time it is impressive.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
The sneezing was also in the original MGS.

Wow, I don't recall, I wonder if I forgot or just missed it. When they mentioned how cold the water was here and that you could get sick I figured there'd be some negative status effect but not the actual sneezing mechanic.

And I get what you mean with that last statement. MGS was always my favorite game, but I was a bit turned off after finding out it had so much in common with MG2. MGS2 had that stupid MGS1 simulation thing that gave them an excuse to do it all over again, which I was ok with, until I found out about MG2.

At the same time it is impressive.

Yeah, it's a weird catch-22 where it's technically more impressive and yet I'm a little disillusioned. :ganishka:

I don't know, it's consistent with the Kojima love/hate experience. I'm even more convinced he's one of the best game developers ever, wish he did more original material (in which case leaving Konami is ultimately a good thing), but also often don't like the results when he does try different, often bewildering, things! I want him to blow my mind while keeping himself reigned in somehow, so I guess I'm the problem in that relationship.

I will say this recontextualizes the whole MG series in an overall more positive way. When you look at it through the lens of an evolution of base infiltration and special forces combat simulators MGS3 becomes even more his magnum opus when you see how it builds on the foundation of these early games and MGS. It's just incredible the level of detail he took it to with camo, nutrition, and medicine, yet they were still fun video game mechanics.

Anyway, admire his work, up to and including MGS5 and Death Stranding, looking forward to more, but find it hard to believe he's really done with MG forever. I think I'll play Snatcher next.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
My favorite game of all time. Indeed Luca Blight is truly a horrific villain. The story has so many twists and turns. Did you play the first one before? I only ask because many of the characters return for the sequel and there's a lot of extra dialog between them depending if on you have in your party when you meet them. Also there's a pretty substantial bonus quest where you can recruit your own playable character from the first game. It's pretty amazing. Glad you're enjoying it!

Thanks!

I played the first one, which I enjoyed, but the sequel is a lot better so far. I uploaded my save data to Suikoden 2, so I’ll get to see all the cool stuff that goes along with that.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Bloodborne - Well, after my previous setback I (re)discovered a way I really haven't experienced the game due to lack of access or previous interest: online! I didn't do much multiplayer because the first time I played I didn't really have PS Plus save for a brief trial period where I had a few PvP encounters. I also wasn't interested in PvE co-op because I was going for the pure experience, but who cares now? So that's been a lot of fun and it seems to be pretty active on PS Now: when you ring the bell somebody, or bodies, answer. I know there's also some potential negative consequences to opening that door, so I look forward to seeing more invasions, etc. One area where Souls reigns supreme for me is its lively, passive aggressive, and just plain weird multiplayer (I've had red phantoms come act as cheerleaders for me battling mobs before killing themselves, and I'm pretty sure some white ones have intentionally lead me into ambushes =).

Beyond that, I basically already dumped the Hunter Axe when I got the Saw Spear, just not for me, and when I realized I wouldn't be switching things up too much after all I rushed to my old friend... at my side all along, my true mentor, my guiding moonlight: Ludwig's Holy Blade! The best weapon in the game, and one of my favorites in any.

Rounding out my top five:

Holy Moonlight Greatsword - The big boy, manual drive version of Ludwig's with a higher degree of difficulty. YMMV but it became my main in The Old Hunters and beyond for the slightly higher upside, projectile ability, and whimsy despite the awkward learning curve.
Whirligig Saw - A buzzsaw on a stick! The funnest weapon in the game and will absolutely chew beasts up, including bosses.
Hunter's Cane - The perfect changeup weapon for spamming quick sword strikes or ranged AoE whip attacks, and has serration. With Ludwig's and this you can take on anything.
Saw Spear - Maybe the the singularly most fundamentally sound and versatile weapon in the game. Serrated in both forms, fast, long range, wide range, crowd crowds and utilizes a quality build. If I could only use one weapon I'd probably still pick Ludwig's and just make it work in its bad situations, but I'd have less of those with this one.

Honorable Mentions: The Saw Cleaver is the iconic cover weapon and gets it done from beginning to end, but I like the spear better, and Blades of Mercy can melt bosses, but they're just not my style.
 
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Walter

Administrator
Staff member
One area where Souls reigns supreme for me is its lively, passive aggressive, and just plain weird multiplayer (I've had red phantoms come act as cheerleaders for me battling mobs before killing themselves, and I'm pretty sure some white ones have intentionally lead me into ambushes =).
The most fun I had with Dark Souls 2 was co-op. I remember my first time playing it online, I ended up with a pick-up group in the first zone (Fallen Giants?) where we took out the Pursuer that first time, when he lands for just a few seconds. I was like WOW! That's possible?! In Dark Souls 1 I definitely encountered my fair share of gankers and griefers, all in giants gear, naturally. It was cool when it happened like, the first few times? Afterward it just became an uninvited interruption.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
*Updated at bottom*

The most fun I had with Dark Souls 2 was co-op. I remember my first time playing it online, I ended up with a pick-up group in the first zone (Fallen Giants?) where we took out the Pursuer that first time, when he lands for just a few seconds. I was like WOW! That's possible?!

Co-op is the thing Dark Souls 2 did best, that's where I met my whimsical red phantom life coach and had at least half a dozen other of my most memorably weird online encounters in the series, plus just a ton of duels, etc (and it's still pretty active last I checked). I only prefer Dark Souls 3's co-op because I was actually good at it so if I was invaded I was gonna have some fun instead of just being inconvenienced as you said. Best fight I ever had was against a slew of the purple phantoms in DS3 at Anor Londo. Took on like three at once and won. Fuck yeah. Of course, the game crashed immediately after I landed the coup de grace, but that's another story.

In Dark Souls 1 I definitely encountered my fair share of gankers and griefers, all in giants gear, naturally. It was cool when it happened like, the first few times? Afterward it just became an uninvited interruption.

Yeah... but overall, and particularly in DS1, I find the best element invasions add is tension. You're never truly safe, even if you're somewhere completely devoid of AI controlled enemies. If you left your character and game unattended you will be invaded and killed, or at least you had to think about it. And was there anything more high stakes than when you'd have a massive amount of souls to retrieve out in the wild, and just as you're about to oh so carefully and methodically get them, you're invaded by a hostile phantom that's not only going to try to kill you, but cost you all those souls in the process. Fight or flight time. Like you said, it was largely unwanted for those reasons, but it did add an ultimate enemy or equalizer to the game in the form of a human controlled adversary that could hunt you down anywhere. Basically, I hated it most of the time but the game wouldn't be the same without it.


Bloodborne - Cleaned out most of the Cathedral area, now I just need to tie up loose ends before I advance the night. I don't know how complete a playthrough this will be, like how much I'm going to bother with areas I don't have to (so far I've been pretty thorough), and there's no DLC anyway which is like a third of the game, but in the spirit of this run I'm taking the optimistic view that I get to skip the hardest areas and bosses. =) I also don't want to completely blow my wad now if the rumors of a PS5/PC remaster are true, though I'm skeptical of course. Plus, I want to take advantage of the fun of keeping things loose on this run, and I'll probably end up killing more beasts and monsters than I intend, as I have so far, but enjoy it more. I do already have an umbilical cord, and another en route to Oedon Chapel... :carcus:


Update: So, what I said about the tension of invasions when retrieving or losing your souls/echoes is at stake? Well, I had lost to a boss with 70,000 echoes on me but had to change my daughter's diaper before I tried again, so I rang a bell beforehand to see if anyone came. Well, when I check back there is a summoned player there, and I don't want to lose him while I wash my hands so wiggle the joystick with my forearm, and it's about this time I recognize he doesn't have the familiar blue hue and the next thing I know he's crushing me with the Kirkhammer even though I'm not fighting back, and basically couldn't even if I didn't mind getting my controller dirty. 70,000! :magni:

Needless to say, I was distraught, but got back on the horse and am happy to say that all prey are now slaughtered. I'm considering another BL4 run, basically of just the 7 essential bosses at first, or resuming play on my disc copy to replay the DLC now (plus some new cut content/bosses that have been discovered), but we'll see, I still need to finish MG2 (I got tired of retrying every locked door in the game when I got a new key) and I want to give Snatcher a try as well.
 
I finished FF7 earlier this week.
Overall a great game, I liked the overall story and characters. Definitely not how I expected the game to be after playing FF7 R first which is meant as a compliment.

While I can’t wait to see how Square Enix will flesh out some of the characters, I also fear what bullshit they might add or change like they did in the finale of FF7R. Some of that game’s ending bosses felt bigger than the weapons, Jenova’s countless forms and Sephiroth himself. To me it felt way out of proportion to suddenly fight those big monsters.

A character I wouldn’t mind they’ll focus more on is Sephiroth. While you did get some glances here and there I wish they would’ve told a bit more about him. While he was a nice villain, my high expectations for him, as he’s probably one of the most known villains in video game history, were not quite met. In the last third of the game all he was doing was waiting in his cave for me to fight against him. Maybe it wasn’t that bad and all it was was me getting triggered by that never-coming-closer-for-half-of-the-game-meteor but it was a bit anti climatic to find him, fight him and then he was gone. Maybe a bit more dialogue at the end?
Both him just waiting there and the meteor not coming closer could’ve been part of me not being sure how much time really went by in the world or missing some dialogue or hint. Roaming in open world games can often disturb feeling about time, too, though.

I probably wrote this last time about my FF7 experience but I was stunned how a game that old had so many different enemies and locations and I’m sure I probably missed a ton of them. Not only had many of them different original attacks, too (compare the amount of enemy skill attacks in FF7 compared to the lousy 4 (?) of FF7R) but I was able/would’ve been able to customize all 9 characters with different materia and fighting styles as well. I went into the game that I’d probably know most of the materias but boy was I wrong.

As for my playstyle I wish I hadn’t been that lazy to always only play with the same 3-4 characters for most of the game. I disliked Yuffie a lot ever since she stole my materia and Vincent barely actively interacted with the story so he never made it into the team, too. Cait Sith also never got played again after his “betrayal”. I guess I’m too unforgivable when it comes to stories.:ganishka:

In the end I was too lazy to get that golden chocobo or grind my way up to fight the last two weapons but that was just because there were simply too many things to do if you wanted to do “everything”.

Overall definitely a game worth checking out for those who haven’t yet.


As for my next game I decided to finally play the Witcher 3 DLCs, TLoU2 will have to wait.
I also noticed that I only missed like 3 trophies (plus the one for playing the game on death march) in order to get the platinum so I decided do my first platinum first and then play the DLCs.
Probably not worth the grind when I could play the DLCs already with my old save file but since it’s been 1 or 2 years since the last time I played the game I don’t mind playing through it again.
I decided I’ll choose as many options I didn’t choose in my first play through as possible so it’ll definitely be a different experience for me. The game’s full of different scenarios for pretty much everything so I doubt I’ll get bored. By restarting the game I also saw/recognized Gaunter O’Dimm (I played the very beginning of the HoS expansion so I met him already there) early in the game when I was searching for Yennifer in one of the inns. Even with just the short dialogue with him he became an interesting character in hindsight. So definitely worth going through the game again.
I’ll probably keep the main story a bit shorter than last time as I made sure to do every short quest and explore EVERY question marker on all the maps, including the countless sea treasures in skellige (I’m still being haunted by all those harpies and sirens guarding them:magni:).
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I finished FF7 earlier this week.
Overall a great game, I liked the overall story and characters. Definitely not how I expected the game to be after playing FF7 R first which is meant as a compliment.

Yeah, it's a lot less BS, but then it didn't need to stretch a relatively brief section into a 40 hour experience and could cover a lot of ground.

While I can’t wait to see how Square Enix will flesh out some of the characters, I also fear what bullshit they might add or change like they did in the finale of FF7R. Some of that game’s ending bosses felt bigger than the weapons, Jenova’s countless forms and Sephiroth himself. To me it felt way out of proportion to suddenly fight those big monsters.

It's practically like switching gears so you're purportedly fighting God outside the game, or at the very least gods of the story. That's a long way to go just so they can change some details from FF7's plot going forward, which they were already doing anyway... thus, our suspicions about their long-term intentions.

A character I wouldn’t mind they’ll focus more on is Sephiroth. While you did get some glances here and there I wish they would’ve told a bit more about him. While he was a nice villain, my high expectations for him, as he’s probably one of the most known villains in video game history, were not quite met. In the last third of the game all he was doing was waiting in his cave for me to fight against him. Maybe it wasn’t that bad and all it was was me getting triggered by that never-coming-closer-for-half-of-the-game-meteor but it was a bit anti climatic to find him, fight him and then he was gone. Maybe a bit more dialogue at the end?
Both him just waiting there and the meteor not coming closer could’ve been part of me not being sure how much time really went by in the world or missing some dialogue or hint. Roaming in open world games can often disturb feeling about time, too, though.

He's actually in the game less than you may think! The Sephiroth, or "clone(s)," you keep encountering throughout the game are actually Jenova's body returning to her head, thus why you fight a piece of her at all these encounters. Save for flashbacks you never actually see Sephiroth until you reach the Northern Crater and only encounter him at the very end. Unfortunately most of this is lost in translation. Now, I don't know if FF7R is going to clear this up or muddy the waters further, but considering how they handled Sephiroth plus the other crap they pulled I wouldn't bet on a faithful correction.

As for adding to Sephiroth's character, I'd like there to be more to him too, but don't know that they'll pull it off (his talk with Cloud in the cosmos wasn't bad, but really, originally all his depth was in the flashback). Anyway, he was obviously pretty effective as he was too. I mean, Darth Vader is only on screen in Star Wars for eight minutes and for about a half hour in the entire trilogy, but his presence looms large, and that's how Sephiroth works best (actually moreso since he's no Darth Vader). As I complained he was actually more effective off-screen or when you just saw the impact of his actions, "Oh, the scariest badass in the world that we thought was dead broke into the building and killed everybody in sight, including Big Bad Mr. Shinra, without anybody knowing!" Better than him constantly haunting Cloud's waking wet dreams or whatever.

Anyway, there's at least potential there if they decide to differentiate Sephiroth more from Jenova, or make it clear he's her not necessarily willing thrall. We should know early on depending on how he behaves in the flashback and how clear it is that Jenova is corrupting his mind. My guess is they'll make him more sympathetic then, but that doesn't mean they won't also make him more over-the-top evil beyond that. During FF7R Aaz and I discussed how in a way they're almost itching to redeem this guy, like he's part of the FF7 gang because he's so popular and as much a part of the franchise's appeal as any other character (thus why they keep rehashing him as a villain), but is that popularity contingent on him going, "Ho ho ho, muah ha ha, I'm so evil!" My guess is what we saw in FF7R is what we'll get, but again, that one moment when he's basically recruiting/seducing Cloud was a little different than what we're used to. Good moment for Cloud too, I love his hand involuntarily starting to move, and given the apparent gravity of the situation it wouldn't be unreasonable to hear him out even if he's just going to be more evil than ever down the road.

I probably wrote this last time about my FF7 experience but I was stunned how a game that old had so many different enemies and locations and I’m sure I probably missed a ton of them.

That's its old school JRPG DNA viewed through a much wider lens for an epic presentation. It seems smaller to me because I explored every inch of it, whereas fully comprehending the world of FF6, which I merely played through, is unfathomable to me.

As for my playstyle I wish I hadn’t been that lazy to always only play with the same 3-4 characters for most of the game.

Sounds normal to me, I played as Cloud, Barret and Vincent almost exclusively after the latter joined my party. For some reason though Vincent never did 9999 damage even at lvl 99, he'd always do 9996 or something.

In the end I was too lazy to get that golden chocobo or grind my way up to fight the last two weapons but that was just because there were simply too many things to do if you wanted to do “everything”.

I'm going to take the opportunity to brag yet again that not only did I 100% this 70 hour game but even chronicled it via every save point on a third party super memory card. The biggest loser, folks!

As for my next game I decided to finally play the Witcher 3 DLCs

I need to get back to these myself, but it doesn't sound like your outlook for completion is so good considering the ambitious breadth of your project.


Bloodborne - So I'm technically playing two separate copies of Bloodborne now, one is my original hard disc with the DLC where I'm taking on Ludwig on like NG+4 and despite being insanely high level myself his life pool is just brutal. My fucking Holy Greatswords both do like 850+ damage and I barely tag him for 5% on the exchanges I get the better of, and that's before he transforms and has a Moonlight Greatsword too! Meanwhile if I'm not careful he can cross me up once and kill me. No bueno. I knew this was a bad idea when the first DLC enemy I fought took 5 or 6 hits to go down. I really don't want to fight Kos, or some say Kosm, like this.

Meanwhile, in a surprising twist, I'm enjoying more an online BL4 run on PS Now that I plan to keep to a minimum, but will still take out optional bosses like the Witch in order to get runes, etc (plus I need to clear those areas for blood shards to upgrade my weapon anyway). I've taken down a few bosses but no major test yet since it's still early. I'm hoping to make my Saw Cleaver OP before I do, and like I said I just want to do what bosses I need or want to and then have Gehrman cut off my stupid head to put an end to this folly. =)
 
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He's actually in the game less than you may think! The Sephiroth, or "clone(s)," you keep encountering throughout the game are actually Jenova's body returning to her head, thus why you fight a piece of her at all these encounters. Save for flashbacks you never actually see Sephiroth until you reach the Northern Crater and only encounter him at the very end. Unfortunately most of this is lost in translation. Now, I don't know if FF7R is going to clear this up or muddy the waters further, but considering how they handled Sephiroth plus the other crap they pulled I wouldn't bet on a faithful correction.
Yeah, I meant the clones that looked like Sephiroth for cloud, could’ve been a bit more clear on that.
Retrospectively I’d have to watch those scenes with “Sephiroth” again to fully understand them, though. Was it only cloud who saw Sephiroth in those black-cloak-number-tattoo-Jenova-clones guys or were the others from the team under the same impression as Cloud at times?
If so, why’d they see Sephiroth in them? I understood it that it was Cloud’s fucked up mind that mistook them for Sephiroth which would mean the team only saw some guy with a black cloak and assumed it was Sephiroth. Or was it Sephiroth’s powers which made the illusion possible? I’ll have to check the internet on some of those questions.
Anyway, he was obviously pretty effective as he was too. I mean, Darth Vader is only on screen in Star Wars for eight minutes and for about a half hour in the entire trilogy, but his presence looms large, and that's how Sephiroth works best (actually moreso since he's no Darth Vader). As I complained he was actually more effective off-screen or when you just saw the impact of his actions, "Oh, the scariest badass in the world that we thought was dead broke into the building and killed everybody in sight, including Big Bad Mr. Shinra, without anybody knowing!" Better than him constantly haunting Cloud's waking wet dreams or whatever.
He was definitely a great villain, the Shinra HQ incidence was an extremely good build up for him, much better than FF7R did but we talked about that already. I just felt that the time span between the reunion and the final battle was a bit too long for me without “Sephiroth”, even though we got more insight from Hojo and the Weapon’s awakening was due to his actions, too. I think it really was just me taking too much time here and there.
Focusing more on Cloud’s mind and his hallucinations wasn’t a bad thing in FF7R, imo. We got way more dialogue and cutscenes up to that part so I think it’s natural to explore that a little more.
During FF7R Aaz and I discussed
My guess is what we saw in FF7R is what we'll get
I remember skipping those scenes when reading the thread in case I get spoiled in some way, eventually I’ll read them to see your initial reactions, opinions and theories.
I thought that Sephiroth in the end was a different Sephiroth from an alternative world or something, as we got the propaganda dog with a different design, Aerith saying he’s “wrong” (as if he didn’t belong in this world) and Zack not being dead for example. Which to me feels like only some of the main elements of the story will stay and the rest will be original.
I'm going to take the opportunity to brag yet again that not only did I 100% this 70 hour game but even chronicled it via every save point on a third party super memory card. The biggest loser, folks!
Wow, 100% is one thing but saving everything chronologically on different save slot? Did you make a detailed log book to keep an overview for every save, too?:iva:
I need to get back to these myself, but it doesn't sound like your outlook for completion is so good considering the ambitious breadth of your project.
Completing the few missing trophies wasn’t that hard, took me ~ half a day, now I “only” need to play the main quest on the death march difficulty and I’m definitely not going through it as thoroughly as in my first play through.
Death march surprisingly isn’t that hard for the most part, it’s mostly some deserter groups that suddenly kill me with 2 hits.
 
He was definitely a great villain, the Shinra HQ incidence was an extremely good build up for him, much better than FF7R did but we talked about that already.

I thought the Midgar Zolom part was some good build up. We all tried to beat him the first time and getting our asses handed to us. And when you cross on your chocobo like a lil bitch and see another one impaled like that. Damn, the mofo who did that has got to be the real deal.

For my part, Griffith inspired me to revisit the first Metal Gear. Good (and frustrating) times.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Yeah, I meant the clones that looked like Sephiroth for cloud, could’ve been a bit more clear on that.
Retrospectively I’d have to watch those scenes with “Sephiroth” again to fully understand them, though. Was it only cloud who saw Sephiroth in those black-cloak-number-tattoo-Jenova-clones guys or were the others from the team under the same impression as Cloud at times?
If so, why’d they see Sephiroth in them? I understood it that it was Cloud’s fucked up mind that mistook them for Sephiroth which would mean the team only saw some guy with a black cloak and assumed it was Sephiroth. Or was it Sephiroth’s powers which made the illusion possible? I’ll have to check the internet on some of those questions.

Yeah, the way the game presents it for the majority is it's all in Cloud's head and then the "twist" at the Shinra building is the rest see Sephiroth too, but then it's Cloud that sees him as another one of Hojo's test subjects... so like I feared, already pretty muddled. Part of the problem is you're representing something in HD that was originally super deformed polygons, which left a lot to the imagination and didn't require them to show all their work. Now they'd basically have to show the Jenova parts reorganizing their DNA to appear as Sephiroth, like an organic T-1000, which frankly I would think is way cooler than all this bullshit with black smoke (black smoke/goo monster!) and feathers. They're basically mixing sci-fi and magic in ways that aren't entirely clear.

I just felt that the time span between the reunion and the final battle was a bit too long for me without “Sephiroth”, even though we got more insight from Hojo and the Weapon’s awakening was due to his actions, too. I think it really was just me taking too much time here and there.

It's not just you, the pacing of the third act leaves a lot to he desired in general. I mean, the third disc is basically free play and the final fight.

Focusing more on Cloud’s mind and his hallucinations wasn’t a bad thing in FF7R, imo. We got way more dialogue and cutscenes up to that part so I think it’s natural to explore that a little more.

Well, it works for Remake, largely because they're frontloading a bunch of mid-game thematic content so dramatically its arc still feels like FF7 overall even though it's only a small portion in the beginning. I suppose this won't necessarily hurt the future sequels since it won't hurt to reiterate these points after a few years.

I thought that Sephiroth in the end was a different Sephiroth from an alternative world or something, as we got the propaganda dog with a different design, Aerith saying he’s “wrong” (as if he didn’t belong in this world) and Zack not being dead for example. Which to me feels like only some of the main elements of the story will stay and the rest will be original.

That damn dog and his multiverse implications, plus everyone online inexplicably being excited they're gonna fuck this up, "Now instead of remaking their all-time classic Square can give us one of their original bad games!" I'm not sure they're even being that ambitious, or just throwing a bunch of crap out there to make this all feel as important as the game's reputation demands. For better or worse, once you get to the end of that freeway it started feeling more like FF7-2 than a remake.

Wow, 100% is one thing but saving everything chronologically on different save slot? Did you make a detailed log book to keep an overview for every save, too?:iva:

Well, if I recall it wasn't necessary because it would give the location of the save point, and I would only save their once per that visit or event, so it was as linearly organized as possible and you'd know, "Oh, this is your first trip to Junon."

Completing the few missing trophies wasn’t that hard, took me ~ half a day, now I “only” need to play the main quest on the death march difficulty and I’m definitely not going through it as thoroughly as in my first play through.

I wasn't too thorough my first time and it still felt like the little bite-sized story quests were legion. :ganishka:

I thought the Midgar Zolom part was some good build up. We all tried to beat him the first time and getting our asses handed to us. And when you cross on your chocobo like a lil bitch and see another one impaled like that. Damn, the mofo who did that has got to be the real deal.

Yup, and once again like the Shinra building it had BLUUUUD! Sephiroth's gonna make you bleed! It really made it feel foreboding to be following him. Actually, back to hsv's point it would be nice to get more of his side of the story and even let you play as Sephiroth for portions (kind of like seeing Zelda's journey ahead of yours during the Skyward Sword credits), assuming he somehow possesses his consciousness and isn't just a sentient Jenova appendage taking the shape of its human host that's physically an ocean and continent away.

For my part, Griffith inspired me to revisit the first Metal Gear. Good (and frustrating) times.

Hell yeah! You playing the MSX or NES version?
 
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Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
That damn dog and his multiverse implications, plus everyone online inexplicably being excited they're gonna fuck this up, "Now instead of remaking their all-time classic Square can give us one of their original bad games!" I'm not sure they're even being that ambitious, or just throwing a bunch of crap out there to make this all feel as important as the game's reputation demands. For better or worse, once you get to the end of that freeway it started feeling more like FF7-2 than a remake.

Guess that 'R' actually stands for "Reboot". :sad:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Bloodborne - Up next in my BL4 run are the Shadows of Yharnam, which I'm actually the most worried about in this whole thing (probably foolishly given the enemies ahead). Those guys were nothing the first time I fought them using the whip, but since then I've come to appreciate what a headache they can be, especially now that I'll be especially susceptible. Gotta get my Cleaver leveled appropriately. To that end I'm doing Old Yharnam now just to get echoes and items before the prices shoot up once I touch Laurence's skull to advance time and enter the Forbidden Woods (*nerd alert*).

Guess that 'R' actually stands for "Reboot". :sad:

Yeah... on the positive side, while the original FF7 obviously didn't need any follow up, as evidenced by the sorry state of the brand since then, that brand definitely needed a reboot and return to the source, and for all our bitching we played the shit out of it. So whatever its flaws it worked and FF7 is in a better place now than before Remake came out (even Wally didn't put it in the trash before the end =). I mean, we already discussed this, but for everything that drove us crazy they managed to recapture just enough magic with Midgar and those characters that it ultimately didn't matter. FF7R isn't my game of year, but I probably played it like 100 hours more than whatever that is (except MK11 =).
 
Beat Sekiro for the third time. Holy fuck I love this game so much. It's so fun.

But finally, I am Soulsborned out. I've played all of these games to death that I can finally move on for 10 minutes or so.

So, since it's September and as far as I'm concerned it's the beginning of Halloween (it starts and ends when I feel like!), I started playing Fatal Frame 1. Few games get under my skin like this series. Loveeeee it.

And I'm also starting a new game of Persona 3 since I've been wanting to replay 3-5 for quite a while now.
 

Dar_Klink

Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
Playing FFXIV still because it's an MMO, I will say that my experience has been good even in terms of dumb monthly paid addictive stuff but a lot of that comes from taking a multi-year break that allowed a ton of content to build up, I can't imagine having played it since 2014 or so non-stop and paying for it that entire time. I'll heap more praise onto the story of the latest expansion Shadowbringers by saying it had the best Final Fantasy story since at least 7(I didn't beat 12 so that could be a contender). The writer, Natsuko Ishikawa, did an amazing job of taking the previous story stuff and tying it together perfectly and pacing it with almost nothing that felt like filler, especially crazy in an MMO where you go hunt down 3 bones and 4 feathers or whatever. She really made you feel for some of the characters that previously were just a bit boring. It's especially apparent after the previous expansion's kinda lackluster story. Music is also great as always.

Outside of that I've been playing Moon RPG Remix on Switch. It's a sort of adventure game from 1997 where you play as a kid sucked into an RPG world where the hero has been going around looting people and killing monsters/animals that you help bring back to life. Very cool and subversive especially for its time during the big PS1 RPG boom. Very heavily influenced Undertale and probably a ton of later similar types of games. It has a pretty whimsical feel to it which makes sense with it being helmed by people who worked on Super Mario RPG and other former Square people at the time. It lets you listen to the music via a CD player in-game rather than having specific tracks for the different areas, similar to MGSV in that regard I guess, and it had a lot of video game music people and indie Japanese artists from the era make tracks for it. Enjoying it a lot.
 

Dar_Klink

Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
FFXII's gameplay was great but the story sucked, so it's definitely not a contender.
At the time I thought "Wow cool Judge Armor" and that made me think it had a cool story whoops. Also I'd say since 9 but I think that one's appeal was more in the characters/setting/music than story itself or I don't know too late to edit.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
At the time I thought "Wow cool Judge Armor" and that made me think it had a cool story whoops. Also I'd say since 9 but I think that one's appeal was more in the characters/setting/music than story itself or I don't know too late to edit.

Don't even remember FFIX's story...
 
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