Final Fantasy VII Remake
 

Spent a few hours trying out the Final Fantasy VII Remake on PS4. It's got pretty graphics but it encapsulates everything I dislike about FF since X. Everything is just going from one end of one corridor to the next (with only the illusion of exploration), from one FMV sequence to the next. In fact, in some places if you try and walk down a different corridor than it wants you to, the game literally has a "warning" beacon and it forces you to walk the other way. Maybe things open up later, but I doubt it.

Admittedly, I enjoy the battle system more than I expected to. Though it's just more of the FF XV system. You can get through most of it by just mashing the square button.

The Midgar section of FFVII was pretty "railroady" to begin with. The feeling of open world didn't happen until you hit the world map.

I'm just 5 hours in, as playing video games is still really taxing. But I'm having a blast

Not this badly, or to this degree. I played a little further and when you're able to access the shops it appears to get a bit better... though again, only the illusion of roamability. Like, I take a random turn into an alley and there's no one to talk to, no chests or anything... just some cats.

So what? Don't you love cats? :D

I agree so far. I enjoyed the game and world of FF7 as a child and even enjoyed parts of FF15, but despite how much I love the style and visuals of this game, I've been pretty bored throughout my play session today.

I feel like I'm going through the motions and have a total lack of agency. The combat is engaging, the graphics are gorgeous, the story is even quite well done for the genre....but something is leaving me empty. Maybe it will find its groove later on. Or maybe I've grown to used to the freedom of a typical western-rpg.

I'm so jealous that you guys are getting to play this. I wish I had time. . .

I heard this was being released in chapters. How's that working out?

This first part is only up to Midgar. No one knows anything about when the second part is coming, however. It's Square so I'm assuming it'll be another 10 years.

Oh. It's got a Shen Mue thing going? So I should save my money and wait until I'm 70 when the anthology collection comes out. Got it.

Yeah, it ends with the end of leaving Midgar I guess... so we only get the first 5% of the actual game, and it took them 10 years to do so. And they're not even working on part 2 yet, they're waiting to see if this part 1 is profitable.

I really loathe modern day Square Enix. Just doubling down on continually the wrong things. They don't need to spend all of this time and money on making VII feel even more like a damn movie... just upgrade the engine, redo the FMV and maybe add 2 islands. That's enough. It should take 2 years maximum to make, and if it takes even a week longer, that means they're worried about the wrong things.

I think with FF XV failing (good, it was a BAD game for the same reasons with a dumb suicidal ending) they have left the FF business and are now in the FF VII business, long term. Because everybody loves FF VII, right?

How odd. My one friend who's a huge FF7 purist who hates everything BUT the actual FF7 game gave this a spin and he loved it, despite hating newer FF stuff in general and having lots of doubts about this project until he actually played it. Weird. I don't have a PS4 so I won't be able to play it until who knows when, anyway, but his endorsement sat pretty strong with me.

I do share the trepidation about the business model regarding this, though. I've been making the same jokes for a couple of years now. Kinda think they're over-reaching just a bit. Guess we'll see.

As for them now only being in the "FF7" business, well... yeah, that's disappointing, but what are they supposed to do? "Final Fantasy" as a brand was only ever super popular in America thanks to that one game. The rest all had various degrees of success, and a lot of them were "better" games, sure, but... well, 7 is the one everyone talks about, and for better or worse is what the "brand" is represented by to most people. Not 8. Certainly not 9, which nobody even talks about or remembers.

I mean, I get it. But when you've done ten FF games since FF7 and most of them have only had mediocre success, some of them failed badly, and none of them left much of a mark on pop culture at all... and when business is down across the board, nobody's buying a ton of games BUT they just keep getting more and more expensive to produce, well... what are they supposed to do? It's basically "milk FF7" or "give up and go out of business." Because they can't well take another 10 years and millions of dollars to underwhelm everyone like they did with XV, that's lunacy.

I'unno. We'll see. I like FF7, so I'm looking forward to finally playing this. Hopefully it'll get finished. Most people I know are pretty happy with it so far.

Well... everyone is really needing a "win" these days, aren't they? *sigh*

Though he's not wrong. I mean, if you're a dude that just wants to get swept up into a semi-interactive movie where you occasionally have to press the square button... you'll love this.

I played FF I-VI. I was even the guy excited as hell when FF II, III, and V became available on translated ROM/emulation as a teenager and was all over that like the rapture. Those were great f***ing RPGs. They KNOW how to make great RPGs, but they're just so in love with making these weird emo/J-Pop movie games since around FF X that they can't see the forest for the trees as to why this keeps failing.

Break down their whole business model. Start anew. Look at what worked eons ago, and focus on that. If they want to assign a separate dedicated team to work on adapting FF VII for the remake for the next 40 years, that's fine, too. Everybody wins. Also, put out a real Dragon Quest game faster than every 6 years. And how the f*** about Chrono Trigger 3? The game everybody wants, yet they're not even talking about it.

Watching playthrough of the FF7R - the game fully embraces "interactive movie" thing started by Metal Gear.

On the other hand, I don't see much difference between TBS JRPG and RTS movie, so...at least it looks pretty and production quality on the voice acting, locations and cutscenes are through the roof. Attention to details is wonderful too.

Oh, production quality is there in spades. And the voice acting is fantastic. The Cloud and Barret banter admittedly had me chuckling.

I'd just... like to actually feel like I was in control of the game. I don't get that so far in this. Just sort of along for the ride, as is.

Yeah, but that's what people wanted, I guess.
More character interaction, more memorable moments. And since it was a JRPG, the only thing was to make it an interactive movie or a visual novel.

Or just add a lot of unnecessary padding to the gameplay. Neither solution is good, in my opinion.

The worst part is that so much of the interactivity is a chore. They constantly slow your walking down to a crawl or literal “squeeze” through two objects in order to mask loading. More so than any game I’ve ever played. Holding down a button to walk slowly and listen to a conversation is a straight up chore when it’s done this much. Just give me a cutscene and let me eat my chips with two hands, ****.

I can be won over by presentation and even a game that takes the steering wheel sometimes. What I don’t like is constantly pressing buttons to do menial tasks.

For all the things I love about this game, listed in my post above, I think I’m beginning to hate it. If the second half doesn’t turn around hard, I’ll definitely consider it a wasted purchase. Right now - and I hate to say it - but I’m befuddled by the reviews this is getting, despite the power of nostalgia.

...Y e a h, that sounds perfectly safe and reasonable for them to do in a business environment where everyone except the GTA, Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed people are going out of business even when their games sell well. Just start over from scratch and roll the dice. That's sound.

.......You're alright, you. :lol:

Couldn't bring myself to finish this or play it at all over last week. I'm not sure if I'll finish it. What I've heard about the handling of the story near the end of the game does sound awesome, but I can't remember the last time a game felt like such a chore to play.
Everything outside of the excellent combat is not just boring, but tedious. I think I'll opt out of the last few chapters for now, but I'd even be willing to try it again on the cheap if they give it a makeover/directors cut down the line.

Tried to play it today. I guess I left off last time at some gate where I need to find... something to get through. I don't remember what I was doing when I left off (the risk when drinking a lot of vodka and playing video games at 4 AM). I wandered around by a lot of NPCs that I can't talk to and sort of lost interest in the game.

Much further now. I'm in Wall Town, doing the arena fights. So far I've died twice fighting the final opponent, a giant house called "Hell House." Which underscores a really STUPID part of the battle system. Even if I have a bunch of potions on me, it won't even let me use Item until I either whack at the Hell House a bunch of times (which just gets me hurt more) OR if I try and block a lot of hits, either way builds up the ATB meter. So I'm basically flailing around, almost dead, and it won't let me use any potions so I die.

Beat it now. At the end... when you're about to leave Midgar you go into a black hole and an alternate dimension (or something?) and fight Sephiroth. And it's like the end of the original game suddenly.

Wtf is this? This is like more Advent Children garbage. Willy nilly.