(SPOILERS) Can we talk about how much this sucked now?

[Bos10George]

I loved the original, as did many others. I don't think you can play through this game to its ending after playing the original and call it an acceptable remake. The game looks fantastic and feeds on your nostalgia, but at the end of the day it ends up being a sub-par action RPG wearing the skin of the original Final Fantasy VII. I can't say I hated the whole thing. I liked how they expanded upon the story, added depth to characters, and added a few additional characters to make Midgar feel like a place people would actually live. However, those feelings are based on my love for the original and if I didn't have that inner bias and desire to enjoy this more, this game would rank much lower. There are 2 points that upset me most about this reboot.

 

1) They changed the story.

 

This is the ultimate sin IMO for any remake and especially this one. Adding content to expand the original storyline is fine, but to outright change the story is unforgivable. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie were meant to die in the sector 7 collapse. Their deaths would have really driven the point of how horrible Shinra was especially after the character development that was added in the remake. Instead the entire plate collapse seemed like a silly pointless joke with no actual consequences. Shinra dropped a CITY on the sector 7 slums and not only do Biggs, Wedge, and every notable character survive, but you can detour back to the area in a way that makes it seem like the plate above was only a prop made of paper. Also, the ending was an anime dumpster fire meant for people that wanted more Kingdom Hearts. Here is something that didn't happen in the original: Sephiroth kills Barrett, but he is fine now because the ghosts of fate say it's not allowed. Oh and Zack is apparently not dead, which annoys fans of the original and confuses everyone else. With that said, if we are dealing with an alternate reality where everyone is alive and everything is sunshine, how can this still be considered a FFVII Remake?

 

2) There is no scenario where this game is completed.

 

Soon they will have to release the next part and then they won't be able to call it just "FFVII Remake" with the exact box art from the original full game. There will be either a DLC expansion or a new game called FF7 Remake Part 2. The uninformed that thought this was the complete original aren't going to drop more money for the next 2+ installments. Those that never played the original and bought this thinking "hey, now I can play this game I heard so much about" will either not finish the game because they were never interested in the first place (only 50% have actually finished the game as per PSN trophy percentage currently) or they will actually finish it and wonder what the hell actually happened because the ending makes little sense. Lastly, the fans that wanted this for so long are presumably the only real market for the remainder of this story. For me personally, I am willing to try one more in the hopes that they get back on track. I know it won't, but I'll begrudgingly do it anyway. Bottom line though, when the next part gets only 25% of the remakes revenue, will SquareEnix even bother with another episode? Not to forget, we don't know if they are going to charge full price for each portion or not. Can we even expect the same (visual) quality down the line? If you read any articles, they did not have an established game plan (no pun intended) for how many episodes this would be and when subsequent parts would release. "We have a general idea of how the story will play out, but we haven't decided exactly [how many parts], nor can we confirm anything," Yoshinore Kitase the freaking executive producer. Even if they start marketing this honestly and call this game FFVII Alternate Dimension, the damage is done and the hype will not be there to carry the project through.

 

Alright, I got that off my chest. Go ahead and throw me your shade, or surprise me and provide a reasonable discussion about this.

[DaivRules]

I thought Remake implied they were re-making the story in any way they choose. It wasn’t a Remaster, where they take the original assets and tune them up. 

 

Your second point seems like a problem for their marketing team and less of a good reason not to enjoy the game you played. You’re holding unknowns against the known experience you just had. 

[Lonemankane]

I think they basically copy and pasted ff13's style of let the game play itself and had a crapy story as well but that is me, I only played the demo and I saw videos of the game and it looks bad because the dev of kh thought it would be good to do nothing but fan service up the ass for sephiroth randomly popping up everywhere and so on.

[Rias Gremory]

Actually, i've seen good reviews for the remake FFVII. Even though there are mix reviews/reactions people say how disappointing FFVII remake is. In my own case, the graphics are absolute refresh and refined and music is awesome. Playability was also great as well, Visuals is pretty damn good too. Delivery brought the game with excellent results. It's only dumb people with shitty excuses that doesn't know how to play Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Edited June 2, 2020 by UltraFire121

[Burgins]

11 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

I thought Remake implied they were re-making the story in any way they choose. It wasn’t a Remaster, where they take the original assets and tune them up. 

 

Your second point seems like a problem for their marketing team and less of a good reason not to enjoy the game you played. You’re holding unknowns against the known experience you just had. 

 

I agree with this, changing the story isn't a big deal at all. It's actually exciting to have a mysterious Nomura project around that isn't Kingdom Hearts for once. We don't know what's gonna happen and I think that's kinda cool since the game is gonna be episodic

[Lonemankane]

17 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

I thought Remake implied they were re-making the story in any way they choose. It wasn’t a Remaster, where they take the original assets and tune them up. 

 

Your second point seems like a problem for their marketing team and less of a good reason not to enjoy the game you played. You’re holding unknowns against the known experience you just had. 

while you might be right with the remake part but people mostly look at remake's like resident evil 1 remake, where they stop it being hamy and put in extra real plot to the game and so on while making the game look even better and keeping the plot mostly the same. A remaster to most is basically what something like say dead island done and so on. Also to add onto it people also want a remake to be like shadow of the colossus remake as that is the best kind to most.

 

Also to add onto this topic I think remaking it and renaming to something like say ff7 remade tale or something on them lines so people won't be so pissed at it. As I know where most are coming from or hell call it a reboot of ff7 or something so people can see it as another type of ff7 not a retelling.

Edited June 1, 2020 by KANERKB

[Conor]

On 01/06/2020 at 11:56 PM, DaivRules said:

I thought Remake implied they were re-making the story in any way they choose. It wasn’t a Remaster, where they take the original assets and tune them up. 

 

Your second point seems like a problem for their marketing team and less of a good reason not to enjoy the game you played. You’re holding unknowns against the known experience you just had. 

 

Three  Four sentences. You demolished his entire rant in only three four sentences. I'm shook.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Stan Lee

[scemopagliaccioh]

Square hasn't learned their lesson from FF13 unfortunately. 

While I only watched, and the shift from turn based rpg to the cookie cutter arpg is another argument, it's ominous they decided to go with  this episodic take,  just like they decided to shat out not one, but two sequels to the mediocre received FF13  at the time, they're repeating themselves now, and even worse, I can't image less than AT LEAST three parts, the fanbase will burn itself out quickly before the finishing line.

[OTPYG]

Can we talk about how much this sucked now?

 

Sure. 
 

...

 

/talk

 

I really enjoyed the game. 

[AiManiaTrophyhuntres]

Well, I suggest to actually play the game before saying it looks bad, also (I don't know why this always has to be pointed out before saying something good about the remake) I am FF7 Fan since 1999 when I first played it (and since I played it 20 times I guess) and had very low expectations regarding the remake.

And now it is basically my game of the year bc I was very surprised on how damn good just everything is (except for sephiroth fanservice, yes I wasn't toooo happy about that but it didn't kill me either)

 

It was everything I want from a game and more, perfectly paced, best Soundtrack one could get out of it and looks stunning oc. yes I had like 3 times texture problems that disappeared eventually completely, so no big deal here. I loved the changes(not really changes, everything was just more pen and got more depht, I feel like everything that was diffrent was either closing plotholes or fixing the storytelling a bit, more logic, and so on), the dialoges (not the german ones, they were bullshit), I loved the new sections/ the expanded ones. Even the sidequest were okay bc there were not too much of them.

 

I literally just waited for square to screw this up big time and what I got was the best thing I played in a few years (okay, I admit I also love Death stranding, Horizon and a few others, sure!) I know that my nostalia was a huge part of it, but I am aware of what is nostalgia and what is just a really enjoyable part of a new game. This did my childhood justice in the best of ways. yes, except for the ending, chapter 18 kind of sucked but I am willing to wait for part 2 before I judge chapter 18! Also chapter 18 was not able to undone the beautiful 17 chapters before so it just matters in discussion of the future of the series and I can ignore it for now. Also I really enjoyed the combat-system and to find out materia combinations to beat secret bosses. I just had a lot of fun, I don't pretend that or lie to myself, I really wanted to go on fighting Bosses and also see the next installment asap.

I usually don't "fanirl" over anything at all. But I just can not understand how some things can be so missunderstood in case of gamedeveloping decisions sometime.

Anyone can have an opinion, this in mine.

 

 

Edit: Oh and also in terms of story completion, to most ppl I know the game is actually pretty difficult and a few in fact struggle to beat it on normal, but not completing  was never an indicator of it beeing a good game in the first place.

Edited June 2, 2020 by AiManiaTrophyhunting

[Startyde]

1 hour ago, DaivRules said:

I thought Remake implied they were re-making the story in any way they choose. It wasn’t a Remaster, where they take the original assets and tune them up. 

 

FF7R wasn't the most anticipated game of all time because the fans were tired of what the story was and wanted it switched up. SE was cagey during the whole process, what remake meant, that it wasn't a complete game, that noone has any idea if and when it will ever be complete and for what systems. This wasn't a subversion of expectations, this was a proof of concept that cost $60 and directed by a man who clearly has an obsession with hooded figures. 

 

I personally dont care one way or the other because original FF7 will always exist and it's fun to see what gets switched up, but I can totally see why people could feel like they've been swerved.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Startyde

[Seth_Loyce]

I actually LOVE what they did, they got me EXCITED to see what happens next. I wouldn't be feeling ANYTHING otherwise and the original game will always be there.

[DaivRules]

1 minute ago, Startyde said:

FF7R wasn't the most anticipated game of all time because the fans were expecting them to change the story.

I don’t know about the claim of most anticipated of all time, but it was highly anticipated because people wanted to see a new take on FF7 which was said would be different from the beginning of the marketing of the Remake. 

[KondeBra]

I enjoyed these changes.

 

And if you aren't satisfied, there is always the original to play.

[Sword]

I never played the original until after I played the remake (both to 100%). In my opinion both are distinctly great games in their own ways. I'm very happy the remake does not exactly follow beat-for-beat of the original, because that would mean it's a short, nostaligc game without taking any chance to expand/try new things/etc. If they tried to do a full modern remake of everything the original had in just one game.... Oh boy. We'd be jumping from area to area that takes 5 min to get through because there's just no room for any lingering.  

 

I think it's an unwillingness to accept change that holds many back, falling onto the "omgee Nomouraaaa lulz" train. I'm very happy I didn't go into this with nostalgic glasses because everything is new to me and I'm very happy to see what happens next EVEN AFTER playing the original to 100%. Plus NO ONE is 100% sure what the ending actually means yet. For all we know it could play PERFECTLY into their grand design for the remake and we just don't know it. I think the mystery is GOOD. Just like the original, the mystery of not knowing things was fun.

 

I feel as though the entire series needs to be completed before making any total judgements on it's totality of quality for this first entry. According to some articles they did, they made a promise to hit on all the major plot points that the fans know and love. But they also never promised it was going to be beat for beat the same. I think it's going to continue being that way for the entire series too. Change is hard and sometimes it can be good and sometimes not. In this instance I think it's a good thing because it's fresh for everybody. Now... how GOOD is that actually going to turn out to be when it's all said and done? Well... we need the whole picture to really get a sense of it all. 

 

So I'm neither fully fanboy of the remake nor completely against. It's more like I look at it like "Alright, that's the opening act. Let's see what act 2 brings." I'm going to buy the whole series regardless of how good or bad it really is in the end anyway. Kinda like with The Last of Us 2 peoples, I'll play it and judge for myself on if I personally enjoyed it or not. I don't use game reviews ever to judge my purchase decisions. Lol. 

 

I do hear what you're saying though and you are correct, there definitely ARE changes. If you're on the fence about it, maybe wait on the next one and watch a full playthough once Part 2 comes out or something. That way you don't waste your money on something you won't enjoy? I dunno. It just sucks that I see a lot of people not willing to give the entire series a shot, just because it's not a copy and paste of the original. 

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

3 hours ago, DaivRules said:

I thought Remake implied they were re-making the story in any way they choose. It wasn’t a Remaster, where they take the original assets and tune them up. 

 

Your second point seems like a problem for their marketing team and less of a good reason not to enjoy the game you played. You’re holding unknowns against the known experience you just had. 

That first sentence sounds more like a re-Imagining than a remake.

 

I think most people wanted something akin to Shadow of the Colossus PS4 a shot for shot remake or a Director's Cut remake like Resident Evil 1. I still have yet to play FF7R so I cannot judge it, It is on the gamefly list so when it ships I will play it then.

[You]

We should all be reunited and hating on the fact we have many years to wait for the next part! I am sure that is something we can all agree on.

[Bos10George]

It seems like most people either accepted or wanted the game to change which in itself is strange to me. To be clear, adding to the story is what was supposed to be good about this game. Changing the story is what concerns me. We are at 10% of the whole game and they have already deviated off course. It was going in the same flow until chapter 17 and 18. You take away the "Whispers", Sephiroth, and saving Biggs and Wedge then this is a Remaster not a Remake.

 

The ending to this first part basically sets the tone for them doing whatever they want from here on out. If your thought is that chapter 18 sucked, guess what? The future iterations of the game will go even harder in that direction. 10% of the game and Zack, Biggs, Wedge, and (probably) Jessie are alive. The "ghosts of fate" can no longer prevent the directors and producers from altering what the story is supposed to be. If people continue to enjoy it, great. I just see it falling apart and interest will eventually be lost on getting to the end of this story. The story and how it was told from the previous game is what kept it alive despite it being graphically atrocious. Already there are out of place spectacle battles, a convoluted plot device with fate, and some kind of multiverse. It does not bode well.

[AJ_-_808]

20 minutes ago, Void said:

That first sentence sounds more like a re-Imagining than a remake.

 

I think most people wanted something akin to Shadow of the Colossus PS4 a shot for shot remake or a Director's Cut remake like Resident Evil 1. I still have yet to play FF7R so I cannot judge it, It is on the gamefly list so when it ships I will play it then.

 

I hate the term "re-imagining"

 

A remake is the same key points of the story with some minor changes.

 

A re-imagining is a remake that doesnt closely follow the source material.

 

In this case, supporting characters living instead of dying would be a minor change. It doesn't change the key points of the story.

Example of a re-imagining would be Aerith living and Tifa dying.  Those are 2 major characters, and said change would affect multiple parts of the storyline

[Astray404]

On 6/1/2020 at 7:42 PM, Stan Lee said:

Three sentences. You demolished his entire rant in only three sentences. I'm shook.

Actually four lol.

 

Tbh I don't have any complaints regarding the story. Revive Aerith? Fine. Revive Zack? Fine. Kill someone else? Fine. As long as Square can make the story solid and logically persuasive, I don't mind seeing a new possibility of the whole FF7 story. Making the whole game linear is not that bad if (1) Subquests are fun to play; (2) The puzzle solving is not tedious

 

The only thing I'm worrying about is its battle system: imbalanced hit reaction, horrible camera, bad-timing cutscenes, unfair Hard mode rules... All of those ill-designed non-JRPG features (which might be also ill-designed if considered as ACT/ARPG) is going to ruin the whole tactic-based gameplay. None of those bosses are impressive except Hell House and Bahamut since the basic strategies to beat most of them is just spamming the attack button and having everyone equipped Chakra, Pray and Revive.

 

Update:

Something that I just came up with... and it's also regarding the gameplay. I cleared my first Normal run in around 35 hrs, and I have to admit that most of times are spent on watching cutscenes. Cutscene after climbing a ladder, cutscene after opening a door... Cutscenes everywhere! I cannot remember how many times I pressed the skip button during my Hard run because there are so many of them. You PLAY a game, not WATCH a game. FF7 Remake is actually a game that you can watch, and I would suggest finding some All-Cutscene videos on Youtube instead of spending 60 bucks if getting the plat trophy is not a big deal for you.

Edited June 5, 2020 by Astray404

[MMDE]

 Yes, that's how this makes me feel. They can do whatever they want, but it's certainly nowhere near what I wanted. I will probably play it, eventually. Kinda gave up on Square a long time ago though. It's just not the stuff I fell in love with anymore.

[Rias Gremory]

4 minutes ago, MMDE said:

 Yes, that's how this makes me feel. They can do whatever they want, but it's certainly nowhere near what I wanted. I will probably play it, eventually. Kinda gave up on Square a long time ago though. It's just not the stuff I fell in love with anymore.

Hey M don't give up. Get back on Final Fantasy VII Remake and capture the platinum.

[Valkirye22]

12 hours ago, Bos10George said:

Soon they will have to release the next part and then they won't be able to call it just "FFVII Remake" with the exact box art from the original full game. There will be either a DLC expansion or a new game called FF7 Remake Part 2. The uninformed that thought this was the complete original aren't going to drop more money for the next 2+ installments. Those that never played the original and bought this thinking "hey, now I can play this game I heard so much about" will either not finish the game because they were never interested in the first place (only 50% have actually finished the game as per PSN trophy percentage currently) or they will actually finish it and wonder what the hell actually happened because the ending makes little sense.

This is what I was curious about, I played the OG years back and remember misplacing the discs and the frantic search among all my PS1 cases. I mean SE has been full-on nostalgia/remake(aster) business lately. To me this seems like little more than buying a couple of years with spread out full price sequels for what was a single game.

Count me in as "uninformed" in that regard but it feels EA-dy as feck.

[MMDE]

10 hours ago, Sword said:

I never played the original until after I played the remake (both to 100%). In my opinion both are distinctly great games in their own ways. I'm very happy the remake does not exactly follow beat-for-beat of the original, because that would mean it's a short, nostaligc game without taking any chance to expand/try new things/etc. If they tried to do a full modern remake of everything the original had in just one game.... Oh boy. We'd be jumping from area to area that takes 5 min to get through because there's just no room for any lingering.  

 

I think it's an unwillingness to accept change that holds many back, falling onto the "omgee Nomouraaaa lulz" train. I'm very happy I didn't go into this with nostalgic glasses because everything is new to me and I'm very happy to see what happens next EVEN AFTER playing the original to 100%. Plus NO ONE is 100% sure what the ending actually means yet. For all we know it could play PERFECTLY into their grand design for the remake and we just don't know it. I think the mystery is GOOD. Just like the original, the mystery of not knowing things was fun.

 

I feel as though the entire series needs to be completed before making any total judgements on it's totality of quality for this first entry. According to some articles they did, they made a promise to hit on all the major plot points that the fans know and love. But they also never promised it was going to be beat for beat the same. I think it's going to continue being that way for the entire series too. Change is hard and sometimes it can be good and sometimes not. In this instance I think it's a good thing because it's fresh for everybody. Now... how GOOD is that actually going to turn out to be when it's all said and done? Well... we need the whole picture to really get a sense of it all. 

 

So I'm neither fully fanboy of the remake nor completely against. It's more like I look at it like "Alright, that's the opening act. Let's see what act 2 brings." I'm going to buy the whole series regardless of how good or bad it really is in the end anyway. Kinda like with The Last of Us 2 peoples, I'll play it and judge for myself on if I personally enjoyed it or not. I don't use game reviews ever to judge my purchase decisions. Lol. 

 

I do hear what you're saying though and you are correct, there definitely ARE changes. If you're on the fence about it, maybe wait on the next one and watch a full playthough once Part 2 comes out or something. That way you don't waste your money on something you won't enjoy? I dunno. It just sucks that I see a lot of people not willing to give the entire series a shot, just because it's not a copy and paste of the original. 

 

I think nobody would have an issue with expanding the story, adding more stuff and fleshing things out, even including things that makes it line up better with some of the other games in the series.

 

The problem is the drastic changes. They're not small, they change everything. The original game even had some overlying theme, that'll just be gone now. The build-up of the main villain, gone.

 

I don't trust Motomu Toriyama, and now it's set up for all his bs. No thanks. No, really, I don't want any of it.

[Kpppp-2B9SA2]

For me I think they are not replacing the original game or trying to forget it exist but making a new game with what ifs scenario. 

 

And look at the bright side they put more thought on it than any other remakes.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Kpppp-2B9SA2