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

[Mattiechuu]

While I don't think the game sucked, it DEFINITELY feels like a bait and switch situation. They faithfully followed the story for the first 15 chapters, adding a lot of great content. It was perfect. Then you get to Shinra HQ and it's like they ran out of steam. Walking around a building listening to some BS propaganda about how great Shinra are was such a disappointment. This was the section I was looking forward to the most. They could have had that and included all the other things missing. There were no keycards to collect, no exploration or puzzles to solve, no being captured and having Sephiroth slaughter everyone on the upper floors... The trail of blood was just one tiny hallway. No creepy monsters other than Jenova. Then Barret gets killed only to come back to life for... shock... value? Then there's no boss fight in the glass elevator, no playable Red but we're getting Yuffie? And don't get me started on the last chapter. Good grief. What even WAS that thing? See, nobody likes Necron for this exact reason. End bosses that just show up out of NOWHERE suck. 

 

Also I'm tired of the sentiment that a "remake is not faithful to the original." They knew exactly what they were promoting when they used that word. They could have said reimagined, which is essentially what it is.

[GamingWithV1ctor]

Well it is a "remake" not a "remaster". I didn't play the original as I've never had a ps1, but I always thought this game would be way different than the original, based off of the title alone. 

 

About Shinra being good, it really makes sense in a realistic setting. How would their world look without mako energy after all? Also, as much as I wanted Barret to drop President Shinra off the building, it was equally satisfying to see him get impaled by Sephiroth. 

[scemopagliaccioh]

5 hours ago, ShadowWalsh said:

Imagine crying like a bitch that a game wasn’t the exact same as the original with better graphics. If you had any semblance of IQ, you would understand 95% of this game, is FF7 Original with bonus side content and character development, better graphics and awesome combat enhancements. The ending being different, and not understanding the plot and ideas of what they were setting up subtlety through the entire game, is you being nostalgic for something in the past, and lacking the mental awareness to know this is going in a way more interesting direction. Search up some spoiler casts and do a minuscule amount of research into the lore, and you’ll be much more excited for what’s to come

Final fantasy 10 is linear, you just put up with it because the story and characters are great. 10 is also my favorite Final Fantasy game, but to try and say ‘you can go anywhere on the planet’ is a good meme considering you stay on the exact same level of linear as FF13. Don’t be salty, just accept linear games are fine, and storylines/characters can make the difference between good and bad games.

But it’s not. 10 and 13 are different as day and night,  and you can clearly see it  by 13 having a backlash, while 10 didn’t, if you try to push the games as being similar  ignoring the key differences like the user I quoted,   you only end up with  people  that at the time of 13’s release weren’t around regarding this franchise, wondering why 10 got a different treatment.

You CAN go everywhere on the planet after you discover the airship, with said locations giving you new objective, I don’t know why you try to dress it up as a meme, but it is not.

Not to mention, my argument was that you cannot put up  “linearity” only under the basis of the world map, it’s frankly disgusting to reduce a game to the direction a character can take on a fucking map, if you like that, and it makes 10 your favourite FF, sure, good for you, and fortunately only for a few more,  but a jrpg that does not give you freedom  gives no replayability, which is a minus in the genre, not that 10 suffers from it, unlike 13.

[MMDE]

I've yet to play it. It's on my "to-play-list", but I'm in an RPG mood and have been playing a lot of 'em again lately. May as well do this one, and I'll be sure to keep this thread in mind then and write my honest opinions about it afterwards. I'm going in negative, so there's a good chance my experience will be "better". I already know many of the drawbacks, maybe I will be surprised by some of the innovation, changes or improvements.

[MMDE]

On 6/4/2021 at 3:39 PM, scemopagliaccioh said:

But it’s not. 10 and 13 are different as day and night,  and you can clearly see it  by 13 having a backlash, while 10 didn’t, if you try to push the games as being similar  ignoring the key differences like the user I quoted,   you only end up with  people  that at the time of 13’s release weren’t around regarding this franchise, wondering why 10 got a different treatment.

You CAN go everywhere on the planet after you discover the airship, with said locations giving you new objective, I don’t know why you try to dress it up as a meme, but it is not.

Not to mention, my argument was that you cannot put up  “linearity” only under the basis of the world map, it’s frankly disgusting to reduce a game to the direction a character can take on a fucking map, if you like that, and it makes 10 your favourite FF, sure, good for you, and fortunately only for a few more,  but a jrpg that does not give you freedom  gives no replayability, which is a minus in the genre, not that 10 suffers from it, unlike 13.

 

Honestly, back in the day, I had some issues with FFX, and I still kind of do. It does unfortunately suffer from some of the issues of FFXIII. First off, they removed the world map.  There's almost no cities. Way smaller world. Less stuff to do and explore. Less people to talk to, to dig into the world and it's lore etc. I don't mind the game being more turn based than anything else since FFIV, but that's anther thing. FFX still did most of this way better than FFXIII, and FFXIII had more issues such as lack of party and a way worse and more unclear story.

 

As I said, I play a lot of RPGs, and FFXIII is definitely better than quite a few of them, but I expected a bit more from FFXIII. FFIX is till my favorite, and I don't care if the battle is a bit slow. I tend to enjoy all of it.

Edited June 5, 2021 by MMDE

[Eraezr]

This is from the same publisher that made FFXV. Of course it wasn't going to be a good remake.

[scemopagliaccioh]

5 hours ago, MMDE said:

 

Honestly, back in the day, I had some issues with FFX, and I still kind of do. It does unfortunately suffer from some of the issues of FFXIII. First off, they removed the world map.  There's almost no cities. Way smaller world. Less stuff to do and explore. Less people to talk to, to dig into the world and it's lore etc. I don't mind the game being more turn based than anything else since FFIV, but that's anther thing. FFX still did most of this way better than FFXIII, and FFXIII had more issues such as lack of party and a way worse and more unclear story.

 

As I said, I play a lot of RPGs, and FFXIII is definitely better than quite a few of them, but I expect a bit more from FFXIII. FFIX is till my favorite, and I don't care if the battle is a bit slow. I tend to enjoy all of it.

Are you talking about 10 or 13 ?

Just kidding, I actually liked 10,  my favourite of the  main line bunch in all honesty, because it brought back, in its own way something that lacked ever since the end of 5, “class/jobs” customisation  (Kimahri  a Blue Mage Dragoon hybrid Auron Samurai and Monk  Yuna Summoner And White Mage, Rikku Chemist and  Thief, Tidus Time mage and Warrior, Lulu Black Mage and Wakka  as a Ranger, they even went as far as making Seymour playable as a Red Mage, even though it was for a single battle, so yeah, I loved 10-2 too, especially International, for the plot? Hahaha, no, it felt more like a love letter to 3 and 5),  take these, and then mix it up, either  with the Expert Sphere  Grid you have at the start,  or Level Keys you find on the road, and you can customise the party into whatever you want, getting a different experience  every time, without tampering characters and story, as a matter of fact, I feel that this is the  best way a RPG  should be approached, the story gives them  personality,  for better, but also for worse sometimes, not making them blank state, while the players  personalise them in gameplay. And that also extends beyond jobs, Gamefaqs has tons of challenges just for 10, while 13 only has NCU, because, again, they literally took Final Fantasy and made it barebones, said NCU is also impossible because they didn’t balance Vercingetorix, or whatever name it has in English, the Gallic  guy basically.

Regarding  the world map, I felt that, instead of altogether removing it, they switched it up, when you get the Airship, you can discover (thanks to Albhed dictionaries IIRC) several coordinates for certain secret areas in the world map, I mean, the one you access on the Airship for clarifications purpose, which range from treasures, tips for Ultimate Weapons, bonus dungeon for  hidden bosses, and an entire area that nets you a secret summon+Informations and backstory for one of the villains.

Now, 13, this might sound as a cliché, yes, but I feel that it’s best surmised  as “a good game, but a horrible Final Fantasy game”, it could have been a good game, but it has the Final Fantasy title behind it, and spit in its entire legacy, your talk about cities also reminded me, that they could have given Eden some life, what with it being the greatest city in the planet(s), but nope, it’s just fight, fight, fight, it’s another area of Gran Pulse with a different paintjob.

Ironically, they listened, and changed things up with 13-2, to my money, the best of the trilogy, if you ignore it had re-used assets and 9,999 DLCs.

Why, just talling about it, I got the itch to play 10 again, maybe after I get the Dissidia plat out of the way... Oh, and I also need to get on with 7Remake, it’s ARPG, that’s fine,  I already accepted it with 15 that they’re moving in this direction...

Also, it’s not true that they explain everything in the datalogs, why do the Adamantoise fall whenever you summon one of the 6 Eidolons, who all have  different entries and animations? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Edited June 5, 2021 by scemopagliaccioh

[MMDE]

1 hour ago, scemopagliaccioh said:

Are you talking about 10 or 13

Just kidding, I actually liked 10,  my favourite of the  main line bunch in all honesty, because it brought back, in its own way something that lacked ever since the end of 5, “class/jobs” customisation  (Kimahri  a Blue Mage Dragoon hybrid Auron Samurai and Monk  Yuna Summoner And White Mage, Rikku Chemist and  Thief, Tidus Time mage and Warrior, Lulu Black Mage and Wakka  as a Ranger, they even went as far as making Seymour playable as a Red Mage, even though it was for a single battle, so yeah, I loved 10-2 too, especially International, for the plot? Hahaha, no, it felt more like a love letter to 3 and 5),  take these, and then mix it up, either  with the Expert Sphere  Grid you have at the start,  or Level Keys you find on the road, and you can customise the party into whatever you want, getting a different experience  every time, without tampering characters and story, as a matter of fact, I feel that this is the  best way a RPG  should be approached, the story gives them  personality,  for better, but also for worse sometimes, not making them blank state, while the players  personalise them in gameplay. And that also extends beyond jobs, Gamefaqs has tons of challenges just for 10, while 13 only has NCU, because, again, they literally took Final Fantasy and made it barebones, said NCU is also impossible because they didn’t balance Vercingetorix, or whatever name it has in English, the Gallic  guy basically.

Regarding  the world map, I felt that, instead of altogether removing it, they switched it up, when you get the Airship, you can discover (thanks to Albhed dictionaries IIRC) several coordinates for certain secret areas in the world map, I mean, the one you access on the Airship for clarifications purpose, which range from treasures, tips for Ultimate Weapons, bonus dungeon for  hidden bosses, and an entire area that nets you a secret summon+Informations and backstory for one of the villains.

Now, 13, this might sound as a cliché, yes, but I feel that it’s best surmised  as “a good game, but a horrible Final Fantasy game”, it could have been a good game, but it has the Final Fantasy title behind it, and spit in its entire legacy, your talk about cities also reminded me, that they could have given Eden some life, what with it being the greatest city in the planet(s), but nope, it’s just fight, fight, fight, it’s another area of Gran Pulse with a different paintjob.

Ironically, they listened, and changed things up with 13-2, to my money, the best of the trilogy, if you ignore it had re-used assets and 9,999 DLCs.

Why, just talling about it, I got the itch to play 10 again, maybe after I get the Dissidia plat out of the way... Oh, and I also need to get on with 7Remake, it’s ARPG, that’s fine,  I already accepted it with 15 that they’re moving in this direction...

Also, it’s not true that they explain everything in the datalogs, why do the Adamantoise fall whenever you summon one of the 6 Eidolons, who all have  different entries and animations? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

 

 

Class and jobs customization? FF7 definitely had that, and FF8 had you just choose yourself everything. FF10 is quite a bit like FF8 in that regard I guess. FF9 goes more old school with classes, but offers (hidden) ways to improve character stats extra and you basically does a lot of the learning stuff from FF5. FF7, 8 and 10 was basically class-less. Not sure what it actually "brought" back?

 

They removed the world map, not much to talk about that. The airship is just convenient fast travel / teleport. The game rarely gives you all that much open area to explore, at least not before the big open area at the end (yes, like FF13 ). And it's all corridors, just like FF13. Yes, it does have more to do and more secrets etc, but it's very much in the same vein. I'm very much of the opinion FF10 was some of the inspiration for FF13.

 

I think what really set FF10 apart from FF13 is better battle system and way better story, a story you can actually follow and be interested in, and some decent characters.

 

I enjoyed FF13-2 way more too, and it actually felt like a proper FF game at times.

 

Might not be a popular opinion, but I think FF10 was when the series started to fall. They did a lot of stuff right, but started going down some, IMO, bad paths, which they went further down in with FF13.

 

If I want ARPG, there's so much else to pick from, and Square has KH...

[scemopagliaccioh]

26 minutes ago, MMDE said:

 

 

Class and jobs customization? FF7 definitely had that, and FF8 had you just choose yourself everything. FF10 is quite a bit like FF8 in that regard I guess. FF9 goes more old school with classes, but offers (hidden) ways to improve character stats extra and you basically does a lot of the learning stuff from FF5. FF7, 8 and 10 was basically class-less. Not sure what it actually "brought" back?

 

They removed the world map, not much to talk about that. The airship is just convenient fast travel / teleport. The game rarely gives you all that much open area to explore, at least not before the big open area at the end (yes, like FF13 ). And it's all corridors, just like FF13. Yes, it does have more to do and more secrets etc, but it's very much in the same vein. I'm very much of the opinion FF10 was some of the inspiration for FF13.

 

I think what really set FF10 apart from FF13 is better battle system and way better story, a story you can actually follow and be interested in, and some decent characters.

 

I enjoyed FF13-2 way more too, and it actually felt like a proper FF game at times.

 

Might not be a popular opinion, but I think FF10 was when the series started to fall. They did a lot of stuff right, but started going down some, IMO, bad paths, which they went further down in with FF13.

 

If I want ARPG, there's so much else to pick from, and Square has KH...

To each their own, I  don’t have a roadmap of when the series started to fall, it has more of high and lows  to me, 6, who nowadays is praised, for example, I hated it at the time because  it took many things that 5 had, 9, if you exclude the rope minigame, I liked it, but haven’t found the same level of customisation I had with 10, I could make Tidus a Black Mage/Thief early on, Yuna a physical tank etc, 9 had abilities you could master via item,  a nice touch, but I felt that  it was done much better when I played Tactics Advance A2, IIRC, the last of that series if you exclude spiritual successors, for example, Firaga was only accessible to Vivi, yeah, black mages there have a role in the plot, but you still end up nerfed with the move choices, with  something at the time iconic (unlike the “black magic”in 15, which are glorified grenades, or 13 where black magic is only useful to fill the gauge).

Now regarding the FFs, I assure you that 5 has a job system (or class system, it really is interchangeable in my native tongue)?, 6,  7, 8, 9 and 10 is where it gets muddy, regarding  10, each character has  a specific class or two  the series had in the past as a base, if you follow the standard sphere path, with each sphere grid path mirroring the level up system you had in  3, where if you follow the Black Mage path, you’ll have tons of magical attack, low agility, low physical attack etc,  if you start the game with the expert,  you can customise your character into whatever role you desire, and due to the Sphere System, you’re not punished like in 13 where it requires absurd amount of grinding which only makes it possible endgame.

So yeah, I agree that 13 took inspiration from 10, as they took 10’s system and made it streamlined and oppressive at the same time, but I don’t agree with 10 being linear under the basis that I don’t see the game only under  the lens of a map, 13 is indeed linear because it forces you on one path to everything, even down to how you battle, you can only heal with Medics, as potions restore a  silver of health, you can only build the gauge with Ravagers, and can only kill with Commandos after you build the gauge, not even 15 goes that far, 10 it shows they gave a shit about the world, and made sure you could customise  the characters to your liking.

I’m not sure in this moment, but I believe that, after 9, there hasn’t been a mainline FF without   the worldmap, but this really gets down to taste, 20 years ago, without the internet, I was really shocked (in a positive way) when I found out  the Temple of Baaj and Omega Ruins via airship, so I didn’t mind that it had no worldmap like its predecessors, after  the other games came out, I just chalked it up to Square (Enix) gradually losing interest into making a detailed world, until what we got today, and I can’t really blame the Enix part of it, Dragon Quest  8 had a fantastic world and it happened after the merger.

And yeah, it baffles me, how they go from KH2FM to FF15, to this day, it eludes me, but I’ll be a fair man, and say that I liked the DLCs of 15 much more than the base game.

[MMDE]

On 6/5/2021 at 9:20 PM, scemopagliaccioh said:

To each their own, I  don’t have a roadmap of when the series started to fall, it has more of high and lows  to me, 6, who nowadays is praised, for example, I hated it at the time because  it took many things that 5 had, 9, if you exclude the rope minigame, I liked it, but haven’t found the same level of customisation I had with 10, I could make Tidus a Black Mage/Thief early on, Yuna a physical tank etc, 9 had abilities you could master via item,  a nice touch, but I felt that  it was done much better when I played Tactics Advance A2, IIRC, the last of that series if you exclude spiritual successors, for example, Firaga was only accessible to Vivi, yeah, black mages there have a role in the plot, but you still end up nerfed with the move choices, with  something at the time iconic (unlike the “black magic”in 15, which are glorified grenades, or 13 where black magic is only useful to fill the gauge).

Now regarding the FFs, I assure you that 5 has a job system (or class system, it really is interchangeable in my native tongue), 6,  7, 8, 9 and 10 is where it gets muddy, regarding  10, each character has  a specific class or two  the series had in the past as a base, if you follow the standard sphere path, with each sphere grid path mirroring the level up system you had in  3, where if you follow the Black Mage path, you’ll have tons of magical attack, low agility, low physical attack etc,  if you start the game with the expert,  you can customise your character into whatever role you desire, and due to the Sphere System, you’re not punished like in 13 where it requires absurd amount of grinding which only makes it possible endgame.

So yeah, I agree that 13 took inspiration from 10, as they took 10’s system and made it streamlined and oppressive at the same time, but I don’t agree with 10 being linear under the basis that I don’t see the game only under  the lens of a map, 13 is indeed linear because it forces you on one path to everything, even down to how you battle, you can only heal with Medics, as potions restore a  silver of health, you can only build the gauge with Ravagers, and can only kill with Commandos after you build the gauge, not even 15 goes that far, 10 it shows they gave a shit about the world, and made sure you could customise  the characters to your liking.

I’m not sure in this moment, but I believe that, after 9, there hasn’t been a mainline FF without   the worldmap, but this really gets down to taste, 20 years ago, without the internet, I was really shocked (in a positive way) when I found out  the Temple of Baaj and Omega Ruins via airship, so I didn’t mind that it had no worldmap like its predecessors, after  the other games came out, I just chalked it up to Square (Enix) gradually losing interest into making a detailed world, until what we got today, and I can’t really blame the Enix part of it, Dragon Quest  8 had a fantastic world and it happened after the merger.

And yeah, it baffles me, how they go from KH2FM to FF15, to this day, it eludes me, but I’ll be a fair man, and say that I liked the DLCs of 15 much more than the base game.

 

 

6, at the time, because of 5?  Because 5 wasn't released in English before after FF9.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the job system of 5.

 

When it comes to the traditional jobs, FF5 barely did any of that, it did something else. FF4, FF6 and FF9 had the traditional job system. Little to no customization. FF5, FF7, FF8 and FF10 were the "open" ones. FF5 does differ from the rest in that you had to actually pick something, discard something else. The other games had your characters all be master of everything. FF7 and FF8 you actually have to pick "roles" for characters. In FF10 the only "role" differences are the abilities on the equipment, much like FF13, though in FF13 you select the roles "harder" (AI and bonuses etc).

 

Basically, FF10 is just flat. It's why Yuna is the most OP character in FF10, by far. None of the other characters can compare in any way as there's just some few stat points diff. You can almost max everything out, be like 20-30k away from max HP, or pick to max MP etc, and the max would be pretty much the exact same for every character. The only real difference was the overdrives and the summons, and summons really is the most useful. IIRC, the best team is basically Yuna, and I think Wakka and Tidus due to overdrives, and maybe Riku or Kimahri.

 

FF10 requires a lot more grinding than FF13. FF13 is like less than 10 hours, and then everyone is maxed (and all equipment for the trophy).

 

Most of FF10 is linear, and this is not an uncommon opinion. There's not often it opens up, but as I said, yes, it has a couple of cities.

 

Towns:

FF1: 8

FF2: 10

FF3: 17

FF4: 13

FF5: 15 (+ multiple worldmaps)

FF6: 14 (+ worldmap changes)

FF7: 15

FF8: 8

FF9: 13

FF10: 4 (no world map)

FF12: 8

FF13: I really want to say there's no traditional town or world map.

Edited June 6, 2021 by MMDE

[SublimeHawk]

On 06/06/2021 at 10:13 PM, MMDE said:

 

 

6, at the time, because of 5?  Because 5 wasn't released in English before after FF9.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the job system of 5.

 

When it comes to the traditional jobs, FF5 barely did any of that, it did something else. FF4, FF6 and FF9 had the traditional job system. Little to no customization. FF5, FF7, FF8 and FF10 were the "open" ones. FF5 does differ from the rest in that you had to actually pick something, discard something else. The other games had your characters all be master of everything. FF7 and FF8 you actually have to pick "roles" for characters. In FF10 the only "role" differences are the abilities on the equipment, much like FF13, though in FF13 you select the roles "harder" (AI and bonuses etc).

 

Basically, FF10 is just flat. It's why Yuna is the most OP character in FF10, by far. None of the other characters can compare in any way as there's just some few stat points diff. You can almost max everything out, be like 20-30k away from max HP, or pick to max MP etc, and the max would be pretty much the exact same for every character. The only real difference was the overdrives and the summons, and summons really is the most useful. IIRC, the best team is basically Yuna, and I think Wakka and Tidus due to overdrives, and maybe Riku or Kimahri.

 

FF10 requires a lot more grinding than FF13. FF13 is like less than 10 hours, and then everyone is maxed (and all equipment for the trophy).

 

Most of FF10 is linear, and this is not an uncommon opinion. There's not often it opens up, but as I said, yes, it has a couple of cities.

 

Towns:

FF1: 8

FF2: 10

FF3: 17

FF4: 13

FF5: 15 (+ multiple worldmaps)

FF6: 14 (+ worldmap changes)

FF7: 15

FF8: 8

FF9: 13

FF10: 4 (no world map)

FF12: 8

FF13: I really want to say there's no traditional town or world map.

 

I disagree about Yuna being OP. Mainly because the Aeons are borderline useless against most endgame monsters. They are useless against the dark Aeons and Penance, and most of the tougher monsters in the Monster Arena. The strongest team is Tidus, Wakka and Rikku. Wakka is probably the most OP because he has Attack Reels which is the most powerful Overdrive in the game.

[MMDE]

7 hours ago, SublimeHawk said:

 

I disagree about Yuna being OP. Mainly because the Aeons are borderline useless against most endgame monsters. They are useless against the dark Aeons and Penance, and most of the tougher monsters in the Monster Arena. The strongest team is Tidus, Wakka and Rikku. Wakka is probably the most OP because he has Attack Reels which is the most powerful Overdrive in the game.

 

I know T,W,R is a popular team for endgame, but Aeons is stronger if properly upgraded, which is what we're talking about here. At least three of them have better overdrives than Wakka. Nothing can resist Zanmato, so that one there is absolutely no question about. You can make Yojimbo pretty much always do it if you've worked Yojimbo correctly and give enough money, with some help from Yuna you get two chances. Magus Sister is a bit more difficult to control, but they can generally take quite a lot of damage, while Mindy's Passado is one of the strongest attacks in the entire game (15 hits instead of Wakka's 12). Anima does 16 hits instead of Wakka's 12. If you set it up correctly, you can do all 3 in a row + one extra because of Yuna, which you can easily get to trigger again too. Also, they work as a damage buffer for the entire party. The other Aeons eat elemental damage, so no need to have equipment for that, when applicable.

Edited June 28, 2021 by MMDE

[Lance_87]

That party is popular because they're the only characters able to swim and there are underwater bosses lol.

[MightyKingPupu]

I sincerely hope they didn't decide to keep Zack alive just so he can sacrifice himself for Aerith

[lloydisthebest88]

I've never played the original (wasn't into JRPG at the time, I started appreciating them later, with the weird exception of Legend of Dragoon which I loved), so I think I can judge this game without any nostalgia bias.

 

I believe the game is... fine. It's good, but nowhere near deserving the praise it received at launch. I don't care that they changed the story (in fact I welcome this, and the way they did it is actually pretty smart), my main problem is that it really feels like an incomplete, stretched out excerpt of another game. The game whenever possible screams at you "LOOK, IT'S SEPHIROTH, YOU KNOW HIM!" but as a standalone this absolutely doesn't work because I'm not supposed to know who Sephiroth is, it's just presented as this bigger than life character who enters the game at the very last second with no explanation, and you're supposed to be in awe and forget that it makes no sense in the context of this game. This makes the ending a disappointing mess, and there's no way to spin this.

 

Another huge issue is that the game feels padded to an extreme... There's a thin line between adding meaningful content and making it feel like it's there just to stretch out the experience.

The whole Jessie subplot, while it gives some nice background to the character, could be much more streamlined. The Leslie part in the sewers is a big who cares. The part with the ghosts completely ruins the urgency to go back to sector 7, it's just Aerith chatting with some ghosts at the worst possible time. Overall I feel like half of this game could be cut with very little impact to the narrative, which is never a good thing.

 

Plus, there are a few lackluster things here and there:

• Espers being given to you for VR missions is so incredibly disappointing (the only Final Fantasy I loved is 12, and Espers there have proper dungeons, which makes it much more epic to beat them).
• All the side quests are uninspired and add nothing besides more game time.
• Hard mode is implemented in a very cheap way by taking away basic things (items) rather than scaling up things (Shadow of the Tomb Raider did something similar by taking away save points, which was annoying as hell). I almost quit my platinum run because of that f*****g hell house, I had close to no MP left with Cloud and just slightly more with Aerith. After that I learned you need to cheat the game by finding boxes that restore your MP, saving the game, loading it back up, breaking the boxes again and repeating until your MPs are back up. That's a bunch of nonsense to me.
• Throughout the duration but especially in the final 2 chapters the game throws at you a bunch of Shinra characters, with no explanation, no background, nothing, and you're expected to be like "Oh cool, I remember X from the original!". When the sequel to this game will be released in 2025 or something, there will be no way for me to remember anyone besides the main party.
• The game overall looks pretty good, but the environments feel like hallways to get from point A to point B, there's very little happening outside the main path, and everything in the environment feels so stiff and untouchable (something which I find is true for all the recent Final Fantasy, from 13 onwards).

In the end, the gameplay is fun (though it often creeps towards mashing square, and the team AI is definitely dumb), the main characters are charming and have meaningful development, and overall this saves the game. But this is a good 7/10, one which I'll end up slightly hating (pushing it down to a 6/10) because of how annoying hard mode is. I was curious to see what the hype was about and I'm happy I got the game for free with PS Plus, but I really doubt I'll stick with it for the sequel, whenever that may be.

[Lance_87]

3 hours ago, lloydisthebest88 said:

• Hard mode is implemented in a very cheap way by taking away basic things (items) rather than scaling up things (Shadow of the Tomb Raider did something similar by taking away save points, which was annoying as hell). I almost quit my platinum run because of that f*****g hell house, I had close to no MP left with Cloud and just slightly more with Aerith. After that I learned you need to cheat the game by finding boxes that restore your MP, saving the game, loading it back up, breaking the boxes again and repeating until your MPs are back up. That's a bunch of nonsense to me.

 

Hell House can be poisoned, and it makes things easier. On Hard mode you should save MPs for the boss battles at the end of the chapters in most cases (i've used the "saving/reloading" trick only once during Chapter 13, and saved MPs at the end of Chapter 17 by using exclusively Aerith during the Jenova boss fight, hitting her from a safe distance and hiding behind pillars). Use Prayer for healing (only in battle) as much as you can.

[MrDeath91]

Favorite game until Hard Mode. Got the Plat

[Z1MZUM]

It's very difficult for me to continue playing this after chapter 11, The last few nights have been the least amount of fun during and after Don Corneo. At first seeing the gang come back to life blew my mind and of course the first few hours of the story. But now? I'm spending hours plodding through cracks and ducking through obstacles followed by crappy puzzles.

 

In short this game is horribly ploddy with the same surroundings and time wasting fillers. Like most of you I've played the original many times and after the hours I've spent on this the crew should be well and truly out of Midgar. We are playing QTE bullshit sections too often and for what? A trophy?

 

At first you think you understand why this game is being released in segments, After many hours you think for the love of god can we please move on?

 

HDD space is a valuable commodity on the PS5, The PS4 and PS versions are now deleted. It's such a shame.

[Eternal21]

Just finished the story, and I don't think I'll be playing the next ones, after I wrap up trophies for this one and DLC.  Never played the original, but wanted to (didn't own a PS1/2).  I always loved the trailers for the FF games back then.  Was really looking forward to the remake.  The character design/animation and cut-scenes are a thing of beauty.  Same with the music.  The environments are kind of bland.  Also there's a lot of elements/characters that just look out of place (the cowboy section for example).  I kind of wish they just stuck to the main characters (Cloud/Aerith), instead of all this other nonsense.  I'd rather get a shorter, more focused experience than pointless filler.

 

The game itself gets repetitious fairly fast.  Sometimes you think the fight is over, meanwhile you need to go through 5 more stages for it to actually end.  I am not a fan of the battle system, I think I'd rather have it be just turn based style, instead of whatever this is.  It wasn't explained very well and is very frustrating, since I'm still not sure when to block vs. roll.

 

 

[GrimReaperMakoto]

I platinumed when it came out and now doing it again and when I'm playing on this run, I look at it and hate myself for playing this, it wasn't that great I'm not a huge fan of the og either but what they decided to do with some of the story choices really puts me off like throwing sephi everywhere makes him less mysterious and more of "oh you're back again" kind of character and fighting him in Midgard when that's not a thing puts me off him even more, plus what they did in the shinra president's office I said nope the first time and skipped it a 2nd. Also the swearing of all characters is kind of a put off.

Edited April 3, 2022 by DivineNocturne

[ChiefMichigan]

I adored this game. It's probably one of my favorites. Yeah, the way they're splitting remakes into parts is a shame. There's a good chance they don't go beyond Part II, and there's even a slight chance they never make a Part II at all. 

The story of Final Fantasy VII holds up amazingly well. Some of the gameplay doesn't. I prefer the combat in the remake. 

[Zephrese]

On 6/4/2021 at 4:29 AM, Mattiechuu said:

See, nobody likes Necron for this exact reason. End bosses that just show up out of NOWHERE suck.

Regarding Necron;

Spoiler

He's a symbolic representation of the game's theme of the ever looming threat of death, and Kuja's own destructive actions out of defiance towards his predestined fate.

 

Since Necron was supposed to be symbolism more than anything else, fits the game's theme, and is the direct result of the main villain's actions, I think he's great.

(He's technically foreshadowed before the end of the game as he's the "disaster that will bring the end of the world" due to Kuja destroying the crystal, so...)

 

Kuja is still the main villain of the game at the end of the day regardless, while Necron appears as a response to his actions which is the only reason he's the last boss.

Therefore Necron's seemingly abrupt appearance at the end of the game brings further significance to the former's actions rather than undermining them.

 

 

Not all final bosses that "show up out of nowhere" are bad, imo, as it really just depends on how they're handled.
This instance in particular just feels like one where people simply didn't pay close enough attention to the - admittedly subtle - foreshadowing and symbolic importance.

 

- - -

 

Also, regarding your argument that Square's usage of the word "remake" was essentially a deception;
I'd imagine that the word "reimagined" isn't really as marketable as "remake", as trivial as that sounds, and a lot of people call reimaginings remakes instead anyways

The change in gameplay and various other elements should've made it clear that it wasn't a standard nor faithful remake to begin with, so anything was on the table

 

Not defending the story changes in of themselves, mind you, but they weren't necessarily "deceiving" people when you take into account all of the other changes they marketed.

Although I get that some people were expecting the story to merely be expanded upon and only the gameplay to really change all that much, which is still agreeable.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Zephrese

[wafflestomper810]

I guess I'm glad I'm one of the few people that really didn't care for the original so I won't be disappointed whenever I decide to try and play this one.

[Mattiechuu]

8 hours ago, Zephrese said:

Regarding Necron;

  Hide contents

He's a symbolic representation of the game's theme of the ever looming threat of death, and Kuja's own destructive actions out of defiance towards his predestined fate.

 

Since Necron was supposed to be symbolism more than anything else, fits the game's theme, and is the direct result of the main villain's actions, I think he's great.

(He's technically foreshadowed before the end of the game as he's the "disaster that will bring the end of the world" due to Kuja destroying the crystal, so...)

 

Kuja is still the main villain of the game at the end of the day regardless, while Necron appears as a response to his actions which is the only reason he's the last boss.

Therefore Necron's seemingly abrupt appearance at the end of the game brings further significance to the former's actions rather than undermining them.

 

 

Not all final bosses that "show up out of nowhere" are bad, imo, as it really just depends on how they're handled.
This instance in particular just feels like one where people simply didn't pay close enough attention to the - admittedly subtle - foreshadowing and symbolic importance.

 

- - -

 

Also, regarding your argument that Square's usage of the word "remake" was essentially a deception;
I'd imagine that the word "reimagined" isn't really as marketable as "remake", as trivial as that sounds, and a lot of people call reimaginings remakes instead anyways

The change in gameplay and various other elements should've made it clear that it wasn't a standard nor faithful remake to begin with, so anything was on the table

 

Not defending the story changes in of themselves, mind you, but they weren't necessarily "deceiving" people when you take into account all of the other changes they marketed.

Although I get that some people were expecting the story to merely be expanded upon and only the gameplay to really change all that much, which is still agreeable.

 

Necron:

 

9 has multiple themes. Friendship, Identity, Existentialism, Reincarnation etc. Now, this comes from someone who considers 9 the best in the franchise, but regardless of any symbolic representation, he's a superfluous and unimaginative end boss that serves literally no purpose and takes you out of the immersion. You've just defeated Kuja, the guy responsible for pretty much everything. Now it's time to enjoy the ending... hang on a sec, here's someone you've never met, HE'S the real end boss... it's not a "seemingly abrupt appearance." It IS an abrupt appearance. Symbolism is not enough to justify it. It'd be like having to fight some Time Compression monster who is the symbolic representation of Love, Time and Memory, after defeating Ultimecia in 8. Can you imagine this in another game series? Take Far Cry 5, a game about cults. Well, after defeating the main antagonist, here's the final boss, Charles Manson! It's all right there in the symbolism!

 

 

I mean... this is a company that brings you games titled "Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue", I think changing "Remake" to "Reimagined" would do nothing in regards to sales. It was going to sell regardless of what they called it. But the fact is they used REMAKE knowing full well what people were expecting. They delivered too, as I said... until the end when they hit us with the bait and switch.

 

They changed the gameplay... but they also marketed the "simple" mode as a way to make it feel more like the original. It seemed like they were doing what they could to try and appeal to everyone. The changes in gameplay and graphics because gaming has, obviously, progressed since the 90's. The story was never something that needed changing though. Expanding, yes. Outright, full on changing? No. Maybe I'll change my mind when the next part comes out, but I'm not holding my breath. 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Mattiechuu

[Zephrese]

 

50 minutes ago, Mattiechuu said:

 

  Hide contents

9 has multiple themes. Friendship, Identity, Existentialism, Reincarnation etc. Now, this comes from someone who considers 9 the best in the franchise, but regardless of any symbolic representation, he's a superfluous and unimaginative end boss that serves literally no purpose and takes you out of the immersion. You've just defeated Kuja, the guy responsible for pretty much everything. Now it's time to enjoy the ending... hang on a sec, here's someone you've never met, HE'S the real end boss... it's not a "seemingly abrupt appearance." It IS an abrupt appearance. Symbolism is not enough to justify it. It'd be like having to fight some Time Compression monster who is the symbolic representation of Love, Time and Memory, after defeating Ultimecia in 8. Can you imagine this in another game series? Take Far Cry 5, a game about cults. Well, after defeating the main antagonist, here's the final boss, Charles Manson! It's all right there in the symbolism!

 

 

Spoiler

While that is true, a major one of those themes in the game is death. Necron is the personification of that theme, essentially an avatar of the crystal that Kuja destroyed.

Death is a large motivating factor behind Kuja's actions later on, and the whole reason Necron appears to begin with; to answer Kuja's destructive desires and behavior.

 

He quite literally does serve a purpose, as I've already thoroughly explained. Just because you don't understand nor care for said purpose doesn't mean that there isn't one.

Symbolism absolutely is enough to justify it because it fits the narrative and is a direct consequence of Kuja's actions, in addition to the obvious connections to the crystal.

 

Necron doesn't invalidate Kuja as the main villain either because Necron isn't the main villain, just a result of what the main villain did by the end of the story.

Being the end/final boss doesn't inherently equal being the main antagonist either, with this being one of those instances.

 

Far Cry isn't really that comparable given the entirely different world, cults and death not being directly comparable themes, and you also brought up a real person.

 

This sounds like more of a "you" problem, rather than a problem with the game itself as far as I'm concerned. (Idk what FFVIII was on about, however, I'll give you that)

 

And like I said before regarding FFVII's remake, I wasn't defending the bait and switch in of itself, just giving my perspective on why they went with remake instead.
That, and how so many changes being made to the game should've already made it clear that it wasn't a faithful remake and therefore the story wasn't inherently "safe".

 

How they handled it and whether or not they should've is an entirely different can of worms altogether, and one I'm personally on the fence about either way.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Zephrese