Yeah I think the first half has been fairly easy. There’s a lot of good boss battles in the second half of the game though so I expect much stronger challenges going forward
I also love that they moved the battle arena from the Gold Saucer to Wall Market. There's only two fights available for me so far but I'm hopeful that by the end of the game, doing Coliseum fights on hard mode will scratch my epic fight itch a bit too.
The Mayor in Shinra HQ has some missable materia if you solve his riddles. Think it's elemental but not sure. There are some weapons and items you can steal from enemies in Shinra HQ too that you can't buy until much later also in the area around the outsikirts of Midgar. I think there might be some other stuff too, your best bet is to google it to see exactly which enemies you can steal good shit from.
Have you put it in connecting slots instead of just beside it? It will give minimal extra damage but if you're hitting something that's weak to that element then it does more damage.
Hard mode towards the end was, well, hard. First 2/3 of the game was quite a breeze (apart from one or two obstacles) but Chapter 17 is absolutely insane. The last boss on Chapter 17 gave me more trouble than the last boss in the whole game. You really have to prepare beforehand, know what materia to have for each boss fight and not waste too much MP.
Hard mode towards the end was, well, hard. First 2/3 of the game was quite a breeze (apart from one or two obstacles) but Chapter 17 is absolutely insane. The last boss on Chapter 17 gave me more trouble than the last boss in the whole game. You really have to prepare beforehand, know what materia to have for each boss fight and not waste too much MP.
How did you find the VR battle against the 5 summons? I only have that and the Pride and joy boss before I will move on to playing the whole game on hard and hopefully getting the platinum. Marlboro was surprisingly easy
How did you find the VR battle against the 5 summons? I only have that and the Pride and joy boss before I will move on to playing the whole game on hard and hopefully getting the platinum. Marlboro was surprisingly easy
Shiva (use elemental-ice on your armour), Fat Chocobo and Leviathan are fairly straightforward. Bahamut fight is difficult but I cheated a bit and used revival earrings to combat mega flare. Manawall is also very useful in that fight.
I beat Pride and Joy at the first attempt. It’s an easy fight and he’s very predictable.
Shiva (use elemental-ice on your armour), Fat Chocobo and Leviathan are fairly straightforward. Bahamut fight is difficult but I cheated a bit and used revival earrings to combat mega flare. Manawall is also very useful in that fight.
I beat Pride and Joy at the first attempt. It’s an easy fight and he’s very predictable.
I found Shiva and FC pretty easy but died on Leviathan's Tidal wave. Dreading facing Bahamut again as i only survived the first one with revival earrings. Will try again later
I found Shiva and FC pretty easy but died on Leviathan's Tidal wave. Dreading facing Bahamut again as i only survived the first one with revival earrings. Will try again later
I find Barrett very useful because of his range. Maximum Fury is useful too. I used Cloud, Barrett and Aerith as my three. I find switching characters often so Bahamut changes target works well too.
It took me 7/8 attempts though so just keep going and you’ll get there!
How did you find the VR battle against the 5 summons? I only have that and the Pride and joy boss before I will move on to playing the whole game on hard and hopefully getting the platinum. Marlboro was surprisingly easy
I was dreading it so I made sure to prepare real well. Had Cloud, Tifa and Aerith as my party. Cloud for general damage, Tifa for staggering and Aerith for healing. I made sure my weapons had the "Reprieve" ability which lets you withstand an attack that would have otherwise killed you, only works once per battle. Very useful for Megaflare. Also goes without saying that the Magnify-Cure combo is an absolute necessity along with Revival materia for all (at least one maxed out for Arise). The rest of the materia was basically 2x HP Ups and MP Ups, and a maxed Barrier materia for Manawall. Oh and 2x Magic Ups for Aerith so her cures are more effective. Think I had a maxed Magnify too which helps even more.
Shiva was easy. Ice materia on the armour and headband accessories made quick work of her. Fat Chocobo too, same tactics as normal mode. Leviathan took a while because I was relying on Aerith to attack it when it flew about in the air, but it wasn't so bad.
Bahamut was infuriating but using the counterstance move helped a lot. The main thing was preparing for Megaflare. As I said above, Reprieve is great just as long as you Curaga everyone ASAP. Although I ended having to survive two Megaflares because I didn't stagger it in time, so when it's counter reached one I put Manawall on everyone. Also save your limit breaks for Ifrit, and as soon as he comes out just spam them on him until he dies. You need him gone as quickly as possible. As for Bahamuts normal attacks, it may be worth swapping to another character when he's about to attack you so you get a chance to damage him while he's attacking someone else. Some moves like Umbral Strikes (?) are almost impossible to dodge so you may as well switch when he's about to use it.
The Pride and Joy fight was fecking piss easy though, just wail away at the back of its legs and cure all whenever necessary.
I was fully prepared to have to attempt it a shit load of times but I unbelievably did it on my first try.
Hard mode towards the end was, well, hard. First 2/3 of the game was quite a breeze (apart from one or two obstacles) but Chapter 17 is absolutely insane. The last boss on Chapter 17 gave me more trouble than the last boss in the whole game. You really have to prepare beforehand, know what materia to have for each boss fight and not waste too much MP.
I just beat hellhouse on hard. Christ that was hard. I think, I probably will give up on completing chapter 17 on hard. I could barely get a hit on the guy with the gun on normal and easy. I've beaten on all soul's like games several times, but this limited mp makes certain bosses really really hard.
How would be people who have finished the game review it?
I find in some ways it's cinematic perfection, but on the other hand I find the constant cutscenes and inability to skip dialoge to really slow the pace of the game. And of course there's the little frustation that we only made it 1/3 through the story. Somewhere between 8.5-9 for me.
How would be people who have finished the game review it?
I find in some ways it's cinematic perfection, but on the other hand I find the constant cutscenes and inability to skip dialoge to really slow the pace of the game. And of course there's the little frustation that we only made it 1/3 through the story. Somewhere between 8.5-9 for me.
I think most people really liked the game overall except for the ending which personally left me feeling very deflated. I'm still having a good time playing it again in postgame but the ending really was a kick in the teeth. I'd still give it an 8 or an 8.5 but the changes to the story were very cheap and it became just a meta commentary on fan expectations.
How would be people who have finished the game review it?
I find in some ways it's cinematic perfection, but on the other hand I find the constant cutscenes and inability to skip dialoge to really slow the pace of the game. And of course there's the little frustation that we only made it 1/3 through the story. Somewhere between 8.5-9 for me.
8.5 possibly a 9 if they nailed Shinra HQ while they were faking remaking FF7. A big fat 0 when they revealed they have spent 5 years fraudulently advertising an FF7 remake. I'd have happily bought the rest of FF7 in however many instalments, but I won't pay modern Square a penny for more of their battling destiny bollocks.
8.5 possibly a 9 if they nailed Shinra HQ while they were faking remaking FF7. A big fat 0 when they revealed they have spent 5 years fraudulently advertising an FF7 remake. I'd have happily bought the rest of FF7 in however many instalments, but I won't pay modern Square a penny for more of their battling destiny bollocks.
8.5 possibly a 9 if they nailed Shinra HQ while they were faking remaking FF7. A big fat 0 when they revealed they have spent 5 years fraudulently advertising an FF7 remake. I'd have happily bought the rest of FF7 in however many instalments, but I won't pay modern Square a penny for more of their battling destiny bollocks.
8.5 possibly a 9 if they nailed Shinra HQ while they were faking remaking FF7. A big fat 0 when they revealed they have spent 5 years fraudulently advertising an FF7 remake. I'd have happily bought the rest of FF7 in however many instalments, but I won't pay modern Square a penny for more of their battling destiny bollocks.
I'm calling it - Cloud and Sephiroth are going to turn into Demonic Angel Dragon Gods for their fight in the fourth game in this series and it'll turn out that they're also both Ancients
You mean the meltdown where I didn't like something and bothered to discuss why I didn't like it and why I'm fed up with the gaming industry as a whole. While still being able to discuss other aspects about it and joke about it, even going as far as to recommend it to someone if they liked the sound of what I didn't like? During a lockdown where there's not much else to do?
I'm calling it - Cloud and Sephiroth are going to turn into Demonic Angel Dragon Gods for their fight in the fourth game in this series and it'll turn out that they're also both Ancients
They did hint at that when shapeless cloaked ghost number 6 flew close to the camera outside Tifa's bar. I think that's too simple and given that they've already had a sword fight and lobbed buildings around the only logical story beat is that it turns out that Cloud is Sephiroth's dad from the future because Jenova also fancied him and he banged her after rejecting all the others.
Thus creating Sephiroth in the future and now he's back to right wrongs and collect on the child support Cloud has been dodging with his "no memory" scheme. They will have a shoving match in an industrial wasteland on the outskirts of Livingston in the finale which fades to black as Sephiroth puts Cloud in a headlock and Cloud starts punching him in the arse while shouting "It was only a one night stand. You were a mistake."
How would be people who have finished the game review it?
I find in some ways it's cinematic perfection, but on the other hand I find the constant cutscenes and inability to skip dialoge to really slow the pace of the game. And of course there's the little frustation that we only made it 1/3 through the story. Somewhere between 8.5-9 for me.
Overall about an 8/10. I'm going to go a little in depth now that I've fully completed it.
I had grown to really love the combat in this game, it's difficult for the right reasons. It's satisfying and still requires a level of tactical knowledge that you had to employ in the original. It's a very good way to modernise the turn based combat we grew up with, as it's free flowing and cinematic but still let's you pause and take a minute to think about your next moves. I did like how weapons can be upgraded so you have more options to play with other than going for the one with the highest base stats. It's definitely not perfect as aerial combat with melee characters is a pain most of the time, and the dodging mechanic is mostly worthless. But overall it's a big strong point and one that I was worried they'd mess up on but they did really well with it.
Graphics are a mixed bag of absolutely gorgeous, decent and downright PS2 level. It astonishes me how some of the texture and model work can look so embarrassingly bad in some parts. You can't even say that they're only bad in small hidden away areas, there are times when the camera literally focuses on single digit polygon models with the blurriest textures. The doors to your apartment for instance, or focusing on certain flowers. The skyboxes too are a mixed bag, sometimes they look like they're really there and other times it's hard not to see a flat JPEG image. The slums in Chapter 6 (the sun lamp chapter) are a hilariously good example of a terrible skybox. But other than that, when they get it right boy do they get it right. The mako reactors, the Shinra building, Wall Market, motorcycle sections, they look beautiful. You can tell a lot of work had been put into iconic areas to make them truly shine.
Characterisation of the main cast is something they got right. In the original Cloud was a hard ass that liked to crack sarcastic jokes here and there, and it's only later in the game where he opens up. Which is what we got in the remake thankfully. The rest of the cast were done very well, and there is a likeability when they're interacting with one another. Even side characters like Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were wonderfully expanded upon. There are some issues with English voice acting like the constant grunts and sighs, it's to be expected from a translated Japanese game but it seemed more prevalent here (it's something the voice actors themselves said they did too much of, so hopefully it'll be toned down for the later parts).
The world building in general is an important aspect as they needed to expand on it a lot more if they were just going to base it on Midgar. Personally I thought we'd be seeing more of the upper plate and the rest of the sectors, but I understand how that could severely mess with the story structure anyway. Overall though I don't think they truly nailed down the bleak and gritty city of Midgar. The slums, while obviously looking shoddy, had quite a happy tone to them. The citizens seemed to get on well, there's lovely music playing and everyone seems to be pulling together to make the best out of their bad situation. Maybe I'm a pessimist but I didn't get that vibe at all in the original. Wall Market is an example of this. It's almost made out like it's some glamorous tourist attraction, right down to the upbeat music. It just didn't feel seedy and perverted enough to me. But again, maybe that's just me and how I perceived the blocky graphics of the original. I also don't think the citizens of the game really fit well? It's hard to explain, it's like they're just real life people. Especially in contrast to the main cast. I don't know, maybe they just need to be dressed less normal and more dieselpunky?
Music hands down 10/10. Extremely faithful and the composers just knew how to build up all the classic tunes, plus they did well creating some new music too. Just when you think they're not going to remake a certain song, boom they play it at the perfect time. All the little motifs that come into other tunes really brings the overall soundtrack together. Sound design was fine, heard some complaints about how dialogue sometimes gets drowned out by music and sound effects but I personally didn't have that issue.
As for the structure of the game as a whole, it's okay. Most of the chapters are paced well but there are chapters that felt like they're just padded so they can have one area as a whole chapter. It's not so much of an issue except in the instances where the party really can't afford to waste time. Forced walking segments and squeezing through narrow passageways are also plentiful. I get that they're mostly done to mask loading screens but at times I'd almost prefer a loading screen! Especially when you play through again, you're just sat there holding up on the analogue stick saying get on with it, at least give the option to skip some of them on later playthroughs. It simply loses some replayability of the game. Side quests may as well have not been included as far as I'm concerned. Utterly pointless activities resulting in "go here, kill/find thing, come back" rarely added any sort of world building for me. If later parts had side content like Chapter 4 though, where they nicely added a bit of backstory to the other Avalanche members, it'd be a step in the right direction.
One more minor point that I really appreciated were the random one-off minigames. The original had plenty of these too. I know they add absolutely nothing but I always found them oddly charming, so to see them here was a welcome decision for me. Though admittedly that hand crane one goes on far too long.
Now the story and general changes, spoilered for obvious reasons.
When they stay faithful to the original they did a damn fine job. When they needlessly shove Sephiroth and ghosts into it, not so much. Way to ruin all mystery and build up by showing off Sephiroth this early in the story, just so they could have a big epic battle at the end. Way to make Cloud and the others look ridiculously overpowered just as they leave Midgar, how's that going to reflect on the rest of the story? I guarantee you'll come across an obstacle that could be sliced/jumped over by this version of Cloud and you wonder why he doesn't just do that instead of wasting time with switches and cranes.
The whole idea of "defeating destiny" in this game of all FF games is such a dumb decision. The game already had a tightly knit, well paced storyline but throwing fate ghosts and alternate dimensions just makes it a complete mess. Bringing time travel/alternate dimension guff into any story is always a risky move and it's something that has to be very very carefully done. But it seems to me that in a story like FF7, it's going to make everything needlessly complicated.
Every time those ghosts appeared I was taken out of the game. They're supposed to be keeping the timeline the same as the original, but ironically their entire existence already changed it anyway so what's the point? Is this timeline especially rebellious against destiny that they needed ghosts to sort them out? What a mess. The whole meta commentary on the ghosts being fans of the original just seems really insulting too. Oh sorry you want coherent plot? Too bad, now go kill the manifestations of what you wanted in this game.
I don't know, it's frustrating that they've shat on what the fans truly wanted to bring an unnecessary story into it. What I was looking forward to was this remake being a really good way to introduce FF7 to newcomers who would otherwise be turned off by the graphics of the original. But all they're going to feel after that ending is utter confusion, and I wonder if they'll ever recapture the magic of the original with whatever new story they're going with. Who knows, but my expectations are far far lower now. Especially considering how Kingdom Hearts fans feel about Nomura's influence in those games.
Starting to sound like Art Vandelay in here aren't I?
Reading back, it looks like I complained a lot. I truly truly did enjoy this game, I wouldn't have got the platinum trophy if I didn't. It's just quite a few things that stop it from being a masterpiece like I hoped it would. It's probably my fault for hyping myself far too much for it but what can I say, I adore FF7.
They did hint at that when shapeless cloaked ghost number 6 flew close to the camera outside Tifa's bar. I think that's too simple and given that they've already had a sword fight and lobbed buildings around the only logical story beat is that it turns out that Cloud is Sephiroth's dad from the future because Jenova also fancied him and he banged her after rejecting all the others.
Thus creating Sephiroth in the future and now he's back to right wrongs and collect on the child support Cloud has been dodging with his "no memory" scheme. They will have a shoving match in an industrial wasteland on the outskirts of Livingston in the finale which fades to black as Sephiroth puts Cloud in a headlock and Cloud starts punching him in the arse while shouting "It was only a one night stand. You were a mistake."
Have you seen Tifa or Scarlet? Or the fact that Biggs is Charlie Sheen? Having the voice of some dude is one thing, but that guy is sitting beside Charlie Sheen.
Have you seen Tifa or Scarlet? Or the fact that Biggs is Charlie Sheen? Having the voice of some dude is one thing, but that guy is sitting beside Charlie Sheen.
Overall about an 8/10. I'm going to go a little in depth now that I've fully completed it.
I had grown to really love the combat in this game, it's difficult for the right reasons. It's satisfying and still requires a level of tactical knowledge that you had to employ in the original. It's a very good way to modernise the turn based combat we grew up with, as it's free flowing and cinematic but still let's you pause and take a minute to think about your next moves. I did like how weapons can be upgraded so you have more options to play with other than going for the one with the highest base stats. It's definitely not perfect as aerial combat with melee characters is a pain most of the time, and the dodging mechanic is mostly worthless. But overall it's a big strong point and one that I was worried they'd mess up on but they did really well with it.
Graphics are a mixed bag of absolutely gorgeous, decent and downright PS2 level. It astonishes me how some of the texture and model work can look so embarrassingly bad in some parts. You can't even say that they're only bad in small hidden away areas, there are times when the camera literally focuses on single digit polygon models with the blurriest textures. The doors to your apartment for instance, or focusing on certain flowers. The skyboxes too are a mixed bag, sometimes they look like they're really there and other times it's hard not to see a flat JPEG image. The slums in Chapter 6 (the sun lamp chapter) are a hilariously good example of a terrible skybox. But other than that, when they get it right boy do they get it right. The mako reactors, the Shinra building, Wall Market, motorcycle sections, they look beautiful. You can tell a lot of work had been put into iconic areas to make them truly shine.
Characterisation of the main cast is something they got right. In the original Cloud was a hard ass that liked to crack sarcastic jokes here and there, and it's only later in the game where he opens up. Which is what we got in the remake thankfully. The rest of the cast were done very well, and there is a likeability when they're interacting with one another. Even side characters like Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were wonderfully expanded upon. There are some issues with English voice acting like the constant grunts and sighs, it's to be expected from a translated Japanese game but it seemed more prevalent here (it's something the voice actors themselves said they did too much of, so hopefully it'll be toned down for the later parts).
The world building in general is an important aspect as they needed to expand on it a lot more if they were just going to base it on Midgar. Personally I thought we'd be seeing more of the upper plate and the rest of the sectors, but I understand how that could severely mess with the story structure anyway. Overall though I don't think they truly nailed down the bleak and gritty city of Midgar. The slums, while obviously looking shoddy, had quite a happy tone to them. The citizens seemed to get on well, there's lovely music playing and everyone seems to be pulling together to make the best out of their bad situation. Maybe I'm a pessimist but I didn't get that vibe at all in the original. Wall Market is an example of this. It's almost made out like it's some glamorous tourist attraction, right down to the upbeat music. It just didn't feel seedy and perverted enough to me. But again, maybe that's just me and how I perceived the blocky graphics of the original. I also don't think the citizens of the game really fit well? It's hard to explain, it's like they're just real life people. Especially in contrast to the main cast. I don't know, maybe they just need to be dressed less normal and more dieselpunky?
Music hands down 10/10. Extremely faithful and the composers just knew how to build up all the classic tunes, plus they did well creating some new music too. Just when you think they're not going to remake a certain song, boom they play it at the perfect time. All the little motifs that come into other tunes really brings the overall soundtrack together. Sound design was fine, heard some complaints about how dialogue sometimes gets drowned out by music and sound effects but I personally didn't have that issue.
As for the structure of the game as a whole, it's okay. Most of the chapters are paced well but there are chapters that felt like they're just padded so they can have one area as a whole chapter. It's not so much of an issue except in the instances where the party really can't afford to waste time. Forced walking segments and squeezing through narrow passageways are also plentiful. I get that they're mostly done to mask loading screens but at times I'd almost prefer a loading screen! Especially when you play through again, you're just sat there holding up on the analogue stick saying get on with it, at least give the option to skip some of them on later playthroughs. It simply loses some replayability of the game. Side quests may as well have not been included as far as I'm concerned. Utterly pointless activities resulting in "go here, kill/find thing, come back" rarely added any sort of world building for me. If later parts had side content like Chapter 4 though, where they nicely added a bit of backstory to the other Avalanche members, it'd be a step in the right direction.
One more minor point that I really appreciated were the random one-off minigames. The original had plenty of these too. I know they add absolutely nothing but I always found them oddly charming, so to see them here was a welcome decision for me. Though admittedly that hand crane one goes on far too long.
Now the story and general changes, spoilered for obvious reasons.
When they stay faithful to the original they did a damn fine job. When they needlessly shove Sephiroth and ghosts into it, not so much. Way to ruin all mystery and build up by showing off Sephiroth this early in the story, just so they could have a big epic battle at the end. Way to make Cloud and the others look ridiculously overpowered just as they leave Midgar, how's that going to reflect on the rest of the story? I guarantee you'll come across an obstacle that could be sliced/jumped over by this version of Cloud and you wonder why he doesn't just do that instead of wasting time with switches and cranes.
The whole idea of "defeating destiny" in this game of all FF games is such a dumb decision. The game already had a tightly knit, well paced storyline but throwing fate ghosts and alternate dimensions just makes it a complete mess. Bringing time travel/alternate dimension guff into any story is always a risky move and it's something that has to be very very carefully done. But it seems to me that in a story like FF7, it's going to make everything needlessly complicated.
Every time those ghosts appeared I was taken out of the game. They're supposed to be keeping the timeline the same as the original, but ironically their entire existence already changed it anyway so what's the point? Is this timeline especially rebellious against destiny that they needed ghosts to sort them out? What a mess. The whole meta commentary on the ghosts being fans of the original just seems really insulting too. Oh sorry you want coherent plot? Too bad, now go kill the manifestations of what you wanted in this game.
I don't know, it's frustrating that they've shat on what the fans truly wanted to bring an unnecessary story into it. What I was looking forward to was this remake being a really good way to introduce FF7 to newcomers who would otherwise be turned off by the graphics of the original. But all they're going to feel after that ending is utter confusion, and I wonder if they'll ever recapture the magic of the original with whatever new story they're going with. Who knows, but my expectations are far far lower now. Especially considering how Kingdom Hearts fans feel about Nomura's influence in those games.
Starting to sound like Art Vandelay in here aren't I?
Reading back, it looks like I complained a lot. I truly truly did enjoy this game, I wouldn't have got the platinum trophy if I didn't. It's just quite a few things that stop it from being a masterpiece like I hoped it would. It's probably my fault for hyping myself far too much for it but what can I say, I adore FF7.
It's because I'm correct and it's true....you shitehawk.
Nice write up. I'd agree with most of it and you brought up some things I forgot about. I think the battle system would have been the perfect way to reinterpret the old ATB system, it was just a tweak or two away from it. Especially the air combat and the camera occasionally being wonky. It turned out well in the end with a few hiccups.
Yeah the citizens are too modern and normal or something in a lot of the places. Hipsters in flatcaps look a bit out of place next to people dressed like Cloud. The train is where it's really noticeable, where Cloud has a giant sword, Barrett has a gun arm and Tifa is...erm....Tifa. Even the first train, Jessie doesn't exactly blend in. Then everyone else is like a modern day businessman. There's a bit of a disconnect, but I'm not entirely sure what wouldn't look out of place next to Cloud and Barrett or what they could have done about it.
I agree the characterisation is mostly spot on, the only one who feels off to me is Tifa. She seems...meeker than she used to. I'm not sure of the exact word, but it's like her agency in the story has been toned down. She has to be pulled out of the way and rescued several times by Cloud, some of them in situations where she originally didn't need any help and I think they even gave some of her dialogue to Cloud. Maybe it's just a result of going from text to spoken dialogue though, but she felt a bit off to me.
so a modern love story then?
