25th Anniversary Event Streaming Live

[Carlie]

Well it's nice to see that after all these years Squeenix can still come up with interesting names for their games, amirite?

 

[Alex Strife]

True! I forgot FFVIII was 4 disks, but FFVII was 3! Hmph. And I'm European, so I have the version with the Weapons and stuff, and it's still 3. So I see no reason for a fourth disk, really. Whatever...

I gave my impression of the game on the FFXIII-2 thread, so I see no need to reproduce it here, but the presentation was interesting. And Square Enix was kind enough to send it to my email inbox so that I could see it.

I also think the name will be "Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII" which makes me wonder again why nobody created the thread?

 

[Lex]

The Final Fantasy VII 15th Anniversary stage is starting in half an hour. Unlike last night, I'm ready for this one, but I'm not sure whether NicoNico is going to be more cooperative or not. Chances are it'll just be a retrospective with nothing exciting, but it should still be quite interesting to watch. I'll update here if I see anything interesting happening.

 

[Lex]

^I wish you hadn't deleted that post, because now I'm double posting XD.

Anyway, I watched the whole thing and took notes. Obviously I don't understand Japanese but there's a chat box so people were occasionally saying what was happening. Here's all the points I took down:

FF7 15th Anniversary

Starts out with FF7 Opening FMV

Compilation Montage BC, CC, DoC, AC with bombing mission playing in the background.

Character Focus - First on Cloud, then Cait Sith, then Zack. Their voice actors come out and do a sketch. I obviously have no idea what they're saying but the audience seem to like it.

The VA's then have a conversation. Screenshots of Type-0 and Dissidia are shown.

Screenshots of each compilation title with a press clipping and their release date are shown, in order.

A sales graph is shown. FF7 apparently has sold 65% of something. Perhaps all FF.

Sephiroth is shown, then the opening again.

LOL I'm chatting with 2 other English people in the chat box. Our messages are coming up on screen along with a lot of Japanese.

Aerith death scene is shown. Then the date scene (Aerith). Then back to death scene with Sephiroth's laughing etc. Then the earlier part of the death scene (again).

The disc change images are shown, with FF7 quotes (in Japanese).

They show moments from the original game, the VA's voice these moments. The Zack flashback, Cait Sith in the Temple of the Ancients, Cloud at the Honeybee Inn! (Audience laughs)

Someone in chat just said they're talking about the LTD. Tifa's theme plays.

Red XIII is shown. Zack is shown. Cloud is shown.

Aerith's VA has recorded a video message which is playing. Words like "WAIFU" are flashing up all over the screen. I have no idea what she's saying. She's pretty tho. I didn't know she was married to Zack's VA.

They do a prize raffle for 2 AC Unlimited Box Sets to 2 people in the audience.

"Cloud Smiles" plays. The VA's wave to the camera. The last church scene in AC plays (with Cloud Smiles playing).

Stream endeth.

So yeah, it was kinda boring. Nothing new, no one important (VA's aren't exactly Nomura or w/e). It was just the VA's sitting talking about the Compilation for an hour. Cool in a way, but when you don't understand a word they're saying it's pretty dull.

 

[BloodyCloud]

Well...that was disappointing. *walks away* Although, it was funny to see Cloud's VA dubbing the scene where Cloud's at the Honeybee Inn with Aeris.

I think I got my hopes too high for an announcment of a sort.

 

[Lex]

I think I did the same tbh. Were you chatting in the chat box? Surely you must have seen some of the comments I was writing, you can't avoid them on the main screen hahaha.

 

[BloodyCloud]

I think I did the same tbh. Were you chatting in the chat box? Surely you must have seen some of the comments I was writing, you can't avoid them on the main screen hahaha.

Yeah actually I was. There is also a way of turning off those captions/texts scrolling across the screen, but besides that. I kept getting kicked out a lot, glad I didn't really miss much though.

 

[Lex]

I got kicked out twice in the first 15 minutes and then it didn't happen again, I think I was quite lucky. It was boring, there's no way around it.

 

[Drax]

That honeybee inn scene sounds phenomenal. Patiently waiting for youtube.

 

[BloodyCloud]

That honeybee inn scene sounds phenomenal. Patiently waiting for youtube.

If no one else uploads before I do, then I'll post of the link here. I got at least that part recorded.

 

[Lex]

It's literally just a one liner from Cloud's VA with a video from the scene playing.

 

[BloodyCloud]

Here's the clip with Takahiro Sakurai (Cloud's Japanese VA) dubbing the Honeybee Inn scene. Skip the first 10 seconds since it takes some time for Nico video to load.

 

[Cthulhu]

I didn't know she was married to Zack's VA.

http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/10588/zerith-is-canon/

 

[Carlie]

That’s right, it was.

But then Zack died and Aerith hit on Cloud in a rather similar fashion.

And then Aerith died.

And then the FFVII fandom and the internets met.

And from that meeting, the devil was born.

I still think these two comments are awesome and very true.

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Thanks to Lex, Bloody Cloud for the info (and vid!) so far

Here's Famitsu's recap on the event for anybody interested -

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201209/02020568.html

According to what I can make out from Google Translate's butchering -

Scenes/words which impressed -

1# - "Tragedy of Aerith" Many players were stunned by this scene, one saw it at 2 o'clock in the morning.

2# "Opening" position of the camera with Aerith, and the camera/3D work of this/Midgar.

2# "Sephiroth taunts Cloud after tragedy of Aerith - "Jenova's" "because Cloud you are a "doll" (puppet ;p)

3# "Cloud and Aerith's date at Gold Saucer" Aerith's words at Gold Saucer about looking for and expressing her wish to meet the "real Cloud"

# Others - A scene with Cait Sith (not sure which, doesn't seem to be any elaboration according to Google T) "Furious" Barret (again not sure what this means, go google", "Care scene" with Cloud after tragedy of Aerith, while holding Aerith, losing his cool and pouring out his emotions, Red XIII and the truth of his father, Marlene's safety (this could relate to the furious Barret thing <_<), Cloud not being a Soldier, memories of the date scene which will become apparant, Aerith in the Gold Saucer, scene with Reno. These are the scenes which for the fans do not fade.

Also -

"I stepped on the scene Reno corneometer in Utai"

Wat

Aerith's VA talks about her role as Aerith, about it being a challenging role I think, about Aerith's "bubbliness" and manner/way of speech already being rooted as part of the character and also about her marriage to Zack's VA (about it being like Aerith and Zack?)

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Thanks to everyone who provided info on the event.

It would be easy to complain about it because of what wasn't unveiled (anything on Versus XIII or a new FFVII title), but it seems like they're really not trying anymore when all they've got to show is a box full of games that have all been played already by anyone who cares about the event to begin with, and then Revenge of the Lightning.

I know it's the popular thing to do about SE these days to bitch, but I'm really not trying to be part of the bandwagon. I just genuinely don't get it. They left the Compilation of FFVII chronologically without a finish six years ago, and Versus XIII has been languishing in Development Hell for just as long. I would honestly be less surprised at this point to see "Chrono Break" than either of these titles materialize.

Whatever, though. The Lightning Revolutions sounds cool in a lot of ways, but then I expected a lot from XIII-2 and was let down. I'm just not getting my hopes up for it at all.

I do expect the gameplay will probably be impressive, though, and I really hope it will manage to evoke more of the first XIII, with its character driven narrative. The first XIII may not have had the greatest execution of the overall plot, but its characterization was some of the best the series has seen. Other than Noel, XIII-2 fell apart entirely in that respect.

Tl;dr: SE still doesn't seem to be doing what the majority of fans -- and common sense -- would ask of them. New title is coming; expecting it to disappoint, hoping for the best.

Nothing much has changed.

 

[Lex]

This is something I find to be incredibly frustrating. The fans want so badly to have faith in the company and can't because they always seem to fail in at least one area. I completely agree with what you said about XIII and XIII-2.

What I find baffling is that they managed to do the characters well in XIII but it was incredibly linear and at times also incredibly boring. They sorted the gameplay in XIII-2 but butchered the characters. Where is the middle ground? It really shouldn't be that difficult to reconcile the two, considering they've proven they can manage both sides. Instead they're completely reinventing it. I'm looking forward to it, but I really think they're in danger of making it too different from the original/ XIII-2. I just don't understand why they haven't been able to find that sweet spot in this generation, when they've been doing it for twenty years *shrugs*.

And yeah finishing the compilation - it's just bad form to end with a cliffhanger and doesn't make any sense. I think a new VII related title might have been one of the many cancelled 2 years ago when they were having financial trouble. I think Wada said something about a few titles in development being cancelled.

 

[Shademp]

Even Square Enix Admits The PlayStation Era Was The &#8216;Golden Age&#8217;

Wasn't sure where to put this or if it deserves its own thread.

 

[Lex]

It's not the Japanese branch which somehow slightly diminishes the meaning behind it for me, but I'm still glad a poster from a small part of the company is in touch with how it's customer base feels.