I've loved Final Fantasy for a good 20 years now, FFIX being my favorite game of all time, and FFVII being not far behind. So I talk about it, a lot.
Especially to my best mate whom I've spoken about it, trying to avoid spoilers for the most part in the hopes that he'd play it one day, knowing he probably wouldn't. Still, he knows the big ones, he'd seen AC once years ago, and I'd spoken about the brilliance of CC's ending when that came out as well. So he vaguely knows who Sephiroth is, knows what happens to Aerith, doesn't know what happened in Nibleheim or who Zack is, knows though that Zack
I especially had been talking a lot about it since remake was announced, and when I finished it and wasn't too pleased with the ending I ranted about it to him.
I think that's important to note because I clearly poisoned the well. But doing so did persuade him to play it.
The experience was rather interesting, especially since my friend both looks, and acts, a lot like Soldier Cloud, he's the same height, extremely blond, and has the exact same "not interested" behavior. His reactions even mirrored Clouds several times during the game. I personally look and act more like Zack so it's a fun dynamic.
So what did I get from that.
1: He will probably be disappointed at real cloud since he probably prefers Soldier Cloud.
2: He got REALLY annoyed at some parts of the combat and trying to orient in front of stairs, but that's his own personality getting in the way.
3: He MUCH prefers Tifa and was visibly annoyed by Aerith at times, like when she's not letting you go home. (he really mirrored Cloud here).
4: He doesn't think there is anything between Cloud and Aerith and thinks Aerith is obviously still in love with Zack, and that the two pairings were pretty clear in game.
5: He didn't like how they did Sephiroth, he felt that he wasn't mysterious enough and that his constant inclusion broke his immersion with the shinra storyline. I've shown him just shots of how it's done in FFVII before and he much preferred that approach.
6: He felt like he understood most of what was going on, or at least, the things he didn't understand, he understood that he WOULD understand them later on, he wasn't lost, except for the ending, of which he just couldn't make heads or tails.
7: He wasn't a fan of Barret until he had to play him, because when he was the one with the attitude it felt a lot more enjoyable I think, this is when we realized he's also a bit like Barret.
8: He was really interested in the world and what the hell is going on, so we just started playing FFVII.
I haven't played that since remake got announced and it now felt really weird how quickly we're going through it, one session and we're already at wallmarket.
Still, he's amazed at how 1 on 1 it is, he knows basically where he is and where he needs to go and what the next events are, and says he's getting a weird sense of nostalgia from the juxtapostion of seeing places and things he knows in high quality now suddenly in 90ties graphics.
His main take-away so far is that the original did an absolutely amazing job at setting atmosphere, with both the music and the way Clouds episodes are handled. He was no idea what's going on with him but thinks the original made it look more creepy and interesting. I also find it interesting that several of the scenes that bothered him, unbeknownst to him, were scenes specifically for the remake, like seeing Sephiroth in chapter 2.
I am going to kinda document how he experiences the rest of the game since I find it pretty fascinating since I can't really remember not knowing the story of FFVII anymore. Anyone else have some experiences with newcomers they'd like to share? (ps, I think that because of this, I've now also convinced him to play FFIX and Nier: automata, which I am really happy about).
Especially to my best mate whom I've spoken about it, trying to avoid spoilers for the most part in the hopes that he'd play it one day, knowing he probably wouldn't. Still, he knows the big ones, he'd seen AC once years ago, and I'd spoken about the brilliance of CC's ending when that came out as well. So he vaguely knows who Sephiroth is, knows what happens to Aerith, doesn't know what happened in Nibleheim or who Zack is, knows though that Zack
is dead as fuck.
I especially had been talking a lot about it since remake was announced, and when I finished it and wasn't too pleased with the ending I ranted about it to him.
I think that's important to note because I clearly poisoned the well. But doing so did persuade him to play it.
The experience was rather interesting, especially since my friend both looks, and acts, a lot like Soldier Cloud, he's the same height, extremely blond, and has the exact same "not interested" behavior. His reactions even mirrored Clouds several times during the game. I personally look and act more like Zack so it's a fun dynamic.
So what did I get from that.
1: He will probably be disappointed at real cloud since he probably prefers Soldier Cloud.
2: He got REALLY annoyed at some parts of the combat and trying to orient in front of stairs, but that's his own personality getting in the way.
3: He MUCH prefers Tifa and was visibly annoyed by Aerith at times, like when she's not letting you go home. (he really mirrored Cloud here).
4: He doesn't think there is anything between Cloud and Aerith and thinks Aerith is obviously still in love with Zack, and that the two pairings were pretty clear in game.
5: He didn't like how they did Sephiroth, he felt that he wasn't mysterious enough and that his constant inclusion broke his immersion with the shinra storyline. I've shown him just shots of how it's done in FFVII before and he much preferred that approach.
6: He felt like he understood most of what was going on, or at least, the things he didn't understand, he understood that he WOULD understand them later on, he wasn't lost, except for the ending, of which he just couldn't make heads or tails.
7: He wasn't a fan of Barret until he had to play him, because when he was the one with the attitude it felt a lot more enjoyable I think, this is when we realized he's also a bit like Barret.
8: He was really interested in the world and what the hell is going on, so we just started playing FFVII.
I haven't played that since remake got announced and it now felt really weird how quickly we're going through it, one session and we're already at wallmarket.
Still, he's amazed at how 1 on 1 it is, he knows basically where he is and where he needs to go and what the next events are, and says he's getting a weird sense of nostalgia from the juxtapostion of seeing places and things he knows in high quality now suddenly in 90ties graphics.
His main take-away so far is that the original did an absolutely amazing job at setting atmosphere, with both the music and the way Clouds episodes are handled. He was no idea what's going on with him but thinks the original made it look more creepy and interesting. I also find it interesting that several of the scenes that bothered him, unbeknownst to him, were scenes specifically for the remake, like seeing Sephiroth in chapter 2.
I am going to kinda document how he experiences the rest of the game since I find it pretty fascinating since I can't really remember not knowing the story of FFVII anymore. Anyone else have some experiences with newcomers they'd like to share? (ps, I think that because of this, I've now also convinced him to play FFIX and Nier: automata, which I am really happy about).
The thematic and characteristic personality impressions left by the FFVII characters were influenced thanks to their appearances in other media, particularly KH. "Emo" Cloud didn't technically start with AC. It started with KH1 and then KH2. AC simply reinforced it in people's minds, given had been previously shown before.
The fact that it didn't actually come out until 9 years after the original release still feels reasonably significant. (and 12 years for the best version)
