SPOILERS FFVII:R Chapter 8 Spoiler Discussion

Theozilla

Kaiju Member
Is it a goof? As isn’t Aerith’s church in the correct spot?
Alright I went back and checked (plus to get the Chakra Materia in the Church) as soon as the Sector 5 sidequests opened up. And yeah it’s a goof there too. The Church is under the Sector 6 reactor gap not the Sector 5 reactor one. Wonder how that oversight happened, and if it can be fixed relatively easily like in a patch?
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Also is this goof present in the Chapter 13-14 skies too?
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
I have mentioned this too but the likely explanation is they just used the same skybox because Sector 5 and 6 are one interconnected map.

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That does make sense.
 

Kratos

Pro Adventurer
This chapter was okay. I found the quests a lot less well-presented than Chapter 3's - without a similar framing device, they felt more disjointed, and there wasn't really a mini-dungeon like the factory to explore either. Also - why the hell was Cloud such an asshole to that old dude who wanted us to return the key? Does he always charge the guy 5000 gil to bring a key back a place I was definitely gonna go to again, or did a dialog choice happen that I missed? It seemed out of character, given how he acts the rest of the chapter. It also seemed really weird that we'd just like...agree to help some slimy Shinra propagandist expose a beloved local hero; even if that cool old lady turned it back on him, we still were like "yeah sure okay" when he asked us to. They could have had us actively subverting him from the start or something.

There were some fun things to like, though! I liked the Sector 5 slums as a whole, and I was happy they made it feel very distinct from Sector 7 (and also gave it much more character than it had in the original game). Rude was a fun boss too (that sunglasses gag was great), and Aerith's garden was pretty. I was happy they kept the night-time escape minigame intact.

All in all, while I felt far more invested in Cloud and Tifa's friendship after Chapter 3, I liked how Aerith was portrayed as bubbly and friendly (something I think they could have leaned into more for the sidequesting - make her take charge and have Cloud dragged along for the ride).
 

Theozilla

Kaiju Member
This chapter was okay. I found the quests a lot less well-presented than Chapter 3's - without a similar framing device, they felt more disjointed, and there wasn't really a mini-dungeon like the factory to explore either. Also - why the hell was Cloud such an asshole to that old dude who wanted us to return the key? Does he always charge the guy 5000 gil to bring a key back a place I was definitely gonna go to again, or did a dialog choice happen that I missed? It seemed out of character, given how he acts the rest of the chapter. It also seemed really weird that we'd just like...agree to help some slimy Shinra propagandist expose a beloved local hero; even if that cool old lady turned it back on him, we still were like "yeah sure okay" when he asked us to. They could have had us actively subverting him from the start or something.
If you talk to the Scared Man after you finish the graveyard quest, it explains why Cloud was being a dick. Basically Cloud saw that the old man was “satisfied” and willing to essentially give up on the rest of his life, so Cloud deliberately pissed him off in order to “liven him up” in order to not give up living (so he could still visit his wife’s grave himself in the future).
As for the reporter, Cloud says in his conversations with the senior citizens that he just going along with the reporter out of his own curiosity, basically on a whim.
 

jeronimus

Lv. 25 Adventurer
AKA
Mostly Simple
I have weird mixed feelings about this chapter.

I really liked the “Under the Rotting Pizza” rendition, but the battle version didn’t work for me. I did find the battles in this chapter to be very challenging - even if the side quests themselves weren’t my favourite either. I don’t really need to be endeared to these people, the way I had to be in Sector 7. Cloud lives in Sector 7 and is meant to get work there, so that felt a lot more organic. But, all that said… I loved whack-a-box. It’s very silly, but I liked the references to the Gold Saucer in the kids’ hideout. Oh, and a reframing of the “this guy are sick” guy, that was sort-of worth that whole side quest.

The Turks were probably the best part of this chapter for me. The way they introduced both Reno and Rude (and Scarlet, on the tv!) left a bigger impression than they did in the original. And both were really good boss fights showing off their specific fighting styles. I can just imagine them teaming up in future games to kick my ass. But yeah, as an introduction to these characters, that was awesome.

More explicitly negative - The camera still feels awful whenever it takes control away from me. It’s really hard to form an instant connection to Aerith when her first two encounters immediately introduce a completely new story element. Chadley is the worst character I have ever encountered and he just feels so out of place. I hate him. The dozens of “kids played by adults” this chapter grate the most, but his voice direction is second. Aerith is hit and miss so far - hearing her say "I'll show you what I can do!" in the same way when I switch to her in battle got on my nerves. She's just a little too cutesy at times, but then at other points her dialogue is actually endearing.

For how much this part of the game keeps referencing “the steel sky”, it’s baffling that they put the half-finished plate overhead.

The NPC kids in the slums have a dialogue about their grandparents building the plate, so that dialogue was definitely written under the assumption that there was a plate. Aerith talks about the steel sky, except everyone can very clearly see the actual sky when looking up. Then there’s the fact that all the NPCs at the station mention watching the reactor when I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what they were looking at because there was nothing to see. I think they goofed here.

It’s also weird how some of the cutscenes look so good when some of the others look terrible. There are definitely parts where some algorithm decided the camera angles based on who’s talking and those parts just feel awful. The part where Aerith talks about the sky comes to mind as looking particularly poor in terms of camera angles. Before that, this mostly happened with inconsequential NPCs and all the dialogue with main characters had more deliberately chosen camera angles. It just made parts of this chapter feel a bit messy. Which, again, only stands out because of the other parts that are super polished. I know a lot of games do the "auto-angles", but as a former film student, it's a big pet peeve of mine. Never looks good.

Aerith’s house is super gorgeous, though, so there’s that. I really felt a sense of wonder there. But then the dialogue with Elmyra felt incredibly rushed to me too. Likewise, being able to look around the slums from the rooftops was incredible. Very mixed feelings about this chapter, basically - huge highs but huge messy lows at the same time.
 
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Saven

Pro Adventurer
This was my favorite chapter yet and spent the entire day there yesterday. This was the moment where the FFVII magic clicked for me. Which is ironic, because this was the moment from the original where I realized that this wasn't going to be just another game. The game expects you to know it's battle system by now and they're getting more difficult now! Onto Chapter 9!
 

jeronimus

Lv. 25 Adventurer
AKA
Mostly Simple
I actually took this as Cloud trying to be encouraging. The old guy didn't think he could make the trip anymore, so Cloud gave him an outrageous price to encourage him to do it himself and see his wife's grave one last time.
Reading the summary of the quest after you're done with it confirms that Cloud gave him some kind of renewed vigor by being an asshole, but the fact that it was unclear to so many people makes me think the writing didn't communicate that clearly. Aerith doesn't comment on it either, which would have helped.
 

Maidenofwar

They/Them
Oh wow I finally made it! Aerith! Almost 19hrs on the clock holy :faint:

Some observations -

*The ghost thingies and white space, flower petals, curious and curiouser

*Zack? Wait no, it's real Cloud, real Cloud is there and supporting himself aaww that's cuu- wait what Sephiroth!? What the "You are my everything" You what now? :awesome::pimp::moar:Bait, bait, bait, bait, bait, don't fall for it, don't fall for it, don't fall- I was never really on the Clephiroth scene but what even-

*Event marker is called "Second chance meeting" Second chance at what Sqeenix, at what huh, don't you tease like that don't you dare *raises tiny fists*-

*Oh yeah there was a vision of the white materia, etc too huh :shifty:

*If you explore when you get to one of the doors you get ??? "Hang back. We're not in any hurry"

*Since I went for a stroll around the church I didn't talk to Aerith immediately and she got fed up and started tending the flowers and made a bit of a snarky comment too :neo:
 

Maidenofwar

They/Them
Yeah. In the OG the meeting in the church is referred to as serene/peaceful from the Ultimania (I think it was the Ultimania) but I think it was less effective here. I suppose longer rooftop journey, flower picking, etc is supposed to go towards making up for that? Maybe the remake Ultimania will offer some insights.

Random drabbles -

*Some NPC dialogue about Jessie here, fans across sectors!

*There was an elder in the community centre next to the leaf house looking for a book on planetology, he couldn't remember the author's name properly but he was trying to say Bugenhagen!

*NPC dialogue about Aerith ranging from Cloud basically getting asked what's his business with her, to comments about her smile, how helpful she is, etc to Cloud being called her arm candy! I think they were referring to Cloud being the arm candy than the other way around at least.

*The house person at Leaf House has Stamp on their apron hmm.

*Leaf house is where some NPCs in Sector 7 were talking about with regards to Biggs.

*I picked some of each type of flower that I could though I wanted more variety, you're going to show me red and blue flowers too and not let me pick them?

*Pumpkin patch! Pumpkin patch! Vegetable garden.
 

youffie

Pro Adventurer
I teared up so many times during this chapter. It was just so nice being with Aerith again, talking with her and feeling her so alive. Loved the vaguely melancholic bits she sometimes had, loved the peaceful moments like just picking up flowers in a beautiful garden together. It was just so well done.
 

Kai Schulen

... ... ...▼
AKA
Trainer Red
Soooo cool thing about fighting Reno (in the church) is that when you dodge at the right moment, Cloud flips over Reno and you can smack him silly like a red-head stepchild, but learning the timing is tricky.

Also, letting the fight with Reno drag on for too long is tedious, so during the 2 waves of Security Guards, you should leave the Elite Security Guard alive so that you can guard his shotgun blasts to build up your limit bar. In the 2nd half of the fight with Reno, get rid of all 5 energy mines ( 2 Triple Slashes should do the trick) and then you can C R O S S S L A S H H I S S P E E D Y A S S TO HELL FOR MAXIMUM SATISFACTION. Even if it doesn't kill him in one hit, Reno will have so little health left that barely a silver of it will be on screen.

But Cloud finished the fight with Cross Slash anyways and it was mad satisfying.
 
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