SPOILERS FFVII:R Chapter 8 Spoiler Discussion

Odysseus

Ninja Potato
AKA
Ody
Something is bothering me. Is anyone else at approximately this point and concerned about pacing/filler? I'm hoping my vibes are unjustified. I've been feeling this here and there since Chapter 4.
Will admit, I did find chapters 5,6,10 and 11 to all be kind of filler-y so far, as cool as it was to see those areas from the original expanded on. I think we all know my opinion on chapter 4 though.
 
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I feel like people making courses on video game development are going to use FFVIIR as a prime example of how even when your filler is great (or even excellent) it nevertheless means that you are slowing down the pace of the experience. My hats off to Square for proving my lack of imagination when I just couldn't think of how the Midgar scenario could be stretched to a full game, but I'm not going to argue against anyone who observes the halted pace of the story.
 

Odysseus

Ninja Potato
AKA
Ody
I feel like people making courses on video game development are going to use FFVIIR as a prime example of how even when your filler is great (or even excellent) it nevertheless means that you are slowing down the pace of the experience. My hats off to Square for proving my lack of imagination when I just couldn't think of how the Midgar scenario could be stretched to a full game, but I'm not going to argue against anyone who observes the halted pace of the story.
The segments I listed are the ones I felt were slow, but the only one I think was truly just bad was chapter 10. The others all offer interesting world building and environments, as well as good character interaction. Sometimes slowing the pace is a good thing.
 

Cannon_Fodder

Pro Adventurer
A couple of thoughts on Chapter 8:
  • Really liked the Turk fights. Reno was mostly pretty easy (punisher counter all day) but his EM mines caused some trouble. Rude was a bit tougher, but that was mostly cause he voided my counter strategy that worked for every one-on-one up until now. Switching between Cloud and Aerith seemed to work really well though.
  • Reno laughing at Cloud being a first class (and telling him to at least make up some believable bullshit) was a great way to hint at Cloud's backstory.
  • I like Reno's new VA more than Flynn, which I didn't expect.
  • I think Briana White is the best Aerith VA yet--decide for yourselves how high a bar that is. Aerith actually endeared herself to me as we crossed the rooftops, which was a pleasant surprise because usually I don't like Aerith as a character all that much.
  • Nibelheim burning down makes a lot more sense now, 'cause Cloud's mom is a smokeshow and where there's smoke there's fire.
  • Hats off to the VAs/localizers/writers for making a scene where Aerith talks to flowers actually sweet instead of ridiculous.
  • Sector 5 actually does feel completely different from Sector 7, which is something I knew the devs talked about but honestly I didn't believe. That said, I think I prefer Sector 7 so this chapter wasn't quite as interesting to me as Chapter 3.
My favourite part of this chapter was honestly the nail bat. It just showed such an interesting change from the usual progression of weapons that it made me excited for the future. The nail bat:
  • Eschewed the trope of new weapons being more powerful by having kinda crappy attack stats, with no way to increase them through upgrades (for now anyway).
  • Instead, the focus was on doing more powerful critical hits more often, which leads to my next point,
  • Cloud's punisher mode is no longer a flurry of strong attacks (where a critical would get lost in the damage numbers). Now, he lines up and tries to hit a homer. If that's a critical, you'll feel it.
  • Finally, the nail bat's ability (which is good on its own) ties into this whole gimmick so you attack in operator, disorder into punisher to keep the combo going, and then swing batta batta!
  • I fought the Angel of the Slums boss enemy with the bat and loved every second of it. Using a bat against a giant robot is already dumb enough, but trying to hit a homer off its giant metal ball is even dumber and I was there for it.
I hope the other joke weapons change up playstyles a bit like the bat did. Because I really like that bat.
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
Cloud going for that killing blow again. I realised it's the same stance. Both Johnny and Reno have been kneeling in front of him as he raises his sword... before someone tells him to stop...
If you count that Sephiroth copy with the "2," that makes three. He was laying down rather than on his knees, but Cloud was about to bring his sword down.
 

Mayo Master

Pro Adventurer
Chapter 8 impressions!

Oh boy, we spent a lot of time on that chapter screwing around. Whack-a-box!

- Starting the chapter, I hand the controller to my spouse saying "it's probably going to be rather quiet for a bit" -> she had to deal with Reno's boss fight, barely making it by cross-slashing him twice. Great boss fight though. Liked seeing Reno showing that he really took a beating by the end of it.
- When the Guardians of Fate began to help Aerith and Cloud, my meter of Qu'est-ce-que fuck? reached new heights. At first I thought they'd be Sephiroth-related, now I have no idea what's the deal with them. I is confuzed.
- I really liked some of the banter between Cloud and Aerith. Especially the one about monsters going after the weakest target.
- I absolutely loved the environments. And the music. Such a masterful rendition of the original fields between the church and the market place of Sector 5. Loved the new version of Aerith's house, and I also enjoyed seeing how gradual the vegetation was laid out (in the OG, the contrast between Aerith's house and the rest was a little jarring). Very slight disappointment that the environments that I had spent so much time modelling personally were only partially recreated here (the materia shop is entirely different, the weapon shop is no longer a bus, but downsized to a big van, the item shop presents the same big pipe and counter space, but not the rest). It was not as close a match as it was in the Sector 7 slums. That's ok, it took me 0.5 s to get over it :mon: . I made up for it by looking at all the flower models :)
- Hello, Scarlet!
- The one thing that's been my biggest pet peeve by far: when you get to Aerith and Elmyra's house, she says: "if you want to get to sector 7, it will take you a lot of time. It's already late. Better spend the night here and start fresh on your way tomorrow." Next thing she says is "there's a bit of time before dinner, why don't you run an errand or two". And then you probably spend the equivalent of 3 days worth of side quests, which is waaayyy longer than what it would actually take to reach sector 7. The narrative and the timeline do not make sense at all. It's a real pity.
- I did enjoy all the side-quests though. I was really happy to hang around.
- Still blown away about all the enemy models... they even replicated some of the very absurd monsters. Will they dare to include Hell House?
- Whack-a-box!
- IMO Rude had such a class upgrade. So much style. The impeccable suit. The shades. The other shades. I really don't mind he's not as taciturn as he was in the OG. My spouse and my friend I'm sharing the playthrough with have elected him as the coolest character in the entire game (up to now).
- After finishing a bunch of side-quests, I hand over the controller to my spouse saying "I think that all you have to do now is get to Aerith and Elmyra's house and see what happens next" -> she had to deal with Rude's boss fight :lol: she actually did much better than vs Reno, actually.
- Really enjoyed the cutscene where Cloud dreams of his last time with his Mom in Nibelheim.
- I managed to get out of Aerith's house on the 2nd try, which I was rather happy about. It had taken me many more tries to get that cleared on my first OG playthrough.

I think that's good for now!
 

Soakette

Donator
AKA
Jess
.
Rude is smooth as fuck. Soakette is gonna lose it. :P He was actually pretty verbal, but there wasn't any Renos around to do the talking.

I completely went nuts! I love Rude so much in the remake. I think they did an excellent job with him. I keep going on YouTube to watch his scenes over and over again cause I'm so obsessed.

I loved his boss fight. I was so impressed with his fighting style and I couldn't even be mad at him for tackling me like 10 times before I figured out how to beat him.
 

Theozilla

Kaiju Member
Chapter 8 impressions!

Oh boy, we spent a lot of time on that chapter screwing around. Whack-a-box!

- Starting the chapter, I hand the controller to my spouse saying "it's probably going to be rather quiet for a bit" -> she had to deal with Reno's boss fight, barely making it by cross-slashing him twice. Great boss fight though. Liked seeing Reno showing that he really took a beating by the end of it.
- When the Guardians of Fate began to help Aerith and Cloud, my meter of Qu'est-ce-que fuck? reached new heights. At first I thought they'd be Sephiroth-related, now I have no idea what's the deal with them. I is confuzed.
- I really liked some of the banter between Cloud and Aerith. Especially the one about monsters going after the weakest target.
- I absolutely loved the environments. And the music. Such a masterful rendition of the original fields between the church and the market place of Sector 5. Loved the new version of Aerith's house, and I also enjoyed seeing how gradual the vegetation was laid out (in the OG, the contrast between Aerith's house and the rest was a little jarring). Very slight disappointment that the environments that I had spent so much time modelling personally were only partially recreated here (the materia shop is entirely different, the weapon shop is no longer a bus, but downsized to a big van, the item shop presents the same big pipe and counter space, but not the rest). It was not as close a match as it was in the Sector 7 slums. That's ok, it took me 0.5 s to get over it :mon: . I made up for it by looking at all the flower models :)
- Hello, Scarlet!
- The one thing that's been my biggest pet peeve by far: when you get to Aerith and Elmyra's house, she says: "if you want to get to sector 7, it will take you a lot of time. It's already late. Better spend the night here and start fresh on your way tomorrow." Next thing she says is "there's a bit of time before dinner, why don't you run an errand or two". And then you probably spend the equivalent of 3 days worth of side quests, which is waaayyy longer than what it would actually take to reach sector 7. The narrative and the timeline do not make sense at all. It's a real pity.
- I did enjoy all the side-quests though. I was really happy to hang around.
- Still blown away about all the enemy models... they even replicated some of the very absurd monsters. Will they dare to include Hell House?
- Whack-a-box!
- IMO Rude had such a class upgrade. So much style. The impeccable suit. The shades. The other shades. I really don't mind he's not as taciturn as he was in the OG. My spouse and my friend I'm sharing the playthrough with have elected him as the coolest character in the entire game (up to now).
- After finishing a bunch of side-quests, I hand over the controller to my spouse saying "I think that all you have to do now is get to Aerith and Elmyra's house and see what happens next" -> she had to deal with Rude's boss fight :lol: she actually did much better than vs Reno, actually.
- Really enjoyed the cutscene where Cloud dreams of his last time with his Mom in Nibelheim.
- I managed to get out of Aerith's house on the 2nd try, which I was rather happy about. It had taken me many more tries to get that cleared on my first OG playthrough.

I think that's good for now!
Are you just saying that the Chapter 8 sidequests feel like they are worthy of 3 days in regards to content, not that they actually take place over the three days. How come you came away with those feelings for this Chapter and not the Chapter 3 sidequests?


Also, I feel like I am going nuts trying to figure out if I am looking at the sky/plate geography correctly, but is Aerith’s house technically under the Sector 6 plate in the Remake?
 
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Prism

Pro Adventurer
AKA
pikpixelart
Just got to this part! I have lots of thoughts:

Briana White is perfect as Aeris. Her optimistic innocence is contagious, and serves as a perfect foil to Cloud. Her design is also impeccable, and all of that as a whole reminds me why Aeris is my favorite option for Cloud. The church was rendered so beautifully...I just stared at it for minutes.

FC504DA8-23E2-453F-976E-E0E6B1BA0D65.jpeg
(I’m tempted to make a painted / pixel art version of a shot like this)

Reno’s fun. They already started to humanize the Turks - when the ShinRa grunts were like “Don’t move or I’ll shoot!” Reno is all like “What? No.” to them, for example. It’s a small moment, but shows a level of decency. He does have ulterior motives, since Aeris is an Ancient, but I thought it was nice regardless. Can’t wait to see them in the Wutai side quest in like three years...

His fight is a good example of the proper strategy going a long way in FFVII-R: if you don’t take down his lighting drone things, Reno’s hell. But once you do, he’s easy.

20B116BC-6C23-4E74-9613-E72C68AD4AAC.png

The trip to Aeris’ house was also quite astounding. First of all, the rooftop walk from the church to the slums is partly why - the fact Square was able to make piles of garbage into remarkably breathtaking scenery is magnificent. Beauty is held in anything, you just gotta bring it out in it, I suppose. That’s my takeaway, at least.

Aerith’s home is just as much of a breath of fresh air as it was in the original. It’s clearly in the dumps, but also clearly something beautiful. Does anyone else set a save file aside just so they can visit Aeris’ house and the church scene? I want to go back to it over and over again. (Did the same in the original)

I agree they should’ve paid closer detail to the plates that were above each sector. Maaaaaybe it’s something that’ll be patched. Maybe not. Hopefully they also fix that texture mipmapping glitch, it’s pretty bad to see. But otherwise...still absolutely loving it.

Having to earn your summons by beating them is...an unexpected, but definitely fulfilling game concept. Summons alone were satisfying to use in the original, but if you earn them? That satisfaction doubles, IMO. You’re being rewarded for being able to best them in combat by being able to unleash them on your foes. Shiva’s hard as fuck, by the way. I did get close, but...damn, she’s both really graceful and really badass at the same time.

Glad to see the Golden Saucer theme and Mog referenced. Speaking of music, “Under the Rotting Pizza” was done perfectly. It’s got that deep, biting bass to it, it’s got the acoustic guitar on top, good string accompaniment...all in all, it sounds exactly faithful to the original, but high-def. The new tunes are great, the old ones are too. The soundtrack really adds the “cherry on top” that brings the spirit of the original VII to the modern age in full force. (Especially when combined with the faithful character renditions and details)
 
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Eerie

Fire and Blood
Just a random thought, as I've been watching Maximilian Dood and a French streamer stream this chapter. It's hilarious on how they react to Aerith on opposite ways. Max adores her and he's like, fanboying over her and the FFVII world as a whole, while the French streamer cannot stand her and is always ranting on her antics.

She's still no favourite of mine, but better this time around compared to the OG so far. I intend to have her in my party though, for her magic abilities kick arses - unlike the OG where you could play without her without any trouble.
 

Odysseus

Ninja Potato
AKA
Ody
I think Aerith's personality is able to shine through a lot more here than it did in the English version of the original. From watching that "let's mosey" translation series, I know a lot of her quirks got lost in translation originally, and consequently I never found her that interesting. I like her a lot more here in the Remake.
 

Glaurung

Forgot the cutesy in my other pants. Sorry.
AKA
Mama Dragon
  • I'm eager to see Rude in the same scene as Tifa. I'm curious as to how they will present it :P
  • It seems to me that both Sephiroth and Ardyn have set up a competition to see who fucks up more their game rivals :monster:
  • Surprised and happy to see Cloud's mom.
  • That flashback when Cloud is trying to sleep on Aerith's house, I'm glad that they kept it. I'm also a bit giddy that they added that twist at the very end.
  • Heard Ray Chase's voice in the slum. Lol.
  • Sephiroth's clone... is it bad that I want that tunic too? Looks comfy...
  • Beneath the rotting pizza is one of my favorite renditions so far. Also, the instrumental version of the sung new theme is awesome.
 

Mayo Master

Pro Adventurer
Are you just saying that the Chapter 8 sidequests feel like they are worthy of 3 days in regards to content, not that they actually take place over the three days. How come you cane away with those feelings for this Chapter and not the Chapter 3 sidequests?
Yes, I meant that the sidequest content would be worth ~3 'in-game days', if there were such a thing. Same thing for chapter 3, to be honest.
I found it a lot more jarring in this chapter than in chapter 3 because of the complete incoherence with the narrative.
In chapter 3, it would not have really mattered whether the 2nd Bombing mission happens 2 days after the first one or 5 days after the first one. The important time-stamp on the narrative is when Jessie talks to Cloud to enlist him for her 'personal-side-mission', and that could have been placed anytime.
In this chapter, you're explicitly told that you can't go back to Sector 7 because there's not enough daylight left, right before engaging in activities that are awfully time-consuming. That's what I find jarring.
 

Fangu

Great Old One
Claudia is a dumb name. She has no name! She's 'Cloud's Mom'! :monster:

Did all the sidequests. Frog King gave me some trouble, but my boyfriend suggested I go all in for him first and just go hard until he's down, and it worked wonders. That big ol' hunk of junk in the Angel quest gave me a bit of a challenge, but it went down on my second try.

Aerith with the elemental spell staff (Silver Staff?) = GODDESS
Cloud with the Elemental materia isn't half bad either.

That ability that I got from the Nail Bat is so OP, been spamming it.

I'm so glad I equipped Bio on Cloud. Poison is such a cheat. Rude could beat me up all he wanted but he couldn't beat those purple numbers!

Generally, the boss fights has been a lot of fun, but I think the Turks has been my favourites so far. The one or two characters "learn the pattern" fights reminds me so much of Yakuza. I think I generally prefer the max two characters fights because I have to check the character list to see if I need to go up or down. Could probably zoom out the character and use left and right instead, but still. I wish there was a different way to switch characters. ...there might be one, please enlighten me :monster:

Generally I find the gameplay a lot more enjoyable now, it felt a bit messy in the beginning. Looking forward to more new materia that will make an 'auto setup' more approachable. In that sense, it feels more like Gambits in XII, and you all know how I feel about XII :monster: I've made Tifa pretty much an attacker so she's good to just let roam free most of the time, the problem is she's damn fun to play. Ugh! Also, I love how you can run (out of battle) while casting healing spells and potions. That also feels a lot like XII.
 

Saven

Pro Adventurer
I have not finished this chapter (just hopped off the rooftops). I just want to say that I'm starting to feel like I'm back at home again with the Church segment, seeing that Sector 5 looked EXACTLY how I remembered/envisioned it + Flowers Blooming in the Church playing as you walk across with familiar banter between Aerith (she is the Aerith that I remembered).

Lastly, as I am typing this while the game is paused, Underneath the Rotting Pizza is absolutely $&#!^ perfect!
 
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