Ok, a bit late to the party... I finished chapter 9 yesterday.
Man, that was awesome! Very indulging. You truly feel the love of the devs for their creation, and the desire to satisfy their fans. This chapter really delivered.
I remember that when the remake was in development, a lot of fans were fearing that it would take itself too seriously and discard the goofy moments which were part of the charm and identity of the OG. I loved the fact that they kept those moments, owned them, turned them up to 11 and ran with it. It felt bold.
Also, especially with this chapter, the media blackout I had been doing since E3 2019 paid off
big time. It was so fulfilling.
Anyway, I was very happy and excited by a ton of stuff in this chapter, my favorite so far. Most folks have already said a ton about it so I'll try to stick to what struck me the most:
- Man, the Beck trio was something to behold. By taking them out, you remove negative IQ from humanity.
- I made Cloud go for a slide on the playground, weee!! I was so surprised there was the animation for it.
- Tifa's cosplay of Chun-Li was pretty damn hot. She's in great shape, alright.
- The whole Wall Market environments, looking like a Red Light district in Hong Kong.
- Aerith's reaction "Excuse-you!?" when one of Corneo's lackey calls her homely.
- The whole tournament in the arena was awesome. Biggest points to the intros by Scotch and Kotch, finding Johnny in tears before the first fight, Madam M's anger burst when she tells Cloud it wasn't the last fight, ... and when Scotch and Kotch introduced the last opponent, Hell House, I shouted "
YES! They fucking DID it!!!"
- Loved the fight against Hell House. What a clever way to have introduced one of the most nonsensical enemies in the entire game. I got my ass handed over to me on the first try because of a crappy materia setup, though
- Went for the Deluxe massage at Madam M, that was... interesting, although not as much as it was for Cloud! It sure sounded like a hand massage where it's not the hand that gets the massage... Cloud's "completely out of it" demeanor afterwards was hilarious.
- Loved the squat mini-game! And I really enjoyed that Jules was reminiscent of Big Bro.
- Aerith's arrival in her fancy dress with Johnny pulling a red carpet under the fireworks.... wow.
- The whole scene at the Honey Bee Inn was exhilarating. If I had been Cloud, I'd have needed a lot of hard liquor before I could overcome my embarrassment and pull it off! It was awesome to see how much fun Aerith was having, too.
- My spouse absolutely loved Cloud's dress. It's so well-designed, giving him shapes where he doesn't have any while downplaying his manly built.
Perfection.
- Loved Cloud's "can we never speak about this again?" attitude when his performance was over. And the number of passerby hitting on him!
- Loved pretty much everything after you enter Don Corneo's house. The environments are perfectly recreated - hell I didn't even expect them to remake the dungeon with all the torture implements! The 'bride selection' scene, Tifa and Aerith kicking ass and high-fiving at the end of it, Corneo's interrogation... perfectly executed.
Phew! That was a lot to take in.