SPOILERS FFVII Remake Open Spoiler Discussion Thread

[Aphyo]

Roche as the final boss could have worked so well too. Motor Ball fight -> Roche revealed to have been "driving" Motor Ball -> 3v1 "warm-up" boss fight -> kick Roche's butt -> Sephiroth possess Roche -> Commence monologue boss experience.

 

[Eerie]

I think, given her reaction to seeing Zack and Cloud arriving in Midgard, that she didn't know for sure that the two were linked. She certainly had her doubts, but they were only confirmed then.

 

[Theozilla]

Ok so about that Chapter 14 Aerith scene, do we have a good theory/understanding of it already? Is that the Aerith that's trapped inside Shinra HQ or is it something else? And the reason why she tells Cloud "not fall in love with me", and more specifically, it "isnt real", is it because she knows something about Zack's relation to Cloud or her fate with the Planet?

I felt like that scene was an homage to the Dream communication scene Cloud has in the OG after the Temple of the Ancients is finished and Aerith leaves for the Forgotten Capital. So how “real” the dream is, depends on player interpretation like the similar the scene in OG.

 

[Odysseus]

Anybody know where to find the 26th Jukebox song? And are there more after Scarlet's theme?

 

[Teioh]

You have to score a lot of Greats from the Honeybee girls dance tutorial for the 26th. No more music discs after Scarlet's.

 

[Suzaku]

So, stayed off the forum for the last week while I finished the game.

To put it simply, I fucking loved it. Currently have about 70 hours clocked on my save.

It's not perfect, it definitely stumbles here and there. Some of the sidequests are your typical unimaginative JRPG filler. There are the well documented graphical issues, which hopefully can be fixed with a patch. Sometimes the AI is weird. I really don't like how combat with aerial enemies works.

That out of the way, it gets so much right that it's easy for me to overlook the faults. So much stuff is just, well, perfect. The world, the characters, the tone, the music. I also feel like a lot of the early issues started to work themselves out as you progress further into the game, and by the time you get into Sector 5 and Wall Market the game really evens out a lot in that regard.

I also totally get where the story is going to be divisive. Some people wanted a 1:1 beat-for-beat remake, but that was never what I wanted from this project. I wanted them to take risks, and they sure as hell are doing that. In a sense, it's both a remake and a sequel. That has me really excited. I'm super curious to see where things go from now.

My favorite parts of the game were easily chapters 4, 8-9, and 16-18, though that's not to say I didn't like the rest of it. Those just stood out as exceptional to me. The weakest part of the game for me was easily chapter 3.

I really liked the addition of Roche, and the way it sort of validates the bikerobatics in Advent Children as special SOLDIER training that only the elite of the elite could achieve. It also contextualizes SOLDIER as sort of a FOXHOUND style group of weirdos, which is exactly what I want to see from it. I'm a bit bummed out that he was the only named SOLDIER we see -- I really hope they flesh out the group a bit more in the sequels. I really want that FOXHOUND vibe to come through. Chekov's Kunsel?

The history of the ancients VR presentation with the Neo Midgar render at the end and the weird Meteor visions was easily one of the coolest moments in the game. I loved the traditional FF vibes it gave off with the white mage and summoner style outfits, and the airships floating theough the skies. The Neo Midgar design also really evokes the Tower of Babel -- the big concept render in the exhibit looks like it has at least four or five layers of city going on. Clever nod to the FFX maybe-connection in the Shinra founders photograph too.

I wasn't a huge fan of how they did President Shinra's death (I think finding him already dead was a bit more impactful), but I do like the way they used the two Sephiroth copies as Sephiroth's puppets, and they did a generally good job with the Reunion Theory, hallucinations, etc. stuff.

Also interesting that this Jenova seems to have gone through a late-in-development name change, as her name in the data mined from the demo was "Jenova PULSE," and her battle track is still "Quickening."

Oh, and when did Rufus get so rad? I never really rated him much in the original or AC. He has a decent design, but this really amped up the coolness factor and turned him into a badass. I dig that he's obviously had serious combat training and isn't just a spoiled rich kid with a gun and guard dog.

Jumping ahead to the end, I heard some people call the final boss a Kingdom Hearts / Heartless / Ansem type thing, but really, to me, it just looked like an incomplete Weapon -- like its exoskeleton hadn't fully formed and you can see its guts a bit. They could have easily named it Amethyst Weapon, IMO. The Whispers don't bother me, they feel perfectly in line with the other planetary antibodies to me. I just hope they do get overtly connected to the Weapons, maybe when we start seeing Avalanche HQ's planetology stuff.

I dig that with the edge of creation thing, we actually seem to be getting some actual motivation for what Jenova/Sephiroth are trying to achieve by using the planet as a vessel to travel the cosmos.

Obviously, the stuff with Zack at the end has me excited, though admittedly a bit confused. There's a vagueness to it all that makes it tough to interpret exactly what is going on there.

But that's part of what has me excited, honestly. It's really cool that I can go into the game not knowing exactly what will happen next in the story, and that's a feeling that a 1:1 remake can't recreate.

That said, part of me wonders, since they've already created so much of a framework, if Square Enix can't at some point just take the assets they already have developed and release a purist edition that conforms exactly to the original. Sort of like how Dissidia 012 included the entire story of the original game.


I think that's it for my scattered thoughts. I haven't 100%ed yet and think I'll be taking a bit of a break to catch up on other stuff I've neglected this week before diving back in. I want to 100% everything and then maybe at some point do a victory lap easy mode run with just the default weapons so I get the "canon" version of cutscenes. But that'll probably be a bit down the line.

 

[dunkindonato]

I felt like that scene was an homage to the Dream communication scene Cloud has in the OG after the Temple of the Ancients is finished and Aerith leaves for the Forgotten Capital. So how “real” the dream is, depends on player interpretation like the similar the scene in OG.

Aerith seems to have a habit of communicating to Cloud via dreams/visions. Even in AC, she pulls Cloud into a white room for a little chat. Then he gets attacked by Yazoo and Loz immediately after.

There are the well documented graphical issues, which hopefully can be fixed with a patch.

That may be due to the fact that the game is rendering so many polygons that it's nearing the limit of what the base PS4 can do.

 

[LNK]

Aerith seems to have a habit of communicating to Cloud via dreams/visions. Even in AC, she pulls Cloud into a white room for a little chat. Then he gets attacked by Yazoo and Loz immediately after.



That may be due to the fact that the game is rendering so many polygons that it's nearing the limit of what the base PS4 can do.

I only have a base ps4 as well. Looks like I'll have to get a ps5 by the time the second part comes out

 

[OWA-2]

I just remembered now that President Shinra, in the original game, had visions of the future in the Honeybee Inn.

And about this game feeling like a remake or a sequel, I would really like to hear what newcomers to FFVII have to say about it.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

That's not President Shinra in the Honeybee Inn.
It's the president of another corporation who has come to Midgar for a meeting with The President. He seems to come to Midgar for regular business meetings and also uses the time to indulge in his - ahem - hobbies.

 

[Odysseus]

That's not President Shinra in the Honeybee Inn.
It's the president of another corporation who has come to Midgar for a meeting with The President. He seems to come to Midgar for regular business meetings and also uses the time to indulge in his - ahem - hobbies.

Specifically, the people in the HoneyBee Inn doing the weird ritual are actually the play troupe from the gold saucer. I still think its funnier to imgine its actually president Shinra though.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Specifically, the people in the HoneyBee Inn doing the weird ritual are actually the play troupe from the gold saucer.

That's a new one on me. How do you know that?

 

[youffie]

That's a new one on me. How do you know that?

I know of it from this very forum

 

[Odysseus]

That's a new one on me. How do you know that?

A line of dialogue that got left out in the english version. "We came all the way from the gold saucer for this?" They also use the exact same models.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I am so pleased that there are still things for me to learn about this game.
I wonder if the not-president-shinra president hires them for this gig. I bet he pays good money.

 

[Pizzachu]

Was this supposed to be a photo of President Shinra? (The tweet below the Sephiroth one).

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1249749658114629632

 

[Tetsujin]

Yeah, it was the President Shinra museum after all

 

[Teioh]

I assumed it was meant to be a younger him as it was in the President Shinra part of the museum.

Edit: What Tets said

 

[lithiumkatana17]

Yooooooo how have some of you beat Bahamut in the combat simulator because he's whoopin my ass real good

 

[Tetsujin]

I have but it was a messy affair

 

[Castiel Strife]

Yooooooo how have some of you beat Bahamut in the combat simulator because he's whoopin my ass real good

You have to battle it in hard mode, right? I gave up on hard mode, myself. Got to the battle with Roche and hit a brick wall. Tried doing chapter select and chose the Wall Market chapter to get more revive materia and died on the way there... It just wasn't fun for me after a while. I know you can do the VR battles separately, but if I can't even beat Roche what chance do I have? It's probably not worth the headache, as much as I wanted the platinum. That was the only thing stopping me.

 

[Suzaku]

I forgot to mention this in my previous post, but I feel like with some of the new things introduced here -- chiefly the VR presentation about the Ancients and the Promised Land, and the ending itself -- that they're maybe actually sort of circling back to and doubling down on some of the classic themes of the Final Fantasy series.

Namely, magic versus technology. I feel like that big CGI movie depicting the magical Cetra society and the mechanical Shinra society of Midgar really drove that contrast home in a way that the original never quite did.

The idea of time travel is also as OG as Final Fantasy gets. The first game was literally about the fallen hero Garland siphoning power from the four elements of nature and using it to create a time loop so that he can live eternally.

 

[Noble0ne]

One thing I've noticed that seems to be lost to people in reference to Chadley are two very important things.

The first point is that he's an android with artificial A.I. created by Professor Hojo. That's the reason for his heavily formal, robotic, and scientifically focused manner of speech.

The second point however, is a subtlety no one has really put a connection to.

Chadley is an android Hojo created for himself. Hojo specifically created a scientific assistant android in the shape of a young pre-adolescent boy with silver hair, green eyes, and a genius intellect.

Why do you think that is? Who do you think inspired the appearance of that android, and why?

Not many people live in the world of FFVII carry those features.

But the butterfly on his face... Is not very sephy

 

[Theozilla]

But the butterfly on his face... Is not very sephy

Actually butterflies do have some connection to Sephiroth, as his bizarro Sephiroth form is basically a pupae/chrysalis for his final form.

 

[Lex]

Yooooooo how have some of you beat Bahamut in the combat simulator because he's whoopin my ass real good

I made a post on this in the Hard Mode Discussion thread:

That it's fight number 4 that's actually challenging. Fight number 5 is unique/ neat but not that hard. They're all fairly time consuming.

It's Shiva - Fat Choco - Leviathan - Bahamut - Secret Boss

Bahamut summons Ifrit when he hits half health. You need manawall/ planet protector and full health (7.5k+ health) to survive megaflare. Don't exclusively use stagger gauge increasing moves like focused thrust, also concentrate on doing damage. I used a lot of triple slash/ divekick. Aerith stayed far away from all the bosses and just healed. Elemental+Ice on armour is really useful for Shiva (on Tifa and Cloud). Tifa and Cloud will both get a limit break before Bahamut hits half health. Immediately use Tifa's LB when Ifrit is summoned, followed by Cloud's. This will kill Ifrit (or get him very close). You need to get rid of Ifrit ASAP, he is a p r o b l e m.

tl;dr, don't focus on staggering Bahamut because if you're not getting his health down fast enough you'll run out of MP to heal and that's the real risk. That and megaflare. You want reprieve on every character and then you want to keep them all above 60% for the entire fight to not trigger it so it saves your ass. You will see megaflare at least once or twice, first time I did it I saw it 3 times lol. Planet Protector or Manawall with full HP is the only way to survive it.

Aerith had an accessory that boosts limit gauge when MP is used. Tifa had an accessory that boosts limit gauge when ATB moves are used. Each characters had 2x HP Plus materia (3/4 stars each), everyone had around 7-8k HP.