FFVIIR Official Concept Art & Twitter Whatnots

[Glaurung]

Y'know, looking at the Hojo render now and when the first image of him leaked a month ago. Outside of his much more welcomed gritty-looking face, there was something else I liked but I couldn't quite put my finger on it until now - the glasses. He just had some regular ole' boring glasses throughout the compilation and looked just there in every scene he was in. Now he just stands out like he did in the original.

The glasses in the original didn't let one see his eyes, just as it sometimes happens in anime. I guess they resorted to dark lenses to keep that feeling of someone who is unreadable. I love that attention to detail.

 

[FFShinra]

I got Robotnik's pince-nez vibes immediately. Which is a good thing.

 

[LNK]

The general consensus on these side quests seems to be split. I lurk on Resetera and this site's subreddit. I think Square is in a tough spot because if you include them it ruins the pacing/story progression/they're boring etc. But if you don't put them in then it's too linear, blah blah blah. Personally, anything I can do to spend more time with these characters and explore as much of this world as possible is A-OK in my book. You want me to go to some neighborhood in the upper plate that I could have only dreamed about before? Sign this mercenary up, partner.

I agree... That's why I don't mind this being in multiple parts. Especially if each part is given the proper care and effort towards. With the sidequests, they can even include more lore into the ff7 universe.

 

[LNK]

Considering it's one of the selling points of the 1st Class edition, I'd say that's pretty official verification, right?




Except they clearly aren't interested in doing so, probably because they don't want those high-res renders being reproduced given the artbook and prints that are meant to be sold in the first place. People used those renders for selling fan products and S-E is trying to market those renders for their art they're selling of the game. Clearly a conflict of interests at play.

It's also in the deluxe edition

 

[LNK]

I just don’t like meta-UI. I don’t like quest markers, quest journals, and I certainly don’t like “side” quest sections of a menu. It makes it feel like a video game checklist, rather than organic moments in a role-playing story.

I agree with you. But once games switched to having chapters, they stopped feeling organic. IMO

 

[LNK]

I love the new opening movie, especially the bird flying over the wasteland

 

[Cloud_S]

Very nice, Cloud-S! Did those come from the Japanese website, too?

Yes, I just changed "pc" to "sp" in the filename, for the mobile version of the image... which tends to be larger than the PC/desktop/non-mobile version (at least for the renders, not the backgrounds).

 

[Jairus]

Ah ok cool, good to know. I wasn't aware they used different files for different platforms. Hopefully these renders will show up on the US site and twitter sooner or later, too.

 

[Wol]

I agree with you. But once games switched to having chapters, they stopped feeling organic. IMO

yeah I dislike Chapter markers as well, they just feel unnecessary and immersion breaking for what point?

 

[Knights of the Round]

I just don’t like meta-UI. I don’t like quest markers, quest journals, and I certainly don’t like “side” quest sections of a menu. It makes it feel like a video game checklist, rather than organic moments in a role-playing story.

With you.

I'm worried there's going to be far too much hand-holding in the remake as compared to all the mysterious secrets in the original. This was my biggest concern all along.. along with the voice acting (which has turned out better than I thought.)

 

[Knights of the Round]

I guess I should have known to expect it, but the sheer amount of anime grunts is already irritating. After the train pulls in, before anyone says a word, it's literally 30 seconds of various grunts/sighs.

Yes, the grunts are ridiculous.

 

[Kain424]

Maybe they'll have an option to switch off the UI.

 

[Makoeyes987]

I doubt that, to be honest. These kind of changes are due to the fact that they're playtested and focus-grouped for ease of access and organization. Twenty years ago players complained about how difficult and disorganized it was to keep track of all the side quests, points of no return and missable content in RPGs and games in general. It felt mandatory to have a 200 page strategy guide to find, manage and check off all the content that was hidden within a game.

Well, game designers took note of this and here we are. They're quality-of-life enhancements to make the game more organized and accessible. I doubt any RPG is just gonna expect you to just memorize or intuitively figure out where each quest goes where or something now since that simply would just feel like unnecessary work for what's obviously a game.

 

[ForceStealer]

Turning off minimaps is a fairly common feature, though.

 

[Wol]

Rewatching the opening, I like a lot how they framed Midgar and its technology, first by showing the glorious vista and then the wilthed flower, all the way with a creepy ominous chant.

Then you have the shot with Aerith picking up the flower and looking a bit melancholic at the sky (she knows the environment is slowly dying) almost like she's begging for something to change that BAM a wild Cloud appears with a gang of terrorists to do just that.

I love these small nuances.

 

[cold_spirit]

I doubt that, to be honest. These kind of changes are due to the fact that they're playtested and focus-grouped for ease of access and organization. Twenty years ago players complained about how difficult and disorganized it was to keep track of all the side quests, points of no return and missable content in RPGs and games in general. It felt mandatory to have a 200 page strategy guide to find, manage and check off all the content that was hidden within a game.

Well, game designers took note of this and here we are. They're quality-of-life enhancements to make the game more organized and accessible. I doubt any RPG is just gonna expect you to just memorize or intuitively figure out where each quest goes where or something now since that simply would just feel like unnecessary work for what's obviously a game.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a 30-hour action game with multiple missable hidden quest lines. Sekiro is also critically acclaimed, sold millions of copies, and won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2019.

Quest logs are a convention, not a rule. What may be "unnecessary work for what's obviously a game" to you is intriguing worldbuilding to others. However, as you said, accessibility is important to SE. That's fine. But something is lost in that process.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Oh, I'm aware of Sekiro! And yeah, it works great. There's a market for those kind of games with that game design.

I'm just saying, that there's a market for the ease of access. A lot of mainstream RPGs and games are gonna try to widen that audience with that ethos in mind. But that's not to say that it's the only way to design. It's just what's in mind for it's inclusion.

 

[Theozilla]

Sekiro is also an action-adventure game first, not an RPG. I think the vast majority of RPG players (including myself) prefer expanded UIs and quality of life mechanics and than not.

 

[Cannon_Fodder]

I get the argument against these kind of UI elements, but I personally think it's better to ask players to ignore a quest tab if they don't like them than to demand they get by without them. Options to turn off quest markers and minimaps are a great idea, though, as they help with the whole ignoring thing.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1228278330887008258

There's gonna be a FFVIIR Ultimania, and it's available for pre-order now.

Looks like we'll get to do some more translations and stuff like in ye olde days.




X

 

[Odysseus]

Just release the books in English, Square! You know damn well there's an audience for them!

 

[Obsidian Fire]

All the FFXIV books get released in both Japanese and English (even if the English pre-orders start later). So maybe they'll do an English version this time?

 

[Jairus]

I hope so, that'll be nice to have. I got all three Ultimania Archives a while back and they've got a lot of great stuff. I'm sure the FFVIIR Ultimania will be the same way.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Can't wait to read the new relationship chart!!!

 

[ForceStealer]

I get the argument against these kind of UI elements, but I personally think it's better to ask players to ignore a quest tab if they don't like them than to demand they get by without them. Options to turn off quest markers and minimaps are a great idea, though, as they help with the whole ignoring thing.

Agreed, as someone who generally makes use of minimaps and quest markers, I have every intention of turning them off for THIS game.

These days I'm usually trying to clear a game off the backlog, so I appreciate the efficiency. But the object here is to exist in Midgar as much as possible So aimless exploration is the goal.