A question for those playing the demo: is there an option to turn-off useless
UI
I agree in regards to the i-frames and chip damage bits. Buuuut (and I have nothing to base this off of) maybe that will be something that is addressed with other weapons/armor/etc later in the game? E.g. increased defense while blocking with [item].played the demo, the gameplay has potential but has some problems:
Cloud
ATB limiting combo variety & Lack of offensive tools
Abilities being tied ATB and their huge cost (50% of your total bar) means you will generally doing the regular and limited Operator/Punisher mode combo string and then chain it with one ability (or two if you save it) and then go back to performing limited combo until it replenishes and repeat, this could be remedied if the cost was lower (like say 20%).
The two systems only have three combo variations, mashing, holding and holding during a mashing string, I feel the lack of combo modifiers like directional imputs will not allow the combat to carry the whole game. Magic also being tied to ATB is unnecesary and reduces your combo options because using either magic and abilities means you won't be able to use the other in the same combo, if the idea was balancing to prevent spamming, magic being tied to MP (which they are in the demo) should have sufficed.
Defensive tools
From an action perspective they are garbage, dodge rolling lacks i-frames and it was terrible, blocking attacks doesn't protect from chip damage (from both firegun attacks and melee). The game needs some type defensive move that protects you from damage when you use it and the game has the move potential move already available in the form of parry but unfortunately it doesn't protect from chip damage. Punisher mode has two types of parry, one from holding the block button which will trigger a parry move the moment and enemy meele attack hits and another comes from the first frames of animation when Cloud switches to Punisher mode, and like any other action game that has a parry mechanique and that requiere a certain minimum of skill, you should be rewarded by not taking damage when you time the come correctly at the last second. Ideally I would preffer a safe defense/parry that protects me from damage not being tied to just punisher mode and be an universal mechanique available on both modes. The only thing preventing it from making the defensive tools worthless is that dodge rolling is marginally usefull to cancel your combo strings (except for the finisher moves) and move you away from hazzards (although it should cover more distance) and blocking attacks gives you ATB.
Miscellaneous issues
Switching from Operator to Punisher is laggy because of the stance switch animation, and while that particular switch stance has a parry attribute during its first frames, it gets in the way and breaks the flow of combo when you're stunlocking enemies with your regular attack string (a situation where you wouldn't need to parry). However, switching from Punisher to Operator is more fluid because the later doesn't have a stance animation like the former (Punisher-Operator are tied by sword swing, unlike Operator-Punisher that's tied by a stance), and it should be changed to this.
I previously said that the defensive tools are marginally not worthless because of some of their utility, like blocking giving you ATB but here's the issue, the game should not be rewarding you from playing poorly (i.e: taking damage) it should reward you for playing well (i.e: perfectly parrying enemy attacks and avoiding damage).
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Overall it has potential and there's some good ideas but has issues preventing it from excelling in the action department. Most of what I said are applyable to Barret.
wail away at the asshole
Thats real nice, im a bit of an UI minimalist thats whyYou can turn off both the minimap/quest compass and the control guide, so absolutely.
I was surprised too. They kept everything else almost exactly the same regarding placement and such. I remember how Biggs unlocks the first door and then Jessie unlocks the second, just like in the original. Those small little details mean so much!!!I am honestly surprised that you aren't allowed to loot one or both of the first guard bodies for potions.
Where’d you see the press footage iteration!?
I'm twentyfive ish minutes into the VOD, loved the small shoutout
Oh cool - that scene makes way more sense like this - whenever I watched on from the leak it seemed a bit disjointed. Guess that explains it then.It's at 4:18 in the Eurogamer coverage. This moment happens in the demo but the scene shown here has been cut: (warning, spoilers):
If nothing else it's nice to know that even with the demo there's more to see from that segment of the game. There's no telling what else could be in there that we won't get to see until the game releases.
I got serious nostalgia yesterday when I saw you, me and Yop all playing it at the same time
I also found it interesting that Avalanche's bomb clearly didn't blow up the whole reactor, but simply disabled it
If I recall correctly though, wasn't there a line from Jesse in the Sector 7 hideout about the bomb being way more powerful than it was meant to be? Or was it that she wanted the explosion to be bigger? I can't remember exactly.
Anyway, with this plot line of Shinra destroying the reactor, maybe Square is trying to lessen the moral ambiguity surrounding Avalanche being terrorists. There is nothing else in the OG that points to Shinra being the ones to actually destroy the reactor, right?
One minor thing I'll praise about that element - that Shinra had to command their robots to destroy it and themselves. Rather than just a big red self-destruct button that has no reason to exist
I'm not even sure it disabled it. It didn't seem to do much at all. The Guard Scorpion did more damage, lol. It'll be interesting how this affects the No. 5 Reactor bombing.
Yeah, it didn't seem to really have any visible impact. But I assumed it must have disabled the reactor's lifestream pumping functionality or something, as otherwise it would mean Avalanche basically screwed up the mission.
Avalanche’s bomb definitely had impact, it just exploded as it intended, just disabling the main processing core/unit.
My personal speculation remains that Shinra is intentionally destroying parts of Midgar because they are getting diminishing returns from the mako reactors. In short they are running out of mako. By temporarily disabling the electricity to Sectors 8 and 1, plus destroying Sector 7, they are sucking up less mako and thus increasing the lifespan of Midgar. Buying themselves necessary time so Shinra can intensify the search for the Promised Land (ergo the sudden aggressive re-kidnapping of Aerith) and build Neo Midgar there.
I am quite skeptical about the choice to make Shinra responsible for the destruction of the mako reactor but, like ForceStealer, I am refraining from final judgment until I've seen the whole game.
It seems to me though...
...that the plot wishes to paint Shinra as a formidable force and Barret's Avalanche cell as a group way in over their head, way more so when compared to the original game. Perhaps the writers wish to heighten the impact of how even with the almost-all-seeing eyes of Shinra, and their advanced tech, they are no match for Jenova and Sephiroth.
My personal speculation remains that Shinra is intentionally destroying parts of Midgar because they are getting diminishing returns from the mako reactors. In short they are running out of mako. By temporarily disabling the electricity to Sectors 8 and 1, plus destroying Sector 7, they are sucking up less mako and thus increasing the lifespan of Midgar. Buying themselves necessary time so Shinra can intensify the search for the Promised Land (ergo the sudden aggressive re-kidnapping of Aerith) and build Neo Midgar there.