FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Demo Out Now!

[ForceStealer]

It's not really trying to be an action game, though. It's really the old ATB at heart. Your spells and items and everything were always tied to an atb "charge" in the original as that was the only time you could do anything.

Also I don't know what an iframe is, outside the HTML context.

 

[Tetsujin]

iframes are animation frames during which you are invincible

I also wanna add it would be nice if it was possible to dodge cancel attacks

 

[ForceStealer]

You can dodge cancel ATB abilities, interestingly. But yes, it punishes you for starting a combo at the wrong time.

 

[Ite]

I’m interested to see what’s going to happen in longer fights. The skirmishes in this demo were really quick, it made using the ATB for basic kill-moves a no-brainer.

Forcing Cloud to charge ATB with basic attacks makes him a shitty mage, which is not something the OG forced on you. He’s useless in that fight against the Sentry Rays, he can’t get to them so he can’t charge his ATB, which means he can’t use a grenade or a spell or anything. It’s too bad.

 

[Lulcielid]

I also wanna add it would be nice if it was possible to dodge cancel attacks

You can dodge cancel at any point of the combo string except for the finisher moves of Operator/Punisher string.

 

[ForceStealer]

Forcing Cloud to charge ATB with basic attacks makes him a shitty mage, which is not something the OG forced on you. He’s useless in that fight against the Sentry Rays, he can’t get to them so he can’t charge his ATB, which means he can’t use a grenade or a spell or anything. It’s too bad.

Guarding does raise it faster, but yeah you're much better off just using Barret and then using Cloud's charge when he does get one to cast. Part of the encouragement to change characters, I guess. It'll be interesting to see how it handles once you've got three characters to juggle.

 

[Kai Schulen]

If everything's a dream, don't wake me.

The Remake Demo…is everything I have prayed for the Remake to be and possibly more.

I’ll admit, that there was a small part of me that was afraid that despite everything, this Remake would fall flat on its face and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to deny that to myself.

But as soon as I started playing, I felt the same thrill and excitement I felt as a kid playing FFVII for the first time. and the second time. and the third time. etc, etc.

I think everything’s going to work out. I can’t wait for April 10th.

 

[HylianMogget]

Went through it once so far and enjoyed it. The combat is definitely going to take some getting used to for me. I used up all my potions in the Scorpion Sentinel fight, so I feel like I have to get a better handle on the rhythm of the battle system or I'm probably gonna get wrecked in boss fights if that's what the first boss is like. It's pretty good, though, I think it actually does feel like a reinterpretation of the old system. I was expecting it to be more action-y (or, basically Kingdom Hearts: FFVII edition) than it is. It really seems like you have to switch characters rather than letting the AI do its thing. Does the AI even do anything of note when left to its own devices? When my HP got low I just healed rather than wait to see if it'd do it for me.

Graphically, it looks super good. The voice acting is alright, I'll probably leave it in English since I'd rather not worry about missing out on the banter and such during gameplay. In terms of music, the arrangements seem nice enough, if too orchestral - I miss the more industrial feel of the original Mako Reactor theme. Wasn't a fan of the OWA bit in the opening.

The camera wasn't great, but I think I'd be more bothered by it if this was a true action game. It could definitely stand to be zoomed out more (changing the settings didn't really make much of a difference, but it was a bit better, I guess), really not sure why they have it be so close.

This is more of a pet peeve of mine than an actual issue, but I don't like how slowly Cloud turns around. I get that it's not true to life to have a character be able to turn on a dime, but it just feels clunky to me when games try to be more realistic about it.

 

[ForceStealer]

I'm pretty sure the AI just basic attacks and guards. It doesn't do anything that uses an ATB charge, like healing you.

 

[Jairus]

Caught a new post-battle exchange between Cloud and Barret during my last run, it had me rolling:

Barret - "Did you see me in action back there?"
Cloud - "Must've missed it."

Dang, those two are a riot! Can't wait for the rest of the game. And you know, it's interesting that Jessie has a gun but she never fired a shot. Maybe in the full game she'll fight alongside Cloud and Barret as a completely AI-controlled guest (aside from the boss, that is). That would be nice. Biggs and Wedge didn't shoot either, but they didn't go as far into the reactor as she did. And the new soundtrack is boss (+5 internets for anyone who gets the reference). Everything about the game is awesome, imo.

 

[Odysseus]

I'm really terrible at fighting the Scorpion Sentinel, I keep nearly dying. Gonna have to take Cloud's advice about learning attack patterns more seriously.

 

[Jairus]

It does help, and don't forget to hit it with spells to soften it up. Getting behind it makes things a bit easier, too, and when the shield comes up, target your spells and abilities at the field generator to bring it down. Take out one of the legs during the last stage with the auto-repair unit to make it fall and then it'll be easier to finish off.

 

[ForceStealer]

^And only use Fire spells at hte core, the shield blocks Thunder.

If the bar reads Pressured, try to hit with Focus Thrust and Thunder until it staggers. Then unleash Punisher mode attacks, Braver, Focused Shot, a limit break, etc.
If you get locked onto, you're better off just switching to the other character, the AI will block for the incoming attacks and you can focus on continuing your attack.
The missiles from when he's on the wall also seem easier to block than trying to dodge, to me. Oh and of course not starting an attack combo when he's about to do that AOE blast so you can dodge away

 

[Ite]

When its shield is up, solo as Cloud and wail away at the asshole. Two Bravers will end the shield segment before it even begins.

 

[Cannon_Fodder]

Y'know, you'd think I'd know better than to button mash after everyone in this thread said it's a bad idea, but I still did it anyway. Looking forward to playing it again with more of a tactical approach. My first playthrough felt pretty hectic.

 

[looneymoon]

I feel dizzy like did I really play that

Did I really play that

 

[Shademp]

edit: I don’t know what it is but I’m never in any danger at all. Scorp never even grabs me, the fight is over in like half the time it takes the E3 presentation to do it. And it’s not like I’m so good or anything, I’m baked out of my tree and barely remember how to fill my ATB gauge. And yet, I’ve never even seen what half-health looks like. I use 1-2 potions per playthrough, I used an ether once...

Well, this gives me hope that it's possible to git gud. In both my playthroughs (Normal difficulty) I've chugged potions like an addict. Almost even got KO'd by one of the Guard Hounds Dogs. Scorpion Sentinel grabbed Cloud so quickly and did devastating damage before I even had the time to react and rescue Cloud. Humorous dialogue ensued but it was frustrating that the time window for rescue felt like only 2-3 seconds.

 

[Kai Schulen]

I got KO'd twice by the Guard Scorpion, mostly because I wasn't quick enough to get behind cover during his Tail Laser attack. This is mostly because I kept tapping R1 to guard instead of running orz

 

[Jimmy XH]

I guess if this thread absolutely confirms one thing then that is that this is a "new" game! I've got to try and remember this when in battle rather than the constantly comparing it to the OG which I'm sure most of us could run through with our eyes closed.

Perhaps some of us are being harsh on ourselves with our first/second play-through. Any new battle system is going to take some getting used to, and I'm sure by the time we're halfway through the game we'll have it mastered and wonder what we ever worried about.

For now I'll just make sure I get all the potions available to me...

 

[looneymoon]

honestly I'm just happy it plays leagues better than the "hold O to win" FF15

 

[Shaun]

I played the demo twice last night and here are my opinions:

• The game is very pretty. The only thing that really stood out as not impressive was the lifestream pool at the bottom of the mako reactor. And possibly the weird fuzzy effect on Cloud's hair, which looked fantastic in some places and awful others.
  
  
• I still really like Cloud's new voice actor. Barret's was far better than I was expecting as well. The banter between them was fun too. However, I played it with the music and sound muted for a while (to hear the voices better) and there's a very obvious echo on the voice clips. It might be deliberate because at this point, I was inside the mako reactor.
  
  
• I know Jessie has her fans, but personally, I found her to be incredibly aggrivating. This is noteable because I quite liked her in the original. She now kind of reminds me of a slightly less irritating Rinoa from FF8, in that she seems to be completely oblivious to how serious the situation she's in is because she's far too busy oggling and throwing herself at the main character to pay attention. I'm glad Biggs called her out on it a little bit and was especially glad when Cloud finally says "Shut up and climb. You're not helping", so the game does seem to be somewhat aware of it. I'm hoping she calms down for later chapters, after the wider consquences of the reactor explosion set in.
  
  Saying that, it did lead to one funny moment, when Cloud is in the lift. Barret is being super over-the-top serious on one side while Jessie is acting like it's all just a fun adventure. You can almost feel his "why the hell am I here in the middle of these two extremes" reaction.
  
  
• I was quite surpised that I find the normal battle system to be much better than the classic mode, which somehow reminded me of FFXII. The battle system itself felt quite natural to me. It never felt like I wasn't in control, which is fairly unusual for me when playing action-RPGs (and quite often Action games in general). To be fair, I was playing it on easy but I always do, and had significantly less trouble understanding what was going on than I usually do in other games. I do wonder if this is why some people seem to find it confusing, if they play a lot of action games.
  
  
• The train-nerd in me loves the detail in the station right at the start at the game. I kind of want a framed poster of the railway map. I also like that they've changed the train station layout to make a bit more sense. One of the things I noticed in the original recently is you leave the platform through one door and then come out of a completely different door in the opposite direction on the opposite side of the street, still in view of the door you just walked through. Glad that's fixed.
  
  
• The mako reactor layout also makes more sense, since you're the pipes are no longer used as walkways. And the door to nowhere (by the save point in the original) is gone.
  
  
• I haven't read every post so I'm not not sure if anyone has noticed but there is a slightly different ending for picking 20 minutes than 30. The 20 minute timer has additional scenes in the ending clip, with flashbacks to Sephiroth in Nibelheim. I don't know if the difficulty makes any difference.

 

[Ite]

So I think I can whack a pylon from the back of the train platform into the reactor entrance and I’ve decided that’s what I’m going to do with my day tomorrow.

 

[Claymore]

On the subject of combat difficulty, I have to say, it certainly feels that it has been increased even from the demo build that I got to play back at EGX 2019 - and that wasn't a pushover. But now having access to the demo removed character skills definitely balances it out. As others have mentioned, this system definitely rewards figuring out your opponent's combat patterns and finding your battle rhythm. After a few more encounters, I quickly found that switching stances with Cloud, charging with Barret's skill after every gunning run, switching on the fly between the two, and Tactical Mode for magic access, became really intuitive. I honestly can't wait for all the Materia combinations, Summons, and the other party members to be thrown into this mix.

Definitely need to play around with it some more, as I barely used some things like the shortcut system ... but I just love Tactical Mode too much lol.

 

[Fangu]

Here's my entire playthrough, I streamed it on Twitch.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/560880390

I'm twentyfive ish minutes into the VOD, loved the small shoutout

 

[Clean Cut Chaos]

Was still getting murdered by Mr. Scorpion on my 5th try, but getting better. I was hoping I would see the body of the first guard stuffed somewhere towards the front of the train, but I guess they couldn't have thought of EVERYTHING. That would just be nutty.