FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Theme Song Trailer

FFShinra

FFShinra

Sharp Shinra Shill
Is Hojo's English VA the same as Ocelot's? The way he says "disappoint" reeeeealllly reminds me of him.....
 
Lulcielid

Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
Nobuou Uematsu will only compose the game's main theme song [HOLLOW], the music will be done by Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki.

EPmxZfwVUAE6n6l
 
Lex

Lex

Administrator
I've only skimread most of the posts in this thread so far so I'll do a kind of mini-review and my feelings on this trailer and then maybe trawl back through and see who agrees/ disagrees for fun (responses welcome, obviously).

I'll start by saying I loved the experience of watching the trailer with the context that I obviously have an extreme love for FFVII, have seen all the leaks and reacted accordingly to all the moments in this trailer (I gasped and squeed as you'd expect).

But now I'm going to tear it down and hypothesise about my own feelings, because I have nitpicks and I'm trying to keep my expectations grounded.

First off: this was not a good trailer, objectively. It's hectic, all over the place, doesn't tell a coherent story and it shows too damn much - I will forgive that last bit, because I suspect a lot more was shown than they originally intended due to the leaks. But I will also say - I think importantly - if you didn't know FFVII, I don't know that it would actually be that spoilery? Like we're all sat here going "omg I can't believe they showed X moment", when in actual fact trailers for games tend to show clips right up to the end, but you don't have any context to understand them so you don't really internalise it as a spoiler (most of the time). I did actually think "I can't believe they showed that" several times while I was watching it, but it wasn't a negative thought.

I also really hate the tone shift when the song plays for about 65% of the video, then switches to the orchestral boss theme. Square Enix are notorious for this, I recall in particular one of FFXV's trailers started with "Apocalypsis Noctis" and abruptly switched to "Stand by Me" by Florence and the Machine. To me it just feels janky but it might just be a matter of personal preference or taste. To me this honestly felt like two trailers mashed together.

I like the song btw. The behind the scenes vid really set the context, and I also do get some sort of evolved Compilation vibes from the song. This is surprising to me, I wasn't expecting any new stuff to sound compilation-ey but after they named a character Roche I knew the game was a bogey in that respect anyway (and I'm cool with it). Maybe it's just me, but I think if that exact character was in FFVII in 1997, that just wouldn't be his name. The name really sounds like it came from the Compilation. Uematsu's explanation of his inspiration for the song was great and I can really picture the scene he was talking about in my head. Tonally I think it fits with the mood of the story, but maybe not the environments and trailers we've seen so far. I definitely like it, but I want to hear a full version.

That Hojo scene - in principle, I don't have an issue with this change to the story (because obviously, in the OG Hojo doesn't know Cloud is a clone until the first visit to the Crater), but I do have a massive issue with how he's literally just stood there spouting out wordy exposition that feels stilted. Everything in that scene could have been achieved with him watching the screen and saying "hmm..." with a knowing facial expression.

Leviathan - why? It's connected to Godo/ Wutai in the original. Maybe it still will be in some way here, but I don't think it was really needed. This is a continuing pattern of pulling stuff forward that (IMO) should be in later installments.

Lastly I'm going to talk about Aerith's voice and dialogue - I will start by saying that I actually casually watched Briana White stream games before she was revealed as the new VA and I like her so it really pains me to say this - but that is not Aerith. I've been on the fence/ mildly concerned about this since the first voiced line of hers came out, but I reserved judgement. I'm still doing that to an extent, but I can't ignore how fluffy and light it sounds now, particularly right at the end of the trailer. I'm not sure whether it's a direction thing, as the dialogue seems to also be an issue. But I can't escape that as a concern anymore. Like everything though, I won't have the context in full until the game is out. My one ray of hope is the way she says "the source of everything" before the Jenova bit, because that sounds OK.

Positives that stand out:

- Water tower scene OMG Young Cloud's ponytail!!!!! <3
- Fabulous Honey Bee Inn dude was in the leaks and I took note of him then (I love him already)
- The homoerotic undertones with Cloud, fantastic
- Red XIII is perfect IMO. I was expecting him to be hit or miss, and I'd say definitely hit
- Design of the Shinra boardroom members is on point (Scarlet's dialogue was a bit too flowery though, she's more brash in the original)
- I like Jenova's design

I did also notice that the "take the stairs" option is in there (I posted about this on Discord), there's even a counter to show which characters are on which floor. I imagine there's some context to the numbers, like maybe you get something for beating Tifa:

1580514986723.png
 
Odysseus

Odysseus

Ninja Potato
AKA
Ody
Aerith has had a solid four or five voices at this point, right? I don't think I've ever really liked any of them too much (KH2 was the worst.) Briana White's performance is about par for the course at this point, so I'm not any more bothered than I have been.
 
ForceStealer

ForceStealer

Double Growth
Listening to the JP trailer, obviously one can feel differently about Sakamoto's voice, but the direction sounds about the same. The the end still sounded pretty high and breathy, and the "kawaIIIIIIII" is even more extreme/over-the-top.

(also interesting that the the JP trailer seems to have a computer voice saying "Attention: [something]" while President Shinra watches the plate fall. Doesn't seem to be there in English)
 
Knights of the Round

Knights of the Round

Pro Adventurer
Lex said:
Lastly I'm going to talk about Aerith's voice and dialogue - I will start by saying that I actually casually watched Briana White stream games before she was revealed as the new VA and I like her so it really pains me to say this - but that is not Aerith. I've been on the fence/ mildly concerned about this since the first voiced line of hers came out, but I reserved judgement. I'm still doing that to an extent, but I can't ignore how fluffy and light it sounds now, particularly right at the end of the trailer. I'm not sure whether it's a direction thing, as the dialogue seems to also be an issue. But I can't escape that as a concern anymore. Like everything though, I won't have the context in full until the game is out. My one ray of hope is the way she says "the source of everything" before the Jenova bit, because that sounds OK.
Click to expand...

With you on all of this. I really don't like Aerith's voice acting, which really sucks for me because she's always been my favorite character.. of any game.

I think they did a great job with Cloud, Barret, Jessie, Biggs, Wedge and about everyone else. How could they screw up Aerith with her being such a central figure? Ugh.

To be honest I'm not crazy about Sephiroth, either. His look is nice, but he doesn't 'sound' evil enough.
 
Tetsujin

Tetsujin

he/they
AKA
Tets
I have actually recorded my first time reaction to this trailer which I've never done before but I'm unsure whether it's good enough for the TLS channel or whether I'm too self-conscious to have it be uploaded anywhere after all :monster:
The gist of it is me liking how stuff looks and liking the new voices for Red XIII and such :monster:
 
Lex

Lex

Administrator
Tetsujin said:
I have actually recorded my first time reaction to this trailer which I've never done before but I'm unsure whether it's good enough for the TLS channel or whether I'm too self-conscious to have it be uploaded anywhere after all :monster:
The gist of it is me liking how stuff looks and liking the new voices for Red XIII and such :monster:
Click to expand...

Ideal, let's get it on the go!
 
LNK

LNK

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Nate
Lex said:
I've only skimread most of the posts in this thread so far so I'll do a kind of mini-review and my feelings on this trailer and then maybe trawl back through and see who agrees/ disagrees for fun (responses welcome, obviously).

I'll start by saying I loved the experience of watching the trailer with the context that I obviously have an extreme love for FFVII, have seen all the leaks and reacted accordingly to all the moments in this trailer (I gasped and squeed as you'd expect).

But now I'm going to tear it down and hypothesise about my own feelings, because I have nitpicks and I'm trying to keep my expectations grounded.

First off: this was not a good trailer, objectively. It's hectic, all over the place, doesn't tell a coherent story and it shows too damn much - I will forgive that last bit, because I suspect a lot more was shown than they originally intended due to the leaks. But I will also say - I think importantly - if you didn't know FFVII, I don't know that it would actually be that spoilery? Like we're all sat here going "omg I can't believe they showed X moment", when in actual fact trailers for games tend to show clips right up to the end, but you don't have any context to understand them so you don't really internalise it as a spoiler (most of the time). I did actually think "I can't believe they showed that" several times while I was watching it, but it wasn't a negative thought.

I also really hate the tone shift when the song plays for about 65% of the video, then switches to the orchestral boss theme. Square Enix are notorious for this, I recall in particular one of FFXV's trailers started with "Apocalypsis Noctis" and abruptly switched to "Stand by Me" by Florence and the Machine. To me it just feels janky but it might just be a matter of personal preference or taste. To me this honestly felt like two trailers mashed together.

I like the song btw. The behind the scenes vid really set the context, and I also do get some sort of evolved Compilation vibes from the song. This is surprising to me, I wasn't expecting any new stuff to sound compilation-ey but after they named a character Roche I knew the game was a bogey in that respect anyway (and I'm cool with it). Maybe it's just me, but I think if that exact character was in FFVII in 1997, that just wouldn't be his name. The name really sounds like it came from the Compilation. Uematsu's explanation of his inspiration for the song was great and I can really picture the scene he was talking about in my head. Tonally I think it fits with the mood of the story, but maybe not the environments and trailers we've seen so far. I definitely like it, but I want to hear a full version.

That Hojo scene - in principle, I don't have an issue with this change to the story (because obviously, in the OG Hojo doesn't know Cloud is a clone until the first visit to the Crater), but I do have a massive issue with how he's literally just stood there spouting out wordy exposition that feels stilted. Everything in that scene could have been achieved with him watching the screen and saying "hmm..." with a knowing facial expression.

Leviathan - why? It's connected to Godo/ Wutai in the original. Maybe it still will be in some way here, but I don't think it was really needed. This is a continuing pattern of pulling stuff forward that (IMO) should be in later installments.

Lastly I'm going to talk about Aerith's voice and dialogue - I will start by saying that I actually casually watched Briana White stream games before she was revealed as the new VA and I like her so it really pains me to say this - but that is not Aerith. I've been on the fence/ mildly concerned about this since the first voiced line of hers came out, but I reserved judgement. I'm still doing that to an extent, but I can't ignore how fluffy and light it sounds now, particularly right at the end of the trailer. I'm not sure whether it's a direction thing, as the dialogue seems to also be an issue. But I can't escape that as a concern anymore. Like everything though, I won't have the context in full until the game is out. My one ray of hope is the way she says "the source of everything" before the Jenova bit, because that sounds OK.

Positives that stand out:

- Water tower scene OMG Young Cloud's ponytail!!!!! <3
- Fabulous Honey Bee Inn dude was in the leaks and I took note of him then (I love him already)
- The homoerotic undertones with Cloud, fantastic
- Red XIII is perfect IMO. I was expecting him to be hit or miss, and I'd say definitely hit
- Design of the Shinra boardroom members is on point (Scarlet's dialogue was a bit too flowery though, she's more brash in the original)
- I like Jenova's design

I did also notice that the "take the stairs" option is in there (I posted about this on Discord), there's even a counter to show which characters are on which floor. I imagine there's some context to the numbers, like maybe you get something for beating Tifa:

View attachment 4696
Click to expand...
If I hadn't played ff7, this trailer would've still spoiled things for me. I don't like seeing too many characters or things in trailers. Just give me a couple that show a couple main people, a few things, what the battles look like, and call it good. Between the 4-5 trailers, they've shown a lot of stuff. Even after the last trailer, they showed 3-4 new characters, a couple new enemies and totally different footage. I wouldn't even play a demo if it came out.
 
Maidenofwar

Maidenofwar

They/Them
What … do people think Aerith sounds like? Well she's going to say
SH*T
at some point apparently so that might be good, idk :sweatsmile: She has many facets as a character, including playfulness and whimsy but also snark and such which I feel is important to project as long as it's not like that all the time and serious situations are also well done.
 
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cold_spirit

cold_spirit

he/him
AKA
Alex T
I feel all the trailers so far have been poorly designed. My partner was with me when I first viewed this one. I had to stop a few times to explain the context surrounding the Honeybee Inn, Red XIII, and Jenova. How does a person who has had no contact with FF7 or the series as a whole make sense of what they're seeing? The trailers aren't building a story within the audience's mind.

As for the cinematography and voice acting, I'm expecting Kingdom Hearts III-level delivery, which is to say most scenes will consist of characters awkwardly standing around, using stilted dialog, and the camera slowly panning around them. It's easy to make cutscenes seem expressive with fast cuts and loud music, but I believe the trailers rely on these tricks because the actual delivery will be mediocre.

I can't believe the theme song features a harmonica. That's wild for this industrial fantasy aesthetic. I'm not complaining, I love it.

Gotta give a shout-out to the beautifully rendered and animated Sword Dance.

Throwback: I couldn't find the original upload, but this Advent Children Complete trailer was released on January 31st, 2009 in celebration of FF7's 12th anniversary. Now, here we are, still discussing FF7 11 years later. Let's keep on rockin' in Midgar!

 
Odysseus

Odysseus

Ninja Potato
AKA
Ody
These trailers were definitely made for fans, no doubt about that. I do think they probably showed too much in this trailer, new fans definitely have had things spoiled. Whether that was to get on top of the leak, or otherwise was the plan all along (more likely.) it was a bit much. I don't really care though, I'm glad I got to see all of it! Though,


while I haven't looked at the leaks, I know a bit about WHAT leaked, and wasn't Rufus among the leaked character images? Still haven't officially seen him yet.

but anyway, I still loved that trailer. I'm so god damned excited!
 
Ite

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
Harmonica features in the OG somewhere, iirc... It’s also all over CC. *shrug* With the exception of Eyes on Me (which exists as a song in the narrative) I don’t like pop songs in my fantasy movies and games. For example: Ed Sheeran? Love him. Smaug? Love him. Ed Sheeran’s song about Smaug? Good tune. Ed Sheeran’s song about Smaug during the credits of the Hobbit? Repulsive. I’m in the minority, and it ain’t no big deal, but I always roll eyes and smh at that stuff.
 
LNK

LNK

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Nate
Jairus said:
Yet they still don't have the TGS trailer on there. I wonder what that is...
Click to expand...
if you copy/paste the youtube link of the trailer on this website, you can get pretty much any video for anything on youtube.

ytmp3.cc
 
LNK

LNK

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Nate
Mr. Ite said:
Harmonica features in the OG somewhere, iirc... It’s also all over CC. *shrug* With the exception of Eyes on Me (which exists as a song in the narrative) I don’t like pop songs in my fantasy movies and games. For example: Ed Sheeran? Love him. Smaug? Love him. Ed Sheeran’s song about Smaug? Good tune. Ed Sheeran’s song about Smaug during the credits of the Hobbit? Repulsive. I’m in the minority, and it ain’t no big deal, but I always roll eyes and smh at that stuff.
Click to expand...
I'm there with ya. It sounds out of place to have pop songs in fantasy movies and games
 
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