SPOILERS Half a year later. What are your thoughts?

[Prism]

I do find it quite interesting and exciting that we don't actually know what's going to happen next.

One thing that makes me sad to say is that I don't think I would have fallen in love with the Turks had I played the Remake first. I hate what they've done to Tseng, and I hate their tacky new outfits, which aren't classy at all. One doesn't expect Reno to be classy, but I really regret that they've turned him into some kind of metrosexual dude who spends hours on his grooming every morning. OG Reno was a natural redhead; this one clearly dyes his hair.

I'm not sure that's the case. I wonder if that's just the OG polygon forms leaving things up to player imagination, you know? Reno's hair has always had this unnatural, dyed red tone - if anything, I'd say his hair color looks ever-so-slightly more natural in the Remake, as red hair IRL often has more of an orange tint. The original characters were considered metrosexual by standards back then, but I do think Japanese society has gone even further in that direction, and the remade designs are through that lens. Still, this art isn't so far off from Reno's Remake design (other than the rugged, hollowed-out features) They even recreated the specific strands that go past his glasses and go onto his face pretty much 1:1.



As for the outfits, they look pretty classy to me. Looking at the materials on Rude's model, they look fairly premium. I don't know where you're coming from in that regard.



Edit: Although, I don't mean to invalidate how you feel, as clearly you feel that way for a reason. The original characters struck a chord in a way that left expectations for how remade ones should be done.

 

[kathy202]

Personally, I thought Reno and Rude were perfect in the remake. Much better than the clowns we got in AC anyway. But they really could have given Tseng a jaw. The writing and portrayal of all of them is among one of my favorite things about the remake, though I suppose not everyone feels that way.

 

[looneymoon]

I for one am glad that they tossed away that ill-fitted, baggy-suit style. That would have been way too 90s, but in a bad way. Especially with the royal blue. That screams sleazy used car salesmen to me, rather than elite espionage group.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

That screams sleazy used car salesmen to me ...

Which is why it was perfect. =P

 

[Turlast]

Hard to believe that much time has went by since release day. I haven't played since I completed it, but I'm starting to itch for another playthrough.

Overall, my feelings still remain the same. Loved everything about the game. Sector 7's pillar had a lot of great moments. Jessie's final moments was handled perfectly. The chase that took place before the battle was another cool addition. Reno sitting there yelling at you while shooting at you from the helicopter was hilarious. I was also happy to see Rude join Reno on the pillar. Speaking of Rude, I love how he'll unleash a fury of attacks on Cloud and Barrett without hesitation, but will do a nice apologetic chop on Aerith/Tifa.

The way common enemies like Eligor and Hell House were converted into bosses was a most welcome change. I always wondered how the heck they were gonna put something like Hell House in the game. This really took me by surprise. Wall Market in general was perfect. Cloud walking around in a dress with all of the men gawking at him and making weird comments. The massage scene, the gym, Cloud's reaction to Aerith's makeover, and Don Corneo's mansion. Everything meshed well. They could not have done this any better than they did imo.

Character interactions were magnificent. Red XIII wasn't in the game long, but that didn't matter. The chemistry between him and Barrett was instantaneous. And it didn't feel forced whatsoever. It was natural and fun.

When it comes to parts that I didn't particularly enjoy, that would be the sewers and Hojo's lab. It felt like such a drag getting through those parts. Everything else was golden. Another regret of mine was choosing to take the elevator instead of the stairs. Watching the stairs sequence was hilarious and made me wish I would've experienced it firsthand.

Rufus had the biggest glow up ever.

The OST is by far one of my favs in any game. I'm quite pleased listening to the tunes in this game for hrs on end.

I'm someone who has a very basic approach to combat in most games. A lot of people I watched early on would experiment with various types of magic and strategy. There's so many spells I've yet to even try out in Remake, which is why I need to play again. Sometimes there are games that you're just hoping will end so you can have the satisfaction of completing them. That wasn't the case for me here. I didn't want the game to end. I wanted it to continue. Now I'm sitting here waiting for Remake part 2 news.

Great game. Great experience. I'm glad I had the opportunity to play the game.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I meant Reno in the OG wasn't the kind of person who would dye his hair, whereas Remake Reno is. He'd spend an absolute fortune on it. OG Reno woke up in the morning, scraped his hair into a scrunchy and was good to go. OG Reno looked like a slob who threw his clothes on right off the floor and cba to button his shirt or wear a tie. Remake Reno has a "look" he carefully cultivates. He also just feels a hell of a lot less dangerous than OG Reno.

Their suits have really nasty touches like two tone pockets. Rude has the kind of horizontal stripe halfway down his trouser leg that you find on trousers you can unzip into shorts. Reno's epaulettes are a different fabric from the rest of his suit. They should all be wearing the same characterless suit. If someone can convince me that this new look is based on how yakuza dress I could be won over to it.

 

[kathy202]

He also just feels a hell of a lot less dangerous than OG Reno.

Yeah, I definitely feel this way too. I think Reno is one character that has evolved a lot since the OG. They were probably trying to strike a balance between OG and AC Reno which are like polar opposites when it comes to scariness.

I have no idea how yakuza dress irl, but the characters in Yakuza all wear different suits? Maybe aside from Majima, most are not as flashy.

 

[Gazzdw]

Hard to believe that much time has went by since release day. I haven't played since I completed it, but I'm starting to itch for another playthrough.

Overall, my feelings still remain the same. Loved everything about the game. Sector 7's pillar had a lot of great moments. Jessie's final moments was handled perfectly. The chase that took place before the battle was another cool addition. Reno sitting there yelling at you while shooting at you from the helicopter was hilarious. I was also happy to see Rude join Reno on the pillar. Speaking of Rude, I love how he'll unleash a fury of attacks on Cloud and Barrett without hesitation, but will do a nice apologetic chop on Aerith/Tifa.

The way common enemies like Eligor and Hell House were converted into bosses was a most welcome change. I always wondered how the heck they were gonna put something like Hell House in the game. This really took me by surprise. Wall Market in general was perfect. Cloud walking around in a dress with all of the men gawking at him and making weird comments. The massage scene, the gym, Cloud's reaction to Aerith's makeover, and Don Corneo's mansion. Everything meshed well. They could not have done this any better than they did imo.

Character interactions were magnificent. Red XIII wasn't in the game long, but that didn't matter. The chemistry between him and Barrett was instantaneous. And it didn't feel forced whatsoever. It was natural and fun.

When it comes to parts that I didn't particularly enjoy, that would be the sewers and Hojo's lab. It felt like such a drag getting through those parts. Everything else was golden. Another regret of mine was choosing to take the elevator instead of the stairs. Watching the stairs sequence was hilarious and made me wish I would've experienced it firsthand.

Rufus had the biggest glow up ever.

The OST is by far one of my favs in any game. I'm quite pleased listening to the tunes in this game for hrs on end.

I'm someone who has a very basic approach to combat in most games. A lot of people I watched early on would experiment with various types of magic and strategy. There's so many spells I've yet to even try out in Remake, which is why I need to play again. Sometimes there are games that you're just hoping will end so you can have the satisfaction of completing them. That wasn't the case for me here. I didn't want the game to end. I wanted it to continue. Now I'm sitting here waiting for Remake part 2 news.

Great game. Great experience. I'm glad I had the opportunity to play the game.

The chapter with the plate fall was phenomenal, the build up to it with Aerith, Wedge and that guard helping people was perfect. How it crescendo'd with the fight at the top blew my mind. Did the aftermath not bother when you find out no one you knew died? Inexcusable decision how the aftermath was handled (and the ending implications).

 

[Makoeyes987]

There are several other named NPCs from the slums from Chapter 3 who do die and/or are just never seen again. Just because the functional gameplay NPCs survive doesn't mean "no one you knew died" in the plate drop. The sheer numbers of individuals just gone from the slums, no longer living their lives there coupled with the resulting grieving dialogue make it abundantly clear, that yes. People are gone and are likely dead under the rubble.

A terrible tragedy is still a tragedy even when some people survive.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Yes, but in a work of fiction you give the tragedy impact by killing off characters in whom you had at least some small emotional investment. I'm going to say it here: they should have killed off Betty and Marle.
I don't want to just know intellectually that a terrible atrocity occurred. I want to feel it in my gut.

 

[Claymore]

I know that it doesn't fix the immediate death tally / gut punch that a segment of the fandom were hoping for from the Remake concerning the plate fall, but I honestly have faith that all these characters who have survived, when they shouldn't have, will cause some serious repercussions down the line.

As for my thoughts about the game a year lately, they are largely the same. I would have personally preferred a direct remake, but the game is absolutely amazing and i'm excited to see where it goes.

 

[Makoeyes987]

They kept the NPCs who still were connected to gameplay and stuff alive because the area was returnable. The slums weren't a non-returnable area this time around, so instead of having the entire place's population annihilated, they left survivors. And we don't know what they intend to do with Marle, but she's obviously important and connected to Tifa's past. I'd rather an old lady character not just get fridged for tragedy cred.

This phenomenon isn't even new to FF. Lindblum was decimated and ironically Tantalus, the shops and other NPCs were spared. In Alexandria, Ruby and other important NPCs were spared too. Same for Rubrum during Tempus Finis in Type 0, or Balamb and Trabia Garden in FFVIII. No, not everyone is going to be massacred in a tragic event, especially if they have some specific use beyond just being a statistic in a death tally. However, the stories illustrate the loss of the event nonetheless.

The fact you can return to the slums to help folks and survivors, after saving people from the plate fall, incentives the Remake to keep some survivors around to show you actually made a difference. They lived but now they live with the tragedy. You experience emotional loss not just over death, but from the entire diaspora and dispossession the people have to deal with, having nothing and essentially starting over from scrap. They're refugees in a war they never fought in thanks to Shinra and AVALANCHE.

Hence Tifa's overwhelming feelings of guilt and even Barret seeing the price of such open conflict with an enemy that gives zero fucks and is willing to do anything for power.

 

[Odysseus]

The fact they have Aerith and Wedge making an active effort to save people while Cloud and Tifa climb the plate makes the whole thing a lot easier to swallow IMO. Wedge's scene where he confronts the gate guards is one of my favorites in the game. I've seen people complain about the characters lack of agency in other parts of the story, such as how Shinra themselves destroyed the reactor this time, or how Avalanche HQ bails them out at the Shinra building, so I find it a little funny that this one time they get to be heroes by themselves everyone takes issue with it.

I know everyone want to feel it in their gut like it's 9/11 or something, but would you really believe that nobody managed to get out in all that time the stuff on the pillar took if Square chose to have all the NPCs die? Even in the original I thought it was strange that Aerith apparently got to 7th heaven, saved Marlene, took her all the way back to her house, brokered a deal with Tseng, got helicopter lifted back to the pillar so Tseng could make fun of Avalanche, THEN the pillar blows up, all without a single other sector 7 resident leaving the area when a decent few of them were standing right by the exit to sector 6. The Remake actually had to adjust the events with Aerith just to make that timeline more believable.

I think the biggest loss of the sequence is the shot of people running around in terror as the plate comes falling down, I think a shot like that would have helped sell the impact ha ha a lot better than what we got. Some of the named NPCs don't return after the plate fall, and you have the implication that Jessie's mom and dad were probably also killed, but it could have been sold better. wHeRe'S dEnZeL

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I wasn't shocked by the destruction of Lindblum the way I was by Sector 7.

You know if they'd kept Train Man and let him die, that would have been enough.

The fact that we can see so many people survived makes it easy to believe that all the named NPCs got out. Just because we don't see them again, it doesn't logically follow that they must have died. I have to choose to believe that they died. Most of them weren't important enough to warrant a second appearance. Barret in his option scene in Aerith's garden waxes soulful about some members of Avalanche whom I could not care less about; they're just names and a few character traits. Again, intellectual this enables me to understand that the dropping of the plate created real losses. But there's no emotional impact. I knew I was supposed to feel the tragedy of these poor dispossessed people and the loss of all they held dear. But I didn't.

The Remake version doesn't pack anything like the punch of the scene in the OG: the television losing reception while outside the window, behind the empty chair, the burning plate falls; the slum dwellers staring up in frozen disbelief before trying to make a run for it, a run you know won't succeed. There isn't even any panic. It all happens too fast for that. There's nothing but the awful sound of the plate collapsing, and a split second of screaming that morphs into classical music.

 

[kathy202]

I'll admit I didn't really feel the tragedy too when the plate fell. If anything I felt more frustrated, partly because the game kept slowing me down with drawn out dialog and "loading moves" when the situation is so urgent, and partly also for the Turks. Yeah, I felt frustrated for them because unlike the case of Avalanche, their dialog wasn't dragged out and dramatized.

For me, the tragedy never set in until we climbed the ruins. And I like it better this way. It has that feeling of being too busy to grieve, but once the scale of the situation finally sinks in, the impact felt stronger.

Edit: There's also some relief from reuniting with Marlene and finding Wedge that had me forgetting how bad the actual situation was until they literally showed it to us from above. Not sure if that was the effect the writers intended though.

 

[Makoeyes987]

I think the biggest loss of the sequence is the shot of people running around in terror as the plate comes falling down, I think a shot like that would have helped sell the impact ha ha a lot better than what we got.

... But there is a shot like that. Before the scene of Wedge being trapped on the spot and seemingly crushed by falling plate debris. You see several slum residents running for their lives before they get crushed.

The fact that we can see so many people survived makes it easy to believe that all the named NPCs got out. Just because we don't see them again, it doesn't logically follow that they must have died.

Weimer literally says he doesn't think many people are left and shakes his head when you hear him talk with what's left of the Watch. You hear people crying and frantically asking if they had seen so-and-so, or comforting themselves that maybe they had made it to Sector 5. In all the different slums for the rest of the game, there are folks talking about or pleading with someone to find their missing loved ones. Part of what makes disasters so disastrous is the unknown and indeterminate fate of the many victims because there's simply
not enough people to go through the rubble. The NPC dialogue makes it quite clear that not very many people just are perfectly fine. The game's NPC populace are an explicit part of building the consequences and emotional impact of what happens through that event. It's not just the one scene by itself. It's actual engagement with the game and it's setting that leaves you feeling with a sense of loss. Not just through the main characters, but also through what they observe from other characters as well. If you ignore that, and just look at the scene and the numbers of which X NPCs are present, you're ignoring the unfolding of what the game's trying to show.

The entire event isn't even just about the plate fall either. You see the Neighborhood Watch fighters who were backing up AVALANCHE brutally cut down by non-stop gunfire from Shinra and the Turks, all in the lead up to the plate's inevitable destruction. If none of that paired with the actual plate fall and obvious grief from those left behind leaves zero emotional impact, well okay then. But that's certainly not how I've heard most describe that scene, at all. Same for when the Black Mages lay waste to everything with fire before a giant demonic mouth sucks in what remains of Lindblum. That and Cleyra are one of the most disastrous and tragic scenes of destruction in IX. Not just because of the scene itself, but the grief left behind by those who survive. Heck, one of survivors from the attack was an old man who was left blinded, along with a child who couldnt find their parents because they were probably sucked away into Atomos. That's pretty messed up.

 

[a_apple 2.0]

Yes, but in a work of fiction you give the tragedy impact by killing off characters in whom you had at least some small emotional investment. I'm going to say it here: they should have killed off Betty and Marle.
I don't want to just know intellectually that a terrible atrocity occurred. I want to feel it in my gut.

I agree with that so hard, in fact every NPC we met in Sector 7 should have died.

 

[Odysseus]

But there is a shot like that. Before the scene of Wedge being trapped on the spot and seemingly crushed by falling plate debris. You see several slum residents running for their lives before they get crushed.

Oh. My b. That shot of the tv going out with the plate falling in the background out the window that Lic mentioned was sorely missing though.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

The NPCs are just cookie cutter people.
You know what would have given it some impact? Running into Shinra Middle Manager losing his fucking shit because Avalanche had crushed his wife and child while he was off lusting in Wall Market. Seeing him trying to get back into Sector 7 to look for them, and not being able to....

This could well just be a fault or quirk in me, but the more visually realistic the NPCs have become, as game succeeds game, the less I've cared about them. They seem less real to me, not more so.

 

[Makoeyes987]

The Shinra Middle Manager is an NPC.

A significant amount of the world building, setting and story is told through its NPCs, so they can't just be discounted as cookie cutter people without losing something in what it tries to tell. They serve the function of making the entire threadwork of it's world building come together and portray 'life.' If you ignore those elements, you're essentially running around an empty amusement part, funneled to the next attraction by one set piece scene to another.

I place those elements as just as important as the singular scene of destruction of Sector 7. Because it's not just about the cutscene. It's a part of the entire storytelling. Just seeing X amount of NPCs alive is only half true about just how tragic and memorable the scene is, overall. If you just ignore what the NPCs are saying and how they're acting, well. Okay, you can ignore it and see it as just some watered down retelling of what happened. But it's really not. It's different for sure, but they're portraying a different and more connected type of tragedy. Yeah, the OG was a smack to the face with how they literally cut you off from Sector 7 slums and made you believe that there were no one else alive... But that's also only one side of tragedy. The blink out of life is one part of a disaster. There's also the lingering grief, questioning, and struggle with living people left behind have to deal with. Yeah, the death is certainly the worst part, however the pain of what comes after is just as real and part of it all too. And that's what they go for, along with giving Cloud and the others a stake in trying to help these people who lost everything.

 

[Odysseus]

I Agree with mako here. Maybe not literally everyone died this time, but the aftermath of the plate fall packs a much harder punch in the remake than the original's "well, that happened" approach. You see the people suffering, you see how broken Barret and Tifa are afterwards. It feels so much more real.

 

[Saven]

I think the aftermath was handled pretty well. I loved hearing comments from NPCs like "Screw this, I'm taking you and the kids out of Midgar and move somewhere else. This is not paradise at all!" or something similar to that extent. It was even better than the aftermath of the Mako Reactor 1 bombing. The actual collapse itself could've been better IMO, I could've done without a few things like Cait Sith randomly running into the picture and kinda ruining the mood of it.

 

[Clement Rage]

It's been a while, but it seems like the impact comes heavily down to your headcanons.

I always assumed that some people got out and others died even in the original game (Tifa does warn everyone nearby, and they have already noticed a fight on the pillar), so the fact of an evacuation didn't really surprise me. It didn't lose impact because it was what I assumed happened anyway.

Lindblum/Alexandria was very well done for me, you got to walk around in the wreckage and talk to people that were blind or injured, and whole sections of the city were blown away. Whether named characters die or not works depends on how its set up.

People feel things differently, you can't say 'you're wrong to feel this way'. The Setup worked, or it didn't, that's okay. Each approach has strengths and weaknesses, and works differently for different people.

The Platefall had good points and bad points for me in both versions, it's very difficult to compare impacts.

 

[Makoeyes987]

The unintentionally hilarious timed cameo of Cait Sith is truly the weirdest addition and most probable "mistake" in the platefall's retelling in the Remake, lol..

I get what they were going for, and my heart genuinely ached for him and Reeve, but... for people unaware of who or what that is...?

That'd be like the film Pearl Harbor randomly cutting to Bugs Bunny at Acme Acres suddenly dropping his carrot, falling to his knees and slamming his fists on the ground in explosive grief.

And then just leaving that scene alone, to never again deal with or explain why Bugs just demanded attention there.

Like. The cameo works as an extension of the FFVII universe but it's completely just there as a scene itself. It sorta just dangles there, happily encapsulated within it's own knowledge but separate from those who would have zero understanding of who he is and strangely juxtaposed to the sequence of events.

Because you're watching a random animate plushie cat grieve a massive loss of life.

 

[ForceStealer]

Agreed, I think I said before, while I can understand that Cait Sith's appearance was objectively a mistake for the new people playing the game, I'm not a new person playing it. Cait Sith is well-linked in my head to Reeve, so I thought little of it apart from feeling Reeve's own distress.