Hopes for Remake & Rebirth (story/content)

[Hanna]

Having more in-game media would be great! I'd also love to be able to go to the theatre and watch Loveless.

Another communication related thing I'm looking forward to seeing would be environmentalist posters, stickers, graffiti, whatever the various movements that exist can get away with to spread their message. Some showing the near extinction of phoenixes, some just naming-and-shaming Shinra, some asking you to conserve energy...

Also, on the party members, I've been thinking it might be nice if we could get mail from the people who are currently off somewhere. I was always happy to get messages from other characters in Crisis Core, and would like to get them in this game too.

 

[FFShinra]

I want to see other resistance movements with different ideologies, with the only thing in common being opposition to the Shinra. Avalanche is the eco-terrorism movement, maybe there is a non-violent faction (kinda like Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherds). Maybe there is a movement that is perfectly okay with Mako Power, but wants it under civil administration. So on and so forth.

 

[ForceStealer]

 

[jazzflower92]

I want to see other resistance movements with different ideologies, with the only thing in common being opposition to the Shinra. Avalanche is the eco-terrorism movement, maybe there is a non-violent faction (kinda like Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherds). Maybe there is a movement that is perfectly okay with Mako Power, but wants it under civil administration. So on and so forth.

Good worldbuilding idea. However, Green Peace and Sea Shepherd has been known to dabble into violence once in a while.

 

[Hanna]

I would also like more detail and depth to the ideologies of different movements, though I think we already have some pretty clear variety in the OG. As mentioned, AVALANCHE with the terrorist approach, but also Fort Condor as a local conservation movement with a more self-defence type of approach, Cosmo Canyon peacefully developing alternative lifestyle and technologies. If we can get additional ones, and more content for what we already have, that will be great.

Not to derail the conversation to real life things, but I have to note that non-violence has been Greenpeace's strict core value ever since its activities first started. I'm not sure what @jazzflower92 is referring to above, but would be curious to know. If you can send me a source for your argument in a private message, I would be interested to discuss that.

 

[FFShinra]

Good worldbuilding idea. However, Green Peace and Sea Shepherd has been known to dabble into violence once in a while.

I was name dropping those two mostly as a point of comparison between violent and non violent factions of the same movement.

 

[Erotic Materia]

I just had this thought the other day, one that I don't think has been touched on yet: in the Temple of the Ancients, Cait Sith solves a bunch of puzzles to shrink the temple into the black materia.

But we never see that.

I hope we get to take an active role in that little bit of the game whenever production reaches that stage.

What do you think the puzzles might look like?

 

[FFShinra]

I always thought it was like the Rubik's Cube from hell. Could be a fun minigame.

 

[Ite]

I always thought it was like the Rubik's Cube from hell. Could be a fun minigame.

Or like the movie Cube.

 

[Erotic Materia]

Or like the movie Cube.

I would play the hell out of that.

I can already see who'd be who. Cid would be the grizzled survivalist, Tifa would be the physicist/mathematician, Barret would be the cop who loses it.

Hmm... Not sure who jelly bean guy would be...

 

[Don Corneo's Dungeon]

One thing I am curious about is, will you be able to play the second episode if you haven't completed the Midgar episode?!

 

[FFShinra]

I think so, the same way you could watch Season 2 of a major show. You'd be confused but....

 

[chanteru]

Or maybe similar to a .hack game where you can start the next episode with or without the previous episode's save file, and have a chance to transfer some items and such! I'm hoping this will be the case~

 

[Daws]

Thinking about all of this, you get a bit of an idea why it takes so long to make one of the episodes. The amount of detail they can (or are) pour(ing) into this is wonderful. Effort over shoving out a product if you will.

March 3 is going to be epic.

 

[ForceStealer]

Given the amount of time that there is sure to be between releases, I have no doubt you can start from part 2. Which is part of why I have no idea how rolling from part to part is going to work.

The only way I could see you needing the original is if the subsequent parts are downloadable expansions as opposed to new releases, but I don't see that happening.

 

[Ite]

I think so, the same way you could watch Season 2 of a major show. You'd be confused but....

^ I think it will be more similar to this than DA or other games where the save files transfer over. Other than love points, and a Turtle’s Paradise flyer, nothing happens in Midgar that changes the rest of the story.

My theory: Having played part 1 will only grant you with a boost above Part 2’s baseline level and items (any items you missed in Part 1 will probably be available in Part 2, in shops/side quests etc.) I honestly wouldn’t mind having the story of each part designed to work standalone (that’s how I designed my novelization, because in medias res is extremely fun — it’s like a little mystery just for the reader!) I would be less thrilled if they had Marlene narrate a montage at the beginning of Part 2, but beggars can’t be choosers

 

[FFShinra]

I feel like when the crew gets briefly imprisoned in the Shinra Building, they lose all the stuff they acquired up until that point, and whatever they acquire during the Trail of Blood becomes the standard set up in the beginning of the next game.

 

[Ite]

This is somewhat ahead, but... I hope there’s more to do when Tifa is the party leader. In my current playthrough I’m pre-Mideel and seeing what I can do before Cid takes over.

-You can’t access the gold saucer... it’s cool for the story that Dio closed it, but dang it I want my Chocobo nights Racing now!
-It’s really unwise to breed without racing, although I did manage to get a green, which got me Mime and the Apocalypse (and perhaps Chaos, will check next time)
-You can’t get Tifa’s final limit break (strange)
-I’ll see if I can get the Key to Midgar (hope so!)

Anyway, all of the stuff you can do before Cloud returns is really Guide Dang hidden, so I don’t think it would feel like padding to expand the stories around these side quests, and maybe tie opening up the Gold Saucer to a quest for Dio that you could do as Tifa, Cid, or Cloud.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I didn't even remember that Dio had closed the Saucer. What do they say about that?

 

[Vyzzuvazzadth]

I feel like when the crew gets briefly imprisoned in the Shinra Building, they lose all the stuff they acquired up until that point, and whatever they acquire during the Trail of Blood becomes the standard set up in the beginning of the next game.

I think not being able to make use of everything you've obtained and worked for so far for the final stretch and the last boss gauntlet would feel very underwhelming and disappointing. Why do we collect everything, finish all side-quests and fully develop our characters if not to smite the final threat in the story (super bosses, fair enough, but those are optional)? I'd hate that, personally. I think it would be wiser to slightly change the ending to explain why our group loses all their stuff after the escape from Midgar and have to start anew in Kalm (we'll be starting fresh during the flashback anyway).

While starting the 2nd game with stuff acquired from after being caught in the Shinra building might sound cool on paper, but it requires a save data transfer for that to work and if they implement that, why can't we then transfer our hard earned inventory from the entirety of the game? That would feel cheap and a total waste of potential of a save data transfer system.

In my view, there are only 2 feasible options:

• Transfer everything but account for balancing, so that everything transferred only gives you an advantage during the first few hours.
• Transfer nothing (with the exception of story choices and affection points). A nice addition could be a conversion of your previous inventory into bonus points with which you can buy a few bonus items or advantages to start off strong and get rewarded for your hard work in the previous installment. Alternatively, you could get pre-determined bonuses for certain achievements.

EDIT:

I hope there’s more to do when Tifa is the party leader.

I second this!

 

[FFShinra]

You misunderstand, I'm not saying transfer anything. I'm saying that give the characters some basic (or at whatever level of equipment/items the developers want the characters to have at the beginning of the next game) so that it avoid the problem of the characters having tons of equipment/materia/whatever at the end of one game and then starting from some specific loadout (due to lack of transfer) in the next game, using the imprisonment as the in universe justification for that.

Another possibility would be that the developers have the characters lose everything during the chase itself.

 

[JBedford]

-You can’t access the gold saucer... it’s cool for the story that Dio closed it, but dang it I want my Chocobo nights Racing now!
-It’s really unwise to breed without racing, although I did manage to get a green, which got me Mime and the Apocalypse (and perhaps Chaos, will check next time)
-You can’t get Tifa’s final limit break (strange)
-I’ll see if I can get the Key to Midgar (hope so!)

You can't get Tifa's final limit, but Elemental is available during this portion of the game instead. I think that's the only unique thing you can do as Tifa.

Other sidequests that become available as Tifa are chocobo catching/breeding, the free Chocobo Lure at the Chocobo Farm, getting the Full Cure and Magic Source from Cosmo Canyon, Chocobo Sage's House shop/Enemy Skill, a Fort Condor battle, Goblin Island (/Round Island) for Zeio Nuts and Goblin Punch, Cactus Island (/North Corel Area) for Tetra Elementals, and stuff in Mideel including the Cursed Ring and Contain. The Junon, Fort Condor, Costal del Sol, and Rocket Town shops also update their stock at this time. Due to catching/breeding, the Materia Caves and Ancient Forest also become available. Chocobo breeding obviously relies on total RNG.

You can reach Lucrecia's Cave but the events don't unfold unless Cloud is leader. If you want to extend Tifa's time as leader there are various quests you can put off until she's leader and get some different reactions (like recruiting Yuffie, Vincent, and the whole Wutai stuff (Edit: As the Chocobo Sage Enemy Skill is the last one to become available, this is the best time to start Enemy Skill hunting, and therefore leaving the Pagoda to Tifa so you can get Trine actually makes sense)).

You cannot get the Sector 5 key or enter the Gold Saucer. There's some evidence they were planning on making both of these things possible, like that Tifa and Cid are set up to be party leaders in various of the revisited Midgar/Gold Saucer locations, and that Tifa and Cid are still programmed into the Gold Saucer minigames.

 

[Ite]

Wow, thanks!

 

[Vyzzuvazzadth]

You misunderstand, I'm not saying transfer anything. I'm saying that give the characters some basic (or at whatever level of equipment/items the developers want the characters to have at the beginning of the next game) so that it avoid the problem of the characters having tons of equipment/materia/whatever at the end of one game and then starting from some specific loadout (due to lack of transfer) in the next game, using the imprisonment as the in universe justification for that.

A basic/default inventory and equipment need to be provided at the start of the second game anyway, no matter how they go about it. It did sound, however, that you suggested the little progress after losing everything due to imprisonment being transferable to the next game, which is what I was criticizing. Apologies if I misinterpreted that.

Even if nothing transfers over (more probable in my opinion), justifying the loss becomes necessary for continuity's sake (hence your suggestion). So, while I agree with you, I wouldn't place the "point of loss" anywhere before the final boss for the reasons mentioned in my previous reply.

Another possibility would be that the developers have the characters lose everything during the chase itself.

That's the ideal solution given the circumstances.

 

[Kain424]

It's just data. Transfer it over. I don't see the issue.