Yes, it does.
Well if you feel that way, that's an issue you'd have to take up with the entire nature and premise of FFVII being episodic and spread out over 4 or more games.
But the die has been cast. The entire system is going to be changed and made to accommodate the type of game FFVII Remake is. Shoehorning the same type of level system you'd find in a single
complete game, into a game that is episodic and
incomplete creates errors and issues that adversely affect the game and make the subsequent enemies and battles either pathetically weak or power-creeped to an obnoxious level.
Case in point.
It was indeed "used effectively" -- but unfortunately, "effectively" here doesn't involve a positive effect.
So I take it you're not a fan of XIII's Crystarium system. That's fair and you're more than entitled to that, but lots did and found it offered a gameplay experience more in line with a traditional and challenging RPG. Players didn't get to steam roll their way through bosses and battles were significantly challenging thanks to it.
A game and it's players are better served with an overall balanced and healthily challenging gameplay experience over a system that makes battles a superfluous exercise or a grueling deathmatch where a single hit wipes you out unless you level grinded a chapter ago.
No entire chapter/portion/level/etc of FFVII has ever been under the constant pressure of an artificially imposed growth cap that limits how much combat exploration and preparation you could do. Certainly not the last part of the game where open exploration and sidequests are finally given to the player.
No version of FFVII has been released in an episodic format where each entry serves as it's own game and will have years of development time between them.
Yet here we are
The game's wildly different from the OG in terms of its battle system, abilities and combat system from the start. It might as well change its progression system to best accommodate this change, instead of clash with it at the expense of proper game design.
My issue with Meteor starting a countdown on the game was the arbitrary addition of a time-limit system ala
Lightning Returns to the final portion of the game where it didn't exist elsewhere, and how it limits the player's ability to explore and do side-quests which are things the creators said they wanna include.
Now if FFVII Remake wanted to introduce an entire dynamic real-time clock system where
everything in the game factored in time, which meant a player had to be aware of their playing and completion time for all quests and plot progression, then fair enough. I dunno how much I'd
like that but at least I and others would know what we were going into.
It's sticking such a discordant gameplay element in one part of the game, the last part of the game where exploration and preparation are most done, that I said would be poor game design and completely out of place. Adding contradictory or random gameplay elements that are outside the genre, or design of the
majority of the main game only frustrates and confuses players.
That's where "Making It Yours" becomes the option that most matters. Other players' irresponsible approach to their own experience isn't my responsibility.
But that's not necessarily a game designer's most prioritized option. They want to make the experience and presentation the best possible for most players. If they let the leveling and materia system grow unencumbered in each of the episodes, then one of two adverse consequences occur.
The player may become so over-powered that no enemy in the game poses any threat whatsoever. This breaks story immersion and makes the battle system nothing but a meaningless grind. Players may say they're okay with this and they may even be okay with it for awhile. But eventually battles lose their interest and it all just becomes an empty exercise done to get from one scene to the next.
The other outcome is the designers have to ramp up the strength and power of enemies for the Remake's battle system higher and higher, to the point where either players have to power level in each episode and reach as close to the cap of stats as possible, or they get destroyed by mobs and bosses. This means that each game is a further escalation and challenge to the point that anyone who doesn't carry over from a previous episode will have a hard time or need a handicap. This creates battles that are difficult to the point of painful frustration and combat is no longer enjoyed.
Whether the diminished gameplay is the fault of an irresponsible player or not, it still reflects a failure on the part of the game designer who wishes to ensure the game gives a positive and favorable experience to all players. Lots of bugs, exploits or piss poor game design elements can be worked around and avoided if one is aware of them. Yet by their very existence, they serve as a flaw a designer would want to avoid.
The design, abilities and presentation of materia, magic and summons would also have to be subsequently ramped up in each episode, to the point of absurdity. No longer is there a neat and clean system of graduating spells and stuff. There would have to be Fire, Fira and Firaga... And then the next evolution of those spells and materia! Fire II, Fira II, and Firaga II!
A new level of abilities and spells to correspond with the increased difficulty and additional levels that would be presumably added with each episode. It would be a nightmare in terms of development and design. It's messy and superfluous. If each episode is going to increase the ceiling of levels, materia, etc.. Why not just work from the other end, cap the stats and lift them as needed? Either way a ramp up is happening. One is cleaner and doesn't box the game designers in a corner with a pseudo-arms races against their own battle system.
