Hopes for Remake & Rebirth (gameplay/combat)

mandelbrot86

Lv. 25 Adventurer
Certainly the animation/particle effects makes it look like his purple materia is the one doing the summoning. It’s flaring brightly.


Of course the purple glow might also be just part of the animation, and a coincidence? It doesn’t look like you visibly equip summon materia but just kind of have it?
I dunno. Looking at that Menu it looks like they are implying the Summon Materia is somehow equipped to the weapon. Obviously set apart. I'm curious if they put it somewhere visible. It'll be a bit disappointing if you can't see red materia ever attached to your gear.
 

Mod player 28

Rookie Adventurer
AKA
Dark horse
I'm more interested in easter eggs and other aspects in the game I hope they add little bits here and there just to blow your mind as a fan.. the little things that new players wouldn't understand but old player be like OMG since ff7 they made so many spin offs that ff7 has it's own little franchise it would be nice to see a few easter eggs incorporating those elements into the game.
Especially since crisis core came out we know a lot more about clouds past as a shin-ra soldier that wasnt a soldier but he was part of some big operations and managed to see a lot more of things he should never have known about.. oo those dark shin-ra secrets...
 

Saven

Pro Adventurer
Being able to ‘save’ materia loadouts might only be sorely needed around when you get the Highwind, but hot damn what a qol improvement that would be.

That was my biggest (but minor overall) complaint with my latest playthrough of the game. I really hope this will be included.
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
I hope so too!

I think Part 1 will mostly feature just the one costume (aside from Wall Market) but I really hope we have costume options as early as Part 2.

Final Fantasy NEVER does this, but I hope that costume options change certain things about the gameplay. For instance, wearing the MP uniform is necessary to progress through the cargo ship part, and maybe you can access certain secret areas with it as well. Warmer clothing being necessary/beneficial in colder areas isn't even something that Skyrim does, and that game is about winter. So it's a bit of a pipe dream for me to think the game will do anything like that when the precedent is this:

FFXII-TZA-00817-Paramina-Rift-Frozen-Gorge.png
 
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Jairus

Author of FFVII: Lifestream & FFVII: Reflections
Oh, yeah, I've played and finished XII, I remember that was kind of silly too, her walking around like that in the middle of the snowy mountains. I guess Viera and barmaids don't ever get cold, lol.
 

OdaDaimyO

Conqueror of Sugar
AKA
Mochi Lover
I'm sure SE knows, how to earn their brownie points. I would be surprised if they're not aware of the fans, who want a feature like this in the game.
Isn't that a standard in today's JRPG's anyway? Normally, that shouldn't be a topic worth of discussing... lets hope SE arrived in this generation already! :P
 
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Random FF Fan

Lv. 1 Adventurer
I'm curious to see how we gain new ATB abilities and how/if they're customizable. Skill trees? Unlocked through story progression? Associated with weapons and equipment?

I'd personally like something along the lines of abilities are unlocked through story progression and each skill has its own tree. The skill trees for each ability would allow you to tweak the abilities to better fit a certain play style. The skill tree bonuses could have things like

Reduced ATB cost - requires 1 bar of ATB to use but doesn't consume the whole bar.
Increase to burst gauge charge rate
Increase to stagger percentage - starts at 160% and each use of ability could raise by X%
Increased damage by X% to staggered enemy
Increase to limit gauge by X% when using ability

Maybe certain kinds of character buffs

Increased ATB charge rate for X seconds after using ability
Increased magic damge for X seconds after using ability
Increased physical damge for X seconds after using ability
Reduced magic damage taken for X seconds after using ability
Reduced physical damage taken for X seconds after using ability
Increased attack speed for X seconds after using ability
Increased move speed for X seconds after using ability

Certain ability specific things as well

Increased AoE range
Increased armor penetration
Increased range
Increased healing

I know certain abilities already have inherent bonuses to them. Example being Barrets Focused Shot is described as follows: A charged shot that expends all of Barret’s ATB gauge. Similar to Cloud’s focused thrust ability, the move fills up a good amount of the target’s burst meter. These skill trees would allow even more depth and customization to characters.

I guess from there it's either you can max out every skill as you progress or you're limited to a certain number of points you can use and have to choose which ones you favor. We'll call them skill points or SP. That could be for each skill or the entire tree as a whole. I prefer the latter option. At the end of the game you have something like 150 possible SP options but you only have 100 SP to spend. That adds a strategic element in character progression and setting up different play styles for each character rather than you just get to spend 150/150. Each skill in the tree for each ability could have levels to it. For example Clouds Braver could look something like this.

Braver - Strong single enemy attack with a small AoE range
1 - Increase armor penetration of Braver by 1/3/5/7/10%
2 - Braver now increases staggered damage percentage by 2/5/10% for duration of stagger
3 - 5/10/20% of ATB charge will be refunded after using Braver
4 - ATB charge rate increased by 5/10/15/20% for 5/5/10/15 seconds after using Braver
5 - Braver does 3/5/8/10/15% more damage to staggered foes

There's 5 different choices with a combined number of 20 SP required to unlock them all. Say you only have 10 points to use at the time. You could turn Braver into a strong attack you use on already staggered foes by putting 1=5 points, 5=5 points. Maybe you want to use it to better build your ATB and use a different ability. You could do a 4=4 points, 3=3 points, and save the extra 3 points for another ability. Maybe you want to use Braver to increase the stagger % and your other abilities or characters can better capitalize with their skills. You could do 2=3 points, 3=3 points, 4=4 points.

Using my last Braver choice this allows you to use Cloud as more of a support character. Barret could use his SP to turn into a burst meter charging machine. His SP are spent on allowing him to use Focused Shot more often and increasing the burst charge rate. Barrets keeping his distance and firing away raising that burst meter. Once the enemies burst meters filled and the targets staggered Cloud comes in and increases the staggered damage %. He's able to use Braver often and before stagger is over the targets stagger bonus is capped at 250% (just assuming it's capped somewhere). HERE COMES TIFA!!! Tifa uses her SP to increase damage against staggered foes. She comes in and pumps out massive damage before stagger ends.

That example only takes into effect burst charge rate, stagger damage bonus %, and damage to staggered foe % increase. As we know elemental, magic, items, summons, materia, basic attacks, ground vs air based enemies, dodging and blocking are all parts of the battle mechanics as well. Characters triangle skills, square attacks, summons, limit breaks, items, dodge, and block could possibly have their own SP trees as well. Could opt for a higher attack speed, dodge distance, increased block damage, attack power, magic power, etc. for certain characters compared to others. I've mostly given offensive examples. Defensive things would be just as important.

They've already done a great job on making each character unique. It looks like every character will feel significantly different from one another. I'm really happy about that. Maybe characters and their abilities are innately built better for certain battle mechanics. I'm sure that's the case to some extent but i'd still enjoy a way to tweak things and allow even deeper depth to character customization. I love the skill tree idea personally. That on top of the materia system... Ooooh boy that'd allow for some really in depth customization.
 

Vyzzuvazzadth

Yazzavedth Zayann
Great write-up @Random FF Fan !

I do like the idea for sill trees and manual activation of only certain bonuses. However, I think doing this for each ability stands in conflict with the inherent differences between those abilities. Braver (damage), Focused Thrust (stagger gain) and Triple Slash (multi-target multi-hit) all have a specific purpose already, as do all the abilities of the other characters: Barret's Steelskin (more defense, less hitstun), Tifa's Monk abilities (stances), Aerith's MP drain, to name a few. Having such a granular customization for those already diverse abilities would only muddy the water and probably make building strategies more confusing.

That's why I think it would be better to leave the abilities be and have such a customization on a per character basis. This would allow the player to assign a specific sub-class to a character, so to speak. For example, have Cloud be the staggerer (quick stagger, bigger stagger damage bonus), Barret the tank (more defense, draw more aggro etc.) and Tifa the damage dealer (higher damage output, faster ATB gain etc.). I'm thinking of bonuses like in FFIX where you had a finite amount of orbs to equip bonuses like additional damage to beasts or activate Auto-Shell.

You can still allow those abilities to level up, like more damage for Braver, higher stagger gain for Focused Thrust and additional hits for Triple Slash. Those would represent a static progression, however.
 

Jairus

Author of FFVII: Lifestream & FFVII: Reflections
Something I wonder is, even assuming Red XIII gets revealed, that's still only five confirmed playable characters for Part 1, when most mainline FF's have an average of 6-8. Giving the AVALANCHE trio some limited playability (sort of like XIII's Team NORA) would address that l nicely, I think. Not as in depth as the others, of course, being guest characters, but they could still give you a little control and creativity over them in terms of their gameplay. Such as while Cloud, Barret, and the others gain new abilities as they progress, the trio would only have the ones they start out with no matter how high their level gets. And they'd likely be unable to equip or use materia, though I'm not sure what story reason there could be to explain it. But even with those limitations, they could still be helpful and effective, especially if we were allowed to take manual control of them through character switching like we can with the others. SE has said very little on just how much the trio's role will be expanded, not just in story but also in gameplay, so I'm curious to see how that will ultimately unfold, especially given that one of SE's stated goals for the remake (as per past interviews) was to go much more in-depth with them and explore the trio. But outside the trailers and demo, there's been hardly a word about them. Anyway, might just be that they don't want to spoil too much, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
 

Jairus

Author of FFVII: Lifestream & FFVII: Reflections
Possibly, but letting them being controllable even in a limited way would add to their loss at the pillar, I think, and make them feel more like part of the group and not just tagalongs.
 

Random FF Fan

Lv. 1 Adventurer
Possibly, but letting them being controllable even in a limited way would add to their loss at the pillar, I think, and make them feel more like part of the group and not just tagalongs.
Even if we don't get Red XIII in this part I would be fine just having Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and Aerith. That gives the addition of the other 5 to be content for part 2-8 (haha jk, i'm guessing 3 parts, hopefully 4). The gameplay we've seen so far really gives me the feeling that each character is going to feel completely different from one another. Much more than any other FF game I've played (7-10,12,13,15). If this game goes 40+ base hours, which I believe it will, that's plenty to develop those 4 characters if they do it right IMO.

With all that being said I think and hope we'll get Red XIII in this first game. It's hard to tell the story of Midgar and Shinra without him. I would also love to have Jesse, Biggs, and Wedge be playable. I agree they probably won't be fully flesh'd out characters we could control, level up, equip, and all that. Some sort of side missions with them being the main focus would be great. Like Wedge comes to you with something he needs help with and just him and Cloud go off on a mission together. It could be a string of missions that really tell their story throughout the game. Much like companion quests of Elder Scrolls or character specific missions of Mass Effect. For me personally the story content would be more meaningful than actually getting to control them.
 

Random FF Fan

Lv. 1 Adventurer
Great write-up @Random FF Fan !

I do like the idea for sill trees and manual activation of only certain bonuses. However, I think doing this for each ability stands in conflict with the inherent differences between those abilities. Braver (damage), Focused Thrust (stagger gain) and Triple Slash (multi-target multi-hit) all have a specific purpose already, as do all the abilities of the other characters: Barret's Steelskin (more defense, less hitstun), Tifa's Monk abilities (stances), Aerith's MP drain, to name a few. Having such a granular customization for those already diverse abilities would only muddy the water and probably make building strategies more confusing.

That's why I think it would be better to leave the abilities be and have such a customization on a per character basis. This would allow the player to assign a specific sub-class to a character, so to speak. For example, have Cloud be the staggerer (quick stagger, bigger stagger damage bonus), Barret the tank (more defense, draw more aggro etc.) and Tifa the damage dealer (higher damage output, faster ATB gain etc.). I'm thinking of bonuses like in FFIX where you had a finite amount of orbs to equip bonuses like additional damage to beasts or activate Auto-Shell.

You can still allow those abilities to level up, like more damage for Braver, higher stagger gain for Focused Thrust and additional hits for Triple Slash. Those would represent a static progression, however.

That all makes sense. I somewhat enjoyed the action combat of FFXV. It fell short in a lot of regards. Physical combat became quickly repetitive. Felt as if I was button mashing more than playing strategically. Magic wasn't streamlined and friendly fire made it stupid. Summons didn't make much sense. I was extremely worried the remakes combat would be too much like FFXVs. I'm pleasantly surprised every time we get more news about this game. Everything looks amazing. It seems there will be a strong strategic element which is what I enjoy the most. I hope I spend countless hours trying new character builds, materia combinations, and equipment set-ups to beat the harder bosses. The materia system is awesome and it seems they're doing it justice in the remake. I'd be okay without some kind of customization to characters/skills aside from the materia system. I agree the abilities themselves already have inherent strategies built into them. I'm just hoping it's enough to progress through the whole game without combat getting boring and losing that strategic element.

Recently came across your YouTube channel. I really enjoy it. Your attention to detail is something else. Keep up the good work :)
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
Thinking about Tactical Mode, and how cinema has changed since the Matrix. Final Fantasy VII has always been very cinematic, and Tactical Mode doesn't just feel necessary for, you know, tactics, but also it reflects the ramping trend in action cinema in the 21st century. A trend that, even before Zack Snyder started abusing it, is heavily used in Advent Children. Can't wait to re-create this moment in the game:

cait-sith-riding-his-moogle-1024x576.png

Also omg the remake looks so much better than this hahahaa.

I'm thinking though, when changing between characters whilte in tactical mode, the speed doesn't change. That doesn't reflect cinema, as evidenced here:
If it were to be reflective of cinema, switching the camera from character to character should only ever happen in real time -- in tactical mode, it would be slow motion for one character, then when you hit L2 or whatever, the camera and action speeds up until you arrive, when it returns to slow-mo tableau, just one second later - much like the opening montage of AC/C. This would also differentiate between controlling characters in tactical mode *without* moving the camera, and choosing to switch the camera.
 
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albert graham

Lv. 1 Adventurer
Final Fantasy NEVER does this, but I hope that costume options change certain things about the gameplay. For instance, wearing the MP uniform is necessary to progress through the cargo ship part, and maybe you can access certain secret areas with it as well. Warmer clothing being necessary/beneficial in colder areas isn't even something that Skyrim does, and that game is about winter. So it's a bit of a pipe dream for me to think the game will do anything like that when the precedent is this:

FFXII-TZA-00817-Paramina-Rift-Frozen-Gorge.png


It appeared FFX-2 made Yuna and gang changes their outfit for different abilities. That was probably the first time SE allow players to choose different outfits for the main characters and I hope that is not the last. Agreed that if SE decided to make Open World a feature in the Remake *fingers crossed*, it only make sense to have various outfits for different regions of the Open World. Just like in the real world we won't be wearing one kind of clothing traveling all around the world lol.
 
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