SPOILERS How do you want remake to approach the Vincent-Lucrecia-Hojo-Sephiroth material?

[Roundhouse]

Rewatching that Hojo scene at the end of the OG, he mentions that Sephiroth doesn't know Hojo is his father, and that Hojo is gleeful thinking of how Sephiroth will react if he finds out. Did Sephiroth know or not, then? And will the remake go into this a bit more?

 

[Rhoey]

Rewatching that Hojo scene at the end of the OG, he mentions that Sephiroth doesn't know Hojo is his father, and that Hojo is gleeful thinking of how Sephiroth will react if he finds out. Did Sephiroth know or not, then? And will the remake go into this a bit more?

I was never under the impression that Seph knew who his father was. But he wasn't fond of Hojo, either. He referred to him as "a walking mass of complexes". He seemed to respect Gast way more, as he lamented Gast's passing in Cloud's Nibelheim flashback. It would certainly be interesting to see what his relationship with Gast was like.

But if he found out Hojo was his father...Hojo would probably become shish kebab.

 

[ForceStealer]

All we know for certain is that Hojo thinks Sephiroth doesn't know. He may have been right or wrong (does Sephiroth ruefully laugh about it Nibelheim because he doesn't know or because he doesn't like the answer?) Sephiroth almost certainly knows by the time of the game after his dip in the Lifestream, but by that point he had aspirations of godhood and probably doesn't care anymore.

 

[Roger]

Sephiroth seems to be laughing at the fact that he found himself having this conversation with Zack and Cloud at all, what he was about to say about his father before he interrupted himself we dunno.

 

[Mobius Stripper]

I don't think it was unforgivable for them to have a good number of people survive the plate drop because they made a point of how Avalanche was buying time and evacuating, which would naturally start with their immediate neighbors and people they know personally. However, I do feel it was a mistake to put all the focus afterward the survivors and none to the dead because it gave the impression that nobody (at least nobody who mattered) died. Sure, there was talk of a death toll, but there was nothing given to us to emotionally drive that home. At least a couple of heart-wrenching token NPC deaths would have been nice.

 

[Mobius Stripper]

All we know for certain is that Hojo thinks Sephiroth doesn't know. He may have been right or wrong (does Sephiroth ruefully laugh about it Nibelheim because he doesn't know or because he doesn't like the answer?) Sephiroth almost certainly knows by the time of the game after his dip in the Lifestream, but by that point he had aspirations of godhood and probably doesn't care anymore.

I always got the impression that he more or less knows but is doing everything in his power to un-know.

 

[Roundhouse]

Do you all think Lucrecia should actually come out of the crystal at any point? Or maybe have a longer convo with Vincent? It's intriguing that she is actually alive but is basically hidden away aside from a tiny scene in the OG.

[Gifs from son-of-jenova on tumblr.]

 

[Mobius Stripper]

Do you all think Lucrecia should actually come out of the crystal at any point? Or maybe have a longer convo with Vincent? It's intriguing that she is actually alive but is basically hidden away aside from a tiny scene in the OG.

I think it COULD be a really interesting way to develop her character, but if they bring her back just to be a love interest, count me the entire fuck out.

 

[Roundhouse]

Agreed.

 

[Rhoey]

I don't have faith in that they will do it well. But I also doubt that her "coming back" will happen in Remake. Now, I absolutely do want to see her and Vincent talk when he encounters her in the crystal cave with the party in OG. Revealing more backstory perhaps. But if she's ever brought back, I hope that she's not a love interest, but that she and Vincent make peace with the past, talk things out, maybe have a good long cry, hug, and decide to move on with their lives, whether that means remaining in each other's lives or parting ways.

It's a Final Fantasy game, so it wouldn't go down like that, because it's too real, and normal human relationships are too boring. We need to up the drama with the planet ending for the billionth time, lol. ?

 

[Makoeyes987]

Why would she come back when the literal crux of DoC and the entire Lucrecia arc is how she buries herself forever in a crystal and refuses to elaborate on her feelings? That's the story.

She's never coming out or coming back. In the OG what we briefly see of Lucrecia is before she finally decides to seal herself away forever. They're not undoing that and trying to do some stupid hooky happy ending with the woman who carries a guilt complex even larger than Vincent. The only resolution she will experience is sleep.

The writers aren't undoing or changing that anymore than they're going to make Hojo grow a conscience and realize he was cruel to his own son.

 

[Rhoey]

Why would she come back when the literal crux of DoC and the entire Lucrecia arc is how she buries herself forever in a crystal and refuses to elaborate on her feelings? That's the story.

She's never coming out or coming back. In the OG what we briefly see of Lucrecia is before she finally decides to seal herself away forever. They're not undoing that and trying to do some stupid hooky happy ending with the woman who carries a guilt complex even larger than Vincent. The only resolution she will experience is sleep.

The writers aren't undoing or changing that anymore than they're going to make Hojo grow a conscience and realize he was cruel to his own son.

I hope you're right. I definitely don't want to see her come back post DoC, because as I said, I don't think it can be done well. Because her arc is finished and anything more would feel forced and unnecessary.

 

[Roundhouse]

Mako, no one even suggested this happy ending scenario XD

 

[Clement Rage]

I'd always headcanon'd plate survivors, so that didn't bother me. Tseng doesn't hit Aeris, they took out Rufus 'rule the world with fear' speech, and Shinra blew up their own reactors. Rufus now cares about Dark Nation's wellbeing.

My understanding of Dirge is that Lucrecia and Vincent both finally get past their hangups. That tear at the end is important, she's listening, not some empty shell.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Tseng's weird anachronistic slap of Aerith literally doesn't even fit the scene or characterization he's been given. It worked in the OG as an attention grabbing emote for polygons to quickly show him villainously silencing Aerith, but with the benefit of advanced graphics, voice acting, actual emotional portrayals, a much more rounded presentation of Tseng's character, and there being much more to his character beyond "evil Turk leader" the slap is just stupid. Him coldly yet calmly silencing her with a wave of his hand as he remains in control of the whole situation does much more for the scene than an overt slap. It conveys entirely different meaning. It's an improvement.

As for Rufus, you didn't get the speech, instead you got his entire personality, character, attitude, and the physical representation of his ethos physically manifested in his coins and dialogue with Cloud. You see it right there. He showed 100x more character philosophy with his unique dialogue, battle style and attitude than just a dry to the point monologue.

This is why staying rote to the original is director's n00b trap. There are elements to the OG that are begging to be retooled and reshot to take advantage of the medium from beyond where it was in 1997.

 

[Roundhouse]

Mako, is there anything you dislike or would criticise about the remake in terms of the story and characters? I'm curious.

[Also I agree that the Tseng slap thing is daft.]

 

[Makoeyes987]

I wish Jenova's trail of dead bodies were kept. That's the only main thing I feel was lost in the Remake.

The red blood would've been nice too. I can forgive and accept the dark purple alien blood because it does look cool and gross, and Ch17 did look creepy overall, but the loss of actual dead Shinra employees from Sephiroth was a true loss. If they had even just presented the bodies laying around without blood, that would have helped set the scene but they sadly didn't even do that. Oh well. Really hope the design team push the rating limit next time.

Oh yeah, the classical music from the plate collapse was really awesome too.

 

[LNK]

I just want the scenes from OG to be non optional and flashback scenes from DoC to be shown in remake.

 

[KindOfBlue]

This is why staying rote to the original is director's n00b trap. There are elements to the OG that are begging to be retooled and reshot to take advantage of the medium from beyond where it was in 1997.

Pretty much summarizes why I think the concept of remakes can get redundant, might as well just remaster the original if the scope of creative reinterpretation doesn’t extend much further than “ooh, shiny graphix”

 

[Smoothie King]

I hope that they keep Hojo as the father. It makes him exceedingly more creepy and disturbed. Vincent’s affiliation via Shinra and Lucrecia is strong enough as it is. It’s far more interesting for him to maintain the familiarity he has now. Making him the father is way too daytime soap opera for my taste.

 

[Clement Rage]

It softens his edge, though. Those characters need their sharp edges to function.

It's weird that it does, because objectively kidnapping people for Hojo is much worse, but for a lot of the audience, the strike has more...punch, if you will.

Killing people? A-OK. Being mean to animals? Unforgiveable!

The speech was a bit on the nose, but it gave us his ruthless edge. Instead we don't get much. Rufus is pretty, badass... and so stupid he tries to take on a SOLDIER hand to hand for no reason.

 

[KindOfBlue]

I take it as one of those areas where what the OG needs to communicate via hamfisted dialogue, the remake conveys through the voice acting, body language, shot composition, musical cues etc. things that the OG was far more limited in