SPOILERS "I finished the game!" — Post your reviews here (please tag spoilers according to chapter/section of the game)

[GoldSaucerPoints]

So I finished the game today and was absolutely loving it right up until [Chapter 16].

Spoiler

My opinion from the beginning was that Sephiroth should not have been seen in the first disk however I did like how he was effecting Cloud's psyche.

I loved the hologram of the Ancients and how Shinra used their propaganda with it.

However at the board meeting and as soon as Hojo mentioned "S and G cells." I shouted "noooo." I had really hoped that we had got rid of Genesis, clearly not.

So my biggest problems. No anticipation, no "trail of blood scene" and Barret gets stabbed and then the whisperers save him.

Then we have the Sephiroth fight. So annoyed the overly played OWA comes up, I used to love it and no I'm sick of hearing it.

Also did Biggs and Jessie not die? I feel like they are going to find a way to save Aerith and while I appreciate that this is not a rehash of the original it feels like there are no repurcussions that the good guys get saved. When in previous FF they stated that a main character never died that they were always able to bring them back.

And I am probably wrong but it feels like it is heading in that direction. Sephiroth is feeling very reminiscent to his KH counterpart.

I loved it right up until the Shinra building chapters and feeling underwhelmed now.

I really liked the head of department characters I think they were all done incredibly well.

I hope I haven't annoyed anyone. I was one of many signing the petition for the remake, I first played it when I was seven years old and while I appreciate it was never going to be rehash it has just left me sad and feels like we are heading into time travel as well the rest of the story.

 

[oty]

We are all heavily discussing the ending in the Chapter18 Thread. Might wanna hop on there bc things are wild friend

 

[GoldSaucerPoints]

Thank you. I will do. I hope I haven't annoyed anyone.

 

[Mister Materia]

New to the Lifestream forum, but an avid FF fan for the past 20+ years.

When they announced the remake back in 2015 I was genuinely excited, I'd like to refer back to GT trailers and live reaction at the time from the presenters, you can gage actual excitement, safe to assume we all felt the excitement. My partner couldn't quite understand the fuss, I explained to her it's like "releasing a new series for FRIENDS" she got it then.

It's been five years and it's finally here, there was always a fear of hype. The remake had very big boots to fill, with FF in a downturn the past couple of years (the FF6 - FFX era was the best, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) there was always the fear of will they stay true to the original source, how would the characters feel, how will the battle system work now turn-based combat is a thing of the past.

Received the copy last Friday and at the time of writing this I'm about 32 hours in - Chapter 14 Wall Market ready to ascend to Shrina HQ [Spoilers from here onwards to that point]

I can safely say the hype was justified, the opening cinematic, panning video of Midgar and the train sequence was spot on. For those who played the original and now playing the remake, it was a big Welcome Back, even if we've replayed the original countless times over the years.

I think they've got all the characters spot-on, Cloud, Jessie, Tifa, Aerith (Aeris), Barrett, Biggs, Wedge, Jonny! etc they felt right, I'm quite surprised by how attached you get to the characters in such a short amount of time. Nostalgia probably plays a big part, but it works play to your strengths.

Midgar is very fleshed out, to a point where when the game (FF7R) is complete, I can safely say I get it, I understand Midgar now we can on to the outside and beyond. I see a lot of concern about drawing it out, how can they make a game of 40 hours when the section was about 4 - 6 hours in the original. I think they've done a good job of showing the 'logistics' of the city, the tunnels, the slums, the sewers, the upper plate, the infrastructure, how the Cloud and the gang would travel from the sector to sector and access the reactors, original made the city seem small, the remake makes it look huge, I think they needed to showcase the scale instead of simply running from sector to sector in 2 to 3 minutes in the original.

There are points when you're on the underside of the plate and look down, the texture is definitely jarring and takes you out the game, but let's be fair it's a nitpick and can be patched out, the original wasn't perfect. [Item Dupe, Magic Defense, Overflow]

The side quests aren't perfect, but I didn't mind they did slow the pace down which was OK, some parts do get a bit erratic, if you line up commands on two/three characters to perform at once, throw in a summon a lot happens on the screen at once which is amazing but overwhelming at first. A needed a change of pace for 5 - 10 minutes isn't too bad. I can't think of a signal game where side quests have been amazing, (expectation Witcher) They are optional, but like them, move on enjoy the story.

For fans of the original when you first see Guard Scorpion, Air Buster, Aps, Reno etc you can't help but think its how we saw them when we first played 10/20 years ago. When I got to sector Sector 6 slums,

Spoiler: (Chapter 9 spoiler)

I was waiting for Hell House, how they going to portray it, are they going to keep it or is it too goofy. It never showed I get it, I get it how are they going to get this ridiculous looking creature into the game. You get to Colosseum, you fight through the enemies, one last 'unexpected' challenge appears and then it appears Hell House in all it's goofiness and silliness,

that right there made FF7R, it's still the goofy, serious, fun game I played when I was 11.

There are a couple of little surprises and questions that deviate away from the original, the ghosts, why is Sephiroth there, I was dreading seeing

Spoiler: (Chapter 12 & 13 spoilers)

Wedge fall to his death which didn't happen, the secret lab,

I get the feeling Cloud and Aerith know what's going to happen. (Hoping some of these will be explained probably find out in a day or two)

I'm excited to for the next 2 episodes and at the same time not, we know what's coming at the end of Disc 1, think it'll be much harder this time around.

Spoiler: (Chapter 14 spoiler)

Like she said "Try not to fall in love"

Tifa was always my favourite but it's hard this time around its hard to not switch alliance.

I've seen people comment there's going to 5 parts, the other parts are not going to come out. I understand the concerns, but I honestly see there being 2 more episodes/parts (think the development team have also confirmed, if I find the source will link here) whenever they may be, hoping for a year, hoping they announce something big at E3, but I can't see it happening. If there's no news on FF7R #2 I like a remaster of Crisis Core, never played it but would like to give it a go, to see the backstory of Zach, if the remake is still Canon.

You're thinking I spent 60+ hours in the game, 2 more won't cut it. Midgar in the original was probably the longest section of the game in relation to the story, how long will we spend in Kalm, Chocobo Farm, Costa del Sol. Mt Corel, Rocket Town, etc, 20 - 30 minutes. Disc 3 apart from returning to Midgar is a grindfest, doing the optional Chocobo racing, Emerald & Ruby Weapon.

How long did we mess about in Gold Saucer, apart from the Battle Arena and Chocobo Racing if you decided to not cheese it. I think the playtime of the original was artificially inflated due to wanting to beat everything and do everything. Won't be surprised if Junon, Cosmo Canyon, Nibelheim will be quite long - excited to see what they do with Yuffie, Red XII, Vincent, how they going to portray Bugenhagen will he have floating on his ball.

I know it's been a day or two for some and a week for others, I wanted to find out everyone else's thoughts on Midgar, do think there are some hidden secrets deep within the game, where do you think episode 2 will start and end, who's honestly looking forward to 'that part' now the character have more life and personality, are you disappointed and hate everything about it.

 

[Theozilla]

I'll just repost what I said in other threads, but this is how I could see the next installment playing out:

Been brainstorming about how the following Remake installment might be structured, presuming that each part maintains 18 chapters (and that the Remake will be a trilogy total). Created two different chapter breakdowns based on whether the second installment ends at Aerith's death or at Meteor summoning/WEAPONs waking up.

Scenario #1
1. Nibelheim Flashback
2. Kalm & Chocobo Farm & Mythril Mines
3. Fort Condor & Original Yuffie Joining Party Scenario
4. Junon & Cargo Ship
5. Costa del Sol
6. Mount Corel & North Corel
7. Gold Saucer & Corel Prison
8. Gongaga
9. Cosmo Canyon
10-11. Nibelheim & Vincent
12. Rocket Town & Cid
13-14. Wutai & Wutai Area Continent
15. Gold Saucer Second Visit & Temple of the Ancients
16. Bone Village & Forgotten Capital (i.e. Aerith’s death)
17. Northern Continent (Icicle Inn, The Great Glacier, Gaea’s Cliff)
18. Whirlwind Maze & Northern Crater

* * * *

Scenario #2
1. Nibelheim Flashback
2. Kalm & Chocobo Farm & Mythril Mines
3. Fort Condor & Original Yuffie Joining Party Scenario
4. Junon & Cargo Ship
5. Costa del Sol
6. Mount Corel & North Corel
7. Gold Saucer & Corel Prison
8. Gongaga
9. Cosmo Canyon
10-11. Nibelheim & Vincent
12. Rocket Town & Cid
13-14. Wutai & Wutai Area Continent
15. Original Scenario & Gold Saucer Second Visit
16. Temple of the Ancients
17. Bone Village & First Half of Northern Continent Expanded (Modeoheim?)
18. Forgotten Capital (i.e. Aerith’s death)

 

[Eerie]

Spoiler: (Chapter 14 spoiler)

Like she said "Try not to fall in love"

Tifa was always my favourite but it's hard this time around its hard to not switch alliance.

Looks like you already favoured Aerith though

 

[Shaun]

Finished it in the early hours of this morning, and I really don't know where I stand with the game.

For the most part, I enjoyed playing it.

The voice acting was miles better than previous attempts. Characters sounded like I had always thought they should.

The music is fantastic. There are some fantastic new versions of the old tracks. The stand out for me was probably the 3rd Phase J-E-N-O-V-A, which was my favourite track from the original game and the new version definitely kept on track. The new tracks are all good too.

The battle system was fun to play. I never felt like I wasn't in control, or that the game was being unfair. I mean, I was playing on easy, but I'm not actually very good at video games so I was expecting to have real difficulty towards the end, which forunately didn't happen.

I really liked the "open" chapters that were there for the sake of expanding Midgar. They didn't feel out of place and the things that happened all felt like they belonged in the world.

It was nice to see more of the upper plate, in Chapter 4. Personally, I think it would have been nicer to have more sections to do with "regular life" on the upper plate, just to see the difference between there and the undercity, but what we got was done well.

I found the Train Graveyard chapter creepy, but not in a bad way. It added some depth to things that were just sort of there in the original, and it kind of help showcase that Aerith isn't quite the same as everyone else.

Texture issues aside, the game was beautiful and visually, it certainly felt like a more realistic representation of the world presented in the original game.

So where are my issues? Almost all of them are to do with changes to the story. I don't mean the stuff that was added to make the world bigger. I'm talking about when they've significantly changed what happens in a way that can't be reconciled with the original. The story was the main thing that I really liked in the original and to throw it away just for the sake of making changes feels to me like it cheapened the whole thing.

Spoiler: (Chapter 17 & 18 spoilers)

The earlier appearances of Sephiroth don't bother me, because they all either are in Cloud's head (like in Chapter 2) or involve one of the clones. And the Jenova battle in the Shinra Building wasn't the problem, because it happened at a point where it was plausible. I also don't mind the changes to the Honey Bee inn, largely because I don't think the original events would have come across too well.

Specifically, the issues I have are anything to do with "knowledge of the future", any time the whispers showed up, and the significant changes that result from those two things. It wasn't too bad for most of the game, but it particularly ramped up around Chapter 17 and kept getting worse and worse right through to the Ending. I finished the game, and my immediate reaction afterwards was to feel like the whole thing had been ruined.

Making it so Zack didn't die (at least, not as far as we know) really pissed me off. To me, it's like trying to do a Batman story while saying that his parents never died. It doesn't make sense, since so much of Cloud's character is fundamentally pivoted around that moment in his history. In my opinion, removing it means that Cloud's story just doesn't work. Even if Zack died later under different circumstances, it will have changed too much.

One of the things I really liked about the original was it was all about Cloud identifying his mental issues and trying to put himself back together, despite the tragedies he lives through. The ending and storyline split happens way before he really starts to identify his issues, so we don't see any of that. This in itself wouldn't be a bad thing, but the resultant changes from the split mean that it's very unlikely that it'll happen in the same way. It's possible he opens up more to people in the remake, but it's still kind of superficial since no one really knows what's going on with him. The only person to really challenge it was Hojo.

It's kind of sad, because there was so much of the game that I flat out loved. If they had simply just stuck to the original story with the added world building, it would have been perfect. But the core story was the one thing that I absolutely needed to stay true to the original, and that didn't help. I keep trying to convince myself that it's not as bad as I first thought, that it can get back on track, but I don't think that's the case. The last words of the game (something like "The UNKNOWN journey will continue", as far as I remember) are a pretty clear indicator that it won't happen. I really hope I'm wrong. I wanted a remake of the story of the original game, not a completely different story that lures people in by pretending to be the same at first.

 

[oty]

Spoiler: (ending spoiler)

Wait, so for you, Zack lived?

 

[Shaun]

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

Didn't he? There were two scenes. One pretty much like the ending of Crisis Core, with the "the price of freedom" speech before he loses the fight against the army, and then a second where you see him carrying a semi-concious Cloud away from the remains of the battle (instead of the end of Crisis Core, where Cloud stumbled away from his corpse), which implies he survived.

It's possible I misunderstood, I was quite tired. But that's how it appeared to me.

 

[Eerie]

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

The second one matches the OG's scene where he dies.

 

[oty]

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

The most convincing theories I have seen kinda put that the intent was to change the past, but instead, the gang refused to "defy fate" and the singularity ended before anything happened. The last scene is akin to a junction of the CC ending and the OG ending. More infantrymen would show up and gun him down

 

[Shaun]

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

The second one matches the OG's scene where he dies.

No, it doesn't.

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

In the original, Zack is shot. The grunts then look at Cloud, decide to leave him to die, then Cloud crawls over to his body and does the scream in front of Midgar while it rains. Zack never carries Cloud after the battle.

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

The most convincing theories I have seen kinda put that the intent was to change the past, but instead, the gang refused to "defy fate" and the singularity ended before anything happened. The last scene is akin to a junction of the CC ending and the OG ending. More infantrymen would show up and gun him down

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

Okay, that's possible. This is an interpretation that I could accept. But I still think that given the way it's presented, it implies Zack survived.

 

[Eerie]

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

Yeah but I mean, in the Remake, it's a mix up between his end in the OG and his end in CC. What we saw was CC where he defeated the grunts (so it differs from CC on that point), but before he got shot. Obviously, his end here does not contradicts the OG at all.

Also we are in a spoiler thread, using spoilers for people who have finished the game (or looked at spoilers everywhere like me), is a bit tedious :/

 

[Shaun]

Ah, I get what you mean now. I hope that's the case.

 

[Tetsujin]

Also we are in a spoiler thread, using spoilers for people who have finished the game (or looked at spoilers everywhere like me), is a bit tedious :/

The thread title says "please tag spoilers according to chapter/section of the game" though.

 

[Eerie]

Oh right but it was posted in the normal section at first and moved here by the mods though.

 

[Wol]

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

Finished it in the early hours of this morning, and I really don't know where I stand with the game.

For the most part, I enjoyed playing it.

The voice acting was miles better than previous attempts. Characters sounded like I had always thought they should.

The music is fantastic. There are some fantastic new versions of the old tracks. The stand out for me was probably the 3rd Phase J-E-N-O-V-A, which was my favourite track from the original game and the new version definitely kept on track. The new tracks are all good too.

The battle system was fun to play. I never felt like I wasn't in control, or that the game was being unfair. I mean, I was playing on easy, but I'm not actually very good at video games so I was expecting to have real difficulty towards the end, which forunately didn't happen.

I really liked the "open" chapters that were there for the sake of expanding Midgar. They didn't feel out of place and the things that happened all felt like they belonged in the world.

It was nice to see more of the upper plate, in Chapter 4. Personally, I think it would have been nicer to have more sections to do with "regular life" on the upper plate, just to see the difference between there and the undercity, but what we got was done well.

I found the Train Graveyard chapter creepy, but not in a bad way. It added some depth to things that were just sort of there in the original, and it kind of help showcase that Aerith isn't quite the same as everyone else.

Texture issues aside, the game was beautiful and visually, it certainly felt like a more realistic representation of the world presented in the original game.

So where are my issues? Almost all of them are to do with changes to the story. I don't mean the stuff that was added to make the world bigger. I'm talking about when they've significantly changed what happens in a way that can't be reconciled with the original. The story was the main thing that I really liked in the original and to throw it away just for the sake of making changes feels to me like it cheapened the whole thing.

Spoiler

The earlier appearances of Sephiroth don't bother me, because they all either are in Cloud's head (like in Chapter 2) or involve one of the clones. And the Jenova battle in the Shinra Building wasn't the problem, because it happened at a point where it was plausible. I also don't mind the changes to the Honey Bee inn, largely because I don't think the original events would have come across too well.

Specifically, the issues I have are anything to do with "knowledge of the future", any time the whispers showed up, and the significant changes that result from those two things. It wasn't too bad for most of the game, but it particularly ramped up around Chapter 17 and kept getting worse and worse right through to the Ending. I finished the game, and my immediate reaction afterwards was to feel like the whole thing had been ruined.

Making it so Zack didn't die (at least, not as far as we know) really pissed me off. To me, it's like trying to do a Batman story while saying that his parents never died. It doesn't make sense, since so much of Cloud's character is fundamentally pivoted around that moment in his history. In my opinion, removing it means that Cloud's story just doesn't work. Even if Zack died later under different circumstances, it will have changed too much.

One of the things I really liked about the original was it was all about Cloud identifying his mental issues and trying to put himself back together, despite the tragedies he lives through. The ending and storyline split happens way before he really starts to identify his issues, so we don't see any of that. This in itself wouldn't be a bad thing, but the resultant changes from the split mean that it's very unlikely that it'll happen in the same way. It's possible he opens up more to people in the remake, but it's still kind of superficial since no one really knows what's going on with him. The only person to really challenge it was Hojo.

It's kind of sad, because there was so much of the game that I flat out loved. If they had simply just stuck to the original story with the added world building, it would have been perfect. But the core story was the one thing that I absolutely needed to stay true to the original, and that didn't help. I keep trying to convince myself that it's not as bad as I first thought, that it can get back on track, but I don't think that's the case. The last words of the game (something like "The UNKNOWN journey will continue", as far as I remember) are a pretty clear indicator that it won't happen. I really hope I'm wrong. I wanted a remake of the story of the original game, not a completely different story that lures people in by pretending to be the same at first.

I still dont see how those changes are beneficial to FFVIIs universe, it feels like it was only made to shock the fanbase and cause discussions or make a bombastic ending because it has to be big.

If they create alternate dimensions they're just making it harder for themselves, having to spend resources and time while doing the main course is already a lot of work (and the reason they went for episodes)... and making harder for themselves to deliver a cohesive story, I can see already fan theories being better thought-out than the final result.

and knowing Nomura's titles, I predict a lot of plot-holes.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

Yeah but I mean, in the Remake, it's a mix up between his end in the OG and his end in CC. What we saw was CC where he defeated the grunts (so it differs from CC on that point), but before he got shot. Obviously, his end here does not contradicts the OG at all.

Spoiler: (ending spoilers)

In both the original and CC, Zack has already been gunned down before the rain begins. Here, in Remake's ending, it's already raining as Zack carries Cloud towards Midgar. There's definitely a change here.

Of course, Zack could still end up dead in a similar fashion as before, but he has definitely stayed alive longer in this depiction than in either of the previous.

Oh right but it was posted in the normal section at first and moved here by the mods though.

I added the notice about chapters when I moved it. We would still like you all to do that, please. This thread is meant more as a place for folks to post their personalized individual reviews than for debating details that kind of encompass the whole narrative. The open spoilers discussion thread or the Chapter 18 thread are the only good places for that sort of no holds barred use of spoilers.

 

[Eerie]

Oh ok, gotcha! Will do

 

[Jimmy XH]

Sorry guys, I've gone long here, emptied my head out and broken down my thoughts into several sections so if you've got a spare few minutes (or longer), let me know what you think! I've probably still missed stuff out but there you go.

To be on the safe side, I've put it all in spoiler tags because I do go into the story and discuss gameplay elements that people may not have got to yet.

Spoiler: Detailed Breakdown - Gameplay

Game Started: 10/04, 00:01
Completion Clock: 36:07
Difficulty: Normal

Gameplay

Exploration
- The game is fairly linear, but so was this section of the original. The sidequests were a good foil for this and were played in logical areas where you could do them, i.e. you're going to do them in the slums rather than going to the plate given the situation of the story.
- Though it was linear, it didn't always feel like it due to the size of some of the areas and the amount of places to go and things you could find. It was not the same feeling as say, XIII.
- I did not find everything there was to find in my first play through. I don't think I was even close. I could have added another ten hours at least if I'd completed all the sidequests and sought out all the goodies.

Combat
- This is one of the best, if not the best Final Fantasy combat systems I have ever played.
- Hold square and win is not a thing. When they said you had to think strategically and use all of your characters' abilities, they were not lying.
- Some of the battles, particularly the bosses, force you to do this, and that was a welcome addition to prevent battles from becoming samey. From beginning to end you had to concentrate, because the moment you didn't, you'd be facing a Game Over screen.
- Tifa was an awful lot of fun to fight with. I hammered Starshower in just about every battle I was in. She was great.
- Tip: Use the Assess materia. Once I started using it more, it made my life a lot easier.

Development
- I'm glad the levelling system stayed more or less as per the original.
- Materia is somewhat different though, whether it's in the names or the function. That makes sense given the new nature of combat, e.g. what's the point of Double Cut or Slash-All given the way players fight. Some of it I didn't see the point of (like the original) but I think that might be first-time misunderstandings.
- Weapon enhancement was great. It gives you a reason to go back to certain weapons for certain situations rather than just discarding the last one as per the original. I only spotted the auto-upgrade quite late which saved the manual nature of it all.

Spoiler: Detailed Breakdown - Visuals

- ~90% of this game is an absolute treat. The lighting, the settings, the views, it is all completely as I would have imagined it from the original.
- There were several occasions where I had to stop and look around just to take it all in, particularly in the slums. Looking up at that plate was breathtaking, and I didn't tire of it one bit.
- Wall Market at night is just incredible. There's no other way of describing it. It was PERFECT.
- Some of the gloss was taken off by the noted issues with textures. I'm quite sure this can be fixed easily, but it did slightly lessen the impact of what could have been some quite stirring moments, e.g. the plate interior in Chapter 6.

Spoiler: Detailed Breakdown - Sounds

- Having had some fears, the voice acting was more or less spot on. I can't think of one character that wasn't very well done. Barret in particular probably comes out on top for me. Absolutely 10/10 for him.
- Random NPC chatter was nice and added to the atmosphere of the areas, but became a bit jarring after hearing things for the nth time. I guess it was there as a subtle tool to guide you or remind you what you were doing if you were lost, but it was a little much at times.
- Some of the character sounds (I believe referred to as anime grunts) are a little overdone, as are some of the character movements during cutscenes. The OG needed these movements as they had no voices to express emotions, etc, so having overly-exaggerated animations with emotional voice acting wasn't really necessary. These moments though are few and far between (think Barret in the elevator on the bombing mission) and are more a case of me nit-picking.
- Overall, the interaction between the main characters was bang in line with OG narrative which I was really pleased with. e.g. the early tension between Barret and Cloud gradually easing away during the story was very well done.
- The music was terrific. I am really glad that they got this right. Dynamically changing tunes in battle situations was really nice and happened in more or less all areas.
- Most if not all of the original pieces were faithfully redone to a tee. There was some poetic license in there but largely it was spot on.
- I also enjoyed much of the new music. The only bits I didn't like were those where it was a style of music I don't enjoy (e.g. Collapsed Expressway, maybe because it sounded like XIII) but it was appreciated that they mixed up the styles and tried to vary it as much as possible.
- I'm confident I won't stop listening to this OST, one new track that really stood out amongst many was the climbing section of the Shinra Building.

Spoiler: Detailed Breakdown - Story

My approach to this was always going to be to ask myself "was this change feasible within the bounds of Final Fantasy VII". If that sounds a bit subjective, that's because it is subjective. Everyone will feel differently about individual things, but here's what I thought.

More or less all of main story arc changes and how they were told passed the test for me. There was nothing in there that I looked at and went "there's no way that happened" (we'll come on to the ending in a bit), so let's have a look at the big ones.

- Chapter 1 - Shinra made the bombing a whole lot worse. Makes sense given how the rest of the game plays out. Not much more to say than that.
- Chapter 2 - Sephiroth is knocking about early. It wouldn't make much sense to have your protagonist absent from the first installment, and it's entirely realistic that Cloud would be having breakdowns of this nature.
- Chapter 4 - Fleshing out Jessie and adding in Roche. Loved the Jessie angle, great to see more of her backstory and get us more involved with her and the others. Given the amount of fuss over Roche, odd that he only ends up being in this chapter. Giving some personality to some of the Shinra military is fine by me. He was a bit annoying and clearly nuts, but the chase and the fight were enjoyable.
- Chapter 9 - A different route to the same outcome in Wall Market. Like I've said above, I loved Wall Market and everything about the chapter. So much to do and see, very easy to get lost. Adding in different personalities to assist you on your way was good and fit in well with the story arc. Colloseum was great and so was Hell House. Having Johnny around to help with some of the familiar tasks was clever. It's different, but in a good way. They kept the small things which made the fundamental changes to the mission more than just acceptable. Beyond Wall Market, the playground scene was nicely done.
- Chapter 12 - Not wholesale change here per se, but overall a good flesh out of the plate climb and loss of beloved characters. Good expansion of Reno and Rude here with their dialogue (may have been in 11).
- Chapter 13 - A test lab under Sector 7 you say. Now we're pushing the boat out and heading into risky waters as it means going back to Sector 7 when we thought it was entirely under rubble. I definitely understand if people felt uneasy about this, but again, to me it wouldn't be unlike Shinra to do this sort of thing.
- Chapter 3/8/14 - The exploration and sidequest chapters. Some of it was a little bit frustrating mostly because I couldn't work it out. In hindsight, it's nice to have that feeling again about a game I know so well. We could all run through the OG with our eyes closed, so having those doubts were fun in a way. I didn't finish everything, but I will do eventually. I particularly enjoyed taking Corneo's stash, although I just couldn't find the area in the sewers. I'll be back, Don.
- Chapter 16/17 - More or less all of the changes to the Shinra Building were a big tick for me. Dialling up Hojo's influence was really good in the context of his role in the story. Mayor Domino's twist seems to answer a lot of questions about how the team got so far into the building without detection. The Shinra Museum was a brilliant touch, absolutely brilliant.
- Chapter 18 - Do you know what? I'm done speculating about this. I haven't mentioned the whispers so far deliberately because it all culminates in this messy ending. They're obviously up to something here and yes we're probably all worried about it and asking ourselves a million questions but there's no point speculating and coming to a fixed conclusion before we get the next installment. It dials up the intrigue and anticipation, and to some extent the fear, but let us embrace whatever it brings.

I've sort of scratched the story surface here but much of what made it so enjoyable was the small things. Whether it was the addition of little contextual pieces, or homely faith to the original, the whole game really was what I wanted this game to be and more. I feel that I may have rushed it a little bit, but I know that I've got plenty more still to find and loads and loads of goodies to experience repeatedly.

Overall, I loved it. I feel sad that some people have felt let down by the ending, but I'm trying to put a positive spin on it by trying to not to draw too many conclusions yet. I know I will enjoy playing it again, I hope everyone else does too.

Phew!

 

[AerithLives]

Spoilers/rant

As a Final Fantasy 7 purist, I knew that I'd never be truly won over. Especially with SE at the helm, who haven't made s good game (imo) since FF12.

I knew I had to make compromises in order to enjoy it. So I was willing to overlook Sephiroth "blah blah blah'ing" from start to finish, which in turn destroyed any build up, mystique, or feeling of gravity of his power as you hear his name or see his capabilities as you go through the journey (killing president Shinra or seeing Midgar Zolom on a spike).

The Watchmen Of Fate almost spoiled the entire game for me, just being there to give the writers a chance to make up shit as they went along and made the game really noisy and stressful, but I gritted my teeth and accepted it because the remake appears to have respected and honoured all the originally characters really well.
They've clearly put a lot of love and care into each one and there isn't a single remade (reimagined) character I didn't enjoy.

The battle system was perfect, the best they've done in any FF games since FF7.

The graphics (ignoring the background climbing up the Midgar plate ?) were excellent.

I was really annoyed that I missed Aerith's red dress scene (another comprise) because I didn't do all the quests in sector 5. The most iconic part of the trailers gone, all because I didn't fancy chasing some stupid kids around in a previous chapter. I really couldn't be arsed to go back through another 3 hours of the game to do it again either, so I just had to miss out on one of the parts I was looking forward to most. ?‍

So, despite numerous compromises, I decided to give the game a good review.
I was annoyed about Sephiroth, The Watchmen Of Fate, and numerous clerith moments lost to pointless quests, but overall the game was great...I had in my head exactly what I wanted to say and praise SE for doing a good enough job to win over even me.

...Until the last chapter arrived.

I know this remake wasn't going to be as good as the original. Or anywhere near, for that matter. Hence why I had prepared to approve of the game despite it crammed with a lot of shallow SE crap. But that ending...THAT ENDING was the biggest insult to the original game I had ever seen.

It was just a load of incoherent nonsense. It's like they took a load of LSD on the last day and bashed out the last chapter in a drug induced trip. Going into another dimension and fighting "fate"? FFS. It's like they merged it with that ridiculous Kingdom Hearts rubbish.
ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS GET OFF THE BIKE, SWEAR REVENGE ON SEPHIROTH, AND ROLL THE CREDITS.

That's all they had to do.

I cannot forgive that ending. I'm not willing to make any more compromises. That has to be up there with Dallas's "it's all a dream" ending as one of the WORST endings of all time.

The strange part is, I'm seeing a lot of people on Twitter loving it. I cannot get my head around it.

Gutted

 

[Makoeyes987]

I cannot forgive that ending. I'm not willing to make any more compromises. That has to be up there with Dallas's "it's all a dream" ending as one of the WORST endings of all time.

The strange part is, I'm seeing a lot of people on Twitter loving it. I cannot get my head around it.

Gutted

Only thing I can tell you, is things change. Expecting FFVII to be frozen in materia and not evolve to meet the tastes, times, and talents of the current age is like a tree refusing to bend in the face of a storm. FFVII was a product of it's time, just like it's Remake. That's what makes it more than just a copy and more akin to a celebration and culmination of what FFVII has from since 97 to now.

 

[Wol]

Only thing I can tell you, is things change. Expecting FFVII to be frozen in materia and not evolve to meet the tastes, times, and talents of the current age is like a tree refusing to bend in the face of a storm. FFVII was a product of it's time, just like it's Remake. That's what makes it more than just a copy and more akin to a celebration and culmination of what FFVII has from since 97 to now.

As if going full Kingdom Hearts was the only option to "change", let alone the execution of said change.

 

[Back To Black]

That has to be up there with Dallas's "it's all a dream" ending as one of the WORST endings of all time.

That Dallas ending was an absolutely scandalous riot back in the day. Still get flash backs of his smile every now and then when I walk into my bathroom and look over at my shower.... Swear I see him just turning round and smiling at me...

Just as a general side note and not wishing to take sides because everyone is totally entitled to their own views on this or that, but just something I think what people are trying to express, is that nothing is sacred anymore. Which is a bit of a shame. I actually agree with both camps. I agree this new fresh look is gorgeous and fun and I certainly enjoyed it. However, I also sympathise with the purists if you like, since the turn of the millennium it's as if we ( entertainment industry ) have been stuck on a remake craze. Films, music fashion etc its all rehashed. So I can see why the people who are loyal to the original game are a tad upset and feel the company has sacrificed a few things just to look trendy.

The game does have WTF moments but one thing that has me feeling odd. Is that spending time with the cast, was like finding old friends again. I'm a grown man I shouldn't be getting attached to a load of pixels on a screen but I get it, people have a lot of emotional investment in FF7 so I completely understand.

The game gets 8/10 from me which is saying something because most modern games barely touch 5/10. Roche gets an entire point deducted to himself. He can go do one.

 

[AerithLives]

That Dallas ending was an absolutely scandalous riot back in the day. Still get flash backs of his smile every now and then when I walk into my bathroom and look over at my shower.... Swear I see him just turning round and smiling at me...

Just as a general side note and not wishing to take sides because everyone is totally entitled to their own views on this or that, but just something I think what people are trying to express, is that nothing is sacred anymore. Which is a bit of a shame. I actually agree with both camps. I agree this new fresh look is gorgeous and fun and I certainly enjoyed it. However, I also sympathise with the purists if you like, since the turn of the millennium it's as if we ( entertainment industry ) have been stuck on a remake craze. Films, music fashion etc its all rehashed. So I can see why the people who are loyal to the original game are a tad upset and feel the company has sacrificed a few things just to look trendy.

The game does have WTF moments but one thing that has me feeling odd. Is that spending time with the cast, was like finding old friends again. I'm a grown man I shouldn't be getting attached to a load of pixels on a screen but I get it, people have a lot of emotional investment in FF7 so I completely understand.

The game gets 8/10 from me which is saying something because most modern games barely touch 5/10. Roche gets an entire point to himself. He can go do one.

I understand that. Like I said, I went in willing to make compromises. I was going to give the game 8/10 myself even considering everything I discussed.

But the moment I hit that last chapter it ruined everything. I mean, I'd say it's dragged the entire game down to a 5/10 is being generous after all that.

Not only is it not a remake, not only is it not honouring anything from the original game, but they are turning it into a SE flashy, Kingdom Hearts (my most loathed game), LSD induced wet dream.

It's all just horrible. People know how much I loved this game and are playing the remake to see what all the fuss is about and are witnessing absolute manure.