Hey folks!
[reads 32 pages of comments]
Geez, the thread had been completely hijacked by the 10 seconds of Zack!!!
Anyway, I thought I'd share my impressions on Chapter 2...
Well, I really enjoyed it. First, on the gameplay level: combat continued to be very entertaining, especially with more time to do more combos with Sonon. Also, the "Bust-a-box" minigame (in particular: finishing that last bit of SOLDIER training) forced me to actually get a much better handle on Yuffie's gameplay than I initially did. I must admit that I was throwing attacks willy-nilly in the first part of the game, and to me the final stage of Bust-a-box served as a great tutorial to actually git gud. For one thing, I felt I was well in control of the entire fight vs. Nero.
For me, the highlight of the chapter was Scarlet taking the role of the main villainess. Like for so many other characters, SE did a splendid job of developing her original characterization. She always carried herself with a feeling of superiority and invulnerability. She was always in control during her confrontations with Yuffie&Sonon, turning condescension into a work of art. I like how she toyed with their sentiment of "being the good guys" to ensure they wouldn't do a thing to her. Awesome stuff.
Exploring the weapon development lab was really neat, with all the heli-gunners on display. I personally enjoyed the tie-in with Deepground and Dirge (personally, I've never played Dirge and I only watched cutscenes on Youtube, an experience that left me on a definite "meh"), they've made a pretty solid job with how creepy Nero was. Deepground sure looks like a meat grinder, seeing how easily the basic soldiers get consumed. Anyway, Nero was a great boss fight and a very good way to finish the chapter. I'm not fussed about how Yuffie's encounter with Deepground is jeopardizing Dirge's plot, because at this point in time the events of Dirge have not come to pass and things can follow many different directions from there. Besides, in the meantime, the Whispers probably had their hands (?) full anyway.
Alas, poor Sonon - the guy was fated to die before he even had screen time (looks at what's happening to Zack)... Right.
I really didn't mind him as a character - I understand that some folks can be quite jaded with some tropes, but I think he served his purpose in the story well enough. I did prefer that he died with a bit of blood. Otherwise I agree that drawn-out death scenes tend to be less impactful. Sometimes, less is more. The execution left something to be desired
And now, the ending.
The chatter between the main characters was great, heartwarming even, with so many references to the OG lines (Barret not meeting any argument when calling himself the 'leader' was interesting). The growing camaraderie between the party members, and seeing the ramparts of Kalm in the distant arid landscape, those things really make me yearn for part 2. Gotta be patient! I'll admit I did not realize Choco Bill was the truck driver until after the credits rolled
(I was like "he looks familiar and his character design is distinct, I'm sure I've seen his face before" *scratches head*)
As for Zack and his Pandora box of paradox: I can't say I have much to add, really. Or rather, I don't really feel strongly for one theory or another. In my view, while "where Zack is" is shown, "when Zack is" is not. The presentation suggests that the distressed folks inside the Church are refugees from the Sector 7 Plate collapse, but there's nothing to confirm it. We could be looking at post-Zirconiade drama for all we know. There's the issue with the 3-months gap that others have outlined. And if Zack is on a merging timeline with where & when the party is, we have the paradox of having 2 Buster Swords and 2 Clouds (not to mention: what would alive!Zack do with comatose!Cloud moving forward?). All I know is that I'm ignorant, and all I'm hoping for is for things to make sense in the end.
To be honest, the level of What-the-fuckery is actually not worse than the events at the Northern Crater and their aftermath, when playing the OG for the first time (and you don't know that the Lifestream scene is a thing). On that ground, I remain optimistic about how the whole story will turn out.
