New FFVIIR screenshots from MAGIC 2017

[hian]

The triangle commands are special attacks, which are tiered through levels. They're not limit breaks, as clearly shown by the separate bar.
As the "ATB" gauge fills up, your character to perform non-standard attacks by pressing triangle, which attack being performed depending on how many levels it has charged.

The L1 and R1 buttons cycle the commands like in certain KH games, and the Materia command refers to the ability to use the primary (I worded this clumsily) non-magic Materia from your equipment set-up, and then materia-magic will be found under the magic command. It's greyed out because Cloud either has only magic materia, or no Materias equipped when the screenshot was taken.

As for 烈攻斬り :

It has nothing to do with cross-slash.
斬り is a generic term for cutting/slashing, and 烈攻 is very different in meaning from 凶.
Both kanji have multiple meanings, but generally the former refers to something that's fierce and oppressive, stifling etc. (so like strong attack, fierce attack, blitz attack etc. or death blow?), with the latter carrying meanings like bad luck, failure, calamity, as such referring to an attack that sabotages the enemy in some fashion (hence why Cross-slash has the potential to paralyze).

 

[Claymore]

The L1 and R1 buttons cycle the commands like in certain KH games...

Or possibly to character switch.

 

[hian]

The L1 and R1 buttons cycle the commands like in certain KH games...

Or possibly to character switch.

No. I am not going to go into why I know that not to be the case, but as for an argument to someone who cannot access that information, why would anyone put the character switch buttons on a the U.I on each side of the font that says "Command" over the command window?
As a person who's designed U.Is, I'll say this - nobody professional will do that.

 

[Claymore]

Because the menu's aren't finalized yet, like he said?

But no matter anyway. We'll learn more in due course.

 

[ForceStealer]

Well I mean, that's basically how XII's character switching, even if it wasn't labeled as such.

 

[cold_spirit]

I am not going to go into why I know that not to be the case, but as for an argument to someone who cannot access that information, why would anyone put the character switch buttons on a the U.I on each side of the font that says "Command" over the command window?

I don't wish to start an argument here. As I'm sure you can understand, I'd like to see a bit more evidence than just your word before we all take everything you say as absolute. Understandably, that may be difficult. Can you at least show some proof of your privileged access of the game to a mod or something?

 

[Shademp]

I think hian is speaking from his general experience in game design, since he works in the industry. While I disagree with hian's confident tone, he does add some good conclusions to the table.

 

[Octo]

.......the stone tile flooring looks nice.

 

[Lex]

Ahaha you're right Octo, I hadn't even noticed that XD

 

[Shademp]

I'm pretty sure Nomura polished each floor tile for 100 hours.

Had some fun trying to calculate Cloud's max HP in the two screenshots. Assuming that the depletion of the white HP bar is linear (and not logarithmic or exponential or some other variation), these were my conclusions:

Cloud's max HP in the first screenshot is approximately... 1434.9863

His max HP in the second screenshot is approximately... 2020.5326

I used the HP indicator above Cloud's head for the pixel measurements. The HP menu to the right gives me a number, but I did not use pixel measurements there since the menu looks like it could be tilted, creating an angle that would mean less accurate calculations.

Interesting that his MP is higher in the first screenshot when his HP is lower.

So what we have here is Cloud with...
Max HP 1435 - Max MP 63
and
Max HP 2021 - Max MP 60

 

[ChipNoir]

In the first gameplay trailer I remember Cloud doing a spinning slash that didn't seem like a Limit Break, maybe it's moves like that? Or Command materia moves?

I also wonder what the Materia option does differently from Magic (maybe changes what Triangle does?), but I really like the look of the command windows.

Anyway this is a pleasant surprise

I'm actually writing an article for Lifestream covering that. In early concept art, Cloud had an unused limited break called Tornado that looked remarkably similar.

Even if it's redundant, these are my thoughts so far

1. Materia and Magic have SEPARATE menu options. That means we may no longer be limited to just one set of materia. That solves quite a few problems, including being able to cycle through magic at an appropriate speed. I loved X-2 for allowing a ton of flexibility in strategy, and having this same level of combinations is a good thing in my mind.

2. There's the ability to switch to multiple UIs. So we're probably looking at a return to X's menu style, also a good thing.

3. The ATB bar has three small square chunks under it. and a triangle prompt next to something written in Japanese.

4. The limit bar is also three segments. Does this imply a tiered limit where you can save or spend on different limit attacks as you see fit? Does this mean three or more limits per level, or a mix and match? That makes Aerith even MORE useful.

5. When Cloud's limit bar is full, a Right D-pad prompt appears next to his attack command.

6. Cover from fire is a thing. It's not stealth, since obviously the enemy is firing at him from afar. This is really important for ranged characters like Barret or Vincent, or characters that need cover to use magic like Aerith.

7. Its unclear, but it looks like there are multiple parts you can aim at on enemies. Those could just be particle effects, but they could also be aiming reticules.

8. The fact that Cloud's right side UI is specifically highlighted further points towards character switching. Specifically highlighting and indenting the bar further in despite having the exact same information as Barret's almost is very curious. Barret also has the same spaces for the presumed Triangle Limit command, further pointing to the fact that you can control him.

9. Man, even the catwalks above get annihilated. Someone mentioned they think the attack was Missile Barrage on the part of Scorpion Guard.

 

[ChipNoir]

The triangle commands are special attacks, which are tiered through levels. They're not limit breaks, as clearly shown by the separate bar.
As the "ATB" gauge fills up, your character to perform non-standard attacks by pressing triangle, which attack being performed depending on how many levels it has charged.

The L1 and R1 buttons cycle the commands like in certain KH games, and the Materia command refers to the ability to cycle the primary Materia from your equipment set-up, whose associated commands will be found under the magic command. It's greyed out because Cloud either has only 1, or no Materias equipped when the screenshot was taken.

As for 烈攻斬り :

It has nothing to do with cross-slash.
斬り is a generic term for cutting/slashing, and 烈攻 is very different in meaning from 凶.
Both kanji have multiple meanings, but generally the former refers to something that's fierce and oppressive, stifling etc. (so like strong attack, fierce attack, blitz attack etc. or death blow?), with the latter carrying meanings like bad luck, failure, calamity, as such referring to an attack that sabotages the enemy in some fashion (hence why Cross-slash has the potential to paralyze).

Google translate marks it as Blown Away, and it seems to be a common attack name is a lot of Rpgs, judging on an image search using the phrase.

So it's probably a knock-back attack to clear out clusters of enemies?

 

[cold_spirit]

While I disagree with hian's confident tone, he does add some good conclusions to the table.

He definitely does. My feathers were ruffled more by his tone. Anyway we can forget about it.

I noticed that in the screenshot of Cloud taking cover behind the crate, you can see a right arrow next to the Attack command. Here Cloud has an empty ATB gauge and a full Limit Break bar. In the screenshot with the Guard Scorpion, the right arrow is gone, though Cloud does have a single segment in both his ATB and Limit Break bars. Just observations.

Overall I'm really happy with the UI. Looks very clean.

 

[Ite]

.......the stone tile flooring looks nice.

Some well polished rocks!!

Interesting that in both shots it looks like the player is controlling Cloud but he's far on the left of the screen. I was worried in Trailer 2 that we'd be looking at Cloud's arse and glinting sword for 500 hours and that FFVII would lose that cinematic quality, but it looks like we'll be getting some variation, during the battles at least.

I really don't like enemy health bars.

 

[Pixel]

They could have just made materia separate there to show that the materia system was still in place. Don't know what function it would have othe than magic other than magic being in a quick select thing on its own.

 

[Tashasaurous]

What's with the "materia" option on the battle menu?

Anyway it's looking great IMO, hopefully we'll see a new trailer soonish.

It's to call upon the materia orbs you collect through out the game. Certain types of Materia can be used for magic like Blizzarga, Thunderaga, ect, while other types of Materia can be used to call out Summons like Ifrit, Bahamut, Shiva, Leviathan, ect...except Chaos since it's gene is inside Vincent.

This MAGIC Event is new, though. Never heard of it.

 

[Dawnbreaker]

I first saw this on Facebook and was like "...this is awesome, someone should upload this on TLS!"...and then I saw it already on TLS and I was like "...wow, that's fast, how awesome!". Good job, Tetsy-bear.

Can't wait to see moar!

 

[Lex]

What's with the "materia" option on the battle menu?

Anyway it's looking great IMO, hopefully we'll see a new trailer soonish.

It's to call upon the materia orbs you collect through out the game. Certain types of Materia can be used for magic like Blizzarga, Thunderaga, ect, while other types of Materia can be used to call out Summons like Ifrit, Bahamut, Shiva, Leviathan, ect...except Chaos since it's gene is inside Vincent.

This MAGIC Event is new, though. Never heard of it.

 

[Pixel]

Nice analysis from Dark Pixel Gaming

 

[Carlie]

Attack while the tail's up

Alternative facts.

 

[Flintlock]

Just a thought that I don't think has come up yet (not sure if it's in that video, I'm only about half way through): the L1 and R1 indicators appear to be the same in both screenshots, despite Cloud being the solo character in one of them. So I have to agree with hian that it's unlikely that those buttons will be used to change characters.

I'm wondering what the other characters will do when you're not directly controlling them. To draw another parallel to XII, I'd love some kind of gambit system that could be used to give them detailed instructions to follow. Even paradigms would be better than nothing. Nothing is kinda what I'm expecting though.

 

[Pixel]

Did they say something about online play in earlier interviews? Multiplayer could be interesting, though I probably wouldnt bother with it.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

So, there're a few things that I picked up from this.

It looks like we're keeping some variety of the limb-specific targeting from FFXV, which is very welcome for big bosses and other large enemies for providing more tactical strategies for attacking large targets. Whether or not we get to see the HP of each individual limb or if it'll be hidden like XV's will be interesting.

Insofar as the Menu is concerned, I've got my own thoughts to add:

The fact that Cloud's got the menu bar & ATB bars, etc. over the top of him, in addition to his nameplate enlarged on the right makes me think that that's how we show who we're focusing on any specific character that we have selected. Whether or not L1/R1 swaps between them or not remains to be seen, but there is clearly some mechanic that lets you change focus between active characters.

The fact that we've got the Menu stating "Command" now but didn't in the earlier version makes me think that there's potentially an option to switch to "Auto" or something similar. That combined with the way that the ATB system is tiered could be matched with something like how XV utilized "Wait Mode" so that when a character hits their availability for an action, they can automatically use an available attack, or the system could just go into "Wait Mode" so that you can dictate each character's action more tactically.

(I'd be really interested in seeing how things in XV change with Episode Gladio coming out and if we get the ability to swap between characters in combat and if we see any similarities between them at that point).


Another thing worth noting is that in the first screenshot, there's a tiny little arrow to the right of the "Attack" option that doesn't appear in the one where they're fighting against the Guard Scorpion.





X

 

[ChipNoir]

This popped up on Reddit.

http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/519386-ff7-remake-combat-analysed

What do you guys think?

 

[hian]

Because the menu's aren't finalized yet, like he said?

But no matter anyway. We'll learn more in due course.

Final or not, that's not a flaw you'll find anywhere in AAA production. You truly think having the character change buttons displayed next to command is a sensible thing to do especially given the minimal amount of work that would go into moving those elements a few inches up and put in the supplementary text "Character" or something to that effect?

As for those ruffled by my confidence? Why? If it turns out Im wrong you get to laugh at me and i'll look like a right idiot. That being said, I think I'm in a position to be confident, and Im willing to put up if necessary =p I apologize for being too, overconfident? Arrogant? Smartypants? It's difficult being me right now. I've avoided this place for a while knowing I'd be tempted to blurt stuff out I shouldn't, but with the screens being out I acted like an ass and spoke out of turn. I'm sorry for that. Let's just pretend I only presented my expertize from a design perspective, and I'll go back to my self-imposed temp ban til E3 rolls over.