Pretend DoC NEVER happened.

[wayfarer]

Imagine DoC never happened. How would you do either a videogame surrounding vincent storywise or formulawise. I already suggested that it could instead been a short 20 minute to hour long OVA that sends Vincent on a mission that reveals a few things about his backstory. Quite frankly they tried to make DoC far too epic storywise. They could keep Deepground for a game if they wanted to, just give them a new objective. Also get rid of Hojo and just give him an influence on the events that take place. keep the whole Lucrecia flashbacks and such.

 

[Purple]

To me, DoC never happened. The whole game was completely and utterly unnecessary. IMO.

Seriously, WTH SE?!

 

[Tennyo]

I would have had more AVLANCHE. Seriously, I want a game that surrounds the whole group again. And include Red XIII.

But keep Shelke. I think she's adorable. <3

 

[Restless]

Assuming it must be centered around Vincent, I'd probably spend more time making a longer game with a better, thought-out plot, and more character development for side-characters. I felt almost no connection to any other characters, and some I found downright annoying. Stressing Vincent's relationship with other characters (as well as having them appear in the game more) would have been a great start. Nero and Weiss had a lot of potential with the whole brother thing. If they had been developed more, the events near the end would had a more emotional impact on the player, instead of relying solely on a person's feelings toward sappy brotherly love moments.

Other changes include character design. I still don't know how that metal design/armor on Rosso's stomach doesn't pierce her every time she bends over. And Shalua shouldn't have looked so much like a hooker That stuff would be almost impossible to run in. I vote pants, a T-shirt, a lab coat, and sneakers/boots.

There are other things to fix, though. It probably would have been better if all of AVALANCHE had been central characters, instead of just Vincent.

 

[wayfarer]

Other changes include character design. I still don't know how that metal design/armor on Rosso's stomach doesn't pierce her every time she bends over. And Shalua shouldn't have looked so much like a hooker That stuff would be almost impossible to run in. I vote pants, a T-shirt, a lab coat, and sneakers/boots.

I think they designed her as not to be confused with Lucrecia. If she was dressed the exact same way it would be kinda weird, and i also the writers would feel obligated to make a connection between the two characters.

I also thought keeping Shelke and Shalua in would be a good idea. Keeping her alive would've also been good, proving as a sort of antithesis for Nero and Weiss.

Also, if they included members of AVALANCHE in your party, I think it should be a mixed bunch of old and new characters. If you kept Shalua, Shelke, and Reeve in your party, AVALANCHE would send over Cid, Red XIII, and Yuffie. Vincent I think should still've been the main character, leading the others. It would kinda work like Kingdom Hearts, people would join and leave your party and you'd choose which ones out of the party you want to play with you. Of course none would be playable 'cept vincent.

If the game was lengthened, other characters like Barrett, Cloud, and Tifa could come in more. They should have at least one more level where each character is involved. Obviously, in the edge level those three could all be there. (Barrett cuz Marlene's there and he feels he needs to protect her.)

EDIT: I know Reeve's not a new character.

 

[Masamune]

Deepground would be a militia outfit, formed by the Tsviets and Midgar/SOLDIER survivors, and not some ridiculous hi-tec subterranean army.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Deepground would be a militia outfit, formed by the Tsviets and Midgar/SOLDIER survivors, and not some ridiculous hi-tec subterranean army.

I was going to say take out Deepground entirely, but this would have had a lot of potential.

 

[VivaLaValenwind]

They need to get rid of that syncing into the network shit which pissed me off beyond belief. Shelke was useless too, deepground needs a better plot. How can the WRO leave a massive amount of "dangerous" people underground. <- And with that i've been wondering about how these people have resources to make a freakin' army that kicks the WRO's ass making Vincent a one man army. I have a whole list of plot holes im not willing to type out but anyways a movie or OVA would've been better.

 

[Ravynne Nevyrmore]

I would have kept it a game, but made it a prequel that takes place when Vincent was a Turk. It could have shown us what the world and the ShinRa company were like then, given us some Turk assignments before the Jenova Project, then led up to the Jenova Project and shown us all the events there, culminating at his death at the hands of Hojo. Then it could have revealed to us all that Lucrecia did to save him afterwards.

But, then we wouldn't have the insight as to what he's been up to since Advent Children and the small bits of post-AC character progression.

And Shalua shouldn't have looked so much like a hooker That stuff would be almost impossible to run in. I vote pants, a T-shirt, a lab coat, and sneakers/boots.

I think they designed her as not to be confused with Lucrecia. If she was dressed the exact same way it would be kinda weird, and i also the writers would feel obligated to make a connection between the two characters.

Lucrecia wears a skirt, so giving her pants would have distinguished her from Lucrecia as much as she's already distinguished from Shera. Maybe they didn't want people to confuse her for Shera, either, though Shera's role in DoC was extremely minor (to be generous) and anyone who remembered Shera's personality should not have been confused anyway.

I did think that Shera's portrait was Lucrecia when I first saw it.

If they wanted to distinguish her from Lucrecia, they could have tried&#8212;oh, I don't know&#8212;not giving her a ponytail? I know the labcoat was kind of necessary, and that they wanted her to resemble Shelke so they couldn't have given her a drastically different hair color like black or blonde, but ponytail-and-labcoat is kind of Lucrecia's trademark. They could have given her short hair and still had her look like Shelke's sister.

Also, I think they already did make a connection between the two characters when Vincent blacked out seeing Shalua's legs walk toward him and then had a flashback of Lucrecia. I think that was to say Vincent was not totally oblivious to the resemblance. I'm telling you, ponytail + labcoat = Lucrecia. If they were astute they would have made Shera remind him of Lucrecia in FF7.

Someone I watch on DA designed an awesome alternative to Shalua's outfit. It was still very Shalua-like but had pants instead of a hooker skirt. I'll try to dig it up.

 

[VivaLaValenwind]

I admit that i thought that Shalua was Lucrecia from the earlier scans that were posted before DOC's release, but i pretty much think she (Shalua) was pointless too. She didn't do anything significant except for dragging Vincent back to HQ which SE could've just had Reeve do it since Vincent is basically his bitch anyway. (I say that cause Vincent became Reeve's flipping army with no pay And i agree with Fenrir, the other characters should have had wayyy more screen time. Cloud on a motorcycle didn't cut it.

 

[cold_spirit]

I would have kept it a game, but made it a prequel that takes place when Vincent was a Turk. It could have shown us what the world and the ShinRa company were like then, given us some Turk assignments before the Jenova Project, then led up to the Jenova Project and shown us all the events there, culminating at his death at the hands of Hojo. Then it could have revealed to us all that Lucrecia did to save him afterwards.

I think you ideal is just awesome.

But, if could change DoC then I would present Deepground as a much more dark and eerie place. Imagine it being pitch black with the only light coming from the faint glow of mako and a few blood stains on some walls and shit. Give the entire game a much more darker feel, like I originally thought it was going to be.

And the SND and Hojo have to go, i thought that stuff was just plain... stupid.

 

[Ravynne Nevyrmore]

Shalua served several purposes. She was less pointless than Rosso, whose roles could have easily been covered by, say, Azul, or Nero.

Shalua was Shelke's sister and helped Shelke regain her humanity.

Shalua's sacrifice was necessary to save Shelke.

Shalua was the one who was well-informed on Lucrecia and her work. It would have been odd for Reeve to have known that much.

Shalua presented the "my reason for living" theme which crossed over to Vincent and Lucrecia.

Shalua gave us a sense that the WRO is more than just Reeve and an army of nameless throwaway characters. If anything, I felt the WRO needed more "important" characters.


And yes, Hojo's role was stupid. He needed to stay in the past.

I think you idea is just awesome.

It's something that was fantasized about many, many times before DoC was ever a twinkle in SE's eye, and not just by me. I was heavily into the Vincent Valentine fandom around the turn of the millenium.


Yey, found the design I mentioned earlier.

by PyjammaTerra on deviantART.

Is that so much better while still very Shalua-esque or what?

 

[wayfarer]

I think shalue should be more proffesional looking. She's appears to be the most important person in the WRO other than Reeve, so a nice suit would even do. Nomura should try once and a while not to do such a freaking crazy design.

 

[Restless]

Shalua looks so much better in that sketch. It's amazing what she looks like after ditching the skirt for a pair of pants. Shalua's headshot from BC was pretty nice, too; she had no ponytail, and appeared to be wearing a T-shirt (or something close to it) and a vest.

I also wish they would have made her look more professional. The most professional-looking women in the FFVII seem to be the Turks, who actually wear suits. The shoes have high heels, but I assume those would be optional...Next in line would be Lucrecia, though her clothing is more carefree. Probably because she was a scientist and wasn't located in the Shinra building, so there wasn't really a need. But then we look at Scarlet

 

[Tennyo]

Wait, Shera (Cid's wife) was in DoC? Where?

Also I don't think Nomura did Shalua, did he? I thought most of the new character/designs were by junior members of his design staff or something?

 

[Restless]

I think they are referring to the picture of the woman in the bikini on the Shera's floor. Is that seriously supposed to be her?

Also, that's a good point about character designs...Wasn't Yuffie designed by a young female member of the staff?

 

[Tennyo]

That woman was the one picture on the side of the Highwind in FFVII. Cid referred to her as "Lady Luck" (or maybe it was just a coincidental moment I dunno). I think she's a take on the women that American fighter pilots would have on the outside of their plains in WWII. Or at least she looks like it. It's definitely not Shera.

 

[Masamune]

Shalua looked God damn awful. No scientist dresses like that.

She still should have been the love interest.

 

[Tennyo]

Shalua should have been whose love interest?

 

[Masamune]

Vincent's. Wasn't that obvious?

 

[Tennyo]

But Vincent's only love interest was Lucrecia and learning to accept his "sins."

He has no real love interest other than that!

 

[Shademp]

Or Reeve's love interest, if he wasn't gay.

Come on, the guy plays with dolls and wears a somewhat-gay attire in DoC. Also he is the only one in the main FFVII cast without a love interest (note: just remembered Yuffie has no recorded history of love). He is devoted to his work and gay.

Just joking of course. I would prefer for DoC's whole story to be changed; don't let the fate of the world hang on Materia. We got enough of that in Before Crisis and the original FFVII. And what's up with Vincent storing a materia inside his body? That's not a very aesthetical retcon/addition in my eyes.

Don't introduce OMEGA weapon. Give Shalua and Rosso better designs. Let the story focus on more characters than Vincent and Shelke; make all characters equally important.
Don't revive Hojo. You know, there are a lot "don'ts" I can come up with, but I'm not creative enough right now for alternative suggestions. Besides I need to go to sleep.

 

[VivaLaValenwind]

Wait, Shera (Cid's wife) was in DoC? Where?

Also I don't think Nomura did Shalua, did he? I thought most of the new character/designs were by junior members of his design staff or something?

They're "married" in the US version. (Which tends to mess 80% of games up) According to the japanese version Cid just has "feelings" for her or some crap like that.Not so sure if Nomura did her design but i'm assuming so since he character designs. From what i understand the other people do monsters and backgrounds although i did read somewhere that Nomura asks female designers to do clothing for the FF girls. But in any case I'm still against the existance of Shelke and Shalua. If they wanted Lucrecia's voice to be heard they should've done it in a different way not by synching her memories into a useless child. Hell why don't we just download Sephiroths memory to every freakin child in final fantasy. Again, stupid.

Or Reeve's love interest, if he wasn't gay.

Come on, the guy plays with dolls and wears a somewhat-gay attire in DoC. Also he is the only one in the main FFVII cast without a love interest (note: just remembered Yuffie has no recorded history of love). He is devoted to his work and gay.

Don't introduce OMEGA weapon. Give Shalua and Rosso better designs. Let the story focus on more characters than Vincent and Shelke; make all characters equally important.
Don't revive Hojo. You know, there are a lot "don'ts" I can come up with, but I'm not creative enough right now for alternative suggestions. Besides I need to go to sleep.

Agreed with everything (Especially since I think Reeve's been trying to get into Vincents pants throughout the game I think Rosso should've at least had something to cover her ass a bit better but i guess thats fan service for you.

 

[wayfarer]

I don't know, I was pretty cool with Rosso's ass.

 

[Strangelove]

Also I don't think Nomura did Shalua, did he? I thought most of the new character/designs were by junior members of his design staff or something?

Nomura did do the designs, but was told to put her in a more revealing outfit by the director or someone else.

Yuffie's AC design (or just the pattern on her outfit?) was done by a woman, I think.