Was the Compilation a mistake?

[OWA-2]

Yeah well like 4 people played that anyway.

I thought we already established only 4 people played BC .

Because Japan doesn't exist, right?

 

[Tetsujin]

Because Japan doesn't exist, right?

Not in this forum.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Shinra had already tried to steal her once. Red and Bugenhagen lied about her and concealed her existence from everyone so as to protect the future of the species.
Job done.

Even were that explanation workable, it would still render Red's understandable anguish over being the last of his kind completely empty and insipid by making it an irrelevant ploy that he brought up unsolicited. In any case, though, that explanation isn't workable, as even in private conversation, Red and Bugen talk as though he's the only known member of his species remaining.

Then what was he so damn jealous about? Still though, do any NPCs mention him or Angeal besides the Midgar fangirls? Other people mention Sephiroth.

And Sephiroth didn't encounter super-stardom until after his media attention for being a hero of the Wutai War, right? Genesis vanished during the war and would never have gotten such attention. Everyone in Banora would know of him...but Shinra took care of that.

Why were Genesis and Angeal's deaths publicly announced as them being killed in action then? Also, it would be kind of hard to hide his existence when -- even after his announced death -- copies bearing his appearance show up to attack Junon.

Hell, for that matter, why was there an official announcement concerning the status of a SOLDIER whose existence they were going to cover up?

There's really no defending the stupid that is the entire concept. =P

 

[ForceStealer]

Were their deaths publicly announced? Or just to SOLDIERs? I know the fangirls had heard but...they're fangirls.

Because Japan doesn't exist, right?

Now you're catching on.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

There's really no defending the stupid that is the entire concept. =P

It earns them money?

 

[Cat Rage Room]

There should be a balance between GETTIN MONIES and artistic integrity.

 

[Vendel]

I can't speak for the compilation as a whole. But I rather enjoyed AC/C.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Were their deaths publicly announced? Or just to SOLDIERs? I know the fangirls had heard but...they're fangirls.

Answered your own question.

It earns them money?

What Mog said.

 

[Max Payne]

There should be a balance between GETTIN MONIES and coherent storytelling.

Fixed for accuracy.

 

[DLPB]

We have seen what happens to consistency and good story telling time and again when series are expanded/carried on:

Star wars prequels
Star Trek TV series

the biggest I can think of...

FF7 was never intended to have any spin offs and was perfectly fine before someone decided there was money to be made. Immediately retcon's and silly plot devices spring into action, the biggest I can think of (and I have said before), hojo and the brain in a computer story, possibly the most cliche and useless plot device ever thought up since Brain in a Jar.

I have to confess that I haven't played any of these spin offs and I don't ever intend on doing. I could see where that was heading and avoided. I enjoy FF7 for what is was and is, not for what Katie the Cash Cow has made it. I only wish that every fan did the same and refused to suck Enix Nipples, they might look nice and they promise quality milk but what they serve up is sour and past its sell by date.

That way we would force them into originality and not lack luster money spinners.

And for the record there is only one thing worse than my endless whinging and crap spin offs...people who try to make excuses for it all.

 

[Strangelove]

Even were that explanation workable, it would still render Red's understandable anguish over being the last of his kind completely empty and insipid by making it an irrelevant ploy that he brought up unsolicited. In any case, though, that explanation isn't workable, as even in private conversation, Red and Bugen talk as though he's the only known member of his species remaining.

I think the trouble with BC (though I've not looked into all of it) is that while trying to expand on the story of the Turks and all that, it also seemed to want to shoehorn in appearances from the rest of the FFVII cast. So Red has to show up and meet the Turks, and so does Barret, and now the Turks are in Nibelheim meeting Cloud and Tifa because you can't see that scene enough times. So they end up making stories for them and in cases like Red's, they stop making sense with what came before. It just ends up seeming like they're in BC because they were from FFVII and you have to push everyone into the game. I've not read or seen Red's chapter, but it seems like "we wanted to fit Red in somewhere and had to throw together a story for him".

I thought having appearances by Azul and Shalua seemed like a good idea, to flesh out their backstory (and then Azul's was just "LOLOLZ I WANTS TO BE STRONGERER" and I've not seen Shalua's).

 

[Ite]

It wouldn't feel like we're being sheistered if the entries in the Compilation were *also* stand-alone entries. Every freaking entry ends on a cliffhanger, like a soap opera. Genesis at the end of DoC (and CC) all that "I will never be a memory" B.S.
If they took the time to make actual complete entries instead of 'intricate pieces of the puzzle' they would be better recieved by the world outside of blind fans.

 

[Lord Noctis]

It wouldn't feel like we're being sheistered if the entries in the Compilation were *also* stand-alone entries. Every freaking entry ends on a cliffhanger, like a soap opera. Genesis at the end of DoC (and CC) all that "I will never be a memory" B.S.
If they took the time to make actual complete entries instead of 'intricate pieces of the puzzle' they would be better recieved by the world outside of blind fans.

Hey, aren't you the dude writing The Jenova Project on Fanfic.net?

Also, agree with what you said.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I really think that (although I enjoyed the Compilation), FFX-2, and The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII show why S-E made all the Final Fantasy games (1-12) all feel the same, with similiar themes and setting elements, but with non-inter-connected stories. We have yet to see how this pans out for the other FF XIII titles, as they were actually all imagined at once.

Hell, even parts of Chrono Cross's story were stupidly difficult to grasp as to how they tied together with it's predecessor, even though I played the hell out of Chrono Trigger, and I can't judge Parasite Eve 2, because I never ended up playing very far through it, althought I'm still hoping to before the next one is released.

Overall, I think that the difficulty just stems from not really understanding how to make a followup to something great. Which elements can you change that will work, and which ones affect the experience of the fans looking to play the sequel?


Overall, I really don't regret the Compilation, because it got me here & this place created, and I don't regret what it's done to FFVII. Sure it changed some things, and not all of it was for the better, but unlike with a remake, the core elements of the game are still what they are. I got more time with different stories in a game world that I wanted, even if it wasn't quite what I'd expected or hoped for.

(Plus, even with the changes, I got Crisis Core- which is something that I dreamed about playing the original, and that game got all the things that I cared about right)


X

 

[Alex Strife]

I did like the whole compilation, so good for me.

Also, I CALL BULLSHIT!!! CLOUD MET GENESIS!!!


Don't believe me? Remember when Genesis falls to that pit, when Zack's chasing Hollander? Remember who holds Hollander while Zack's fighting Genesis?

Even with such things, I am able to enjoy the Compilation very much. I guess I'm a fanboy; sigh.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Present day, non psychopath Cloud probably has a working memory of who Genesis is/was, yes.

 

[Alex Strife]

He definitely should, which again, if I was annoying, I'd say it's a retcon considering how Cloud never mentions anything about Genesis during the original game (Duh, of course!), but even so, it would be a really minor thing. I just remembered and thought it was amusing...

However, considering Genesis seemed to be dead at that point, and Zack only knew later on that he was well and alive... then Cloud would think Genesis is dead!

Maybe Square-enix guys do plan stuff out, actually!

 

[Cat Rage Room]

It remains to see how competent Square will be with that particular aspect if they actually finish the Compilation and have Genesis return in a later date. Either Cloud is going to be "WE HAVE TO HELP/STOP THIS ENTIRELY PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN SAVIOR/THREAT TO THE PLANET THAT I'VE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE" or, hopefully, "nigga i thought you were dead"

 

[Alex Strife]

Second option, puhleeeeaaaze!

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I think the trouble with BC (though I've not looked into all of it) is that while trying to expand on the story of the Turks and all that, it also seemed to want to shoehorn in appearances from the rest of the FFVII cast.

Yep. Definitely part of the problem. They decided who should be in it first and why they should actually be there (in an in-universe sense) second -- and then made that decision without bothering to consider if it made any sense in the larger context.

I thought having appearances by Azul and Shalua seemed like a good idea, to flesh out their backstory (and then Azul's was just "LOLOLZ I WANTS TO BE STRONGERER" and I've not seen Shalua's).

It was a good idea, yeah. Azul's appearance wasn't exactly inspirational, but it fit well enough how he was presented in DC.

Shalua's appearance was actually pretty good. One of the better cameos in BC. Worked well in the context of her story and the overall story as well.

It wouldn't feel like we're being sheistered if the entries in the Compilation were *also* stand-alone entries. Every freaking entry ends on a cliffhanger, like a soap opera. Genesis at the end of DoC (and CC) all that "I will never be a memory" B.S.
If they took the time to make actual complete entries instead of 'intricate pieces of the puzzle' they would be better recieved by the world outside of blind fans.

To be fair, with the exception of Genesis, I don't think they really have left much hanging. Certainly not AC/C with "I will never be a memory." Seph just made a defiant parting comment like so many other Final Fantasy villains.

 

[ForceStealer]

I really don't understand why everyone takes "I will never be a memory" to be some sort of cliffhangar. How many FF villains die with a similar kind of line? Interestingly, Sephiroth was one of the few who didn't.

 

[null]

I don't think it's a cliffhanger so much as leaving the door open.

 

[OWA-2]

I really don't understand why everyone takes "I will never be a memory" to be some sort of cliffhangar. How many FF villains die with a similar kind of line? Interestingly, Sephiroth was one of the few who didn't.

Funny... The only big/important villains I remember doing that are Zeromus and Necron. And one of them did actually come back in a sequel.

 

[ForceStealer]

Exdeath did too I think.... as well as Chaos. And those are just the ones that said that specifically. Others have said things that could imply the same thing such as Seymour.

 

[DLPB]

I really don't understand why everyone takes "I will never be a memory" to be some sort of cliffhangar. How many FF villains die with a similar kind of line? Interestingly, Sephiroth was one of the few who didn't.

That is a direct result of retconning his death in the first place, along with Rufus and Hojo. When you do that the audience are never going to believe anything, and that is why retcons and 'dead people back alive' is a terrible idea in fiction. X-Files went a similar way, and when you get to this point, nothing has ANY dramatic impact or tension.

Sephiroth, Hojo and Rufus are dead, and no amount of nonsense is going to change it.