The Consequences of Getting to Know AVALANCHE Better

[X-SOLDIER]

“While preserving the atmosphere of the original, the scenario will dig deeper into the characters, including members of Avalanche.”

I was thinking more about the fact that the first FFVIIR part is likely to be isolated from Aerith's untimely reunion with Masamune, and with this recent news about the deeper focus on AVALANCHE, I think that there's a possibility that Jesse, Biggs, & Wedge are going to start feeling out a LOT MORE like members of your party than they did in the original game. In the OG, we know they're NPCs because they don't join us in battle, and so our relationship with their fate is distanced compared to what we experience with Aerith.

However, with the first part of the game VERY unlikely to involve the loss of Aerith, I'm betting that the pillar collapse and the confrontation with the Turks is going to be much, MUCH more emotionally-charged. It's a moment of over-the-top corporate evil killing thousands, that fades a lot and is overshadowed by the loss of Aerith, but I think that the Remake has the potential to make every single one of those deaths feel EXPONENTIALLY more impactful this time around.

I'd even be willing to bet that Biggs, Wedge, & Jesse are as fleshed out as Aranea and Iris were in FFXV – not full characters, but WELL more than just NPCs. We'll be able to get attached to them in ways that the original didn't allow, and that in-and-of-itself will VERY significantly shape the perspective and the relationship that we have with the Turks in the title. Especially without having Aerith's death until another part, this has the potential to be THE gut-punching moment that really defines the tone of what it means to surpass the original.





X

[BforBrigitta]

Nooooooooooooooooo I don't know if my heart can take it.

[Mr. Ite]

Yeeeessssssss make me cry, game. Fuck me up!

[Kain424]

Might be getting our hopes up here, but I really hope this is exactly how they do it. Even putting Barret and Tifa on somewhat equal footing with the other AVALANCHE members, so they fell like just the ones that survived.

[looneymoon]

Funny enough, there are certain things I'm simply not worried about when it comes to Square handling things. If there is anything they are really good at, it's handling character drama at pivotal moments in a story.

The KH story is incomprehensible, and FF13 was objectively poorly presented... but I still feel my emotions well up when I listen to music from those series, or I happen to recall a specific moment. I think it's a testament to what they're good at; I am able to recall how parts of a story made me feel, even if the context is lost.

The original FF7 story is something I have an attachment to. Even IF they do a bad job with the Remake overall, you know I will be LIVING for seeing iconic parts of the game with modern cinematics and art direction.

Mr. Ite wrote:

Yeeeessssssss make me cry, game. Fuck me up!

I ghost wrote this post.

[leadmyskeptic]

I think anyone who is old (but still young?) enough to remember playing FFVII as a wee one recalls the crushing feeling of climbing the pillar and seeing your shredded up comrades, that sensation of the world existing outside of just you as the player...while you were off playing cross-dress and flirting with Aeris, the rest of the team was dying trying to defend their turf. And all this with super-deformed, 'chibi' graphics. Now I'm not one to subscribe to the 'better graphics automatically equals more dramatic story presentation', but I definitely think there is potential here. Also, the feeling of climbing the "shiny wire of hope" to get to Shinra HQ, that you are finally storming the very center of the cancerous evil that has the Planet in the chokehold in part for direct vengeance on behalf of AVALANCHE can be made even stronger as well. I (and I know many others as well) have spent a lot of time thinking about the "curtain pull" that happens not long after, where you have spent a whole segment of the game running around Midgar, with Shinra as the "big bad", and all of a sudden you're thrown onto the map, leaving Midgar in the rearview, and this new supernatural enemy who appears to be eclipsing Shinra entirely has appeared. It's a seminal moment in gaming, and probably one of VII's greatest accomplishments. With the expansion of the Midgar section, the AVALANCHE members' character and personalities, and as a result Shinra's profile as the enemy, I'm looking forward to see how they handle this.

[Vyzzuvazzadth]

I second every post in this topic. I've been thinking about this subject many times, especially how several sections and scenes could be handled and expanded upon.

In addition to what X-Soldier said, that gut-punching series of events could be cranked up to eleven, if Barret, Tifa and Cloud - after escaping the pillar using the crane wire - don't land in the playground area, but rather near the border in sector 8, forcing the group to travel through the sector 7 ruins. Just imagine Barret rummaging frantically through the debris, holding on to a very tiny glimmer of hope to find any of his comrades somehow alive.

Also, If I remember correctly, the Plate Fall is the first event that makes Cloud actually feel something. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Cloud react to all this in the Remake.


As a side note, if part 1 happens to end with the escape from Midgar, the Plate Fall would represent the end of act 2, where the protagonist(s) is/are at their lowest point. If part 2 then reaches the summoning of Meteor, Aerith's death would be considered the lowest point for the characters and also the end of act 2, mirroring the one from part 1 nicely.

[Kain424]

Yes, I like that. I'm really digging the idea of expanding Midgar to spend more time with all of these characters. I know it'll probably mirror the original game more than what we're talking about, but I wouldn't mind if it felt like the whole game was going to be AVALANCHE, with a bit more side stuff concerning Aerith.