Final Fantasy VII Remake

[orangpelupa]

@Nesh hmm as far as I remember, it's not really a big issue and easy to ignore. It's just feels inconsistent.

I don't remember the specifics but the feeling is like 'death' is something special and sad etc in ff story but the gameplay completely ignores that with Phoenix Down.

But it's also my memory playing tricks with me

 

[London Geezer]

Yeah the "real dramatic death" vs "oh it's just one of many deaths, use item X and continue" issue is usual video game incoherence, like in so many other games.

 

[Phil]

I always assumed a "death" during combat was more like a KO, which is why the phoenix down works opposed to a cut-scene death that is really death for good.

PS; FFVII - FFIX are my 3 most favorite FF games of all time. Anyone should play them who liked VII. It's hard to pick them, but I think my favorite goes VII > IX > VIII. Although on many levels, I actually liked IX and VIII just as much as VII. VII is easily the most epic though, simply for having Sephiroth as the greatest god-like Villain of all time. But I think both VIII and IX had very very good endings. Heck, they're all fantastic. If I could, I'd love to run them on my phone or a smaller screen device. In fact, I'm not even sure if I want a remake of those games - going through endless amounts of conversation dialogs is more fun when you can read it than if you have to listen to them. As good as Witcher 3 is with all its dialog, sometimes it can get boring. The old games with texts to read definitely had its pros by being able to fly through text more quickly.

 

[Akumajou]

Yeah I must say I would have preferred the old experience updated instead of this and the episodic thing just sound total BS to me. It would have been great to get new stunning looking pre-rendered backdrops, new updated character models and well done voice acting, while keeping everything else the same including the battle system. Would have loved that!

Here's a thought.

Try to find and view most of the Square Enix tech demo presentations...even the ridiculous DX12 Witch demo that was running under four GeForce GTX 980s or Titans? Lol I just saw it yesterday will update.

The difference is FFVIIR is using Unreal engine this time...but the other demos out there are jaw dropping and stunning some were demoed in real time and some were playable hence people's confusion over why UE.

Also there's all those new features of current gen consoles...doing prerendered graphics for a remake is like the devs not wanting to be challenged. See Killer Instinct on Xbone...it had a slow start but eventually if they make a full sequel it may fully surpass both arcade games target prerendered graphics and more.

It's likely they're gonna expand the world and buildings you can interact with.

 

[TEEDA]

I' m really fine with the episodic way they want to go with. I mean If you look at how segmented FFVII really was you hardly really needed to go back to some places because of the scenario and storyline.
From CD 1 to CD2 to CD3 there were hardly sections to rediscover with new events that happened as the story unfold. So I think it is a good idea to focus deeper on sections we could'nt have thought of seeing before.
IMO there is no need to enter every building excepted if there is some interactions or things to find or discover.
At the exception of the worldmap maybe. I remember there were towns in FFVII where some items and materias were cheaper. but when you had 999 999 999 Gils you didn't really care.
I loved using all the materias and the challenge of having to collect all the materia to get the Master Materias was just so good. Combining them during combats was good. One of the cons I found in FFVII they corrected in VIII was the basic ennemies that were still weak. In FFVIII I think the more you were on a higher XP level the more the ennemies got difficult to beat. Or ennemies also had more health.
Also it's kinda difficult to have all likable characters to play with lol. My favorite team was Cloud, Yuffie and Nanaki. I hardly switched between them. unless jsut to get everyone to level 99.
One of the most epic section was having Sephiroth join your team , but not playable =/

 

[Akumajou]

I played the the then U.S. SNES Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III before ever touching the pre-rendered fest in FFVII on PlayStation 1.

The older SNES/SFamiCom had "special areas" that you could explore that were specifically dangerous regardless of how high your level was...meaning enemy encounters could wear you down and cause defeat if you were careless or didn't use team tactics. FFVII lacked this as once you got to a certain level anyone was a joke.

Sure the special monsters were incredibly difficult but they were mostly optional and hard to encounter but were certain death...different skills but weren't special enough like an area.

Hopefully they will address this which is more than likely.

 

[TEEDA]

More complementary details :

Thanks to Mognet's Rin:
Summary of information from the latest Kitase & Nomura interview from Famitsu (12/31 weekly edition):
- Nomura says he didn't know when he'd appear on the PSX stage until the day of the event, after he'd entered Moscone (name of the center in San Francisco where PSX was held).
- Right about when the 7R project was gearing up, it was Hashimoto who said that he wanted the remake to have AC-level visuals. Since Nomura is AC's director, the decision to have him direct 7R was a natural one.
- Nomura knows that we (the fans) are worried about the remake project's schedule, and he says that they (Square Enix) also want to play it ASAP. This is one of the contributing factors to their decision to split the game into several parts.
- Some parts in the Compilation that have been difficult to understand will be connected better in the Remake.
- Nojima was impressed by voiced Biggs, Jessica, and Wedge, and he sent a message to Nomura saying, "I want them to talk more!"
- Part of the escape after the Bombing Mission will serve as a tutorial for the game.
- Nomura says that he and Kitase are not able to discuss online components of the VII Remake at this time. They have to focus on the game first.
- Nojima has finished the main scenario of the first part of the remake. All the team have left to do is add side stuff and flesh out side characters such as Jessica, Wedge, and Biggs.
- Kitase: "I hope to resume voice recording in January. Is that all right with you?" Nomura: "Are we even allowed to say that here? (laugh)"
- Real ≠ Photoreal "Real" is an important keyword for 7R, but Nomura says this does not mean photorealism. The "real" comes from maintaining integrity and unity of the world.
- CC2 may have put together the latest PV. Nomura complained about CC2's difference in directing taste, and so they changed the trailer's style to fit more of SE's.
- The Osaka KH team are in what seems to be frequent contact with the VIIR team back in Tokyo. Specifically, the KH team relay to the VII team about what successes they've had with UE4.
- Nomura says the Shinra soldiers will not reappear in future promotion because they have yet to be refined. Compared to Barret, their design is still very rough, and Nomura says that the soldiers need to be detailed or else they won't appear real.
- Nomura mentions that grains of asphalt looked too big when compared to the size of the characters. He admits that he spent forever getting them to look finer. Kitase also says they're working hard to make the roads look good.
- Nomura says the quality we've seen in the PV will only get better. This is not representative of the final product.
- VII's famous opening, where the camera zooms in all across Midgar, etc., will probably be changed in the remake.
- The remake will have more scenes of people actually living in Midgar.
- The Guard command is being investigated, but the option to dodge is still available.
- Kitase says that VIIR's "ATB" is different, and while they still call it that, its formal name will likely change.
- Another system that is not yet shown involves your party. It is different from party cooperation, though.

To end, here's part of Nojima's message to VII fans:
"This enormous train, FFVII, will take a bit longer to reach your station. Please use this time to prepare yourselves for the journey and battles ahead."

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=189739007&postcount=5440

 

[Silenti]

Can anyone point me to a good, comprehensive, primer for this series? It has been consistently help up as a great series but I have little exposure to it and what exposure I have had was less than a positive. I feel like I am missing something. Was it, is it, a tactical isometric game or an action 3d person game? My limited exposure includes, in order:

1: Movie - Spirits Within? I detested this show. Couldn't stand the story or the way it was presented. I am going to assume that a bad movie is not indicative of the series.

2: Movie - Advents Children? This just drew a bunch of wtf from me. I had no frame of reference and that is a large part of my problem.

3: Small snippets of older gameplay that looked like a tactical game without any positioning. Very off-putting when the only sound I recall, one that just stuck in my mind, was a high pitched schoolgirl voice screaming 'We won!" at the end of a battle sequence. It was like fingers nails on a chalkboard for me.

4: Trailers from the last 3 or 4 games? Really painful dialogue in the most recent one from the Sony E3 2016 pres conference.

I really want to know how, and this is the only character name I think I know, Cloud carries a sword that is 6 feet long, 15 inches wide and an inch thick. Judging by his size that thing is probably double his weight. He looks like he is about 5' tall and weighs about 90lbs soaking wet. Are the characters a video game equivalent of a comic book character and I am lacking origin stories? Is the world fantasy/ magic or sci-fi? Is it supposed to be Earth or elsewhere? Basically, no one I know in RL and only a couple of people on my friends list (who are people I play Destiny with and do not really know) has ever played one of these so I have no one to ask.

 

[I.S.T.]

The Final Fantasy series is, for the most part, disconnected from one another and started as a slightly unusual take on Dragon Quest's gameplay. It brought the spell charges idea in from Dungeons and Dragons, but that was discarded a few games later.

The main theme of the series is that each game is fairly different from the previous if not very different. FF2, for example, is almost nothing like the first game or any of the subsequent ones. The only real common thread is item/weapon/spell names, monsters/summoned monsters(Think how in some games you can summon shit to fight for you, and there you go) and the fact that they're all RPGs of some kind. Some games have sequels or etc but they're specifically designated as such by having the game it's connectedto in the name. Good example is Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Other wise with one minor exception, each numbered FF is a separate game in a separate universe(Later supplementary material revealed that 7 takes place far, far into the future and on another planet in 10's universe. Sole exception to date).

Because the franchise is nearly 30 years old, there are numerous spinoffs, but that's to be expected. As for the movies you saw... Advent Children is a direct sequel to FF7 and was also not particularly coherent even if you played the game. They later made a director's cut for Blu-Ray with newly made footage to make it mopre coherent but honestly you're not missing much.

There's some additional like to video specials related to FF and some novels, but so far anything related to FF that's not a game is really not worth looking into.

One last note: don't expect the games to be particularly well written in general. They get better as the series gets older, more text was allowed due to less space constrictions(SNES cartridges could hold maybe 12 megabytes at most. PS1 CDs could hold 700. Do the math), and they stopped writing exclusively for young children, but it's still not great even at it's, well, greatest.

I'd give more of an overview, but the games are so different that you can't, really. FF is basically an anthology series with some ties between games in a few superficial ways.

 

[Silenti]

The Final Fantasy series is, for the most part, disconnected from one another and started as a slightly unusual take on Dragon Quest's gameplay. It brought the spell charges idea in from Dungeons and Dragons, but that was discarded a few games later.

The main theme of the series is that each game is fairly different from the previous if not very different. FF2, for example, is almost nothing like the first game or any of the subsequent ones. The only real common thread is item/weapon/spell names, monsters/summoned monsters(Think how in some games you can summon shit to fight for you, and there you go) and the fact that they're all RPGs of some kind. Some games have sequels or etc but they're specifically designated as such by having the game it's connectedto in the name. Good example is Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Other wise with one minor exception, each numbered FF is a separate game in a separate universe(Later supplementary material revealed that 7 takes place far, far into the future and on another planet in 10's universe. Sole exception to date).

Because the franchise is nearly 30 years old, there are numerous spinoffs, but that's to be expected. As for the movies you saw... Advent Children is a direct sequel to FF7 and was also not particularly coherent even if you played the game. They later made a director's cut for Blu-Ray with newly made footage to make it mopre coherent but honestly you're not missing much.

There's some additional like to video specials related to FF and some novels, but so far anything related to FF that's not a game is really not worth looking into.

One last note: don't expect the games to be particularly well written in general. They get better as the series gets older, more text was allowed due to less space constrictions(SNES cartridges could hold maybe 12 megabytes at most. PS1 CDs could hold 700. Do the math), and they stopped writing exclusively for young children, but it's still not great even at it's, well, greatest.

I'd give more of an overview, but the games are so different that you can't, really. FF is basically an anthology series with some ties between games in a few superficial ways.

That was quite helpful, thank you. Especially the last line. It explains much that has confused the crap out of me for a long time.

 

[I.S.T.]

No problem.

If you've got a PS3, PSP, Vita or a PC quite a few of the non-spinoffs starting from FF4 on are available. If you're on PSx avoid that port of FF6, though. It was... quite bungled. It's as slow as slow can get. If you've got a Wii U you can get a hold of the original SNES version, named FF3 for reasons that were dumb at the time in their Virtual Console store. Otherwise, the rest of the games function well on other platforms. If you have just a PS4, you have access to FFX/FFX-2(Package deal), and FF12 was announced to be getting a PS4 port about a week ago.

 

[orangpelupa]

Each final Fantasy is final.

At least that's the formula for the main numbers. Those who with additional subtitles and sub number usually have strong relation with its main number.

That's why people like and hate final Fantasy. They like a few numbers and hate the other numbers.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Isn't FF XV somehow related to FF XIII? Don't they at least belong to the same Fabula Nova Crystallis universe?

 

[Nesh]

Isn't FF XV somehow related to FF XIII? Don't they at least belong to the same Fabula Nova Crystallis universe?

That was the original plan. We arent sure now

 

[Silenti]

Only a PS4 and a PC, and the PC certainly is not up to playing much more than net games and old DOSBOX games from GOG, that kind of thing. Which would people recommend I try? Were not some of them online MMO games with sub fees? I would like to avoid that kind of outlay.

Looks like I can get x/X-2 on steam for $30 or the same price on PS4.

 

[Phil]

Can anyone point me to a good, comprehensive, primer for this series? It has been consistently help up as a great series but I have little exposure to it and what exposure I have had was less than a positive.

I still regard FFVII as Squaresofts greatest Final Fantasy game of all times. Closely followed by FFVIII and IX. If you own an iPhone, you can get it for your phone and it's quite playable and enjoyable. I really recommend to playing it. Even with the progress in technology that gaming has gone through since 2 decades, I still think FFVII is one of the most powerful and greatest gaming experiences you can get. The best thing is; it being a turn-based-role-playing-game, it doesn't require skill in hitting the right buttons at the right time, it's all strategic gameplay.

I got the game back sometime in 1999 after hearing so much about it for my PSone and was a bit baffled by what I was playing at first. I was expecting something action orientated and up to that point had never played a turn-based RPG. Being quite at loss on how to play it, I quickly gave up on it until eventually boredom got the better of me and I gave it another try. Sure enough, 2 hours later I was hooked on the storyline and plot and have since then fallen in love with this type of gameplay. While such games can hardly still be played enjoyable on the big screen (I think our expectations of graphics on the big screen have just evolved too much with technology), playing a game such as FFVII on a handheld is perfect. As I said, if you have an iPhone, get it (I don't think it's out for Android, but it was planned AFAIK).

The closest thing I can compare FFVII to is reading this magnificent book. It has so much of detail in the dialogs that it all can't be matched by just watching cut-scenes of the game, or reading a summary of it. Sadly, it's also the reason why the spin-offs, the movie, etc don't even come close to it. They're just fun for the fans who loved the game, nothing more, nothing less. Play the game, you won't regret it.

And if you do - don't spoiler the storyline by reading up on it.

 

[Silenti]

Unfortunately I do not have a smart phone. Not really my thing and have trouble justifying the cost because of that. I could steal my wifes but would probably get in trouble for the 100's of hours part. Really confused how it works on an iphone but was not worthwhile to make it work on a pc, but hey.

 

[Phil]

That's a pitty. I actually think some of these old games play better on the small screen opposed to the big screen where everything gets blown up in size and the low resolution reduces the overall experience.

Another reason why the old FF games (PSone era) work well on smartphones (or handhelds) is that the game is basically played my moving your character across the screen. The iPhone version has a controller overlay, so it's like having a virtual analog stick on screen. The battles always take you into a new "battle screen" where you basically fight the battle by choosing a command like "magic attack" or "normal attack" "defend" etc. It's comparable like chess, ergo, why it's called turn-based. It might not sound great from that angle, but the meat of the experience is in the strategic element (which attacks are effective and which are not) and of course in the overall story line, going through thousands of dialog and decisions you can make.

If you ever find a way to play it, perhaps on a PSP or something, it's well worth it. Or I hear you can get it for PC/OSX too, so maybe on a laptop.

 

[Silenti]

That's a pitty. I actually think some of these old games play better on the small screen opposed to the big screen where everything gets blown up in size and the low resolution reduces the overall experience.

Another reason why the old FF games (PSone era) work well on smartphones (or handhelds) is that the game is basically played my moving your character across the screen. The iPhone version has a controller overlay, so it's like having a virtual analog stick on screen. The battles always take you into a new "battle screen" where you basically fight the battle by choosing a command like "magic attack" or "normal attack" "defend" etc. It's comparable like chess, ergo, why it's called turn-based. It might not sound great from that angle, but the meat of the experience is in the strategic element (which attacks are effective and which are not) and of course in the overall story line, going through thousands of dialog and decisions you can make.

If you ever find a way to play it, perhaps on a PSP or something, it's well worth it. Or I hear you can get it for PC/OSX too, so maybe on a laptop.

Oh, I love me some turned based RPG. Going back at least to Curse of the Azure Bonds and that era, not to mention strategy games like XCOM (original and remake) and Orion. If 7 is the best, I may just wait for the remake they are putting on the PS4.

 

[TEEDA]

Square are still recruiting and gathering backups for the game it seems
http://www.jp.square-enix.com/recruit/career/group/1bd/

We hardly had any news, two pics this year. Only the teaser from PSX. Two months ago the US voice of Cloud twitted he was srill doing voices for the game. Maybe they' re already hiring for Episode 2. Wonder how far episode 1 is. But Nomura still a perfectionnist and working on KH III as a priority i guess. Hope we' ll have a new video at E3.

The latest two screens so far from last february. Nomura said he wanted to show a video but the higher ups were against that idea. So we' ll have to wait.