Final Fantasy VII Remake

[Ashley]

At least give him credit for his monstrosity 😋

 

[Goafer]

"Hey Sephiross, I heard Aerith ate your sandwich."

Edited April 13, 2020 by Goafer

[Shorty]

I definitely like this game a lot more in the second half. There's some consistently infuriating parts and the dialogue/cutscenes occasionally get barf-level corny but the overall gameplay etc is much better. I'm pretty close to the end and then I accidentally read a trophy that sounds like a huge spoiler, but we'll see.

[Julius]

Outperformed other big-hitting PS exclusives in the same 3 day window:

- Spider-Man: 3.3M

- God of War: 3.1M

- Uncharted 4: 2.7M

 

In short, they smashed it. I loved my time with the game, and these sales are well deserved. Now the questions for me are if some of S-E's gambles with this game pay off next time around: where they position Part II (do you save it for later in the generation and a larger install base, or have it out as soon as possible in 2022/2023?); and if this success impacts their schedule for XVI at all?

Edited April 21, 2020 by Julius

[Julius]

First publicly shared Spoiler Mode from Easy Allies since God of War, featuring a Maximilian Dood:

Three hours of spoiler-filled FFVIIR discussion goodness. Let's mosey. 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Julius

[Blade]

I finally finished the game last night. It absolutely blew me away. I have played the original more than enough times to know what happens. This is a completely worthy remake and I enjoyed every second of it. It has kept most of the original material to arise the nostalgia but there is so much new content to justify it being a reimagining of the story in its own right.

Lots of discussion has been said about what happens, how it is only the first part and how the developer's intentions were not conveyed enough to make clear that the game was not a 1:1 remake (like for example Links Awakening) but that does not bother me. I did not follow development of the game at all (to avoid any kind of spoilers). I enjoyed that it is different but the same FFVII we know and love. 

Cannot wait for Part II. I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.

 

[Julius]

Tim Rogers, aka the Dragon Quest guy over at Kotaku, has released his first Action Button review (he left Kotaku a little while back). It's three hours long. 

Hell yes. 

[Julius]

Starting my game music collection off on the right foot. Easily one of my favourite soundtracks, such a great revitalisation of many of the original tracks. 

You can bet I'm keeping that protective sleeve  mainly because I had no idea the packaging was so...ornate. 

Includes some bonus tracks when compared with the standard version too, like the music found on the collectible music discs, which I loved. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Julius

[Sheikah]

I finally got round to starting this a few days ago. It's really quite something, especially if you were a huge fan of the original.

The character models, voice acting and mannerisms are perfect, god knows how long they spent perfecting these. The combat system which I didn't like in the demo also works really well I think. The sphere grid-like weapon upgrade system and return of materia really add a lot.

The only thing I'm not too fond of is some of the dungeons themselves, which I feel overstay their welcome sometimes. I've enjoyed a lot of the quests though! I'm looking forward to seeing how the story matches up with the original as time goes on.

[Julius]

Dynamic Tifa theme is now finally available in Europe on the PS Store, for free. 

[Happenstance]

Finally got around to completing the game. I absolutely loved it! I need the next one now!

Currently sitting watching the credits and listening to the music. Makes me even sadder that the concert got postponed this year.

[Sheikah]

49 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

Finally got around to completing the game. I absolutely loved it! I need the next one now!

Currently sitting watching the credits and listening to the music. Makes me even sadder that the concert got postponed this year.

What did you think about the last quarter or so of the game?

 

I was left feeling disappointed that they felt they needed to transpose Sephiroth in constantly (he shouldn't even be in the game at this point), and how dragged out the last parts of the game were. Well, to be honest, a lot of the game was dragged out. I think the Youtuber Dunkey got a lot right in his review of the game - summed up perfectly when voicing his frustrations about the robotic arm mini game. In the original game, those arms were just part of the background scenery.

The jumping through space on debris section at the end was really silly as well I thought. Overall I was left feeling that this wasn't a patch on the original game, and I'm worried that they are making this another Kingdom Hearts - i.e. incomprehensible, long-winded guff that can quite easily form its own franchise.

There were things I liked (e.g. the reconstruction of towns with modern day graphics), but just a lot that didn't hit home for me. The characters themselves are more annoying and "anime-like" (in their mannerisms/speech) than they ever were in the original game. The combat is fun enough, but still not as refined as turn based. And it really showed, in my opinion, that they were stretching a few hours of content into a whole game.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Sheikah

[Happenstance]

8 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

What did you think about the last quarter or so of the game?

  Reveal hidden contents

I was left feeling disappointed that they felt they needed to transpose Sephiroth in constantly (he shouldn't even be in the game at this point), and how dragged out the last parts of the game were. Well, to be honest, a lot of the game was dragged out. I think the Youtuber Dunkey got a lot right in his review of the game - summed up perfectly when voicing his frustrations about the robotic arm mini game. In the original game, those arms were just part of the background scenery.

The jumping through space on debris section at the end was really silly as well I thought. Overall I was left feeling that this wasn't a patch on the original game, and I'm worried that they are making this another Kingdom Hearts - i.e. incomprehensible, long-winded guff that can quite easily form its own franchise.

There were things I liked (e.g. the reconstruction of towns with modern day graphics), but just a lot that didn't hit home for me. The characters themselves are more annoying and "anime-like" (in their mannerisms/speech) than they ever were in the original game. The combat is fun enough, but still not as refined as turn based. And it really showed, in my opinion, that they were stretching a few hours of content into a whole game.

I loved all of it

Spoiler

I thought it was such a smart way to do a remake but not just be constrained by the original game. The Sephiroth fight didn’t bother me one bit because that was the whole point of it, he wasn’t supposed to be there and destiny is changing. The entire thing has left me so excited for the sequels now where anything is possible.

 

[Sheikah]

40 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

I loved all of it

  Spoilers (Hide contents)

I thought it was such a smart way to do a remake but not just be constrained by the original game. The Sephiroth fight didn’t bother me one bit because that was the whole point of it, he wasn’t supposed to be there and destiny is changing. The entire thing has left me so excited for the sequels now where anything is possible.

 

 

It didn't make sense to me that Sephrioth would want to break fate, and this even being a thing suggests breaking the fourth wall - why desire to break fate unless Sephiroth already knows the outcome of the original game? It also felt like a bit of fan service - creating a situation where Zack lives, and no doubt Aeris too. In fact I felt much of the plot was revolving around the fate of Aeris (rather than her being a part of it), which felt very much fan service.

Also, don't they only break fate at the end of the game? Sephiroth being there so early on didn't feel right at all to me. I guess the real reason he's there is because they wanted to put him there. S-E know they have a golden goose with Sephiroth.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Sheikah

[Happenstance]

2 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

  Hide contents

It didn't make sense to me that Sephrioth would want to break fate, and this even being a thing suggests breaking the fourth wall - why desire to break fate unless Sephiroth already knows the outcome of the original game? It also felt like a bit of fan service - creating a situation where Zack lives, and no doubt Aeris too. In fact I felt much of the plot was revolving around the fate of Aeris (rather than her being a part of it), which felt very much fan service.

Also, don't they only break fate at the end of the game? Sephiroth being there so early on didn't feel right at all to me. I guess the real reason he's there is because they wanted to put him there. S-E know they have a golden goose with Sephiroth.

Spoiler

Sephiroth wants to break fate because he does remember the original game, so does Aerith to a point (I assume because they both died and went back to the life stream). He knows he lost the first time around.

 

[Goafer]

7 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

  Hide contents

It didn't make sense to me that Sephrioth would want to break fate, and this even being a thing suggests breaking the fourth wall - why desire to break fate unless Sephiroth already knows the outcome of the original game? It also felt like a bit of fan service - creating a situation where Zack lives, and no doubt Aeris too. In fact I felt much of the plot was revolving around the fate of Aeris (rather than her being a part of it), which felt very much fan service.

Also, don't they only break fate at the end of the game? Sephiroth being there so early on didn't feel right at all to me. I guess the real reason he's there is because they wanted to put him there. S-E know they have a golden goose with Sephiroth.

Spoiler

They only fully broke fate at the end, but they'd been resisting the whispers all the way through, with events like Wedge and Zach surviving going against it.

I think the timelines split when Zach survived, creating the whispers. Zach is now alive, but left Cloud thinking he had died, as he realised the timeline had split (same as Aerith and Sephiroth). Zach is currently off doing something timeline/Sephiroth related and will reveal himself now that fate has fully been broken.

Now that fate has been defeated, the whispers will no longer interfere and anything goes, although the characters may still repeat previous actions in places.

That's my theory anyway.

 

[Mandalore]

Over 5 million copies sold. Is that even a good number for a game of this scale, will they have even broken even yet?

[Will]

37 minutes ago, Mandalore said:

Over 5 million copies sold. Is that even a good number for a game of this scale, will they have even broken even yet?

Depends how many of those are actually in consumers hands. The article says that’s numbers shipped so it’s pretty difficult to say if they’ll have broken even on it. 

If they do manage to sell all 5 million of the shipped copies then they’d need to really overspend not to make a profit. I’d imagine they’ll end up profitable on the title in the end.

Edited August 7, 2020 by will'

[Julius]

54 minutes ago, Mandalore said:

Over 5 million copies sold. Is that even a good number for a game of this scale, will they have even broken even yet?

That's crazy good, and apparently it's the most digital sales they've had for a game (2 million units I think I read) too. 

As for your question: I would have to guess so, if that that report about XV saying that it broke even on its launch day with the five million units it shipped is anything to go by (in stark contrast to the 10 million I think Tabata mentioned was needed to break even before launch). That game was in development hell for the best part of a decade, and had a new engine built for it, so if there's any truth to that report I think FFVIIR should be fine.

Also important to remember that that was multiplatform, too, whereas Final Fantasy VII Remake is exclusive for a year, so I'm sure there's some sort of financial deal going on between PlayStation and Square Enix for it to have at least broken even at this point. The only real hiccup with Remake's development was CyberConnect working on the project with oversight from SE, only to then be taken off it for SE proper to take charge.

Since the move for Square Enix Japan as a whole - apart from Luminous Productions who are still trying to make sure Luminous Engine doesn't go to waste after their massive investment - to move AAA projects to Unreal Engine 4 (Dragon Quest XI was from the start; Kingdom Hearts 3 was moved to it by the end of production, as was Final Fantasy VII Remake), production seems to have gone much smoother. I think it's a sign going into this next generation that we can finally expect some more typical turnaround times in line with the rest of the industry on their AAA projects using Unreal Engine, and so I would be very surprised if any of Dragon Quest XII, Final Fantasy XVI, and Final Fantasy VII Remake Pt. 2 weren't released by the end of 2023. 

I think it's kind of hard to gauge profitability on this game too just because of how many high quality assets (in particular the character models of the main cast), mechanics, and animations will likely carry over to the next however many parts we end up getting. If I recall correctly, animation rigs for scenes from later parts were found in the datamine of the demo earlier this year too, so I would guess that a lot of ground moving forward has already had pre-production (of course made somewhat easier considering that this is a remake too). Because of this, I think it's difficult to hone in on this first part and judge it's profitability in a fair way, considering how much of the heavy lifting has likely already been done across the board. 

Even if they haven't broke even yet, I'm confident they will soon. The game has only just had its first drop in price on the PlayStation Store as part of this month's deals, and the closer we get to Christmas, the closer I'm sure it will get to a solid price for an impulse buy. Then next year there'll be the PC release, which I'm sure will sell really well too. 

Edited August 7, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

Phew...just finished Chapter 12.

Spoiler

So many people died...I mean, I knew what was going to happen, but still

17 hours in. Having an absolute blast.

I've said it in the gaming diary thread but I'll say it again: the boss battles are a delight. Every single one has been spectacular. And very fun to figure out how to best approach the fight.

[Julius]

3 hours ago, drahkon said:

Phew...just finished Chapter 12.

  Chapter 12 Spoilers (Reveal hidden contents)

So many people died...I mean, I knew what was going to happen, but still

17 hours in. Having an absolute blast.

I've said it in the gaming diary thread but I'll say it again: the boss battles are a delight. Every single one has been spectacular. And very fun to figure out how to best approach the fight.

Glad to see you're having a great time with it so far drahkon! One of those games where the more I think about it the more I want to return to it, because the world, characters, and the combat are just so brilliantly done - it's pretty much all improved upon from the original, which set such a high bar as it was already. Some of those boss battles are hands down some of my favourite in gaming, and I'm sure you'll have a blast with what's left to come too! 

Any particular favourite boss encounters or standout track from your experience so far? 

[drahkon]

8 hours ago, Julius said:

Any particular favourite boss encounters or standout track from your experience so far? 

I'm a sucker for one on one battles so

Spoiler

the first fight against Reno was great.

But no fight really stood out. They are all equally impressive.
And the OST as a whole is sooooo good. I do enjoy all battle themes the most, though

Gotta go to work now. Will definitely be a quick one 'cause I wanna play more

Edited September 3, 2020 by drahkon

[Sheikah]

On 02/09/2020 at 11:27 PM, Julius said:

Glad to see you're having a great time with it so far drahkon! One of those games where the more I think about it the more I want to return to it, because the world, characters, and the combat are just so brilliantly done - it's pretty much all improved upon from the original, which set such a high bar as it was already. Some of those boss battles are hands down some of my favourite in gaming, and I'm sure you'll have a blast with what's left to come too! 

Any particular favourite boss encounters or standout track from your experience so far? 

I'm wondering if this is a new generation thing, because that bolded bit couldn't be further from my opinion. In fact to me that seems crazy.

The original FFVII is a timeless classic. It's also the whole story in one game instead of a few hours of content spaced out over a game like the first remake is.

Thinking about it, the music, characters, story, and the amount of content is just much better in the original game; if you were to compare the games graphically side by side then the remake would technically win but there is something nice about the prerendered backdrops in the original. Also for its time, the original FFVII was a much bigger deal in terms of visuals than the remake is now.

They're also trying to serialise the remake from the look of it - it feels like it's going the way of Kingdom Hearts, which would be a very bad thing. I appreciate they're trying to do something different with the story but I can already see it becoming overly complex.

[Julius]

1 hour ago, Sheikah said:

I'm wondering if this is a new generation thing, because that bolded bit couldn't be further from my opinion. In fact to me that seems crazy.

The original FFVII is a timeless classic. It's also the whole story in one game instead of a few hours of content spaced out over a game like the first remake is.

Thinking about it, the music, characters, story, and the amount of content is just much better in the original game; if you were to compare the games graphically side by side then the remake would technically win but there is something nice about the prerendered backdrops in the original. Also for its time, the original FFVII was a much bigger deal in terms of visuals than the remake is now.

They're also trying to serialise the remake from the look of it - it feels like it's going the way of Kingdom Hearts, which would be a very bad thing. I appreciate they're trying to do something different with the story but I can already see it becoming overly complex.

To be clear, I was speaking strictly about the world, characters, and combat all (pretty much) being improved upon, it was a continuation of the same sentence, but that's my bad for not being clearer  when I finished the game back in April I shared what I thought the flaws were, so I'm certainly not of the opinion that everything is better this time around, just that pretty much all of the the world, (to clarify, main cast/secondary) characters, and the combat are; the rest I guess we'll have to wait and see! 

I love the original game, and really want to play it all through again before Part 2 of the Remake Project, but the parts I mentioned just feel so much more fleshed out here. Yes, there are issues with pacing and other things which are going to split opinion, but Midgar being realised as fully as it is; the care and thought put in to flesh out the main cast (who are written better in my opinion this time around) and many of the secondary characters; as well as the moment-to-moment enjoyment I got from the combat is what I'm referring to, mainly. 

I love turn-based battles, but it's the way in which the new battle system pays homage to and incorporates the original which makes me enjoy it so much, especially with it feeling so much more involved. It needs some refinement, without a doubt, but it's a solid foundation for this project's combat system as a whole. I'm also a big fan of the pre-rendered backgrounds of the original, but yeah, that's not what I was talking about 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

Reached chapter 14 today and it seems like this is the last "open" chapter. Lots of side quests and activities to do.

I really don't want this game to end It is sooooooo good.