Hero-of-Time Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 Chapter 13 is super long and chapter 14 is pretty hefty due to boss fights and cutscenes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drahkon Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 10 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: Chapter 13 is super long and chapter 14 is pretty hefty due to boss fights and cutscenes. 10 hours ago, drahkon said: I'm wondering whether I could finish the game before I'm away for the weekend. Looks like it'll take me a while longer then 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Posted September 16 Author Share Posted September 16 (edited) Dived back into this on Saturday after a 6+ month break. It definitely took that first session to get myself back into the swing of things (and I feel like there are still things I'm figuring out again), picking up towards the end of a cave in Chapter 3, and speeding along so that I'm now some 3½ chapters along at the start of Chapter 7 and about to start heading towards Mt. Corel. What I was surprised by returning to this game, or at least across the two sessions I've had since returning to it, is that it feels like the open world is so detached from the linear story being told. After making it out of that cave and heading over to Junon at the end of Chapter 3, I haven't naturally ended up encountering the open world again until the start of Chapter 7, which, uh, is genuinely mind-boggling for a game sold as being open world? When I first played the game back at launch I was doing absolutely everything, and when I left the game around the 10 hour mark, I had essentially spent it exploring every nook and cranny, completing every quest and the like, to 100% completion across just Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. What does it say, then, that returning to the game, I was only 1 level ahead of the expected level curve (going off the recommended level for the main story chapter), despite doing so much beforehand? I suppose there's plenty of gear and gil that it can net you, but man, it really took the wind out of my sails booting this up again and basically realising that the amount of time I'd put in beforehand hadn't really had all that much of an impact on improving things for the party, and before someone says "well maybe you just weren't battling that many things", the side quests themselves have plenty of battles, but I also remember going out of my way to seek them out skimming back through the thread and dodging spoiler tags where I see them, @Hero-of-Time mentioned levelling up quite easy and ending up at Lv 50 by the end of the game despite going through the game in a much more focused and linear fashion, and I have to imagine that backs up what I'm saying a bit in that so much of that EXP must almost certainly be coming from main story beats and bosses. I can't think of many other JRPGs which have as much side content available as this and yet they seem so separated from the core RPGness of it all. I've rattled off a few weird things which have been grinding my gears, then, but mentioning side content and shifting gears, I've got to say, I absolutely freaking adore every mini-game I've come across in this. I enjoyed Queen's Blood back in my first 10 hours with the game and despite such a long break, it didn't take long to get back into the swing of things, and I'm having a blast with it again here. It's SO damn simple but also clearly has a decently high skill cap, and I've been going out of my way to seek challengers, which of course meant I loved a certain tournament. The mini-games in Costa del Sol were good fun, and then the ways in which they choose to gamify events such as an awesome series of events back in Junon similar to how they handled them at the Honey Bee Inn back in Remake was spectacular – I've mentioned it here before, but this to me is such an essential part of what it means to be a Final Fantasy game, making something which could be a cutscene this interactive experience which elevates the scene through your inclusion – I can't help but think back to the opera scene in VI every time I bring this up, but it has been true of every FF I've played so far. I've also tickled some ivories a couple of times with certain characters, and was surprised first and foremost by how intuitive the mini-game of it becomes, before I got the chance to play Tifa's Theme. Tifa's Theme isn't just one of my favourite pieces from VII, or even just Final Fantasy, it's one of my favourite character themes in gaming, period, and I'm not ashamed to say that as the first keys were stroked and I realised what was being played, it had me choking up. I'm really glad that I dropped the game back when I did because of what was going on, as I would've been a mess. Speaking of Junon, the sense of freaking scale at times in this game is INSANE. Just seeing that big ol' gun from so many different perspectives, but then walking through the streets and seeing so, so many people, and at times having so, so many people follow you...the production values aren't just off the chart, but I feel that they went to the right places when I'm left awestruck like I have been several times since returning to the game. I'm also just loving the characters I come across, whether it be a generic NPC in the background screaming about how they don't know what they're doing on a Segway, some Shinra middle manager who must be an undercover Sephiroth Shadow because COME ON HOW IS HE ALWAYS IN THE SAME PLACE AS US, one of the big bad villains, lower league Shinra members, but especially the party itself. Everyone is just so wonderfully realised and voiced to perfection. There's just a charm and silliness here that wasn't really that present in XVI, I know they wanted to go for something else in that game, but I keep finding myself grinning from just how silly this game consistently gets at times. Music, it goes without saying, has been phenomenal since returning to Rebirth, not just in the typical "this is Final Fantasy and it is meeting my insane expectations for Final Fantasy" way, but in the "oh, this is going to be the best music in gaming this year, sorry to everyone else I guess but thanks for showing up and taking part?" way that we've been spoiled with on the FF front for a good while now, what with Remake, XVI and now Rebirth all having spectacular OSTs. I'm doing my best to avoid looking up track names because I've managed to avoid spoilers for 6+ months and don't want to increase my odds of coming across them now, but there's just so much great stuff, and it's so varied but also nuanced in how it can escalate or de-escalate depending on a widening or narrowing of scope, such as how the very suave, California highway in the 60s, bossa nova-ish Costa del Sol track just morphs into so many different forms while you explore that locale. The battle music and boss tracks in particular continue to be on a whole other level of epic, and looking back at what I said last time, mentioning bosses, I just want to highlight that the most fun with this game I'm having in combat encounters is with bosses. They're soooooooo good! So, while returning to it I'm still not fully sold on the open world (I may just look into if there's a point in the story where everything opens up at once before I imagine it narrows its focus for the finale) or the idea of the side quests, I'm having a blast. Like with Remake, I think the more focused and linear parts of this game where it seems at its closest to adapting the original VII are where it is at its strongest, with some of the content filling the gaps between those points, for me, feeling a little weaker, but totally understandable to include given the scope of the game and needing to bridge gaps between those original events and locations. I'm not sure when and where this game ends exactly (from the trailers I remember it at least goes as far as Temple of the Ancients), but I could see the final entry in the trilogy narrowing things back down in scale a bit purely because I think that would best serve the story, whereas having the middle chapter have these optional sprawling areas makes complete sense to me, because it will literally end up being left open-ended, so why wouldn't the world also be? This all being said, with how Remake ended - which was a bit too much for my tastes, story-wise, just with how off-the-wall it went - and how much this game hasn't really done that yet outside of what I remember of its opening...it's hard to not be a little nervous about where this is all heading. I'm all for them going off the rails to an extent, but I hope it makes some level of sense. And by that, I mean actual sense, not the typical Square Enix kind Anyways, super happy to be back playing this, and looking forward to popping here from time to time to comment on particular aspects as The Unknown Journey continues Edited September 16 by Julius 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Posted September 18 Author Share Posted September 18 Chapter 7 rounded off, and the highlight of it all is this very unique reaction of Barret's to Yuffie's sass... Spoiler 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Posted September 19 Author Share Posted September 19 (edited) Chapter 8 got me, that was wonderfully done First time at Gold Saucer was great, looking forward to going back when some of the locked off stuff hopefully becomes playable. Not all of those mini-games were created equal (despite the lovely looking polygonal models from the original game, that "boxing" one was a bit of a miss for me), but I did have a great time! Cait Sith's theme is excellent: Though I do miss the organ from the original Really impressed by just how well animated Cait Sith is in this, he's incredibly expressive. Yeah, I'm honestly just ignoring the open world and a lot of the optional quests at this point and treating it like a much more linear game, partly because of what I mentioned before about not really feeling the benefits of exploring the open world, but also, the story is really just pulling me along and I'm having so much fun just spending time with the party and seeing how they interact. It's a shame, and I'd call myself something of an open world defender - of good open worlds, anyways, of which there are few - but there's just so little interactivity in the open world that it feels like little more than set dressing to me most of the time. Of the side content, beyond a planned return to Gold Saucer to make sure I play enough games to collect all the prizes, Queen's Blood is still getting played every chance I get, and the cards I picked up from Gold Saucer have seamlessly fitted into my existing deck –and I can't see that changing before credits roll. I'm not typically a huge "card game in a video game" guy but over the last few months I've really turned around on them, what between Pazaak in KOTOR and Sabacc in Outlaws. Now we're just trucking along, heading south... Edited September 19 by Julius 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Posted Sunday at 10:30 PM Author Share Posted Sunday at 10:30 PM (edited) Chapters 9 and 10 completed today. Chapter 9 was fantastic. By far the coolest Cloud has been in the remake project so far, and... Spoiler ...of course it's when he's doing his best Sephiroth RP Chapter 10 then came along and just doubled down on the hard-hitting story beats. Spoiler The visuals in this game are stunning, especially so in the cutscenes. You can tell by just how many "edits" there are in these alone that there's so much care and effort put into the game, never mind the fact that it's probably got some of the best "cinematography" in AAA gaming right now outside of Sony's first-party offerings (y'know, your GoWs, your TLOUs). It's so refreshing after playing something like Outlaws last month where the "camera" just felt so...static, whereas in this, it almost feels like a character unto itself. I need to praise the combat once again, as being at or just under the recommended level with following the main story seems to be this sweet spot for emphasising just how tremendous these boss fights are. I love this game's combat, and as much as I enjoyed so much of Final Fantasy XVI, Square Enix need to stop being silly now: the Action ATB they introduced in VII Remake is BY FAR AND AWAY one of the best combat systems in a modern action RPG. This needs to be all over the near future of Final Fantasy for me, I don't think they can reasonably go back to pure turn-based for the mainline games, and while I think it will take more than this for the franchise to become a juggernaut again, they should really take this and tweak it across multiple games in the same way that ATB was introduced in IV and stuck around until IX. I realise I'm saying this with a few games to catch up on from this year, but having played Shadow of the Erdtree and having had a whale of a time with its bosses and knowing full well the strength of its roster of boss encounters, I feel qualified to say it: Rebirth has some of the best boss encounters in gaming this year, hands down. So far so many of them have been incredibly fun, they somehow always feel fresh and inject even more life and immediacy into the game, and they're guaranteed to be a spectacle. Look, I've got issues with the open world and side quests of Rebirth, which I'm still almost entirely ignoring to focus on the story, and I do think having an open world game like this and as much side content as this game does feel so separate should hurt the game – but it doesn't, and I'm kind of in awe of the fact that it doesn't; I don't honestly know how I'm supposed to weigh my perspective of the open world against the broader game given that it feels like almost entirely optional, incredibly expensive, beautiful-looking but not so interactive set dressing, and there's so far been no punishment whatsoever for avoiding it in terms of moment-to-moment gameplay or my enjoyment of the game. It kind of reminds me of Elden Ring and how some loved exploring the open world, and others didn't, but those that didn't could beeline to the next legacy dungeon or point of interest and they'd still be able to have a blast with the game. Which is all to say that, yep, I'm still having a blast with Rebirth – despite not finding enjoyment in its open world, it is still making me feel how I wanted to feel about this game watching its many trailers and anticipating its release. The music. The characters. The story beats. I've still got some ways to go - apparently I'm around ⅔ in, according to the progress tracker back on the PS5 main menu - but even if this game somehow falls on its face towards the end (which I'm half-expecting because as much as I enjoyed Remake and the risk it took, it did also kind of do the same with its story), it has really reinforced my love and appreciation of Final Fantasy VII, as in the original 1997 game. It's making me want to go back and revisit the original – it's been a while since I played through it, and I think it had its issues, but, what, some 7+ years removed from clearing that game for the first and only time, I'm playing through this and constantly going "so we've still got that to come up, I think...oh, and then there's that, too!", and remembering with surprising accuracy which beat is coming up next – I mean, how many modern releases do you think you'll be saying that about in 7 years' time? I seriously doubt there'll be too many. And so the final act of this middle chapter of The Unknown Journey begins...can't wait Edited Sunday at 10:45 PM by Julius 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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