#also ffviiR players

[hypaalicious]

I'm a body hair fan to a degree but it depends on the person. I don't think the goatee looks horrible on Prom, but I'm not the biggest fan of it lol I prefer him without. But the chest hair idea is 👌👌👌 and Iggy wasn't my first hand/wrist kink but he sure is my strongest with the feeling lol I was so indifferent to xv for so long but I wanted it because I'm a die hard FF fan I've played all the games minus some of the early ones. I only just got xv in August though so I'm new to the Fandom but I didn't think I'd love it THIS much. It's my 2nd fave by far, and only past by X due to nostalgia of X being my first FF. And Ignis.. Was not the one I expected to be into AT ALL lol

Ignis hell is warm, and so very eternal. ☺️

Yeah I don’t care for body hair, but if it’s well trimmed or not a tremendous amount I can handle it. Just don’t be coming at me with shit I gotta take a weed whacker to and we all good 😂

My first FF was FFX, too! I had no reason to play any single player games prior to that point; I have an older brother that kept me on my toes with Street Fighter and racing games and stuff like that. But when he got married and moved out, I didn’t know what to do with myself. Fighting games weren’t as fun anymore and I got bored racing the computer on anything else, so I picked up FFX when it came out and absolutely fell in love! Also cried through the whole ending credits; that’s how I learned FF will emotionally cripple you 😂

After that, I went backwards in the series. I have FFI-VI on my phone, and the rest in physical Playstation copies. But tbh, after FFXII I kinda… stopped being as hype for new FF. FFXIII wasn’t very memorable to me, the sequel tried to be what FFX-2 was and failed, and I have the 3rd game but never even touched it. Then ofc, Squenix decided to break into MMORPGs and i don’t fuck with those. It was a pleasant surprise that FFXV got me as good as it did cause I wasn’t intrigued initially.

The new single-player FF just… 🥴 Chile, I’m not here for it, sorry. None of the characters are hot, they look plain asf, the flashiness of the combat system doesn’t sell me, and what little they hinted at the storyline is meh. So… I’m good with XV being the last new FF I play, not counting remakes like FFVIIR.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your stay in FFXV fandom hell (and Ignis hell)! I actually don’t even know how active it is anymore, but every time the anniversary comes up I’m reminded that the community is still kicking ☺️

#I typed a lot sorry! #you probably ain’t ask for all that LOL #ah well #honestly Squenix is a big disappointment these days #they have a lot of money and chase it at all costs even if the ideas are dumb #and if it flops they just turn around and resurrect classics to remake to keep our money 😂 #not so Anon ask

[browniefox]

Okay slightly more in depth thoughts on the first few hours of FFXVI.

The game starts off with a fight between two summons (or I guess they're called Eikonics? I'll probably still call them summons), and then into the middle of a big war going on, and THEN into Clive's childhood - which goes on for EXTREMELY long for a supposed flashback scene. It reminds me of Sea of Stars, with the sense that the devs had a few ideas of how they wanted to start things off and couldn't choose just one.

I'm torn on the fact that they let you read up about the world lore. On one hand, great! I was getting confused, I'm glad I can get more details, and it's clear they really fleshed out a lot of this world. On the other hand, though, doing so takes the pressure off of the game to interestingly and cohesively at least attempt to teach the player about it. In general, this game so far almost hits me more like someone wanted to make a movie or TV series, but squenix does video games so game it is!

Building off of that, there's so many cut scenes so far. I think I've been engaged in fight, like, ten times? For how many hours (probably 2-ish) I've been 'playing' this game, it's not a lot. Again, I realize I'm pretty early in, so I'm not making any kind of too big judgements yet, but I am, you know, noting these things.

Fighting so far is pretty good. I think I'm being a little critical of it rn bc I really liked FFVIIR's system. I'm start to begin getting the hang of the different range of attacks and combos, which lends more fun to it. I'm also hoping that when I get more people on my party, I'll have some more range to do more things.

And speaking of party members, hoping we get at least six (and hoping one is not Cid. Guy looks too pretty and also too similar to Clive). I need some characters with whimsy stat.

Other Random Notes:

-Damn, Clive hearing a screeching sound and then seeing a hooded figure amongst flames? He's got Cloud syndrome

-Initially thought that Clive was Ifrit (I'm assuming that's the other fire Eikonic) and while I'm not totally unconvinced yet, disappointed that rn they're making it seem like he's not ;-;

-I also thought at first, because of how the scene was framed, that the big beefy guy was the the person who became Shiva, and fuck I wish it was, that would have been so good

-I do like that the 'summons' work like summons seemed to in the original FFVII, I think that's neat

#browniefox speaks #ffxvi #brownie plays ffxvi

[magical-xirl-4]

Ugh, I had to see a disgusting comment on Twitter from someone saying that he wants to "see Aerith's death FF16 style or otherwise the story will collapse" or something like that. Like, I know Twitter has trashy people like him all the time, but his comment was just the worst. Why does everything in FF7R have to hinge around Aerith's death??? I understand the themes that scene from the original game was conveying, but still!! FF7R doesn't have to follow that scene! I want Aerith to live so she can get a happy ending AND to spite losers who hate her, like that one guy on Twitter who made that disgusting comment about her.

It’s definitely not the first time I’ve seen weirdos like that. When they describe it, it sounds like they like torture porn or something, it’s very strange. Wanting to see her die in a gruesome way so they could be satisfied just straight up makes them sexist, plain and simple. If you hate Aerith and/or want her to be brutally murdered, I’m sorry but you’re just a misogynist.

Her death isn’t the thing that makes the game special imo, it is a stand out feature because it was so revolutionary, but this is a new generation of gaming, doing the exact same thing as they did in 1997 will achieve nothing. FFVII’s original story is already complete and available for you to play if you have the game on PS1, or if you have $15 and have a PS4/PS5. It’s basically perfect in its own right, and making Rebirth and the R series in general doesn’t take away the fact that it’s still there and exists. FFVIIR is going for something new, and it is especially going for something new regarding Aerith. The developers have spoken through her, she is the most important character in Remake, and she knows the future; everything points to her fate being different. Everything in Remake points to things being different, and the Rebirth trailer reminds us of that too. Doing something new for a new generation makes sense.

I also want Aerith to be happy and have a happy ending. She didn’t want to die, and it’s clear that she wants to be with her friends because she is lonely after her death*. Having a character rewrite her fate and say “no!! I get to choose my destiny!” is powerful and moving. She gets to make the choice in wanting to live, going against a pre-ordained path and even going against the beliefs of many players, meaning that her taking back agency is powerful even in a meta sense.

I think Aerith having this sort of development is absolutely fitting for her character. It’s so her. It’s so Aerith. And quite simply, that makes the dudebros mad. They hate to see a female character being autonomous and independent, especially Aerith, who subverted expectations in 1997 with her feminism. Her living will basically be a “fuck you” to them, because she’s going to subvert expectations again, and be amazing while doing it.

*: The original Advent Children script for the end credits said that although she was smiling at Cloud, she looked sad (or lonely, I can’t remember that clearly). And no, just because Zack is dead, it doesn’t mean she wants to be with him. She isn’t shown interacting with him outside of Advent Children in the Lifestream (who was there to help out Cloud), in Case of the Lifestream: White, she calls Cloud her lover (a very canon book unlike the next mentioned one), and in Maiden of The Planet, where she actually does have an interaction with Zack, she rejects him. But that one’s not canon apparently, so they basically have nothing to suggest that they would be together in the Lifestream. Case in point, Aerith is better off alive with her friends and her lover. I don’t care if Zack lives or dies again to be honest, but it’d actually be nice if he lives so he can be with Cloud. (Hmm, interesting how Zack living never bothers the dudebros and only makes them overjoyed that a character goes against their fate, isn’t it? 🤔)

#I just can’t help but write an essay from one single ask lmao #I love Aerith so much that’s why #final fantasy #aerith #ask #anon

[buffaloborgine]

A tribute to Genesis Rhapsodos before FFVIIR Intergrade release

I want to write some lines before Intergrade finally comes this night. 

It doesn’t matter if he appears in the DLC or not. It really doesn’t.  What matters is Square Enix really makes people remind themselves that Genesis is not a retcon character that exists in a non-canon timeline.  Genesis Rhapsodos deserves a comeback, he really does. 

Looking back on the journey, you will see that not only the players, but also the characters in the game don’t remember about him.  Those that know about him are dead, like Angeal, Zack, Hollander the 2nd and 3rd SOLDIERs that follow him, his adoptive parents and the people in the town he grew up from.  Those that know about him but the memory of him is so trivial it doesn’t matter, like Sephiroth, Cloud, Kunsel, Hojo and the Turks.  Those that know about him but condemns him as something taboo, like President Shinra.  Those that know about him but just like him, get forgotten and locked away, like the colored Tsviets.  And those that knows nothing about him. 

The majority of the fandom thinks highly about Sephiroth, for him being praised as the Silver Hero, he who has a sad background and has to go through a mental breakdown.  The majority of the fandom respects Angeal, for him being the figure that Zack looks up to, he who even at death door still holds onto honor.  But the majority of the fandom either see Genesis as a thorn in the eye or a joke character, either because they don’t understand Genesis or they don’t want to.  While asking the question about why on Sephiroth and Angeal, no one asked that question on Genesis. Because through Zack’s POV, we comfortably let ourselves see Genesis as an annoying, selfish, illogical character instead of asking the question “Why did he do that?”. 

Maybe we will have a proper explanation for Genesis in Intergrade.  Maybe we don’t.  Maybe we have to look for that answer ourselves.  But only if we care enough. 

Please give some thoughts about Genesis Rhapsodos. Truth sometimes doesn’t lay on the surface but deep below. 

#FFVII #Final Fantasy VII #FFVII Remake #FFVIIR Intergrade #FFVII Crisis Core #ffvii dirge of cerberus #Genesis Rhapsodos #Angeal Hewley #Sephiroth #Zack Fair #Tsviets #tribute #Genesis did nothing wrong #give Genesis more love #before it's too late

[terra-fatalis]

Talk about a coincidence!

A possible connection between Aerith and Stamp (as a reference of Zack)

---

BEFORE READING: This post is based on theories more than actual facts, since the true nature of Stamp hasn’t been revealed yet. I’ll provide some elements that could hint its connection with Zack but all this has to be considered as a personal opinion. If this will turn out to be all wrong, I apologize in advance.

(Link for the previous post here)

---

Stamp is a new character introduced in FFVIIR. It is:

“A sweet little canine character beloved by the citizens of Midgar. A regular fixture in cartoons and movies, his face is on every corner of the city either in toy or poster form. Originally used as propaganda material during wartime.”

Most of the fans assume that this dog is a metaphor to represent Zack. The main proof for this theory is the fact that, in Crisis Core, Angeal used to compare Zack to a puppy:

“Are you Zack, the puppy? My son wrote to me once about you, zero attention span, restless as a little puppy.” - [Angeal’s mother to Zack].

This description links up very well with Stamp’s song lyrics (here).  

The biggest mistery around this character is its double design: it is shown to be a beagle during the whole game, but in the end we can see it as a terrier. 

My personal opinion is that this is a metaphor about Cloud’s fake persona. We, players, mostly play as Cloud, so we see the elements of the game through his eyes (and we never see Stamp when we are not Cloud).Cloud thinks to be a former SOLDIER because he’s overlapped his image on Zack’s. 

“Real-Stamp” (Zack) is the terrier, but we see it as a beagle (Cloud) because we see the world through his alter ego. 

At the end of the game, when Zack defeats his destiny, we can see terrier-Stamp because Cloud has no altered personality (or, at least, not yet).

So, my take is that Stamp represents Zack in both forms. 

Of course, I could be totally wrong.

---

I’ll provide some comparisons to support this theory. Around Midgar we can find some posters with Stamp, and most of them can be related to actions that Zack did:

Zack encourages Cloud to work hard to become a SOLDIER.

Zack saves Mako poisoned Cloud, carrying him from Nibelheim -represented by the flames- to Midgar.

Zack took part to a mission in Icicle Inn with the Turks against Avalanche. During the mission they had to go through a cave with falling icicles. There he lost two SOLDIER friends (mabe this will have something to do with the Intergrade?). 

There’s a Stamp magazine on Tseng’s desk. The only other times we’ve ever seen his desk was to show Aerith’s letters (Crisis Core) and the dossier about Nibelheim incident, (Last Order) when the Turks were trying to save Zack from the army.

---

That said, assuming I got this subject at least partly right, let’s talk about the elements that link Aerith to Stamp-Zack.

In Aerith’s childhood room, in Shinra HQ, there’s a book with Stamp and a letter in the background. I tried to translate what’s written on the cover but the picture is very blurred, so there could be mistakes, especially because I don’t speak Japanese (in bold the parts I’m rather sure to be right):

スタンプからの招待状

さえスタンプファンクラブ 「スタンププリーダー」      

Invitation from Stamp 

 Only Stamp fan club “Stamp breeder”

Definitely a strange translation. 

Anyway, the odd fact is that this book appears in Aerith’s room, of all the places of the game, and nowhere else, so I’m wondering if it is maybe meant to metaphorically hint the 89 letters Aerith wrote to Zack.

(Picture taken from Reddit)

---

There’s another detail that could link Stamp-Zack with Aerith: the stars.

In both designs Stamp wears a hat/helmet decorated with stars. Stars have been often used as a military symbol around the world, and so seems to do Shinra.

All characters’ outfits have been redesigned for the Remake. On the shoulders of Aerith’s jacket we can see some decorative stars. And not common stars but military stars, normally used in army uniforms or medals. Quite an uncommon choice for the clothes of a girl strictly related with life, peace and nature (a link to an older design of her jacket without stars, meaning they were introduced purposely for the Remake). 

As a side note, her gray bracelet has the same design of the guard of the Buster sword. 

Talking about stars, also in her canon outfit to see Don Corneo she wears some accessories with star pendants (earrings, necklace, bracelets and sandals). At first it seemed to me a strange choice, as stars in FFVII are commonly related to the promise (and there were no stars in her OG red dress), but in the light of a possible connection with Stamp-Zack it really makes more sense.

---

In short, I’m convinced the devs are hinting once more Aerith’s bond with Zack, even in these subtile details. I was unsure if I had to created this post, given the uncertainaties around the subject. Anyway..

..even if I’m wrong, I have to admit it is a good number of coincidences!

EDIT:

All this recalls me something...

"Aerith’s star and Cloud’s star! They show a great future!” [Cait Sith, Temple of Ancients]

...and now it turns out the stars could be related to Zack? And consequently related to Cloud because of his alter ego? What a coincidence...

#aerith gainsborough #zack fair #zerith #stamp the dog #stamp ffvii #ffvii remake

[thechocobros]

Lol FFXV fans comparing their game to FFVIIR are probably the same ones who were salty about KH3's success and Verum Rex.

To start it off, FFVIIR and FFXV are two totally different things developed in two totally different way, with two totally different marketing and two totally different release dates, so they can’t really be compared. But even if we want compare them: 

FFXV sold 5 milion copies at day one, being published on two consoles. After two years, it reached the 8 milion copies.

FFVIIR sold 5 milion copies in 4 months, selling on just one console, because it’s PS4’s exclusive. During a pandemic.

Coronavirus literally blocked and delayed shipping all over the world and we all know that FinalFantasy players mainly want their physical copies. Most of them fell back to the digital download (i am one of them) but hated every second of it (i am one of them. I really miss having the physical copy in my hands for some reasons). It’s true, the videogame industry had a boost because of covid, but in the case of a FF title (and playstation in general) not being able to buy the physical game was discouraging, especially for new fans who never played FFVII before. Producers and staff themselves said that covid was an issue for them.

How many copies do you think FFVIIR will sell in the next two years? It’s a remake divided in episodes, so when FFVIIRpart2 will be released, more people will buy the first part. Also, as soon as PS4 exclusivity will be over, the game will be released on other consoles (xbox and pc probably). Don’t you think that the game will easily reach and surpass the 8 milion copies in two years? Remains to be seen, but i’m kinda sure it will.

And I don’t even want to start talking about the quality of the final product, because as i said, FFVIIR and FFXV have two totally different development’s history that brought to a totally different result. But FFVIIR will probably be nominated for the GameOfTheYear competition and even if it won’t win, let’s not pretend people didn’t see how good the game was. FFXV on the other hand —————and I don’t want to even finish the sentence, to show some respect to the people who chose to love FFXV in spite of all its flaws (which is totally ok btw, this post is not an attack towards you. It’s an attack towards a small group of ffxv fans who decided to spend their energy throwing shades on other games just to exalt it.)

What i’m trying to say is that FFVIIR didn’t sell bad at all, as these people on twitter like to say. It did great considering the circumstances. It will do even better. And these people should just shut up and show some respect to both FFVIIR and FFXV, by not putting them in competition. 

#final fantasy vii #final fantasy #ff7r #ffvii #anon #ask

[theycallmeeljefe]

One big remake failure

Overall I think the remake is a net positive with several issues that could turn the thing sour real quickly if SE get too far up their own asses. I’m looking at you Dementors and time distortion/fate bullshit. 

But what I am going to talk about is a more minor issue but I think it merits exploring.

The FFVIIR fails to set Aerith up as a/the main love interest.

Crazy? Well let me explain.

Keeping in mind the OG the Midgar parts were the first 4-6 hours of the story. Or basically 8-10% of the entire story length. A lot needed to be done in that short time. 

But in taking roughly 5 hours of gameplay and adding to it until it’s 40+ hours? It has lost something significant. 

In the OG you touch on Cloud and Tifa’s relationship early on. But you don’t really delve in to it until after Midgar. Aerith on the other hand gets lots of focus in Midgar. This was intentional of course. Square knew they had to make Aerith have a big impact early on because of what was to come later. That is why the story seems to revolve around her so early on and she fills several tropes of “love interest”.

Think about it. Right away they throw bodyguard and date out there. Then shortly after you spend the night in her house and Cloud has an intentionally deceptive (for the player at least) dream that mentions relationships. Then you have them stop in the park for no good reason and talk about her relationships. Then you have the humor of the Wall Market followed by needing to rescue her being the big topper for Midgar. 

In 5 hours SE has thrown a lot at you. Bodyguard/date/relationships/magical girl/rescue. Wow Aerith is like super important guys. I mean we have barely spent any time with Tifa and already Aerith has so much going on. Everything is just so darn memorable!  Surely nothing can go horribly wrong later.

Of course events later in the game expand on the C/T dynamic. Then a few other things happen.......and Cloud ends up basically married to Tifa in the compilation. Nevertheless in Midgar it all seemed to be so wonderful didn’t it?

................

So how does the remake fail in this regard?

To put it bluntly, the remake spends far too much time with Tifa and setting up her importance to Cloud. Their shared history and all the flirty and close moments they have. It spends so much time doing this that the whole point of hyper focusing on Aerith in the OG is lost. When that is lost then the plot is lost in regards to potential love interest Aerith. 

Even when you are with Aerith the game still manages to put the focus on Tifa multiple times. The scenes with the flower are a great example. You have to buy it. You have to give it to Tifa. Aerith brings it up later to tease Cloud. Then finally when Aerith goes to rescue Marlene she sees the flower and smiles knowing Cloud gave it to Tifa. 

I could actually go on at some length about this with many examples. (Or how the remake destroys many clerith shipper narratives.) But I feel SE realized this was happening so they added a couple things to try and keep Aerith in the race so to speak.

Why would SE have people in the Wall-Market Colosseum battles constantly calling Cloud and Aerith a couple? It reeks of “hey guys just to let you know these two are like totally cute together so we will have people constantly reminding you of that”. Then you have that dream sequence. Which I have to remind people, comes out of nowhere and has zero follow up. 

Without these two things smacking you in the face what do you have? You have a funny and flirty girl who annoys Cloud to no end for awhile until he warms up to her that also seems to have magical Jesus powers. A girl who makes fast friends with Tifa and even appears to support their relationship at times. A girl who gets less focus than Tifa at the end of the day.

.................

SE said they wanted to make the girls equal? Well they sure had to tack on some nonsense for Aerith to keep up this time.

SE is not subtle this time around. Aerith is not the main love interest. Hell you could say without the tacked on nonsense Aerith would not be considered a love interest at all. 

Your thoughts?

#ffviiR #cloud strife #Tifa #Aerith #cloti

[silver-wield]

My boyfriend who has never played a FF game in his life and doesn’t know anything about FFVIIR told me (after finishing it) that Aerith clearly didn’t seem interested in Cloud in a romantic way but was more pushing him and Tifa together. I’m glad he noticed that without me influencing him (as a Cloti fan lol). Soo I mean, even an unbiased person who isn’t even a fan of FF can see that so why can’t « they » ?

I've seen a lot of comments saying the same from first time players and also how they agreed with the devs' comments about how Aerith's lines in her resolution could be taken as arrogant, so it's pretty much the OG fans clinging to the last shreds of their delusion that are ruining things for the rest of us 😑

#Ship war #For common sense

[avoutput]

Final Fantasy VII Legacy || Nomura, Complex?

This is the 3rd out of 3 articles. Find the second here.

It’s time to get down to mythril tacks. At this point, I have talked about what this game meant to me when it was released and how it’s newest installment fared as a game. Finally, it’s time to talk about the impact the Remake has on what has unexpectedly become a robust and diverse universe. What does this mean for us at large, the players? This is a no-holds-barred SPOILER frenzy about anything and everything in the Squaresoft/Square-Enix pantheon. This means not just the games in the orbit of Final Fantasy VII, but the entire catalog at Square-Enix. To be honest, this is just the introduction, I don’t know if I even have an intent of going so far beyond the purview of the Remake, but in the spirit of the Final Fantasy gatekeeper, Tetsuya Nomura, I refuse to limit myself.

It’s been almost exactly a month since I started writing this article. It took so long to come back to this because I kept finding more and more content related to Final Fantasy 7 that I either forgot about or didn’t even know existed. On my own shelf sits Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core. I decided to watch Advent Children immediately after beating Remake. As a movie fan and amateur critic, the film is littered with terrible film decisions and was clearly the work of people who spend much of their time penning and creating video game stories. It’s a series of cutscenes without a controller attached and at a certain point, you realize Advent Children was never meant for film fans, but for fans of the game. Specifically for fans desiring an epilogue and more directly fans of Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth. The story is almost unintelligible because there is tons of connective tissue left to be assumed by the viewer. It is at once too far removed from FF7 in both linear real time and in-game universe time to be recognizable, and simultaneously inexplicable in what has transpired and why. It takes a crack at explaining it from moment to moment, but largely, it looks like they were looking for excuses to push the characters to act. I am not trying to review the film but rather my intent is to create a modus opendai for the gatekeeper, Mr. Nomura. The more I learned about the world of FF7 that was being created over the years, the more it seemed to lean on the stylings of this one man. In a way, Nomura launched Squaresoft and himself into a whole new stratosphere of fame and broke all expectations. In my first article, I mentioned that for a certain generation of fans, it was the perfect storm, but I would later find out the cause of the storm was Nomura breaking open lightning in a bottle, releasing his brand of design on the world with a multi-million dollar international company backing him.

If I may, let me take a parallel series by the same creator infested by the meta of his own other original creations, namely Kingdom Hearts. In its inception, it looks like two producers at Square were trying to make a 3-D adventure platformer game with characters as popular as Mario, but only the biggest brand on earth, Disney, could possibly beat the king of platformers. Nomura was… walking by and pushed himself into the conversation, and they decided if they could do it, they would let him direct. (Read more here) Yada yada yada, Kingdom Hearts was created. While I can’t seem to find (and didn’t look too hard to find) proof, I can only imagine that with KH having a tenuous new relationship with big-corp Disney, they focused more on a simple game that was straightforward. KH is very much a disney product with a little bit of artificial Nomura sweetener. With its unbridled success, Nomura was unleashed. Kingdom Hearts 2 would go on to be, in my opinion, one of the most unintelligible video game stories ever inscribed to plastic discs. But the power of Nomura’s story-telling is that we all understand it differently. He creates bedrocks, little story islands of unshakable facts that are connected via a salty sea of undefinable liquid moments. Cast out to sea, rudderless and deprived, you try to bring to your mouth this brine only to be dehydrated faster than if you had just sailed the sea and died in the sun between fact islands or lived long enough to tell the tale. And that metaphor is my tribute to Nomura. Long, winding, hard to remember, and just clear enough that you think you got it, but you still have problems with its construction.

It has now been over two months since I have last visited this article. What is keeping me from continuing? The incomplete nature of my knowledge of Final Fantasy VII lore. Unlike the Kingdom Hearts sea, VII is like a series of interconnected caves, and the more you unearth the more you learn. And therein lies the problem. The Nomura-verse is composed of both his methods and his circumstances. His methods, we have discussed, but his circumstance is game development. Unlike movies or books, games obviously have an interactive capability, but they also have a variable development cycle. Some titles come out quickly, others span decades. They also consist of different teams, story writers, directors, and a myriad of producers. This in turn can make it much harder to make a solid universe, especially when new additions start off in a place where a continuous story was never meant to exist. Nomura is at once hindered and strengthened by his circumstances. He can’t tell a better story because the development cycle of his vision is variable, and success is based on sales and popularity. Without success, he can’t create a new addition, and often in games, the end is meant to tie the whole thing up. Were there to be a sequel, a whole new story is thought up and tacked on wherever it fits. Gamers are pretty forgiving of this concept. Still, at the same time, Nomura probably wouldn’t make a concise story because it's not his style. For comparison, see the Dark Souls series. A game that both has deep lore and an involving story, but at the same time, the game doesn’t require you to know a single point to continue moving forward. This is almost the antithesis of Nomura’s style. In Souls, they let the player decide to explore its story caves, but doesn’t confront them with it to continue advancing. This is a strength of  video games. A strength that Nomura keeps using to his disadvantage.

Yet, Final Fantasy VII still excelled to unparalleled heights. It engages you in the same way all of the previous games in the series have, but with a slight departure on the strict fantasy theme, instead a merger with steampunk or semi-future. The series was changed forever, and so was gaming. Instead of doing the Dragon Quest method, expanding on the same universe design with different stories, Final Fantasy was emboldened to try completely random approaches with vector entries like VIII and X. For longtime fans, or fans of their original design, Every future title, MMO or Single Player, would go on to be successful, but not fully realized in their original context. Even the return to form in IX was much more playful than any of the original six entries. Gaming franchises have since become playgrounds for developers. Once they are accepted by fans, developers are emboldened and experiment with what would normally be a new IP, but instead use the financial shield of the famous namesake to move forward with new ideas. And in the case of Final Fantasy, when this concept of change works, it means that every numbered game becomes a wildcard. It’s a double edged sword for a gaming franchise that dates back to the 8-bit era. It has fans over 40 years old by this point and they may be willing to buy anything new. But this isn’t new to you and it isn’t a revelation for me. Final Fantasy VII Remake causes me to reckon with these demons I had buried years ago. It rips off a scab I thought had healed. I had given up on the past, a past where I was excited for a singular story, contained in a single universe, in a single title. I had given up on the glory years of Final Fantasy, but the Remake took me back and said, what if we told you everything you remember about the original was true, and everything we added after that was also true, even though you probably didn’t play it or even know it existed. Even if you do your very best, you probably won’t be able to track the story or interconnected characters if you aren’t in the know. It’s like joining a group of long time friends that are constantly referencing inside jokes, all of them just winking at each other, nudging you in the ribs and asking, “Do ya get it?” Truly, the Remake series thus far makes me feel lost at sea when what I wanted to feel like was coming home.

This retrospective has left me feeling broken. Based on the end of the FFVIIR, I sought out to reconcile all of the loose ends to all the connected media. However, spending time with the prequel Crisis Core for over around 40 hours, I realized this was a crapshoot. None of it mattered. It didn’t enrich the characters, it only made the story longer. It just added wibbly-wobbly, timey-whimey “facts” to an otherwise complete(ish) origin point. The FFVII universe can’t handle the weight that is put on it. It’s a faulty bridge over a treacherous pass. On the other hand, that same bridge for some is a point of excitement. You tread the boards, one by one, testing your weight, hoping to get to the other side intact. And I think that is why we keep trying these games and why they keep getting made. We don’t want the fun to end, despite the fact that it has nothing left for us to be excited by. It’s a closed loop that we keep looking for something new in. By the end of the Remake, we are somewhere between ⅓ or ½ way across the faulty bridge, dangling between where we have been and where it is taking us. At this point, I am too mentally exhausted from trying to make sense of it all. Yet I am incapable of not enjoying it, the mental somersaults one does to understand the interconnected mess that is Final Fantasy VII. It’s too dear to me. I got on the bridge for so many reasons, but the biggest one is to be on the other side with all of the other fans who dared to play and dared to complete the game. To be in the know, to wink across the room. I want to be in that hyper-critical utopia where we all have one thing in common: We played Final Fantasy VII in 1997. And we all have something to say about it.

#Article #Final Fantasy VII #Final Fantasy 7 #Final Fantasy VII Remake #Final Fantasy 7 Remake #Tetsuya Nomura #Yoshitaka Amano #Cloud #Tifa #Aerith #Nostalgia #Gaming #Kingdom Hearts #Squaresoft #Enix

[kurosaki]

10 Characters Tag

Tagged by: @dialovers-translations Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! 💜

Rules: make a new post, name 10 of your favorite characters from 10 different fandoms that you like, and then tag 10 people.

1. Ruki Mukami — Diabolik Lovers

I will say this now, I love Ruki, Subaru, Shu, Carla and Yuma equally. I genuinely cannot chose between them because I love them so dearly and bring me so much comfort during a lot of stressful situations. I decided Ruki since we both share a similar tragic backstory of being abandoned by their parents and I feel he would understand me the most. I'm also attached to Ruki because of our shared passion for literature. I also really love the way Ruki presents and carries himself, he's so... regal? elegant? The Mukami brothers have such an emphasis on found family and strong bond, I'm a sucker for that as well especially for all the advice Ruki gives his brothers not only in his own, but all his brothers' routes.

2. Shin — Amnesia

Admittedly when I first played Amnesia, I picked Shin because I'm a sucker for goths. After playing his route I fell absolutely in love, I actually cried multiple times during his route. The only other time that happens is when I play DL. *sobs* I didn't expect Shin to have such real struggles and such love for the player (despite him being so grumpy, but honestly it's adorable). I cannot stress how well written his character is. I love him so much, it's late at night and I shouldn't get emotional over otome games, but Shin just gets me.

3. Mitsuri Kanroji — Kimetsu no Yaiba

MITSURI IS MY BI GIRLFRIEND I ADORE HER SO MUCH. Thank you KNY for allowing my love to have a boyfriend AND girlfriend who love her so very much. (Shoutout Shinobu and Obanai) Mitsuri's design is what immediately drew me to her. She is so bright and warm and personally I think braids are the absolute cutest (ESPECIALLY WITH DUAL TONED HAIR)

4. Ishtar — Fate/GO

There are a lot of FGO ladies (and Merlin) that I adore, but Ishtar will always be my favorite. I first got introduced to her through FGO's summer event years ago and I absolutely adored the chaotic energy she had in the story. After that I decided I would continue playing FGO and I've been stuck here ever since :•) The FGO Babylonia anime also portrayed her so well, I loved seeing how animated and vibrant she is!

5. Ares — Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

Mutuals know I am a big FE4/5 elitist, I'm sorry for my hubris, but Ares Hezul Nordion Fire Emblem, please sir... your hand in marriage. I absolutely loved this man in my FE4 play throughs. He is a killing machine, when he got into FEH I was so happy, his new art? Stunning. I hate the app and what it did to the Jugdral series, but the Nordion Family art is superb. I loved his story in FE4 and the growth and healing he goes through after meeting Seliph, the narrative genuinely touched my heart. I want to put the entire FE4/5 cast on this list.

6. Asbel — Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

I. Love. My. Son. So. Much. Just like Ares, Asbel is an absolute killing machine. He genuinely saved my life in FE5 so many times, even after many sleepless nights and strategizing. I genuinely feel like I owe my B ranking in Thracia to Asbel. His love for Leif makes me want to cry, I'll never forget “We swore to each other that we would live and die together, Lord Leif ... Let's reclaim Thracia. I'm willing to go through anything for that cause!”

7. Lillie — Pokemon Sun/Moon

Lillie is the best daughter I swear! I adore her and the entire Sun/Moon anime and cast! Although Hoenn is my favorite because of nostalgia, Alola is a close second and I will genuinely say it was the best anipoke. It featured so much growth, not only for Ash, but for Lillie and the rest of the Alola gang as well. I relate to Lillie's relationship with her mother as well, you have no idea how happy it made me seeing the “I hate you mother!” scene animated. I'm Lillie's mom now. That's final.

8. Pripara — Sophie Hojo

If I had to recommend an anime to anyone, it would be Pripara. It's the most silliest idol anime I've ever watched and definitely directed to children, but I love how inspirational it is to kids. It's the kind of show I wish was there for me as a child, but I'm so happy younger kids get to have these positive messages and life lessons. Sophie is very dear to me, she showcases that self growth can be taken at a steady pace and there's absolutely no rush to growing and being able to learn how to take care of yourself.

9. Rem — Re:Zero

It has honestly been years since I've read Re:Zero and couldn't tell you anything besides the basic plot, but I absolutely adore Rem. I was drawn to both Rem and Ram based on their designs, but the more I watched the show, the more I got attached to Rem. Her smile is such a blessing, every time I see it, just an immediate dose of serotonin.

10. Cloud Strife — Final Fantasy VII

This guy... this guy right here... I just think he's really neat! Admittedly, all my FFVII lore information comes from my girlfriend. I want to play FFVIIR once I'm able to visit my little brothers and borrow their PlayStation (they got the PlayStation, I got the Switch) SO HOPEFULLY I GET TO MEET HIM SOON! I've heard a lot about him from friends and mutuals I just got attached. He's pretty cool :)

Tagging: I physically cannot tag other people because of anxiety, but if you want an excuse to talk about your favorite characters please feel free to say I tagged you :3

#personal #long post /

[quartercirclejab]

so we’re gonna keep pushing that braindead Crisis Core narrative of Zack being some kind of tragic hero whose hopes and dreams Cloud “inherited”, huh

unfortunate, there’s so much potential for FFVIIR to succeed where Crisis Core failed and confront the reality of SOLDIER, but it ain’t gonna happen if we keep pretending Zack was anything but a war criminal who maybe sort of did something good as his last act before summary execution

it’s also super weird that SE is outright acknowledging that the Buster Sword has some special significance this early on, well before Cloud (and by extension the player) has any reason to really think so. i guess it tracks with the other elements of narrative acceleration we’ve seen so far- maybe this is SE realizing that at this point, in 2019, it’s nearly impossible for someone to go into FFVIIR without knowing the story beats of FFVII at least in broad strokes, so they’re just leaning into it

all that aside, really liking this UI. very clean and utilitarian, and all the fonts are nice and big- that was my biggest mechanical issue with FFXV, i could barely read anything in the menus

#FFVIIR #Final Fantasy VII Remake #Jab Plays FFVIIR

[dumb-american]

The Rebuild of Final Fantasy VII: Your Expectations Will (Not) Be Met

I apologize for the stupid title and I promise I’m going to talk about the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but I have to get this out of the way first. Sometime in the mid 2000s, acclaimed artist and director Hideaki Anno announced that he was going to remake his beloved anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion the way it should have been the first time, free from technical and budgetary restraints. Evangelion had a notoriously strange ending when the original anime aired, consisting of character talking over still images, abstract art, and simple animations. It was highly polarizing and controversial. Anno, for his part, received death threats and the headquarters of the studio that produced the anime was vandalized. Soon after the initial uproar Anno would direct The End of Evangelion, a retelling of the final two episodes of the anime, and that seemed to mostly satisfy the fanbase. Looking back now, The End of Evangelion wasn’t “fixing” something that was “broken,” no, it was a premonition: a vision of things to come. Why remake the ending when you can just remake the whole damn thing?

The mid 2000s also saw the birth of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII: a sub-series of projects expanding the universe and world of the video game that had “quite possibly the greatest game ever made” proudly printed on the back of its CD case. The Compilation consisted of three games, all on different platforms, and a film. First was Advent Children, a sequel to Final Fantasy VII, where three dudes that look like discarded Sephiroth concept art all have anime fights with our beloved protagonists, culminating in a ridiculous gravity defying sword fight between Cloud and Sephiroth. Before Crisis and Crisis Core are prequels that expand the story of the Turks and Zack Fair, respectively. Then there’s Dirge of Cerberus, an action shooter staring secret party member and former Turk Vincent. Were these projects good? I’d say they were largely forgettable. Crisis Core stood out as the obvious best of the bunch and I think may be worth revisiting.

As a business model, the practice pioneered by the Compilation would continue on and eventually brings us FFXIII (and sequels), FF Versus XIII (which would later become FFXV), and FF Agito XIII (which would later become FF Type-0). If that’s all incredibly confusing to you, I’m sorry, I promise I will begin talking about the Final Fantasy VII Remake soon. Suffice it to say, both Final Fantasy VII and Neon Genesis Evangelion have a certain gravity. They punch above their weight. They are both regarded as absolute classics, flaws and all. And yet, in both cases, the people responsible for their creation decided that their first at bat wasn’t good enough and it was time to recreate them as they were meant to be all along. I think this way of thinking about art is flawed, limitations are as much a part of the creative process as vision and intent. Yet, we find ourselves in a world with a remake of Final Fantasy VII, so I guess we should talk about it.

From this point forward, there’s going to be major spoilers for every Final Fantasy VII related media. So, be warned.

So, is the Final Fantasy VII Remake any good? To me, that’s the least interesting question, but we can get into it. FFVIIR is audacious, that’s for sure. Where Anno condenses and remixes a 26 episode anime series into four feature length films, the FFVIIR team expands an around 5 hour prologue chapter into a 30+ hour entire game. Naturally, there will be some growing pains. The worst example of this is the sewers. The game forces you to slog through an awful sewer level twice, fighting the same boss each time. This expanded sewer level is based on a part of the original game that was only two screens and was never revisited.

Besides the walk from point A to point B, watch a cutscene, fight a boss, repeat that you’d expect from a JRPG, there’s also three chapters where the player can explore and do sidequests. The sidequests are mostly filler, but a select few do accomplish the goal of fleshing out some of the minor characters. You spend way more time with the Avalanche crew, for example. Out of them, only Jesse has something approaching a complete personality or character arc that matters. The main playable cast is practically unchanged which was a bit surprising to me. I figured Square-Enix would tone down Barret’s characterization as Mr. T with a gun for an arm, but they decided, maybe correctly, that Barret is an immutable part of the Final Fantasy VII experience. Also, it’s practically unforgivable that Red XIII was not playable in the remake considering how much time you spend with him. I don’t understand that decision in the slightest.

The game’s general systems and mechanics, materia, combat, weapon upgrades, etc. are all engaging and fun and not much else really needs to be said about it. I found it to be great blend of action/strategy. Materia really was the peak of JPRG creativity in the original FFVII and its recreation here is just as good. The novelty of seeing weird monsters like the Hell House and the “Swordipede” (called the Corvette in the original) make appearances as full on boss fights with mechanics is just weaponized nostalgia. In general, the remake has far more hits than misses, but those misses, like the sewers and some of the tedious sidequests, are big misses. It is a flawed game, but a good one. If I were to pick a favorite part of the game, I’d have to pick updated Train Graveyard section which takes lore from the original game and creates a mini-storyline out of it.

If that was all, however, then honestly writing about Final Fantasy VII Remake wouldn’t be worth my time or yours. The game’s ambition goes way further than just reimagining Midgar as a living, real city. There’s a joke in the JRPG community about the genre that goes something like this: at the start of the game, you kill rats in the sewer and by the end you’re killing God. Well, when all is said and done, the Final Fantasy VII Remake essentially does just that. Narratively, the entire final act of the game is a gigantic mess, but if you know anything about me then you know I’d much rather a work of fiction blast off into orbit and get a little wild than be safe and boring.

In the original games, the Lifestream is a physical substance that contains spirits and memories of every living being. Hence, when a person dies, they “return to the planet”. It flows beneath the surface of the planet like blood flows in a living person’s veins and can gather to heal “wounds” in the planet. In the original game, the antagonist, Sephiroth, seeks to deeply wound the planet with Meteor and then collect all the “spirit energy” the planet musters to heal the wound. The remake builds on this concept by introducing shadowy, hooded beings called Whispers. The Whispers are a physical manifestation of the concept of destiny and they can be found when someone seeks to change their fate, correcting course to the pre-destined outcome. Whispers appear at multiple points throughout the game’s storyline both impeding and aiding the party. The ending focuses heavily on them and the idea that fate and destiny can be changed. We receive visions throughout the game which some will recognize as major story beats and images from the original game. After dealing with Shinra and rescuing Aerith, the game immediately switches over to this battle against destiny and fate that you’re either going to love or hate. The transition is abrupt and jarring. While Cloud has shown flashes of supernatural physical abilities throughout the game, suddenly he has gone full Advent Children mode and is flying around cleaving 15 ton sections of steel in half with his sword. The party previously took on giant mutated monsters, elite soldiers, and horrific science experiments, but now the gloves are off and they’re squaring up against an impossibly huge manifestation of the Planet’s will. Keep in mind, in the narrative of the original FFVII, the Midgar section was rougly 10%, if that, of the game’s full storyline. This is, frankly, insane, but I’d be lying if I didn’t love it.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake, with its goofy JRPG concluding chapter, is forcing the player to participate in the original game’s un-making. We see premonitions of an orb of materia falling to the ground, we see an older Red XIII gallop across the plains, we see a SOLDIER with black hair and Cloud’s Buster Sword make his final stand, we see Cloud waist deep in water holding something or someone. We all know what these images represent, they’ve been part of imaginations for decades. But the Final Fantasy VII Remake allows us (or forces us, depending on perspective, I guess) to kill fate, kill God, and set aside all we thought we knew about how the game would play out post-Midgar. The most obvious effect of our actions is the reveal that Zack survived his final stand against Shinra and instead of leaving Cloud his sword and legacy, helped him get to Midgar safely. I have my doubts and my worries about the future of this series. I’m not sure when the next part of the game will be released or what form it will come in, but I can’t believe I’m as excited as I am to see it.

Of course, part of me wishes they’d just left well enough alone. Remakes are generally complete wastes of time and effort. Not all, but most. Maybe I’m, to borrow a term from pro wrestling lingo, a complete mark here and I just love JRPGs and Final Fantasy VII so much that I’ll countenance close to anything bearing its name. I’ve tried my best to be as critical and fair as possible to the game and I hope that if you’re on the fence and reading this I’ve maybe helped you decide if it’s for you or not. I think the Final Fantasy VII Remake is worth your time if you’re looking for a good, meaty JRPG. It’s not perfect and it’s final act is insane, but that just makes me love it more.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like for Zack, Cloud, and Aerith to face Sephiroth in the Planet’s core? I know 15 year old me did. And he may get his wish.

#final fantasy #ffvii #ffvii remake #review #jrpg

[asiryn]

here’s the second update post about my playthrough of ffviir! at this point in my life, with my worsening disability, i’m just gonna have to admit defeat and that i’m going to be making very slow progress from this point on. like....limit myself to playing a chapter a day (or even every other day) so that i don’t make myself Regret Everything.

spoilers below the cut. i finished ch 3, and i think i’m most of the way through ch 4? maybe?? i haven’t finished it, i stopped right before the second (official) mission, and tbh, i have no idea how much is left of the chapter. 

i’m going to try to go in chronological order through the chapters, but i can’t make any guarantees

- i absolutely love marle, she’s a great new addition to the cast 💖💖💖

- the remake is going way more in-depth on everything from the original, and is really adding in a lot of that connective tissue that wasn’t really there before. like, it wasn’t necessarily a glaring issue in the original game, but everything was clearly focused on the main plot, and moving the player along so they can get out of midgar faster; plus, with the limited scope of the 2d environment (the 3d in the environment itself was more like it added a bit of flavor (and frustration) to navigating), there wasn’t really much to explore. and with the limited hardware, the npcs only had a few small bits of dialogue, and the number of npcs in general was limited

- by contrast, this entire game is only covering the midgar sections of the game, so it can flesh everything out to its heart’s content. and at least so far, i’m all for it, and i’m a big fan of the way they’re doing it. it doesn’t feel like they’re just padding it out and wasting your time, but rather it’s giving the story and characters room to breathe, and breathing new life into characters that are pretty forgettable in the first game (i’ll talk more on that in a bit)

- the bulk of ch 3, therefore, is for the most part just cloud and tifa, hanging out. everything’s still being grounded in more realism, with talk of cloud needing to find work to get money and savings, so having him....actually being a mercenary, and getting hired for a bunch of side quests makes a whole lot of sense. plus, tifa’s along for the ride, so you also get to see her interacting with the other residents of the sector 7 slums. and we get a lot of nice conversations with cloud and tifa, and giving their relationship way more development

- i also love that tifa and cloud are making further dates plans to hang out, it’s cute

- also, i love the way the npcs are done in this game. again, they’re being used to enhance that message i talked about last time, and in general, they just....actually react to the things happening around them? their dialogue is always evolving more over time (and it has great synergy w/ cloud and tifa’s mission of getting cloud’s name out there, as the more side quests you achieve, the more they start talking about you and recognizing you, even thanking you). plus, all the npcs have different opinions, ranging from pro-shinra, to wondering if avalanche has a point, to conspiracy theorists, so it’s not all one-note 

- in the category of, technically there in the original, but far expanded on with the remake, was everything with johnny. tbh, i always forget about him in midgar, so i don’t remember what triggers him to show up in....costa del sol, i think? but that whole scene in the remake really helped to highlight tifa’s later concerns, on how she doesn’t agree with the means that avalanche is using to achieve their ends (which again, was somewhat there in the original, but not explored that much), with her refusing to let cloud kill him, even if it would have been the wisest tactical approach to silence him to protect avalanche

- an interesting change is that avalanche was originally planning to do the second mission of bombing reactor 5 without cloud

- also....what’s up with those thugs wanting barret? are they working for don corneo? bc that’s the only other faction that i could think of. if so, i like the fact that they’re starting to establish the groundwork for this sooner, bc it....came a bit out of nowhere in the original

- probably my favorite thing so far about the remake is just how much they’re expanding the characters of jessie, biggs, and wedge. tbh, i never gave two shits about them in the original, bc they were barely even in the game. and not just bc they died early, but bc even when they were there, all the interactions you could have with them were super limited. and when they did die, it wasn’t really dwelled on, and everyone quickly moved onto saving aerith from shinra, and from there the main thrust of the story took off and we barely looked back

- but now, jessie, biggs, and wedge, are fully realized characters, and it’s fantastic. jessie is my favorite of the three, both in terms of the character herself, and what they’re doing with her. her backstory is excellent, her va is great, and i love her peppiness, and i love her relationship with cloud (her playful flirting is great and really fun)

- i also loved the moment where biggs and wedge showed up to help her with her secret mission, just bc they knew her so well

- i’m.....pretty sure roche is a new character?? i don’t remember ever hearing mention of him in any of the rest of the compilation, but my knowledge of before crisis in particular is sketchy, so who knows. in any case, i’m curious to see if he’s going to become a recurring character

- i also loved that they’re showing cloud slowly bonding with biggs and wedge too, it’s sweet

- wedge with his cats is a Mood (and ppl were right, there really are a lot of cats in the game)

- i absolutely ADORED the way they did the flashback scene with cloud and tifa, it was spectacular. they even sounded noticeably younger, and they nailed the looks and mannerisms from the original scene. plus, i love that cloud remembered his promise to tifa on his own, and that he’s the one to bring it up to her later, instead of her guilt-tripping and continuously prodding him about it

- i knew that in before crisis, there was the original version of avalanche, that was essentially at war with the turks in an effort to take down shinra, but i guess i always assumed that it ended up either disbanded or defeated by the time barret’s avalanche was created. so it’s therefore fascinating to me that it’s still operating in the remake, and that barret’s group are a different branch that the og group disapproves of. makes me wonder how that’s going to play out, especially with everything set to go down soon

- what is the deal with these ‘ghosts’?? are they the black-robed seph clones? i think one of them spoke to cloud in seph’s voice during his nightmare, so....maybe? it’s the only thing that makes sense to me. but what are they doing??

- i find the way cloud was roped into the reactor 5 mission interesting, with him replacing an injured jessie

okay, i think i’m gonna end it here for now. on my next session, i’ll finish ch 4, and hopefully ch 5, and i’ll get to see aerith again soon!!!!💖💖💖

#kiryn's adventures in gaming #kiryn plays final fantasy vii remake #kiryn plays ffviir #ffviir #final fantasy vii remake #ffvii #final fantasy vii #compilation of final fantasy vii #marle #tifa lockhart #cloud strife #barret wallace #jessie rasberry #biggs #wedge #roche #avalanche #sephiroth clones #cloti #clessie #cloud/tifa #cloud/jessie

[eyenipple]

The black mist creatures shown in the trailer are known as The Watchmen of Fate, and are mysterious beings that will appear before the party wherever they go. Nomura hopes fans who have played the original Final Fantasy VII will enjoy these new creatures.

Nomura has revealed there are a lot of dialogue options in FFVIIR, and dialogue will change depending on the player’s response. Apparently the sheer volume of dialogue has increased.

The Honey Bee Inn cross-dressing event will return: “We’ve made it more modern. If we made the facility like we did in the original game, the physical unease would be staggering, so that was no good…”

“There are quite a few additions to the scenario. While the main story itself hasn’t changed, there are a countless number of new events. Otherwise we wouldn’t have two Blu-ray discs. (Laughs.)”

Aerith and Tifa are double heroines. One has a western-styled look to her, and the other has an eastern-styled look.

“We wanted Tifa to have abs, so she has an athletic body type. The ethics department at Square Enix also told us that we had to tighten her chest as not to get unnatural during all the intense action. From there we got the black underwear and fitted tank top.”

Players can engage in combat without stress by utilizing the shortcut menu. When the command menu is opened, time will slow and allow players to fight as though it were a command-based battle.

Each playable character has different enemy affinities.

An item is required for MP recovery.

“For the sake of level design, we’re preparing a few new enemies where necessary.”

#Final Fantasy 7 #FFVII #ffvii remake

[highwind76]

Return of Final Fantasy 7 Voice Actors?

This opportunity has been taken away from the Compilation Voice Cast. Now, I am not here to also rob this opportunity given to the new voice cast but it doesn’t sit well with me that the Original Voice Actors had this project ripped from them.

Here is what we know so far:

1. Japan is keeping the same voice actors from their Compliation

         -This shows it is not about the age of the voice actors and that the FFVIIR being rumored “non-canon” to the FFVII doesn’t matter since Japan is keeping the same Compilation Voice Actors. 

         -A common fan speculation is they needed younger voices but some of the cast have already voiced younger versions of themselves and they are professional voice actors, they can accommodate their voice pitch. 

2. The only true statement made concerning the voice cast is from Kitase:  “In REMAKE we are giving voice to the original FINAL FANTASY VII for the first time. By bringing in a new generation of actors, we hope to provide the best experience for original fans and new players.”

            -Why bring in a new generation of actors if the original actors can still voice the characters in spin-off and prequals/ sequals, etc? 

            -Why are the actors all from the same shows and production companies? (from ViacomCBS)

            -Why is Kitase only concerned about voicing the Remake for the “first time” with the English localization? 

             -The Compliation Voice Actors have voiced original FFVII scenes before (Nibelheim, Vincent Valentine (as a Turk) etc) Even Steve Burton voiced the opening Bombing Mission at the end of Crisis Core

3. According to Max Dood, they recorded the entire game already with the original voice actors. This is what he learned at a private conference with Kitase. 

           -Why would a company waste recording money like this? They kept the voice actors for 17 years (besides Aerith’s voice actress) so why suddenly they are not recording for the Remake? 

4. Kitase also stated (according to Dood) the Compilation voice actors will still be in spin-offs and side projects (alright, so why can’t they be in the Remake if they can still voice the characters?) 

        -This shows that Square Enix accepts the Compilation Voice Actors as the voices for the characters

5. The voice actors (Compliation) are somewhat vocal about the casting change. They say to tell SquareEnixUSA and SquareEnix that we would like to have them in the Remake (Perhaps for those roles that were not already casted)

6. There is a petition online to have the voice actors return as DLC to the roles that were already publicly casted (Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, Sephiroth) 

   https://www.change.org/p/release-additional-dlc-with-the-voice-actors-from-the-compilation-of-ffvii-for-the-final-fantasy-vii-remake

What is the real reason for this sudden change. If they already started recording with them, why did they stop? They never stated it wasn’t working out  (that again was fan speculation). Unless Square Enix gives us the recordings from the original voice cast - we won’t actually be able to know if they truly “weren’t working out” 

#Square Enix #Final Fantasy #Final Fantasy 7 Remake #ff7リメイク #FF7R #Cloud Strife #Voice Acting #Video Games #English Dubbing #Sephiroth #Reno of the Turks #Zack Fair #yoshinori kitase #Sony

[less-than-hash]

Point(s) of No Return

I finally got real internet in France, so the first thing I did was purchase Final Fantasy VII Remake. 

A few days and 10 million Cura spells later, I finished it. (Term used loosely. I got to the credits.) 

It’s fantastic in many ways: gorgeous, obviously (I didn’t experience any of the texture issues (beyond some occasional  pop-in) that others have complained of); charming and funny; deeply stylish. 

I never knew how much I needed more Moulin Rouge in my FFVII.

I’m perfectly comfortable with what the ending did, though I’m not wildly impressed by the execution. And I’m excited for what comes next while holding considerable reservations about how it’ll be handled.

I also found it an incredibly frustrating game in a lot of ways: every time FFVIIR surrenders camera control to the player, for example, you can feel the game’s resentment; there’s a fair amount of repetition of spaces that doesn’t serve the action; while a lot of people seem to like the combat, I found it pretty messy, inconsistent, and frustrating (though loads improved from FFXV), to the point that I turned down the difficulty towards the end just to spend less time fighting battles. 

But none of that’s what I’m here to talk about today. I instead want to discuss a suite of specific design decisions that, in my opinion, really hampered the narrative flow of the ending of the game.

SIGNIFICANT SPOILERS under the cut.

Many games, especially RPGs or other games with open worlds, display a confirmation UI or impress upon the player through dialog (or both!) that the player has reached what we’ll be calling a Point of No Return. 

Though sometimes awkward to experience, this is a Very Good Thing (tm): it lets the player know that they’re about to depart the meat of the game for its conclusion and that if there’s anything they’d backburnered and want to take care of, now’s the time to do it.

Theoretically, this also allows the developers to pace the ending of their story in a way that builds towards a climax, something that’s otherwise difficult to do in an open world game due to the player’s nigh-complete control over the pace of play.

And while FFVII:R is by no means open world, it has some open world elements, especially towards the end of its second act. It’s no surprise that it fires the expected Point of No Return bulletin.

But later it does so again.

And again.

And again.

The first of these is frustrating for a number of reasons, not least of all its dubious accuracy. 

When the characters decide they’ll go after Aerith at the beginning of Chapter 14 (IIRC), the game suggests that doing so will instigate the endgame. This is not true. 

What this moment actually serves to highlight are a bevy of new sidequests. Thing is, there should almost certainly NOT be a bunch of new side content dropped on the player at this point. Not because that content is bad (some of it is quite nice), but because the game has just significantly increased the stakes and the pace of its main narrative, and taking time to futz around the slums looking for things to do dramatically undermines that pacing.

I’m not suggesting that this content shouldn’t be there at all - if the player takes time to explore and find sidequests, it’s nice if there’s something there to reward them; otherwise the world might feel empty and unreactive (to the massive tragedy that just occurred). Alternatively, this content could have been placed between (or before) saving Wedge and deciding to go after Aerith (in the period of the game that’s actually focused on the fallout (no pun intended) of the Sector VII Plate).

But having the game beat the player over the head with it right after saying “we’re gonna go storm Shinra now!” (and using Tifa, a character almost as invested in saving Aerith as Cloud, as the mouthpiece to do so) strains character verisimilitude and kicks the legs out from under the story.

But I suppose that’s kinda her bag.

The second Point of No Return comes after returning from, er, the return to the sewers. 

This is the actual Point of No Return from the open(ish) world, and the game does a very good job of stating both explicitly through UI and dialog that that’s the case (while going so far as to justify it in the fiction). Had it not been for what came before or after, I’d’ve said “well done” and been on my way.

(I could be wrong here - it may be that some of the Chapter 14 sidequests close off after the return to the Sewers, but if that’s so, it doesn’t seem necessary. Certainly one of those sidequests requires the player to do the return to the sewers, making that initial Point of No Return warning misleading.)

The game then progresses into its Final Dungeon, a sequence at turns confounding and at others fun and impressive. A few hours (and sixty flights of stairs) later, Hojo traps you in his lab and makes you jump through hoops to get out. I have a lot of issues with this section in general, the one most germane to this conversation being the obliteration of the pacing. The game has quite literally told the player to “get to the choppa,” but instead throws them through a pretty low-stakes series of trials without much sense of pressure from time.

Like this, but forever.

Still, the designers manage a couple of tricks towards the end of this sequence to ramp the energy back up (Red XIII’s fall, the big fight with the blade fish). 

Then you hop in the elevator, realize that Jenova’s missing, find a trail of alien goop to follow, and make your way to the exit...

Only to hit Point of No Return #3: This Time, For Reals Though.

I like this one as a teaching example, because it’s very clear what the intention is and how it might tweaked to flow a bit better:

What the devs needed to accomplish, in no particular order:

Let the player know that they’re leaving the more open area of the Shinra Building. (Or possibly just Hojo’s lab... you might not be able to backtrack to the lower floors. If that’s the case, I’d argue for cutting this Point of No Return entirely.)

Set up the encounter with Jenova in the next space.

Raise the tension and the stakes. Jenova is clearly an entity of horror. Horror is about tension.

How FFVIIR approached this in the shipping game:

The player finishes the lab area’s final fight, the two parties are reunited, and they take an elevator to Jenova’s tube in the central lab.

Player finds Jenova missing. 

Player locates elevator to Shinra’s office.

Game produces a “Point of No Return,” explicitly telling the player that if there’s anything left to do below, they should go do it.

Player may go looking for new stuff to do (or stuff they left undone), ballooning the time between step 2 and its pay off while dramatically undermining tension.

I’d argue that this flow could have been made dramatically better by setting the point of no return prior to returning to Jenova’s tube.

Like so:

The player finishes the lab area’s final fight, the two parties are reunited, and they find the elevator that will take them up.

The game fires the Point of No Return. This makes a lot of sense narratively, too, because last time the party was up there, Sephiroth was up there, too. (This elevator also goes up or down from this floor - the only elevator in the lab that does so - making it a perfect place in the level to put this kind of choice.)

Player can put off the return upstairs for a time if they want.

Player takes elevator up and finds Jenova missing.

Player takes elevator up to Shinra’s office and 4 pays off without the loss of tension.

BAM!

Anyhoo...

We can play backseat developer all day. I’m sure there were reasons this choice was made the way it was, and I’d be surprised if this exact conversation didn’t happen in someone’s office at some point. 

I don’t know what the various moving pieces were that led to the choice that shipped. It’s just not the choice I’d’ve made in a vacuum, because I’m confident in saying that - whatever the decision was made in service to - it harmed the narrative’s pacing.

And that’s something that happens. Development is give and take, and sometimes (often) narrative hangs lower on the priority pole than other things.

The last Point of No Return occurs right before the final boss. 

Like the first, I’d argue that this one’s unnecessary. The player’s forced by the level design to pass immediately by the very vending machine the Point of No Return suggests that they use, and there’s nothing else for the player to do in that map prior to confronting the Big Bad. The narrative has made it plenty clear that there’s no telling what’s on the other side of that light. 

(I actually thought it was a portal to the ending cinematic and credits prior to seeing the Point of No Return text, and would have been very pleasantly surprised by the twist of facing another challenge. Albeit frustrated said challenge was yet another combat in a system I was entirely over by then.)

An autosave at that point would have protected the player’s experience without interrupting flow.

Like whatever hidden trickery moves Cloud from that hole to the top of the slide.

So to bring this to its conclusion:

Points of No Return, while wildly useful, can dramatically interrupt the player experience and undermine narrative tension. They probably shouldn’t be viewed as an opportunity to unlock a bunch of side content, and they should definitely be placed prior to a series of interconnected events rather than in the midst of them.

Until next time, <3 <3 <#

#ffvii remake #final fantasy vii remake #ffvii #gamedev #game design #narrative design