Bold claim, but this might be the most I've ever enjoyed a JRPG. The combat is brilliantly satisfying, especially when you AoE as Cloud to build some ATB and then unleash it with some fancy abilities. And it's just the right side of difficult for me (which probably means it's too easy for everyone else). You need to think about tactics, but it doesn't hand your arse to you if you mess up.
And the setting (speaking as someone who's never seen anything FF7 related) is so unique. I'm sure for most people it's all slipped into cliche by this point, but for first timers it's a breathtaking place. The music is excellent too (does the same person score all FF games?).
Just made it to Aerith's home; hoping there's a good chunk of game left yet, as I haven't had a full party at any point…
Yeah, you've got loads to go yet, maybe halfway through?
I'm annoyed with myself as I got maybe 80-90% of the way through this and never finished it. I was really enjoying it too. I think it was the week the Xbox Series X came out and I just got sidetracked. Doubt I could go back now as it's been a few months and I can't even remember how the combat works!
Combat is one of the best combat systems I've had in an RPG period imo. It's not just mindlessly attacking it's actually given everything you do a purpose and made every single character have a defined role to play (As opposed to them being all but clones in FF7 og) I really enjoyed breaking with Cloud, then using Tifa skills to increase the damage multiplier and using her Limit Break. Or Aerith's double casting bullshit in general. Coming from a 'Tales of' fan I'm almost sad to admit it's made their last two games at least look like a joke in this regard.
It all plays into the Materia system too, which has been faithfully transported to the remake, I remember when I gave Cloud Fire and Elemental Attack and it made breaking Reno in the Church Boss super easy. It'll also enable Aerith to do insane damage later on too. Or give Barret Aero and Elemental to break those annoying flying enemies simply by shooting them. (aerial combat the only janky thing about the game's battle system imo)
I think I'm now a Final Fantasy Fan. In a short space of time I've played:
- 7 remake, which is brilliant
- 10, which I'm enjoying, despite most people thinking it's a bit naff
- 12, which was a great game let down by an incomprehensible story
- 14, which is still my favourite
- 15, which I enjoyed, no matter what everyone else says
Bit annoyed I let these pass me by upon their original releases. I want to play 9 next, as I'm craving some proper fantasy, but the remaster looks a bit rubbish.
If 14 doesn't count because 'it's an mmo' than 10 or 6 is probably my favourite! I think 12's story is quite simple at it's core and refreshingly not like most games in the series, it just surrounds it with a lot of politics. (You can go to Ivalice in FF14 in case you haven't already!)
It'll be jarring going back to the PS1 era if you haven't played them before but 9 is still a really charming game. I think you'll be fine.
Is Ivalice a FF14 raid? I think I started the quest but never actually did the instance.
That's FF7 Remake finished. Here are my questions, as someone who never played FF7. (Not expecting an answer to any of these, just if anyone was curious about the experience of a first-timer. And no spoilers please!)
- Who is Sephiroth? That wasn't explained very well. I was on board with the eco-terrorism plot, but it got a bit too crazy Japanese towards the end.
Spoiler - click to show- Who the frig is black-haired Cloud, and why does he have real Cloud with him. I'm assuming that's some alternate dimension or something, and hopefully it made more sense in the original, full, game.
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Which twonk thought it was a good idea to have no AOE magic, aside from one materia. Everyone knows AOE magic is the best thing about RPGs.
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Was it the same twonk who made the final battle 90 minutes long, with unskippable cutscenes, no checkpoints and insta-wipes?
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Does the plot differ from the first bit of the original, at all? (This one I would like an answer to, if anyone made it this far.)
All things considered, I loved it. Definitely the most fun I've had with a JRPG.
Does the plot differ from the first bit of the original, at all? (This one I would like an answer to, if anyone made it this far.)
Yes. Quite a lot, especially towards the end; everything from the Drum onwards is an almost-total rewrite.
As regards the spoiler question, it's handled in a much more straightforward way in the original. The remake seems to be treating it as fanservice there, which, if you don't have the context, isn't going to do a lot for you.
EDIT: Massive spoilers.
Spoiler - click to showSephiroth is an old hero from the same organisation Cloud worked in, SOLDIER. Then one day he discovered he was an 'abomination' created with Jenova cells (the creature you fought in Shinra). He snapped, decided Jenova was his mother then killed everyone and burned everything down before Cloud managed to surprise him and impale him with the Buster Sword (which is why he's so obsessed with him) before throwing him into the Lifestream in one of the Reactors, everyone thinks he's dead.
Spoiler - click to showThe black haired Cloud is also from SOLDIER, subjected to the same experiments put to Cloud. They break free but Shinra hunt them down and Zack dies protecting Cloud. This trauma makes Cloud snap and believe everything Zack did, he did instead and he forgets him completely. (Cloud never actually made it to SOLDIER 1st class, he was just a grunt like the dudes you fight throughout the game.)
https://youtu.be/8cVjyc46eRQ
Probably to stay faithful to the old game.
Probably.
What Ninchilla said,.
MPH: be incredibly warned that those Spoiler blocks are very big spoilers.
Yeah alot of that stuff is to come, they've just introduced alot of it really early.
