I want a remake just for curiosity sake. How the hell would they handle it. I can't help but feel intrigued. If it sucks, it sucks and I'll stick to the original.
A remake sucking won't retroactively diminish my opinion of the original game.
Honestly, the whole FFVII remake idea just isn't that appealing to me. Though I understand why people would be intrigued by the notion. But... like... how would you remake a game like FFVII?
Does anyone really want to play FFVII with the Advent Children art-style, graphics, and realistically proportioned characters? I don't think that style would fit in with just how goofy FFVII was at times. Does anyone really want to see uber level graphics applied to Cloud cross dressing? ... well maybe, that would be pretty funny. I've just become so curious as to why people want a remake in the first place.
I would rather have a remastered version. With a consistent art-style that doesn't have a jarring transition from chibi field models to detailed battle models, high-res pre-rended backgrounds, and a new translation. Something like the Halo: CE Anniversary Edition. Spruced up and more appealing to look at, but deep down its the same game. At the touch of a button, you can see just how silly it all looked back in 1997.
Honestly, the whole FFVII remake idea just isn't that appealing to me. Though I understand why people would be intrigued by the notion. But... like... how would you remake a game like FFVII?
Does anyone really want to play FFVII with the Advent Children art-style, graphics, and realistically proportioned characters? I don't think that style would fit in with just how goofy FFVII was at times. Does anyone really want to see uber level graphics applied to Cloud cross dressing? ... well maybe, that would be pretty funny. I've just become so curious as to why people want a remake in the first place.
I would rather have a remastered version. With a consistent art-style that doesn't have a jarring transition from chibi field models to detailed battle models, high-res pre-rendered backgrounds, and a new translation. Something like the Halo: CE Anniversary Edition. Spruced up and more appealing to look at, but deep down its the same game. At the touch of a button, you can see just how silly it all looked back in 1997.
That's the thing though. Square will never go that route, they had plenty of chances to do so and everything they said about FF7 remake points to an actual full blown project for better or for worse(remember the Kitase quotes about how the remake project will be a big deal for his career and it's going to be a huge undertaking and difficult to do). So I'll take whatever they have in mind over nothing even if it ends up sucking. Ideally I would rather have them do that type of remaster but it's not what the majority wants unfortunately and it's not what they seem inclined to do. Otherwise they wouldn't keep saying how much of a hassle remaking FF7 will be.
They will try to adapt the game into a modern FF format and who knows how they will handle the sillyness. Cut it entirely? Screw up Cloud's characterization? Or they could actually do a good job, it's not impossible to keep the sillyness even with more realistic graphics.. I'm sure they know how touchy the project will be and they will be very careful in how they approach the remake.
That's the thing though. Square will never go that route, they had plenty of chances to do so and everything they said about FF7 remake points to an actual full blown project for better or for worse. So I'll take whatever they have in mind over nothing. Ideally I would rather have them do that but it's not what the majority wants unfortunately.
I find it hilarious that if Square was to remake FFVII that it HAS TO BE, a full blown project. After the announcement of REmake's "Remaster" I've also been curious about the notion of up-ressing the old FF7 pre-rendered backgrounds and replacing the character models. Fresh coat of paint, on a classic. That would have been enough for me.
I find it hilarious that if Square was to remake FFVII that it HAS TO BE, a full blown project. After the announcement of REmake's "Remaster" I've also been curious about the notion of up-ressing the old FF7 pre-rendered backgrounds and replacing the character models. Fresh coat of paint, on a classic. That would have been enough for me.
I'm down for redrawn backgrounds and updated models. That's all it really takes. I think the notion of a full blown project stems from that tech demo they showed at E3 2005. Nice avatar by the way. Our avatars totally match.
If anything I think the camps for a FF7 remake are just about as divisive as the Sonic fanbase. No one really knows what they want and it's impossible to cater to even a significant fraction of expectations.
Heck, there are people who would legit buy a SNES de-make along the lines of the pirate NES ROM (I'm one of them)
I find it hilarious that if Square was to remake FFVII that it HAS TO BE, a full blown project. After the announcement of REmake's "Remaster" I've also been curious about the notion of up-ressing the old FF7 pre-rendered backgrounds and replacing the character models. Fresh coat of paint, on a classic. That would have been enough for me.
Something like the Halo: CE Anniversary Edition. Spruced up and more appealing to look at, but deep down its the same game. At the touch of a button, you can see just how silly it all looked back in 1997.
Aye, but there's the rub: Do we even know how much access they have to the source material? Halo CE Anniversary was done with full access to the original source code, the level geometry, developer notes, the original engine (they had to transfer info from the old engine into their new engine) etc. A LOT of companies had terrible archiving policies back in the day.
SE didn't even have the source code for something as "recent" as Kingdom Hearts 1/FM. I highly doubt they'll have it for something that predates it by 5 years.
i started FFVII today. is there a severe lack of savepoints in this game?
I'm not very far but the only place ive saved is the reactor. I'm in sector 7 slums right now, but I haven't seen a save point yet :/
Get a bunch of elemental Shields and a fully-upgraded Elementalist and you can nerf the shit out of most bosses' attacks (most tend to stick to one element).
The battle system is a little wonky at first, but once you find out how it works, it's almost like second nature.
As for the Towers...there's like 4 of them and they're pretty damn rough without upgraded equipment and jobs.
i started FFVII today. is there a severe lack of savepoints in this game?
I'm not very far but the only place ive saved is the reactor. I'm in sector 7 slums right now, but I haven't seen a save point yet :/
i started FFVII today. is there a severe lack of savepoints in this game?
I'm not very far but the only place ive saved is the reactor. I'm in sector 7 slums right now, but I haven't seen a save point yet :/
Only one in the reactor, but the slums has two different ones. One in front of the big tower right after you zone out of the area with the train, then another in the next one.
SE didn't even have the source code for something as "recent" as Kingdom Hearts 1/FM. I highly doubt they'll have it for something that predates it by 5 years.
Konami didn't have the source code for silent hill either for their remaster, the code they had was very old and wasn't retail release which is why the games were so bugged.
This concludes my fifth playthrough of this game. Five times. And it's been out for like, two years. Let that, above all else, tell you how I really love this game.
Gameplay-General
I don't know how many of you actually have played this game and how many of you are looking forward to it still, but let me tell you what you should expect. I think the best way you can prepare yourself for this game is to go out and buy Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. The comparison isn't 1:1, but the two games are inexorably linked due to Tabata's direction. It doesn't really do to compare this to say, FF7 or 9 or so, because the game is significantly different from those. It's very much so like Crisis Core. How, you ask?
Well, for one, it's very mission oriented. The core loop of the game is to do a mission, return to school and prepare for the next. There is down time between missions, of course, and you may use that down time for sidequests (both in the school and in the world of Orience at large). Combat is akin to 7CC as well, with it leaning yet more heavily into the action combat area. There's a lot of visual continuity, too, I think.
Of course, it isn't quite identical to Crisis Core. In Type-0 you have access to the world of Orience, which has its pros and cons. The positive is that Orience is deceptively large and there are towns and dungeons and areas to go and explore off the beaten path. The downside is that some of these really are off the beaten path. Like, there's an entire corner of the world you never have to go to at all. You don't ever really need to go to other towns, and the towns you visit are rarely large. However, given the option between little hubs with NPCs and quests and nothing, I'll choose the former.
Time around the School might better be compared to a Persona game, in that you have free time to do things and when that time is spent, the game will resume the plot. It works for Persona, but I often felt that I could never strike the balance of "enough time" and "nothing to do." Academy life can be entertaining, and it's sort of the one time you really have to get to know the cast.
Battle
Combat is sort of the crux of a lot of conversation about the game. Personally, I really loved it, because action RPGs appeal to me more and more with time. The major complaint I've seen thrown at this system is that there isn't enough depth, but I think that that oversimplifies the actual problem. The truth of the matter is that there is a lot you can do in combat. There are 14 unique characters with unique skill sets and numerous classes of magic to work with. The problem is that, like all other Final Fantasy games, because the game requires that you be able to use any of those 14 in a combination of 3 and overcome any challenge in the game, there is no incentive to get to know the nuances of any character because none of their skills are any more necessary than any other.
Conceptually, there is a lot of brilliant stuff going on in the ability section for the party members. Trey, the class archer, has a SNIPING mode. And yet the logistics of finding a spot to stay and snipe a foe are kind of a problem. Likewise, Jack's got some of the most interesting self-sacrificing skills in the series, but why use them when Flurry deals enough damage to kill most appropriately leveled foes at all? Deuce is perhaps the most obvious example of this. As class bard, her music can deal a number of status effects, but like pretty much every Final Fantasy since 6, status effects don't matter much.
It's not all bad, though. Type-0's combat is a great idea for a portable system. It's easy to pick it up and put it down because it's fast-paced, snappy, and it draws your attention. It's one of the ways I feel that the lack of a shared XP pool is mitigated. I admit that building up 14 PCs can be a chore, which is why you should really only focus on about 6. That said, the game DOES give out free, shared XP to the class on occasion, when you attend certain classes.
All in all, though, I'm simply enamored with fighting in Type-0 because it's what I wanted out of XIII's combat in the first place.
RTS
The RTS segments are admittedly the lowest point in the entire game. In no small part because there is no strategy to be mentioned. If you do not follow the path lined out for you at the beginning of the segment, chances are some battlefield elite will flip shit on your head. The segments feel sort of slow and you'll spend most of them standing waiting for enemy troops to deploy and for your own troops to catch up to Class Zero.
As an idea, it's cool. It's neat to be taking part in a full-scale Final Fantasy war and you could say that as an image it looks pretty damn cool. The problem is it just isn't that fun and it isn't that strategic. All the possibility that combat offers you is lacking in the RTS segment. If these sections could be won just by strategy and not by Class Zero's sheer force, or if the game could just free them up so that strategy mattered, they might be a lot more fun.
Visuals
Like I said above, the game has a lot visually in common with 7CC and T3B. Not so much in the sense of coloring, but character model proportions and a general concept of how the environments on missions are structured all felt really reminiscent to me.
That said, this being a Square Enix game, it's a no-brainer that it is absolutely gorgeous to look at.
I really think the game has an amazing sense of color at times. The Chinese Four Beasts provide a sort of chromatic theme to the entire game, with red being the dominant color for obvious reasons. As with most modern Final Fantasy games, there are also some truly stunning sights to see on your journey. From the ruins of Lorica to the depths of a volcano, to the garden of the dragon's egg and the bridge to Mahamayuri Castle. Everywhere you go is interesting to look at and at least one area will be bound to offer something to stare at. My personal favorite is the first infiltration into the Milites Empire. It opens with a recreation of Terra's assault on Narche, and ends with a view from a rooftop into the sunset.
If I had to launch one complaint with the game's visuals, it would be lip sync. During regular conversations in the game, there is nary an attempt made at making those work. Lips just flap willy-nilly for conversations. Granted the sheer amount of spoken dialogue in the game, though, I feel that's an excusable failing.
And I don't mean to nerd out over the guy, but I really do think this is some of Tetsuya Nomura's best work as a character designer in the series. Some characters still feature his belts (Qator and Kurasame come immediately to mind) but for every blatantly Nomura design, there are some really unique ones. Especially the L'Cie. Check some of them out!
I'm a huge fan of the Byakko L'Cie myself. Really love the military motif they have going on.
Music
The game's score shares a common theme, and I think it's really better for it. There aren't a ton of genre changes across the OST the way there are in FFXIII and XIII-2. Rather, for the most part, everything feels to be this sort of strange, electric rock orchestral that I'd say really fits Final Fantasy as a whole. Favorite tracks include We Have Arrived, Arecia Al-Rashi and Apostles of the Crystal.
Story
So here's the big one. Something I think first timers need to know is that Type-0 is not a character driven story. Where Crisis Core was intensely character driven, being all about Zack and his relationships, Type-0 is much less so. The focus is far more upon building the world of Orience as you go and on the war which sweeps across it. Far greater attention is spent upon the characteristics and cultures of nations than upon the personalities of party members, that distinction, I assert, is intentional.
But I don't wish to defend the weaknesses where they lie anymore than I wish to leave you with an overstated impression of the cast's simplicity. It's inarguable that Class Zero are not as fleshed out as many, many of their contemporaries. There isn't a lot of depth to what makes most of the kids on the team tick. Nine is the dumbass brute, King is team mom and Queen is team dad. Jack's the clown and Deuce the quite girl and so on and so on. But I do think that Ace stands apart from most of the class as having some difference to him, and Machina and Rem are up to series par, for what that is worth. Like, Ace has a fondness for Chocobos, which is innocent enough until you get to thinking about how that fondness for them has set so much into motion.
Machina is a bit of an asshole. In a way, I think the idea of Machina is to show the flipside of the character Tiz in Bravely Default. Where Tiz was the generic template "I will protect the girl!" hero, Machina illustrates a lot of what is wrong with that. His singleminded obsession with keeping Rem safe is ultimately exactly what poisons his relationship with her in particular and the world at wide. It's how Parliament manages to manipulate him. It's how he winds up bargaining away more than he expected to, and the irony is driven into place when his need to get stronger to protect the girl he loves
causes him to kill her while under the influence of the crystal to which he swore fealty in exchange for the power he wanted to protect her. And before she dies he's already begun forgetting her because L'Cie forget everyone and everything.
In this light, Machina kind of reminds me of Agnes, inasmuch as I wonder if both characters were not intentionally written to be awful people to make the player think about what's wrong with their archetypes.
As to the villains, I confess I'm rather split. Grand Marshall Cid is not a very present character in the game. He's not Golbez. You won't fight him at every Crystal in the game. However, the entire war is something HE set into motion, for motives as misguided as they were selfish, and so, although he is not an ever present enemy like say, Caius, Cid is still very much the root of evil and so a compelling villain.
The game has some great things going on in it, like the way Parliament treats Class Zero. In fact, Suzaku's internal power struggle is probably one of the best plot points of the entire game and some of the bet not Tactics politics in the series. Everything surrounding the trip to Byakko and the aftermath are still probably my favorite part of the entire game, with the two-front battle of Judecca coming in close second. There are some really intense, well-paced things going on from the game's beginning to the end of Judecca.
The real problem, I think, is the ending. Not in the sense that I find either of the game's endings dissatisfactory, because I actually think they're some of the best stuff in the game, but rather, it's obvious that a lot of the endgame is very, very disjointed and I can see why people would complain. I'm sort of split on how important the Akashic Records are and whether the mention they get in sidequests that are optional excuses their importance at the end, but at the same time while the cast themselves seem as lost as a first timer is bound to be, I can't help but wonder what is intentional and what isn't. Likewise, the bulk of the truth about what is going on in the ending is told in a series of videos unlocked only after the game's ending. And these videos do not play on their own, but must be sought in the in-game theater. Which isn't a huge deal, but it does come off as rushed and sloppy.
The problem, really, is that the game goes the opposite of Bravely Default in this branch. Rather than beat your head in about "what's going to happen when Suzaku dominates all four crystals?" the game only hints at them with that amount of specificity. It's really very vague, and so when it happens the player may feel blindsided by it. I think that, given enough time, the team likely would've done a better job setting it all up, and frankly, at this point I'm kind of grateful to be run through that ending rather than having it dragged out the way Bravely Default did. And I should note that, for as disjointed as it is, it isn't impossible to figure out what's going on. It probably isn't even hard. It's just not done in as tight and well written a way as it should be.
I still find it to be more coherent than anything else in the FNC, and more entertaining to boot. Shit, I actually feel the ending is better than XII's endgame, at that.
The Translation Patch
This isn't meant to be a big thing, but just a quick kudos to the Translation Team for all their work. Were there typos? Yes. Were there lines of dialogue they missed? One or two. Were there a few things I found unclear? Sure. But was it a bad job? Not at all. The overwhelming majority of the translation is amazingly well done, and if any of them can hear this, drama or no, as a long time fan of the effort you guys did, thank you. Thank you for the time and effort you put into this so I could have the chance to play one of my favorite PSP games in my native tongue. Thank you for the countless hours you guys spent. You guys are the best, and you did a killer job. You should be proud.
Anyway, this more or less wraps up my general thoughts on the series. Talk at me people with your questions about the game!
First, thanks for that write-up Corvo! 5 times? That is impressive. I really want to check it out now (you had me at Persona), but I'm waiting for the official localization.
Second, I hope that Professor Beef is reading because I am going to address his Final Fantasy VI thread that he told me to read. Your major hurdle with Final Fantasy VI seems to be that the story is unfocused and that the cast is too large. You see that is one of the many great things about Final Fantasy VI! Its a story about a group of people rather than having a main character and support cast build around it. There is no mascot character here like Cecil or Bartz. Throughout the story, party members will come and go and you'll get bite sized portions of character development rather than have it spread out. I know that how you want character development served depends on taste, but I still feel that the way it is delivered in VI is superb enough to be universally enjoyed. The characters feel distinctive enough, each has their own musical theme and their stories are interesting enough to keep things going.
And then there is the end of the world arc that you don't like either. It falls in place with the points I stated previously. After having an apocalyptic tone for a short time, akin to the meteor part Final Fantasy VII, the game switches over to a rather hopeful tone and you go on a quest to reassemble your party. It might be a bit of a hurdle, but having to find each party member still made for an interesting experience especially when they are so distinct.
Now I understand that we can't all like the same things and you made your dislike sound reasonable, but I still had to address your stance! Also, my English isn't that great, so I apologize for the wonky writing.
i started FFVII today. is there a severe lack of savepoints in this game?
I'm not very far but the only place ive saved is the reactor. I'm in sector 7 slums right now, but I haven't seen a save point yet :/
Let it be known that the first three times I played Type-0 were years ago. The second two were this time. And part of the reason is because a significant amount of stuff is stuck in New Game +. You can't even fight 8-Armed Gilgamesh until the third playthrough. To be honest the whole concept is interesting and a good way to make NG+ unique from first playthrough, but at the same time 1)I'd rather have had those missions all available in the main game, 2) I'd rather have had the secret ending available during the first playthrough but 3) the nature of the alternative missions does sort of interfere with the plot in some ways, making it hard to decide exactly how all that would go down.
I swear to god I die from the most bullshit attacks in 4 heroes.
Corvo: Ugh you're making me want to play it so badly. I really don't want to play the ps3 version, though. I'll have to look into the fan translation but I usually never play fan translations since I'm stupid when it comes to setting them up.
The fantranslation is pretty easy to set up, but I'm obliged to say it's illegal due to the distribution technically containing data from the entire iso(s) of the retail PSP game.
The fantranslation is pretty easy to set up, but I'm obliged to say it's illegal due to the distribution technically containing data from the entire iso(s) of the retail PSP game.
I swear to god I die from the most bullshit attacks in 4 heroes.
Corvo: Ugh you're making me want to play it so badly. I really don't want to play the ps3 version, though. I'll have to look into the fan translation but I usually never play fan translations since I'm stupid when it comes to setting them up.
The fan translation is pretty good. I can't say either way about the upcoming PS4 version. I have hopes for them to sort some kinks out with it, but I'm not expecting revolutionary solutions to some of the larger complaints. My real concern is how well what is decidedly a portable game will translate into a console experience.
Sort of like how I'm actually really interested in how the F2P mobile version will work out when the game sort of required a much more sophisticated input than touch controls could afford. The camera is a huge issue. It's manageable with the PSP's dpad, but the PS4's second analogue stick will make that so much better, whereas smartphone touch screens I have no idea.
First, thanks for that write-up Corvo! 5 times? That is impressive. I really want to check it out now (you had me at Persona), but I'm waiting for the official localization.
Second, I hope that Professor Beef is reading because I am going to address his Final Fantasy VI thread that he told me to read. Your major hurdle with Final Fantasy VI seems to be that the story is unfocused and that the cast is too large. You see that is one of the many great things about Final Fantasy VI! Its a story about a group of people rather than having a main character and support cast build around it. There is no mascot character here like Cecil or Bartz. Throughout the story, party members will come and go and you'll get bite sized portions of character development rather than have it spread out. I know that how you want character development served depends on taste, but I still feel that the way it is delivered in VI is superb enough to be universally enjoyed. The characters feel distinctive enough, each has their own musical theme and their stories are interesting enough to keep things going.
And then there is the end of the world arc that you don't like either. It falls in place with the points I stated previously. After having an apocalyptic tone for a short time, akin to the meteor part Final Fantasy VII, the game switches over to a rather hopeful tone and you go on a quest to reassemble your party. It might be a bit of a hurdle, but having to find each party member still made for an interesting experience especially when they are so distinct.
Now I understand that we can't all like the same things and you made your dislike sound reasonable, but I still had to address your stance! Also, my English isn't that great, so I apologize for the wonky writing.
I wanted to reply to this post here as well, but as I mentioned, I don't really know what I could add that I haven't already touched upon in the thread of mine that you read. Yeah, everyone got a story arch, but splitting up parties CONSTANTLY in RPGs is extremely annoying. Then the game makes you go on quests to find the party members that you DO like (because I'm pretty sure not a whole lot of people were grinding up Setzer and Gau without prior knowledge to how busted the game is). The cast should've been chopped by 1/3, it's absurd how large the playable roster is.
I notice that your argument is mainly about the game's tone, which isn't something I really cared for. My main gripes were with the gameplay, which isn't something you mention a whole lot in this post. I can forgive a "meh" story if the gameplay is there, but the gameplay and mechanics in FF6 felt like a chore because of the encounter rate and the World of Ruin/party member fetch quests.
In terms of party size I think there's something to be said of both approaches. I'd probably get bored faster if every single JRPG was one way or the other.
Heck, that's half of the reason LRFF felt pretty fresh outside of the ARPG combat. Levelling (or lack thereof) did have some of its faults and quirks but I'd be damned if I didn't find the 'worry only about one person' focus intriguing. Last game I played with a single person to develop and worry about I can say I really enjoyed in terms of being invested into pimping out power levels would probably be Parasite Eve.
I wanted to reply to this post here as well, but as I mentioned, I don't really know what I could add that I haven't already touched upon in the thread of mine that you read. Yeah, everyone got a story arch, but splitting up parties CONSTANTLY in RPGs is extremely annoying. Then the game makes you go on quests to find the party members that you DO like (because I'm pretty sure not a whole lot of people were grinding up Setzer and Gau without prior knowledge to how busted the game is). The cast should've been chopped by 1/3, it's absurd how large the playable roster is.
I notice that your argument is mainly about the game's tone, which isn't something I really cared for. My main gripes were with the gameplay, which isn't something you mention a whole lot in this post. I can forgive a "meh" story if the gameplay is there, but the gameplay and mechanics in FF6 felt like a chore because of the encounter rate and the World of Ruin/party member fetch quests.
O-oh. I has been a long time since I played it, so the memories of the gameplay itself is a bit blurry. I don't remember being displeased with it. I was solely focusing on the other aspects in that post. I'm going to replay it soon so I'll return once I have the gameplay properly memorized.
Alive, sort of, considering the last trailer for XV had FNC title in the beginning (thank goodness).Since the game will have sequels it will continue to have FNC as it's myth.
Between that and Type-0 HD, plus Agito, we still got plenty of FNC.
Alive, sort of, considering the last trailer for XV had FNC title in the beginning (thank goodness).Since the game will have sequels it will continue to have FNC as it's myth.
Between that and Type-0 HD, plus Agito, we still got plenty of FNC.
In some form yeah. Type 0's L'cie and Fal'cie have their differences to the ones found in the XIII trilogy and I'm sure "The World of the Versus Epic" will have their own take.
Yusnaan (Morning) is great as well. They're both a huge departure from the music you hear in any game, but I couldn't believe how good they sounded the first time I heard the music. Again, it's depressing to think that we're not gonna hear similar stuff in the future from the way it looks right now.
In some form yeah. Type 0's L'cie and Fal'cie have their differences to the ones found in the XIII trilogy and I'm sure "The World of the Versus Epic" will have their own take.
I recommend having a Medic, Medic, Sentinel team. It's very useful whenever shit gets real. For normal battle I always used Ravager, Ravager, Commando. For bosses it's a good idea to use synergists tho. Overall I think your team will be enough, the key is to know when to do Paradigm Shifts.