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The United Kingdom outlet Daily Star recently published an interview with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi.

Several topics were covered throughout this discussion, notably design decisions he may alter for the third and final installment. Besides talking about how ultimately proud he was for the sheer number of minigames and side activities the team implemented, he actually apologized for the Platinum Trophy.

The Platinum Trophy for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was pretty challenging and a step up from what the Final Fantasy VII Remake offered. Hamaguchi said that he won’t be making Platinum Trophies that difficult in the future.

Personally, I’m mixed on this conclusion since Platinum Trophies represent the work and time players put into the experience, ultimately making their eventual acquisition all the more satisfying. Making Platinums easier to obtain seems contradictory.

Regardless, you can view Hamaguchi’s statement below:

I think there is one other thing actually, which I can say was a mistake on my part, something that I’ve already apologized for – and I definitely will not do again, which is how difficult I made it to get the Platinum Trophy.
So rest assured I have learned from that and in future I will not be making Platinum Trophies that difficult.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Director Apologizes For Platinum Trophy Difficulty, Promises Changes

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi apologizes for the challenging Platinum Trophy and promises easier achievements in future installments.

noisypixel.net

 

[adamsapple]

He should also apologize for some of the story decisions they made.

 

[Mayar]

The creators - Crypt of Necrodancer, the whole office is just laughing.

 

[GHG]

 

[LectureMaster]

The platinum is not hard, it's just tedious - you need to complete pretty much all mini games with best scores.

I am all on board for challenging achievements and but those completion checklist style trophies are tiresome

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Lightweight.

You gotta earn those plats and be a legend.

What’s the point of the worthless pretend trophies if it isn’t hard, you need to impress Tifa so she will marry you.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Apologize for the filler and wank story you twat.

 

[Arsic]

Apologize for the filler and wank story you twat.

I finally made the decision when I made it to costa del sol to put this abomination down and uninstall permanently.

Everything is a bloated, padded, dumpster fire mini game. The game is so fucking tedious and doesn’t take itself seriously in the slightest.

OG FF7 had goofy parts but it fits. Here for both remake parts they just go too hard and too far down the path of silly shit and it derails the narrative or serious nature of anything going on.

I think the sequence I just made it to was Cloud doesn’t have swim trunks so I gotta go do dip shit errands around town to earn points to afford swim wear.

This game doesn’t respect time or intelligence of the player.

ADHD retards with waifu pillows of tifa are the target audience I guess.

 

[TheCed]

Plat was a lot of fun but a tad too unforgiving.

Those mini game scores were a bit too high

Chadley's Virtual hardest battles shouldn't have been part of a gauntlet.

 

[PauloRoberto]

It's not hard... it's BORING, there's a difference (just like Dark Souls III Plat...)

 

[mayham2199]

I thought the remake was to hard as well. I preferred the way 16 did it and I wish more would do that. I'm not playing FF to get the hardest combat experience. Leave that stuff for fromsoft games.

 

[Sooner]

I got mine. No issues here, but it's my GOTY. It takes a special game for a 200 hour platinum to be worthwhile.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

you need to complete pretty much all mini games with best scores.

 

[XXL]

Like Jamie Oliver's Pad Thai. Lol.

 

[Soodanim]

The Daily Star did an interview with a game director?!

 

[killatopak]

ADHD retards with waifu pillows of tifa are the target audience I guess.

That's low.

*hugs my tifa pillow*

 

[Darkmakaimura]

ADHD retards

I feel attacked.

 

[Boneless]

It should be more inclusive and include an option to just get the trophy.

 

[Radical Dreamer]

Lightweight.

You gotta earn those plats and be a legend.

What’s the point of the worthless pretend trophies if it isn’t hard, you need to impress Tifa so she will marry you.

Who gives a shit about boring ass tifa. Aerith top tier waifu.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Who gives a shit about boring ass tifa. Aerith top tier waifu.

Some of my best w*nks have been to Tifa in photo mode.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Who gives a shit about boring ass tifa. Aerith top tier waifu.

 

[Mayar]

We started to forget what the best girl in the FF7 universe looks like...

 

[Jack Videogames]

ADHD retards with waifu pillows of tifa are the target audience I guess.

Evilore can I get "ADHD retard with a Tifa waifu pillow" as a title pls

 

[Same ol G]

I don't see the problem, just don't care about stupid trophies.

 

[E-Cat]

We started to forget what the best girl in the FF7 universe looks like...

It always bothered me that it’s just Cloud in pigtails. Like they should’ve made it more drag

 

[Jack Videogames]

It always bothered me that it’s just Cloud in pigtails. Like they should’ve made it more drag

It's more or less how it looked

 

[E-Cat]

It's more or less how it looked

I suppose, but it worked better with the chibi artstyle

 

[DiscoDave]

The fucking mini games almost made me go insane. Thought might be the 1st game I plat but I'd end sticking the nut on the tv.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Apologize for the filler and wank story you twat.

I doubt anyone thought they will make a game that is serious in tone. They tried once - FFXII - from their perspective it was a failure.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

The creators - Crypt of Necrodancer, the whole office is just laughing.

900 hours for a platinum is fucking crazy

 

[xenosys]

I doubt anyone thought they will make a game that is serious in tone. They tried once - FFXII - from their perspective it was a failure.

They also tried with XVI but Yoshi P couldn't help himself and turned it into Kingdom Hearts.

 

[FUBARx89]

Rebirth would be around the same level as remake, maybe slightly harder with final boss marathon, if it wasn't for the Johnny hotel donating thing. Some of them mini games can go fuck themselves. Cactar Crush & Robot ones are rancid.

 

[asdasdasdbb]

Trophy Whores are something else.

 

[OGM_Madness]

Everyone here complaining about minigames definitely didn’t play enough to know the real challenge lies in the VR.

Some crazy shit goes down there in order to succeed.

Anyways, here’s my currículum vitae:

 

[Madflavor]

Everyone here complaining about minigames definitely didn’t play enough to know the real challenge lies in the VR.

Some crazy shit goes down there in order to succeed.

Anyways, here’s my currículum vitae:

I think if you polled the amount of people who got the Platinum and asked if they resorted to some exploit or cheese method to clear those Brutal/Legendary Challenges, it would probably be a super majority. Making them 30+ minute gauntlets is what filtered a ton of people from attempting the Plat. You have to spend 20 minutes or more to get back to the fight that you were struggling with so you could practice more, or experiment with new strategies and builds. Many Final Fantasy fans are middle aged at this point, with big boy responsibilities. It was madness that Hamaguchi thought this was okay. There's a reason FromSoftware had the wisdom to put bonfires closer to boss rooms, instead of having players run all the way back like they did in Demon Souls. I think Platinum Trophies should be challenging, but also think that devs should refrain from going psycho with them, to the point where there's no way the average person could achieve it.

I remember I got as far as the Rulers of the Outer Worlds challenge, and was getting curbstomped by Gilgamesh. I think I got to him about 4 times before reality hit me that I'd be spending the next several days trying to beat this challenge, and then after that there's more virtual sodomy to come, so I just noped out and went to play something else.

But I will say it feels validating to see Hamaguchi be like "Yeah....we fucked up. Sorry."

 

[Thebonehead]

Making it easier for those xbox cheevos I take it

 

[asdasdasdbb]

I remember I got as far as the Rulers of the Outer Worlds challenge, and was getting curbstomped by Gilgamesh. I think I got to him about 4 times before reality hit me that I'd be spending the next several days trying to beat this challenge, and then after that there's more virtual sodomy to come, so I just noped out and went to play something else.

Virtual sodomy indeed. Probably should have made him a one off.

You know it is possible to parry Shadowy Chains.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Hamaguchi apologizing again, lol.

"However, one thing I regret is that the amount of content in this game was so large that the percentage of users who played all of the content was very low. I don't think there was anything wrong with increasing the amount of content itself, but because we tied the trophies to the content, the trophy acquisition rate was extremely low.

In the next game, we are thinking of making it easier to get trophies."

 

[asdasdasdbb]

The point (or at least the original point) of getting the Plat was to say that you had completed all of the content that the game has.

Feels like spin (or confirmation, depending on how you look at it) that Part 3 will have a much smaller scope.

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

I was super proud to get that platinum, although I had to look up youtube guides for the super powerful VR challenges at the end

Really I just liked staying in that awesome game longer, challenging platinum trophies are a good way to do that

 

[Madflavor]

Hamaguchi apologizing again, lol.

I don't think the amount of content was the problem in regards to the Platinum. It was the Brutal and Legendary VR Challenges that filtered so many people. Just drop the whole gauntlet thing.

 

[taizuke]

To those struggling with Odin and Bahamut i suggest you fight their solo VR counterpart. Fight them until you can successfully beat them 10x in a row. The idea is to get you used to them.

As for Rulers of The Outer Worlds, is a bit trickier cause you can't practice Gilgamesh or Sephiroth. But, you should do everything in your power to learn the "Yuffie Cheese Method". Basically you use Yuffie to speed up everyone's ATB and have both Aerith and the other party member cast double aga spells (Aeroga, Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga") which not only stun locks enemies/bosses for a brief second, it also causes devastating damage. At the rate you'll be doing this, you'll be surprised how quickly you take down these summons.

That said, Sephiroth will still be a pain since it will require some luck as he does a move that pretty much kills the run. But, once you get him stun lock with aga spells, the fight is over. Plus, with this tactic you'll get to him in 5 mins which even if you end up failing the run, the time loss won't be as much.

 

[asdasdasdbb]

I don't think the amount of content was the problem in regards to the Platinum.

Def seems like Trophy Whores are upset just as much as the length as the difficulty.

 

[Madflavor]

Def seems like Trophy Whores are upset just as much as the length as the difficulty.

The majority of trophies basically require a time sink as your barrier to achieve them. Nothing crazy, if you’re enjoying the game they’re easy enough to achieve. The minigames can easily be figured out with guides, there’s even a decent exploit with the punching minigame.

The VR Challenges however are a hard skill check. They are leagues beyond the difficulty of beating the game on Hard. Most people I’ve read weren’t able to do them without using a cheese strategy, but even then the gauntlet format gave you little room for error.

Personally I was big mad because I got the Plat for Remake, but Rebirth is just too much for me. Lately I get a couple hours to game a night, which is obviously a major handicap for these gauntlet fights. Most FF fans are like me. They’re in their 30s and 40s, have jobs, maybe even a family. So I think the devs had a bit of a disconnect with their audience there, but I’m glad they’re at least acknowledging they went too far.

 

[A.Romero]

Love the game but the trophies are indeed tedious. Good thing I don't care.

It's funny that he is frustrated about low trophy numbers, it seems that they hunt trophy hunters.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Trophy whores are

 

[Hypereides]

What a weird thing to apologize for. The entire point with this system is to add some extra challenge on the side apart from the main game.

In fact, many modern trophy lists are plagued by being easy these days. Hamaguchi should've stood his ground.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Are both versions of the remaster on pc? Are they good ports?

 

[Madflavor]

What a weird thing to apologize for. The entire point with this system is to add some extra challenge on the side apart from the main game.

In fact, many modern trophy lists are plagued by being easy these days. Hamaguchi should've stood his ground.

These people stand their ground on Rebirth having a clever story. They would have no problem standing their ground if they genuinely believed they had the right amount of challenge.

Hamaguchi knows he fucked up, and it’s good of him to acknowledge it. Too many devs are out of touch and refuse to admit mistakes.