The last three chapters are a blast with nearly no technical issues. Just two or odd assets but now issues what so ever. I should be directly before the final battle. Its sad that its over. But so far there is no Kingdom Hearts nonsense or people didn't play KH3 directly before this like I did and therefore their memory isn't to fresh on how bad KH can be
Agreed. People who keep making KH references really need to replay KH3 to remember how totally incomprehensible everything is on every level. This game adding a little bit of meta commentary on whether you can change the future or not is nowhere near the same level.
Most people streaming/reviewing this on Twitch and YT have "Thanks to Square for the free copy" writen in the description. And I don't mean big channels either. Like everyone......
I don't know if this applies to SE, but at least with Sony and review codes, they nowadays send them out on the condition that reviewers mention where they got the copy from. To combat allegations of companies paying for coverage I guess - whether it works or not I can't say, but I think that's fair (and Square, hah!)
Bro, my jaw has been open ever since getting over the wall. I was wondering how they'd do the "Shiny Golden Wire of Hope" scene, and it was way better than the original imo. The big "Picture BG Skybox" didn't work quite as well there as it did in the rest of the game, but the lighting/environment in the sequence was absolutely amazing
But jesus christ, ever since i've hit Shinra HQ, my jaw has been on the ground. The lightning in this game is absolutely amazing, and the use of materials in the shinra building are crazy.
The jarring difference really makes the textures elsewhere look like a definite bug lol
I have watched guides on youtube and I have no idea wtf going on but my hell house is much much stronger than theirs!
First of all: in phase 2 is uses: chair salvo deluxe, renewed hospitality, etc. all the skills people taste only in phase 3 on youtube.
My hellhouse is always in good house mode, i.e. you cannot attack it at all, you can attack it only when it readies a skill. People happily attack it in phase 2 on youtube.
All the charging attacks are unavoidable (I've seen people successfully guarding/dodging these on youtube).
All the charging attacks end with a huge splash explosion (fire or thunder or ice) that do enormous amounts of damage, on youtube the house just stops after hitting something.
Ha, people easily avoid it's hospitality by evading to the back of the house, my hous will just move forward then and absorb second character (tried that) the only way to prevent somebody from dying is to interrupt, it looks like hospitality is the only interruptable skill.
Lol I even made the mistake of not healing before the hell house fight yet I made it through. Pretty sure it was on normal mode. I guess it was RNG on my side then. Had I known that on hard mode you can't use any items I would've used all of them during my normal mode run. Re-watching the fight boy I was struggling with the new ATB system, didn't know guarding or dodging essentially slows/stops refilling the gauge. Used ether on the wrong character, not using L2/R2 for giving commands to use magic or an item.
That move is intended to be interrupted, not eaten -- he's going to float around in god, drop barrier, and switch to an element. Blast him with whichever spell and it will cancel the attack....otherwise you gonna have to tank it.
Just pay attention. He's going to track you up until about 1-2 seconds before he actually moves. Keep moving and when he stops tracking, dodge out the way....but you should literally just be able to run.
1) avoid the attack, free window
2) use Lightning Magic while he's casting. Huge damage + stagger + interrupts
3) let it grab whomever he's targeting and use the opening for damage.
I do. you can check Dd[-_-]b
post above, in second phase the boss still uses normal chair slavo and normal hospitality. In my case in second phase it's chair salvo deluxe and renewed hospitality.
That's a fucking fact. I know it's hard to accept, but that's the reality.
Lol I even made the mistake of not healing before the hell house fight yet I made it through. Pretty sure it was on normal mode. I guess it was RNG on my side then. Had I known that on hard mode you can't use any items I would've used all of them during my normal mode run. Re-watching the fight boy I was struggling with the new ATB system, didn't know guarding or dodging essentially slows/stops refilling the gauge. Used ether on the wrong character, not using L2/R2 for giving commands to use magic or an item.
How did I expect such a reply... just in case it wasn't clear, I wasn't being serious. But also am of the opinion that obvious sarcasm shouldn't require a /s.
How did I expect such a reply... just in case it wasn't obvious, I wasn't being serious. But also am of the opinion that obvious sarcasm shouldn't require a /s.
I canceled my Amazon preorder when I got an e-mail that it may be delayed and just bought on PSN and preloaded.
I'm moving more and more away from physical media. For games I've just kept with it as it's kind of nice to be able to sell one-and-done games (the vast majority of games for me) on Amazon/eBay and recoup some costs since I don't collect things and rarely replay games. But I've gotten to the point of not caring so much about hassling with that as I've gotten older and have decent finances. I already went full digital in movies, music and books years ago and even put all my DVDs, CDS and all but a select few Blurays (favorites that actually get rewatched) into binders and recycled the cases and inserts. Shit was never getting used and was just ugly clutter.
anyone think part 2 will have next gen graphics to it? When I say next gen as in what we’ve seen with the remake was amazing in UE4, minus those silly textures, but as part 2 will launch a year or two maybe into PS5 will we see the same level of graphics we had on PS4 Pro or it would look generationally better If that makes sense.
anyone think part 2 will have next gen graphics to it? When I say next gen as in what we’ve seen with the remake was amazing in UE4, minus those silly textures, but as part 2 will launch a year or two maybe into PS5 will we see the same level of graphics we had on PS4 Pro or it would look generationally better If that makes sense.
I think it will look generationally better. System architecture is staying very similar and UE is very scaleable so it should be pretty easy for devs to scale things up. They'll get some experience porting part 1 to PC (and having scaled up settings for powerful rigs) and i imagine this will get ported to XSX and PS5 as well.
I canceled my Amazon preorder when I got an e-mail that it may be delayed and just bought on PSN and preloaded.
I'm moving more and more away from physical media. For games I've just kept with it as it's kind of nice to be able to sell one-and-done games (the vast majority of games for me) on Amazon/eBay and recoup some costs since I don't collect things and rarely replay games. But I've gotten to the point of not caring so much about hassling with that as I've gotten older and have decent finances. I already went full digital in movies, music and books years ago and even put all my DVDs, CDS and all but a select few Blurays (favorites that actually get rewatched) into binders and recycled the cases and inserts. Shit was never getting used and was just ugly clutter.
Never going full digital. I like being able to sell games, and buy them used. Maybe if the costs actually reflected the losses I'm taking, I'd be more interested, but as it is now with digital costing as much or more sometimes, I'll keep my shelf warmers.
Barret: Give him Provoke. He is the ultimate damage-taker. Also his melee weapons suck but maybe I'm just not using him correctly. For some flying enemies I will switch to him even if he doesn't do the most damage. I didn't even get a damage-dealing long range Ability until Shinra HQ.
Barrett's maximum fury (learned from the Big Bertha weapon) makes those easy fights pretty quick. I gave him a first strike materia. I immediately switch to him and do an overcharge, then I bound maximum fury to L1+X. Two full ATB bars are unloaded. If an enemy dies during the attack he switches targets. The fight is over in seconds. Does a lot of damage.
Never going full digital. I like being able to sell games, and buy them used. Maybe if the costs actually reflected the losses I'm taking, I'd be more interested, but as it is now with digital costing as much or more sometimes, I'll keep my shelf warmers.
Same but with the Corona virus and all jazz, didn't feel like going out to buy the game. Playing the game on hard mode, seeing how Ppsorcererwas talking up Hell House, figured I'd see if it's worse on hard mode with no items, seeing on normal mode how I ran through ether lol.
anyone think part 2 will have next gen graphics to it? When I say next gen as in what we’ve seen with the remake was amazing in UE4, minus those silly textures, but as part 2 will launch a year or two maybe into PS5 will we see the same level of graphics we had on PS4 Pro or it would look generationally better If that makes sense.
Never going full digital. I like being able to sell games, and buy them used. Maybe if the costs actually reflected the losses I'm taking, I'd be more interested, but as it is now with digital costing as much or more sometimes, I'll keep my shelf warmers.
I can't argue with that as I'd still been buying physical for that same re-sell reason. I'm just caring less now that the wife and I are finally in a very good financial place and have actual disposable income (i.e. have our rainy day fund build, bad debts paid off and max retirment accounts each year) that I don't really care about recouping a couple hundred bucks year selling games when I'm done.
Didn't before I found what the ward did, you can double cast in one turn with only one spell cost. All others who cast in the ward as well, pretty amazing
I don't remember Cloud being quite this much of a wet blanket sourpuss. Wish I were enjoying it more, but mostly it's a chore to get through, and the combat mechanics and progression systems don’t satisfy.
He was always like, "I'm only in it for the money. Once the job is done, I'm gone." He just seems more autistic with full cutscenes. The scenes where he drops his spaghetti and can't even high-five Aerith had me laughing.
It’s a breath of fresh air to see attractive female character designs after purple hair woke western game Shrek overload, but sometimes FF7R comes off more like a harem dating sim with all these girls fawning over Cloud 24/7 while the threadbare plot advances glacially.
It feels more harem partly because they made Jesse so hot for Cloud. I don't remember her being that flirty or confident in the original. She seemed nerdy and unsure of herself.
The Cloud/Aerith and Cloud/Tifa relationships were always there and the choices tied into who you end up dating at Gold Saucer. While Aerith was the canon date and most likely, you could also date Tifa, Yuffie or Barret. During the dates, Aerith says she wants to meet the real Cloud. Tifa almost confesses her feelings for Cloud. Barret pratically accuses Cloud of being a pedophile and complains how he's stuck at Gold Saucer with his punk ass. Don't remember what the Yuffie date was like.
Even though Aerith and Tifa both had feelings for Cloud, they worked very well together in the original game and the Remake. It doesn't feel as if they are in competition.
The combat system is pretty great 90% of the time but flying enemies are such a fuckin drag to fight, especially when they keep floating out of the battle arena. They´re not really hard, just annoying.
Shinra HQ is now, by technicality, the best FF final dungeon ever, at least tied with Kefka's Tower. Goin from Wall Market just to get to the damn building is such an ordeal with a well realized sense of scale, much less getting to the top floor. Sorry Ultimecia Castle and Memoria, it took some decades but you have been dethroned.
The combat system is pretty great 90% of the time but flying enemies are such a fuckin drag to fight, especially when they keep floating out of the battle arena. They´re not really hard, just annoying.
Agreed, especially the drake enemies scattered throughout the game, which is why I always use Barret or Aerith for them. Trying to whack them with Cloud or Tifa is just a waste, they are better off casting spells.
Define marginally. Honestly, this game could look a lot better just by cranking up some simple stuff like textures.
I'm sure they have higher-res version of all the assets in general. Better lighting is something that can also be fairly easy to implement but make everything look next level.
For the least I think it will be good enough that you will say. "this just isn't possible on last gen".
But maybe not. I suppose some people say that games with raytracing barely look different while I'm almost crying because the inaccuracies that have been plaguing me for years got removed.
That's your problem then dude. You passively generate it, you can turtle to save a charge or two, you can use ATB Charge materia, like what are you complaining about lol
Wrong. It's unavoidable. One time I made a fucking full circle on the arena and it still tracked me. It stopped when it hit the other character.
I do. you can check Dd[-_-]b
post above, in second phase the boss still uses normal chair slavo and normal hospitality. In my case in second phase it's chair salvo deluxe and renewed hospitality.
That's a fucking fact. I know it's hard to accept, but that's the reality.
Either way, both of those mechanics are still dealt with the same way.
just manage your ATB better, or level up, or keep Barrier up on all your characters....there are so many ways to deal with this boss. If you have trouble with this one then some of the bosses down the road are gonna bend you over hard
Alright, finally reached Chapter 9 and damn, I really enjoyed the time with Aerith walking around. I always think it's better to let the player control the pace you go at, but I'll admit that I was just in love with the story unfolding in front of me so I wasn't all that bothered by the forced walking sections. It just sucks when you have to deal with that shit and what you are walking through is boring as hell like some moments in the beginning of the game.
Alright, finally reached Chapter 9 and damn, I really enjoyed the time with Aerith walking around. I always think it's better to let the player control the pace you go at, but I'll admit that I was just in love with the story unfolding in front of me so I wasn't all that bothered by the forced walking sections. It just sucks when you have to deal with that shit and what you are walking through is boring as hell like some moments in the beginning of the game.
During this section, perhaps more than any other so far, it really hit home how utterly linear this game is.
Question for GAF peeps- at some point does the rate at which I acquire new weapons and materia increase? They seem to be doled out slowly so far, often as part of the story. The chests so far rarely hold anything interesting, and most of the materia scattered in the world seems to be stuff you can buy at the store anyway....
It is definitely really linear, with pockets of open areas you can kind of hit in your own order. I guess it's kind of in line with the meta theme of the story since it's made apparent that the characters are almost aware they are being pushed along a predestined path by the "Watchers of Fate". While I'm a bit bummed out that we aren't getting the massive world of Midgar as an open world, the linear format is working surprisingly well here. I still feel like I'm getting to see more of Midgar than I did in the original and I'm really excited to see where this ends up.
I hated the idea of this remake, one of my fav games growing up..BUT I actually can't deny that I love it. The story is so much better so far. I'm about 8 hours in and stuck at a boss named Air....only tried once but had to go. Loving the fleshed out story but still... it shouldn't have taken this long to make the game and only do Midgar.
I'm just in chapter 2 but holy shit. They really hit high notes with this remake. Imagine if they somehow managed to release the full game in one single launch. This would go down as one of the greatest...again!
So...damn...good. Loving every bit of it and I'm just getting started. Going slowly, because well...we dont have the full game
Sometimes I don't know if re-watching Advent Children or not.
Combat system is pretty great, love the mixture between action-rpg + commands. I'm gonna go ahead and say it tops KH2.
I mean the remake is less linear than the original game so far. So let's keep reasonable expectations.
Also PSA: THERE IS A BUG. When you get to Shinra tower and need to climb in the vents SAVE before you do so. When you climb in the vents it gives you the option to push triangle to listen to various optional dialogues. The bug being, it doesn't let you exit of the dialogue screen so you're stuck, forced to reset back to the title screen. This made me lose about 40 mins of battle arena progress.
1 thing that's getting me is there is way too much Materia and not enough slots. Im climbing to the Tower now and there are so many combinations of Mats i want to use, but cant. Also I only have found 1 Elemental effect materia which is my fav from the original.
Question,
Are there Ribbons?
Can you spawn new Materia from fully leveled Materia?
Chapter 11 and I’m super fucking close to switching to classic mode. I fucking suck at this game. I don’t know what materia to slot to which character, which character to attack with or when, I don’t know when I should be defensive and when to be offensive. It’s a damn shame because I love the game, but I’m just stressing out during combat. Fuck!
just manage your ATB better, or level up, or keep Barrier up on all your characters....there are so many ways to deal with this boss. If you have trouble with this one then some of the bosses down the road are gonna bend you over hard
So, in the end the fight was easy.
As I've said it's not about strategy, the strategy is literally written in the access skill info: hit it with the opposing element, don't hit it in god house, try not to die from the hellbound.
When I stopped thinking that there is any smart strategy and just executed things like evades and blocks in time, i.e. started playing like it's a fucking dark souls and not an FF game, it all got pretty easy.
Chapter 11 and I’m super fucking close to switching to classic mode. I fucking suck at this game. I don’t know what materia to slot to which character, which character to attack with or when, I don’t know when I should be defensive and when to be offensive. It’s a damn shame because I love the game, but I’m just stressing out during combat. Fuck!
After finishing it last night, I honestly think that the game blew most of my expectations away with how it turned out. S-E hasn't put out a FF I've thoroughly enjoyed since FFX and FFX-2, putting aside the MMOs. So I had some skepticism there but overall, I had some expectations for this.
I won't regurgitate too much of what other folks have already said but the graphics and audio are pretty amazing. The only sour notes are the low quality textures and a little bit of the lip sync for NPCs though it wasn't too big of an issue for the Japanese track. The use of prerendered backgrounds for some of it was a little jarring at first but in retrospect, I thought it was a nice little nod to the nature of the original game. There still was some areas that I loved looking at like the area around the Sector 5 Church as we went on the rooftops.
What really impressed me though was the combat system. It's probably the best Action RPG system they've produced up until this point, for me. The ATB and the Action parts end up bouncing off each other really well. You can't just mash your way to victory though the game also actively encourages you to engage to generate ATB charges. When combined with the growth systems and the encounter design, the overall game has this way of making you strategize and rethink your approach. Despite having just 4 characters in the game, there's solid amount of variety in how you can build and play them which is great considering how limited the materia is. Then there's all of the bosses too. So many great ones. I could gush more but it'd end up being an aimless rant at that point.
The updated story is exactly what I wanted from the game as well. Midgar feels so much more realized and being able to explore it and its characters to a greater extent was perfect. Every character gets a lot more characterization this time around and it really fleshes out their personalities. Even the main characters got more which is highly welcome, particularly for Barrett, who I always felt was lacking a little bit in the original. Honestly, I wanted even more of Midgar but I know that wasn't going to happen. This was more than enough though.
As for the new story stuff and the end of the game, well...spoilers:
I was expecting a pretty straightforward remake with expanded stuff but as I went through I came to the realization that they were trying some crazy time travel/fate stuff after Cloud met Aerith and was getting parts of visions he wasn't supposed to. The way Sephiroth was talking as well was oddly strange. I just was not expecting them to undo destiny itself and basically say anything is possible now with that ending. Seeing my boy Zack and the Avalanche crew alive was awesome but now I don't know what is going to even happen in the story now. I guess that's the meta part of it because Aerith even mentions they aren't just changing destiny but potentially changing themselves and that will be really interesting, to say the least. It's both a remake and a sequel at the same time and that's really got my attention.
Overall, I'd probably give the game a 9/10 or pretty close to a 10/10. There's a few graphic thing and I definitely think the battle system could have used a few tweaks though that might be saved for the future titles. I will definitely say the game had a lot of energy put into it. Everything was very closely crafted and I can't praise enough how much time and energy it looks like they spent. They even properly designed real dungeons for the areas and never made it just a straight walk from point A to B. With so much copypasta occurring in the industry, it's really refreshing to see how much effort was put into the game.
Oh, I forgot to mention about the translation differences.
I played with the JP Voices on and while the script is largely the same in the content, there's a lot of rephrasing going on with the English version. I noticed both Cloud and Barret are a lot more snarky overall? Their quips back and forth have a lot more snap to them in the English script. While it doesn't affect Barret all that much, it does give Cloud a different nuance at least to me.
