Final Fantasy VII - now on Rebirth (2nd game of Remake trilogy)

[Scraper]

I did read an article where the devs moved directly from Remake to the sequel. They see completing this game as their life's mission. I wish I remember where I read it but it was a couple of days ago. That at least gives me hope that we could see part 2 within 2 years.

[El Guapo]

I did read an article where the devs moved directly from Remake to the sequel. They see completing this game as their life's mission. I wish I remember where I read it but it was a couple of days ago. That at least gives me hope that we could see part 2 within 2 years.

Maybe they could get George RR Martin to consult with them.

[YellowKing]

One more quick question for those that have finished the game:

Did you ever find the need to grind at all, or can you pretty much run straight through the game as long as you're completing your side quests, etc?

[Skinypupy]

You’ll want to complete all the side quests when they come up, but other than that there really isn’t any grinding.

[Scraper]

You’ll want to complete all the side quests when they come up, but other than that there really isn’t any grinding.

Agreed. But, when you open up the coliseum make sure you run through all of the events. You get SP for characters that way.

[Skinypupy]

Finished. More thoughts tomorrow, that ending is a massive curveball that’s gonna take a bit to process.

Overall, I loved it. An absolutely wonderful new way to experience my all-time favorite game. But that ending and the implications that come with it? Hoo boy.

[Skinypupy]

Had a chance to sleep on it, so here's my thoughts on that ending. MASSIVE spoilers here, obviously:

Spoiler:

Seriously, don't read this if you haven't finished the game

Spoiler:

I think I love it and hate it...for the exact same reasons. Uncoupling this Remake from the events of the original via the separate timelines allows them to take the story in literally any direction they want moving forward. It's potentially exciting to see completely new adventures with these established characters and world. We could still go to Rocket Town, Gold Saucer, Temple of the Ancients, Nibelheim, Northern Crater, etc., but the motivations for doing so could be entirely different. Maybe Lucrecia chooses Vincent over Hojo this time. Maybe nothing goes wrong with the rocket launch and Cid ends up colonizing the moon. Hell, maybe Aerith doesn't die. They have the chance to go anywhere they want now.

But that's also the concern. Part of the joy of revisiting this game was the opportunity to experience the events that we loved 23 years ago. Changing that runs the significant risk of being not nearly as interesting and losing the nostalgia aspect entirely. They'll need to tread very carefully here to balance the original with whatever new vision they've got.

It also seems a bit anti-climatic to have the (well, a) major Sephiroth fight at the end of this volume. Even if it was a nice callback to the finale of the Advent Children film. There's plenty of ways they could get around that (i.e. this was just a Sephiroth fragment), but it felt like that big showdown will be difficult to move on from.

Once they revealed it, I thought the Whispers being the arbiters of keeping events aligned to the original was a cool idea. There were quite a few events that I revisited in my mind after the credits rolled, thinking about how the Whispers nudged the characters towards the outcomes we expected without us realizing that's what was happening. Really well done there.

I do wonder how much any of the "hard left turn into nonsense land" (as one article put it) will resonate with new players. Any sort of emotional attachment depends not only on knowledge of the original game, but also all the side stories. While I absolutely loved the final scene with Zack and the Shinra soldiers, for example, it wouldn't have any impact at all if you didn't play Crisis Core. (side note: outside of Aerith's death, Zack's "last stand" against Shinra in Crisis Core was the FF VII image that has stuck with me most through the years. Seeing that moment revisited - albeit with a very different ending - was wonderful.).

I would also guess that the entire idea of Sephiroth as the main villain will be completely lost on new players. They did a kind of terrible job setting it all up, and just sort of assumed that the player knew how awful Sephiroth truly was.

Long story short, I'm both interested and nervous to see where things go next. With SO many unanswered questions and really a blank slate story-wise, this could either turn into the greatest re-imagining ever...or a wildly disappointing cluster-fuck. Hoping for the former, but kinda expecting the latter, if I'm honest.

That diatribe aside, a couple general observations:

- I love how they made Hojo absolutely creepy AF. I always felt he was kinda 'meh' in the original, and they did a great job of making him more menacing and insane here.
- Nanaki was fantastic, unsurprisingly.
- I played the last 1/3 of the game on Easy, and still barely made it through. Can't imagine trying it on normal or hard. That final series of battles was insane.
- I felt the pacing as good overall, but there were a few spots where it really dragged. The final set of sidequests and The Drum in Shinra Tower both felt like huge slogs.
- Where was Elena?
- Said it before, but they absolutely nailed the atmosphere and every little detail. The animations, the backgrounds, the small touches on enemies, the music...it was all damn near perfect.

In short, I can't wait to see what happens next. Game was a solid A for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to crazy finish.

[YellowKing]

Some thoughts as I hit Chapter 10:

- I'm continuously impressed by the combat. On the surface it's button mashing, dodging, and using appropriate materia against enemy weaknesses. Then you start realizing the nuances of switching characters to draw enemy attention away from vulnerable party members, effective management of ATB, positioning, etc. It's really satisfying when you walk into a fight that wiped you a few minutes earlier, change your strategy, and breeze through it.

- With no nostalgia for the characters, I've still found them really endearing. I'm particularly puzzled as to why I don't mind Cloud, since he's a total dick. I guess because I can predict his story arc to some extent (I think). Also I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out if I'd hook up with Tifa or Aerith. Haha, i'm just kidding because trying to figure out which virtual video game character I'd date is weird, right? Totally weird. Who would do that? Haha. So weird. I would totally hook up with Aerith.

- As a huge fan of FF IX & X, I'm enjoying the similar linear mapping with dead end treasure chests, etc. I know it's on rails, but that piece does hit my nostalgia button.

- On the flip side, the one thing I don't particularly care for is the setting. The industrial cityscape theme is tiresome, and I longed for some of FFXV's wide open spaces.

At any rate, great fun and glad I jumped in. Have definitely got my money's worth already, and still have a good chunk left to go.

[Scraper]

- On the flip side, the one thing I don't particularly care for is the setting. The industrial cityscape theme is tiresome, and I longed for some of FFXV's wide open spaces.

At any rate, great fun and glad I jumped in. Have definitely got my money's worth already, and still have a good chunk left to go.

The wide open spaces are coming in Part 2. You have to remember this remake covers only the first 5 hours or so of the original game. Which was easily a 50+ hour game. Most of which took place outside of the city. How in the world they're going to complete the remaining 45+ hours is beyond me.

[Skinypupy]

Also I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out if I'd hook up with Tifa or Aerith. Haha, i'm just kidding because trying to figure out which virtual video game character I'd date is weird, right? Totally weird. Who would do that? Haha. So weird. I would totally hook up with Aerith.

The original was the first RPG I ever played where you actually name the characters. So when I played through it the first time, I thought it would be funny to name the characters after my family members. Cloud was me, Barrett was my brother, Red XIII was my dad, etc. Problem is, I named Aerith after my wife and Tifa after my brother's wife (both were girlfriends, at the time). Everyone thought it was funny at first, but things got a little bit awkward after

Spoiler:

Aerith gets skewered and the relationship between Tifa and Cloud gets explored a little further

.

- On the flip side, the one thing I don't particularly care for is the setting. The industrial cityscape theme is tiresome, and I longed for some of FFXV's wide open spaces.

As Scraper said, don't expect any open spaces in this one. Those will be reserved for the next iteration (hopefully).

Glad to hear it's resonating. I've been very curious about that aspect for those without nostalgia to prop it all up.

[Blackhawk]

Given his post, that may be a spoiler...

[YellowKing]

Nah it's fine. Not too worried about spoilers for a 20+ year old story. Besides, I can't ever understand Final Fantasy stories anyway.

[Skinypupy]

Nah it's fine. Not too worried about spoilers for a 20+ year old story. Besides, I can't ever understand Final Fantasy stories anyway.

I kinda figured that, at this point, it falls into the "Darth Vader is Luke's father" area of generally accepted spoilers.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

It's always better to be cautious, especially since this is a new game release. I wouldn't necessarily assume that everyone playing the remake played the original (e.g. YK) or knows the outlines of the story.

[Blackhawk]

Personally, I wouldn't be too concerned about general plot beat spoilers, but given the number of first-time players, I'd still avoid 'X is the true villain', or 'Y dies' type spoilers, just to give them the benefit of the doubt. 20 year old games don't have the same saturation as films and TV shows.

[Skinypupy]

Not sure I'd agree (that particular event is pretty much enshrined into video game lore at this point), but I went ahead and spoilered it anyways.

[Hamlet3145]

Finished it. Thoughts:

Spoiler:

I had a ton of fun, even just playing on easy mode. As Skinny noted above, the ending is going to be controversial with the implication that events going forward may significantly diverge from the 1997 version. And . . . personally at least, I'm okay with that. I'm actually kind of impressed with the audacity to mix things up, especially considering the rabid fan base. As the game title indicates, this is a remake not a re-master. It's also definitely not just FFVII HD. For now, I'm happy to accept a sort of multi-verse explanation--i.e., the original was just one of many ways things could have played out. And this is going to be another.

Really looking forward to the inclusion of the additional characters in the next volume! Yufie! Vincent! I also wonder how they are going to make Cait Sith not look ridiculous with the more realistic graphics. Guess we'll find out!

[Scraper]

Finished it. Thoughts:

Spoiler:

I had a ton of fun, even just playing on easy mode. As Skinny noted above, the ending is going to be controversial with the implication that events going forward may significantly diverge from the 1997 version. And . . . personally at least, I'm okay with that. I'm actually kind of impressed with the audacity to mix things up, especially considering the rabid fan base. As the game title indicates, this is a remake not a re-master. It's also definitely not just FFVII HD. For now, I'm happy to accept a sort of multi-verse explanation--i.e., the original was just one of many ways things could have played out. And this is going to be another.

Really looking forward to the inclusion of the additional characters in the next volume! Yufie! Vincent! I also wonder how they are going to make Cait Sith not look ridiculous with the more realistic graphics. Guess we'll find out!

Spoiler:

Cait Sith was in the remake for all of 2 seconds. If you blinked during one of the cut scenes you could have missed him, It's when they drop the 7th district plate.

[Skinypupy]

Finished it. Thoughts:

Spoiler:

I had a ton of fun, even just playing on easy mode. As Skinny noted above, the ending is going to be controversial with the implication that events going forward may significantly diverge from the 1997 version. And . . . personally at least, I'm okay with that. I'm actually kind of impressed with the audacity to mix things up, especially considering the rabid fan base. As the game title indicates, this is a remake not a re-master. It's also definitely not just FFVII HD. For now, I'm happy to accept a sort of multi-verse explanation--i.e., the original was just one of many ways things could have played out. And this is going to be another.

Really looking forward to the inclusion of the additional characters in the next volume! Yufie! Vincent! I also wonder how they are going to make Cait Sith not look ridiculous with the more realistic graphics. Guess we'll find out!

Spoiler:

Cait Sith was in the remake for all of 2 seconds. If you blinked during one of the cut scenes you could have missed him, It's when they drop the 7th district plate.

That was a bit of a head-scratcher, tbh.

Here's some interesting tidbits about the future installments, pulled from interviews on the new FF VII Remake book in Japan.

Spoilers for the ending, btw.

[Hrothgar]

Finished it. Thoughts:

Spoiler:

I had a ton of fun, even just playing on easy mode. As Skinny noted above, the ending is going to be controversial with the implication that events going forward may significantly diverge from the 1997 version. And . . . personally at least, I'm okay with that. I'm actually kind of impressed with the audacity to mix things up, especially considering the rabid fan base. As the game title indicates, this is a remake not a re-master. It's also definitely not just FFVII HD. For now, I'm happy to accept a sort of multi-verse explanation--i.e., the original was just one of many ways things could have played out. And this is going to be another.

Really looking forward to the inclusion of the additional characters in the next volume! Yufie! Vincent! I also wonder how they are going to make Cait Sith not look ridiculous with the more realistic graphics. Guess we'll find out!

Spoiler:

I've been thinking about the ending. I really don't have a problem with it. It seems like a clever solution to their problem. The whispers start out mysterious, but quickly become annoying. So when it's revealed that they're forcing you to stick to the rigid story line, I was ready to take them on. I'll be glad that we don't see them again. Or maybe we will?

I'm still not sure which Sephiroth sightings were real and which were whipsers. Did the real Sephiroth kill President Shinra? On a side note, was Shinra the only one who died? It seems like everyone else somehow survived.

Going forward, I'm sure the authors will appreciate the freedom they've granted themselves. I still expect them to hit the main story beats, but it's like a different artist reinterpreting a song. It has to be recognizable, but it can sound very different and even take on new meaning. I hope they end up playing with our expectations, but pay it off in the end.

I hope the Zack references are just the background story. It's not that I don't want him alive; it would cheapen his sacrifice.

I guess I'd say I'm hopeful and looking forward to the next part.

I found this post game discussion interesting. Spoilers, obviously.

[YellowKing]

Finished the game today. I was pretty proud of myself for finishing it on Normal difficulty, as I never felt like I was truly good at combat. I credit judicious use of mega-potions for allowing me to kind of brute force my way through it. A win's a win, I suppose.

Had a great deal of fun with it. Long enough that I felt I got my money's worth, but not so long that it wore out its welcome. On to the next adventure!

[Skinypupy]

Congrats.

Would be interested to hear any thoughts you had on the ending. I’m kinda fascinated how folks who didn’t play the original react.

[YellowKing]

Would be interested to hear any thoughts you had on the ending. I’m kinda fascinated how folks who didn’t play the original react.

Short answer: I found it as incomprehensible as every other JRPG I've ever played.

I did read up on the ending, however, and:

Spoiler:

I think the way it tinkers with the original game using alternate timelines was pretty neat. The idea of the Whispers trying to keep the remake's timeline from straying away from the original game's plot line is a really cool meta concept. Obviously it didn't have as much impact on me while playing since I wasn't familiar with the original, but I appreciated the cleverness of it once I found out what it meant.

[raydude]

I'm on Chapter 14 now. I've been ok at combat on normal but still rage-downgraded myself to easy for 2 boss battles. One being against Reno and Rude. Then I found this guy's Tifa fighting guide and advanced combat guide. Holy Crap, Tifa is now my main character and it's like I have a fighting game inside my JRPG! She is hella amazing! Especially with Parry and Deadly Dodge, I can do the circle of death dance around many enemies and use focus strike to dance back and forth. WIth all the speed upgrades on my feathered gloves I can just gain ATB bars running around at the edge of a fight and cast "pray" spells when things get really tough.

[Hrothgar]

Square has announced the PS5 version called Intergrade.



Free upgrade from PS4 version, but you have buy the Yuffie DLC.

The new episode featuring Yuffie is a brand-new adventure in the world of FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE. Play as Wutai ninja Yuffie Kisaragi as she infiltrates Midgar and conspires with Avalanche HQ to steal the ultimate materia from the Shinra Electric Power Company.

[wonderpug]

Do they have a rough estimate as to when the last part of the remake series would come out?

[Skinypupy]

I'm 'meh' on Yuffie DLC, as she has always been my least favorite FF VII character. I'm ready to shovel cash at them for a Vincent DLC though.

Square also announced a mobile...something...today called FF VII Ever Crisis. It looks like they're combining all the FF VII games (FF VII, Crisis Core, Advent Children, Before Crisis, and Dirge of Cerberus) into a single mobile experience with a unified combat system. interesting idea, and feels similar to what they did with FF XV Pocket Edition, which was actually a very good game once they got the bugs worked out. Cautiously optimistic about it, but it won't be out until 2022.

One thing this could mean, however (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE REMAKE)

Spoiler:

The ending of FF VII Remake literally created an open book for where they could take the story next. They could follow the original, or they could go in a completely different direction. The release of this combined "Ever Crisis" version which (I assume) follows the arc of the original games, could indicate that they'll be sticking closely to that established path. I just think it'd be weird if we had a mobile version with one story, then a Remake version that does something entirely different.

We shall see...

There's also a FF VII Battle Royale coming for mobile. Never been a genre I enjoyed, so I doubt I'll give it a look.

Do they have a rough estimate as to when the last part of the remake series would come out?

They haven't announced the release date for the next chapter, or even how many chapters there are going to be. It's literally anyone's guess, but knowing Square's development timeline, I expect this will be an 8-10 year project (at least).

[Ralph-Wiggum]

The remake is apparently one of the PS+ games for March, but interestingly seems to be a version that will not get the free PS5 upgrade.

[Jaymann]

Late to the party. Never finished the original with the blocky graphics so I am giving this a spin on the PS4. Has anyone else noticed that one character looks just like (young) Charlie Sheen?

[Skinypupy]

Coming to PC in Epic on Dec 16!

Very cool.

[Skinypupy]

Some cool FF VII news from Square's FF VII 25th Anniversary Celebration stream today.

- The next chapter of the FF VII remake is titled 'Rebirth' and is coming Winter 2023. Trailer is pretty barebones, but raises some really interesting speculation around the direction they'll be taking the story. Why are Sephiroth and Cloud taking a casual stroll? Only place that would track in the original is the Nibelheim sequence, but that doesn't look like it. Why is Tifa talking about being “an imposter"? So many questions...



- They're remaking the FFVII prequel Crisis Core for modern systems! I loved this game but it's become impossible to play as it requires both a working original PSP and the physical cart. Super excited for this, it was an awesome game.



- Got some footage from the Ever Crisis mobile game, which I'm actually pretty excited for. It looks to be similar to the FF XV "Pocket Edition", which is a retelling of the major story beats in a modern stylized graphic style. The cool thing is that they say they're weaving together all the stories from the myriad FF VII games and films into one storyline. That will either be really awesome, or a complete disaster. Not sure how they're going to incorporate the FF VII remake though, since it really plays havoc with...things.

[Skinypupy]

First major trailer for FF VII Rebirth knocks it completely out of the gorram park.



SO much to unpack here, but overall just…dayum.

[Skinypupy]

FF VII Rebirth to drop on Feb 29, 2024. This trailer had me feeling all the feels...Cait Sith and Vincent.

They'll be moving into the open world portion of the game, and we know they'll at least get to Cosmo Canyon. Excited to see what they do with this, especially what happens in that scene. Weird there's no Cid though.



On a bummer note, the FF VII "Ever Crisis" game released for mobile last week. I was excited for it because it looked like it would follow the same model as the FF XV "Pocket Edition" and tell the main story of the game in bite sized chunks using chibi-style character models. I even finally bought a new iPad primarily so I could play this. While there are story segments, it's first and foremost a straight-up loot box gacha game. And not even a cool one like Genshin Impact or Honkai Star Rail where there's a really solid game that is supported by some cosmetic gacha components. This is just a very basic, auto-play, grindy-as-hell, pay to win snoozefest. The little bits of story you get are neat, but they're sandwiched between hours of grinding and grinding for materials and hoping for good loot rolls (or you can pay absurd cash shop prices to skip it all!). Such a huge disappointment.

[Skinypupy]

FF VII Rebirth comes out next week. I've been in a video game funk lately, and am hoping this will help be a jumpstart to getting back into the swing of things.

I played the demo tonight, which runs through the story of Cloud and Sephiroth's return to Nibelheim (and is where the famous shot of Sephiroth walking through the flames comes from). It was done really well and I was surprised to see how closely it stuck to the original story, given some of the changes they made in the first game. It ends before the big reveal from that bit

Spoiler:

it was actually Zack accompanying Sephiroth, and Cloud was the nameless Soldier guarding Tifa

so I'm not sure if they'll switch that up or not. I was also a little surprised that they cut out all the combat in Shinra Manor (which I always found to be a very difficult segment in the original), but that may just have been for the demo.

Interestingly, there’s not Whispers in the demo. However, there are some instances where the view turns to sort of a “film grain” view (similar to the Echo effect in Final Fantasy XIV) that I think might be hints to a similar purpose. If you know the general plot beats from Nibelheim, you’ll know why.

The combat feels largely the same, but they've added some cool features like combo attacks that can be triggered when guarding. The demo sections were all on rails, and was stunningly beautiful. As in the first game, it was really cool to see the old goofy polygon monsters rendered in full detail.

I recently played through most of the original, so the main story beats are fresh in my mind. I love the way they keep some of the small touches and art design bits from the original with a modern twist. The music is especially fantastic, as expected.

Really looking forward to seeing the direction they take this second volume.

[YellowKing]

Very much looking forward to this and ordinarily it would be a day one purchase, but I'm smack in the middle of FFXIV Endwalker expansion. I'm afraid this would just strip my focus away from finishing that up before the Dawntrail expansion hits.

So current plan is to finish Endwalker by end of March/April, then maybe grab this on a sale and use it as my stop-gap until FFXIV ramps back up in (hopefully) June or July.

[Skinypupy]

Very much looking forward to this and ordinarily it would be a day one purchase, but I'm smack in the middle of FFXIV Endwalker expansion. I'm afraid this would just strip my focus away from finishing that up before the Dawntrail expansion hits.

So current plan is to finish Endwalker by end of March/April, then maybe grab this on a sale and use it as my stop-gap until FFXIV ramps back up in (hopefully) June or July.

Def finish Endwalker first. That ending is SO damn good.

[wonderpug]

How many remake games are there expected to be to cover the entire original FFVII storyline?

[Skinypupy]

How many remake games are there expected to be to cover the entire original FFVII storyline?

Three

[Skinypupy]

Review embargo lifted today, currently sitting at 93 with 116 reviews.

[Scraper]

This game looks incredible. I'm currently right in the middle of Tales of Vesperia (it was added to PS Premium last week) and I definitely want to finish that prior to playing Rebirth, but I think I'm still going to pre-order rebirth on the PSN just to get the bonuses.