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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v2.0.94)
« on: 2021-03-14 07:27:12 »
Having played 1.5 quite a while ago, I'm so glad to see that you've continued working on this mod since then!
A little initial feedback: I'm pretty early on in the run but the edits in Type B are pretty jarring. Much of the cut content appears to be cut just to be different, which is fine - that's the point of Type B, after all - but the replacement content is substantially less in depth and not fully integrated. Some examples:
1. The Reactor 5 Airbuster encounter is removed in favor of a fight against 3+4 basic "SOLDIER 3rd" enemies (in fact, they are used as random encounters in the Shinra building less than 30 minutes later). And the Rufus + Dark Nation fight is also removed in favor of fighting this same grunt (renamed "COMMANDO" but functionally identical, it seems) 1 on 1. These feel like placeholder changes.
2. The dress up section in Wall Mart is removed in favor of four grunt mob fights referencing the FF7: Remake Corneo Arena. This eliminates a lot of very iconic Wall Market content with no real replacement because this is basically just four random battles intercut with a few lines of ported-over jokey FF7: Remake dialog. I know we've all done this part a million times so maybe this was intended as a QOL improvement, but it might have been nice to require that you get some Key Items in order to enter the arena, however (maybe a few slightly different things need doing in order to get an Entry Pass?). I don't know, it again felt like a placeholder edit, and it was bizarre having so many memorable moments such as the squat competition, the Honey Bee Inn and the Don Corneo's mansion interior segment removed in favor of a handful of random encounters.
3. The Sector 7 plate is never dropped, which results in the cutting of a great deal of content (such as the Reno boss fight, the death of the minor AVALANCHE characters, and Elmyra's exposition regarding Aeris' past), and nothing replaces it. I found this change really confusing because it undercuts much of the gravitas of the Midgar section (Shinra's evilness and, to a degree, the party's motivation, is GREATLY diminished by this), leaves out critical details/foreshadowing regarding Aeris, and renders quite a few dialog lines nonsensical (for example, Barret talks about "reforming" AVALANCHE - but aren't Jessie, Biggs and Wedge alive?). More problematically, several NPCs actually directly reference the plate being dropped still, including two which show up immediately after exiting Midgar (in Kalm).
I assume these issues (and a few lesser ones I didn't include) exist because 2.0 is still a WIP, but I felt compelled to note them because NT 1.5 Arrange had an absolutely INCREDIBLE amount of polish. In fact, NT 1.5 Arrange is, to me, the definitive version of the game, adding tons of new content, cleaning up what was already there (such as the integration of Yuffie more cleanly into Kalm), etc., and I still play it from time to time.
I really don't want this to be taken as just a guy complaining - you are doing an amazing (and unpaid!!) service for every single fan of FF7 by working on this mod and I am grateful beyond words - but I thought maybe you'd like a little feedback. Please feel free to ignore me, of course!!
A little initial feedback: I'm pretty early on in the run but the edits in Type B are pretty jarring. Much of the cut content appears to be cut just to be different, which is fine - that's the point of Type B, after all - but the replacement content is substantially less in depth and not fully integrated. Some examples:
1. The Reactor 5 Airbuster encounter is removed in favor of a fight against 3+4 basic "SOLDIER 3rd" enemies (in fact, they are used as random encounters in the Shinra building less than 30 minutes later). And the Rufus + Dark Nation fight is also removed in favor of fighting this same grunt (renamed "COMMANDO" but functionally identical, it seems) 1 on 1. These feel like placeholder changes.
2. The dress up section in Wall Mart is removed in favor of four grunt mob fights referencing the FF7: Remake Corneo Arena. This eliminates a lot of very iconic Wall Market content with no real replacement because this is basically just four random battles intercut with a few lines of ported-over jokey FF7: Remake dialog. I know we've all done this part a million times so maybe this was intended as a QOL improvement, but it might have been nice to require that you get some Key Items in order to enter the arena, however (maybe a few slightly different things need doing in order to get an Entry Pass?). I don't know, it again felt like a placeholder edit, and it was bizarre having so many memorable moments such as the squat competition, the Honey Bee Inn and the Don Corneo's mansion interior segment removed in favor of a handful of random encounters.
3. The Sector 7 plate is never dropped, which results in the cutting of a great deal of content (such as the Reno boss fight, the death of the minor AVALANCHE characters, and Elmyra's exposition regarding Aeris' past), and nothing replaces it. I found this change really confusing because it undercuts much of the gravitas of the Midgar section (Shinra's evilness and, to a degree, the party's motivation, is GREATLY diminished by this), leaves out critical details/foreshadowing regarding Aeris, and renders quite a few dialog lines nonsensical (for example, Barret talks about "reforming" AVALANCHE - but aren't Jessie, Biggs and Wedge alive?). More problematically, several NPCs actually directly reference the plate being dropped still, including two which show up immediately after exiting Midgar (in Kalm).
I assume these issues (and a few lesser ones I didn't include) exist because 2.0 is still a WIP, but I felt compelled to note them because NT 1.5 Arrange had an absolutely INCREDIBLE amount of polish. In fact, NT 1.5 Arrange is, to me, the definitive version of the game, adding tons of new content, cleaning up what was already there (such as the integration of Yuffie more cleanly into Kalm), etc., and I still play it from time to time.
I really don't want this to be taken as just a guy complaining - you are doing an amazing (and unpaid!!) service for every single fan of FF7 by working on this mod and I am grateful beyond words - but I thought maybe you'd like a little feedback. Please feel free to ignore me, of course!!
