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Miscellaneous Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: DLPB_ on 2013-04-08 01:01:28
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If a remake ever did get made, I feel sure it would address some of these points, but sadly, ignore many others, and change too much of the original game. My time here has mainly been spent trying to change FF7 for the better, while still maintaining the original feel of the game. In other words, you don't see me plastering Advent Children material or other spin off material into FF7. Any changes or additions that I do make are generally geared to providing a faithful update to the game.
This post is here to provide my own opinion on what I feel needs to change in Final Fantasy VII to make it a better game. Obviously, some of these changes are already in motion by myself and others. Still, it would be nice to see an OFFICIAL FF7 that incorporated some/all of these changes.
1. Retranslation/Relocalisation. Only when you go through this game after seeing how the dialogue was supposed to look/sound do you really realise how much better the translation of FF7 could have been. At first, I was a little disrespectful to the sole localiser Michael Baskett. I assumed he had just done an incompetent job. I did not realise that Japanese is fundamentally different to English. I naively thought that you could simply translate it like most latin-based languages. Unfortunately, Japanese is a lot more difficult than that. In many cases, there simply is no way to accurately translate unless you have the original writers tell you what they intended. It is clear Baskett did not have this. It appears very likely he was rushed to do a job with very little context available to him, and almost no involvement from the original staff. This is why we ended up with Zack, Aeris, Elena and not Zax, Aerith and Yrena. But it isn't just spellings that suffer, it is the dialogue too.
Japanese can have many interpretations of the same symbol or Kana, and context is king with that language in particular. Without the context, you are often completely fucked. One example of this is how Tifa states she will fill "the shop" with flowers, instead of "the bar". Baskett could not have known this without someone telling him, or without playing the game himself. If you add in time constraints, you get what FF7 ended up with. Actually, given all of the problems that must have faced him, Baskett did a decent job. He got most characters reasonably accurate, and got the "feel" correct. I am not kidding when I say FF7's translation could have been an absolute disaster.
But that aside, there is no denying that FF7 has a complicated story that needs a very competent translation. Most games could probably get away with some inaccuracies, but this game is not like most. The main story and background conversations only add to the game when they are better translated/localised. Instead of your brain constantly going "huh?", you settle down and accept the world and the characters all the more. There are too many instances of the dialogue either sounding completely unnatural, or else being plain wrong. The best example of this is the following dialogue:
{YUFFIE}
“Are you waiting for {CLOUD}?”{NEW}
“He's flying right now, so you can't get him.”{NEW}
“Were you going to force me
into the submarine right now?”{NEW}
“Quit it!
If you want to go, then just leave me behind.”{NEW}
“…ooooooh.
What're you talking about? I…”
which should be more like this:
{YUFFIE}
“{CLOUD}…
Have you decided
where we're goin' yet?”{NEW}
“Come on!
I can't take much more of this!”{NEW}
“Hey! You're not thinkin' of shovin'
me in that crappy sub,are you!?”{NEW}
“I won't go! Never!
Leave me here,
leave me here!”{NEW}
“…Urrrrk.
What am I saying…?”
So, number 1 on my list has always been the translation. One of FF7's key appeals is its story, and it is criminal that we were short changed the first time round (and with all the re-releases).
2. So if Story is one of the key appeals of FF7, the other must be its gameplay. Unlike most people (perhaps? Let's have a vote), I like turn based battles. The reason I like turn based battles is because they give humans the time to THINK, and to PLAN, and to EXECUTE. Strategy should be one of the main staples of a game like FF7. Unfortunately, with more modern games (not just FF games), we now have a situation where flashy visuals are seen as more important; you have numbers flashing on the screen faster than you can even tell what is going on, moves being executed in real time, running about hacking and slashing with no thought whatsoever being placed into most actions. FF7 is not like that, luckily- it is a game that affords you the courtesy of being able to engage your brain. But... it is not without its faults.
The big problem with FF7 is... it is too damn easy. People keep making the mistake of believing that FF7's battle system is too easy because it is a basic turn-based battle system. This is not the case. On the contrary, FF7's battle system and its game system (Materia etc) are really well designed. The problem is, they (especially the battle system) are badly IMPLEMENTED. The implementation is poor for 3 reasons:
a. They have been implemented in a way that makes FF7 easy for most gamers. From a designers point of view, this is obviously beneficial in terms of making the game appeal to more people. If a game is too hard, a lot of people may stop playing, and thus the products appeal, longevity, and ultimately financial success will suffer.
b. Laziness. A lot more could have been done to make FF7 maintain its easy playthrough, while making the gamer use his brain more. Too often in FF7, a player can just press attack over and over. While you still get the choice to mix it up (and that is very important), it still doesn't change the fact that you can often forgo using any kind of tactical approach. They could have added a difficulty option.
c. Time constraints. Obviously they were on a deadline. They didn't have an endless amount of time like we seem to here at Qhimm forum. I have no doubt that had FF7 been given 6 months more in production, it would have been an even better game. The Submarine minigame in the Gold Saucer is totally unfinished, for example. There was also supposed to be additional side quests in the game, like the Kalm letter quest.
So what can make FF7 better in the gameplay department? Here are my changes:
- The first thing that all FF games need is a difficulty option. Normal and Hard would suffice.
- Stop endless hack and slash tactics. For example, force the player to recognise that a mechanical enemy will not be "hurt" by a normal weapon, and is better defeated by lightning. Making weapons very weak against mechanical enemies is one example (of many) of simple changes that make a big difference.
- Make enemy AI more difficult. FF7 AI is rather basic, let's face it. The enemies fast become obvious, and players usually have no trouble out manoeuvering them. The only challenge for most players is when the enemy does a strong/fast attack that they don't have the HP to deal with. This is not clever gameplay, it is just cheap.
- Make acquisition of items harder. Make the currency matter. In FF7, it becomes too easy to acquire and sell goods. The result is that a player goes to a shop, buys what he wants, and progresses, with absolutely no thought of whether they should have waited, or whether the transaction was smart. There's simply no brain power going into decisions; it is too simplistic. The problem is far worse near the end of the game, where gil is more abundant than Sephiroth's megalomania.
- Make weapons/armours/accessories matter more. I've already touched upon the fact that enemies need to exploit gaps in a player's tactics, and this is somewhat related. Again, in FF7, I feel confident that a lot of the time, I can just do without goods. It should be the case that a player constantly feels pressure to do something, or make better decisions. Not just "Ah, it will do". FF7 has a brilliant system that is not being exploited to its fullest. Small changes in what a player has equipped could have very different effect on a character's stats, for example.
- Weapons and armours should have a health rating, and depending on use, should degrade. Their stats should degrade until eventually they are worthless. You would need to buy new armour/weapons.
- Make levelling up and increasing character stats easier near end of the game. I am sick to death of games that deliberately make the end-game a nasty, annoying grind (to artificially add game time and thus make the game appear like it is longer). Before I went into programming FF7, there was an illusion I can't describe properly... I would kind of feel like I was accomplishing something with these endless grinds. Today, I see things in terms of bytes. I change 1 byte and Cloud becomes an unstoppable demon. So today, I see grinding as an unnecessary part of FF7... for the most part. Sure, I still think there should be some challenge in acquiring the highest stats, but definitely not the time waste that FF games bask in. It is too easy for a programmer to make a stat-increase hard to come by, or have an enemy with an annoying drop rate. The balance needs correcting.
- Tweak stats for player/enemy/items etc until the game flows properly.
- Add more puzzles (like Breath of Fire III) into the game and/or story. Cloister of Trials in FF10 was a breath of f...resh air.
Obviously, with all of these changes, a balance has to be reached. It is no good making the game TOO involving so that the game feels like a micromanaged chore, but certainly, the balance in FF7 as it stands originally is lop-sided to the easy side of things.
3. Add more minigames, tweak existing minigames, and add more prizes. The Gold Saucer is one of the most awesome places to be. I remember the first time I got there in January 1998. The Gold Saucer allows a player to take a break from the ordinary game, and instead play a game within a game. The ability to play snowboarding, submarine and bike minigames within the main game, is an excellent design choice. It promotes longevity, makes a game have more than 1 dimension to it, and allows the player to take a break from the both the story and ordinary game play. The minigames of FF7 are still fun to this day. The best thing to do is to add even more 2D games to the gold saucer. That would definitely be a good move. The kind of 2D minigames that need adding is up for debate. The Gold Saucer also needs an auction event (Cloudiar came up with this idea, and it works a charm).
The existing minigames need a tweak. The Coaster game has a bug where the boat rotor gives you a load of points, and the submarine game was left unfinished. When I went into the submarine game I noticed that the 5 levels have no real difference in difficulty. The programming did exist once to give each level its own time limit and attributes, but none of this has been used or implemented. I have had to reprogram the game myself, and even though I am limited in what I can do working with assembly, I have still made it much more fun/challenging. The submarine game is by far the worst programmed thing I have seen in FF7; the code is all over the place, and there is no real structure to the difficulty or AI or anything. Best guess... bad programming and there was no time left to complete the game. The 3D-Battler has no real strategy; winning or losing is based entirely on luck and is literally a rock, paper, scissors. I can accept it for this game. The problem is the original programmer made a critical error in the understanding of how probability works, and so the odds of winning this game are 3709-1, instead of the 300-1 he was likely aiming for. Because these odds were so high, evidently no tester was able to confirm the game worked and so a bug also exists when you have beaten the last opponent. I and Luksy have corrected this problem already. It is another example of how FF7 was likely on a deadline that expired. [Quick note... I finally defeated the 3rd opponent the other day for the first time in my whole life. And that isn't even the final opponent]
Lastly, the prizes given out for the minigames are rather basic and uninvolved. For example, there aren't many prizes for different scores in the G-Bike game. More prizes need to be given out for each of the minigames; the submarine game could also give out prizes for high scores (and submarine high scores saved also).
In other words, the minigames needed more time to be perfected. And with a little more time, and better design, they would be even more fun to play. The minigames could also do with a small graphical update. I personally don't mind if the 2D games stay the same graphically, simply because it gives them a classical feel.
5. Get Rid of Cait Sith. Yup, I have been talking about it a while, but haven't got round to doing it yet. An option would be nice since that would stop so many fanboys from writing death threats to Nomura. Cait Sith, imho, is the one big chink in FF7's story. He has been shoehorned into the story, probably late in development. The whole concept of a talking robot toy mounted on top of a stuffed white toy, controlled by Reeve is nonsense. It really is nonsense. I can't suspend my disbelief to it, and any scene Cait is in detaches me from the story. I try to avoid him whenever I can. A viable story could easily be made where a human spy joined your party, perhaps in a much more plausible way than "I'm coming with you no matter WHAT you say". Cait is badly written and needs to go.
6. Graphics Update. I don't consider graphics that high up the list of how to improve FF7 in terms of "being a game", but it is clearly something that needs to be addressed. In 1997, FF7 was revolutionary and new, but even as early as FF8 the blocky character models had become dated. When people think of "graphical update" they start to fantasize about 1080p, realtime hack-slash, and 3D field environments. I don't. I think a good trade off would be to update FF7 based on the original game. In other words, the FMV would be updated, the field graphics would still be pre-rendered from a 3D source, and the battle graphics and world map would be updated. There would be no changing of the actual structure of how the original game worked. It would be literally a graphics update to the original game and not an overhaul of the entire design. 720p would more than suffice. This approach would also mean less money and time would be needed in development.
7. Add more side-quests. One of my early ideas was to add a "1:35 Soldier" quest, where you found 50 (or maybe 99) of the items around the game, much like the parcels in GTA. I can now start adding this quest, since I understand Makou Reactor and scripting a whole lot more. This is one idea of many that simply add more to do without interrupting the gameplay/story balance that the original game got right.
8. Add optional orchestra music (for as many as possible).
That's it off the top of my head. I may return to this at intervals to add more.
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I would be glad to see you hired by Square stuff one day... :D
I was wondering if with the Q-Gears there can be a 3rd person camera placed behind the character as well as an option...
Final Fantasy VII English & Japanese Voice Cast (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqTYqBHCbb4)
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Very typically, at least back in the day when games weren't so text heavy or dependent, translators were given the whole text line-by-line and just told to translate the lines they were given very often not having played the game they're being asked to translate for. Square wasn't the worst ("All your base are belong to us"), but it was guilty of not always communicating the original intent of the line in question. I can't count the number of questions FFVI's dialog gave me thanks to Woolsey. Fortunately the GBA did a much better job of translating. Really from FFVIII on they did a better job (except X really confuses me at points).
Did you think Japanese was a romance language? There are whole grammar concepts that are alien to the two if you try to do a 1:1 translation. That's true with most languages, even among romance language. Even Portugese and Spanish which are indistinguishable to most non-speakers aren't intelligible to one another.
Now factor in to that the lack of context for the translation "team" and it's usually amazing that we get any semblance of a coherent story. You could probably get away with a team working on it if you assign specific characters/game world regions to an individual. It might even add a bit of realism to do so.
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back then translation also had another problem lack of communication worldwide. because of that issue translation cost were high as well as the cost to shipping back the translated work. Costs lowered over time due to the internet being more available worldwide as well as better programs to get the job done.
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I was just very naive of how translation works. I assumed all languages, no matter what, had certain principles that were shared. For example, I assumed that every language had plurals (Japanese does not, hence why we still do not know if Weapon or Weapons is correct). I was also rather misguided with how localisation works. At the start I was gung ho trying to keep the non dialogue as literal as possible. While the original game deviates far too much for my liking, my first few revisions went too far the other way. The good news is that I have learned a lot about translation/localisation; enough to do a very good job imho.
Localisation is one of those things that never seems to be finished. Like programming, you can constantly add or remove or arrange things to make it better. I suppose, like with programming, you reach a point where you are happy with the job you have done and it is worthy of a proper release.
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That was a good read, got a much better understanding now of where the faults are and what can be improved for this game i agree with absolutely everything you said, damn if only you worked for Squaresoft at the time ;D
In terms of graphics update i believe people should leave alone character updates for now what we currently have is good enough, if want to do something similar like that it should be monsters now, maybe like the PRP to original make them less blocky more polycounts, smoothen em out or maybe add slight textures on them also but nothing too cosmetic like 1090phd and that bull lol etc. It's easier, quicker and fit in better than super hq models. Just hate having a hq character and background then looking at the the blocky monster ruins it :) Oh and ofcourse maybe world models towns, etc Would've done this myself if i had my own damned laptop by now and time and skillz :/
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Glad you enjoyed :) 8)
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I also enjoyed the read. The bits about the battle system, tactics, etc reminded me "Lost Odyssey."
That game is FFXI in my book. FFX was the last game made by the creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and then left Squaresoft to start up his company Mistwalker. Which kind of shows why Square-Enix started only making spin-offs and all around bad games.
But back to my point, Lost Odyssey, in my opinion has the most challenging turn based battle system ever without being a grind and without it being too difficult to master.
It had a flow that you could pick up, but if you're used to previous Final Fantasy's you will definitely die a number of times until you realize that just clicking "Attack" will no longer work. I died on the first boss I think 4 times before it clicked. :)
I bought a 360 just for that game, and have only played Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey on it. Now the console collects dust, but I'm still very glad to have played it, and was well worth it.
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Which kind of shows why Square-Enix started only making spin-offs and all around bad games.
That's not entirely fair. In the time since then, they've made a fair number of good and even great games... just not good Final Fantasy games. Heck, even Final Fantasy XII, flawed though it was, still had its share of strong points.
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@saftle Have you played infinite undiscovery? What do you think about it? I own that game but I haven't played it yet! You'd better pm me because it's off topic... Thanks!
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I don't really need to add to this thread; Rebirth speaks for me.
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All your points are pretty much what i would like square to do :) especially getting rid of Cait Sith
In the years i have been playing ff7 i have never even used him in my party only when you had to :-\
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It's amazing how different forums have different consensuses on things. On another forum I know, the vast majority of people think Cait is a master class of writing. When you look at how he enters your party, the loose spy plot that is obvious, and the actual idea that Reeve would remote control that thing using another accent, what other conclusion can be reached, other than the character is badly written?
I think what separates forum opinion on Cait is mainly the concentration of fanboys. Here at Qhimm, chances are you are not afraid of changing things, or criticising things, even in a game you love. At other forums, changes to the actual story or to what the fans perceive as "canon" is a crime. It is almost treated as heresy to criticise any aspect of the game/story/series. And that's sad. It is an ultra bigoted viewpoint that stems from ultra intolerance. There is no denying that FF7 is a great game. I personally believe it to be the greatest. But there is no way it is perfect, or even near it. The first post here makes that pretty clear on its own.
That's why I like this forum and refuse to participate elsewhere. Here, the vast majority DO something. They don't sit back making stupid theories to explain poor writing (like the Star Trek nerds do, and most other fanboy communities). This community is geared to accepting problems, and finding solutions... not putting its head in the sand and making excuses, or abusing people who don't subscribe to FF7 being a perfect gemstone. The only way you can improve ANYTHING is to first accept that things need improving. I have no time anymore for whether Cloud preferred Tifa or Aerith (no seriously... that's a common topic lmao), or whether Cait has an AI so that Reeve can go about his normal duties.
I see it as "This is a fictional story, and as such, the writing will sometimes have loose ends, plot holes, or bad logic. Good writing eliminates or minimises as much of this as possible. " Tifa is not real. Aerith is not real. They did not fancy Cloud, because he is not real. So coming up with theories on why Tifa said X or Aerith said Y, is a matter of understanding the writing.. not deluding yourself into believing that this is really another world with faultless logic that we can understand. When I am playing the game, I allow myself to slip into the story and characters, but when I am finished, I analyse it like a normal person, and not a clapped out fanboy.
;D
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Cait Sith a master class of writing ? people these days :'(
The only importance i have seen in this character is the part in the temple of the ancients and i'm pretty sure they could have come up with another solution to getting the black materia :P
Cait Sith just doesn't really belong in the game i mean Yuffie and Vincent are (very very top secret) characters :evil: and even they have more relevance than Cait Sith to me that is
and yeah you are right it isn't a perfect game but if i'm honest i don't think I've ever seen a perfect game 8) final fantasy is just one that i grew up with, especially ff7 :-D
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Indeed. Yuffie and Vincent both have a back story. Yuffie even has a home town where you meet her father. There is character development there. With Cait, it is simply "He is reeve, really. Somehow." The Black Materia part is a problem in the way it has been written (should we want to rewrite it without Cait, I mean).. the idea being that whoever tries to retrieve the Black materia will be killed. There is no way to escape that plot part, and I like the idea anyway.
The best way I think is that Sephiroth gets one of the Black Cloaks to retrieve it for him. Cloud picks it up, and then Sephiroth makes Cloud hand it over. This will at least work. We see Black Cloaks at the entrance too, so it would fit. Cloud also makes reference to the fact that Sephiroth has many followers who will do his dirty work for him (if they don't try to get it). All I would need to do is rewrite the scene.
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Thats what i was thinking, it would be simple enough seeing as Sephiroth could control Cloud :P
I love Vincents back story it's so dark and adds to the actual ff 7 plot with the whole Lucrecia being sephiroths mother
Cait is basically some guy in the shinra building :P and even after finding out he IS a spy you willingly say "yeah alright you can be on our team"
They could have done alot more with Cait like making him a boss maybe towards the end or giving more depth as to why reeve is helping you :/ just an idea
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Yeah, there was no depth there... that's why I think he was shoehorned in. It is almost like he has been added right at the end. There really is very little meat there... the only time I can remember where there is any depth is when he is talking to Barrett about his terrorist actions at Mako Reactor 1, and even then, we accept this is Reeve. The whole idea of Cait is utterly stupid. Does Reeve sit on his fat arse all day controlling this white bouncing toy? And what on earth would anyone not on drugs be doing trying to infiltrate a party using that thing anyway? If a bouncing white toy came up to me with a talking robot cat on top, taking my fortune, I'd be considering going to the doctors.
I certainly wouldn't be allowing it to hang about with me. Someone at the other forum said that Cloud is a mixed up man, so maybe he would. I just roll my eyes at that theory. And what of the rest of Cloud's team? Nah. bad writing, sorry.
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Why didn't they just make reeve join the party instead of Cait ? who knows :mrgreen: i'm pretty sure i would have preferred that
But one thing is for certain, if they decide to remake this game (and that is a BIG if ) the removal of Cait would be in their favor
also improving the script would help alot aswell as you pointed out
it just seems that people on other forums can't accept that there is BAD writing in this game
Also i would like them to maybe give Zangan tifa's tutor a bit more of a story i think that would be pretty cool
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Well Reeve couldn't really... he is a Shin-Ra man and everyone would know that. He also has a job. But there is nothing stopping my idea of a human spy working for Shin-Ra joining you :) In real life, it is undercover operatives that join a group. The whole idea is that they fit in... something Cait and Reeve could never do.
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makes sense :) just goes to show though that they could have easily just put a human spy in and not some overgrown marshmallow with a toy cat :-\
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makes sense :) just goes to show though that they could have easily just put a human spy in and not some overgrown marshmallow with a toy cat :-\
;D
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The great fortuneteller Kalderasha want to be the spy. ;D
With a little cat on his shoulder. :P
But honestly I guess an ominous character like Setzer (FF6) would totally fit in the role of Cait Sith.
He should attacks with puppets like Lulu from FF10 and he could use one of these puppets (of course Cait Sith) to solve the temple puzzle. It is in many ways a good idea to do so. This character would be an homage to Sephiroth as a puppet master and we could leave Reave his Cait Sith so many 'fanboys' would accept him as an adding instead of a replacing. Another point is that we could use the both Limts of Cait Sith. But the biggest problem is first to create a working battle model.
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DLPB you have pointed out so many things i've been saying for years haha. Refreshing really.
Also, I donated 5gpd, Use it wisely :P
To touch on the puppet idea briefly. Cait sith could be his ultimate weapon?
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DLPB you have pointed out so many things i've been saying for years haha. Refreshing really.
Also, I donated 5gpd, Use it wisely :P
To touch on the puppet idea briefly. Cait sith could be his ultimate weapon?
I will put it to good use. A bottle of wine, I shall toast you with :)
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Unlike a lot of people, I never had any problem with the core idea of Cait Sith, I just thought he was poorly executed. In particular, the scene in the temple of the ancients needs a total rewrite, such that it's clear BEFORE he sacrifices himself what the outcome will be, rather than trying to force emotion only to immediately make it irrelevant.
The whole "he's actually Reeve" thing? Could be done properly, with some work. Give Cait Sith a more convincing reason to join the party, spend a lot more time focusing on Reeve's backstory (and how he controls Cait Sith), don't immediately give away that he's a robot, move back his ShinRa reveal to a bit later... There's a fair bit of potential here, and the writers certainly give themselves a lot to work with. This is less a case of bad ideas, and more bungled implementation.
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I am pretty sure the Japanese does make it obvious what will happen. If I recall, in the correct translation, Cait says he is an expendable robot and will be waiting at the exit.
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Does real time mean like the active option?
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It means real time action... think FF12. It is basically opposite of turn based games like Lost Odyssey, FF7...
Needless to say, I go with turn base every time. I like turn based games more.
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Shit, I accidentally voted for real time then.
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8) Although I phrased the question wrong. Should be "Which do you like more".
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It means real time action... think FF12.
FF12 is turn based with the illusion of real time like Balduars Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age Origin, etc.
Dragons Dogma or the Witcher2 are (true) real time games.
Anyway I vote for turn based.
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turn based is my favorite :) although i don't mind real time
i vote turn based :-D
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FF12 is turn based with the illusion of real time like Balduars Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age Origin, etc.
Dragons Dogma or the Witcher2 are (true) real time games.
Anyway I vote for turn based.
True.
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I prefer realtime battles on the whole, but not for a Final Fantasy game. The last thing any company should do is try to change a popular franchise to make it more like a different franchise; if you're already doing well, that will only serve to alienate your fans, and it's incredibly unlikely that you'll do as good a job at what you're mimicking as the original.
Example: Medal of Honor Warfighter. They tried to make it more like Call of Duty, ignoring the series' roots, and not only did they fail to make something for MoH players, but they didn't even make as good a CoD game as any actual CoD game. I think this same concept applies to Final Fantasy; if they're going to change their battles, they should build from the turn-based systems they already have, rather than throwing away decades of refinement and innovation to make something more "mainstream-friendly" when they don't have any experience with that.
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Totally agreed. 8) The reason a fanbase exists at all is because they liked what they saw originally.
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Also a few other niggles I will add to this thread in time. One of them is that the Midgardsormr should be faster so you cannot escape it, should be a lot harder, so you cannot kill it near start, and should not return once you have killed it. It should be given boss status. I plan to do this. At moment, even when you first get there, with poison, you can kill it. You can also make it all way across the marsh if you time it right. Seems at certain points the MS will not chase you. And you can cheat by saving in middle of swamp and reloading. Should need a Chocobo to stand a chance at beginning of game.
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Turn-based all the way! ATB, wait vs. active, and formations are also needed please.
The Last Remnant almost had the perfect system for me :)
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I think Wait is beneficial because again, it gives you the chance to think :) Once you start speeding people up tactics suffer. Although I'd like to see many the hardest bosses deploy active, with a good Ai.
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Wait is great, and I feel like it should be a mandatory inclusion in a FF game, but I do like pure active ATB as an optional feature; it can make second playthroughs, where you already know all the bosses' weaknesses, a bit more challenging.
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I think Wait is beneficial because again, it gives you the chance to think :) Once you start speeding people up tactics suffer...
...and you end up with an automated command system like in FFXIII... I adore the option to have the luxury of time to explore the best battle tactics when I first play through the game.
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I agree that Cait Sith was terrible, that the translation needs improvement, that the graphics need an update (as much as full console graphics with the luminous engine would be amazing, all it really needs is a consistent art style that is either all chibi [ff9] or all normal [ff8/10] with resolution high enough to be acceptable on modern monitors), and that the game play of the original game had very appealing aspects but is also in need of some tweaks and/or polish. That being said turn based combat is something I enjoy, but it's not a draw for me.
I usually go into rpgs and jrpgs especially for the story, (something 13 dropped the ball on IMO), and turn based combat is just something that is sufficient for me to get from one point in the story to the next. I like the strategy and all of that, and finding out which enemies are weak to what and what strategies will kill them off most efficiently was/is still somewhat fun for me. But I have to admit that it gets a little stale for me when it feels like I always kill off all the enemies in similar manners. Once I figure an enemy out I lose all the enjoyment from ever fighting them. And in a jrpg, I probably will have to fight that same enemy many more times than I am interested in.
Don't get me wrong, I still love jrpgs and would gladly have all of them be turn based ATB over some styles of gameplay (FF12, WKC), but I can't help but want a fusion of action and strategy that has never been fully realized. There are action rpgs out there (Kingdom Hearts, Dragon's Dogma, The Witcher, KoA:R) but none of them have struck the right balance for me. They did, however, peak my interest.
Ever since playing the original kingdom hearts on hard against Sephiroth and beating his (for me at the time) incredibly hard battle, I couldn't help but imagine my favorite game (FF7) and the epic fights that could unfold from forming groups of three (like Sora, Donald, and Goofy) with the likes of Cloud, Vincent, and Cid/Barrett. This idea was only further teased by recent (is 2011 recent?) footage of FFVSXIII showing off a FF/KH-type battle system that actually didn't look half bad, and the thought of a game improving on that style of gameplay made my old fantasies run wild again. The ability to switch between characters on the fly to even a TPS character (Barrett/Vincent?) didn't help my wild dreams die either.
I still voted for turn based, just because that perfect balance between action and strategy that could make encounters fun, unique, and thought-provoking (not just button mashing) probably will never happen. I'd rather have a very polished turn based system for my favorite game's makeover than an experimental ARPG formula. But I can't help fantasizing about the thought of Cloud vs. Sephiroth in an epic real time battle that captures the urgency, the power, and the awe that my imagination instilled in me from experiencing the game back on the PS1.
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Final Fantasy X did one thing well - a balanced turn based system with a graphical section that informed the player the order of the turns. Now if one could incorporate these things into Final Fantasy VII, then one would have it made.
Also, if one could control the summon, that would be awesome as well.
(http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/6426/001nzw.png)
Screenshot shows the International Verison of Final Fantasy X on the PCSX2 Emulator. Game was ripped from my expensive copy to an .ISO file. I became frustrated everytime the emulator paused for the game to load, so I made a copy for myself.
Another idea that would be near impossible to do is to make Final Fantasy X into Final Fantasy VII. Nobody would do this.