Messages

26

Completely Unrelated / Moron Police

« on: 2020-05-27 18:15:38 »

Last summer I discovered this album while being on a boat, chilling in the sun. It's called "A Boat on the Sea". Caught me by surprise, 'cause I know the old Moron Police and, while you can still hear some familiarity with the old stuff it's definitely more, uhm, mature. It's refreshing, happy and up-beat. I kinda get game-music vibe from it.

Really like this vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlBr29H65ig

27

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-14 23:30:11 »

So yeah, call me repetitive but I stand by my statement, I consider chap18 to be on a whole other level of damage than any of the inconsistencies you mentioned. No, in fact I think those wouldn't even bother you as much, if the ending wasn't such a mess.

They would. Trust me they would. The demo made me cringe A LOT. It was already broken before Cloud had entered the reactor. Naive as I am, I thought the storytelling would be good in the beginning AT LEAST. To be fair, reactor 1 is one of the better parts. Still, it broke me. And it was pretty much all the in the details there.

When I say the devil is in the details, I don't try to argue that the small details about this game is its worst aspect. I think everyone agrees the shit at the end is terrible. Even the laziest of minds will detect something off here. And I agree the levels of damage aren't equal. If it weren't for the ending, at least it could continue in some fashion without being accidental comedy.
What I'm getting at is that for me -and many others I'm sure- the story is already broken long before the ending partly because of the small stuff.
Everyone's suspension of disbelief aren't the same. Most/everyone has a different BS level before the immersion breaks. Every scene is littered with small immersion breakers here and there, and the fleshed out story only adds to it (yes, not EVERYTHING is bad, I'm doing broad strokes). I have a hard time getting through some scenes. My BS bucket is getting full fast and every BS drops feels heavier than the last.
Again, if one can handle it, don't care, whatever, then more power to you.

The ending (c18+) is laughably bad. It's comedy. The bad stuff before the ending is more like pain, disbelief, cringe and facepalms. Except for the whisperers. They're comedy too.

28

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-14 17:26:17 »

2. Mr.Rasberry's personnel keycard:
...but I don't find it such a serious offense.

3. Goodbye speeches:
Disagree. I understand where you come from...

4. Domino:
...but it's out of discussion that the Remake performs better in terms of credibilty in the whole infiltration ops. So yeah, not exactly genius writing, but an improvement still.

What I'm trying to point out are "trailer moments" if you will. And the overall approach: Style over substance.

"Small offenses" like these are all over the place. They are rather small in the grand-scheme, on THEIR OWN. The devil is in the details; details are important to make a believable story, and in the case of FF7R, the details are everywhere.
If a person manages to buy/ignore/accept logical flaws like these, and how many you manage to swallow -and in what frequency- before the story breaks, depends on the person, of course. Everyone is somewhere between 1: "Whatever, just go with it", OR  2: "Everything MUST make 110% sense". Logic is still logic though.
Your own experience, the art-style, the tone and the genre plays a huge part in where on the scale you end up. I wouldn't mind logical inconsistencies in an animated crazy comedy. The realistic art style in FF7R plays a huge role in why much of the stuff doesn't work. I've argued as far back as the release of the 1st trailer that this art style is a huge mistake, and that the story will end up taking a severe hit. Marketing is marketing though, so realistic style it is.
Due to the art style, lack of voice acting and other limitations in the original, the abstraction layer is much deeper. Headcanons are pretty much forced upon the consumer to some extent, and, imo, it works much better than how FF7R tells its story. I dread to think about how current SE would make any of the classic FFs. Welp, we kinda do know, FF7R, lol.

And to comment some of the specifics:
Sure, Cloud having a goodbye moment with Biggs, by itself, doesn't ruin FF7R, far from it. If this was FF7R's only potential flaw, it would still be chained logically together with everything else, and judged accordingly. However, the logical chain, as is, is severely broken in many places, and "trailer moments" like this plays a big part in breaking it.
Besides, the immediate scene here was more important for SE, that's the gist. If it makes sense, which it kinda doesn't, wasn't my main point here. They wanted that scene, and weren't very considerate about anything else. If they were, I dunno, they should have asked someone else to write it.

In these specific cases (goodbye speech, Domino, Tseng's broadcast etc), I'd say, cut them. If you can't make them work, or that they make slightly more AND less sense at the same time, why include them at all? In the case of Domino, the art style, and the overall more dark and gritty tone forced them to do something else, and it only half assedly worked imo. I've wouldn't have included any of it. Then again, how do you connect the scenes? Dunno, not my job lol.

29

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-13 13:50:42 »

7.
Biggs: "Not fond of kids?"
Cloud: "No..."
*caresses Cloud's head*
Biggs: "But you have... so much in common"
Me: God what an amazing scene.

Nothing wrong with that scene (or that part of the scene rather) purely on its own. In fact, on its own it's very good. When put in context however, it cracks. Again, the immediate scene/moment is the most important thing here for SE, which, to me at least, breaks the immersion (as if it weren't broken a dozen times before in this scene alone lol). When you're in an extreme hurry like this, to prevent a colossal disaster, even when your best friends lies dying, would you really have time for a "last moment speech". Welp, at least any emotionally stable person wouldn't have, but the script makes everyone into emotional idiots because... Muh characters! Muh scene!
In the original, I distinctively remember -the first time I played- that I didn't even talk to Biggs and Jessie because 1: There are things that are way more important now; time is ticking fast. And 2: Maybe they will survive if we can stop the plate from falling; I don't know how badly they are hurt.
To my defense: I was 15 and didn't take the gameplay hints that I actually had as much time as I wanted. Talking to them was out of the question. I think most of you would agree that the tone in this scene is very serious, with a huge emphasis on urgency. And as far as the player knows, you are the only ones with enough fighting skills to actually stop this. Someone else is probably much more suited to look after Biggs and Jessie.

SE, if you are to flesh things out, please have it make sense. Please consider consistency and context. Sure, the whole Domino part has been """fleshed out""", but it doesn't make sense. Actually, as pointed out already, it's made even more ridiculous now. It was wanky enough to begin with; the addition here broke it imo. Even if an insider makes the infiltration more plausible, have it make sense. If you can't make it believable, do not include it. It seems one of the main reasoning here is to make Domino into a good guy, more likable, muh characters(!). If that's the tipping point of your reasoning SE, I'm sorry, that sucks. People will buy it, sure, but it still sucks.

30

FF9 Tools / Re: [PC] Save editor - Memoria (0.6.3.1)

« on: 2020-05-12 16:09:44 »

Sorry for late reply, I'll try to look into these.

I believe I've seen the error about the names reported before but not been able to reproduce.

On the IOS thing, I'm not sure what to say. Make sure to select the right file and remember to save. Keep in mid that the preview isn't updated.

I can't remember atm the PS4 format, but if the files are pure Json, they should be super easy to edit with notepad++ or something similar.

I've meant for a while now to take a new look at Memoria again, as there have been some new development, but time won't cooperate. It's on my list for sure.

31

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-12 15:50:29 »

Kefka pretty much nailed my thoughts on those scenes. I would sum it up with style over substance. The immediate scene is more important than consistency and logic. It's all over the place in main stream storytelling. Fuck the overall context, fuck believability, fuck consistency, fuck logic, as long as we get to show off how good of a character Aerith is, searching for those kids and stuff. Yeah.... Same in Barret's scene with the president. These examples are probably some of the worst, but they are spread out pretty much all over the game. Again, not that it didn't exist before, and I think this quote is a good example to highlight style over substance in both OG and R:

3: The Sector 7 plate drop. The battle at the pillar itself was actually fine and all, and it even featured a rare IMPROVEMENT over the original plot by showing Tseng and captured Aerith over a monitor rather than in a helicopter on site. That one always bugged me a little bit in the original, Tseng's chopper was still there when the bomb at the pillar exploded, and some of the debris actually got dangerously close, lol! So the approach from the remake with Tseng contacting them from a safe distance seems more reasonable indeed.

Does it make sense though? I agree it makes logistically sense (it didn't at all in the original). It makes sense if Tseng's reasoning for the broadcast is it to let Aerith communicate with the party about Marlene. Or if he has some sort of sadistic pleasure in letting them know they'll die. Or perhaps he thinks he can score with Aerith if she let her talk to her friends before he murders them?
I would say the 2 latter makes the """"most"""" sense. The problem, imo is, again, the art direction. Mustache twirling villainy like this is too juvenile and out of place here.
The original was also stupid, style over substance, about how Tseng lets Aerith talk to them, and how he was even there. And the helicopter part. Though, I guess they (Reno, Tseng) used that helicopter to escape in the original as well. Reno and Rude also escape by helicopter in the remake so there is that... Hard to see any other way to escape within the timeframe.

This part of the scene serves 3 purposes. To mention Marlene, to mention the ancient's and to know Aerith is captured. Caught that peeps? Please ignore how Barret just missed Rude with his gunarm while Rude runned in straight line away from him. All that action looked cool right?

Please don't tell me Tseng knew they would survive all along, and allowed Aerith to talk to them because he has a crush on her... This would be a perfect example of a writer retconning a scene when they notice they f****d up and there is no room to back peddle.

Also, if Shinra's security is this tight (fancy cameras and shit), why would Jessie use her father's card and put all of them in danger; her family, neighborhood, friends and Avalanche. Could it be because Cloud needs to go to her father's room and learn more about Jessie?  We needed that scene this much, huh?

32

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-08 00:43:58 »

but to say that Tifa wouldn't, for example, because she didn't in the original is hard for me to believe. It's hard for me to believe that the Barret that experience his own hometown burning wouldn't feel anything for the people of sector 7. I think in OG he was wreckless and irresponsible as a leader due to being blinded by hatred for Shinra, but I don't think he was ever heartless.

I'm not suggesting he is heartless. It's his emotions that drives him, 'cause he lost so much dear to him. At this point in the story, Barret wouldn't be onboard going back IF the choice was between that and rescue Aerith. If he was pushed to do it, he would reluctantly follow, probably being angry about it. Tifa would not be angry, and agree to follow. Tifa is quick to agree to go to the HQ mainly because of Cloud.

Also, the situation in the remake is different. In the original there is little to suggest this many people survived. What we consistently see during the plate incident is that people don't want to leave. Not that there couldn't be any big evacuation operation going on in the original.

I agree with this to an extent, but I think this is a bit exaggerated. He is about 95%+ the same in FF7 Remake as he is in FF7 OG. You have to really stretch out the details to say he is very different at all.

Hmm, welp, if people agree he is this similar, 95%+, then I guess he is only 1.05 better in the remake at most.
Not sure what you mean by stretch out the details. Nitpicky? Imo, the differences is not only the small details, but he is more similar than different, I think anyone would agree to that.

33

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-07 19:04:17 »

Calling Barret a complete moron isn't honest though. Same as calling FF7 a convoluted mess.

If he is "better" is one thing, but he certainly isn't the same character. At least not the same Barret as he was at the start of FF7. In the original, he is pretty much consumed with his revenge towards shinra. Pretty much everything he acts out is hate aimed towards shinra, in some form, be it direct or underlying. He justifies his action by calling it "saving the planet", though it really is to satisfy his shinra hate boner. Only when he interacts with Marlene is the hate truly gone.
In the "remake" they make him less consumed; a "good guy" and when he does have tantrums, they are often exaggerated.
FF7O Barret wouldn't make silly jokes in the first mission. FF7O Barret wouldn't go back to sector 7 to check on things after the plate fell. After he knew Marlene was safe, and after making excuses to Elmyra, the mission was back on.

I'm not saying he is a totally different character, but by "fleshing him out" they remove some, and they add some. Some for the better. Most of it because he needs to be "likeable", which, imo, is rather transparent. Again, marketing.

And my joke was funny 

34

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-07 07:54:22 »

Hmmm, I guess the arbiters of fate failed to make him a 1000 worse than what he is in the remake.

35

FF9 Tools / Re: [PC] Save editor - Memoria (0.6.3.1)

« on: 2020-05-04 14:00:29 »

You can't resize it by dragging the edge? Alt you can try holding windows key and use the arrow keys. Example: Hold windows key then tap right. This should adjust windows to the right. Assuming you're on windows 7-10.

36

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-03 00:29:04 »

Visually, musically, vocally, variety of play,depth of play are all objectively better in remake no matter how you slice it. While story is close enough it really shouldn't be a part of the this is better or that is better, game time is about the same

Narratively it's easier to understand the motivation of almost all characters involved, we also received a better understanding of what type of people the characters are, the story maintains its complexity, there is a clearer understanding of the the different factions involved, major plot points are given more context and gravity, emotions from the character are easier to read and understand, themes covered are more fully explored... So objectively unless it's a horror narrative it's objectively shared better then the original the only real issue is the plot ghosts, a good narrative should give you enough pieces that you should be able to reliably determine how a character should act in a given situation and cover a broad range of emotions.

Art is a subjective medium with objective criteria so yeah you can be objective while discussing art, things that bring an emotional response are subjective in nature so as soon as people start using Nomura as a reason to not like or artistic changes as an issue it become subjective, if you can keep to the actual content and quality thereof then yes you can stay objective.

So if you ignore the specifics of the story changes and focus on the contents and story building then yeah story of remake is as good as original, if not better as it is in world more believable.

Visuals and music have a more advanced technology behind, them, sure. Imo, the art-style in the original suits the story much better.
Because of voice acting the music design is approached differently. If they are objectively better compositions is another other question.

Don't care about the battle system, but there are a lot more strategic potential in the original, though they didn't get fully realized in the final product. As in, you don't really need all of it. But it is there. So... I dunno, speaking quantity, the original has more.

Fleshing things out does not necessarily make things better. The new narrative actually adds a whole plethora of new plot-holes (not that the original didn't have any), and stupid anime-logic (for lack of better word). Biggs, Wedge and Jessie comes off as bad, cringe-worthy characters. Sure there are some good moments, but overall cringy as hell. The orignal characters comes off as caricatures of themselves. Imo, I think that was inevitable in this art style.
The original had a better narrative structure when it comes to gameplay vs story. In FF7R the structure adds to the convolution.

Saying FF7 was a convoluted mess is not very honest. It's not THAT hard to follow.

I lold at this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO-Ce148Pyo

37

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-04-30 12:13:07 »

By your definition would Super Mario World and Mario 64 be the same genre, what about uncharted and gears of war... Gameplay mechanics are wildly different between the 4 games mentioned and they are all considered different genres, and by definition they are all games in which you play a particular role to see the story... So they are all RPGs, so the real question is how broad or shallow are your genre definitions? Me I'm definitely on the bandwagon of being as specific as possible when defining things cause let's face it people take things the wrong way whenever possible so why not reduce the chances  by being specific.

The writer's are the same minus Sakaguchi, the story is just as ridiculous and convoluted, and is still carried by the characters, the dialogue in the cut scenes are close enough to word for word to the originals localisation, all the plot points are hit for the midgar section, then the things that have been added character development wise follow the originals character arcs only making it a smoother change through the stages, the only issues people are having are the plot ghosts because they are fairly ham fisted due to their sporadic nature until they just get dumped on you, cause hey pretty well everyone missed their intentions on the first playthrough, which happens cause there is just so much they have done that is downright amazing to draw your attention away from them in particular.

Freshies are loving the remake while the diehards either love it or hate it based almost entirely on the last 1-3hrs of game time as in that 1-3hrs are the only thing the majority of diehards hate but they hate it with such a passion it ruins an otherwise amazing game, oh these are the diehards that have actually played the game rather then watching someone else play it or just the cutscenes.

The stagger mechanic doesn't really play a part in most of the combat, it's more for the bosses and gimmick fights, mainly cause trash mobs don't need you to be any good at the game to kill.

Hmmm, did I have a definition of what a genre is? I'm not sure what logic you refer to? Mario 64 is a 3D-platformer; Super Mario bros. is a 2D-platformer.
Mario 64 is an Adventure 3D-platformer? Mario 64 is an Adventure-Collector 3D-platformer? Mario 64 is a Family-friendly Adventure-Collector 3D-platformer with Boss fights and overall Silliness? I guess Mario 64 is FFAC 3DP BS. Mario 64 is not an RPG, not by a longshot.
Again, it may be interesting to discuss what constitutes genres, where the line goes etc. Being specific is fine, just don't bloat the dictionary with useless words (see metal genres). There are such things as sub-genres, descriptions and tags too. Game of Thrones contains humor, but saying GoT's genre includes comedy is stretching the specifics by a ridiculous amount imo.

The story is convoluted in the original FF7, yes, and at times silly and ridiculous, but the art direction/style didn't make that such a big deal in the original (the silliness part). Now they add multi dimensions and/or time traveling mechanics on top of the existing convoluted story. The complexity increases exponentially by each BS factor such as these they add. And, be sure, this is not the end of it.

I've seen plenty of newcomers who does not like it, or at least not call it a masterpiece. This a quantity over quality argument of what I assume is about the quality of the game?
Imo, the game is slightly above mediocre at best. Perhaps a 7 if I'm in a good mood (I would have to be drunk as well lol). The gameplay is not my cup of tea, so I'm not the best person to judge. Calling it a fast cash-grab is going too far, but it's within the same ballpark; at least the same sport.

38

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-04-29 11:04:45 »

Personally, I've stopped taken professional critics seriously for, I dunno, 10 years or so. Probably longer. IGN's review of FF7r was laughable as hell. According to critique consensus SW ep 8 is a great movie. lmao... I'm kinda surprised how badly ep 9 was treated by critics though. Imo it's worse than 8, but not that much. They are both terrible movies. Maybe FF7R-2 will have a similar fate?

FF7r is its own genre as in a new genre? Welp, I guess it depends on what one mean by genre.

FF8 has a pretty unique junction system. FF4 introduced the atb system (afaik). These games are not new or unique genres though. Mechanics =/= genre. If that's the case, there are literally 10s of thousands of genres. Perhaps even millions.

It's interesting to discuss what constitutes genres, but, imo, in the case of music, there are way too many "recognized" genres and sub-genres (especially in metal). Don't let that happen to games please. It's ridiculous. FF7r is an action RPG. Does it contain unique mechanics? Probably, I dunno, haven't done any research. Calling it an atb system seems a bit odd to me though. It's a cooldown system one has the means to directly manipulate with your characters input. It doesn't resemble the atb system from FF4-9 at all. Without stretching your logic. It's called atb in FF7R, and not cooldwn because, well, it's an FF.

Even if it is an entirely new unique genre, the fact remains that SE has pushed FFs in an action direction due to the market. That's where the AAA gold is, in action games. And why wouldn't they go in that direction if it's potentially more profitable?
I don't think SE will do the same thing with the DQ series though, mainly because that series is kinda sacred over in Japan. You don't #¤%& with something sacred lol.

And to comment the stagger system. It's similar to the Octopath traveler weakness system, as in, with each new enemy you're looking to stagger/break them. It's interesting at first but gets exponentially more stale over time imo. The same was true for FF13. Although it may not be true in all encounters, what you initially look for is staggering/breaking. For each fight. Yawn... And the enemies can't stagger/break you. Why? Frankly, I think these games would be better without. Looking for ways to exploit the enemies without having this constant "I have to stagger" mentality is more fun imo. All enemies, in some sense, have the same weakness.

39

FF9 Tools / Re: [PC] Save editor - Memoria (0.6.3.1)

« on: 2020-04-26 12:23:25 »

Sorry, the gjoerulv.com is down. I moved it to another host (but it doesn't seem to be working).

The newest version is in the main download link, the big fat one. The other one was a mirror link, just in case. It's the same version.

40

FF8 Tools / Re: [PC] Enemy editor - IFRIT (0.11)

« on: 2020-04-25 12:37:54 »

Just wanted to add that, while Ifrit works as intended (hopefully lol), it's a mess of code. Looking at the source, I think I might have been drunk or something haha.

41

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod (v1.0.7.2)

« on: 2020-04-25 12:31:35 »

Frogs are fascinating creatures.

Killing him in 1 move each time is what you want. Best thing is to get into a rhythm, not allowing him to act at all. He always revives as a reaction to anything, that is, after he is killed, he will revive after the next move, be it your own or not. Try timing accordingly. He has 12 lives iirc.

42

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-04-20 02:10:02 »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lABCD6so2OY
xP

43

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-04-19 15:35:30 »

I fail to see the logical connections here; have SE created a new sub-genre? Please explain.

FF7R IS made into an action game, because that's where the money is. Same thing with FF15. The trend in sales goes that way, or rather have never shifted. I'm not saying that the devs works against their wishes. I'm sure many of them, if not all of them are totally hyped about FF7R FF15 and so on. But that's besides the point.

The whole concept of RPG in gaming is rather vague anyway, but most of the games I listed are usually labeled as action-RPGs. FF7R is hardly a new genre.

44

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-04-19 12:01:09 »

I hardly think making it an active rpg is base on market research.... As the majority of action RPGs are fairly niche groups that enjoy them, as are tactical action games so why would they put the effort into creating a new subgenre

Welp all I can say, do some research.

Now, not all of these are exact ARPGs like FF7 pr se, but still not that far off either.

The Elder Scrolls
Diablo
Red Dead Redemption
The Witcher
Dragon Age
The Last of Us
Borderlands
Mass Effect

To mention some. They have all outsold FFs, or was/is at the very least close contenders.
What turn based games outsold these, and/or is in direct contest? Not many. Pokemon perhaps.

And you have action games like Call of Duty, PUGB, GTA, Fortnite, etc, all outselling FFs and other popular traditional turn-based RPGs too by a rather huge margin.
FF as a franchise is almost caught up by Assassin's Creed as a franchise when it comes to sales (counting all games including re-releases and spin-offs). Considering FF has been around 20 years more than Assassin's Creed, that's telling SE's market team something.

SE has since the PS2 days pushed FF in the action direction to be appealing to more people.

45

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-04-19 03:37:07 »

40hrs in and I've yet to experience anything that is just pandering to the masses via market research.

The fact that they changed it into an action game is alone "pandering to the masses".
The storytelling is, for the most part, also easy on the masses. One could go in depth here, but let's just say, it's nothing wrong enjoying a main-stream story like this. The original also had a lot of "pandering to the masses" going on. No need to pretend it didn't.
Design choice, story beats, gameplay, is all there mainly due to marked research. Most, if not all, AAA companies does this. It's no big secret. The only thing I think is not heavily influenced by is all this kingdom hearts stuff. But kingdom hearts is a commercial success so... "Hey, Nomura those KH stuff you made were pretty successful, can you put some of that stuff in?"

There are risks involved though. I would say the most risky move SE has done here is splitting it up into multiple games. It can backfire hard. Depending on sales they may decide to end it early and pretend that it was the plan all along. To be honest, I don't think they have a complete story ready yet. But at least they haven't promised X amount of games like Disney promised ep 7-9, which I don't think need to explained how hard failed as a story.

If they continue to being somewhat "faithful" to the original I'm guessing the next games will do good overall. But if they decide to go all in KH crazy... welp, not easy to say what'll happen. SE will probably look at feedback to decide how much to tone down the KH stuff in the naxt game.

46

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-04-17 11:42:50 »

.

Fast reply as I don't have time now.

Not pissed, but disappointed (and ammused at the "whisperers" stuff,  lmao, what a mess).

FF7R is a blatant marked-research game with some crazy, over the top kingdom hearts crap thrown in.

Added/changed/retconned story: There are good things here, but mostly main-stream cringe. Would work great in a cartoon with a returning villain each episode. Like TMNT or something.

Graphics, music and overall technical presentation is good.

Music is all good afaict.

The gameplay is not my cup of tea, so I'm not the right person to judge. I tire of these kinds of games very easily. I'm still baffled that not more people are disappointed that this "remake" is another genre then what it's based on.

47

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod (v1.0.7.2)

« on: 2020-04-15 08:25:46 »

As lazy as I am, I haven't really tried 7h that much yet. I tested out v2 some days ago. If it uses 1.0.6s then it's basically the newest version. You can look at the change log on opening post to see differences.

48

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-04-13 00:11:28 »

I can see why people would love or hate both systems. After watching my friend playthrough the remake on a stream, the combat is certainly not as hack and slashy as it looks. You have to make a lot of mid-combat choices. And if you don't have a plan, you die.

While I do wish Square stuck with something turn based, it doesn't fully upset me either. It did for awhile.

I think there are tasteful ways to make changes to the original and still be faithful modernization of the original. Resident Evil 2 Remake is fairly close to that mark for me. I loved that game, despite missing some things from the original. I thought it was a faithful modernization.

I think FF7 could have been the same thing. The plot device at the end, and foreshadowed throughout is my main gripe - and what it means for the rest of the series. At the moment is it is a bit vague. I might end up reserving full judgement until all the parts are released. However, at the moment my aprehension is palpable.

Depends on what exactly you mean by modernization. Something is lost from the original RE2 with the addition of free camera. It's not entirely the same type of game anymore. Although, I think they would have made RE1-3 with free camera etc, if they weren't "limited". Probably. I dunno.

In the case of FF7 though, considering battle mechanics only, it was certainly not limitations that made Square chose what type of game to make. Something is gone when you remove battle mechanics entirely (duh), and what you get instead in FF7R is something that feels completely different. Natural evolution? No, this is not the "natural evolution" of turn based games, and it's certainly not a faithful adaptation of it. It could probably be an entirely different type of action game and some people (probably the same people) would still call it a faithful adaptation. Not saying action games are bad btw.

The impression I get however, from reviews and so forth, is that this is indeed thee natural evolution off FF7.
I wonder how people would react if FF7R-2 changes genre again to, lets say, FPS. Would that be bad? Not a natural next step? Why is change bad? Why is it ok for FF7R to change genre from the original, but not FF7R-2 to change genre from FF7R? Personally I would find it interesting if SE does that. To see how people react.

And on the new plot stuff. FF7 originally was a bit too convoluted, imo. The new story elements kinda escalates the convolution exponentially. And is, at least at the face of it, questionable at best, but comes off as horribly juvenile storytelling. It's how I would picture a mid schooler write a FF7 fanfic if they played too much kingdom hearts.

49

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-04-11 17:14:44 »

The foreshadowing bit is definitely true. Even the intro has foreshadowing.

50

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-04-10 23:40:50 »

It'll probably settle somewhere between 7-8 I'm guessing. Right now it's the extreme ends that shows, mostly extreme fanboys who rates; hardly a reliable way to measure the "true" score. I've even seen some rate it 0 or 10 just to even out the filed, lol.

One can't deny that the fanboyism has been at all-time high levels, for a loong time now. It's the fanboys who drives the consensus atm, just because how many there are. But some see through SE's seamless manipulative marketing.

...
In the end, how you feel, and how it is supposed to be perceived, doesn't really matter. But the fact remains that SE are manipulative in their marketing by pushing their product in a certain way.

</shemlesspromoting>

https://sidearc.com/square-enix-is-lying-about-final-fantasy-vii-remake/

SE's marketing has an effect. Here are some fanboyquotes (long before release or demo):

This is how the story was intended to be told from the start.

It would be a waste not to make it (FF7R) action oriented.

FFs have always been action games at heart.

You can finally experience the true FF7 story.

Making the remake an action game stays true to the FF7 spirit.

I'm not triggered; I'm fascinated and amused. It's really a good look at social compliance.

Can't wait for the next "episode" to see what shenanigans SE can muster up. How many mountains will Sephiroth blow up?