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[SkylineRKR]

The E3 of Dreams, aka E3 2015 was a famous event unleashing 3 apparent vaporware titles upon us. Those titles were:

Final Fantasy VII Remake
The Last Guardian
Shenmue 3

The hype was unreal. Everyone remembers this stream:



FFVII and Shenmue 3 back to back. I lost it. The amount of tears on streams of wannabe internet celebs and other nobodies are countless. I won't post them.

Now, those games are being on the market for a long time, and long being played by about every gamer following them. Its time for reflection.

The Last Guardian

I think this is a good game. But I do have love/hate relationship with it. I thought it was frustating at times and a technical mess. But at other instances the platform gameplay and puzzles were rather neat and thinking man. I kind of struggled to see it through, unlike ICO and SotN, but on the whole I think this game is good. Its also quite a bit more bearable on PS5 and its one of the freebies so check it out. All in all though, this is my least favourite game of the ICO Trilogy. I have no pets, and I know people with pets appreciate it better.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Yeah so this is a difficult one. FFVII is one of the best games I have ever played and certainly the most memorable. I never had good feelings about this remake when it was announced, then changed developers, then in sort of limbo and then finalized as part of a a multi release saga. The end result, well, I don't really like it. Its not that there aren't things I don't like, but in general I feel its lifeless. Where do I start. I think by making a whole game out of the midgar chapter, there is no way there isn't padding. I had foreseen this. Truth is, its worse than I thought for a couple of reasons. First of all, the level design, its not open. There was potential here, Midgar like a Deus Ex ish Prague hub or something. But its FFXIII tubes. Even the towns have no real feeling of exploration. The padding is ridiculous, some parts can only be reached by crawling, others by shimmying, I think you'll spend a good few hours doing this in total. Then, some of the added content is horrible. Everything involving Leslie for example, or Hojo's busywork for reasons. The game did hit me in the feels, like some scenes being redone in real time with third person visuals such as the Corneo mansion that looks identical. Its like you're there this time. But most of the time I hated it. I hated Chapter 6, the sewer chapters, the lab. The combat though was better than I expected. It was rather challenging, deep, looked good, and flowed well if you know what to do. But then the linearity kicks in; why couldn't we access the Coliseum in an easier way then to replay that specific chapter lol? The story, well, I didn't even hate this part as much as the next guy. I mean, a 1:1 story would hold no single surprise for me while now I don't have a clue. And Sephiroth's might being deminished I disagree with, the guy one shots Cloud, he toys with him. And we don't know what he's going to do now that the whispers are dead. All in all, I am disappointed and looking out for FFXVI much more (since I love XIV) than Part 2 of this one.

Shenmue 3

Now, Shenmue 1 and 2 were 2 of my favourite games ever and the HD collection despite the bugs reaffirmed this. I was SO immersed again, I couldn't wait for 3. And here I am wishing I never played this turd. It doesn't add any story, in fact, it downgrades the mysteriousness of the story. The health reduction was awful, and the whole story is getting beat up by faceless roid, grind special move, beat faceless roid. Repeat. Niao Sun was introduced and all she wanted was take over because i'm evil hahaha. What a turd. I dislike this game. I rather stick to the original 2 and fill in the rest of the plot myself, lol.

So what are your eventual thoughts about these legendary announcements?

 

[Azelover]

None of them lived up to the hype for me. But it was a wonderful moment.

 

[MrFunSocks]

I didn’t care about any of them, and they all came out and bombed and weren’t very good, unsurprisingly.

 

[Captain Toad]

I didn’t care about any of them, and they all came out and bombed and weren’t very good, unsurprisingly.

"Please report me for trolling PlayStation threads".

Seriously, how does this guy not have this tag yet? Every. Single. Time. He never fails to show up to bash PlayStation.

As for the actual thread, Final Fantasy VII exceeded my expectations. I love that game, even if its really a sequel, not a Remake, despite its name.

The Last Guardian was really good, but controlled like ass. I get that wasn't the main focus of the experience, but the controls needed cleaning up.

Shenmue never had me interested. It looks B-tier from the start. I don't intend on ever playing it.

 

[Yoboman]

FFVII Remake did deliver for me. I think it will be something really special when all the parts are put together

Thats my main issue with it though, when I saw that teaser I wasn't expecting some multi part 10 year project.

The Last Guardian I didn't even finish. It never grabbed me like the other Team ICO games. I will revisit it with the 60 fps trick on PS5 though. Still feels like it deserves a second chance

Shenmue I could care less for

In the end, hype is nearly always better than the real thing

 

[JonkyDonk]

I was never hyped about any of them really. I played TLG, it looked beautiful and had a lot of heart but felt outdated in its game design and had some annoying platforming sections. I also played FF7R, which besides some cute bits didn't do much for me overall, as I was never a fan of the original; the combat system really fell apart in the late game and I was sick of it by the end. I never even played Shenmue.

For me E3 2016 had the far more impressive line up from Sony.

 

[Danjin44]

The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy VII Remake....

 

[Komatsu]

Shenmue 3 was one of the great disappointments of my gaming career. Spent 20 years dreaming of that game and then Suzuki comes in and shits the bed

Spoiler: SPOILER

BY NOT WRAPPING UP THE DAMN STORY.

 

[Bragr]

That video is embarassing.

 

[Naibel]

Final Fantasy VII Remake : no, but that was expected. Remaking such a beast was doomed from the get-go, and modern Square always finds ways to fuck things up by adding unnecessary padding, stupid plot changes, and boring side quests. Hoping the next parts will come out eventually, in a generation or two...sigh...

The Last Guardian : yes totally. Shame about the performance issues at launch on base PS4 but now on PS5 (with BC and only with the disc version), it's 60fps locked and it's wonderful. That aside, it's a fantastic experience, with one of the best video game soundtracks ever made, and a tear-jerking ending. The AI didn't bother me that much. Having a dog, I know that those little buggers don't obey you every single time, so it was pretty realistic in that regard. Worth the wait and a fantastic closer to the Ueda trilogy.

Shenmue 3 : kiiiinnnda. People expected too much of what is at the end of the day an indie title with a somewhat decent budget. The novelty of the previous entries is gone, Shenmue is no longer an industry trailblazer, what's left is the Shenmue "spirit" and well, it's still there in my opinion. Weird gameplay choices could have been avoided but the graphics are surprisingly good (NPC faces aside) and the first act of the game is maaaasssive comfy, the sort of stuff I would never want to end. Not a lot moves plot-wise but it was always assumed this entry would be a transitional effort between the first and final acts of the saga. What's unsure though is if said acts will come out as games, and if that's the case, how they will be financed. Another KS campaign can easily backfire if handled like the last one, so I really don't know how Suzuki Yu can pull it off. Something has to come out eventually though, in one way or another.

 

[-MD-]

TLG ran about 20fps so I quit like an hour in, Shenmue never cared about and I bought FFVII but haven't opened it yet.

 

[Komatsu]

Not a lot moves plot-wise but it was always assumed this entry would be a transitional effort between the first and final acts of the saga

That is not how I recall it - there was a lot of commentary about how Ryo's arrival at Shenhua's village would set the stage for the final confrontation with Lan Di. Suzuki himself said in more than one interview that he looked forward to moving the story along.

It was pretty much a known factor that the game would not do well outside of its niche. Suzuki caught lightning in a bottle with that KS campaign and this was it: he had to make it happen, Deep Silver or Sony or whomever will not finance a fourth game. And he blew it.

 

[AmuroChan]

I would lean towards no by personally.

1. The Last Guardian - Very happy to have played it. The camera and controls were frustrating at times, but overall I enjoyed the story.

2. FFVII Remake - This was a disappointment for me. There were a lot of aspects that I liked about it. The graphics were fantastic, hybrid combat system was executed well, and of course the soundtrack is iconic. However, the unnecessary bloat they added to this game took a lot of enjoyment away for me. I know they needed to justify the price tag, but I would've gladly paid the $60 for a tight 15 hour game without all the things that were specifically designed to slow me down and prolong the game. It's one thing if the side quests were interesting and varied, but 95% of them were just total trash. Also, how many times does the game have to make me crawl through vents and squeeze through walls? After a few times it just became infuriating.

3. Shenmue 3 - What can I say? I thought I really needed this game. I even paid for one of the higher tiers on the KS. After 5 hours with Shenmue 3, I realized that this is a game that should've come out in 2005, and not 2019.

 

[Naibel]

That is not how I recall it - there was a lot of commentary about how Ryo's arrival at Shenhua's village would set the stage for the final confrontation with Lan Di. Suzuki himself said in more than one interview that he looked forward to moving the story along.

It was pretty much a known factor that the game would not do well outside of its niche. Suzuki caught lightning in a bottle with that KS campaign and this was it: he had to make it happen, Deep Silver or Sony or whomever will not finance a fourth game. And he blew it.

I'm definitely sure Shenmue III wasn't considered to be the closing entry even back in 2015. Yu confirmed it later on :

Shenmue III Will Not Be The End of Series, Director Says - IGN

Director of Shenmue III, Yu Suzuki, shared the series will not end with the upcoming installment.

www.ign.com

I do agree that the plot does not advance far enough and that considering how difficult it was for Shenmue 3 to be backed and made, it was a mistake on Yu's part to not move things a bit more. Shenmue IV, as a 3D adventure game like the previous ones, is far from a given at the moment.

 

[Woman7]

That video is embarassing.

Absolutely. Why did OP have to remind us of that sperge freakout.

 

[Fbh]

The Last Guardian: As a game I really liked it and it lived up to my expectations, but I was really disappointed by the shitty performance on base Ps4. Was the first and only game I played this gen that just ran consistently under 30fps.
FF7 Remake: Was actually much better than I originally expected. Has issues but I had more fun with it than with any mainline FF in 19 years (since X)

Shenmue: Never cared. From videos it looks about as bad as I expected.

 

[Beer Baelly]

I forgot Shenmue3 was a Kickstarter project. Those tiers and goals

 

[Komatsu]

I do agree that the plot does not advance far enough and that considering how difficult it was for Shenmue 3 to be backed and made, it was a mistake on Yu's part to not move things a bit more. Shenmue IV, as a 3D adventure game like the previous ones, is far from a given at the moment.

I should have been clearer: by setting the stage for the final confrontation against the villain, I mean taking the story to its final chapter (a 4th game), not wrapping it up. Most of the talk about 3 being merely transitional is post-2018, when the game was already backed and committed.

I wish I was as optimistic as you in this regard: I am pretty sure we won't see a fourth entry at all. The series is dead.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I would lean towards no by personally.

1. The Last Guardian - Very happy to have played it. The camera and controls were frustrating at times, but overall I enjoyed the story.

2. FFVII Remake - This was a disappointment for me. There were a lot of aspects that I liked about it. The graphics were fantastic, hybrid combat system was executed well, and of course the soundtrack is iconic. However, the unnecessary bloat they added to this game took a lot of enjoyment away for me. I know they needed to justify the price tag, but I would've gladly paid the $60 for a tight 15 hour game without all the things that were specifically designed to slow me down and prolong the game. It's one thing if the side quests were interesting and varied, but 95% of them were just total trash. Also, how many times does the game have to make me crawl through vents and squeeze through walls? After a few times it just became infuriating.

3. Shenmue 3 - What can I say? I thought I really needed this game. I even paid for one of the higher tiers on the KS. After 5 hours with Shenmue 3, I realized that this is a game that should've come out in 2005, and not 2019.

Agree with most things except for Shenmue 3. As this is a shenmue 3 sentiment I often read and disagree with, the problem is not that this game feels dated. 2000's Shenmue 1 runs circles around it in terms of story, combat and even pacing. This was apparent to me when I replayed those on PS4. Shenmue 3's combat is a disgrace, its just about leveling up and nothing more. There is no skill involved. none. The plot does the same thing twice, all you do is getting kicked the shit out of you (while you did beat some HK top dogs earlier), and grinding cash for some stupid QTE move.

It would be a terrible game even when this was released in 2005. In fact, I think its being revered by some people just because its Shenmue 3 finally. Back in the early 2000's everyone would still expect a Shenmue 3 to be on schedule, and if this would be the end result, well, the series would've be buried as well.

 

[OnionSnake]

Last Guardian didn't deliver for me at all, total bust. Very curious to see Ueda's new game coming exclusively to the Epic Games Store...

Shenmue 3 I have no history with this series, but judging from fans reaction it was not well received so I'll say it was also a bust.

FF7R however seems pretty popular to friends of mine that played it. I'm kind of hoping they are going to do a PC or PS5 release for 4K60 otherwise it looks solid.

So 1/3 isn't that bad?

 

[SkylineRKR]

I should have been clearer: by setting the stage for the final confrontation against the villain, I mean taking the story to its final chapter (a 4th game), not wrapping it up. Most of the talk about 3 being merely transitional is post-2018, when the game was already backed and committed.

I wish I was as optimistic as you in this regard: I am pretty sure we won't see a fourth entry at all. The series is dead.

There is one thing I can appreciate about Shenmue 3. And that is that it killed all hype for me. At this point I don't care about Shenmue IV. The series has always been one of my top picks, and it was always some sort of gap when I thought about it or replayed them, but 3 made sure I don't give a shit if this is never finalized. The same could be said about FFVII Remake, I don't care much for part 2 and beyond. I've wanted a remake for long, but after the first part its ok. The original is still there, and it could use some improvements (those exist on PC) but otherwise its fine still.

 

[Grinchy]

The Last Guardian sucks 5 bags of dicks, I never cared about Shenmue, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake was a bit of a dud overall. FF7R did some things pretty well, but shit all over itself with tedious side missions and bad pacing and then they even changed the original just to be able to get out of making the rest of the game the same as it used to be...in a remake.

 

[Miles708]

The Last Guardian is a lovely, wonderful piece of entertainment and you're all heartless monsters.

Shenmue 3 is a wonderful game full of little moments, but only in the first half. The second half is a disgrace. Also the combat is so, so bad.
The story goes in interesting places (especially towards the end) but the pacing is horrid, just horrid.

FFVII I still need to buy, looks wonderful.

Looking at replies in this thread makes me think that Sony fans really don't deserve anything.

 

[Rudius]

Looking back on it after playing the games, Sony’s 2016 E3 was the best.

 

[AJUMP23]

I enjoyed FF7 remake. Thought it lived up to my expectations. I enjoyed tifa, Barrett, and Arith, getting these characters more realized and new renders way great.
The other 2 games I didn’t care about.

 

[A Rifter in Space]

The ff7 remake has the potential to be great, but only once they actually finish it. This episodic crap is terrible and only leads to delays. Releasing episodes only works if you've got a clear pipeline for delivery. Excuses like, "Well they needed to build the engine first" or "it'll be quicker now that they've got the infrastructure down" are absolute crap because the thing that takes the longest to do is asset creation, integration, and testing of the entire workflow. The solidifying of an architecture is only ~15% of what you need to do so I anticipate it'd be the back quarter of the 2020's before we even get a whiff of this thing being done.

That and Square is notoriously shit at releasing games quickly. I miss the PS1/PS2 era where they had at least big release once every year.

 

[Jigsaah]

I was not moved in the least bit.

I was however in tears when Xbox announced some real vaporware. Phantom Dust Reboot was so close, yet so far away. It is my #1 game of all time.

 

[Enjay]

Modern japanese game development at its fynist.

 

[fart town usa]

I thought FFVII Remake was incredible. I still need to finish it, but the stuff I played was absolutely stunning to me.

 

[Nezzeroth]

After how trash FFXV turned out to be, FFVIIR greatly exceeded my expectations, it had been decades since I enjoyed a Square Enix game so much (literally).

The Last Guardian was okay, but by far the worst game from Team ICO.

Don't care about Shenmue.

 

[The Fartist]

Having just finished The Last Guardian today (not kidding) with my 6 year old daughter, it's one of my favorite games of all time. It's a masterpiece.

 

[GametimeUK]

I played The Last Guardian recently on PS5. At 60FPS I was able to finally enjoy the game. The Last Guardian hit me with such a massive emotional response that I haven't felt from any source of media for around 7 years. I was still feeling the effects days later, I can't believe how captivated and invested I was. It just goes to show that sometimes less is more and I don't need a load of bullshit constantly fed to me. Drop me in the world and let me experience my story and build my relationship.

I have yet to play FF7 Remake, but I'm sure I'll like it. I'm waiting for a 60fps patch or PC release. Ideally I would have preferred a remake of the full story with an artstyle more faithful to the original with gameplay to boot. I'm a bit sour on it, but I'll judge the game by its own merits so I won't hold my preference against the game. I wanted Resi 2 remake to be fixed cameras and tank controls, but Resi2 is one of my best games this gen.

Shenmue I couldn't give a shit about as I never played the other games.

The Last Guardian delivered for me for sure, but I'd say from a general consensus point of view the response to these games didn't live up to the hype of the announcements (not like they ever could it's almost unfair to expect them to). Unfortunately not only did they not meet unrealistic expectations, I'd say they were quite a bit off the mark also.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Never cared for Last Guardian or the FF7 Remake. Like, an actual FF7 updated for modern times would be great. But a series split into god knows how many editions with preorder and candy DLC and bonuses and shit... hell maybe it’s more updated for modern times than I give it credit for

Shenmue 1 and 2 I owned and played. Shenmue 3 was a hard pass from day one.

 

[Zekra Dezivad]

I still have a boner for the entire Wall Market part in Midgar, so the "dream" was totally worth for me.

 

[MrFunSocks]

"Please report me for trolling PlayStation threads".

Seriously, how does this guy not have this tag yet? Every. Single. Time. He never fails to show up to bash PlayStation.

As for the actual thread, Final Fantasy VII exceeded my expectations. I love that game, even if its really a sequel, not a Remake, despite its name.

The Last Guardian was really good, but controlled like ass. I get that wasn't the main focus of the experience, but the controls needed cleaning up.

Shenmue never had me interested. It looks B-tier from the start. I don't intend on ever playing it.

2 of the 3 games are Multiplatform lol. I didn’t even mention PlayStation. That little outburst of yours shows the true fanboy here, with you leaping to the defence of any perceived attack on your manufacturer of choice. Grow up.

Guess that applies to the mod that just gave me the tag too. Seeing attacks on their company of choice that don’t exist. Great work SonyGAF.

Peace out to the good non warriors on the site, I’m done with this constant immature fanboy wars by team blue. Not going to bother anymore.