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I finally beat Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Arsic

Member
I have tried to complete this game 3 times now. On release on my ps4 pro , later on ps5 (save didn’t carry over via the psn cloud), and again on PC.

I had to come back to this game on my PC run about 4 separate times. Each time I would do a handful of chapters before feeling burned out and miserable playing it.

My opinion on it I don’t think is different from many others on why this is such a big time flawed experience and one of the biggest tests of sunken time cost for me. When I made it to chapter 14 I was ready to just watch YT videos for cut scenes because I figured there’s no way the last bits of this game could possibly be worth the effort.

The major issues have to do with padding, filler, and awful pacing. Every time you think you are about to reach a goal the game shits the bed and throws you down a hole, blocks a path, forces you to trekking the dullest environments. Midgar is a slum ass city but the original FF7 made it always feel like you’re going to distinct areas instead of everything looking like a metallic tunnel or sewer non stop.

The game is always forcing you to not be able to run, slowly done “activate” switch scenes, and shimmy sideways through crap. Fortunately some of these are skippable.

I read that the game takes 35 hours to beat and to not skip side quests . FUCK that. I gave up on these miserable excuses for a side quest after beating shiva and fat Choco in VR. Those were fun boss fights , but Cloud killing rats, finding kittens, and every other trash thing they had lined up was not worth anyone’s time. The rewards aren’t either because this game is NOT hard.

The game excels in visuals, voice acting , music, and a fantastic pay out in chapter 18. It was also nice to see Square using CG movie scenes that weren’t very far off from the actual in game .

The combat is a toss up. It’s good during boss fights and completely dull on regular enemies. Flying enemies are a chore, and so are shield guys . The game also struggles to have enough unique enemies in the 28 hours I spent with it.

The early chapters feel good, the middle ones are absolute diarrhea, and about 20% of 16 is good. 17&18 are what your pay out is for sticking with this game, but even 17 shits the bed in Hojos lab .

I want to score it a 4/10, but those good bits are so good that it does make it an 8/10.

A friend of mine is hoping the sequel is open world and I 100% have 0 chance to play if it does to that route . The game is genuinely at its best when it’s just combat, cut scene, combat, cut scene, boss, cut scene. The train graveyard kind of stuff makes me want to punch a hole through my head to stop the misery.

What’s everyone else’s take away on this one ? What are you hoping for in the sequel ? Depending on reviews, impressions, and overall direction I may just go with watching cut scenes/non voice over play through online to avoid being burned for about 20 hours to get a solid 8.

In the end I don’t think I would’ve had less of an experience just watching this online.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Really I’ve played through it. 5 times split across ps4 , ps5, and pc. Lol
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
giphy.gif


FF7 (and it's remake) is the best game ever made.
 
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Mozzarella

Member
I enjoyed my time with it, sadly its unfinished (as expected) and it has been like what? 3 years approx and they have yet to release part 2, having a wide gap like that is not a good thing.
Also a thing that bothered me is that because they split the original game they had to pad out the remake with meaningless and bad side content that could have been a lot better instead.

The game looks great, sounds even greater, plays well and overall is good but it has some really annoying shortcomings and its not as good as the original.
 

Fredrik

Member
I'm playing it right now. As a game, it has absolutely nothing to do with the original. But I like it as a fancy looking cheesy action game. Chapter 6 rn after 5 hours.
I like it for the cutscenes, visuals, nostalgia from the music and certain scenarios.
But as a game I don’t like it at all, hate the new combat.
 
its ok.

The boring level design and questing kills it. Also didn’t like a lot of the added storylines at all.

The game is at its best when its just sticking to the script of the original. Its why I'm way more hype for FFXVI, just thought the remake dropped the ball on recapturing the magic.

Although I'm glad Nomura isn’t working on Rebirth.
 
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Klosshufvud

Member
It's absolutely terrible. Hell I don't mind the pseudo-sequel shit they're doing. But to have the game end when the OG FF7's intro segment ends? Fuck that. They've already blown their load by over-exposing Sephiroth like mad. I'm already tired of seeing his ass drop in and out and we're not even when he enters the story in the OG story.

The level design is terrible and it was extremely cynical of SE to sell this for $60, brand it as FF7 Remake and omit the Part 1 text. This isn't a full game. It's a 5 hour game that was absurdly stretched to 30 hours by extreme amount of filler and copypaste design. I honestly would've enjoyed this game if it was just 5-7 hours. As of now, it's a game that tries to waste as much of your life as possible to justify its $60 price tag and misleading title. What's worse is that all the OC characters and stories are terrible and highlight just how much the dev team has regressed since OG release.



Two hour long shitting on this game and I agree with every part of it.
 
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kunonabi

Member
Couldnt stand it. I just hated the linear map design and the awful combat. Wasn't a fan of the redesigns or the new story elements either. I always wanted a FFVII remake since the original was very flawed but certainly fixable, but this actually ended up worse which was the last thing I would have expected.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Sounds like you had your mind made up already, though, OP. If you don't like something, don't force yourself through it like three times. Shit, no fucking wonder you think the middle is a slog, you did the downtime portion of the game 66.6666666% more than you were supposed to.

Also, saying the combat is a "toss up," in the same statement that you say "shielded guys are a pain," proves that you don't really understand basic elements of the Battle system. I tire of reading hot takes (on anything) with an entire soliloquy from the Professor, when you don't even NEED to be good at the Battle system until Hard Mode. Which I'm guessing you haven't dove into.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Well done man. I need to get back to it.

I never played the original, but I really liked the remake. I'm only up to the house boss so don't think im far in.

I should have just carried on in hindsight cos now I have to pick up the controls again and summons, eek.
 

Markio128

Member
At the end of the day, it’s one of the best action JRPG’s I’ve played in the last 5 years. I thought it was at its best in the tactical mode though. The only bits that outstayed their welcome, for me, were the town missions (a bit pointless really) and a puzzle area. I thought the visuals and music were top-notch, combat was always fun and bombastic and I can’t wait for the next game.
 

Topher

Gold Member
The game didn't click with me for some reason, but I'm going to try again at some point.
 
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Gamerguy84

Member
The original FF7 is my favorite game in history of gaming. The remake isn't, at least so far. I'll try the next and see what's up.

The only thing the remake does better is Tifa.
 

Madflavor

Member
Some random thoughts I'll put out:

  • The combat system is the best combat FF has had since probably FFX. You're crazy if you think otherwise.
  • The Remake characters are superior to their OG counterparts. They're better written and have even more chemistry with each other. Barrett is a far more interesting character in Remake, and that absolutely nailed the balance between Cloud being a badass and an awkward dork.
  • The soundtrack was an absolute banger.
  • Sephiroth is only overexposed if you don't fully understand what's going on with the story. Given what's going on, his place in the Remake's story makes perfect sense and there's nothing wrong with it.
  • The added depth to the Avalanche characters was a welcome addition.
  • Level design wasn't great I'll give you that. Linearity is a dumbfuck argument since old school FF games were always linear, the Open World just gave you the illusion that it wasn't.
  • The ending was bold and sets up a far more interesting premise than a 1:1 Remake where you know everything that's going to happen. These devs were not going to spend a decade of their professional career telling the same story all over again.
 

ssringo

Member
I beat it once and the nostalgia glasses only helped for a little while. Quite frankly if I wasn't doing the covid work from home thing at the time and had extra free time I'd probably never have finished it. Tried going back with the PC release and nope. I'll read about what happens in future releases.
 

Arsic

Member
Couldn't stomach the sidequests? lolol
Someone never played the original.

This game was made for megafans imo. People who loved the original and just want more. Amazing game for those of us. And Tifa fans ;)

I have played through the original FF7 several times over the years lol.

Keep in mind side quests in the original are spread out and have a rewarding feeling to find . Like finding the fight with emerald weapon, or getting all the best items to pimp out Cloud to win over Tifa and Aerith to go to the Don.

Finding kittens ain’t it chief.
 

Arsic

Member
Well done man. I need to get back to it.

I never played the original, but I really liked the remake. I'm only up to the house boss so don't think im far in.

I should have just carried on in hindsight cos now I have to pick up the controls again and summons, eek.

The good news is the controls for the game are literally plastered in the upper left of the screen when you fight lol. It’s very easy to get back into.
 

Klosshufvud

Member
Some random thoughts I'll put out:

  • The combat system is the best combat FF has had since probably FFX. You're crazy if you think otherwise.
  • The Remake characters are superior to their OG counterparts. They're better written and have even more chemistry with each other. Barrett is a far more interesting character in Remake, and that absolutely nailed the balance between Cloud being a badass and an awkward dork.
  • The soundtrack was an absolute banger.
  • Sephiroth is only overexposed if you don't fully understand what's going on with the story. Given what's going on, his place in the Remake's story makes perfect sense and there's nothing wrong with it.
  • The added depth to the Avalanche characters was a welcome addition.
  • Level design wasn't great I'll give you that. Linearity is a dumbfuck argument since old school FF games were always linear, the Open World just gave you the illusion that it wasn't.
  • The ending was bold and sets up a far more interesting premise than a 1:1 Remake where you know everything that's going to happen. These devs were not going to spend a decade of their professional career telling the same story all over again.
Not gonna debate you on opinions but soundtrack is actually one part I don't understand. I feel like something very touching and beautiful got lost as Uematsu's original pieces went orchestra. Just compare Aerith' theme. The original has a much stronger sense of melody. The build-up and climax are more defined. There is more clarity due to the limited instruments/audio range. On a technical level, the newer music is of course better but IMO as emotional pieces that go hand in hand with the game, the original tracks are superior. Something precious was lost as Uematsu transitioned into orchestra-type music. When I'm listening to these tracks, I prefer to listen to the OG renditions over the "Distant Dreams" recordings.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ask me about my terrible takes on Star Trek characters
The padding was the worst. It really does feel like they took a 4 hour sequence and dragged it out to 50 hours. The only new story stuff that was good was the chapter where cloud hangs out with avalanche.

They took sequences that were perfect fine at being 5-10 minutes long and turned them into 10 hour sections. The worst was the second reactor run. They took one dungeon and turned it into I believe 3 whole chapters.

It sure is pretty tho. Mixed feelings on the soundtrack. It's kind of all over the place stylistically
 
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SlimeGooGoo

Party Gooper
Not gonna debate you on opinions but soundtrack is actually one part I don't understand. I feel like something very touching and beautiful got lost as Uematsu's original pieces went orchestra. Just compare Aerith' theme. The original has a much stronger sense of melody. The build-up and climax are more defined. There is more clarity due to the limited instruments/audio range. On a technical level, the newer music is of course better but IMO as emotional pieces that go hand in hand with the game, the original tracks are superior. Something precious was lost as Uematsu transitioned into orchestra-type music. When I'm listening to these tracks, I prefer to listen to the OG renditions over the "Distant Dreams" recordings.
Another relevant video

 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
I tried 3 times, each time I gave up around the part where Aerith joins.

At first I’m almost euphoric like “holy FUCK this is like a dream come true, seeing the world of FF VII fully realized in this level of detail.”

But man, the writing is just so braindead stupid. Characters yap on and on taking in circles. There’s nonstop anime grunting and sighing. Villains are cartoonish evil caricatures that belong in a children’s cartoon.

And all the filler and side quests just sapped my will to continue. First thing you do when you arrive in the slums is go door-to-door changing water filters. Then you need to “build up your reputation as a mercenary” by killing monsters in some abandoned scrapyard, then kill some monsters in the abandoned warehouse, then help some girl find her missing cats…

Story-wise I was hoping they’d expand on the original and change some things up, but everywhere they changed it was for the worse. Sephiroth showing up so early just ruins his coolness and mystery-factor. Those “ghosts of fate” things just seem like some retarded Tetsuya Nomura excess. Everything about Roche was cringe and stupid. They added some part about Jesse’s bomb not being the true reason the reactor exploded and killed so many people… I guess just so you don’t have to suffer any moral ambiguity or use your brain at all.

Really awful. The only silver lining is at least FF VII Remake + Kingdom Hearts are keeping Tetsuya Nomura occupied so he can’t crap on anything else
 

Arsic

Member
Sounds like you had your mind made up already, though, OP. If you don't like something, don't force yourself through it like three times. Shit, no fucking wonder you think the middle is a slog, you did the downtime portion of the game 66.6666666% more than you were supposed to.

Also, saying the combat is a "toss up," in the same statement that you say "shielded guys are a pain," proves that you don't really understand basic elements of the Battle system. I tire of reading hot takes (on anything) with an entire soliloquy from the Professor, when you don't even NEED to be good at the Battle system until Hard Mode. Which I'm guessing you haven't dove into.

Shield guys are a pain. Even when I’m behind them.

I absolutely got the combat. Start with one character , build up bar , use assesses if it’s new enemies to know how to stagger them, proceed to switch between characters to get bars filled up unload, switch , block, dodge, etc.

The combat is at its best in boss fights . It’s completely forgettable on jobber enemies.

And no I don’t have any plans to touch this game ever again. If it had hard mode available from the start , and it somehow makes the combat better, I would’ve done it from the jump. That’s not how it is though .
 

Arsic

Member
I tried 3 times, each time I gave up around the part where Aerith joins.

At first I’m almost euphoric like “holy FUCK this is like a dream come true, seeing the world of FF VII fully realized in this level of detail.”

But man, the writing is just so braindead stupid. Characters yap on and on taking in circles. There’s nonstop anime grunting and sighing. Villains are cartoonish evil caricatures that belong in a children’s cartoon.

And all the filler and side quests just sapped my will to continue. First thing you do when you arrive in the slums is go door-to-door changing water filters. Then you need to “build up your reputation as a mercenary” by killing monsters in some abandoned scrapyard, then kill some monsters in the abandoned warehouse, then help some girl find her missing cats…

Story-wise I was hoping they’d expand on the original and change some things up, but everywhere they changed it was for the worse. Sephiroth showing up so early just ruins his coolness and mystery-factor. Those “ghosts of fate” things just seem like some retarded Tetsuya Nomura excess. Everything about Roche was cringe and stupid. They added some part about Jesse’s bomb not being the true reason the reactor exploded and killed so many people… I guess just so you don’t have to suffer any moral ambiguity or use your brain at all.

Really awful. The only silver lining is at least FF VII Remake + Kingdom Hearts are keeping Tetsuya Nomura occupied so he can’t crap on anything else

I just read in here he isn’t on FF7 remake part 2 so there may be hope the sequel improves in more than just belts and zippers.

What sucks for me is the next big game in my back log I want to tackle is KH3. I got to Repunsels world before I dropped it . Gonna be another exercise in patience since it seems Nomura is a hack.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I personally loved it, so much so I played multiple times. To me the combat really shines on hard and I’m happy with reimagining of these characters, I especially like Aerith. I think Aerith in remake is my favourite even more than the original game.
 

AntiCap

Member
Some random thoughts I'll put out:

  • The combat system is the best combat FF has had since probably FFX. You're crazy if you think otherwise.
  • The Remake characters are superior to their OG counterparts. They're better written and have even more chemistry with each other. Barrett is a far more interesting character in Remake, and that absolutely nailed the balance between Cloud being a badass and an awkward dork.
  • The soundtrack was an absolute banger.
  • Sephiroth is only overexposed if you don't fully understand what's going on with the story. Given what's going on, his place in the Remake's story makes perfect sense and there's nothing wrong with it.
  • The added depth to the Avalanche characters was a welcome addition.
  • Level design wasn't great I'll give you that. Linearity is a dumbfuck argument since old school FF games were always linear, the Open World just gave you the illusion that it wasn't.
  • The ending was bold and sets up a far more interesting premise than a 1:1 Remake where you know everything that's going to happen. These devs were not going to spend a decade of their professional career telling the same story all over again.
The combat system really is fantastic, and I was firmly in the camp of thinking they should have stuck with turn-based systems.

Regarding the ending, I think they should have done away with all the 'fighting destiny' and 'choosing your own path' stuff, and they should have just taken it in whatever direction they wanted. I don't need to have their alterations justified to me in-game. Thematically and functionally, the Whispers and the Jenova zombies were too similar (both being mute agents of some unknown force with an unknown purpose), and honestly the Whispers just seemed unoriginal and uninteresting.

Regarding Sephiroth, I think it was a mistake to have the party fight a physical avatar of him as the main boss and beat him. Even though we know it's not really him, there's something about the victory felt in that moment, and seeing him bloodied and defeated that I feel undermines the dread that Sephiroth is meant to instill as a looming threat. I thought it was a strange move coming from Square considering they know well how to handle recurring bosses. They should have looked at how Beatrix in FFIX annihilates the party after you beat her. You win the battle mechanically, but the whole thing communicates that she's not to be fucked with.
 

Fbh

Member
I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected but it's definitely flawed:

+ IMO the combat was great, some of the best in the franchise. It finally solved one of my main issues with action JRPG's in that despite being action based I still felt like I was playing as the entire party as opposed to a single character
+ On a similar note the boss battles were awesome too, nice balance between being fun to play and looking amazing
+ Audiovisual presentation is solid, the music was fantastic and the graphics are mostly nice though a bit uneven at times (like some Ps3 era NPC's)
+ I liked SOME of the extended story, particularly getting to know the other member of Avalanche a bit better
+ They kept the silly stuff which I didn't think they'd do

- There's a lot of bad padding. Splitting this up into parts and extending the opening into a full game was always questionable, but I think they could have done so much more to extend this part. We could have seen and explored more of Midgar, we could have gotten some solid sidequests and side narratives. Instead we got stretched out linear dungeons and 2004 MMO style sidequests.
- The level design is straight out of some PSP game. Not only is it very linear but it's made up of a bunch of very small interconnected areas, except you get a forced walking or "squeezing" sequence instead of a loading screen as you would on PSP. Not only that but it's very "gamey" too, like "yeah let's get to this random circular arena typle location that's in town for some reason.
- While I liked some of the extended story bits, I thought most of the NEW stuff was very bland, it all goes full Nomura cringe. Specially the whole ending
 

Klosshufvud

Member
Another relevant video


I think this dude is trying really hard to correlate taste with political alignment. It's not working. Of course there is music that is uplifting today. Of course "leftists" also consider their preferred music is beautiful. He could've made some good points on how limitations coupled with creative freedom can create some truly inspiring content but instead derails into over-analytical false ramblings. Uematsu's music is born of limitation. Not only was his music limited but the games themselves had to rely massively on music to convey story. The more elaborate games got, the less emphasis there was on music being a strong driving factor. Instead it's used in a complimentary fashion.
 

AntiCap

Member
- The level design is straight out of some PSP game. Not only is it very linear but it's made up of a bunch of very small interconnected areas, except you get a forced walking or "squeezing" sequence instead of a loading screen as you would on PSP. Not only that but it's very "gamey" too, like "yeah let's get to this random circular arena typle location that's in town for some reason.
I didn't think the level design was great but my gauge for bad level design has probably been broken ever since I completed Final Fantasy XIII. :(
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Shield guys are a pain. Even when I’m behind them.

I absolutely got the combat. Start with one character , build up bar , use assesses if it’s new enemies to know how to stagger them, proceed to switch between characters to get bars filled up unload, switch , block, dodge, etc.

The combat is at its best in boss fights . It’s completely forgettable on jobber enemies.

And no I don’t have any plans to touch this game ever again. If it had hard mode available from the start , and it somehow makes the combat better, I would’ve done it from the jump. That’s not how it is though .

Here's a game changer for you: Punisher Mode + Guard.


There you go. No More pain.
 
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