I finished it a few hours ago and wanted to talk about it with others who have finished it. I know this is a heavy PC place so I fully expect the real discussion to be in a year or so but at least I'll have my thoughts down while it's fresh in my head. The original game is one of my all time favorites and was very important in shaping my gaming tastes for the next 10 years, though it was not my first RPG at the time like it was with many others. I did my best to avoid discussion on the game which was hard to do since it released 10 days early to many people around the world and I tried my best to approach this with an open mind which I feel like I did. I accepted that it was not going to be a 1:1 remake when the first trailer showing those dementor ripoffs appeared.
Taking the whole package into consideration I came away pretty impressed though there are obvious flaws in it, namely from making this episodic I believe and I'll talk about this more below. Like most others I have pretty low expectations for modern day SE and yet I feel like they pleasantly surprised me in areas I would have never expected them to. Let's start with the positives:
+ Characterization. This is one of the areas SE really surprised me. They took an established cast and fleshed them out a bit more and it turned out well and made me like them even more. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie getting a much larger role ended up being a positive (mostly...I can't stand Wedge still but I guess that's in character as I hated the original too) and you learn their motivations for being eco terrorists which go beyond just saving the planet. Barret gets a little more range to his character (and the help of a good translation for once lol) and they even made a child (Marlene) that I don't hate, which is really rare in any media. The characters have little quips at you and each other that are often charming and even NPCs have plenty to say as you walk by them, adding a bit extra to the world that I may expect from most western games nowadays but not jrpgs and certainly not from SE.
+ Voice acting. Another surprising area. SE and I'd argue Japan in general really struggle with great English VA but I think almost the entire cast did a fantastic job. When I think of the main cast and I close my eyes and listen to the voices I can attach them to the right character without fail as they fit so naturally with the character's personality. Cloud is a bit monotone and moody but...that's how he is. Barrett is bombastic and charismatic yet also delivers in more quiet moments namely when you see his concern as a father when he's near Marlene (shoutout to John Bentley here, he kinda steals the show overall). So great job to all of the actors but also to SE for nailing it with casting and direction for a change.
+ Combat. This definitely takes some getting used to and it's not without its flaws but overall I found it extremely engaging without being too easy. Using materia setups and weapon upgrades to figure out the best combinations was more fun than I expected and controlling Tifa in particular was a blast. It almost felt like a fighting game at times as you chain her attacks with her abilities with fluidity that you're not used to seeing in a RPG. Even Aerith was fun to use (and surprisingly powerful), her dual cast ability really bailed me out a lot. If I had to single out the biggest flaw of the combat though it'd be the lack of animation cancelling. It's very easy to get interrupted and hit as you can't dodge until the attack you're doing is over.
+ Graphics and Performance. I'm tying these two together because I can't believe how damn smooth the game is while it's simultaneously delivering what is honestly the most astonishing effects I've seen in a game at times. Yes the game has a low texture problem during regular moving around but during cutscenes and fights you'd expect things to take a little bit of a dive as these insane particle and spell effects are going off but I didn't notice a single fps drop the whole time. I also really loved how cinematic many of the bosses are as they change phases. Right in the middle of a boss it transitions to what looks like a cutscene so smoothly you don't even notice and then goes right back to combat without missing a beat.
+ Chapter 9. Wall Market for those who don't remember. I dare you to tell me you weren't laughing at Cloud getting roped into dancing.
Now for some bad and more neutral stuff.
- Padding. Some will disagree at what is or isn't padding but to me I felt like the back half of the game really brings down the experience from what was a 10/10 for me through chapters 1-10 to more of a 8/10 from 10-18. This is where they were clearly trying to stretch things to fit enough "game" into a $60 package. The sewer part in chapter 10 was awful as was the train graveyard in 11. I would have merged those two chapters together while condensing both to a more manageable size. Chapter 13 is almost entirely pointless as the only story thing you really learn in the underground lab is that Shinra makes monsters out of people (which you were supposed to learn in Nibelheim), and that tool Wedge surviving. Chapter 14 is just backtracking and more side quests and ANOTHER sewer section. 15 is the climb but stretched out more than it should have been and 17 has that awful and unnecessary dungeon in Hojo's lab. A lot of this should have been cleaned up even if it meant a 30 hour game instead of 40.
- Unnecessary story changes. This isn't where the ending talk comes in, I'll save that for last. I'm talking more about things like Biggs and Wedge surviving the plate collapse and that whole bit with Leslie in the sewer and his story with Corneo. All it served, besides padding the game out, was to reiterate that Corneo is a piece of shit. Yeah...we got that already SE we didn't need another horrible trip in the sewers to learn that. Also fleshing out Avalanche to be some larger resistance group with multiple cells felt unnecessary. And why was president Shinra's death handled in such a drawn out way? Was having another mustache twirling bad guy monologue important before getting stabbed? Why was Roche a thing at all? Not that I wanted more of him as he was awful.
- Textures. Let's get this one out of the way. There's nothing else to really say other than they're bad. Abysmal at times even. Like straight out of PS2 for some inexplicable reason. If it's a bug no one knows because SE has been silent but even the textures that aren't bugged are pretty low compared to most modern games. It wasn't a huge deal for me as I think the game has a lot of detail in general but it's clear something went wrong somewhere when half of a door can be textured and the other half is missing.
+/- The Ending. Alright lets get to the elephant in the room. I didn't really hate or love the ending in theory but it kind of depends how the next game handles things, which feels like a bit of a cop out I know, but it's how I really feel. I actually think the biggest issue with the ending was the episodic nature of this game and they probably felt like they needed some big epic finale to justify a $60 release instead of a more low key ending to Midgar like the original had. While it was a treat to watch these setpieces and cutscenes play out it was no doubt stupid to jump through time and space fighting a giant spirit monster and then having an amazing battle with Sephiroth in what felt like all his glory. One obvious problem this creates is...where the hell do you go from there? How are we supposed to be impressed by the midgar zolom at the start of part 2 when we just saw all of that stuff? How are they going to top that Sephiroth battle in the actual finale?
The actual timeline stuff I think is more open to interpretation right now and admittedly that scares me as a fan. They could choose to ignore some of it and say the stuff where you see Zack (and even Biggs) is just an alternate timeline and not meant to be taken too seriously, but they could also go full Kingdom Hearts and go even dumber starting from that point. They could choose to take the party breaking the chains of fate more literally and use it as an excuse to completely discard the old game's story. Considering I find many of the new story additions throughout the game to be pretty bad (like Roche, Leslie, the underground sector 7 lab) the prospect of a mostly new FF7 storyline terrifies me. This game was at its best when it was at least somewhat following the original's plot, even when it did so in a more roundabout way.
So all in all I really enjoyed my time with the game although the ending, while not too bad by itself, leaves me a bit concerned about the future games. What is everyone else's thoughts on the ending (and whole game really) and hopes for part 2? I'm personally hoping they go the more subdued route at the start, meaning no timeline/KH bullshit and just leaving Midgar to go to Kalm. Basically keep Nomura in check lol.
Taking the whole package into consideration I came away pretty impressed though there are obvious flaws in it, namely from making this episodic I believe and I'll talk about this more below. Like most others I have pretty low expectations for modern day SE and yet I feel like they pleasantly surprised me in areas I would have never expected them to. Let's start with the positives:
+ Characterization. This is one of the areas SE really surprised me. They took an established cast and fleshed them out a bit more and it turned out well and made me like them even more. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie getting a much larger role ended up being a positive (mostly...I can't stand Wedge still but I guess that's in character as I hated the original too) and you learn their motivations for being eco terrorists which go beyond just saving the planet. Barret gets a little more range to his character (and the help of a good translation for once lol) and they even made a child (Marlene) that I don't hate, which is really rare in any media. The characters have little quips at you and each other that are often charming and even NPCs have plenty to say as you walk by them, adding a bit extra to the world that I may expect from most western games nowadays but not jrpgs and certainly not from SE.
+ Voice acting. Another surprising area. SE and I'd argue Japan in general really struggle with great English VA but I think almost the entire cast did a fantastic job. When I think of the main cast and I close my eyes and listen to the voices I can attach them to the right character without fail as they fit so naturally with the character's personality. Cloud is a bit monotone and moody but...that's how he is. Barrett is bombastic and charismatic yet also delivers in more quiet moments namely when you see his concern as a father when he's near Marlene (shoutout to John Bentley here, he kinda steals the show overall). So great job to all of the actors but also to SE for nailing it with casting and direction for a change.
+ Combat. This definitely takes some getting used to and it's not without its flaws but overall I found it extremely engaging without being too easy. Using materia setups and weapon upgrades to figure out the best combinations was more fun than I expected and controlling Tifa in particular was a blast. It almost felt like a fighting game at times as you chain her attacks with her abilities with fluidity that you're not used to seeing in a RPG. Even Aerith was fun to use (and surprisingly powerful), her dual cast ability really bailed me out a lot. If I had to single out the biggest flaw of the combat though it'd be the lack of animation cancelling. It's very easy to get interrupted and hit as you can't dodge until the attack you're doing is over.
+ Graphics and Performance. I'm tying these two together because I can't believe how damn smooth the game is while it's simultaneously delivering what is honestly the most astonishing effects I've seen in a game at times. Yes the game has a low texture problem during regular moving around but during cutscenes and fights you'd expect things to take a little bit of a dive as these insane particle and spell effects are going off but I didn't notice a single fps drop the whole time. I also really loved how cinematic many of the bosses are as they change phases. Right in the middle of a boss it transitions to what looks like a cutscene so smoothly you don't even notice and then goes right back to combat without missing a beat.
+ Chapter 9. Wall Market for those who don't remember. I dare you to tell me you weren't laughing at Cloud getting roped into dancing.
Now for some bad and more neutral stuff.
- Padding. Some will disagree at what is or isn't padding but to me I felt like the back half of the game really brings down the experience from what was a 10/10 for me through chapters 1-10 to more of a 8/10 from 10-18. This is where they were clearly trying to stretch things to fit enough "game" into a $60 package. The sewer part in chapter 10 was awful as was the train graveyard in 11. I would have merged those two chapters together while condensing both to a more manageable size. Chapter 13 is almost entirely pointless as the only story thing you really learn in the underground lab is that Shinra makes monsters out of people (which you were supposed to learn in Nibelheim), and that tool Wedge surviving. Chapter 14 is just backtracking and more side quests and ANOTHER sewer section. 15 is the climb but stretched out more than it should have been and 17 has that awful and unnecessary dungeon in Hojo's lab. A lot of this should have been cleaned up even if it meant a 30 hour game instead of 40.
- Unnecessary story changes. This isn't where the ending talk comes in, I'll save that for last. I'm talking more about things like Biggs and Wedge surviving the plate collapse and that whole bit with Leslie in the sewer and his story with Corneo. All it served, besides padding the game out, was to reiterate that Corneo is a piece of shit. Yeah...we got that already SE we didn't need another horrible trip in the sewers to learn that. Also fleshing out Avalanche to be some larger resistance group with multiple cells felt unnecessary. And why was president Shinra's death handled in such a drawn out way? Was having another mustache twirling bad guy monologue important before getting stabbed? Why was Roche a thing at all? Not that I wanted more of him as he was awful.
- Textures. Let's get this one out of the way. There's nothing else to really say other than they're bad. Abysmal at times even. Like straight out of PS2 for some inexplicable reason. If it's a bug no one knows because SE has been silent but even the textures that aren't bugged are pretty low compared to most modern games. It wasn't a huge deal for me as I think the game has a lot of detail in general but it's clear something went wrong somewhere when half of a door can be textured and the other half is missing.
+/- The Ending. Alright lets get to the elephant in the room. I didn't really hate or love the ending in theory but it kind of depends how the next game handles things, which feels like a bit of a cop out I know, but it's how I really feel. I actually think the biggest issue with the ending was the episodic nature of this game and they probably felt like they needed some big epic finale to justify a $60 release instead of a more low key ending to Midgar like the original had. While it was a treat to watch these setpieces and cutscenes play out it was no doubt stupid to jump through time and space fighting a giant spirit monster and then having an amazing battle with Sephiroth in what felt like all his glory. One obvious problem this creates is...where the hell do you go from there? How are we supposed to be impressed by the midgar zolom at the start of part 2 when we just saw all of that stuff? How are they going to top that Sephiroth battle in the actual finale?
The actual timeline stuff I think is more open to interpretation right now and admittedly that scares me as a fan. They could choose to ignore some of it and say the stuff where you see Zack (and even Biggs) is just an alternate timeline and not meant to be taken too seriously, but they could also go full Kingdom Hearts and go even dumber starting from that point. They could choose to take the party breaking the chains of fate more literally and use it as an excuse to completely discard the old game's story. Considering I find many of the new story additions throughout the game to be pretty bad (like Roche, Leslie, the underground sector 7 lab) the prospect of a mostly new FF7 storyline terrifies me. This game was at its best when it was at least somewhat following the original's plot, even when it did so in a more roundabout way.
So all in all I really enjoyed my time with the game although the ending, while not too bad by itself, leaves me a bit concerned about the future games. What is everyone else's thoughts on the ending (and whole game really) and hopes for part 2? I'm personally hoping they go the more subdued route at the start, meaning no timeline/KH bullshit and just leaving Midgar to go to Kalm. Basically keep Nomura in check lol.
