Final Fantasy VII Remake - OFFICIALLY RELEASED!! (No Spoilers)

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Shareefruck

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Great stuff. The soundtrack is the only thing about the remake that I have zero reservations about and think is going to be excellent/an improvement for sure. The only one I'm not a huge fan of is what they've done with the Turks theme-- really missing that sense of cool.

If they end the game on the main theme, I might end up won over by the game through that moment alone (first time you hear it is the world map, right? That's a pretty strong sign that it might actually be used that way, since it shouldn't even be in the game otherwise).

It's such a thematically and sonically fitting contrast to the dreariness of everything going on in Midgar/by Shinra (while even having hints of upcoming mystery/uncertainty). If they really lean into it and leave you on that note as a beautiful lanscape/world map cinematic opens up (followed by credits), that moment could feel more profound than it did in the original.


This is great but...

This can't be it. There are so many songs missing. Namely, my favorite track from FF7. Also, where is Wall Market Theme?

If you look at the video description, it looks like it's just cobbled together from whatever's been released so far, not anything definitive by any means.
 
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Gardner McKay

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Great stuff. The soundtrack is the only thing about the remake that I have zero reservations about and think is going to be excellent/an improvement for sure. The only one I'm not a huge fan of is what they've done with the Turks theme-- really missing that sense of cool.

If they end the game on the main theme, I might end up won over by the game through that moment alone (first time you hear it is the world map, right? That's a pretty strong sign that it might actually be used that way, since it shouldn't even be in the game otherwise).

It's such a thematically and sonically fitting contrast to the dreariness of everything going on in Midgar/by Shinra (while even having hints of upcoming mystery/uncertainty). If they really lean into it and leave you on that note as a beautiful lanscape/world map cinematic opens up (followed by credits), that moment could feel more profound than it did in the original.


If you look at the video description, it looks like it's just cobbled together from whatever's been released so far, not anything definitive by any means.


I actually didn't. Thanks for pointing that out because while I am generally alright with SE taking some liberties on this remake, the one thing that I feel should remain 100% untouched is the music. I don't want to hear some other track while I am traversing the streets of Wall Market. I want to hear that upbeat, scuzzy Wall Market song.

Ending the game on the main theme I would have no issues with. I actually agree with you that it is so perfectly fitting for that moment.
 
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Rodgerwilco

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Listening to the music and replaying the original is really hyping me up. I'm trying to temper my expectations, but it's getting difficult with everything that's getting released looking so damn good!


I spent the better part of yesterday in the swamp area of the northern crater mastering a ton of materia. I've almost got 3 mastered copies of every materia so far. It's a bit overkill, but... eh lol.
 
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The Crypto Guy

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This is great but...

This can't be it. There are so many songs missing. Namely, my favorite track from FF7. Also, where is Wall Market Theme?


Ya not sure if that's the final, but don't forget i'm sure some of the missing songs will show up in the 2nd and 3rd games.
 

Gardner McKay

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Ya not sure if that's the final, but don't forget i'm sure some of the missing songs will show up in the 2nd and 3rd games.

Which is absolutely fine, as long as the songs that show up in the 2nd game are songs that you aren't supposed to hear until the 2nd game. But if I get to Wall Market and some other bullshit is playing, I'll be a little frustrated because to me, that would be a bigger screw up anything else.
 

Shareefruck

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Which is absolutely fine, as long as the songs that show up in the 2nd game are songs that you aren't supposed to hear until the 2nd game. But if I get to Wall Market and some other bull**** is playing, I'll be a little frustrated because to me, that would be a bigger screw up anything else.
On the other hand, I don't think we should be too unflinchingly purist about things having to be used in the exact same way that they were in the original-- It's not necessarily a screw up to re-purpose existing things to different effects (definitely a risk though). It just depends on whether or not the outcome works better or worse.

For example, they modified the opening theme to have a hint of One Winged Angel in there (something that isn't supposed to appear until the end of the game), and while that sounds colossally stupid in theory, I think it works pretty well in practice.
 
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Gardner McKay

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On the other hand, I don't think we should be too unflinchingly purist about things having to be used in the exact same way that they were in the original-- It's not necessarily a screw up to re-purpose existing things to different effects (definitely a risk though). It just depends on whether or not the outcome works better or worse.

For example, they modified the opening theme to have a hint of One Winged Angel in there (something that isn't supposed to appear until the end of the game), and while that sounds colossally stupid in theory, I think it works pretty well in practice.

I agree with you in principle Sharee but, I believe each of us have varying degrees of what FF7 purity we are willing to accept. I do agree that the hint of One Winged Angel works extremely well in the opening theme, some didn't.

And to be candid as hell, I don't think it is too much to ask that a song that is literally named Wall Market Theme, be front and center when you are in the Wall Market. :laugh: You know what I mean?
 

RandV

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While videogame interest dramatically increased, interest in Square and Final Fantasy games generally stagnated (they went from obvious hot **** borderline inescapable monopoly of the genre to just another company in that time)-- the two things more or less counter each other, in my mind. I really don't think it plays that much of a factor when accounting for IX underperforming, especially considering how much it did compared to everything along that timeline, not just the newest games.

Whether we want to call it weeb sensibilities or not, I definitely think the fact that some of the games are designed to be packed with conventionally attractive, easily-marketable idol-esque characters and some of the games aren't/don't played the biggest factor in their marketability (given that production values relative to their time and brand recognition was high across the board, anyways)-- games that have a distinct and eccentric style/character to the way they look tend to become very niche and limited (many of the primary characters that would be heavily relied upon in marketing campaigns, such as Zidane and Steiner look unsettling and like borderline ugly people to most), whereas games where everyone looks like a supermodel are potentially highly marketable to the masses, even when they're not very good (I mean, XV leaned HEAVILY on that and everyone makes fun of it for that reason). I don't expect a guy like Matsuno's work to ever become all that commercially huge, for that reason, whereas a guy like Nomura always exploits that aspect and is rewarded for it.

It's not like the sales figures of the franchise go up and up as videogames became more popular or something. IX dramatically underperformed compared to VIII just like XII underperformed compared to XIII or XV. I mean, look at the character designs in VIII, X, XIII, and XV compared to IX and XII. There's a very clear trend there in terms of broadness of appeal.

Hell, while obviously there were a ton of reasons for FFVII becoming a cultural phenomenon, I doubt that it could have been to nearly the same degree if Amano (even though he's waaayy more talented, artistic, and brilliant) remained the lead character designer for all the promotional material rather than Nomura and his Anime pretty-boy designs.

I really think things are being overthought here. This is the end of the 90's, I don't think "weeb sensibilities" were much of a thing at the time. I would assume that the poor sales numbers on IX were simply a normal downward trajectory. VII created a ton of hype and introduced a lot of new people into the JRPG genre making it a mainstay on the PS1, where as the two prior generations half the games never even saw a translation. So everyone was hyped for VIII to come out which gave it good sales but when people actually started playing it was just a massive disappointment for most. So IX comes out and you have a double whammy of people spurned from the disappointment of VIII and probably a good amount of PS1-era JRPG fatigue, so even if everyone agreed it was good you weren't going to capture the same level of success with the broader market.

Personally I always feel a little weird talking about VII-IX, because despite being a life long JRPG fan from the original Dragon Warrior/Phantasy Star to today those three just weren't that big a deal for me with all the other options available. For me peak FF was on the SNES and the PS2, the latter because that's where the actual anime/weebism (which I can only handle in modest amounts) really started to take over the genre so X and XII had more of a unique high quality feel to them for me.
 

Shareefruck

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I really think things are being overthought here. This is the end of the 90's, I don't think "weeb sensibilities" were much of a thing at the time. I would assume that the poor sales numbers on IX were simply a normal downward trajectory. VII created a ton of hype and introduced a lot of new people into the JRPG genre making it a mainstay on the PS1, where as the two prior generations half the games never even saw a translation. So everyone was hyped for VIII to come out which gave it good sales but when people actually started playing it was just a massive disappointment for most. So IX comes out and you have a double whammy of people spurned from the disappointment of VIII and probably a good amount of PS1-era JRPG fatigue, so even if everyone agreed it was good you weren't going to capture the same level of success with the broader market.

Personally I always feel a little weird talking about VII-IX, because despite being a life long JRPG fan from the original Dragon Warrior/Phantasy Star to today those three just weren't that big a deal for me with all the other options available. For me peak FF was on the SNES and the PS2, the latter because that's where the actual anime/weebism (which I can only handle in modest amounts) really started to take over the genre so X and XII had more of a unique high quality feel to them for me.
I feel like the weeby fan service-y side of Final Fantasy began as early as the whole Cloud/Aeris/Tifa love triangle shipping thing (+ the look of Sephiroth), and was only leaned on more heavily with the Squall/Rinoa thing (even though the game did a really poor job of telling a love story). Even though it may not have been labeled as a "weeb" thing yet, it more or less amounts to the same sensibilities-- you often find yourself interacting with annoying fans who were attached to the franchise in that obnoxious fan-girl/fan-boy kind of way (even with the VII remake now, you see plenty of that kind of coverage on Youtube). I disagree that FFIX's poor sales were just an unfortunate matter of circumstance. I suspect that if you took those niche aesthetic choices and placed them advantageously in 1998 fresh off the momentum of FFVII, it still probably wouldn't have gained that much traction and instead would have alienated a lot of fans, despite critical acclaim and hitting the highest quality standards of the time. I just don't think it has that kind of broad commercial appeal and marketability, outside of maybe the look of Vivi having mass cuteness appeal in general.

I'm surprised you guys don't think it's a factor. I feel that it's a pretty inescapable and regrettable aspect of the fandom, not unlike something resembling obnoxious K-pop idol fandom.
 
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FFX was released about 13 months after 9 in NA. We(deservedly)laugh about the voice acting in X nowadays, but that game was pretty mind blowing to me when it came out. That probably plays into 9 getting downplayed a bit.

I've never actually played 9, but I've been meaning to for awhile. Especially since it is on the PSN store now.

If you liked the older FF games you'll probably like IX. IX is the last FF game that I enjoyed.
 

Rodgerwilco

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Correct me if I am wrong, but there is little to do in IX outside of the main story? The card game was terrible IIRC. No battle arena or anything?
I only played 9 slightly, but I recall being bored by the side-games/quests. There's nothing in 9 that rivaled Triple Triad, Blitzball, the Golden Saucer, or Chocobo Breeding to my recollection.
 

Emperoreddy

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The side quest menu is a little worrying about how they might plan to pad the game out with MMO style grind quests. Got 15 vibes.

if they are easily skippable and the main story is still meaty that’s ok, but if that is a big chunk of the new content that isn’t good

Pre-order summons are whatever. They weren’t in the original game so it’s not a big deal, and Carbuncle is so ugly it’s an easy skip to not pay extra or pre-order.
 

Shareefruck

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Yeah, Carbuncle is ugly as hell, and I'm very meh on the side-quests. Hard to imagine they won't just be pointless fetch quests with paper thin stories (I HATE this about modern games). Also, Chadley?

This was probably the least promising batch of material released for the game so far.

FYI, if anyone's curious what Carbuncle looked like in the other games, do yourself a favor and DO NOT just search "carbuncle" on Google image search :laugh:.
 

The Crypto Guy

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Yeah, Carbuncle is ugly as hell, and I'm very meh on the side-quests. Hard to imagine they won't just be pointless fetch quests with paper thin stories (I HATE this about modern games). Also, Chadley?

This was probably the least promising batch of material released for the game so far.

FYI, if anyone's curious what Carbuncle looked like in the other games, do yourself a favor and DO NOT just search "carbuncle" on Google image search :laugh:.
Not sure how that wasn't promising at all. Looks great.
 

Shareefruck

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Not sure how that wasn't promising at all. Looks great.
I didn't say it wasn't promising at all, I said that I thought it was the least promising of the reveals so far.

I think the battle mechanics and environments looked very good, but the primary new thing that was showcased (pre-order summons and sidequests) were more questionable than promising to me. Each of the other batches shown so far always had at least one really stand-out thing about them that really piqued my interest whereas this one kind of didn't.
 
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Shareefruck

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Whoa, what the.... they're tacking that on as an extra scene in the opening with a full One Winged Angel segment? That's.... going to take some getting used to.

Edit: Is most of that first part meant to be the upper plate? Maybe that's why it looks so foreign and bright.
 
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kingsholygrail

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Whoa, what the.... they're tacking that on as an extra scene in the opening with a full One Winged Angel segment? That's.... going to take some getting used to.

Edit: Is most of that first part meant to be the upper plate? Maybe that's why it looks so foreign and bright.
Yeah, I'm thinking they really want to open up the upper plate to exploration. Crisis Core gave us the first real expansion of what upper plate life was like. I'm looking forward to seeing a full city. Did you see those little mansions on those platforms around the central portion? Haha I loved it.
 
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Shareefruck

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Yeah, I'm thinking they really want to open up the upper plate to exploration. Crisis Core gave us the first real expansion of what upper plate life was like. I'm looking forward to seeing a full city. Did you see those little mansions on those platforms around the central portion? Haha I loved it.
I'm a little confused about how they could integrate it into actual gameplay though. There's no story reason for them to ever go up on the upper plate unless they create a new one, and it probably shouldn't even be trivial for someone from the slums to be able to get up there, should it? Is it going to be a sidequests only area, are they going to shoehorn something into the main plot, or is it just going to be something that they show you but that you can't explore?

Everything they've shown so far other than this has been underneath it, right?

Seeing it actually makes Aerith's house make a bit more sense than what it felt like in the game.
 
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