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

[Metroid]

Never understood why FF9 flew under the radar. It's a great game that gets overshadowed by 7, 8, and 10.

Only thing I can think of is maybe cuz after 7 they went "realistic" then back to the cartoony aspect like 7... If 9 came after 7 as 8, then 8 as 9 it may have been different, who knows

 

[Gardner McKay]

For anyone interested, FF7 1st Class Editions are available again for pre-order. Just got the email notification and snagged one.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

For anyone interested, FF7 1st Class Editions are available again for pre-order. Just got the email notification and snagged one.

I can't justify that price, especially when it's basically $250 more just for a figure.

 

[Gardner McKay]

I can't justify that price, especially when it's basically $250 more just for a figure.

That is fine. I was just letting people know they were available again as they have been out of stock for months.

 

[Shareefruck]

Never understood why FF9 flew under the radar. It's a great game that gets overshadowed by 7, 8, and 10.

It's probably because of the unsettling way that a lot of the faces look (not the models specifically, but the character designs and FMVs as well). Game quality doesn't outweigh the shallow, heart-throb, edge-lord, weeb sensibilities of most of Final Fantasy's target demographic, unfortunately.

It's not a coincidence that XV and XIII made a lot more money, despite being terrible.

Also, IX was at the tail end of the Playstation's lifecycle, right? That's usually a big factor.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

That is fine. I was just letting people know they were available again as they have been out of stock for months.

Oh I know. It's just... god that price.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Oh I know. It's just... god that price.

Lol I don't blame you. For me it was a no brainer. I've been waiting for this game for many, many years. I am beyond a super fan. It isn't something I will open. It is a collectible for me.

I actually thought about putting down $2,500 for the watch but.. I had a feeling my wife might notice that purchase

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Lol I don't blame you. For me it was a no brainer. I've been waiting for this game for many, many years. I am beyond a super fan. It isn't something I will open. It is a collectible for me.

I actually thought about putting down $2,500 for the watch but.. I had a feeling my wife might notice that purchase

Oh... oh please no .

Trust me, I played it back when I got my PS1 in like... 1997? 1998? And I played the hell out of it. I remember even using a Gameshark on it.

Admittedly, I am buying the new Animal Crossing Special Edition Switch bundle that's coming out. But that's also the newer version of the Switch (better battery life) and I can sell my Mario Odyssey Switch used for probably about the same price.

I also did buy 2 copies of The Last of Us Part 2 Ellie Edition, so maybe I shouldn't talk .

 

[Shareefruck]

Lol I don't blame you. For me it was a no brainer. I've been waiting for this game for many, many years. I am beyond a super fan. It isn't something I will open. It is a collectible for me.

I actually thought about putting down $2,500 for the watch but.. I had a feeling my wife might notice that purchase

Spending that much on a collector's edition of a thing you love, I understand. Spending that much on the collector's version of an unreleased thing that nobody has any idea if it'll be any good or not seems kind of crazy to me. Like, it's you're money, but out of curiosity, would it be worth it to you regardless of whether or not the game bombs? Is it just that you specifically want the figure/memorabilia itself regardless of what it's for?

 

[K Fleur]

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.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Spending that much on a collector's edition of a thing you love, I understand. Spending that much on the collector's version of an unreleased thing that nobody has any idea if it'll be any good or not seems kind of crazy to me. Like, it's you're money, but out of curiosity, would it be worth it to you regardless of whether or not the game bombs? Is it just that you specifically want the figure/memorabilia itself regardless of what it's for?

Oh absolutely. Whether the game bombs or is a massive success, I'm 100% happy with my purchase. Its only couple hundreds bucks.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

For anyone interested, FF7 1st Class Editions are available again for pre-order. Just got the email notification and snagged one.

Please post pics when you end up actually getting it. I personally don't plan on getting one, but it looks pretty awesome and I'm wondering how it looks in person.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Please post pics when you end up actually getting it. I personally don't plan on getting one, but it looks pretty awesome and I'm wondering how it looks in person.

For sure. I won't be opening it but I'll post a pic of the box.

 

[Shareefruck]

Oh absolutely. Whether the game bombs or is a massive success, I'm 100% happy with my purchase. Its only couple hundreds bucks.

Fair enough. I guess I've just never really related to the whole collectors/memorabilia thing.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Fair enough. I guess I've just never really related to the whole collectors/memorabilia thing.

Frankly, I'm not either. But for this? Absolutely.

 

[TheDoldrums]

It's probably because of the unsettling way that a lot of the faces look (not the models specifically, but the character designs and FMVs as well). Game quality doesn't outweigh the shallow, heart-throb, edge-lord, weeb sensibilities of most of Final Fantasy's target demographic, unfortunately.

It's not a coincidence that XV and XIII made a lot more money, despite being terrible.

Also, IX was at the tail end of the Playstation's lifecycle, right? That's usually a big factor.

Console sales have gone up over time so it's not surprising newer entries would sell more. Especially given the advantage of XIII and XV being available on multiple systems. I think blaming it on weeb sensibilities is a bit of a reach.

 

[Shareefruck]

Console sales have gone up over time so it's not surprising newer entries would sell more. Especially given the advantage of XIII and XV being available on multiple systems. I think blaming it on weeb sensibilities is a bit of a reach.

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.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Never understood why FF9 flew under the radar. It's a great game that gets overshadowed by 7, 8, and 10.

Not sure I'd say VIII overshadows IX honestly.

The only reason VII and X are so popular is because they were big steps forward for the franchise in terms of presentation. Both games are mediocre and much weaker than their predecessors. X is basically a prototype for XIII.

The best FFs are III, VI, IX and XII: all the ones who closed out generations. I will concede that XII does suffer from being held back by stupid Square-Enix execs.

 

[TheDoldrums]

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 just think the sample here is too small to believe it says anything definitive. There are definitely other factors at play that contributed to these situations. As you previously acknowledged, FFIX came out very late in the PS1 lifespan. The PS2 dropped a few months after FFIX was released, a lot of people were probably done buying PS1 games at that point. FFX came out almost exactly a year after FFIX, so not only was it on an obsolete system but it was quickly followed up with a new entry. Consider that FFXIII was the most recent mainline entry for 7 years after it was released.

As far FFXII, it's simply boring. I don't know how else to put it. I've beaten every single-player game from IV-XV, most multiple times, but despite repeated attempts I cannot get through XII. The battle system is just so terrible that it undercuts the entire game. There are very legitimate reasons for it not to appeal to the masses.

Square might think they need a Nomura direction to sell, but I'm not convinced.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

JRPGs are simply not relevant anymore. They were when they were the main console games that involved a lot of reading and less action-oriented gameplay and created their own niche.

They are a relic of days long gone.

 

[Commander Clueless]

JRPGs are simply not relevant anymore. They were when they were the main console games that involved a lot of reading and less action-oriented gameplay and created their own niche.

They are a relic of days long gone.

Dang it!

Just when I was getting into them too...

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Dang it!

Just when I was getting into them too...

I was careful with my wording. Nothing wrong with enjoying JRPGs; they just aren't the big deal they used to be.

I loved Dragon Quest XI but I had to put it down quite a few times because the play pattern is so very reptitive.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

 

[Gardner McKay]

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?

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I do not like what they did to Those Who Fight Further: way too busy, the main melody is drowned out.

Other than that it is good stuff.