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LTTP: FFVIIR | Not a fan

RoadHazard

Gold Member
So, I've never played FFVII. Not the original, not the remake. I have played a few of the SNES ones, as well as a bunch of other JRPGs, and I've enjoyed some of them and loved a few (my favorite is Skies of Arcadia - I just love the sense of adventure and discovery in that game). Anyway, I had no big game going on after having finished Elden Ring, so I thought I might try the remake since I had it in my PS+ library.

I don't like it. I really, really don't like it. In fact I got extremely bored almost immediately, and stopped playing once I got on the train after the escape from the reactor. A few of the things that really rubbed me the wrong way:
  • The linearity: Maybe the game opens up later, but the first few hours are literally a string of corridors, quite often with forced VERY SLOW walking while the characters talk about stupid shit. And there's no real gameplay, it's just walking.
  • The dialogue: I know, it's typical anime/JRPG style, but damn, I just can't do this anymore. In Japanese I can kinda deal with it because I don't actually understand what they're saying, but in English it's simply unbearable. Everything is so incredibly over the top, but simultaneously without any real emotion. I can't suspend my disbelief, and only find it extremely annoying and grating.
  • The combat: I like a good turn-based RPG, and I also like good real-time combat, but I really DON'T like the combination they are trying here. To me it feels like the worst aspects of both systems, rather than the best of each. It's not turn-based enough to feel truly strategic, and it's not real-time enough to feel like I'm actually in full control of what's happening.
I guess those are the main points, but the real problem is that the two primary feelings I had while playing this were boredom and annoyance. At no point did I have any fun.

Why do people like it? Does it get better? Should I keep going, or should I just give up if this is how I feel now? Is the original FFVII better?
 
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Chukhopops

Member
I agree with your points and none of those aspects will really improve later in the game (maybe the combat a little bit but that’s it). It will remain linear for sure.

The original FFVII is a bit better paced simply because it covers the same amount of story in a shorter amount of time, combat is different (classic ATB) but not particularly deep either.
 

yunkaiza

Member
Whole game in general feels like a return to form for square imo. I love the story and I adore the combat and characters and in many ways I think its better than the original but I get that it's not for everyone. I do agree with your point about linearity but at least Rebirth looks to change that.
 

Valt7786

Member
Yeah gotta disagree here. I LOVED what they did with the combat, it's the best JRPG combat system in a long time imo. The linearity I can see where you're coming from, but Midgar in the OG game was a fairly linear experience too they just added to it.
As for the dialog and characters, thats just...who they are and it's kinda why a lot of people love them.
If it's not for you, it's not for you, nothing wrong with that! At least you gave it a shot.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
I actually really enjoyed the remake for what it was... even with the directors... vices with what he "thinks" is deep and clever writing.

It's funny you should mention finding the characters shooting the shit annoying because I thought that was one of the highlights. Largely because it was actually far more "grounded" than I thought it was going to be.

I can't see you really playing many JRPG's ever and not having to level the same criticism x10 against them. I mean I'm playing Baldurs Gate III early access and you could level the same problems with how characters talk or interact although of course you have the luxury of choice there, everyone is over the top and dramatic, it's a videogame... I'm unsure how else to put it.
 

FingerBang

Member
The original is my first J-RPG. Loved it when it came out, it's still fantastic overall.

I despise FFVIIR with all my heart, but most people liked it. The characters feel like the retarded, anime versions of the original characters. The original story is great, but this remake is 30% that, 70% filler that goes from meh to garbage.

The linearity and the constant squeeze squeeze to mask loading times, the puzzles and the detour there just to make the game longer. Utter trash.

The fighting system is the only good thing it has, though even there I felt it didn't really know what it wanted to be. But at least it was enjoyable.

It's a chore, it's a 30 hour long slog that could have been a decent 15 without the useless content.

That's why I'm shocked all, ALL OF MY FUCKING FRIENDS LOVED IT.

Seriously, it's shit. FFXV is better.
 
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Whitecrow

Banned
I think its objectively a bad game with high budget.

Theres some good dialoge here and there, but most of it is cringe.

Pace is awful, lots of nonsense fillers and very questionable design choices.

Knowing little to nothing about midgar on OG ff7 worked pretty well. Why the hell do we need to know so much about it now? Theres no single character on the whole new midgar that is barely relevant.

Everything feels forced and the tropes sucks.

And the first meeting with Tifa after the first mission? Thats the most unrealistic reuniting ever written. Years without seeing each other, and theres no emotion to be seen by any of them.

But its pretty and have amazing ost. Combat is great too. And Aeris and Jessie exists, fortunately.
 

yansolo

Member
it was great for me other than some dialogue and the terrible filler side quests but at the same time i can see why people dont like it
 

Elitro

Member
I feel your pain OP. Similar to you i picked up FF7 as i was near completion of ER and continued playing it after i finished ER (currently at chapter 16).
To be fair it's not easy for any game to follow up on ER :D.

Regarding your points i also agree with mostly everything, and my sessions don't run long because i also get bored after a while.
  • The linearity it's a bit annoying but tbh after having such a massive world on ER forcing you to explore everything it's not so bad to have a game that lets you progress smoothly without making you feel that you missed something (the environment slowdowns is REALLY annoying though).
  • The story is a big letdown for me as well. I actually felt it started very strong. You get introduced as being a merc and people don't like you because you fight just for money. There's also this moral grey area between what Avalanche is doing and the consequences short term, but after that it just transitions into the classic power of friendship anime cliche with mostly pointless side quests you can do in between. I can understand how this game would have been great back in the day or today for the nostalgia, but if you are going in fresh and have been exposed to all kind of jrpgs and anime stories then you won't find nothing really new here.
  • The combat is a mixed bag. I really feel it has a lot of potential but ended up coming a bit short. My recommendation to you is to configure 4 hotkeys and learn to use them (more would have been perfect). The game really becomes more fun when you are able to cast all your attacks without pauses. Rant: It's a shame your companions have a very limited AI, it's really annoying when you have to be pummelled first before your mates cast taunt.
All in all, if you really disliked it from the beginning then i don't think a turning point for you will come later. I would recommend you to set up the hotkeys and try to see if it's enough to keep you going, otherwise perhaps it might not be for you.
 
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I guess this is the thread we'll see a lot of the players that didn't like the Remake gathering to make a point about their take on the game. It has a ton of valid criticism like the story direction misleading players into thinking they were about to step into a remake of the project and not a Remake the story line.

This game can be experienced as a standalone and an entry point for new FFVII players, but don't be foolish. This is a sequel to the events of the first game. My only real complaint with this is the filler being underwhelming most of the time.

That aside, I loved the game and combat is good enough despite not offering much in the complexity department.

It is still a 9/10 game to me.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
I've only played the demo on a PS4 Pro, but I can agree with OP on the gameplay department: at no moment during that demo did I have any fun with the combat, and the boss looked great but it wasn't that amazing to fight against.

Wasn't a fan of the original game either.
 

GymWolf

Member
I think its objectively a bad game with high budget.

Theres some good dialoge here and there, but most of it is cringe.

Pace is awful, lots of nonsense fillers and very questionable design choices.

Knowing little to nothing about midgar on OG ff7 worked pretty well. Why the hell do we need to know so much about it now? Theres no single character on the whole new midgar that is barely relevant.

Everything feels forced and the tropes sucks.

And the first meeting with Tifa after the first mission? Thats the most unrealistic reuniting ever written. Years without seeing each other, and theres no emotion to be seen by any of them.

But its pretty and have amazing ost. Combat is great too. And Aeris and Jessie exists, fortunately.
Weren't you happy to know better that fucking sex maniac, the fat but (un)funny dude and whatever bland stereotype biggs was?

I think they added a lot to the remake:messenger_squinting_tongue:
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
i'm playing both the original + remake. can't say i have any problems with it. with the remake the only issue is the shitty performance. the stuttering on PC is unplayable at times.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
i'm playing both the original + remake. can't say i have any problems with it. with the remake the only issue is the shitty performance. the stuttering on PC is unplayable at times.

That's one thing that isn't a problem on PS5, seems to run pretty much flawlessly.
 

Thief1987

Member
The combat: I like a good turn-based RPG, and I also like good real-time combat, but I really DON'T like the combination they are trying here. To me it feels like the worst aspects of both systems, rather than the best of each. It's not turn-based enough to feel truly strategic, and it's not real-time enough to feel like I'm actually in full control of what's happening.
There is a classic mode and i think it's fully turn-based? Not sure because i haven't tried it .
 

Daymos

Member
Ff7 R - After 3 horrible tries I've made it to about the second reactor part. Like 20 hours in. I turned off the light bulbs, now I get to walk by fans.. I hate this game.

On the flip side I bought FF1 pixel remaster last Friday and played it 20 hours in 1 weekend. LOVE it! 4 red mages in 1 party, the worst job. Hella fun challenge though, buff 1 dude 3 times and he hits like a truck.

Why waste my time with "rebirth" I'll just replay 1-10 instead.
 
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Kev Kev

Member
There is a classic mode and i think it's fully turn-based? Not sure because i haven't tried it .
It’s not fun tho. I was excited they put it in but I was disappointed with it. It doesn’t feel like turn based from the original at all, and you can’t use it in hard mode.
 
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Markio128

Member
There is a classic mode and i think it's fully turn-based? Not sure because i haven't tried it .
The classic mode just means that basic attacks by the team are carried out automatically, leaving the player to choose which special moves to use, but it isn’t turn-based.
 
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Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
I'm a few hours in. It took a me past the reactor fight to start to enjoy the combat. As it's summer, I won't be playing much each week but I do intend to beat the game this year.
 
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Hugare

Member
I think its objectively a bad game with high budget.

Theres some good dialoge here and there, but most of it is cringe.

Pace is awful, lots of nonsense fillers and very questionable design choices.

Knowing little to nothing about midgar on OG ff7 worked pretty well. Why the hell do we need to know so much about it now? Theres no single character on the whole new midgar that is barely relevant.

Everything feels forced and the tropes sucks.

And the first meeting with Tifa after the first mission? Thats the most unrealistic reuniting ever written. Years without seeing each other, and theres no emotion to be seen by any of them.

But its pretty and have amazing ost. Combat is great too. And Aeris and Jessie exists, fortunately.
They have seen each other before the game started. Cloud only got the Avalanche gig because she recomended him to them.

Without getting into spoilers: Tifa has seen Cloud recently, but he is having some memory problems
 

Whitecrow

Banned
They have seen each other before the game started. Cloud only got the Avalanche gig because she recomended him to them.

Without getting into spoilers: Tifa has seen Cloud recently, but he is having some memory problems
Oh well, that explains it. Kinda of a relief.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
There is a classic mode and i think it's fully turn-based? Not sure because i haven't tried it .

The way the difficulty setting described that mode is that it makes your character auto-attack so you can fully focus on giving other commands. But it's still not turn-based I think?
 

Meicyn

Gold Member
I had to force myself to finish the game. I am still going to play the next two parts, I just hope they cut back on the stupid anime grunts every six seconds and have tighter pacing. They stretched Midgard out so much, I thought I was playing the videogame equivalent of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy.
 

Pinktaco

Member
I have a ps5.
The ps5 version is somewhat expensive.
Can I just borrow my friend's ps4 version and have it upgrade to ps5 version for free or is there something more to the ps5 version? Other than the include Yuffi DLC.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Ff7 R - After 3 horrible tries I've made it to about the second reactor part. Like 20 hours in. I turned off the light bulbs, now I get to walk by fans.. I hate this game.

On the flip side I bought FF1 pixel remaster last Friday and played it 20 hours in 1 weekend. LOVE it! 4 red mages in 1 party, the worst job. Hella fun challenge though, buff 1 dude 3 times and he hits like a truck.

Why waste my time with "rebirth" I'll just replay 1-10 instead.

I admire the dedication to force yourself through a game you hate. I don't have that willpower.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
I have a ps5.
The ps5 version is somewhat expensive.
Can I just borrow my friend's ps4 version and have it upgrade to ps5 version for free or is there something more to the ps5 version? Other than the include Yuffi DLC.

You don't have PS+? It was one of the monthly games a while back (originally just the PS4 version, but then they added the free PS5 upgrade too).

I don't recommend playing it though. :)
 

manzo

Member
I'm slogging through the game, been playing now for 5 months and only got to Wall Market. I enjoyed the original in 1997 - it was good, maybe even great but never felt it as a true classic. Out of the JRPG's of that era, I enjoyed the original Grandia way more.

The remake has top-notch presentation and the combat is good-ish, I'll give it that. But for me, the game only works on nostalgia and not in a good way. I always thought Midgar was the worst part of FF7, now the game is basically the worst section of the game as a 30 hour episode. The game is downright horrible. The ultra linear corridors, absolutely horrible dialogue (which actually started fine, but just got bad after chapter 4). The game would've been fine under 10 hours but 15 in and in Wall Market, jeesus fucking christ.

I'm actually having trouble continuing it. I notice myself just biting my tongue and trying to finish the game, but I'd still rather continue ANY other game. I just have to finish it for nostalgia's sake, but god damn it's hard.
 
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RoadHazard

Gold Member
I'm slogging through the game, been playing now for 5 months and only got to Wall Market. I enjoyed the original in 1997 - it was good, maybe even great but never felt it as a true classic. Out of the JRPG's of that era, I enjoyed the original Grandia way more.

The remake has top-notch presentation and the combat is good-ish, I'll give it that. But for me, the game only works on nostalgia and not in a good way. I always thought Midgar was the worst part of FF7, now the game is basically the worst section of the game as a 30 hour episode. The game is downright horrible. The ultra linear corridors, absolutely horrible dialogue (which actually started fine, but just got bad after chapter 4). The game would've been fine under 10 hours but 15 in and in Wall Market, jeesus fucking christ.

I'm actually having trouble continuing it. I notice myself just biting my tongue and trying to finish the game, but I'd still rather continue ANY other game. I just have to finish it for nostalgia's sake, but god damn it's hard.

I started playing Gravity Rush 2 instead (played the original a few years ago, but never got the sequel for some reason). Holy shit what a difference, I'm actually having FUN! There aren't enough hours in the day to waste time on games you don't enjoy.
 
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SeraphJan

Member
Truth be told, I never really like the original back in 1997, however Final Fantasy Tactics released in the same year completely blown my mind, the dialogue, the tone, the theme had much more substance than FFVII. Since I play them in FFT - FFVII order, I'm just unimpressed by the latter.
 
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Pinktaco

Member
You don't have PS+? It was one of the monthly games a while back (originally just the PS4 version, but then they added the free PS5 upgrade too).

I don't recommend playing it though. :)
No I only use my PS for singleplayer games and with 2 small kids I dont have the time and energy to play random games
 

Kev Kev

Member
to make matters worse, square lied about the game being a remake. plot wise, they turned it into a sequel. i wont go into detail on that ITT as it includes spoilers, so just know that is an actual thing. you can watch some youtube videos after beating the game to see what im talking about.

and to make matters even worse, they are trying to splice in all of the ff7 spin off games, mobile games, movies and anime into the ff7 remake project. so you actually need to know and understand everything that happened in all of that to fully understand the story of the ff7 remake project.

so if you really want to know whats going on, watch this before you start playing, and also look up the video on why its actually a sequel after you beat the game, or youre going to be lost bc its NOT a remake, its a sequel.

 
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Meicyn

Gold Member
to make matters worse, square lied about the game being a remake. plot wise, they turned it into a sequel. i wont go into detail on that ITT as it includes spoilers, so just know that is an actual thing. you can watch some youtube videos after beating the game to see what im talking about.

and to make matters even worse, they are trying to splice in all of the ff7 spin off games, mobile games, movies and anime into the ff7 remake project. so you actually need to know and understand everything that happened in all of that to fully understand the story of the ff7 remake project.

so if you really want to know whats going on, watch this before you start playing, and also look up the video on why its actually a sequel after you beat the game, or youre going to be lost bc its NOT a remake, its a sequel.


Heh, you hit on a key takeaway. This isn’t Sakaguchi’s Final Fantasy 7. It’s Nomura’s Final Fantasy 7, and I find it to be a lesser experience so far. Only time will tell if the next two parts are worth it.
 

Bernardougf

Gold Member
The original is my first J-RPG. Loved it when it came out, it's still fantastic overall.

I despise FFVIIR with all my heart, but most people liked it. The characters feel like the retarded, anime versions of the original characters. The original story is great, but this remake is 30% that, 70% filler that goes from meh to garbage.

The linearity and the constant squeeze squeeze to mask loading times, the puzzles and the detour there just to make the game longer. Utter trash.

The fighting system is the only good thing it has, though even there I felt it didn't really know what it wanted to be. But at least it was enjoyable.

It's a chore, it's a 30 hour long slog that could have been a decent 15 without the useless content.

That's why I'm shocked all, ALL OF MY FUCKING FRIENDS LOVED IT.

Seriously, it's shit. FFXV is better.
Good god... and FFVX is one of the worst games I finished in ps4 generation ... absolutely hated that game as a FF fan ... didnt have the heart to play 7R after that ... Im done with FF/square ... happy for the players that still enjoy their FF games, they are not for me anymore
 
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Valonquar

Member
Even though it has Remake in the title, it's a direct sequel that does the whole time travel \ multiverse bullshit. The orginal has a better turn based system. Remake's battle system was okay, but kind of goes wonky near the end with the more difficult fights.
 
I think its objectively a bad game with high budget.

Theres some good dialoge here and there, but most of it is cringe.

Pace is awful, lots of nonsense fillers and very questionable design choices.

Knowing little to nothing about midgar on OG ff7 worked pretty well. Why the hell do we need to know so much about it now? Theres no single character on the whole new midgar that is barely relevant.

Everything feels forced and the tropes sucks.

And the first meeting with Tifa after the first mission? Thats the most unrealistic reuniting ever written. Years without seeing each other, and theres no emotion to be seen by any of them.

But its pretty and have amazing ost. Combat is great too. And Aeris and Jessie exists, fortunately.
I agree with most of this but cloud has met tifa offscreen in the original and this game before the bar meeting.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
It was the first FF game I played. It was last year and I loved it to death.
It's a specific game for sure. Bloated a bit too.
You gotta be chill and open for weirdness
 
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STARSBarry

Gold Member
To be fair after reading the OP's post I think he has a point.

Looking closer



48784465518_9c1dac418f_o.png

And

T610000_1.jpg


and comparing the two I would agree FFVIIR, not a fan.
 
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