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[Efren is G.O.A.T.]

Finally finished it, loved it so much. Sure the open world stuff is very repetitive, but no one forces you to do everything. I had a blast the whole game and am sad that it’s over and the waiting time for part 3 will be very long. I just hope we get some kind of DLC like the Yuffie chapter to at least sweeten the waiting time a little bit.

Not a fan of the ending however, it seems they keep the original story intact, which is a good thing, but because Cloud can see alternate realities or is not ready to let go, it just confused people what is actually happening and take away all the emotions. However, it is hard to judge really until we see how everything plays out.

I think this is what is happening here...as he did for Zack, Cloud is losing it big time...and to see him lose it so much amps up the moment where he'll finally give the black materia to Sephiroth. I personally think this is beyond brilliant. As you said. things happen the same way it originally did, it's a remake after all, but the deep dive they do are way beyond my expectations!

Can't fucking wait!

 

[paolo11]

I just finished the game. I don’t mind the ending but are the complaint because it is confusing due to alternate universe?

My take on it is it’s the same as OG but added extra elements like Zack and alternate worlds. The other changes are how we meet Yuffie and Cid

 

[Brock2621]

Just finished it tonight and was on board with everything EXCEPT the scene of Aerith's death. The two timelines was cool but they should have let that moment linger and play out longer before it glitching in between the two. The immediate glitching lost the sadness and weight of her death. But minor quibbles in comparison to the monumentally staggering amount of content in this.

But holy freaking crap that game blew away all my expectations. I avoided the last few trailers and cannot believe what they've accomplished with this.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

 

[Toots]

Now that I've had time to digest it.... I hate it less. I probably need to watch a youtube video on it but my conclusion is that:

- In that whole final sequence Cloud is getting images/memories from all these different timelines that are occurring because they challenged fate or whatever. Which is why moment to moment it almost seems nonsensical.
- Cloud does parry Sephiroth and save Aerith in a certain timeline... but he's also seeing images from another timeline where Sephiroth kills her
- Aerith seems to be aware of the situation in all timelines, and gives Cloud the white materia from the doomed timeline to take back in the timeline we've been playing. (Still a little lost on why her materia lost its whiteness in the main timeline) (btw I did love that scene/shot in the church of her having a moment with Cloud then pushing him through the portal as Sephiroth enters the Church in the background).
- The Aerith from a timeline where she lives comes in to help Cloud in the final stand against Sephiroth (cause she says something like "I saw what you did back there, thank you." Referring to the fact Cloud saved her and allowed her to live in other realities.
- After the dust settles, we carry on the main game in a timeline where Sephiroth killed her... but because Cloud saved her in another timeline he's able to somehow communicate with her force ghost from that other timeline. But its only him and Aerith that can see each other. Although Red does seem to sense her also.

Very interesting read.
First I took Cloud being able to see Aerith ghost, and Nanaki being able to feel it was because of their affinity with mako, but I think you're right about every Aerith seeing every universe and moving from one to another (under conditions of course). Maybe it's a cetra trait, which would explain why Sephiroth can do the same. Cloud and Zack being infused with sephiroth cells (i think only sephiroth was directly exposed to jenova cells, the SOLDIERS were exposed to them through sephiroth cetra's blood) makes them able to somewhat see and move through the multiverse as well.

The only thing that i found quite stupid in the ending was the white void Zack ends up in. Writer's deus ex machina personified. Have him stay there until we need him again and until then "See ya!" (this line made me lol though ) . So lazy...

As for Aerith's materia loosing her color, well, you need to understand, when a woman loves a man very much, and the man loves her back... you know what, just go ask your mother about it.

 

[Revolutionary]

Very interesting read.
First I took Cloud being able to see Aerith ghost, and Nanaki being able to feel it was because of their affinity with mako, but I think you're right about every Aerith seeing every universe and moving from one to another (under conditions of course). Maybe it's a cetra trait, which would explain why Sephiroth can do the same. Cloud and Zack being infused with sephiroth cells (i think only sephiroth was directly exposed to jenova cells, the SOLDIERS were exposed to them through sephiroth cetra's blood) makes them able to somewhat see and move through the multiverse as well.

The only thing that i found quite stupid in the ending was the white void Zack ends up in. Writer's deus ex machina personified. Have him stay there until we need him again and until then "See ya!" (this line made me lol though ) . So lazy...

As for Aerith's materia loosing her color, well, you need to understand, when a woman loves a man very much, and the man loves her back... you know what, just go ask your mother about it.

Huh? Sephiroth is not Cetra. He's a human that was injected with the cells of an actual alien creature. Shinra may have thought Jenova was Cetra at first, but we learn that's not true in Gast's laboratory at Icicle Inn.

In any case, all this multiverse nonsense is just that: nonsense, and it diminishes the impact of scenes like Aerith's death. I replayed OG FF7 just before Rebirth and the scene still brought a tear to my eye. In Rebirth I was confused for a moment, and then facepalmed when I realized what was happening. Like I said: impact diminished, especially given the ending of the game. Like, why even kill her again if she's just going to be hanging around as a force ghost in the third game? It makes no sense.


As for Zack, fuck him. The characterization they gave him in Crisis Core (he was just a macguffin in OG FF7) came at the expense of Aerith's. Aerith selling flowers topside? It was Zack's idea! Aerith wearing that ribbon in her hair? It was Zack's idea! Hell, even Seventh Heaven was apparently named because of Zack. Ugh... Crisis Core is such an abomination. /rant


But I digress... I hate to sound so negative about a game that I overall had a great time with. One thing I thought was an actually interesting story change in Rebirth was the Gi. In the original, they were just a rival tribe of Cosmo Canyon that eventually died out and became undead. But Rebirth brought up the interesting question of "if everyone returns to the Lifestream when they die, why didn't the Gi?" Are the Gi also aliens? It's interesting and I actually appreciated that change.

 

[Toots]

Huh? Sephiroth is not Cetra. He's a human that was injected with the cells of an actual alien creature. Shinra may have thought Jenova was Cetra at first, but we learn that's not true in Gast's laboratory at Icicle Inn.

In any case, all this multiverse nonsense is just that: nonsense, and it diminishes the impact of scenes like Aerith's death. I replayed OG FF7 just before Rebirth and the scene still brought a tear to my eye. In Rebirth I was confused for a moment, and then facepalmed when I realized what was happening. Like I said: impact diminished, especially given the ending of the game. Like, why even kill her again if she's just going to be hanging around as a force ghost in the third game? It makes no sense.


As for Zack, fuck him. The characterization they gave him in Crisis Core (he was just a macguffin in OG FF7) came at the expense of Aerith's. Aerith selling flowers topside? It was Zack's idea! Aerith wearing that ribbon in her hair? It was Zack's idea! Hell, even Seventh Heaven was apparently named because of Zack. Ugh... Crisis Core is such an abomination. /rant


But I digress... I hate to sound so negative about a game that I overall had a great time with. One thing I thought was an actually interesting story change in Rebirth was the Gi. In the original, they were just a rival tribe of Cosmo Canyon that eventually died out and became undead. But Rebirth brought up the interesting question of "if everyone returns to the Lifestream when they die, why didn't the Gi?" Are the Gi also aliens? It's interesting and I actually appreciated that change.

Sephiroth is the first being who's body managed to not die being injected with jenova cells. He wasn't like any other human before being injected with jenova's cells. The subsequent test subjects weren't injected directly with jenova cells but sephiroth cells and mako if i remember well, so as to dilute the active component (jenova's cells). That's why they managed to create SOLDIERS. Plus the scientist woman / vincent love interest encased in crystal in the waterfall cave in OG who's sephiroth birth mother injected him with cetra cells or might have been a cetra herself, being able to stay alive in crystal like that. Also he has the same exact features as Aerith (weird hair with 90's bangs, cat eyes, smarmy theater kid behavior, etc...) and they are the only people in FF7 having them.

My last argument is that since Nomura took writing lead on the project anything and whatever explanation i pull out of my ass will be better than the real thing.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

It wasn't until the end of the game I realised that they'd recreated most of the world, like 70% or something like that.

But still they'll have their work cut out for the final part considering it will cover these locations/events:

Spoiler: tagged for those that haven't played the original

-Implementing Cid and Vincent
-The snow region and Icicle Inn town
-The mountain region and Northern Crater
-Rocket town and the surrounding region
-Wutai and the surrounding region
-Mideel region and town
-Under the ocean regions
-Trip to space
-Submarine traversal
-Airship traversal
-Large scale WEAPON battles
-Knights of the Round
-Access and return to all previous locations and updating them
-Return to Midgar
-The final dungeons

It took 4 years from the release of Remake to Rebirth and hopefully it'll less for the final installment, like 3-3.5years as development will probably be even more efficient.

 

[Mattdaddy]

Very interesting read.
First I took Cloud being able to see Aerith ghost, and Nanaki being able to feel it was because of their affinity with mako, but I think you're right about every Aerith seeing every universe and moving from one to another (under conditions of course). Maybe it's a cetra trait, which would explain why Sephiroth can do the same. Cloud and Zack being infused with sephiroth cells (i think only sephiroth was directly exposed to jenova cells, the SOLDIERS were exposed to them through sephiroth cetra's blood) makes them able to somewhat see and move through the multiverse as well.

The only thing that i found quite stupid in the ending was the white void Zack ends up in. Writer's deus ex machina personified. Have him stay there until we need him again and until then "See ya!" (this line made me lol though ) . So lazy...

As for Aerith's materia loosing her color, well, you need to understand, when a woman loves a man very much, and the man loves her back... you know what, just go ask your mother about it.

Hahaha yeah good point I forgot my birds and the bees basics

Yeah I could be totally wrong, that was just my interpretation initially. Apparently whenever we see that rainbow explosion effect happen, it means basically a new timeline has been created due to defying fate or whatever. And I think we did see that when Cloud deflects Sephiroth. So I took it as like Cloud created a new timeline right there where Aerith survives, and since she's aware of whats happening across timelines her surviving version is able to basically force ghost project herself into the timeline where shes toast and communicate with Cloud.

But Ive also seen other videos and people saying Aerith is totally dead and what we are seeing is just Cloud going crazy from the degredation, or Aerith is dead and were just seeing a lifestream manifestation or something. All could be true I guess I dont know lol. Im sure its already all been figured out I just need to read more.

My main concern is that we just end up with an ugly narrative knot of all these multiverses intersecting and its confusing as fuck. Like I felt robbed of some emotion in that whole final sequence because I was so confused I wasnt even sure how to react. Fingers crossed they stick the landing in game 3 because everything else about this game was so damn good!

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

It wasn't until the end of the game I realised that they'd recreated most of the world, like 70% or something like that.

But still they'll have their work cut out for the final part considering it will cover these locations/events:

Spoiler: tagged for those that haven't played the original

-Implementing Cid and Vincent
-The snow region and Icicle Inn town
-The mountain region and Northern Crater
-Rocket town and the surrounding region
-Wutai and the surrounding region
-Mideel region and town
-Under the ocean regions
-Trip to space
-Submarine traversal
-Airship traversal
-Large scale WEAPON battles
-Knights of the Round
-Access and return to all previous locations and updating them
-Return to Midgar
-The final dungeons

It took 4 years from the release of Remake to Rebirth and hopefully it'll less for the final installment, like 3-3.5years as development will probably be even more efficient.

Don’t forget gold chocobo that can go anywhere. Don’t know how they are going to have the entire world without any loading.

Good luck.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I think nothing is going to change all that much in the end.

Its certainly going into that direction. Aerith did die in the 'proper' timeline, but they left it kind of open for now since there are timelines being created.

I think this is what happens; ultimately everything will be restored to the original timeline with the world being saved. The rest seems to be doomed timelines anyway, either with Mako dried up or meteor coming.

Aerith does exert some control from her parralel timeline, like she did in the original with the lifestream. Zack seems to be in some limbo world with Biggs. Every time he encounters a death squad out of nowhere because its meant to happen. The scenery also looks kind of dreamlike every time. Zack being kept sort of alive for now is probably so that he can restore Cloud, instead of Tifa in Mideel in the original. The comatose Cloud perhaps merges with the other Cloud we control and he will be himself again with all memories in tact.

I think, like Jessie, Wedge and Biggs, Zack will also die. And Aerith too. And nothing changed lol.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Don’t forget gold chocobo that can go anywhere. Don’t know how they are going to have the entire world without any loading.

Good luck.

I think the loading will be fine, given it's PS5 and the SSD. Remember they pulled off the car in FF15 on PS4! Also they can utilise clever tricks, maybe make the Highwind fly more slowly or higher up in the air - something like that.

 

[Toots]

Hahaha yeah good point I forgot my birds and the bees basics

Yeah I could be totally wrong, that was just my interpretation initially. Apparently whenever we see that rainbow explosion effect happen, it means basically a new timeline has been created due to defying fate or whatever. And I think we did see that when Cloud deflects Sephiroth. So I took it as like Cloud created a new timeline right there where Aerith survives, and since she's aware of whats happening across timelines her surviving version is able to basically force ghost project herself into the timeline where shes toast and communicate with Cloud.

But Ive also seen other videos and people saying Aerith is totally dead and what we are seeing is just Cloud going crazy from the degredation, or Aerith is dead and were just seeing a lifestream manifestation or something. All could be true I guess I dont know lol. Im sure its already all been figured out I just need to read more.

My main concern is that we just end up with an ugly narrative knot of all these multiverses intersecting and its confusing as fuck. Like I felt robbed of some emotion in that whole final sequence because I was so confused I wasnt even sure how to react. Fingers crossed they stick the landing in game 3 because everything else about this game was so damn good!

I don't think Cloud seeing Aerith is mako degradation because Nanaki felt her too. Might be she's dead and a force ghost though.
But you're right we can only speculate, and forcing us into 4 or 5 years of confusion before we can have any explanation on this and all the other weird stuff is the type of sadism the Marquis himself would have acknowledged

 

[DragoonKain]

My thoughts I made in the OT thread after finishing it yesterday:

It was a really good game that I had a lot of fun with, but I hated the way it ended from Chapter 13 on. I didn't like some of the stuff they were doing with it throughout the game, but I didn't let it bother me much until the end.

First of all Chapter 13 and 14 are absolute fucking slogs. They take forever. The Temple of the Ancients is way too long and tedious and the end of Chapter 13 is soooo slow. The cut scenes just go on and on and then mix in you walking followed by more cut scenes. And it's convoluted bullshit. Different worlds and dimensions and Sephiroth is warping in and out and taking different forms, and Cloud is seeing him and sometimes they are seeing him but they aren't, and there's those annoying ass whispers that ruin every god damn scene they're in that reek of Nomura's ego trying to add some mysterious and mystical element to a plot that didn't need it. The end of Chapter 13 Final chapter took me almost 3 fucking hours. Completely absurd. It just goes on and on and on and on and on. It's so fucking pretentious.

And I avoided all spoilers to this point, but of course they ruined one of the most iconic scenes in gaming history. Cloud deflects Sephiroth's attack? But she ends up "dying" anyway? But she isn't really truly dead "bc different dimensions," and neither is Zack bc dimensions, because for once a JRPG had the balls to kill off characters, which like 1/1,000 have the balls to do and they're doing their damndest to undo it because god forbid we have main characters die in a game and everything doesn't end happy in a nice tidy little bow.

So they ruined that scene completely. Took all the emotion out of it, I found myself the entire end of Chapter 13 and 14 saying stuff at the TV like "Can we get a move on, already?" and "You gotta be fucking kidding me." The entire end had absolutely no emotion, it was completely sterilized. Then the boss fights drag on for like over and hour and certain parts of them are of course about as tedious as possible. Gotta disable X body part to be able to harm the enemy... multiple times, so pad the game out even longer than it already is.

I'm all for tweaking things here and there. The Last of Us TV show did it. But it's like bro... learn when to rein it the fuck in. My god. And maybe someone can answer this for me, since the end was such a convoluted mess that I can't even remember all of it because I lost track of the amount of times Sephiroth warped and puffed in and out on a cloud of smoke... did they actually ever show him summon meteor? Because at the very end Aerith says she'll stop meteor, but I don't actually remember them showing him summon it, unless I missed it. If they didn't show it and they decided to skip over that scene, then good fucking grief.

If you're going to change that much, at least explain how Sephiroth went from the super soldier he was in the Nibelheim flashbacks to this dude who can warp around and invade minds and take the forms of other people. Don't just keep throwing mysterious and cryptic shit at us thinking you're deep, because it doesn't make for good story telling. And I don't even see the point of any of the Zack stuff. Like, what is the point of even bringing him back? He serves no purpose really, he's just like an alternate version of Cloud. They could have cut every Zack thing out of the game and not only wouldn't it have been missed, but it would have been better off. Again, reeks of JRPG writers afraid to kill off characters.

So yeah, as you can probably tell I'm not happy. I mean, at least it's a video game so you can still enjoy gameplay, but I can't think of a way they could have made that ending worse, and I feel like going into Part 3 the same way I felt like going into Game of Thrones season 8. At least story-wise, there's no way in hell I can see this ending well. And if they do bring Aerith back it better be side quest/optional. Don't butcher the story more than you already did. But I'm not gonna get my hopes up. I expect the game will be vast and graphically amazing, and have good combat and stuff, but the story is such a mess.


One thing I want to add to it because I was thinking about this today. There was something about the Aerith death scene that felt so hollow and I knew when I was playing it that it was more than just Cloud deflecting the attack, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it right away. That certainly played a part. Seeing her die would be far more impactful visually. But it was more than that. And I realized it was two things.

1) They really dialed back the Cloud/Aerith relationship in this game. It felt distant compared to Remake and Cloud and Aerith felt distant compared to Cloud and Tifa. And Zack lurking in the background in another universe really factored into this as well. I didn't like it, and it impacted my emotions when Aerith dies.

2) The way Aerith responded. You wouldn't even realize she took a fatal blow if they didn't show it. She acted like she was about to take a stroll to the store to buy a loaf of bread. Hardly any reaction at all. That really took a lot out of it for me. One of the reasons the death hit so hard in OG FF7 is because Aerith was this tragic character. She was a girl who had a rough life, she lacked self confidence, but she knew she had a purpose in this world, she just didn't know how she would be able to make an impact. Toward the end she kinda comes out of her shell and realizes what she's meant to do and realizes her purpose, and it's to save everyone. In Rebirth toward the end you see this when she promises she will stop Sephiroth. What's supposed to make her death so tragic and sad is she's unable to accomplish that. Sephiroth snatches that opportunity away from her. But in this it doesn't feel like Aerith thinks she lost anything or missed out on anything. It's like "Don't worry, everything's cool, we'll meet again." Possibly in part because of the whole multi-verse, she knows she's not actually dead or not actually going to die or will meet again or whatever. But regardless, it really hurt how impactful that moment was. And then everything afterward with her still being alive "in spirit" or whatever and hanging around made it feel far less sad. I felt absolutely no emotion in one of the most emotional moments in gaming history, and to me that sucks.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

Just finished, as someone who's never played the original, or many JRPGs at all, idk what the fuck was going on! Lol. I enjoyed it overall but holy fuck I've never played a game that even comes close to that much padding. Took me 34 with me rushing through and they easily could've cut out 10 hours.

 

[consoul]

It's hard to comprehend how they managed to fumble Final Fantasy VII's most iconic moment.

They could have given Aerith's death a chance to have some emotional weight. Let us actually see it and have a moment to feel it rather than immediately flipping back and forth between universes and stripping it of any impact.

I get that they needed to establish the alternate timeline, but they could have just shown the parry, then shown the deathblow and stuck with it for a bit before returning to the parry.

At this point, I've given up any hope of the trilogy delivering a satisfying narrative conclusion. This multiverse nonsense will probably end up with Tidus & Yuna coming to help out.

Forget Sephiroth & Aerith; clearly Cid is the ultimate beast of the multiverse.

 

[Efren is G.O.A.T.]

Just finished, as someone who's never played the original, or many JRPGs at all, idk what the fuck was going on! Lol. I enjoyed it overall but holy fuck I've never played a game that even comes close to that much padding. Took me 34 with me rushing through and they easily could've cut out 10 hours.

What padding are you talking about?

 

[Dusktildawn48]

What padding are you talking about?

Idk how it is in the original but basically any part where I'm forced to play as other characters just to see what they were doing while cloud was off doing something else.

Also absolutely hated playing as Cait in the manor with the stupid ass puzzles.

And of course the billion mini games.

 

[Revolutionary]

What padding are you talking about?

Rebirth does a better job than Remake at making the padding feel somewhat natural, but it is still absolutely rife with it.

One example off the top of my head is Mt. Corel. In the original, it's 2 screens:

It is a concise portion of the game that should take a first-time player maybe 20 minutes, tops.
In Rebirth it's a full dungeon that can take up to two hours, depending on how thorough you are. Absolutely loved the OST here but the section was a bit long in the tooth. And did we really need that on-rails shooter part?

But yeah, as mentioned above, the ultimate example of padding in this game is undoubtedly the Cait Sith solo section.

 

[Efren is G.O.A.T.]

Rebirth does a better job than Remake at making the padding feel somewhat natural, but it is still absolutely rife with it.

One example off the top of my head is Mt. Corel. In the original, it's 2 screens:

It is a concise portion of the game that should take a first-time player maybe 20 minutes, tops.
In Rebirth it's a full dungeon that can take up to two hours, depending on how thorough you are. Absolutely loved the OST here but the section was a bit long in the tooth. And did we really need that on-rails shooter part?

But yeah, as mentioned above, the ultimate example of padding in this game is undoubtedly the Cait Sith solo section.

I hear where you're coming from but I am so in love with this game that I would have taken 200 hours of this gem. I agree about the Cait Sith solo section, it sucked ass. I also think that the temple of the ancient felt tedious sometimes when controlling Aerith.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

Probably a stupid question, but will any form of Aerith be in the next game? She's my favorite of the female characters.

 

[Efren is G.O.A.T.]

Probably a stupid question, but will any form of Aerith be in the next game? She's my favorite of the female characters.

That's the big mystery! I think she will though

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

This fucking box throwing game again effectively locking story progression. What the actual fuck.

Half the time the aiming arc doesn't even move.

 

[Zheph]

Probably a stupid question, but will any form of Aerith be in the next game? She's my favorite of the female characters.

I hope not personally but she will deffo appear to Cloud just like in the og

 

[KungFucius]

This fucking box throwing game again effectively locking story progression. What the actual fuck.

Half the time the aiming arc doesn't even move.

I had to watch a video to prove that it was possible. It was utter shit even when I got past the confounding controls. I hit a box 3 fucking time and it failed to register. Usually these things are a little forgiving. It seems like the laid the QA guy for this section off before he could test it and tell them it was shit.

 

[jorgejjvr]

Are there any good videos understanding the story? I am very confused by it all lol

Still not done with game, and never played original

Why is cloud always having visions of sephiroth, why cant he remember things, whats up with tifa and the lifestream (where I am right now), whats up with white and black whispers? Whats up with the zack sections? Are there multiple timelines? I am playing it and get none of it lol

Maybe I need me a masters degree on the original game lol

 

[Zheph]

Are there any good videos understanding the story? I am very confused by it all lol

Still not done with game, and never played original

Why is cloud always having visions of sephiroth, why cant he remember things, whats up with tifa and the lifestream (where I am right now), whats up with white and black whispers? Whats up with the zack sections? Are there multiple timelines? I am playing it and get none of it lol

Maybe I need me a masters degree on the original game lol

Finish the game first my friend and you can check some videos afterwards, it will be very easy to find on YouTube but this is endgame territory

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

Are there any good videos understanding the story? I am very confused by it all lol

Still not done with game, and never played original

Why is cloud always having visions of sephiroth, why cant he remember things, whats up with tifa and the lifestream (where I am right now), whats up with white and black whispers? Whats up with the zack sections? Are there multiple timelines? I am playing it and get none of it lol

Maybe I need me a masters degree on the original game lol

I'd recommend powering through the story and then looking up explanation videos after you've seen the ending

 

[Danjin44]

The final boss sections when every party member attacks hugely remind me of Advent Children scene against Bahamut.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

The final boss sections when every party member attacks hugely remind me of Advent Children scene against Bahamut.

I couldn't believe my eyes. The showdown with the Turks in the Temple of the Ancients was also a highlight and like Advent Children on steroids.

Imagine the Weapon battles and other moments in the final game.

Already looking forward to replaying it and this time just doing a straight story run. I'm gonna try and hold out for the PS5 Pro before doing so.

 

[Zephyranthes]

There's a difference between a complex narrative and a convoluted one, and the ending of Rebirth unfortunately lands way on the latter end of the spectrum. Everything about how it is delivered, from the dialogue to the direction to the editing, is so obfuscated and confusing that all substance and emotional weight was completely lost.

I don't mind the idea of changing things up. My reaction to the ending of Remake was "Oh that's interesting, let's see where they go with this". By contrast, my reaction to the ending of Rebirth was "What even happened? Did anything actually happen?".

It's a shame too, because there is SO MUCH about the game that is positively incredible.....I hated ending my time with it on such a sour note.

 

[ProudClod]

Although I had a few reservations about the ending (emotional impact was significantly decreased due to creative choices) -- this game was beautiful, and I 100% support what they're trying to do. Even with the ending.

When I first played FF7 I was 11. The game was magical. For my 11-year old brain, some of it was confusing -- but ultimately intriguing. I read dozens of theories and story guides after I beat the game -- realizing that I had missed very important clues in the game. Over years, I pieced together a complete picture of everything that happened in FF7.

If they were to recreate a completely faithful, 1:1 remake, then there is simply no way they would've recaptured the same magic and wonder I had when I played the original. Because I know all of the tiny, little, intricate details about the OG. The only way to recapture that magic and intrigue and curious confusion is to add new complexity and uncertainty into the story.

And I think they did an incredible job.

I felt like a kid again, for the first time in decades. I had that same confusion, wonder, frustration, and addiction I had when I was 11 years old. The amount of care and love that went into this game -- this experience, is simply astounding.

Fucking bravo, and I cannot wait for part 3.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

 

[Boneless]

Finished. Pretty good game but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I did not know the OG. Loved being in the FF7 universe again, and there is a lot to love in the game. Loved queensblood, minigames overall were high quality. Dislikes:

- Like the first game, ruins the most iconic scenes in gaming history. In the last game, among others it was waking up in the Shina Jail, in this one, its Aeriths scene. In terms of scene setting, the OG has moments where all the music changes, including the overworld and combat music, to really set the scene and hit you in your feels. In this game, whatever the scene, if you pick up a chobobo stance you will get a dumb celebration music. A good example also is after Aerith dies, her music keeps playing even in the bossfight:
- Music is good, but the OG music is watered down too much losing its strength
- The game is too cautious to take a real stance. In the first one, this was Shinra blowing up the reactor rather than Avalance, in this one its things like Aerith waking up after being stabbed telling Cloud "it's ok", it tries too hard to reach a happy medium and stay kiddy friendly.
- No blood, not gritty enough where it should be, does not show sword through Aerith
- Way too much fluff in the game, repetition. There is no little main story here, other than following guys in robes.
- Chadley is terrible, Juffy is annoying
- Pillars and chocobo stops are annoying, especially if the music takes you out of the moment
- No ability level up, materia level ups take too long, materia level ups don't feel powerful, lack of feeling powerful in general is lacking for a JRPG
- The Weapons (planet guardians) look dumb as shit

 

[SkylineRKR]

I think they ruined the entire ending part.

I get why they relocated the Temple. But they made the sleeping forest a boring force walking slog. Then, once you are at the Forgotten Capital (which feels oddly reduced compared to the original, while everything is expanded), the Bronco is fixed and you're chilling in the grasslands again.

My number one track from this game is Cry of the Planet. Its not being used in the forgotten capital at all, I vaguely heard it during this boring ass Sephiroth cutscene.

 

[Zephyranthes]

I also think that the temple of the ancient felt tedious sometimes when controlling Aerith.

I can't think of a single good reason why her mechanic wasn't "Tap triangle to collect lifestream" instead of "Hold triangle and stand still for five seconds to collect lifestream". Changing that and cutting out the first pair of sections where the party is separated (keeping the second pair since it has the Turks fights) would have made the Temple a lot more tolerable.

 

[Yoshichan]

For the love of god could someone tell me the name of the song @ 1:39:39

(chapter 7 spoilers)

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Can someone who’s finished it and good with materia explain synergy / comet or petrify combo?

Watched a YT video where it says put this combo on a ‘lesser’ controlled character (I’m guessing one not in your party of 3) and it’s meant to trigger every time you go into battle? But fuck all ever happens for me.

It’s the first part of this video…

 

[consoul]

Synergy triggers from weapon abilities, so you put the linked pair on a secondary character in your combat party and activate weapon abilities with your MC. It takes a while to charge Comet, so it triggers a bit later.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Understood. Thank you.

 

[RavenSan]

Man, I don't think the new Aerith death scene ruined it at all. I actually cheered excited when Sephiroth was deflected, and then confused and sad when I saw the blood, and then it clicked about the different timelines, etc. I will say they have a lot to tie up in game 3, but I think they can pull it off.

At the end of the day, this is a different game. It's not a remaster. This one doesn't take away the impact of the original. That's still there for us to enjoy and play. I kind of like not knowing what's going to happen.

Chapter 13 made me sob like a little kid though. When Aerith is saying that she really tried (to find the doctor) -- and then pulling away from Elmyra when she tried to help. Right in the feels.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

There’s a wonderful screenshot moment at the end where Aerith is saying goodbye as they fly off in the Bronco but I don’t know what’s different about that FMV compared to the stuff in the rest of the game because when you pause it photo mode isn’t available.

She’s stood in the field and watching the plane go into the distance would love that as my desktop wallpaper.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Chapter 13 made me sob like a little kid though. When Aerith is saying that she really tried (to find the doctor) -- and then pulling away from Elmyra when she tried to help. Right in the feels.

Yeah that bit got me and where they are on their date in the alternative universe and Sephiroth turns up at the church and she shoves Cloud into the nexus / timeline. That was a bit emotional for me.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Very nice reflection on the game with Brad and crew. Spoilers for the OG, Remake and Rebirth naturally.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Man, I don't think the new Aerith death scene ruined it at all.

It's ruined in the sense that there is really no raw emotion to her death and the scene of her sinking into the lake does not exist. Too much reliance on fade to black and timeskips. Comes off as awkward and anticlimactic IMO. Even moreso if you just ignore the button prompts and the scene plays out the exact same way.

 

[asdasdasdbb]

I think they lessened the impact of her "death" because she's not really dead.

 

[Danjin44]

No matter what the "impact" is going be less because most of us already experience that in OG FFVII.

 

[RavenSan]

It's ruined in the sense that there is really no raw emotion to her death and the scene of her sinking into the lake does not exist. Too much reliance on fade to black and timeskips. Comes off as awkward and anticlimactic IMO. Even moreso if you just ignore the button prompts and the scene plays out the exact same way.

To me, I got that raw emotion earlier in chap 13 -- when she's a kid and her mom dies. That broke me. I desperately want her to Gandalf in part 3. She deserves to be happy.

 

[asdasdasdbb]

But yeah, as mentioned above, the ultimate example of padding in this game is undoubtedly the Cait Sith solo section.

I think there was a deliberate attempt to get people to mix it up and play each of the characters. I'd expect they will do something similar with Cid/Vincent/Zack in Part 3.