I hope they have an option to use the classic PS1 soundtrack instead of the new arrangements in the remake, the orchestrated version of the boss theme they've had in the previews does not get me going like the midi rock version.
I think the biggest issue with FF15 was the DLC. From a narrative standpoint, the mainline story absolutely assumes you've done it and a bunch of character development and story beats make zero sense without it. With the DLC, I find the story is decent. Not their best, but good enough for me to feel like I got my money's worth.
And the DLC didn't even exist at launch, so people like me have never even seen that story (I gave my copy to my sister after I had beaten it, so I'll never get a chance to play it unless I re-buy the game).
Yep, I played the game on launch day and the first week.
Final Fantasy is my favorite game franchise of all time, and I burned a whole week of PTO at work to stay at home and play XV. I was super hyped for it. And I loved everything leading up to it. I enjoyed both demos. I enjoyed the Kingsglaive movie. I enjoyed the Brotherhood animated shorts. I wanted to like the game.
But the game they delivered on launch day was incomplete and pretty bad. I stuck with it and finished it. But by the end it was basically hate-finishing it. I beat it and got the plat out of spite, not because I enjoyed it.
And I have not gone back to replay it with all the DLC and patches.
12 was the one i wanted to like but couldnt. Maybe the international version would be better. I think the only ff i liked after 9 was 10-2. And it was almost criminally short. 14 had some cool things, but locking servers at launch due to population meant i couldnt play with friends, and getting groups for dungeons to move the story forward was a pain, so it didnt feel worth my time. I hear the expansions are better, but i dont want to drop like $100 on all the expansions and a sub to try it. I would love a scaled down ff game graphics wise, if they could put out an interesting game. Like make it a little cartoony and give me story and cool combat.
I hope they have an option to use the classic PS1 soundtrack instead of the new arrangements in the remake, the orchestrated version of the boss theme they've had in the previews does not get me going like the midi rock version.
I played on the PC with a mod that used Black Mages versions of tracks (where applicable). I like the orchestral sound well enough, but I miss my Final Fantasy metal. It suits FF7's grunge so well (I'd also love some hip-hop and trance renditions of themes for certain parts of Midgar).
12 was the one i wanted to like but couldnt. Maybe the international version would be better. I think the only ff i liked after 9 was 10-2. And it was almost criminally short. 14 had some cool things, but locking servers at launch due to population meant i couldnt play with friends, and getting groups for dungeons to move the story forward was a pain, so it didnt feel worth my time. I hear the expansions are better, but i dont want to drop like $100 on all the expansions and a sub to try it. I would love a scaled down ff game graphics wise, if they could put out an interesting game. Like make it a little cartoony and give me story and cool combat.
I love 12, especially the complete Zodiac HD version, but I can see plenty of reasons it wouldn't sit well with a player. What was it about 12 that bounced you off? We can maybe help to see if the new version would grab you or if it's hopeless.
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12 International Zodiac version that they used on the PS4 and Switch ports is very good. They revamped the license board and made each of the characters more specialized into a more clearly defined "class." i.e. Vaan is a rogue now. Penelo is a white mage. And so forth. They also made most of the good gambits way more easily accessible. Gambits are only gated by money and store availability now, and not story progression, which is a huge quality of life improvement.
14 i'm pretty sure just gives away the old expansions now. I'm like 99% certain if you buy Shadowbringers and add it to your existing account, you should have access to all of the content to get caught up. You will still have to play all of that content, unless you pay for a story skip in the online store. But the story is well worth playing. Heavensward is/was my favorite Final Fantasy story of all time. Shadowbringers is super good, every bit as good as Heavensward. Probably better written. I still prefer Heavensward because it's an expansion about dragons, which as a personal preference I like more than the subject matter of Shadowbringers. But there's no denying that Shadowbringers is probably the best MMO expansion pack ever made. And it's definitely a close contender for favorite Final Fantasy story.
12 was the one i wanted to like but couldnt. Maybe the international version would be better. I think the only ff i liked after 9 was 10-2. And it was almost criminally short. 14 had some cool things, but locking servers at launch due to population meant i couldnt play with friends, and getting groups for dungeons to move the story forward was a pain, so it didnt feel worth my time. I hear the expansions are better, but i dont want to drop like $100 on all the expansions and a sub to try it. I would love a scaled down ff game graphics wise, if they could put out an interesting game. Like make it a little cartoony and give me story and cool combat.
Not sure when you tried 14, but getting groups was actually quite easy when I played a couple years ago, even as DPS. Can't really say much about any of the rest, though, but just in case that helps :P
Im not sure how far I got in XII but I got stonewalled in the original release by the elder wyrm boss right after a viera village where I just couldn't figure out how to keep everyone from being wrecked by negative statuses with a lot of Gambit making or manual control so I just never went back.
12 International Zodiac version that they used on the PS4 and Switch ports is very good. They revamped the license board and made each of the characters more specialized into a more clearly defined "class." i.e. Vaan is a rogue now. Penelo is a white mage. And so forth. They also made most of the good gambits way more easily accessible. Gambits are only gated by money and store availability now, and not story progression, which is a huge quality of life improvement.
Would you like to see a technical breakdown of FFXII on Switch and Xbox One? Too bad, you're seeing it anyway.
Joking aside, it's an old enough game that the technical differences between platforms...is fairly subtle (an option for a 60 FPS framerate aside, anyway, but that could be kind of an odd experience).
XII I gave up on fairly early when I spent all my money on a crafting material (thinking it would give me immediate benefit), got to a new area that was impossible to do without new equipment I couldn't afford, and then said "fuck it" to the thought of grinding.
Im not sure how far I got in XII but I got stonewalled in the original release by the elder wyrm boss right after a viera village where I just couldn't figure out how to keep everyone from being wrecked by negative statuses with a lot of Gambit making or manual control so I just never went back.
Best thing for this one is to just Gambit a couple of the worst ones and suffer the rest. You don't want to spend all your time recovering.
XII I gave up on fairly early when I spent all my money on a crafting material (thinking it would give me immediate benefit), got to a new area that was impossible to do without new equipment I couldn't afford, and then said "fuck it" to the thought of grinding.
XII is grindy, but Zodiac has a fast speed feature that makes it so much better.
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12 was the one i wanted to like but couldnt. Maybe the international version would be better. I think the only ff i liked after 9 was 10-2. And it was almost criminally short. 14 had some cool things, but locking servers at launch due to population meant i couldnt play with friends, and getting groups for dungeons to move the story forward was a pain, so it didnt feel worth my time. I hear the expansions are better, but i dont want to drop like $100 on all the expansions and a sub to try it. I would love a scaled down ff game graphics wise, if they could put out an interesting game. Like make it a little cartoony and give me story and cool combat.
Not sure when you tried 14, but getting groups was actually quite easy when I played a couple years ago, even as DPS. Can't really say much about any of the rest, though, but just in case that helps :P
DPS queues for regular dungeons run about 15m in my experience. Which I usually spend on crafting or just browsing the forums here or...
Maybe this was always possible and I miraculously evaded it my whole life or just blocked out memory of it but I'm currently standing on empty space in between two boxes in the beginners Hall in vii on switch and it won't let me move anywhere else so that's a fun bug.
Man... This game aged uh, a lot. Barret tells you to not be a girl if you say you can't hold on to the exploded railing. Like cool, thanks, reasonable thing to say in the situation.
Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
Think I'm burning out on FFXII, just cleared the
Sword of Kings dungeon and having a hard time following the plot. We wanted to get this thing so Ashe could smash nethicite? Did that ever get mentioned before? I thought it was just proof she's a king's kid...
Also all the status effects enemies can cast are kinda wearisome. I try getting creative with the Gambits, but if I'm actually clearing out the ailments and staying alive, I'm running low on MP. :I
Maybe this was always possible and I miraculously evaded it my whole life or just blocked out memory of it but I'm currently standing on empty space in between two boxes in the beginners Hall in vii on switch and it won't let me move anywhere else so that's a fun bug.
Man... This game aged uh, a lot. Barret tells you to not be a girl if you say you can't hold on to the exploded railing. Like cool, thanks, reasonable thing to say in the situation.
FFVII has held up about as well as two decade old lasagna from that Italian restaurant across town that keeps getting shut down and reopening under a different name every couple of months
Sword of Kings dungeon and having a hard time following the plot. We wanted to get this thing so Ashe could smash nethicite? Did that ever get mentioned before? I thought it was just proof she's a king's kid...
Also all the status effects enemies can cast are kinda wearisome. I try getting creative with the Gambits, but if I'm actually clearing out the ailments and staying alive, I'm running low on MP. :I
Only clear the ailments that are critical to remove to be able to finish the fight (and even then, maybe have Gambit priority for finishing off a low-HP enemy). Try to have only one character on ailment-clearing duty, then the other two characters that strictly remove ailments that prevent the curing character from doing that job (and only on that character).
I seem to recall that specific dungeon being pretty rough in that department and also being regularly low on MP. That's one of the few places where I recall running in circles regularly to recover MP between battles. That gets better as your MP tends to skyrocket (and you get more ways to restore it).
Plot point,
Yes the objective was to obtain the proof. But in the process of obtaining it, Ashe learns what the sword can actually do, and now she finds another potential route to take - one decidedly more violent. At the same time, political winds have shifted, because the Bad Guys are acting at the same time as the player's party, further complicating the way forward.
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
The plot in XII was impossible for me to follow. Running around trashing monsters was fun enough to keep me going. I really only remember a couple spots in the game where status effects spam got annoying. I was pretty over-leveled most the game though so it wasn't too tough with the right gambits. My strategy was basically everyone pummel the mindflayer asap.
Yeah, I tried to keep one character on a strict "kill everything fast" Gambit setup. It was usually either my hardest-hitting fighter (hammers, axes, or greatswords) or black magic cast against weakness. Everyone else mixed buffing, recovery, and support attacks.
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
I tried to set up this weak to fire > oil > fire gambit that turned out to not be that useful except when a fire weak enemy that the oil would actually work on appeared. When that did happen they died quick! There's a lot of possibilities though if you dig into it.
Strange in this day and age to get considerable tidbits from a good ol' fashioned screenshot batch plus writeup. Outstanding on the mechanical side of things is character building with a mishmash of elements from FFIX and X: abilities tied to equipment (or at least weapons) and a more straightforward take on the Sphere Grid adjunct to said weapons. You learn abilities tied to each combat implement, and once mastered will keep that ability for later invocation, even after you replace its host. As for the Sphere Grid, it's a pretty straight take, from appearances. Get skill points and spend them on various buffs and attributes from a special menu. With a twist of FFVII flavor, one such attribute is the ability to augment your materia slots. Pretty interesting, and I wonder how this will affect viability of older weapons even in lategame.
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
Why can't we get all these cool layers in an actually new FF game?
Whhyyyyyyy
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KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
Why can't we get all these cool layers in an actually new FF game?
Whhyyyyyyy
I'd think that having some of the early ground work already done, since they're working off, in a sense, an existing game and feel that the game has, opens them up to try more things to play with it.
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Weapon upgrade system looks almost exactly like the Crystarium from XIII. I'm guessing without the tiers.
I didn't really like the equipment-based system of IX because it encouraged grinding (so you don't carry weak weapons into stronger areas) and made it easy to miss out on important skills if you happened to skip a shop or chest. I feel like that was more of an execution issue than anything else, so I guess we'll see how VII-R.1 handles it. This could easily fall into Guide Dang It territory. On the other hand I'm going to guess there's a lot less equipment than in a game like IX, especially since you basically level these up. That's actually a really good way to drag out equipment drops so that we're not needing original late-game gear while still in Midgar (and then just repeating it or whatever in the next installment). It would also suggest they shouldn't be easily missed / no permanent missing. And Materia probably still has most of the actual important stuff anyway (which also can be a missable problem).
Another interesting thing mentioned in that blog article - Nomura has been planning out the Remake since the Final Fantasy VII Compilation, and it was supposed to be the final title of that run. Was this already general knowledge? Because that's a long time to be ruminating on what to do with this game. No wonder it seems to be absolutely dripping with ideas.
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I need to be able to keep my Buster Sword for the whole game. Sure, I'l unequip it to lean new abilities and whatnot, but if I'm not working on that, I want my Buster Sword.
I can see that, and I hope it does work like that. I like the newer RPG approach of equipment remaining viable all game (Souls, etc.) but doing different things for you. It also makes a lot more sense. Why do small country villages sell weapons so superior to what's available in Midgar? Why does Cloud bother carrying a sword that is so objectively bad within the world? Why does a bat with nails in it do so much more damage than many specialist giant weapons?
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
Why can't we get all these cool layers in an actually new FF game?
Whhyyyyyyy
I'd think that having some of the early ground work already done, since they're working off, in a sense, an existing game and feel that the game has, opens them up to try more things to play with it.
Yea but they used to have all these interesting systems for every new game. The last few were just a bit more shallow in those areas and now for this one they are finally doing cool stuff again.
Just makes me sad.
Also I like changing equipment I don't like using the same model weapon all game. Heck games where getting new weapons doesn't change the model is a HUGE downside for me. One of the big issues I have with the Trails series. Never feels cool to get a new sword because it's always the same sword.
I think we've already seen Hardedge in trailers? He won't have nothing but the Buster Sword the whole game.
If that is in response to me, yea I know that. I was still responding to the idea that weapons don't get progressively better. I don't personally like that. I like progression with branches when it comes to weapons.
The other part was just an example of how much I dislike the idea of not changing weapons.
Part 1 probably took more of the leg work when it comes to what they wanted to do, what systems they wanted to build, etc. Now that all that is in place, the next part probably won't take nearly as long. I'd also wager that making sure folks know they are already working on part 2 will convince some folks pick up part 1 vs waiting.
Part 1 probably took more of the leg work when it comes to what they wanted to do, what systems they wanted to build, etc. Now that all that is in place, the next part probably won't take nearly as long. I'd also wager that making sure folks know they are already working on part 2 will convince some folks pick up part 1 vs waiting.
I absolutely find it reassuring that they're already on to part two, because the Squareenix of recent years has done fuckall to convince me they won't ditch the FF7 remake the millisecond it looks like it might be anything less than an ultra-mega-hit.
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
edited December 2019
Not to be a negative nellie, but "working on part 2" can be a lot of things.
But yeah, presumably now that the systems are in place, work will proceed faster, because hopefully they will be consistent between games.
According to those interview articles, they've technically been "working" on the remake since Final Fantasy 7 Compilation. And this is from Nomura (Versus XIII, KH3).
But, it's almost certain that part 2 is at least in pre-production. They could even already be working on the art assets and engine version porting (because next gen), as little of that is likely needed at this point in part 1's development.
So. A little optimism, a little cynicism.
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
Part 1 probably took more of the leg work when it comes to what they wanted to do, what systems they wanted to build, etc. Now that all that is in place, the next part probably won't take nearly as long. I'd also wager that making sure folks know they are already working on part 2 will convince some folks pick up part 1 vs waiting.
Late, but I wouldn't count on it. If part 1 is all Midgar and part 2 is outside of it, there's going to be an absolute shitton of new art assets to create. There's also all the various new things to put in there like new plot, minigames, etc.
Having the basic engine and combat done will help, but this could still take a loooooong time to finish.
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SnicketysnickThe Greatest Hype Man inWesterosRegistered Userregular
At the least I would hope that the studio has roughly blocked out A)how many parts it needs and B)where those parts begin/end. That would be the absolute first thing needed imo. (I'd go 1 as is, 2 ending at the end of the temple, 3 at the crater and 4 being the final part*, assuming that it it's only Midgar that actually needs a bit of expansion and you don't want to be daft and make like 6 games)
*ff7 story spoils
starting 4 as Tifa and spending about a third of it as her would be pretty rad and a fun twist for new players
If actual production has started on part 2 then fantastic, but I'm not counting on it yet.
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Yep, I played the game on launch day and the first week.
Final Fantasy is my favorite game franchise of all time, and I burned a whole week of PTO at work to stay at home and play XV. I was super hyped for it. And I loved everything leading up to it. I enjoyed both demos. I enjoyed the Kingsglaive movie. I enjoyed the Brotherhood animated shorts. I wanted to like the game.
But the game they delivered on launch day was incomplete and pretty bad. I stuck with it and finished it. But by the end it was basically hate-finishing it. I beat it and got the plat out of spite, not because I enjoyed it.
And I have not gone back to replay it with all the DLC and patches.
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I love 12, especially the complete Zodiac HD version, but I can see plenty of reasons it wouldn't sit well with a player. What was it about 12 that bounced you off? We can maybe help to see if the new version would grab you or if it's hopeless.
14 i'm pretty sure just gives away the old expansions now. I'm like 99% certain if you buy Shadowbringers and add it to your existing account, you should have access to all of the content to get caught up. You will still have to play all of that content, unless you pay for a story skip in the online store. But the story is well worth playing. Heavensward is/was my favorite Final Fantasy story of all time. Shadowbringers is super good, every bit as good as Heavensward. Probably better written. I still prefer Heavensward because it's an expansion about dragons, which as a personal preference I like more than the subject matter of Shadowbringers. But there's no denying that Shadowbringers is probably the best MMO expansion pack ever made. And it's definitely a close contender for favorite Final Fantasy story.
Not sure when you tried 14, but getting groups was actually quite easy when I played a couple years ago, even as DPS. Can't really say much about any of the rest, though, but just in case that helps :P
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Would you like to see a technical breakdown of FFXII on Switch and Xbox One? Too bad, you're seeing it anyway.
Joking aside, it's an old enough game that the technical differences between platforms...is fairly subtle (an option for a 60 FPS framerate aside, anyway, but that could be kind of an odd experience).
XII is grindy, but Zodiac has a fast speed feature that makes it so much better.
DPS queues for regular dungeons run about 15m in my experience. Which I usually spend on crafting or just browsing the forums here or...
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Man... This game aged uh, a lot. Barret tells you to not be a girl if you say you can't hold on to the exploded railing. Like cool, thanks, reasonable thing to say in the situation.
Also all the status effects enemies can cast are kinda wearisome. I try getting creative with the Gambits, but if I'm actually clearing out the ailments and staying alive, I'm running low on MP. :I
FFVII has held up about as well as two decade old lasagna from that Italian restaurant across town that keeps getting shut down and reopening under a different name every couple of months
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I seem to recall that specific dungeon being pretty rough in that department and also being regularly low on MP. That's one of the few places where I recall running in circles regularly to recover MP between battles. That gets better as your MP tends to skyrocket (and you get more ways to restore it).
Plot point,
Strange in this day and age to get considerable tidbits from a good ol' fashioned screenshot batch plus writeup. Outstanding on the mechanical side of things is character building with a mishmash of elements from FFIX and X: abilities tied to equipment (or at least weapons) and a more straightforward take on the Sphere Grid adjunct to said weapons. You learn abilities tied to each combat implement, and once mastered will keep that ability for later invocation, even after you replace its host. As for the Sphere Grid, it's a pretty straight take, from appearances. Get skill points and spend them on various buffs and attributes from a special menu. With a twist of FFVII flavor, one such attribute is the ability to augment your materia slots. Pretty interesting, and I wonder how this will affect viability of older weapons even in lategame.
Whhyyyyyyy
Also they announced that they're already working on Part 2.
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I'd think that having some of the early ground work already done, since they're working off, in a sense, an existing game and feel that the game has, opens them up to try more things to play with it.
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I didn't really like the equipment-based system of IX because it encouraged grinding (so you don't carry weak weapons into stronger areas) and made it easy to miss out on important skills if you happened to skip a shop or chest. I feel like that was more of an execution issue than anything else, so I guess we'll see how VII-R.1 handles it. This could easily fall into Guide Dang It territory. On the other hand I'm going to guess there's a lot less equipment than in a game like IX, especially since you basically level these up. That's actually a really good way to drag out equipment drops so that we're not needing original late-game gear while still in Midgar (and then just repeating it or whatever in the next installment). It would also suggest they shouldn't be easily missed / no permanent missing. And Materia probably still has most of the actual important stuff anyway (which also can be a missable problem).
Another interesting thing mentioned in that blog article - Nomura has been planning out the Remake since the Final Fantasy VII Compilation, and it was supposed to be the final title of that run. Was this already general knowledge? Because that's a long time to be ruminating on what to do with this game. No wonder it seems to be absolutely dripping with ideas.
Yea but they used to have all these interesting systems for every new game. The last few were just a bit more shallow in those areas and now for this one they are finally doing cool stuff again.
Just makes me sad.
Also I like changing equipment I don't like using the same model weapon all game. Heck games where getting new weapons doesn't change the model is a HUGE downside for me. One of the big issues I have with the Trails series. Never feels cool to get a new sword because it's always the same sword.
If that is in response to me, yea I know that. I was still responding to the idea that weapons don't get progressively better. I don't personally like that. I like progression with branches when it comes to weapons.
The other part was just an example of how much I dislike the idea of not changing weapons.
It's possible they've gotten good pre-order numbers already.
I absolutely find it reassuring that they're already on to part two, because the Squareenix of recent years has done fuckall to convince me they won't ditch the FF7 remake the millisecond it looks like it might be anything less than an ultra-mega-hit.
But yeah, presumably now that the systems are in place, work will proceed faster, because hopefully they will be consistent between games.
"One artist started sketching Wutai in their spare time, and we were like 'sure, ok'"
But isn't that going to be in part 17?
But, it's almost certain that part 2 is at least in pre-production. They could even already be working on the art assets and engine version porting (because next gen), as little of that is likely needed at this point in part 1's development.
So. A little optimism, a little cynicism.
Late, but I wouldn't count on it. If part 1 is all Midgar and part 2 is outside of it, there's going to be an absolute shitton of new art assets to create. There's also all the various new things to put in there like new plot, minigames, etc.
Having the basic engine and combat done will help, but this could still take a loooooong time to finish.
*ff7 story spoils
If actual production has started on part 2 then fantastic, but I'm not counting on it yet.
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