The way nobody recognizes them is pretty weird. Shinra could easily just put security footage of them on the news and instantly put everyone on high alert. They don't, because...plot armor?
It'll be interesting if they explain this in the remake. Something like President Shinra saying that they don't actually want to capture the leader of Avalanche because as long as he's out there they can keep using him as a boogeyman to keep people afraid and keep people enlisting in the military.
It's shown in the game. After you blow up the first reactor, it blows up even worse because Shinra has all of their machines shoot everything to make it worse than it would have been. Jessie blames herself for using too volatile of an explosive agent, but it wasn't even that. They control the bomb in the second reactor and still make it go off. Then blame Avalanche as terrorists conspiring with Wutai.
I'm only on chapter 9, but in the original game they use Avalanche as a scapegoat for blowing the pillars on one of the slices. They're being typical fascists trying to control the slums, keep the people afraid, and the people on top also afraid. Blaming Wutai in this game seems weirdly different. I can't recall if that was a factor in the original.
Other notes... I would put it in Jessie's butt. She's my favorite. In the original I was a huge fan of Aerith, and really liked the Tifa backstory. In this one Tifa is a bit weird, and Aerith is downright annoying. Cloud is also more of a do-gooder, and way less moody, dark, emo. He says all sorts of inspiring shit when he used to just not say shit. It's not enough to be off-putting, but it does seem counter to the character.
Roche and the bike scene and mechanics was complete trash.
Side quests are fortunately limited, and usually short. Everything is lengthened by pretty well voice acted dialog and conversation.
Fighting is annoying. I've gotten it figured out, but it's just dumb. Camera targeting is trash. Any kind of fight where you're in close quarters or the mobs like to hug walls, causing your attacks to just hit the fucking wall is tiring.
Difficulty? I'd say it's relatively easy, as I've done zero farming to level anything. I do have to use a consistent stream of potions which is funny since I almost never used any in the original. Reno was the only fight so far that was in anyway a challenge, and only because I'd never had to use Guard. Just guard an attack, counter, guard again, use ability, wait for limit; stage 2, so the same but also dodge fire. Rude was hilariously easy. Rocket bomb turrets in the tunnels before the second reactor almost wiped me.
Are they getting rid of Moogles?
Where's the absurd monsters? Like the house looking thing that shoots rockets. There hasn't been much diversity in enemies. Big boss fights are probably way too chaotic and ADHD. You don't even get a second to enjoy their amazing artwork, or effects.
The ATB bars take up like a microscopic section of the screen. But I mean, the original took up 1/3 of the whole screen. Tradeoffs. Anyone tried Classic yet? I want to finish on Normal the whole way before I dick with the difficulty.
This is almost a completely different game. It's got the setting, the characters, materia, weapons, and relative plot, but it's all different. Even the music feels like a shadow of itself.
Barret humming the victory tune after winning battles got an honest laugh out of me. Probably my personal highlight of the game.
