Granted, still not at the end, have really been pacing myself, but I don't think it would have been better. The backstory stuff with Avalanche alone elevates this retelling quite a bit so far. I'll see what I think when I finish, though.
I really think they knocked it out of the park. Easily a 9/10 for me, losing a point for the sub-par battle system. I disliked how EVERYTHING used a full ATB bar, such as Assess, etc. I got used to the pace of battle, but Barret was far OP and easily handled everything. Lack of Mug materia was gay. Materia, in general, was not used very well this game compared to 7. Using Refocus for a limit was just too much since a limit would obliterate 99% of all the bosses anyway. I dont like how you couldn't play Red XIII.
Other than that, game was fantastic. Great VO even on English (I loved Red XIIIs voice the most). Barret was a badass just like original, I like. Story was A+ and exactly what I hoped I would get out of it. I'm actually glad they didn't just "remake" 7, and instead added a shitload of backstory. The story is still the same, but with all the backstory felt extremely satisfying.
Granted, still not at the end, have really been pacing myself, but I don't think it would have been better. The backstory stuff with Avalanche alone elevates this retelling quite a bit so far. I'll see what I think when I finish, though.
Yeah this. I'm very glad they didn't just slap 4k on it and call it done. If they follow through I really look forward to this entire set of games. They should have come up with a better name than "FF7: Remake" though.
I really think they knocked it out of the park. Easily a 9/10 for me, losing a point for the sub-par battle system. I disliked how EVERYTHING used a full ATB bar, such as Assess, etc. I got used to the pace of battle, but Barret was far OP and easily handled everything. Lack of Mug materia was gay. Materia, in general, was not used very well this game compared to 7. Using Refocus for a limit was just too much since a limit would obliterate 99% of all the bosses anyway. I dont like how you couldn't play Red XIII.
Other than that, game was fantastic. Great VO even on English (I loved Red XIIIs voice the most). Barret was a badass just like original, I like. Story was A+ and exactly what I hoped I would get out of it. I'm actually glad they didn't just "remake" 7, and instead added a shitload of backstory. The story is still the same, but with all the backstory felt extremely satisfying.
I'm not sure what's more pathetic. Fedor having people post his reddit copy/paste shit for him or the people making the copy/paste reddit posts for him.
I'm not sure what's more pathetic. Fedor having people post his reddit copy/paste shit for him or the people making the copy/paste reddit posts for him.
Finished the game yesterday. Kept out of this thread since a few days before release and didn't watch the last trailer since it apparently had spoilers.
- Did all sidequests (worth doing for rewards).
There are 20ish? of them. Only first ones had sewer rats, I was disappointed. UT promised me all the rats. Most side quests feature harder enemies than what you previously encountered in that chapter (only 3 chapters have side quests).
- Only things not completed -
Pro master pull ups, 3 solo arena challenges in the later part of the game that didn't give rewards I needed/wanted. Missed one "battle info" quest that required mastering 12 materias. I had 11 at the end. Wasn't something I focused on.
- Ended at 44ish hours, so around 43ish active played? Timer stops going if you leave it in the menu for a few minutes.
Bugs / problems encountered
- Missing textures are apparent and some low resolution textures are almost jarring, especially the part where you look down on Sector 7 on the way to the Shinra tower. Some of the areas below look like textures from the original. Not sure if that is due to PS4 limitations or what, but nothing in regards to that isn't "fixable". A PC version should be able to handle all the high resolution textures as well as limiting/removing texture popins.
- One bug where in a fight, one character just stopped working. Couldn't use abilities, and just stood there. Didn't take damage from enemies hitting the character either. Had to solo with the other character (did not have a status effect, just bugged). After the fight, it fixed itself and never happened again.
Overall verdict
Enjoyed every moment of it. The "padding" of the game wasn't really sidequests, but rather that going from one section to the next had content so to speak. Like going to the Shinra tower is a 1-2 hour journey with bosses as you climb your way there. Other than that, if you played the original, you always know "this is coming next", and it does. It is a fan service all the way. They even have the room for Tifas ultimate weapon with the minigun on the roof that I guess we get access to in 100++ hours in 5 years. Voices are great. Didn't like Barret that much at first, but he grew on me.
Combat was fun and gets better once you get more materias though I felt there were too many purple ones compared to the limited slots. Once I got haste + AE cast, that never left my setup.
Looking aside from some missing textures and popins, the visuals are amazing. Especially if you played the original as you get a lot of nostalgia hits from "ohhh this place! It looks so good!". One CGI scene in the later parts of the game made me remember that back in the day, Square was miles above any developer when it came to cut scenes.
Absolutely worst part of the game. It ended. The open world part, with airships, chocobos, submarines, exploring the new world. That's the part I really want to play. They set up the story now, and it sucks not knowing when the next part will come. My hope is that part 2 will not be a Playstation exclusive, and that I will be able at that time to get Part 1 and 2 on PC. Also really hope that the next parts aren't as "linear" as Midgar as it really isn't a town to explore. You go to the exact same places as the original, there is just stuff on the path between those places. And while that FF 13 type of linearity fits in line with the original, the next part is anything but that. That was the big "oh shit" moment, when you left and suddenly had a world map.
9/10 score for me judging the game by itself as a stand alone title. Increase to 9.5+ if you fixed textures/popins. If it wasn't for wanting to get back to Persona 5 Royal, I'd start with the hard mode right away.
8/10 if I were to be very honest since it does matter that they cut the game up in pieces.
7.5/10 extremely honest and not say that I wasn't disappointed in not having a turn based mode. The "Classic" difficulty is an insult to anyone who likes turn based, and their statements that this game apparently had both active and turn based combat is just not true. Though I did end up enjoying the combat.... it isn't "both".
End result with all parts on PC could end up as a 10/10 experience and one of the greatest RPGs made. I had high hopes for the full remake, this part made them higher, but waiting is going to suck.
