#epic got that gya-

[sunnymainecoon]

I still refuse to say his name

It just feels like I'm gonna get cursed or something.....

[good-prog]

ff7 impressions

I'm overdue on a 7/7 remake review. I played the two games in conjunction with each other, which is to say, I got somewhat bored of FF7 after the Kalm flashback, went to play FF7R, then came back with a renewed interest in the original game.

FF7:

Main campaign date: 2023/11/28-2023/01/02 Playtime (Steam) to roll credits: 57.2 hours (I afk'd/wiped a lot :() Playtime (in game) to roll credits: 38.5 hours

FF7R:

Main campaign date: 2023/12/18-2023/02/27 Playtime (Steam) to roll credits: 50.2 hours (including DLC)

Spoiler warning as always. Not super polished, just wanted to compile my notes.

On FF7 (original):

This was my first playthrough of FF7. I didn't experience it as a child, so I don't have nostalgia or context for that era of video gaming to positively affect my impressions. I'm glad I played it and was able to experience a piece of gaming history; sure, it's made a significant cultural impact, but it's not some serious epic 100% of the time. The sidequests and minigames throughout provided some levity, whether it was Wall Market or piloting a bike or submarine with counterintuitive controls.

Going in, I was aware of the major story beats (Cloud takes on Zack's persona, Aerith dies, the lifestream is involved) but not too much about their execution.

gameplay:

I liked the flexibility of the materia system. Most of the game I was running cloud as a tank (counter + cover + HP up), until I couldn't guarantee that he could stay alive through a turn of attacks toward the end of the game. I tried to set up materia loadouts in accordance with different characters' strengths and/or personalities (e.g., Vincent as a magical glass cannon, Yuffie as a thief, Cait Sith as blue mage for manipulating enemies). I had trouble juggling the number of party members (9!); emotional impact aside, Aerith's death at the end of disk 1 was ironically somewhat welcome from a party management perspective.

I typically kept Cloud + 2 of the least leveled characters in my party. I couldn't always find time to swap in party members due to laziness (not enough materia to go around), so I neglected Cid and Vincent until the game forced the player to have Cid in the party.

I've been babysat too much by modern games. I had difficulty figuring out where to go after Midgar (to the point where I ended up using a walkthrough for major story objectives). I also lost a significant amount of time due to limited save/checkpoints (e.g., wiping to a morbol high up on the Great Glacier, losing an hour of progress as a result).

graphics:

Despite the graphics being dated, I still liked the visual quirks/personality each character got (e.g., Rufus Shinra's hair flip, "gya haa haa"/"kya haa haa" Heidegger/Scarlet, Tifa tucking a strand of Aerith's hair behind her ear). There were also nice details in the overworld (e.g., the Mako-polluted sky above Midgar, or the perpetual sunset near Cosmo Canyon). The summon animations are cool the first time, but take forever to resolve after, same as Sephiroth's Supernova attack.

story:

Aerith's death hit really hard, even though I knew it was going to happen--she looked so hopeful as she prayed for holy, and then Sephiroth comes down from who knows where suddenly, kills her, then immediately leaves, leaving the party to deal with the JENOVA flesh that remains (all while her theme plays).

I loved how willing the story was to to bring its protagonist so low in contrast of to a more generic video games protagonist embodying some sort of power fantasy. One of these days I'll think through how relatable Cloud's arc of putting on a front (both pre and post Nibelheim incident), dealing with memory loss due to trauma, totally breaking down then having his friends work with him to accept his "true" self perhaps in the form of a "cringe" "personal" "essay" but today is not that day.

Story beats that I was confused about, but didn't really detract from the overall presentation (presumably some of these are addressed in the FF7 Compilation):

Why did Hojo think combining Mako and Jenova cells in his subjects was a good idea, besides "comically bad and unethical science experiment"? Seems like he's introducing confounding variables. (Maybe offscreen he experimented with each separately and got desireable, but distinct results?)

How is a rocket functional after 25 years? (Sure, you can argue that it was well engineered, but that's in stark contrast to the lack of thoroughness with preflight procedures (see: Shera and Checkov's rocket))

Jenova (as alien, rather than supposed "ancient") wasn't well explained--could be the fault of me not paying attention, the translation, or the original writing. Perhaps she's just meant to be unknown/incomprehensible.

Is Sephiroth (as human) or Jenova driving the events of the Jenova reunion? (if it's Sephiroth, how is he able to maintain autonomy via strength of will when Jenova has destroyed uncountable civilizations previously?)

Not sure if humanity still exists 500 years in the future (re: ending FMV), though it doesn't negate the overall impact of the story. After all, the party manages to save the world the best they can in their particular time.

highlights:

The opening bombing mission is so strong and immediately drew me in, even if Cloud himself isn't invested in Avalanche's mission. The music helps: it starts with peaceful opening strings/mallets, then all the other parts come in, culminating in the piano/timpani urging the party on

Escaping the Shinra building on the double elevators took forever, since Barret was my only ranged attacker (I didn't realize materia had been removed from Aerith/Nanaki)

Tifa helping cloud reconnect with his inner child in the lifestream

Turning Shinra's weapons against themselves (e.g., highwind crew mutiny)

Bugenhagen! Old men (see: Maechen, FFX) always have so much to teach the party. Loved seeing him tease Nanaki and telling him the truth about his father.

FMV where Shinra diverted Midgar's mako output to power the Sister Ray (leaving the entirety of the city dark): chilling! visually representing the human cost of their work (even if said work at that point in the story was self preservation (and by extension, saving the planet))

"I'm Cloud--the master of my own illusionary world" or "Let's mosey!" and other endearing turns of phrase that show off Cloud's true self, in an endearing/dorky way

Fighting Bizzaro Sephiroth: this fight took a while because I didn't understand how to damage the core with two parties. I thought I could just rely on the main party, but I needed the secondary one to do damage to expose the core.

I never actually used Omnislash during the final 1v1 confrontation; I hesitated too long and Cloud defeated Sephiroth with a counterattack.

music highlights (in no particular order)

Everyone loves the soundtrack, but here are a couple of my favorites:

Marching theme (even if I failed the parade minigame)

Jenova's theme (especially when descending past the point of no return)

Aerith's leitmotif as the party descended Northern Crater

One winged angel kicking in after Bizzaro Sephiroth was defeated

Notes on 7r:

7 Remake was a decent game that at its best, made the Midgar section of the original more impactful. At its worst it was a hallway simulator with too many cutscenes or forced walking segments that interrupted the flow of gameplay, but hey, at least they were pretty! The characters look fantastic in high resolution, and battle animations feel stylish and forceful (with the exception of Aerith's standard magical attack).

big fan of the character development (really came through in the localization/voice acting), especially for minor characters like the Turks or Rufus that don't really come into play until later in the main game. Contrary to the other parts of the Compilation that make Cloud come off as edgy and cold, Remake brings out the insecure/immature/awkward parts of Cloud's personality. After all, he's spent 5 years in stasis, and is arguably still a teenager mentally.

That being said, I wish there was more banter when the party was just walking around without triggering a cutscene (see: FF15).

gameplay

Combat was fun! I liked learning how to effectively use the ATB system by being proactive about healing/barriers/mitigation, but also knowing when to play more aggressively. Stacking % stagger on Tifa is super satisfying. I don't know if I'll do a full hard mode playthrough but I might pick at it a bit in advance of the second part of the Remake trilogy.

In typical fashion, I barely made it through the bike game (in no small part due to the poor KB/M controls); Jessie even called me a bad driver.

On the remake's changed elements

I don't have strong feelings about the whispers, but i knew going in that they were meant to keep the original story on rails (so it was more a given rather than me reacting and going "wtf are they doing here").

I enjoyed how much the cheesy/cool factor of the game got amped up, like fighting the motor ball while on a bike, or turning forgettable trash mobs into full spectacles (see: Hell House, the Swordipede in Hojo's lab, even Rufus Shinra's boss fight).

I was very annoyed having Sephiroth dangled in my face but never getting to fight him; to be fair, the original game does that to the player (but arguably to better effect, since he doesn't actually show up in person: just signs of his power/destruction).

music

The music had to grow on me -- the full orchestral arrangements toward the beginning of the game felt almost too rich, like the sonic equivalent of expecting crackers but getting a three layered cake instead. It wasn't bad (quite the opposite!!), just wasn't what I expected.

favorite tracks that come to mind:

The arrangement of j-e-n-o-v-a that plays when fighting the tentacles

Collapsed Expressway theme (robot hand minigame)

Yuffie's theme in the DLC (really captured her mischief)

closing thoughts

After beating FF7, I immediately watched Advent Children with friends. It was less comprehensible than the Kingsglaive movie, though it had a lot of cool fight choreography (and I'm sure the CGI was a landmark for 2006). The main villains were Sephiroth remnants, but their personalities were terrible; I didn't find their motivations to be well communicated or compelling. Also, without reading the novels addressing the years following the main game, I was unable to take Rufus and the Turks' good intentions for the world seriously. I definitely squealed when Sephiroth actually showed up, though (and blocked original Omnislash!)

I'm looking forward to how the next installments of the Remake continue and remix the story. I'd also eventually like to play Crisis Core to see the additional characterization Sephiroth and Zack get. (Of course, the cynical part of me thinks this is primarily a money grab by SE, but I've enjoyed the entries in the Compilation I've played through.)