#ffxv reimagines

[primamchorus]

any time ignis comes up with a new recipe since getting into cooking has always been a highlight for any of the nobles.

[paintedscales]

WIP Wednesday :: Six Sentences

Tagged by @improvised-finish, thank you!

Tagging: @elliewiltarwyn, @akirakirxaa, @ainyan, @janzoo, @idalenn, @otherworldseekers, @sasslett, @humblemooncat

I have a couple WIPs, but here are some from things I'm working on:

Steppe by Steppe // Available here or Ao3!

Nomin hurried along to get herself seated in the back of the wain. Before she crawled in, however, Bayarmaa stopped her and then handed her a cloth. Nomin held it and stared down at it before looking back up at Bayarmaa inquisitively. “What's this for?” Nomin asked. “It's for your nose and mouth. You'll need it,” Bayarmaa briefly explained before she walked back toward the front of the wain to get the harness attached.

FFXV: Reimagined // Available here or Ao3!

“... You still should have at least said something. You know I'd never sell you out -- least of all to Mum.” Tandem sighed, his frown deepening. He then let out a frustrated scoff. “Six above… No point bitching about it now, I guess. What can you do?”

[happy-orc]

Continuing my quest to reimagine the FFXV crew in HZD. Today is Somnus, the Carja general. Feel free to ignore all that Shadow Carja imagery, I am sure there will be no civil war between these brothers  :)

[ffxvremix]

Sign Ups Close May 26

So what is a remix?

It's a chance to reimagine existing FFXV works with your own interpretation.

Join us and get to play in someone else's sandbox and stretch your creative musicles!

💎FAQ: bit.ly/2UblWLa

💎SIGN UPS: bit.ly/3y2hPs6

[magpiejay1234]

To add more to the Square Enix financial troubles (these are becoming standard now), the current situation probably means they might take a similar approach to Resident Evil remakes, and remake FFX/FFXIII games, with the assets used in FFX/X-2 remakes being used for Nojima's FFX-3 audio drama pitch, after FF7, and FF9 remakes are over.

(Since Yasumi Matsuno is on-and-off with SE, don't expect a full budget FFXII remake.)

Otherwise, it is very likely that Sony will attempt another hostile takeover.

For others:

**FFXV remake basically can't happen, since Tabatha left the company, and game is still incomplete. Nomura will try to push his FFVSXIII ideas for any such idea, and SE executives probably won't like this, unless it is their last resort.

**FFVIII remake will likely need the same kind mid-90s/early 2000s marketing push to become as profitable as executives, and investors want. It would sell well, and get good reviews, but it needs to become a cultural event to become as important as investors want.

**FF5-6 were supposed to get remakes on DS, later 3DS similar to FF3-4 DS remakes, but that opportunity is lost now. Tabatha clearly wanted to a FF6 remake after Nomura, and co. were finished with FF7, but he is not part of SE right now, so that second opportunity is also lost.

**FF1 gets some sort of reimagining every once in a while, so it is not worth mentioning.

[ghostoftheyear]

I was looking for the number of blogs I follow (which I couldn't find) and stumbled across all the posts I reblogged in the past which have since fallen under community guideline restriction, apparently.

These included:

A post of images of Fiona -- my cat.

A Yuri on Ice! cosplay photoshoot, both cosplayers fully clothed, one in which they were replicating that shot from the end of episode 10 (?) where Victor tackles Yuri onto the ice after his short program.

Some fanart from FFXV, in which Prompto and Ignis were depicted as adorable little naked chibis with teeny tiny dongs. They weren't doing anything sexual or graphic, but oh my god penises. Hide your eyes.

Yuri on Ice gifset of all the asses lovingly depicted in animation on the show. Le gasp.

A cat with several different kittens (fosters) whom he took to like his own. Oh no, a cat cuddling other cats. Obviously sensitive material.

A screenshot from FFXV in which Prompto was taking a selfie and about to be attacked by an MT. Really shocking stuff.

A photoshopped photo set of stills from the live-action Ghost in the Shell movie, reimagined with (I think) Rinko Kikuchi as Kusanagi instead of Scarlett Johanssen. One of the images was of the upper torso of the robot body, with the outer skin transparent so that the inner workings were visible. Scandalous! To other robots, I guess.

I was allowed to appeal the photos of my own cat, but not any of the others. Love to see the algorithm functioning as it should, I guess, protecting delicate sensibilities from a popular skating anime and cute cuddly kitties.

[correct-ffxv]

Prompto: *shivers* Cold.

Noctis: Yeah.

Gladio: If only you weren't a twink, and could regulate your own body temperature.

Prompto: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ferrerochocobo]

"Would that I could join you. But this moment...will have to be enough."

But instead of Luna, it's Vivian speaking of Aera before surrendering to Ardyn when she's stabbed by him.

[otherwindow]

Cindy Aurum from FFXV, reimagined as Chinese American; inspired by the Mississippi Delta Asian community, who speak in southern drawls like her.

[chubbyargentum]

Do you have any tips on how to draw chubby characters?

Hey! Thank you for sending me this ask. I’m happy to help! I’ll draw a skinny person and a fat person for comparisons. I’m in a little bit of a rush so my sketches may be a little messy, but I really hope this helps.

I wanna preface this by saying that every body is different. There is no one “fat body” to adhere to, these are merely tips on how to draw fat characters better/more accurately. 

1: Faces. 

a lot of the time I see people draw fat people with skinny faces, and it was starting to bother me, so I wanna cover that first. fat people, more often than not, have chubby cheeks and double chins!! don’t be afraid to draw them like that. Honestly, I really think these kinds of features need to be normalised. 

2: Arms and Legs

A lot of people refer to fat upper arms as bingo wings. I’m not a fan of the word myself, but its important to acknowledge that they are a thing!! Fat is not stored totally in the torso. You can gain weight in pretty much any part of your body - it just tends to start in your middle and go outwards. 

Most fat people also have thick legs. However, it’s important to note that fat tends to avoid joints, so the knee tends to look a little skinnier than the rest. This isn’t the case for everyone! However, generally, there should be a little contour around the knee. 

3: Torsos

There is a HUGE amount of variance in how a fat person’s torso might look. Like I said, things are different for everyone, but it’s especially important to remember that there is not just one kind of Fat Stomach shape. Here’s a few examples, with a skinny dude as well for comparison. Also, don’t feel scared to draw moobs on masc presenting characters!

Also, bigger bellies tend to hang over belts! 

4: Stretch marks

Most people have stretch marks, whether they’re fat or not! They’re brought about by the body changing in shape. Most fat people tend to have at least a few. They’re most common in the fattest areas of a person’s body, as that’s where their skin has likely changed the most rapidly. They’re common on stomachs, upper arms, thighs, butts and hips. You’ll notice I’ve drawn them onto most of my examples!

5: Don’t do this

I’ve seen people do this thing where they’ll make the proportions of their skinny characters fairly realistic, but then their characters look like cartoony, penguiny blobs. it’s horribly stereotypical and hurtful. don’t do this. 

6: Have fun and don’t let anyone tell you your art of fat characters is ugly/bad/wrong. 

It happens. It’s not nice. Remember those people are dicks. Unless you’re drawing fat people in a disrespectful way, you’re not doing anything wrong by simply depicting them. we need more representation.

Finally, I wanna finish this off with a screenshot redraw I did from FFXV - if you even look at my URL you’ll know I think square enix handled Prompto’s weight loss story badly, so I wanted to reimagine him as having never lost that weight and still being kickass. I feel like this comparison is a good example of how to use a reference of a skinny person to draw a fat character while keeping the image respectful and genuine. 

[mooglecharm]

Finished in four chapters: a gladnis fic reimagining certain events in FFXV with Iris as the Shield and older sister to Gladio.

(Should also mention that rating is Teen and Up. no dire warnings, but do avoid if you don't want to read about underage people having crushes.)

[ Link ]

[primamchorus]

my nobles

[davidmann95]

Your power is mine: thoughts on Kingdom Hearts’ newest, oddest character

Finished Final Fantasy XV over the weekend. Mixed feelings to say the least, but it does give me an excuse to talk about Kingdom Hearts again, specifically this weirdo:

And how it feels like most of the people discussing Yozora and trying to figure out what his deal is are missing half the point. Yes, there’s the apparent connections to Sora and Riku, and there’s his meta association with Noctis and the entire real-life corporate backstory there intertwining with the in-game narrative to an unknown extent. But when he’s discussed as some kind of fusion of Sora and Riku, or a literal reincarnation of Noctis, or that Verum Rex might end up a real game, or something similarly straightforward in terms of “he’s going to be a very important central character going forward”, the ideas or at least the tone of how they’re presented seem to miss an absolutely critical component of how he was introduced to us, in a way that shapes not only him but by extension the entire future of the franchise and its thematic concerns:

We aren’t just supposed to be surprised he’s important because he’s real where we thought he wasn’t. We’re supposed to be surprised because he’s introduced to us as a self-evident gag character.

Not that we’re not supposed to take him seriously where it counts: it’s clear he has an important role going forward and is a force to be reckoned with. But no matter what deep, foreboding connections to the Keyblade and Master of Masters may lie within his backstory that may determine the fate of more universes than one, he will never not have had the hilariously inauspicious beginning of being a toy played by Rex the Dinosaur. He doesn’t even have the dignity of being introduced as a game on one of the plot-heavy original worlds! He’s a throwaway gimmick to spice up one of the filler Disney segments, literally a child’s plaything.

Even before we learn the context he’s being presented in...well, look at him. He’s like Riku, who’s cooler than Sora, and Noctis, a Final Fantasy character and therefore cooler than all this Disney stuff, but also he has a LASER SWORD and a CROSSBOW - that are clearly functioning as cool future tech instead of dopey magical powers - and his eyes are MYSTERIOUS MISMATCHING UNNATURAL COLORS and he fights GIANT ROBOTS with a dude in a fedora in a city straight out of the REAL WORLD to save a helpless lady/prize: truly, let no mistake be made, he is VERY, VERY SERIOUS INDEED, AND ALSO, RAD. TO THE MAX. He’s every attempt at reframing contemporary Final Fantasy as slick and modern and cool dialed up and up and up until the tone breaks, without the barest hint of self-awareness even as it advertises its action figure tie-ins. I don’t think that his little Keyblade pattern on his jacket being near-impossible to spot unless you’re looking for it is just to preserve the surprise, but also because the sight of the big keys with the Mickey Mouse logo on them would be anathema to his entire vibe, so important as it may be it must be squirreled away where it can’t make him look dumb. Heck, when Dylan Spouse announced on Twitter he was playing this major character in a childhood favorite franchise of his, surely knowing more than we do about Yozora, his description of the part was “I have lived out my edgy JRPG character fantasies...I even got to say ‘Sorry, but I don’t lose.’” We’re supposed to receive him off the bat as Square Enix, and more specifically Tetsuya Nomura, poking fun at themselves, going ‘yes, we suppose this is all getting to be a bit much, isn’t it?’

And then he enters the story for real.

Obviously he’s much more than a joke now, but the idea of him as something off, something that doesn’t fit in these games, endures. His episode isn’t just in a modern cityscape but skinned in the graphics of the grittier, more detailed style of the Pirates of the Caribbean world meant to evoke photorealism rather than the look of the rest of the game. He interferes with the gameplay in ways no other enemy does, stealing your items and weapons (we’ll get back to that). When he casts you into a void to be attacked by the mechs, it’s not a pure empty white but a mass of abstract polygonal space, evocative of the visuals of early game development. What details we do get of his backstory frame him as a counterpart to Sora on a parallel journey all his own, but the associations with his other source material in Noctis are considerably more...cutting. Credit to @kitsoa, whose own extensive musings on Kingdom Hearts’ increasingly overt metafictional concerns brought to my attention the obvious parallel: that Yozora being changed ‘beyond recognition’ with his heart replaced by another’s is a reasonable, albeit scathing description of Noctis’s revised character in the shift from the Nomura-helmed Final Fantasy Versus XIII to the largely overhauled Final Fantasy XV (and by the same token, the Nameless Star’s identity being stolen comes across as a shot at Versus XIII’s Stella Nox Fleuret being entirely replaced by Lady Lunafreya. Who, by sheer coincidence, would have been corrupted in planned but cancelled DLC into a monster of darkness).

While the comparisons to his source material are not only intentional but textually overt - his introduction as a real boy is literally scored to the FFXV theme music - so is the distancing from that material, given that if Nomura simply wanted to use Noctis the very premise of Kingdom Hearts as a series could have allowed him to use Noctis, and even change him to fit his original vision however he wished given the design and backstory changes to the other Final Fantasy characters involved. Yozora has a distinct role in which he’s still meant to represent that tone and aesthetic, and all signs point to that being because as that representation, he hardly seems an endorsement. He’s a parody, offered up in a demeaning context and tangled up narratively in real-life creative bitterness before being placed as an antagonist, however well-meaning (though keep in mind every secret boss of his kind before - other than Julius, I suppose - went on to become an endgame boss later on), in the player’s path. He may not be a villain, but all signs seem to indicate he’s a figure to be regarded as a contrast to the heroes.

And it’s in that role as a contrast that I have my own theories about what his deal ultimately is, thematically if not plotwise.

For those who saw this in the Kingdom Hearts tag and aren’t superhero fans, that’s Superdoomsday, introduced in Grant Morrison’s run on Action Comics about 8 years ago. One among many takes on an ‘evil Superman’ from a parallel universe, the twist with his world is that rather than a survivor of Krypton, he is literally the materialized concept of Superman - imagined by his reality’s Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen, who created a machine which could bring ideas to life - that when sold to a corporation was reimagined in service of wide public appeal into an all-powerful, uncompromisingly brutal monstrosity clad in armor somewhere between an iPhone, 90s Rob Liefeld battle gear, and Nazi regalia, who ultimately journeyed into the multiverse to stalk and kill other incarnations of Superman, seeing them as competition to his domination of the ‘market’. “The curse...of Superman...” murmurs the dying Kent of that world, “...he becomes anything you want...him...to be...our world...wanted that...”

Yozora is...probably not exactly a 1:1 to that. But as a counterpart to Sora, it absolutely seems as if the main factor by which he contrasts him is that he’s ostensibly the sleeker, edgier model, new-and-improved. He reworks Sora’s story arc and aesthetic into something theoretically cooler and more palatable, steals his power, ‘saves’ him by sealing him away to presumably fight in his stead and thereby take his place as the lead. He is the protagonist so many feel Kingdom Hearts has needed for years, the somber AMV-ready Secret Movie tone and aesthetic stepping into center stage at last rather than maintaining a sunshiney Disney-esque child hero lead to anchor the assorted conspiracies and horrors of much of the rest of the tale. The manner in which he is presented as to make metatextuality an in-universe concern (to call back to Grant Morrison again, his next work after Action Comics was Multiversity, where a major plot point was that the events of parallel universes were unwittingly documented in each others’ pop culture; in that case comic books, in here video games) for Kingdom Hearts to explore in the next main entry is I believe so as to ask what, in fact, Kingdom Hearts as a series should be; is it a Disney series with some incidental Final Fantasy stuff in it? A Final Fantasy spinoff with some Disney elements cluttering it up that should maybe be discarded as it grows up? Something all its own? Is it time for Kingdom Hearts to get Serious? Even if the Kingdom Hearts as imagined by a marketing executive vision of Verum Rex isn’t what’s next, what is, as things get darker and that vision is now part of the narrative whether for good or ill?

So yeah it looks like Kingdom Hearts IV is Kingdom Hearts vs. its own Gritty Realworld! Urban Fantasy AU fanfiction for the soul of the series, and I am extremely here for it.

[dumb-american]

The Rebuild of Final Fantasy VII: Your Expectations Will (Not) Be Met

I apologize for the stupid title and I promise I’m going to talk about the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but I have to get this out of the way first. Sometime in the mid 2000s, acclaimed artist and director Hideaki Anno announced that he was going to remake his beloved anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion the way it should have been the first time, free from technical and budgetary restraints. Evangelion had a notoriously strange ending when the original anime aired, consisting of character talking over still images, abstract art, and simple animations. It was highly polarizing and controversial. Anno, for his part, received death threats and the headquarters of the studio that produced the anime was vandalized. Soon after the initial uproar Anno would direct The End of Evangelion, a retelling of the final two episodes of the anime, and that seemed to mostly satisfy the fanbase. Looking back now, The End of Evangelion wasn’t “fixing” something that was “broken,” no, it was a premonition: a vision of things to come. Why remake the ending when you can just remake the whole damn thing?

The mid 2000s also saw the birth of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII: a sub-series of projects expanding the universe and world of the video game that had “quite possibly the greatest game ever made” proudly printed on the back of its CD case. The Compilation consisted of three games, all on different platforms, and a film. First was Advent Children, a sequel to Final Fantasy VII, where three dudes that look like discarded Sephiroth concept art all have anime fights with our beloved protagonists, culminating in a ridiculous gravity defying sword fight between Cloud and Sephiroth. Before Crisis and Crisis Core are prequels that expand the story of the Turks and Zack Fair, respectively. Then there’s Dirge of Cerberus, an action shooter staring secret party member and former Turk Vincent. Were these projects good? I’d say they were largely forgettable. Crisis Core stood out as the obvious best of the bunch and I think may be worth revisiting.

As a business model, the practice pioneered by the Compilation would continue on and eventually brings us FFXIII (and sequels), FF Versus XIII (which would later become FFXV), and FF Agito XIII (which would later become FF Type-0). If that’s all incredibly confusing to you, I’m sorry, I promise I will begin talking about the Final Fantasy VII Remake soon. Suffice it to say, both Final Fantasy VII and Neon Genesis Evangelion have a certain gravity. They punch above their weight. They are both regarded as absolute classics, flaws and all. And yet, in both cases, the people responsible for their creation decided that their first at bat wasn’t good enough and it was time to recreate them as they were meant to be all along. I think this way of thinking about art is flawed, limitations are as much a part of the creative process as vision and intent. Yet, we find ourselves in a world with a remake of Final Fantasy VII, so I guess we should talk about it.

From this point forward, there’s going to be major spoilers for every Final Fantasy VII related media. So, be warned.

So, is the Final Fantasy VII Remake any good? To me, that’s the least interesting question, but we can get into it. FFVIIR is audacious, that’s for sure. Where Anno condenses and remixes a 26 episode anime series into four feature length films, the FFVIIR team expands an around 5 hour prologue chapter into a 30+ hour entire game. Naturally, there will be some growing pains. The worst example of this is the sewers. The game forces you to slog through an awful sewer level twice, fighting the same boss each time. This expanded sewer level is based on a part of the original game that was only two screens and was never revisited.

Besides the walk from point A to point B, watch a cutscene, fight a boss, repeat that you’d expect from a JRPG, there’s also three chapters where the player can explore and do sidequests. The sidequests are mostly filler, but a select few do accomplish the goal of fleshing out some of the minor characters. You spend way more time with the Avalanche crew, for example. Out of them, only Jesse has something approaching a complete personality or character arc that matters. The main playable cast is practically unchanged which was a bit surprising to me. I figured Square-Enix would tone down Barret’s characterization as Mr. T with a gun for an arm, but they decided, maybe correctly, that Barret is an immutable part of the Final Fantasy VII experience. Also, it’s practically unforgivable that Red XIII was not playable in the remake considering how much time you spend with him. I don’t understand that decision in the slightest.

The game’s general systems and mechanics, materia, combat, weapon upgrades, etc. are all engaging and fun and not much else really needs to be said about it. I found it to be great blend of action/strategy. Materia really was the peak of JPRG creativity in the original FFVII and its recreation here is just as good. The novelty of seeing weird monsters like the Hell House and the “Swordipede” (called the Corvette in the original) make appearances as full on boss fights with mechanics is just weaponized nostalgia. In general, the remake has far more hits than misses, but those misses, like the sewers and some of the tedious sidequests, are big misses. It is a flawed game, but a good one. If I were to pick a favorite part of the game, I’d have to pick updated Train Graveyard section which takes lore from the original game and creates a mini-storyline out of it.

If that was all, however, then honestly writing about Final Fantasy VII Remake wouldn’t be worth my time or yours. The game’s ambition goes way further than just reimagining Midgar as a living, real city. There’s a joke in the JRPG community about the genre that goes something like this: at the start of the game, you kill rats in the sewer and by the end you’re killing God. Well, when all is said and done, the Final Fantasy VII Remake essentially does just that. Narratively, the entire final act of the game is a gigantic mess, but if you know anything about me then you know I’d much rather a work of fiction blast off into orbit and get a little wild than be safe and boring.

In the original games, the Lifestream is a physical substance that contains spirits and memories of every living being. Hence, when a person dies, they “return to the planet”. It flows beneath the surface of the planet like blood flows in a living person’s veins and can gather to heal “wounds” in the planet. In the original game, the antagonist, Sephiroth, seeks to deeply wound the planet with Meteor and then collect all the “spirit energy” the planet musters to heal the wound. The remake builds on this concept by introducing shadowy, hooded beings called Whispers. The Whispers are a physical manifestation of the concept of destiny and they can be found when someone seeks to change their fate, correcting course to the pre-destined outcome. Whispers appear at multiple points throughout the game’s storyline both impeding and aiding the party. The ending focuses heavily on them and the idea that fate and destiny can be changed. We receive visions throughout the game which some will recognize as major story beats and images from the original game. After dealing with Shinra and rescuing Aerith, the game immediately switches over to this battle against destiny and fate that you’re either going to love or hate. The transition is abrupt and jarring. While Cloud has shown flashes of supernatural physical abilities throughout the game, suddenly he has gone full Advent Children mode and is flying around cleaving 15 ton sections of steel in half with his sword. The party previously took on giant mutated monsters, elite soldiers, and horrific science experiments, but now the gloves are off and they’re squaring up against an impossibly huge manifestation of the Planet’s will. Keep in mind, in the narrative of the original FFVII, the Midgar section was rougly 10%, if that, of the game’s full storyline. This is, frankly, insane, but I’d be lying if I didn’t love it.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake, with its goofy JRPG concluding chapter, is forcing the player to participate in the original game’s un-making. We see premonitions of an orb of materia falling to the ground, we see an older Red XIII gallop across the plains, we see a SOLDIER with black hair and Cloud’s Buster Sword make his final stand, we see Cloud waist deep in water holding something or someone. We all know what these images represent, they’ve been part of imaginations for decades. But the Final Fantasy VII Remake allows us (or forces us, depending on perspective, I guess) to kill fate, kill God, and set aside all we thought we knew about how the game would play out post-Midgar. The most obvious effect of our actions is the reveal that Zack survived his final stand against Shinra and instead of leaving Cloud his sword and legacy, helped him get to Midgar safely. I have my doubts and my worries about the future of this series. I’m not sure when the next part of the game will be released or what form it will come in, but I can’t believe I’m as excited as I am to see it.

Of course, part of me wishes they’d just left well enough alone. Remakes are generally complete wastes of time and effort. Not all, but most. Maybe I’m, to borrow a term from pro wrestling lingo, a complete mark here and I just love JRPGs and Final Fantasy VII so much that I’ll countenance close to anything bearing its name. I’ve tried my best to be as critical and fair as possible to the game and I hope that if you’re on the fence and reading this I’ve maybe helped you decide if it’s for you or not. I think the Final Fantasy VII Remake is worth your time if you’re looking for a good, meaty JRPG. It’s not perfect and it’s final act is insane, but that just makes me love it more.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like for Zack, Cloud, and Aerith to face Sephiroth in the Planet’s core? I know 15 year old me did. And he may get his wish.

[ivalice-tifalucis]

My ramblings on FFVII Remake

The irony never lost on me that after so many years on tumblr, I finally act on my username, actually post things related to FF.

So I finally finished FFVII Remake this Wednesday although stupidly I quitted the game before the credits finished rolling so I had to replay the last part again on Saturday. Thank goodness I already knew what to do so I only needed an hour to finish the last part. Took me 2,5 weeks and close to 50 hours of gameplay to finished as I also have real life obligation to do and couldn’t just play video game for whole day. And oh my god what an experience. As non OG fan who got introduced FFVII and FF in general because in 2006 her school best friend couldn’t stop yelling about Advent Children, who have watched Advent Children for god knows how many times even though she could barely understand the context, who felt weird at Dirge of Cerberus, and who cried stupid at Crisis Core ending, this game is beyond my expectation.

In 2015, when they announced the release, I was like ‘ oh great, finally they’re gonna make this after all’. I have waited for the remake for almost a decade at that time yet I felt empty because I was no longer care so much about FF anymore. I still haven’t even played FFXV yet I waited that for so long since the first FFVersusXIII trailer. So finally Square Enix got their shits together, great for them.

And then FFVII Remake was released. Y’know what, I didn’t even see the trailer. I didn’t care. But then covid-19 happened and I was bored. My brother kept suggesting me to buy FFVII Remake, said that the game got great reviews and I’ve waited for so long. I was like ‘ok, let’s see what the fuss is about.’ I never actually play the PS one game because 1) Never got the chance to, and when I could have the resource to play it, 2) I lost interest in FF. So it’s a good way to play a game you only read about it all this time. Then I read some of the review and bits of spoilers, because I’m that kind of person, that the game is not exactly a remake, that it’s only first few hours of original game, which quite dissapointing at first because you thought you’re gonna play like the real ans whole reimagined FFVII. And people talk about Zack. That’s what pique my interest more. I thought it’s only flashback because Zack did appear as flashback in OG but then spoilers said he’s alive??!! What??? Ok gotta have this game.

And so begin my geeky nostalgic journey. I haven’t heard The Prelude for so long and it was so beautiful hearing it on the menu. I stopped to listen to the song. Then the intro, beautiful, exactly what I always dreamed about if FFVII got a remake. Then the first bombing mission is done and Cloud met Aerith for the first time in Loveless street. And holy maholy, ‘wait, is that- omg The Promised Land from Advent Children!!!!’ Yep that sold me. No getting away from this.

By the release of this game, it brought me to realization that not every FFVII fans are keen of Compilation of FFVII which is too bad because I love Compilations with all its ups and downs. I wouldn’t like FFVII if it’s not of the Compilations. What makes FFVII far more interesting than other FF series is the mystery and big world building. Midgar is only tiny piece of Gaia compare to what we would explore in later Remake chapter. Every characters, good or bad have their own story and mystery. And while many of the backstory is explained in the OG, some of them got fleshed out in sequels and prequels. Listening to The Promised Land brought me to realize that FFVII Remake is not merely a remake but more like another chapter or maybe the first chapters that could conclude FFVII for good. Because I would love to see at least the definitive end of FFVII, where at least all the mysteries are answered. 

The introduction of the Whispers or Arbiters of Fate during first encounter with Aerith made me realized immediately that this is what people meant when they said FFVII Remake defied from OG. I think if used well Whispers could give deeper impact to Remake. It adds more mysteries but it could also answer mysteries. Yes, including Zack’s fate. It depends on how Kazushige Nojima and Tetsuya Nomura used it. Of course I’m also a bit anxious. I don’t remember what but something Nomura did and said in the past is actually what made me driven even further from FF and honestly I’m afraid. I never played Kingdom Hearts but I heard people talk about how it becomes bumbling jumbo which I agree since that’s the reason why I never play KH because I had no clue what it is even about. Even reading the plot made my head hurts. And in the last two years I have been let down by my favorite franchises that are Game of Thrones and Star Wars sequels. However I’m optimistic because I don’t think Tetsuya Nomura would want to destroy his own legacy. FFVII is what makes him the top tier guy in Square Enix in the first place. It’s his precious baby and he has complete control over it. 

In other topic, the game is absolutely beautiful. I had doubts when my brother told me they used Unreal while FFXV used Luminous Engine which based on what I saw on youtube made FFXV so beautiful and immersive (I hope someone could explain to me why). FFVII Remake is also beautiful game within its capacity. Of course because the engine limitation there are few downs on the graphic and render. I couldn’t get over that door in Sector 7 slums looks so unrendered I thought the game had rendering delay. But overall the game has reimagined Midgar perfectly. Other than objects that you could way too easily kick, there is so little bug. Other than Crisis Core, which was only PSP game and couldn’t do much, this is the only time we see Midgar before disaster other than the OG game. And Midgar is amazing. The upper plate, the cities look modern and well planned while the slums look so lively and dense. The Wall Market is festive and crazy, the mission is also crazy. I had a great laugh and snicker all the way during this part. Exactly what I would imagine Wall Market would be when I read about it all this time. The puzzles are great. The gameplay is also great. It’s not repetitive and makes you feel accomplished. Each enemies require different approach. I sometime had to look into walkthrough so I could find a good suggestion on how to defeat certain boss, after I failed so many times. There is a need for strategy so I have to prepare what kind of materia and accessories I would use on certain character which sadly lacked in the last FF game that I played almost a decade ago, which was FFXIII. 

The music, damn I haven’t stop listening to Hollow since I finished the game. You notice that the previous posts had me got mind blown by it. Nobuo Uematsu has done it again. He touches my heart with his music, and he has done it again. The rest of the soundtrack is also great. Did I mention that I stop for a while to listen to The Prelude? Also got nostalgic and humming along with Main Theme, Aerith’s Theme, Tifa’s Theme, Shinra’s theme, Those Who Fight.

All in all, the fact that I couldn’t stop talking about this game, to me, is indicator that this game is amazing. 9/10 (because I don’t like that they used Unreal).

[doctorcanon]

Random Future Fics

Gundam Wing: Child Soldiers - A reimagining of the Gundam Wing Series with some racial and gender adjustments. Changes include: Duo being Black, Heero having long hair, Relena being a ginger, Trowa with tattoos, 63!Quatre with a hijab and other things. Will include a complete reimagining of Endless Waltz.

Tales of Domini (Tales of Series) - A series of fics using elements, characters and plot lines from the Tales of the Abyss, Vesperia, Graces, Xillia 1&2, Zestiria and Berseria. The main characters from each game travel together in an effort to stop the Elympion war effort only to find a plan to subjugate the gods and subvert the will of Malaks. Also comes with a shorter, modern version written in the style of the movie Crash.

In the Woods Somewhere (Bravely Default) - Inspired by In The Woods Somewhere by Hozier and A Night in the Woods. After dropping out of college for undisclosed reasons, Edea Lee returns to her hometown to find out that a lot has changed but her friends Agnes, Tiz and Ringbel still welcome her with open arms. However, she finds that something is deeply wrong with her troubled ex-boyfriend Ringabel who’s been blacking out and disappearing sometimes for days on end. She eventually learns it’s not some undiagnosed ailment.

A Very Troubled Young Man (FFXV) - A fic that takes place in both the past and present of the Four Protagonists of FFXV but mostly centering on Ignis. Detailing how they first met, what they did to get home and what happened when Niflheim came back for revenge. Has multiple endings, one that adheres to canon, one where Ignis dies and the third where everyone lives.

Weak (FFXV) - Ignis is a young, hardworking office manager with a troubled romantic past. He has a thing for nice suits and older men and those men tend to take advantage of that. He begins to question whether or not love actually exists. So when older businessman Gladiolus Amicitia makes advances on him, he figures the man just wants to sex with him. Yes, Gladio wants that but their relationship gets far more emotional than initially planned.

Like Everyone is Watching (Kingdom Hearts and FF Titles) - A fic written in the style of a documentary that follows the students of one of the most famous performing arts schools in the World. Particularly focuses on students of the coveted Triple Threat Program Ignis, Sora, Lightning, Lauriam and Ringabel.

I Don’t Know How to Play Guitar (D-Gray Man) -  Follows the eccentric life of Allen Walker, accomplished acrobat, living at the Las Vegas Strip. He struggles with vice, virtue and his own troubled past as his friends and his family start to notice his unhealthy habits. With the death of his adopted father, Allen can no longer hide behind the good boy façade he’s always maintained.

Contrivance: The Nightmare Complex (Bleach) - Pretty much canon compliant. A complete rewrite of the Fullbringer Arc with the Quincy War sprinkled in there. It’s been a year since Ichigo lost his powers as a shinigami. For the last two weeks, he’s been accosted by a young skinny transient who goes by the name of Ishida Uryuu who claims that they know each other. He’s never seen the kid in his life and neither have his friends Ginjo, Tsukisima, Orihime and Chad. After a rather terrible encounter with a Hollow, he couldn’t see and Ginjo being gravely wounded, Ichigo confronts the mysterious Uryuu. The latter warns him not to trust Tsukishima and Ginjo and not to trust anything he sees.