Lurker > Kotetsu534

There are 20+ mini-games in FFVII Rebirth (no exaggeration) and I think Queen's Blood is one of the best, even if more on the complex side.

BK_Sheikah00 posted...

For Yuffie, you give her Speed Demon Keychain, you cast Haste and ATB Ward on her, and then spam Brumal Form while on the ward to give the party infinite ATB

This is such a fun cheese and destroys everything in Hard mode where can you have Aerith and Yuffie together.

On the Cosmo Canyon event, my only real issue with Red's voice change is that it somewhat imbalanced the party towards being young/playful/spunky/naive and forced Barret to provide most of the serious leadership and reflection (with Red, Yuffie, and Aerith all acting that to one degree or another, Cloud increasingly out of it in the back half of the game, and Tifa being very reserved). Thankfully Cid and Vincent will rebalance the dynamics in part 3 (and actually started doing so towards the end of this game, even).

A video is up with some insight from the developers on what they were thinking about when designing the game's locations. Pretty high level but interesting enough, especially Kitase talking about the balance between exploration and knuckling down on the main story & how they identified the most important things to recreate in Nibel, Cosmo and the Gold Saucer. By the looks of it this is the first of a series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aHRNjccJE8

The first half of the Nibel chapter is excellent and one of the game's high points. Even setting aside the new role of the town, the climb up Nibel to the reactor is one of the few times Cloud and Tifa are together for a significant period (more or less) on their own. The way Tifa handles Cloud's (partial) memories of Zack is good characterisation. Also has a rare occasion where Yuffie's naivety/unworldliness gets challenged in a somewhat more serious way re who Murasaki may be (and where Cloud also tells her to shut up...). While it seems like the Wutai/Midgar war thread is not going to be pursued in a big way, it seemed like a compelling edition at the time. Aerith being (implicitly) a bit jealous of Cloud's and Tifa's memories of their childhood together was a different side of her character too which I quite liked because a bit of imperfection is more interesting.

Unfortunately they rather did Shinra Manor dirty and it also has the worst section in the game to play. I love Cait as a character but I would quite happily never play his solo section with added janky throwing mini-game ever again. I'd say the manor and Forgotten Capital got by far the worst representations in Rebirth, which is a shame because they shouldn't have been that difficult to do well compared to big areas like Cosmo Canyon or the Saucer.

Reraise persists even after Phoenix goes away so that can work well. Of course you still play well enough to live lone enough to get a summon off.

And yeah for Yuffie the very basics are to switch your Ninjutsu to whatever element the enemy is weak to, toss your shuriken at the enemy, and spam square to build easy ATB and stagger. Then you can cast Doppleganger for extra DPS and Shooting Star for free damage/CC at range. You can tap triangle to close in to whichever enemy your shuriken is in to drop an Art of War - if it connects you can follow up with Supreme Art of War which does more damage and has a bigger range. Obviously the natural time to do this is when you stagger an enemy. Because she builds ATB so easily and safely at range she's good for throwing up buffs like Haste or Barrier/Manaward or Faith or spellcasting. Once you cast 3 (level 2) or 6 (level 3) ATB moves (with some exceptions like Brumal Form) Banishment will be charged up which is pretty good and safe damage too. Her raw damage output doesn't compare to Tifa's if that's all you want, but she provides a great balance between safety, damage and versatility.

Bob-Omb Battlefield
Whomp's Fortress
Tick Tock Clock
Rainbow Ride

Yuffie is insane, but if you haven't played intermission then you don't get too much advice to understand how to play her. She was my main though - I love how easy it is to fight at range with Ninjutsu while being able to jump in to melee whenever I want and dish out some decent damage with (Supreme) Art of War, Banishment is a strong and safe nuke, Doppleganger free DPS and Windstorm provides instant AoE and means I never need Wind unless for boss fights. I love her design so much - great balance between range, manoeuverability, and melee.

And for Odin just keep dishing out damage while trying not to get hit. I found Tifa was great against him because Omnistrike doesn't trigger Reprisal so she can just spam Unbridled Strength > Omnistrike with ATB charge equipment (Speed Demon Keychain, ATB charge rate up weapon skills) on and blast him till he pressures himself with Sleipnir's Furor (allies doing buffing/healing for her). I've seen speculation that it's the number of hits that matters, and if that's true Barret should be very effective since he spams attacks with Overcharge and Maximum Fury. But honestly once you realise that playing aggro works to keep his Zantetsuken counter down that helps a lot.

Edit: I think if you just try to totally ignore Odin he will cast Zantetsuken even if he doesn't hit you, at least that's what it seemed like when I tested it. The exception to this is Cloud staying in Punisher form with block/parry up because Cloud automatically counter-attacks after each parry which is enough to stop the counter rising.

MacArrowny posted...

Also helps previous games in the series sell more - I've seen a lot of people buying/playing Remake 1 recently! Plus, it's worth noting that even if this sells less than Remake, it's a $70 game instead of $60, so each sale is worth more.

Yep - this whole series will have strong legs, especially if Game 3 is comparably well received to Game 2. Not hard at all to see FFVR3 being an early major release for the next console generation coming with a triple pack release to try to bring in new players. More interesting question is what else Square do now - e.g. whether they want to remake other games, and if so in what way as they won't be doing 3-part remakes of VI/VIII/IX/X I'm sure, or just focus on new releases, or more FFVII spin-offs or w/e. Whether they feel they can commit to aiming at their western audience in bigger games (arguably some of the VA and directing choices in this game suggested more comfort with western expectations than Japanese audiences/anime than in Remake - e.g. far fewer "anime grunts").

Pirateking2000 posted...

Platinum done. Wow Sephiroth's challenge was an absolute cakewalk compared to Zack's. Great game. Now to wait for the finale whenever that is

Well done. I'd guess most of us will be here around 2029 chatting about part 3, if GameFAQs lives that long.

Try getting his Limit Break level up to see his tier 2 and tier 3 limits. Worth it I promise!

colliding posted...

That was largely in reference to the fact that non-Switch console gaming is basically dead in Japan and AAA game costs are (with a few exceptions) no longer profitable based on sales numbers. I expect the third game to be smaller and a little more like Remake. Which some people will think is a positive!

The change in this regard in the last decade has been astounding. If you'd said in 2015 that part two of the FFVII remake would be a big budget game with a good critical reception and (after about a month) it'd sell c.300k in Japan while (presumably) selling a couple of million in total you'd have been laughed at. We're at the point where the audience for even a mainline FF is going to be >75% (probably >85% in six months time) non-Japanese. That's an interesting situation for Square to manage.

That said I wouldn't totally write off the profitability/value of a game like this with a straight revenue less costs assessment after a month. Huge releases like this also pave the way to support a boatload of other content (mobile games/spin-offs/merch etc... heck I've just spent the game's price again buying a concert ticket to listen to some of the OST performed!) and generate a long tail of word of mouth and sales running way into the future.

Checked and it doesn't double stack. Genji Glove also doesn't let that characters' Summon break the damage cap.

colliding posted...

I'm also not convinced that "our" Aerith is actually dead.

There has to be something more to what went on than "Cloud tried to save Aerith, but it turns out fate is unstoppable even when acted against." That's somewhat nihilistic for a big JRPG.

MartinFF7 posted...

Just to be clear (since the video didn't include the loadout): hp absorb, mp absorb, swiftcast and magic focus? Do multiple magic focuses stack? I'm assuming Lightning+Wind is paired with swiftcast? I always dismissed the absorbs but I guess with genji and the faith/fury boosts it's really a full hp/mp refresh...

Yep that's the right idea - link (maxed) MP Absorb, HP Absorb, Magic Focus and Swiftcast to the same Wind materia and throw on Ele-Fire & Ice to absorb those elements. Remainder of slots given to HP Up, Magic Up, Enemy Skill (for magic and HP up), ATB Boost. And that's exactly the idea - you can heal with your own attacks so it becomes a game of quickly using Prime Mode (with ATB Boost) to grab 2 MP bars, putting up Haste and Faith with Zack, then blasting huge damage + healing with Aeroga (obviously Genji Gloves are hugely valuable as the damage during stagger goes way over 9999).

I don't know if 2x Magic Focus would stack, but the fact I haven't seen anyone try suggests it almost certainly doesn't. I can't check just now.

I used the Aeroga build that's going around.

Spoilers in video and text below for a method to win Bonds of Friendship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvNzI4VEkAI

I swapped out Enemy Skill for Revive which I don't think I actually used on my winning run, but did bail me out on a couple of earlier runs.

You are squishy, but with Genji Gloves and Magic Focus'd Aerogas with Faith on you blow enemies up very quickly while sustaining yourself so the runs become fast. With a bit of practice rounds 1-8 will soon become largely busywork (except occasionally 4 can get lucky bursts on you), round 9 is fairly repeatable once you figure out the right tempo to adopt (Hold ATB for the wings, then one Aerora each to blow them up, then get your licks in). I think if you get good enough at fight 5 you could probably ditch the Ele-Fire & Ice for stat boosts or w/e - didn't feel like I needed it once I got slick at handling him.

And that's the Plat. Glad those gauntlets are all in the past. I hope they tone down the endurance challenges next time, the harder 10-round Brutals and Legendaries plus RotOW were over the top IMO.

Avatar: The Last Airbender
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Hey Arnold!
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I found the most effective way to play him was to drop the moogle and then run away and hope it acted as a decoy while I got in some pot shots and ATB from a distance. Not really the most exciting gameplay loop compared to the rest.

One duo (To Be a Hero) down, one to go... might come back tomorrow as I'm tired and that was pretty stressful at the end.

All solo legendaries done. I will be happy not to play as Cait Sith again for, oh, five years. I got pretty close to a rage during a row of deaths to the Mindflayer. Enjoyed the other six sets of fights though. Felt like the game could have used some more tuition on the nuances of the characters' kits ahead of this point, but so be it.

Now the the duos...

_stingers_ posted...

Modern RPGs have lost the ability to do shops right. They just want to give you everything for free

In general I'd say the "RPG" side of the game* is the weakest - there's not much to pick up in the field other than routine items and transmutation fodder, and while there are some interesting choices to make in equipping your characters, the options feel stingy. Why get given 60 odd accessories to only equip one per person, even at the very end? Most players will just pick the same 3 or 4. The folio system becomes less interesting as the game goes on because you get to the point where you have everything you'd want from it. The weapon choices and skills are fine but still pretty limited. And frustratingly the manual doesn't give you clear information on what the numbers do and there's no training dummy (although you can work around this pretty easily to be fair).

*By which I mean something like a sense of seeking out and collecting stuff, either to learn more about the world or to make your party stronger, and which lets you focus on things that are bespoke to your playstyle or interests. I appreciate the materia system fills a lot of the space that would normally be given to it, but I'd like to see more in part 3.

Those aspects were there in the original. It is remarkable how much detail is reflected in this game from the OG in one way or another (across settings, level design, enemy types & NPC placement).

Gongaga is new though. I mean it was in FFVII, but as an optional town with a few scenes, not as a region with major plot events.

Yes I had a lot of other problems with FFXIII's design, but I got really into its battle system.

Having just finished Hard mode and watched all the scenes in Chapter 13 and 14 again, I liked them quite a bit more with more of an idea of what was going on. Still think it's a mess, but the visceral negative reaction I had the first time has lapsed. Leaning towards "kernel of a decent idea but very badly executed" and away from "utter butchery". I hope they major on commit to Cloud's mental breakdown and how the rest of the party deals with it in game 3; they've spent most of the back third of this game building up the degradation of his mental state; need to do something with it now.

As for the boss rush itself, I actually quite liked it, but only because I had a lot of prior knowledge to work around some baffling design decisions (multiple cheap moves in one fight + no ability to change loadouts for your party members). I think I counted 9 separate fights, albeit at least 4 are against the same HP bar with different party members.

Now for the legendaries...

I'm pretty sure you could save/reload before most fights in FFXIII? Presumably intended behaviour since you were given limited quantities of critical items if I'm remembering right (those aerosols that give you buffs). If you could save your state during a gauntlet this would be much less time consuming.

I think in general the move away from area/space-based combat towards reaction-based combat doesn't stress this battle system's strengths (if anything, it stresses its weaknesses and forces the player to look to exploit them). I find myself cursing the camera angle and the frequent cuts away from my character to in-battle cutscenes a lot more than I did when I could afford to be a bit slower. Fights like Air Buster, (Hard) Eligor, Ghoul and Arsenal in Remake were better on a conceptual level than anything in this game. My advice to the devs would be "don't try to make Bloodborne or Devil May Cry, cause you ain't gonna"!

Two other general tips which people might not have picked up but I think really matter on Hard/in the post-game:

1. A lot of synergy abilities stun-lock enemies, even bosses (the "Refocus" abilities don't, but most of the rest do, some for quite long periods). So don't sit there watching the animation - swap to the third character and get in some free ATB charging or spells.
2. Whenever a character you are controlling gets hit/knocked-up, swap to another character instead of waiting for them to recover. The AI will fairly quickly switch aggro to the character you've swapped to, but in the interim you get free time to charge ATB or act as the other character (you are far more efficient than the AI at attacking/building ATB).

Weapon levels help but I don't think they make a huge difference in most cases (maybe if a really valuable skill is unlocked). Maxxing materia will do more. There are lots of ways of winning the fights though beyond the method I described above, just that most of them either take a lot longer (e.g. the PowerPyx recommended strat is based on tanking all the damage with Barret/Cloud/Red, but it'll take an hour) or require at least some reactive timing skills/perfect parrying.

Edit: And yes I think they've gone too far with this stuff. I don't mind the difficulty, but does everything need to be a 5- or 10-round endurance run?! Staking that much time completely disincentivises taking risks or experimenting since even 5 runs could take up most of your evening. Weiss was great fun. FFXIII still has the best post-game in an FF I think (characterised by relatively short and intense battles).

I destroyed Rulers of the Outer Worlds in 4:11 earlier with the Yuffie/Aerith ATB Ward + Brumal Form + Firagas spam of doom strat. This approach also trivialises any boss fight in the main game on Hard mode where you have access to Yuffie.

I thought I'd describe it in detail and leave some tips below for anyone who wants to win and can't be bothered putting in the time to learn the block timing on Shadowy Chains. I still need to do Chapter 14 and the Legendaries for the Plat.

My loadout:
Yuffie:
Weapon & Armor: Crescent Sickle + Hades Armlet. [Weapon skills: Opening ATB Bonus, ATB Charge Rate Up; others didn't matter]
Materia: First Strike, HP Up, Speed Up, ATB Assist, Vitality Up, Spirit Up, Healing; Ele <> Fire (on armor) [other slots didn't contribute anything]
Accessory: Speed Demon Keychain (mandatory)

Aerith:
Weapon & Armor: Ceremonial Staff + Cetran Armlet [Weapon skills: Enduring Ward, MATK + 20, Fire Damage Up, Reprieve]
Materia: Magic Focus <> Fire and Ice, Swiftcast <> Fire; Ele <> Fire, MP Absorption <> Fire; HP Up, First Strike, Magic Up [Enemy Skill would be good for the 5% magic up; I forgot it]
Accessory: Genji Gloves

Cloud:
Weapon & Armor: Rune Blade + Cetran Bracer [Weapon skills: Full Power Magic; MATK + 20; ATB Charge Rate Up]
Materia: MP Absorption <> Lightning, Magnify <> Empowerment, Healing; HP Up; Magic Focus <> Lightning and Wind; Magnify <> Time; Ele <> Fire; STR Up; ATK<->MATK
Accessory: Chocoking's Cape

General tips:
- The first few seconds of fights are absolutely critical. You want Yuffie to be leader, Aerith to be in position 2 (to the right), and Cloud/Barret in 3. You run to the left behind the 3rd character, keeping an eye on which enemies have aggro'd you and instantly casting Haste with Cloud and ATB Ward with Aerith (on Yuffie). You need both up for the ATB generation to work. The point of the strat is to use Brumal Form on ATB Ward to generate ATB for the other two party members, and for them to spam -ga spells to blow up the enemies quickly while using MP Absorption to sustain themselves (while Yuffie will probably draw/evade a lot of aggro). To that end Faith (especially) and Arcane Ward can be useful. Brumal Form needs to be on a spammable shortcut.

- You need to practice it a fair bit to get slick with the inputs; if you can reliably go into the command menu when you are in the air to cast spells with other party members it greatly reduces the chance of Yuffie getting hit between Brumals. Obviously have the command menu on its maximum slowdown setting. It's a very simple strat though once you get used to it though.

- There is some RNG. One is that the amount of ATB First Strike gives is somewhat random; sometimes Aerith won't have a block till a couple of seconds after the start, which delays getting ATB Ward up and increases the risk of interruption. Gilgamesh can CC you with Silence or Frog (found this to be rare though).

- While Yuffie/Aerith/Barret is great for learning the strat as Barret is tanky, and if you put Steelskin/Lifesaver/Barrier/etc. on him there's less chance of things falling apart in fights 1-4, Barret's low MP pool and lower offensive power hurt against Sephiroth and increase the risk of him getting Shadowy Chains off. I preferred the faster runs with Cloud; I got to Sephiroth four times in a row before winning.

- Offense is often the best defence. If you are barely hanging on getting one or two -gas off can be enough to stagger and recover. This happened in my winning run against Gilgamesh. I took the focus on offense to heart and gave Aerith the Genji Gloves and Cloud Strength Up + MATK <> ATK (the materia swaps Strength and Magic, despite it's name - so you basically turn Strength Up into a second Magic Up with it). I didn't even bother with Revive materia - to be honest while recovery if someone dies is possible, it's so difficult and slow I preferred to restart unless I was going to win anyway.

1st fight (Kujata + Phoenix): This is basically a training session since with Ele-Fire on everyone they aren't killing you. The only thing that can really go wrong is if Kujata aligns to fire, but with the level of offensive power Cloud and Aerith pack he should never live long enough to do it.

2nd fight (Titan + Bahamut): Prioritise Titan first as he can give himself a whole bunch of resistances (including fire) if he lives long enough. They generously spend their first turns casting shields so you will pretty much always get ATB Ward off on Yuffie and Haste-all, greatly increasing your chances of winning, then they'll both get pressured (and stunned) once you break their shields. Bahamut is no joke however, and can kill Yuffie if you mess up. Thankfully he will eventually switch to charging up with Particle Charge and this strat murders the wings instantly, pressuring him. One other thing that can go wrong is Bahamut using an AoE move at the start which disrupts Aerith's ATB Ward cast.

3rd fight (Odin + Alexander): I don't think I ever lost this fight without making a very bad error; this strat dominates it. Odin will probably start by throwing Soaring Spear, but you should be able to cast Haste + ATB Ward even before dodging it (you can just book it left and outrun it - the only way to get hit is to dodge roll too early). Cloud can throw up AoE Faith but don't even bother with Arcane Ward - just whack him with 2 or 3 -gas and he'll Vanish. It's basically over at that point. When Alexander was staggered Cloud's Thundaras were hitting for 9999. Only threat is wasting ATB on spells that get ignored due to Odin's cutscenes when he comes back, but even if that happens you probably win anyway (but you want to be healed to full for next fight)

4th fight (Gilgamesh): He has lots of attacks and is very aggressive. He must aggro Yuffie so you can get ATB Ward and Haste off. Thankfully most of his moves are fairly short range combos so he rarely interrupted Aerith. Again, I didn't bother with Arcane Ward until later into and attacked immediately after thowing up Faith as knocking out his weapons weakens and briefly stuns him. Even if you get hit prioritise pushing damage. If he does combo Yuffie you can swap to Aerith or Cloud to distract him then jump back to start generating ATB again. When you stagger him use the time for Yuffie to pump out a Cura/ga or two in between ATB charging. Cutscenes run if he's low and alive when he exits stagger so take care not to throw spells into the ether (can happen vs. Odin too).

5th fight (Virtual Sephiroth): I was trying builds based on tanking Shadowy Chains -> Octaslash and kept losing. But then I realised something so obvious that won it for me - you can interrupt his Shadowy Chains' cast animation with a -ga spell! And therefore he can be killed without ever casting it. So the first couple of seconds must go correctly; aggro him on Yuffie, get Haste and ATB Ward up and use Brumal Form to evade his first round of attacks (he almost always does a very fast dash in for a combo after a couple of seconds of running at the start) and start generating ATB. Then Cloud and Aerith can start the -ga spam - but be careful to make sure there's a bit of a gap in when the spells land to maximise the stunlock they generate (this happens naturally if they both cast at the same time due to Swiftcast on Aerith); I deliberately had Cloud throw out Faith to de-sync them with Aerith going first. If you get the stunlock going it's over unless you make a bad error; if he gets Shadowy Chains off it's over for you unless you can block it (I did this like 1 time in c.8 attempts; so bad). Just remember to switch to Blizzaga and Thundaga once he casts Affinity Fire and enters the second phase.

Video of the idea being demonstrated, which you might have already seen a variant of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2OIhl6KDnw

I'm partway through Chapter 13 on Hard Mode and I'd say the Cait Sith solo section and Rufus have been the hardest things so far. Rufus has a great learning curve though - to the point where you can get quite easily do it without taking much if any damage once you learn the tricks. Abuse the command menu's instant pauses to get a read on when he Reloads, block his close range "shotgun" for free ATB with Steadfast Block, and Triple Slash into a bunch of damage/ATB whenever you catch him Reloading. Make absolutely sure Cloud ends the fight with the Turks at high HP/MP - I had to redo that battle because I left him low.

In the UK the Euros (increasingly, especially with the issues around the last couple of World Cups) and the World Cup are by far the biggest sporting events. Probably the biggest events for drawing simulatenous attention other than Royal Weddings/Coronations/Funerals. Since the PL games are on pay to view TV they are a much smaller deal, even when there's a great title race. The Ashes being on pay to view means the rugby is probably the next biggest event.

So even though the level of play is clearly a step (or three) lower than the CL, the atmosphere and interest from people and the media is totally different during international competitions and makes them good fun.

You have to do the chocobo race (as in the original) and one match of 3D brawler. But they are basically tutorial stages for those mini-games you should have no trouble with.

Journey
Metal Gear Solid 2
Valkyria Chronicles
Celeste

Found an additional optional scene in Chapter 11 that I managed to miss first time through. If you talk to Aerith again after the water tower scene, she'll say that she's annoyed she didn't have any childhood friends and wants to be left alone (read in context with the previous scene, it's arguably implied she's jealous of Cloud and Tifa's close relationship).

Slowly progressing towards the platinum - one boss left in chapter 11 on Hard, but still have most brutal and legendary fights to do too...

I've been moaning about some of Rebirth's misteps but it's one of the best games Square's ever made. Remake was pretty decent.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Didn't die in the final battle so I didn't see this, but Jesus Christ.

https://twitter.com/transparencyboo/status/1768610568393371903?t=A1lANywqI6DuuAR2wDciCQ&s=19

I am actually impressed that a complete mess like that could make it into a shipped major release. You'd expect even a cursory bit of playtesting to identify major issues.

What made Sephiroth so compelling in the OG was 1. demonstrated power that we don't see him execute but clearly puts him above anyone else we've seen (impaled Zolom, the mess in Shinra HQ) and 2. his ability to bring so much action and character out of the rest of the cast. E.g. seeing Shinra's directors quake in fear at the thought that he'd been sighted adds a lot, and so does the emotion he pulls out of Cloud ("Shut up."), or the sacrifice he compels Aerith to make. His actual presence is not that interesting.

MartinFF7 posted...

Just beat the game, 116 hours according to my PS5.

Totally agree with what you wrote regarding the last stretch of the game clearly being rushed and less than what came before. It's a real shame too because it will have an outsized impact on the game's reputation - it was 80-90% exceptional, then really falls hard from Ch.11 and especially in Ch.13 and 14. And fairly or not, every fan of the OG is going to compare how ToTA and the Forgotten Capital were handled in the OG with Rebirth, and I think most will say the OG's efforts were much stronger.

Beat the game today. Best I've played in years, and Square's best since the early 00's. A proper adventure with plenty of silliness and good characterisation, some good level design in there too, and the battle system loop with synergy abilities and limits is excellent; a real step-up from Remake which I already enjoyed. The OST is up there with the best I've ever heard; the range and quality, and how it's deployed, is quite extraordinary - must be one of the biggest soundtrack projects undertaken for a single release (i.e. excluding MMO expansions). I even enjoyed the mini-game spam and forgave some of the wacky control schemes - Queen's Blood and Chocobo Racing were superb. It reminds me what these party-based RPG/adventure games can be, and could still be in the future. I really love nothing more than engrossing myself in a good one.

But it comes with

(Ending Spoilers)

butchery of the most iconic scene in FF.

The way it missed makes me think about the nature of modern popular culture and how the dynamics around it facilitate so much more interest in what a work could mean than how it is what it is. The original scene was a blunt whack over the head which even the most unobservant player could understand - sword through the heart; death; rage; mournful music; swift battle; funeral; move on. They ignore that altogether and do something that would never have been executed as it has been in the 90s. SE tried to remake FFVII with the 21st century's technology, but they've also remade it as a work of popular fiction to appeal to the world of online fandoms, which changes it much more (and, IMO, for the worse). There's definitely a better way of articulating what I'm getting at.

Also there's some serious jank in a section in Chapter 11 which particularly frustrated me. The game would have benefitted from a good editing job plus performance and UI refinements.

I'm going to give the platinum a good attempt.

BK_Sheikah00 posted...

Oh my god I just hit Chapter 12.

Oh my god if you haven't been keeping up with stuff as it comes out.

Oh my god even if you have.

I did two long sessions early in Ch.12 doing nothing but side quests and I'd been doing a lot on the way. The amount of side content is so vast (20+ minigames with different difficulties and challenges, plus all the exploration stuff, 30+ quests and other collectibles) that if you beelined it to late game skipping the great majority of it you'd have to spend much more time on it than you had progressing through the main story to complete it. The difference in scope between this and Remake is ginormous and not what I'd been expecting (I knew it'd be bigger, but this is like Jupiter to Earth).

It's pretty weird that you can normally do parties without Cloud in the simulator but not in the field.

Rikku
The Boss
Kiryu

You have to laugh at Harry Kane finally getting away to Bayern Munich to bag some trophies only to run into Leverkusen running up one of the best seasons in German football history to break their ridiculous title streak. No trophies this year, buddy.

And Klopp's resignation has given every Liverpool game a cup final atmosphere. Dunno if it'll make a difference in the end regarding the league given City and Arsenal look stronger to me, but not sure these wins over Luton, Brentford, Chelsea, etc. would have happened if the players and fans didn't know it was his last season.

As a non-American:

FDR
Eisenhower
JFK
Obama

By the sounds of it Arthur should be on there though; establishing a system of government not wholly beholden to personal patronage is a huge step to creating trustworthy institutions.

Prelude
FFVII Main Theme
Battle on the Big Bridge
To Zanarkand