Lurker > colliding

9.5

Really would be better I think if the first day was a different case (they'd both be 9.5's or 10's) but it's still great

I don't hate it!

However: Berseria is too low. It's missing DQ XI. I'm also assuming Nier:Automata doesn't count as a JRPG (I agree). I respect the OT2 love. I barely consider Ys an rpg but it's good. I'd fit FF7 Remake in there somewhere, knowing it's not as good as Rebirth. I haven't played Infinite Wealth yet. I enjoyed Yakuza: Like a Dragon but honestly not that much.

My list:

1. Persona 5 Royal
2. Tales of Berseria
3. Octopath Traveler 2
4. FE: Three Houses
5. Xenoblade 3
6. FF7 Remake
7. Dragon Quest XI
8. Trails of Cold Steel 3
9. Chained Echoes
10. Trails into Reverie

Missile
Shulk

Monokuma
John Marston

3/10

Having knowledge in rakugo and buckwheat vs. udon dough should not be requirements to solve a mystery

Pac-Man
X-Men
Time Crisis
Dance Dance Revolution

tag

amazon still actually hasn't sent me this. I preordered the PS5 version in March and I got an email two weeks ago saying it wouldn't arrive until May 7th. who knows if I'll ever get to play not-suikoden

do you get radiant ward by then?

ATB boost materia while playing as solo Aerith helps a lot too

Mordin
Joel

don't worry, konami will release the ports and announce suikoden vi right after

real talk though this is it. I mean the director co-creator died so...

yeah it's TOTK

should literally be impossible for that game to work on the switch, much less have very few frame drops/glitches at all

7

It's a good case.

Edit to say more: really slow start and actually maybe too sad? I actually probably like 6-2 more and I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only one

So... is this game actually good? Curious to hear how people's playthroughs are going beyond the hype/"controversy" nonsense

Today I was watching some let's plays and I totally forgot to mention Gilgamesh's Power Rangers reference in his ranking

so I apologize for that

7/10

I like this one. Finally Trucy gets to be kind of relevant. It's got bunny girls. What isn't to love?

TTYD eventually since I've never played it and it's apparently the good paper mario game

2B
Arthur

SeabassDebeste posted...

... FFVIII is known for its ending...?

It should be! But I put X on there as a consolation

Ellie
Armstrong

dang can't believe velvet lost

Dancedreamer posted...

Red Dead 2.

I thought about including this one but I think it's too drawn out

3/10

Really rough start to what ends up being a great game. I hate the puns in this one cause they feel weirdly offensive even though I know they're not?

I thought the idea was Hades is a "rogue lite" not a "rogue like"

it's lesser on the roguelike stuff and more interested in story/character advancement

Sorry for your loss Pun

I can speak to not having much of an immediate family. I now basically have my sister, her husband, and her nieces. My parents are gone (essentially - my mother has alzheimer's and is not long for this world). My mother is Taiwanese and came to the U.S. in her 20's so I barely know them. My father was estranged from his family too.

It's lonesome for sure

MacArrowny posted...

Also, Square made a recent announcement that FFXVI was particularly successful with Gen Z, lol. It's apparently the older crowd that they're losing.

Would love to see the metrics by which this was graded, but sure. That's great if that's truly the case and not corpo-speak. I wish Gen Z liked Rebirth more then, since XVI was fine but absolutely not where I want the series to head.

I'll bump this one more time for the weekday crew with some final thoughts.Other than that, happy to let this topic fade into the purge. I'll also entertain any final questions or requests for more rankings.

Thanks for reading! This was so fun to write, and reminded me of when I did this all the time in the 2000's. I have to say, if it wasn't obvious, I was extremely impressed by this game. It literally feels like my dream "FF7 remake" in many ways.

I wish my enthusiasm transferred to more sales for this game. This should be the FF game that gets the series back on the map. However, all the sales talk seems to be negative, which is a shame. This will happen when you release a series of disappointing/incomplete games for over a decade. There's a real failure on SE's part to attract younger players to the series (aside from FFXIV, which is I think both a blessing and a curse for the series). This is a game made for 40 year old fans, which is why I love the game but also why it isn't breaking sales records. Console exclusivity hurts it somewhat - I know Sony paid some of the development costs, but the future is Steam/PC (unless they completely shift gears and go back to making smaller / retro-influenced games for Nintendo, which I wouldn't be opposed to).

Where does the series go from here? Remake part 3 ideally will receive the Tears of the Kingdom treatment. Basically the same world map with some additions and added emphasis on flight. Hopefully the story features some actual major twists and turns, because if it stays true to the original the best parts of the story have already been covered. Remake Part 3 really needs to be significantly different in order for it not to feel anti-climactic.

As for the series, I think gameplay wise this is how the games should be. Tone down some of the open world stuff to appease the detractors, but keep the Xenoblade esque world map stuff. There needs to be party members and tactical, if not turn-based, battles. Pure action isn't the way to go. Focus on characters.

Last thought: There should not be a FFXVII. Yoshi P is right on this one thing: let's get rid of numbered sequels. I do think it's hurting the series. Switch to subtitles, or maybe do a huge rebrand. Maybe "The Final Fantasy?"

Anyway - thanks again for reading.

Kurosawa
Godard
Fellini
Hayao Miyazaki

Velvet
Monika
Clementine

MacArrowny posted...

For how much of the game?

If it were me, I'd find a way to make Aerith part of the regular party for at least half of the game. She's too fun to play as to just abandon that kit/moveset.

Realistically, I think she and Zack will have periodic check-ins throughout the game, like a more detailed version of the Zack sections in Rebirth.

MartinFF7 posted...

solid #1s on both counts. For Rufus, loved the Junon stuff (not so much blaming Cloud and co. for assassination attempt but understandable/necessary for the plot I guess) and the surprise Gold Saucer appearance. Aerith was great as always, definitely going to leave a large gap in part 3, unless they do totally shake up the status quo. QB #1 was undeniable.

I was meaning to ask this in the spoiler topic so I'll ask it here instead: am I out of line for thinking that "Viceroy Sarruf" is actually Rufus?? Nearly being an anagram surely can't be a coincidence and it also ties into his Before Crisis characterization (I might be misremembering, but iirc he was funding Avalanche). And that last conversation with Glenn, of course. Am I out of left field or are we supposed to expect that's the case?

he's almost certainly viceroy sarruf. pretty sure the game wants us to realize that.

I predict Aerith and Zack are both playable in part 3

I'm high on the ending so I disagree with you YoBlazer. I totally get it though. I think Part 3 has the ability to either make the ending to Rebirth better for those who disliked it or it has the possibility of ruining it completely. If part 3 is just the last half of the original game, I think I would agree that Rebirth's chapter 14 is bad. I have hope that they're doing something/planting seeds.

4/10

Certainly not deserving of a 1 in my opinion, but also I get the idea that "this isn't a case" too.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5517bb08.jpg
Main Character 1:
Aerith Gainsborough (aka Aeris)

This is Aerith's game. If Remake proved that they could make Cloud cool, funny, interesting, edgy, and pitiful at the same time, Rebirth proves that Aerith is selfless yet jealous, happy yet unfathomably sad, lonely yet loving of her friends. This game will never get credit for this, but it's one of the most human portrayals of a character in modern videogames. People will point to studios like Larian, Naughty Dog and Remedy as having realistic human characters, and Aerith's portrayal in this game deserves to be mentioned in the same conversation. Again - she won't - and that's a shame.

This entire game is built on the knowledge that players will have the tension of "what's going to happen to Aerith?' That's literally the forward action in the plot. It isn't "we have to follow the black robes." It isn't "let's stop Sephiroth." It's will Aerith live? And beyond this, will Aerith be happy? What was going through Aerith's mind in the original game when she died? And so, much of this game is devoted to answering those questions.

The answers reveal that Aerith is complicated. No scene better encapsulates this than the conversation with her on the water tower in Nibelheim toward the end of the game, a scene that almost single handedly saves the entire return to Nibelheim section. It's fitting that Aerith gets her own Nibel water tower scene. It's a scene where Aerith actually confesses to being angry. Something literally happened to my body during this scene. It was one of the most surprising experiences I'd ever had in a video game. I've known Aeris/Aerith for twenty years. Aerith doesn't get angry. Does she?

And I realized that this wasn't a retcon or a rewrite of her character, and it wasn't her acting out of character. This was Aerith as a real person and this was how she'd always been and I just hadn't seen it before. This isn't even a real cutscene either. It's just a random moment in Nibelheim.

As for the ending:
Aerith is dead. The "date" in the pocket universe is playing with the old rumors about ways to revive Aerith. "If you do x, y, z you can bring Aerith back to life!" "If you choose the hairpin, the choco candy, and the showtime pose, Aerith comes back to life!" Except none of those choices matter. It's the game messing with you.

Aerith is alive. Cloud parries Sephiroth's blade, she fights Sephiroth in the final battle, she wakes up after the battle. Cloud has conversations with her and Red XIII senses her presence.

Both are true. What does this mean? I guess the third game will explain, but I don't think she's a ghost. I think the omissions (Cloud's comments after Aerith gets stabbed, the water scene, Cid's comments about "What die Aerith do exactly?") all suggest that the "death" from the original is not being suppressed by Cloud's mind but is actually being overwritten somehow. But it's fun to speculate.

So yeah. Aerith's the best.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/0e0884aa.jpg
Minigame 1: Queen's Blood

Another potentially obvious #1, but Queen's Blood is just so damn good. It would be objectively wrong to give it to anything else. Amazingly deep, well-balanced, and above all just plain fun. Queen's blood asks you to challenge your opponent to occupy lanes on the board, accruing points. Simple at first, the game really opens up once you add enfeeblement and replacement cards.

For me, the game clicked once I realized I had to play defensively. This is a game about controlling space and countering versus trying to bulldoze your opponent.

If it was just the story quests, Queen's Blood would probably still be #1 on the list, but the game also features several QB "puzzles" that require you to make new decks, play differently, and understand your opponents cards.

So it really tics all the boxes: great music, fun activity, well-written storyline to accompany it. It's the best minigame, and I enjoyed it more than any other FF card game to date.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1239eded.jpg
NPC 1. Rufus Shinra

In Remake, we got about a chapter and a half of Rufus Shinra, and he managed to steal the show. In Rebirth, nearly from the jump, Rufus instantly establishes himself as a force to be reckoned with. If I can make a reference to the Star Wars sequel trilogy, (and apologies if I'm channeling LMS) it would've been easy to make him a "First Order" type. All vaguely neo-nazi and fascist. Instead, the devs build a character with a pinch of Elon/tech-bro, a dash of uber-capitalist/stock bro, and a whole mess of "my father sucked and I'm glad he's dead."

Throughout the game, Rufus demonstrates that he's more than just a nepo baby. He's a Succession character, eager to lead the SEPC into a new future while leaving the past behind. This is made especially clear during two excellent early scenes. First, where he calls out the Shinra board for never standing up to his father after dropping the Sector 7 plate. Secondly, during his inspiring inauguration speech at Junon. Maybe it's because it's an election year, but I thought that scene was a chilling mix of inspirational rhetoric and underlying malice.

Rufus really has his own plans and agendas, and isn't so much just a villain to the crew or Sephiroth. At first, Rufus doesn't seem to give a shit about Avalanche or Sephiroth, instead looking to expand the brand through extensive war profiteering with Wutai. Eventually, he too is drawn to the Promised Land, which leads to an interesting rematch of Remake's dual. It's once again a highlight.

Boring #1 maybe, and the Wutai/Lodbro stuff isn't perfect, but I'd feel bad if I gave it to anyone else.

I don't know what a hot sandwich is according to some of these answers. BLT's are cold I thought.

Cheesesteak
Grilled Cheese
Meatball Sub
French Dip

Loved this show.

8.5/10

Definitely the highlight of the game. The Maya twist was legitimately affecting in a way that surprised me.

NPC Power Rankings.
69. The other Shinra grunt from Nibelheim
68. Garth
67. The Intergrade Squad (Nayo, Billy Bob, Polk, Zhijie)
66. Myrna
65. Jules
64. Seto
63. Leslie
62. Tifas Dad
61. Sonon
60. Esther
59. Captain Titov
58. Madame M
57. Lifestream Whales/Weapons
56. Wise the Robot
55. Zangan
54. Piano Guy (Dorian)
53. Reeve
52. Andrea
51. Chocobo Joe
50. Clouds Mom
49. Choco Bill
48. Heidegger
47. Mayor of Nibelheim
46. Kid G
45. Chloe
44. Broden
43. Don Corneo
42. Wedge
41. Rhonda
40. The Fair Family
39. Scotch and Kotch
38. Dr. Sheiran (Med Sheeran)
37. Gus
36. Bugenhagen
35. Lodbrok
34. Costa del Sol Girls (Naomi, Fran, Yorda)
33. Marlene
32. Jessie
31. Gilgamesh
30. Chocobo Sage
29. Regina
28. Priscilla
27. Gi Nattak
26. Kyrie
25. Becks Badasses
24. Chocobo Sam
23. Chocobo Billy
22. Reno
21. Elmyra
20. Ifalna
19. Cissnei
18. Dio
17. MAI
16. Johnny
15. Scarlet
14. Shinra Middle Manager
13. Dyne
12. Lidrehl
11. The Commander and the Adjutant
10. Chadley
9. Palmer
8. Tseng
7. Hojo
6. Roche
5. Rude
4. Midgars 7th Division
3. Biggs
2. Elena

Minigames
40/ 39. Underground tremor monster / Following a trail
38. Unlocking Chocobo Stops
37. Taking pictures for quests/snaps
36. Chocobo Treasure Hunts (random and specific zones)
35. Wheelie Master
34. Looking at notes
33. Chicken Luring
32. Gears and Gambits
31. Pirate Rampage
30. Caches
29. Mushroom picking
28. Cactuar Trials
27. Playing as Aerith
26. Chocobo Stealth Sequences
25. Minecart Sequence
24. Buggy Escape
23. Leapfrog
22. Towers
21. Following the Robed Figures
20. Chocobo Gliding
19. Playing as Cait Sith
18. Speed Circle
17. Fort Condor
16. Red XIII League (Run Wild)
15. 3D Brawler
14. Mako Springs
13. Summon game
12. Breaking the Boxes (Desert Rush)
11. Loveless QTEs
10. Moogle Round-up
9. battle arenas
8. Unique Monster Hunts/fiend intel
7. Dolphin Riding
6. Crunches
5. G-Bike
4. Junon Parade Performance
3. Chocobo Racing
2. Playing the Piano

Main Cast
11. Cid
10. Sephiroth
9. Cait Sith
8. Vincent
7. Red XIII
6. Zack
5. Tifa
4. Yuffie
3. Cloud
2. Barret

If the board is still here tomorrow, I'll post the #1 write ups. If not, then it's been fun.

BK_Sheikah00 posted...

Larxene time

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/ef7117b7.jpg
NPC 2: Elena

The devs absolutely crushed it with Elena. Kind of similar to Yuffie, they took a character whose main quality was being annoying and made her not only likeable, but superior in many ways to her more established peers. A lot of it has to do with her VA; I'm not going to look her up but she does a stellar job with capturing her smugness in a cute way.

She definitely has the most actual personality out of any of the villains in the game, though she probably doesn't have the layers of the list's number one (it should be an easy guess now who this is). She's a rookie. She's a brat. She likes ice cream, but not vanilla. You can knock her off the platform in the Mythril Mines battle apparently.

She's a bit of a "Karen," haircut and all. But she's a sympathetic one. It's telling that mind controlled Cloud has to be stopped from killing her in the Temple of the Ancients.

I like her!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8a706fff.jpg
Minigame 2: The Piano

A polarizing choice, I know. I loved the piano. I loved playing the opening notes to "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance at every piano I came across. I enjoyed spending 35 minutes getting "A" rank in "Two Legs, Nothin to It!" As someone who's ass at rhythm games, it was challenging enough for me to want to keep playing. (I definitely gave up on "Let the Battles Begin" though).

Kirk Hamilton of the Triple Click podcast hates this minigame because he's a professional musician and its nothing like a real piano and it's actually harder to learn to play this than an actual piano. To that I say, who cares? It's amazing how much they were able to put into this. It's amazing that I can look up videos of people making up their renditions of "Eyes on Me" or "Dearly Beloved" or the MGS2 theme on youtube.

No more hints! If you can't figure out the number 1's by now you've got some issues.

MacArrowny posted...

kinda wild that you don't say once in your writeup that you like your #3 NPC :p

I'm rushing because I feel the closure of Board 8 above me like the sword of damocles

but yeah, I like him! I like the way they write his survivor's guilt. I like how he teases out the mystery of Cloud/Zack/the Aerith pocket dimensions. I like that he dies again apparently though I think Zack just ends up in world with another Biggs in it somehow. I like how this apparently is "actual Biggs" transported into the pocket universe, the same way "actual Cloud" comes into the pocket universe at the end.

Maybe all the "fuck fandom" posts are actually going to get us deleted faster?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/76f10809.jpg
NPC 3: Alternate Universe Biggs, aka Biggs

Like the Zack-verse, aka Terrier verse, Board 8 is a brief and temporary world that has accepted its own destruction, so I better power through the list.

Biggs living at the end of Remake was honestly an even bigger WTF moment than Zack surviving. Out of the Avalanche trio, he's probably the one you least expected, unless you're a huge Charlie Sheen fan. And yet ,he's also the one who makes the most sense in hindsight, given what Biggs does in the Zack sections of Rebirth.

Remake established Biggs as a worrier / obsessive type, and so it tracks that in Rebirth he's obsessing over why he's still living. This isn't answered particularly well for us, except we can assume that whoever brought him back (Aerith one assumes) brought him back for a reason. It kind of makes sense that Aerith would bring Biggs back in her vision of Sector 5, considering that Biggs helped out at the school and I guess is in a relationship with bee-girl (sorry bee-girl, I'm completely blanking on your name).

What I'm not necessarily down with is the idea that Biggs was brought back solely to get Zack to jump into the Sector 6 mako stream. I don't believe in the omni-Aerith 4D chess stuff. I think Biggs is more of a metaphorical character - symbolizing how even normal people are important - more than an actual macguffin/plot device.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c78ea542.jpg
Minigame 3: Chocobo Racing

As good a Mario Kart clone you'll ever see, chocobo racing is a joy in this game. There's a surprising amount of depth to the chocobo loadouts, with each bird having their own stats and each piece of armor providing a different benefit. That being said, the first bird and the armor that you get from just completing the races in order seems to be the most effective tactic available, so maybe it's not all that detailed?

But boy is it fun. Also the cactuar doors are fine. Quit your bellyaching and just stop running into them! This probably would've been first if it was a bit more challenging and if they added multiplayer.

Finally: they remixed "Crazy Chocobo!" This game was made for us Board 8 adult children, and for that I'm extremely thankful.

Hint for NPC 2: Basically a Kingdom Hearts Character
Hint for Minigame 2: Dearly Beloved

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/27ab6468.jpg
Main Character 2
Barret Wallace

Two t's or one t, that is the question. I find myself always misspelling Barret's name. It's just one of those things.

This game really cements Barret as the true heart of the party, in my opinion. Here's a guy who comes across at first as pure Id: uncontrollable rage, braggadocio, righteous indignation... a terrorist. As the game proceeds, Barret emerges as someone with no choice but to fight further, a man who has someone he has to protect. And ultimately maybe a man who can hopefully find some alternative to fighting someday.

There are several unforgettable small moments with Barret in this game. Under Junon's dog quest, where he confesses all of these relatable fatherly fears about Marlene growing older. His weird uncle/older brother banter that he has with Red and Yuffie. The sailor suit. The way he cries after Loveless. The way he climbs up ladders with one hand.

I already mentioned how the Corel/Dyne stuff was largely worse this go around, but not a significant downgrade in the way Shinra Mansion and Cosmo were downgrades. The original pathos of the story is still present in Rebirth. The thing about Barret is that he was duped. He bought in to the Shinra propaganda and it cost him everything. So all of Remake's rhetoric about the planet and planetology is really a cover for this core of regret and loss that he is only gradually finding himself able to approach. It really is an underrated arc. We haven't gotten here yet, but this culminates in him not taking the leadership role once Cloud gets k.o.'ed by mako poisoning.

The ignorant masses sometimes claim that Barret was a stereotype in the original game. He wasn't, but Remake/Rebirth unveil een more layers to this guy beyond "angry Mr. T type." Unless the T stands for trauma I guess.

Hint for NPC 3: Remake's biggest mystery, not quite solved.
Hint for Minigame 3: In the Drift.

falcons lol

are they gonna have penix sit for a year or two behind cousins?

lol I can't believe they kept in trauma-gon's ultimate move. does he turn into shriveled up corpse after he wins?

6

It has its moments. Kira's pretty good. Barnham is super underrated. The group testimonies in Layton aren't as good as they are in GAA that's for sure.

curious to see what the titans do here