Board 8 > final fantasy vii remake playthrough topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

remember playthrough topics? well, I'm bringing those archaic things back. it seems fitting for a 23 year old game. plus, this will be fun to look back at when part 2 finally comes out in 2024.

first things first: Please don't talk about anything beyond where I am, or hint at what's to come. I want to experience whatever the hell this game is without any preconceptions. I'm dying to talk about this crazy thing that shouldn't even exist but not at the expense of ruining my first-time experience. if that isn't possible here, I'll probably shut it down.

anyway, some quick backstory on me and FF7: it's a game that I've always liked, but never loved. my first FF was the original and I had been playing FF for nearly 10 years by the time it came out, so it wasn't that first FF experience for me that it was for others. my last game list had it at #74. it's a game I know pretty darn well though -- not as well as the FF7 maniacs out there, but this was a really formative game for me and each minute of the original game resonates with me in a weird way. I don't think OG FF7 is especially fun to play, but I do love the tone that it lets off and the overall atmosphere. it's enough for all the remake advertising to be super effective on me, and I'm incredibly excited to see what this is.

I'll probably be playing this pretty slowly, just an hour or two a night at most since I have kids to deal with and they aren't old enough for Barret. I have played a couple hours so far though and I'll write about those in a bit.

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argh I pre-ordered this thing on day 1 and Amazon says I won't get it until Tuesday

everyone seems to love it and it's killing me that I can't play it
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I have arrived to read all of this

where's the youtube link

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Title Screen

I need to dedicate a lot of words to the FF Prelude. I've loved the Prelude since 1990 and I listen to it all the damn time. if I had spent any amount of time thinking about it, I would have realized that the FF7 main menu screen would have it.

and oh my god, it is glorious. I sat there and let the whole thing play. I don't know if it was the song itself or just the fact that I was sitting at the title screen of the mythical Final Fantasy VII Remake, but holy shit it is amazing. I was all tingly the whole time. I won't be surprised if that ends up being my top moment from the game, just because I have such a history with that song. I am ready to play this thing.

Chapter 1

the intro cutscene worked on me. I was not prepared for Midgar during the daytime. I get the feeling that this will continue to hit me hard as I play through this. seeing actual people in Midgar, playing on the slide or whatever, is just hugely satisfying, and when that music kicks in, man, it's so good. those are the moments that are really going to soar with me, things that play against my expectations but in a good way.

so yeah, I've basically played chapter 1 before with last month's demo. I won't go into too many gameplay details, at least up front, but it's enjoyable to just slash at things. Barret is talkative in the way that modern FPS games or other big budget games treat sidekicks, and it's really exhausting. Barret in general is exhausting to listen to. it's like he took his attitude from the beginning of 7 and then amplified it 10 times. I know that this will chill out as our characters get to know each other, but I'm just hoping that the obnoxious banter calms down a little.

there isn't much to say about reactor 1 outside of the boss. the guard scorpion, or whatever it's called here, actually really messed me up in the demo because I just didn't have a handle on how to play it. I had a hard time switching between characters unless there was a reason to do it, like a flying monster up on a wall that I needed Barret for. this time I focused on trying to switch back and forth, basically treating it like the game has ATB. I'd attack, pop off an ability and then try to flow on to the next character. that seemed to work well as I didn't have any trouble with the guard scorpion. I picked 20 minutes and got out with like 14 to go. 10 minutes should be more than enough for anyone who has a general sense of direction.

the end scene is a pretty funny retcon - but one I'm fine with. President Shinra and Heidegger blow up the reactor on their own, and man, it really does some damage. I guess a purist could have an issue with it but I'm willing to roll with it for now. I'm not wed to the FF7 canon by any means.

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Chapter 2

man, the people of Sector... 7, I think?, really enhance the damage done by Shinra. the place is a mess with dead people everywhere and everyone freaking out. it's done really well. it's absolutely hilarious that they're looking for the person behind this and here you are with a huge goddamn sword on your back and no one says a thing. you spend a few minutes trying to find your way past some wreckage, and bam, Sephiroth. Sephiroth is done really well so far, and I don't mind his early game inclusion. Cloud's hallucination is pretty strong here, to the point that I almost thought it might be real. it's a great tease, and I wonder how that even plays in to this part of the story. we'll see I guess.

I liked Cloud's meeting with Aerith. I chose to try to pay her for the flower and ended up with a little yellow flower the rest of the chapter. I'm not sure if you can possibly not get this, but it's so distracting to see on Cloud the whole time, in a good way. I liked the chat with Aerith, and during it you get some kind of ghostly things going after Aerith as well as another Sephiroth flashback. I guess my huge sword was enough of a giveaway and the Shinra army comes at me in waves.

I spent as much time as I could in battles here, because getting AP and slicing up dudes was real fun. I might get to Fire and Cure level 2 before long! I'm still learning this battle system for sure though. there was this one guy with a shield that I couldn't hit with physical attacks at all. the only way I could figure out how to hurt him was with fire, which would one-shot him, but if I didn't have enough ATB to use fire, it was a real struggle. after a while I found ways to get him to lower his guard but I'm still learning what's good and where. I didn't come close to dying, though, and I ended up beating a miniboss at the end without any real trouble.

the train scene afterwards is great. SHINRA MIDDLE MANAGER is the MVP of the game so far. Barret walking around the train with a gun arm is even better than Cloud walking past the wreckage of the mako reactor with a sword the size of his body.

I get off the train undetected and am ready to head over to Seventh Heaven. Tifa, here I come.


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I'm ready for Tifa to beat more Noble Niners next contest because of this game
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I'm in Chapter 9. Game is excellent so far. Much MUCH better than the original

No wonder they had to do it in parts because this game would be over 100+ hours otherwise. Every part of the original is just expanded on in great ways. This is what a Remake should be. Not 1:1 shot for shot with lazy enhancements.

The battle system takes some time to get going though. But the graphics ,presentaiton and story are great. And Barret isn't annoying in this unlike the original.

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Chapter 3

Tifa has a shoryuken.

TIFA

HAS

A

SHORYUKEN

Chapter 3 is all about the town area, which I am guessing becomes a hub area that you return to throughout the game. Cloud has an apartment here. Tifa's room is next door and there's some reunion wacko next door that causes Cloud to get his Sephiroth flashbacks (?).

you get quests here which I am totally obsessed with. some guy needs you to kill off a bunch of rats, another one needs you to find three cats around town, all the usual quest nonsense. except, I'm also unlocking the weapon modification system and the sense materia (called assess) has a whole minigame that lets me unlock new materia and oh god I am all in on just killing everything I can find. also, Tifa has a shoryuken that is so much damn fun to use.

this section of the game honestly feels like Xenoblade X. there's one song that sounds identical to one of the NLA songs. there's a strange sense of camaraderie amongst the townspeople here that I was not expecting. you're wiping out fiends and helping out the local people and it all feels really good. it's not what you expect from a bunch of miserable people in the slums of Midgar, because they honestly don't seem that miserable. I don't really recall any NPCs that have any kind of lasting impact early in OG FF7 because you're always moving on to a new area and not returning. but here, it seems like you'll get to know these quest givers. I like it.

I haven't advanced the story yet (having too much fun doing quests) so I'm not sure how much more there is to chapter 3. Cloud is a real jerk to everyone, especially Tifa, and he goes on his "where's my money" schtick a lot longer than I recall in FF7 proper. Tifa mentions at one point that he's really changed and that she's kinda scared of him. it's interesting - my memory of FF7 is that Cloud isn't really "all in" until Aerith gets captured, and even then, not truly in until the trail of blood in the Shinra building. if that's, like, 25 hours into this game, I'm interested to see how they soften him.

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I made Tifa party leader. My favorite to use.

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Damn, now I really want this. I wonder how cheap ps4s will get after ps5 comes out.

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I love how much the expanded on the periphery of Midgar and the people in it. Moreso than what they do with the story, I think that is one of the biggest appeals to me about the remake. The part where you talked about seeing Midgar during the day, or the people after the reactor blew up, sounds so good. Like, it may lose a bit of that oppressive, cold darkness and sweet synth, but man it seems like it gains in other areas!

also NLA shout out

Unrelated, but theres a contest happening?? What!

I spent as much time as I could in battles here, because getting AP and slicing up dudes was real fun. I might get to Fire and Cure level 2 before long! I'm still learning this battle system for sure though. there was this one guy with a shield that I couldn't hit with physical attacks at all. the only way I could figure out how to hurt him was with fire, which would one-shot him, but if I didn't have enough ATB to use fire, it was a real struggle. after a while I found ways to get him to lower his guard but I'm still learning what's good and where. I didn't come close to dying, though, and I ended up beating a miniboss at the end without any real trouble.

Protip: if you switch to Punisher stance and block with R1, cloud automatically counters physical melee attacks. I think that's the intended way to beat the riot shield guys

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heroicmario posted...

Unrelated, but theres a contest happening?? What!

haha. I was going to tell you but also why drag you back for that? but a playthrough topic, that's the real shit

thanks for the tip on the blocking.

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Tagging this hard. Towards the end of chapter 4 so far, and loving it!

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At chapter 14 now and still loving it...!

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Tag because I need a place to dump random non-spoiler thoughts about this game.

That said. Everything you mentioned about the prelude and the intro ring true for me, too. It was the wildest thing...the entire first night I played, like 3 hours, I felt this constant, nagging....sadness? Nostalgia blend? Like I was totally enthralled by everything and was loving it but the whole game just instilled this unshakeable feeling, like a lump stuck in my throat. I likened it to the feeling I had when I was 11 and finished reading a Harry Potter book then would just lay around wishing it could be real and I could be there.

Do I sound crazy? Anyway I'm loving the game so far. They've done almost everything right. My gripes are minor, and very few and far between.

a good friend of mine said that it feels surreal to be living in that world in this way. he's not a big FF7 fan either but just the act of expanding a game like this feels like such blasphemy that it's kinda hard to take in. FF7, and Midgar in particular, has such a strong sense of place that it's impossible to avoid if you have any kind of affinity for it, I think. I don't love the original game but I can't think of too many places that feel more distinct than FF7 Midgar.

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I think I'm at the end of Chapter 5.

This game makes me want a FF7 anime series. I'm digging it.

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Made it to Wall Market, the part I've most been looking forward to this whole time. Won't spoil anything other than to say it's great! The game just keeps getting better so far.

Came across a soft lock that made me had to restart the game :(

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Zigzagoon posted...

Came across a soft lock that made me had to restart the game :(

....

Really? I assume you searched online and verified it?

*makes new save slot*

turbopuns3 posted...

....

Really? I assume you searched online and verified it?

I saw someone else post the issue as well yeah

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Not restart my whole save file lol, just had to go back to my last auto save

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Ohhh ok

please wait for the game to finish installing excuse me

was the hour playing through chapter 1 not long enough

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Tifa is hot as FUCK. She could be Makoto tier.....

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Chapter 3, continued

I finished the rest of the quests - every single one - and am rewarded with some kind of a Tifa scene in my apartment where we decide we want to go out on the town? I get to choose her outfit? it feels very FF7, except it doesn't seem to happen, or at least not yet. maybe we get this when we get to Wall Market. we'll see.

the rest of chapter 3 is spent hanging out in seventh heaven. I get a drink with Tifa at the bar and then the rest of Avalanche - I'm not in Avalanche at this point - goes down underground using that goofy arcade machine thing that acts as an elevator. yep, that thing's still there. I spend some time playing the new darts minigame, way more than I probably should have, and end up getting an 8 to tie the top score on the leaderboard (Wedge, because of course). I spent way too long playing this, and it's not exactly good, but I kind of like that it's not good because FF7 minigames are straight up not good. if they came up with some killer minigame I'd feel like it didn't fit in with the world. more coming on this in a bit.

Avalanche takes a vote and decides that I'm *not* going to the next reactor, which is interesting. Tifa has a moral objection to the bombings and is hesitant to join, and comes back up to the bar pretty pissed about the decision. I can't tell if it's because of the bombings or because she wants to stay with Cloud. to be honest, if it's the latter, I can't say that I understand her point of view. Cloud is pretty much unlikable at this point, and anyone into him is into him because of his SOLDIER skills.

after being voted off the Avalanche island, I get told to pack up and leave. I leave and some punks come and want to know where Barret is. Cloud says he'll tell them if they pay him, so they meet in a dark alley. I can't tell if Cloud is serious here or just playing along. I think he's playing along but it says a lot about Cloud that I can't tell how much of a mercenary he is at this point. everyone around town just refers to me as "Merc" and all I've talked about is where my money is and how I can improve my rep to make more money. it's weird.

anyway, these punks decide to pull out some knives and takes me on, 4 on 1, but in classic RPG fashion I just block their knife attacks and mess them up. this fight kinda sucked because it seemed like the only right way to go is to just hold block in punisher mode until they attack and then beat the crap out of them. a few uses of cura -- yeah, I've already got cura at this point -- and I'm fine.

I head back to my apartment and Jessie is there. she offers to give me Ifrit materia but not until I head back to the reactor to "check something out". time to go for a ride...


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is the tutorial room where cloud breaks the fourth wall talking about the finger still here

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Chapter 4, part 1

so, Jessie's the bomb expert here. actually, she's the only one with any kind of technology background it seems. Biggs and Wedge are just soldiers and Barret just yells at everyone. it seems like Jessie is the only one with a personality so far outside of just a cool hang.

Jessie says that she made the reactor bomb stronger than it needed to be, unaware that Shinra is actually the one who blew up the reactor. she wants to head back to steal the right materials from some Shinra guy, and wants Cloud's help. Biggs and Wedge catch on and meet us before we head back.

it's time for motorcycles! we've got Biggs and Wedge on one cycle and Jessie/Cloud on the other. at first we're just having fun riding and talking, but eventually we get caught by an id scan and guys come after us. it's exactly what you expect: a fully functional homage to the motorcycle chase sequence leaving the Shinra building in FF7.

let's talk about that sequence in FF7. it's hugely iconic, of course. that weird CG scene where Cloud takes the motorcycle down the stairs is one of the most memorable scenes from that game. but the actual chase sequence? it's not very good. it's fine, I guess? like, the attacks have a lot of lag to them and don't ever feel good. but the sequence itself is a cool change of pace with an enjoyable atmosphere to them.

this one is a lot more functional, but overall, about the same. it looks great, as you'd expect. you've got your standard left/right swings, a spin attack that you have to charge up (charging takes like 30 seconds to a minute), and then a blade beam long range attack that also takes a minute or so to charge up. enemies do a little more than the original - one drone enemy has a lightning attack and can shoot at you from range, but otherwise you're really just cruising along and swinging your sword just like the original. again, I think it's good that this isn't much improved because I don't want really high quality squats or anything like that, but it's also one of the low points of the game so far.

eventually we get to the boss fight - Roche, this arrogant SOLDIER dude who's doing all this crazy spin moves on his cycle, riding on the walls and doing all these crazy attacks to you. he clearly has a better cycle than you and can just leave you in the dust at will. he shoots lots of long range attacks at you that you have to dodge until the game finally lets you catch up with him and attack him.

this part is moderately interesting, but this dude is so not. he's the first thing in the remake that feels like it belongs in a newer FF than in FF7. this guy is being set up as some kind of rival to Cloud and seems to be on par with him in terms of ability. but really, he just doesn't fit in at all. he's brash and arrogant and I'm really glad when Cloud jumps off his bike, messes up Roche's bike and jumps back to Jessie. Roche nods at our ability, laughs in that supervillain kind of way, and leaves us alone.

Jessie is pretty thrilled about the whole thing. I should talk about Jessie. she is 100% thirsty for Cloud. it's basically her only character trait at this point: just lusting over the guy with the huge sword. she reminds me very strongly of Rikku. she has a lot of pep and seems to be the group cheerleader. all Jessie wants to do is take her joy ride with Cloud alone, and is outwardly disappointed when Biggs and Wedge crash the party. so far, Aerith, Tifa and Jessie have all flirted with Cloud in some capacity, but no one quite like Jessie who is all the way in from the first second she lays eyes on him.

we finally get to our destination and thankfully get off the bikes. it's dungeon time.

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The Mana Sword posted...

is the tutorial room where cloud breaks the fourth wall talking about the finger still here

I actually told a friend yesterday that I wanted to see if the bouncing save point still existed in some capacity

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Chapter 4, part 2

the Jessie mission sure is something. the first part is to steal the id card from her dad while the rest of my group distracts them. there's honestly nothing to this - you just walk into a room and take the id card. however, Jessie's dad is in the room in a medical bed because he has mako poisoning. it's nice foreshadowing for something not even in this game, I guess!

in his room I also find a card from Jessie -- turns out she used to be an actress at the Gold Saucer, or at least that's what the letter says. also her name is Jessie Rasberry. I kinda love this. I wasn't sure if this was legit or if she was just using the gold saucer as an excuse for why she's off with Avalanche.

five minutes later, I'm with Biggs and Wedge and they tell me Jessie's backstory. yes, she was a gold saucer waitress but left when her dad got mako poisoning. she's with Avalanche because she thinks he's going to return to the planet and that what Shinra is doing could cause her dad to have a bad time. something like that, anyway.

my mission here is to let Jessie steal the explosives while we cause a distraction by taking on the Shinra army. this immediately goes off the rails when the guards are already knocked out. the mission still proceeds as expected though and we end up taking on every kind of Shinra guard from chapter 1, plus some new mech enemies that function as a miniboss.

the mechs are a tutorial fight for summons. summons only seem to exist in boss fights, which is an interesting twist. they feel kind of like Aeons from FFX in that they show up and fight until they are depleted, then go away. you're still fighting while they're there though. you can use your ATB to use their attacks but they'll just do normal attacks until then. when their meter runs out, they do a special attack and then disappear. I beat the mechs before their meter ran out, so I didn't get to see hellfire or whatever that might have been.

we end up surrounded by the Shinra army and Wedge gets captured until Roche shows up on his bike. he talks a bunch and then Cloud has a one on one boss fight against him. I kinda suck at this fight but I end up winning after using a few hipotions and cura. we're still surrounded though and a bunch of mechs come out to get me, and they shoot Wedge in the process.

then, out of nowhere, some other friendly troops show up and break me out. I'm told later that these guys are another group in Avalanche? sure, why not. they deal with the troops, leaving me to deal with mechs -- until Roche comes back on his bike, blows up the mechs and helps me escape. he's really flamboyant and reminds me of Genesis from Crisis Core or something like that. not a fan of this guy so far.

Biggs and Cloud meet up with Jessie and the Avalanche sect throws a nearly unconscious Wedge out of a tank onto the street where I am. and then -- I'm not making this up -- they pull down Wedge's pants to see where he got shot and tell him that he's fine except that his underwear is ruined. I don't know how to process this other than that it happened. Jessie pulls out some parachutes and we float back to the slums in pairs: Biggs and Jessie, Cloud and Wedge. Wedge tells Cloud, "don't be a hardass, bro" and Cloud says "I'm not your bro", which absolutely killed me. this game, man.

there's a short night scene back in the slums where Wedge shows me where their apartments are and I meet with Jessie who gives me Barrier materia for my hard work. hurray? I have a few conversations with my guys and shoot Jessie down when she tries to make a move, then head back to my apartment. I finally turn in for the night, thinking that would be the end of the chapter, but I'm awoken by Tifa as the slums are getting attacked by some shadows that have been stalking Cloud on and off throughout the game. that's all the time I have for tonight though so I'll have to wrap this long chapter up tomorrow.

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wasnt expecting to get hit with that main theme upon getting to sector 7

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yeah I enjoyed that quite a bit too

wait for hip hop de chocobo

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hip hop will need to wait until tomorrow

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Oh hey youre about where I left off today.

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Taaaaaaaaaaaaaag.

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transience posted...

you've got your standard left/right swings, a spin attack that you have to charge up (charging takes like 30 seconds to a minute), and then a blade beam long range attack that also takes a minute or so to charge up.

Wait, uh, wut. I think I missed that entirely

The climax of this game is freaking awesome.

By far the best boss just now. Everything was timed perfectly to look super badass.

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Hip hop de chocobo is fucking hilarious and fantastic!

Didn't get to play today, but plan on finishing chapter 4 tomorrow, and going through some of chapter 5. Jessie's thirst is hilarious, but I do enjoy that the game is fleshing out (to a degree) the other members of Avalanche. Will make it hurt that much worse later on, unless that's changed somehow.

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transience posted...

Wedge tells Cloud, "don't be a hardass, bro" and Cloud says "I'm not your bro", which absolutely killed me. this game, man.

Saaaaame. I cracked up at that part

I adore that the game seems to have given you a Vergil in the form of Roche.

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Hate Roche and everything he stands for, so far, tbh

It's like. I get it's a remake and you add things and change things, and almost all of the changes have been excellent. Roche is just, like...why? What use is this character without background serving? I'm sure he'll get a little more "tied in" later but through chapter 10-ish that's still one of the biggest head scratchers for me -- who is this guy and why the hell does he need to exist

I don't really need any background for a fun rival guy who provides nifty one on one boss fights but that's just me.

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Oh man, hearing the OG boss music for the first time in this game is EPIC!

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game beated

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Murphiroth posted...

I don't really need any background for a fun rival guy who provides nifty one on one boss fights but that's just me.

If he was just fun I'd agree but he's an annoying tool and his sequences so far are boring, so there's no redeeming quality