Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy IV · Final Fantasy VI · Final Fantasy VII Remake · Final Fantasy VII Rebirth · Final Fantasy Tactics
Bounced off this so hard. The mechanics are just so boring. I need a little more meat on that bone. Lesson learned: stop playing Final Fantasies before 7.
Played but not finished, ultimately boring mechanics and I think the storytelling is hurt by the medium. Too cramped, not enough space on the cartridge to let things breathe.
Tremendous.
Most of the way through this, I just lost momentum due to the open world stuff. I want to revisit and plan to just chase the open world stuff that actually sparks joy instead of trying to be a completionist about it. The upgrades to the combat system are really fun though, and having more of the cast is great.
I really wanted to like this but it’s too grindy. Also, I don’t like the emphasis on using randos you picked up in a bar instead of the story characters. That’s what I like about Fire Emblem! The whole class building thing is really cool and fun though!
The drama seems totally unearned here. It has a lot of emotional whiplash and there's a lot of build up out of nowhere. It's also silly which really undercuts it. The cast is too big and the cuts from person to person prevent you from building any kind of relationship with anyone.
The game is really easy and the combat is pretty boring so far (I think mostly because it's too easy for any amount of nuance or strategy to matter.)
I think a lot of these gripes are absolutely me playing it 30 years after release, the genre and games in general have evolved significantly. Still though, it makes me less sympathetic to a lot of arguments I've seen that VI is actually the best in the series and VII is overrated. I think setting quality of story aside (whatever that means, I guess some measure of plot without considering execution of it), VII is a much more emotionally resonant story.
This game feels so...welcoming and cozy at times. The sector 7 slums section really just feels like hanging out with friends getting to know each other after a long time which, it is. I also think Tifa's theme feels so warm.
I think the music is definitely doing so much work in this game. Aerith's theme is also so good and comforting. I also don't understand what the church is for. Does Midgar have Jesus? The combat is fun though I consistently feel like I'm just scratching the surface of competency with it.
Still cranking through at a good pace. It's really fun. I feel like I haven't quite gotten combat mastery but it's just a fun game.
One thing I dislike about these kinds of games is the ludo narrative dissonance of having to look for items in every nook and cranny. Quick, they're going to drop the plate! Okay, hold on while I look everywhere.
Got into the first section I think is kind of slow and laggy, the barrage of side quests after the sector 7 plate drops. It's just a weird moment to stall the game out before it really starts to accelerate into the end game.
Didn't finish the pull ups thing. I'm proud of me? I struggled because I was like I should do it now. And then I was like well, I could come back and do it after! I realized though that I would never do it, and not doing it meant I wouldn't get the achievement.
That's okay. Who cares?
Unsure if I'll redo the Yuffie dlc. I feel like I can sneak in finishing a game before Star Wars Zero Company comes out? I'm not saying I'll get it, but it's the first thing I'm very interested in.
I'm not sure the shinra building needed to take longer
Hojo is the fucking worst. "She came of her own free will, what is she your property?" He's just some sort of bad faith internet troll and he sucks so hard.
It's been a minute but the back half of the Shinra building, I think basically after you get Aerith back is when it really starts kicking into high gear. The first time, the Sephiroth being here, everything with the whispers really led to this tension of I don't know exactly what's going on here, but it was exciting to feel like that.
It's like the decision for adaptations not to follow too closely so fans of the thing can also be along for the ride. I think that's a really risky decision, you can turn those fans away, but done well you can really breathe new life into it and I think that's what this succeeds at.
The decision to have the Sephiroth reveal at the Shinra building in Hojo's lab and then the long pointless party switching phs stuff is mind boggling to me. Like there's so much narrative momentum and excitement and then we're just going to waste time dicking around? I literally was like "you know what? I did this once already. I could be done with the game."
I persevered though and got to the glowy Jenova blood trail so now it's really all downhill from here.
One thing that always trips me up is that Cloud is supposed to be some elite Mako infused SOLDIER and then randos like the Turks or Rufus Shinra can go toe to toe with him no problem.
I do like the boss rush nature of the endgame.
Fuck me I died at the motorcycle boss and had to put the game down and puts you all the way at the start of chapter 18 that's so fucking annoying. Why?
Alright, I've beaten it now. Didn't mean to, just didn't realize there was literally no saving after you step through the glowy portal.
I think this game is a rare jrpg that earned it's insane epicness. It makes sense to fight fate here, much more than it made sense for high schoolers to fight the god of control. It seems that by cashing the checks it wrote all those years ago. We understand why these characters have to fight fate and why here, this time, it's appropriate.
I really like this game overall though. I'm not even someone who's that nostalgic for the original. I played it once in high school and thought it was fine!
Probably won't roll directly into Rebirth after? Before I didn't think so for sure, but the ending is so epic it just makes you want to keep going. Might just do Jedi Fallen Order. I might wrap up a few things in Remake too. I have a couple more battle intel to turn in, I could knock out a few achievements. But I'm not really an achievement hunter guy? I dunno, I'll sleep on it.
This is my second time having beaten FFVII Remake and I just really like this game a lot. I don't even have a particular ton of nostalgia for the original, but this game grows it out of you. It's done with such love and care for the old game, it feels like FFVII came alive. The characters look and sound the way you imagined they would when you played it originally, the soundtrack bigger, fuller, meeting the grandness of the story. The game makes you understand why people fell in love with it so long ago and why it holds such a singular place in Final Fantasy and gaming canon.
read →Well immediately on to the next one. We're doing the Switch Pixel Remaster!
It was called a bomb ring Cecil what did you EXPECT?
Already I can tell this has some of the speed issues of VI. Like we get to the point very quickly!
If this game loses me it'll be because the random encounter density is too high. There's an option to turn them off which I may flip on and off. I wish I could just tune it instead of it being so binary.
I do feel myself uncompelled to play this at all. I'm not totally sure why. It's just not grabbing me. I don't feel frustrated with it or anything. Uncompelled.
I think it could be a lack of hand holding and direction? Also it's not compelling me visually.
I don't know. I'll have to reflect on it more.
This game is annoying. Screw the bombs, and this needle attack that just destroys people? It's really vexing how they don't tell you anything (standard for the time I assume) like what is Yang good at? Is there a point to kick? What does pray do? Why is it so much better than Edward's heal?
Additionally, what is the point of the antlion fight? It's just so easy. Why are we wasting my time with this interactive cutscene.
The game does a really bad job of expectation setting too. Cecil hits hard, everyone else sucks.
Also some annoying qol stuff, I'm used to Phoenix down just auto targeting or at least being unusable on your up characters. Nope. Wasted one and a turn that way. Also tents don't get people back up. That's how I would describe this half hour. Annoying.
Yeah, I'm just out on this. I think I've learned a lot here about what makes me tick. This game is just too thin mechanically and the story isn't enough to pull me through.
I listened to a podcast recently, Triple Click, and they had the concept of a canon that they would come back to: ten games that are an example of what they like in games so someone could understand their perspective. I thought this was a fun idea! Another thing I liked was that this was a living document, it was meant for you to come back and update it to show how you've changed.
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