without spoiling anything, the reason why it is so hard to figure out the goal of sepiroth in the remake is simply due to the fact that he wasn't at all relevent in the Midgar section of the game. They added him in the remake just to make his presence known. His character means literally nothing until rebirth.
I wouldn’t say his presence means “nothing,” in remake, rather from the outside looking in, it’s deliberately written so that the relevance of his presence isn’t supposed to be explained until the events of rebirth
They pretty much added him because they 1) Rufus as the final boss fight would be goofy as fuck. 2) It adds to the mystery of the troubled past hinted between Cloud and Tifa. You get that Sephiroth did "something" to his and Tifas home. But then again, the fact that Tifa does not make any comment on him whatsoever when she lays eyes on him felt weird. But it is part of the reveal that is introduced in the first chapter in Rebirth instead.
I mean, he shows up in midgar in the original (sort of, don't wanna spoil anything). But I think the story of the remake trilogy incorporates the events of the original as a type of alternate timeline that has literally already happened, and this Sephiroth has more knowledge and a different overall goal than in the original. It makes more sense to me if this is the case, but it's just a hunch.
The reason you didn't understand what the Whispers were doing is because you didn't play OG FF7, so you're missing context. The story of Remake and OG is not 1 to 1. There are some differences here and there. When something different happens, the Whispers come to ensure that events play out in the way they're supposed to in OG FF7. For example, in OG, after bombing the first reactor, Cloud takes on another job with Avalanche to destroy the second reactor. However, this is not what happens in Remake. After getting his money from the first job, Cloud leaves, and the group plans on taking out the next reactor without him. This is DIFFERENT than what happens in OG FF7. So what happens? The Whispers come and Jesse gets injured. This FORCES Avalanche to hire Cloud as a replacement member, so that he goes to second reactor with them. Basically, the Whispers are trying to ensure all characters' fates remain exactly the same as OG.
‘It’s not something Cloud would normally do’ Well, Cloud is iconic for breaking the things you THINK you know about him. Trust me, he is the best character with story arc ever created
I was genuinly surprised, I never play the original but I had the impresión that Cloud was just an edgy anime boy with a tragic past just for the sake of being edgy and tragic but NO. That one is Vincent... Cloud is a lot more complex and interesting than I tought. His messed up memoryes, the duaality between his facade and true self, how he some times let the mask slips while doing some random shit that he enjoy. Thers competece and incompetence, seriousness and sillyness, he tries to stay stoic and distant but allso very warm and carying. He was a very unexpected and very wellcome surprise
anyone with a harsh response to this analysis should remember that this is a first impression of a series they know nothing about. it is quite literally like making a review about playing the first 3 hours of og FF7 and calling it a day.
Thanks friend, I really appreciate that! And you're 100% correct, this is definitely more a first impressions than a full critique of FF7 Remake. I'm not analyzing this game pretending to know things I don't. I'm just being as authentic as possible and sharing my honest thoughts from my very limited experience so far. And I'm liking what I'm seeing so far!
i don't see how anyone can be harsh, i think anyone as a first time experience of ff7 OG or Remake would feel the same. FF7 is amazing and popular for a reason so I'd say just trust the process because a lot of understanding ff7 comes retroactively for better or for worse. But we also have to understand without the knowledge of ff7 OG or Crisis Core it doesn't really reveal to much in till part 2 which i would highly recommend you try and see how your opinion changes of part 1 afterward. Its so much easier for people to criticize when we've already had 20 years of knowledge and lore
Me :) I just beat remake for the first time this week on steam. Gonna start intergrade sometime this month before rebirth comes out. I could totally get your sentiment as I need more of the ff7 story after beating remake.
l‘m not. Rebirth is much better than Remake. I don‘t like the end of Remake at all. I‘m glad that l could forget and fade away (at least a bit) the End of Remake in the years between.
I would even say to all my friends: Start with Rebirth and don‘t waste time on Remake. If you liked Rebirth and want to know the start you can always go back.
@@ardentgold you don't need to play rebirth to know whats going on between cloud and sephiroth. since its not on pc yet, try play crisis core. itll explain cloud and sephiroth backstory and why they're here now. or you can just watch a 30 min recap of crisis core since the game is basically a repetitive hack/slash psp game
Play Crisis Core if you want to be as confused as one can possibly get with this series. Seriously, I played CC before OG FF7 and it made my playthrough of OG 10 times more confusing because of spoiler reasons, just stick with the remake trilogy (or play OG) and check out Crisis Core AFTER that.
You gotta learn more of the combat system. The reason some enemies are so tanky and bosses too is because you need to learn their elemental weaknesses and also weaknesses. Using the “assess” materia is a MUST while fighting
@@josephwarren8187 it really does, I played through the game twice before I figured out how to really use Tifa and once I did she turned into my favorite character to use.
Yeah a friend who has never played the original or any FF game recently started the Remake series and had the same issue. He let me play a few rounds in the coliseum and was shocked how I was moping up enemies round after round. He freaked out watching me change his materia and watched in awe as a single Firaga with All materia connected could annihilate every enemy in the first round 😅
Brilliant vid - take my like and subscribe! :) So glad you enjoyed the Aerith/Cloud interactions. I love their banter, but it's also great to see Aerith bring him out of his shell. Can't wait to see your Rebirth vid!
Thank you so much!! I’m so glad you enjoyed the video~ Aerith and Cloud’s dynamic is my favorite character moments by far in the game so far, and I can’t wait to see their dynamic evolve in Rebirth :> And yes pls look forward to it!
Regarding your combat critiques, I’d recommend paying a little more attention to the weakness information exposed by the “assess” ability. For reference, this was also my first final fantasy, really my first rpg in general, and I also really struggled with the “long” boss fights in my first playthrough. I probably spent 40 minutes on hell house. But the only reason it took so long is I didn’t yet fully understand the combat and the importance of exploiting elemental weaknesses. I’m far, far from a pro but on repeat playthroughs I breeze through enemies, to the point sometimes I have to intentionally slow down to actually enjoy the fights more. Probably the best summary of my experience with this game is if you feel like an enemy is “tanky,” it almost certainly means you aren’t understanding its weaknesses. It’s a real strategy game that successfully disguises itself as a “hack and slash.”
It is so funny listening to you make some of these critiques about the FF7 story without playing the OG. You are in for quite a few shocks and surprises, haha. The fact you thought these mini-games weren't in the original, nearly every one of them is a call back to 16 bit puzzle solving. Even the big crane they tried to include in the OG but couldn't so they included it for this one. Each one is a call back, even the squat competition in the gym.
Yeah lmao it was a bet I was willing to make and I lost it FOR SURE. I'm glad you found it funny tho, I cant wait to see all my wrong thoughts and predictions when I go back to play the OG in the future
Welcome to the fandom! Appreciate your take on a game that has challenged what a game can be. Do you know how hard it is to get new gamers, many who didn’t grow up in a franchise to dive into a remake of one of the franchise’s greatest achievements? Ignore anyone who says “well you gotta play the OG” or “you don’t get it.” Take your own time. Much like the original teaser of remake said “whatever comes let us embrace it.” The remake has to balance not only being a remake to one of the most famous games ever to where the names themselves are recognizable but to also MOVE FOWARD. We can’t ever go back to 1997. Stories have changed so much since then. So what can you do? You try something new, even if it fails. Many of the OG developers actually came back so this isn’t just new people taking over. And you’re right when evaluating Jessie. “I wish we had more time.” Remember what you said-this is going to be a MAJOR factor.
Thank you so much for the warm welcome!! it's really exciting because there are SO MANY FF GAMES that are already out/still coming out, but I'll definitely be taking it one game at a time. And you make a great point that remaking one of the most goated games HAS to be such a tall order for the studio. But honestly, even with all my gripes, they're killin' it so far. I already pre-ordered Rebirth on PC because I really want to know what happens next. I'll def check out the OG FF7 once I'm done w/ the remake trilogy. Like you said, no rush :)
I love how unbiased your takes are and how inquisitive and receptive you are to this game. It is very clear that you are the type of audience this game was meant for. Im an oldy and when i approached this game i ensured to myself that i should absorb this game like a sponge and try not to react harshly and i had almost the same same takes you had for this game. I am looking forward to your Ff7 rebirth review as that game blew me away and i am comfident that it will bllow you too. I am subbing so i can be updated. Kudos on the amazing video game review. :)
Have you played Rebirth yet, or do you plan to? If so, let me just say a lot of your questions and plot holes will be make sense, and also much of the issues you had with Remake will be resolved. The only issue some people had was that there was TOO MUCH content in Rebirth. But your side quest issue, in my opinion has been resolved and have been very engaging in the sequel.
@@ardentgold well then I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it. For me, I spent 130 hours with it and loved every minute of it. I know you said bloat was an issue for you with part one, but I do feel with rebirth all the side content is a lot better and makes sense in the context of the world you’re in. So I’m curious if your opinion on the side content will change with this one.
I can't wait to see the Rebirth video. Like almost every criticism you had for Remake is solved in Rebirth. Questing, level design, and combat are all significantly improved.
The story of the game is so much more complicated than you may even think it is already. But once you finally learn what is going on it just makes everything come together. Its why I like the game so much, and why it is my favorite game of all time (FF7 and OG in general). It actually reveals so much that playing the entire game again for a second time gives you a brand new perspective on the game and reveals a lot of what you miss the first time around. It makes actually playing the game again worthwhile. 😙👌
in 9:00 the shinra guards arent incopetent. The one who is incopetent is whoever designed those helmets they wear. Those shinra helmets are so large you cant see nothing above your head, so yeah this scene is super goofy but its not the guards fault, its the godawful design of the helmets that remove pratically all of your peripheral vision.
Rebirth answers quite a few of these questions, also it massively improves on the padding issue. Also Cloud's headaches are in the original game too, so everyone else already knows what they are. PTSD is close although not quite right. Unfortunately that part is not fully explained until the final part of the trilogy though, so you'll be waiting a few more years before fully understanding that.
Thanks man I appreciate it! And TO BE FAIR my 7.5/10 doesn’t use IGN metrics okay 😭😭 My 7.5/10 is like, that was an above average game, I liked it! (almost an 8 type beat) It’s just pt. 1 of 3 w/ an incomplete story (to me). I can’t rate it higher than that
The 'padding' is somewhat necessary in a remake like this. While it might seem silly that a section like... the train graveyard, that took about 10 minutes to walk through in the OG is a 2+ hour segment with 2 bosses in the remake, consider that the OG this was three 2D screens littered with random encounter battles that each take about 30 seconds. If the same format was maintained in Remake, each zone with be a single room full of 50-100 enemies that each die in one or two hits. It would be 10 minutes of shallow gameplay followed by 20 minutes of cutscenes, rinse and repeat. The very fact that the format of the cutscenes is so different with choreography, voice acting and cinematic directions all being entirely new additions to what was otherwise a visual novel, is precisely what warrants the same scale of additions to the gameplay format and environment design. It's like a movie adaptation of a book. The format is so different you have to rethink everything. There are a few areas that could have been a little shorter, but I don't think there's a single zone that could be removed entirely.
@@mattp994 20 years? Persona 5 is a 100 hour JRPG. That didn't take 20 years and it was 70 quid on release. Remake needed to be a 60 - 80 hour experience at the most They stretched it out to milk every cent at the expense of quality. There's a good game under all the fat, but it's barely worth the effort.
@@Mal_Freeman0451 you can't seriously be comparing these two. Persona is stylised art style that takes a fraction of the time to make. and you have no sense of scale if you think the OG ff7 is in any way comparable to a modern 70hr game. A 1 minute section of text dialogue using 16 bit sprites is already translated into several minutes of choreographed cutscene. What is a 1000x1000 pixel 'room' in the OG that takes 10 seconds to walk across and one person a few hours to draw and code is a half-mile long town full of voiced NPCs that takes an entire team months to make. You don't scale that up without drastically increasing the length of the game. There's probably over 50 hours of just cutscenes between all three parts (at least 10hrs in remake and 20hrs in rebirth) and I'm sure you'll agree you need more gameplay than cutscene. So you need that 10 minute cutscene in a certain zone to be accompanied be at least 20 minutes of gameplay before the next one, and you're not getting that gameplay without extending that 1000x1000 pixel room into a full dungeon. Right from day one when the remake was announced I would have told you it was insane to expect it all as one release without severely compromising the content. You want quality but have no idea what it costs.
@@mattp994 The Witcher 3 has tonnes more content and lots of top quality cut scenes. Way more going on in that game. There was no excuse for not releasing one 60 hour remake.
This is not a Remake. Not even like RE2 & 4 which are still faithful with minor changes. Remake/Rebirth are a different beast & much more complicated than you think. It's highly encouraged to first play FFVII OG and then Crisis Core (prequel) to actually understand what's happening in Remake. (You can play both on PS5 & PC) It's honestly almost impossible to understand what's actually going on otherwise. Even OG fans don't fully understand the Remake's story yet. That said, welcome to the fandom!
Loved your review, and it was fun to see the game through fresh eyes! My only comment would be regarding certain bosses (like Hell House) being overly tanky: that's likely a sign that you're either not using assess, not exploiting weaknesses, or both. The game isnt so much of an ARPG that you can overcome enemies with sheer damage and stats. You *need* (for all enemies, but especially bosses) to approach them strategically and tactically. In the example of Hell House, it has periods of bear invulnerability during God Mode, and attacking during that time is just wasting effort. Instead, focus on blocking, evading, and healing. During the gaps when God Mode is down, you can hit the House with Magic it's weak to, which changes throughout the fight, necessitating attention to both the element of the House as well as knowledge of which elements counter each other.
like, seriously ignore those dislikes, a first experience of something like ff7 is amazing, wish I could experience it for the first time and be confused by many of its aspects and getting to play rebirth right after is just something that makes it even more awesome
I started playing Remake for the first time a year ago, right before Rebirth came out, as my first FF game, and I fell in love with it. It is a wonderfully weird, flawed, confusing, sometimes aggravating, and delightful game that instantly made me a fan. Don't listen to people who played the OG and will try to tell you the best way to enjoy these games. Do it however you like. A lot of the issues you mentioned are solved in Rebirth. If you think there is too much side content in that game, you can always skip it and focus on the main story, but I did most of it. There were still a lot of things that didn't make sense, so I played Crisis Core after Rebirth for some missing context, and I don't regret it. I hope part 3 will finally make sense of it all.
I can't imagine playing FF7 remake without playing the 1997 version it made me so excited to relive my favorite scenes in the remake and when they threw new story points it was a Rollercoaster of what is this and was it worth adding only to be surprised.
I'm glad you were able to have that experience! That's how I felt too w/ games like the Resident Evil 4 & Persona 3 remakes that recently came out. I loved those games when I was a kid and being able to re-experience them now, many years later, has been such a wonderful time. I thought about playing the 1997 version of FF7 before playing Remake, but I ultimately decided it was the better option (for me) to start with Remake, even if I end up missing a lot of references, etc. I personally have a hard time getting into retro games, and I didn't want the age of FF7 to put me off from the series, especially because I don't have nostalgia/fond memories to help me overlook dated gameplay mechanics, etc. But I def think I will check out the OG FF7 after I finish the remake trilogy! And when I decide to replay the trilogy who knows when, then it all would've been worth it :>
Hey, massive FF7 fan here!! I hope the gatekeeping fans don't detract from your enjoyment at anylising or deciphering things from a new players perspective. Its genuinely interesting to hear everything even when I don't agree on all of it. Cant wait for you to play Rebirth!! IMO Remake is a great beginner to get into the FF world. I started with Remke as well but without any prior knowledge and played when it first released, and since 2020, I've gotten around to starting FF15, FF16, and FF7 og, which the latter has now become my favourite story in a video game, with rebirth right along side it as my 2nd favourite game, for its adaption but also the very addictive gameplay. I did really reeeaaaally enjoyed remake back when it launch, but looking back at it, the sequel is a different beast of its own. Its hard to go back to remake mechanics lol. Looking forward to you're future thoughts and feels, this world is truly special. also side note on characters cause why not Some might hurt me for this...but I use to feel the same way about Tifa as well. When I first played remake, Aerith absolutely stole my heart too. Her whole personality and heart just made me become drawn to her than most, but as I replayed Remake, played Rebirth, and FF7 og, Tifa unexpectedly climbed to the top of characters. Now that's not to say you'll have the exact same reaction, but i'd argue after clouds character, she's the most complex and nuasuced person in the ff7 series. Aerith is still very precious to me, but I look forward to you being able to see all sides of Tifa as the story unfolds. Cloud and Tifa's dynamic is by far my favourite of the series, but Tifa on her own is truly a gem
Hi friend, thank you for your support!! I really appreciate it :> After reading everyone's comments it definitely put into perspective just how important FF7 is to so many people, and I definitely wanna address the series with more care moving forward (but I'm still proud to share my honest thoughts and impressions at the same time as a noob to FF). Yeah with no context, Tifa is kinda just aight atm. Ofc I know that the story's still cooking and that's why I explained in my video that there's 2 more games to go so I'm not jumping to any conclusions, but Aerith is def my favorite character as of now. I mean, she steals the spotlight everytime she's on my screen! But that's not a slight against Tifa whatsoever. I don't really dislike any of the main characters
@@ardentgold Don't worry Ardent, most of these 'fans' are probably just annoyed you didn't immediately offer up Tifa as some sort of divine entity! Your video is great and a joy to watch. FF needs new fans as it's already struggling.
@@jasminbaus6887 TBH, I've always liked Tifa because of the kindness, but I've never seen her as nuanced - she just seems a tad passive and unconditional for me and all her motivations seem to stem from the same thing, taking solace from the past. But I'd be interested to learn what I'm missing.
loved seeing a perspective from a newcomer. I loved the honeybee inn as well both in OG and in this one. small tip for hell house... keep an eye on the color changing windows. go in with all elements equipped to your party!
@@ardentgoldI haven’t replayed since release but I understood the fight conceptually and what to do but didn’t have all the elemental magic so I struggled and found it tough to get the attacks in so took a lot of retries. I did however love the fight cos it’s just so extra. The game in general balanced grounded seriousness with whimsical insanity right to my tastes. It’s one of the things that ppl were sure was gonna get cut cos “it’s a house” but they doubled down and made it a set-piece event
Still watching, but the reason why Cloud crossdresses is great isn't just because it breaks gender norms, and the point *is* to break his character. It's Aerith's and Cloud's whole dynamic. This makes more sense further into the story (of the original, and Remake trilogy but not spoiling it for you). She sees throught the bullshit that he hides behind. Again, without spoiling, but Cloud's main defining characteristic at the start of FFVII is that "he thinks of himself as really cool". Trust me, that makes more sense afterwards. Aerith dismantles that, and still accepts him for who he is. Edit: One important thing about the whispers: they aren't in the original. Remake isn't a Remake in the traditional sense, but is a "meta-commentary on the nature of remaking things". The Whispers are a manifestation of trying to keep things as they are. I don't agree with your assessment of the sidequests, they're great! There's several nods to the OG in them, and they are pretty quick. There's also not that many of them, and they provide some cute character moments. I agree and disagree with your notion of padding. Yes; the game is padded. In particular, the second session in the sewers. Others have slow pacing, but they're never really boring. Stuff like the train graveyard was in the original, but in a Remake, they need to make it into an actual real location so it makes sense it's the way it is for the scope of the game. Basically: filler, but good filler.
Interesting video. It's always fun to hear the perspective of a newcomer to the series and how they feel about it based on their entry point. I highly recommend that you still play the original FF7 someday in order to get the full context of what aspects of the story that Remake changed and retained. Playing the original will most likely give you a different perspective on the overall story. In your section of "The Core Essence of FF7", where you say the story is a critique of Capitalism, a story about Rebellion and uprising, and environmentalism... that's really only a piece of the puzzle. Those things are important aspects of FF7's story, but they all serve the broader theme of "Inochi" . Which is a Japanese term for "life" or "lifeforce". This is what the lifestream is meant to convey. The core theme was that all lifeforce (human, animal, plant, etc.) is all connected. And that we must accept and respect that all life is both beautiful and impermanent. The ultra-capitalist Shinra Corporation exploiting the environment for profit was just one way that this theme was expressed. But there was also Sephiroth's selfish actions and the nature of Jenova driving at the same idea. As well as Barret/Avalanche's actions in Midgar. Basically, the original game condemns anyone who pursues their own desires/goals without considering negative effects on the "Inochi" of others beings. The game expressed this idea through all 3 main antagonists (Shinra, Sephiroth, Jenova) as well as our own party. But people tend to single out the capitalism vs environmentalism aspect of the story as THE central theme because there is a very strong anti-capitalist sentiment in our world today (for good reason). However, while that is a big part of the original story, it's not really THE main point it was driving at. The original core theme was more broad and timeless. Which was to create a greater appreciation for "Inochi"/Life in general.
The remake expands on the original so much that its like taking a picture of an apple and then expanding on it to create a portrait of someone holding an apple. The original takes about 2 hours to get through midgar , if you speedrun it, you could probably get through it in an hour and a bit. The first bombing mission in the original takes like 15 minutes, the second bombing mission, another 15 minutes maybe less, then you meet aeris and you see tifa and then dress as a woman and go to don corneo's mansion, thats another 15 minutes, then you8 get through the sewer that takes 2 minutes after the boss fight and the train yard is 5 minutes then the plate collapses, thats another 10 minutes. then its the midgar raid to svae aeris, and that entire section can be done in 30 minutes and then you get to the end of the bridge and thats the end of the midgar section in the original.
The Hell House is actually my favorite boss fight in the game and it's easily in my top 3 favorite boss fights of all time. It is a true knowledge check, especially when playing on hard. The only way you'll effectively beat it is if you utilize everything the combat system has to offer. The whole reveal of the boss and the music is also just phenomenal.
Oh friend, I loved this video. It was nice to see this from the perspective of someone who hasn't played OGFF7. I also enjoyed your analysis into things. I strongly recommend you play OG FF7 before you continue. You'll appreciate this journey more I think if you do. Good luck, and excited for your next video!
Thank you so much for your support!! I appreciate your recommendation as well, but I think I’m gonna go ahead and play Rebirth next (I’m just too excited to play it rn lmao) but for sure I’ll be playing the OG in the near future
This guy are FFVII fan. :) Always interesting to hear the thoughts from another fan and a new fan at that! Jessie was my #2 as well and wish we could have more moments with her, but I’m glad they gave her as much as they did. Only thing that got me was calling the train graveyard, padding. 😭 Glad you had an overall good experience my friend! Cheers
@@jumaanecabrera8091 YES ANOTHER JESSE FAN LETS GO!! Yeah I was probably a bit unfair on the Train Graveyard looking back at it. There were some really cool fights/character moments, but I just remember being blue balled so hard bc I thought we were going straight into the assault on Sector 7 before that chapter and being so unhappy there was 1 more chapter before we got to that climactic moment in the game 😔😔
Don't let the gatekeeping comments dishearten you. The fanbase is passionate and can get overly emotional about criticisms and confused reactions. Love seeing first impressions from people playing the OG and/or the Remakes. I find it fascinating seeing the IP framed in different perspectives. Subscribed and will wait for when you beat Rebirth and hopefully post about your updated impressions on the ongoing story. Fun vid!
Thanks friend, I really needed that. The fanbase is superrrr passionate and I definitely approach the games with more thought and care because what they say is valid. BUT ALSO I'm glad that you understand that I'm just some noob talking about a game I just played, as well as the fact that I'm excited to play more of said game w/ Rebirth! I'm glad you're coming along w/ me on this journey. For sure I'll be making more videos in the near future!
Great video! It is interesting how some newcomers don't know why Sephiroth is a villain while other newcomers know why he is a villain. I think it comes down to how much of a need you have for knowing a villain's motivations or details of his goals compared to knowing what he has done and what his overall goals are. In Chapter 2 of Remake, Sephiroth taunts Cloud by fondly reminiscing on Cloud's hometown burning down, Cloud's mother begging Sephiroth to spare Cloud, and the enjoyment Sephiroth felt when slicing her flesh. For some, that is enough motivation to view Sephiroth as a villain. For others, they need to know what he is up to now or how he plans to take over the world.
Ennemies are tanky? First timers often have trouble to spend and build Atb fast. Maybe that happened to you? This m'y favorite battle system ever and ennemies melt in every difficulty for me now. I am frustrated by how fast fight can go sometimes.
Its my bad because I probably over-generalized my point. Not all enemies are tanky, but some mini-bosses/bosses definitely are. And I guess my biggest issue w/ games like this is I personally don't like it when you're swinging a big sword and you're doing 5 pts. of damage or something lol it's just an immersion thing. Also I definitely was under-leveled bc i didnt do side quests/didn't target weaknesses as much as I should've so my complaints are def a skill issue on my part too! To your point abt the ATB battle system, I'm still feeling it out so I haven't really made up my mind if I love or hate it, but I'm excited to see what kind of improvements Rebirth made in terms of combat/gameplay.
@ardentgold In my opinion it's a great easy to play hard to master system. If you have so time look at some Remake boss rush you might be surprised. Anyway as an hardcore fan of the series I enjoyed your video. I will follow your Rebirth journey if you stream it or something.
@@PainBreton Thanks friend, I'm glad you liked the video! I'll be making more content on Rebirth/Final Fantasy FOR SURE!! Hope to see you around in the community.
@@ardentgold Yeah the thing with this game is that if you dont really go out of your way to optimize your gameplay some enemies can take years to beat but then if you do you get people that are so good at it that they can beat all sumons back to back in 16 seconds because of it. The enemies feeling tanky is a necessary evil cus for someone who is even slightly experienced with this combat system can destroy what you think are tanky enemies in seconds. It really is just a consequence of the amount of tools you have at your disposal and the crazy skill gap present between playing casually and optimizing the game.
nice to start off my new year right by watching someone play FF7R for the first time! glad you enjoyed it! this is forever one of my top games and the combat is great as well since its a hybrid of turn base and live action combat. my response on your take for the combat: i'm not quite sure how you played but the game is definitely methodical/strategic on hard mode. enemies are spongy is because you weren't probably utilizing materia and exploiting elemental weaknesses. you are able to actually quickly melt these bosses and mobs easily once you truly know how to fight these enemies. i would say if u have the time do hard mode if you want to see the combat get pushed to its limits. i have my gripes on hard mode, but its still nice nontheless. rest of your critiques about this game are completely valid, i would say just wait we all get to the end of part 3. great video! it was nice to see someone give their thoughts to this as a newcomer. its gonna be interesting once you play rebirth (the ff7r sequel)!
Thanks man, I'm glad you enjoyed watching my thoughts and reactions, no matter how wrong they might've been lol! Looking back, I definitely didn't focus as much on combat because that just wasn't my priority playing the game (and that's kinda why my critiques are the way they are), but I'd be interested on playing it on hard next time I revisit the title. Yeah my review isn't definitive or anything; hard to judge a product that's pt. 1 of 3 for sure, but I'm really excited to play Rebirth in just a couple of weeks!!
As someone that has played the OG once, then waited 23 years for it to being remade, I found this interesting to listen to someone that has had no previous contact with the game or franchise as a whole. For example I felt the pacing issues in my first run of Remake because I had the OG in the back of my mind. Like, ok I go to reactor 5 and then afterwards I meet Aerith. You still do that but that part takes like three chapters now. In my second run I remembered how long it felt in the first but it felt faster. So maybe what you felt was kind of in the middle. Anyway if I may suggest one technical thing: Sometimes you speak about something, then show a scene and further comment with subtitles below the in game subtitles. So 1. this is kind of confusing because the fonts and colors are pretty similar 2. the outlines should be bolder as your subtitles are quite hard to read on bright backgrounds 3. as someone who does something else while watching TH-cam I didn't notice first, because I wasn't looking at the screen. Sure thing that's a me-problem but I would appreciate an audio cue to direct my attention to the screen.
I love your take as someone who is a newbie and how you kind of caught onto a lot of things but also you’re missing a ton of context so a lot of the questions you’re asking can kind of be answered.
Yeah man I def am kinda just taking it all in. Ofc I could just play the original like right now like everyone's saying, but I hope people also know that it's okay that I'm confused because that's just part of the journey! I'm glad you enjoyed my takes, even if they suck at times lmao
It's very bold of you to create a video like this without any prior FF7 knowledge. Usually, I would skip. But I'll give it a chance since I'm curious about your unbiased opinion.
So much I want to comment on, and I can’t because of spoilers. I look forward to your reaction to Rebirth and (eventually) part 3! As a piece of advice for the next part: really soak in the characterisation from the start. Even more than Remake, it is a character-driven narrative and I think you’ll get the most from it if you let yourself marinate in those details rather than rush the plot.
Also, the amount of homoeroticism in these games is (and always has been) huge. You’re not the only one to sense it. Not even just between Cloud and Sephiroth
I just stumbled across your review/analysis. For context, I've been a LONG time Final Fantasy fan, dating back to well before the release of the original FF7 on the original Playstation. I've played through, beaten, watched, read, and analyzed this game and it's compilation a LOT over the last nearly 30 years. In short, I adore this game, the original game, its characters, its story, its music, its themes, but I'm not blind to its flaws. Your insights, criticisms, and conclusions are interesting for someone from my perspective. Yes, your criticisms are very valid. While I could offer some defenses, knowing everything I do, I agree with virtually all of them. The game is extremely linear, the maze like areas such at Chapter 6 are a slog, the underground section of chapter 13 is almost pure padding, the pacing suffers badly at times (I love the Train Graveyard but it is a slow mess that detracts from the urgency of stopping the Shinra attack on the Sector 7 pillar), and the side quests are a joke covering a game mechanic and do very little for character development and world building for the most part. Chapters 3, 8, 9, and 14 attempt to alleviate the linearity via those side quests but the don't do it especially well. To avoid spoilers, I won't get into character backstories and motivations. Your confusion around Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barrett, Red, Sephiroth and the others makes sense given what's in the game. Hopefully, when you play Rebirth, you'll see MANY of the gaps filled in. I will warn you, though, that even then you'll still be missing some key information. You got so close with many of the themes but just missed the mark in a few key ways simply because you don't have the information yet. And, in my opinion, it's those little nuances that make FF7 so beloved by so many. I will say that many of your criticisms about combat and game play are "fixed" in Rebirth. If anything, it was the logical expansion of the framework set in Remake and in the DLC so it was nice to see it come to fruition. I'm tempted to leave you with something to think about but I'm worried it would spoil so much of the emotional journey of the characters. Either way, I hope you continue to enjoy the world of Final Fantasy 7.
1 design choice I've always loved about final fantasy 7 is how big the pipes that carry Mako energy in Midgar and other settlements are. Suggesting that the quality of energy the life stream provides when consumed is alot more entropized than realities electricity. I absolutely love the idea that the life stream is as precious and necessary as it is and yet we still pipe it thickly for our own convenience. A real visual story telling of humans' hubris and self serving destructive nature.
Really enjoyed your view on ff7 remake. And I'm hyped for your take on rebirth. Also in case you didn't know: each Final fantasy is completely different. There are more serious and darker games than 7 in case that suits you more. Hope you'll check out some of the other FF's aswell!
27:01 the reason his name is so basic is because "basic" is kinda his whole shtick. Playing his own game, crisis core helps a lot in understanding his character but the tldr is: everyone in this weird rpg world is a complete weirdo that does not act like a normal person would...except Zack. He's just kind of a dude, who gets just a confused abiut everything going on as the player lol.
27:31 i get that you don't want to play the original, it's crusty and old but there is a reason people say this. Imo making a "story analysis", while missing out on half the actual plot is pretty pointless. Rebirth is not gonna answer your questions...in the slightest. It just drifts off more into insanity meant for original fans, which is because: t h e s e g a m e s a r e n o t r e m a k e s !
27:56 ...again they DO NOT want you to understand his motivations. This is the opening of the original game, not the entire story. And even when they eventually get to explaining his motivation it is NOT the same as the original game, by design.
Hey man, thanks the explanations and valid criticisms! Idk anything about Zack but I like his energy and hope to see more of him in the sequel. I understand why you'd think it'd be pointless for me to analyze the story maybe because I missed key plot points in this game, or bc I lack basic knowledge for not playing the original. However, I wanna push back a lil bit and say that my main reason for making this video is to share my opinions as (hopefully) a new fan of the games, knowing next to nothing about FF7, or Final Fantasy in general. So there IS a point, at least for me. That's why I analyzed the story from the point of view of someone who doesn't know the overarching plot or the nitty-gritty details. I don't pretend to be a know-it-all, and I'm honest and upfront about it, and that's why I confess at 26:05 that I am confused as shit LMAO. You know wayyy more about this game than I do, 100%,, and I appreciate you for helping guide me through it. At the end of the day, it's still worth analyzing the story of the first season of a TV show, even if you don't know anything that's gonna happen in the second season. And you shouldn't be expected to watch a version of it from 20 years ago first before enjoying the show. I know it definitely helps, but hey, when I bought Final Fantasy VII Remake on Steam, it doesn't say I HAVE to play the original first. But that's just me tho! You do you my friend. Anyhow, I eventually plan on playing the original anyway. And then I'll probably replay the Remakes again because they seem like a lot of fun!
@@ardentgold you know what yeah, i went at it the wrong way. I see "story analysis" and my mind goes to a video to help people understand the story in more depth but you're idea of kinda just documenting your first time experience is also very valid. Oh also i wrote all of those at like 5 am, so i might've been a bit negative for no reason xD
so I finished the DLC, in my previous comment I hadn't... I agree with your overall impression on the DLC but my biggest problem is that there's no link between the DLC cast and the main cast, in fact throughout the DLC, we're being told that the main cast group is more of a unwelcome sect of avalanche that causes more problem for the movement, even the main game allude to that in the earlier chapters... but now from what I read online, yuffie will join the main cast in rebirth? and oh yes I understand that she is a wutaian and not avalanche whatsoever, but still both factions aren't exactly comrades... so I'm cautiously curious as to how she would join cloud gang.
One tip: Don't miss the many alternative scenes. For example in Remake, there are 3 dream resolution scenes: Aerith, Tifa and Barret. And there are many optional dates in Rebirth. I love Aerith too!
Listening to bro talk about this game made me angry. Like you FF7 Remake was my first Final Fantasy and its now my favourite game now but i feel like your looking at the story from a bad point of view and not embracing the weridness enough. Everything about the story and characters are intentional and the same as the OG Btw the honey be in has nothing to do with supporting LGBT, it's about loving yourself and being confident in your own skin, something Cloud has no idea how to do.
@@jessewalters811 dude really tried to project identity politics and gender into final fantasy. We can do without this type of "fan". Go play concord or that new game from naughty dog, "bald space legbutt"
I think you’re going to like the next game. It’s such big improvement in freedom and how much the combat improved. Sounds crazy I know but trust me when I say the combat feels almost like a demon in remake compared to rebirth. I have platinum on both the games and I can agree to you that in remake the side quests art good. But can gladly say that they at significantly better in rebirth. If you like the music witch is amazing in remake it’s still something too look forward to even in rebirth. I think this was a amazing analysis / thoughts of the first game and your video was really great and I wish you a good journey going forward. I hope that you could continue playing the games going forward blind and unspoiled to have a new person perspective on the series. Thanks for your work 😊
Yes! I'm doing my best to go into Rebirth as blind as I can be, and I can't wait to share my experiences with yall (I have seen like 2-3 teasers/trailers for the game but that's it!) And thank you for your comment I really do appreciate it friend.
The Shinra stairs are iconic. Interestingly, Remake assumes you took the elevator, since Mayor Domino mentions you scaring a receptionist, which only actually happens on the elevator route
Train Grave yard is a must, 1 trip to the sewer is a must, in the train tunnel is a must, What isn't a must was going to the upper plate to see jessie mom (I actually like that chapter but it wasn't in the OG), 2nd trip to the sewer, Hojo Lab Dungun, Harbinger of fate boss fight, Sephiroth boss fight (I under stand why they did it but I am a fan that it should have been left out). These are the things they added.
Yeah looking back once I finished editing, I actually did enjoy the Train Graveyard a lot more than I said in the video. I still think it could've been shorter, but I do like the bosses you fight, as well as the Aerith flashbacks. I didn't know the upper plate stuff wasn't in the OG! It felt so natural to me because we don't get to spend a lot of time w/ Jessie and the stooges. But thanks for letting me know. And your last point about Sephiroth is super interesting! Especially as a new fan bc I've always known Sephiroth was the BBEG of the game, and I wonder what it would've been like if they left it out.
In the OG you didn’t know that Sephiroth was even alive until you see his sword in the back of President Shinra. Then to go to Kalme and cloud tells the story of his last mission with Sephiroth. That is when you decide to track him down. Then you don’t even see him till you are on the boat going to costal de sol. Even that encounter is very short. The next time you see him is in the reactor of Mt. Nibel. After that you see him in the temple of ancients. Then you see him in the city of ancients. Hence you have never engaged in a fight with him yet and this will be the end of rebirth. After that you see him in the northern crater. This is the first time you really interact with him (all other encounters Sephiroth says something real quick and leaves before you get a word out, except at the city of ancients. Not going to spoil that part. You actually talk to him very little there). Still haven’t fought him. You don’t actually fight Sephiroth till after that when you go back to the northern crater to actually fight him. Sooo, a huge departure from the OG
Is this the same game as rebirth? I’m confused. I never played final fantasy before and want to try it. Should I get remake or rebirth are they the same? Or is one a sequel?
They have taken the story of the PS1 game and fleshed it out into a trilogy of games of which the first two have been released so far Remake and Rebirth.
Great vid! On your criticism of the Shinra guards in Ch 16, I think while yes the moment is played for comedy, it is, in my opinion, also consistent with the worldbuilding. The way Shinra is framed is as a company that has everything under control and can never be usurped, and has been this way for some time. It is implied that all of Shinra, both the upper management and the minions, have grown complacent and overconfident in their power and as a result, care less about the chance that some filthy peasants might disrupt their operation. A Hope you enjoy Rebirth!
Don’t worry about not understanding everything it really is one story being told over a trilogy where they want you to be wondering what’s going on until they explain it later. They expand and flesh out stuff that’s very basic in the original so I appreciate it but at the same time newbies are waiting years to get backstories and context and some juicy stuff that’s very basic will make ppl go “Oh that makes more sense now” or view past events in a new light won’t happen till the final part. While in the PS1 game, you’d just keep powering on with the story and beat it all within 30-50 hours
Pacing is definitely an issue because Remake is the first few hours of the original PS1 game stretched into 30 hours. In the original, Shrina had nothing to do with the original reactor blowing up. I feel like they added it in to retroactively make the team less .. responsible?
I thought it’s inferred in the OG that Shinra may or may not have done anything. Its adds an ambiguity to the avalanche’s morals and methods. But to be frank i don’t think it’s much of stretch. Afterall, Shinra like in the OG could have stopped avalanche at any given time. Shinra was more or less in control of avalanche. It makes sense why they would WANT or at least tolerate a reactor exploding. Their political power, sway over the media, the monopoly they hold over midgar and other territories, means they can afford for a reactor to explode and to then blame it on a terrorist group.
Yeah, the pacing really drags around halfway through the game and that brings it down a bit for me, score-wise. But also, credit where credit is due, it's honestly really impressive they were able to stretch the Midgar section to an entire game w/o making it all feel like a slog to get through. Criticisms aside, I enjoyed a majority of the time I spent playing the game! I just like to nit-pick. if they cut some chapters/sections, shaved off a couple of hours, it would've been perfect (imo).
It’s not actually true that Shinra has nothing to do with the reactor bombing in the OG game. If you talk to Jesse underneath Seventh Heaven in the OG game, she makes the same statements she did in this one, that the radius of the bomb was much larger than she thought, implying that Shinra made the bomb bigger themselves as pretext to pursue to escalate against Anti-Shinra sentiment and the neo-Midgar project. Regardless, Avalanche is still responsible because Shinra wouldn’t have been able to make the bombing bigger if Avalanche hadn’t already decided to go in the bombing run themselves, and as a result a large amount of people are still dead either way. People only infer that this is a change to the Remake because they’re not aware that there is subtext in the original game to also imply that this was the case in that game too.
@@ardentgold Worst part of the streatching out the game length for me was just after you find out that they gonna blow the plate pillar to destroy sector 7. originally the sewer and train graveyard take about 20 mins to get through if you know the puzzles, closer to 40 if you dont. while the remake show that the pillar is under seige once you get to the graveyard but it took me about 2 hours to get through the thing, if i remember correctly. The last time I'd had a game undermine its "narrative tension" that badly, i was playing Tales of Graces F on ps3. while a lot of rpgs have the "must stop bad guy/thing asap" towards end of game, they let you choose to go off and do other things to prepare. Remake (and the tales of games ive played) though go "gotta stop bad thing fast" and then force you to do something else or take so long to get there it makes me wonder why they set up the problem that way in the first place.
Good you are new. I want to know what do you think of final fantasy 7 rebirth after this. As someone who played the original, there is always a factor of bias towards the original story even i highly dont think thats the case. But looking forward to see your review.
i don't think square did the best job with how they handled it in FF7 remake pt 1, but the narrative is supposed to be confusing and muddy in the early parts of FF7 since we're following Cloud, an unreliable narrator due to his... lets call it "PTSD" (due to spoilers). however, because Square also added a couple new layers of narrative and story devices (like the capital D "Destiny" dementor ghosts and Sephiroth influencing the plot much earlier than in the original) it is double-confusing, virtually impenetrable for new players. for those of us who played the original, FF7 remake was already a confusing mess; i cannot imagine how confusing it must be for a noob. i loved the remake, but if i had the opportunity to change one thing about the Remake, it would be to massively clean up the story. less is definitely more in a story like ff7, with so many moving parts. also, just wanted to add that Yuffie was one of the most hated characters in the original game. she was such a brat and so annoying- basically the yuffie from chapter 1 that you complained about, except for the whole game. i think they handled her remarkably well in the Remake. they turned her into a sympathetic character, bordering on likable, a feat which i thought impossible.
I would like, after they release part 3, they allow to playbthe 3 parts withoutbthe whispers. They remove them as much as they can. To allow an og playthorugh. Yeah, that is work, but everything is there already, they just need to remove them in almost everything and replace the whispers with "lifestream" energy whenever they cant be removed. And you skip whole sections, like arbiter of fate.
The OG did not have any of that multiple timeline stuff or whispers. I think they just tried to make the story more complicated or have the original fans guessing a bit. Crisis core reunion will tell you more of the backstory but the 3rd part will explain the rest.
I agree with most of your criticisms of the game. I do feel like this games moments are amplified by having played the original due to how those moments are reimagined or some references to things you wouldnt get as a first time player. Loved the video though! Rebirth video soon?
As someone who was first exposed to the franchise through 14 and then played 16 as his first main line game, 7 remake was kind of hard to get into because of it's over the top nature. Are all previous ff games like that?
If you do plan on playing Rebirth to continue the series. PLEASE play Crisis Core before starting it. It’s definitely smaller and when you put the time into it, goes by quickly. It provides some background information on Sephiroth, and also explains the presence of Zack. The game gives you time to get more attached to some of the main characters, and lets you at least put together a bit more of the story. It’s most definitely worth it if you want to understand the game more. Especially the new content that wasn’t in the original game from 1997.
Great video. Some things I agree but others I disagree. But I'm also a big fan and understand all the lore. I love the perspective you're coming from. YOU NEED TO GO PLAY REBIRTH AND DO ANOTHER VIDEO LIKE THIS ASAP!! 😊
Cloud, while not the most powerful protagonist in the FF series, is most certainly among the most talented. Dude can dance, slay cards, become a world class chocobo jockey, and so on.
I'm looking forward to you playing through Rebirth! FF7 Remake is such a weird entity as it's not a remake of the whole FF7, but a re-imagining of just the first 4-5 hours of the game. So you're still missing a lot of information.
Thanks man, I'm glad you're coming with me on this wild ride! Yeah, companies really need to be clear w/ their marketing what a "remake" really is because I just assume I DONT have to play the originals when I play a remake (like most other remakes lol). But reading the comments has helped me understand a lot, and I'm for sure gonna play the OG once I finish the remake trilogy.
Keep in mind that us old guys who played the OG in the late 90s got the game all at once on 3 discs. Rebirth and whatever they call the 3rd one shouldn’t be considered sequels but just a continuation of the same game. Crisis core was the prequel. Ff7 has always been my all time favorite game and never really gave other ff games a shot but I hear ff14 is supposed to be one of if not the best.
Consider how FFVII mirrors the original StarWars Trilogy, and you get so many answers. Biggs, Wedge. Aerith (and ancients in general) as a Jedi influence. The shinra troopers are definitely as powerless as Clone Troopers. (07:48)
15:11 its not a skill isue. Its a "Im not familiar with Japanese RPG'S" Issue The key is elemental damage. House is on fire? Use Ice Hous is windy? Use lightning. Elemental damage bring the stagger metter, and atacks that build up stagger like cloud's trust, once its stagger you can do do Big D*** damage. The helth and armor on that house is so high that if you are not using elements properly it can take 40 minutes.
@@ardentgold Belts are a Tetsuya Nomura character design staple. I see that you included a bit of FFX footage in your intro montage when talking about the series. Take a look back at that footage and note that Lulu, the character in the black dress, is wearing a skirt made ENTIRELY out of belts. That thing has to weigh 80lbs.
As someone who loves FF7 since 1998, seeing you experience the game from a perspective of a newcomer was so refreshing! Don't let the stuffy know-it-alls in the comments bring you down. Even those of us who played the original were surprised by new plot twists. We all hope it will make sense in the third game lol
Oh, there are no shackles if you don't want them, my friend. I've been playing FF since the original NES in the late '80s. I absolutely love Remake and Rebirth. Glad to see the series adapting with the times.
Great video, and I'd say that 70ish percent of your questions and wants will be touched upon in rebirth. Main thing is with Zack as a character basically requires you to play crisis core or its remaster crisis core reunion to fully get him, but rebirth and part 3 when it comes out should give enough of a gist about him. As the remake story is borrowing a lot that was introduced in that game to fleah out the world of the original more. And yeah, even after the third part comes out based on how they purposely tell this story or the remake trilogy. They kind of expect people to plau the OG game to complete the story. I cant really say anything else or it might spoiler something, lol.
Yes! I know many people told me to play the original FF7 first (even my close friends lol), the remake is just so much more accessible to me and I hope it really helps me become a big fan of final fantasy!
You should be aware that this trilogy is as much of a sequel as it is a remake of ff7. Also, try to keep in mind that these are GAMES first, and stories after. What I mean to say is yhat stuff you cann padding is things you play. These games do not try to be movies, they are videogamey in every aspect, even the story (which IS an important part of the experience). Keep that in mind when stepping into Rebirth, as it is a game filled qith minigames (it has also become my favoritr game ever). Also, people saging Midgar is short in the OG - yes, but a third of the story (literally one third of the script) happens in Midgar. What they did here, is simply add more gameplay to that story part, like they did with tje rest of the game in the OG. These games are super refreshing in today's market, when every AAA game tries to be a super serious movie like experience. They feel like PS2 games in the best way possible. I hope you approach Rebirth with an open mind and enjoy it.
This channel has great potential. Like, a lot of potential. Just a little script polishing here and there. I had a great time watching this video. Also Yuffie is a lot more bearable in Rebirth lol
Judging the storyline based off of the first game is like judging a book based off of the first chapter. You're supposed to be confused. Buckle up, because if you wanted a simple, basic storyline, it's not going to get any easier for you. It is, however, one of the most clever and layered storylines in video game history. Hang in there. You'll understand more after Rebirth, but will also have more questions. And if it follows the story of the OG, you'll get all your answers eventually.
You'll definitely figure the story out more if you play Rebirth and Crisis Core remaster. Especially Crisis Core explains way more about the past of Tifa and Cloud and Sepiroth than even OG7. The minigames.... well Square is infamous with their minigames being super frustrating and annoying, minus a couple actually good ones like the card games. //edit: also as people have said, the whispers weren't in OG7 and in interviews they have said that whispers were trying to keep the story exactly as the original, while winning over them made it so that now the future of the story can be different and giving the devs the freedom to play around with it a little bit.
Welcome to the family son. Now I can tell you played this on PC, so before diving into Rebirth I highly recommend buying the original game, and mod the shit out of it to make it look and feel a little more modern for yourself. Remake is just a few hours in the original game, and Rebirth is when the story really starts. You do you, but I highly recommend this.
I won't say you have to play OG FF7, but it does provide some context, and adds another layer to the enjoyment of Remake. What I will say, and I can't stress this enough, It will help immensely to play Crisis Core before Rebirth. They re-released Crisis Core and finally fixed the combat, all between Remake and Rebirth, so you know they want you to have experienced that story going into Rebirth.
@@Scott-bh2qb Yea agreed. And tbh, only the most ardent fans think the extended universe is any good. CC is okay, but certainly concentrate on the Remake games first.
to get way more understand to the story, you have to play the prequel : Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII reunion - the main char is zack - how zack and aerith first met and become lover - sephiroth still as a hero, not a big boss villain - cloud are still as 2nd class soldier - a complete story about wha and who is jenova and many-many things you can learn all the begining story FF7 in that game
Obviously, most of your opinions here are valid, because they're personal, HOWEVER I will not stand for your critique regarding the fight system! You stated that you almost never "needed" to use your brain to get through the fights, but then complained that some enemies were too "tanky" and that it was a lot of button-mashing. You also said you didn't parry or block until Rufus. Sounds to me like you didn't take advantage of the enemies' weaknesses at all, didn't fight strategically and didn't use materia enough. If you had, I'm sure you would have enjoyed the fights immensely, because I, like you, love strategic fight systems and this one is my favorite out of every game I've ever played
Rebirth doesn't really feel as bloated to me as Remake though. Most of the bloat in Rebirth is optional, but Remake has a lot of excess in the main story that feels like it's just there to extend it to a full game, and there's no way of just ignoring it.
@ rebirth has bloat that is actually fun to do and it’s well integrated into the story, that’s why you don’t actually feel it, example off the top of my head are the card tournament in the cruise ship, the whole costa del sol segment even the GI nattak part after cosmo canyon, just to name a few.
@@phootaphan9166what rebirth does is that it ties all sidequests to your companions for fun character moments, and the world objectives make your a better fighter. A big improvement
@@olimphus26 All the Rebirth Bloat comes in repeated content in each continent along with insane disrespect for the players time with QTE's and slow paced gameplay segments. The mako vacuums, the black hood shoving side quest, the amount of arena challenges, the annoying forced wait to finish Corel just so they can shoehorn in characters that don't logistically or plot wise into where they're forced (Corneo). But the highs are so high that every time I was gritting my teeth while spinning a stupid crank I knew it would be worth it for the next character scene, which Rebirth nails - 10/10 on story and characters.
Good review so far, clearly some things that you don’t know since you didn’t play the OG (it was the same for me but luckily Rebirth and some google searches answered a lot of my questions). Make sure that you use the assess materia in Rebirth though, it will alleviate a lot of the grievances you have with the combat system :D. Also yeah side quests in Remake are shit, in Rebirth they are luckily a lot better.
Love seeing these sorts of videos and perspectives, hope you do a follow up with Rebirth which definitely alleviates some of your gripes (more world/level diversity, better sidequests, heavily builds on the synergy system), you might still hate Yuffie though haha, granted I think she works well when suddenly everyone else becomes the straight man around her bullshit.
Remake leaves a bunch of open plot holes and your biggest question to be: WTF IS GOING ON!?!? Fortunately, a lot of it gets answered in Rebirth. So, if you play it (I recommend you do) you will understand what's happening to a deeper meaning. Have fun and enjoy!
Veteran to thing: “don’t start here, start here. It’ll make more sense.” New people: “naw I’m gonna start at the newest part. . . Why doesn’t it make sense?!?!” Veteran to thing: 😤
without spoiling anything, the reason why it is so hard to figure out the goal of sepiroth in the remake is simply due to the fact that he wasn't at all relevent in the Midgar section of the game. They added him in the remake just to make his presence known. His character means literally nothing until rebirth.
I wouldn’t say his presence means “nothing,” in remake, rather from the outside looking in, it’s deliberately written so that the relevance of his presence isn’t supposed to be explained until the events of rebirth
Yeah he wasn’t in Dirge of Cerberus either
They pretty much added him because they 1) Rufus as the final boss fight would be goofy as fuck. 2) It adds to the mystery of the troubled past hinted between Cloud and Tifa. You get that Sephiroth did "something" to his and Tifas home.
But then again, the fact that Tifa does not make any comment on him whatsoever when she lays eyes on him felt weird. But it is part of the reveal that is introduced in the first chapter in Rebirth instead.
@@Mukation they added jenova too, jenova would have been a perfect final boss.
I mean, he shows up in midgar in the original (sort of, don't wanna spoil anything). But I think the story of the remake trilogy incorporates the events of the original as a type of alternate timeline that has literally already happened, and this Sephiroth has more knowledge and a different overall goal than in the original. It makes more sense to me if this is the case, but it's just a hunch.
The reason you didn't understand what the Whispers were doing is because you didn't play OG FF7, so you're missing context. The story of Remake and OG is not 1 to 1. There are some differences here and there. When something different happens, the Whispers come to ensure that events play out in the way they're supposed to in OG FF7.
For example, in OG, after bombing the first reactor, Cloud takes on another job with Avalanche to destroy the second reactor. However, this is not what happens in Remake. After getting his money from the first job, Cloud leaves, and the group plans on taking out the next reactor without him. This is DIFFERENT than what happens in OG FF7. So what happens? The Whispers come and Jesse gets injured. This FORCES Avalanche to hire Cloud as a replacement member, so that he goes to second reactor with them.
Basically, the Whispers are trying to ensure all characters' fates remain exactly the same as OG.
The whispers are Loki
Square call8ng this a remake is confusing people need to place the first game and crisis core to understand.
‘It’s not something Cloud would normally do’
Well, Cloud is iconic for breaking the things you THINK you know about him. Trust me, he is the best character with story arc ever created
I was genuinly surprised,
I never play the original but I had the impresión that Cloud was just an edgy anime boy with a tragic past just for the sake of being edgy and tragic but NO.
That one is Vincent...
Cloud is a lot more complex and interesting than I tought.
His messed up memoryes, the duaality between his facade and true self, how he some times let the mask slips while doing some random shit that he enjoy.
Thers competece and incompetence, seriousness and sillyness, he tries to stay stoic and distant but allso very warm and carying.
He was a very unexpected and very wellcome surprise
anyone with a harsh response to this analysis should remember that this is a first impression of a series they know nothing about. it is quite literally like making a review about playing the first 3 hours of og FF7 and calling it a day.
Thanks friend, I really appreciate that! And you're 100% correct, this is definitely more a first impressions than a full critique of FF7 Remake. I'm not analyzing this game pretending to know things I don't. I'm just being as authentic as possible and sharing my honest thoughts from my very limited experience so far. And I'm liking what I'm seeing so far!
Facts
i don't see how anyone can be harsh, i think anyone as a first time experience of ff7 OG or Remake would feel the same. FF7 is amazing and popular for a reason so I'd say just trust the process because a lot of understanding ff7 comes retroactively for better or for worse. But we also have to understand without the knowledge of ff7 OG or Crisis Core it doesn't really reveal to much in till part 2 which i would highly recommend you try and see how your opinion changes of part 1 afterward. Its so much easier for people to criticize when we've already had 20 years of knowledge and lore
I'm jealous of people who can play Rebirth right after their first Remake playthrough.
same dude, we all had to wait 4 years for Rebirth
Me :) I just beat remake for the first time this week on steam. Gonna start intergrade sometime this month before rebirth comes out. I could totally get your sentiment as I need more of the ff7 story after beating remake.
Watch a story recap its even better than playing it fresh since itll feel like a even newer game since u didn’t play the original in a while
l‘m not. Rebirth is much better than Remake. I don‘t like the end of Remake at all. I‘m glad that l could forget and fade away (at least a bit) the End of Remake in the years between.
I would even say to all my friends: Start with Rebirth and don‘t waste time on Remake. If you liked Rebirth and want to know the start you can always go back.
You don’t know what’s going on between Cloud and Sephiroth? Wait til you play Rebirth. Hope you enjoy it.
Play Rebirth and you'll REALLY not know what's going on between Cloud and Sephiroth.
@@FutureDeep LMAO I am excited to be just as-and be even more-confused!
@@ardentgold you don't need to play rebirth to know whats going on between cloud and sephiroth. since its not on pc yet, try play crisis core. itll explain cloud and sephiroth backstory and why they're here now. or you can just watch a 30 min recap of crisis core since the game is basically a repetitive hack/slash psp game
Play Crisis Core if you want to be as confused as one can possibly get with this series. Seriously, I played CC before OG FF7 and it made my playthrough of OG 10 times more confusing because of spoiler reasons, just stick with the remake trilogy (or play OG) and check out Crisis Core AFTER that.
You gotta learn more of the combat system. The reason some enemies are so tanky and bosses too is because you need to learn their elemental weaknesses and also weaknesses. Using the “assess” materia is a MUST while fighting
It makes the game 20x better and so much more fun when you really learn how the combat works
@@josephwarren8187 it really does, I played through the game twice before I figured out how to really use Tifa and once I did she turned into my favorite character to use.
Yeah a friend who has never played the original or any FF game recently started the Remake series and had the same issue. He let me play a few rounds in the coliseum and was shocked how I was moping up enemies round after round. He freaked out watching me change his materia and watched in awe as a single Firaga with All materia connected could annihilate every enemy in the first round 😅
Brilliant vid - take my like and subscribe! :)
So glad you enjoyed the Aerith/Cloud interactions. I love their banter, but it's also great to see Aerith bring him out of his shell.
Can't wait to see your Rebirth vid!
Thank you so much!! I’m so glad you enjoyed the video~ Aerith and Cloud’s dynamic is my favorite character moments by far in the game so far, and I can’t wait to see their dynamic evolve in Rebirth :>
And yes pls look forward to it!
Regarding your combat critiques, I’d recommend paying a little more attention to the weakness information exposed by the “assess” ability.
For reference, this was also my first final fantasy, really my first rpg in general, and I also really struggled with the “long” boss fights in my first playthrough. I probably spent 40 minutes on hell house.
But the only reason it took so long is I didn’t yet fully understand the combat and the importance of exploiting elemental weaknesses. I’m far, far from a pro but on repeat playthroughs I breeze through enemies, to the point sometimes I have to intentionally slow down to actually enjoy the fights more.
Probably the best summary of my experience with this game is if you feel like an enemy is “tanky,” it almost certainly means you aren’t understanding its weaknesses. It’s a real strategy game that successfully disguises itself as a “hack and slash.”
It is so funny listening to you make some of these critiques about the FF7 story without playing the OG. You are in for quite a few shocks and surprises, haha.
The fact you thought these mini-games weren't in the original, nearly every one of them is a call back to 16 bit puzzle solving. Even the big crane they tried to include in the OG but couldn't so they included it for this one. Each one is a call back, even the squat competition in the gym.
Yeah lmao it was a bet I was willing to make and I lost it FOR SURE. I'm glad you found it funny tho, I cant wait to see all my wrong thoughts and predictions when I go back to play the OG in the future
@@ardentgold That's gonna be a very fun journey, filled with moments of "wait, THIS was in the original?!"
Welcome to the fandom! Appreciate your take on a game that has challenged what a game can be. Do you know how hard it is to get new gamers, many who didn’t grow up in a franchise to dive into a remake of one of the franchise’s greatest achievements? Ignore anyone who says “well you gotta play the OG” or “you don’t get it.” Take your own time. Much like the original teaser of remake said “whatever comes let us embrace it.” The remake has to balance not only being a remake to one of the most famous games ever to where the names themselves are recognizable but to also MOVE FOWARD.
We can’t ever go back to 1997. Stories have changed so much since then. So what can you do? You try something new, even if it fails. Many of the OG developers actually came back so this isn’t just new people taking over.
And you’re right when evaluating Jessie. “I wish we had more time.” Remember what you said-this is going to be a MAJOR factor.
Thank you so much for the warm welcome!!
it's really exciting because there are SO MANY FF GAMES that are already out/still coming out, but I'll definitely be taking it one game at a time. And you make a great point that remaking one of the most goated games HAS to be such a tall order for the studio. But honestly, even with all my gripes, they're killin' it so far. I already pre-ordered Rebirth on PC because I really want to know what happens next.
I'll def check out the OG FF7 once I'm done w/ the remake trilogy. Like you said, no rush :)
I love how unbiased your takes are and how inquisitive and receptive you are to this game. It is very clear that you are the type of audience this game was meant for. Im an oldy and when i approached this game i ensured to myself that i should absorb this game like a sponge and try not to react harshly and i had almost the same same takes you had for this game. I am looking forward to your Ff7 rebirth review as that game blew me away and i am comfident that it will bllow you too. I am subbing so i can be updated. Kudos on the amazing video game review. :)
Than you good sir, I’m enjoying this introduction to FF7 and I’m sure Rebirth will be even better. Appreciate you coming along this journey with me!
Have you played Rebirth yet, or do you plan to?
If so, let me just say a lot of your questions and plot holes will be make sense, and also much of the issues you had with Remake will be resolved.
The only issue some people had was that there was TOO MUCH content in Rebirth. But your side quest issue, in my opinion has been resolved and have been very engaging in the sequel.
I have not played Rebirth yet! But I will be playing it as soon as the PC port releases in a few weeks' time.
@@ardentgold well then I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.
For me, I spent 130 hours with it and loved every minute of it.
I know you said bloat was an issue for you with part one, but I do feel with rebirth all the side content is a lot better and makes sense in the context of the world you’re in. So I’m curious if your opinion on the side content will change with this one.
I can't wait to see the Rebirth video. Like almost every criticism you had for Remake is solved in Rebirth. Questing, level design, and combat are all significantly improved.
The story of the game is so much more complicated than you may even think it is already. But once you finally learn what is going on it just makes everything come together. Its why I like the game so much, and why it is my favorite game of all time (FF7 and OG in general). It actually reveals so much that playing the entire game again for a second time gives you a brand new perspective on the game and reveals a lot of what you miss the first time around. It makes actually playing the game again worthwhile. 😙👌
in 9:00 the shinra guards arent incopetent. The one who is incopetent is whoever designed those helmets they wear. Those shinra helmets are so large you cant see nothing above your head, so yeah this scene is super goofy but its not the guards fault, its the godawful design of the helmets that remove pratically all of your peripheral vision.
PREACH
Rebirth answers quite a few of these questions, also it massively improves on the padding issue. Also Cloud's headaches are in the original game too, so everyone else already knows what they are. PTSD is close although not quite right. Unfortunately that part is not fully explained until the final part of the trilogy though, so you'll be waiting a few more years before fully understanding that.
7.5/10 is diabolical if I have ever seen Diabolical.
I am happy that your video is blowing up for a small channel though
Thanks man I appreciate it! And TO BE FAIR my 7.5/10 doesn’t use IGN metrics okay 😭😭 My 7.5/10 is like, that was an above average game, I liked it! (almost an 8 type beat)
It’s just pt. 1 of 3 w/ an incomplete story (to me). I can’t rate it higher than that
Sure man! All the best for your channel. Liked and will keep an eye on your future rebirth review
The 'padding' is somewhat necessary in a remake like this.
While it might seem silly that a section like... the train graveyard, that took about 10 minutes to walk through in the OG is a 2+ hour segment with 2 bosses in the remake, consider that the OG this was three 2D screens littered with random encounter battles that each take about 30 seconds.
If the same format was maintained in Remake, each zone with be a single room full of 50-100 enemies that each die in one or two hits. It would be 10 minutes of shallow gameplay followed by 20 minutes of cutscenes, rinse and repeat.
The very fact that the format of the cutscenes is so different with choreography, voice acting and cinematic directions all being entirely new additions to what was otherwise a visual novel, is precisely what warrants the same scale of additions to the gameplay format and environment design.
It's like a movie adaptation of a book. The format is so different you have to rethink everything.
There are a few areas that could have been a little shorter, but I don't think there's a single zone that could be removed entirely.
They overdid it. The whole remake should have been one release.
@Mal_Freeman0451 yeah sure, if you don't mind waiting 20 years for it and paying $200
@@mattp994 20 years? Persona 5 is a 100 hour JRPG. That didn't take 20 years and it was 70 quid on release. Remake needed to be a 60 - 80 hour experience at the most They stretched it out to milk every cent at the expense of quality. There's a good game under all the fat, but it's barely worth the effort.
@@Mal_Freeman0451 you can't seriously be comparing these two.
Persona is stylised art style that takes a fraction of the time to make. and you have no sense of scale if you think the OG ff7 is in any way comparable to a modern 70hr game.
A 1 minute section of text dialogue using 16 bit sprites is already translated into several minutes of choreographed cutscene. What is a 1000x1000 pixel 'room' in the OG that takes 10 seconds to walk across and one person a few hours to draw and code is a half-mile long town full of voiced NPCs that takes an entire team months to make.
You don't scale that up without drastically increasing the length of the game. There's probably over 50 hours of just cutscenes between all three parts (at least 10hrs in remake and 20hrs in rebirth) and I'm sure you'll agree you need more gameplay than cutscene. So you need that 10 minute cutscene in a certain zone to be accompanied be at least 20 minutes of gameplay before the next one, and you're not getting that gameplay without extending that 1000x1000 pixel room into a full dungeon.
Right from day one when the remake was announced I would have told you it was insane to expect it all as one release without severely compromising the content. You want quality but have no idea what it costs.
@@mattp994 The Witcher 3 has tonnes more content and lots of top quality cut scenes. Way more going on in that game. There was no excuse for not releasing one 60 hour remake.
This is not a Remake. Not even like RE2 & 4 which are still faithful with minor changes. Remake/Rebirth are a different beast & much more complicated than you think. It's highly encouraged to first play FFVII OG and then Crisis Core (prequel) to actually understand what's happening in Remake. (You can play both on PS5 & PC) It's honestly almost impossible to understand what's actually going on otherwise. Even OG fans don't fully understand the Remake's story yet. That said, welcome to the fandom!
IMO Remake is actually a sequel, I won't say here for spoiler reasons, but Remake happens after OG
Loved your review, and it was fun to see the game through fresh eyes! My only comment would be regarding certain bosses (like Hell House) being overly tanky: that's likely a sign that you're either not using assess, not exploiting weaknesses, or both. The game isnt so much of an ARPG that you can overcome enemies with sheer damage and stats. You *need* (for all enemies, but especially bosses) to approach them strategically and tactically.
In the example of Hell House, it has periods of bear invulnerability during God Mode, and attacking during that time is just wasting effort. Instead, focus on blocking, evading, and healing. During the gaps when God Mode is down, you can hit the House with Magic it's weak to, which changes throughout the fight, necessitating attention to both the element of the House as well as knowledge of which elements counter each other.
you bet the mini games weren't in the original? you bet wrong son. very, very wrong.
Imma take an L on that for real. I really DID bet wrong
like, seriously ignore those dislikes, a first experience of something like ff7 is amazing, wish I could experience it for the first time and be confused by many of its aspects and getting to play rebirth right after is just something that makes it even more awesome
I started playing Remake for the first time a year ago, right before Rebirth came out, as my first FF game, and I fell in love with it. It is a wonderfully weird, flawed, confusing, sometimes aggravating, and delightful game that instantly made me a fan. Don't listen to people who played the OG and will try to tell you the best way to enjoy these games. Do it however you like. A lot of the issues you mentioned are solved in Rebirth. If you think there is too much side content in that game, you can always skip it and focus on the main story, but I did most of it. There were still a lot of things that didn't make sense, so I played Crisis Core after Rebirth for some missing context, and I don't regret it. I hope part 3 will finally make sense of it all.
Cloud seems to be able to do everything, literally anything he puts his mind to. Worth thinking about ;)
I can't imagine playing FF7 remake without playing the 1997 version it made me so excited to relive my favorite scenes in the remake and when they threw new story points it was a Rollercoaster of what is this and was it worth adding only to be surprised.
I'm glad you were able to have that experience! That's how I felt too w/ games like the Resident Evil 4 & Persona 3 remakes that recently came out. I loved those games when I was a kid and being able to re-experience them now, many years later, has been such a wonderful time.
I thought about playing the 1997 version of FF7 before playing Remake, but I ultimately decided it was the better option (for me) to start with Remake, even if I end up missing a lot of references, etc.
I personally have a hard time getting into retro games, and I didn't want the age of FF7 to put me off from the series, especially because I don't have nostalgia/fond memories to help me overlook dated gameplay mechanics, etc.
But I def think I will check out the OG FF7 after I finish the remake trilogy! And when I decide to replay the trilogy who knows when, then it all would've been worth it :>
Hey, massive FF7 fan here!! I hope the gatekeeping fans don't detract from your enjoyment at anylising or deciphering things from a new players perspective. Its genuinely interesting to hear everything even when I don't agree on all of it. Cant wait for you to play Rebirth!! IMO Remake is a great beginner to get into the FF world. I started with Remke as well but without any prior knowledge and played when it first released, and since 2020, I've gotten around to starting FF15, FF16, and FF7 og, which the latter has now become my favourite story in a video game, with rebirth right along side it as my 2nd favourite game, for its adaption but also the very addictive gameplay. I did really reeeaaaally enjoyed remake back when it launch, but looking back at it, the sequel is a different beast of its own. Its hard to go back to remake mechanics lol. Looking forward to you're future thoughts and feels, this world is truly special.
also side note on characters cause why not
Some might hurt me for this...but I use to feel the same way about Tifa as well. When I first played remake, Aerith absolutely stole my heart too. Her whole personality and heart just made me become drawn to her than most, but as I replayed Remake, played Rebirth, and FF7 og, Tifa unexpectedly climbed to the top of characters. Now that's not to say you'll have the exact same reaction, but i'd argue after clouds character, she's the most complex and nuasuced person in the ff7 series. Aerith is still very precious to me, but I look forward to you being able to see all sides of Tifa as the story unfolds. Cloud and Tifa's dynamic is by far my favourite of the series, but Tifa on her own is truly a gem
Hi friend, thank you for your support!! I really appreciate it :> After reading everyone's comments it definitely put into perspective just how important FF7 is to so many people, and I definitely wanna address the series with more care moving forward (but I'm still proud to share my honest thoughts and impressions at the same time as a noob to FF).
Yeah with no context, Tifa is kinda just aight atm. Ofc I know that the story's still cooking and that's why I explained in my video that there's 2 more games to go so I'm not jumping to any conclusions, but Aerith is def my favorite character as of now. I mean, she steals the spotlight everytime she's on my screen! But that's not a slight against Tifa whatsoever. I don't really dislike any of the main characters
@@ardentgold Don't worry Ardent, most of these 'fans' are probably just annoyed you didn't immediately offer up Tifa as some sort of divine entity! Your video is great and a joy to watch. FF needs new fans as it's already struggling.
@@ardentgold Aerith truly is a shining ray of light at every corner. If you don't love Aerith, I don't trust you haha
@@jasminbaus6887 TBH, I've always liked Tifa because of the kindness, but I've never seen her as nuanced - she just seems a tad passive and unconditional for me and all her motivations seem to stem from the same thing, taking solace from the past. But I'd be interested to learn what I'm missing.
loved seeing a perspective from a newcomer. I loved the honeybee inn as well both in OG and in this one. small tip for hell house... keep an eye on the color changing windows. go in with all elements equipped to your party!
I didn’t even notice that during the hellhouse fight! Goes to show all the cool details I 100% missed lol
@@ardentgoldI haven’t replayed since release but I understood the fight conceptually and what to do but didn’t have all the elemental magic so I struggled and found it tough to get the attacks in so took a lot of retries.
I did however love the fight cos it’s just so extra. The game in general balanced grounded seriousness with whimsical insanity right to my tastes.
It’s one of the things that ppl were sure was gonna get cut cos “it’s a house” but they doubled down and made it a set-piece event
Still watching, but the reason why Cloud crossdresses is great isn't just because it breaks gender norms, and the point *is* to break his character. It's Aerith's and Cloud's whole dynamic. This makes more sense further into the story (of the original, and Remake trilogy but not spoiling it for you). She sees throught the bullshit that he hides behind.
Again, without spoiling, but Cloud's main defining characteristic at the start of FFVII is that "he thinks of himself as really cool". Trust me, that makes more sense afterwards. Aerith dismantles that, and still accepts him for who he is.
Edit: One important thing about the whispers: they aren't in the original. Remake isn't a Remake in the traditional sense, but is a "meta-commentary on the nature of remaking things". The Whispers are a manifestation of trying to keep things as they are.
I don't agree with your assessment of the sidequests, they're great! There's several nods to the OG in them, and they are pretty quick. There's also not that many of them, and they provide some cute character moments.
I agree and disagree with your notion of padding. Yes; the game is padded. In particular, the second session in the sewers. Others have slow pacing, but they're never really boring. Stuff like the train graveyard was in the original, but in a Remake, they need to make it into an actual real location so it makes sense it's the way it is for the scope of the game. Basically: filler, but good filler.
Interesting video. It's always fun to hear the perspective of a newcomer to the series and how they feel about it based on their entry point.
I highly recommend that you still play the original FF7 someday in order to get the full context of what aspects of the story that Remake changed and retained.
Playing the original will most likely give you a different perspective on the overall story. In your section of "The Core Essence of FF7", where you say the story is a critique of Capitalism, a story about Rebellion and uprising, and environmentalism... that's really only a piece of the puzzle.
Those things are important aspects of FF7's story, but they all serve the broader theme of "Inochi" . Which is a Japanese term for "life" or "lifeforce". This is what the lifestream is meant to convey. The core theme was that all lifeforce (human, animal, plant, etc.) is all connected. And that we must accept and respect that all life is both beautiful and impermanent.
The ultra-capitalist Shinra Corporation exploiting the environment for profit was just one way that this theme was expressed. But there was also Sephiroth's selfish actions and the nature of Jenova driving at the same idea. As well as Barret/Avalanche's actions in Midgar. Basically, the original game condemns anyone who pursues their own desires/goals without considering negative effects on the "Inochi" of others beings. The game expressed this idea through all 3 main antagonists (Shinra, Sephiroth, Jenova) as well as our own party.
But people tend to single out the capitalism vs environmentalism aspect of the story as THE central theme because there is a very strong anti-capitalist sentiment in our world today (for good reason). However, while that is a big part of the original story, it's not really THE main point it was driving at. The original core theme was more broad and timeless. Which was to create a greater appreciation for "Inochi"/Life in general.
The remake expands on the original so much that its like taking a picture of an apple and then expanding on it to create a portrait of someone holding an apple. The original takes about 2 hours to get through midgar , if you speedrun it, you could probably get through it in an hour and a bit. The first bombing mission in the original takes like 15 minutes, the second bombing mission, another 15 minutes maybe less, then you meet aeris and you see tifa and then dress as a woman and go to don corneo's mansion, thats another 15 minutes, then you8 get through the sewer that takes 2 minutes after the boss fight and the train yard is 5 minutes then the plate collapses, thats another 10 minutes. then its the midgar raid to svae aeris, and that entire section can be done in 30 minutes and then you get to the end of the bridge and thats the end of the midgar section in the original.
The Hell House is actually my favorite boss fight in the game and it's easily in my top 3 favorite boss fights of all time. It is a true knowledge check, especially when playing on hard. The only way you'll effectively beat it is if you utilize everything the combat system has to offer. The whole reveal of the boss and the music is also just phenomenal.
Oh friend, I loved this video. It was nice to see this from the perspective of someone who hasn't played OGFF7. I also enjoyed your analysis into things. I strongly recommend you play OG FF7 before you continue. You'll appreciate this journey more I think if you do. Good luck, and excited for your next video!
Thank you so much for your support!! I appreciate your recommendation as well, but I think I’m gonna go ahead and play Rebirth next (I’m just too excited to play it rn lmao) but for sure I’ll be playing the OG in the near future
amazing video and subscribed. Wanted to share my thoughts myself on TH-cam for a long time but you did such a good job !! Amazing content dude
This guy are FFVII fan. :)
Always interesting to hear the thoughts from another fan and a new fan at that! Jessie was my #2 as well and wish we could have more moments with her, but I’m glad they gave her as much as they did.
Only thing that got me was calling the train graveyard, padding. 😭
Glad you had an overall good experience my friend! Cheers
@@jumaanecabrera8091 YES ANOTHER JESSE FAN LETS GO!!
Yeah I was probably a bit unfair on the Train Graveyard looking back at it. There were some really cool fights/character moments, but I just remember being blue balled so hard bc I thought we were going straight into the assault on Sector 7 before that chapter and being so unhappy there was 1 more chapter before we got to that climactic moment in the game 😔😔
Don't let the gatekeeping comments dishearten you. The fanbase is passionate and can get overly emotional about criticisms and confused reactions. Love seeing first impressions from people playing the OG and/or the Remakes. I find it fascinating seeing the IP framed in different perspectives. Subscribed and will wait for when you beat Rebirth and hopefully post about your updated impressions on the ongoing story. Fun vid!
Thanks friend, I really needed that. The fanbase is superrrr passionate and I definitely approach the games with more thought and care because what they say is valid. BUT ALSO I'm glad that you understand that I'm just some noob talking about a game I just played, as well as the fact that I'm excited to play more of said game w/ Rebirth!
I'm glad you're coming along w/ me on this journey. For sure I'll be making more videos in the near future!
Great video!
It is interesting how some newcomers don't know why Sephiroth is a villain while other newcomers know why he is a villain. I think it comes down to how much of a need you have for knowing a villain's motivations or details of his goals compared to knowing what he has done and what his overall goals are.
In Chapter 2 of Remake, Sephiroth taunts Cloud by fondly reminiscing on Cloud's hometown burning down, Cloud's mother begging Sephiroth to spare Cloud, and the enjoyment Sephiroth felt when slicing her flesh. For some, that is enough motivation to view Sephiroth as a villain. For others, they need to know what he is up to now or how he plans to take over the world.
Ennemies are tanky? First timers often have trouble to spend and build Atb fast. Maybe that happened to you? This m'y favorite battle system ever and ennemies melt in every difficulty for me now. I am frustrated by how fast fight can go sometimes.
Its my bad because I probably over-generalized my point. Not all enemies are tanky, but some mini-bosses/bosses definitely are. And I guess my biggest issue w/ games like this is I personally don't like it when you're swinging a big sword and you're doing 5 pts. of damage or something lol it's just an immersion thing.
Also I definitely was under-leveled bc i didnt do side quests/didn't target weaknesses as much as I should've so my complaints are def a skill issue on my part too!
To your point abt the ATB battle system, I'm still feeling it out so I haven't really made up my mind if I love or hate it, but I'm excited to see what kind of improvements Rebirth made in terms of combat/gameplay.
@ardentgold In my opinion it's a great easy to play hard to master system. If you have so time look at some Remake boss rush you might be surprised. Anyway as an hardcore fan of the series I enjoyed your video. I will follow your Rebirth journey if you stream it or something.
@@PainBreton Thanks friend, I'm glad you liked the video! I'll be making more content on Rebirth/Final Fantasy FOR SURE!! Hope to see you around in the community.
@@ardentgold Yeah the thing with this game is that if you dont really go out of your way to optimize your gameplay some enemies can take years to beat but then if you do you get people that are so good at it that they can beat all sumons back to back in 16 seconds because of it. The enemies feeling tanky is a necessary evil cus for someone who is even slightly experienced with this combat system can destroy what you think are tanky enemies in seconds. It really is just a consequence of the amount of tools you have at your disposal and the crazy skill gap present between playing casually and optimizing the game.
nice to start off my new year right by watching someone play FF7R for the first time! glad you enjoyed it! this is forever one of my top games and the combat is great as well since its a hybrid of turn base and live action combat. my response on your take for the combat: i'm not quite sure how you played but the game is definitely methodical/strategic on hard mode. enemies are spongy is because you weren't probably utilizing materia and exploiting elemental weaknesses. you are able to actually quickly melt these bosses and mobs easily once you truly know how to fight these enemies. i would say if u have the time do hard mode if you want to see the combat get pushed to its limits. i have my gripes on hard mode, but its still nice nontheless. rest of your critiques about this game are completely valid, i would say just wait we all get to the end of part 3. great video! it was nice to see someone give their thoughts to this as a newcomer. its gonna be interesting once you play rebirth (the ff7r sequel)!
Thanks man, I'm glad you enjoyed watching my thoughts and reactions, no matter how wrong they might've been lol! Looking back, I definitely didn't focus as much on combat because that just wasn't my priority playing the game (and that's kinda why my critiques are the way they are), but I'd be interested on playing it on hard next time I revisit the title.
Yeah my review isn't definitive or anything; hard to judge a product that's pt. 1 of 3 for sure, but I'm really excited to play Rebirth in just a couple of weeks!!
As someone that has played the OG once, then waited 23 years for it to being remade, I found this interesting to listen to someone that has had no previous contact with the game or franchise as a whole.
For example I felt the pacing issues in my first run of Remake because I had the OG in the back of my mind. Like, ok I go to reactor 5 and then afterwards I meet Aerith. You still do that but that part takes like three chapters now. In my second run I remembered how long it felt in the first but it felt faster. So maybe what you felt was kind of in the middle.
Anyway if I may suggest one technical thing: Sometimes you speak about something, then show a scene and further comment with subtitles below the in game subtitles. So
1. this is kind of confusing because the fonts and colors are pretty similar
2. the outlines should be bolder as your subtitles are quite hard to read on bright backgrounds
3. as someone who does something else while watching TH-cam I didn't notice first, because I wasn't looking at the screen. Sure thing that's a me-problem but I would appreciate an audio cue to direct my attention to the screen.
I love your take as someone who is a newbie and how you kind of caught onto a lot of things but also you’re missing a ton of context so a lot of the questions you’re asking can kind of be answered.
Yeah man I def am kinda just taking it all in. Ofc I could just play the original like right now like everyone's saying, but I hope people also know that it's okay that I'm confused because that's just part of the journey! I'm glad you enjoyed my takes, even if they suck at times lmao
It's very bold of you to create a video like this without any prior FF7 knowledge. Usually, I would skip. But I'll give it a chance since I'm curious about your unbiased opinion.
4:25 you need to play Final Fantasy 7 rebirth to find out
So much I want to comment on, and I can’t because of spoilers. I look forward to your reaction to Rebirth and (eventually) part 3! As a piece of advice for the next part: really soak in the characterisation from the start. Even more than Remake, it is a character-driven narrative and I think you’ll get the most from it if you let yourself marinate in those details rather than rush the plot.
Also, the amount of homoeroticism in these games is (and always has been) huge. You’re not the only one to sense it. Not even just between Cloud and Sephiroth
Sephiroth kills aerith and zack got killed by Shinra the whispers are garbage kindomhearts additions from nomura
I just stumbled across your review/analysis. For context, I've been a LONG time Final Fantasy fan, dating back to well before the release of the original FF7 on the original Playstation. I've played through, beaten, watched, read, and analyzed this game and it's compilation a LOT over the last nearly 30 years. In short, I adore this game, the original game, its characters, its story, its music, its themes, but I'm not blind to its flaws.
Your insights, criticisms, and conclusions are interesting for someone from my perspective. Yes, your criticisms are very valid. While I could offer some defenses, knowing everything I do, I agree with virtually all of them. The game is extremely linear, the maze like areas such at Chapter 6 are a slog, the underground section of chapter 13 is almost pure padding, the pacing suffers badly at times (I love the Train Graveyard but it is a slow mess that detracts from the urgency of stopping the Shinra attack on the Sector 7 pillar), and the side quests are a joke covering a game mechanic and do very little for character development and world building for the most part. Chapters 3, 8, 9, and 14 attempt to alleviate the linearity via those side quests but the don't do it especially well.
To avoid spoilers, I won't get into character backstories and motivations. Your confusion around Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barrett, Red, Sephiroth and the others makes sense given what's in the game. Hopefully, when you play Rebirth, you'll see MANY of the gaps filled in. I will warn you, though, that even then you'll still be missing some key information. You got so close with many of the themes but just missed the mark in a few key ways simply because you don't have the information yet. And, in my opinion, it's those little nuances that make FF7 so beloved by so many. I will say that many of your criticisms about combat and game play are "fixed" in Rebirth. If anything, it was the logical expansion of the framework set in Remake and in the DLC so it was nice to see it come to fruition.
I'm tempted to leave you with something to think about but I'm worried it would spoil so much of the emotional journey of the characters. Either way, I hope you continue to enjoy the world of Final Fantasy 7.
1 design choice I've always loved about final fantasy 7 is how big the pipes that carry Mako energy in Midgar and other settlements are. Suggesting that the quality of energy the life stream provides when consumed is alot more entropized than realities electricity.
I absolutely love the idea that the life stream is as precious and necessary as it is and yet we still pipe it thickly for our own convenience. A real visual story telling of humans' hubris and self serving destructive nature.
Really enjoyed your view on ff7 remake. And I'm hyped for your take on rebirth.
Also in case you didn't know: each Final fantasy is completely different. There are more serious and darker games than 7 in case that suits you more. Hope you'll check out some of the other FF's aswell!
27:01 the reason his name is so basic is because "basic" is kinda his whole shtick. Playing his own game, crisis core helps a lot in understanding his character but the tldr is: everyone in this weird rpg world is a complete weirdo that does not act like a normal person would...except Zack. He's just kind of a dude, who gets just a confused abiut everything going on as the player lol.
27:31 i get that you don't want to play the original, it's crusty and old but there is a reason people say this. Imo making a "story analysis", while missing out on half the actual plot is pretty pointless. Rebirth is not gonna answer your questions...in the slightest. It just drifts off more into insanity meant for original fans, which is because: t h e s e g a m e s a r e n o t r e m a k e s !
27:56 ...again they DO NOT want you to understand his motivations. This is the opening of the original game, not the entire story. And even when they eventually get to explaining his motivation it is NOT the same as the original game, by design.
29:23 this entire scene is a complete mindfuck for original fans. It bears no meaning for newcomers.
Hey man, thanks the explanations and valid criticisms! Idk anything about Zack but I like his energy and hope to see more of him in the sequel.
I understand why you'd think it'd be pointless for me to analyze the story maybe because I missed key plot points in this game, or bc I lack basic knowledge for not playing the original. However, I wanna push back a lil bit and say that my main reason for making this video is to share my opinions as (hopefully) a new fan of the games, knowing next to nothing about FF7, or Final Fantasy in general. So there IS a point, at least for me.
That's why I analyzed the story from the point of view of someone who doesn't know the overarching plot or the nitty-gritty details. I don't pretend to be a know-it-all, and I'm honest and upfront about it, and that's why I confess at 26:05 that I am confused as shit LMAO. You know wayyy more about this game than I do, 100%,, and I appreciate you for helping guide me through it.
At the end of the day, it's still worth analyzing the story of the first season of a TV show, even if you don't know anything that's gonna happen in the second season. And you shouldn't be expected to watch a version of it from 20 years ago first before enjoying the show. I know it definitely helps, but hey, when I bought Final Fantasy VII Remake on Steam, it doesn't say I HAVE to play the original first.
But that's just me tho! You do you my friend.
Anyhow, I eventually plan on playing the original anyway. And then I'll probably replay the Remakes again because they seem like a lot of fun!
@@ardentgold you know what yeah, i went at it the wrong way. I see "story analysis" and my mind goes to a video to help people understand the story in more depth but you're idea of kinda just documenting your first time experience is also very valid.
Oh also i wrote all of those at like 5 am, so i might've been a bit negative for no reason xD
so I finished the DLC, in my previous comment I hadn't... I agree with your overall impression on the DLC but my biggest problem is that there's no link between the DLC cast and the main cast, in fact throughout the DLC, we're being told that the main cast group is more of a unwelcome sect of avalanche that causes more problem for the movement, even the main game allude to that in the earlier chapters...
but now from what I read online, yuffie will join the main cast in rebirth? and oh yes I understand that she is a wutaian and not avalanche whatsoever, but still both factions aren't exactly comrades... so I'm cautiously curious as to how she would join cloud gang.
One tip: Don't miss the many alternative scenes. For example in Remake, there are 3 dream resolution scenes: Aerith, Tifa and Barret. And there are many optional dates in Rebirth. I love Aerith too!
Listening to bro talk about this game made me angry.
Like you FF7 Remake was my first Final Fantasy and its now my favourite game now but i feel like your looking at the story from a bad point of view and not embracing the weridness enough.
Everything about the story and characters are intentional and the same as the OG
Btw the honey be in has nothing to do with supporting LGBT, it's about loving yourself and being confident in your own skin, something Cloud has no idea how to do.
@@jessewalters811 dude really tried to project identity politics and gender into final fantasy. We can do without this type of "fan". Go play concord or that new game from naughty dog, "bald space legbutt"
I think you’re going to like the next game. It’s such big improvement in freedom and how much the combat improved. Sounds crazy I know but trust me when I say the combat feels almost like a demon in remake compared to rebirth. I have platinum on both the games and I can agree to you that in remake the side quests art good. But can gladly say that they at significantly better in rebirth. If you like the music witch is amazing in remake it’s still something too look forward to even in rebirth.
I think this was a amazing analysis / thoughts of the first game and your video was really great and I wish you a good journey going forward.
I hope that you could continue playing the games going forward blind and unspoiled to have a new person perspective on the series.
Thanks for your work 😊
Yes! I'm doing my best to go into Rebirth as blind as I can be, and I can't wait to share my experiences with yall (I have seen like 2-3 teasers/trailers for the game but that's it!)
And thank you for your comment I really do appreciate it friend.
This is my first time hearing about the shinra stairs. I literally want to replay the game to experience it now.
Did you take the elevator? I hate elevators, so I took the stairs. It was amazing! 😂
The Shinra stairs are iconic.
Interestingly, Remake assumes you took the elevator, since Mayor Domino mentions you scaring a receptionist, which only actually happens on the elevator route
Train Grave yard is a must, 1 trip to the sewer is a must, in the train tunnel is a must, What isn't a must was going to the upper plate to see jessie mom (I actually like that chapter but it wasn't in the OG), 2nd trip to the sewer, Hojo Lab Dungun, Harbinger of fate boss fight, Sephiroth boss fight (I under stand why they did it but I am a fan that it should have been left out). These are the things they added.
Yeah looking back once I finished editing, I actually did enjoy the Train Graveyard a lot more than I said in the video. I still think it could've been shorter, but I do like the bosses you fight, as well as the Aerith flashbacks.
I didn't know the upper plate stuff wasn't in the OG! It felt so natural to me because we don't get to spend a lot of time w/ Jessie and the stooges. But thanks for letting me know.
And your last point about Sephiroth is super interesting! Especially as a new fan bc I've always known Sephiroth was the BBEG of the game, and I wonder what it would've been like if they left it out.
In the OG you didn’t know that Sephiroth was even alive until you see his sword in the back of President Shinra. Then to go to Kalme and cloud tells the story of his last mission with Sephiroth. That is when you decide to track him down. Then you don’t even see him till you are on the boat going to costal de sol. Even that encounter is very short. The next time you see him is in the reactor of Mt. Nibel. After that you see him in the temple of ancients. Then you see him in the city of ancients. Hence you have never engaged in a fight with him yet and this will be the end of rebirth. After that you see him in the northern crater. This is the first time you really interact with him (all other encounters Sephiroth says something real quick and leaves before you get a word out, except at the city of ancients. Not going to spoil that part. You actually talk to him very little there). Still haven’t fought him. You don’t actually fight Sephiroth till after that when you go back to the northern crater to actually fight him. Sooo, a huge departure from the OG
Is this the same game as rebirth? I’m confused. I never played final fantasy before and want to try it. Should I get remake or rebirth are they the same? Or is one a sequel?
Rebirth is the sequel!
They have taken the story of the PS1 game and fleshed it out into a trilogy of games of which the first two have been released so far Remake and Rebirth.
Great vid! On your criticism of the Shinra guards in Ch 16, I think while yes the moment is played for comedy, it is, in my opinion, also consistent with the worldbuilding. The way Shinra is framed is as a company that has everything under control and can never be usurped, and has been this way for some time. It is implied that all of Shinra, both the upper management and the minions, have grown complacent and overconfident in their power and as a result, care less about the chance that some filthy peasants might disrupt their operation. A
Hope you enjoy Rebirth!
Don’t worry about not understanding everything it really is one story being told over a trilogy where they want you to be wondering what’s going on until they explain it later.
They expand and flesh out stuff that’s very basic in the original so I appreciate it but at the same time newbies are waiting years to get backstories and context and some juicy stuff that’s very basic will make ppl go “Oh that makes more sense now” or view past events in a new light won’t happen till the final part.
While in the PS1 game, you’d just keep powering on with the story and beat it all within 30-50 hours
Pacing is definitely an issue because Remake is the first few hours of the original PS1 game stretched into 30 hours.
In the original, Shrina had nothing to do with the original reactor blowing up. I feel like they added it in to retroactively make the team less .. responsible?
I thought it’s inferred in the OG that Shinra may or may not have done anything. Its adds an ambiguity to the avalanche’s morals and methods. But to be frank i don’t think it’s much of stretch. Afterall, Shinra like in the OG could have stopped avalanche at any given time. Shinra was more or less in control of avalanche. It makes sense why they would WANT or at least tolerate a reactor exploding. Their political power, sway over the media, the monopoly they hold over midgar and other territories, means they can afford for a reactor to explode and to then blame it on a terrorist group.
Yeah, the pacing really drags around halfway through the game and that brings it down a bit for me, score-wise. But also, credit where credit is due, it's honestly really impressive they were able to stretch the Midgar section to an entire game w/o making it all feel like a slog to get through.
Criticisms aside, I enjoyed a majority of the time I spent playing the game! I just like to nit-pick. if they cut some chapters/sections, shaved off a couple of hours, it would've been perfect (imo).
It’s not actually true that Shinra has nothing to do with the reactor bombing in the OG game. If you talk to Jesse underneath Seventh Heaven in the OG game, she makes the same statements she did in this one, that the radius of the bomb was much larger than she thought, implying that Shinra made the bomb bigger themselves as pretext to pursue to escalate against Anti-Shinra sentiment and the neo-Midgar project. Regardless, Avalanche is still responsible because Shinra wouldn’t have been able to make the bombing bigger if Avalanche hadn’t already decided to go in the bombing run themselves, and as a result a large amount of people are still dead either way. People only infer that this is a change to the Remake because they’re not aware that there is subtext in the original game to also imply that this was the case in that game too.
@@ardentgold Worst part of the streatching out the game length for me was just after you find out that they gonna blow the plate pillar to destroy sector 7. originally the sewer and train graveyard take about 20 mins to get through if you know the puzzles, closer to 40 if you dont. while the remake show that the pillar is under seige once you get to the graveyard but it took me about 2 hours to get through the thing, if i remember correctly. The last time I'd had a game undermine its "narrative tension" that badly, i was playing Tales of Graces F on ps3.
while a lot of rpgs have the "must stop bad guy/thing asap" towards end of game, they let you choose to go off and do other things to prepare. Remake (and the tales of games ive played) though go "gotta stop bad thing fast" and then force you to do something else or take so long to get there it makes me wonder why they set up the problem that way in the first place.
I never had a problem with the pacing. Every moment spent with these characters was a joy.
Good you are new. I want to know what do you think of final fantasy 7 rebirth after this. As someone who played the original, there is always a factor of bias towards the original story even i highly dont think thats the case. But looking forward to see your review.
i don't think square did the best job with how they handled it in FF7 remake pt 1, but the narrative is supposed to be confusing and muddy in the early parts of FF7 since we're following Cloud, an unreliable narrator due to his... lets call it "PTSD" (due to spoilers). however, because Square also added a couple new layers of narrative and story devices (like the capital D "Destiny" dementor ghosts and Sephiroth influencing the plot much earlier than in the original) it is double-confusing, virtually impenetrable for new players. for those of us who played the original, FF7 remake was already a confusing mess; i cannot imagine how confusing it must be for a noob.
i loved the remake, but if i had the opportunity to change one thing about the Remake, it would be to massively clean up the story. less is definitely more in a story like ff7, with so many moving parts.
also, just wanted to add that Yuffie was one of the most hated characters in the original game. she was such a brat and so annoying- basically the yuffie from chapter 1 that you complained about, except for the whole game. i think they handled her remarkably well in the Remake. they turned her into a sympathetic character, bordering on likable, a feat which i thought impossible.
I would like, after they release part 3, they allow to playbthe 3 parts withoutbthe whispers. They remove them as much as they can. To allow an og playthorugh. Yeah, that is work, but everything is there already, they just need to remove them in almost everything and replace the whispers with "lifestream" energy whenever they cant be removed. And you skip whole sections, like arbiter of fate.
Confused? Good. It's always fun to see first timer tell the experience play without the OG experience. Hope you enjoy the ride until the trilogy end!
I love your analysis so much 🤌 I appreciate how you understand the characters
Thanks friend!! I’m loving the characters so far :>
The OG did not have any of that multiple timeline stuff or whispers. I think they just tried to make the story more complicated or have the original fans guessing a bit. Crisis core reunion will tell you more of the backstory but the 3rd part will explain the rest.
I agree with most of your criticisms of the game. I do feel like this games moments are amplified by having played the original due to how those moments are reimagined or some references to things you wouldnt get as a first time player. Loved the video though! Rebirth video soon?
As someone who was first exposed to the franchise through 14 and then played 16 as his first main line game, 7 remake was kind of hard to get into because of it's over the top nature. Are all previous ff games like that?
If you do plan on playing Rebirth to continue the series. PLEASE play Crisis Core before starting it. It’s definitely smaller and when you put the time into it, goes by quickly. It provides some background information on Sephiroth, and also explains the presence of Zack. The game gives you time to get more attached to some of the main characters, and lets you at least put together a bit more of the story. It’s most definitely worth it if you want to understand the game more. Especially the new content that wasn’t in the original game from 1997.
Great video. Some things I agree but others I disagree. But I'm also a big fan and understand all the lore. I love the perspective you're coming from. YOU NEED TO GO PLAY REBIRTH AND DO ANOTHER VIDEO LIKE THIS ASAP!! 😊
Cloud, while not the most powerful protagonist in the FF series, is most certainly among the most talented. Dude can dance, slay cards, become a world class chocobo jockey, and so on.
I'm looking forward to you playing through Rebirth! FF7 Remake is such a weird entity as it's not a remake of the whole FF7, but a re-imagining of just the first 4-5 hours of the game. So you're still missing a lot of information.
Thanks man, I'm glad you're coming with me on this wild ride! Yeah, companies really need to be clear w/ their marketing what a "remake" really is because I just assume I DONT have to play the originals when I play a remake (like most other remakes lol). But reading the comments has helped me understand a lot, and I'm for sure gonna play the OG once I finish the remake trilogy.
Keep in mind that us old guys who played the OG in the late 90s got the game all at once on 3 discs. Rebirth and whatever they call the 3rd one shouldn’t be considered sequels but just a continuation of the same game. Crisis core was the prequel. Ff7 has always been my all time favorite game and never really gave other ff games a shot but I hear ff14 is supposed to be one of if not the best.
Consider how FFVII mirrors the original StarWars Trilogy, and you get so many answers.
Biggs, Wedge. Aerith (and ancients in general) as a Jedi influence.
The shinra troopers are definitely as powerless as Clone Troopers. (07:48)
15:11 its not a skill isue.
Its a "Im not familiar with Japanese RPG'S" Issue
The key is elemental damage.
House is on fire? Use Ice
Hous is windy? Use lightning.
Elemental damage bring the stagger metter, and atacks that build up stagger like cloud's trust, once its stagger you can do do Big D*** damage.
The helth and armor on that house is so high that if you are not using elements properly it can take 40 minutes.
3:50 while on designs can we talk about why there's so many belts 😂
TRUUU (looking at u Rufus lmao)
Belts are so iconic to FF
@@ardentgold Belts are a Tetsuya Nomura character design staple. I see that you included a bit of FFX footage in your intro montage when talking about the series. Take a look back at that footage and note that Lulu, the character in the black dress, is wearing a skirt made ENTIRELY out of belts. That thing has to weigh 80lbs.
As someone who loves FF7 since 1998, seeing you experience the game from a perspective of a newcomer was so refreshing! Don't let the stuffy know-it-alls in the comments bring you down. Even those of us who played the original were surprised by new plot twists. We all hope it will make sense in the third game lol
Getting into FF without the shackles of nostalgia is the way to go!
Oh, there are no shackles if you don't want them, my friend. I've been playing FF since the original NES in the late '80s. I absolutely love Remake and Rebirth. Glad to see the series adapting with the times.
@ you’ve prob got me by about 10 years. With that outlook I prob would have looked up to you as a kid
Great video, and I'd say that 70ish percent of your questions and wants will be touched upon in rebirth.
Main thing is with Zack as a character basically requires you to play crisis core or its remaster crisis core reunion to fully get him, but rebirth and part 3 when it comes out should give enough of a gist about him. As the remake story is borrowing a lot that was introduced in that game to fleah out the world of the original more.
And yeah, even after the third part comes out based on how they purposely tell this story or the remake trilogy. They kind of expect people to plau the OG game to complete the story. I cant really say anything else or it might spoiler something, lol.
I enjoyed the honey bee in way more than i thought i would. I was dreading it and it was great.
I envy you so much of being able to witness ffvii's story for the first time.
Glad you enjoyed your time in Remake, as a old fan that moved away from the franchise, Square sucessed in bring new fans to the franchise.
Yes! I know many people told me to play the original FF7 first (even my close friends lol), the remake is just so much more accessible to me and I hope it really helps me become a big fan of final fantasy!
You should be aware that this trilogy is as much of a sequel as it is a remake of ff7.
Also, try to keep in mind that these are GAMES first, and stories after. What I mean to say is yhat stuff you cann padding is things you play. These games do not try to be movies, they are videogamey in every aspect, even the story (which IS an important part of the experience). Keep that in mind when stepping into Rebirth, as it is a game filled qith minigames (it has also become my favoritr game ever). Also, people saging Midgar is short in the OG - yes, but a third of the story (literally one third of the script) happens in Midgar. What they did here, is simply add more gameplay to that story part, like they did with tje rest of the game in the OG.
These games are super refreshing in today's market, when every AAA game tries to be a super serious movie like experience. They feel like PS2 games in the best way possible. I hope you approach Rebirth with an open mind and enjoy it.
This channel has great potential. Like, a lot of potential. Just a little script polishing here and there. I had a great time watching this video. Also Yuffie is a lot more bearable in Rebirth lol
I really appreciate that friend. Thank you for the feedback! And yeah I’m really hoping I like Yuffie more too~
Before playing Rebirth, you should play Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core. It should help with understanding Sephiorth and FF7's plot in general!
Great video. Cant wait for you to play Rebirth!
Thank youu!!
You should continue this with a rebirth playthrough! This game had a ton of small events that setup for additional payout as the story goes on.
You can use sleep against Rufus’s dog to make the battle easier.
Judging the storyline based off of the first game is like judging a book based off of the first chapter. You're supposed to be confused. Buckle up, because if you wanted a simple, basic storyline, it's not going to get any easier for you. It is, however, one of the most clever and layered storylines in video game history. Hang in there. You'll understand more after Rebirth, but will also have more questions. And if it follows the story of the OG, you'll get all your answers eventually.
Thanks for the reassurance friend. I’m looking forward to playing Rebirth soon!!
You'll definitely figure the story out more if you play Rebirth and Crisis Core remaster. Especially Crisis Core explains way more about the past of Tifa and Cloud and Sepiroth than even OG7.
The minigames.... well Square is infamous with their minigames being super frustrating and annoying, minus a couple actually good ones like the card games.
//edit: also as people have said, the whispers weren't in OG7 and in interviews they have said that whispers were trying to keep the story exactly as the original, while winning over them made it so that now the future of the story can be different and giving the devs the freedom to play around with it a little bit.
@25:00 all true, enjoy part 2
Welcome to the family son. Now I can tell you played this on PC, so before diving into Rebirth I highly recommend buying the original game, and mod the shit out of it to make it look and feel a little more modern for yourself. Remake is just a few hours in the original game, and Rebirth is when the story really starts. You do you, but I highly recommend this.
I won't say you have to play OG FF7, but it does provide some context, and adds another layer to the enjoyment of Remake.
What I will say, and I can't stress this enough, It will help immensely to play Crisis Core before Rebirth. They re-released Crisis Core and finally fixed the combat, all between Remake and Rebirth, so you know they want you to have experienced that story going into Rebirth.
DO NOT PLAY CRISIS CORE UNTIL YOU HAVE PLAYED OUT THE FULL STORY!
@@Scott-bh2qb Yea agreed. And tbh, only the most ardent fans think the extended universe is any good. CC is okay, but certainly concentrate on the Remake games first.
Ignore all of these comments. I played Crisis Core after playing Remake and Rebirth and I recommend doing it that way.
Strong disagree with the OP here, do not play crisis core since you haven't played OG yet.
@@brofst they clearly wanted you to know who zack was before you started Rebirth
The second trip through the sewars and the unnecessary lengthening of train graveyard are this games two biggest sins.
to get way more understand to the story,
you have to play the prequel :
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII reunion
- the main char is zack
- how zack and aerith first met and become lover
- sephiroth still as a hero, not a big boss villain
- cloud are still as 2nd class soldier
- a complete story about wha and who is jenova
and many-many things you can learn all the begining story FF7 in that game
Yeah he should play the game that spoils the OG and the future part 3 remake. Good advice.
Obviously, most of your opinions here are valid, because they're personal, HOWEVER I will not stand for your critique regarding the fight system! You stated that you almost never "needed" to use your brain to get through the fights, but then complained that some enemies were too "tanky" and that it was a lot of button-mashing. You also said you didn't parry or block until Rufus. Sounds to me like you didn't take advantage of the enemies' weaknesses at all, didn't fight strategically and didn't use materia enough. If you had, I'm sure you would have enjoyed the fights immensely, because I, like you, love strategic fight systems and this one is my favorite out of every game I've ever played
Fun fact: the hell house was extremely watered down from og FFVII, you have no idea 😂
“It should’ve been 10 hours shorter”
Oh boy, wait until you play rebirth 😅
Rebirth doesn't really feel as bloated to me as Remake though. Most of the bloat in Rebirth is optional, but Remake has a lot of excess in the main story that feels like it's just there to extend it to a full game, and there's no way of just ignoring it.
@ rebirth has bloat that is actually fun to do and it’s well integrated into the story, that’s why you don’t actually feel it, example off the top of my head are the card tournament in the cruise ship, the whole costa del sol segment even the GI nattak part after cosmo canyon, just to name a few.
@@phootaphan9166what rebirth does is that it ties all sidequests to your companions for fun character moments, and the world objectives make your a better fighter. A big improvement
@@olimphus26 All the Rebirth Bloat comes in repeated content in each continent along with insane disrespect for the players time with QTE's and slow paced gameplay segments. The mako vacuums, the black hood shoving side quest, the amount of arena challenges, the annoying forced wait to finish Corel just so they can shoehorn in characters that don't logistically or plot wise into where they're forced (Corneo). But the highs are so high that every time I was gritting my teeth while spinning a stupid crank I knew it would be worth it for the next character scene, which Rebirth nails - 10/10 on story and characters.
@@ellpoyohlokoh yeah, the game has those highs and lows and then higher lol.
Good review so far, clearly some things that you don’t know since you didn’t play the OG (it was the same for me but luckily Rebirth and some google searches answered a lot of my questions).
Make sure that you use the assess materia in Rebirth though, it will alleviate a lot of the grievances you have with the combat system :D.
Also yeah side quests in Remake are shit, in Rebirth they are luckily a lot better.
Love seeing these sorts of videos and perspectives, hope you do a follow up with Rebirth which definitely alleviates some of your gripes (more world/level diversity, better sidequests, heavily builds on the synergy system), you might still hate Yuffie though haha, granted I think she works well when suddenly everyone else becomes the straight man around her bullshit.
Remake leaves a bunch of open plot holes and your biggest question to be: WTF IS GOING ON!?!? Fortunately, a lot of it gets answered in Rebirth. So, if you play it (I recommend you do) you will understand what's happening to a deeper meaning. Have fun and enjoy!
Yes that’ll be the next FF game I play :D
Veteran to thing: “don’t start here, start here. It’ll make more sense.”
New people: “naw I’m gonna start at the newest part. . . Why doesn’t it make sense?!?!”
Veteran to thing: 😤
@6:35 Citing the World Economic Forum is the bigest of stretches that i have ever seen.