Appreciating the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2
I may have played a lot more than 2 hours between these two posts. Mostly because . . . I have been having too much fun playing the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. For many different reasons. It's not just the game play, the characters are loads of fun as well. A certain character who brought me much joy in this portion even hums the victory theme in lieu of it after a battle.
I love that Square Enix has been able to stay true to the characters while also building upon them. Tifa, early on, is a strong example of this as she is far more conflicted with AVALANCHE's actions. Cloud has grown on me exponentially over time as he quietly snips at Barret ("Where's my pay?" "I'll need a raise.") and grows to have a genuine relationship with Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge.
At the same time, I have found a few additions that I don't like.
So new to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake are these specters. They exist simply to ruin scenes that I am particularly fond of. For instance, meeting Aerith. The scene is done really well and I'm enjoying Aerith's voice actor. But then those specters have to come in and ruin it. I'm not sure what they are. I have a couple of guesses, but both aren't worthy enough to ruin memorable moments from the original game.
Another big change is introducing Sephiroth very early in the game. After the first reactor, Cloud starts seeing him in his hallucinations. I appreciate seeing Sephiroth very early. If you think about it, this Remake ends after the group escapes Midgar. In the time between the beginning of the game and leaving Midgar, the player never sees Sephiroth. His name is only mentioned. And I believe that with a villain who is loved so much - for what reason, I don't know. I've never been a big fan of Sephiroth. I think he's just as deluded as many of the other characters in the game - they had to put him in the game somewhere. You can't play a Final Fantasy 7 game and not expect to see Sephiroth essentially.
I do like how this has been implemented though. FF7R puts the player in Cloud's head more than the original game had the capacity to do. It give you a sense of how much of an impact Sephiroth's actions have had on Cloud. Not only that, now Cloud has visions of the future. When he first enters the Sector 7 slums, he sees a piece of the plate falling, which proves to be a hallucination. I have played the original FF7 too many times to know what this means.
The last time I had posted about FF7R, I had just finished the first reactor. So what has happened plot wise in that time? Well, Cloud meets Aerith and she gives him a flower on the house. She's attacked by the stupid specter things and runs off. Cloud's chased by soldiers and ends up on the very train that is taking Barret, Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge back to Sector 7. Cloud seems uncomfortable about seeing Tifa again. But see her he must.
Tifa is excited to see Cloud. More than that, she wants to help him let go of the past as she supposedly has. It's fare more subtle in the remake: the player gets the impression that Tifa thinks she's shed her past trauma. It's that very trauma that gives her the empathy to be conflicted about AVALANCHE's actions. The remake also seems to recognize that Tifa is a business owner and gives her more of a business mentality which I appreciate.
She wants to help Cloud set up base in an apartment and start up his own business, that of a mercenary for hire. So Tifa pulls out all of the catchy business phrases she can and tries to make Cloud understand the subtle social interactions with clientele. All while Cloud glares at children and has cats hiss at him. While sleeping in his apartment, Cloud meets one of his neighbors. Marco is one of the men seen in the original, who has a tattoo on his arm and seems very ill. When Cloud tries to help Marco during a night spell, he has a vision of . . . a union of some kind. Perhaps even a reunion.
After this point, the vast Sector 7 slums are open for exploration. And it's a huge area. I got lost several times before I finally figured out which button pulls up the map. So are you ready to do chores for ungrateful people?! The side quests are that - chores. But it gives you more time to play with an incredibly fun battle system. Added to that, now you have Tifa who is incredibly fast in battle and has combos. If I didn't love the battle system enough already, the fact that they've made each character unique to play only adds to that. Cloud and Tifa are both close-range fighters, but Cloud is slower than Tifa. For me, Cloud is more of the power-house while Tifa builds up abilities to spend and combos constantly. Barret is a long-range fighter, so I keep him in the back. This makes for fun strategy time! I'm enjoying it immensely.
Also side-quests mean that I get to meet my 2nd favorite NPC: Chadley!
Have you been analyzing enemies with that Assess materia he gave you? Because if you are, Chadley will make new and potent materia that you can buy. He's also a Shinra intern which doesn't make Cloud too happy, but he immediately says that he's working for the DESTRUCTION OF SHINRA! Just keep selling me good materia, Chadley!
In the middle of all this side-questing, Cloud and Tifa see a few Shinra guards tie-up Johnny. In the original, Johnny was a ne'er-do-well from Sector 7 who distrusted Cloud. He was kind of an asshole. In the remake, nothing has changed. The Shinra guards beat him up a little before Cloud and Tifa intervene. Once Tifa informs Cloud that Johnny is a "talker", Cloud gets the brilliant idea of killing him. This triggers Tifa's empathy setting, where she reasons that Johnny's just a kid. However, Tifa's also horrified that it was Cloud who suggested killing Johnny.
Back at Tifa's bar, Seventh Heaven, Jessie informs Cloud that Tifa's not as committed to AVALANCHE as they are. They exclude Cloud for a meeting and afterwards, Tifa seems bothered by what went on. It's fairly clear that she's uncomfortable with these missions. She doesn't want anyone to get hurt. And it doesn't matter what side they're on, Tifa doesn't want to see innocent lives spent to save the planet. But she's stuck in a rather extremist mind-set with the other AVALANCHE members. It makes her feel trapped.
I also love the fact that there are so many side-characters who completely misread Tifa and Cloud's relationship. Marle, the land owner of the apartment complex they stay at, keeps telling Cloud to treat Tifa right and listen to her feelings. When Cloud does attempt to do this (poorly, to comedic effect), Tifa is very confused by him. I've always seen Cloud and Tifa as platonic life-partners, so it's amusing to see this in game.
But all of a sudden, Jessie comes swinging in and is like, "Hey, I heard you wanted an entire chapter devoted to me!" Thank goodness for that, because Jessie's chapter starts out with the most fun I've had in this entire game so far. Jessie is still mulling over the bomb she made and the huge explosion that shouldn't have come from it. The answer is obvious: Shinra purposefully made the explosion bigger so that they could turn the people of Midgar against AVALANCHE. But Jessie is determined to steal explosives from a Shinra warehouse. It all starts with a drive up to the plate on motorcycles.
If you remember the original, there is a motorcycle mini-game. This is the exact mini-game. The button mapping is even the same. And yet, with the addition of being able to speed up and use ramps, it's been rendered that much more fun. I had a blast knocking Shinra soldiers off of their bikes. And then, out of the blue, came my 1st favorite NPC:
ROOOOOOOOOOCHE!
Roche is essentially the robot racer you meet in the future in Chrono Trigger. I swear he is. I feel like he belongs more in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure than in a Square Enix game. He's a 1st class Soldier (like Cloud!) who has . . . a very interesting fascination with his motorcycle. He's also completely bonkers. Which means that I loved him immediately. Even when you beat him, he just accepts fate. Aw Roche, I hope to see you again in ten minutes.
Jessie takes Biggs, Wedge, and Cloud over to her parents house to steal her father's Shinra ID. While Jessie and the AVALANCHE crew distract her mother, Cloud travels to the back of the house to find the ID. This is when we see Jessie's father, strapped up to life support. He was working and one day, fainted. He was never comatose again after that. The implication is that he has mako poisoning and is the reason for Jessie joining AVALANCHE. Meanwhile, Jessie's mother mentions the fact that Jessie once wanted to be an actress. Stop making me feel close to this character, Square Enix. I know what you're going to do with her. Don't make me feel attached.
With ID in hand, they head to the Shinra warehouse. It is surprisingly empty and I got that strange boss fight feeling, so I bought ALL the supplies and utilized the training area to get to level 13. The entire group is ambushed by Shinra soldiers! Oh no, who could have seen this coming? But what's the best part? You know. You know what the best part is. The best part is:
ROOOOOOOOCHE!
He comes riding in like an intoxicated white knight and insists upon a fight with Cloud, mano-a-mano. But he's a gentleman about it, so he heals you to full HP and MP. Oh Roche, certainly I won't beat you and force you to hang your head in shame again. Once beaten, Roche knocks away all of the Shinra soldiers and drives off. As more Shinra forces head over, another group of AVALANCHE comes in to aid. The Sector 7 group has a mini-celebration and Jessie even catches Cloud smiling. With their job completed, Cloud, Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge parachute down to the slums. By that point, I realized: now I'm extremely invested in this game.
Once back, the player is greatly rewarded for getting this far in the game. You get to meet Wedge's cats. Oh, and Jessie keeps hugging Cloud and says she won't stop until he promises to see her again the next night. Of course I chose, "I'm not promising anything, but . . ." I know this is the last time I'll see Jessie. A bittersweet ending to the chapter, I would say.
When Cloud woke up the next day, there was a PLOT DEVICE on his doorstop! It was those pesky specters again, determined to keep Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge out of the Sector 5 reactor. Jessie hurts her leg in the fight against the plot device specters which means Cloud's getting a raise. And getting to go to the Sector 5 reactor.
The next morning, it's Cloud, Tifa, and Barret riding the train to Sector 5. Barret starts a fight with a Shinra employee that Cloud has to end, by informing Barret that he's "better than that." Afterwards, as Barret is sitting in the train, I heard him hum something and realized that it was the battle victory jingle from the original game. This is an important moment in the game because this is when I realized how much I absolutely love Barret in the remake. He just about steals the game for me. His voice actor is amazing and I love how well Barret tries to look like a badass but shows moments of his soft core. Which is funny, considering he and Cloud don't realize how similar they are.
The best moment was realizing that Barret is afraid of heights and mentions that a climb took years off of his life. Realizing he has to keep up his tough street cred, he corrects that with, "I mean seconds. And like 3 seconds tops." Or learning about Barret's hatred for Shinra using the image of a loyal dog (Stamp! Get his theme song!) for their propaganda. I just relish having Barret in my party.
During a bizarre emergency scan that Tifa wasn't expecting, their IDs come up as fake. The robots are sent out! And in a reference to the original, you have about 2 minutes to beat them. But you're not racing to the front of the train. Instead, Tifa urges everyone else to run up to the front of the train, even the Shinra employee who was heckling Barret. When the Shinra employee questions Tifa, asking her why she would help him when they're on the opposite side of things, she tells him that she doesn't want anymore people to die.
Even though Barret said that there ain't no getting off this train, they do by jumping. And here is a change I love: in the original, both Tifa and Barret jumped off without fear. In the remake, they're both extremely fearful. It's a human touch I appreciate. Stuck in the train tunnels, the group looks for Biggs' marks to lead them to Sector 5. What they don't know is that Shinra has been watching them the entire time.
Heidegger looks amazing in the remake. I love his jacket so much I almost want to sew it. And do not worry - his gya ha ha is still intact. Heidegger does not care for human life. He willingly sends out soldiers expecting them to die. This doesn't create trust between him and the soldiers. In fact, it seems as though the soldiers are resentful of him. Heidegger sends out the BATTLE CRAB!!
Again, the boss fight with the Battle Crab is loads of fun. You have to take out the legs and then you can pull off limit breaks, summons, and abilities. If there's anything that I can press upon you with these posts, it's that the battle system is so effective in taking what has become a slow, grinding sport in the original and making it into something that is fast, effective, and fun. I feel like I've said "fun" too many times in this post, but that's the feeling this game has elicited in me.
I am currently now in the Sector 5 reactor, where Barret has revealed his fear of heights. So there was something I found rather interesting in this game and it's the comparison between Tifa, Jessie, and Heidegger. There is a level of extremism that is explored in the remake that was in the original as well. AVALANCHE's actions are at the cost of human life. And other members of AVALANCHE see Tifa as weak for wanting to spare lives. But here's the major question: is AVALANCHE too much like Shinra? With Heidegger, we see that Shinra has no value for lives. It's all end-goal politics.
There's a certain level of humanism that needs to be implemented in AVALANCHE for them to achieve their goals - the people have to react to them positively for there to be change. But Barret and Jessie don't seem to realize that. It's only Tifa who understands the cost of human life after the losses she faced in Nibelheim. And perhaps she's even lost Cloud. The person she thought she could find similarity in is now putting on a facade of indifference to human life.
I'm intrigued to see where this game is going and whether there is any getting off this train we're on. I'm expecting to meet Aerith again soon.
I love that Square Enix has been able to stay true to the characters while also building upon them. Tifa, early on, is a strong example of this as she is far more conflicted with AVALANCHE's actions. Cloud has grown on me exponentially over time as he quietly snips at Barret ("Where's my pay?" "I'll need a raise.") and grows to have a genuine relationship with Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge.
At the same time, I have found a few additions that I don't like.
So new to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake are these specters. They exist simply to ruin scenes that I am particularly fond of. For instance, meeting Aerith. The scene is done really well and I'm enjoying Aerith's voice actor. But then those specters have to come in and ruin it. I'm not sure what they are. I have a couple of guesses, but both aren't worthy enough to ruin memorable moments from the original game.
Another big change is introducing Sephiroth very early in the game. After the first reactor, Cloud starts seeing him in his hallucinations. I appreciate seeing Sephiroth very early. If you think about it, this Remake ends after the group escapes Midgar. In the time between the beginning of the game and leaving Midgar, the player never sees Sephiroth. His name is only mentioned. And I believe that with a villain who is loved so much - for what reason, I don't know. I've never been a big fan of Sephiroth. I think he's just as deluded as many of the other characters in the game - they had to put him in the game somewhere. You can't play a Final Fantasy 7 game and not expect to see Sephiroth essentially.
I do like how this has been implemented though. FF7R puts the player in Cloud's head more than the original game had the capacity to do. It give you a sense of how much of an impact Sephiroth's actions have had on Cloud. Not only that, now Cloud has visions of the future. When he first enters the Sector 7 slums, he sees a piece of the plate falling, which proves to be a hallucination. I have played the original FF7 too many times to know what this means.
The last time I had posted about FF7R, I had just finished the first reactor. So what has happened plot wise in that time? Well, Cloud meets Aerith and she gives him a flower on the house. She's attacked by the stupid specter things and runs off. Cloud's chased by soldiers and ends up on the very train that is taking Barret, Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge back to Sector 7. Cloud seems uncomfortable about seeing Tifa again. But see her he must.
Tifa is excited to see Cloud. More than that, she wants to help him let go of the past as she supposedly has. It's fare more subtle in the remake: the player gets the impression that Tifa thinks she's shed her past trauma. It's that very trauma that gives her the empathy to be conflicted about AVALANCHE's actions. The remake also seems to recognize that Tifa is a business owner and gives her more of a business mentality which I appreciate.
She wants to help Cloud set up base in an apartment and start up his own business, that of a mercenary for hire. So Tifa pulls out all of the catchy business phrases she can and tries to make Cloud understand the subtle social interactions with clientele. All while Cloud glares at children and has cats hiss at him. While sleeping in his apartment, Cloud meets one of his neighbors. Marco is one of the men seen in the original, who has a tattoo on his arm and seems very ill. When Cloud tries to help Marco during a night spell, he has a vision of . . . a union of some kind. Perhaps even a reunion.
After this point, the vast Sector 7 slums are open for exploration. And it's a huge area. I got lost several times before I finally figured out which button pulls up the map. So are you ready to do chores for ungrateful people?! The side quests are that - chores. But it gives you more time to play with an incredibly fun battle system. Added to that, now you have Tifa who is incredibly fast in battle and has combos. If I didn't love the battle system enough already, the fact that they've made each character unique to play only adds to that. Cloud and Tifa are both close-range fighters, but Cloud is slower than Tifa. For me, Cloud is more of the power-house while Tifa builds up abilities to spend and combos constantly. Barret is a long-range fighter, so I keep him in the back. This makes for fun strategy time! I'm enjoying it immensely.
Also side-quests mean that I get to meet my 2nd favorite NPC: Chadley!
Have you been analyzing enemies with that Assess materia he gave you? Because if you are, Chadley will make new and potent materia that you can buy. He's also a Shinra intern which doesn't make Cloud too happy, but he immediately says that he's working for the DESTRUCTION OF SHINRA! Just keep selling me good materia, Chadley!
In the middle of all this side-questing, Cloud and Tifa see a few Shinra guards tie-up Johnny. In the original, Johnny was a ne'er-do-well from Sector 7 who distrusted Cloud. He was kind of an asshole. In the remake, nothing has changed. The Shinra guards beat him up a little before Cloud and Tifa intervene. Once Tifa informs Cloud that Johnny is a "talker", Cloud gets the brilliant idea of killing him. This triggers Tifa's empathy setting, where she reasons that Johnny's just a kid. However, Tifa's also horrified that it was Cloud who suggested killing Johnny.
Back at Tifa's bar, Seventh Heaven, Jessie informs Cloud that Tifa's not as committed to AVALANCHE as they are. They exclude Cloud for a meeting and afterwards, Tifa seems bothered by what went on. It's fairly clear that she's uncomfortable with these missions. She doesn't want anyone to get hurt. And it doesn't matter what side they're on, Tifa doesn't want to see innocent lives spent to save the planet. But she's stuck in a rather extremist mind-set with the other AVALANCHE members. It makes her feel trapped.
I also love the fact that there are so many side-characters who completely misread Tifa and Cloud's relationship. Marle, the land owner of the apartment complex they stay at, keeps telling Cloud to treat Tifa right and listen to her feelings. When Cloud does attempt to do this (poorly, to comedic effect), Tifa is very confused by him. I've always seen Cloud and Tifa as platonic life-partners, so it's amusing to see this in game.
But all of a sudden, Jessie comes swinging in and is like, "Hey, I heard you wanted an entire chapter devoted to me!" Thank goodness for that, because Jessie's chapter starts out with the most fun I've had in this entire game so far. Jessie is still mulling over the bomb she made and the huge explosion that shouldn't have come from it. The answer is obvious: Shinra purposefully made the explosion bigger so that they could turn the people of Midgar against AVALANCHE. But Jessie is determined to steal explosives from a Shinra warehouse. It all starts with a drive up to the plate on motorcycles.
If you remember the original, there is a motorcycle mini-game. This is the exact mini-game. The button mapping is even the same. And yet, with the addition of being able to speed up and use ramps, it's been rendered that much more fun. I had a blast knocking Shinra soldiers off of their bikes. And then, out of the blue, came my 1st favorite NPC:
ROOOOOOOOOOCHE!
Roche is essentially the robot racer you meet in the future in Chrono Trigger. I swear he is. I feel like he belongs more in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure than in a Square Enix game. He's a 1st class Soldier (like Cloud!) who has . . . a very interesting fascination with his motorcycle. He's also completely bonkers. Which means that I loved him immediately. Even when you beat him, he just accepts fate. Aw Roche, I hope to see you again in ten minutes.
Jessie takes Biggs, Wedge, and Cloud over to her parents house to steal her father's Shinra ID. While Jessie and the AVALANCHE crew distract her mother, Cloud travels to the back of the house to find the ID. This is when we see Jessie's father, strapped up to life support. He was working and one day, fainted. He was never comatose again after that. The implication is that he has mako poisoning and is the reason for Jessie joining AVALANCHE. Meanwhile, Jessie's mother mentions the fact that Jessie once wanted to be an actress. Stop making me feel close to this character, Square Enix. I know what you're going to do with her. Don't make me feel attached.
With ID in hand, they head to the Shinra warehouse. It is surprisingly empty and I got that strange boss fight feeling, so I bought ALL the supplies and utilized the training area to get to level 13. The entire group is ambushed by Shinra soldiers! Oh no, who could have seen this coming? But what's the best part? You know. You know what the best part is. The best part is:
ROOOOOOOOCHE!
He comes riding in like an intoxicated white knight and insists upon a fight with Cloud, mano-a-mano. But he's a gentleman about it, so he heals you to full HP and MP. Oh Roche, certainly I won't beat you and force you to hang your head in shame again. Once beaten, Roche knocks away all of the Shinra soldiers and drives off. As more Shinra forces head over, another group of AVALANCHE comes in to aid. The Sector 7 group has a mini-celebration and Jessie even catches Cloud smiling. With their job completed, Cloud, Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge parachute down to the slums. By that point, I realized: now I'm extremely invested in this game.
Once back, the player is greatly rewarded for getting this far in the game. You get to meet Wedge's cats. Oh, and Jessie keeps hugging Cloud and says she won't stop until he promises to see her again the next night. Of course I chose, "I'm not promising anything, but . . ." I know this is the last time I'll see Jessie. A bittersweet ending to the chapter, I would say.
When Cloud woke up the next day, there was a PLOT DEVICE on his doorstop! It was those pesky specters again, determined to keep Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge out of the Sector 5 reactor. Jessie hurts her leg in the fight against the plot device specters which means Cloud's getting a raise. And getting to go to the Sector 5 reactor.
The next morning, it's Cloud, Tifa, and Barret riding the train to Sector 5. Barret starts a fight with a Shinra employee that Cloud has to end, by informing Barret that he's "better than that." Afterwards, as Barret is sitting in the train, I heard him hum something and realized that it was the battle victory jingle from the original game. This is an important moment in the game because this is when I realized how much I absolutely love Barret in the remake. He just about steals the game for me. His voice actor is amazing and I love how well Barret tries to look like a badass but shows moments of his soft core. Which is funny, considering he and Cloud don't realize how similar they are.
The best moment was realizing that Barret is afraid of heights and mentions that a climb took years off of his life. Realizing he has to keep up his tough street cred, he corrects that with, "I mean seconds. And like 3 seconds tops." Or learning about Barret's hatred for Shinra using the image of a loyal dog (Stamp! Get his theme song!) for their propaganda. I just relish having Barret in my party.
During a bizarre emergency scan that Tifa wasn't expecting, their IDs come up as fake. The robots are sent out! And in a reference to the original, you have about 2 minutes to beat them. But you're not racing to the front of the train. Instead, Tifa urges everyone else to run up to the front of the train, even the Shinra employee who was heckling Barret. When the Shinra employee questions Tifa, asking her why she would help him when they're on the opposite side of things, she tells him that she doesn't want anymore people to die.
Even though Barret said that there ain't no getting off this train, they do by jumping. And here is a change I love: in the original, both Tifa and Barret jumped off without fear. In the remake, they're both extremely fearful. It's a human touch I appreciate. Stuck in the train tunnels, the group looks for Biggs' marks to lead them to Sector 5. What they don't know is that Shinra has been watching them the entire time.
Heidegger looks amazing in the remake. I love his jacket so much I almost want to sew it. And do not worry - his gya ha ha is still intact. Heidegger does not care for human life. He willingly sends out soldiers expecting them to die. This doesn't create trust between him and the soldiers. In fact, it seems as though the soldiers are resentful of him. Heidegger sends out the BATTLE CRAB!!
Again, the boss fight with the Battle Crab is loads of fun. You have to take out the legs and then you can pull off limit breaks, summons, and abilities. If there's anything that I can press upon you with these posts, it's that the battle system is so effective in taking what has become a slow, grinding sport in the original and making it into something that is fast, effective, and fun. I feel like I've said "fun" too many times in this post, but that's the feeling this game has elicited in me.
I am currently now in the Sector 5 reactor, where Barret has revealed his fear of heights. So there was something I found rather interesting in this game and it's the comparison between Tifa, Jessie, and Heidegger. There is a level of extremism that is explored in the remake that was in the original as well. AVALANCHE's actions are at the cost of human life. And other members of AVALANCHE see Tifa as weak for wanting to spare lives. But here's the major question: is AVALANCHE too much like Shinra? With Heidegger, we see that Shinra has no value for lives. It's all end-goal politics.
There's a certain level of humanism that needs to be implemented in AVALANCHE for them to achieve their goals - the people have to react to them positively for there to be change. But Barret and Jessie don't seem to realize that. It's only Tifa who understands the cost of human life after the losses she faced in Nibelheim. And perhaps she's even lost Cloud. The person she thought she could find similarity in is now putting on a facade of indifference to human life.
I'm intrigued to see where this game is going and whether there is any getting off this train we're on. I'm expecting to meet Aerith again soon.