So I didn't realize it until I watched a video but the Train Graveyard chapter is NOT filler content. It expands on Aerith's connection to the planet and the lifestream. It shows that she has struggled with that connection for her entire life, seeing the dead but not being able to interact with them and feeling truly alone quite often because of that. It also greatly foreshadows the final chapter of the game.
I guess I just wasn't into this bit of story, and the abandoned train station facility seemed not very fun to play through. For me personally, the game would have been stronger if it got us through that whole area faster.
Good point! Though checking out Wikipedia, it seems Kitase isn't a writer either (he was a producer), though I still hold Nomura accountable as the game's director.
Personally, I can see Nomura's style all over Remake. Also, Kitase isn't listed as a writer, so I feel like it's fair to hold Nomura (as director) accountable @@nariya36
@@gnosis_gaming in all interviews was it said. That Kitase wanted most changes but Nomura and Hamaguchi stopt Kitase. And Nojima the writer for og 7 and remake has the challenge to please every opinion from the production team
Kinda impressed you pointed out you got more addicted to the discourse than the actual game on this one... respect! Very few YT can tell the difference, or care to show they know the difference.
Thanks! Honestly, I'm getting a lot of flack for admitting I watched game reviews before buying and used them to make a purchasing decision. Later, I ended up giving the game a try and liked it overall. Pretty normal stuff happening over here, folks. Haha.
@@gnosis_gaming I had a similar feeling going in... although I did watch no reviews. I let it sit on the shelf for 3 weeks thinking there was 0 chance it could live up to the original... I was very glad to be wrong and like you find myself way more optimistic going forward.
@@rzxwm10 I can't believe I'm actually kind of hyped to see Genesis, but I am. I kind of one his story wrapped up now. It could be an interesting final boss / sidequest to a superboss
Imagine working on ff7 remake for 15 years for it to be just a retelling of the same story. This is way better. We get to explore characters more, add to the story and have the story actually be surprising
I agree with about 90% of this assessment. I think the story is pure genius if it’s going where I believe it’s going. FF7 Remake is a sequel to the original. And without knowledge of the original and advent children, it is very easy to miss that
Remake nailed Aerith imo. I wasn’t happy about the early Sephiroth reveal either, however as I eventually finished the game I understood what they were going for. I’m excited for rebirth though !
I can’t understand the Aerith take at all. She’s always been snarky and childish ever since the original. What is there to not buy when it comes to her character? Your take is valid ofc but I just can’t understand it from my point of view
Hey, thanks for commenting! Some of her mannerisms just didn't land right for me. They seemed really cartoony and made her feel a bit more like a stereotype. What are you looking forward to in Rebirth?
I'm glad you liked the video! Some of her mannerisms just didn't land right for me. They seemed a bit cartoony and made her feel more like a stereotype. @@juliusjohnson8046
@@gnosis_gaming Honestly just the immersion in the rest of the world and getting to enjoy the battle system and a full party after being disappointed by XVI
dude i highly recommend watching maximillians vids about ff7r story particularly referring to sephiroth and aerith and how self aware they are, for example the first encounter with seph, all he's doing is trying to delay cloud from meeting aerith but the whispers stops that from happening
It's so funny to hear your opinion on Aerith, because what I hear the most about her, is how happy people are that Remake made her be like she was in the original(flirty and a little silly), instead of the pure angel of angelical purity, that the Compilation turned her into.
Yeah, I had no idea what he was talking about. Like, other than her "knowing too much" her personality itself was literally completely unchanged from the original. Maybe his interpretation of her while playing the OG was colored by his own reading of the unvoiced text, but all the original character designers and writers from the OG are also the leads on Remake so they're objectively portraying these characters exactly as they originally intended. Hell, one of the biggest points of praise for the game even from detractors is that the casting i s spot on and the character writing just "feels right."
@@loki210with respect, if a character has complete knowledge of the future they are by definition, fundamentally not the same character. Saying this game has the same writers is also incorrect considering Sackaguchi isn’t present this time around and he was probably the single most important person on the original project being producer.
I HIGHLY encourage you to watch ProfNoctis' video on Train Graveyard. It will blow your mind. Also, Nojima is the main writer of the Remake, same as the OG. Nomura is not a writer per say. Although, everyone does have some input. BTW. I loved the Jessie chapter. It gives us expanded world building and expands upon Biggs, Wedge and Jessie as characters greatly. And I thought Aerith was perfect. Because Aerith's mentality and phyisicality are basically reversed. Tifa looks more like a badass, while Aerith looks more like a sweet girl. When it's kinda the opposite when it comes to personalities. Also, Aerith is choosing her words in Remake very purposefully and deliberately.
The game indeed has other writers, though Nomura was the creative director of the project and his signature style is visible everywhere. And the Jessie chapter is fun! "Kitase, who was director of the original FFVII, is asked how much input he had on the remake. He says that the overall direction and concept, story and worldbuilding was left to Nomura, while game design and drama scene direction was left to co-directors Hamaguchi and Toriyama." www.frontlinejp.net/2020/04/17/final-fantasy-vii-remake-interview-with-nomura-tetsuya-and-kitase-yoshinori/
Just picked up remake today, but Aerith called herself a tomboy type character, but really in the original, she really wasn't. I can't think of a single scene there where she actually showed that's what she was. From when you first run into her in the church and she's running from Reno, hopping very slowly from, (was it sector 7?) to the higher plate.
This is total garbage Nomura was in charge of the project and any changes in the game had to get his approval. In this interview Nojima specifically references having to get Nomura's permission to implement changes. Furthermore in this interview the story was written collaboratively between them. "When I first approached Nojima to write the scenario I told him I wanted to do it in this way." - Quote from Nomura, explaining that he told Nojima how he wanted the story to go. "I couldn't come up with any other ideas besides this so when I first showed it to Nomura I had to explain everything to ensure he didn't say no" - Quote from Nojima, explaining that he had to get Nomura to approve story changes. The reality is that the writer doesn't write the story and then hand it to the director when it is finished. The writer takes concepts and ideas and rough drafts and storyboards and turns that into a completed screenplay/script/etc. Source: game8.co/games/Final-Fantasy-VII-Remake/archives/286914#hl_5
So I never played the original ff7, only the remake. I even went like 22 years without ever knowing the story 😂 but I really enjoyed ff7 remake, and maybe one day I’ll visit the og ff7. Also I thought Aerith was the cutest character!!! She really came off as someone I personally wanted to protect throughout the story. Also really enjoyed your video!
The ship has probably sailed by now the original has just aged a bit too much to be enjoyable, however only playing the remake is like only watching the Most recent Star Wars trilogy, not the original. Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are all still in it but they're not the same and the story is not nearly as good. This star wars thing might seem okay but you won't understand the cultural impact unless you experience the original three films. In the same way you've played the remake, which is basically fanfiction. They've made so many changes to character, plot and themes that it's a graphically better version but alternatively much weaker. I wouldn't recommend you play the original though, in 1997 the graphics and text bubbles weren't detrimental to the experience but they certainly would be now.
@@gnosis_gaming So I feel that they do. Arbiters of fate is not necessarily accurate, more what they feel like to the characters. They're not exactly wrong to be called that, but Rebirth's expansion on them does a lot for me. So some slight spoilers ahead: They're basically a representation of the planets will, and eventually, also of Seph's will. They represent the ongoing battle between the planet with Jenova and how much power/influence each has. Which fits directly in line with OG Seph's goals, he wants to utilize the power of the lifestream to become a god. The arbiters are the representation of this, the more he has, the closer he is to godhood. The reason they come off as "arbiters of fate" is because the planet doesn't quite know the crew is a source for "good", and you can even argue they're not. Specifically...Cloud isn't. Cloud is considered to be a major link to how Sephiroth still exists, and also is how Sephiroth gets to as close to successful as he gets, by way of acquiring and giving Seph the black materia. So the planet would do better by stopping Cloud from continuing. But what ends up happening is at the end of Remake Seph takes a big chunk of them under his control. So again, Cloud and co. are actually aiding Sephiroth here. Which I think is both the same as OG but also a twist.
Loved the OG and love Remake. while I agree about some of the padding I really don't mind. The gameplay is so good that I'm just happy to get to do more combat during those sections and most of the sidequests end with unique and challenging fights so while they are not the most interesting storywise for me they are worth it for the fights. Most of the new story stuff i think is pretty good as well, I mean Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were barely characters in the OG and i felt nothing about their deaths back then, and all the new stuff in wall market was a blast. More than happy for them to take time to flesh out characters if they want me to care about them. The only bit I'm iffy on is stuff to do with the plot ghosts. Not sure where that's going and guess I'll have to wait till it's done to decide if I like it or not but honestly even if i don't end up liking where they take that particular element everything else is so great that it won't bother me too much.
@@gnosis_gaming Oh Gold Saucer no question. I mean I'm obviously looking forward to all the big story moments done with this level of presentation but as long as they nail the Gold Saucer Rebirth will be a win in my books!
FF7R got me to play the OG, and both OG and Remake series are probably some of my favorite games of all time. I actually love the slower parts (except for going back to the sewers lol fk that), simply because I love the world they made and the atmosphere.
@@gnosis_gaming honestly everything, I just can’t wait to be in the actual world of FF7, outside of Midgar. I was a high school freshman when Remake came out, and now i’m a college student, it’s been too long lmfao
You forgot about one really strong pro: the music! Man they really have outdone themselves and you can feel the passion that went into it. They also seem to be aware of that since they implemented the piano mini game in rebirth
A pretty consistent trend I've found with criticism of Remake is this - people who didn't consume or didn't like the compilation content (Crisis Core, Advent Children, etc.) tend to like Remake a lot less than the people that did like the Compilation. It stands to reason since the Remake includes a lot of elements from the compilation. To me, it was obvious that they would continue the trend of the later games in terms of backstory, retcons, etc. But I have a lot of sympathy for those who wanted/expected a straight up remake of the original game. I'd have liked that too. Unfortunately, it just strikes me as economically nonviable to make a game as *BIG* as the original FF7 with the constraints of modern graphical expectations. Cloud was 20 polygons and a flat image in the original. I'm sure his hair in remake has more vertices than the whole of Midgar did in OG. The trend of Final Fantasy since 10 has been a gradual limitation of scope and increase in fidelity, like all modern AAA games just due to the cost in dollars and manpower it takes to make them. SE has had this issue with every modern FF game, FF15 was indev for 10 years for instance, and it's way smaller than 7 or even 7R. A full remake of 7 would have taken 20 years and cost us 200 bucks to buy at that pace. So they had to make Midgar for the first game, an experience that took maybe 3-6 hours of the OG. Nobody would have accepted Remake if it was that length, so they padded it out, and they took heavily from compilation material to do so. They fleshed out the characters, made extra side missions that don't feel as connected to the plot - it's a compromise, but I don't know what else they could have possibly done that would have been better. The real joy of remake is watching those scenes from the original but remade with beautiful new graphics and direction. In any case I think I fundamentally agree with your take here, the game is definitely not perfect but it's the best piece of FF7 media outside of the original game by a mile, lol
I think we agree! For me, I think the game may have been better with some editing. IF they had made a great 20-30 hour mainline story, the game would have benefitted from it, and then they could have added in lots of side content that was completely option for people who wanted to spend more time playing.
I mean. They created final fantasy 10 in almost no time at all, and that game looked fantastic. People've been asking for a visual update to the original FF7 since all the way back then - and that was 2001. They had enough time. I'd outright disagree with any takes about characters being fleshed out, though... if anything, they were torn apart and made into copy-paste versions of each other. Tifa is no longer freaked out about the fact Cloud is clearly off his rocker and filled with false memories, Jessie is no longer a vet from the war with wutai that ara-aras at cloud, sephiroth... sephiroth. I could go on for days.
I feel that it's less about them only having time to make Midgar and that Square has gotten insanely greedy over the years and they realized that FF7 fans will eat up anything with the name on it buy a single game stretched out into 3, no questions asked.
FF7 wasn't that big, neither would've it taken 20 years to remake it. Remaking something like 6 in 3D however, would've understandably taken 20 years due to many factors.
I feel like you haven’t quite realized yet that this game is a sequel. For me, that realization elevated a lot of the parts that seem lacking. Rebirth is seemingly going to end up making that a lot more obvious.
As a lover of the OG, I was really glad I played the remake to 100% before I watched any online content and was able to form my own opinions without being clouded by the negativity. Sure, there are a few key story moments I would alter but I do love remake and am excited for rebirth
Great video! Im starting to shift the same way was kind of turned off from playing the remake, but recently warchinhg Max Doods and Symbalilys playthroughs, and also seeing how incredible rebirth looks are changing my mind to that
Didn't even know there were "FF7 Sucks" videos out there. I really love remake even with FF7 original being my favorite game of all time. As for Aerith's personality I adore her in remake when I never really connected with her in the original. Absolutely can't wait for rebirth and like you said Remakes combat system is the best action combat in an RPG.
Out of curiosity, did you play with Japanese or English voice acting? Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'm glad that Aerith was a hit for you. I didn't hate her. I just had something else in mind.
This might be a hot take, but I think the devs are much better writers of characters and world building than of plots. This even goes for the classic age of Final Fantasy from VII-X. For example, FFVIII has some really wild and downright bonkers twists and turns but I love it anyway cause of its amazing characters (though I didn’t like Squall at first cause he was such an ass 😂). While I agree the plot writing in FFVII is questionable at times, what keeps me invested is the masterful character writing. I didn’t mind Sephiroth’s inclusion in the game though I’ll admit, it felt like he didn’t have much to do other than taunt Cloud since his story doesn’t really start until after Midgar. Besides, not including at all, might’ve felt anticlimactic so who knows. After playing the Rebirth demo though, oh boy they did him justice. Aerith is my favourite FF character ever. She is so sweet, kind and optimistic. She has such an innocent personality that might seem childlike at first but is actually wise beyond her years and has an infectious love for life. Like all the characters, she hides her trauma behind a mask which is her bright smile. Sorry for rambling but I’m just excited for what Rebirth has to offer. Really great video
My favorite area was Mt Corel. It was so absolutely beautiful, with the scenery and the music is my favorite one from all final fantasies, and the sun setting on the horizon behind an abandoned rollercoaster, and the bird's nest with the chicks making cute noises... I've just come to terms that there won't be another one of these. I'll see the playthroughs online of this area just for curiosity probably, but it's probably gonna have a hundred npcs and their sidequests yapping about how BEAUTIFUL that place is, instead of just... Well let's be fair to the remake, the original was just art Either way, i love your channel man, cheers!
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that Aerith´s childish manners are part of the twist because she has knowledge of the future. She tries to play pretend she never experienced the outcome of the future and plays her past self in an exaggerated way. Keep up the good work :)
@@BlackSailPass_GuitarCovers it depends on your taste if you dislike the time and space continuum to fuse, people already fused with the lifestream (Aerith and Sephiroth) being able to experience past, present and future at the same time.
@@BlackSailPass_GuitarCovers Its not a twist, its just speculation. None of what he said has been confirmed in any way. If people stopped listening to the bunk they hear on the internet, people would start enjoying things again.
@renoslash1890 you don't need confirmation. Don't be lazy and expect the dev to spoonfeed you the answers. You can enjoy things again when you explore and exercise your creative processes.
One of the changes I wanted to happen for the remake was fleshing out more of the villains of the Shinra panel such as scarlet, heideggar, and hojo. Sadly they’re just bigger stereotypes of their former self’s
Unfortunately the fillers were a necessary evil. They knew they had to stretch what amounted to just 2 hours of content in the original to fit a full 60 hour triple A game
Yeah , i don't like all the changes they did , i personally only wanted OG FF7 with advent children graphics. Plus, them doing this all part by part is also ridiculous imo , they are barely past disc 1 , this will take them so many more years to finish this game .
I feel like I’m Rebirth to make the padding better they should have more added scenes that weren’t in the OG so that way they don’t have to stretch the the stuff that was in OG nearly as much while also giving us cool new content.
tbh i feel like standing still and talking is the better option if you can skip text as i often tend to read faster than the voice acting. Running around and hearing the characters talk like in ff13 was the best choice and cutscenes as a reward. But this slow movement where you are forced to explore/listen to the games pace is the worst. Reminds me why i almost hated god of war (4). Either let me chill, relax and listen or move and play...
Great game but as a remake it was a let down. Enjoyed the nostalgic moments it had like cloud jumping from the train , and part where he looks up at the tower like in the og and leaving Aeris house without waking her up. Its a solid 8.5 out of 10
The "filler" type of content that bothered me was: inefficient interactions. Crossing a plank, squeezing between a cramped space, slow-controlling contraptions in mini-game segments, drawn-out "walk backs" (when you went somewhere you weren't supposed to), drawn-out animations of pulling levers or turning a wheel, etc., etc. It's actually rampant. You can see there is a problem with the entire design approach for the game. So many aspects of the game waste just a tiny bit of the players time. It's everywhere, and it's grating! There are definitely developers cognizant about making their games streamlined, efficient, and fluid. While some aspects of FF7R are efficient (such as combat), much of the rest of the game simply isn't.
Yeah, it can be grating how frequently the game makes you slow down. Apparently it was a design choice in order to avoid loading screens between sections.
Gotcha. Well with the full transition to ps5 for Rebirth, I'm praying they'll be able to iron that out a bit. However, I've seen several red flags that it's still going to be an issue. How bad though, we'll have to see. @@gnosis_gaming
Having expectations is the killer of enjoying Remake/Rebirth. If you have expectations for how things should be, you're more than likely going to be disappointed. But if you go into it with an explorative mindset and let your expectations fade into the background, you're going to love these games. Edit: I doubt you will enjoy Rebirth though. To help explain - I agree that the most satisfying parts of Remake are the more grounded ones. In Rebirth, they take some of the flamboyance that was in Remake and put it on steroids. I'm still mostly enjoying Rebirth personally, but you seem much more of a purist and there's quite a few parts of Rebirth that are absolutely over the top.
The thing i hate most about FF7R is the obnoxious slow walking segments and just how clunky in general it feels to control Cloud outside of combat. Square put so much focus on making realistic moving animations that it gets really irritating when all i want is a consistent and speedy way to move Cloud from point A to B
I'm hoping Rebirth will have less/none of the 'Destiny' and 'Change fate' shenanigans that Remake had; it was very off-putting. I also agree Sephiroth was revealed way too early and wasn't utilized properly. There were also a few other minor things that bugged me, but overall, a good game. I don't mind adding more to uplift an already great story, but changing things bugs me.
Sorry to be yet another person disagreeing with you in the comments but I don’t think the section with Jessie’s house was filler. That whole section is all about expanding on her as a character as well as getting us more aquatinted with and letting us spend more time with her, Wedge, and Biggs. To my recollection they weren’t all that big of a part in the original. So I really appreciate the game letting them shine.
I thougt the Sephiroth parts in remake were strange , but after playing the rebirth demo "Sephiroth'" showing in up in chapter 2 makes so much more sense.
Aerith is incredible in this game and the Jessie side mission is amazing. I’ve never heard anyone say anything negative about Aerith depiction in this game very odd
I kinda agree with Aerith, for one side i think they done her personality justice, she have the exactly personality that she had on the original, i don't think the game treats her like the angelic otherwordly figure like Kingdom Hearts, but they kinda messed up with this (supposly) future stuff with Whispers and all. She is herself when this stuff isn't happening. And i completly agree with Sephiroth, if they were more restraint with his apperrances, it would make a big impact when we see him or when we play with him on Rebirth. But you know, unfotunally they had to break the fourth wall, make some kind of sequel to the original, meta stuff, etc...
I just wasn't keen on the last chapter. Went from trying to escape midgar to suddenly fighting three kingdom hearts entities and a (i felt was quite forced) sephiroth fight jumping around advent children level going on about fate where only a few hours prior Tifa couldn't get into a security booth without carefully slowly climbing on light fixtures. The midgar highway was a perfect setup for a rematch with Roche too. Why would Roche just sit that one out? Could of just had trying to fight off Roche and the big arse flamethrower tank thing together instead.
The game could have benefitted from pulling back a bit and editing some of the dungeon segments. I started to get a lot of gaming fatigue during the escape from the Shinra facility.
There is a lot of filler content in Rebirth. Which by itself is not bad but the pacing is realllly off. Chapter 1: hour and a half. Chapter 2: 12 hours. Chapter 3: 45 minutes Chapter 4: another 12hours. chapter 5: about an hour. About as far as I made but holy shit is there a lot of extra in Rebirth. So far there are more mini games than actual plot X_X
The Algorithm brought me your 'Loneliest Final Fantasy' Video which I loved :) This video was cool too. I had my gripes with Remake, but over time, I kinda took it for what it is and I do enjoy it. Rebirth is a much better game and although I do wish this wasn't a weird-sequel (there is not way that it is not), it was really cool to see how things are going.
I enjoyed the combat system a lot as well. In many ways it made the bland side quest fun because it was an excuse to participate in more battles. I noticed a lot of commenters acting like they worked on this game and knew who made every key creative decision. Somehow I imagine the Create Director being part of that like you mentioned. I am hyped for Rebirth!
Lucky for me, i never get too attached to the story. So i love the OG and remake equally. All Final fantasy story is always feels like an over the top shonen anime craze for me. Granted, I've only played 7, 8, 9, 10.
I have a problem with your third con, maybe you just worded it wrong but it seemed off to me. Firstly, Nomura is not the reason for the changes and additions to the story, he has said that he was the main one in the team who fought to keep it closer to the original. It was actually Kitase, the director and scenario writer of the original, that wanted a lot of the changes and he really wanted to change it a lot more, thus they met in the middle and the game became a sequel that uses the original story as a skeleton of sorts. Meaning that it is a new story, and with that your assessment is wrong. For example, the whispers (basically anything with them) and the party fighting destiny isn't foreshadowing, it's a plot point, they change their fate, it is literally the climax of the story. Or, when it comes to Sephiroth popping up more often and earlier than he did in the original, this is and change made not to pander nor to foreshadow, but to establish that this new Sephiroth is a lot more adamant when it comes to tormenting Cloud, and we'll definitely see more elaborate examples of that in Rebirth. Obviously, in hindsight, once the other games come out, this will be easier to understand. It's not more complex for the sake of it, it's a new story and what you see are the new plot points being added on top of the retelling of the original. Links to interviews that show Nomura gets more blame than he deserves from the people who don't link x change or y change. Turns out it's not "Kingdom Hearts bullshit" after all: www.pushsquare. com/news/2020/05/interview_final_fantasy_vii_remake_producer_and_co-director_on_development_launch_and_being_grateful_for_the_fans automaton-media. com/en/interviews/20240207-26820/
I wouldn’t worry too much about getting on the hate train early on. A lot of people (way more than are willing to admit) also jumped on that hate train, a lot are still on it. I absolutely detested the end of Remake (still not a big fan) but the combat system and the areas I just love. I only wish we could explore more of Midgar (like Chapter 4 where you visit Jessie’s mother/father, seeing the metro upper plate, filled me with nostalgia for some reason lol). Like a lot of people, I enjoyed Aerith’s character and thought her English VA hit it out the park. Part 2 looks way better in about every way though thankfully. Can’t wait to see Gold Saucer and the big Weapons likely in part 3.
Played the OG at release in September 1997 - my goat. I loved FF7 Remake and looking forward to Rebirth. Things I did not like was some padding, the bright arrows and the slow moving parts.
The remake was the most enjoyable game I played for years and what I was absolutely craving for! I can't get enough of it. My only gripe was the filler quests in the slums to expand game time (find cats, anyone?). Otherwise it would have been a 10/10 for me.
Its basically turned based but not is how I saw the combat, its if kingdom hearts slowed down and became a strategy Rpg, I love the remake series. (As someone who played the og first)
just leting you knew Nomura wasnt realy for the changes. He wantet a 1 to 1 remake . It was Nojima and Kitase that added the Whispers and such. Part if the reason was simply Set up for the plotpoints and twists to be more Organic. Another Was to end all things FF7. However yes theRemakeproject is Nomuras and he basicly directs all parts in it including the Mobile games.. But he and Hamaguchi ar making Sure Nojima doesnt take it to far.
Thanks for commenting! I think Nomura, being the director, bears responsibility for the final outcome. "Kitase, who was director of the original FFVII, is asked how much input he had on the remake. He says that the overall direction and concept, story and worldbuilding was left to Nomura, while game design and drama scene direction was left to co-directors Hamaguchi and Toriyama. Kitase did not make many direct requests..." www.frontlinejp.net/2020/04/17/final-fantasy-vii-remake-interview-with-nomura-tetsuya-and-kitase-yoshinori/
Remake was great for what it was. It was a great door for new players into this world. But Rebirth... Everything good is still there but everything bad gets cranked to 11 and I cannot recommend Rebirth for anyone who is not a HC original ff7 fan. They completely changed the message of the game. Original ff7: You can become better and you can fix a broken world. Do the right thing. FF7 rebirth: You have to defy destiny!
Also I think many OGs forget an important detail from the original that is also at play here in the Remake. Most of your encounters with "Sephiroth" arent actual encounters with Sephiroth, they are encounters with Jenova cell infused test experiments.
When it comes to Sephiroth I completely agree, I know why they wanted him in there, and I know some people were happy that they got to fight Sephiroth at all but it doesn't change the fact that it weakens the impact of Sephiroth's character and the mystery surrounding him. Aerith on the other hand I actually prefer in Remake, I don't find her to be all that memorable in the original game to be honest with you, it often felt like she had the least interactions with other characters which made me not really care when she was killed off, she has more moments here and I guess helps me understand why people liked her.
I'm also not a fan of the overuse of Sephiroth in the remake buttt after seeing some scenes from FF7 Rebirth about how "real" Sephiroth is, the Sephiroth we see in Remake might not be who we think he is. I do like that they keep many thing mysterious to spice things up, the hypes is crazy these days lol.
I think it's disingenuous to imply the story "issues" are because of nomura. They are all Nojima. Nojima wrote the original and every subsequent stories. The "bonkers" ideas have always been a thing with him and VII. Also the story issues are less issues once you realise that this is not a remake in nature (that name meaning more story wise than descriptor) and is instead a sequel to VII, Advent Children and all of the other prior VII games. The world has been remade. Not the game. It is also why Sephiroth acts differently and appears earlier.
Thanks for your input! I see a lot of claims on here that Nomura wanted a 1-1 remake and pushed against big changes, but I can't find any evidence for that. As the creative director, I think it's fair game to hold him accountable for the final product. "For Nomura, it was clear that a simple 1-1 remake wouldn’t do the iconic tale justice. “There were a number of successful remade games out there - and looking at them and how they turned out, I realised that if we just made it a better looking version of the original game it probably … wouldn’t have become the scale of project that it is, and it probably wouldn’t have worked out. To get people interested and give players the motivation to play through it again, we needed to change Final Fantasy Seven..." www.theguardian.com/games/2023/sep/21/the-makers-of-final-fantasy-vii-rebirth#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThere%20were%20a%20number%20of,wouldn't%20have%20worked%20out. "Kitase, who was director of the original FFVII, is asked how much input he had on the remake. He says that the overall direction and concept, story and worldbuilding was left to Nomura, while game design and drama scene direction was left to co-directors Hamaguchi and Toriyama. Kitase did not make many direct requests..." www.frontlinejp.net/2020/04/17/final-fantasy-vii-remake-interview-with-nomura-tetsuya-and-kitase-yoshinori/
Most of the expanded content I liked, actually. The worst stuff was the side quests which as you said, are skippable. I thought the scene with Jessie's parents was great and those characters definitely needed some more screen time. Sephiroth doesn't need to be a mystery anymore, we all already know him. Also think you're way off with Aerith, her personality wasn't much different in the original.
I know I included 'filler content' in my list of negatives, but there was also good filler content! I loved seeing more of Midgar, for example. And I'm glad you liked Aerith! She just didn't land right for me. I hope she'll grow on me and that I'll like her more in Rebirth. For me, Sephiroth being shown so early could have been okay if it weren't for the fact that his personality was really flat, like cardboard. He just said a lot of mysterious, 'evil' sounding stuff, so I didn't find him a very compelling villain. Thanks for watching and commenting! What are you most excited about for Rebirth?
Game design is tough, and it's probably really hard to change stuff if a great deal of the game was already made, though I'd hope they were open to hearing what fans had to say as much as possible. Thanks for watching and commenting!
"Kitase, who was director of the original FFVII, is asked how much input he had on the remake. He says that the overall direction and concept, story and worldbuilding was left to Nomura, while game design and drama scene direction was left to co-directors." www.frontlinejp.net/2020/04/17/final-fantasy-vii-remake-interview-with-nomura-tetsuya-and-kitase-yoshinori/ Thanks for sharing your thoughts, though! I did enjoy myself a lot while playing. By the way, what are you most looking forward to about Rebirth? @@aj-mindalex1448
My God am I looking forward to Rebirth now. As you said the battle system in the remake is absolutely fantastic and seeing they added even more things in Rebirth in that regard is getting me REALLY excited. I've also never played the original so I didn't really notice the filler story bits at first, but you've definitely got a solid point there lol
@@gnosis_gaming in the trailer I saw that there's going to be some syncronised moves which I'm very curious about. Also really want to pick up the story where remake left off. But the thing I'm looking forward to most has to be just being in this universe again :)
The train yard and the turning off the lights were my biggest gripes. There’s some changes I loved and some I didn’t. I hope rebirth improves upon that.
Respect for publicly admitting you have changed your mind. You don't often see that. I was disappointed by the remake and the latest demo but can't seem to look away; interested to hear your thoughts on 'FFVII: Rebirth'.
I had to let go of a lot of hopes about what I wanted a Remake to be in order to enjoy this, but I'd rather be enjoying this for what it is than hating it.
Glad im not the only one that feels this way about Aerith. Everyone seems to think her characterization was perfect. But i found her to be quite forced, and a bit annoying at times. Also, nice to see someone change their mind about Remake. The changes made me really concerned at first. But I'm still hyped af to see what happens in Rebirth!
I wasn't happy they changed the story at first but then I thought well we already played the original I guess a refresh wouldn't be so bad. Overall I still enjoyed it and still felt sucked into the FF7 world.
So, I understand your perspective as someone who played the original. But there's a few very important factors that you haven't kept in mind. I played the original as well. And when I first played the game, I wasn't a huge fan. I felt the same way. The revisionism confused me. But there's a couple of important things that made me realize 1. Why it's a great game. 2. Why it has great potential. It is a remake. Even in terms of story. They want to change the timeline so they can tell a new story. The whole point of Sephiroth feeling ambiguous, and unknown to the player is because at that point, he knows something we don't. The wraiths exist not as a cop out for Destiny, but for a designed goal. Sephiroth is most likely aware of these other timelines. Aerith has her arc in the train yard so that she better understands her connections to the lifestream and the planet. This was one of the many events building her up to be more aware. So when she tells Cloud and the group at the end of the game that they're about to head into Destiny's Crossroads, what lies ahead is not only unknown to her, but to the player as well. And it can seem very confusing at first. As up until this point, outside of revisions, the story was largely left in tact. However the final 2 bosses, being whisper Bahamut and Sephiroth tie the narrative together. The whispers represent the forces of fate trying to stop us from veering off path. They may even be future versions of our characters (or the original FF7 characters so to speak) trying to stop us from altering Sephiroths path. As if we do intervene, it might prevent Sephiroths defeat and lead to calamity again. Also should keep in mind, Cloud uses a sword, barret uses guns and tifa uses her hands. And all 3 whispers also share one of those attributes though. Now you might see that as a stretch, could go either way. But the important part is the ending. As upon defeating Sephiroth and the whispers, we've altered fate or destiny or whatever you want to call it. Which is why when Cloud speaks to Sephiroth at the edge of reality or whatever, Sephiroth seems more than aware of everything. Once again, still being vague to Cloud and the viewer. But he tells cloud that there's seven seconds left. This could be interpreted many ways. But what comes after is concrete. We see Zack suriviving his battle at the end of Crisis Core and carrying cloud to Midgar. And as Cloud and Zack walk towards Cloud and Aerith, though they don't react to each other, Aerith stops in her tracks for just a moment. Suggesting that she also sensed Zacks prescence. And After the Intergrade DLC, we receive another ending tying us into rebirth. We see Zack go to Aeriths Chruch only to find the injured civillians there. This means that Zack only arrived there AFTER we altered fate. Regardless, we see our characters traveling away from Midgar. And they hitch a ride. Rebirth's Demo takes place almost immediately after this. With cloud telling Red XIII and crew about the Nibelheim mission when Sephiroth went berserk. But Cloud was already a Soldier member at this point which doesn't make sense going off of the original timeline. We know it still takes place at the same period though because Tifa is still doing her normal routine and Cloud mentions that it's only been about two since he left Nibelheim. So I guess in this world he became a solider out of the gate and wasn't a member of Shinra before? Still unsure of that myself. But regardless, Zack was no where to be found, neither was genesis and Sephiroth kind of just loses his shit like last time in the library below the shinra mansion and massacres the town. Now it's quite obvious Zack will be seeing the other characters. Promotional art alone shows that. That was a lot to go over. But it was important to outline that the world FF7 Remake exists is NOT the world FF7 exists in. Some events have not gone down the same way. And because of their early introduction of Sephiroth and Jenova into the timeline will carry a greater purpose I feel going forward. Only Rebirth can really tell us what lies next. And I think Square was smart to do that. Sure, a remake of a very acclaimed game is cool. And they've been successful doing that before. Like with NieR for instance. But I think they really want to tell a new story with the world because not only is there many new things they can explore, but it also leaves the player more excited because it's new. You can't just play the old game and know what's gonna happen. But if you have played the old game, then you're rewarded by seeing some of those joyous things getting adapted again. I'm very excited to see FF7 Rebirth. And though FF7 Remake has it's flaws, I think that it did an excellent job setting up it's sequel. I think the presentation was misleading which is what made people dislike it. People were expecting a faithful remake of the FF7 story and while it does do that in many areas, that's not what their full intentions were and I think that resulted in confused fans hating the game because it's not what they expected.
I think the developers may have had better luck if they had marketed the game differently, because it was sold to fans as 'a' remake and not 'Remake,' if you know what I mean. Sometimes you need to make sure people enter the product with the right expectations.
As an "OG" who played FF7 when it came out at 15. Getting a new spin on a story that was already rushed and poorly translated with expanded content and context is great. I would not have cared if they just deluxe remastered it.
I agree with a lot of your assessment. A lot of areas seem to be placed to extend the length of the game. The pacing in FF7R is all over the place… In some areas it blows you away, like with the Hell House battle & the ending boss battles, but in other areas it feels unnecessary and boring. Chapter 17 is incredibly boring to me, and I absolutely hated messing with those switches. Beyond that, I loved the combat, the story (including how they handled Aerith and the rest of the team), the boss battles were done exceptionally well, and the game has a magic to it with its charming exposition and the well made interactions between the characters. The evolution of how Barret and Cloud’s relationship was so satisfying.
For some theory / context into the sephiroth and aerith of remake. If you consider that both died in the OG game and knowing how sephiroth embedded himself into the life stream you can infer that both characters are remnants of their advent children selves
@@gnosis_gamingI wanted to ask you if may have interpreted the story wrong maybe? From what me and my friends seem to have come up with is that this game is not Remake but a sequel story to the compilation. That Aerith already knows about here death and so does Sephiroth. That's why there's differences in the game like Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie being alive. (Jessie maybe).
@@KonEl17 I touch on the fact that it's a sequel near the very end of my video. I don't particularly love that idea, but I can enjoy the other parts for what they are.
I definitely agree with you on the puzzles and the expanded areas. I also thought the sewers and the train graveyard was waaaayyy too “filler content.” But I actually thought Aerith was more snarky in this than any portrayal of Aerith since the OG. Have you seen her in Kingdom Hearts? She’s an airheaded gumbo in that version. FFVII Remake did her right, even making her cuss at some points
The game I knew and love as a kid is still there. FF7R feels like something that grew as I did and thats ok. My favorite game grew and changed with me and I actually get to enjoy it and see other people enjoy it.
Just my personal feeling. Her mannerisms didn't land right for me. But overall, this game's characterization and voice acting are fantastic! What are you looking forward to in Rebirth?
Square Enix knew the task of recreating FF7 was impossible as it was too beloved. That's why they set about to subvert expectations and introduce the Whispers, which are trying their best to ensure Cloud follows his 'destined' path....i.e a faithful frame-by-frame absolute recreation of the be loved original. You can look at Whispers as an analogy for the fans themselves; they try to keep things the same and I think it's smart that the player gets wrestle this control away from the Whispers and start a new story. The whole point is that Rebirth now has the freedom (hence the open world) to be it's own game, after getting past the battle with fans accepting what Remake actually is.
As someone who only played about a third of the original before Remake, I didn't mind seeing more Sephiroth. I agree he wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed all the questions I had. Aerith was great! They made her feel special. She clearly knows more than she's letting on, but she chooses to remain positive. That optimism feels true to her character to me. Diving into the theory/lore videos that people have been posting has been a fun experience. They've really made me look at the actions of both characters with intrigue.
@@gnosis_gaming They all seemed relatively cartoony to me. But I understand if you feel it just doesn't work for some characters. I hope the next game blows your expectations away. :)
I loved remake, it came at a time where it was a welcome escape and nostalgic return to what I love. I absolutely get why the ending upset people though.
For me it's really that it looks more open. I loved when the world opened up to you in the original as a kid, but obviously it relied a lot on our imaginations to fill it out. So to see that realised in detail is so exciting. Also just looking forward to the story unfolding, I'm in the camp of hoping they still stick to the main beats, but we'll see. Been really enjoying your video essays btw!
@@Astrojammer I think the huge world environment outside between Midgar and Kalm looks really exciting. I'm optimistic that the expanded stuff will feel less like 'padding' because the game is covering so much story this time around. And thanks for sticking around my channel! The video essays about old games are usually more up my alley. I only recently got a PS5 and didn't really have a PS4 before.
I just replayed this game a few hours ago just to prep myself for the sequel. I started after finishing FFXV for the third time, one, because I was absolutely disappointed by how FFXVI didn't gave me any replayabiliy feelings (went one and done and stashed it right after the credits rolled), and two, because I may be the rare few that actually absolutely love that game and the world of Eos. Boy was I rudely turned off by the combat mechanics, it just felt extremely tedious and unfun. To be fair I just came from an FF where I could openly wield 4 weapons at once amongst 13 main-character-specific plus about 5 other weapons type choices freely with some having unique mechanics in a very open, beautiful and colourful world. (see, when put that way, XV ain't really that bad right?) I kinda feel like I might not enjoy Rebirth as I hoped I will. 😢
O.c.e.a.n First one is key Open to new experiences. I am fine with the new direction. I think its refreshing to have new concepts like the self awareness of the game. I cant wait to see what they do with zack and the new timeline. Is Aerith going to live? We saw others live. It opens a new possibilities and makes you think what's next? I am fine if it's not a 1 to 1 remake storyline or whatever. It's a great game.
I like the way the game is linear and slow paced in places. It captures the constraints of life in Midgar in my opinion. Sets the next game up perfectly. I do see your point though it's nice to see a well thought out and objective breakdown of your opinions. There were aspects of remake that grated a bit, like some of the pointless side quests.
Ill do my research on games before, and upon release... but, I also do my absolute best to never fall down that rabbit hole of hate. Hate videos are a strange thing. If a person doesnt like something they should just move on to what interests them. Its always all about the clicks from neckbeards with them. Im happy for you that you gave it a try for yourself.
Im surprised people don't like Aerith. The whole point in her overly-upbeat attitude is to counter her incredibly hard upbringing, which in a way gives weight to her ability to deal with harship. She also has Zack-like mannerisms too with her flirty/playful side, which kind of keeps him alive in a spiritual sense, which bridges the gap between her and Cloud without directly telling the player. I have to admit though she falls off hard when she starts being ambiguous with destiny towards the end so i completely agree with the Kingdom of hearts comparison. I also like how she says 'shit' when the ladder goes because its like her inner-slum persona is slipping out 🤣
First time I played FF7R in 2020 I found so many defects and stupid unnecessary fillings, I was annoyed about it, but later that year with calm I played it a second time in hard and I enjoyed it way more, the combat is much better in hard you have to use resl strategies on it and use materias as they were supposed to be used initially, not having items. I also appreciated more the story which initially I thought had so many nonsense moments like the destiny ghosts part.
Regards to Sepiroth appearig to soon and throwing cryptic messages to Cloud, makes sense when you replay the game. Let me ask you a question: In all of Final Fantasy compilation, when did you start to see him appearing with a black feathered wing?
I see what you're saying, but as someone who grew up with the original, I can't take my memories of the OG completely out of the equation, though I did give this game a fair shot and enjoyed it for what it was. What are you looking forward to in Rebirth?
I would be curious as to how you actually encountered all the negativity because while yes there is a lot, it is and was far from a majority back then and now. It was basically open season on people being against just certain things regarding remake, ask NSP and Soldier1Class and some others. A few threads of something that is negative, a few post reoccurring now and then and singular skirmishes is not a pulse on reality and with the exceptions of some videos, the remake has massive support, good ratings and almost only praising reviews ever since release.
idk man, I have been seeing FF7 Remake haters pop up here and there in the comment section of lots of videos, even the ones that are positive toward FF7 Remake. While I don't think they're the majority, there are more people who are unhappy with FF7 Remake than you would think.
@@nestword5654 Metacritic says otherwise... there you have statistically relevant numbers .. and not just toxic loud voices of some toxic retro fanboys who say "bleh the story is different than the OG cry cry"..
Whenever I play FFVII i try to get out of Midgar as fast as possible. In Remake I am stuck in that shithole city all game. I still love Remake even though it's mostly bloated additions to the game. Completely agree about Sephiroth, but Aerith was great for me. I also love how Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie were people I cared about. Biggs and Jessie hit me the feelers.
The one thing I have learned from reviewers is that they are showing the subject in their mindset. To find out what you really think of a game/movie/book/whatever, you should at least try the thing.
Having played the original several times, I loved, loved the remake. While the filler content got a little old, having so much FF7 content and being able to explore the locations more were fantastic. The story and acting was excellent. The top for me was the freaking amazing music!!
Yeah i generally agree with this. I really liked the chapter 4 addition and Jessie was a star as well as the other avalanche members. Also, I was in complete awe when fighting Ghoul during the train graveyard that left me on another plane almost. But because of the points you mentioned, and for me some of the iconic scenes they straight up left out, it unfortunately doesn't surpass the OG. But i personally put it 2nd on my all time Squares greatest hits.
