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gently caress yeah
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May 26, 2020 23:22
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Elentor posted:So hiatus is over. I got my stuff back, got my videos, and wrote the next chapters already. I'll it needs to do is some formatting, and I'm hoping to post them this week. I'm really happy with the content - I guess having all this free time gave me ample opportunity to think over what to write. Hell yeah. Thanks for making this old web 1.0 corner of the internet a little bit better.
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May 27, 2020 01:01
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great to hear you're doing good, it took us 4 years to do the original, no reason to think this won't also be worth it with time
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May 27, 2020 06:03
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Update 5 - Fire Hazard Previous Next I will soft spoiler what is both my biggest relief and disappointment with this entire section.  I was positively, absolutely certain that these laser grids would be present on the way back. I mean, it seems obvious, right?  These lasers are the most videogamey puzzle conceivable. You wait some random timing, and cross them. If you fail, you take some minor, irrelevant damage. In the meanwhile, Jessie is congratulating you on a good job.  Imagine how patronizing one has to be to run ahead, ignoring any dangers that might appear, while telling your boss and the alien terminator he hired that they are doing a great job keeping up with you as they dodge the slowest, most predictable lasers.  So yeah, during the run back the lasers are simply deactivated. Which, while very good for my anxiety, makes me wonder: What's the point of these, even? The mind goes places. Shouldn't there be some deterrent here? These lasers would be efficient if there was a Sweeper or at least some gun turrets on the other side, aiming straight at you. Picture the Portal turrets saying "Hello" from a distance then showering intruders with bullets.  Anyone who have read, say - anything that I wrote, ever - might have noticed that I like to overthink things. I was thinking why would these lasers even exist here since they are such an obvious hazard to the employees.  Then I kinda realized that there are no human enemies here. Past these lasers, there are only automated systems and machines. Are there other floors where the scientists work? Are there only machines here because of the super deadly Mako radiation poisoning? These are the questions that keep me up at night.  The Sweeper acts as a mini boss of sorts. I found it was very cool and when I first played this I kept thinking of the quote "don't remake the game as it was, remake it as players remember". FF7R obviously is not adhering to that, but the Sweeper was one of the hardest encounters in this area and meeting it as a mini-boss of sorts was cool.  This also made me think of something else - In an early interview, I believe it was Kitase who pointed out that a super realistic version of the game like this could not follow the script 1-to-1 because it would be uncanny. I agree with that sentiment: The original is filled with icons, symbols, and abstract representation. It works that way because it is designed that way.  But if you have this game where people are chit-chatting constantly, then some things suddenly stop making sense if they are treated just as symbols. The Sweeper doesn't work as a random encounter - This is a huge, heavy machine that is unlike anything we've seen before. Whereas it could be just part of a dialogue-less design before, it could only work here as something special - at least the first time you encounter it, at least.  And that makes some sort of sense. FF7R so far has been good with treating every single trash mob as something that exists in the physical world. Barret asks Cloud if he's "twenty-something", Cloud replies "First" and explains he's a SOLDIER First-Class.    Barret's dialogue here is cringy.   That thing looks cold. Like it's submerged in liquid nitrogen.    There's some small degree of exploration here, and I say exploration in the loosest sense - just optional encounters and chests. Nothing interesting in them.   I like this exchange, though.  I think this is the first "off-limits" warning that I got and it felt weird because... everything is so scripted and you can barely say that you go back the same way you came in.   I like to think Cloud is phoning this, which is pretty easy because Barret is just asking profoundly stupid questions.  Watching this ocean of souls is interesting. This is such a visceral experience.  So we totes know what it's coming, and I suck at this, so -  Saving it is!  This screenshot is here just for the vista.  Stamp as you might remember is the little dog we've seen in the poster before. Barret likes to mock Cloud like that. I am so glad we're getting some world building that does not involve - yes, you know - LOVELESS.  "The path of the watchdog is that of eternal vigilance..."  "...and though your owner may perish and rot under the earth that gave it form, 'tis not for you to betray the cause whence came forth your guidance."  "For if you are alive, is it not due to the labor of those who came 'ere you?"  -Iscar Matthias, LOVELESS, Act IX   "Ahh not LOVELESS Flashbacks, no-"  The black feather is Sephiroth's symbol. I always found the whole one-winged thing super overplayed. Is he actively dropping black feathers around? Is he gonna show up and say "I know in the future I have a black wing and even though you are unaware of it I think branding is important"? "Cloud, you seem to be constantly lost and has no sense of time, have you considered buying some of my merchandise?"  The timer here really doesn't matter much, just like the original. It's extra meaningless, to be fair. Barret mentions you're cocky if you choose 20 min.  It's time for the boss fight, and it only took us... a whole lot longer than the first LP to get here, Jesus.  I've beaten games in less time than it took me to get this far. Granted, they were not long games. Boss #1 - Scorpion Sentinel  Challenge: 4/5 "Why am I dying constantly in the first boss help" Conceivability: 1/5 "I am sure that these platforms would collapse under the weight of this monstrosity." Faithfulness: 2/5 "Similar design but why is this so drat hard and why can't it stay in one place."  Warning: I'm really bad. Watch at your own discretion.  So here's how things go. I have no idea how this game's mechanics really work. If I turn around does that mean the boss will miss me? Is the boss dealing this specific type of damage to me because I'm standing right in front of it like a dummy?  Honestly, I didn't explore as much as I should have. What I knew that worked from watching the demo videos is that just spamming attack and rushing was a valid, viable strategy - assuming you know a lot more about the game's mechanics than I do.  But this fight goes on for so, so long. It's a difficult fight too, although I feel the difficulty is slightly artificial - I had a friend who had a lot of trouble with it and took almost 20 minutes in this fight but still managed to beat it. It feels like really tight on purpose, but not in a way that can result in a game over. And yes I know people can do it in 2 minutes or something.  Still, that was a bit of a surprise. There's this overblown remix of the original's boss theme. This entire battle almost feels like it's made for a demo or trailer purposes. The original game had a shitload of bosses in this Midgar area, I wonder just how many there are in the Remake.   Very disappointed that Cloud is giving correct instructions.  The way this piece of super heavy machinery jumps around the delicate infrastructure of a reactor is uncanny. MAH immersion, etc. Not to mention the fire hazard. Imagine designing this.  Anyway, after a dozen phases, we kill it. It's hard to convey how dangerous and explosive this poo poo is -  - so I'll just leave you with Barret and Cloud's reactions:    "Did we even need a bomb?" Previous Next Elentor fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Jun 5, 2020 |
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May 27, 2020 12:43
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PS: I'm not sure if this is the case for you folks, but LPIX is being extremely slow for me. So, at the cost of some of the image quality, I'm trying imgur. Let me know if you've had any issues in the previous updates using LPIX or if this one loads faster. Thank you!
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May 27, 2020 12:54
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Fun fact for the people who didn't already know this, the Scorpion Sentinel is actually a model reused from, of all places, FF14. There it was a dungeon boss from Stormblood that was just called "Magitek Scorpion" and served as a bit of a mild homage to FF7 in that sort of way FF14 likes to do for the rest of the franchise. Obviously its lighting and textures are a fair bit more hi-def here. Usually it's FF14 that has to reuse models so it's nice to see other Final Fantasies borrow from it for a change.
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May 27, 2020 13:10
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I’m so pumped to see this is back on
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May 27, 2020 13:26
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I've not noticed any issues with Lpix lately, here or elsewhere. Sometimes it has iffy days, I guess? So yeah, this game is notably spicier on the ol' difficulty than vanilla VII and honestly I'm kinda here for it. It usually manages to strike a really good balance between being challenging and being possible, between asking for preparedness and clairvoyance, and, somehow, finally, between being an RPG and being an action game. I can't stress that last one enough. This is the "action-RPG" that Square Enix have been trying, and failing, to design since as far back as the original Kingdom Hearts and up to FFXV. But they did it. They finally did it. The first really important thing it needs you to learn is that you gotta be switching characters constantly. When characters are controlled by the AI they take less damage (both passively and becuase the AI is actually really good at blocking and/or moving out of the way) and gain less ATB, and also will never use magic, abilities or unique attacks. The upshot is, you wind up switching between characters for big actions much like you did in vanilla FFVII. But when you're in control of a given character, you're playing it like an action game; you do little combos, you block and (sometimes) dodge, and use a couple of other systems depending on character that might variously reward timing, or positioning, or management of some abstract mechanic. Everything is really good, and impeccably balanced. A decently generalist build will struggle sometimes but will always be able to struggle through without a game over. There is an extent to which you might also be able to predict what kinds of setups might be appropriate for enemies ahead, and build around it, too. Remake is very good about rewarding both mastery of the battle system and proper leveraging of the RPG system, even when you can't break it all apart as fully as you could at times in vanilla VII. It's so good.
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May 27, 2020 14:50
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Really happy to see you're back and doing well Elentor.Elentor posted:So here's how things go. I have no idea how this game's mechanics really work. If I turn around does that mean the boss will miss me? Is the boss dealing this specific type of damage to me because I'm standing right in front of it like a dummy? This game was my first taste of action-oriented RPGs since the last game in the series I played was FFX and the last one i completed was FFIX. After a lot of trial and error (and easing into things via Easy mode), I figured out some key battle-related guidelines (particularly when it comes to bosses): 1. If, like me, your reactions are not that fast, don't worry too much about trying to dodge attacks and focus on blocking them with R1 when you see them coming. 2. Keep an eye on the enemy's life bar - if it's about to use a particular attack, the attack's name will likely appear above the life bar so you have some advance warning. 3. Enemies tend to focus on the active character, so a good tactic is to frequently switch characters so that the damage and attention is split among your team. this also helps you build up ATB faster for the team, since the characters you're not controlling tend to play more defensive and attack less. 4. The game rewards you for trying to use your mobility - circle around enemies to hit them from the sides or rear - some enemies have separate pieces (like arms or legs) that take damage separately, and targeting those first by moving to the side where the part is usually helps a lot. 5. Several types of enemies are difficult to hit or damage just using regular attacks - this is the game encouraging you to try different abilities/tactics as finding the right weakness usually means you can stagger or even kill right away. Once I got used to the combat, things clicked for me and I started really enjoying the battle system.
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May 27, 2020 15:15
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That first interrupted limit break is exactly what happened to me in that fight. There's just so many small cutscenes around the time when you get your limit, I'm not sure if it's even possible to pull one off until the last phase.
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May 27, 2020 15:46
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Elentor posted:
I didn't really think about it until my second playthrough on Hard Mode, but there's something really important happening here that's kind of disturbingly realistic. Barret's actively attempting to indoctrinate Cloud, and he's using some very calculated manipulations to make that happen. Right now if this whole thing went south Cloud's in trouble, but he's basically the muscle. He fought with some troops and destroyed some property but that's all he's done. By having him set the bomb, Barret is making Cloud participate in the terrorism portion of the exercise. Now Cloud's in the exact same boat as everyone else, and that means he has to stick with them. You see this kind of thing happening all the time in the real world. I think you also get a couple of items from Jessie if you choose 20 minutes. That said, in Hard Mode they don't even give you the option for 30 minutes but it still goes to the choice screen with only one option.
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May 27, 2020 16:04
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Apparently some YT person called videogamedunkey complained about anime noise grunts and if you search for that term and ff7r my videos show up nearly at the top. That was a strange amount of views out of nowhere.
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May 27, 2020 17:03
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The "Warning" markers are definitely pretty annoying, because like... it feels so artificial, I guess. Jessie calling out to you makes this one not quite bad (it's still kinda annoying but it's being enforced in-universe), but that's not something the game will keep on doing, I'm pretty sure. I will say I didn't mind Guard Scorpion that much while I was playing. Maybe it's because I thought the reactor stuff was more sturdy than you do, maybe it's because I just naturally think the bozos who designed this thing would make it super destructive for no reason. (That and there's a cutscene coming right up that helps explain why it would be willing to wreck the poo poo out of everything; you really don't have time while actively playing the game to go "why is this just wrecking everything")
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May 27, 2020 17:03
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I appreciate that Cloud, trying to look cool in front of Jessie will tell her that a Sweeper isn't dangerous if you destroy it before it can kill you, but, because Barret was cocky, to look cool in front of him, he goes "THESE THINGS ARE MASSIVELY DANGEROUS!" It's really easy to see how hard Cloud is trying to seem cool.
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May 27, 2020 17:13
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The misunderstanding over barrets age conversation, while being a bit stilted with barrets response, is also a good perspective on clouds personality. Hes a guy who attaches a lot of self esteem on being soldier first class, and really wants you to know about it. He's showing off and gets owned because of it.
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May 27, 2020 19:18
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Namtab posted:The misunderstanding over barrets age conversation, while being a bit stilted with barrets response, is also a good perspective on clouds personality. Hes a guy who attaches a lot of self esteem on being soldier first class, and really wants you to know about it. He's showing off and gets owned because of it. Yeah, that scene is great not for Barret's "one year old" snipe, but because it shows how much of a tryhard dork Cloud is early on. He's all "SOLDIER 1st class  " and when Barret says "I meant your age, dumbass", Cloud gets all audibly flustered and embarrased. I think that's why Barret continues to twist the knife as much as he can.
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May 27, 2020 20:19
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I'm so glad they remembered Cloud is a huge doofus as well as a sad boy and not just that second thing.
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May 27, 2020 20:29
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I was once rank 1 in League of Legends Remember, it was all your fault for making Mordekaiser es numero uno jokes. This is on you.
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May 27, 2020 20:30
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Elentor posted:Update 5 - Fire Hazard Reactor a blowed up. No reactor = no power = no lasers. Ambient lighting and elevators and such run on battery backup, shut up.
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May 27, 2020 21:55
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Rainuwastaken posted:I'm so glad they remembered Cloud is a huge doofus as well as a sad boy and not just that second thing.
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May 27, 2020 22:20
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Elentor posted:I was once rank 1 YOU ONLY NEED TO CLICK ONCE, FOOL!
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May 28, 2020 00:26
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Elentor's first run of that boss fight looked much like my own, and many others I would imagine. I think she's on to something about it being designed that way... I am much, much farther into the game and I can't think of many other fights that push you toward the brink that hard.
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May 28, 2020 03:25
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KeiraWalker posted:Elentor's first run of that boss fight looked much like my own, and many others I would imagine. I think she's on to something about it being designed that way... I am much, much farther into the game and I can't think of many other fights that push you toward the brink that hard. One word. Just one word. Hellhouse Burned so many phoenix downs on that fight.
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May 28, 2020 04:28
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KeiraWalker posted:Elentor's first run of that boss fight looked much like my own, and many others I would imagine. I think she's on to something about it being designed that way... I am much, much farther into the game and I can't think of many other fights that push you toward the brink that hard. I feel like that fight specifically was really beautifully done from a game design perspective because it forces you to learn about the mechanics you need to know, without being overwhelmingly difficult. Taking away the characters and environment that we all love, it's interesting to look at some of the choices they made. I won't spoil anything but I feel like there are awesome, difficult fights that feel really rewarding once you figure them out, and other ones which are just horrific slogs whether you understand the weaknesses and mechanics you should use or not. The "hardest" fights have been some of my favourites and there are others which might not be as hard, but they fully suck.
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May 28, 2020 04:29
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Weeble posted:One word. Just one word. This goes into the categories of "fights which can eat my whole entire rear end." I've replayed it a few times to get trophies, and compared to other difficult fights, it's just no fun. It sucks, whether you understand what you need to do or not. It's not even particularly fun to play with overleveled characters and maxed out equipment. I think the developers were trying to punish us for demanding that fanservice.
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May 28, 2020 04:32
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If there is a single characteristic Design Crime in Remake it is how several bosses are hard gated into different phases and phase transitions completely reset the stagger meter. And somehow, invariably, you'll always finally get that stagger and gear up for a huge assault right when the phase shifts. Like come on. You'd think they could make these a bit more reactive. FFXIII was actually really good about this, with only a single boss I can think of that really did any stagger gauge bullshit and even then it was kind of his gimmick.
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May 28, 2020 04:34
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I can understand why they'd want to hard gate boss phases and not let you just skip them if you can do enough damage--I'm sure that would break a lot of scripting--but it'd be nice to at least know at what HP breakpoints a phase change is coming so you don't blow all your ATB and limits when a boss's stagger is about to reset and they go invulnerable. Even just having hashmarks on the HP meters where the phase transitions are coming would help.
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May 28, 2020 04:39
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With how often it happens/happened it really seems like they designed several bosses to change phase EXACTLY when you'd be able to stagger them.
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May 28, 2020 04:42
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Yeah, it happens to everyone on so many different bosses that they had to be doing it intentionally. I think if the player knows how to build stagger effectively, though, you actually can get the stagger to go off earlier to get to the threshold quicker. IIRC, the phase threshold is entirely HP-based, so they know effectively how much stagger suboptimal play will give you and make the threshold just low enough to reset it. Honestly I wouldn't mind so much if the transition didn't just completely eat up the damage you were dealing with your limit breaks, though.
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May 28, 2020 04:55
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I've pretty much given up on forcing staggers in boss fights. When they happen, fine, but with how many bosses just no-sell stagger whenever they feel like it, it's clearly not meant to be. Now, enemies that fly around at the speed of light while your party consists of only close-range fighters? Those can kiss my rear end.
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May 28, 2020 04:57
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Elentor posted:Apparently some YT person called videogamedunkey complained about anime noise grunts and if you search for that term and ff7r my videos show up nearly at the top. ... Not going to show off Jessie's reactions if you keep running into the lasers?
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May 28, 2020 10:05
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I probably missed that, because uh, I didn't keep running into lasers.
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May 28, 2020 10:50
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Game design peeps: Would it have solved things or helped If they'd showed a new health bar for each phase? I suppose it'd make it harder to prioritise item use, etc. if you can't tell how long the fight is going to be. And I guess segmenting the healthbar into phases would spoil the surprises?
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May 28, 2020 11:37
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Elentor posted:I probably missed that, because uh, I didn't keep running into lasers.
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May 28, 2020 11:43
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This is more of a casual first run LP than a 'dig into everything' LP I believe
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May 28, 2020 11:45
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Xander77 posted:Different gaming psychology. For certain people "oh, Jessie has different comments as I keep going through the lasers. I wonder if she has a different set of banters if I keep running into the lasers" is as natural as breathing. I like exploring things, it just so happens that in this instance I missed it. I'll probably miss a lot of stuff in my first run.
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May 28, 2020 11:56
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Elentor posted:
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May 28, 2020 12:01
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Pierzak posted:How old is Cloud really? IIRC, Cloud is some kind of lab-grown Sephiroth clone (Sephiroth-candidate?) with fake memories, so that might be foreshadowing disguised as a bad joke? Cloud in the original is just a regular joe born in a normal, regular way. He's a Sephiroth-clone in the sense that he was one of Hojo's many attempts at recreating someone who could deal with Jenova's cells like Sephiroth did. He's deluded and thinks he lived his life as Zack, which Sephiroth uses to his advantage as a way to gaslight Cloud.
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May 28, 2020 12:04
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Cloud in the original is physically 21, but he's mentally around 16. Considering he spent 4 years in a tank and basically until like a moooooonth? before the start of the game? Was in a coma.
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May 28, 2020 12:22
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| # ? May 20, 2024 18:15 |
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PT6A posted:I feel like that fight specifically was really beautifully done from a game design perspective because it forces you to learn about the mechanics you need to know, without being overwhelmingly difficult. Taking away the characters and environment that we all love, it's interesting to look at some of the choices they made. I won't spoil anything but I feel like there are awesome, difficult fights that feel really rewarding once you figure them out, and other ones which are just horrific slogs whether you understand the weaknesses and mechanics you should use or not. The "hardest" fights have been some of my favourites and there are others which might not be as hard, but they fully suck. Excellent points. Weeble posted:One word. Just one word. I died a lot less on that fight than I would have reasonably expected, but yeah, I came out with substantially fewer phoenix downs than I went in with too. It's definitely one of the few fights that really push you to the limit, but I agree with PT6A... PT6A posted:This goes into the categories of "fights which can eat my whole entire rear end." It kinda sucks. 
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May 28, 2020 12:49
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