Sapozhnik posted:

Nowhere is Square's inability to write an in-house game engine or manage a project worth a drat more tragic than in FFXIII. Its aesthetics were far and away the best in the whole series, and the combat is really good too. It could have been an entry as strong as VII if it didn't have an insane nonsense plot that disappeared entirely up its own rear end.

Harrow posted:

I was trying to remember which JRPG I was trying to think of that didn't have any consumable healing items--Xenoblade. That's what I was trying to remember.

Of course that series has tons of exploring and random items to pick up, just not for consumable healing items, so it's not quite an illustration of what I would expect from FF7R (though I suppose the large, open zones might appear in the next one).

TheKingofSprings posted:

Xenoblade also has the opposite problem where important crafting items are not necessarily guaranteed and require repeated farming of specific drop points.

Harrow posted:

This is why I think ditching consumables entirely might not be the worst idea, assuming the normal mode is balanced around their absence. I'm sure it'd be weird to have a Final Fantasy without Potions and Phoenix Downs, but hey, FFVIII ditched almost the entire equipment system and it even kinda worked, so it wouldn't be the biggest leap the series has made.

New materia, weapons, armor, and accessories feel good as rewards if you go out of your way for them (and I like how they sometimes put in little optional light puzzles to get a shiny new materia you can see but need to figure out how to reach) and make it feel worth it to divert from the path for a while.

Midjack posted:

I just finished this last night. It's my first experience with FF7 and the first JRPG I put more than a couple of hours into. I knew Cloud was big sword hero, Sephiroth was pretty boy bad guy, and Aeris died. I really enjoyed it and will probably find an LP of the original since that seems to enhance the experience somewhat.

Schwartzcough posted:

I recommend this one, from the Let's Play forum's Elentor, if you don't mind a screen shot LP: https://lparchive.org/Final-Fantasy-VII/

anakha posted:

If you're referring to the actual final boss battle, it looks pretty clear to me that Cloud needed a fuckton of help from the rest of the team, and even then, Sephiroth was still pretty much just toying with them. The closing scene with Cloud and the feather dissolving in his hand shows that he knows he didn't really win.

If you're referring to the cutscenes with Cloud slashing through a train, that's been discussed before, but the general agreement was that what was going on in that singularity is not reflective of any indicator of strength or skill in the actual world the characters live in.

RareAcumen posted:

Discussions on this game are fun and all but boy I wish people had gone to therapy about Kingdom Hearts so that every podcast didn't keep flaring up about it like 'This smacks of Nomura' *I wrench the table over, spiling salsa and corndogs turning the golden shiny wire of hope into a golden stream of piss*

https://twitter.com/dril/status/213849618415484929?lang=en

BaDandy posted:

I for real saw a tweet that was like "Nomura thinks that Sephiroth is some smirking villain who hates Cloud but he's ACTUALLY dead in the Northern Crater this whole time", implying that Nomura is just some guy that Square found on the street corner and not...the dude on the original FF7 team who made Sephiroth and had him be the main villain of the story.

Attestant posted:

Catapult Nomura in to the sun, imo

BaDandy posted:

I for real saw a tweet that was like "Nomura thinks that Sephiroth is some smirking villain who hates Cloud but he's ACTUALLY dead in the Northern Crater this whole time", implying that Nomura is just some guy that Square found on the street corner and not...the dude on the original FF7 team who made Sephiroth and had him be the main villain of the story.

Thundercracker posted:

All abilities that happens in combat cutscenes vis a vis real world has to be taken with a grain of salt. Cloud can simultaneously leap high off a motorcycle and on another motorcycle, but also can't raise his arm to grab a raising ladder clearly within reach in Reactor 5

Solomonic posted:

Got the digital OST today. Does anybody know the title for the version of Those Chosen By The Planet that plays in the cutscene after you beat Hojo's specimen, with the heavy choral vocals? I can't seem to find it.

Onmi posted:

I mean there are people going "Man, they don't understand Sephiroth, they don't get what worked in Midgar" when there's an interview with Kitase where he outlines Sephiroth's presence in Midgar in the original game, and perfectly lists what it should be, before going, "But we felt like we should do something different for the remake, as we feel the mystery is lost due to time."

Onmi posted:

I mean there are people going "Man, they don't understand Sephiroth, they don't get what worked in Midgar" when there's an interview with Kitase where he outlines Sephiroth's presence in Midgar in the original game, and perfectly lists what it should be, before going, "But we felt like we should do something different for the remake, as we feel the mystery is lost due to time."

Clarste posted:

Who's the first?

Clarste posted:

Who's the first?

Xarbala posted:

Schwartzcough posted:

I want to pop that pimple on his forehead.

But it's strange, Sephiroth himself is actually kind of bland. It's his introduction, his backstory, and other peripheral elements that made him memorable.

Harrow posted:

Before Shadowbringers, I thought the Ascians were the most boring enemies in FFXIV and I was sort of dreading them being a major focus of the expansion. Emet-Selch changed all of that. He's an insanely good villain.

Schwartzcough posted:

I want to pop that pimple on his forehead.

But it's strange, Sephiroth himself is actually kind of bland. It's his introduction, his backstory, and other peripheral elements that made him memorable.

Jetrauben posted:

Where did you get it? I can only find the CD.

BaDandy posted:

I dunno, I feel like you can't have him without the backstory and peripheral elements because those feed into what he's doing. Like yeah, by himself he's a doomsday villain, but adding everything up means he's going from one existential crisis to another without stopping ("Oh gently caress my mom's an alien"-->"Oh gently caress my purpose is to rule the planet and take its lifesteam BETTER GO DO THAT"-->"Oh gently caress I'm dead I need to focus on Cloud to keep my identity intact so I can be alive again"-->"Oh gently caress the planet's dying regardless and my time with Cloud will disappear" (or whatever he's doing now)). You have to infer some things about him, but the psychology of it all is interesting to chew on because he can never just have an emotion. He thinks that everything is a problem he should be able to solve when what he's dealing with isn't solvable. But Sephiroth has Jenova cells and Phenomenal Cosmic Powers so he thinks he should do that. All of that is totally fed into by his backstory. I think it's neat! Like he's sublimating his emotions and turning them into Big Plans because he's too above them or too grand to just be sad or lonely.

Like theoretically, a lot of FF villains fall under "[So and so] has Personal Problems", but it's their backstories and first impressions that give them a unique flavor.

edit: you're right though, it's weird how Sephiroth is practically an institution and barely any of that gets translated outside of the games outside of "bad dude with sword". You kind of need the story he's in for him to work properly, but I think that's true for a lot of FF characters.