Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Remake pt.2)

Zero-Cool

Out 'next winter', can't bloody wait!

https://youtu.be/N2aNzos4qi4

Irish_wolf

As someone who played through the original many times and really enjoyed playing through the remake part 1, I'll be picking this up. The trailer doesn't give away much but I like the direction they're taking with this series and the implications that it's not the same timeline. Keeps it somewhat fresh while paying an excellent homage to what was a classic in most people's eyes.

The Mighty Quinn

I enjoyed playing the original immensely, multiple times over.

I haven't played games since about 2002. I'm almost considering starting up again to play these remakes

McFly85

Not as hyped as I was for part 1, will wait and see how it pans out. Don’t mind changing the story but wasn’t a fan of how they did it. I really hate bringing a surviving Zack back into it somehow as his death was pretty critical to Clouds development.

But the update to the combat was pretty great so I’d definitely consider it for that alone !

johnny_ultimate

Really hope they get rid of or at least dramatically improve on a lot of the tedious bullshit and horrible level design that dragged down Remake.

The story is going to be random nonsense and there's zero chance it won't be :P

Vicxas

1997 version is my favourite game. Enjoyed remake but if they fill it with bullshit ill be very upset. Wasnt sure on the ending of Part 1

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119214282#Comment_119214282

Yeah the level design wasn’t great but I guess for a lot of these areas they were looking to maintain accuracy to the original.

The implementation of the side quests was terrible. So I hope if the next one is going to be another linear game then they put the ability to fast travel between areas so I can do them whenever I want instead of being told “this is a chapter you can do some side quests in”.

Thinking about it now all the side quests were terrible anyway!

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119214338#Comment_119214338

If they were maintaining accuracy to the original the dungeons would be 10 minutes long and not totally outstay their welcome. FFVII remake was a great 20 hour RPG ruined with padding.

RedXIV

Gotta feel like if they are doing a 3 part series of games that there is so many locations to visit in the next two parts that they don't need to do the excessive padding they did in Part1. Midgar is really only 10% of the original game so giving it 33% of the remake trilogy seems even more excessive.

But I do like the look of that environmental interaction. I think this could look stunning

Zero-Cool

Yeah, in theory, the next 2 games could move at quite a nice pace but with the story changing, who knows what they might leave out and add.

McFly85

Reckon there’s loads of the original that will be left out now that they’ve changed the story.

Reckon at most we’ll see Kalm, Junon, Gold Saucer, Cosmo Canyon, Nibelheim and the Forgotten Capital. If they plan to make each area as detailed as Midgar I don’t think there’d be too much room for anything else.

RedXIV

Def won't make everything as big as midgar, even in the original , the idea was midgar was the biggest urban area on the planet. But even if the villages end up as single zone hubs, it'd be a ballsy move to omit things that could be unexpected fan favourites. gonna be absolutely raging if they get rid of the ability to kick a football at Red in Costa del Sol :D

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119242404#Comment_119242404

FFVII is a relatively short RPG. There isn't a whole lot once you leave midgar. Junon and golden Saucer are the biggest cities. The rest are one screen villages and a few dungeons, many of which are revisited in Disc 2. Can definitely see them easily making 40 hour RPGs out of Disc 1 and 2 with substantial padding. The original FF7 is a 30-35 hour game when you know what you are doing and not grinding for superbosses or chocobo racing.

McFly85

Recently finished the original including the optional weapon bosses and gold chocobo quest and was fairly surprised to see it clock in at 36 hours. I was sure I had a save file back on the ps1 of well over a hundred hours, what the hell did I spend my time doing??

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119242772#Comment_119242772

As I said, the original is not a long game despite the back of the box promising 150 hours:

https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=3521

Sephiroth_dude

Hopefully they leave in the flash back sequence in Kalm, that was one of my favorite parts in the original game.

johnny_ultimate

FF7 Remake is deep in Nomura territory now. I'd say the second two games will depart pretty radically from the original FF7 based on the narrative... choices of Remake. I'm sure familiar locations will pop up throughout... but I'd also imagine a lot of stuff will be cut or removed or completely changed. God knows what form places, characters or setpieces will show up in, if they show up at all.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119243067#Comment_119243067

They'll all have massive shoes and tonnes of zippers on their clothes

Cloud: "I'm not afraid anymore sephiroth. Because I know the lifestream isn't darkness, it's light! And if you come one step closer to me Aerith is going to give you such a friendship talk you'll wish you were dead"

Underground

I'll definitely get this but hype is dampened a bit after remake Volume 1. Lots and lots of padding (The Drum being the standout example, Christ) and I didn't have much love for the combat system, I hope they improve on that a bit.

Are we going to have a world map? Fly around in the Highwind? Somehow I doubt it..

Zero-Cool

Out 'early 2024' and on 2 **** disks! Looks unreal.

https://youtu.be/LXmoH6EQ0yA

johnny_ultimate

If the story’s half as good as the first part… it’ll still be incoherent gibberish 😝

RedXIV

Looks like there is a "tag in" system in the combat now so folks can team up? Maybe inspired by the Yuffie/Sonon dynamic in the DLC?

I have to admit, the fact it's on 2 disks does harken back to my childhood where you felt you got value for money in an RPG once it spanned multiple disks :D

I'm looking forward to a bit of variety in the game landscapes so it's not all midgar!

Guarantee the story will be beyond bonkers though :D

Vicxas

Some serious giggly moments from that trailer. Seeing the Sister Ray, Chocobo Billys farm, Elena. A lot from that made me happy.

Im betting this part will lead up to the DEATH of Aerith. She better die and they better not mess with it.

Sephiroth_dude

Glad to see we'll get the Kalm flashback, that was my favorite part in the original game.

Retr0gamer

Two discs! The first game dragged the arse out of itself enough and now it will be across two discs!

I can already feel my PC ssd groaning under the install size.

johnny_ultimate

I do have to admit the whole 'two discs' thing is a strange flex in 2023. I mean, OK, but just a bit odd to flash as a sort of marketing point at the end of a trailer.

That said, if it ensures a fully playable game is available day one on disc(s) without the need for an internet connection (outside of optional patches) then that's a positive thing for archiving in an era when the trend is going the opposite direction. For FF7R's plethora of faults, I remember distinctly the PS4 version having far fewer - if any! - patches in the weeks after release compared to the majority of other AAA titles, which was refreshing.

Retr0gamer

During the PS3 era the lack of disc swapping was seen by the PS3 fanboys as something to push in the console wars.

Now it's nostalgic.

Penn

I demand that the digital version be two separate downloads!

Underground

They gave nothing away in the trailer (just touching on the original story beats) which is good I suppose.

I dunno, maybe I’m getting more and more cynical as I grow older but still not too hyped for this. I still can’t bring myself to replay through the first installment, there was just way too much padding that a replay just wouldn’t be enjoyable.

Think I have remake fatigue at this point too. RE4R was meh and you just know MGS3R will be a soulless load of meh as well.

one armed dwarf

Looking at the section of the trailer where Barret and Red are split up in mythril cave fighting some sort of rock monster, I fully expect this game to suffer from the same padding problems as the first one

I've sort of made my peace with this though, the combat system was so well thought out in the first one. A brilliant synthesis of action and turn based design. They got the characters right as well. Just a shame the story sacrifices so much of the great pacing of the original, but it's what it is I suppose.

I'm really looking forward to it. I've remake fatigue too but I think these games still sort of feel like such a departure from their originals that even if they aren't as good as the original, they feel sufficiently different and like a standalone series of games

johnny_ultimate

As great as the combat was, the level design, pacing and story (outside of some nice character work) were so extraordinarily terrible in part one that this'll really have to significantly improve on that front to get me interested again.

I do think that this is essentially as much a sequel of sorts as a remake though, given the nonsense directions the first game went 😅

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120714429#Comment_120714429

I really can't see them changing the pacing with this game. You can't say a bad word about the first remake online without people dog piling you for suggesting it wasn't anything less than perfect.

The masses want more of the same.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120714511#Comment_120714511

It's strange if they don't. Even huge fans of part 1 like me could clearly see the pacing issues. Surely someone important in Square Enix noticed that pretty much every review of the game acknowledged the fact that the game had plenty of padding.

Zero-Cool

Release February 29th, looks incredible!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNVL-ygqw3w

Vicxas

Looks amazing, Gold Saucer, Junon. Weapon.

Gave me tingles, not gonna lie

johnny_ultimate

As much as the level design and story in part one made me want to scream in frustration, I am encouraged to see they're allowing in all the weird, wacky, tonally disparate stuff from FF7 here. Hopefully it's a much more expansive, fun game than the rigid chore that was part one.

RedXIV

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121114540#Comment_121114540

The sight of all the mini games and Cloud on a segway was def one of the best parts for me. Can't wait to get stuck into the gold saucer! And Cosmo Canyon was always my favourite spot so crazy excited to see that.

They put an interview up on the playstation blog -> https://blog.playstation.com/2023/09/14/final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-developer-interview-reveals-fresh-gameplay-details-as-new-trailer-debuts-at-state-of-play/

This sounds really promising because they are talking about making it a bit more open world, which was a massive part of the appeal when you got to the world map in the original, lots of exploring and side content so for a FF7 nut like myself, I'm thrilled.

Couple of interesting bits that may be spoiler-y, i.e. where the game will end, characters etc

Spoiler Warning

So the game ends at the forgotten city so at least they have gone for the obvious climax. However we're not guaranteed to see things in the same order as before, as they indicated Wutai for example won't appear until Part 3.

According to developer notes and comments there are rumours of characters appearing like RedXIII did in Part1, i.e. that they fight along side but not controllable. Also, one of the comments talked about potentially extra characters? But nothing confirmed there.

But glad to see they have a bundle of new mechanics, including a RedXIII specific mechanism designed to encourage more defensive play.

Progress from the first game doesn't carry over BUT if you have save data from the previous games, you'll get summon materia as you start

Padre_Pio

I really would love if there was an option of play an edit of part 1 with less weird ghost stuff and tedious exposition.

Kiith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115150#Comment_121115150

There is 🤣

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115647#Comment_121115647

Hah, well done 👍

Retr0gamer

The internet is alive with Segway memes

Retr0gamer

Seph

Sephiroth_dude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121117155#Comment_121117155

😂😂

nix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119243040#Comment_119243040

Yeah me to but with how the remake was handled, its going to ruin alot from that section. The kalm flashback is all about introducing Sephiroth as he was just a new mystery in the OG at that point, you dont actually see him until that flash back, but in the remake hes been in the game from the very start.

And from looking at the trailer, you can actually see bits of the kalm flashback controlling Seph in combat..

Retr0gamer

Oh no...

https://twitter.com/fnlwpn/status/1706014441328754696?t=FYOin4WRcBU66Q4sQUjRmg&s=19

ShaneU

So this game only goes as far as

Spoiler Warning

The end of disc one?

Can't wait to finally beat Sephiroth on my PS6 Pro

Unearthly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121155424#Comment_121155424

That would make sense for a 3 part game series. Disc 1 had a big chunk of the story. Disc 3 was very short from what I remember.

Retr0gamer

The game was originally meant to be a 2 disc game but the third disc was added as they ran out of room for the fib cinematic. Disc 3 is basically the final dungeon. Interestingly the entire game is contained on all 3 discs just the cinematics differ. Disc 2 is a pretty good chunk of content so I imagine that the third game will wrap up the story although ff7R was a lesson is dragging things out to a ridiculous extent so would t put it past them to draw it out.

Zero-Cool

Awesome trailer for the story so far leading into Rebirth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOnmxXcimKA

Retr0gamer

Didn't realise this was out so soon. February on ps5. At least PC version is not out for a while, may at the earliest but the original games exclusivity was a year but square waited for the PS5 rerelease to port to PC so could be much longer than 3 months. Should give me some time to get through the ridiculous amount of good stuff this year.

Zero-Cool

Looks so class, bonkers, but class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okGnXYjvJRM