Nice. The panel selection this years looks a little slim, but the show floor seems like it will be pretty good. I'm doing my first ever cosplay, and I'm excited and little nervous. Definitively want to check out the FF7 demo, and the Platinum panel.
Agreed, there's not much if anything I'm interested in attending panel wise this year. In the past, it was the Giant Bomb and Paxamania panels but both are absent this year. The Storytime Session panel is always fascinating. Also, Pat Baer's panel is probably going to be quite good:
https://east.paxsite.com/schedule/panel/pat-baers-anime-club-yelling-about-the-shows-we-love Plus the Mega64 panel sounds good as well.
The way the FF7R demo works is there's going to be security cosplaying as Shinra guards who let people into an enclosed train station waiting room. Once inside, pictures and videos are prohibited but Jessie gives an overview of the game and a tutorial of the demo. Once the briefing ends, the SE rep asks if anyone has any questions (the release date always a FAQ so the rep is coy about it). Then they send the group out to demo stations and posters are given to attendees at the end of it. In total, it's about 20-25 mins (the demo is about 15 mins, video is roughly 5-7 mins).
I got to try out the demo at PAX West last year and my impression was that it played like Kingdom Hearts but with tactical elements and cinematic flair. It took place inside the Mako reactor and I found the banter between Cloud and Barrett fun. The visuals looked good on what was I assume was a PS4 Pro station with good quality headphones. Unless they're showing off an updated build of the demo, I would say to skip it in all honesty. But if you absolutely need to play it, then, by all means, go for it.
What are you planning to cosplay as?
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