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DF Retro: Final Fantasy 7 - A JPRG Epic Analysed Across The Generations!
- Thread starter raketenrolf
- Start date
Dark1x
Just an update to say I just got done watching the whole video and wow! That's your finest work to date imo and one of the best gaming documentaries I've ever seen. Gave me chills at the end as someone who experienced all the lead up and hype to the original games release.
Very well done, John.
Just an update to say I just got done watching the whole video and wow! That's your finest work to date imo and one of the best gaming documentaries I've ever seen. Gave me chills at the end as someone who experienced all the lead up and hype to the original games release.
Very well done, John.
Just finished it, great video. I have a yamaha MU2000EX and one-winged angel aside, the XG soundtrack is ace, I actually prefer it to the PSX one.
Great video as always Dark1x
Regarding the music on PC, I tried to record a comparison with it a while ago, but ran into issues with Windows 98 not working on Ryzen (natively or via virtualization) and PCem not running at full speed and having audio glitches.
But, if I recall correctly, the driver defaulted to a 22kHz XG-Lite mode with a limited number of channels rather than full 44.1kHz XG mode with 128 channels, and was supposed to be used in General MIDI mode, not XG MIDI mode - at least when using those defaults.
I don't know if the game used those capabilities at all, but was curious to see if it made a difference
EDIT: I found a post with specs on another forum:
Regarding the music on PC, I tried to record a comparison with it a while ago, but ran into issues with Windows 98 not working on Ryzen (natively or via virtualization) and PCem not running at full speed and having audio glitches.
But, if I recall correctly, the driver defaulted to a 22kHz XG-Lite mode with a limited number of channels rather than full 44.1kHz XG mode with 128 channels, and was supposed to be used in General MIDI mode, not XG MIDI mode - at least when using those defaults.
I don't know if the game used those capabilities at all, but was curious to see if it made a difference
EDIT: I found a post with specs on another forum:
Yep, that is correct. For whatever reason, I could only get 22HKz XG-Lite working in the game. In the music player that comes with it, however, you can select the other option and it did work externally. So that was neat.
Ah, okay.
The video showed you using XG MIDI with the driver in the FF7 settings tool, rather than General MIDI option - so I wondered if you had it running in XG Mode (XG MIDI) rather than XG-Lite (General MIDI).
Came into the thread ready to ask about this, thanks! Gonna watch it now.
I watched it earlier today. Awesome content John! Thank you very much!
Maybe I have it backwards but, yeah, it only sounded right using XG in its default mode. Selecting General Midi sounded a lot worse when using this driver.
Hi DF, is there any chance that the 'background' of this image:
is available as an emulation filter (e.g. for RetroArch)? It looks stunning!
is available as an emulation filter (e.g. for RetroArch)? It looks stunning!
Good to know, was a bit worried about that. Can't wait to watch it, I'm sure it's fantastic.
John's DF retro videos are simply the best out there! I love the quality of these videos! I learned some new things about FF7 also.
Another excellent DF Retro video. I imagine given the topic, it will be one of their most popular ones. Hopefully it attract some people to watch some of their more niche content, too.
Great episode. FFVII is a special game to me and playing the remake brought back a lot of great memories, so did watching this episode of DF Retro.
Absolutely fantastic job! I really really enjoyed spending a lazy Sunday afternoon watching this. This really made my day
Not a JRPG, FF, or FF7 fan at all (and yes, I played it at release) but that video was wonderful and I loved every second of it. John, you're one of the best content creators on all of YouTube.
It's been a while since I last heard someone speak so positively of Dirge of Cerberus. I share John's opinions on this one.
I really enjoyed Dirge of Cerberus as well back in the day! I still got my ps2 memory card with a 100% save ... somewhere.
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Awesome video and great work as always Dark10x.
One thing that jumped out at me was the fact that the Western release of the game was made easier than the original Japanese release. That surprised me since I remember reading the GameFan review back in 97 and they stated that one of the many improvements the US release made to the game was making it more difficult (they cited that the original Japanese last boss could be killed with a single KOTOR summon, whereas the Western release took at least four KOTORs to kill).
I went looking around online for what was changed and most places just cite that the random battle encounters were reduced in the Western release and some bosses had their weaknesses more obvious or simplified. Nowhere mentioned whether the reduced random battles come hand in hand with increased XP or gold, and I wonder if that meant the reduced encounters actually had the inverse effect of making the Western release slightly more difficult for someone to casually just go through the game (since you'd be at lower levels).
Does anyone have any insight on the specifics?
One thing that jumped out at me was the fact that the Western release of the game was made easier than the original Japanese release. That surprised me since I remember reading the GameFan review back in 97 and they stated that one of the many improvements the US release made to the game was making it more difficult (they cited that the original Japanese last boss could be killed with a single KOTOR summon, whereas the Western release took at least four KOTORs to kill).
I went looking around online for what was changed and most places just cite that the random battle encounters were reduced in the Western release and some bosses had their weaknesses more obvious or simplified. Nowhere mentioned whether the reduced random battles come hand in hand with increased XP or gold, and I wonder if that meant the reduced encounters actually had the inverse effect of making the Western release slightly more difficult for someone to casually just go through the game (since you'd be at lower levels).
Does anyone have any insight on the specifics?
5/5, a masterpiece of a retrospective. You could tell that this was created with passion and genuine appreciation of the game and franchise. Wow! One of the best retrospectives of all time, not just for Digital Foundry IMHO. Thanks, DF!
I think transcribing the music to modules would have been the most effective way to match the PS1 music since that lets you use bespoke samples like vocals rather than being beholden nondescript external wavetables like MIDI does. File size might still have been an issue in the end though given the sheer volume of tracks and how modules would each contain their own unique instances of samples. I'm not sure if there could be some way to make them load from a global library instead to cut down on needless duplicate data.
Modules were also still a rather exotic concept in America at the time. The only studios I know of that made use of them were Epic and Origin. I'm not sure which specific studio handled the FF7 PC port. I think Eidos was a British publisher at the time, but it's possible the port was handled by a US studio under their umbrella?
Modules were also still a rather exotic concept in America at the time. The only studios I know of that made use of them were Epic and Origin. I'm not sure which specific studio handled the FF7 PC port. I think Eidos was a British publisher at the time, but it's possible the port was handled by a US studio under their umbrella?
Great video! Year of Dreams, huh. I only tolerate The Last Guardian and essentially dislike the 2 more famous reveals of that year. I didn´t even buy into the 2 trailers back then. Oh well. I also can´t agree with your positive assessment of Dirge but the 2 Gackt songs are legit:
www.youtube.com
www.youtube.com
There are 2 books that are part of the Compilation of FF VII. The Denzel OVA you mention adapts a chapter from the first one named On the Way to a Smile. That one I do recommend. The totally forgotten Turks one is trash though:
finalfantasy.fandom.com
finalfantasy.fandom.com
Speaking of SE´s CG work that you bring up at the end. SE´s in-game graphics still have to match their CG work of 2009. FF XIII is a mess but the cutscenes hold up to this day:
www.youtube.com
The gap isn´t that high but still noticable.
Gackt - Longing , Final Fantasy VII Dirge Of Cerebrus
video made by a freind of mineasked me to upload ithope you enjoy~please comment, favorite, or subscribe
www.youtube.com
GACKT「REDEMPTION」 MUSIC VIDEO
6年ぶり待望のシングル・コレクション第二弾！2010年7月21日リリース「THE ELEVENTH DAY~SINGLE COLLECTION~」収録GACKTオフィシャルHP：http://gackt.com
www.youtube.com
Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile
A series of short stories filling the gaps between the hit video game Final Fantasy VII and its cinematic follow-up Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, this is an absolute must-own for any enthusiast of the Final Fantasy franchise!Description Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile is a series...
finalfantasy.fandom.com
Final Fantasy VII The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story
I thought my place in the world was gone, but the world is so much bigger than I ever realized.Evan Townshend is just one of many who lost everything during Meteorfall two years ago, and like the others, he has had to rebuild his life. In his case, this means working for Mireille's Investigative...
finalfantasy.fandom.com
Speaking of SE´s CG work that you bring up at the end. SE´s in-game graphics still have to match their CG work of 2009. FF XIII is a mess but the cutscenes hold up to this day:
Final Fantasy XIII CGI-Cutscene HD - Welcome to Gran Pulse
My 3rd fave video in this gamex3All rights go to SEDonwloadlink for every CGI-Scene:http://finalfantasy-xiii.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15515
www.youtube.com
Man I'll be honest digital foundry and these retro deep dives really are some of the best shit on YouTube.
Absolutely fantastic video, John. I know you put not only your heart, but dozens of hours into this. It was a great companion piece to 500 Years Later as well as the actual new game, but this makes me want to replay FF7 for the first time in a decade.
Keep it up, you're the best!
Keep it up, you're the best!
I was into this enough that I delayed watching the Jordan doc until I was done with John's video. Onto Last Dance now!
