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FFVII: Remake is (Peter Jackson's) The Hobbit of video games

zombiejames

zombiejames

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,934
I don't even know where to begin with this thread other than to say I'm frustrated and I know I'm probably in the minority on this one.

Started FFVII: Remake a few days ago hoping for the best. It's been on my list for a long time and despite remembering not liking the combat system all that much when the demo came out, I wanted to give it a fair shake. Surprisingly, my main gripe with the game isn't with the combat at all.

It's the padding and the bad pacing that goes along with it. It's how they stretched the first 30 minutes of the original game into over four hours of some of the dullest and uninteresting gameplay I've ever played. I'm chasing down cats and fighting temperamental rats like it's a 2005 MMO. I'm not even at the Sector 5 reactor yet and I'm finding very little motivation to keep going. The game just can't go from Point A to Point B. It needs to make six stops in-between with very little reward to show for it, imho. It got to the point where I took an elevator and Barret said I hadn't collected all the Materia in that section yet and gave me the option to go back. NO.

There's exactly one extra added scene I liked that I felt added to some character depth and wasn't a complete waste of time, and that was...

...visiting Jessie's home. But even that segment was sandwiched between a bike chase section that went on for too long at the beginning and a boss gauntlet section at the end.

The Remake makes the 60 hour original feel like a brisk walk.
 
ciddative

ciddative

Member
Apr 5, 2018
4,631
You're 100% right, over half the game felt like padding, some of which was handled better than others. The worst offender was the second reactor, jesus christ that dragged on forever. Erm good luck!
 
Morrdji

Morrdji

Alt-Account
Banned
Mar 16, 2021
361
The original has one of the best pacing for a jrpg and it saddens me to say this but it's simply better.
 
halcali

halcali

Banned
Nov 7, 2017
6,317
Hong Kong SAR
Some really bad dialogue and character interactions make this game hard to finish.
But the worst part is the "humour" or lack of it, which is half the point of the original FF7...

I'll try again for the PS5 version, which should be a bit more digestible.
 
Quinton

Quinton

Specialist at TheGamer / Reviewer at RPG Site
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
17,283
Midgar, With Love
You're not in the minority, I don't think. Or rather, maybe it is the minority, but it's not a particularly small one.

I adore the game, for the record, but yeah!
 
Rewind

Rewind

Member
Oct 27, 2017
569
I love what they are attempting with the story and find it really interesting. Some of the chapters were lame, but the overall game I found compelling and made all the previous games more interesting imo.
 
Cactuar

Cactuar

Banned
Nov 30, 2018
5,878
I felt somewhat of what you described, but that was hardly a deal breaker. I mean, what did you think, a full ass PS4 game based on the first 5 to 8 hours of a 60-plus hour PS1 game wasn't going to have padding?

I liked the game. But the biggest downside was the changing of the story (Sector 7 plate fall means nothing because everybody lives) and of course the last couple of hours (completely unnecessary dogshit). There was no need to fight You Know Who. Game should have ended after the bridge chase scene when Barrett walks into the distance tells Marlene "Daddy's coming home soon" or something to that effect. That would have been the perfect spot to end. Instead what happened afterwards was a travesty.
 
Huey

Huey

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,198
As harsh as a comparison as that is, it's pretty on point. I'm half way through (waiting of the PS5 upgrade in June now) and everything just feels so padded out compared to the expertly paced original game. It doesn't help that while I like the combat enough, I don't find it as rewarding as some seem to.

It's still a good game but I think if my wife wasn't so keen to see it through, I might bail on it.
 
Khanimus

Khanimus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
40,212
Greater Vancouver
Nah. This one actually made me like FF7. It gave a greater sense of place to an area of the game that deserved elaboration. And now they've basically set themselves up to break free and mix up the rest of the story in big cool ways.
 
Johann Mistletoe

Johann Mistletoe

Member
Jan 2, 2018
1,503
Massachusetts
The weird, over-the-top scene/action choreography, erratic camerawork, and sloppy dialogue (or at least the English script) make me agree. Cloud jumping from the collapsing walkway in the first reactor instantly reminded me of that goofy Legalos gif
legolas-gif.gif
 
ByWatterson

ByWatterson

▲ Legend ▲
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,302
I totally get it. I felt the same way.

My advice: Push through. The last four hours or so makes it all worth it.
 

B.K.

Member
Oct 31, 2017
17,038
I can understand them splitting the story into multiple episodes. You can't make stories on the scale you could in the SNES and PS1 days anymore. I just always hated the idea of the first episode only being Midgar. It always seemed like a bad idea to me to bloat a four hour section of the original game into a game of its own.
 
Hasney

Hasney

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
18,630
The Hobbit was alright, but I wouldn't put it alongside my favourite PS4 game. My main complaint with FF7R is that there wasn't more if anything. After the hard playthrough I wanted to go back again... Thankfully Yuffie is coming to save the day.
 
Charred Knight

Charred Knight

Member
Oct 8, 2019
9,143
Cactuar said:
I felt somewhat of what you described, but that was hardly a deal breaker. I mean, what did you think, a full ass PS4 game based on the first 5 to 8 hours of a 60-plus hour PS1 game wasn't going to have padding?

I liked the game. But the biggest downside was the changing of the story (Sector 7 plate fall means nothing because everybody lives) and of course the last couple of hours (completely unnecessary dogshit). There was no need to fight You Know Who. Game should have ended after the bridge chase scene when Barrett walks into the distance tells Marlene "Daddy's coming home soon" or something to that effect. That would have been the perfect spot to end. Instead what happened afterwards was a travesty.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Huh?

The people closest to the sector 7 exits were evacuated but you certainly didnt evactuate the entire slums, and I doubt that Shinra would bother evacuating the plate. The survivor's lost their homes, and the game emphasizes the devestation as Shinra uses it to villanize Avalanche so they can start another war with Wutai.

People evacuated in the original too, do you really think that people saw Avalanche fighting Shinra at the pillar and thought "Wow Shinra is shooting up the pillar, well I am sure nothing bad is going to happen lets bust out the popcorn"
 
thisismadness

thisismadness

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,446
I think the twist on the story is clever and makes me interested to see where it goes. But I agree that it is a horribly tedious and poorly paced game to play and there are very few moments where I was enjoying it.
 
BPHusker

BPHusker

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,128
Nebraska
I disagree and I played the original back in 1997. I think the changes were good and went against my expectations of the game. I really loved it.
 

Imperfected

Member
Nov 9, 2017
11,737
I think it's an apt comparison in terms of narrative, but with the wrinkle that FF7R actually has interesting (new) gameplay which is not something you really get any sort of analogue for in film.
 
Inti

Inti

Member
Nov 20, 2017
303
I am with you OP, agree 100%. Also, I was enjoying the story at least till half the game. The changes they made towards the end were terrible, at least for me. The entire Shinra section, dear god, it just ruined the story for me. It went from a sensible, somewhat grounded fantasy in the original, at least at this point in Midgar (I know the original escalates the craziness towards the end, but nothing like the remake, honestly), to the full fledge crazy magic non sensical over the top craziness madness fantasy. I hated what they did in last chapters (ending). Some of the changes felt so unnecessary for me, and it's all to justify this ghosts of manifest destiny, or are they, are you, are we, who, what are you doing, what, you, huh? Crazy stuff.

Still, if you forget the original and play it for what it is, a Remake, as in, a different game, it's still a lot of fun, I just did not like a lot of it, the things you mentioned and what I mention above.
 
ghibli99

ghibli99

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,813
The comparison you made is actually pretty good, and encapsulates why I like but don't love it.
 
Grunty

Grunty

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,358
Gruntilda’s Lair
What? I am a massive Lord of the Rings fan and considered that trilogy to be the best of all time. My favorite movies...ever. The Hobbit trilogy... aside from a few really good scenes scattered throughout, it is not very good. Now Final Fantasy VII: Remake? That is the exact opposite of The Hobbit movies. I throughly enjoyed every moment of the game. I'll admit that the story got a little confusing in the last hour, but I don't really have any complaints about it at all.
 
RF Switch

RF Switch

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
4,118
It makes me sad people are not having the same experience I had with the game. I am Counting down the 10 years the sequel will take to get here
 
Lionheart

Lionheart

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,843
It was so good it almost tied tlou2 for my 2020 goty, very deserving of second place on era. From the music to the best jrpg combat of all time, it hit me right in feels. I'd say more happened in this game then ff15 , padding is not bad at all
 
Cactuar

Cactuar

Banned
Nov 30, 2018
5,878
Charred Knight said:
Huh?

The people closest to the sector 7 exits were evacuated but you certainly didnt evactuate the entire slums, and I doubt that Shinra would bother evacuating the plate. The survivor's lost their homes, and the game emphasizes the devestation as Shinra uses it to villanize Avalanche so they can start another war with Wutai.

People evacuated in the original too, do you really think that people saw Avalanche fighting Shinra at the pillar and thought "Wow Shinra is shooting up the pillar, well I am sure nothing bad is going to happen lets bust out the popcorn"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You making up things? Where in the original was it stated that people evacuated? There was a whole entire sequence in Remake devoted to evacuating the sector. Every major character introduced in the Sector 7 Slums survived. The moment had zero emotion. Which is a shame because it was set up for emotion because unlike the original, we got to spend a little more time with the people. Thus, the plate crashing would have had more meaning in Remake. They chose to save everyone, so it did not.
 
Handsome James

Handsome James

Member
Aug 23, 2018
2,376
As some who never played the original and had no real reference point for the amount of "padding" I disagree.

But I was 1,000% lost during the last few hours
 
jaymzi

jaymzi

Member
Jul 22, 2019
6,546
Wasn't Peter Jackson basically thrown into the project at the last minute to try salvage it?

It was a miracle it turned out like that.

FFVII Remake on the other hand, this was all by choice and their intention.
 
Rickyrozay2o9

Rickyrozay2o9

Member
Dec 11, 2017
4,363
I mean everyone should have went into this knowing it was going to have padding which I thought was pretty decent. The music, combat system, graphics (for most of the game) were all top tier for me. Otherwise the main progressive story chapters I enjoyed also. Ending was definitely a surprise but I didn't immediately disregard it and I'll have to wait and see how it unfolds. With that being said it was one of my favorite games last year.
 

reKon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,739
Yeah there's quite a bit of padding, but the gameplay blows the original and most JRPGs out of the water. It's the shit and they now have a whole world and cast of characters, materia, and mythos to build off of.

Just like the original, this is was only giving us a taste. They will have MUCH room expand out and allow the game play to be much more varied and not full of padding. I don't feel great about them coming up with a better story, but my hope that they don't toss a whole bunch convoluted fuckery or change the ultimate consequences of all the major characters... both good and bad.
 
Tibarn

Tibarn

Member
Oct 31, 2017
13,370
Barcelona
The comparison makes sense yeah. Both are an attempt without soul or inspiration that try to take something known and beloved and stretch it as much as possible to sell more tickets/games. IMO the Hobbit case is worse, the book is a joy to read but the movies added lots of bad new content that killed the pacing. The original FF VII had mediocre writing (at least the official english localization), so the SE team had a good opportunity to improve it... sadly they failed completely. There's some shining moments of brilliance in FF VIIR, some moments when they added something interesting to the plot or some combats that felt great... but all these brief moments were the exception, the few redeeming sections of what is IMO a mediocre dissapointment and a big wasted opportunity.
 
dmr87

dmr87

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,193
Sweden
I can deal with some shitty quests and padding, care more about the world, characters and gameplay. Part 2 can't come soon enough!
 
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