LTTP: Final Fantasy VII Remake -- I REALLY don’t like it

[AgentOtaku]

I've never been hugely nostalgic for the original FFVII. My "moments" with the franchise were with IV and VI.
That being said, I did finish it when it came out originally and do have some fond memories.

Remake is utter bullshit

Like, it's so bad at what it sets out to do that it could be considered fascinating if not for the fact that it's 30 hours too long. I got up to Ch.18 and had to put the controller down, literally, and walk away.

I'll keep it brief...

Pros
- Excellent combat system, though the amount of staggering/stun locking is borderline absurd.
- Insane visual fidelity in the opening and closing sections
- Some fantastic music at times
- They really nailed Cloud's VA/performance. Like, its better than it has any right to be.
- Jessie

And on to the cons:
- Square and the team wanted to do their own thing with the story and that's completely fine. But what they frankensteined together is pure indulgent, self masterbatory nonsense.
IT FUCKING BAAAAAD.
Any sense of restraint or brevity is completely non-existent here. I'm not just complaining about the length of the game, which is an issue in itself. No, it's that it takes SOOOO long to say absolutely nothing meaningful. Your side quests don't add anything meaningful, narratively speaking. You'll have extended cutscenes that don't move things forward. You'll have story changes/tweaks that just make things worse and undo the atmosphere of the original (President Shinra's death comes to mind).
The fan service is not charming. It's taken to absurdly ridiculous levels just makes everything longer and less coherent.
- Initially I was indifferent to Barret as a character and how's he's represented. As things went on tho, it really gets embarrassingly offensive and I'm surprised there wasn't more of a blow up about it.
- THE FUCKING LENGTH. It has NO RIGHT to be this long. There's nothing gained, only lost.

I REALLY wanted to love it. My kids liked sitting in and going thru the story with me but there were times were they literally just left the room. Even they "sensed" something was off with the game's pacing.

I'm sure there are some out there who have written thousand word dissertations about how it's good or not good. Won't be that guy.

I'll just say again, it's bad.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

The fan service is not charming. It's taken to absurdly ridiculous levels just makes everything longer and less coherent.

Click to shrink...

I for the life of me can't understand how anyone finds Jessie even remotely charming in the remake. Her shtick is worn out in minutes and they never let up on it for a second. No actual human being would act the way she does.

 

[demu]

Okay, that's interesting. I think it's GOTY.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

I wish the game was a straight remake.

All the stretching and squeezing and the changes were so boring and painful. Also that level design was so annoying.

I love the combat but my god, I hate the stuff I mentioned.

I for the life of me can't understand how anyone finds Jessie even remotely charming in the remake. Her shtick is worn out in minutes and they never let up on it for a second. No actual human being would act the way she does.

Click to shrink...

Agreed.

While I am at it, I hate how the characters move in such a weird anime way. Especially the ladies.

 

[Y2Kev]

I liked a lot what they did with the story and I thought the multiverse stuff is a great way to break free of the expectations of fans, but it was definitely way too long and bloated. They added one good chapter-- Jesse's background that lets you see a little TINY bit of life on the plate-- and the rest of the additions were destructive to the pacing IMO.

 

[Bradford]

I totally disagree that this game says nothing meaningful. It is a game about contending with the legacy of one of if not the most popular RPGs of all time. It is explicitly about living under the shadow of a previously told story and trying to do justice to characters that people, creators included, love. Every aspect of the script and story is part of this.

Spoiler

While I do not love the presentation of Chapter 19, I think it delivers on some of the more thematically clear aspects of the game: that these are characters people are seeing after 20 years and they deserve a fighting chance at something different, despite the cries of legacy fans. This is a culmination of everything FF7 and the people that brought it this far -- fans, creators, collaborators. Nothing is left undiscussed.

It is explicitly about undoing the original. It is a game about remaking FF7. It is a sequel, not a remake.

This is wildly ambitious and interesting storytelling. I am in for the rest.

 

[NovumVeritas]

Still sad the door bug never got fixed. And yeah it was way to long. And some things were changed for the worse.

 

[AgentOtaku]

I wish the game was a straight remake.

All the stretching and squeezing and the changes were so boring and painful. Also that level design was so annoying.

I love the combat but my god, I hate the stuff I mentioned.

Agreed.

While I am at it, I hate how the characters move in such a weird anime way. Especially the ladies.

Click to shrink...

Remake would have been an absolutely KILLER 15 hour, straight linear, narrative driven action RPG.

 

[RochHoch]

It's easy GOTY material

 

[AgentOtaku]

I liked a lot what they did with the story and I thought the multiverse stuff is a great way to break free of the expectations of fans, but it was definitely way too long and bloated. They added one good chapter-- Jesse's background that lets you see a little TINY bit of life on the plate-- and the rest of the additions were destructive to the pacing IMO.

Click to shrink...

Exactly

 

[DiipuSurotu]

It's pretty much the Last Jedi of the FFVII series

 

[Deleted member 16876]

Remake would have been an absolutely KILLER 15 hour, straight linear, narrative driven action RPG.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I was actually expecting that. But nooo, let's stretch it furthur.

 

[Pat_DC]

I for the life of me can't understand how anyone finds Jessie even remotely charming in the remake. Her shtick is worn out in minutes and they never let up on it for a second. No actual human being would act the way she does.

Click to shrink...

I would like to come back and type out a more detailed explanation but can't atm and I am in full agreement about Jessie.
I got the game early but really struggled to play it and following the OT at launch I felt like a person completely out of the loop.
I had no idea why people found her character so great and she just came across as desperate and annoying.

Overall I was really not a fan of remake for a lot of reasons, quite disappointing and I have yet to make it through the game.

 

[Deleted member 5745]

That's a take, all right.

Edit: I see OP had the title edited. I was commenting on the original title that referred to the game as trash.

 

[LoNe_eXiLe]

Wow. Why am I not surprised that this post is nothing more than a hyperbolic "look at me I'm different and edgy" take. You knew from the get go that it wasn't going to be a shot for shot remaster, or else it would have been called that. As someone who doesn't have any nostalgia for VII other than beating it, I enjoyed my time woth Remake more than any mainline FF game outside of IX, XII, and XIV.

 

[Era Uma Vez]

You found 5 points in favour of a game you consider "utter trash" and "utter bullshit", two of them being the excellent gameplay and the visuals of the game... Wow, usually when something is trash, it's just trash all around. But I guess you're afraid no one would talk to you so you went with that title.
This forum never gets old.
You people and your attention seeking titles.

 

[Y2Kev]

I thought the game "design" was really poor. It was linear in all the ways people complain about FFXIII being AND it had slow walking AND more "squeeze through" sections of any game since Fallen Order (lol). It has good combat and good characters (that benefit from people loving them for 20 years, frankly) but everything outside of that is pretty tough to swallow a first time...let alone a second. I thought they treated the world with a lot of respect and let you see like 4% of it.

 

[gdt]

I thought it was fun. The game wasn't very long at all imo.

Never played the original

 

[Professor Beef]

My "moments" with the franchise were with IV and VI.

Click to shrink...

damn, you had nowhere to go but up after those awful games too

 

[psynergyadept]

Be right back...summoning black meteor to OP's house

 

[Weiss]

Wow. Why am I not surprised that this post is nothing more than a hyperbolic "look at me I'm different and edgy" take. You knew from the get go that it wasn't going to be a shot for shot remaster, or else it would have been called that. As someone who doesn't have any nostalgia for VII other than beating it, I enjoyed my time woth Remake more than any mainline FF game outside of IX, XII, and XIV.

Click to shrink...

You found 5 points in favour of a game you consider "utter trash" and "utter bullshit", two of them being the excellent gameplay and the visuals of the game... Wow, usually when something is trash, it's just trash all around. But I guess you're afraid no one would talk to you so you went with that title.
This forum never gets old.
You people and your attention seeking titles.

Click to shrink...

Imagine behaving like this because somebody doesn't like the same video game as you.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

damn, you had nowhere to go but up after those awful games too

Click to shrink...

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

I dont think your points are any less valid, but calling the entire game utter trash for it seems hyperbolic and childish. The remake clearly had a lot of effort and talent poured into it, even if you disagreed with some of the decisions.

Imagine behaving like this because somebody doesn't like the same video game as you.

Click to shrink...

I mean was the OP really inviting level-headed discussion with a thread title like that? The tone was set by them.

 

[DC5remy]

I didn't like it OP, and loved the OG. It's ok

 

[Kamek]

Probably one of my most enjoyed games this year. Got the Platinum. Loved the gameplay. Fantastic soundtrack. I'm fine with them going a different direction with the story, because, I played the OG a bunch of times already growing up. I'm cool with something new.

 

[plow]

My Goty so i couldn't disagree more

 

[Sanox]

To each their own

Game has issues but I loved it and cannot wait for part 2.

 

[coconut gun]

bitter ff7 fanboys getting owned by 7r will never cease to be fantastic

i hope nomura and kitase keep it up because as a cas' fan of the original game I fuckin loved what remake did

No actual human being would act the way she does.

Click to shrink...

well thank fucking god she's a cartoon character then

 

[Feep]

So you think the gameplay was by and large, excellent, you loved the music, it was at times a graphical masterpiece...

...and it's "utter trash".

I mean, I didn't actually like the game that much, but this sort of hyperbole is not conducive to in-depth discussion, I feel.

 

[snausages]

Yeah I thought it sucked, 10/10 combat though

Playing Cyberpunk makes me sort of wish they went even more self indulgent tho and made Midgar as vast as Night City. Maybe if they took even greater departure from the original storyline instead of telling the same story extremely slowly, what could have been

 

[Laser Ramon]

It's one of the best Final Fantasy games but go off King

 

[Sumio Mondo]

I mean, I get that feeling of it not living up to your nostalgia and all but that doesn't make the game "TRASH". The game functions well, plays well, sounds well and is really fun. Sure it has some flaws but does that make it "TRASH"? You need to play more games if you think this game is awful, to be honest lol.

 

[Weiss]

I dont think your points are any less valid, but calling the entire game utter trash for it seems hyperbolic and childish. The remake clearly had a lot of effort and talent poured into it, even if you disagreed with some of the decisions.



I mean was the OP really inviting level-headed discussion with a thread title like that? The tone was set by them.

Click to shrink...

There's a self evident difference between believing a video game is bad and denigrating another person for feeling as such.

All games have Herculean amounts of effort put into them. Sonic Boom was a game where the developers were constantly jerked around by the higher ups to the point of having to work out Cryengine on a console that didn't support it. The game was trash. It happens.

 

[Dragon1893]

Seeing Jessie in the pros had me burst out laughing.
Regardless, it's a flawed game for sure but overall I had a good time with it.

 

[-Tetsuo-]

Its not good

 

[Hieroph]

Before going in, I thought the worst part about it was going to be the episodic thing. Boy, I had no idea just how bad they managed to make this.

While I am at it, I hate how the characters move in such a weird anime way. Especially the ladies.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, the mocap or whatever they're using is just weird and does not look natural at all.

 

[Deleted member 6730]

I for the life of me can't understand how anyone finds Jessie even remotely charming in the remake. Her shtick is worn out in minutes and they never let up on it for a second. No actual human being would act the way she does.

Click to shrink...

tons of human beings act this way

 

[Yuntu]

I thought it had some of the best characters interactions and moments this gen in JRPGs (surpassing the OG for me), definitly the best boss fights for the genre in like forever and a great combat system. Pacing was also good, nothing really overstayed its welcome and it threw nice distractions at you along the way. 30-40 hours was the right length to me. On top of that it also had a killer OST.

I just wish Midgar would've been a bit bigger, but I think the next part will expand the size of the areas.

 

[iksenpets]

To each their own I guess. I felt like it's the first time in over a decade that it's felt like they have a clear idea for what modern FF should be.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

Before going in, I thought the worst part about it was going to be the episodic thing. Boy, I had no idea just how bad they managed to make this.



Yeah, the mocap or whatever they're using is just weird and does not look natural at all.

Click to shrink...

What makes this weirder is that you have a game that has real looking characters (well, mostly). I could buy those mocaps in something like Persona or any anime game but not in this one.

 

[Cloud-Strife]

Maybe the remake wasn't for you.

After The Last of Us 2.. FF7 Remake was the best game for me this year along with Hades.

 

[Yuntu]

To each their own I guess. I felt like it's the first time in over a decade that it's felt like they have a clear idea for what modern FF should be.

Click to shrink...

Yeah this as well. This game really gave me a confidence boost for the future. Even though I quite liked 13 and 15, they werent quite fully realized in some aspects - but here everything fell in place really nicely. So we have this team and Yoshi-Ps team handling mainline games for next gen, which is super exciting.

 

[Raziel]

Everyone has an opinion. Even though it can be absolute nonsense

 

[Deleted member 18400]

I mean if you don't like it, sure you do you.

But I cannot fathom how you arrive at this game being "utter trash". It sounds to me like something frustrated you and you are just venting. This game is far from trash by pretty much every standard.

Also it's like what 34 hours long? Maybe 40 if you are playing on hard? For a JRPG that is pretty standard if not even a little on the short side.

 

[Kinsei]

Terrible gameplay, characters, and story.

I really wish they could make an unambiguously great single player mainline FF again. It's been over 14 years since 12.

 

[Deleted member 51539]

Pros
- Jessie

Click to shrink...

That's how you know someone's opinion doesn't count. /s

 

[Abdiel]

I loved what they did with it. I didn't think it was perfect and there was some points that dragged a bit, but I played through it twice effectively, for the plat. I'm super pumped for the second chapter to see how they handle the next part

 

[gozu]

I've never been hugely nostalgic for the original FFVII. My "moments" with the franchise were with IV and VI.
That being said, I did finish it when it came out originally and do have some fond memories.

Remake is utter bullshit

Like, it's so bad at what it sets out to do that it could be considered fascinating if not for the fact that it's 30 hours too long. I got up to Ch.19 and had to put the controller down, literally, and walk away.

I'll keep it brief...

Pros
- Excellent combat system, though the amount of staggering/stun locking is borderline absurd.
- Insane visual fidelity in the opening and closing sections
- Some fantastic music at times
- They really nailed Cloud's VA/performance. Like, its better than it has any right to be.
- Jessie

And on to the cons:
- Square and the team wanted to do their own thing with the story and that's completely fine. But what they frankensteined together is pure indulgent, self masterbatory nonsense.
IT FUCKING BAAAAAD.
Any sense of restraint or brevity is completely non-existent here. I'm not just complaining about the length of the game, which is an issue in itself. No, it's that it takes SOOOO long to say absolutely nothing meaningful. Your side quests don't add anything meaningful, narratively speaking. You'll have extended cutscenes that don't move things forward. You'll have story changes/tweaks that just make things worse and undo the atmosphere of the original (President Shinra's death comes to mind).
The fan service is not charming. It's taken to absurdly ridiculous levels just makes everything longer and less coherent.
- Initially I was indifferent to Barret as a character and how's he's represented. As things went on tho, it really gets embarrassingly offensive and I'm surprised there wasn't more of a blow up about it.
- THE FUCKING LENGTH. It has NO RIGHT to be this long. There's nothing gained, only lost.

I REALLY wanted to love it. My kids liked sitting in and going thru the story with me but there were times were they literally just left the room. Even they "sensed" something was off with the game's pacing.

I'm sure there are some out there who have written thousand word dissertations about how it's good or not good. Won't be that guy.

I'll just say again, it's bad.

Click to shrink...

They made it for the fans of the original instead of targeting today's 15-18 year olds. I think that is what led to your main complaint regarding the story changes.

Yes Barrett was garbage. Yes, some mid game filler was either low quality or didn't fit well with the story.

But the battle system and the music elevate the game to the level where I can forgive all those flaws, and still think of it as a 9/10 game. Battle system had no right to be that good, quite frankly.

 

[Grzi]

I wish they bloated it more, it ended too soon, game of the generation for sure.
With the best RPG battle system ever created.

Actually, can't call something that has battles that are this fun bloated because they made up reasons for me to fight more.

And the stuff they did with the story is just fantastic, a AAA game that takes that big of a risk and makes more than half of its fanbase super bitter and angry is something to admire in today's gaming industry. I'd admire it even if it didn't turn out as well as it did.

 

[nib95]

So you think the gameplay was by and large, excellent, you loved the music, it was at times a graphical masterpiece...

...and it's "utter trash".

I mean, I didn't actually like the game that much, but this sort of hyperbole is not conducive to in-depth discussion, I feel.

Click to shrink...

Reminds me of some of the discourse from TLOU2. Eg those who stated they loved the gameplay but hated the story, and then go on to proclaim the game is trash lol.

Evidently some people really don't like their narrative or character headcanon/preconceptions being messed with lol.