With the info that all the previous areas will have changed due to the events of Meteor and the Weapons awakening, what area are you guys most curious to visit or revisit? For new areas for me is Wutai but I'm also curious to see how Cosmo Canyon will be morphed into.
Welp, heard lots of Ichi the Witch manga, especially from the Kagurabachi fandom. But wasn't sure if start reading it yet or not or even ever. But today I got bored since I had to wait for some time, so when I stumbled on a bookstore that sold the first two volumes, I bought them, read them and by late evening I caught up. So guess I'm on board now. Fun stuff btw. My only regret is not waiting some more for even more chapters to binge.
I love reading and collecting manga and sometimes I end up stumbling on Legend of Zelda manga. Now I generally like the Zelda games but how do the manga versions compare? Are they good? Are they bad? I'd like to hear the thoughts of those who read them.
One thing I often hear people claiming is that the way Dyne dies is due to censorship but I vehemently disagree. In the original, he dies by jumping semi-offscreen down a cliff. In Rebirth he let himself be shot down by many bullets with blood being shown too and die on top of Barret while cursing him by telling him to live with this guilt (in the japanese version, he also says he hates Barret).
This scene is not censored. In fact, it's actually more brutal in its depiction. The reason for the change is simply an artistic decision. They wanted to take the more quieter and melanchonic scene from the original and make it more dramatic and emotional.
Both scenes work in different ways. If you prefer one or the other more, the more power to you. But don't belittle the other. I appreciate the original for how sad I felt for Barret but man, Rebirth version made way more people cry for a reason.
And as proof that it isn't censorship, just look at >!Wedge's scene in Rebirth, which also has a fall and unlike with Dyne in OG, it also show both the body (even if just an hand AND blood).!<
Heck, freaking Kingdom Hearts shows a suicide by jump cliff fine in KH3 and yet that is a game with lower age rating. Dyne scene is like that simply not because of censorship. The devs simply wanted to make it in a different way.
I wonder how many classes there will be. We know from Hamaguchi that each character will have 4 choices to pick from, the classes will have a skill tree kinda to power them up and apparently "the level up will be applied for other characters as well".
We saw how by default everyone will have a freelancer class. Is that included among the 4 fits or will there be 4 others, making a selection total of 5 to choose from?
Some people also say that everyone will have the same exact 4 fits but I doubt it, as that would mean we either saw all 3 or 4 of them already in the first trailer (Cloud had warrior, Tifa had black mage, Caith Sith was a summoner and possibly Barret had the last one if it wasn't warrior as well).
I think that with 8 characters in total, each one will share a specific job with 3 or 4 other characters (so for example, Cloud, Tifa, Caith Sith and Vincent could share the black mage job while Cloud, Barret, Yuffie and Cid could share the warrior job and so on). Which would give us a fair variety of jobs in total.
Had a thought recently of how the FF7 compilation to me seems to have many similarities to the series of Star Wars, excluding the Star Wars sequels 7-9. So I wanted to talk a little about them
The original FF7, much like the original SW trilogy (and I mean original original) is where it all began and despite showing its age, is still respected, beloved in general and was and still is very influencial, even if obviously not flawless.
Crisis Core is kinda like the Phantom Menace. It serve as a prequel showing more of characters we didn't see much about in the original but it unfortunately had several problems like lots of focus on stuff people don't really care about (politics and taxes and Loveless), some saying that seeing Darth Vader/Sephiroth before when he was still nice took away from his mystique and of course adding one of if not the most hated character in the series Jar Jar Binks/Genesis. Not to mention bad writing and awkward dialogues. But people do remember well the final duel of the fates/Zack last stand and its great score.
Dirge of Cerberus is kinda like The Attack of the Clones. Both agreed to be the worst of the movies/games (again, I'm excluding Star Wars episode 7 to 9) with bad plot, bad writing, very awkward dialogues like Phantom Menace/Crisis Core but this manage to be even more forgettable and not particularly meme-y. And once again people remember its ending both for good and bad reasons.
Advent Children is kinda like Revenge of the Sith. We got our protagonist going dark and edgy even if in different directions but still with a questionable how. We still got some cases of bad writing and dialogues but less often than the other games/movies excluding the original who is still better overall. And while most of the plot is not super interesting and some straight up forgot about what it was about for majority of it, it's still highly praised for his climax and in particular the action in the overall movies.
Remake is similar to the remade version made by Lucas of the 6 movies. With additions and little changes in an attempt to modernize and bring more life and colors to the original, with some debatable and questionable decisions for some of its changes and additions.
And then there's the rest of the compilation of FF7/Star Wars who have a slew of minor spin-off with some good, some bad, in particular often good enough novels/comics, but practically all of them always tying in some way to the original.
My theory is that the eyes we see in the fire ring of Imu's back are the eyes of the previous 19 kings, all still bound spiritually to Imu. That's why Imu can summon their weapons as well, as they're all still "within" him and watch the world over alongside him.
Apparently markers on map will be a thing still but only as you drop from the Highwind. Now I know many don't like having a checklist of stuff you can do, but there are also many, me included, who do. In my case because I do like to experience all that is possibly available in my first playthrough as unfortunately I don't have as much time as when I was a kid to play freely, plus having to replay long games over wanting to see something small I missed in my previous run would be exausting. Being able to see the list of stuff be checked give me a sense of satisfaction and reassurance as result.
So the best of both world would be a simple toggle in the option menu to let you turn off and on markers when dropping down, this way you can have that sense of blind exploration or more clear journey at your preference.
Some already theorize that Revelation will start with the group landing straight at the North Crater or near Gaia's Peaks, due to a couple of cutscenes and how low level Cloud and the others are when fighting Jenova Death. I believe so as well but for an extra reason: Icicle Inn for the most part is just a normal little community. But there is something very important there: Gast and Ifalna old refuge that also contain registrations of moments they had together, up to when Hojo arrived to capture Ifalna and kill Gast.
I believe because of those registrations, the group won't arrive there at the Icicle Inn at first but later on, possibly only after a certain event. Why? Because the rest of the group would definitely end up commenting about Aerith in the process of seeing those. And guess who still believe in Aerith being alive? That's right. To avoid having to confront Cloud too soon about what really happened to Aerith, something the group would definitely slip up and talk about (even if they wouldn't know Cloud think otherwise), we won't get to visit Icicle Inn at first. Only after Cloud regained his full memories and can face the truth of what really happened.
When talking about Sephiroth, specifically Remake Sephiroth, an argument people use is "Sephiroth isn't scary because we fought him twice and won". Now putting aside that Remake battle was Sephiroth's win technically in term of story, what I really want to ask is, what did think people of OG Sephiroth during late game then.
Because remember, 2/3 of the game in, you see what really happened at Nibelheim, and you see how >!Sephiroth suffered an utterly humiliating defeat by getting stabbed by Cloud (in Crisis Core they make it a little less embarassing since he was fully looking on Jenova while in OG he has all the time to turn around and watch Cloud swing at him) and then get pulled up and tossed like a potato sack down the bridge.!< Are you telling me that people were still scared of Sephiroth after that? If so how? If your answer is "well, of course we knew he got stronger afterward" then the same applies to Remake who is becoming stronger as well and is not as his peak >!heck, we haven't even really fought the real Sephiroth either considering both fights in Remake were against a manifestation of his formed by an agglomerate of whispers!<
This scene is another that is controversial when it comes to Remake. Some like the way Rebirth did it, some don't.
It is indeed different in how it's portrayed. In the original we don't see Sephiroth killing the snake which fit with his mystique. In Rebirth we do see him and he does it with complete ease as expected and the fact that he does it without saying a word makes him look fairly intimidating still.
The fight is also mandatory in Rebirth unlike OG where you could avoid it, even tho that had the problem that the snake due to purely gameplay reasons (as the only enemy with Beta skill) would respawn despite being established there's only one.
The people who were disappointed often says that the scene wasn't impactful because you see Sephiroth kill the snake instead of being offscreen and because it was a tough fight in the original (not impossible by any means, just require some strategy and maybe a little grind to beat) seeing it defeated like that was what made it impactful.
But I believe those people are wrong. Sephiroth killing offscreen a tough opponent is not what makes the scene impactful. Like we saw in the flashback of Nibelheim Sephiroth disposing of a big dragon with ease. It's a given that he'd have no trouble with just a big snake.
The reason why this scene was so memorable in the original is actually two reasons:
The brutality of it. Killing the snake and find his corpse laying on the ground would be one thing, but impaling it somehow (seriously how did he in the OG?) on a tree with blood dripping from it is a brutal way to do it, one that we don't see anywhere else in the game because enemies usually just dematerialize after defeat or just lay down simply. This is the one thing that Rebirth could have done to actually improve it: add blood. Would make the scene more visceral. Granted, censorship is a bitch so maybe that's why, but I feel like a bit they could have pulled off.
The visuals shift. This is perharps the main reason why it was so surprising to people and what later version simply can't hope to replicate: in the original you go from the low-poly models of characters and enemies, including the snake itself, to a fully detailed dead snake as pre-rendered background. This is what REALLY make the scene stick into you along with the other point I mentioned. One may underestimate, but visual shifts affect one perception of a scene A LOT. It's the same technique that is used in a lot of horror stories where shifting from a bright happy location like a playground, to a dark and scary one really hits the viewer hard. Or a simple cutesy art switching to a detailed horrifying image. If anyone has read Dandadan or Junji Ito's work, you'll know what I mean.
And the same apply here with the simplistic 3D to detailed 2D. This is why later versions like Rebirth or Ever Crisis, even if they had the plot not altered in the slightest, just same game with modern graphycs, it still wouldn't have had as much impact of the original. Because the modern graphycs would nullify the visual shift since everything is all super detailed the same way. You'd just end up seeing the same exact snake you fought or didn't fought before but now dead with the same visual look. And thus the impact of the scene would be reduced.
So in short, Rebirth version was always doomed to not give the same feeling regardless and not because of how the story portray it or if it was a mandatory fight or not. But purely because of the modern and advanced visuals ironically working against it. The only thing they could have effectively done, even if the scene was the same or not, was just add more blood.
I proclaim right now that during the final confrontation between Cloud and Sephiroth, the two of them will clash, Sephiroth using Octoslash and Cloud using Omnislash. But not only that. Cloud will use a new variant of Omnislash, since Sephiroth by now memorized how to block and dodge the old one but also on the last hit, Sephiroth will try blocking it with his Masamune, a parallel to what he did several times in Remake and even Advent Children, but this time Cloud will shatter Masamune, signifying the total defeat of Sephiroth this time.
Usually assess/scans are not that useful in other FF games, but for Remake trilogy, this materia is always with me.
As title said, finished part 1 and 2 again after a while I hadn't played them (had both 100% before). On hard mode too. Was fun overall. Took a lot of screenshots along the way this time. Here are some things I'd like to talk in regard to my revisit.
First off, Rebirth is notably harder than Remake. While combat is slower in Remake, enemies are more forgiving and less numerous, attacking a bit less frequently and dealing overall less damage most of the time. In Rebirth you really need to check your set up way often because some fights are brutal. Like the Chloe sidequest where you have to collect flowers, those mandrakes will shred you to bits in 10 seconds if you don't immediatly make them explode. Certain bosses like Red Dragon, Jenova Lifeclinger and Rufus also barely give you breathing room. Not to mention the Shinra middle Manager coloseum challenge. That on hard mode is legit hell on Earth. You either nuke enemies as fast as humanly possible (main issue is round 1-2-4) or they'll steamroll you hard. I raged hard on that one. Seriously guys, make use of buffing and debuffing spells and materia. You never know how useful they can be until you do use them
For Remake I can't say I had nearly as much problem with most of the enemies and bosses. I think the ones I died the most to was the robot boss you fight as you are heading to sector 5 reactor, before meeting Biggs and the experiments that you fight as you reach the fallen Wedge. I did try to fight Weiss again, but couldn't beat him this time (I could have tried continuing but for time sake, I moved on eventually).
I also had decided to do all the odd jobs in Remake and Rebirth again and play Queen's Blood for fun. I really love how the characters relationships get explored in Rebirth via those. And man, so many great songs that you'll hear maybe once and twice they have (the Stamp song legit makes you forget about Shinra bad due to how catchy it is). Plus the variety in how they have to be completed was appreciated to break the cycle of go there > beat enemies/grab item > go back. Remake does have some variety at times but less often.
Speaking of songs, I do Rebirth brought back collectacle discs of remixed music to listen to in jukebox. I loved them in Remake and would have loved to see new ones in Rebirth too. In fact, I noticed that Rebirth sid reuse some of the discs songs in some occasions. The replay also allowed me to notice some songs I hadn't noticed playing the first time. Like how an instrumental of "The Promised Land" plays in the ruins of Cosmo Canyon where the Gears and Gambit game is.
In term of story and pacing, while I think some exxagerate on the slow pacing, there were definitely, especially in Remake, parts where you end up fighting "ok, this is could have been shortened a bit". Like some parts being extended is fine, but there are some which don't, like the train graveyard section goes on a bit too long and so is the Shinra lab under the Shinra mansion. But on the flip side, there are so many great story moments, some of which weren't in the original which I still appreciated a lot. One thing in particular that stood out to me? The trials at the Temple of the ancients. One thing you'll hear Rebirth be criticized for is that "the game doesn't let you breath in emotional scenes" and while it can be true for a few scenes, the trial scene is one of the evidences that it's not a constant. You get to witness all this tragic moments of the characters memories culminating into the most heartbreaking that is Aerith's (and despite me having seen it multiple times by now I still cry a river whenever I watch it), the game gives you a nice breathing cutscene where the characters calmly talk about it and Aerith gently reassure and lift the rest of the team spirit in a very sweet and powerful speech. It's asinine how little that part is talked about when discussing about Rebirth.
One last thing I want to mention is dialogues. I played with japanese voices and my language as subtitles (italian) which are more accurate to the japanese version compared to like english dub and I was pretty surprised noticing again just how many liberties the english dub takes at times. Like sometimes it's just gags (like at the end of Intermission, on the truck Barret in english says "What is with these damn birds?!" But in japanese he mimic a chocobo sound to try annoy Tifa and Aerith like he was). But other times I feel like it lost some in the english version (like when Dyne learn of Marlene being alive, he doesn't tell Barret to "look at him and think if he wants Marlene to know what his father became", he says "I hate you Barret. How could you tell me this now?"). Plus some translated names don't hit as hard. Like Bahamut Arisen and Sephiroth Reborn being in japanese Bahamut Neo and Sephiroth Rebirth.
Well those were my thoughts. I could probably talk for hours about it but I'll stop here. If you read to the end, hope you enjoyed it.
Now I like the organization as everyone else. They all are memorable in design and powers. Recently going through KH series however I had a thought: how cool it could have been if the human looking nobodies had a true more monstrous form? Like the normal nobodies all have weird and bizzarre bodies. I think it could have been interesting to have the organization also secretly having their real body be designed in a similar way as the lesser nobodies and their human appearance is like a transformation they can have since they are a lot more powerful than the average nobody, allowing them to appear like they used to. But as you fight them and corner them, they can't maintain that form anymore and have to fight in their true form. I think it would have been pretty cool and allow for even more creative designs while also distinguishing nobodies even more from normal people.