I can't believe this thread hasn't been made yet...

We down under have had access to this game for like 2 weeks already. I only personally got it yesterday and I think it's pretty great - coming from someone who doesn't think highly of 7 at all.

Anyone else playing?

...anyone else spend an unhealthy amount of time looking at Tifa's abs? No? Just me? Ok.

 

Haven't gotten it yet, want to finish Royal first (yes, I caved on that front and it's been worth the money). Still not even halfway through that yet though because of work. This is next on my list. Though I'm a bit skeptical about their ability to make an entire game out of the original's extended prologue.

 

If you're worried about padding, don't be. The story is fleshed out - not stretched - and added to/tweaked in Remake and it is infinitely better for it.

 

You leave Jessie alone she's an angel and I won't hear a bad word against her gentle heart!

 

I am on a great and noble quest to get Jessie laid.

 

I don't like garbage waifus.

No spoilers.

 

Real talk, I am a little blown away by how much love they've put into this. OG 7 will always hold a special place in my childhood memories, but this new take is just far more enjoyable. Kickass combat, lit af soundtrack, amazeballs graphics, and tons more story and personality just makes everything more engaging.

Literally stayed up all night playing. First time I've done that in a while.

My only grievance is camera responsiveness settings. 3 is a little too fast and causes blur, and 2 is too slow for combat.

 

My biggest gripe is too much Sephiroth and the flashbacks get annoying.

I almost wish they didn't have Seph at all. Build up to him, maybe just have the carnage scene (dunno if that's still in the game, not there yet) later with a black feather and that's it.

 

So FF7 was my first non-Pokemon JRPG exposure back in the day (first crack rock before the addiction), and while memorable and stuck with me I definitely never ranked it as my favourite after getting into the series more (VI and XIV tho). Enjoyed the Complilation plenty, hyped enough for the remake, but still appreciative yet distant, y'know?

Yeah I shoulda known FF7R was tapping into something deep inside when I watched the intro for the first time and the tears started. Down here in Australia we broke street date early, so I played and beat it before most y'all got it, clocking in at forty-nine hours to completion thanks to searching every nook and cranny, listening to all the NPC dialogue and grinding every skill et cetera. Goddamned ride from start to finish, loved it, straight up rocketing ahead of the original for me thanks to the presentation (Guys sometimes we're playing fucking Advent Children it's our teenage dreams come true), characterisation and dialogue, music (late game remixes's phase changes are going to melt people's ears), and that silky fuckin' smooth battle system with those boss fights. Glorious JRPG through and through, proper feast, and I am sated.

Anyway, I just got the Platinum Trophy tonight (at seventy-five hours), which is not something I endeavour to do in games, especially action-y (or adjacent action-y in this case) games that tie beating Hard Mode to completion (JRPGs being my genre of choice, the long haul hundred hour grinding achievements are more my speed) but goddamn man, that battle system. And Hard Mode basically being a New Game Plus where everything you just fought is at max level and then some, and when playing as Tifa is a godly experience that the old poets could only conceive as but wisps of rapturous thoughts half-forgotten and half-remembered for eons until the last human in a dying universe finally grasps it... Phew. Worth it.

Game good. If anyone needs hints/advice later on, I'll give what I can. Unless it's about the pull-ups minigame, you'll need to sacrifice something precious to a lower demonic entity for that trophy. Have fun!

 

Pull ups are less evil than that fucking dance minigame. Fuck that noise. Beyond that, pretty much everything you've said is spot on for me although I'm only up to Chapter 13. Not sure if there is a post game or not but kind of hoping so because like I'm nowhere near ready for this to be over. As for the story changes? I'm enjoying them it helps that I didn't hold FF7 as the heights of story. Among Final Fantasy that goes to Tactics and 14. Also the new Honeybee Inn stuff is amazing even if I know I'm never getting either trophy locked behind the dance minigame. I went from "meh" at hearing it announced to "PART 2 WHEN?!" after the first 10 hours, which isn't that much given I didn't even get to the bike fight until like 15 hours in.

 

I had a different reaction 10 hours in.

I was very much the crying child on the floor having a tantrum, 'Why didn't they remake 9?!'

 

Steiner's theme song is still the best 'taking an epic shit' musical complement that mankind has ever produced.

 

The Atomos vs Lindblum scene would be fucking epic with modern graphics.

 

Just imagine that opening arc.

It's still my favourite opening to any media ever. It has everything. Action, drama, comedy, spectacle ugh DON'T GET ME STARTED.

 

I don't know about 9 but apparently there is interest inside of Square to at least give 5 and 6 the FF4 PSP treatment.

 

I never played 7, but I did play 8,9,10,10-2. 9 was definitely my favourite.

 

We don’t talk about 10-2.

 

10-2 was better than 10. Don't @ me or my Moogle Squad.

Lol, as soon as I opened the Arena in 7R, I said I would farm those bandits until I maxed the Elemental Materia for Tifa...

Naturally, I just about maxed everything while doing that...

 

A Final Fantasy 9 remake would be awesome.

 

Aren't they going up the chain with remakes? All the old tile-based final fantasies were remade, and some (6 IIRC) were basically as big of an upgrade as FF7R - tile based to 3D, etc.