[LukeB]

Originally Posted by Dia.

It's less than a year away lol, much shorter wait than expected

I'm really impatient so it feels long to me but i don't know why i'm sad i still got loads of games to complete including Final Fantasy 9,10 and 15 so by the time i completed all of them FF7 will be out XD

[Scarlett.]

Youtube video

I'm actually more excited about this now

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Dia.

I'm actually more excited about this now

Yes Dia I am officially hyped out of my boots . Damnit. The music at the start gave me goosebumps. And they've nailed the new rendering of the classic locations that I could make out. Updated, but still so familiar. Battle system looks like a much more refined variation on XV. Confirmed character switching too. I think it's going to be a lowkey masterpiece.

...though from that trailer I'm still pretty convinced that we're only leaving Midgar at the very end of part 1. It looks like the Nibelheim flashback has been moved from Kalm to pre-Midgar-exit. Also looks like bike chase has been moved from HQ escape to one of the Reactor missions? Jessie is on the back of the bike. Unless they've added a second one.

Spoiler:

Or the writers have spared poor Jessie in the remake?

[Scarlett.]

I think they confirmed last night that this part is just Midgar, which is interesting, with two discs they're gonna be diving deep into Midgar lol

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Dia.

I think they confirmed last night that this part is just Midgar, which is interesting, with two discs they're gonna be diving deep into Midgar lol

I find it kind of fitting because I remember when I first played it, I had never played a game that was longer than 5 - 10 hours (other than strategy games etc), and it took me 8+ to play through Midgar on that first playthrough and so I thought the game was nearing completion at that point. My mind was utterly ****ing blown when the game loaded up the world map after leaving the city.

I think they'll heavily flesh out the first reactor, Sector 6 and ShinRa HQ and probably add some unseen parts of the city. It also makes more sense with it seeming that the Nibelheim-5-years-ago flashback (which could be a couple of hours of gameplay, easily) has been moved from Kalm so that it'll presumably feature towards the end of the first game.

My only real concern is in terms of timescale now though. Not showing any of the world makes me suspicious that they haven't actually developed most of the world / assets beyond Midgar... which makes me worry that part 2 and beyond is open to delays.

[Scarlett.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I find it kind of fitting because I remember when I first played it, I had never played a game that was longer than 5 - 10 hours (other than strategy games etc), and it took me 8+ to play through Midgar on that first playthrough and so I thought the game was nearing completion at that point. My mind was utterly ****ing blown when the game loaded up the world map after leaving the city.

I think they'll heavily flesh out the first reactor, Sector 6 and ShinRa HQ and probably add some unseen parts of the city. It also makes more sense with it seeming that the Nibelheim-5-years-ago flashback (which could be a couple of hours of gameplay, easily) has been moved from Kalm so that it'll presumably feature towards the end of the first game.

My only real concern is in terms of timescale now though. Not showing any of the world makes me suspicious that they haven't actually developed most of the world / assets beyond Midgar... which makes me worry that part 2 and beyond is open to delays.

I'm wondering if the 'open' world will be a bit more linear than we think, I mean, in a way, the world maps always were linear, they just gave the impression that it was open

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Dia.

I'm wondering if the 'open' world will be a bit more linear than we think, I mean, in a way, the world maps always were linear, they just gave the impression that it was open

I think there's a good chance it'll be more like FFX. Open in the sense that once the airship is available you'll be able to travel everywhere, but not the actual world map. I agree that it's basically a linear game anyway, for most of the game you can't actually return to old areas and the ones you can return to there's little reason to.

They'd have to rework Chocobo catching /breeding though. It would be a major negative if breeding a gold Chocobo has been removed from the game... It felt like such an achievement back in ye olde days.

[Scarlett.]

Yeah, I was thinking more like X too, I think that kind of path works better than what we saw in XV, I'd have loved if XV was more focused on a long road, instead of a small open world lol

I reckon all the minigame stuff will get expanded on quite a bit

[Tom4784]

I can't see them taking any longer than a year or two to bring out the rest of the parts because I think they're developing the parts concurrently.

Plus you got to remember that SE don't focus on more than one major RPG at a time, it's why XV's development stalled to wait for the XIII sequels, it's why KH3 stalled to wait until XV was out there and fixed. I don't think they'll spend years bringing out subsequent parts because that will delay any brand new mainline titles being released and investors love those numbered games.

I predict it could all be said and done by the start of 2021, you got to remember that the game is decidedly current gen and it'll stay current gen with potential ports when the next gen comes out. They aren't going to be developing triple A PS4 games for years to come.

[Scarlett.]

Youtube video

[Toy Soldier]

Don Corneo! I also like that they've made President Shinra much more of a presence as a villain, and also it seems they've added a new character (another SOLDIER 1st Class) which really is a great addition as A) it will showcase their abilities and B) it was weird in the original FF7 that we never encountered anyone from SOLDIER who was more than a basic grunt.

Though also, you'd have to assume that (spoiler?) he would know that Cloud isn't who he's claiming to be? Which is a much later reveal in the original.

[Tom4784]

I've been expecting a new character for a while, Midgar in the original lacks a foe who can go toe to toe with the party and I really didn't think that this game would end with a boss battles against that robot on the highway. It makes sense for this SOLDIER to be the physical threat of part 1.

[LukeB]

I'm really looking forward to this.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

I've been expecting a new character for a while, Midgar in the original lacks a foe who can go toe to toe with the party and I really didn't think that this game would end with a boss battles against that robot on the highway. It makes sense for this SOLDIER to be the physical threat of part 1.

I wonder if they'll have more tie-in with the wider FFVII lore in general? More references to Zack / SOLDIER / the events of Crisis Core etc?

[Scarlett.]

Given that we're spending a full game in Midgar, I hope we see lots of extra stuff

[Scarlett.]

Youtube video

[LukeB]

This is going to be released in parts?

[Scarlett.]

Yus, though I understand they're the size of full games rather than 'episodes', the size of this game in will need two Blu Ray discs.

[LukeB]

Originally Posted by Dia.

Yus, though I understand they're the size of full games rather than 'episodes', the size of this game in will need two Blu Ray discs.

Do you think part 2 will also be Ł50

[Scarlett.]

Probably, but it'll probably come out a while after the first part

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Dia.

Probably, but it'll probably come out a while after the first part

I really, really want to wait until the whole release is out before playing the first one but I doubt I'm going to be able to resist, and that makes me sad . I guess I can just do a replay when the final part is out...

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I wonder if they'll have more tie-in with the wider FFVII lore in general? More references to Zack / SOLDIER / the events of Crisis Core etc?

I imagine, given that they probably don't want to give the twist away regarding Cloud this early on, that this SOLDIER will probably be new to First Class/a leadership position and isn't privvy to knowledge about the other First Class SOLDIERS and what happened in Nibelheim.

[Tom4784]

I imagine the series will be wrapped up by 2021/22 at the latest though. If they aren't developing the parts concurrently then I'd be surprised given that the game most likely entered production in, what, 2012/13? Remember that in the year it was announced, we had gameplay revealed too so it was pretty far ahead in development back then.

Plus we'll start heading towards a XVI announcement in a year or two and SE don't like to focus on pushing more than one Triple A RPG at a time.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

I imagine, given that they probably don't want to give the twist away regarding Cloud this early on, that this SOLDIER will probably be new to First Class/a leadership position and isn't privvy to knowledge about the other First Class SOLDIERS and what happened in Nibelheim.

True, there aren't many active 1st Class at one time it seems so this could be someone that they recruited after the disappearance of Sephiroth and Zack. It also always seemed like Prez Shinra / the Turks etc. had no idea about Cloud in the original. Which TBH made sense with the president (who likely wasn't interested) but it was always odd that the Turks didn't know . Unless, I suppose, they didn't know Zack's name and just assumed that Cloud was him (which could apply to nu SOLDIER too, if he's heard "stories" but not names).

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

True, there aren't many active 1st Class at one time it seems so this could be someone that they recruited after the disappearance of Sephiroth and Zack. It also always seemed like Prez Shinra / the Turks etc. had no idea about Cloud in the original. Which TBH made sense with the president (who likely wasn't interested) but it was always odd that the Turks didn't know . Unless, I suppose, they didn't know Zack's name and just assumed that Cloud was him (which could apply to nu SOLDIER too, if he's heard "stories" but not names).

I think, for the moment, it'll be best to disregard the VII compilation for the moment since I reckon the developers aren't paying attention to it in the development of this game. In terms of the remake's timeline, I wouldn't be surprised if they retconned Crisis Core out of existence along with all the other spinoff games given that they've said that the remake will be more of a re-imagining than anything else.

God, I wish they'd do a Crisis Core remaster at some point, I adored that game.