This game feels dated....

[Bad_Conduct]

The movement is really awkward, compared to XV. You run endlessly when you hit a wall. Nothing moves, foot tall obstacles block your path, chairs and buckets don't fall over. The characters feet aren't planted. The maps are flat, with ladders and stairs. In XV, if you run into an obstacle he will climb over it, or stop. The characters feet stay planted when he turns around.

I dunno, this game feels like it's 10, 15 years older than XV. I know this game was in development for awhile but it seems a lot more like it was finished shortly after XIII was released, then poorly received in beta and shelved. This is some sort of "remaster" of a dead PS3 release. Even the dubbing and localization have the quality of a re-release of an older, Japan only game.

The materia system feels like it was tacked on after-the-fact as well.

I'm fairly optimistic that the next sequel will be a much more "modern" designed title and not just a reskin of this one, but you have to call a duck a duck. This is an old, poorly received PS3 game that had a graphics and combat overhaul before being released as a new game, it's Duke Nukem Forever.

[RdRStar]

ff7 came out way before ps3.

[Bad_Conduct]

Originally posted by RdRStar:

ff7 came out way before ps3.

This isn't FF7, it shares zero assets.
Feels more like it was built from FFXIII.

[Jeff4u]

Agreed the env is quite constrained with ladder, wall gap, cut-scene, slow walk every minute. Even hubs are not so large and not balanced in pacing of main and side missions due to map design. Boss fight is entertaining though.

If it is like XV, it would be more interesting and feel more "sense" of freedom. Now, it is just a map that has no point to explore. This is just a step-back and not has any expectation on Part 2.

[Weltall8000]

I have been forcing myself to be optimistic and giving the benefit of the doubt, but having just completed my first Normal run of the main game last night and still processing the game as a whole... I think there are some shortcomings.

Visually, this struck me early on. A lot of it looks great...but right next to that, a lot of it doesn't. Particularly the backgrounds and random NPCs. Some of the "clutter" objects are pretty bad. The final series of cut scenes had some pretty noticeable clipping that was distracting.

At times playing through, I felt like this was a polished PS3 or early PS4 game. When it looked good, it looked good though. The juxtaposition of great on bad was a bit jarring though.

Materia, just didn't offer the freedom OG's Materia did. A bit disappointing, as that was one of the defining elements of the gameplay for me in OG.

I hope (and expect) Rebirth will nail down some of these things, with modern hardware in mind and be much better.

[Bad_Conduct]

Originally posted by Weltall8000:

I have been forcing myself to be optimistic and giving the benefit of the doubt, but having just completed my first Normal run of the main game last night and still processing the game as a whole... I think there are some shortcomings.

Visually, this struck me early on. A lot of it looks great...but right next to that, a lot of it doesn't. Particularly the backgrounds and random NPCs. Some of the "clutter" objects are pretty bad. The final series of cut scenes had some pretty noticeable clipping that was distracting.

At times playing through, I felt like this was a polished PS3 or early PS4 game. When it looked good, it looked good though. The juxtaposition of great on bad was a bit jarring though.

Materia, just didn't offer the freedom OG's Materia did. A bit disappointing, as that was one of the defining elements of the gameplay for me in OG.

I hope (and expect) Rebirth will nail down some of these things, with modern hardware in mind and be much better.

I have a funny feeling that the original goal of this game was to tie FF7 into Fabula Nova Crystallis umbrella with FFXIII and potentially link every game together with FFXIV so they could continue to milk it. But since the whole FFXIII franchise failed to gain traction and I bet the beta versions of this game weren't great, they just shelved the whole project. They only releasing a rebranded Type-0 and XV to keep the brand itself alive and went back to the drawing board.

This was pulled out of the waste bin and remastered like pre-pixel mobile remakes on PC, and the PC re-releases of older titles. There's a lot of "signs" that just remind me of Type-0 or FFXII Zodiac on PC that show it's an old game at it's core. The running when hitting a wall is a very dated mechanic, especially compared to the grounded movement of FFXV. Same with the map layout, the conversations with AI, the dub... FFXV feel a lot more natural feel to the gameplay and movement. It feels like a AAA game, not a remaster that the asking price reflects.

Squarenix has just struggled to bring FF into the 3D world. There has been zero consistency between games since X.

[Bad_Conduct]

Originally posted by P. Quincy T.:

Sounds like you're good with the story/character changes and utterly bizarre/out-of-place final chapter, Welltall. :gearthumbsdown: :wolno: :FFVIultros:

Haven't gotten that far, but I know it's technically a sequel, it's just called remake. Reference to Neon Genesis Evangelion in the titles.

[Weltall8000]

I have a funny feeling that the original goal of this game was to tie FF7 into Fabula Nova Crystallis umbrella with FFXIII and potentially link every game together with FFXIV so they could continue to milk it.

Oh, I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hope not.

[Bad_Conduct]

Originally posted by P. Quincy T.:

Yeah I was responding to the other user. I do find your theory interesting, though, about how they may have planned to milk it as a tie in to FFXIII, IV, etc. Seems plausible given all their recent shenanigans of Final Fantasy meta games.

I have a feeling that XIII was a much bigger flop than reported, probably with a ton of other dead projects and the only thing that saved the company was FFXIV's popularity.
If you consider XV is part of XIII, and even development on that game ended abruptly, I am starting to think this franchise is in big trouble, and FFXVI, the first original titled developed from the ground up since FXIII, 10 years ago, is going to be make or break the brand.

[Weltall8000]

Originally posted by P. Quincy T.:

Sounds like you're good with the story/character changes and utterly bizarre/out-of-place final chapter, Welltall. :gearthumbsdown: :wolno: :FFVIultros:

No idea what you're trying to convey with the emojis. 🤣🙃😂

I am still mulling it all over. Does the Integrade scenario play into any of this, or more of a "this is what Yuffie was up to?"

[-|Nur|-]

Originally posted by Bad_Conduct:

Originally posted by P. Quincy T.:

Yeah I was responding to the other user. I do find your theory interesting, though, about how they may have planned to milk it as a tie in to FFXIII, IV, etc. Seems plausible given all their recent shenanigans of Final Fantasy meta games.

I have a feeling that XIII was a much bigger flop than reported,

Is that why they made two sequels for it?

[Bad_Conduct]

Originally posted by -|Nur|-:

Originally posted by Bad_Conduct:

I have a feeling that XIII was a much bigger flop than reported,

Is that why they made two sequels for it?

The sequels were planned and developed at the same time, there was supposed to be one more.
Remember, they developed the entire franchise at the same time. The sequels didn't sell well, that's why the put Type-0 and FFXV off the umbrella.

Again, the sales numbers and reality of the franchise don't correlate very well. On paper, it's a huge hit. In the market, it's multiple abandoned titles.

[Bad_Conduct]

Originally posted by P. Quincy T.:

Well Square Enix has a lot of IP aside from Final Fantasy. They also, I imagine, make a hefty margin on their overpriced and at-times buggy or lackluster ports and remasters. I have read that FFXIV is a massive revenue stream for them, though I don't know the #s on that. We would need to see a breakdown of their costs vs. revenue across all their business streams to decide how "in trouble" the company is. I do entirely agree, though, that the FF franchise is in trouble. The quality and reception of FFXVI are indeed going to be very important, as each FF title after FFX has seemed to further divide the community and/or alienate fans more. That is why this "remake" is so contentious among fans. It not only opens up old and new disagreements and disappointments, but it does so with the most beloved classic they have in their catalog. Doesn't get more potentially divisive than that as far as video games go probably. At the end of the day, though, I think we can all take a step back and acknowledge these are video games and forms of narrative stories we are talking about and take it a little less seriously--learning to simply appreciate what they've done well when they've done it well. You're right that they have been struggling with how to bring FF into the fully 3d world since FFX--I read an article about Square Enix promising to bring FF back to its roots after all the backlash over the FFXIII games, if I'm remembering correctly. It's an open debate whether FFXV has helped bring it back to its roots. I haven't played it, so I can't comment much on that, though I've watched and read a bit on it. It didn't seem to do so substantially to me, but I can't comment really as having such a cursory experience of it.

https://twinfinite.net/2022/11/quare-enix-financial-results-h1-fy2022-final-fantasy-xiv/

[Weltall8000]

Originally posted by -|Nur|-:

Originally posted by Bad_Conduct:

I have a feeling that XIII was a much bigger flop than reported,

Is that why they made two sequels for it?

How did those do?

[Weltall8000]

Originally posted by P. Quincy T.:

Interesting. Yeah, it would be good to see it broken down by each specific title.

XI and XIV have been cash cows for years. Well, after XIV's rocky start and rebuild.

[Bad_Conduct]

Originally posted by P. Quincy T.:

Interesting. Yeah, it would be good to see it broken down by each specific title. (referring to the twinfinite article linked)

I think they used financial magic to hide the overall development losses on the Nova Crystallis franchise. Put some under FFXIII, put some under FFXV (as a different brand), put some under FF7 Remake.

I know they have other brands... but $80 for Octopath? $50 for Powerwash Simulator...? $80 for a finally released PS3 remake of 1/3rd of a game?