Questionable moments

[Arcvox]

I'm enjoying the game still, but there's so much asinine stuff severely holding the game back. It's hard to explain, but where it's a remake of a vastly superior OG as most of us would agree, I feel like there's a very palpable contrast between original content (or stuff that is inspired by original content at least), and the new filler stuff.

It's mostly noticeable in the NPCs, and I know this is a common trope, but the difference between the protagonists / side characters with NPCs. They are so wildly different it's like they're from different games almost? It's super jarring at times, like earlier there was a moment where you get one of the robed dudes from 2 criminals. They were so badly put together I felt like Cloud was facing up against 2 randomly generated Sims 2 characters. They even had cringy tasteless tribal tattoos on their faces. Tribal tattoos? These were considered lame back in the 90s so it's a bit of a strange choice in aesthetics.

Next, I just don't get some of the music choices at all. We go from the masterful OST, to some decent remixes, I will admit. Then all of a sudden, you're hit with cheesy rapping, 2015s cringy dubstep etc.

Is it just me? I feel like this game is a bizarre mix of good ideas that want to embody the soul of the original game, to absurd and tasteless decisions that severely hinder the experience.

[Arcvox]

Also, the robed figures annoy me. Could they not have maybe had 4-5 robed men variants rather than literal clones with perfect replica robes? I know there's some debate on the whole clone thing, but afaik they're ex soldiers that have had the S cells injected into them, so they shouldn't all be identical?

[alumlovescake]

Disagree on everything besides the music most of it is great but some just stand out so much

[Arcvox]

Originally posted by alumlovescake:

Disagree on everything besides the music most of it is great but some just stand out so much

Yeah, for me it's like 3 tracks are absolutely awful, mainly the fights with the 3 thugs from wall market, and the mountain pass after Costa del Sol (not a bad track but it was NOT suiting the vibe of the characters discussion at the time, and felt out of place)

The NPC thing feels like a different studio worked on them for me, there's a real 'game asset' vibe to them

[OOFleming]

I've turned the music right down, especially when i got to Junon, only have it up just enough to hear the pre-rendered cutscenes (which should be it's own volume imo) That was some seriously cheesy and annoying music

[Bad_Conduct]

Originally posted by Arcvox:

I'm enjoying the game still, but there's so much asinine stuff severely holding the game back. It's hard to explain, but where it's a remake of a vastly superior OG as most of us would agree, I feel like there's a very palpable contrast between original content (or stuff that is inspired by original content at least), and the new filler stuff.

It's mostly noticeable in the NPCs, and I know this is a common trope, but the difference between the protagonists / side characters with NPCs. They are so wildly different it's like they're from different games almost? It's super jarring at times, like earlier there was a moment where you get one of the robed dudes from 2 criminals. They were so badly put together I felt like Cloud was facing up against 2 randomly generated Sims 2 characters. They even had cringy tasteless tribal tattoos on their faces. Tribal tattoos? These were considered lame back in the 90s so it's a bit of a strange choice in aesthetics.

Next, I just don't get some of the music choices at all. We go from the masterful OST, to some decent remixes, I will admit. Then all of a sudden, you're hit with cheesy rapping, 2015s cringy dubstep etc.

Is it just me? I feel like this game is a bizarre mix of good ideas that want to embody the soul of the original game, to absurd and tasteless decisions that severely hinder the experience.

Some of the audio mixing is weird, like when you meet the punks (or whatever they are supposed to be). the music is way to loud, you can barely hear what they're saying (not that it's important anyway).

If I had to guess, the more senior developers, who are more familiar with the franchise and take the characters seriously, worked on the linear main quest and OG content.
The younger, less experienced developers worked on the filler content, the open world gameplay and designed the new characters and new songs.

That would explain the big contrast in quality and tone.

[Kneppy18]

The original FF7 has my second favorite video game music of all time (after FF6). Uematsu's work has always been great (though I'm not too big of a fan of his more rock-centered or genre-bending stuff). Any time in this game I hear his work in the background is pretty great, but the stuff he didn't do is very hit-or-miss for sure. It's modern Final Fantasy though so it tracks.

[Arcvox]

Originally posted by Kneppy18:

The original FF7 has my second favorite video game music of all time (after FF6). Uematsu's work has always been great (though I'm not too big of a fan of his more rock-centered or genre-bending stuff). Any time in this game I hear his work in the background is pretty great, but the stuff he didn't do is very hit-or-miss for sure. It's modern Final Fantasy though so it tracks.

I think this is most likely the reason it bothers me, I kind of jumped off the FF boat after XIII (sorry if you liked that one but for me it was abysmal) so I'm not really used to the new direction as such. Good taste though, FF6 is my favourite OST too :)

[Bad_Conduct]

Originally posted by Arcvox:

Originally posted by Kneppy18:

The original FF7 has my second favorite video game music of all time (after FF6). Uematsu's work has always been great (though I'm not too big of a fan of his more rock-centered or genre-bending stuff). Any time in this game I hear his work in the background is pretty great, but the stuff he didn't do is very hit-or-miss for sure. It's modern Final Fantasy though so it tracks.

I think this is most likely the reason it bothers me, I kind of jumped off the FF boat after XIII (sorry if you liked that one but for me it was abysmal) so I'm not really used to the new direction as such. Good taste though, FF6 is my favourite OST too :)

XIII, and the whole Fabula Nova Crystallis brand, really killed this franchise. It's had an identity crisis ever since. If it was for XIV being their cash cow, I'm pretty sure they would have shelved it by now.

[ProfessorFrog]

I am annoyed by how the music seems to want to avoid melodies used in the original music.
Even the jenova music tracks, which is one of the best ones in the original and advent children, is changed into something that is hard to recognize. I don't feel that same hype.

[LexAnimex]

I agree but not with the npcs. Especially the queens blood opponents look so unique. But honestly I don't care and I was surprised they took so much effort for worthless npcs.

[mpcgannon]

I am on the same page. These days, the woke threads run rampant. People are pointing out skin color and I'm over here screaming HaVe YoU sEeN tHe ClOtHeS!!??!!

Cloud next to almost any NPC looks so ridiculous like assets from different games were loaded together. "Who are the terrorists?" Some of these folks aren't dressed like the others...

[Keags]

Originally posted by ProfessorFrog:

I am annoyed by how the music seems to want to avoid melodies used in the original music.
Even the jenova music tracks, which is one of the best ones in the original and advent children, is changed into something that is hard to recognize. I don't feel that same hype.

Really? I think the jenova theme is one of the standout soundtracks in this game, even the jenova theme in remake was amazing. The slightly remixed versions of the OG soundtrack are all amazing in this game, it's the new tracks that become questionable.

[Valant]

A lot of the generic NPCs are just outsourced, that's why they feel so different.

[MingQWERTY]

I think the devs overstretched themselves a bit in this game. It's an amazing game for sure but it's evident that they ran out of ideas at certain points and just did whatever they could to make the side quest/objective (like the 2 random criminals you mentioned) work. That side quest wasn't too bad and tried to go deeper into the whole SOLDIER degradation thing but the criminals felt completely unnecessary. A side quest that does everything right imo is the Salmon side quest in Junon. You get an amazing soundtrack, a bigger view into Barrret's character and the side characters that appear doesn't feel so out of place

I do still think this game provides an excellent and memorable gaming experience (helped that I've played the og) with all the minigames. Personally I don't mind it when a game is a mashup of multiple games it's like going to the arcade. But like you said there are definitely certain stuff that makes you question "why is this here"

Can't agree with the music though. I think the vast majority of the tracks are bangers. The problem I have is with the audio mixing. Some tracks are just much louder than usual

[tap and die]

Really not a fan of the black robed characters