Final Fantasy VII Remake Rant

[@ad19999]

I replayed ff9 right after the ff7 "remake." What a terrible mistake that was. It broke my heart to see how amazing the games used to be. Now they are just cinematic walking simulators, complete with waifu flirting systems and pointless side quests. What a shame.

[@reinsama2.09]

If I see any destiny ghosts in FF9 Remake or Nomoron's name in the credits I'm flying to Japan and kicking some ass

[@et_cetera_]

As one of the kids who skipped the first half of school on a day in 1997 to stand in a line at the mall to get my copy of the original, I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with every single aspect of this analysis. Orion, I appreciate you being the voice of all of us who loved the original and wished the remake had stayed truer to the story. In my opinion SE just seems scared. They seem scared to tell the story how it was, scared to tell it honestly, scared to offend, scared of what avalanche was, scared of killing characters, scared of everything. Its the same problem we see in contemporary journalism - if you try to reach the biggest audience possible, you end up writing a story that interests no one. They shouldnt have taken on this story if they didnt have the courage to tell it. Thanks for your great critiques.

[@orion8550]

Thanks very much for your comment, Matt. I really appreciate that. This game is still one of the biggest disappointments of the year for me (and a lot has happened in 2020!). I wish I had been in line back in 1997 - I was a couple years late to the party and RPGs for that matter. I think you've probably hit the nail on the head there about Square Enix. Such a shame.

[@et_cetera_]

@@orion8550Truly. I look forward to more of your videos on the series as well. The documentary you did was also outstanding. Much obliged for your substantive and thoughtfully articulated content here.

[@vincentgraymore]

I think that they were also scared of their own legacy. They did not want to compete with it, so they rationalized having to redo the story by instead creating a remake with as much difference as possible instead of minimal. They also set up devices to let them do whatever going forward so that they could feel safe from being tied to the old legacy. In the process they forgot or ignored that they also destroyed that old legacy because they either aren't capable or realizing that sequels and retcons changes and warp even the original. The OG is still there but by going by remakes lore and if it is a sequel means that time travel and fate was always a part of the world, even in the OG and that undoes the themes of that game and the themes was the essence of the legacy. Then they also managed to angry people that trusted SE to deliver a classic, and they set up hopes for changes for a number of different camps (Aerith live/die, Zack join/die). So now fan base is divided, SE has to please an even larger disagreement of what should be, and they need to do it within a reasonable amount of time. I have no idea how and what they were thinking but after it all was churned in the magic black box most people ended up liking it regardless of fallout. Regardless of the developers and critics (famistu gave XIII 39/40) it is a shame that fans aren't more upset. This remake also shock the game industry as it shows success in making secret sequels and call them remakes. Now no remake should be trusted as companies will want to leech from the success and make subversion the essence of remakes.

[@Scott-M1]

I enjoyed 90% of the game, minus those irritating whispers. When i got to Shinra HQ and to the president's suite, i remember saying to myself "Oh nooo". Then that Oh no, was confirmed at the end. It was like i walked onto the set of Advent Children. Even as an objective pacing, the ending was ridiculous. Killed the game for me.

[@AmorFati777X]

My Thoughts: The people blindly praising this game are essentially praising it on the merits of the original that carried over-strong (original game) narrative, characters, world, aesthetics, etc. newly wed to modern graphics. The newer generation has never known anything on the level of FFVII. I finally just started FFXV and let me tell you its gonna be a loooonngg 30-60 hour grind for me. (I've played the entire main series, besides.) But my point is people think remake is great either A. out of desperate nostalgia addiction-fix or: B. because it piggybacks off of '97 origin content, which *is* great and literally carries the entire remake on its back-and they fail to distinguish it strictly from what is added-and they do this in a 20 year vacuum of SE mediocrity. Never underestimate the power of contrast in the over-valuation of a thing. (That lone plain Jane in the office of 30 thirsty dudes looks a helluva lot better at work than she does on the outside, and we have been thirsty for an FFVII remake for a long, long time let me tell you.) Or: C, people just want something "new" for the vanity of something new, even when the price is degradation to glorified fan-fic quality. (You do you, boo.) They just had to go and fuck with the story... and not even in a "good" way. The OG story was a piece of literary art. It was a masterpiece, the back of the game case even says so. You DO NOT ALTER a masterpiece. Imagine some modern technique being applied to any work in the Louvre or any of Shakespeare's plays. So fucking stupid. This should be painfully obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of the elemental principles of literary narrative and I am supremely confident that part 2 will definitively expose this glaring weakness when it is realized how the game's legacy is muted, chiefly because now nothing has permanent consequence and thus, all events become utterly vain, empty, meaningess. All things are common and nothing common holds value. And then there's what they did to the soundtrack.. It looks like FFVII, and at times it feels like FFVII-but it is not FFVII. It's an imposter. So the game was a bitter-sweet experience for me. At the end of the day, it just left me feeling empty and disappointed that I wasn't really playing Final Fantasy VII. I was playing a doppleganger.. The remake's acclaim is basically a parasite. Remake's additions are not great on its own merit. That's why its so hard for me to rate this game. I see it as a Siamese twin, as a Jekyll/Hyde Frankenstein monster of a game. One aspect of the game is fantastic. One is trash. And that makes my inner-child very sad. Thank God nomura cannot undo the timeline of the '97 release in the real world... I know many of you will feel the need to white knight for "nomura-san" now and tell me how dare I voice my opinion or some shit because they liked it, but Idc. I've wanted the remake longer than most of them have been out of diapers. In 20 years when remake is dated, will anyone still be talking about it? I doubt it. Fuck you nomura. Fuck you.

[@Scott-M1]

"Thank god they cannot undo the timeline of the '97 original in the real world" Dude, nailed it! 👍

[@AmorFati777X]

@@Scott-M1 still very disappointed

[@Scott-M1]

@@AmorFati777X Same here. Ending was crushed my soul...

[@rokmare]

This remake is for Advent Children fans not the original fans of ff7 Nomura was just a designer for the game and doesn't know what made the original a classic in the first place.

[@AmorFati777X]

@@rokmare I see you are prepared to stand side by side with me in a grand 300-style final stand against a legion of cuck weebs, because saying what you just said is tantamount to high blasphemy to these simpletons.

[@Shane-kf6lu]

I felt exactly the same. The game would be nearly perfect if the "whispers" and the ending were removed. I can't believe they blew it this severely.

[@roody716]

Don't worry, Final Fantasy VII remake part 2 is gonna fix everything. It's going to be a 40 hour game focused on the party's journey from Midgar to Kalm. There will be things that'll try to alter the course, but the artibers of fate are going to make sure things stay on course so the group makes it to Kalm where Cloud can tell his story about Sephiroth............................................ No seriously though, I don't get why Square decided to change the story. The original story was amazing. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

[@raulrojas9253]

Tetsuya Nomura, that's why.

[@FragmentedR_YT]

Jokes aside, the Nibelheim flashback is something I’m looking forward to about part 2. Considering it takes place so far before the time traveling bullshit, I imagine it’ll be 100% faithful and absolutely glorious to the original version (unless they go off Crisis Core). That’s all I care about when it comes to part 2 tbh though.

[@7milesdavis]

@@FragmentedR_YTI think you underestimate their ability to subvert expectations and screw things up.

[@FragmentedR_YT]

@@7milesdavis yeah I did ngl I don’t know why I said 100% lmao

[@EmilyRose900]

How do they explain characters being level 15 when I completed the first game at level 99. Are they just hoping to keep going like I'll be level 115 at the start? It doesn't make sense.

[@zestination]

They just had 1 job.. remake the game.. but they fucked it up

[@sddetya713]

thats not ff7. its kingdom hearts, ff7 addition.

[@koffypr1]

I agree with u. The fact that they throw Sephiroth so fast pissed me off. I like the game but just when I dnt think about the storyline . I like walking around Midgar and getting to see another perspective . The ghost things that showed up? I mean WTF. I know it didnt have to be 100% like the old one...but fuck.

[@NuthinButRespect]

It's because Sephiroth is in control of fate and trying to fuck with shit, the game is still going to end the same way lol.

[@FrYLocK41]

It's a classic bait and switch money grab. Square-Enix is dead.

[@godfrey4461]

Just beat the game and I'm not sure how I personally feel about it.

[@orion8550]

It's a lot to take in. There was so much I loved about the game - which I guess is why I'm so frustrated, personally.

[@rasaanshakur9491]

Yeah it’s trash. I’m still pissed

[@soul71000]

I loved Advent Children, wish I could say the same for VIIR.

[@benre]

very good summary!

[@PrincessBeeRelink]

This game was a disappointment but I'm already over it.

[@propheinx2250]

The choice to make FF7 remake is really baffling to me. I understand wanting to place a story in the FF7 world, and I also understand not wanting to just repeat grounds already tread. So why not just make a new group of protagonists that either takes place before Zach or take place alongside the original story? Maybe a 2nd cell of Avalanche that operates on the other side of Midgar and is more concerned with sabotaging Shinra and making them look bad than outright attacking them. Maybe you'd go to sabotage a reactor and when leaving you see Cloud fighting some Shinra guards by a train. You get back to where this group operates from and here that the reactor blew up and Avalanche was to blame forcing the group take a more direct approach with Shinra and maybe questioning the morals of Avalanche. In the end you're forced to flee Midgar, but long after Cloud and company left. Taking this kind of approach would've given them ample storytelling freedom, while not pissing fans of the original off, and giving people the ability to view the main cast of FF7 from an outsider's perspective.

[@propheinx2250]

@Aaron9 yeah, but that doesn't allow for much creative freedom. I was just giving an example of what they could've done while having greater creative freedom.

[@aleksandarmarkovic1013]

I love the people like you that have the BALLS to criticize this trash of a remake. As a new installment ok, solid game but to use a precious brand as FF7 and shit all over it is criminal.

[@orion8550]

Thanks for your comment. It's no accident that the game is at its best when it's sticking to the original. In retelling and expanding on the original's key scenes it was moving, funny, and at times breathtaking. Makes it even more heartbreaking to see what could have been. Whispers and fate/destiny was pure garbage for me.

[@NuthinButRespect]

You mean people that cry about nothing, how's this video any different then children on reddit and fb groups throwing a fit? kick rocks

[@irishgamer876]

Never played the original, quit the remake about a third of the way into the game

[@DrewHLMW]

I thought the ending twist was fantastic when you realize that Sephiroth has been trying to REMAKE the timeline so that he wins and the planet itself is the whispers and its trying to keep the timeline on its natural course so that meteor hits, humanity is wiped out and nature retakes the planet as we saw in the end credits scene in the original game. It gives the title REMAKE so much more meaning and it leaves the original FFVII still as a must play game cause it's way to profitable to simply abandon or replace with a regular remake. I love the fact that this can now be considered a sequel and that the original game will now be forever relevant and important. My only problem with the game was Hojo's bloody lab section, that took fucking forever to get through. At long last we have a battle system that doesnt suck, this is the first final fantasy game that hasnt bored me to death during battles since X, I could replay the boss fights over and over especially hell house, love that fight. The changes at the end could indeed be disasterous, Square dont have a great track record, but I'm being optimistic. if the game had been a 1 to 1 remake, it would be over and forgotton about until the next part arrived in however many years but this ending created conversation, it got the fan community buzzing and talking and speculating and it made sure people didnt just forget it after they finished. Wether Square create a new masterpiece with the future parts or not, I'll always love this first part for daring to do something new, something exciting, for taking a risk. I hope it works out well.

[@shro_okee]

summary of the comments: change = bad, see y'all in rebirth

[@Nathan-rb3qp]

It’s literally False Advertising: The Game. BTW Astro Bot GOTY for the win!

[@NuthinButRespect]

The Whispers aren't handled well but they're gone now and you won't see them in the next one. You're not going to see them go off the rails in part 2, they WANT people to have something to talk and wonder about until the next one comes out. They want you to THINK you can save Aerith and that Zack, Biggs etc. is alive. Aerith will die, Zack is dead in the real timeline it's just an alternative timeline to add some more Zack to the game, same with Biggs etc.. They're not casting a phoenix down on everyone calm your tits, that's not how it will play out, yer getting subverted. The changes aren't going to be catastrophic like some of you are bitching and moaning about, the game is going to stay mostly the same. Also the 3 whisper bosses are Kadaj and his 2 buddies from Advent Children, pay attention to their attacks and weapons. The game is great, some of you are just flipping out over nothing. It's not a remaster it's a remake, videos like this are a salt fest. Nomura did NOT write the story, Kojima did both the OG and the remake. Fun Fact - Nomura made the decision to have Aeris die in the Original, you're bitching and crying with piss poor KH comparisons that dont' make any sense blaming this guy but he's the same person that made the OG so memberable by having Aeris die. Kojima and Kits wanted EVERYONE to die at the end except Cloud and 2-3 others and you were going to have to pick. - the more you know. Nomura has less say in anything than the other two, he literally had to convince them not to kill everyone in the OG one and to only kill Aeris. KH is trash, fuck mixing Disney and FF but he's nobody to be blaming here, the story isn't going to be ruined, you're crying over nothing. This video won't age well, I get some people are upset but its simply cause you're getting fucked with and don't realize everything will remain relatively the same.

[@orion8550]

Except in this FrontLine article, Kitase spells out that Nomura had 'the overall direction and concept, story and worldbuilding'. www.frontlinejp.net/2020/04/17/ffvii-remake-interview-with-nomura-tetsuya-and-kitase-yoshinori/ Nojima wrote the script, which is the same as writing a screenplay but being directed by someone else's overarching ideas (Nomura). And in the video I explain it's Nojima and Kitase as much to blame for not keeping him in check. Because Nomura already made a hash of the Advent Children movie, and KH is a mess (KH3 an utter mess). Must be just a big coincidence that Nomura directed all of those. Where does the game tell you that the whisper bosses are Kadaj and friends from Advent Children? You are making an assumption, friend. I've seen more people claim they are Cloud, Barret and Tifa. The people who are defending the game are struggling to grasp ideas from every KZbinr and forum, because the game doesn't make sense on its own. It's irrelevant whether or not the next game aligns closely with the original game. I'm talking about this game. If your theory is right and they do stick to the original script, then it makes their decisions here even more stranger and amateurish.

[@gamewizord]

@@orion8550 I agree if they stick the original story in the next game to me it'll seem like 1 of 2 thing's either 1 they heard the backlash an change what their plan is out of fear of the series going forward not doing well. Which I don't believe because the fanbase for 7 would buy anything even if they disliked the first part so the ammount of people that decide to wait on part 2 is minimal. Or 2 all this ending was, was shock value for the sake of shock value to fuck with people with no reason other then to fuck with people. But In all honesty the game isn't even that great it has amazing thing's but most of the new additions aren't even worth it just being Midgar. That one soilder that you fought on a bike an in a compound what in the hell was his pourpose an why did he just disappear an never was seen again for the entire experience. That one guy wanting revenge on corneo didn't really add anything the side quests mostly were boring an didn't add anything to the overall story. Secondary limit break being locked behind an areana match instead of just gettign them for using the previsous limit break cheapens the limit breaks. Limit breaks being rewards for beating a areana match doesn't even make sense. I personally like advent children I find it's story interesting but the remake takes it way to far adding a concept that wasn't in the original. Cloud talking to alternate reality self after falling in the church was stupid. I would have made it this reality's zack talking to him which would have been emotional an made sense. I would have completly removed the destiny an ghost crap all together. They didn't need an unnecessary plot device that wasn't in the original when there is already so much that was there that could have been expanded upon an made better. I also hated the switches that would take 5 seconds or so to pull that look like easily pulled levers to me feels like the intentionally made it take long to pull to arbitrarily add run time. Also disliked the constant ladders an tiny crawl spaces and small planks to walk on that slows the pace to a crawl all of those also feel to me like time wasters to just make the game longer. Also something I don't normally complaine about is it's extremely linear. I think it's even more linear then 13 least 13 has a few areas that are open 7 doesn't have a single open area. It's even more linear then the original game. So I honestly don't know how I feel about the game I love the story that you know actually follows the story and the extended character development for jessie biggs and wedge. but other then that it's not that great. Which I seem to be saying alot about square enixs AAA games 15 sucked, kh3 was a letdown now the FF7 remake the one thing they had to get right is also a letdown not nearly as much as 15 or 3 but still a letdown.

[@josephgregorowicz5135]

You lost all credibility the second you said, "Aeris".

[@orion8550]

Hi Jayseph

[@Nathan-rb3qp]

He’s joking about the original mistranslation. Sense of humor much?

[@fearlesscheshirecat1411]

My god purists are so annoying…. I love how every single one too listens to a complaint from one purist, and then the rest of you run with it lmfao You and nobody in the comments have a clue about the original if this is how you feel about Remake. And you lost me as soon as you blamed Nomura lol But sure, all of you go back to the original then. Maybe you should actually pay attention this time around.

[@reinsama2.09]

Tell me a SE piggy bank without telling me you are

[@fearlesscheshirecat1411]

@@reinsama2.09 Tell me you use annoying over used memes without telling me you use annoying over used memes. But I throw money at good products. I’m not broke like the rest of you. I could buy this game 500 times over without it hurting me one bit. Hell I might even do that….

[@fearlesscheshirecat1411]

@@reinsama2.09 How about you do your own research instead of blindly following other purists.

[@fearlesscheshirecat1411]

@@kl-nl3kv First rule of biased nostalgia-stricken purists, call the person calling them out on their crap a “fanboy” because you don’t have any real argument. I can literally refute any “points” that they’ve brought up lmfao I’ve done it dozens of times already, and they always go silent.

[@fearlesscheshirecat1411]

@@kl-nl3kv Nomura’s* shoulders for one