VideoGame_Discussion

Frank wrote:

It’s definitely got more / better story- but it felt like a walking sim visual novel until the last few battles that actually made you use the battle system. There were a few good early fights on hard- the house especially.

Frank wrote:

Man...you're in for a treat in part 2! The character building is phenomenal so far @ 44 hours in!

@Feeb agreed, it's basically Dune part 1. They make up for it in Rebirth though.

Plot twist: Part 3 is a 2D platformer

I hope it’s a band based rhythm game. I need to use these instruments.

Damn near fully done with all three first zones,and just got a new discovery mission that will clearly be a giant pain in the ass for the whole game.

Overall, absolutely loving it. Haven't had this sense of "can't wait to keep playing" since Elden Ring.

Everything done in first 3, in 4th.

With one exception. The damn piano! Haven't gotten any rank A's yet. They suck.

Without spoilers, I'm 20 something hours in, 100% in the first two zones and am just about to start the official parade in Junon.


- Characters/story are obviously great
- I like that the side quests are loosely tied to a specific character to further develop their bond to Cloud.
- The side quest stuff thus far I feel is engaging and varied. It's the kind of stuff I enjoy finding more of. Specifically, Protorelic quests and finding rare beasts are fun.
- Quite enjoy the Queen's Blood card game
- The minigames and battle sims have been just challenging enough, without being rage-inducingly hard for no reason


- I need more Queen's Blood depth. There just isn't a big enough card library and they set you up with just the types of cards you need to beat the next challenger.
- Though warranted, I don't like being forced to use Assess on each new enemy as your first attack. It's just busy work and takes up a much needed materia slot that you need to make sure your active group always has. For me, when I want to take a break from Cloud, I need to move Assess to another.

@incubus421 QB is gonna get a lot better. More cards come into play soon. The leveling challenges aren't all that hard, but there's an area where they ramp up majorly.

I'm convinced, Yuffie is the the most overpowered. Jesus christ, two of her abilities combined are just unstoppable (from weapons 3 and 4).

You guys maxing out all weapon proficiency? Super easy to do in combat simulator.

I’m going to platinum this once I receive it and finish P3 plat. I’m not thrilled about having to open the hard mode by completing it (like remake) but I’ll be doing everything.

That feels like rii much work @Feeb. I've done 2 of the 4 Condors on hard, sucked.

Late Chapter 9, the hell is going on with the story... I have a hunch but this is gonna get weird (as do many JRPGs), or I'm just dumb.

I didn’t like the condors OG. I really do not like trophies buried behind content that would otherwise be ignored - but I’m often pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it or how much more complete the experience is. This is particularly true with hard modes etc.

gosh darn, I lol'd so hard at Barrett wearing his

Haha same @Renaissance2K

I have such a love-hate relationship going on with zone 4. So insanely well designed but a giant pain in the ass to get where you want to go.

Zone 4 is like Act III in Diablo 2. Glad to be done with it, but was actually pretty awesome.

This is a really awesome overview of all things Jenova (pre Rebirth). Played original 3x and this is a better explanation than anything I've gathered by playing over the years.

The whole Aerith matter... Had no idea the Jenova element here, mind blown.

https://youtu.be/W3fQ_oPa4eY

I DON'T WANT TO PLAY THE QUEEN'S BLOOD TOURNAMENT ANYMORE.

Mine arrived last night. Yikes.

incubus421 wrote:

Now closing in on 37-38 hours, some things have changed.


Queen's Blood did open up and new and interesting strats can now be used. Matches are tougher, the puzzle matches are fun to figure out.


Ran into a couple mini-games that getting the best prize on were an immediate nope for me. Welcome back to sit-up HELL! So glad this time around it doesn't appear to be tied to a trophy.

Just landed at the coveted Gold Saucer last night. Excited to play this evening!

@incubus421 yah the final sit up match is driving me nuts. Gave up after a few tries. Will come back later.

Gold saucer is pretty awesome. Most events are too easy unfortunately, still a really awesome reimagination of a standout part of the OG.

The QB matches get pretty damn tough though. Plan on coming back there soon as I've leveled up quite a bit and have a new solid deck I've been working on.

I got to zone 4 last night and excited to see how it plays out. I fear it's going to be the less interesting area so far.

Renaissance2K wrote:

Two and a half hours later, it's all over, and I won. Not really sure how I pulled it off, except quitting immediately if I didn't get a good mulligan and trying to take over as much of the board as I could as fast as possible.

Even then, the opponents have such crazy synergy, they can drop a single card and win back all three rows in a single round.

I hope that's it. I half-expect Sephiroth to smoke himself into being once again and say, "I'm waiting, Cloud... for you to play me in Queen's Blood."

So far I'm convinced that Cloud, Yuffie and Red is the best party make up. It's overpowered. Yuffie is a f'ing beast.

Just had my biggest ass whooping in QB, won 49-0. Wonder if a trophy over 50.

I've enjoyed most of the mini games and completing in full... But, fudge the chocobo flying!

Also, STFU Chadley, my God.

MrBean wrote:

+1

I really enjoyed that Rocket League game that you play with Red XIII, though it's unfair as balls (no pun intended) when the second ball comes into play.

Wrapped up my P3 plats tonight. Hopefully I get to jump in tomorrow. Sounds like most are loving this.

I thought about replaying the first disc of OG FF7 during February to prepare for Rebirth. In practice, I think only fuzzily remembering the details is working in Rebirth's favor.

Case in point: the boat from Junon. My chronicles of the first half of that chapter are chronicled in the posts above. The second half was great - love the minimalist remix of "Hurry!", by the way - but as I stepped into the Cargo Hold, I suddenly remembered

Oh boy. I’m glad I did not play the demo. So far I’ve shimmied ledges, slow walked anytime I try to go off the scripted path, slow climbed multiple ladders, toddler climbed up cliff faces, slow turned a valve so many times … and my favorite- slow walked under a fiery log that (telegraphed as it was) fell on me and made me limp the next 1/2 mile- slower than normal slow walk. Come on man. Mom had zero chance.

The combat and music are strong but the obnoxious hour building traversal mechanics persist. I view this series as a test of patience between boss fights thus far- I hope I’m so wrong about the next dozens of hours.

I do have big doubts that an open world will add anything meaningful- akin to Elden Ring.

Feeb wrote:


gotta inflate that game time somehow!

Kommie wrote:

I get it. It’s very pretty, they worked hard, I should relish it. It feels like it disrespects my time. Reading about all of these mini games… I’m not sure why I’m doing this even.

Typing this as I slowly crawl toward burning dying villagers. I’m coming!!!

So, navigation in Zone 4 sucked, but so does 5!

So glad to be done with both, onto the 6th.

They were both fun, made ya explore and pursue alternative paths.

67 hours, 51% trophies. Not looking up the trophies though. Whatever happens, happens.

Wanted to be done by today. Damn work and kids!

MrBean wrote:

Had a very free and open week this week/end with kids' sports transitioning from winter to spring. I played this game entirely too much! Back to it next week with concerts/practice/etc, so I don't know how soon I'll finish the story. 75ish hours and 55% of trophies

Zone 4 was esthetically pleasing, but not fun to get around.
Zone 5 was a lot more fun I thought, but less aesthetically pleasing aside from the sprawling vistas. A bit easier to navigate since fast travel points are well placed.
Played most of zone 6 last night. Fun to get around, highly saturated with the collectible stuff as it appears to be a smaller zone.

I hit a score of 83 in Queen's Blood last night. New personal best.
Took a look at the trophies to see what I'm in for in New game + / hard mode, and I think there will be a few things, much like the first game, that will be frustratingly rewarding to finally get that sweet platinum trophy.

I'm thinking 120-130 hours to platinum.

@incubus421 holy hell man, you got ahead! I was on such a good pace but last week had too many fam things. Agreed on both 4 and 5. I just did all the side quests in 5 (went wayyyy too and about to head into town. I'm sad as it clearly feels like there's not too much left...

83?!? Wow! I still have the gold saucer QB games to do. I finally converted to more of a replace my own cards deck and it's added a lot more fun to the mix.

So far I’m enjoying the battle system tons. The open world is still up in the air- so many fast travel points that it’s redundant feeling.

The battles have been a bit imbalanced so far especially as far as the healer goes- ATB fills very slowly unless you actively control your healer and the options are very limited so far. Anything that hits hard and fast is a sure death unless you out level it- I don’t remember ever feeling this imbalance with remake or the DLC. The healing felt like it kept up with content through and through.

@Feeb wait till you get radiant ward for Aerith. I have autocast heal on everyone as I don't have any one person as a designated healer or support. I like having variety and it works quite well.

MrBean wrote:

This is what I did too. I think they’ve kinda balanced around that whereas before a single big healer was almost mandatory to stay up. I hate the feeling of a required materia slot being used- there are more slots though it feels and less useful materia so far. They also seem to want you to absolutely control every action of everyone ( which was definitely a thing for endgame high difficulty before) more so than early remake.