I somehow managed to mistake Red XIII's name for Red VIII and didn't notice when revising the script, recording voice over and editing. Sorry for that. Like and subscribe. EDIT: I assumed I wrote Red XIII's name wrong in the script as VIII, and that's why I got it wrong in voice over. Turns out it's actually a bit worse than that. I actually wrote the roman numeral correctly. My brain somehow still read it as VIII out loud and I didn't notice. Fucking ADHD, man...
AI voice overs will read a typo like that. a human reading a script would just call the character by their name even if the script is typed wrong. the 100% lack of breathing in the audio made me suspicious, but this comment confirmed it. i like your ideas but i’d prefer to hear you actually speak them
@@toddbarriage I actually just cut most of the breathing, though not all, especially in the beginning you can still hear it if you pay attention. Humans just make mistakes sometimes. But if you want to believe this theory of yours, be my guest.
I've never come across anyone claiming the original FF7 was perfect. It's just a work of art that resonated with a lot of people. I can only speak for myself but I was never one of the people begging for a remake of FF7. I still love the original. I go back and play it and enjoy it for what it is when I'm in the mood to do so. I enjoy the crunchy low poly aesthetic and find the chibi models charming. I love the music, background art and gameplay systems. It is still after all this time a fun game to just hang out in. As someone who played it when it was new, it never looked "real" to me. It always looked exactly as it has. Newer games coming out never changed how FF7 was presented. I will never understand why people behave this way. There's this very frustrating tendency to pin any and all enjoyment of an older work on nostalgia and child imagination of something that isn't really there. This, I think is very lazy when discussing media. Sure some people only see value in a video game if it is current and do not value the work itself past the hype cycle and then their nostalgic memories of it. I think that is unfortunate but saying everyone who claims the original game is great is engaging with the work only in this way is dishonest. MY Final Fantasy VII absolutely exists. It's the game Squaresoft released in 1997.
This 100%. Guy in the video is trying to use some sort of subjectivist, postmodern lens to justify the subversion of the original FF7 that Remake/Rebirth has become. There is nothing more insufferable than creative directors ruining remakes of media by inserting their own incredibly dull meta-narratives into what was an outstanding story, ruining it completely and making it into a convoluted mess. There were warning signs of this at the end of Remake, and inserting "Schrödinger's Aerith" into the end of Rebirth was just awful. I knew they would do it, too! "Everyone wants to save/revive Aerith! Let's do that!" Oh, and "Wouldn't it be super-special-awesome to have Cloud and Zack fight together against Sephiroth?" Sorry, that's literally fanfic-level writing. None of this needed to exist. It destroys character arcs and story beats, and creates that aforementioned convoluted mess. Imagine if someone in 2030 remade Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. But instead of faithfully retelling the story, it inserted meta-narratives about how fans idolised LotR, fate-ghosts kick Gandalf off the Bridge of Khazad-Dum to ensure story continuity, and Boromir comes back to life in Return of the King to help Eowyn slay the Witch King of Angmar.
@@andyw_uk74my thoughts too. It’s said that a post modern examination of FF7 through the lens of a meta narrative is worth my time more than a simple remake. Um… is it? I don’t believe so. I think I was much happier before I knew about all the crazy fans out there. When I played the OG one summer of the late 90’s I wasn’t thinking about all the shippers and theory crafting forums and streamers and all that noise out there. The game had a story to tell me. I listened and that was that. But it seems that’s not enough these days. Game devs or execs just want infinite engagement regardless of the effect on quality. It’s not enough to tell a story, everything has to be commentary.
@@andyw_uk74as much as they somewhat did some fanservice stuff at the end,nothing says they are not gonna respect the ideas of the original ffvii,especially if by the end you can clearly feel something is not right,they are just reworking some ideas of the lifestream to make future moments more impactful,Aerith is definetly dead they just want Cloud's awakening to feel stronger than the original adding layers to it. I can't see something wrong with that.
You guys talking about the dude from Kingdom Hearts? I can't believe they made an entire spinoff franchise for a side character from the Olympian Arena.
While I agree that OG FFVII is not perfect (the huge materia sub-plot in particular is absolute trash, in my opinion), one thing I really hate about this video is that it actively dismisses/reduces all tasteful creative choices that demonstrate open to interpretation nuance, artistic restraint, and subtlety as "head-canoning" and as story flaws rather than the strengths that they are. Tifa not interjecting after hearing Cloud's story is without exaggeration the entire point of her character. Just because the game does not explicitly spell it out for you, doesn't mean it isn't heavily implied. Several points of her dialogue in the story suggests that she is actively hiding it out of concern for Cloud, and that the pressure of keeping this a secret is eating her up inside. She is repeatedly characterized as hesitant, paralyzed with indecision, too empathetic for her own good, and a well-intentioned enabler. It's this same intentional character flaws that gets her to go along with Avalanche's actions despite disagreeing with it. Her character arc involves confronting this tendency and fatal flaw that she has alongside Cloud in the lifestream (every bit as much as it's about him confronting his insecurities). Hell, her last name is quite literally "Lockhart" as in she locks her feelings deep inside in her heart. It's straight up what makes her an interesting and complex character, not an example of why the old game isn't as good as you remember it or whatever.
Advent children isn't just hated for being poorly written, reintroducing problems that were supposed to be resolved in the original game (such as clouds constant guilt tripping of himself), in doing little if anything to advance the plot. It's also hated for how it handled cloud and Tifa's relationship. Many people, myself included, actually thought they had broken up before the movie started. There's also the issue of sephiroth coming back, only to supposedly be defeated for good, but with no justification as to how that works. Another complication is that Rufus shinra being redeemed made no sense at the time, it makes sense given how he's being painted in the remake trilogy, put in the original game he was a purely evil and ruthless piece of crap.
Most of the party members got shafted in Advent Children it left me really cold. Seeing Rufus and the Turks get more dialogue than Barret, Yuffie and Red was really disappointing.
When I saw it I had similar complaints. Especially about the orphans. 2 brand new characters dropped in a sequel and the only way they can tie them into the plot and garner interest is make them orphans and have Cloud work at an orphanage. That he's never around at to actually take care of the orphans. Then just having the party pretty much reduced to cameos and then helping lift Cloud in the end was the worst type of fan service. My brother simply told me I didn't get it. I was stunned.
@@gamervet4760 personally I think they have a chance to retcon that, in remake part 1 there was an evacuation and rescue effort that didn't happen in the original. Easy out for square enix if they want to undo that crap. Especially with Denzel, he's a character who only exists for the sake of denying Cloud and tifa their own kids.
Tifa didn’t point out the wrong stuff Cloud was saying because she was worried Cloud would go away again or that something would happen to him an Rufus escaped the weapon blast because there was a trap door that his dad had made
6:40 and then they completely butchered the once best game scene of all time by refusing to pick a side and stick to it. They wanted both worlds alive . And dead. So it jump back and forth between the and we never actually got to see sephiroth + Aerith on screen when it happens
I dunno man, if they made the remakes like we have them now just without the whisper stuff and the unnecessary Sephiroth cameos then they would be perfect for me at least xD
This video has a faulty presupposition.. Which is that FF7 only lives in ppl memories.. FF7 is one of the most replayed games out there..i replay it every year..it has an average of 2k ppl playing all the time on steam.. So its not how ppl remember the game ppl are experiencing it right now.. You havent discovered a long forgotten game.. I play it now and see all its flaws..and overall its still an amazing game.. The fact a remake of it is having to be broken up into multiply games is a testiment to how content rich the game is.. Its writing,plot,characters,charm are all above most of what we see today in gaming.even its combat system that has almost unlimited combinations of materia is still one of the best magic systems in gaming today.
sorry to break it to ya, but yes no doubt ff7 is content rich, but the fact that ff7 remake is being broken into 3-4 parts only screams and tells me GREED. They are milking that cash cow for all it's worth. And it's a smart move, sure.. but the remake of FF7, has so many new and updated things that was not in the original game. If they made a true 1:1 remaster of the original, It would be maximum of 2 discs... thats maybe? it's a sad world we live in now where everyone is just after money.
@@鹿野修哉-u2k I'm playing ff7 new threat lol but if I had a choice, it would be OG + a few mods to make it 60fps, clean up the backgrounds and maybe something else.. but OG models yes, OG sounds, yes, OG music, yes.
I don’t think fan expectations were too crazy. if anything doing things that would make people satisfied would’ve actually been less work. They would just have to do what they did for the majority of the game aka expand on different areas and re-create them. I’ve never seen anyone complain about the way the nibelhiem flashback was done because it was re-created accurately. That’s all they had to do. It’s really not that complicated and I don’t know why people pretend it is.
The problem with this is that a lot of the games later plot has no setup. It’s just several plot points presented to the player without any narrative logic or conntrctive tissue . Sepheroith basically says “yeah I witnessed history, and now I am going to shape the future exactly how I want it” he declares himself god and says he knows everything. This is the original game, not the remakes or compilation. He even mentioned absorbing the spiritual energy of a massive wound to the planet. Again, this is DIALOGE from the OG that matches exact scenarios in retrillogy. They did not get these ideas from nowhere. They came from the original game. I'm so tired of people who dislike the remmakes saying that the “new plot elements “ have no basis in the OG it's factually incorrect. Even the whispers were always an intended concept for the original ps1 was too limited to visualize then to the player, so they get a passing mention in Cosmo canyon. It's so frustrating that people act like the devs pulled stuff out of their ass for the remakes. No, it's all from the original, even dreams. That's what the sleeping forest is a dream. But somehow, it's not ff7 come on, people maybe pay attention the next time you play the original sheesh.
@@joshz2491It doesn’t matter if limitations made the OG what it is, adding that stuff now just changes the core of the original. It doesn’t matter how much you twist it, lifestream never equated to multiverse, it is just not a theme in the original. It comes from the obsession of these creatives clearly seen in FFXIII, just now they are infecting FF7.
Blame the FF7 OG GateKeepers who think anything deviating from a 1:1 remake of the original is sacrilegious. I had a chat with HappyCatRUclips who is well studied on the FF7 lore and told her that it's better that the game makers don't try to recreate the original game exactly the way it was. They need to add new elements and plot details to make it fresh and new to bring in a new audience and she agreed with that idea.
@@renegade637 New elements and fresh stuff is fine. But when you also throw in so many important details that only make sense to fans of the original, how is that supposed to draw in new audiences and not make them feel alienated or confused about a lot of what's going on?
There is. The original FF7. Just replay it. You'll find something new each time. I always do. I'm currently replaying with a mod that halves the amount of exp from all battles to make the game more challenging, though so far it's still pretty easy tbh. I also have 10 other mods that update the graphics, UI, sounds, etc.
I’m personally not a fan of the Final Fantasy VII Remake, and it’s Sequel (Rebirth), nor do I care about the added backstory of the other remake to Final Fantasy VII, Ever Crisis. I don’t think the word anyone who played the original FF7 who wanted a remake to it for years was faithful… I think for some, they wanted a 1 to 1 remake of Final Fantasy VII. A game that plays like the original, but with HD graphics as well as in a new engine. And I think that’s what’s the issue here. The remake games has a lot of issues, most of it sucks, but it’s not because I hated it out of its unfaithfulness. It’s more so how the story’s just convoluted as well as how the games don’t know what they’re made for. It doesn’t know if it’s a sequel, a reboot, a soft reboot, or in those games’ case, a remake. To me, a remake should fix the problems the original game had, while also staying close to the original game’s story, and in some cases, could add in references & some lore that were established in other games, and show what happened in those events in the original game and/or laying out the groundwork that would be an important plot point in the sequels following the original game, before the remake’s release. The Resident Evil Remakes are a perfect example of this. It fixes the issues the old games had, while still keeping it close to the original story, while adding hints & lore that would be explored in the games following the events of the first Resident Evil. And I think the FF7 Remakes should’ve done a similar thing to what the RE Games had. Sharing the same plot & characters as the original game, while also changing the gameplay, change some minor story bits, add some new cutscenes, expand some plot lines & characters, and integrate some characters & lore from the Compilation Pre-VII, the original FFVII could be in line with the other Compilation titles. It shouldn’t be a sequel, a reboot, and a soft reboot, at the same time… otherwise, it would get confusing, and make people like me uninterested in the series. That was an issue the 2011 Mortal Kombat game had. For how good the gameplay was, the story was just not good, and the fact it tried to retell the first 3 games as well as adding in Quan Chi from MK4 in there, not to mention it had a hard time figuring out if it’s a reboot, or a sequel, really made some of the MK Fans I know, mad. While the idea that a reimagined type of sequel that subverts everyone’s expectations works well in anime’s like the Scott Pilgrim anime or Evangelion, it worked in anime simply because “animation”. For animation & books, you’re easily able to watch the reimagines that subverts your expectations when you thought you were watching an adaptation of your favorite book, since your favorite book or animation are easily accessible. But for video games, its hard to play an old game from the 90s when they’re not accessible to a wide audience. And even when there’s an old game that’s available on modern consoles, it can be difficult for someone who could have a different experience playing games in the 2010s or 2020s, compared to someone who had an experience of playing games in the 90s. If you’re reading this, then I want to say thank you for reading.
That's fair, we are all entitled to our own opinions! But I genuinely believe what they are doing here is inherently more interesting than something more faithful.
The Problems started long before the "remakes" ... FF7 never needed the compilation in the first place. It ruins the whole experience, the open end and many charakters. Like reviveing hojo, reviving rufus, adding even more dumb Charakters. It's best to just see the original game standing with It's vision for itself.
For those of us that was 15 and 16 when the game came out what we want is an identical recreation of the original game but with high-tech graphix and improved game mechanics
Final Fantasy VII does exist and due to all the times its been ported to different consoles - it will continue to exist. The argument of the Final Fantasy VII in our minds not existing has some merit but does not completely work. Because we have the original and all they had to do was copy that and perhaps give it some tweaks. Thats how you please most people. Not everyone but most people. The fundamental misunderstanding here that you and others have of fans of the og Final Fantasy VII is that Final Fantasy VII (og) told a better story and executed it better as well. No one thought the original was perfect but much like Star Wars or other classic stories - it was a work of art that managed to be more than the sum of its parts and left an impact on those who played it. The remake in comparison is at best a mess of a story with maybe fun gameplay in it. The original was accused of being a mess by some people. So a mess of a mess is an even bigger mess. Its the storytelling that made the original great and great storytelling stands the test of time. This remake however...won't. It will be looked at like the compilation of FFVII. Unfortunately, by trying to bring everyones vision together and trying to please everyone they will instead please very few people imo. The people that wanted to play the original with better graphics are screwed and the people who wanted to experience the originals story but can't get past the graphics are also screwed. History matters and needs to be preserved. Everything new eventually becomes history and becomes old. There is no bright future without a past that builds the foundation for what can become a bright future. We all stand on the shoulders of giants forgetting that many of the things we enjoy and take for granted wouldn't exist if it weren't for those past events. We in turn only exist because of the actions of our parents in the past. Many of these repeated justifications from the developers and fans do not address or justify their decisions. The shadow of the original will loom larger as time goes on because it built a legacy while the remake only tried to use its parent as a way to make something that was flashy but less good. This remake is only for those who like the metanarrative more than the original narrative. It is not for those who like the original narrative more than the remakes metanarrative.
Since in the third game, we will get comatose Cloud in the story who we found in Mideel... I found out Banora is somewhere in the Mideel region... but y'know, Banora is in ruins right now and God.. I don't want to see that Loveless twink ever again lmao (a mention of him is enough lol, and Angeal too maybe...)
As someone that has argued constantly that ff7 isn't a perfect game, that doesn't mean the compilation stuff was good. It really wasn't. It didn't serve to enhance the story or world of the original game or themes. Much that was added through the compilation needed massive retcons to key events, and even then much of that stuff was dropped in later titles in the compilation. Hell, you brought that up multiple times when bringing up Genesis. There's a reason he was a character in crisis core, then shown in the ending to dirge, but then never brought up in any other compilation medium. Because yea, he wasn't important, and to shoehorn him in further would cause even more rewrites. They could do that now with the "remake" trilogy if they want to since they're so willing to rewrite huge parts of the narrative with multiverse bs, and who knows they probably will in part 3. Or maybe they won't. i'm half convinced at this point with the direction they're going that its gonna turn out that sephiroth is actually a good guy trying to save the multiverse from some cosmic god or something. idk if i'm joking about that or not anymore with how so many ff games and other square franchises has gone. Much of the extra stuff they added into the compilation, the new characters, haven't really been mentioned in the "remake" trilogy for a reason. because they serve no purpose. They have brought up some things, like deepground or that one dude that defected to wutai, but so far it hasn't really been important to the overall plot because, in the grand scheme of things, all of that was never meant to enrich the original game. If they wanted to do a real "remake" of ff7 or expand the content, they should have just done a straight remake while expanding on some things, but not to such an extent that entire events are rewritten. If they wanted to add in new characters and events to fill in gaps, they could have done so in ways that wouldn't require so much retconning and shoehorning and mental gymnastics. There are ways they could have done it that could have made old fans still appreciate it and pull in new fans. Example, they could have done the story of crisis core as just a story of zack working his way up the soldier ladder, meeting sephiroth, going on a few missions with him against wutai, having him meet aerith and spending time with her, telling her his dreams, talking to sephiroth about it to further expand his character out a bit (maybe have sephiroth talk about how he doesn't really have dreams, explain his upbringing, drop hints at jenova being his "mother", etc) leading up to nibelheim where everything happens as is, but expanding it a bit to show the aftermath, escape, trip back to midgar, etc. They could have kept some elements of the original crisis core if they really want to, like the whole soldier honor mantra thing, the final battle being against an army instead of just like 3 shinra troops (there are actually multiple ways to do both the army battle AND still have him just be gunned down by a few troopers), etc. There are ways they could have done some of the compilation stuff without the shoehorning and massive retcons, elevating ff7 to BE the masterpiece everyone says it is. Instead they kinda just ruined it. It already wasn't perfect, but instead of doing some expansions to better flesh things out they decided they wanted to rewrite huge portions. Something i'd like to point out, back before advent children was announced, i don't know a single person who actually played ff7. I was in middle school back when the first screenshots were leaked, and i remember people not knowing much about it beyond it being a ps1 game that was popular. I'd talk about it with my friends, since i played it in elementary school, but honestly none of them really knew about it or cared much about it, as they were kinda in their "ff10 is the best game ever" phase. It wasn't until after AC was announced and then released that those very same people started claiming that ff7 was a masterpiece. People jumped on the bandwagon hard, partially because of marketing for AC and partially because people wanted to be in the "in" group. i'm not saying thats exactly what happened, but that's my anecdotal experience. I feel like a lot of the praise the game gets today and much of its modern defenders are those people, people that jumped on the bandwagon despite never actually playing the game back in the day, and i'm not saying they haven't played the game since but I do feel like their view has been colored by that hype of jumping on the bandwagon and that colored their opinion of the game as they played it.
Not even that. If you played the game, you’d know his name was Red 13. That’s why I don’t listen to ANYONE on the internet. A bunch of talking and theorizing but don’t know ish
Naw dude, none of us back then thought FF7 was perfect, there was constant debate, especially after 8 and 9 released about which was the best. But, we all respected the game, and we all just wanted a 1:1 remake with better graphics and some tweaks just like the 1:1 remakes with some tweaks of FF1, 2, 3, and 4. That’s the model people respected. You’re just adding in modern internet discourse to the mix, which is just ridiculous people making ridiculous purity spirals and Square Enix apologists going on and on in endless arguments. The sequel era of FF is a cash grab, the games were always better as contained, stand alone stories, not everything needs a multiverse or a franchise based off it. You don’t have to agree with my interpretation, I’m just giving you a perspective of someone that’s been around since the beginning.
@@skidmcI know I did. And I know I’m far from alone. And FF VII Remake was/is a blatant slap in the face to me and anyone else in that camp, all of which being Square’s oldest and most passionate fans. That doesn’t mean the Remake is bad. I will still play it and I will still probably love it. But I’m also angry about the shitty passive-aggressive meta narrative and I’m still disappointed that it’s not what I wanted and that I will probably never get to play the game I dreamed of unless a miracle happens. And I have a right to feel the way I do.
My absolute favorite added plot line to the remake project is the Gi tribe connection to the black materia and the cetra I audibly shouted when that was revealed, like OMG it just makes such perfect sense
I suppose you're looking at the bright side... But for me the point of the remake was to fix all the issues introduced by the compilation, as well as the rushed and inconsistencies of 7. 7 had a good story, but lacked the technological finesse to make it better. So with a trilogy, instead of a one-off game, they should have improved on what was already there, instead of turning it into a mess, just so people could speculate an theory-craft if characters were dead or alive. After part 3 is out, there'll be no more theories, as they need to provide final answers, and usually in most cases the simplest solution will be the right one, and everything will play out the same as 7, and all this multiple realities, and time weirdness will be pointless, an only there to confuse people. So in the long run, the game will lose most o it appeal, as opposed as a better version of the original, with just expanded and improved material on the most rushes areas would have moved on to live as a classic. Being 3 games i'd have also expected a lot more quality in terms of side content, and a lot less filler, cause there was a lot of story to tell, but we instead have chicken questlines...yay- ------ At the end of the day both remake and rebirth shine the most when being faithful to the source material, and start to get messy to downright bad, when they do deviate from it. Like for example Leslie and his questline in remake, were possibily one of the worst bits, and what des he give you? grappling hooks...and that scene of people shooting the hook in barret's hand, him catching it, and being pulled up by Tifa, who was herself barely hanging onto cloud, is ridiculous to say the least. I had no knowledge of OG ff7 prir to remake, i have experienced it after, and i can say without a doubt it was much better and ore coherent. it just needed a coupleof fixes and expansions, but not the theatrical BS RE trilogy pulled.
slight detail, Sephiroth himself did not slay Aerith. I never really understood this playing the game, but if Sephy's body was frozen in the Northern Crater that must mean it was Jenova, in the form of Sephy, who did the deed, prior to changing back into itself.
Technically he still did, since Jenova was being controlled by Sephiroth. Confirmed in the ultimanias. I honestly understand why there might be confusion on that since I don't remember it ever being directly stated in the game that this was the case, apart from Hojo and Cloud realizing at the Northern Crater that Sephiroth was calling to creatures with Jenova cells in them, Jenova herself included. It was just heavily implied before the ultimania was published
This video is really well put together, and it's clear a lot went into it- I mostly enjoyed it. That being said, there's some things I respectfully disagree with. I wasn't born when the original game came out, and only got into FF7 a few years ago as a young adult. Without any nostalgia for it, I personally agree whole-heartedly with it being considered a masterpiece and it is one of those pieces of media I consider almost perfect. So, the concept of 'your FF7 does not exist because it's being viewed through rose-tinted glasses' didn't speak to me, since I hadn't been wearing such glasses when I played it the first time. I think it genuinely was (and in many ways, still is) ahead of its time, seeing that I got such enjoyment from it despite not being part of the generation that played it when it first came out. I need to also note that the compilation was almost certainly done as a money-making endeavour more than it was out of real passion, since FF games never got any sequels until right after Sakaguchi left the company- beforehand, he'd explicitly forbidden sequels to the FF games. Many aspects of the compilation actively go against some of the themes and messages present in the original, and the very existence of sequels contradicts the poignant ambiguity of the OG's ending. I think a lot of the devs who worked on the OG don't fully understand their own masterpiece, considering how weak the compilation turned out (and even the remake project- it's an unpopular opinion, I know, but I have a lot of issues with it). I would've preferred it if they'd left the original game alone, or got a whole new team to lead the remake while ignoring the compilation completely.
While we obviously disagree on some respects, this is an interesting comment and perspective and I thank you for it. Only thing I want to clarify is that I don't disagree the compilation itself exists primarily because of money making through milking the OG's legacy, Square Enix is not a charity, after all. But I do believe the creatives involved, meaning the employees put in charge of coming up with the actual stories and gameplay systems of these projects, did come from a place of genuine passion and sincere attempts to do something good and worthy of the name. If they succeeded or not is up to the audience (I personally think the compilation as a whole is a mixed bag with some genuine great moments but just as many lows), but I think assuming the creatives were being as cynical as the execs is too uncharitable.
Yup. Perfect example of why nobody honest should ever make the "It's just your nostalgia" argument. Different people can derive different meanings from the same piece of media. What often goes unstated is the reflexive condition this creates: That different people from very different times and places can derive the SAME meaning and experience from something. After all, if condition A is arbitrary, then A can occur multiple times, independent of T. (time) Because of this, the "nostalgia" argument hinges on something that cannot be proven or dis-proven except at a very introspective and and personal level, and as such, can never be an objective or blanket truth. In debate, this is called "Begging the Question". Outside of debate, it's a sign of disingenuous or confused argumentation. Or put into practical terms: I did not need a 40 minute video telling me FF7 was imperfect, because virtually nobody believes that, let alone to the degree where it merits a blanket argument trying to gaslight people into thinking their memory of the original game is "wrong".
I don’t know. I feel like FF7 had a really amazing story and a perfect outline to flesh out. I like hearing well written stories in well written narratives. I feel like the original FF7 had a great narrative and plenty of room for improvement for the character interaction. The Remake does a pretty good job of fleshing out the characters while making them true to the original, but the pacing, focus, and added convolutions of the narrative have compromised from what I kind of wanted from the game. I think it’s possible for a faithful remake to be intensely interesting. You just have to flesh out the themes and characters and five time and weight to the important moments where they might have skimmed over in the original. There always more nuance and more reinforcing of ideas you can put into a narrative. I know it’s wide and expansive so the narrative can’t be too narrow and focused, but there are a lot of characters and they each have a story to tell and themes to explore as part of that story. I don’t like the idea that a faithful adaptation that expands on the original cant hold value or at least couldn’t be as interesting as a subversive take that ads convoluted pieces into the narrative and fights with the original themes and messages for dominance in the narrative.
A faithful adaptation certainly could have value, but my point is that FF VII's legacy is so strong and romanticized by so many people that a faithful one would still be uncharitably compared to the original anyway. No matter what they did, it would be criticized as not being worthy of the mantle, of adapting too much or too little, expanding more than necessary or not expanded enough, etc. I've seen people argue simply adding voice-acting would immediatelly take away from the original experience. So you might as well talk about it involving the fans expectations directly instead of trying to recapture something that IMHO can't be recaptured. Like I say in the video, the original is widely available, and it's a great game. You don't need a remake to relive it, and the remakes do not erase the original. They don't want to. They want to celebrate the original instead of recreating it.
@@GeekOuter well that sort of opens up discussion on why a remake instead of a sequel or spinoff. If your not trying to recapture or expand on the original ideas, than why go through the motions of the original? I get your point and I’m not necessarily saying your wrong, even, but trying to tell a new story by going through the motions of an old story and interjecting here and there just feels weird, unless the new story has cohesive themes with the original. I guess that’s kind of what a remake was going to be anyways, trying to add onto and flesh things out requires a clear expanse on the theming or your just adding fluff. Im not 100% sure what I’m getting at. I just feel like almost everyone was happy with the direction the remake went until the meta-narrative kicked in and that split a lot of people. Im fine with most of what you say, but I genuinely believe that there is a direction that they could have went that most people would have been happy with. I think that what we got showcases a lot of what most people wanted from a remake. From all of the videos I’ve seen from every point of view almost everyone was happy with certain aspects of this game and those are the parts that retread, but flesh out the original. Now, i’m not a hate bandwagon type of person. I think there is value in the remake we got and an interesting narrative that’s unfolding, it’s just not my cup of tea. I’m genuinely happy to see some people unabashedly love this game though. I’m not trying to say that the direction they went is the objectively wrong one. I’m just trying to defend the position that there could be a faithful adaptation of the original that had value because of what it did instead of what it emulated. Some people wanted to see updated cinematic of the big moments. Some people wanted to explore the world hinted at in the backgrounds of the original. Some people just want to experiment with the materia system again. I’m not trying to attack the direction of the games right now, just defend the value and appeal a less subversive remake could potentially have.
@@christianboi7690Exactly this, people who say a remake can’t be good because you already know what is going to happen or that people will compare it to the original are just pretending remakes as a whole don’t exist. Every other remake is just like that, RE2 remake is faithful and is still great and made a classic that is outdated into a new updated experience that new and old fans can enjoy. We were robbed that for FF7 one of the best videogame classics that is now probably forever trapped in it’s outdated form.
Such an incredible video... Nostalgia is such a powerful emotion. I recently platinumed Rebirth on PS5 while simultaneously replaying the original FF7 on my Nintendo Switch. They're both masterpieces in their own ways, but there's so much excitement in knowing that we could still have alternate outcomes for different characters fates depending on the narrative direction they take in the third game of the Remake series. Regardless of how they chose to end things, I'll definitely be along for the unknown journey. I love that orchestral version of Aerith's theme that you closed out the video with. Beautiful job.
*sigh* How do you reconcile an imperfect game with everybody's unique expetations? You create more story, add a multiverse and just let your creativity loose while enriching the players most cherished moments and staying loyal to the OG as much as possible. I love how they are handling it...its doing reboots "the right way" if you will. Unlike star wars franchise, which has been a pure fire extinguishing endeavor since 1999. I think, since the lifestream holds the memories of the deceased..its not out of place to give more depth and understanding to the characters struggles throughout the game by having that sentient super technology communicate with the living to try and give them (and us as players) the off ramp that we've all been looking for since OG regarding such heavy topics as the finality of death and the set course of fate. The most innevitable thing fate gives us is 'change' and if we can influence its course even a little bit it gives us hope for a better tomorrow. The most important key to that locked heart is responsibility though...Cloud taking responsibility for his actions despite having failed to conquer his demons in time literally gives him another chance to do right by those he feels he let down. Hopefully even understand his most hated enemy...the man he admired. I see no limit to Cloud's growth with the remakes. This is a crazy theory, but I believe that the Chocobo Sage is Cloud from the future
@GeekOuter No worries at all, I was wondering if my mind was supposed to be blown for an instant haha. Thanks for clarifying that out and bravo, that's a fantastic video you made there!
Phil Fish, creator of Fez, former indie game developer that was very outspoken and rude on several occasions. Though to be fair, he did apologize to the Japanese developer and quit the industry for good after being severely harassed by gamergate.
@@GeekOuter Who is “gamergate”? Is he in the room with us now? Imagine excusing Fish’s pathetic anti-Japanese xenophobia. He only apologized for the optics.
@@cipher0329 do you genuinely not know what gamergate was or do you believe it never happened? Anywho, I'm not excusing Fish, just adding further context, his apology and the gamergate debacle are unrelated.
I also think that it’s not just the same game, it’s personalized. My interpretation for the longest time is that you don’t actually play final fantasy vii the first time around. What you played is Aerith’s vision. It makes me insane that no one else thinks of it this way, ever since I played it so long ago and peers around me just assumed the game had no ending. It also ties in with what FF has done since part 1: create storylines that have a stable time loop.
Great take. I firmly believe that a 1 for 1 remake would've not fully satisfied most people, because the shock value and surprise is gone. This approach makes more sense, especially for the end of Rebirth
Clickbait video based on a fallacious argument that boils down to "Ur Nostalgia" gaslighting. The one conclusion I agree with also happens to be the null-hypothesis of art: You can't please everyone. I didn't need a 40 minute video trying to gaslight me into thinking my memories of this game (past and present) were "fake"; I have a very firm grasp of why I find the original game wildly superior to its derivatives, and a much better explanation for why the Remake won't be able to please this specific audience and its many divergent tastes. But I wager such things would be wasted here. Enjoy your YT comment metric. You won't be getting another from me.
@@atmosdwagon4656 I usually don't reply to overly negative comments because they tend to be in bad faith and people have the right to disagree with my takes anyway. But reading your two comments I just find it ironic how you focus so much on the inner workings of "debate" only to grossly summarize what I said as "gaslighting". I never said your personal memories were "fake". Quite the contrary, I called them special and impossible to replicate, assuming you have longstanding attachment to the game since childhood, like I do. It's all well and good to disagree with my arguments, but at the very least don't twist them into an unrecognizeable strawman that assumes I have some sort of ill intent toward you. I don't, and if you felt offended, patronized, or gaslighted merely because I said "I think a lot of people are unfair to subsequent FF7 media and I like the direction the Remakes are going", then I'm sorry, but that's on you and I recommend to try to chill. Have a good one.
@@GeekOuter "I never said your personal memories were "fake"." 34:10 "....because the Final Fantasy VII in my head OR YOURS, does not exist." If people have memories of this game (which you repeatedly bring up) but those memories 'do not exist', then the only logical conclusion that satisfies both of these claims is that their memories are not real. The definition of 'fake' is "Something that is not real." So no, I am not twisting anything to arrive at that conclusion, nor is that even a nitpick given it's the title of your video and presumably, the central thesis of everything you're talking about. If that was not your intention, then I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. But that is, in fact an argument someone would say if they were trying to gaslight their audience. Having seen so many similarly disingenuous arguments within gaming (especially those leading with a controversial or inflammatory take on something popular), my suspicions are sadly, not unfounded.
@@atmosdwagon4656 If you're going to be this pedantic, I'm no longer interested in this conversation. If you want to feel gaslighted over an opinion essay, have it your way. Like I said previously, have a good one.
@@GeekOuter That isn't what 'pedantic' means. If questioning your main argument is 'pedantic', then do the world a favor and stop making essays of any kind, because all you are going to do is confuse people.
Rufus survived, because his father installed a "Loser" escape hatch to mock him. Well, who's laughing now. But, you made a really great video! And I think your main thesis is absolutely correct.
I am happy that you liked the games but for us old and tired fans this will always be a false advertised game that wanted to capitalize on our nostalgia and no amount of double speach and uematso music will ever change that. Remake is remaking the original game not making a meta sequel with the name remake my guy 😅
This was so well done man. I can't wait to try the remake, haven't had the funds to get it yet but you made me that much more jazzed to play it. I've played almost ever single final fantasy game, it all started with 7 for me (older brother played the first couple as I watched and played around with them but 7 was the first one to grab my ADHD brain and give it a huge hug. I think the gfx in the remake as well as the in-depth explanations of things that we all speculated on is super exciting, and the cliff hanger options as to what could happen next is EXACTLY what I want from that game. Thanks for the content, I thoroughly enjoyed this.
if anyone ever lost a member of their family, they would know that Square made Aerith's death perfectly. It is exactly how reality shifts in Clouds mind and how he can't comprehend that she died.
Hey, this is PurpleMaster from the gfaqs Ever17 board! Wonderful video, I'm a huge fan of FFVII and I loved your piint of view on the Compilation and Remakes. Keep going, I love this channel!
The original is a great game but not a “masterpiece,” it’s flawed in many ways. The remakes have flaws yes, but are not “bastardized” by anyone without an inherent nostalgia bias and inability to give credit where credit is due, and when all 3 remakes are out, I’m sure time will be much more charitable to what they’ve done with them
@@Erikthedood The original absolutely is a masterpiece. It has some of the most beloved videogame characters of all time, and is still adored and talked about regularly almost 3 decades after it released. Of course it has flaws - there's no such thing as a game that doesn't have flaws, but I guarantee you that 20 years from now the original will still be beloved. The remakes, however, will be forgotten. Nobody will look back on them with even 1% of the fondness that the original is looked back on.
Agreed. Xenoblade fans agree that the first game is a masterpiece, and Xenoblade Definitive Edition adapts the story, adds some extra details (Alvis' Core Crystal) and gives the game a extra epilogue. Why in god's name could Square Enix not do what Monolith Soft did?
I think they did way too much with VII fr. All the time they spent with all the offshoots, movies, etc could've just been put into making a faithful remake. I feel that everything sort of just bastardized the original to a point where the remake doesn't hold the same charm of the original but rather inspires to be everything after it. I do like the remake but I still would have preferred if they had just made it the way one would expect it to be made, I don't like that it is essentially hijacked by the new developer's take.
A remake of any franchise can be great or horrible. This is obviously dependent upon the original storyline, the decision of adding to the story or to leave it, and making sure to give the audiences/players what they want. Granted it's impossible to please everyone but if a good amount of people are sold on the franchise for both the original/s and remake/s then a very very well done and congratulations are in order. I personally have no expectations for the next or final title for the Final Fantasy 7 remake series but I for one would like to see Aerith come back in some way during the final battle against Sephiroth or at the finale where Cloud goes to an isolated area or whatever and he either muses to himself or to Zack then Aerith appears to him one last time or rather at the end of the title as because in Advent Children Aerith and Zack appear at the very end of the movie
Ok this may be off from the common opinion but i actually like all the ff7 i have seen/played. There is only 1 game u mentioned i didn't play. Honestly my biggest problem with the remake is that it false advertising. If they had advertised it as a sequel then that would have been fine. Also genesis and his cohorts are actually in the new ones. They were active in the dlc
Deep Ground, from Dirge of Cerberus, does appear in the DLC, but they are not really Genesis "cohorts". They were created from his genetic material, but they never knew the guy (aside from Weiss, I think). Aside from the fact Deepground exists in this continuity, there is no sign of the Genesis the character showing up (thankfully, IMO).
I have very fond memories of Advent Children. Was it perfect? No, but it was a wonderful love letter to fans of the original game. I especially loved the glimpses of Aerith it provided. A touching movie.
If there was any love for OG FF7 at Square Enix, after deciding they were going to make a fanfiction instead of a faithful remake, they would have at least made a remaster of the original so many more could enjoy it without the flaws of the outdated original. What you can clearly see from these creatives since the beginning of the compilation is a desire to retcon and change the original into something different, their version of FF7 that is totally different from the OG.
Ever Crisis First Soldier finale expands a lot on Sephiroth and what he's trying to achieve in Remake trilogy. His backstory there too. It's pretty good I'd dare to say! Most fans actually like it.
Fantastic video! 💯 I absolutely love the FF7 Remake Saga. I love the original game too but I feel like people put the original on far too much of a pedestal because of nostalgia and they don't give the Remakes credit where it is due. The Remakes are absolutely phenomenal in my opinion and they greatly expand the original, adding far more depth to the story, characters, lore, gameplay, soundtrack, and world building.
I never played the game when it came out. I tried for the first time a few months ago but couldn't get into it. Getting to know now the lore inside and outside the game was really interesting! Great video!
Horribly clunky by today's standards. Forget what you know and expect. Focus on the story and suffering through the growing pains. It's art. Unlike 99% of other great games. It's just different. Another level of nuance and dedication went into this game.
A lot of this feels more of explaining events more so than expounding upon how "your final fantasy 7 doesnt exist" when it feels like im waiting for you to say we all have our own image of the game with our own expectations that cannot be realized
I think the part of Tifa not calling out Cloud on the discrepancies was actually genius. It just wasn’t implemented well enough. Nibelheim was a traumatic incident for both Cloud and Tifa and both of them misremembering the events in such a situation would’ve been understandable. It’s possible that Tifa was questioning her own memories since Cloud had true knowledge of what happened even though to her knowledge and memories he wasn’t present at all during those events. Even his feelings of the events were the kind of feelings of someone who saw the events first hand. So how could he remember clearly something that he didn’t experience or was it that she was remembering wrong all along? That’s what would’ve been going through her head when she heard Cloud’s recall of the events. With Tifa’s reactions in the original game I think that was the way they intended to go but somehow it got on the chopping block. Maybe it didn’t fit Tifa’s character or maybe they didn’t want 2 characters with an identity crisis or they simply forgot or had to cut extra fat.
I might be wrong, but I actually don't believe in the multiverse in retrilogy. these strange and unreal scenes with Zack almost always appear when Cloud sleeps, or falls unconscious, or tries to avoid his motion sickness. it looks like the player sees this story through the Cloud's eyes, and Cloud has some kind of dreams and delusions, which he doesn't able to distinguish from the reality, so is the player. that explosion-like thing in the sky, for example, was in the OG Lifestream sequence as a part of Cloud's subconscious. Sefiroth in the OG tries to make Cloud believe in the wrong things, even the fact he isn't a real one, why should we believe in everything that Sefiroth says?.. and we know Cloud has a problem with his memories, he can't gather them in one piece yet, so it could be the explanation of why we didn't see the whole things
In the original game, you can skip the part where Aeris dies by going up through the mountain next to Midgard and walking across the ocean to the the snow lands town, save, and then switch over to disk 2, then go back later on in the game at disk 3 to get everything you missed, minus the stuff in The Temple of the Ancients. That is the sacrifice and it is well worth it. You only really need yellow mastered materia, a bunch of Phoenix, Knights of Round, and Final Attack materia when fighting all 4 Weapons, Ultima, Ruby, Sapphire, and one in the sunken plane, that they cut out of the revised games for some dumb reason.
I like your perspective on Tifa, I think that they wanted to be more subtle with her awkward enabling habits, because that's a common practice in Japan, which is to know when to help, but try to hold your tongue if you don't know how to help someone on the count of making it worse possibly. I also like the fact that in the Rebirth, she even admits to succumbing to social norms, always wanting to make everyone liker her. I seriously thought she mentioned to him before that he was starting to scare her, but that was closer to when he starts figuring out his past I think. If nothing else, she reminds me of how a friend can help or hurt a situation with good intentions. And knowing this, only tortures her more. Or bare miniumum, that's what I get off the remake, and that's brilliant. Also, I thought I'd be confused and upset at the remake, but it won me over. And I was a fan of it since I popped in the PSM's occasional free demo disc back in '97 coming right off the block of stuff like Spyro and Driver2. FF7 to me at the time was definitely something new, but it also was the first thing as far as my memory went when it came to opening my mind up to new things, so that's why I never had a problem with the way they went about the game. I'm also curious how they end this thing.
Crazy thing is that Romancing SaGa 2 revenge of the seven came out several months AFTER rebirth, and the former is a MUCH better remake than whatever the hell FF7R trilogy has been.
I am convinced Advent children is one of the best, if not best post main franchise additions ever, I will happily field any criticism but I genuinely think it's not perfect but very very very good. It does so much with the small time it's allotted I am just amazed, also it's looks stunning.
Loved this video, but I disagree with part of the premise (I think). I played FF7 for the first time in 2018, with zero context, no nostalgia, and no expectations. Similar to say intentionally listening to Mozart for the first time, knowing that it is a cultural icon. I knew in the first 20 minutes that the game was an absolute masterpiece just from my own impressions, and it was real and definitely did exist in that moment. What makes FF7 special is that it lets you feel new emotions for the first time, like seeing a color that you didn't know existed. I think Remake forfeit this a little in the name of Spectacle, but I am very happy that Rebirth has the same emotional brilliance as the original, and possibly even more.
The music in the remakes is just so fitting for each area and the enviroments are beautifully done. Some of the mini games are horribley hard due to different reasons such as horrible controls or something else entirely. Im currently trying to playinum it playing hard mode and it is certainly hard thats for sure just insane.
Great video! Especially the last segment was well said and put together. Thank you for voicing out how I felt about the series. The 7RE series is definitely more interesting and exciting, such a great time to be a fan. The devs are not given enough credit for the amount of love and effort put into the series.
1st thing is Cloud's head is not right, everything that Cloud sees might not be true.. we might have played his own mind games. Who knows what narrative is true if our protagonist is literally has brain damage? Thus don't take what cloud see as objective truth.
I am one of those people who begged a remake since the PS3 tech Demo. I just wanted to play FF7 with graphics similar to Advent Children, or even a Dirge of Cerberus sequel as it ended on a cliffhanger.
Many people including myself forgot the OG has been cut into pieces twice in order to release to the public because of the limits of the n64 (the first system it was going to launch on) and ps one systems so if the devs want to tell the whole assed story.... I'm on board 😂😂 go big. Great introspection on the OG. 👍
You really wanted Tifa to instantly interject and reveal something traumatic to a CLEARLY mentally unstable person who is already struggling to find out who he is as a person? If you told somebody that everything they remember about their past is WRONG and you're serious about it, the person wouldn't just sit there and accept that as the truth, there would be CONFLICT that arises from that, and Tifa is characterized as an empathetic and hesitant person. But no, this is just head canon right? I like most of the video but you writing off things that aren't explicitly stated as "head canon" and "bad writing" just bothers me and I don't agree in the slightest.
It took me way too long to realize that this video essay was applying Barthes' "The Death of the Author" at length. I think a lot of the reason that people disliked _Advent Children_ was the change to Cloud. I want to say that the director actually confirmed that Cloud had been deliberately changed to more closely align with certain fan depictions of him, but I could be misremembering that. In any case, Cloud did change in such a way, and there were certainly many other fans who not only thought that this was a deviation from his character but also did not like the "dark and angsty" archetype stereotypically favored by adolescents and wanted a character who was true to the original rather than pandering to a certain segment of the fan base. (This does tie into what you talk about later regarding differing memories and perspectives and how you have to choose between segments of the fanbase to pander to; simply apply that to AC and you'll understand why it's unpopular in certain circles.) That being said, you have given a perfectly good explanation as to why Cloud would have changed in AC. I think it makes the movie make a bit more sense to me. But choosing to go that route with his character would still rub people the wrong way-even though you could come up with a justification for it-because of its broader cultural context.
If they had added the extra stuff in as a new game plus it woulda been genius. If they had shrunk the scope and kept it one disc it woulda been great. What we got is OK, but certainly not what anyone was asking for
Amazing video, it's clear how much effort you put into your analysis and how important FF7 is to you. I entirely agree with your takes here on how Advent Children is a good movie and how worthwhile the remake is thanks to its approach. Thank you for another great piece of work!
17:35 Dude, I don't think you are a strong enough fan to talk about this if you still don't understand why genesis looks and acts how he does He's basically nomura favorite rocker in a video game duh
oh, it was such a magical time. FF7 is still a huge game, even by today's standards. I've played it countless times and it still takes me a matter of days to finish.
The problem is, that Lucas wanted to make Star Wars 1-3 fantastic. Spielberg wanted to make Indiana Jones follow on films, fantastic. They all had their hearts in the right place. Sadly, creatives, like all of us, get old. They lose that spark - or at least evolve it to the extent it no longer resembles what it was. SE only seem interested in exploring weak existing characters in lacklustre ways, largely to placate powerful pressure groups in the States. Or even worse, making new, genuinely terrible characters, such as Genesis. Remake and Rebirth are huge positives in a quagmire of mediocrity.
I played all the games in this series, og ff7 still remains the best title, in my opinion. The "multi-verse of ff7" was meh for me, and i really wanted to love the the remake project, just couldn't get into it. But it doesn't mean i hate the game, just not for me, and i hope everyone playing it loves it. 😊
As someone who played the original in 2016 when I was 18 because of the remakes announcements and my love of Kingdom Hearts introducing me to these characters, I loved it. I played it twice back to back. The gang of ffvii are some of the most memorable and likable bunch of characters in any game I've ever played. Aeirth Gainsborough is in at least my top 5 fictional characters of all time. What I'm trying to say is I absolutely adored the ff7 remake. The game gave new life to one of my favorite characters of all time, and I enjoyed pretty much every moment of the game in my first playthrough. I didn't immediately revisit the game because I didn't feel like playing all the sidequests again. I finally started rebirth 2 weeks ago, but the discourse has sucked all the passion and excitement I had, and it really sucks. Look, ffvii means different things to different people. The characters mean different things to different people. I came into the remake fully hoping we would finally be able to save Aerith. If they dont go that route, it's fine. I won't be able to stomach the heartbreak another time. Every time i watch someone play the original game or hear her theme song play, I almost instinctively begin tearing up. That's how much Aeriths character means to me. I understand her role in the original story yet I've always wanted Cloud to be able to save her so he could be happy, so she could be happy, so she could finally be allowed to live her life. I don't need people coming in here with hyperbolic criticisms that try to ruin other people's enjoyment. If you don't like it thats fine, but trying to tear it down and tell other people they shouldn't play it or enjoy is just straight up immature and childish behavior. Don't give others crap for enjoying something that speaks to them that 100s if not 1000s of people worked incredibly hard on, and hopefully they won't give you crap either. The insane notion that the people who made this game are lazy, or don't care is astounding. People enjoy different things. I like final fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 7 remake, even some parts of advent children, not much of crisis core, but thats the thing, everyone is different and likes and dislikes certain things. I don't think that should be held against them for not aligning with your viewpoints. I don't know what is so difficult for people on both sides to understand. Art is subjective and speaks to and touches people in different ways. Stop trying to tell people what to think or belittling them for not thinking the way you do just because a game or movie didn't live up to your personal expectations. This type of hostile discourse not only discourages proper discussion but also sucks the fun and enjoyment out of the hobby. No hate directed towards the creator of this video or anyone else. It's just something I had to get off my chest for a while now. Gaming discourse, in general, has sucked a lot of joy out of the hobby for me. I get the corporate nonsense of clearly unfinished games and bad microtransaction practices, but it's getting out of hand when we do receive quality products, and they get slandered and raked over the coals.
@GeekOuter Sorry if I came off as redundant. I was just trying to air grievances I've had about the gaming discourse as a whole related to the game and games in general. I appreciated the video.
I still don’t understand the materia, I’m in my first playthrough and I have elemental materia, some alls, a few summons, but like.. wut? Also I’ve been using the 3x feature, with no random encounters and the full hp, limit and mp sometimes… and I can’t actually feel like I’m playing it wrong (like I usually would)… I’d love to play the remake but I can’t justify not being able to play the 2nd disc -_- I kinda also want to replay after I beat it without using the “enhancers”, but idk
I feel like no amount of words in a comment can relay my feelings and opinion properly but in short. 1 Fans cried over and over for a new FF VII game and Square simply took the opportunity, as video games are business for studios after all. 2 When Square revealed the game they called it Remake and NOT Remaster, hence you can't expect what they are doing to be exactly the same as the original game just with modern graphics and cut scenes. They never committed to that! 3 The original FF VII is still there you can still play it and enjoy the story and you can still treasure it, I know I do. 4 While the Remake/Rebirth are not perfect and never will be (heck even the original was not perfect) they still have so many interesting locations and details that were not possible to show during the era of the original cause of technical limitations. 5 Aren't you people tired of hating or looking for faults to justify your hate, rather than focus on what is there to enjoy instead? I love both the original FF VIII and the Remake/Rebirth for what they are even with the parts I hate in them and people that say that there are perfect games are full of it!
What is funny to me is when square talks about the scale of the remake for 7 is just a bunch of b.s. It's because of money as we have seen with remake and rebirth both games are filled with bloat. Hell this trilogy could have been a duology as the Midgar section didn't need to be that long nor was disc 1. But again they are just overall complicating one game into 3. You would think they are taking a page out of the book of falcom when it comes to game making with multiple games for an arc when the actual arc for that game begins in either the second game or 4th game if it's a 4 game arc.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I somehow managed to mistake Red XIII's name for Red VIII and didn't notice when revising the script, recording voice over and editing.
Sorry for that.
Like and subscribe.
EDIT: I assumed I wrote Red XIII's name wrong in the script as VIII, and that's why I got it wrong in voice over. Turns out it's actually a bit worse than that. I actually wrote the roman numeral correctly. My brain somehow still read it as VIII out loud and I didn't notice. Fucking ADHD, man...
Uh...I was really about to say, this mf...red8. Now I really doubt you ever played this game lmao. Jk....kinda
Also, perfect timing on that last song. 🥲
AI voice overs will read a typo like that. a human reading a script would just call the character by their name even if the script is typed wrong.
the 100% lack of breathing in the audio made me suspicious, but this comment confirmed it. i like your ideas but i’d prefer to hear you actually speak them
@@toddbarriage I actually just cut most of the breathing, though not all, especially in the beginning you can still hear it if you pay attention. Humans just make mistakes sometimes.
But if you want to believe this theory of yours, be my guest.
@@GeekOuter no problem but Nanaki please 🤧
I've never come across anyone claiming the original FF7 was perfect. It's just a work of art that resonated with a lot of people. I can only speak for myself but I was never one of the people begging for a remake of FF7. I still love the original. I go back and play it and enjoy it for what it is when I'm in the mood to do so. I enjoy the crunchy low poly aesthetic and find the chibi models charming. I love the music, background art and gameplay systems. It is still after all this time a fun game to just hang out in. As someone who played it when it was new, it never looked "real" to me. It always looked exactly as it has. Newer games coming out never changed how FF7 was presented. I will never understand why people behave this way.
There's this very frustrating tendency to pin any and all enjoyment of an older work on nostalgia and child imagination of something that isn't really there. This, I think is very lazy when discussing media. Sure some people only see value in a video game if it is current and do not value the work itself past the hype cycle and then their nostalgic memories of it. I think that is unfortunate but saying everyone who claims the original game is great is engaging with the work only in this way is dishonest. MY Final Fantasy VII absolutely exists. It's the game Squaresoft released in 1997.
This 100%. Guy in the video is trying to use some sort of subjectivist, postmodern lens to justify the subversion of the original FF7 that Remake/Rebirth has become. There is nothing more insufferable than creative directors ruining remakes of media by inserting their own incredibly dull meta-narratives into what was an outstanding story, ruining it completely and making it into a convoluted mess. There were warning signs of this at the end of Remake, and inserting "Schrödinger's Aerith" into the end of Rebirth was just awful. I knew they would do it, too! "Everyone wants to save/revive Aerith! Let's do that!" Oh, and "Wouldn't it be super-special-awesome to have Cloud and Zack fight together against Sephiroth?" Sorry, that's literally fanfic-level writing. None of this needed to exist. It destroys character arcs and story beats, and creates that aforementioned convoluted mess.
Imagine if someone in 2030 remade Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. But instead of faithfully retelling the story, it inserted meta-narratives about how fans idolised LotR, fate-ghosts kick Gandalf off the Bridge of Khazad-Dum to ensure story continuity, and Boromir comes back to life in Return of the King to help Eowyn slay the Witch King of Angmar.
@@andyw_uk74my thoughts too. It’s said that a post modern examination of FF7 through the lens of a meta narrative is worth my time more than a simple remake. Um… is it? I don’t believe so. I think I was much happier before I knew about all the crazy fans out there. When I played the OG one summer of the late 90’s I wasn’t thinking about all the shippers and theory crafting forums and streamers and all that noise out there. The game had a story to tell me. I listened and that was that. But it seems that’s not enough these days. Game devs or execs just want infinite engagement regardless of the effect on quality. It’s not enough to tell a story, everything has to be commentary.
@@andyw_uk74as much as they somewhat did some fanservice stuff at the end,nothing says they are not gonna respect the ideas of the original ffvii,especially if by the end you can clearly feel something is not right,they are just reworking some ideas of the lifestream to make future moments more impactful,Aerith is definetly dead they just want Cloud's awakening to feel stronger than the original adding layers to it. I can't see something wrong with that.
Beautifully said, its one of those games I replay once every year 😊
Huh, I never knew that blonde optional character from Final Fantasy Tactics had so much lore
Cheeky bastard! 🤣🤣🤣
Yeah I know he was also in Ehrgeiz but I never heard of this game. Weird.
You guys talking about the dude from Kingdom Hearts? I can't believe they made an entire spinoff franchise for a side character from the Olympian Arena.
@@captainawf2341 yeah he became very popular so they made an actual game for it. Pretty cool
Why are you guys talking about that one side character from Dissidia?
While I agree that OG FFVII is not perfect (the huge materia sub-plot in particular is absolute trash, in my opinion), one thing I really hate about this video is that it actively dismisses/reduces all tasteful creative choices that demonstrate open to interpretation nuance, artistic restraint, and subtlety as "head-canoning" and as story flaws rather than the strengths that they are.
Tifa not interjecting after hearing Cloud's story is without exaggeration the entire point of her character. Just because the game does not explicitly spell it out for you, doesn't mean it isn't heavily implied. Several points of her dialogue in the story suggests that she is actively hiding it out of concern for Cloud, and that the pressure of keeping this a secret is eating her up inside. She is repeatedly characterized as hesitant, paralyzed with indecision, too empathetic for her own good, and a well-intentioned enabler. It's this same intentional character flaws that gets her to go along with Avalanche's actions despite disagreeing with it. Her character arc involves confronting this tendency and fatal flaw that she has alongside Cloud in the lifestream (every bit as much as it's about him confronting his insecurities).
Hell, her last name is quite literally "Lockhart" as in she locks her feelings deep inside in her heart. It's straight up what makes her an interesting and complex character, not an example of why the old game isn't as good as you remember it or whatever.
Advent children isn't just hated for being poorly written, reintroducing problems that were supposed to be resolved in the original game (such as clouds constant guilt tripping of himself), in doing little if anything to advance the plot.
It's also hated for how it handled cloud and Tifa's relationship. Many people, myself included, actually thought they had broken up before the movie started. There's also the issue of sephiroth coming back, only to supposedly be defeated for good, but with no justification as to how that works. Another complication is that Rufus shinra being redeemed made no sense at the time, it makes sense given how he's being painted in the remake trilogy, put in the original game he was a purely evil and ruthless piece of crap.
Most of the party members got shafted in Advent Children it left me really cold. Seeing Rufus and the Turks get more dialogue than Barret, Yuffie and Red was really disappointing.
When I saw it I had similar complaints. Especially about the orphans. 2 brand new characters dropped in a sequel and the only way they can tie them into the plot and garner interest is make them orphans and have Cloud work at an orphanage. That he's never around at to actually take care of the orphans. Then just having the party pretty much reduced to cameos and then helping lift Cloud in the end was the worst type of fan service. My brother simply told me I didn't get it. I was stunned.
@@gamervet4760 personally I think they have a chance to retcon that, in remake part 1 there was an evacuation and rescue effort that didn't happen in the original.
Easy out for square enix if they want to undo that crap. Especially with Denzel, he's a character who only exists for the sake of denying Cloud and tifa their own kids.
@@nickmurkel2469 I don't care. I don't play the remake garbage.
Yeah and introducing three lousy clones
Tifa didn’t point out the wrong stuff Cloud was saying because she was worried Cloud would go away again or that something would happen to him an Rufus escaped the weapon blast because there was a trap door that his dad had made
Rufus surviving is just retcon bs. His survival was just for shock but doesn't really add to the story.
@silverjeyjey4054 he's in advent children. ... his survival was canon without remake.
@@joshuabean9409yeah but its still a retcon in Advent children. Literally his full explanation is “i managed to get out” 😂
@@omniwinds dude had a shield materia, ✌️
6:40 and then they completely butchered the once best game scene of all time by refusing to pick a side and stick to it. They wanted both worlds alive . And dead. So it jump back and forth between the and we never actually got to see sephiroth + Aerith on screen when it happens
I dunno man, if they made the remakes like we have them now just without the whisper stuff and the unnecessary Sephiroth cameos then they would be perfect for me at least xD
This video has a faulty presupposition..
Which is that FF7 only lives in ppl memories..
FF7 is one of the most replayed games out there..i replay it every year..it has an average of 2k ppl playing all the time on steam..
So its not how ppl remember the game ppl are experiencing it right now..
You havent discovered a long forgotten game..
I play it now and see all its flaws..and overall its still an amazing game..
The fact a remake of it is having to be broken up into multiply games is a testiment to how content rich the game is..
Its writing,plot,characters,charm are all above most of what we see today in gaming.even its combat system that has almost unlimited combinations of materia is still one of the best magic systems in gaming today.
how many are actually playing OG unmodded? How can one replay OG without mods
Can't mod the console versions unfortunately 😅
sorry to break it to ya, but yes no doubt ff7 is content rich, but the fact that ff7 remake is being broken into 3-4 parts only screams and tells me GREED. They are milking that cash cow for all it's worth. And it's a smart move, sure.. but the remake of FF7, has so many new and updated things that was not in the original game. If they made a true 1:1 remaster of the original, It would be maximum of 2 discs... thats maybe? it's a sad world we live in now where everyone is just after money.
@@鹿野修哉-u2k I'm playing ff7 new threat lol but if I had a choice, it would be OG + a few mods to make it 60fps, clean up the backgrounds and maybe something else.. but OG models yes, OG sounds, yes, OG music, yes.
Yep played it this year, the game is absolutely fantastic.
I don’t think fan expectations were too crazy. if anything doing things that would make people satisfied would’ve actually been less work. They would just have to do what they did for the majority of the game aka expand on different areas and re-create them. I’ve never seen anyone complain about the way the nibelhiem flashback was done because it was re-created accurately. That’s all they had to do. It’s really not that complicated and I don’t know why people pretend it is.
The problem with this is that a lot of the games later plot has no setup. It’s just several plot points presented to the player without any narrative logic or conntrctive tissue . Sepheroith basically says “yeah I witnessed history, and now I am going to shape the future exactly how I want it” he declares himself god and says he knows everything. This is the original game, not the remakes or compilation. He even mentioned absorbing the spiritual energy of a massive wound to the planet. Again, this is DIALOGE from the OG that matches exact scenarios in retrillogy. They did not get these ideas from nowhere. They came from the original game.
I'm so tired of people who dislike the remmakes saying that the “new plot elements “ have no basis in the OG it's factually incorrect. Even the whispers were always an intended concept for the original ps1 was too limited to visualize then to the player, so they get a passing mention in Cosmo canyon.
It's so frustrating that people act like the devs pulled stuff out of their ass for the remakes. No, it's all from the original, even dreams. That's what the sleeping forest is a dream.
But somehow, it's not ff7 come on, people maybe pay attention the next time you play the original sheesh.
@@joshz2491It doesn’t matter if limitations made the OG what it is, adding that stuff now just changes the core of the original.
It doesn’t matter how much you twist it, lifestream never equated to multiverse, it is just not a theme in the original. It comes from the obsession of these creatives clearly seen in FFXIII, just now they are infecting FF7.
I never thought that a Schrödinger's Aerith would be a thing
I did, but when I said "this is where remake is going" I was downvoted to hell
@@marco19878 unpopular opinions are shamed quickly
Blame the FF7 OG GateKeepers who think anything deviating from a 1:1 remake of the original is sacrilegious. I had a chat with HappyCatRUclips who is well studied on the FF7 lore and told her that it's better that the game makers don't try to recreate the original game exactly the way it was. They need to add new elements and plot details to make it fresh and new to bring in a new audience and she agreed with that idea.
@@renegade637 New elements and fresh stuff is fine. But when you also throw in so many important details that only make sense to fans of the original, how is that supposed to draw in new audiences and not make them feel alienated or confused about a lot of what's going on?
i wish there was something remotely close that has the atmosphere of the og. Unfortunately, there isnt.
Atmosphere....this is a word developers do not believe anymore.
There is. The original FF7. Just replay it. You'll find something new each time. I always do. I'm currently replaying with a mod that halves the amount of exp from all battles to make the game more challenging, though so far it's still pretty easy tbh.
I also have 10 other mods that update the graphics, UI, sounds, etc.
I’m personally not a fan of the Final Fantasy VII Remake, and it’s Sequel (Rebirth), nor do I care about the added backstory of the other remake to Final Fantasy VII, Ever Crisis.
I don’t think the word anyone who played the original FF7 who wanted a remake to it for years was faithful… I think for some, they wanted a 1 to 1 remake of Final Fantasy VII. A game that plays like the original, but with HD graphics as well as in a new engine. And I think that’s what’s the issue here. The remake games has a lot of issues, most of it sucks, but it’s not because I hated it out of its unfaithfulness. It’s more so how the story’s just convoluted as well as how the games don’t know what they’re made for. It doesn’t know if it’s a sequel, a reboot, a soft reboot, or in those games’ case, a remake.
To me, a remake should fix the problems the original game had, while also staying close to the original game’s story, and in some cases, could add in references & some lore that were established in other games, and show what happened in those events in the original game and/or laying out the groundwork that would be an important plot point in the sequels following the original game, before the remake’s release. The Resident Evil Remakes are a perfect example of this. It fixes the issues the old games had, while still keeping it close to the original story, while adding hints & lore that would be explored in the games following the events of the first Resident Evil.
And I think the FF7 Remakes should’ve done a similar thing to what the RE Games had. Sharing the same plot & characters as the original game, while also changing the gameplay, change some minor story bits, add some new cutscenes, expand some plot lines & characters, and integrate some characters & lore from the Compilation Pre-VII, the original FFVII could be in line with the other Compilation titles.
It shouldn’t be a sequel, a reboot, and a soft reboot, at the same time… otherwise, it would get confusing, and make people like me uninterested in the series. That was an issue the 2011 Mortal Kombat game had. For how good the gameplay was, the story was just not good, and the fact it tried to retell the first 3 games as well as adding in Quan Chi from MK4 in there, not to mention it had a hard time figuring out if it’s a reboot, or a sequel, really made some of the MK Fans I know, mad.
While the idea that a reimagined type of sequel that subverts everyone’s expectations works well in anime’s like the Scott Pilgrim anime or Evangelion, it worked in anime simply because “animation”. For animation & books, you’re easily able to watch the reimagines that subverts your expectations when you thought you were watching an adaptation of your favorite book, since your favorite book or animation are easily accessible. But for video games, its hard to play an old game from the 90s when they’re not accessible to a wide audience. And even when there’s an old game that’s available on modern consoles, it can be difficult for someone who could have a different experience playing games in the 2010s or 2020s, compared to someone who had an experience of playing games in the 90s.
If you’re reading this, then I want to say thank you for reading.
That's fair, we are all entitled to our own opinions! But I genuinely believe what they are doing here is inherently more interesting than something more faithful.
The Problems started long before the "remakes" ...
FF7 never needed the compilation in the first place. It ruins the whole experience, the open end and many charakters. Like reviveing hojo, reviving rufus, adding even more dumb Charakters.
It's best to just see the original game standing with It's vision for itself.
For those of us that was 15 and 16 when the game came out what we want is an identical recreation of the original game but with high-tech graphix and improved game mechanics
Agreed, I was 18 in 97.
Final Fantasy VII does exist and due to all the times its been ported to different consoles - it will continue to exist. The argument of the Final Fantasy VII in our minds not existing has some merit but does not completely work. Because we have the original and all they had to do was copy that and perhaps give it some tweaks. Thats how you please most people. Not everyone but most people.
The fundamental misunderstanding here that you and others have of fans of the og Final Fantasy VII is that Final Fantasy VII (og) told a better story and executed it better as well. No one thought the original was perfect but much like Star Wars or other classic stories - it was a work of art that managed to be more than the sum of its parts and left an impact on those who played it. The remake in comparison is at best a mess of a story with maybe fun gameplay in it. The original was accused of being a mess by some people. So a mess of a mess is an even bigger mess. Its the storytelling that made the original great and great storytelling stands the test of time. This remake however...won't. It will be looked at like the compilation of FFVII. Unfortunately, by trying to bring everyones vision together and trying to please everyone they will instead please very few people imo.
The people that wanted to play the original with better graphics are screwed and the people who wanted to experience the originals story but can't get past the graphics are also screwed.
History matters and needs to be preserved. Everything new eventually becomes history and becomes old. There is no bright future without a past that builds the foundation for what can become a bright future. We all stand on the shoulders of giants forgetting that many of the things we enjoy and take for granted wouldn't exist if it weren't for those past events. We in turn only exist because of the actions of our parents in the past. Many of these repeated justifications from the developers and fans do not address or justify their decisions. The shadow of the original will loom larger as time goes on because it built a legacy while the remake only tried to use its parent as a way to make something that was flashy but less good. This remake is only for those who like the metanarrative more than the original narrative. It is not for those who like the original narrative more than the remakes metanarrative.
Absolutely love the Genesis hate.
You make Gakt sad
I got a giggle out of it....though I do understand sephiroth needed a foil in crisis core 😅
Since in the third game, we will get comatose Cloud in the story who we found in Mideel... I found out Banora is somewhere in the Mideel region... but y'know, Banora is in ruins right now and God.. I don't want to see that Loveless twink ever again lmao (a mention of him is enough lol, and Angeal too maybe...)
Really well put together video. Top quality content.
As someone that has argued constantly that ff7 isn't a perfect game, that doesn't mean the compilation stuff was good. It really wasn't. It didn't serve to enhance the story or world of the original game or themes. Much that was added through the compilation needed massive retcons to key events, and even then much of that stuff was dropped in later titles in the compilation. Hell, you brought that up multiple times when bringing up Genesis. There's a reason he was a character in crisis core, then shown in the ending to dirge, but then never brought up in any other compilation medium. Because yea, he wasn't important, and to shoehorn him in further would cause even more rewrites. They could do that now with the "remake" trilogy if they want to since they're so willing to rewrite huge parts of the narrative with multiverse bs, and who knows they probably will in part 3. Or maybe they won't. i'm half convinced at this point with the direction they're going that its gonna turn out that sephiroth is actually a good guy trying to save the multiverse from some cosmic god or something. idk if i'm joking about that or not anymore with how so many ff games and other square franchises has gone.
Much of the extra stuff they added into the compilation, the new characters, haven't really been mentioned in the "remake" trilogy for a reason. because they serve no purpose. They have brought up some things, like deepground or that one dude that defected to wutai, but so far it hasn't really been important to the overall plot because, in the grand scheme of things, all of that was never meant to enrich the original game.
If they wanted to do a real "remake" of ff7 or expand the content, they should have just done a straight remake while expanding on some things, but not to such an extent that entire events are rewritten. If they wanted to add in new characters and events to fill in gaps, they could have done so in ways that wouldn't require so much retconning and shoehorning and mental gymnastics. There are ways they could have done it that could have made old fans still appreciate it and pull in new fans. Example, they could have done the story of crisis core as just a story of zack working his way up the soldier ladder, meeting sephiroth, going on a few missions with him against wutai, having him meet aerith and spending time with her, telling her his dreams, talking to sephiroth about it to further expand his character out a bit (maybe have sephiroth talk about how he doesn't really have dreams, explain his upbringing, drop hints at jenova being his "mother", etc) leading up to nibelheim where everything happens as is, but expanding it a bit to show the aftermath, escape, trip back to midgar, etc. They could have kept some elements of the original crisis core if they really want to, like the whole soldier honor mantra thing, the final battle being against an army instead of just like 3 shinra troops (there are actually multiple ways to do both the army battle AND still have him just be gunned down by a few troopers), etc.
There are ways they could have done some of the compilation stuff without the shoehorning and massive retcons, elevating ff7 to BE the masterpiece everyone says it is. Instead they kinda just ruined it. It already wasn't perfect, but instead of doing some expansions to better flesh things out they decided they wanted to rewrite huge portions.
Something i'd like to point out, back before advent children was announced, i don't know a single person who actually played ff7. I was in middle school back when the first screenshots were leaked, and i remember people not knowing much about it beyond it being a ps1 game that was popular. I'd talk about it with my friends, since i played it in elementary school, but honestly none of them really knew about it or cared much about it, as they were kinda in their "ff10 is the best game ever" phase. It wasn't until after AC was announced and then released that those very same people started claiming that ff7 was a masterpiece. People jumped on the bandwagon hard, partially because of marketing for AC and partially because people wanted to be in the "in" group. i'm not saying thats exactly what happened, but that's my anecdotal experience. I feel like a lot of the praise the game gets today and much of its modern defenders are those people, people that jumped on the bandwagon despite never actually playing the game back in the day, and i'm not saying they haven't played the game since but I do feel like their view has been colored by that hype of jumping on the bandwagon and that colored their opinion of the game as they played it.
"Red 8" ❌️
"Red 13" ✔️
You play final fantasy games, you should know Roman numerals
Not even that. If you played the game, you’d know his name was Red 13. That’s why I don’t listen to ANYONE on the internet. A bunch of talking and theorizing but don’t know ish
Square Enix: What do we do?! So much pressure... might as well rewrite the story...
Resident Evil 2 & 4 Remake: Why???
Naw dude, none of us back then thought FF7 was perfect, there was constant debate, especially after 8 and 9 released about which was the best. But, we all respected the game, and we all just wanted a 1:1 remake with better graphics and some tweaks just like the 1:1 remakes with some tweaks of FF1, 2, 3, and 4. That’s the model people respected. You’re just adding in modern internet discourse to the mix, which is just ridiculous people making ridiculous purity spirals and Square Enix apologists going on and on in endless arguments. The sequel era of FF is a cash grab, the games were always better as contained, stand alone stories, not everything needs a multiverse or a franchise based off it. You don’t have to agree with my interpretation, I’m just giving you a perspective of someone that’s been around since the beginning.
"we all just wanted" oh sure..
Preach
@@skidmcI know I did. And I know I’m far from alone. And FF VII Remake was/is a blatant slap in the face to me and anyone else in that camp, all of which being Square’s oldest and most passionate fans. That doesn’t mean the Remake is bad. I will still play it and I will still probably love it. But I’m also angry about the shitty passive-aggressive meta narrative and I’m still disappointed that it’s not what I wanted and that I will probably never get to play the game I dreamed of unless a miracle happens. And I have a right to feel the way I do.
Hey my 7/8 year old brain thought the game was perfect 😂. That it.. we agree on everything else.
@@HoodyBlkAh, smooth brain critiquing. Good times.
My absolute favorite added plot line to the remake project is the Gi tribe connection to the black materia and the cetra I audibly shouted when that was revealed, like OMG it just makes such perfect sense
man, i still have not played rebirth cuz i am on PC, but fuck, that has been my head canon since i was a kid!!
I suppose you're looking at the bright side...
But for me the point of the remake was to fix all the issues introduced by the compilation, as well as the rushed and inconsistencies of 7.
7 had a good story, but lacked the technological finesse to make it better. So with a trilogy, instead of a one-off game, they should have improved on what was already there, instead of turning it into a mess, just so people could speculate an theory-craft if characters were dead or alive.
After part 3 is out, there'll be no more theories, as they need to provide final answers, and usually in most cases the simplest solution will be the right one, and everything will play out the same as 7, and all this multiple realities, and time weirdness will be pointless, an only there to confuse people.
So in the long run, the game will lose most o it appeal, as opposed as a better version of the original, with just expanded and improved material on the most rushes areas would have moved on to live as a classic.
Being 3 games i'd have also expected a lot more quality in terms of side content, and a lot less filler, cause there was a lot of story to tell, but we instead have chicken questlines...yay-
------
At the end of the day both remake and rebirth shine the most when being faithful to the source material, and start to get messy to downright bad, when they do deviate from it.
Like for example Leslie and his questline in remake, were possibily one of the worst bits, and what des he give you? grappling hooks...and that scene of people shooting the hook in barret's hand, him catching it, and being pulled up by Tifa, who was herself barely hanging onto cloud, is ridiculous to say the least.
I had no knowledge of OG ff7 prir to remake, i have experienced it after, and i can say without a doubt it was much better and ore coherent. it just needed a coupleof fixes and expansions, but not the theatrical BS RE trilogy pulled.
slight detail, Sephiroth himself did not slay Aerith. I never really understood this playing the game, but if Sephy's body was frozen in the Northern Crater that must mean it was Jenova, in the form of Sephy, who did the deed, prior to changing back into itself.
Technically he still did, since Jenova was being controlled by Sephiroth. Confirmed in the ultimanias. I honestly understand why there might be confusion on that since I don't remember it ever being directly stated in the game that this was the case, apart from Hojo and Cloud realizing at the Northern Crater that Sephiroth was calling to creatures with Jenova cells in them, Jenova herself included. It was just heavily implied before the ultimania was published
This video is really well put together, and it's clear a lot went into it- I mostly enjoyed it. That being said, there's some things I respectfully disagree with.
I wasn't born when the original game came out, and only got into FF7 a few years ago as a young adult. Without any nostalgia for it, I personally agree whole-heartedly with it being considered a masterpiece and it is one of those pieces of media I consider almost perfect. So, the concept of 'your FF7 does not exist because it's being viewed through rose-tinted glasses' didn't speak to me, since I hadn't been wearing such glasses when I played it the first time. I think it genuinely was (and in many ways, still is) ahead of its time, seeing that I got such enjoyment from it despite not being part of the generation that played it when it first came out.
I need to also note that the compilation was almost certainly done as a money-making endeavour more than it was out of real passion, since FF games never got any sequels until right after Sakaguchi left the company- beforehand, he'd explicitly forbidden sequels to the FF games. Many aspects of the compilation actively go against some of the themes and messages present in the original, and the very existence of sequels contradicts the poignant ambiguity of the OG's ending.
I think a lot of the devs who worked on the OG don't fully understand their own masterpiece, considering how weak the compilation turned out (and even the remake project- it's an unpopular opinion, I know, but I have a lot of issues with it). I would've preferred it if they'd left the original game alone, or got a whole new team to lead the remake while ignoring the compilation completely.
While we obviously disagree on some respects, this is an interesting comment and perspective and I thank you for it.
Only thing I want to clarify is that I don't disagree the compilation itself exists primarily because of money making through milking the OG's legacy, Square Enix is not a charity, after all. But I do believe the creatives involved, meaning the employees put in charge of coming up with the actual stories and gameplay systems of these projects, did come from a place of genuine passion and sincere attempts to do something good and worthy of the name. If they succeeded or not is up to the audience (I personally think the compilation as a whole is a mixed bag with some genuine great moments but just as many lows), but I think assuming the creatives were being as cynical as the execs is too uncharitable.
Yup. Perfect example of why nobody honest should ever make the "It's just your nostalgia" argument.
Different people can derive different meanings from the same piece of media.
What often goes unstated is the reflexive condition this creates: That different people from very different times and places can derive the SAME meaning and experience from something.
After all, if condition A is arbitrary, then A can occur multiple times, independent of T. (time)
Because of this, the "nostalgia" argument hinges on something that cannot be proven or dis-proven except at a very introspective and and personal level, and as such, can never be an objective or blanket truth. In debate, this is called "Begging the Question".
Outside of debate, it's a sign of disingenuous or confused argumentation.
Or put into practical terms: I did not need a 40 minute video telling me FF7 was imperfect, because virtually nobody believes that, let alone to the degree where it merits a blanket argument trying to gaslight people into thinking their memory of the original game is "wrong".
@@atmosdwagon4656thank you 🙏
did you call Nanaki "Red VIII" ?
I was just thinking that. Not sure in purpose or Roman numbers issues :D
Red 13 btw
Red VIII and left no crumbs
I don’t know. I feel like FF7 had a really amazing story and a perfect outline to flesh out. I like hearing well written stories in well written narratives. I feel like the original FF7 had a great narrative and plenty of room for improvement for the character interaction. The Remake does a pretty good job of fleshing out the characters while making them true to the original, but the pacing, focus, and added convolutions of the narrative have compromised from what I kind of wanted from the game. I think it’s possible for a faithful remake to be intensely interesting. You just have to flesh out the themes and characters and five time and weight to the important moments where they might have skimmed over in the original. There always more nuance and more reinforcing of ideas you can put into a narrative. I know it’s wide and expansive so the narrative can’t be too narrow and focused, but there are a lot of characters and they each have a story to tell and themes to explore as part of that story. I don’t like the idea that a faithful adaptation that expands on the original cant hold value or at least couldn’t be as interesting as a subversive take that ads convoluted pieces into the narrative and fights with the original themes and messages for dominance in the narrative.
A faithful adaptation certainly could have value, but my point is that FF VII's legacy is so strong and romanticized by so many people that a faithful one would still be uncharitably compared to the original anyway. No matter what they did, it would be criticized as not being worthy of the mantle, of adapting too much or too little, expanding more than necessary or not expanded enough, etc. I've seen people argue simply adding voice-acting would immediatelly take away from the original experience.
So you might as well talk about it involving the fans expectations directly instead of trying to recapture something that IMHO can't be recaptured. Like I say in the video, the original is widely available, and it's a great game. You don't need a remake to relive it, and the remakes do not erase the original. They don't want to. They want to celebrate the original instead of recreating it.
@@GeekOuter well that sort of opens up discussion on why a remake instead of a sequel or spinoff. If your not trying to recapture or expand on the original ideas, than why go through the motions of the original? I get your point and I’m not necessarily saying your wrong, even, but trying to tell a new story by going through the motions of an old story and interjecting here and there just feels weird, unless the new story has cohesive themes with the original. I guess that’s kind of what a remake was going to be anyways, trying to add onto and flesh things out requires a clear expanse on the theming or your just adding fluff. Im not 100% sure what I’m getting at.
I just feel like almost everyone was happy with the direction the remake went until the meta-narrative kicked in and that split a lot of people. Im fine with most of what you say, but I genuinely believe that there is a direction that they could have went that most people would have been happy with. I think that what we got showcases a lot of what most people wanted from a remake. From all of the videos I’ve seen from every point of view almost everyone was happy with certain aspects of this game and those are the parts that retread, but flesh out the original.
Now, i’m not a hate bandwagon type of person. I think there is value in the remake we got and an interesting narrative that’s unfolding, it’s just not my cup of tea. I’m genuinely happy to see some people unabashedly love this game though. I’m not trying to say that the direction they went is the objectively wrong one. I’m just trying to defend the position that there could be a faithful adaptation of the original that had value because of what it did instead of what it emulated. Some people wanted to see updated cinematic of the big moments. Some people wanted to explore the world hinted at in the backgrounds of the original. Some people just want to experiment with the materia system again. I’m not trying to attack the direction of the games right now, just defend the value and appeal a less subversive remake could potentially have.
@@christianboi7690Exactly this, people who say a remake can’t be good because you already know what is going to happen or that people will compare it to the original are just pretending remakes as a whole don’t exist.
Every other remake is just like that, RE2 remake is faithful and is still great and made a classic that is outdated into a new updated experience that new and old fans can enjoy.
We were robbed that for FF7 one of the best videogame classics that is now probably forever trapped in it’s outdated form.
Such an incredible video... Nostalgia is such a powerful emotion. I recently platinumed Rebirth on PS5 while simultaneously replaying the original FF7 on my Nintendo Switch. They're both masterpieces in their own ways, but there's so much excitement in knowing that we could still have alternate outcomes for different characters fates depending on the narrative direction they take in the third game of the Remake series. Regardless of how they chose to end things, I'll definitely be along for the unknown journey. I love that orchestral version of Aerith's theme that you closed out the video with. Beautiful job.
Nice. I’m also working on Platinuming FFVII: Rebirth. GAME OF THE YEAR!!!
As someone who played FF7 og after the remake, I fear this isn't nostalgia, Im just more into darker stories ig
The re-do trilogy is still leading up to AC. It’s been said by devs that all roads meet up with Advent children.
*sigh* How do you reconcile an imperfect game with everybody's unique expetations? You create more story, add a multiverse and just let your creativity loose while enriching the players most cherished moments and staying loyal to the OG as much as possible.
I love how they are handling it...its doing reboots "the right way" if you will. Unlike star wars franchise, which has been a pure fire extinguishing endeavor since 1999.
I think, since the lifestream holds the memories of the deceased..its not out of place to give more depth and understanding to the characters struggles throughout the game by having that sentient super technology communicate with the living to try and give them (and us as players) the off ramp that we've all been looking for since OG regarding such heavy topics as the finality of death and the set course of fate. The most innevitable thing fate gives us is 'change' and if we can influence its course even a little bit it gives us hope for a better tomorrow. The most important key to that locked heart is responsibility though...Cloud taking responsibility for his actions despite having failed to conquer his demons in time literally gives him another chance to do right by those he feels he let down. Hopefully even understand his most hated enemy...the man he admired. I see no limit to Cloud's growth with the remakes.
This is a crazy theory, but I believe that the Chocobo Sage is Cloud from the future
If your theory turns out to be true it would be one hell of a ballsy move I couldn't help but respect.
Absolutely agree.
So basically you make a FFXIII fanfiction with FFVII characters?
Yeah no, that is not what faithful means.
6:36 Wait, did you just say that Aeris turns into Jenova after her death to fight the party? Like... what?
@@ragfarok I actually meant Sephiroth, but now that you mentioned it, the way I phrased it does lend itself to this interpretation. My bad.
@GeekOuter No worries at all, I was wondering if my mind was supposed to be blown for an instant haha. Thanks for clarifying that out and bravo, that's a fantastic video you made there!
Laat time I checked, Final Fantasy VII still existed.
It does but unfortunately some of the fans are trying desperately to replace it with the new weebtard reimagining.
Even remade it, changed the story quite a bit but yeah
Laat time I checked, it was spelled "Last"
Can someone tell me who this guy is? 2:09? That comment was so bizzare and rude
Phil Fish, creator of Fez, former indie game developer that was very outspoken and rude on several occasions. Though to be fair, he did apologize to the Japanese developer and quit the industry for good after being severely harassed by gamergate.
@@GeekOuter Who is “gamergate”? Is he in the room with us now? Imagine excusing Fish’s pathetic anti-Japanese xenophobia. He only apologized for the optics.
@@cipher0329 do you genuinely not know what gamergate was or do you believe it never happened?
Anywho, I'm not excusing Fish, just adding further context, his apology and the gamergate debacle are unrelated.
I also think that it’s not just the same game, it’s personalized. My interpretation for the longest time is that you don’t actually play final fantasy vii the first time around. What you played is Aerith’s vision. It makes me insane that no one else thinks of it this way, ever since I played it so long ago and peers around me just assumed the game had no ending. It also ties in with what FF has done since part 1: create storylines that have a stable time loop.
Great take. I firmly believe that a 1 for 1 remake would've not fully satisfied most people, because the shock value and surprise is gone. This approach makes more sense, especially for the end of Rebirth
Dude!!! Great Job with this doc... Wow
If I die before Part 3 Imma be really pissed.
lol,I was thinking the same...😁
But how can one be mad if you return to the lifestream? I'm sure you'll be around tho! Both of you
You’ll be able to play it in the lifestream and has the PS7 with 16K! You’re welcome 😉
@@Dis2good That'll look amazing!
@@elbuglione Already played it and I dont agree with you.
Clickbait video based on a fallacious argument that boils down to "Ur Nostalgia" gaslighting.
The one conclusion I agree with also happens to be the null-hypothesis of art: You can't please everyone.
I didn't need a 40 minute video trying to gaslight me into thinking my memories of this game (past and present) were "fake"; I have a very firm grasp of why I find the original game wildly superior to its derivatives, and a much better explanation for why the Remake won't be able to please this specific audience and its many divergent tastes.
But I wager such things would be wasted here. Enjoy your YT comment metric. You won't be getting another from me.
@@atmosdwagon4656 I usually don't reply to overly negative comments because they tend to be in bad faith and people have the right to disagree with my takes anyway. But reading your two comments I just find it ironic how you focus so much on the inner workings of "debate" only to grossly summarize what I said as "gaslighting".
I never said your personal memories were "fake". Quite the contrary, I called them special and impossible to replicate, assuming you have longstanding attachment to the game since childhood, like I do.
It's all well and good to disagree with my arguments, but at the very least don't twist them into an unrecognizeable strawman that assumes I have some sort of ill intent toward you. I don't, and if you felt offended, patronized, or gaslighted merely because I said "I think a lot of people are unfair to subsequent FF7 media and I like the direction the Remakes are going", then I'm sorry, but that's on you and I recommend to try to chill.
Have a good one.
@@GeekOuter "I never said your personal memories were "fake"."
34:10
"....because the Final Fantasy VII in my head OR YOURS, does not exist."
If people have memories of this game (which you repeatedly bring up) but those memories 'do not exist', then the only logical conclusion that satisfies both of these claims is that their memories are not real.
The definition of 'fake' is "Something that is not real."
So no, I am not twisting anything to arrive at that conclusion, nor is that even a nitpick given it's the title of your video and presumably, the central thesis of everything you're talking about.
If that was not your intention, then I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. But that is, in fact an argument someone would say if they were trying to gaslight their audience.
Having seen so many similarly disingenuous arguments within gaming (especially those leading with a controversial or inflammatory take on something popular), my suspicions are sadly, not unfounded.
@@atmosdwagon4656 If you're going to be this pedantic, I'm no longer interested in this conversation. If you want to feel gaslighted over an opinion essay, have it your way.
Like I said previously, have a good one.
@@GeekOuter That isn't what 'pedantic' means. If questioning your main argument is 'pedantic', then do the world a favor and stop making essays of any kind, because all you are going to do is confuse people.
Yeah, it is gaslighting. Essentially calling people "oldhead" and just gobble up the modern slop and enjoy it.
Great video. I enjoyed the perspective.
Rufus survived, because his father installed a "Loser" escape hatch to mock him. Well, who's laughing now.
But, you made a really great video! And I think your main thesis is absolutely correct.
I am happy that you liked the games but for us old and tired fans this will always be a false advertised game that wanted to capitalize on our nostalgia and no amount of double speach and uematso music will ever change that. Remake is remaking the original game not making a meta sequel with the name remake my guy 😅
It’s not a remake. No need to lie to justify liking a shit bastardisation of masterpiece
So the next one is the final one?
Could have said it better myself 🎉 congrats this is the realest thing anyone has ever said about an all too familiar issue thxx for the realness
This was so well done man. I can't wait to try the remake, haven't had the funds to get it yet but you made me that much more jazzed to play it. I've played almost ever single final fantasy game, it all started with 7 for me (older brother played the first couple as I watched and played around with them but 7 was the first one to grab my ADHD brain and give it a huge hug. I think the gfx in the remake as well as the in-depth explanations of things that we all speculated on is super exciting, and the cliff hanger options as to what could happen next is EXACTLY what I want from that game. Thanks for the content, I thoroughly enjoyed this.
if anyone ever lost a member of their family, they would know that Square made Aerith's death perfectly. It is exactly how reality shifts in Clouds mind and how he can't comprehend that she died.
2:13 Wow, Phil Fish sticking his foot in his mouth. A rare sight, I'm sure.
Hey, this is PurpleMaster from the gfaqs Ever17 board! Wonderful video, I'm a huge fan of FFVII and I loved your piint of view on the Compilation and Remakes. Keep going, I love this channel!
Heya, happy to have you around!
God people really do hate that the original is a masterpiece and the reimagining is a complete bastardised mess.
😂😂😂
Or people just have other opinions different from yours
The original is a great game but not a “masterpiece,” it’s flawed in many ways. The remakes have flaws yes, but are not “bastardized” by anyone without an inherent nostalgia bias and inability to give credit where credit is due, and when all 3 remakes are out, I’m sure time will be much more charitable to what they’ve done with them
@@Erikthedood The original absolutely is a masterpiece. It has some of the most beloved videogame characters of all time, and is still adored and talked about regularly almost 3 decades after it released. Of course it has flaws - there's no such thing as a game that doesn't have flaws, but I guarantee you that 20 years from now the original will still be beloved. The remakes, however, will be forgotten. Nobody will look back on them with even 1% of the fondness that the original is looked back on.
Agreed. Xenoblade fans agree that the first game is a masterpiece, and Xenoblade Definitive Edition adapts the story, adds some extra details (Alvis' Core Crystal) and gives the game a extra epilogue. Why in god's name could Square Enix not do what Monolith Soft did?
I think they did way too much with VII fr. All the time they spent with all the offshoots, movies, etc could've just been put into making a faithful remake. I feel that everything sort of just bastardized the original to a point where the remake doesn't hold the same charm of the original but rather inspires to be everything after it. I do like the remake but I still would have preferred if they had just made it the way one would expect it to be made, I don't like that it is essentially hijacked by the new developer's take.
Yes it does! It's got like 12 mods installed and it's on my SSD right now! Aerith, come on show him! Aerith?
A remake of any franchise can be great or horrible. This is obviously dependent upon the original storyline, the decision of adding to the story or to leave it, and making sure to give the audiences/players what they want. Granted it's impossible to please everyone but if a good amount of people are sold on the franchise for both the original/s and remake/s then a very very well done and congratulations are in order.
I personally have no expectations for the next or final title for the Final Fantasy 7 remake series but I for one would like to see Aerith come back in some way during the final battle against Sephiroth or at the finale where Cloud goes to an isolated area or whatever and he either muses to himself or to Zack then Aerith appears to him one last time or rather at the end of the title as because in Advent Children Aerith and Zack appear at the very end of the movie
1:40 not just a work of gaming, a work of ART :)
my friend,
amazing video. thanks for putting everything easy and clear. you are based.
Ok this may be off from the common opinion but i actually like all the ff7 i have seen/played. There is only 1 game u mentioned i didn't play. Honestly my biggest problem with the remake is that it false advertising. If they had advertised it as a sequel then that would have been fine. Also genesis and his cohorts are actually in the new ones. They were active in the dlc
Deep Ground, from Dirge of Cerberus, does appear in the DLC, but they are not really Genesis "cohorts". They were created from his genetic material, but they never knew the guy (aside from Weiss, I think). Aside from the fact Deepground exists in this continuity, there is no sign of the Genesis the character showing up (thankfully, IMO).
I have very fond memories of Advent Children. Was it perfect? No, but it was a wonderful love letter to fans of the original game. I especially loved the glimpses of Aerith it provided. A touching movie.
what's the song at around 22:10 ?
The Promised Land, from Advent Children
@@GeekOuter Oi, thanks for the fast response! This soundtrack fokkin SLAPS
20:24 the girl had to nurse a catatonic mako junkie before the start of the game and might not have wanted to see him relapse.
Im not ready to say goodbye to FF VII universe i love this game and love the Remake saga
If there was any love for OG FF7 at Square Enix, after deciding they were going to make a fanfiction instead of a faithful remake, they would have at least made a remaster of the original so many more could enjoy it without the flaws of the outdated original.
What you can clearly see from these creatives since the beginning of the compilation is a desire to retcon and change the original into something different, their version of FF7 that is totally different from the OG.
Ever Crisis First Soldier finale expands a lot on Sephiroth and what he's trying to achieve in Remake trilogy. His backstory there too. It's pretty good I'd dare to say! Most fans actually like it.
Fantastic video! 💯 I absolutely love the FF7 Remake Saga. I love the original game too but I feel like people put the original on far too much of a pedestal because of nostalgia and they don't give the Remakes credit where it is due. The Remakes are absolutely phenomenal in my opinion and they greatly expand the original, adding far more depth to the story, characters, lore, gameplay, soundtrack, and world building.
I never played the game when it came out. I tried for the first time a few months ago but couldn't get into it. Getting to know now the lore inside and outside the game was really interesting! Great video!
If you push through the heavily hand held opening portion (Midgar) it really becomes something special mechanically.
Horribly clunky by today's standards. Forget what you know and expect. Focus on the story and suffering through the growing pains. It's art. Unlike 99% of other great games. It's just different. Another level of nuance and dedication went into this game.
Ugh is what I call it, played 2 hours of rebirth and haven't played it again. 😐
I think my ff7 did exist. But the current efforts from Square to recapture it strays too far from what it was.
Incredible video. I was ready to disagree at the start, but fully embraced what you said by the end.
What a great video 😙👌 Thank you!
A lot of this feels more of explaining events more so than expounding upon how "your final fantasy 7 doesnt exist" when it feels like im waiting for you to say we all have our own image of the game with our own expectations that cannot be realized
Great vid! Thank you.
I know ff7 have problem and I first play it later in life. I like your video man. Nice work
I think the part of Tifa not calling out Cloud on the discrepancies was actually genius. It just wasn’t implemented well enough. Nibelheim was a traumatic incident for both Cloud and Tifa and both of them misremembering the events in such a situation would’ve been understandable. It’s possible that Tifa was questioning her own memories since Cloud had true knowledge of what happened even though to her knowledge and memories he wasn’t present at all during those events. Even his feelings of the events were the kind of feelings of someone who saw the events first hand. So how could he remember clearly something that he didn’t experience or was it that she was remembering wrong all along? That’s what would’ve been going through her head when she heard Cloud’s recall of the events. With Tifa’s reactions in the original game I think that was the way they intended to go but somehow it got on the chopping block. Maybe it didn’t fit Tifa’s character or maybe they didn’t want 2 characters with an identity crisis or they simply forgot or had to cut extra fat.
I might be wrong, but I actually don't believe in the multiverse in retrilogy. these strange and unreal scenes with Zack almost always appear when Cloud sleeps, or falls unconscious, or tries to avoid his motion sickness. it looks like the player sees this story through the Cloud's eyes, and Cloud has some kind of dreams and delusions, which he doesn't able to distinguish from the reality, so is the player. that explosion-like thing in the sky, for example, was in the OG Lifestream sequence as a part of Cloud's subconscious. Sefiroth in the OG tries to make Cloud believe in the wrong things, even the fact he isn't a real one, why should we believe in everything that Sefiroth says?.. and we know Cloud has a problem with his memories, he can't gather them in one piece yet, so it could be the explanation of why we didn't see the whole things
I don't usually go for these long ass videos, but you hooked me and did a great job laying everything out. You hit on every point I could think of.
21:09 my immaturity hold no bounds "Tifa always being with a three-some." Will forever be pointed out and funny..
In the original game, you can skip the part where Aeris dies by going up through the mountain next to Midgard and walking across the ocean to the the snow lands town, save, and then switch over to disk 2, then go back later on in the game at disk 3 to get everything you missed, minus the stuff in The Temple of the Ancients. That is the sacrifice and it is well worth it. You only really need yellow mastered materia, a bunch of Phoenix, Knights of Round, and Final Attack materia when fighting all 4 Weapons, Ultima, Ruby, Sapphire, and one in the sunken plane, that they cut out of the revised games for some dumb reason.
I like your perspective on Tifa, I think that they wanted to be more subtle with her awkward enabling habits, because that's a common practice in Japan, which is to know when to help, but try to hold your tongue if you don't know how to help someone on the count of making it worse possibly. I also like the fact that in the Rebirth, she even admits to succumbing to social norms, always wanting to make everyone liker her. I seriously thought she mentioned to him before that he was starting to scare her, but that was closer to when he starts figuring out his past I think. If nothing else, she reminds me of how a friend can help or hurt a situation with good intentions. And knowing this, only tortures her more. Or bare miniumum, that's what I get off the remake, and that's brilliant.
Also, I thought I'd be confused and upset at the remake, but it won me over. And I was a fan of it since I popped in the PSM's occasional free demo disc back in '97 coming right off the block of stuff like Spyro and Driver2. FF7 to me at the time was definitely something new, but it also was the first thing as far as my memory went when it came to opening my mind up to new things, so that's why I never had a problem with the way they went about the game. I'm also curious how they end this thing.
Crazy thing is that Romancing SaGa 2 revenge of the seven came out several months AFTER rebirth, and the former is a MUCH better remake than whatever the hell FF7R trilogy has been.
I am convinced Advent children is one of the best, if not best post main franchise additions ever, I will happily field any criticism but I genuinely think it's not perfect but very very very good. It does so much with the small time it's allotted I am just amazed, also it's looks stunning.
Yeah, it's not a cinematic masterpiece or anything, but it's genuinely fun and does what it needs to do IMO.
Loved this video, but I disagree with part of the premise (I think). I played FF7 for the first time in 2018, with zero context, no nostalgia, and no expectations. Similar to say intentionally listening to Mozart for the first time, knowing that it is a cultural icon. I knew in the first 20 minutes that the game was an absolute masterpiece just from my own impressions, and it was real and definitely did exist in that moment. What makes FF7 special is that it lets you feel new emotions for the first time, like seeing a color that you didn't know existed. I think Remake forfeit this a little in the name of Spectacle, but I am very happy that Rebirth has the same emotional brilliance as the original, and possibly even more.
The music in the remakes is just so fitting for each area and the enviroments are beautifully done. Some of the mini games are horribley hard due to different reasons such as horrible controls or something else entirely. Im currently trying to playinum it playing hard mode and it is certainly hard thats for sure just insane.
Great video! Especially the last segment was well said and put together. Thank you for voicing out how I felt about the series. The 7RE series is definitely more interesting and exciting, such a great time to be a fan. The devs are not given enough credit for the amount of love and effort put into the series.
1st thing is Cloud's head is not right, everything that Cloud sees might not be true.. we might have played his own mind games. Who knows what narrative is true if our protagonist is literally has brain damage? Thus don't take what cloud see as objective truth.
12:58 Who hates this movie? it literally became the baseline for FFXIII and gave them a reason to push towards real-time combat
I am one of those people who begged a remake since the PS3 tech Demo. I just wanted to play FF7 with graphics similar to Advent Children, or even a Dirge of Cerberus sequel as it ended on a cliffhanger.
I consider FF7 a great game that is a work of genius because it’s imperfect 🤷♂️
watched advent children boot leg too absolutely loved it im subscribing just on that alone and i’ll die on the hill with you😂
Many people including myself forgot the OG has been cut into pieces twice in order to release to the public because of the limits of the n64 (the first system it was going to launch on) and ps one systems so if the devs want to tell the whole assed story.... I'm on board 😂😂 go big. Great introspection on the OG. 👍
You really wanted Tifa to instantly interject and reveal something traumatic to a CLEARLY mentally unstable person who is already struggling to find out who he is as a person? If you told somebody that everything they remember about their past is WRONG and you're serious about it, the person wouldn't just sit there and accept that as the truth, there would be CONFLICT that arises from that, and Tifa is characterized as an empathetic and hesitant person. But no, this is just head canon right? I like most of the video but you writing off things that aren't explicitly stated as "head canon" and "bad writing" just bothers me and I don't agree in the slightest.
*jumps out time portal in shiny suit with last known original copy of FF7 and evaporates you with Hadron Collider* 💀⚡😬
It took me way too long to realize that this video essay was applying Barthes' "The Death of the Author" at length.
I think a lot of the reason that people disliked _Advent Children_ was the change to Cloud. I want to say that the director actually confirmed that Cloud had been deliberately changed to more closely align with certain fan depictions of him, but I could be misremembering that. In any case, Cloud did change in such a way, and there were certainly many other fans who not only thought that this was a deviation from his character but also did not like the "dark and angsty" archetype stereotypically favored by adolescents and wanted a character who was true to the original rather than pandering to a certain segment of the fan base. (This does tie into what you talk about later regarding differing memories and perspectives and how you have to choose between segments of the fanbase to pander to; simply apply that to AC and you'll understand why it's unpopular in certain circles.)
That being said, you have given a perfectly good explanation as to why Cloud would have changed in AC. I think it makes the movie make a bit more sense to me. But choosing to go that route with his character would still rub people the wrong way-even though you could come up with a justification for it-because of its broader cultural context.
If they had added the extra stuff in as a new game plus it woulda been genius. If they had shrunk the scope and kept it one disc it woulda been great. What we got is OK, but certainly not what anyone was asking for
Amazing video, it's clear how much effort you put into your analysis and how important FF7 is to you. I entirely agree with your takes here on how Advent Children is a good movie and how worthwhile the remake is thanks to its approach. Thank you for another great piece of work!
17:35
Dude, I don't think you are a strong enough fan to talk about this if you still don't understand why genesis looks and acts how he does
He's basically nomura favorite rocker in a video game duh
oh, it was such a magical time. FF7 is still a huge game, even by today's standards. I've played it countless times and it still takes me a matter of days to finish.
The problem is, that Lucas wanted to make Star Wars 1-3 fantastic. Spielberg wanted to make Indiana Jones follow on films, fantastic. They all had their hearts in the right place.
Sadly, creatives, like all of us, get old. They lose that spark - or at least evolve it to the extent it no longer resembles what it was.
SE only seem interested in exploring weak existing characters in lacklustre ways, largely to placate powerful pressure groups in the States. Or even worse, making new, genuinely terrible characters, such as Genesis.
Remake and Rebirth are huge positives in a quagmire of mediocrity.
I played all the games in this series, og ff7 still remains the best title, in my opinion. The "multi-verse of ff7" was meh for me, and i really wanted to love the the remake project, just couldn't get into it. But it doesn't mean i hate the game, just not for me, and i hope everyone playing it loves it. 😊
marvel did permanent damage to the concept of multiverse ever.
As someone who played the original in 2016 when I was 18 because of the remakes announcements and my love of Kingdom Hearts introducing me to these characters, I loved it. I played it twice back to back. The gang of ffvii are some of the most memorable and likable bunch of characters in any game I've ever played. Aeirth Gainsborough is in at least my top 5 fictional characters of all time. What I'm trying to say is I absolutely adored the ff7 remake. The game gave new life to one of my favorite characters of all time, and I enjoyed pretty much every moment of the game in my first playthrough.
I didn't immediately revisit the game because I didn't feel like playing all the sidequests again. I finally started rebirth 2 weeks ago, but the discourse has sucked all the passion and excitement I had, and it really sucks.
Look, ffvii means different things to different people. The characters mean different things to different people. I came into the remake fully hoping we would finally be able to save Aerith. If they dont go that route, it's fine. I won't be able to stomach the heartbreak another time. Every time i watch someone play the original game or hear her theme song play, I almost instinctively begin tearing up. That's how much Aeriths character means to me. I understand her role in the original story yet I've always wanted Cloud to be able to save her so he could be happy, so she could be happy, so she could finally be allowed to live her life.
I don't need people coming in here with hyperbolic criticisms that try to ruin other people's enjoyment. If you don't like it thats fine, but trying to tear it down and tell other people they shouldn't play it or enjoy is just straight up immature and childish behavior. Don't give others crap for enjoying something that speaks to them that 100s if not 1000s of people worked incredibly hard on, and hopefully they won't give you crap either. The insane notion that the people who made this game are lazy, or don't care is astounding.
People enjoy different things. I like final fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 7 remake, even some parts of advent children, not much of crisis core, but thats the thing, everyone is different and likes and dislikes certain things. I don't think that should be held against them for not aligning with your viewpoints.
I don't know what is so difficult for people on both sides to understand. Art is subjective and speaks to and touches people in different ways. Stop trying to tell people what to think or belittling them for not thinking the way you do just because a game or movie didn't live up to your personal expectations.
This type of hostile discourse not only discourages proper discussion but also sucks the fun and enjoyment out of the hobby.
No hate directed towards the creator of this video or anyone else. It's just something I had to get off my chest for a while now. Gaming discourse, in general, has sucked a lot of joy out of the hobby for me. I get the corporate nonsense of clearly unfinished games and bad microtransaction practices, but it's getting out of hand when we do receive quality products, and they get slandered and raked over the coals.
I mean, your comment is basically what I said during the video, really.
@GeekOuter Sorry if I came off as redundant. I was just trying to air grievances I've had about the gaming discourse as a whole related to the game and games in general. I appreciated the video.
I didn't know it was possible to have every single bad take in a row.
All the " wait that caim out wrong " reminded me that me and my friends used to call the fight between Cloud and Sephiroth " Length vs Girth "
I still don’t understand the materia, I’m in my first playthrough and I have elemental materia, some alls, a few summons, but like.. wut? Also I’ve been using the 3x feature, with no random encounters and the full hp, limit and mp sometimes… and I can’t actually feel like I’m playing it wrong (like I usually would)… I’d love to play the remake but I can’t justify not being able to play the 2nd disc -_- I kinda also want to replay after I beat it without using the “enhancers”, but idk
I feel like no amount of words in a comment can relay my feelings and opinion properly but in short.
1 Fans cried over and over for a new FF VII game and Square simply took the opportunity, as video games are business for studios after all.
2 When Square revealed the game they called it Remake and NOT Remaster, hence you can't expect what they are doing to be exactly the same as the original game just with modern graphics and cut scenes. They never committed to that!
3 The original FF VII is still there you can still play it and enjoy the story and you can still treasure it, I know I do.
4 While the Remake/Rebirth are not perfect and never will be (heck even the original was not perfect) they still have so many interesting locations and details that were not possible to show during the era of the original cause of technical limitations.
5 Aren't you people tired of hating or looking for faults to justify your hate, rather than focus on what is there to enjoy instead?
I love both the original FF VIII and the Remake/Rebirth for what they are even with the parts I hate in them and people that say that there are perfect games are full of it!
What is funny to me is when square talks about the scale of the remake for 7 is just a bunch of b.s. It's because of money as we have seen with remake and rebirth both games are filled with bloat. Hell this trilogy could have been a duology as the Midgar section didn't need to be that long nor was disc 1. But again they are just overall complicating one game into 3. You would think they are taking a page out of the book of falcom when it comes to game making with multiple games for an arc when the actual arc for that game begins in either the second game or 4th game if it's a 4 game arc.
The problem is every game play differently, from turnbased to action. Even crisis core reunion are not the same.