Here is a game that I love: Final Fantasy IX! kzread.info/dash/bejne/doiWu8SFp5rUmKQ.html

@mel-el5862

2 жыл бұрын

I think ff9 really sucked.

@justhomas83

3 ай бұрын

​@@mel-el5862WRONG

@justhomas83

3 ай бұрын

Zaidane was Him that Dude 😎

I just don't understand why people aren't far more critical of this game. If this were any other Remake by any other company, it would be completely ripped to shreds by the general public. The writing is literally as bad as in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The idea of "What if Sephiroth was a time traveller who could jump across dimensions and control fate with fate ghosts" is just as insulting to the lore of FFVII as the idea "What if Palpatine was somehow still alive for no reason, made Snoke clones and was Rey's grandpa" was to the lore of Star Wars. Yet one is rightfully torn down while the other is blindly praised. It boggles my mind. I cannot understand it.

@mikespearwood3914

Жыл бұрын

It's the blind nostalgia goggles. Pretty graphics, pretty characters and voice acting and adhd battle scenes.

@AndrewFrancisIlyrian

5 ай бұрын

No. The story is really good. You are just a dumb fanboy

@Mother3Forever

3 ай бұрын

The FF7 community effectively a cult. That's why.

@AndrewFrancisIlyrian

3 ай бұрын

Because it is actually a good game and you are just a stupid fanboy.

@AndrewFrancisIlyrian

3 ай бұрын

@@mikespearwood3914 no. You are the one with nostalgia goggles

I consider my self a purist and I'm all for adding backstory to make the game richer, but you don't mess with the storyline that it has already been established, which means the tittle is dishonest, this is not remade to be just a current generation game but made completely different in all aspects.This isn't FF7 this is something else , I rather go to play the HD pc version. If someone ever gifts this game to me I might give it a chance just to past the time, but no chance in hell I'm buying this thing.

@vincentgraymore

2 жыл бұрын

If you self label as a purist, you got a lot of enemies, like the majority of vocal people. People that want the whisperers to be meta message of the purists and them getting killed is something they feel some ecstasy from. Many also wants purists to burn on the pyre because they think that change is "always" good and others that think that "remaking" anything is "useless". I also think that many new fans do not care at all, and old and new just want the characters in HD, and in fact many new celebrate the fact that they now do not have to suffer from the past sentence of FOMO of the OG. I just hope that every FF fan that now wants their favorite FF (like VI or VIII, heck just story in general) that loved FF VII remakes whisperers plot get it in every single story they consume until they understand why FF VII didn't need it and I find it hypocritical that they love this in FF VII but many times say that they want their FF to be more faithful.

@apacherestartking7850

2 жыл бұрын

you are not a purist if you only want an integer story. im not really a purist, they could add things, if they would fit the story, but what they added was a great bunch of crap. what about these fucking ghosts? seems to me like they work as a plot convenience more than they fit the story. beating sephirot at start ruins everything. you are not a purist, you only got common sense if you think this is a REALLY bad idea.

@aarononeill3

2 жыл бұрын

​@@vincentgraymore fair point, but the new story stinks,

@aarononeill3

2 жыл бұрын

​@@vincentgraymore fair point, but the new story stinks,

I'm flabbergasted at people who enjoyed the remake. That ending was unforgivable. What on earth were they thinking with those fate ghosts flying around the entire game? It ruined so many iconic moments.

@Faithaven

Жыл бұрын

Ff7 remake has nothing to do with remaking the game

@simontompkins7804

Жыл бұрын

@@Faithaven Christ, don't I know it.

@crazzluz1702

Жыл бұрын

"Other people aren't allowed to enjoy something because it ruins my nostalgia for a 30 year old game!" I've been playing Final Fantasy since I was 4. I first played Final Fantasy VII in 1998, when I was 7 years old. I've beaten every game in the franchise 5-10 times. FF7 Remake is my favorite game in the series. Why? Because it's so much fucking fun to play. Because games are meant to, you know, be fun.

@7milesdavis

Жыл бұрын

You are right buddy! Destroying the iconic story this “remade” game is based on is super fun! It’s not like the story is what people fell in love with all those years ago. It’s not like pacing or characters matter, just look at those flashing light bro! Cloud was teleporting bro!

@Ch0c0b0

Жыл бұрын

@@7milesdavis based response

This game looked great and the new battle system worked better than I expected, but thats all I can say, I remember the deeper I got into the game the more I started to get this slow sinking feeling that this was not the remake I always wanted

@AG-sj4om

6 ай бұрын

I never played the og so I didn’t have the reference while I was playing this and it makes so many choices that just baffled me even down the level design, even with all the ridiculous story things aside just the most fundamental part of a game has some of the worst in the industry that I’ve ever played. Like some of the most boring sections just keep going and going and going with obstacles and more obstacles to slow u down and then they make u redo those sections again later in the game. Really wanted to love this game but I only played it because I fell in love with 16 and I wanted more of that

@MPT1983

6 ай бұрын

@@AG-sj4om Yea it's ridiculous how they managed to stretch out a 3 to 4 hour segment from the OG to an entire 25+ hour game,by that logic the rest of the game will be 10 discs

@dane4073

4 күн бұрын

the battle system is the best part. IT even better in rebirth (battle system)

The dementors from harry potter were a great addition to the final fantasy franchise! I hope we get to travel to Hogwarts in rebirth!

@MariaIsabellaZNN

9 ай бұрын

Can't wait for Hagrid to say his iconic thing "You're a SOLDIER, Cloud!"

@dantespimp

3 ай бұрын

"DID YOU DEFEAT SEPHIROTH YET, CLOUD??????" Barret asked calmly.

@LordMalice6d9

Ай бұрын

​@@dantespimpCloud- "Not until I get my original memories back!"

This must be the first FF7R complaint video I've seen that complains about everything except the whispers and fates ending.

@wmen48

4 ай бұрын

I personally would have no problem with them if the game was in tone of og ff7 and was good. For example I would like shades of grey cold Zack that has a dating sim in every town.

You pointed out something I don't think many noticed about the plates; there wasn't suppose to be sunlight. I think I did realize it, yet didn't somehow at the same time. Mainly because of the compilations after the upper plate was gone, and maybe the dev team forgot to because that's a massive plothole. At most, there would be light on the outskirts, but they were also on the lower levels, but it looks like they were at base level somehow as well. Good catch.

@riskybitness

Жыл бұрын

It's part of the world building that really bothered me. I guess you can't have an entire game that takes place in the dark, so it was a design choice. I still feel that it took a large portion of Midgar's character away. I suppose the vision going into this was different from the original. The slums are very alive here, maybe too much so - and the people are going about t heir business all too happily. You don't get the sense of desperation you get in the original FF VII. It's a shame, because the division between the wealthy people on the top of the plate and the impoverished below was an extremely important part of setting the mood of the source material. As I said in my other comment, the changes to the story are not good. Maybe the forthcoming parts will be more compelling. I think they're building up to do a multiple universe thing, I'm not really sure. I'm interested in seeing where it goes.

@dantespimp

3 ай бұрын

@@riskybitness Funny enough, the first Remake trailer itself showed the Slums dimly lit. It would've been AMAZING if they kept it dark, with neon lights lit here and there. In real life, back in the day when we didn't have streetlights at night, there were people who were hired to carry lamps and guide people to their designation. FF7 Remake team could've done something like this. In fact, there was a LOT of missed opportunity to world-build and make the place under the Plate its own unique environment. But like Crisis Core, they half-assed it. And became so many gamers LOOOVED Crisis Core, there was no reason for them to set the bar any higher than that. In fact, a lot of these decisions traces back to Crisis Core (what with its repetitive boring side-quests, extremely linear part, and very limited environments).

I played the original to death and finally got round to playing through this ….. finding this a real slog it feels so padded ….. the bit where you get to the ghost train yard OMG just wanted to get to the plate destruction and it took like 3-4 hours after wall market …. Another locked door ..another body of water to drain …. Really got old and felt dragged out

@dantespimp

3 ай бұрын

The train station just REALLY irked me. Here you are, trying to race against the clock to save your Avalanche buddies and Slum residents from being slaughtered, and the game just decides 'You know what? Let's have a spooky moment with some harem action to spice things up, 'k? OwO' I ended up not giving a shit over Aerith's sad lonely childhood because, in my brain, I was thinking 'Look, bitch, the world doesn't revolve around you right now. Our buddies are DYIING! The Plate is going to come down. Everyone you love doesn't know they're in danger! So please stop giving yourself a self pity-party and LET'S FUCKING GO!" 😆 Even the game realized it had stupid pacing issues too lol. It constantly had to remind us the Plate is about to come down since this train segment had been padded for more than it should.

could just as well have titled the game Final Kingdom of Fantasy Hearts

I think anyone that watched Advent Children could see where things were going. And it somehow got worse from there.

@mikespearwood3914

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, AC was atrocious.

@justhomas83

3 ай бұрын

It ruined it

@justhomas83

3 ай бұрын

Chasing the magic is the problem. Square soft was ahead of it's time Square Enix will never be square soft not to me anyway never

@EdgarFriendlysCivicsTeacher

3 ай бұрын

@@justhomas83 the only parts of the remake/rebirth I like are where it slows down as does character work. Even then we're talking about minutes out of 25 hour+ games. So aside from a few scenes between Cloud and Tifa it's a hyperactive mess that makes the fanfic storytelling error of "mOrE Is bEtTErEr!" There's a world of difference between a complex story and a convoluted one. SquareEnix has no idea how to discern the difference. I'm in a fortunate spot where I was once a huge fan of FF7, but grew out of it and can watch fairly dispassionately as Square parasitise themselves. But had these been great or even good games, I know it might have rekindled that old spark. As it stands if this is what the new audience wants, they're welcome to it. It's a bit too cringy for me.

@justhomas83

3 ай бұрын

@@EdgarFriendlysCivicsTeacher Makes sense I grew out of it as well however when I was 13 years old it's all I had. I spent summers playing the game. I went through it 7 times. No gameplay I beat it with only ice materia and lightning. I miss the Phoenix summoning and Zero Bahamut. CID and Vincent I use them throughout one of the playthroughs.

This game hurt my soul, we wanted a Remake not a Re-Imagining.. The original story was perfect, it didn't need anything changed or added and if that's what Square wanted they should have titled it accordingly, as well I've heard that Rebirth is being made so that anyone can pick it up and play it even if they didn't play FF7R, which tells me that there is no continuation or character progression from the first game and if there is any it will be very minor, WTF IS THE POINT!?! We wanted a FULL Remake, not 7 games that aren't connected that you have to restart on each game, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE People speak with your money and don't buy this stupid cash grab, then maybe they'll do a real Reboot of the game, not 7 separate disks that don't connect

Do a long form critique man I’d love that! I can’t stop watching people rip this awful story telling apart. Good job on this one too. I waited for reviews and never bought it. I’ll stick with the original.

You said alot of insightful things on this remake sir!. I'm so frustrated and disappointed because like you and others I have waited for years for this. Long before 2015 when they announced it. I was 11 when I first played it in 2000/2001 and it was a game that deeply impacted me then as a middle schooler. I fell in love with the uniqueness of the story and loved the character design, battle system and atmosphere. The mixture of sci-fi, cyberpunk and fantasy. Over the 2000s I was hoping for something more detailed and up to date graphics in the future, after beating the original I felt like a future remake would be brilliant and possible if only it would give the original justice and respect. Even though I always will love the PS1 game and even the graphics. I find old graphics charming. But anyway, the flow of FFVII Remake was not good, it didn't feel theatrical and epic at all. Very slow. You were very on point with the slums having sunlight. It's supposed to be dark. Maybe have tiny pockets of sunlight peeking out accidentally. That would have been interesting... It didn't feel as gritty as I wanted it. Crime-ridden miserable. Sephiroth has become a cliche and there for fan service at this point. He's over shown. It makes me sick. In Shinra Hq, The trail of blood being a trail of alien liquid was extremely disappointing. I was VERY unhappy with that. A powerful scene thrown away. Wish the honey bee inn was what it was originally intended. It was corny in this one I thought. Tifa and Cloud's relationship felt different to me than the original. Cloud just seemed more cold and always angry even to Tifa even though he has alot of psychological and Jenova problems in the original anyway. Felt like in the original there was alittle more tenderness there in the beginning. Not sure what others think. *Spoilers*. Hojo telling Cloud,"you weren't in soldier!" Are you kidding me?!! And yes, what you said about the turn based system being gone, I would love to see it come back. It wasn't outdated. It made the franchise partly what it was. But I liked the voice actors and the graphics. I liked some side quests and the community center in Sector 5. 🤷🏼‍♀️

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your comment! I fear like this game didn't do justice to the source material. What will people be saying about this game in 10 years? I don't think anyone will be playing it or talking about it anymore.

@WingedSword89

2 жыл бұрын

@@riskybitness hey! Thank you for the reply! 🙂 Yea, I have wondered the same thing if it's going to be kind of forgotten down the road. It's just a shame. I think it was you or someone that said in the comments it's a game with FFVII skin on. That was it!!!! They have sold themselves short and didn't use wisdom while making this game. I'm probably not going to by the next games in this remake. I also wonder about the future of the Final Fantasy franchise... I feel like it's not what it used to be. Kind of cliche, not going deep enough anymore? I was wondering what do you think about any of the points I brought up, like the Hojo comment, the trail of blood, Sephiroth etc? I also forgot to mention do you feel like alot of the characters, especially females almost have a "template" face? They almost have the same structure to me. I also feel Everyone is too attractive or at least in a conventional way (whatever that means) it doesn't feel realistic to the real world. I liked your video, it was very detailed and I could tell you really thought through it 😊

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

The Hojo part is just another example of the dialogue being cringe. Like... aggressively so. I don't really get the trail of slime thing, why censor that? Bad world building. Regarding the character designs I think you are touching on something important there; everyone in the main cast is like aggressively good- looking. Now I'm not sure if that's just because we have the technology now or what. After all, XIII's cast was literally modeling expensive clothes in Japan so a cast of models and movie stars might have always been part of these games, but now it's much more obvious because graphics have become so realistic. Or maybe it's just part of the high production values and they do it for the same reason they put good looking people on TV. I didn't notice the generic template thing though, maybe I just wasn't really paying attention. I sort of mentally checked out after the first part with Roche because I was fed up with how stupid everything was. They probably outsourced a lot of the asset creation, which would explain that. They did it with XV. As for the franchise as a whole... it's obviously not at all what it used to be, but a lot has changed. Video games have changed as a medium and this might just be a microcosm of that shift. Final Fantasy for the famicom was made by like 4 people and cost maybe a few thousand dollars to make. Today video games have multimillion dollar budgets and are made by a team of up to hundreds of people. That's all part of a bigger discussion. Square Enix, in my opinion, has too many divisions/units etc and a completely different team making each FF game so you really can't expect a consistent product to be associated with that name.

I’m so confused on the big tit girl (Tifa) throwing herself at cloud. Try watching her scenes without the pre conceived notion she wants to bang cloud. They come off as childhood best friends. Two people that know each other better then they know themselves. She would be able to tell something is horribly wrong with her childhood friend. Also notice the distance between the two in most of their interactions. She seems worried not thirsty. She also just wants him to be around again. She misses him so much and wants him back in her life. When cloud is falling after the air buster fight. Barret has to carry her over his shoulder to get her to leave. She doesn’t do that cause she is worried cloud isn’t going to bang her. She is desperately afraid someone she truly cares about may die. On that note agreed Jessie is obnoxious. 😂

This game should be faithful and not do anything new but better graphics so when people play it they are like "what the heck? This is boring" then the complaints would be " they could of done more"

@riskybitness

7 ай бұрын

Pet peeve of mine, there's no such thing as "could of." It's "could have" or "could've."

Final Fantasy 3 and 4 on the fucking DS are better remakes compared to the entirety of FF7R trilogy

I watched your other video before this. You do have some great points and I will not deny that I might listen "better" because I dislike the remake. For me, it is solely on the whisperers, hidden sequel and meta messages of creative freedom. The combat as action combat is one of the best FF has to offer and the presentation and characterization (barring precognition and Aeriths mystical knowledge crap) is brilliant. I understand the Jessie annoyance some feel, but she also brought the on top plate stuff which I found a nice addition. I also dislike the fervor of the fan base defending shipping and this remake in general. I would love to hear a deeper analysis of the writing because despite it being nominated for best story and direction I think there are many flaws and the story, which should have been tighter in its scripts, is the worst I have seen happening to FF franchise (this includes the spinoffs as well). Have a like to balance out all those dislikes :S. I can only do so much.

@mel-el5862

2 жыл бұрын

Gameplay is this game was in depth. Barret and cloud were characterized alot better than I thought could be done. All the meta nonsense wasn't my cup of tea. Chapter 3, 8 and 9 as well as 6 and 7 dragged on till eternity.

Literally no one is wondering if the rest of this will be free dlc

The reason they ditched atb system was because they wanted to make the combat more dynamic while at the same time providing the same experience, which I’m willing to bet was square’s way of challenging themselves since they are considered the originators of jrpgs and with such a reputation have to make progressive descisions that reflect how they view themselves, and also the typical gamer is not attracted to atb, I’ll admit I was getting tired of it back then

My biggest complaint about the women in this game, especially Aerith and Tifa, is the fact that they are better characters when Cloud is not around. The moment that they're left alone they shine. From a design aspect: I wish that we got Final Fantasy games used to have "real design" and look different or have personality. FF7's art doesn't look like 8's, and even though 8 is more realistic looking it doesn't look like 10 and they weren't afraid to go back to something more cartoony for 9. FF7 was always portrayed in a more anime style and they could have done something like guilty gear of granblue fantasy with the animation. But SE is so married to this idea that serious, big triple A games have to look serious and real and so they try to push everything (even the city of Midgar itself) into looking more real

@brandoncavallaro4982

4 ай бұрын

eh tifa is fine when she's around cloud. jessie and aerith are the problem. especially aerith. i can't fucking stand her at all

Can you tell me whats the name of the music that you have at 15:50? Its beautiful

@riskybitness

10 ай бұрын

I'm pretty sure it's just the FF7R title track. Unfortunately I don't have the project files anymore so I can't double check it.

@asdfghjkllkjhgfdsa8725

4 ай бұрын

​@riskybitness its a variation of "the prelude" which has been in most if not all final fantasies since the first one.

The magic of FF is born with the true desire to keep a gaming company alive. Since im a FF addicted (played all of them at relase time) i can tell that the magic is gone lost the day that Squaresoft is became Square-Enix. Im glad that lot of people had fun with this game because i dont. Gameplay is flat , sidequest are annoyng , materia system turned into shit. Biggest disappoint ever (my opinion) Plus,people will have to pay 3 times for the same game. Gaming world is changed. No more heart into it , just bucks. If you are not convinced just look what Bethesda and cd red project did.

@erbagatto7603

3 жыл бұрын

@@riskybitness same here. I like indie games. Just got Darkwood , i hope its good

@SeFu2006

4 ай бұрын

The game can never feel the same, those ps1 games were once in a lifetime experiences

25:30 It also depends how much faith that they have telling a story that they wanted to make and how much that they wanted to make an enjoyable game for players; some directors/writers are willing to make games that they love, even if they sell somewhat on average, if things are made realistically or in a compelling manner. I can't say that Live A Live sold real well for instance, and never got its proper North America localization, but some of its plot is still some of the best that I've seen from Square's history, in gaming, and even in fictional writing. I don't think that Square-Enix has to (and I don't think it does, anyway, as they've had some serious failures and low-points in their past) always aim for the LCD method of making sure that a game sells all the time- that's what their merchandising, DLC content is for on their other games. 26:00 To be fair, I did some research on this, and there IS some lighting in Sector 5 and when the party exits the highway and leaves Midgar for the first time, one can see lighting with the city- the thing is the lighting is dim and the lighting is on dingy, dirt path-ways, so I doesn't look so great. It's hard to say if Cloud and co. are wandering around Midgar at night, or if Midgar really is THIS dark, because Sector 5 and the outside view from Midgar's entrance reveals that at least some light makes its way into the city. Also, Aeris' house is well-lit from the outside and the environs, as well as the church or church-like building in Midgar, as you mentioned. Now should most of the light be blocked in Midgar- yes, I believe so- for aesthetics and to hammer down on the environmentalism and dystopian themes, but it doesn't need to be in some cases- again, Sector 5, despite being somewhat lit up, showed a more dim use of light by focusing on the dirty environs, which the Remake does accomplish to some extent in some of the Sector slums areas, but perhaps, with an emphasis on too much light, again.

This was the most disappointing game of the PS4 generation for me, I absolutely hate the combat. I got it when it came out and it's only been in my PS4 one time, and probably never will be again. I jumped in right after a Dark Souls 2 marathon, I think that's one of the reasons I hated it so much. The combat feels sluggish, the dodge is almost useless, and your teammates are about as useful as truck nuts. You ever watched someone so excited to play a game and physically watch their smile turn into anger? That's where I was at, was disgusted with the combat by the time I made it to the scorpion boss and stopped playing after the 2nd crappy cutscene that interrupted the fight. I wish I knew about the demo, I could've saved myself $100 or bought a better game. My copy is sitting on a shelf covered in dust and it will remain there unless a friend wants it. It definitely made me decide to cut Squeenix off just like EA and Activision, don't need their products in my life. I will not be buying part 2,3,4,5, or however many they try to milk out of it or anything else they decide to release. I grew up playing these games since the NES days, I never would've imagined I would end up hating FF. Thanks Squeenix

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

I'm surprised that it's so successful because it's a bad game. If another game was released with this same gameplay and a script that this aggressively insults the intelligence of its audience and didn't have a Final Fantasy 7 skin it would bomb. This game was only successful because it says "Final Fantasy VII" on the cover. Without that lore it's a mediocre action JRPG.

@deuchebaggins8660

2 жыл бұрын

I think we're going to see something like with the FF13 trilogy, each one selling less than the last. I think you're right, take away the FF7 theme and people would've been way more critical about it. If the combat wouldn't have killed the game for me, that motorcycle riding dildo would have. Like I've said in the past, modern games are like dating airheads. They might be fun to play with for a little while, but the more you get to know them the closer you get to booting them out the door.

@Frendlu

2 жыл бұрын

@@deuchebaggins8660 I think that still, some people gonna buy the second part. But the third to onwards, gonna be hated, just because these people doesnt get it that FF VII Remaster its not a remaster or/and they bought the graphics. The third it gonna be so different from FF VII (and this game is going to this direction) that only if you're heavily dr0nk gonna undestand whats about this story.

But I actually really love Remake’s combat system. I think it’s very intelligently designed and deep. So for that I think moving away from turned based battles.

36:00 Or, it's more like Secret of Mana, without waiting for your Mana gauge to fill up, tbh. You can move around, but you need to switch from person to person by yourself, in order for the team to stay alive. 37:30 Ehh... Don't really know- is it as crazy weird as everyone in FFVIII growing up in the same orphanage? I know that making Avalanche more guiltless is a major step backwards in this game, and tbh, changes in the Honey Bee Inn section are atrocious, especially from a plot and foreshadowing manner. There's always been weaker spots in the FF series- Kefka's motivation/reasoning to become a villain has always been the most vague, with the reasoning that "an experiment made him crazy", which doesn't line up with other moments that motivate him that make sense, such as, wanting to draw out the statues' power after being stabbed from Celes, which is sensible reaction, and then there's a switch at the game's end where Kefka goes full-ExDeath and just wants everything to become nothing, simply because he was given spite from the main party, despite raising havoc for a FULL YEAR. Unless Kefka really is a petty dude, and laughs at his grunts because... they're idiots from his perspective for cleaning his boots... because he told them to? (How does that make them stupid? Is Kefka laughing because of his superiority over them?). I don't know being crazy and petty makes for a stupid villain, imo, even Kefka has a surprising amount of intelligence from a tactical perspective. The Star Wars Return's emperor functions in the same manner (not the TESB emperor, as I appreciate the subtlety with the contemplative TESB emperor), but is more intelligent and eloquent about it, but is still crazy, petty, and (more stupid than Kefka). I mean FFVI's plot lows are some of the lowest in the series, with having some of the highest highs. As cheesy as FFIV is, I can still take it more seriously than FFVI often, because it's more sincere and tackles harder subjects (forgiveness, cowardice, betrayal, monsters, admitting to wanting to do the wrong thing- Kain, etc.). FFVI does has areas of grey (a rich person betraying his town to the Empire for money and feeling guilt about it), but lacks the moral center, imo, unlike FFIV. FFIV is dark, but often has substance, which I believe Takashi Tokita is directly responsible for, as he was the main scenario writer in FFIV. FFVI is dark but lacks the substance- the whole world can go dark and hopeless under Kefka, but for what? For a meaning of life monologue? Despite the dark times, I still have X person, X thing to keep me going? There's no sense of morality in it. Also, the whole world is rebuilt after it- no repercussions on the team, besides maybe Shadow's death AT ALL. The world of ruin is like a surreal dream- it happens, and then everything's okay, except for the movement of the continents and the off-screen deaths and events (Mog's friends, morale-lowering in the cities and places, dreams being ruined, increases in crime, etc. that happened). And it's hard to relate to some of the NPCs, tbh. If the main theme of FFVI is hope and life?, it's hard to get much else out of it. A Link to the Past did a better job of restoring hope to the population by Link wishing that everything was good again, and we SEE IT HAPPENING (the flute boy returning, the bug catcher catching bugs again, etc.). Live A Live has a similar scene with a villain (500 times better than Kefka), but the responses are more philosophical, not tied down to X person, X thing, more along the lines of the person's experiences and what they believe in. Better yet, the villain thinks over things and decides that for once, the player is right, based on former experiences that he had, and he dies without bearing any ill will against the party, in a tragic death.

What's so tragic about this 'remake' is they already have an example how to do it properly within the same company. Remaking Star Ocean: The second story in a modern engine with lifelike graphics would be too much of an undertaking so they retained the stylized art style allowing them to not only faithfully remake the game in totality, but to add additional content that doesn't take anything away from the original but indeed adds to it. To me now Second Story R is the definitive way to play star ocean 2 while FF7R goes directly into the 'non-canon don't care' bin for me

I agree. Too many unnecessary changesnto this remake. Before crisis looks like the remake that we wanted but its mobile only. For a ff game it was great but as a remake it was disappointing

I was looking forward to play FF7R but then the turn-based combat is scraped and I said nevermind. I'll just stick with ATLUS games with their SMT/Persona games.

Very fair review and agree. This game is thin and feels incomplete and full of filler. Endgame is non existent as I had no drive to play after completing the main story.

First things first, this is an amazing review comparing the original to this version which desired the same result as the E.T. game. note that you are a little bit monotone which is probably why many would say that this video is boring but I have enjoyed it and someone finally pointed out so many issues that I have been saying. The character profile is so bad in the remake. If you look just a Sephiroth as character profile in the remake vs the original, the mindset of Sephiroth in the remake would make the proper title of this game: Final Fantasy 7 the never would happen story because Sephiroth already knows that he is not a cetra and would have destroyed the planet before Cloud could lift his sword. On the contrary of you, I have gave up on Final Fantasy games and have regretted the companies merge since the beginning. Final Fantasy 7 Remake might be the first ever RPG game that I will sell without replacing it by a new modern version.

Idk tbh this game was a banger for me, the graphics were amazing, the optimization was good, the overall length of the game was good with a couple side quests done it took me like 25 hours (im not a completionist idc), i liked the story, the characters and the combat was just soo good tbh it has those turn based game characteristics but not completely which is great because of the mobility and the overall 3d combat. I can spare the whispers thing for all the new interactions and stuff that this game added tbh, people are being too harsh when this game is like, objectively better on pretty much everything except for the story and thats just a main thing which are the whispers, and then MAYBE the length of the game (which is arguably, because thats the thing a remake is useless when you’re gonna make a 1:1 copy of the original game, its good that they add on the universe overall i liked it, and the interactions were actually good, and if y’all think these side quests are bad oh boy y’all haven’t tried other games, thats too much babysitting there are games where side quests aren’t even voiced, you can tell they put a lot of effort in this game, and if you dont like them literally dont do them, as far as im concerned you can beat this game with a lvl 1 buster sword, thats how i did it until i noticed “oh i can upgrade this weapon” because i completely forgot, in normal difficulty too).

Yeh I pretty much agree with most of that. I mean, I'm a big FF7 fan. And I'd defend japanese Anime to the bone, 'love that medium with all its quirks and tropes. I also like that many of the tropes made it in the game... but while some worked, others maybe not so much... the midgard love triangle or love... square...( ? ) was a bit odd. Was it maybe because there was no Yuffie to have that square..? ^^; No fan of the new combat system either. Too chaotic and random. Cheap deaths. Also, I imagined Tifa with bigger breasts. Sorry not sorry - that's just how she was always displayed in the old game and merchandise and that's the design I find more gutsy.

@ItsSVO

2 жыл бұрын

Bro, her boobs are ridiculously big in remake as it is, I want her to look human and not some abomination ffs.

I still haven't played this remake at all... And I love FF7. I am good with the psx classic. Why would they butcher the story like this... It's ridiculous....

32:00 Well, cornerstone for a while- maybe, 1991-2000- FFIV to FFIX, as I'm pretty sure that FFI-FFIII didn't use ATB, though I could be wrong about that. Also, side games like Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Live A Live weren't ATB and were produced during this time. I suppose FFX is the major change in the system, even though a lot of people enjoy that system, even though it has less tension than ATB, especially if you have the system on active mode and at the fastest setting.

@Mother3Forever

3 ай бұрын

FF12 and the 13 trilogy used ATB. X was NOT a massive shift, let alone a permanent one.

Final fantasy 12 is turn based tho. its just turn based that lets you run around, similiar to DQ 11. waiting for ATB, commence turn. enemies also wait on ATB..and other than being 500 feet from the enemy..you cant dodge attacks by running from it. its 100% atb turn based. the first mainline final fantasy that wasnt turn based was FF15..not counting MMOs.

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

I never really thought about it that way, but I guess you're right. You are still waiting for ATB. It's being sneaky about it.

Im a little late to the party. But I enjoyed the video and agree with the sentiments, Thankyou. I liked your mention of FFXII Gambit system which I did personally enjoy. I liked FFXIIs combat because it had the open world realtime but with optional Turn Based settings. The Gambits was basically a Rules Engine for your AI. If this > do that. Scripts or conditions how to act. And you could easily Turn it on or Off. You could completely load their Gambits with numerous conditions or multiple scenarios, Or you could just say >heal yourself when your gonna die, idiot> . You could let the combat unfold with Gambits on with minimmal effort, but at ANY time you could switch Gambits off mid combat, per individual party memeberr if you needed to Take over manual control. I think this was the best compromise of the system still using ATB but with optional realtime or turnbased combat. shame about FFVII remake, not sure I even want to try it anymore.

I've read over A lot of the comments and I THINK I'm gonna wait until we've finished all 3 games before I give my Final opinion and analysis. It's POSSIBLE they may win us all over in the end. At present, there's A LOT I liked about the Remake, but then there's SO MANY unanswered questions raised by the Remake as well. Maybe they'll be answered at the end of the 3rd game. I'm seriously hoping so

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

You know it's funny, I just played it again and actually really liked it this time! I might do a redemption video. I haven't decided yet.

@spyrochrisgaming

Жыл бұрын

@@riskybitness I wanna chime in and say that I am playing it after two years of hate and I am enjoying myself knowing this is something completely different! I played the original a month ago, modded on PC, and now been playing the Remake for the past three days. That said, the ending still worries me a whole lot! You should definitely experience the entire game and do a video!

@riskybitness

Жыл бұрын

The exact same thing happened to me! 106 hours later... this is actually a really good game. I made a video about it! :)

@Nodnarb59

Жыл бұрын

@@riskybitness traitor

@CodemanDBZ

4 ай бұрын

@@riskybitnessI respect the switch up. Not many people are willing to adjust their opinions and keep an open mind. I enjoyed ff7rem despite it not following the exact ques from og. While there are some questionable decision making in the story, for the most part you get to experience the same beats and the game is still fun. It’s kind of a new way to experience that world. A different tone.

Manic pixie dream girl? More like nightmare.

I think this was a very well done critique don´t know get why there are so many dislikes

@Shiftarus

9 ай бұрын

Because most people really liked the game

All those people saying 'WELL, YOU CAN ALWAYS GO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL GAME!' missed the point of us demanding a proper remake of FF7 in the first place. It actually has more to do with RELEVANCE and setting the record straight than nostalgia purposes, at least for me. RE4 Remake maintains relevance for its original game by giving its old-school RE4 fans what they want with updated graphics/gameplay/subplots while also attracting a NEW fanbase. And because RE4 Remake keeps the core essence of the original intact, the new wave of gamers aren't obligated to play RE4 OG. Sadly, the same can't be said for FF7 OG. Since that wonky Compilation mess came out, MANY of FF7 gamers only know FF7 from the lens of that Compilation. I remember when Crisis Core came out, I saw a new wave of FF7 gamers come on board. Only, because they played Crisis Core first, they considered CC 'better' and 'sadder' than FF7 game. Then the Cloud-bashing began. They declared ZACK the true BAMF of the series. It didn't help that this was also around the time Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts were out. So you had a LOT of general gamers outside of FF7 and KH perceive Cloud as this mopey depressed Zack-counterpart. And this trend STILL persists to this day. So circling back to my original point: a true and proper FF7 Remake is needed to set the record straight. Those of us who played FF7 OG know there is more to Cloud than him being a Zack-wannabe or mopey bastard. Those of us who played FF7 OG also know how complex this world and its characters were. I feel like the Remake got rid of all the gray parts and reduced these characters to 'good' and 'bad' guys (which is why ShinRa is now entirely to blame for the Mako-bomb deaths and not Avalanche's own miscalculations/recklessness). This retelling further dilutes who/what these characters - and THIS is the version next-gen FF7 fans are exposed to. What's worst is, you can't even tell this next wave of FF7 gamers to play the original to see how these alterations/changes ruin the story/characters. Except for veteran and niche gamers, many modern gamers today won't touch anything that looks and plays rough around the edges. Much like the majority of next-gen horror gamers are reluctant to touch badly pixelated horror games with tank controls, current day FF MODERN gamers prefer more cutscenes and more hand-holding in their games (it's always funny whenever I encounter a modern FF7 gamer whine about having to unlock Vincent on their own - as if PLAYING the damn game and WORKING to unlock a character shouldn't be a part of the gaming experience...). At best, many of these current gamers who don't want to bother with outdated game controls and graphics will resort to watching a Let's Play of the game to get the gist of the story (I had a 'diehard' KH fan openly admit this to me - never played many of the games but watched Lets Plays of them and now considered themselves a diehard fan). But here, too, the story and characters get diluted/warped. The experience/context of that game is entirely dependent on the Lets Player - the audience is only experiencing the game through the Let's Player's eyes and not their own. For a game like FF7 OG, watching a Let's Play will NOT give you the experience of FF7. FF7 is the type of game where your experience of it is dependent on how much you are WILLING to put in the work to explore and unlock its secrets. You can either follow the designated path and reach the end. OR... you can take the time to explore the world to unlock secret weapons, secret skills, secret characters, and secret cutscenes. This makes unlocking a pivotal item or character a personal victorious experience. And it's within these tiny interactive moments you emphasize/connect more and more with Cloud. Your hardships become his and vice versa. That's the beauty of an RPG. Sadly, none of this player immersion carries over to the FF7 Remake. Your experience of the game is limited to what the game TELLS you to experience. As a result, the Remake feels so shallow. All of this ultimately results in the original FF7 losing relevance. When you dilute something enough times it no longer holds any more substance. I can shout all day and demand every new gamer to play the original first before jumping onto the other games, but the odds are heavy stacked against me. Not only does FF7 OG look/play like an outdated game for any of these new fans, but the over exposure of mediocre writing and shallow gameplay from the Compilation games AND these Remakes means only the hardcore FF7 gamer will remain invested in it (much like only diehard KH fans are the only ones invested in that mess-of-a-plot). The average modern gamer, meanwhile, has long since moved on to other hotter titles. And that, to me, is really sad. RE4 Remake's PROVES you can offer something new and fresh while keeping its core self intact. And this, in turn, ensures that the game stays relevant in the eyes of both old AND new fans. That's why it was SO IMPORTANT for us to get a proper FF7 Remake. It was an opportunity to set the record straight while reaching out to new gamers. It could've addressed all the previous issues and reminded everyone why the original mattered so much. Instead, we're stuck with this Time Travel AU fanfic containing all the mediocre writing/plot of the Compilation (which only stopped expanding because it turned so many FF7 fans away - I will NEVER get over the ridiculous Power-Ranger moment in Dirge lol).

Why are you booing him? He's right!

Heyey good vid, nice input. On 30:33 though. I think it's obvious why, a TRIPLE AAA game studio, wants to focus on action games. Action(rpgs) have been the most successful, financially speaking, for at least 20-30 years now. Why wouldn't a TRIPLE AAA company shift towards the trend?? It's so obvious, it actually hurts me when people can't figure this s**** out. FF would not survive as a mainstream staple money-making-machine if they did not turn to action based games. FF+action oriented however = $$$. The choice is easy if money is the main inspiration. Edit: You nailed how I feel about the gameplay. A multiplayer game where the other players are totally clueless.

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

That's a really good point. There may be a lot of us old heads who don't mind the classic turn based ATB, but things change. JRPGs are definitely less popular than they were 15 years ago so I'm not sure how much it helped. It would be cool to take a look at the numbers, maybe pick 10 turn based JRPGs and 10 real time action JRPGs from the last 5-10 years and compare their sales numbers.

@gjoerulv

2 жыл бұрын

@@riskybitness For example: Assassin's Creed, as a franchinse, is almost 20 years younger than FF, and are (as of now) not that behind in overall sales. Most AAA titles are action games, in some sense, and all of them together outsale turn-based games by a huge margin. Only exception is pokemon which have sold really well.

I looved this game never played the original. But this made a huge fan of me the presentation was great. Beautiful graphics, the best soundtrack I've heard in years in anything. Fun ass combat it's got flaws no doubt, but I'd buy a ps5 just for the sequel.

@Shiftarus

9 ай бұрын

Yea it was great, people just have been building their own expectations for so long

To be honest I think the dialogues aren't bad because they are Japanese shonen, they are bad because they are trying (and failing) to be realistic hollywood dialogues

You have me CRACKING TF UP! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 You haven't said anything wrong

28:10 True, completely true. It also reveals that Avalanche is morally grey in what they are trying to accomplish as well. 30:00 Hey, cool! 31:10 Still enjoyed the guts out of FF12, though. 31:45 You meant out of its mainline games. They still have games, such as, the FFIV DS remake and FFIV: The After Years that utilize the ATB system. I think FF Record Keeper and others probably use the ATB system. Yes, though, they haven't been using ATB on mainline games in a while.

@Mother3Forever

3 ай бұрын

Wrong. EVERY mainline game up to an including the 13 trilogy used the ATB system.(Not counting the MMOs for obvious reasons)

I do want to say even though there is a lot we disagree on; I do think this game does dodge some due criticism in some areas. Like, pacing, flow of certain scenes, padding. Actually, I wish I could have a convo on discord with you b/c I'm interested in your points of view. But ya know, youtube and I don't expect you to see this. The idea that this game was made to sell to teenagers, doesn't hold much water for me for a few reasons. One, you could argue this game is a bait n switch of "hey everyone this is a remake...but it's really a reimagining". The whole hype of this game was aimed towards people that have already played the game. Even though there are sections of the fan base who were never going to like this game (not saying that is inherently wrong). Jesse, is definitely annoying, and there are Shonen troupes here. However, I would argue with you that this style of writing isn't just popular for teenagers. Whether you think that is bad is up to taste. It does rub me the wrong way sometimes for sure, but not enough to diminish from the actually mature themes. I think a more important criticism would be the "happily ever after" feeling after the plate fell...main side characters basically being all alive etc. And this brings me to another point. I don't think this game is something that the original Devs are being to forced rewrite: not by Nomura or investors (more likely). As a game that is over 20 years old, they were taking on a challenge that is very daunting, and there were a lot of holes to fill. In my mind, this was very similar to a novel to movie adaptation in the scope of material to fill in. A lot of things that were implied or left to our imagination will get fleshed out. Which is now up to the developer's discretion. I'm not so certain, that this idea of Cloud being a Shonen character that gets women thrown at him is truly a new idea: only, a more realized one. A lot of characters are more fleshed out in their motivations. I liked most of the characters more in this game, but I do see the changes for sure. I feel that the writing was...speed up in some regards to make this game feel more complete of a package...and changed in order to fit a T rating / the political departments of SE. This is unfortunate for sure. Furthermore, I do think the idea of "Nomura got his grummy hands on this" is a little overused and misinformed point. Through interviews, and the material of the compilation, you can see a lot of these themes a decade ago in works unrelated to Nomura himself. Moreover, Nomura isn't really behind the big plot points that most people dislike. Unless, we are not going to believe the developers themselves, that would be Kitase. The idea of Sephiroth being everlasting and memories being recycled is not new, and a lot of it is echoed in the OG. Personally, it's not even just a theme that is relegated to the compilation...which even I don't like except for a few bits. Conversely I cannot ignore that investors play a negative part in modern Square Enix games; I just am not as sinical as you in that regard...and the idea of there being multiple timelines is pretty much debunked at this point. It doesn't make narrative sense based on what was given to us. But, it is SE, you never truly know right? lol. Lastly, I would consider the scope of this game really wouldn't do well as one whole game. At least, I think they released the trailers without fully understanding the time commitment. To be honest, I feel like they killed two birds with one stone here. It's obviously a good financial move, but I do feel it does give the developers ample time. And, I really want to give them more time to see what they do, b/c there is a lot about this game I like besides some of the questionable choices. Hopefully you gave this a read, I don't have the story writing credentials as you, so keep that in mind. Hopefully I could articulate my points well enough. Peace to you man, overall I know you put a lot of care into this review. I still have a lot to say but I tend to just word vomit on a page Gabe

@Musician7831

Жыл бұрын

He's the director and can easily veto all the dumb decisions.

I agree and my question is to you: If this is bad writing, what do you call FF16? (Great conversations, seemingly with underlaying meaning and weight, but as the end comes along you realize what an ultra thin shell of a gold-plated excrement it is. It reminds me of the tv series "Lost" for some reason as I felt so tricked.

@Mother3Forever

3 ай бұрын

16 was trash and NOT final fantasy.

30:46 I just noticed that whoever made the model for that nail bat didn't know how they actually work. The whole point (pun intended) is to drive very long nails through a bat to make it spikey.

Thank you for the "they already have your money" section. I really disliked this game on many levels, but the trailer for the new one is giving me hopes that I know will be similarly dashed. But hearing you say those words, and explain the point, I'm not touching that game. Final Fantasy VII is a single game, released in 1997. It had its flaws but it was still a game that meant a lot to me back then. Whatever this nonsense is, it has nothing to do with that game and I won't support it.

While I actually agree with most of what you said here, I do want to correct you on one thing about the character switching. You can assign ability actions without switching to each character manually. I forget how exactly, but you can focus on one character and still control who does what so they're not just there being useless. In fact, you're supposed to set the party attacks up so that they execute impacting combo chains. That's why there's a Stagger Meter. But content aside, I do have a critique towards your presentation style. If you don't want to read it, feel free to stop reading here. Throughout the video I found it annoying how often you repeated yourself in attempt to stress a point, followed by a 5+ second pause. Avoiding that probably could have shaved a few good minutes off the overall video length.

pretty neutral about this - even with these dislikes i would love to see you making a further analysis and do a separate explaining video

@wa5519

3 жыл бұрын

Well I want it on the record that tho I disliked, it's not because I'm a fanboy (I have no faith in Nomura's FF7 KH crossover vision) It's because it is insulting to watch a 40 minute video commentary, that at most only needed 28. And if you really put your mind to it you can do this video in 18: I agree with some of your sentiments but you can't go on like you did, and just assume it will all flow. If anything I'm assuming you didn't take time out to put your thoughts on paper, boiling it down it to drive your point home, and just decided to offer up a lifestream of consciousness As someone who hated how small Midgar looks in FF7R AND how dragged out the timing of game was, it took 13 full minutes to wait until you got beyond the points of "The Title Is MISLEADING " "Squares stock went up, Squares stock went down" "Companies Just Want Money so they expand their IPs universes" "the FF7 Compilations are AWFUL" Don't make your viewers struggle; value their time, as they value yours. You got downvotes not because of FF7 fangirls and fanbois, you got downvoted because you dicked around and rambled and just about wished FF7R never happened. Which I personally am still super glad it did.

@wa5519

3 жыл бұрын

@@riskybitness I DID NOT SAY your video only needed to be 4 seconds long boss Far be it from me to ever say you shouldn't write. Because I DO AGREE WITH YOU : The uncertainties you mention about how many parts there will be to game, how much hard drive space the Gold Saucer will take is WELL MET and VERY concerning: But I'm amazed you had all that energy and time, going on about the unanswered questions, than the thing on my mind and my friends mind: The timing and dragged out FF7R was: The Sun lamps and the Claws thing in the Collapsed Expressway, the dragged out parts of game: THAT should have warranted the disdain and concern too So you know the first thing I thought of when I read the title was "IS HE REALLY GOING TO GET INTO THE SOUNDTRACK? Can't wait for that part" I'm in a good mood so I wont charge you for the time it cost me to finally work to that point of video :)

Ok, I watched the whole video. I partially agree with a bunch of stuff you said, BUT. The video is a bit confusing in its writing. It's too slow in the beginning and I can imagine lots of people just closing it after 4 minutes. You should work on your exposition imho! And now, what do I think of the game? Let me say first that FF7 was my second FF game and the one I loved (and still love) the most. It shaped me as a gamer (and developer) and it's probably my favourite game of all time in terms of nostalgia. I liked a lot the character-building and world-building. I think they made a good job elaborating the characters with many cutscenes and skits. I would've preferred to see more sectors of Midgar, since the whole game takes place in there... but we just had the same locations with some bloated content. I really didn't like it much... it was a wasted opportunity. Gameplay-wise I liked a lot the combat system. They can improve it, because the companions' AI sucks a bit, but overall I really enjoyed the battles, especially in hard mode. And then I agree with you with the terrible side quests and linearity. It's too much railroaded for me. And finally: the plot. SPOILERS AHEAD! I'm ok with some little changes, but I can't stand the timelines/plot ghosts stuff. It just doesn't fit with the OGs themes. And it was a dishonest marketing move imho. People bought the game because it should've been a remake, and we got a sequel instead. They sold the game to let old and new fans to enjoy FF7 story, but you can't understand half of the events if you didn't play the OG, especially in the last chapter. It seems written by two different people! It was a poor execution. The major problem is that they completely ruined Sephiroth as a character and villain. He was the one covered by a veil of mystery and you go deep in his background during the journey. In this game he's just an edgy swordsman that kills stuff and throws buildings. Then... they show Zack. Out of the blue. Oh my God, that's what you call fanservice! Overall I liked the game a lot, but I'm a bit worried for the future installments. I'll probably buy it anyway... I'm curious about what they want to do, but it lost the magic of the original game along the way. The next game will probably be fun to play. I'm sure Square will make some adjustments here and there, but storywise, I just can't take this game seriously now ^^"

If you look at the work cyberconnect2 did, you can see the reactors looked like they were supposed to, dark and gritty. Theres a huge tonal shift in the atmosphere with both games since the "remake" is so much brighter. The thing i say most now is he worst thing about the "remake" is that it isnt final fantasy 7 :P

@paulnewhouse5126

3 жыл бұрын

Even the reactor music is is not even half as forbodingh and mechanical sounding in the "remake" I do enjoy the game but it just isnt final fantasy 7 to me.

I just replayed this game for the first time since launch. It came back to me pretty quick why i haven't given it much thought over the last three years. Simply put, this game looks amazing and thats it. Cloud has terrible voice acting, the combat feels clunky, boss fights are constantly interrupted by cut scenes, and the filler...OMG how dare they take a 4 to 6 hour section of FF7 and stretch it out into a 40 to 60 hour game. Then there's the ending, i don't even know what to say about that. Needless to say i watched the trailer for part 2, and again it looks amazing, but thats probably the extent of it.

@aloneinthelight7754

6 ай бұрын

I think the main difference is t there is a lot of history to cover until forgotten City and a World Map to explore. So I think they Will not have so much room to drag this second part.

@brijor6ff7

6 ай бұрын

@@aloneinthelight7754 I hope so

As are as the "lazy" name i think its one of those remake/remade/redone line of titles. Not like remake 1 2 and 3. Similar to the matrix reloaded revolutions resurrection.

Final fantasy has become a franchise i like to watch but no longer enjoy playing. The cutscenes are always top notch but the gameplay just doesn’t interest me anymore.

"It's hard!" + "It's going to take way too much money to update an old game like that!" Yeah right, I'm a game developer and that's BS. They have already added 35+ hours of EXTRA CONTENT to the remake when they could have been half way through with it! Complete load of shit. Also they are working on 2 Final Fantasy 7 spin offs! Battle Royale and Ever Crisis! How about not making those and COMPLETE the FF7 remake?! FFS! They're milking EVERYTHING they can! They tripled down on NFTs and blockchain, if you need to be more alarmed and sold off 300 million dollars worth of their franchise games like Tomb Raider. I'm glad I don't give much of a shit for them anymore. This would truly piss me off if I did.

@riskybitness

Жыл бұрын

I think they know FF7 is money and they're cashing in. I was curious about it and I looked into as much as I could find of the company's financials and it seems like they're making money, but some of the trends recently point to wanting to focus on the core business. It's understandable that rumors have been floating around about a possible sale, but I don't think they're in a spot like that just yet. It's no secret that Square-Enix used to be the absolute reigning champion when it came to RPGs, but with JRPGs becoming more a niche and Western RPGs dominating the market in that space, they may find themselves in a position where all these satellite studios and third party IPs aren't making them enough money to justify continuing to spend money on them. This is all speculation, but my guess is that while they're still the top company in their niche, the niche is getting smaller and they're trying to make as much money as they can while the Final Fantasy VII IP is still hot and the Final Fantasy brand as a whole is still marketable. When I first played the remake I didn't realize that it was basically a Tales game. I actually revisited it recently and I had a lot of fun with it, knowing what to expect this time. But the fact that Square Enix is producing Tales games with Final Fantasy skins on them I think tells us a lot about how much the company values its own creative team.

I emphatically disagree with that point. A graphically updated and totally modernized game that's Turn Based woulda been TERRIBLE. This is the only thing I disagree with you on

@31:40 the fact that Square Enix decided that Turn-Based shouldn't be part of FF anymore pisses the **** out of me. You are right: there is NO reason or numbers or whatever to justify this bullshit. Real Time combats can be good, but just dont throw it in my Final Fantasy games.

Game was awesome, characters were beautifully written and the VAs killed it, the gameplay was amazing and might be the 2nd best modern RPG combat next to Rebirth, and the game faithfully followed the story the entire time minus a boss fight at the end. But if you wanted to relive the ff7 story verbatim then you should get used to the idea of replaying the original ff7. Not that the original story isn't here, it is, just you guys can't help but throwing a childish fit anytime anyone does something that doesn't follow your dogmatic viewpoint even when it ends up being amazing. And Rebirth is one of the best games ever made period.

I like this video, though I should say it's the only one I've watched. Well, a lot of it I just listened to while I cooked and read.

I was with you until you spoke on the battle system. I think the battle system was a good improvement from the original system.

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

There are some pieces of it that I really do like. I think the way you control the active character is tremendous. My major gripe is that the other characters don't do anything. They do like one auto attack every 10-20 seconds or so. Their ATB gauge fills incredibly slowly as a result, so the only way to really utilize them is to frequently switch between characters. I think my problem is that I expect a game where you have a party to require that the whole party be used, but in this game it seems like it's really a one-character game and the others are just there for decoration. XV is kind of like that but the other characters will fight in real time and you can use co-op attacks so it feels like they are doing more.

First and foremost, I just want to say that I am a new subscriber to your channel, now that being said, I owe a massive apology to a lot of people that I argued with in the comment section on many videos that were against Final Fantasy Seven remake. I want to thank you for opening my eyes I’ll make me realise that I have been very foolish it has taken me Two years to understand that I have been blind to the facts and FF7R is a terrible game, what are the main reasons I know this is because every time I go to play, this game is riddled with side, quests and linear pathways with excruciating, boring dialogue. If I have offended anybody, please forgive me I am just stating my opinion. I actually gave this game a good review on my channel I was overly hyped, and because of the hype, I ended up, giving it a good review. I will be making a video on this game again however this time round I won’t be holding back the truth. I would really appreciate it. If you are reading this comment to check out my channel please subscribe and help a brother out. take care and peace.

Fair enough man your opinion is your own

I agree with most of your criticisms. "Mess" definitely comes to mind when describing the combat system. I played this on the back of Lost Judgment which has incredibly fluid and responsive combat within its own genre. It knows what it wants to achieve and it sets out to do more of the same with improvements over its predecessors. FF7R felt stuck in a permanent identity crisis without excelling at anything. Even after Hard Mode, it never truly made sense and certainly never felt 'satisfying' unless I'm pressing one button to execute a Limit Break or something like Starshower to watch the character jump around the screen for a few seconds (that is if it isn't interrupted or if the enemy/boss decides to shift phase and cut your move off). I'm switching to a weaker support character to build up ATB and cast, but now the support character now has aggro and likely needs themselves healed or you prolonging the fight and dancing around hoping to avoid damage with a poor excuse of a dodge and a sucky block without Steadfast. This wasn't 'difficult', but it was often annoying. Even Crisis Core managed this better. Chapter 17 bored me to tears. My god if I ever needed a reason to NOT replay this again, it'd be that chapter. How many times do you need me to hold Triangle to open doors and flip switches?! Numerous times I went from "this is OK I guess, just not for me", to wanting to rip my hair out. It's as if the game was daring me to quit. I really need to add that I'm not a particularly difficult person to please. I LIKED most of the FF titles I've played incl. Type-0, but this game was and still is hyped as one of the best games of all time and it's impossible for me to not feel gravely insulted by that. One contention I have here is the characters. Roche obviously sucks and Reno's voice was insanely cringe but I liked most of them. Them dragging Cloud around, while annoying, it helped expose his reluctance and introverted personality (at least at this point in this particular game). I loved -Aeris- Aerith too. She made me laugh a lot, but I get how that can annoy a grown man.

Interesting points, did not need to be 40 minutes!

@sevenchambers

2 жыл бұрын

Who asked you though?

It's not a "time paradox" it's a literal multiverse; the sephiroth in this game is the sephiroth from the original who's figured out how to travel between universe and used Cloud's strength to defeat the Whispers of Fate who make sure that destination plays out the way it is supposed to. Also you may want a better mic or fix the audio. This is basically ASMR with the way it sounds. It's hard to focus

@ItsSVO

Жыл бұрын

Which is absolutely garbage storytelling. SE haven’t been a creative company since the merger and remake is the culmination of how bankrupt they are in that department.

Pile of garbage, led through the game by a nose ring...... they could have just remade the entire game instead of padding Midgar.

The real-time combat system of this game is still the best real-time combat system to date in the series. However it's still a real-time system so it is indeed a mess. Visually at least. Turn-based battle are easy to understand. The camera shows you what's happening at all time. You see how much damage you do. Everything is visually clear and well-shown. In a real-time system. Things happen off-screen, you see a mess of numbers all at once and AI-controlled characters do stupid things while you try to control your character.

I'm so glad this video exists. I feel I'm in lalaland reading online people praise this game. They're all excited for the next one, thinking its gonna be an open world. Hah, I doubt that very much. Itll be an open world in the way that FF10 was. You might be able to quick travel from town to town maybe but I dont think theres gonna be a little cloud on the world map running around. Itll still be this linear garbage that I cant be bothered to finish. The battle system is horrendous as well. I honestly preferred spamming attack in original FF7. The only good thing in FF7R is Tifa's rack.

14:30 The continents are set; I don't think that they would be expanded upon, anyway. 16:13 Breath-taking, but it's still not quite exact to the anime/Dragon-Ball Z-esque character design, imo. 17:45 From I remember from playing the original FFVII- if you had materia- you could win a battle. If I encountered a set-back I leveled up or cure-d like crazy. The only characters that I can think of being a set-back is Aeris, honestly, and that was because she was the only out one of my party of three would die to Wallmaster in the Temple of the Ancients, and she could (along with Yuffie) heal the team well in critical moments. Other than that most team members are interchangeable, except for Cloud, since he (probably) has the highest stats and is a hard hitter in battle. Stats-wise other characters have advantages over the others, but I still focused on leveling-up the characters, and that mostly did the trick. 19:30 It does if you know the original game- Tifa is desperately trying to keep Cloud around and occupied with Avalanche business to have him avoid "Sephiroth's call" to head north and deliver the Black Materia to him. Tifa is weirded out by encountering Cloud at the train station- Tifa's scared when Cloud's freaking out and copying her memories, and then Cloud in the original game said that he wanted to go far away. Cloud is basically Tifa's last tie to Nibelheim besides Johnny, and the one whom Tifa has connected with. Tifa is a survivor and scared of having nothing left from her hometown, so she clings to/wants Cloud, not so much out of love, but out of a need to have something of her old life around. 19:35 Again, and this is more evident in the Remake, as Aeris deliberately tries to say Zack's name to Cloud, whereas in the original game she did not, but Aeris is open to Cloud because Cloud reminds her of Zack (and if we took the case of earlier FFVII scripts, it would have been Sephiroth); Aeris wants to know why Cloud reminds her of Zack possibly, and Aeris, later on in the original, expresses her desire to meet with the real "Cloud", whom she never met, unfortunately. So, Aeris is being forcefully pushy to Cloud because she wants Cloud around more in order to know Cloud more. It's a crazy, bizarre reason on the outside, but I believe that it's perfectly rational from a logical and motivational standpoint from Aeris. I suppose the sidequest "guiding" from both Aeris and Tifa is unnecessary, but there might still be a plausible explanation for why both are guiding Cloud around and doing these things. 19:45 Cloud goes along with it because he's probably used to being told as to what to do from his time as a Shinra grunt and maybe following Sephiroth's subliminal suggestions/ the call- I don't know. There's the parallel of Cloud to Stamp in the game, which I think is unsettling because at one point in Stamp's propaganda song, it states: "He's a good boy", which later echoes Sephiroth's chiding or call to Cloud--- "Be a good boy", to give him the Black Materia, in which Cloud does so, since he's weak-willed. Cloud does a lot of awkward/weird stuff in the original game, too, and the players have to roll with it. 19:55 True, I agree with this point. I think that the original game was more nuanced, despite some anime influence on it at the time. Aeris is especially odd, with her trying to high-five Cloud at one point on the way to Wall Market; it's really sort of awkward, even though there's a later payoff for it. 21:15 Ehh... Not sure about that; Jessie did flirt with Cloud in a deleted/or Japanese scene in the original game, so she was intended to at least be flirtaeous with Cloud. I think the Remake overdid it, though. 22:00 Writing (Nojima, Nomura, Kitase, and Sakaguchi?) for a game that had roughly a production of one year (maybe two if we count pre-production) and actually needed help for those last three months of production, which were an emergency, and people who worked for Squaresoft who were not working on the project- i.e. Takashi Tokita, were called on to help for just a week, but ended up working for three months straight. Okay, maybe before those three months commenced they had the writing ironed out, but I think some of it had to do with luck, especially during that timeframe. And I know there's still a lot of interesting ideas, such as, killing off most of the party before the end of the game- which Nomura decided against because it would nullify Aeris's "sacrifice" (or, I would suppose, but I am probably wrong- wouldn't make an impact on players). Personally, I think it would have been an interesting idea, since the remaining characters (besides Tifa and Cloud near the end of Disc 2 and during Disc 3) don't have any really interesting things to say, besides Vincent at one point. If the characters had been killed off, we could have had some action or contemplation of what those characters meant to the team, especially Cloud. There's other bits of deleted content- dialogue from Sephiroth that fleshes him out further in the original game, and it's sad that such stuff NEVER made it into the game. 23:15 Often, yes. But sometimes, the writing is repetitive and inane- characters reaffirming that Aeris's sacrifice wasn't in vain, when in reality it was an accident- and Aeris unknowingly attracted the attention of a killer- Sephiroth, who took action since he knew about Aeris wanting to stop him, and he took it seriously, even though it was still a "detour". It was only a matter of time, but the game shoves it down our throats that a motivation of the team to "honor" what Aeris did or not to make her sacrifice in vain; it's ridiculous and besides the point- which was just a unsettling death, which was also an accident if Aeris had been smarter and had just quietly left. Repeating Aeris's death is one of the more anime-esque or even a dumb trope in literature- we can't let this person's death be in vain, even though in some cases, it was just an accident or a cruel death. I honestly don't appreciate it, and it's one of the weaker aspects of the game. There is a line by Cloud in the original that I do appreciate- he says: "She kept smiling to the end". I feel like THAT line has more meaning to it, (even while it might be referring to not letting Aeris's sacrifice be in vain), because it emphasizes Aeris's character and her hope for the future, I guess. 23:40 Or their financial department pressured them- I don't know. I can't say what you're saying about writing for a target audience is true or not- sometimes, it's a more subtle thing- the views and perspectives of the writers involved. I actually think that a lot of the writing for FFVII, while intelligent (probably Nojima's hand, but I know that Nomura and Kitase had a hand in it as well), stems from other games from around FFVII's production- 1994-FFVI, Live A Live, 1995/6-Chrono Trigger, Bahamut Lagoon, and probably Treasure of the Rudras. I can think of specific similarities or suspicious correlations between FFVI, Live A Live and FFVII. Also, there is some of FFIV in FFVII as well: Kain=Cloud under Sephiroth's control, Giant of Babil= Diamond Weapon, Zemus=Sephiroth, Golbez=Sephiroth controlling the extraterrestrial Jenova's cells, Cloud being a cowardly Shinra grunt= Dark Cecil at the start of FFIV-someone's who ashamed of who they are. The FFVI parallels go even deeper, and I can even think of each character corresponding with with a specific character from that game- and many of these characters contain traits that are roughly the same as their FFVI counterpart/s. So, FFVII is rehash, the equivalent of a Star Wars sequel on steroids, basically, because yes, I believe that the sequel trilogy is mostly rehash, with introspection. I think there's more injection of unique ideas into FFVII than the sequel trilogy, but there is more rehash in there than fans would like to imagine- it's crazy. Also, the rehash is also almost impeccably layered into something cohesive, which Squaresoft often does, and Square-Enix has to a tee with FFXIV, which is rehash to the utmost extreme. I.E.- Dragoon Class being based off of Cain Highwind from FFII and Kain Highwind's famous design in FFIV, Zenos being a Kefka-Sephiroth re-design/class (He was experimented on from the empire; has special powers as a result.).

@true_gamer39

2 жыл бұрын

It's trash

Disappointment

Now that the rebirth has been announced I can say it's pure disappointment

"This sucks because its not what I thought it was going to be"

I loved the remake so much. I bought 2 ps5s and bought rebirth on pre-order. I am doing everything I can to make sure this series continues. If I can't play the rest of the series, I will blame all of you. Let me enjoy something before it gets canceled by you ass hats. Lol 😂 happy new year. I know the game can be better. I just want to enjoy it. I am too old to be bitter about it

Nice . I had a gut feeling this game was not want i was being sold. Glad to save the money and play this later when the prices drop for ps4s. I got kids ta feed these days lol. Fucking squaresoft lol

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah it was cool at first seeing Midgar in a modern game but the novelty ran out fast once I was confronted with the reality of how trash the game is.

I was really disappointed by this remake. I bought it under the impression it was a complete game like RE 2 Remake, not a part of one. It’s 40 hours but almost all of that time is filler of the worst kind like in the XIII trilogy and XV rather than anything meaningful. I think I’m going to skip the next 2 parts until they go way down in price or they’re free on PS Plus. $140 for the next 2 games is simply ridiculous. This should’ve been a complete game but Square Enix had to nickel and dime the fans again like they did with Final Fantasy XV.

um why didnt you mention the worst thing in the game- those whisper things.

@riskybitness

Жыл бұрын

That's a fair point. I had so many complaints I basically forgot about them.

It's funny the next one is called rebirth

I was on the fence for this game. I waited until the sequel to the remake almost release. I just started playing this game couple days ago, I reached as far as Cloud meeting Aerith at the church. They changed the story dramatically and it totally undermined the quality of the original story. Luckily I did not buy the game, it was free to me due to PS plus but I will not be investing more of my time in it anyway. FF7 remake is does not live up to the standard of the original game.

The original FF7 was born from a time when the philosophy behind making the most successful/profitable game, was to make the best game possible. 'Give the customer what they want' was the ethos. The more customers that want it, the more profit the company makes. Everyone benefits. Since then, we have learned that game quality and profit are not synonymous. The ethos for most (not all) has shifted to 'NEVER give the customer what they want, always leave them wanting more'. So now, we're given a sample of a great game, but the best, most valuable parts to the customer are withheld in the hopes that they will search for complete satisfaction in their DLC/Subscriptions/Loot boxes/Sequels, etc. To use an analogy, the original restaurant provided a delicious and complete 3 course meal from people that wanted to satisfy their customers. This new restaurant looks similar and has an attractive menu, but when the meal arrives, it's just a sample, and doesn't taste like it was expected to. I've made my choice NOT to support this new restaurant but you are, of course, free to make a different decision. If you do decide to eat here, just remember to step over the pile of excrement I've left on their doorstep.

OG Player here, I love it. I love the expansion of Midgard, I love the alternate timeline approach. I love how they humanize the consequences of ecoterrorism and neofascist corporatism on parallel societies. I would love to see someone do the same with Xenogears, maybe we'd get a playable 2nd disk.

@Nodnarb59

Жыл бұрын

Traitor

@CannabisDreams

Жыл бұрын

@@Nodnarb59 sorry that's its as beautiful now as it was when I first played it in the 90s.

21:08 while i have no problem with someone having criticism with the games writing i do think that the repeated use of for teenage boys and anime as points against the game were insulting. There's no need to equate stuff mafe for teenage boys with bad writing. I sgree with the broad strokes, but the way it was conveyed by insulting people who like that kind of writing was vexing.

i agree with almost all of your points except about the combat system. Many people much prefer the action oriented combat to the old turn based combat. There is a reason those games have died out or are beginning to die out. To suggest that a "suit" said "get rid of it" is ignorant and ignores the core issue at hand. Now that being said, I will agree with you that the story is horrible and this time travel bs totally killed it for me. I will not be getting the next one (even if you dont believe me) as this game wont be finished until at least the 5th or 6th installment. I have no hope for this game anymore. I was waiting for this to come out to finally play ff7 but seeing how they botched it, I might as well play the original. In case you are wondering why I havent already, turn based combat is boring to me (and in fact many many others)

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

I totally understand the sentiment that turn based combat is boring. I think action combat can be much deeper and requires more planning, strategy and execution. However, in this case it's a huge step back from many games that came before. I liked it at first, but I found the way the AI behaves to be incredibly frustrating. The entire system is built around increasing the ATB gauge as quickly as possible and the AI... doesn't do that. Only the current character does anything useful while the others just kind of stand there. This has simply been done better before. The entire Tales of... series is a shining example. It's the exact same idea executed much better.

@kevlar1482

2 жыл бұрын

Turn based combat is boring in final fantasy, in general, because the games are so easy that very little strategy is required. In actual challenging game encounters many people find the strategy elements quite rewarding.

@ItsSVO

2 жыл бұрын

3 parts after all so you were wrong massively there bud. Agree with you about the story though.

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

At the time it hadn't been announced and people were just assuming. Now it that it's been officially announced it's a different story obviously!

@ItsSVO

2 жыл бұрын

@@riskybitness I meant the commenter saying 6 parts, not you dude my bad!

Its a loving game with good acting, amazing graphics and a adictive play. I replay it in all difficulties and with different sets and gears... we need more, we need part 2 😎 Honestly the only issue would be waiting for more. But they can only do so much. To be honest and humble is something we dont see now days. But to be realistic is even more rare. People are comparing what can't be compaired. Enjoy it people, and I still play it today. (Yes i have all the achievements)

@kevlar1482

2 жыл бұрын

Nobody gives a fuck about your invisible video game trophy case. Game sucks.

So many bad predictions here lok

The Remake is equivalent to something like the Netflix live-action anime adaptation of "Death Note"...... Except it's filled with ads (ads=padding) you're forced to watch. The live-action anime adaptation of "Death Note" if fuckin' TERRIBLE! I'll stick with PC nods for ff7. Tsunamis makes the game like an actual remaster. 60fps 4k, 16:9 true widescreen(it true widescreen that shows more of the game on screen), a new shadow and lighting option with the new engine, chibi models, new hd backgrounds. Seriously they look fucking amazing. There's even 60fps cutscenes made with ai. Even hd sound effects. I love the footstep sfx. It sounds different depending on what your stepping on. The only problem that I had is when I tried to speed run the game while using 60fps..... The step count was different. The best part is the backgrounds and the 60fps. The 60fps is AMAZING when your in a battle. Normally it runs at 15fps while in combat. I can't believe how talented people are. Apparently the had to rework and create an entire engine specifically for ff7 to get real 60fps. The engine works ff7 and 9 too. Seriously..... Try it out. I really want more people to know about it. It's crazy. It blew my mind about as much as the remake did. What's crazier is that people made this shit for Free.

I bet you're as hated on reddit as I am 😂😅

@riskybitness

2 ай бұрын

🤐

i hate final fantasy 7 remakes combat, like id honestly just prefer they had copied 15s combat. even crsis core had better combat and these two games arent even the best with combat but jesus was it better than remakes. they try some turn based/action hybrid and it just doesnt work, the stagger mechanic is god awful and it makes your damage feel so pitiful outside of stagger windows, sitting there doing 20 dmg a hit until you can stagger for 2000 dmg and wait for a phase transition, it feels freakin terrible especially for level progression. the stunlocks are so god damn bad, stunlock stunlock stunlock stunlock. the rufus fight was pure garbage..it wouldnt be a big deal if there were ways to avoid it..like ykno..a functional dodge?? but these mechanics and moves are designed so that you get hit by them..so as to make the psuedo turn based combat come into play but it just feels bad. easy fix..remove stagger (or nerf) and buff our normal damage so it feels like our attacks have weight beyond 10 seconds a fight during stagger. Add s to dodging so that you can actually dodge out of moves..im fine with chip damage, like guns and random stuff..but itshould be within my control if i get stunlocked by a move or not and dodging should be the way to do that. those two changes alone would make the combat so much better. had no issues with the story..i went in knowing it wont be a complete recreation..and while its hit or miss..im easy to please so meh. it was decent enough

the first 10 minutes is this guy complaining about the title HAHAHAHA 💩

@jessel2611

3 жыл бұрын

Risky Bitness your arguments are cringe AF.

@jessel2611

3 жыл бұрын

Risky Bitness you wanna get KZread famous off having edgy takes handle criticism of your cringe takes better. This videos intro is so pointless it’s laughable . Sorry 🤷🏻‍♂️

I havent own the game. Watching it already painful enough.

“This video is for people who loved FF7R and don’t understand why people don’t like it” “What a terrible title” lol 🗑 Bye

@GeeksWorldGaming

3 жыл бұрын

@@riskybitness no you Misinterpret my post. Your starting argument is so toxicbase it makes your other points not worth listening to. If your gonna make a 40 min video, have the first point be a good one . Just my opinion.

@jessel2611

3 жыл бұрын

GeeksWorld Gaming you nailed it. This guy talks about lazy script writing but wastes an amazing amount of time sounding like a troll complaining about a title. The title makes so much sense it completely shows us square understands how toxic and entitled their “fans” are. The whole game is to point out fans who constantly complain about EVERYTHING. Like someone who can waste a whole intro about a title of a game.

@jessel2611

3 жыл бұрын

Risky Bitness right because DOOM wasn’t an absolute success. Drive wasn’t Oscar worthy. Marvel’s Spider-man title really spoke to the quality. Room didn’t win Academy Awards. This argument is so bad I can’t believe your defending it.

Oh boy, you are gonna get tons of hate from this video.

5 mins into this video and it's mostly me skimming through it ... and it's just garbage. Not going to waste my time listening to the rest. It was boring me to sleep. I feel bad for whoever wasted 40 mins on this video.

FF7R is just horrible, it went from my all time favorite game to wtf did i just play, i can't even remember the end!?? Tacky writing, just a bad game, I refuse to buy further installments, i can't see myself paying for one game 3× 🤦🏻‍♂️ I'll just watch play through of the end of the other 2 games, and done, huge disappointment 😡

I still HATE ff13 the most

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

I hated 13 the first time I played, but then I came back to it later and I actually really liked it! I have a video about that too: kzread.info/dash/bejne/nZt_pMR8hszPmrg.html

@deathnsd6953

2 жыл бұрын

@@riskybitness lol I've got paint to watch dry..........FUCKKKKKK ff13

@riskybitness

2 жыл бұрын

😅 Fair enough!

I like how slow you talk, like an Ent. 5 mins info in the span of 40!!! Well done Should rename to Repetitive Boringness

@vonclaren1

3 жыл бұрын

@@riskybitness I HATE, this remake. It's so bad it's retroactively ruined the original for me. There was no game I loved more than FF7, now I see it for what it is, just a load of crap a market research group put together designed to look cool and appeal to children - An 100 million dollar marketing campaign, the largest ever for a videogame at the time. I was duped by the smoke and mirrors back in 1997 just like kids now are fooled by this dogshit remake into thinking it's a good game. When it clearly is utter garbage, devoid of any soul, who's only purpose is to generate $$$ - nothing more. You took a long time to get to the point but I agree with everything you said in this video. RIP FF7 1997 - 2020, I'm glad it's dead, the whole franchise was never anything more than a cynical marketing juggernaut