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JWeinCom on 23 April 2020
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weaveworld said:
Negatives

- The battles never really get to be all that challenging. I never really felt pushed to consider any strategy more advanced than "equip whatever elemental magic the boss is weak to".

-Some of the added content is really dull padding. For instance the train graveyard goes on for a while, and really doesn't add anything to the narrative. There's a segment of Barrett just running through tunnels. There's an awkward lapse between the air buster being introduced and the actual battle.

-Side quests are pretty much universally uninteresting.

-This is an incomplete narrative. This is the first act of a story, and it feels like it. Midgar was mostly about establishing the characters and introducing the conflict, and that's done well here. But, there aren't any real complete character arcs and no real resolution to conflicts. Spending about 30-40 hours in the first act of a story is kind of pushing it.

Before people jump to the it's just one episode/part/w/e you want to call it, compare it to Mass Effect 2. That game is also part of a larger story. But, the characters mostly have complete arcs by which they change over the story. While the main overarching conflict (Shepard and Co. v Reapers) is not resolved, the specific conflict in this game (Shepard v. Collectors) was. There was a three part narrative arc (Shepard gathering allies, Shepard helping them work through all of their bullshit, and the final mission). So, even though this wasn't the whole story of Mass Effect, it was a complete narrative arc within that story.

Basically it's like Mass Effect 2 is like reading one of the Harry Potter books, whereas this game is like reading the first 300 pages of the Stand or something. Both are parts of a whole, but one is a whole part, if that makes sense.

-Kind of a bait and switch. There was every reason for fans to believe that this would be a fairly faithful retelling of FF7. Some things added, some things modernized, sure. And for the most part, it was... until it wasn't.

The last hour of the game or so is essentially fighting against the story of the original game. Even aside from how you feel about them sticking to the story, it was a jarring fourth wall breaking shift as you go from fighting an evil power company to fighting a physical manifestation of an abstract concept.

I value your opinion, just adding my 2 cents. 

I consider the game, to my tastes, one of the best I have played in many years. I could say I am missing out on some things from the original but I'd rather judge this game on it's own merits. After many years of asking for a modern remake, I do wonder, is it to the consumers to tell how exactly SE should go about it or should we be content with this high quality product?

- the battles really become interesting when you play hard mode. My guess is, they've made the first playthrough 'userfriendly'. 

- since they have recreated the city of Midgar, and no teleportation is available, are these paths to traverse not something of the world as is? And the few side quests that are present are at least introduced in a way for Cloud to become a 'better' person. It also results in him becoming the talk of the town, building the legend maybe?

- you prefer en entire arc, I am just happy to see Cloud giving a high five and slowly 'trying' to be part of a community.

- I didn't feel like a bait and switch to me. It's a matter of vision and how SE thinks they can portray the story and characters at their best. I never expected to get an exact copy, which would not even be realistic. Before the jury is out we will probably have to spend another 180 euro's to see if they managed to make it as epic as the original. But to be clear, I was satisfied with the ending. It's not as you say, a complete story, but we knew it wasn't going to be.

Maybe I refrain from being to critical because I really enjoyed, and still am, the time I spent with this game. I can certainly advise you to try hard mode if you haven't already.

Last night I spent two hours battling the last boss from chapter 11 on hard, trying to figure out it's mechanics and fases, and how to deal with them. Good times!

I played the game on the hardest mode available to me, and it was a bit too easy.  I could only judge based on what was available.  Having just played through the story, I'm really not going to enjoy it all that much to play through it again right away.

Everything Square Enix said would lead people to expect a faithful adaptation.  And, it's not.  There's nothing wrong with doing that, but it is definitely a bait and switch.  Some people will like the switch and will therefore be fine with it, but those who aren't have a valid gripe.