Sony Who’s excited for Thursday?!

[the_promised_land]

I can’t wait, I’ve got ten days annual leave to play it!

 

[Mark]

I can’t wait, I’ve got ten days annual leave to play it!

You’re the second person here that I know has taken time off of work for the release, but you’ve definitely taken off the most since he only took 4 days. It’s gonna make for some entertaining speed runs.

 

[Raine]

I've been hearing crazy amounts of variance in terms of how long it's taking people with streetdate broken copies to get through the game.

Personally, for more action-oriented affairs with heavy emphasis on story, I think 25~30 hours is my cap. That's about where Kingdom Hearts has always landed, and several of those already feel long in the tooth if not outright beginning to overstay their welcome. Hearing that FF16 is ~40 hours, and FF7R2 could be anywhere between 40 and 100 sounds a bit exhausting.

I haven't even played Remake, but I've got my popcorn ready.

 

[TD]

I won't be playing it - but I'll be curious what those that play it think.

 

[turkey]

I was going to not get it but now I’m trying to justify getting it tomorrow.

 

[Lunar Kreskents]

I'm not going to have time to play it until probably June -- no one spoil it!

 

[Quagmire]

I can’t wait, I’ve got ten days annual leave to play it!

What game? Final Fantasy 7 rebirth?

 

[the_promised_land]

What game? Final Fantasy 7 rebirth?

Indeed

 

[Quagmire]

Indeed

I am not, I didnt care for Remake. I like the original 7, but its not one have any nostalgia for and I dont like the weird the story stuff they're doing this time around

 

[Jon]

My copy is arriving between 3-6 pm from Amazon. And I will not be reading anything about it! I'll see you all in a month.

 

[Jon]

Freshly arrived

 

[TD]

Initial thoughts from those of you playing?

Spoiler tags if using specifics for others.

 

[Jon]

Initial thoughts from those of you playing?

Spoiler tags if using specifics for others.

I am currently about the midpoint, and the best thing I can offer without really getting into the story, is that the hype is real.

Rumor has it short of an unknown GOD game dropping, this is game of the year already for 2024... It should be too. It took everything good about Remake and expanded upon it in good and interesting ways.

Each character plays so unique and the combat system is still easily the best since they went away with full turn based. It's challenging but fresh. If you liked Remake and Intergrade's combat, you'll love Rebirth. If you hated them, you won't like it.

There is an INSANE number of minigames. It's actually a lot to keep up with. Most are fun little excursions from the game to keep it fun. I'm a little disappointed in Queen's Blood, because you can ultimately unga bunga the damn thing, but it's totally optional, so it's not a big deal. Gwent blows it out of the water. It tries to be a cross between Gwent and Triple Triad and Tetra Master and to me it falls short. When you're asked to collect cards and they really are worse... something's wrong.

The only thing I'll say about the story so far, and keep it completely spoiler free, is there are some amazingly interesting things that haven't been answered yet, and I'm intrigued about getting the answered.

 

[TD]

If you liked Remake and Intergrade's combat, you'll love Rebirth. If you hated them, you won't like it.

This is probably what I was most curious of so I appreciate hearing that.

I'm a little disappointed in Queen's Blood, because you can ultimately unga bunga the damn thing, but it's totally optional, so it's not a big deal. Gwent blows it out of the water. It tries to be a cross between Gwent and Triple Triad and Tetra Master and to me it falls short. When you're asked to collect cards and they really are worse... something's wrong.

That's disappointing. Card minigames are among my favourite in RPGs so to hear it's underwhelming sucks.

 

[Jon]

That's disappointing. Card minigames are among my favourite in RPGs so to hear it's underwhelming sucks.

Same. I love collecting and playing the game, but you essentially want to go right as fast and hard as possible, and you win by attrition. I don't like that. Now, there is a sense of randomness and the AI can disrupt you pretty easily, but it's easy enough to win every game with literally the starting deck you're given.

Part of what made Triple Triad so good is that better cards were noticeable. You WANTED to collect them.

The new cards you get in QB legit don't have any appeal to them because the cost usually makes them prohibitive.

That said, you can get some cards to build strategically around, and the decks are fun. But you're mostly just making the game harder on yourself. That said, once I got on the Shinra 8 where the QB tournament is, I started building decks around certain cards and I enjoyed the game more and made it more challenging. So there is that.

Also, Fort Condor is back in a fun way, upgraded a little from Intergrade, and that one I enjoyed a lot. Sadly, everything is prebuilt and you're limited to premade stuff, but that game was a ton of fun. As was a carnival like shooting game, a mini rocket league style game and (much to my depression) another Tifa workout minigame.

Thankfully I do not think there is an achievement tied to this one...........

 

[TD]

Same. I love collecting and playing the game, but you essentially want to go right as fast and hard as possible, and you win by attrition. I don't like that.

Yeah that doesn't sound appealing. The more you say about it, the more it feels like they just dropped the ball on this one.

Part of what made Triple Triad so good is that better cards were noticeable. You WANTED to collect them.

...the fact there's not even a discernible difference in the cards is terrible.

Also, Fort Condor is back in a fun way, upgraded a little from Intergrade, and that one I enjoyed a lot.

I never played Integrade so I never saw what they did to Fort Condor. I didn't really like it in the original though.

and (much to my depression) another Tifa workout minigame.

..... ohhhh fuck that.

 

[Jon]

...the fact there's not even a discernible difference in the cards is terrible.

Oh, there's a discernable difference, but the cards are objectively worse because they are more powerful. Kinda hard to explain if you don't know how the game is played, but essentially, QB can be bull rushed by cheap cost cards. So the better cards cost more to play, so they aren't often worth it unless you're building specifically around them. So it CAN be fun, but you're making the game harder than it has to be, technically.

I personally wanted to play fun decks, so I made it harder on myself lol.

I never played Integrade so I never saw what they did to Fort Condor. I didn't really like it in the original though.

It's similar and different from the original. It's a tower defense game at it's core. If you life tower defense, you'll like fort condor. If you don't, then it's only a 4 part side quest you don't even technically have to do.

..... ohhhh fuck that.

Yeah, this one had me nearly rage quitting last night. I HATED it in Remake, but in this one, they've made it SO much worse by swapping out the face button rhythm with the triggers and bumpers... and while the patterns are much better, the use of triggers and bumpers actually made my brain fry because my brain and fingers can't move fast enough for the last stage.

I will say this though... my 2 best pieces of advice if you try to brave this... turn OFF the haptic triggers for it (your finger will thank you) and turn OFF all sound... play it on mute. The music and sound effects actually hurt you. It seems counterintuitive to turn off the sound, but it's a rhythm game, so you don't need it. After muting... I got it in 3 tries. After suffering for an hour.

EDIT - Unless there is a hard mode achievement for this... no achievement popped for it for me... if it's not needed for the Platinum, I will NOT be subjecting myself to it again when I run this through hard mode.

 

[TD]

It's similar and different from the original. It's a tower defense game at it's core. If you life tower defense, you'll like fort condor. If you don't, then it's only a 4 part side quest you don't even technically have to do.

I'm typically not too big of a minigame person - although I know Square loves them. Perhaps when I was younger but after playing through KH for the first time last year I realized how much I hate them.

Yeah, this one had me nearly rage quitting last night. I HATED it in Remake, but in this one, they've made it SO much worse by swapping out the face button rhythm with the triggers and bumpers... and while the patterns are much better, the use of triggers and bumpers actually made my brain fry because my brain and fingers can't move fast enough for the last stage.

Anything with rhythmic minigames can fuck right off. It's the biggest reason I'll never both trying for the FFIX platinum which is unfortunate cause I'd love to get it.

I will say this though... my 2 best pieces of advice if you try to brave this... turn OFF the haptic triggers for it (your finger will thank you) and turn OFF all sound... play it on mute. The music and sound effects actually hurt you. It seems counterintuitive to turn off the sound, but it's a rhythm game, so you don't need it. After muting... I got it in 3 tries. After suffering for an hour.

I honestly can't see myself ever playing this game. If I had the time and money to play everything I was kind of curious of, it'd be a different story but I simply don't.

EDIT - Unless there is a hard mode achievement for this... no achievement popped for it for me... if it's not needed for the Platinum, I will NOT be subjecting myself to it again when I run this through hard mode.

...I just looked up the trophy guide for Rebirth.

Fuuuuuck that.

Spoiler: High level difficulty and time

8/10 Difficulty
2 Playthroughs
200 Hours

 

[Jon]

It's not for everyone. But the original was the game that defined gaming and cemented my love of RPGs.... so I'll be going for Platinum. I think...

 

[TD]

It's not for everyone. But the original was the game that defined gaming and cemented my love of RPGs.... so I'll be going for Platinum. I think...

All I'll say is - good luck. I looked at the trophies there, I know you don't want spoilers so I won't say much but I can certainly see some frustrating moments coming.

 

[Jon]

All I'll say is - good luck. I looked at the trophies there, I know you don't want spoilers so I won't say much but I can certainly see some frustrating moments coming.

Appreciate that. I'll look more into them once I finish the main game. I know, like Remake, it'll take a second playthrough on hard at least. So my hope is the hard mode is like Remake, which, carrying over all materia made hard mode... not so hard. No items is the worst part about hard mode. Other than that, it's story spoilers I don't want. So if there is something like "reach 100 sit ups" I may cry. I'm sure there is an achievement tied to it because there was in Remake. So... that'll prolly be the last one I do so I don't break my controller lol.