Much like this review, the game started out very positive. The game looks absolutely fantastic. And the way they integrated the enemies, areas etc. from the original is absolutely masterful. And all this at a constant 120fps (though there is clearly some sort of resolution scaling or other such things running in the background here to achieve this.) The art team really deserve all the praise in the world for this.
The game started out very fun, with the new battle system feeling very fitting for the first few chapters. But once you get a bit further in it gets downright infuriating. Teammates are absolutely useless if you're not controlling them, with their ATB bar barely moving if not controlled, and all enemies will attack you 90% of the time. Meaning that in boss fights especially, you are constantly plummeted with attacks. Constant aoe attacks, shot from off-screen, or spamming freeze toad or what have you to make it impossible to do much. I think the main issue is that once you progress a bit, you control 3 people and you just get overwhelmed with attacks. Which wouldn't necessarily be that big of a deal if your attacks couldn't be cancelled. Having your limit break lost because an enemy teleports or a spell miss because the target zooms across the room is infuriating. And not only will attacks be cancelled, you also lose the MP it costs and a chunk of the ATB bar. While I really liked the early combat, I absolutely hated it by the end. This would work much better if you simply just controlled one person or or it bas based on turn based to the extent where an attack couldn't miss because the animation gives the enemy time to do endless things. On top of this the game treats the lock on system as a suggestion, changing its target whenever it feels like. The battles also get endlessly convoluted as you progress. Everything seems to have some gimmick to beat it, but you fight each enemy so rarely I never saw the point of trying to figure it out. And even when I did it was so poorly explained and shown that I just gave up. Like some enemy that had to be hit with magic first, then physical. I never got it to work, I couldn't tell which one was procced and I just brute forced it to get past. And the boss battles just got increasingly long, to the point where: had I died, I couldn't have been bothered to try again and probably left the game unfinished. I don't know what it is with these anime tropes where everything is godlike and can never just die. It's just fight after fight after fight. The last boss taking about an hour or so with no deaths. I guess it's an attempt to make something seem epic, but really it's just tedious.
Another thing that stopped me from not finishing the game was the ability to skip cutscenes. It's just endless. Every single time you enter a room, there's a cutscene. Even outside of that there's constant slow walks with dialogue. Not even the fights are safe from cutscenes. With them I'd guess the game would have been twice as long. And that is most likely intentional as the game is filled to the brim with small things that makes the game that much longer. But none of it fun, be it the fetch quests or those ungodly rhythm minigames where they don't even let you know what to press or when. It's just there to make you retry and retry, so you spend more time. The same with hard mode that seems to expect you to have several master materia and be level 50. It's just a massive and tedious grind.
What worries me the most about this game though is how ok everyone seems to be with games being cut in to parts like this. The normal price for this game is the highest I've ever seen and they expect people to pay that maybe 4 times. plus DLC on top of that. How are people complaining about regular DLC, microtransactions etc. but this is right? I really hope this isn't where singleplayer games are heading, because that will be the death of them. Make a game, split it in 4, make everything a slow grind so it feels like you got your money's worth then sell the next installment at the same price.
The game started out very fun, with the new battle system feeling very fitting for the first few chapters. But once you get a bit further in it gets downright infuriating. Teammates are absolutely useless if you're not controlling them, with their ATB bar barely moving if not controlled, and all enemies will attack you 90% of the time. Meaning that in boss fights especially, you are constantly plummeted with attacks. Constant aoe attacks, shot from off-screen, or spamming freeze toad or what have you to make it impossible to do much. I think the main issue is that once you progress a bit, you control 3 people and you just get overwhelmed with attacks. Which wouldn't necessarily be that big of a deal if your attacks couldn't be cancelled. Having your limit break lost because an enemy teleports or a spell miss because the target zooms across the room is infuriating. And not only will attacks be cancelled, you also lose the MP it costs and a chunk of the ATB bar. While I really liked the early combat, I absolutely hated it by the end. This would work much better if you simply just controlled one person or or it bas based on turn based to the extent where an attack couldn't miss because the animation gives the enemy time to do endless things. On top of this the game treats the lock on system as a suggestion, changing its target whenever it feels like. The battles also get endlessly convoluted as you progress. Everything seems to have some gimmick to beat it, but you fight each enemy so rarely I never saw the point of trying to figure it out. And even when I did it was so poorly explained and shown that I just gave up. Like some enemy that had to be hit with magic first, then physical. I never got it to work, I couldn't tell which one was procced and I just brute forced it to get past. And the boss battles just got increasingly long, to the point where: had I died, I couldn't have been bothered to try again and probably left the game unfinished. I don't know what it is with these anime tropes where everything is godlike and can never just die. It's just fight after fight after fight. The last boss taking about an hour or so with no deaths. I guess it's an attempt to make something seem epic, but really it's just tedious.
Another thing that stopped me from not finishing the game was the ability to skip cutscenes. It's just endless. Every single time you enter a room, there's a cutscene. Even outside of that there's constant slow walks with dialogue. Not even the fights are safe from cutscenes. With them I'd guess the game would have been twice as long. And that is most likely intentional as the game is filled to the brim with small things that makes the game that much longer. But none of it fun, be it the fetch quests or those ungodly rhythm minigames where they don't even let you know what to press or when. It's just there to make you retry and retry, so you spend more time. The same with hard mode that seems to expect you to have several master materia and be level 50. It's just a massive and tedious grind.
What worries me the most about this game though is how ok everyone seems to be with games being cut in to parts like this. The normal price for this game is the highest I've ever seen and they expect people to pay that maybe 4 times. plus DLC on top of that. How are people complaining about regular DLC, microtransactions etc. but this is right? I really hope this isn't where singleplayer games are heading, because that will be the death of them. Make a game, split it in 4, make everything a slow grind so it feels like you got your money's worth then sell the next installment at the same price.
3 Comments
People aren't complaining because it's a full 30+ hour quality RPG experience. If this game literally took 6 hours like the original's Midgar portion, then ofc people would be complaining. It's not like each entry is meant to be quickly rushed out as a cash grab. They are taking their time with it.
As for the combat, I too found it overwhelming at first, but once I realized I should constantly be switching party members, it became a lot easier and a lot more fun as well. It forces you to act fast in tense situations.
As for the combat, I too found it overwhelming at first, but once I realized I should constantly be switching party members, it became a lot easier and a lot more fun as well. It forces you to act fast in tense situations.
I completed it in 24 hours, and I felt like a large portion of that was just padding. I guess I would have less of a problem if this wasn't a remake where I know how much more is in the full game. And the price is definitely that of a full game, not just part 1.
My main issue with the combat is more the fact that all enemies are attacking the one you're playing, often off camera, and will just knock you around with endless aoe and stun attacks that cancel yours. It really doesn't feel like the enemies work by the same ATB restriction that you do. Or how attacks take time to execute and a lot of enemies will simply teleport away and avoid it completely.
My main issue with the combat is more the fact that all enemies are attacking the one you're playing, often off camera, and will just knock you around with endless aoe and stun attacks that cancel yours. It really doesn't feel like the enemies work by the same ATB restriction that you do. Or how attacks take time to execute and a lot of enemies will simply teleport away and avoid it completely.
NOWITSREYNTIME17
1 year ago