I can't believe it. They actually made me care about Yuffie as a character. Not only was she really fun to play as in the Remake system, but she actually has a tangible, emtional connection to the story now.
Clearing the main downsides out of the way first: it is short and because of its length, the balance of combat scenarios feels very lopsided. Too few and too simple in the first half; too many in the later half. This isn't a huge complaint from me, because I like the system here and especially how Yuffie and Sanon work within it. But solid pacing is the key to keeping a combat system enjoyable in the long term.
Touching on the art and sound then: its still VII Remake, which means it's still bloody gorgeous. My word I love the environment design in this game. But even better is this MUSIC. I won't say it's quite near Persona 5 levels, but these new tracks are way bloody closer than they needed to be.
The first act was pretty straightforward and simplistic narratively. Yuffie shows up in Midgard, she tags up with some co-conspirators, and she heads on her way to screw over Shinra. With Yuffie's exaggerated animations and general goofiness as a character, it felt like watching an old anime, and the music is what made it kick.
No longer really mattered if the story was going to have any big revelations for the rest of the Remake games or if it had any more depth. I was just having fun throwing shurikens, casting ninja magic, and doing all the Fort Condor mini-game challenges.
— Which it can't be understated how much of a feat that was as well. I hated the old Fort Condor mini-game in the original. Love that it exists for how odd it was, but I dreaded ever doing it again. —
Another audio thing that made a big difference for me was switching to the Japanese VO. I know most people won't care or need to hear their native language to be able to engage with the plot, but hearing Yuffie do a Sengoku Era play accent just makes everything about her make so much more sense. Might just be me, but the humor of her character actually works when the "Chuuni Ninja" actually uses that accent.
Like imagine someone roleplaying Shakespeare and not trying to sound as stereotypically British as possible.
So anyway, I was just jiving then the finale delivered an emotional suckerpunch to me out of left field, and then followed it up with a one-two punch of one really nice epilogue scene and one that has me scratching my head. So par the course for the Remake, I guess.
I also liked that they gave Scarlet more time to develop as well. She fits the villain role better here than in the core content of Remake, I think.
So I believe I like it quite a lot, just not too much because it isn't quite satiating. If you bought Remake on PC, then no risk, give this a go too. If you're on PlayStation, it might be worth the rigamaroll of whatever they have setup there.
I really hope this means she'll be a proper addition to the party early into Remake Part 2 and will be involved this time around.
Clearing the main downsides out of the way first: it is short and because of its length, the balance of combat scenarios feels very lopsided. Too few and too simple in the first half; too many in the later half. This isn't a huge complaint from me, because I like the system here and especially how Yuffie and Sanon work within it. But solid pacing is the key to keeping a combat system enjoyable in the long term.
Touching on the art and sound then: its still VII Remake, which means it's still bloody gorgeous. My word I love the environment design in this game. But even better is this MUSIC. I won't say it's quite near Persona 5 levels, but these new tracks are way bloody closer than they needed to be.
The first act was pretty straightforward and simplistic narratively. Yuffie shows up in Midgard, she tags up with some co-conspirators, and she heads on her way to screw over Shinra. With Yuffie's exaggerated animations and general goofiness as a character, it felt like watching an old anime, and the music is what made it kick.
No longer really mattered if the story was going to have any big revelations for the rest of the Remake games or if it had any more depth. I was just having fun throwing shurikens, casting ninja magic, and doing all the Fort Condor mini-game challenges.
— Which it can't be understated how much of a feat that was as well. I hated the old Fort Condor mini-game in the original. Love that it exists for how odd it was, but I dreaded ever doing it again. —
Another audio thing that made a big difference for me was switching to the Japanese VO. I know most people won't care or need to hear their native language to be able to engage with the plot, but hearing Yuffie do a Sengoku Era play accent just makes everything about her make so much more sense. Might just be me, but the humor of her character actually works when the "Chuuni Ninja" actually uses that accent.
Like imagine someone roleplaying Shakespeare and not trying to sound as stereotypically British as possible.
So anyway, I was just jiving then the finale delivered an emotional suckerpunch to me out of left field, and then followed it up with a one-two punch of one really nice epilogue scene and one that has me scratching my head. So par the course for the Remake, I guess.
I also liked that they gave Scarlet more time to develop as well. She fits the villain role better here than in the core content of Remake, I think.
So I believe I like it quite a lot, just not too much because it isn't quite satiating. If you bought Remake on PC, then no risk, give this a go too. If you're on PlayStation, it might be worth the rigamaroll of whatever they have setup there.
I really hope this means she'll be a proper addition to the party early into Remake Part 2 and will be involved this time around.