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aestivalis) wrote2024-06-15 07:11 pm
aestivalis) wrote2024-06-15 07:11 pm
Entry tags:
"Stick close to me and you'll be fine."
I have been playing Final Fantasy VII: New Threat 2.0!
New Threat is a mod for the original FFVII. To my understanding, it was originally aimed toward making the game a bit more difficult for returning players wanting to change their gameplay experience, while also introducing some quality-of-life changes and rebalancing certain mechanics such as materia. As of version 2.0, changes can also include adjustable difficult settings, more specification aspects for each individual character, and most significantly for Nerds Like Me, changes to the actual story itself. BLASPHEME???
Well, I decided I wanted to find out for myself! New Threat 2.0 comes with two different game modes. Type A has the various gameplay adjustments implemented, but sticks largely to the OG story presented in FFVII. Type B is more malleable, taking liberties with the story and changing events around. It says the basic story beats will be the same, but how we arrive to them will be altered. Of course I decided to go for Type B.
I've not been a huge fan of FFVII:R thus far, and I don't really think Square are likely to turn me around with the final installment. There are things I've liked in both games, but the overall experience isn't for me. I don't like what Square are selling me. But I wanted to see how New Threat made me feel. I wasn't sure what to expect! Was it going to be tryhard, full of awkward shoe-horned references to other aspects of nerd culture? Was it going to represent the characters well, and if so, would it represent the characters equally well? What would it feel the need to change, and what would it keep the same? How would it treat the godawful and infamous Love Triangle Debate? Would a preference become apparent, or would it be even-handed? WHO COULD SAY WITHOUT ACTUALLY TRYING.
I did quickly decide to think of the game as a fanfiction made manifest, a sort of "what if..." scenario given room to breathe inside menu configurations and ATB gauges. I think it's let me have a lot more fun with the experience! I don't think material being cut/changed has to inherently be a condemnation or dismissal of that material. And because I'm thinking of it as someone's fanfiction, someone's "if this one thing changed, what might happen...?" thought experiment, I don't have to sit here complaining about how cutting certain scenes/dialogues changes the whole thematic purpose of FFVII. Because this isn't an official Square product, and it isn't professing to be a Remake while shamelessly tearing out the root of what made the original game the beloved classic of the JRPG genre that it is! Wow! Anyway!
I've been making notes while I play! I've just left Midgar for the first time, and here are some thoughts taken from those notes. I'll keep story-related spoilers behind a cut, and start with things that are purely mechanical.
⦾ I opted to play on standard difficulty, which I'm very glad about because I have definitely had some game over screens already and I don't want to imagine what things might have looked like if I'd been playing on hard. Nothing has ever felt insurmountable, though! But the boss fights make you play hard, no messing around. I like to play defensively, and that has been both a blessing and a curse at different points. It's nice to have to really work, and I've had genuine fist-pump moments of victory. It's a great feeling!
⦾ Every character has a unique innate ability now, which is really cool! Cloud has a sort of Defend and Counter technique - if you set him to defend in battle and he gets physically hit, he'll stick back with either 1x, 2x, 4x or an attempted Deathblow strike. Barret gets increased strength in the front row or passive heals in the back row, and his gunfire can be used like an All attack to strike multiple foes. Tifa has an ability similar to Sturdy in Pokémon—the first time she gets KO'd in each battle, she'll use her Grit to retain 1HP (and keep her Limit and buffs in tact). Aeris has a Geomancer stance when she's defending that allows her to absorb most elemental attacks and gain passive regen, and Red XIII receives gradual increases to his STR and MAG stats over the course of each battle. It's such a simple addition but it really influences my gameplay and how I choose to approach battle! I'm excited to see what the other characters have to offer.
⦾ Materia is available IMMEDIATELY, and you get a much wider and more varied range of materia offered to you much sooner than the OG. There have been adjustments to how stats are influenced when you equip materia as well. More factors to consider for gameplay! It's been fun building different character specs for different boss battles, heehee.
I'm going to talk about some Midgar story/character writing spoilers now, so be aware!
⦾ So right away, I will say that I mostly think the character writing is... solid, actually. The OG script is largely in tact in the majority of places, and the additional scenes and moments generally mesh well with the existing characterisation. So that's great, woohoo! There are still little moments here and there that make me raise an eyebrow, but when I remember that this is someone's fanfic I'm cool with it. IT'S A FANFICTION YOU GUYS. IT'S TOTALLY FINE.
⦾ So Tifa is there from the very beginning, and accompanies the party during the initial reactor bombing. Later, it's Tifa who's captured by Shinra instead of Aeris, with the whole thing being much more built around "we've captured some members of AVALANCHE". It's not "better" than OG, but it doesn't need to be because it's just a canon divergence, you know? So in that sense, it was fun to have different characters present for different moments! I was AGHAST when it was revealed that Shinra took Elmyra into custody, but it also gave a good reason for Aeris to insist on coming along to save Tifa. She has her own personal stake in this! She has someone to save! When it's later revealed that she is an Ancient, it clarifies why Shinra would have taken Elmyra in the first place—they've been after Aeris for a while, and are perfectly willing to take Elmyra if it means Aeris will come to them willingly. A pretty cool switcharound!
⦾ I am less fond of the removal of the Sector 7 pillar being destroyed. MAN. I get why the version of events that unfolds wouldn't have naturalistically led to that outcome in the same way as OG FFVII, but it still feels so odd. And I am DISGUSTED by the removal of the crossdressing section entirely. I mean honestly, what are we even doing here. I'm going home. (I suspect this removal was largely motivated by a desire to maximise combat elements of the gameplay—Cloud and Aeris end up fighting in ~Don Corneo's Tourney~ to gain access to Sector 7, and Tifa is not involved in this section at all on account of not making it out of the Sector 5 reactor and instead being captured in Shinra HQ. Another fine enough little twist of the formula, but also boo. Fucking boo. No kudos for you.)
⦾ Speaking of things that evoke FFVII:R, they've generally done a good job of holding back on Stupid Sephiroth Bullshit (and they didn't mess with the trail of blood sequence at all, A+), but there has been one stupid Sephiroth jumpscare moment that made me lol. If I were tasked with making my own fannish FFVII canon divergence game I would probably forget all restraint and have fifty ridiculously iddy sequences of Cloud being terrified and pathetic in his own head, so I really have no right to laugh at anyone else doing something similar. It's bad, but I Like it. I am a complex.
⦾ Cloud has a chance to tell Elmyra her cooking tastes like dog food, which I OBVIOUSLY DID NOT DO because Elmyra is a saint. But there have been a few other Cloud moments I'm not totally sold on. Near the start he comments that he doesn't care if Biggs, Wedge and Jessie have made it back safely or not because they're dead weight anyway. That felt a bit too much to me, even for cool loner poser Cloud. And returning to Aeris's House stuff, Elmyra doesn't specifically ask him to leave in this version of events but he decides to head out without saying goodbye anyway, which didn't feel quite right. But hey. A lot of little extended talking scenes are cut out as well, particularly the train infrastructure stuff with Jessie and jumping across the rooftops with Aeris after escaping the church (they run out the front door after beating up Rude, lol). It's a shame, because I feel like a lot of character detail is packed into those quieter moments, but I understand this mod is intended for returning players so there's a desire to move things along.
AND FOR A FEW QUICKER NOTES
⦾ when I failed my first try at the synchronised button press in Reactor 5 and Barret went "close enough" and it just opened anyway, I loled. Also laughed when I tried to solve Mayor Domino's puzzle before actually going and checking his list of suggested passwords, hahaha.
⦾ THEY KEPT THE FUCKING AWFUL MINIGAME WHERE YOU SNEAK PAST GUARDS ON THE 60TH FLOOR, NO. I CAN'T DO IT. I'M TOO IMPATIENT. I ALWAYS FUCK IT UP. This was no exception. They cut so much shit but they kept that, god!!!!!
⦾ there was a Timber Owls reference that made me think ofrionaleonhart and all my FFVIII girlies (... that's you, wife, you're the other FFVIII girly). FFVIII is the best one, actually. I have been told this by trustworthy sources.
⦾ There have been one or two other references as well, but so far the game has done a pretty good job of reeling it in. Again, I know I am a huge hypocrite because I would definitely be putting little references in if I was the one making this mod. But it would be different if I did it, because I am Very Cool And Funny.
All in all, I'm enjoying the experience! Even the parts I feel more critically toward have their own sense of enjoyment, because it makes me engage with why I don't jive with it. Gets me thinking about story-writing, tone, character beats, all the good juicy stuff. What will the rest of the journey hold for Cloud and friends? For once, I'm really not sure!
New Threat is a mod for the original FFVII. To my understanding, it was originally aimed toward making the game a bit more difficult for returning players wanting to change their gameplay experience, while also introducing some quality-of-life changes and rebalancing certain mechanics such as materia. As of version 2.0, changes can also include adjustable difficult settings, more specification aspects for each individual character, and most significantly for Nerds Like Me, changes to the actual story itself. BLASPHEME???
Well, I decided I wanted to find out for myself! New Threat 2.0 comes with two different game modes. Type A has the various gameplay adjustments implemented, but sticks largely to the OG story presented in FFVII. Type B is more malleable, taking liberties with the story and changing events around. It says the basic story beats will be the same, but how we arrive to them will be altered. Of course I decided to go for Type B.
I've not been a huge fan of FFVII:R thus far, and I don't really think Square are likely to turn me around with the final installment. There are things I've liked in both games, but the overall experience isn't for me. I don't like what Square are selling me. But I wanted to see how New Threat made me feel. I wasn't sure what to expect! Was it going to be tryhard, full of awkward shoe-horned references to other aspects of nerd culture? Was it going to represent the characters well, and if so, would it represent the characters equally well? What would it feel the need to change, and what would it keep the same? How would it treat the godawful and infamous Love Triangle Debate? Would a preference become apparent, or would it be even-handed? WHO COULD SAY WITHOUT ACTUALLY TRYING.
I did quickly decide to think of the game as a fanfiction made manifest, a sort of "what if..." scenario given room to breathe inside menu configurations and ATB gauges. I think it's let me have a lot more fun with the experience! I don't think material being cut/changed has to inherently be a condemnation or dismissal of that material. And because I'm thinking of it as someone's fanfiction, someone's "if this one thing changed, what might happen...?" thought experiment, I don't have to sit here complaining about how cutting certain scenes/dialogues changes the whole thematic purpose of FFVII. Because this isn't an official Square product, and it isn't professing to be a Remake while shamelessly tearing out the root of what made the original game the beloved classic of the JRPG genre that it is! Wow! Anyway!
I've been making notes while I play! I've just left Midgar for the first time, and here are some thoughts taken from those notes. I'll keep story-related spoilers behind a cut, and start with things that are purely mechanical.
⦾ I opted to play on standard difficulty, which I'm very glad about because I have definitely had some game over screens already and I don't want to imagine what things might have looked like if I'd been playing on hard. Nothing has ever felt insurmountable, though! But the boss fights make you play hard, no messing around. I like to play defensively, and that has been both a blessing and a curse at different points. It's nice to have to really work, and I've had genuine fist-pump moments of victory. It's a great feeling!
⦾ Every character has a unique innate ability now, which is really cool! Cloud has a sort of Defend and Counter technique - if you set him to defend in battle and he gets physically hit, he'll stick back with either 1x, 2x, 4x or an attempted Deathblow strike. Barret gets increased strength in the front row or passive heals in the back row, and his gunfire can be used like an All attack to strike multiple foes. Tifa has an ability similar to Sturdy in Pokémon—the first time she gets KO'd in each battle, she'll use her Grit to retain 1HP (and keep her Limit and buffs in tact). Aeris has a Geomancer stance when she's defending that allows her to absorb most elemental attacks and gain passive regen, and Red XIII receives gradual increases to his STR and MAG stats over the course of each battle. It's such a simple addition but it really influences my gameplay and how I choose to approach battle! I'm excited to see what the other characters have to offer.
⦾ Materia is available IMMEDIATELY, and you get a much wider and more varied range of materia offered to you much sooner than the OG. There have been adjustments to how stats are influenced when you equip materia as well. More factors to consider for gameplay! It's been fun building different character specs for different boss battles, heehee.
I'm going to talk about some Midgar story/character writing spoilers now, so be aware!
⦾ So right away, I will say that I mostly think the character writing is... solid, actually. The OG script is largely in tact in the majority of places, and the additional scenes and moments generally mesh well with the existing characterisation. So that's great, woohoo! There are still little moments here and there that make me raise an eyebrow, but when I remember that this is someone's fanfic I'm cool with it. IT'S A FANFICTION YOU GUYS. IT'S TOTALLY FINE.
⦾ So Tifa is there from the very beginning, and accompanies the party during the initial reactor bombing. Later, it's Tifa who's captured by Shinra instead of Aeris, with the whole thing being much more built around "we've captured some members of AVALANCHE". It's not "better" than OG, but it doesn't need to be because it's just a canon divergence, you know? So in that sense, it was fun to have different characters present for different moments! I was AGHAST when it was revealed that Shinra took Elmyra into custody, but it also gave a good reason for Aeris to insist on coming along to save Tifa. She has her own personal stake in this! She has someone to save! When it's later revealed that she is an Ancient, it clarifies why Shinra would have taken Elmyra in the first place—they've been after Aeris for a while, and are perfectly willing to take Elmyra if it means Aeris will come to them willingly. A pretty cool switcharound!
⦾ I am less fond of the removal of the Sector 7 pillar being destroyed. MAN. I get why the version of events that unfolds wouldn't have naturalistically led to that outcome in the same way as OG FFVII, but it still feels so odd. And I am DISGUSTED by the removal of the crossdressing section entirely. I mean honestly, what are we even doing here. I'm going home. (I suspect this removal was largely motivated by a desire to maximise combat elements of the gameplay—Cloud and Aeris end up fighting in ~Don Corneo's Tourney~ to gain access to Sector 7, and Tifa is not involved in this section at all on account of not making it out of the Sector 5 reactor and instead being captured in Shinra HQ. Another fine enough little twist of the formula, but also boo. Fucking boo. No kudos for you.)
⦾ Speaking of things that evoke FFVII:R, they've generally done a good job of holding back on Stupid Sephiroth Bullshit (and they didn't mess with the trail of blood sequence at all, A+), but there has been one stupid Sephiroth jumpscare moment that made me lol. If I were tasked with making my own fannish FFVII canon divergence game I would probably forget all restraint and have fifty ridiculously iddy sequences of Cloud being terrified and pathetic in his own head, so I really have no right to laugh at anyone else doing something similar. It's bad, but I Like it. I am a complex.
⦾ Cloud has a chance to tell Elmyra her cooking tastes like dog food, which I OBVIOUSLY DID NOT DO because Elmyra is a saint. But there have been a few other Cloud moments I'm not totally sold on. Near the start he comments that he doesn't care if Biggs, Wedge and Jessie have made it back safely or not because they're dead weight anyway. That felt a bit too much to me, even for cool loner poser Cloud. And returning to Aeris's House stuff, Elmyra doesn't specifically ask him to leave in this version of events but he decides to head out without saying goodbye anyway, which didn't feel quite right. But hey. A lot of little extended talking scenes are cut out as well, particularly the train infrastructure stuff with Jessie and jumping across the rooftops with Aeris after escaping the church (they run out the front door after beating up Rude, lol). It's a shame, because I feel like a lot of character detail is packed into those quieter moments, but I understand this mod is intended for returning players so there's a desire to move things along.
AND FOR A FEW QUICKER NOTES
⦾ when I failed my first try at the synchronised button press in Reactor 5 and Barret went "close enough" and it just opened anyway, I loled. Also laughed when I tried to solve Mayor Domino's puzzle before actually going and checking his list of suggested passwords, hahaha.
⦾ THEY KEPT THE FUCKING AWFUL MINIGAME WHERE YOU SNEAK PAST GUARDS ON THE 60TH FLOOR, NO. I CAN'T DO IT. I'M TOO IMPATIENT. I ALWAYS FUCK IT UP. This was no exception. They cut so much shit but they kept that, god!!!!!
⦾ there was a Timber Owls reference that made me think of
rionaleonhart and all my FFVIII girlies (... that's you, wife, you're the other FFVIII girly). FFVIII is the best one, actually. I have been told this by trustworthy sources.⦾ There have been one or two other references as well, but so far the game has done a pretty good job of reeling it in. Again, I know I am a huge hypocrite because I would definitely be putting little references in if I was the one making this mod. But it would be different if I did it, because I am Very Cool And Funny.
All in all, I'm enjoying the experience! Even the parts I feel more critically toward have their own sense of enjoyment, because it makes me engage with why I don't jive with it. Gets me thinking about story-writing, tone, character beats, all the good juicy stuff. What will the rest of the journey hold for Cloud and friends? For once, I'm really not sure!
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Every time I see reference to this fact, I remember my absolute and utter astonishment that outside midgar exists.
my kadaj icon is not currently active but hi baby I'm being your useless advent children wife. I LOVED READING YOUR THOUGHTS, I love that you are my Final Fantasy Queen.
... oh wow I typed all ^ before reading the whole thing through and you MENTIONED ME uwu (✿◡‿◡) I don't have an FFVIII icon either, I should get one of Griever...
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Final Fantasy.... hime (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) (you disgusting griever fucker)
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How dare you not include me as an FFVIII girly!
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The mod sounds interesting! I think I'd probably struggle to handle it; I'm okay at coping with changes in the remake, because you can tell at a glance that it's a different thing, but playing a game that looks familiar but doesn't play out quite the way I'm expecting would be really disconcerting to me.
Especially if they cut the Sector 7 pillar destruction and crossdressing Cloud; outrageous! You can't just snip out the two most memorable parts of the Midgar sequence! Not unless you replace them with something equally striking, at least, and it doesn't sound like this mod has managed that.
The changes to combat do sound interesting, though! I like the unique character abilities; that's a cool touch.
If I were tasked with making my own fannish FFVII canon divergence game I would probably forget all restraint and have fifty ridiculously iddy sequences of Cloud being terrified and pathetic in his own head
Please make this game.
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I'm definitely having fun with it, but it does make me consider what I would do differently! And not just with this game, but other Final Fantasy titles as well. If I had to use all the same FMVs and locations but was tasked with changing things up, what might I do...? Final Fantasy VIII already has that playable demo where Rinoa is in your party for the Dollet sequence so SURELY you'd take advantage of that and write a mod version of events that has her present for that section. Final Fantasy IX has so many temporary party members like Blank and Beatrix—what narrative twists and turns might best serve to have them become permanently playable? HM HM...
Of course, there'd always be the underlying threat that something you cut or change will be someone's all-time favourite part. Like, what if you rearranged events so that Seifer ends up joining Squall's party after Disk Two or something. Cool, except then you lose some of the best stuff with Raijin and Fujin. All these challenges! I can't fall into these kinds of rabbit holes or else I never come back out. I am a nightmare for "but what if..." scenarios and this mod is feeding my obsession something fierce.
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Like, what if you rearranged events so that Seifer ends up joining Squall's party after Disk Two or something.
I... I know I said I'd find playing a mod with story changes too disconcerting, but I have to admit that I would play the hell out of this.
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Or does he give chase on his own? Does he give chase on his own, catch up with and confront Squall in yet another one-on-one showdown heaving with Sorceress Implications? Do either of them see any parallels in Squall's devotion to Rinoa and Seifer's own devotion toward Edea/Ultimecia?* Upon completion of any one-on-one duels does Seifer persist in trying to stop Squall, does he opt to accompany Squall, or does he perhaps make himself a blockade against Squall's other pursuers? If the latter, how does he justify it to himself? For who's sake is he doing this—Squall's? Rinoa's? A nebulous "the sorceress"? Is it just what a Knight Would Do, and is that a very convenient excuse not to self-analysis? SHOULD I NOT BE ALLOWED TO PERFORM "WHAT IF" THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBLIC (YES).
*RIONA, SQUALL'S VERY ABRUPT AND PASSIONATE ACCEPTANCE OF FEELINGS FOR RINOA CIRCA DISK THREE LINES UP DIRECTLY WITH HER FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH ULTIMECIA RIONAAAAAAAA THAT IS SO CONCERNING RIONAAAAAAA does anyone even realiseee does anyone even knowwww