Full opening for Final Fantasy VII Remake has been revealed:

And a comparison with the original PS1 game opening intro:

 

The Final Fantasy VII Remake bombing mission demo is now live and available for download and play through.

FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE DEMO

 

Just found out about the demo, downloading it now. Can't wait to give this a whirl tomorrow.

 

I've already finished downloading it but I need to hit the gym first. Playing the demo will be my reward.  

EDIT: I got chills watching the opening introduction on my PS4 and television as the music swelled with the appearance of the game title. Currently playing through using Classic mode. So far, this demo is a nostalgia high!

 

Played through the demo twice. First time on Normal, then again on Classic. Normal's pretty fun. Was worried they got too ARPG happy and the combat would be too fast and frantic. But no, it's pretty chill. I like it, and I'm an old school turn-based fan through and through.

Speaking of that, I really dig Classic mode too. No button mashing, and feels pretty strategic. It would be my preferred way to play IF it wasn't restricted to Easy difficulty. Easy's just too easy, atleast in the demo. Cloud just mowed enemies down. I got 1, sometimes 2 ATB inputs in most fights. The Shock Troopers being the lone exception. Those were real fights atleast. The Scorpion Sentinel boss fight was a night and day difference. Pretty challenging on Normal, but got steamrolled on Classic. If we could get Classic on Normal difficulty that would be perfect.

Nonetheless, can't wait for the full game.

 

Loved the demo, it's like a completely new final fantasy, but it's also definitely VII =)

 

Played the demo and it's amazing. Looking forward to the main release.

 

demo was fun on normal, will try classic later today.

 

I wish there was an option to just do turn based combat like the original. This action rpg stuff just isn’t the same.

 

Play in classic mode.

 

It wasn't supposed to be the same. This is a modern game, with modern design sensibilities. The developers determined early on in their mission statement that there'd be no point in undertaking this massive project if it was just going to be the same old game with a new coat of paint.

The Easy/Classic modes are there for players who just want to breeze through the game and experience the revamped story, or if you're not up to the task of handling the new dynamic combat system.


I'm absolutely in love with how this game works, and eagerly await the new possibilities once we get full access to the Materia system and Weapon Skills. This feels like the ultimate evolution of what SquareEnix has been trying to do ever since Advent Children, giving the characters the opportunity to strut their own individual style, and feel more like a proper team.

 

I'm loving the fact that the game forces you to switch and play every character on your team in order to maximize your tactical advantage during battle. Fights are challenging and require thought, especially the boss battles. We're just scraping the surface of this new battle system's full potential, and I'm looking forward to messing around with Materia, Summons, and Spells.

I just got an email saying that they charged my credit card for the preorder on the Final Fantasy VII Remake 1st Class Edition of the game (includes a Play Arts Kai Cloud Strife and Hardy Daytona motorcycle figure set and bonus lanyard). The email says "shipping" but I'm not sure if that's accurate given that the game release was supposedly pushed to April 10th.

 

I love how the game subverts your expectations of its difficulty right from the get-go. You steamroll the first few waves of Shinra grunts just as you did in the original, and get cocky. Then they throw the dogs at you, and make you realize that just mashing square on basic enemies isn't going to get you very far. Sentry Rays make sure you have to swap up your characters, and make you learn the individual characters' strengths and weaknesses. Sweepers are the first real damage sponge enemies, encouraging you to play with the Pressure/Stagger system. And then you get the boss fight, thinking you're going to roll the thing based on your experience with the original game, and you're sorely mistaken as it releases an absolute onslaught of punishing blows and turns into a real attrition battle with your healing resources, unless you've really mastered your attack pacing and positioning. And even with that dispatched, the game throws the Shock Troopers at you to keep you on your toes.

It's such a great crash course on the various strategies and tactics you'll need to employ throughout the game, even with the limited tools at your disposal.

I relish when a game actually challenges me, where a full team wipe is a very realistic possibility, forcing me to learn and grow on the fly. I'm just completely over "hold X to win" of classic Final Fantasy/turn-based menu games.

 

Red XIII Won't Be Playable In Final Fantasy 7 Remake
not really

 

Yeah, that makes sense given the game's pacing.

 

Who cares about Red XIII. I want to play as Cait Sith.

 

The game's (proper) pronunciation of "Mako" is already fucking with some people's heads. Can't want to see what happens when Cait Sith debuts (provided the voice directors know how to properly pronounce his name...).

 

It's Hann and Hahn (the pronunciation of Han Solo's name) all over again.  

 

I played through the demo last night.

Graphics, music, characters, voices are all great.

I’ve never been a big fan of 3D action games like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, or MGS Revengeance, so I’m not so sure yet about the combat system. Even after beating the boss, I still feel like I don’t “get” it. Still not sure exactly how to stagger, or what exactly that means (I guess it’s kinda like FFXIII?). There’s so many frickin’ meters everywhere, it’s kinda confusing.

I rarely ever used either Red XIII or Cait Sith, so I’m not too worried about it  

 

The basic functionality of the Stagger meter is practically identical to its implementation in FFXIII. Damaging an enemy in any way fills the Stagger meter, with magic (especially the enemy's weakness) and certain attacks (in the demo, Cloud's "Focused Thrust" ability) cranking it up even faster. You need to keep on the offensive, as the meter depletes rapidly if the enemy isn't under pressure. This ties into your aptitude with the battle system, being able to be constantly attacking, rather than have to focus too heavily on blocking/evading/healing, as all of that gives the enemy a window to recover. Once the gauge maxes out, then the enemy enters the Stagger state where it is stunned, unable to act, and all damage dealt to it is multiplied by 160% (I assume there will be abilities/status effects at some point that can increase the multiplier, or else there'd be no reason to display the value so prominently).

Where it differs from FFXIII is how mandatory its usage is, at least from what we've seen of the game so far. Late game and boss battles in XIII made maximizing Stagger a necessity. Enemies would have millions and millions of HP, and rapidly regenerated HP or cast self-heals, such that it was your goal to trigger Stagger as quickly as possible, chain magic hits with Ravagers to boost the multiplier to 999.9%, and then blitz them down with Commandos while the enemy was incapacitated. Late-game fights would be absolutely impossible without utilizing Stagger to skyrocket your damage output and minimize enemy self-healing. FFVIIR's version seems much more subdued. With the multiplier soft-capped at only 160%, it's not the majority of your damage, and it also lasts a shorter amount of time. But at the same time, not playing around it means that battles easily become more attrition-based, as you lose out on the grace periods from the stunned enemies, and your takedown time becomes notably slower.