Lurker > colliding

Cuphead
Velvet

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c34123e1.jpg
Main Character 8
Vincent Valentine

Do I feel bad ranking a non-playable character over Cait Sith? Absolutely not. They crushed it with Vincent, because the devs understand that he's kind of a joke. Vincent is not and never has been a grim dark edgelord. He's Noel Fielding from the IT Crowd. He sleeps in a big coffin with a vending machine next to him. He doesn't understand how to work his palm pilot. He turns into a werewolf or a chainsaw guy. I mentioned his role in the Queen's Blood quest earlier. He rules because there's clear parody elements to his dark broodiness.

He also has one of the best boss fights in the game, imo. For as much as I think Shinra Manor in Rebirth is worse than the original's, the Vincent sequence is pretty good, from his awakening, to Cloud's weird out of body experience, to his transformation into Galian Beast. It's really cool. The battle itself is the closest the game gets to feeling like a Souls game (which is to say, not very much at all, but the music is great and the battle itself feels more about recognizing patterns than going ham on ATB).

The game reveals a lot more about his backstory than I expected. Cait Sith outright just says he's a former Turk, and the protorelic quest in Nibelheim seems to allude to Lucretia and some of the optional stuff from the original game. I don't hate this decision.

Having fought him, I now wonder what they'll do to make him playable in the next game. I imagine he'll play kind of like FeMC from Tales of Arise or something. His limits will almost certainly just be cutscenes, since I can't imagine they'll let us wreck shop as a transformed Galian Beast.

Admittedly, I do think it's weird that he hangs out with the party but doesn't actually fight. Cid's got the excuse that he's just flying them around. Vincent just seems anti-social. It's not a huge deal but they could've done more to say why he's not actively fighting with the party.

8.8

Kind of makes AAI 2 worth playing but like every case in this game it's a bit drawn out.

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Minigame 16. Run Wild, aka Red XIII League

It is honestly wild that this exists, no pun intended. I mean, this entire minigame exists because you can kick a soccer ball at Red XIII in the original game. They took a meaningless one second long thing and turned it into a bona fide Rocket League clone.

Like Rocket League, I'm bad at this game. I remember when Rocket League first came out, a lot of my friends were trying to get me into it. Then, when they saw I could not be taught or trained, they quickly gave up. Just like me with Run Wild! I did well enough to get Red's weapon, but I didn't try to get the top prize in the second variation of this (where you have to put all 8 balls in order).

Still, even though I suck at this, I respect it.

Hint for NPC 22: Vacation's all I ever wanted.

But before that: MC #8!

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NPC 25. Beck's Badasses

Like Kyrie, the battle theme is again putting in work for these guys. Like Kid G, they're random enemies who get to graduate to being actual characters. In Remake, these guys hung out in the slums between Sector 5 and Wall Market. They're decidedly gag villains through and through. Their gags include: explaining concepts poorly, mispronouncing said concepts, and getting their asses kicked so hard they have to play dead.

They are high on the list because I have great affinity for the original game's random enemy "Devil Ride." To me, it's on the level of Eligor and Hell House, and I was glad to see these guys kind of "become" that enemy in their Chapter 12 quest. Now if only Tankceratops had made an appearance...

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24 . Chocobo Sam
23 . Choco Billy

Let's talk about these two characters together so we can finally put an end to all discussions about the Chocobo family of side quests (at least in the character portion of the ranking). Despite being in the game way less than his colleagues from Wall Market, Chocobo Sam ends up coming across as the best of the Corneo trio in Rebirth. While the "secret" to Chocobo Billy's parents isn't exactly brain altering (in fact, I've kind of completely forgotten it), Sam is still able to exude that detached aloofness from the original.

Sam's character plays off of Billy's pretty well. I found myself surprisingly interested in Billy and Chloe's story, and Billy deserves top billing for being present throughout the entire thing (from the Grasslands to the prison to the Chocobo Sage's house). I also like a breath-strip across my nose every once in a while too.

Hint for minigame 16: goooooooooooaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllll

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(Minigame) 17. Fort Condor Redux

To the surprise of a lot of people (but not me), Fort Condor is back! I think it's as good as an update to the original minigame as we could expect, although a tiny part of me still thinks the original's Fort Condor makes more sense. I know the strat in the original was to lose on purpose, but if you actually tried that game could be pretty fun.

I've already mentioned this, but this version of Fort Condor is worse than the one in Intergrade. Strategy this time has kind of gone out the window with the inclusion of the hero tokens and the rather strict time limit on some of the maps. I remember the original there being a need to think about which "board" to use in relation to the opponent's board. With this version, I think the strategy is just offense offense offense, call Cloud, Call Tifa etc.

Still, I'm glad it exists! It's great fanservice to see the polygons again. The storyline about the soldier pieces becoming self aware was a little weird though.

Hint for NPC 25: Ant Tray Pruners?

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NPC 27. Gi Nattak

While playing through Cosmo Canyon, I had the thought "I wonder if they'll actually do anything interesting with the Gi this time." Sure enough, they did. While Cosmo is probably my least favorite part of the game overall, I loved the added backstory behind the Gi and the Black Materia. It was such a cool way to make Red's journey feel more connected to the rest of the plot. It also provides a lot of really effective lore about the Cetra. Gi's line about the Cetra being intolerant (I'm paraphrasing) was so good. Instead of thinking of the Cetra as like this pacifist magical beings we start thinking of them as more like actual people.

Maybe it's a little cliche how they ride a boat across the river of the dead, but the moment where the Zack scene transitions to Aerith's hand in the water was extremely well done. All in all, I thought this guy was super interesting - he just wasn't in the game enough to warrant a higher spot (of course, this logic doesn't apply to random joke characters yet to be ranked).

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26 . Kyrie

Before you complain about her being too high on the list, let it be known that her original music did a LOT of heavy lifting here.

I also think she's way better in this game than in Remake, where she was just a huge whatever. At least here there's a running-gag playfulness about her that makes sense. In Remake I feel like they kind of wanted us to take her seriously? I mean, she's definitely still annoying but it's a "funner annoying."

Her design always gives P4G Marie, which is probably why I only sorta like her. She also deserves points for her Zack-verse version. Honestly, I think there's something going on with Zack-verse Kyrie. First she's the one who helps Zack with coma Cloud at the very beginning. Then she shows up to Avalanche's recruitment meeting ready to join.

You wanna know my 10,000 to 1 bet? She becomes playable in the third game. Take it to the bank.

Hint for minigame 17: Tactics? In Final Fantasy? Who needs em.

Leonhart4 posted...

I don't really do "hard things" in games, so I'd struggle to name anything that'd actually be worth mentioning.

yeah, I'm not a leet gamer so my answer is probably something pedestrian like getting the good ending in Hollow Knight

I'd agree with the zero depth/too easy complaints on FFXVI. Also the side quests in XVI compared to Rebirth are night and day. XVI is a good game but it's paper-thin and a throwback to a kind of action game that just isn't popular anymore (Level based, flashy combos, challenge is secondary to technical precision)

This is all fair stuff about Cait! I would reluctantly agree that he's "better" in this game (but only slightly). I completely forgot about the Marlene/Elmyra kidnapping plot from the original. Which does kid of beg the question of what Beagle timeline Elmyra and Marlene are up to. They're certainly not in Kalm, so I guess they're just chilling in Sector 5. Maybe we'll see them in game 3.

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Minigame 18. Galactic Saviors, aka Speed Square

Gawrsh Donald, it's the Gummi Ship!

I said earlier in the topic that I was bad at shooters, but this does not apply to Speed Square for some reason. I found this to be pretty dang easy, both in normal and expert modes (again: not on hard difficulty though). It's similar to the original in that most of your points are going to come at the end. It controls well and is decently fun, and the lobby area song is one of my favorites. I wouldn't say it's all that unique or interesting though. It's a space shooter.

Hint for NPC 27: One of the more interesting new lore developments in the game

XVI is a good game, but I do think it's also disappointing in that it really did not grow the fanbase or help the brand.

Also, I still feel like PS5's are pretty rare. This is anecdotal evidence and highly limited but when I talk to my students about games, people who actually have PS5's are few and far between. Everyone under 25 grew up with having their own gaming PC's and laptops.

Maybe Sony helped foot the bill for dev costs, and that's why exclusivity made sense, but even I have to admit it's hurt them

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(NPC) 29. Regina

I don't love that hair. Like the other Roberto Ferrari designs, she feels a little out of place next to the classic Nomura folks. I'm not saying all the new characters have bad designs, they just don't necessarily feel like FF7. Which is fine. I'm just saying there's a difference.

We first meet Regina on the Shinra 8, where she's a Queen's Blood wiz kid. After Cloud trounces her, she tends to her wounds by falling victim to the curse of the Shadowblood Queen. It was in her name all along, I suppose. Somehow I was still surprised when she ended up being the "final boss" to the Queen's Blood quest.

I love that final cutscene at the end of the Queen's Blood quest. Truly Vincent's greatest moment, plus we get a full-on cheesy "Game Over" line from Cloud as he throws cards like a ragin cajun. Mon Dieu indeed.

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28 . Priscilla and Mr. Dolphin

These two are coming as a package deal. Maybe one smart omission from the original game is the CPR minigame, where you have to give mouth to mouth to a drowning pre-teen. In Rebirth, that would've been Yuffie, and I'm sure a lot of the Cluffie shippers were let down by that scene (all four of you). Smartly, Rebirth shows selfawareness of the moment and plays it for jokes instead.

Priscilla in Rebirth is fun and spirited without ever being annoying. For not being in the game all that much I found her pretty memorable. Mr. Dolphin is unchanged from the original (perfect as is).

Wish I could talk about dolphin riding right now, but there's worse minigames to discuss first.

Hint for minigame 18: Our first gold saucer minigame!

the thing is playing all of these games back to back would probably sour you on the experience

they're designed purposefully to be distinct games. particularly with rebirth, you're really supposed to immerse yourself in it and not speed run it I think.

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Main Character 9: Cait Sith

Stop trying to make Cait Sith happen, Square. He's just not for me. He'd almost certainly have been last if Cid were more present and Sephiroth was less goofy.

The thing that bothers me the most about Cait Sith is how his existence is just taken for granted. No one ever raises any questions about this cat. Why does no one comment about how he's a talking cat robot? Why does no one care that he's an obvious Shinra spy? Why does he have a Scottish accent? Why should we accept him after he "sacrifices himself" in the Temple of the Ancients, when he's just a robot to begin with so it's not even a big deal?

All of these questions prove that Square actually made Rebirth more faithful to the original than Remake, because this is exactly how it was in the original. You go to Gold Saucer and bam, all of a sudden a big moogle is part of the party. Ok, sure!

In Rebirth, Cait Sith does some cute kitty dances and tells spooky fortunes, just like the original game. He still feels like the odd person out, which for plot reasons is definitely intentional for this part of the game. He doesn't really form any real relationships with the party members; imo they could've done more. I'm not a huge fan of his VA either; if they're going to go Scottish they needed to go full on Peter Cat-paldi or something.

Credit to the devs though, he's fun to play as. I know a lot of people seem to have trouble building ATB with him, but once you call the moogle it's basically over. There's a real UMVC3 Phoenix Wright feel to him in that way.

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(Minigame) 19. Cait Sith in Shinra Manor

Certainly not "literal torture." Perhaps a bit clunky, but honestly I appreciate the originality and the gameplay variety. The speed of the moogle is an issue, but I had zero issues with the throwing mechanic. It also forced me to "get good" with Cait Sith.

Really the suckiest thing about this section is that it's just plain worse than the OG Shinra Manor, which was really eerie and required actual puzzle/riddle solving. None of that's Cait Sith's fault though.

Hint for NPC 29: A character named after what they are

I legitimately cannot understand the "we just want a faithful remake that's the whole game at once" crowd

It'd be one thing if it was three 20 hour games that they made you pay $70 each for, but you're really getting three extremely high quality complete experiences.

Anyway, everyone who hasn't bought this should definitely buy it if they have a PS5 because it's honestly the best gaming experience I've had in a long while.

mnk posted...

I should probably load up that prequel game soon.

it's surprisingly long (and only kind of fun)

6.5

decent case (not better than 3-1 though)

I liked that track too, but I thought it felt kind of out of place for hiking up a mountain.

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31 . Gilgamesh

Great sword collector
Funny cut-scenes and sidequests
Gilgamesh reborn

All in all, it's a good showing for Gilgamesh, though it doesn't overshadow his debut or his epic entrance in FFVIII. It's still completely random that he's here and I don't really understand why he is able to do all of these strange protorelic related minigames.

Really appreciate the VA performance here. Didn't recognize the name, but I looked him up and he's been Gilgamesh since Dissidia. He's done a ton of other stuff too. Name's Keith Szarabajka.

I bumped the difficulty down to easy for the dual summon fights but raised it back up for Gilgamesh himself. A decent challenge, though I think I probably died the most to Odin. So Odin has a bit of revenge for FFVIII after all.

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30 . Chocobo Sage

This guy is probably too high, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for how this game goes out of its way to include stuff from the original game in surprising and cool ways. First off, they gotta get this chocobo robe in the merch store immediately. Secondly, again, I really enjoyed the Chocobo storyline in this game and this guy's a big part of it. He lives in his own mansion in Nibelheim, where he theoretically just gets to sit around and be awesome all day, smoking chocograss and thinking about the good old days.

Next up: a two-part post for Minigame 19 and Main Character 9.

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(Minigame) 20. Chocobo Glide

I think I remember reading somewhere that they've patched in the ability to invert the vertical controls, which would've bumped this game up quite a few spots. However, when I played this, I was stuck with the completely non-intuitive control scheme. I'm not sure what gaming experience instilled this in me, or if it's somehow biological/evolutionary, but when you're gliding you press up to go down. That's just the way it is, and to make us do it the other way is cruel. Anyway, it's fun that Yuffie does this and not Cloud.

Hint for NPC 31: Wasn't in the original game, but maybe should have been

Haunter12O posted...

Rank the regions!

Grasslands
Corel
Junon
Nibel
Cosmo
Gongaga

Gongaga is too much of a pain to get around, and I'm firmly in the "what is this Avatar shit" when it comes to the soundtrack. Feel a little bad saying the first one was the best one, but I think it is. Nibel is too small.

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33 . Marlene, pictured blowing up Zack's whole deal

So this is Marlene in the Zack-verse, aka the Terrier Timeline, but she remembers touching Aerith in the Beagle timeline and seeing her get killed by Sephiroth in the OG timeline. Makes perfect sense. No notes. Whatever happened to just being Barret's cute kid who makes a mean cocktail? Anyway, Marlene being all cryptic and spooky adds to the hopeless feeling of the Zack sections.

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32 . Jessie Raspberry

Everyone's favorite flirt from Remake is back, both in flashback form and in VR /AI "they're using my likeness even though I'm dead" form. This is the future Hollywood wants people. In fifty years they'll remake Star Wars with the original cast as holograms.

Flashback Jessie doesn't come out looking so great in this one. She's basically just drunk the whole time, but it's nice that we see her acting friendly with Tifa. I also appreciated the moment when we see her picture in the Gold Saucer hallway, and Barret tearing up during Loveless.

Loveless itself is I think shooting for that Opera House sense of gravitas, but it's also... not what I want Loveless to be. It really shouldn't be some fantasy epic, it should be like a grimy new wave goth cyberpunk thing. At least that's what I always imagined from the original posters.

Hint for minigame 20: "Up shouldn't make you go up! GODDAMMIT" - me, playing this minigame

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Minigame 21. Following Robe Guys for Fun (?) and Profit

In Twin Peaks, there are several scenes where David Lynch toys with the viewer by forcing them to watch extended scenes of mundanity. A very elderly man shuffles on the floor. A janitor sweeps. These scenes often come right at the moment where you, as the viewer, wouldn't want them. A character has been shot and is lying on the floor, possibly dying. It's the series finale, and we only have a certain number of minutes left.

The Rebirth equivalent is this final protorelic quest in Nibelheim (although I guess technically the Corel quest is the final one). The whole gameplay mechanic here is that you have to follow these robed guys around to find some underground bunkers or shinra facilities. It's completely pointless, since if you are like me and you scoured the map already, you pretty much know where they are anyway. So it's mostly an exercise in patience. You can kind of push them along with triangle if you're feeling like a jerk.

Hint for NPC 33: So, are you going to be helpful or just cute and annoying?

Naomi > Fran > Yorda

Cold Steel 3 is my favorite Cold Steel game but I think its wild to say any of them are better than any of the Sky games.

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(NPC) 35. Glenn Lodbrok, aka certainly Cloud's Dad

Look at this shitty design. What a punchable face. I had no idea who this guy was when he first showed up, but as soon as he did I said, "oh, that's boring."

That being said... there was a hot minute there where I thought this was actually going to build to something. First of all: he just looks like Cloud, and I've played enough JRPG games to smell a "surprise dad" twist a mile away. So I was expecting a grand reveal of some kind. Then, I really started going off the deep end, thinking about this this could actually just be an old Cloud from an alternate dimension with a new name. Real bonkers stuff.

I eventually beat the game, and it turns out this was Sephiroth the whole time? Trying to distract Rufus from him by making him start a proxy war with Wutai? And Glenn Lodbrok actually isn't an original character for this game but one of the main characters in "The First Soldier"? I raised my fists to the sky and screamed "NOMURRAAAAAAAAAA!" because he had done it again. He'd made a shitty mobile game relevant.

Edit: Because Mac requested it, I think Lodbrok deserves to be this high largely due to the mystery around him in the early goings. He also is tied closely to Rufus, who is an MVP in this game. Scotch and Kotch are the hypemen of the century, but I'd be hard pressed to say they deserve to be any higher.

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34 . Fran, Yorda and Naomi (Not Pictured), aka Hojo's Arm Candy
Before this game came out, there were three images from the original that everyone needed to see: 1) Barret in a sailor suit, 2)Red XIII walking like a person, and 3) Hojo having girls flock around him in Costa Del Sol. Of course, SE delivers on all three in spades. They maybe botched Midgar zolom and debatably the ending, but hell, we got Hojo's babes so that's really all that matters.

The girls are given a bit of a backstory and names, which is nice. They don't actually like Hojo, naturally, but are there entertaining him for the sake of the town. After the beach episode is over (and let's get it straight, Costa Del Sol in this game is for sure a "beach episode" in all senses of the word), the girls stick around to force you to go on dates with Aerith and accrue date points and play minigames.

If this were a waifu ranking, they'd all be pretty high up there. But unless someone begs me to rank the waifus, I'd rather not lower myself any further.

Hint for minigame 21: Now that's what I call Trolling, volume 7

Steiner posted...

this one is so ridiculous, i had to set it to easy AND use sleep

I tried sleep but it was more effort than it was worth. Solo Tifa with Stagger accessories was what got it eventually for me. It took fifteen minutes and most of it was running around in a circle.

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(Minigame) 22. Remnawave Towers

First of all, let's play taps and say farewell to the youtube link that had the Salmon fight song. Square Enix is coming for it now that the soundtrack's officially out there. Good for them though, since I tend to agree that streaming has kind of ruined how people consume music.

Secondly, I like a tower. I know a lot of people are sick of them and I get it. But no one complains when Tears of the Kingdom and Horizon do it. So why are people coming out of the woodwork to complain about these? Some of them are like little puzzles that require a little bit of thinking. Even if they don't have a puzzle attached, I still find them fun, and I still get a nice positive feeling seeing them point to places on the map for me. What makes them good is that you can conceivably find the stuff BEFORE the tower, and the world is set up so that it does lead you to places without the towers just telling you to go there. OR you can seek out the towers first thing and play follow the icons. It's set up so that it allows for player choice and variability in style. What I was trying to get across re: Horizon earlier is that you really can't find anything in that game without the game telling you exactly where to go. Like if you just "look around" the actual horizon, you'll just get lost and stuck picking up meaningless junk all over the place. In Rebirth, you can see cliffs, houses, ships, strange inlets, plateaus, etc. But if you don't want to wander around the tower will just show you what's available.

Hint for NPC 35: God damn Nomura for trying to make us play awful spin offs

Haunter12O posted...

Rank the bosses.

Very quick with zero thought put into it and again, marked spoilers for post-Temple of the Ancients
Also I haven't done hard mode so this is all on Normal.

1. Jenova Lifeclinger
2. Sephiroth vs. Cloud/Aerith
3. The rest of the Sephiroth final boss suite
4. Odin
5. Galian Beast
6. Gilgamesh
7. Reno and Rude
8. Tonberry King
9. Scarlet in Gongaga
10. Rufus rematch

If I have to choose one duel, it's the Rufus rematch definitely. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I don't think the Dyne or Roche fights work in this game because they're too easy. Again, maybe i should try hard.

There's plenty of Chadley fights or Colosseum fights that are much harder than any of the bosses. The only fight I think is poorly designed is that one where you have to kill the mindflayer before you kill the two side enemies... who also will self-destruct if they get close to you. That one just isn't fun at all.

yeah it's not a good game unfortunately. almost killed the series.

Back to the Future
Bill and Ted
Terminator
Avengers Endgame

MartinFF7 posted...

uh.... no it didn't? unless I missed something for 26 years, lol. Or maybe you're referring to the train in disc 2.

that did remind me of another great attention to detail point, original game had a rising path on the tracks with a gap (with a treasure chest on one end and Transform materia on the other iirc) and that was replicated perfectly with the Barret path, nice. And the Gigatrice fight filling in for the optional "I'm taking the treasure" where all the characters say really weird lines, especially Barret, lol.

thought this was Gus and almost went apoplectic, lol. surely enough other criminals to fit the bill...

oops,, sorry about Gus...

but also maybe I completely mandela effected a minecart sequence, but I'm probably thinking about some kind of lever/multiple paths through the tracks segment?

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37 . Solemn Gus, aka Mr. Coates

Solemn Gus is voiced by Jonah Scott, not Troy Baker! Not Matthew Mercer! But if Atlus ever needs a new voice for Kanji, call up Jonah, cause he sounds exactly like those dudes here. (No disrespect to Jonah Scott, who's done a lot of great VA work).

Not sure why they decided to rename Coates, but I do approve of the decision. This guy was super hateable. He's also a villain who doesn't get his comeuppance. If you did get rid of Coates/Gus, you'd imagine that Corel Prison would completely fall apart. He's kind of like a Jabba the Hutt type if you think about it. And like Jabba the Hutt, he loves money and loves to kidnap girls and have you fight for his amusement.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4bca44ee.jpg
36 . Bugenhagen

You may think that it's a bit early for Bugenhagen to appear on this list, given how he's somewhat of an iconic and important character. I'm surprised too! I won't say they ruined Bugenhagen in this game, but he's certainly different in a way that isn't completely successful.

First of all, he's kind of a jerk! I haven't played the original in a while, but I don't remember him calling Tifa a dumb girl as much in that one. Maybe he was ditzy/weird/a bit kooky, but here he is straight up rude! Rebirth frames this as him being "stuck in his ways," and he does eventually apologize/learn from his mistake. But I don't know. Something is just... off with him.

I think the main reason for this is pretty simple actually. He feels redundant, because a lot of what he communicates in the original game was already covered in Remake by the whole Shinra Theater CG scene. By the time we get to Bugenhagen in this game, we already know all about the lifestream and mako and blah blah. So he doesn't really have anything new or important to say. Instead of making up something new or having him explain the whispers or the lifestream weapons (I was really counting on Bugenhagen explaining this stuff in this game), they just make him kind of a cantankerous old man.

All that being said, there's still something charming about seeing him float into the scene from offscreen. He's still important for Red XIII's storyline, but for the larger narrative his role feels greatly reduced.

Hint for minigame 22: Another open-world thing people complain about

Rebirth

out of these Cold Steel 3 if you've played 1, 2 and the other Trailses

I only like Elden Ring because I can grind and not die easily

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(Minigame) 23. Leapfrog

Heck, I'm just going to keep posting since I don't have anything better to do. This is probably the wildest quest in the game in terms of sheer WTF-ness. So, in Under Junon, there's a weird area called the Kid's Korner full of pink smoke that turns people into frogs. I'm sure that there's absolutely no long-term drawbacks to purposefully turning yourself into a frog over and over again as a youth.

I'm sure there also aren't any drawbacks to getting your frog-ass knocked halfway across the ocean by a giant metal gear either! Or at least I hope so since it will happen a lot. There's also a second version of the game that's basically stay on the spinning cylinders for as long as you can.

There's also a tiny quest where you have to fight as a party of frogs to actually unlock the game.

It's cute and weird but I could have done without this one.

Hint for NPC 37: Crime does pay

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39 . Scotch and Kotch

They're actually more Beastie Boys than Run-DMC to be honest. Weirdly enough, these guys are more prominent than Corneo himself in this game. They're also in many ways more interesting and memeable. Anyway, yes, their rap was corny and terrible but it speaks to the quality of the localization that it makes sense and actually captures that early Beastie Boys style fairly well.

Also never forget Kotch locked on the torture slab in Don Corneo's basement. Nasty.

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38 . Dr. Sheiran, aka "Med Sheeran"
Let me just say I was really proud of this pun.

They really did not do as much with Doc Sheiran as I thought. It's kind of weird that the same guy who fixed Barret's arm also saved Tifa's life. Although I suppose based on the new World Map that Corel and Nibelheim are pretty close. Still, I think his character would make more sense if he was a Shinra shill and was at both disasters. Maybe after seeing both, he leaves the company and switches to becoming a back-alley slum doctor. But no, it's just a weird coincidence.

What'll be really wild is if he ends up also being the Mideel doctor who take care of Cloud during his "urgh gyagh" phase. Then they might as well just bring him on the Highwind, make him the Tony Tony Chopper of the group. There's a lot of potential with this character still.

Hint for minigame 23: Mario would be proud

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/2a370ac5.jpg https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d1e3165a.jpg
(Minigame) 25. Minecart
and 24. Buggy Escape

Lets talk about these together, since both are Barret-centric minigames on rails. The minecart is inspired by the original game, which did feature a minecart ride on Corel mountain. This one is a little more detailed, where you can choose whether to pursue the "Yuffie" path or the "Barret" path. The Barret path should be considered the canon route, imo, since picking on Yuffie is always the way to go, and Barret was feeling down anyway. You pretty much just shoot boxes for possible items. The reward is all story-based.

A similar mechanic is employed at the end of the chapter, when we get access to the buggy and escape from Palmer. This is much more active than the minecart, where you have to dodge missiles, shoot goons, and take down Palmer once again (in minigame form). This should maybe be higher, but to be completely honest I was pretty bad at this (again, I'm not good at shooting games) and actually almost died.

Hint for NPC 39: Basically run dmc

no i'm just really bad at counting.

Game Fan was definitely my favorite, because you could tell the writers were all huge nerds

PSM (100% independent magazine) sometimes had really cool original art for videogames done by professional western comics artists like Joe Mad, Travis Charest, and others

Nintendo Power was good especially early on, but it definitely got too safe as the years went by. As soon as they stopped including comics it was time to go

EGM was more reliable/consistent than Gamefan, which set it apart.

Gamepro felt a little sloppy/unprofessional in my opinion

Leon's right about it being the second best case in the game, but it's still not particularly fun

5.5

OOPS

11 Cid
10 Sephiroth

Thank you

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/44b718c6.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/a/a9c84f1c.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b82516c8.jpg

life really was better back then

Recap:

NPC's:
69. The other Shinra grunt (aka Sephiroths greatest failure)
68. Garth
67. The Intergrade Squad (Nayo, Billy Bob, Polk, Zhijie)
66. Myrna
65. Jules
64. Seto
63. Leslie
62. Tifas Dad
61. Sonon
60. Esther
59. Captain Titov
58. Madame M
57. Lifestream Whales/Weapons
56. Wise the Robot
55. Zangan
54. Piano Guy (Dorian)
53. Reeve
52. Andrea
51. Chocobo Joe
50. Clouds Mom
49. Choco Bill
48. Heidegger
47. Mayor of Nibelheim
46. Kid G
45. Chloe
44. Broden
43. Don Corneo
42. Wedge
41. Rhonda
40. The Fair Family

Minigames:
39. Underground tremor monster
38. Unlocking Chocobo Stops
37. Taking pictures for quests/snaps
36. Chocobo Treasure Hunts (random and specific zones)
35. Wheelie Master
34. Looking at notes
33. Chicken Luring
32. Gears and Gambits
31. Pirate Rampage
30. Caches
29. Mushroom picking
28. Cactuar Trials
27. Playing as Aerith
26. Chocobo Stealth Sequences

Main Cast
10 Cid
9 Sephiroth

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/98078442.jpg
(NPC) 41. Rhonda

First off, let's acknowledge that without Rhonda, we would've had to wait a lot longer to hear the best track in the game, which is "Fight For Us (Bow Wow Wow)(Battle Version)." There is no debate about best music in this game, because it is universally agreed upon that this song slaps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftFF70_9cog

Secondly, Rhonda's a total babe who just so happens to be the security guard/mayor for Under Junon, which, as far as towns go, might be the best in the game. In terms of story significance, my memory is a little hazy, but she hires Yuffie to assassinate Rufus? And she pays her with our bounty money? But this was all a false pretense to try and get Shinra off our backs? I don't really remember and it didn't quite make any sense but regardless. Good character.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/a/a609b9fa.jpg
40 . Zack's Parents, aka the Fairs

In the original game, meeting Zack's parents in Gongaga is a strange yet powerful scene that adds to both the mystery of the plot and the characterizations of Cloud and Aerith. In Rebirth, the scene is still fairly powerful, particularly since it is playing on existing player knowledge of all the parties involved (plus Cissnei too). I was particularly taken aback by the moment when Cloud starts talking mad shit about Zack and saying he was probably dead (before the game abruptly cuts him off with a headache). I also really think this scene is better than the original in terms of giving us Aerith's perspective on everything. One of the great aspects of Aerith's character in this game is how self-aware she is, when she knows she's doing something selfish or feeling irrationally (like here and later in Nibelheim). I guess this is technically more about Aerith than Zack's parents themselves. Oops.

Hint for minigame 25: A JRPG Staple

Wheatley
Cole Phelps

2.5

Nope, I don't like it! Don't like the characters, setting, suitcase... the list goes on.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5eb3473e.jpg
(Minigame) 26. Chocobo Stealth Sequences

I wish I could tell you this was the last Chocobo-related quest on here, but we all know it isn't! Technically there are stealth sequences that aren't Chocobo related (I'm thinking of the Burke's Bandits sneaking mission), so you can include all of that here.

For the most part these were fine. I thought the Nibel one was a welcome variation. The only one I really disliked was the Junon one, because you really gotta hug that cart to avoid being seen, which wasn't super communicated well. Besides that one I thought they were a fun challenge. I know some people hate these and would have preferred that you just get them automatically or something. In many ways I find it less annoying than taming a horse in BOTW/TOTK.

HInt for NPC 41: This character and Barrett would make a cute couple

I actually don't care for this type of animation with One Piece. It's jarring how the animation will change styles from ep to ep (and within the ep itself)

OP at its peak should look like Water 7/ Enies Lobby.