Board 8 > Ff7 remake part 2 interview

(+) Yeah! (+)

kevwaffles posted...

I think he means whether they get far enough to not give him the part 1 Red XIII treatment.

Eh, I don't know that there's a great stopping point near Gold Saucer, so I think he'll be playable.

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Leonhart4 posted...

Oh, there's no way they don't fit Gold Saucer in there somehow.

Cait Sith will be playable before Gold Saucer in the remake.

....I have a massive Remake Part 2 topic I've been meaning to post since like, the fall, and I've never gotten around to finishing and posting it. Still no time to do it now. Maybe next month after this topic's purged...

MartinFF7 posted...

Cait Sith will be playable before Gold Saucer in the remake.

I've been thinking this as being a possibility as well but I don't want to get my hopes up.

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That's cute that you guys think we're getting past Junon in part 2.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMaGq6vn7hg

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I'm sure they'll introduce the character before Gold Saucer, but I don't know if he'll join the party before then.

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Surely on PS5 you can reach all the way up to Nibelheim, maybe even Rocket Town.
If you stop at Gold Saucer, I fear the Remake won't finish until Part 5-6 on the PS6

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It logically makes sense based on how I see Part 2 going and I'm kicking myself so hard for not posting my topic when I had the chance, either I dump it in this topic completely taking it over or I make another topic parallel to this which doesn't feel right or I delay in posting it which probably is what happens since I never feel like I have the time to dedicate to finishing my thoughts on it. I kept putting it off since I didn't expect any Part 2 news or discussions to happen. Lesson learned everybody, never procrastinate.

Leonhart4 posted...

I'm sure they'll introduce the character before Gold Saucer, but I don't know if he'll join the party before then.

Well let me copy-paste what I had written up on this, item #2 on my "three big part 2 questions"...

(2) When does Cait Sith get introduced/become playable?

If we stick with the original timeline and the chapter layout I'm predicting, Corel Prison wouldn't occur until more than halfway through the game, several chapters later than Aerith's playable introduction was; and she was also given chapters 8-9 exclusively to flesh her out whereas Cait is lumped in right away with the rest of the group.

In the spirit of remake shaking things up, there's a prime opportunity for changing his introduction point, and maybe his rationale for joining the team as well (rather than "I'm some random guy and I'm coming with you and you can't stop me!" at the Gold Saucer).

My vision has him temporarily joining the squad pre-Junon, hiring the group to escort him there, leaving when they arrive and permanently rejoining at the Gold Saucer. The "escort" could also be to Costa Del Sol which would provide a couple of additional chapters, though I'm not sure about smuggling him onto the boat. There's also the chance he stays with the team permanently that early on, though I think his departure also opens up opportunities for the next question...

(the next question, item 3, is "when does Yuffie join". All of that was written pre-DLC. You need to space out the Yuffie and Cait Sith intros)

So Cait could intro in the Farm/Marshes (yes that's its own chapter) or Mythril Mine, leaves when you get to Junon, and then Junon is sidequest city and a mandatory sidequest has you going out to the forest where Yuffie joins.

Zigzagoon posted...

After the first game was fantastic and so well received?

Personally when I've been disappointed 5 times it takes more than 1 good deed to make up for it.


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I wonder how long the CPR section is gonna be in part 2.

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JackMan posted...

I wonder how long the CPR section is gonna be in part 2.

Glorious QTEs

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Leonhart4 posted...

Glorious QTEs

Aerith better be in the background waving a metal chair.

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square enix found a way to elongate the 6 hour midgar opening into a 40 hour game

i have zero doubts that episode 2 will barely cover the following 6 hours

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To be fair Midgar was always underutilized and the world after more barren, so it's easier to even out now.

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There's a lot more "empty space" after Midgar where there's no story and you're just wandering on the world map or through a dungeon. Midgar is incredibly dense by comparison.

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Yeah I was gonna say that but couldn't remember the original enough to be sure.

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FFDragon posted...

To be fair Midgar was always underutilized and the world after more barren, so it's easier to even out now.

If they can turn a ten minute bombing mission into a 4 hour grind fest, they can make anything take as much time as they want

They'll be drawing out the world to the absolute maximum. How long and scripted is the zolom swamp or those cave afterwards gonna be ya think?

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A few hours at most, probably. They don't need to stretch things out to fill content anymore.

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Midgar always felt more like one third of disc 1 to me.
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Maybe more like a quarter of disc 1. Disc 1 is like 3/4 of the game though.
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You guys are forgetting all the other stuff they set up in part 1.

They are going to make Yuffie and Vincent non-optional, and cover both a bunch more stuff with Wutai as well as not only Vincent's original game story but the Dirge of Cerberus Deepground stuff as well. And then if they bring Jessie back she will likely be at the Gold Saucer and we'll get more story for her and the rest of Avalanche. Then they are probably going to do more stuff with Zack, flesh out some of the more barren sections (I highly doubt we're just going to stop in at Kalm briefly and not get an entire chapter with sidequests etc there)...

Anyone that thinks Part 2 is going all the way to Temple of the Ancients and Aerith's death is actually delusional. There is NO WAY they can get that far without massively truncating what's going on or making the 2nd part like 80 hours long and keep the same amount of polish the original game had.

We're either getting to Junon or the Gold Saucer in Part 2, depending on how much they want to do.

Anything past that is ridiculous to assume.

EDIT: Not to mention they said they want to add some of the towns from Crisis Core in a previous interview.

I wonder if Vincent and Cid will join in the second or third game. If they join in the second, that would mean no new party members in the third.

I also wonder what Biggs and Jessie will do. They had to be kept alive for a reason.

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I could see the Avalanche peeps not showing back up again until the return to Midgar later on.

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tcaz2 posted...

We're either getting to Junon or the Gold Saucer in Part 2, depending on how much they want to do.

Anything past that is ridiculous to assume.

Disagree, if Part 2 doesn't begin and end with Nibelheim I'd be incredibly surprised. Narratively it's the best way to tell the game in a complete story.

Pulling more stuff from the topic I never posted when I should have...

1: Kalm Flashback (Plot)
2: Marsh (Travel)
3: Mythril Mine (Travel)
4: Lower Junon/Yuffie recruitment (Quests)
5: Upper Junon/Cloud mission (Travel)
6: Boat (Plot)
7: Costa Del Sol (Quests)
8: Old Corel (Travel)
9: Mt. Corel (Travel)
10: New Corel (Quests)
11: Gold Saucer (Plot)
12: Corel Prison (Travel)
13: Gongaga (Plot)
14: Cosmo Canyon (Quests)
15: Cave of the Gi (Travel)
16: Nibelheim/Shinra Mansion (Plot)
17: Shinra Mansion basement/underground lab (Plot)
18: Final Battles (Plot)

No world map, the new chapter begins with the party arriving at the town. Old Corel is the one new addition I'm predicting, I see that as being a party split where half gets to North Corel via the burned out-ruins of Barret's hometown, other half taking the traditional route on the train tracks. You can sub it out for a new city or some other area being fleshed out. Also, North Corel renamed New Corel as that makes more sense. Fort Condor completely unnecessary until the Huge Materia quest, esp. with the Yuffie DLC. Vincent is a boss fight in Chapter 17 and he either gets the unplayable Red XIII battle treatment afterwards or doesn't join your party at all until the beginning of Part 3.

Part 3 goes Mt. Nibel, Rocket Town, expanded focus on Wutai (possibly again with a party split - half going there, half searching for the keystone), and then rounds out the rest of Disc 1.

Also the boss in the Costa Del Sol chapter is Hojo deploying Grangalan against you in order to escape.



That just screams "three-phase boss fight". Get hyped.

that sounds like a really fun game so I hope we can get all of that. I wouldn't be surprised if it stopped at cosmo canyon personally, maybe even gold saucer if they really wanted to go all in on filler/new things

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I would bet good money on the end of Part 2 being the Temple of the Ancients.

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Zigzagoon posted...

I honestly think they are going to lead us down a path that we think Aerith might not die, that we can save her from her fate or something.

But she will, and they are going to have it hit hard.

At least, that's my hope.

I agree, Im pretty confident that Aerith wont die at the same moment she did in the original.
Her dying was so shocking at the time, but now for anyone who played the game its what youre expecting... so theyre going to attempt to recreate the feeling of shock rather than the specific event.

Im a bit less confident about this part, but my theory now is that this will be the moment where Zack comes in. That strangeness has to payoff somehow, right?
Or maybe the other universe Sephiroth (? ) youre fighting at the end of remake will stop the Sephiroth from this universe from killing her because he knows how the original story ended, and thinks Aerith dying and being in the Lifestream was important to his defeat?

Im expecting that this ends up a situation where Aerith becomes aware that she was supposed to die and ends up willingly sacrificing herself at a later point. I definitely dont think she just makes it out of the series alive.
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Clearly the plan is for Squeenix to have Aerith's death be a choice at the end of part 3 so they can sell part 4 (the Aerith lives route) and part 5 (the Aerith dies route).

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Sounds vaguely like the FFXV approach except parts 4 and 5 would have to be cancelled and turned into a novel

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If part 2 goes anywhere past Cosmo Canyon I can't see Part 3 ending on End of Disc 1.

After Gold Saucer Towns feel kinda empty.
But you gotta end on a climax and there's not much for Cloud between Kalm and Forgotten City.


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voltch posted...

But you gotta end on a climax and there's not much for Cloud between Kalm and Forgotten City.

I mean, you remember how part one ends with them in a pocket universe fighting a giant ghost and Sephiroth, right? It can end wherever it wants and they can just pull something out of their ass for the finale.

I agree that Nibelheim to Nibelheim is a neat place to start and finish. Three new playable characters for the team, get Vincent introduced but not playable, still have Cid to look forward to in part 3, plus after Nibelheim, you've only got, what, five or six new towns to visit before you start revisiting old ones?

I could see part 3 running up until the north crater, so that the fourth and final part starts with Cloud lost and the team divided, plus you'd start with the highwind, opening up the world map. Them introducing stuff like Fort Condor as a mini-game now, makes me think it's not going to be used to get the Huge Materia, so the second half of the game might be a lot more streamlined.

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Yeah I can see stuff like the Huge Materia quest being seriously stripped down. There's a lot in the final third of FF7 that isn't that great and can be streamlined or removed entirely.

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JackMan posted...

I mean, you remember how part one ends with them in a pocket universe fighting a giant ghost and Sephiroth, right? It can end wherever it wants and they can just pull something out of their ass for the finale.

I agree that Nibelheim to Nibelheim is a neat place to start and finish. Three new playable characters for the team, get Vincent introduced but not playable, still have Cid to look forward to in part 3, plus after Nibelheim, you've only got, what, five or six new towns to visit before you start revisiting old ones?

I could see part 3 running up until the north crater, so that the fourth and final part starts with Cloud lost and the team divided, plus you'd start with the highwind, opening up the world map. Them introducing stuff like Fort Condor as a mini-game now, makes me think it's not going to be used to get the Huge Materia, so the second half of the game might be a lot more streamlined.

Yeah but end of Midgar is still a rather natural stopping point because Midgar itself is such a different locale from the rest of the game and even in the original it's setup as a break off point.
In a fully faithful Remake, I'd have stopped at the Kalm flashback's conclusion, but I guess that's Part 2's opener.

I also don't think you need to have every location get the midgar treatment, if Junon, Costa del sol, Gold Saucer and Cosmo Canyon are the size of an FFXV Town/City I think you can start to fit a ton of content. Especially if you take advantage of the new consoles.

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voltch posted...

If part 2 goes anywhere past Cosmo Canyon I can't see Part 3 ending on End of Disc 1.

Wutai gets jacked-up treatment, especially if Shinra is going to war with them (as retribution for Shinra's claim that Wutai was bankrolling Avalanche's terrorism + assassination of their president, for example). So you get something like:

-Mt. Nibel
-Rocket Town
-Travel to Wutai/Yuffie steals materia
-Stolen Materia quest
-Don Corneo
-Pagoda, more Wutai sidequesting, prep for Shinra attack
-Wutai vs. Shinra, end of the "Wutai arc"

Assuming they don't do a party split after Rocket Town, then post-Wutai we have 9 party members so, easy to split in 3 and search in 3 different places (this is gonna be pure filler and maybe an opportunity to introduce new locations/Crisis Core locations or revisit a previous location or get some more character development)

-Chapter with party #1
-Chapter with party #2
-Chapter with party #3 who end up at the shack and find out keystone is at Gold Saucer
-Gold Saucer
-Temple of the Ancients
-Bone Village
-Sleeping Forest/Corral Valley
-City of the Ancients
-Final Battles

That adds up to 16 chapters right there, you just need to fluff out (2-chapter Temple, more Wutai subplots, more "world map traveling" chapters?) or add something new to make 18 chapters, if we're still using Remake Pt. 1 as the chapter benchmark

Though, assuming party splits is a big assumption but I also can't see all 9 people being together at all times... or all sitting around on the Tiny Bronco, lol

Man so the entire Compilation including Dirge is basically gonna be in this?

Do we even think this will end at Disc 3 material?

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Yuffie DLC spoilers:

People are overestimating the Dirge/Deepground influence, their being in the DLC makes sense in context. Deepground's located under the Shinra building, Yuffie and Sonon go under the Shinra building, simple enough. I don't expect we'll see any of them again same as we didn't see any of them in the "main" game, and they still get buried underground post-Meteorfall. Assuming Meteor still gets summoned in the remake, actually...

If the Remake is successful enough after they drag out the main storyline, they could always go the "Remake Sequel" route incorporating Advent Children, Dirge, or paying off the Dirge secret ending (if that could even be considered a payoff... also we're going to be in the 2030s at this point but gotta keep milking FF7!!)

Though that's what they already said they'd do with Ever Crisis, so, maybe that's a trial run to see if it's worth making full/proper games based on the Ever Crisis chapter receptions. Though I also originally half-jokingly predicted that the remake would be 7 parts and part 5 would be a full Crisis Core remake, lol...

voltch posted...

I also don't think you need to have every location get the midgar treatment, if Junon, Costa del sol, Gold Saucer and Cosmo Canyon are the size of an FFXV Town/City I think you can start to fit a ton of content. Especially if you take advantage of the new consoles.

Even Junon makes more sense as like a big setpiece or prestige tour area to me given that most of it is spent infiltrating the military base. The other 3 are areas people will want to spend time in. But I agree, not everything needs to be a huge Midgar area or be a major quest hub.

You can actually give it a pretty similar flow to Part 1 if you do this. There's actually not a ton of big quest hub segments - there's the two Tifa and Aerith "dates" and the endgame prep one. Wall Street has sidequests but it's kind of its own thing, and Gold Saucer is probably going to mimic that on a slightly bigger scale.

Calm, Costa Del Sol, and Cosmo Canyon, and maybe even Nibelheim make sense to me as major quest hubs. They can make the game more open to give you more reason to go back and forth between locations but the pacing is gonna be crazy if they try to put sidequests everywhere. That works in stuff like Yakuza but the production of these quests is so high I doubt they'll do that.

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If Junon is about the size of Shinra HQ, I think that's enough.
The roads between each location taking about as long as the areas that connects the Midgar sectors would be kinda ideal.

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Square might also be taking sales considerations into mind with this. The FF13 games had big drop offs in sales, for example, so they might fear that making too many FF7R games could result in the later ones not selling as well as the earlier ones. I think they'll try not to make more than four games, and there's still a decent chance we'll get three, but I guess we'll see.
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With a few cuts I think you can finish all of Disk 1 in a Part 2 and then do all of Disk 2 and 3 in a Part 3

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13 had a bit of a mixed reaction on release, Remake was really well received.
So that could be a difference maker, but with Remake some sections became a bit too long just to pad out the game.
If you remove filler you can cover so much of the plot in one go. I also want to see if the new consoles will have them making big design changes.

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Mac Arrowny posted...

Square might also be taking sales considerations into mind with this. The FF13 games had big drop offs in sales, for example, so they might fear that making too many FF7R games could result in the later ones not selling as well as the earlier ones. I think they'll try not to make more than four games, and there's still a decent chance we'll get three, but I guess we'll see.

You're right, but I think the poor reception to XIII contributed massively to that. I wouldn't expect nearly as big a dropoff here. 3-4 is probably still the sweet spot though.

Plus keep in mind that a different team is doing XVI, and if that's also a success then they're not going to feel a ton of pressure to wrap everything up and move onto something else like what happened to XV. Everything about the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII collection was a complete disaster but having the three "pillars" of Remake, FFXIV, and FFXVI might actually work.

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They pushed the button... I can't see them not milking this for as much as they can. I don't think 3 games is enough.

But voltch is right, if you cut out the "traveling between point A and point B" environments which are plentiful in the original game, and also heavily used in Remake, then finishing Disc 1 in part 2 is possible. And yet, you need environments like that for random battles and leveling up your party?

Question is whether they follow the same structure as they did in Part 1 or if that was just to "fill out" Midgar and they move things more briskly in Part 2. I'm still assuming the former until I'm told otherwise.

Also we shouldn't assume that you'll visit places in the exact same order.

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Yeah, I imagine they'll mix up the order a bit. I think we'll probably have instances when the party splits up and we cover multiple locations at the same time.

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I think if Square were worried about declining sales with each game, they wouldn't have immediately announced a load of FF7 spin-offs as soon as it was obvious the first game was well-received. They've definitely gone the milk route with this one.

MartinFF7 posted...

Yuffie DLC spoilers:

People are overestimating the Dirge/Deepground influence, their being in the DLC makes sense in context. Deepground's located under the Shinra building, Yuffie and Sonon go under the Shinra building, simple enough. I don't expect we'll see any of them again same as we didn't see any of them in the "main" game, and they still get buried underground post-Meteorfall. Assuming Meteor still gets summoned in the remake, actually...

They did make a point of showing Sonon's body being sucked up by the Chaos stuff or whatever, so I think it's safe to assume they'll do something with it. Maybe when the gang return to Midgar, Yuffie and Vincent break-off and do some Dirge stuff. Or maybe some Epilogue DLC for the two, I dunno.

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HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

Calm, Costa Del Sol, and Cosmo Canyon, and maybe even Nibelheim make sense to me as major quest hubs. They can make the game more open to give you more reason to go back and forth between locations but the pacing is gonna be crazy if they try to put sidequests everywhere. That works in stuff like Yakuza but the production of these quests is so high I doubt they'll do that.

I feel like Calm will be pushed through quickly as well.
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What if the kalm flashback happens per usual but then at the end Zack leans in the doorway and is like, nah bro it didn't go down like that wtf.

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when are they going to get to Mog House

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htaeD posted...

I feel like Calm will be pushed through quickly as well.

If they're going to actually do an open world it works as a hub for the Calm/Chocobo Ranch/Fort Condor/Junon area. Though they already did Fort Condor.

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