Current Events > The fake outrage over FF7 Remake being episodic is baffling to me...

(+) Yeah! (+)

SwayM posted...

Youre miss understanding the concern.

The actual areas and gameplay looks like its more fleshed out and open but what hes saying is that with it being episodic, whats that going to mean on the big scale?

How will the game handle the player diverging off from the main story at all the many junctures? When places and moments can be episode specific.

It's way too early to talk about how they're doing the rest of the world. If the entire remainder of the plot is just one more game, then there's pretty much no conflict at all. Problems only happen if they decide to split up the post midgar portion into 2 or more games, which we do not have evidence of yet.

But even if they did split it up like that, it doesn't necessarily change things for the worse. Take a look at the two GBA Golden Sun games which take place in the same map, both open world, although with different regional story content. Once a specific location is emptied of its story elements, there isn't really a reason to go back. Golden Saucer not withstanding, the Final Fantasy world map was actually just a whole lot of empty and places that you visit once and have no other value.

regarding character progression across games, there will probably be somethings that carry over, but just because you're level 99 in the first game doesn't mean you have to start out level 99 in the second game.

They can also adjust the progression of Materia. Lets say you max out Fire, and take your maxed out fire to the second game, well it turns out now Fire has an extra 10 ranks you need to grind to max it out so you have a head start but not really game-destroying one.

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SwayM posted...

Im not having a conversation with someone who doesnt understand the difference between spinoffs and episodes.

FFX-2 is not a spinoff. It is a sequel.

And if you think we will play the same battle system for upwards of 400 hours, you haven't been thinking about this remake much at all.

No wonder you cannot comprehend the outrage.

You have no base or vision to what this remake will even be.

Tyranthraxus posted...

If the entire remainder of the plot is just one more game, then there's pretty much no conflict at all.

Tbqh, if Episode 1 is Midgar and Episode 2 is the entire rest of the game it would lessen my concern, but it would also be stupid as fuck because in the grand scheme of things the Midgar section has no reason to be that big
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Tyranthraxus posted...

regarding character progression across games, there will probably be somethings that carry over, but just because you're level 99 in the first game doesn't mean you have to start out level 99 in the second game.

They can also adjust the progression of Materia. Lets say you max out Fire, and take your maxed out fire to the second game, well it turns out now Fire has an extra 10 ranks you need to grind to max it out so you have a head start but not really game-destroying one.

The issue with this is, in game 2 you will regain these levels, but will it be fun?

You already leveles to 99 in game 1.

Game 2 delevels you and takes away stuff. But it is the same combat system.

What is the point? Your work just vanishes for no good reason.

Logically, you start at lvl 1 again, you get completely new stuff, battle system is not the same.
We know SE loves to go way beyond what they should do and take too much on, so why not in this aspect.

And this frees them from another HUGE issues.

People who played episode 1 over and over with it clocking on average 60 hours and maybe more above average will be BORED as FUCK with it.
A few new skills and materia won't be enough.

But FF has never had this problem before since they ALWAYS change the battle system between games and infact between sequels.

Would be dumb of them to all the sudden not do that.

This of course assumes a 60-100 hour epic.

wuzzat posted...

Tyranthraxus posted...

If the entire remainder of the plot is just one more game, then there's pretty much no conflict at all.

Tbqh, if Episode 1 is Midgar and Episode 2 is the entire rest of the game it would lessen my concern, but it would also be stupid as fuck because in the grand scheme of things the Midgar section has no reason to be that big

In the grand scheme of things I think it would be hella foolish to model a city as big and interesting as Midgar and only spend 5 hours there.
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TC, what has SE done in the past decade to make you have so much faith in them?

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People who think the game will progress like the original FF7 did and you keep slowly leveling and building up till endgame of 3rd disc are kidding themselves.

You didn't even get any summons in midgar and how many different weapons?

Now how many weapons is cloud going to go through?
This is a 60 hour game right?
We know you get shiva and ifrit and probably more.

To keep those 60 hours interesting, you gonna get too much stuff to just carry over.
OR those 60 hours will be snore snore

Translation between episodes is probably something SE hasn't even solved internally yet.

It will be rough.

darkphoenix181

Translation between episodes is probably something SE hasn't even solved internally yet.

Gamers legit think theyre smarter than developers and thats a terrifying thought.
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SwayM posted...

Gamers legit think theyre smarter than developers and thats a terrifying thought.

And yet it is you who proposed a solution to this and not me.

You claimed they could just cap levels or some dumb shit like that.

Ironic.

darkphoenix181 posted...

SwayM posted...

Gamers legit think theyre smarter than developers and thats a terrifying thought.

And yet it is you who proposed a solution to this and not me.

You claimed they could just cap levels or some dumb shit like that.

Ironic.

Lol I pondered if that wasnt something they are concerned about and wondered how they would handle it if at all. And then went on to say who cares if gamers cheese because theyll always find a way.

Talk about missing the point.
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I just assumed there would be at least three parts if not more given how much more plot there is after midgar, especially if they're expanding the story. I mean it's technically true that you go most places once and never need to go back, but that's missing the point a bit imo.

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SwayM posted...

Lol I pondered if that wasnt something they are concerned about and wondered how they would handle it if at all. And then went on to say who cares if gamers cheese because theyll always find a way.

Talk about missing the point.

My whole point was it is a complex issue that they likely didn't solve yet because the first game isn't even out yet. But to pretend that it isn't a problem or has a simple fix like your shitty proposal suggests is a mockery to the complexity.

But you took it as "I know better than the devs!"
That my friend, is seriously missing the point.

Wtf does cheesing have to do with it?
It is like you just don't understand it at all.

SwayM posted...

In the grand scheme of things I think it would be hella foolish to model a city as big and interesting as Midgar and only spend 5 hours there.

Most of Midgar is entirely irrelevant to what is happening in the game. It's a backdrop. You don't need to explore every back alley, and the chunk of story that happens there is really pretty small compared to how much happens outside of Midgar. That's why you don't go to every part of the city in the original.

So making Midgar its own episode and then making everything that happens after Midgar into an episode, would be even hella foolisher
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Balrog0 posted...

I just assumed there would be at least three parts if not more given how much more plot there is after midgar, especially if they're expanding the story. I mean it's technically true that you go most places once and never need to go back, but that's missing the point a bit imo.

I think if they don't let you fly around in a highwind like scenario, players will be very disappointed.

I was concerned that the length was going to be padded by having repetitive optional quests like Crisis Core but it seems that isn't the case based on the last trailer.

That and the fact that the game is 2 discs.
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FrozenXylophone posted...

I think if they don't let you fly around in a highwind like scenario, players will be very disappointed.

I know I will be
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calling it now. episode 1 will either be a tightly wound 5-10 hour experience or a 30+ hour something episode with tons of filler.

asking for 30+ hours of quality with little to no filler from SE nowadays is pretty much the definition of having your cake and eating it too.

both examples will be around $40-50 or if they're ballsy, standard 60.
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darkphoenix181 posted...

SwayM posted...

Lol I pondered if that wasnt something they are concerned about and wondered how they would handle it if at all. And then went on to say who cares if gamers cheese because theyll always find a way.

Talk about missing the point.

My whole point was it is a complex issue that they likely didn't solve yet because the first game isn't even out yet. But to pretend that it isn't a problem or has a simple fix like your shitty proposal suggests is a mockery to the complexity.

But you took it as "I know better than the devs!"
That my friend, is seriously missing the point.

Wtf does cheesing have to do with it?
It is like you just don't understand it at all.

Im not trying to pretend continuity between episodes isnt a problem but to think its something they havent thought long and hard about since the game was announced to be episodic very early on is foolish.

Youre not the first and youre definitely not the last person to think that spending 40 seconds voicing a concern means youve thought about more than the developers have.

Im not worried about it because its not job to worry. Theyre paid to figure this shit out. I just play it.

And finally I didnt propose they add level caps lol I questioned if it was something they would do. And I talked about cheesing in my original post about it. This tells me that you either didnt read it or did didnt understand it. Which is it?
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Thirty hours of Midgar filler doesn't seem so bad, actually.

I'm probably of the minority opinion, but I think the episodic nature was the right move.
There are parts of the original that are pure filler, and there are parts that could have used more development to them.

In the original release, early Midgar is a slog gameplay-wise, but is excellent at establishing the world and characters. There is room to expand on those early characters, and it appears that is what Squeenix is doing.

Expand the gameplay around Midgar; it's one of the most iconic places in the original game in a long list of contenders with excellent environments.

Going from the gameplay side to the business side: It'd be nice to see a return to quality productions that look, feel, and play finished. As much as I'd like the full game for 60 bucks, that seems to be a distant fantasy back in the ephemera. Meanwhile, AAA standards are in freefall, trending towards collapse with so many big name titles being buggy, unplayable, and monetized to a degree that even my cold cynical heart finds repulsive at a spiritual level.

In short, the old paradigm of 2 year crunch development cycles is failing to the point where it's becoming unfeasible; certainly at the degree of prestige and production quality that AAA blockbusters demand.
Episodic content is one possible solution to that. The problem?
Most episodic games fare poorly, outside of maybe the MMO model.

Half Life 2 was the closest to success that we got on that model, and it's produced the biggest case of blue balls in gaming history.
That said, I think it's worth trying. If my choice comes down to a half-baked "full" game, and a fully-baked part of a partial game, I'll go with the latter, if only because it's the one that works and plays well.
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AtmosOmega posted...

I'm probably of the minority opinion, but I think the episodic nature was the right move.
There are parts of the original that are pure filler, and there are parts that could have used more development to them.

In the original release, early Midgar is a slog gameplay-wise, but is excellent at establishing the world and characters. There is room to expand on those early characters, and it appears that is what Squeenix is doing.

Expand the gameplay around Midgar; it's one of the most iconic places in the original game in a long list of contenders with excellent environments.

Going from the gameplay side to the business side: It'd be nice to see a return to quality productions that look, feel, and play finished. As much as I'd like the full game for 60 bucks, that seems to be a distant fantasy back in the ephemera. Meanwhile, AAA standards are in freefall, trending towards collapse with so many big name titles being buggy, unplayable, and monetized to a degree that even my cold cynical heart finds repulsive at a spiritual level.

In short, the old paradigm of 2 year crunch development cycles is failing to the point where it's becoming unfeasible; certainly at the degree of prestige and production quality that AAA blockbusters demand.
Episodic content is one possible solution to that. The problem?
Most episodic games fare poorly, outside of maybe the MMO model.

Rare to see a measured, well articulated post around these parts like this.
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AtmosOmega posted...

Episodic content is one possible solution to that. The problem?
Most episodic games fare poorly, outside of maybe the MMO model.

True.

Xenosaga tried episodic approach.

1st game was ok.

Then it declined.

2 was bad and the series couldn't retain interest to fund the 6 episodes as they planned.

3rd was rushed out and was ok game but lowest sales of all 3.

Even if ff7 re episode 1 is amazing, there will still be drop off.

There are people who buy FF games and taken forever to finish them.
No point buying ep2 if not completed ep1 already.

SwayM posted...

In the grand scheme of things I think it would be hella foolish to model a city as big and interesting as Midgar and only spend 5 hours there.

You mean how the original ff7 was? You mean how the game was originally intended?

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Why are you so convinced the SE can deliver a good game? You say you're not worried about it because it's not your job and they get paid to make the game, but they haven't even delivered a good Final Fantasy game in over a decade, and it's supposed to be their flagship series. They're the Japanese EA or Activision, and treating them as anything other than that is just foolish.

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FaytlessHearts posted...

You mean how the original ff7 was? You mean how the game was originally intended?

Yes and it was always stupid that it was a giant black spot on the map teasing you and you could never visit it again.

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FrozenXylophone posted...

AtmosOmega posted...

Episodic content is one possible solution to that. The problem?
Most episodic games fare poorly, outside of maybe the MMO model.

True.

Xenosaga tried episodic approach.

...

Even if ff7 re episode 1 is amazing, there will still be drop off.

There are people who buy FF games and taken forever to finish them.
No point buying ep2 if not completed ep1 already.

I'm in agreement there, at least by gut instinct. Or precedence, since this isn't the first time Squeenix has attempted the episodic model (see: their recent Hitman entries for proof of that).
I'm cautiously optimistic at this time, which is actually an improvement from my initial reaction back when Squeenix revealed the FF7 remake at E3 2015.

The trailer was more positive than negative for me, and I rarely come away from ANY sort of media trailer interested. It seems they are doing more of what I would personally do in a hypothetical remake than I initially thought.

Allegedly, Squeenix got Mark Hamill to voice Don Corneo. (it won't be the first time Squeenix has contracted Hamill either, apparently)
The trailer had one line from the Don that sounded very much like Hamill, and if it's not him, the influence of Hamill's Joker is unmistakable. (if you have to plagiarize, aim high)
If true, I will be playing the remake purely for the remake of the Wal-Market sequence.
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AtmosOmega posted...

I'm in agreement there, at least by gut instinct. Or precedence, since this isn't the first time Squeenix has attempted the episodic model (see: their recent Hitman entries for proof of that).
I'm cautiously optimistic at this time, which is actually an improvement from my initial reaction back when Squeenix revealed the FF7 remake at E3 2015.

Can't use that as an example, because they just published Hitman 2016. Weren't involved with the development. You want developed games you can compare it to? FFXV and Kingdom Hearts 3.

DarthAragorn posted...

Can't use that as an example, because they just published Hitman 2016.

Squeenix owns IO Interactive. If you understand anything about business, you will now understand why your counter-argument makes no sense; especially since we're talking about game business models directly related to publishing.
If Squeenix didn't OK the episodic model for Hitman, it wouldn't have been episodic. Period.
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AtmosOmega posted...

Squeenix owns IO Interactive. If you understand anything about business, you will now understand why your counter-argument makes no sense; especially since we're talking about game business models directly related to publishing.
If Squeenix didn't OK the episodic model for Hitman, it wouldn't have been episodic. Period.

Square has a very hands off approach to it's Western developers. They will okay basically anything.

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FaytlessHearts posted...

SwayM posted...

In the grand scheme of things I think it would be hella foolish to model a city as big and interesting as Midgar and only spend 5 hours there.

You mean how the original ff7 was? You mean how the game was originally intended?

I swear to god some people will never understand the concept of a Remake

I mean how many different ways can I lay this out.

1) the framework of creating Midgar today is a fucking degree of magnitude greater than it was in 97. All that production to go into a city you barely see is, again foolish.

2) a remake gives them opportunities to expand and add content the original lacked. Im sure they have lots of ideas today they couldnt have done 20 years ago. As its the same goddamn people working on the game I think there well within their right to have those creative liberties.

3) the original, again, isnt the holy grail, it isnt Shakespeare and its not the thing which all other games are measured. It was a good game for its time but its not perfect. Stop holding it in such high regard like it cant be improved.

D) if you look around, youll find very few people arguing on your side. I think most are excited to see more of Midgar
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codey posted...

Why are you so convinced the SE can deliver a good game? You say you're not worried about it because it's not your job and they get paid to make the game, but they haven't even delivered a good Final Fantasy game in over a decade, and it's supposed to be their flagship series. They're the Japanese EA or Activision, and treating them as anything other than that is just foolish.

Why would I look a gift horse in the mouth and complain?

Theyre making this project a reality. Theyre showing the love and devotion it clearly deserves and every time they release a video it looks way better than the last. If it wasnt episodic I WOULD be worried. I would have serious doubts they would be able to fully recreate the original in this level of scale without significant cuts or other issues. Im very happy theyre taking the time this project needs while still giving us a chance to experience it without waiting forever.

I was at one point worried when we hadnt seen it for a while and there was some talk of things being troubling behind the scenes. But since this latest video my doubts are behind me.
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SwayM posted...

Why would I look a gift horse in the mouth and complain?

having standards isn't a bad thing

DarthAragorn posted...

SwayM posted...

Why would I look a gift horse in the mouth and complain?

having standards isn't a bad thing

Mmk. Beg for a one in a million project for 20 years and complain about minute things while the game looks amazing.

Standards
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SwayM posted...

DarthAragorn posted...

SwayM posted...

Why would I look a gift horse in the mouth and complain?

having standards isn't a bad thing

Mmk. Beg for a one in a million project for 20 years and complain about minute things while the game looks amazing.

Standards

turning a game you could buy in one package in 1997 into a multi part game costing hundreds of dollars over an unknown amount of years is not a fucking minute thing

Like it's understandable to say it's not an issue for you but to say nobody should be bothered by it is fucking moronic

DarthAragorn posted...

SwayM posted...

DarthAragorn posted...

SwayM posted...

Why would I look a gift horse in the mouth and complain?

having standards isn't a bad thing

Mmk. Beg for a one in a million project for 20 years and complain about minute things while the game looks amazing.

Standards

turning a game you could buy in one package in 1997 into a multi part game costing hundreds of dollars over an unknown amount of years is not a fucking minute thing

How do you have such little understanding of game development in 2019?
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How do you have such little understanding of it?

Again,

DarthAragorn posted...

Like it's understandable to say it's not an issue for you but to say nobody should be bothered by it is fucking moronic

ultimate reaver posted...

Looks like modern square trash garbage. Throw it the fuck out and get me something better

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episodes...

what the fuck, that's fucking stupid.


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Game looks fun and I'm excited to see an expanded Midgard.
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codey posted...

Why is the alternative to not episodic a rushed game?

Because remaking a PS1 or earlier RPG in modern day is a hefty task.

It's why we won't ever see a Xenogears remake. Or a Chrono Trigger remake.
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A RPG with 100 hours of content in 97 being remade by todays standard should be one complete game, finished in a couple years and come with a blowjob in the game case

Yikers send these people to Rikers
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Tyranthraxus posted...

Square has a very hands off approach to it's Western developers. They will okay basically anything.

Based on Squeenix's prior handling of western developers and the marketing they've ran for their games, I am quite doubtful about that.

Eidos Montreal didn't run the disastrous sales campaign for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, with that ridiculous "Augment your Preorder" scheme nor did they force the completely pointless and bizarre microtransactions into an otherwise excellent game.
And I do mean disastrous, since Squeenix (not Eidos) had to come forward a year later and publicly announce that they were putting the Deus Ex series "On hold" with an indefinite time.

Or if we're comparing oranges to oranges the bizarre direction of Hitman: Absolution that played more like a generic cinematic action game than a, well, a Hitman title.

I will accept an argument that they take more of a hands-off approach today as a result of those mistakes, but as a customer their past behavior is what I know, while their current intentions is something I can only speculate on. (companies can and often will attempt to make mistakes so they can capitalize on the psychology of apology; that's actually come up in industry workshops and trade-conventions, no joke)
So I'm remaining skeptical on how they handle any other projects going forward, including the FF7 remake; again, I'm cautiously optimistic.

As a final aside: Squeenix did divest most of their interest in IO Interactive following Absolution; for which I stand corrected, but they're still a primary backer and the publisher for IO Interactive's projects, going by the latest public information I can find.
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AtmosOmega posted...

Eidos Montreal didn't run the disastrous sales campaign for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, with that ridiculous "Augment your Preorder" scheme nor did they force the completely pointless and bizarre microtransactions into an otherwise excellent game.
And I do mean disastrous, since Squeenix (not Eidos) had to come forward a year later and publicly announce that they were putting the Deus Ex series "On hold" with an indefinite time.

Also Mankind Divided basically had no ending and now never will

Also IO Interactive is now independent and kept the rights to Hitman and Freedom Fighters, Hitman 2 was published by WB, not Square Enix

SwayM posted...

FaytlessHearts posted...

SwayM posted...

In the grand scheme of things I think it would be hella foolish to model a city as big and interesting as Midgar and only spend 5 hours there.

You mean how the original ff7 was? You mean how the game was originally intended?

I swear to god some people will never understand the concept of a Remake

I mean how many different ways can I lay this out.

1) the framework of creating Midgar today is a fucking degree of magnitude greater than it was in 97. All that production to go into a city you barely see is, again foolish.

They could have kept it closer to the linearity of the original: making most of Midgar plain background work that doesn't have to be as detailed and fleshed out for the player to interact with.

2) a remake gives them opportunities to expand and add content the original lacked. Im sure they have lots of ideas today they couldnt have done 20 years ago. As its the same goddamn people working on the game I think there well within their right to have those creative liberties.

If only:

CGWorld: About how many people are there working on Final Fantasy VII Remake that previously participated in the development of Final Fantasy VII, such as yourself, Takai-san?

Shintaro Takai: There are only a very few. Starting with producer Yoshinori Kitase-san, director Tetsuya Nomura-san, and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima-san, theres only very few of us. Most of Final Fantasy VII Remakes developers are those with experience on the Final Fantasy series after Final Fantasy VII along with new people who joined...

Yeah, expect a bunch of non-canon filler. I mean, I don't expect it to get as bad as the end of Naruto part 1, but Nomura's track record with FFXIII: Versus, and the mess that Kingdom Hearts became is not a stellar one when it comes to story direction. Specifically his need to continue adding a ton of new stuff, even when the main story is stalled for ages, and wanting to integrate all of his new stuff with the main story in the end.

3) the original, again, isnt the holy grail, it isnt Shakespeare and its not the thing which all other games are measured. It was a good game for its time but its not perfect. Stop holding it in such high regard like it cant be improved.

I'm sure it could have been improved. But the time has passed, and the people behind the original mostly moved on. I'm sure I'll enjoy it for what it is, but more as a re-imagining of FFVII than a remake.

Well, I hope to enjoy it. I'm giving it 50/50 odds on that front.

D) if you look around, youll find very few people arguing on your side. I think most are excited to see more of Midgar

I see you kept using that "juicy steak" analogy earlier. It doesn't quite fit.

FFVII was a full 5 course dinner. FFVII: R is basically making the appetizer jumbo sized, enough to be a full meal. Then they'll give you a meal sized salad. And a meal sized main course. Etc.

Sure, one might like the appetizer enough to make a meal of it. But it's still just the appetizer. You're going to have a full game devoted to a small portion of the story, unless they alter it drastically.

Would you rather have a balanced 5 course dinner, or 5 separate single courses that are not meant to be a single course? I could understand splitting the game due to size, but not in this fashion.
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They could have kept it closer to the linearity of the original: making most of Midgar plain background work that doesn't have to be as detailed and fleshed out for the player to interact with.

They could absolutely make a worse game. But no one should want that. I pray to the video game gods every day that the people on forums arent in charge of game design. People want Midgar to be more than a pretty setpiece, and thankfully it will be.
#blessed

I'm sure it could have been improved. But the time has passed, and the people behind the original mostly moved on. I'm sure I'll enjoy it for what it is, but more as a re-imagining of FFVII than a remake.

The time has passed? This is the time. Theres not going to be another time. Youre not obviously not going to get everybody back whos worked on the original but the important people are there. And having a team of younger people who grew up on the original doesnt hurt either. The love for it is clear as day.

You need to understand that this is the Remake. The entire point is to do what they couldnt do in 97. The technology is there, game design has improved so much. Its still telling the same story, its still the same characters and locals. But in no way shape or form should it be a 1-1 translation. If you want thats just go play the original. This, for me, is capturing the feelings I had while playing the original but by actually doing and showing the things they couldnt in 97 it was my imagination filling the blanks. Today, we can realize the things the game implied if youre not excited to see the things you COULDNT see back in the day then I feel sorry for you man, I really do.

I see you kept using that "juicy steak" analogy earlier. It doesn't quite fit.

People always try to attack the analogies without understanding the point being made.

Part one isnt done yet and youre asking for part 2? Why? What do you stand to gain by dismissing it immediately without experiencing it in any way? If you arent interested in it until all parts are out, you do you boo boo. But its ignorant and entitled to expect more from people who are clearly working very hard to bring us this in the the best way possible and not understanding anything about the process or their intentions. People want the entire game on this scale to made overnight?
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SwayM posted...

They could have kept it closer to the linearity of the original: making most of Midgar plain background work that doesn't have to be as detailed and fleshed out for the player to interact with.

They could absolutely make a worse game. But no one should want that. I pray to the video game gods every day that the people on forums arent in charge of game design. People want Midgar to be more than a pretty setpiece, and thankfully it will be.
#blessed

Are you saying that FFVII: R is automatically going to be superior to the original just because Midgar was used that way in it?

The time has passed? This is the time. Theres not going to be another time. Youre not obviously not going to get everybody back whos worked on the original but the important people are there. And having a team of younger people who grew up on the original doesnt hurt either. The love for it is clear as day.

My main concern is having Nomura in charge after the whole FFXIII: Versus fiasco and Kingdom Hearts' prolonged mess of a production. I'm hoping that Kitase and Nojima can try and keep things true to the original, though I really wish they could have gotten Sakaguchi back for this one.

You need to understand that this is the Remake. The entire point is to do what they couldnt do in 97. The technology is there, game design has improved so much. Its still telling the same story, its still the same characters and locals. But in no way shape or form should it be a 1-1 translation. If you want thats just go play the original. This, for me, is capturing the feelings I had while playing the original but by actually doing and showing the things they couldnt in 97 it was my imagination filling the blanks. Today, we can realize the things the game implied if youre not excited to see the things you COULDNT see back in the day then I feel sorry for you man, I really do.

This is an adaptation of FFVII. And adaptations can go astray when too much filler and change. Like, you know, stretching the first few hours of the game into a full 30-50 hour work of its own. This goes doubly so for games, as people have mentioned them having to balance gameplay over all of these episodes that they're planning without doing a Xenosaga style reboot or limiting how far you can reach with each part.

I see you kept using that "juicy steak" analogy earlier. It doesn't quite fit.

People always try to attack the analogies without understanding the point being made.

Part one isnt done yet and youre asking for part 2? Why? What do you stand to gain by dismissing it immediately without experiencing it in any way? If you arent interested in it until all parts are out, you do you boo boo. But its ignorant and entitled to expect more from people who are clearly working very hard to bring us this in the the best way possible and not understanding anything about the process or their intentions. People want the entire game on this scale to made overnight?

I'm not asking for part two, or the whole project at once. Again, this is not a juicy steak. It's just the appetizer blown up to full meal size. And I'm afraid that they're bloating each part up to the point where it won't be a recognizable whole anymore.
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Midgar was absolutely the worst and most boring part of FF7. It doesnt need to be Peter Jacksons FF7 ffs.

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Im not saying its automatically superior but it bodes well for it IMHO. These are the things I, and seemingly many others want from this game. Give me more Midgar all day please. Its so iconic, its teaming with potential and my nostalgia for it is sky high. But then you go back to the original and it really isnt much to write home about.

The alternative of making it linear and truncated would be the wrong call and end up making FF7 Remake a far worse experience. If you want to breeze through it Im sure you can find a way but for us who want to see more and being left hanging would basically mean we would never get to see Midgar proper. Ever.

If we go back to food analogies for a minute then it would be like setting out that 5 course meal on the table and letting people dish up the plates to their own fill. Youre arguing for putting just salad down on the table and saying this is how we used to do it. Nice and lean. Doesnt need to be anything more than that

Im not even sure where your complaints really stem from. The worry is theyll bloat it with filler to pad out 60 hours of every episode? Are you saying you dont want to spend any more time than necessary revisiting this world?

And possibly double or triple that 60 hours depending on how many episodes are released. If the main story is all that interests you, then just focus on that. But why you would be afraid of or want less world building or meat on the rest of our plates is questionable. Give people more and let the individual player decide how much they take away.
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I'm excited for it, sue me.
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