Board 8 > I'm playing Final Fantasy VII for the first time *Spoilers as I go*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Nice playthrough topic, enjoyed reading this and would enjoy a FF7R one as well.

andylt posted...

Is WoFF that good?!

I haven't played it since it came out, but I really enjoyed the whole gameplay element of stacking monsters to create party members. Made each combination feel unique, and exploration to find new monsters was rewarding. Lann, Reynn, and Tama were all great. Plus the constant stream of FF fanservice was always fun. It was like, omg is that Eiko? I know Eiko! WoFF definitely wasn't a 10/10 game, but I liked it a lot.

The upgrade boards in WoFF is exactly the kind of progression system I like in an RPG.

I can imagine you'd like it even more after playing through the rest of the games!

Great topic and a fun read through, thanks! I'd definitely urge you to do one for remake when you get to it.

I still find your love for XIII so interesting. Was it your first FF by chance?

Yes, my fist Final Fantasy game was the XIII trilogy in 2016. I think my order was something like XIII trilogy, IX, VIII, X/X-2, VI, WoFF, I, II, IV, and now VII.

I don't think XIII being my first one is the reason it's my favorite, though. I really, really loved that combat system. Also Lightning is my favorite FF character, so it has that going for it too.

So why the hate for XIII-2? Usually people love that one much more than the first. And it's battle system is literally just an improvement in every way.

theres some people out there that hate XIII-2 over either bookends in the trilogy (it's me and Roba, we're some people). Plus like he said, Lightning's his fav so it makes sense there's a dropoff in the Lightning-less game. For me it's just... such a bleh game and (XIII trilogy spoilers) just totally feels useless knowing how it ends too. Noel and Serah aren't really great characters either and don't recall being as much a fan of the battle system, particularly the 3rd-member-monster system? Just didn't have the same magic as the other two games (personally I loved Lightning Returns the most and I know that puts me in a minority position...)

I'm doing a XIII trilogy replay right now and I'm just spending copious hours at my favourite part in XIII and I'm not really looking forward to going through XIII-2 again tbh... will probably try to speedrun it as much as I can

Yeah, lacking Lightning was a big part of it. I like Serah well enough, but Noel is super lame and together they couldn't hold a candle to the XIII main cast. I also absolutely hated the platforming section in the final area leading to the final boss. Platforming doesn't work when there are random encounters! It took me hours to get through that awful area because I couldn't line up a jump without getting into a fight with some gremlins who'd summon a behemoth that I couldn't defeat. The main problem with XIII-2, though, was that they really dumbed down the combat system. In XIII, the battles felt like they had a rhythm. I got by without Sentinel, but having all five of the other paradigm roles was a must. In XIII-2, I got through almost every battle with three Ravagers to fill the gauge, then switching to three Commandos to do max damage, then repeat. No need for Saboteur or Synergist, and no real need for healing with Medic. It just wasn't for me.

Lightning Returns was amazing by comparison. Not only was my main girl back, she had another awesome combat system! Mastering the timing of stuff like blocking in LR felt so rewarding.

Cool cool, I appreciate the answers, was just curious. I really wish they'd put out a remaster trilogy already!

So just to confirm, if they both go on sale at the same time, would it be best to play Crisis Core before Remake?

yes to get the worse game out of the way first (and I like crisis core)

story-wise it barely matters but still better to play CC first

Yeah going from FF7R combat to Crisis Core combat sucks but they don't really reference anything from Crisis Core in 7R.

Cool, thanks. Unless they don't go on sale for some reason, I'll probably do a joint CC/7R playthrough topic around late November. I'm actually really excited to get to it! If 7R is as good as people say, XIII and Lightning might finally have some competition at the top of my rankings.

Yeah, Crisis Core will probably be important for Rebirth, but you'll be fine without it for Remake. Might as well play it first though.

Yeah I think its very likely they'll reference CC in Rebirth but its completely not important at all for Remake.

Dirge of Cerberus is more important for Remake (and by that I mean, marginally for the DLC mostly)

TIL World of Final Fantasy is suppose to be a really good game?

I heard of it and kind of dismissed it as a cash in sub game but I guess it's actually really well reviewed and word of mouthed? Huh.

Might have to check that out myself at some point soon.

I mean, I wouldn't go into it expecting a really good game. I'm seeing a lot of 7/10s when I googled for reviews and that sounds about right for a starting expectation. I wound up liking it quite a bit though! It's a fun game if the idea of collecting and stacking classic FF monsters appeals to you. There are also a ton of FF cameos

It's basically just a FF fanservice game right?

Parts of it are for sure, but theres a solid overall plot in there too. I specifically remember one moment that I really loved. Reynn isn't in my top fifteen FF characters for nothing! And Tama was a close second

I will say that you definitely need to have a tolerance for the more dumb/annoying character archetypes.

The way Tama talks annoyed me at first but over time it became endearing.

Enjoyed this thread and especially how much you enjoyed Aerith's character (pretty much have the same affection for the same reasons, although I first played FFVII in, like, 2002).

didn't have the time to follow this topic as it was going, but really liked your thoughts on aeris. she's this martyr, and her character design and job title seem to suggest she's just going to be this symbol of purity. and she is, but she's also confident and badass and fun in a way you don't necessarily expect

I'm glad you both enjoyed the topic! Aeris really is great... though, I should probably start getting used to calling her Aerith since that'll be her name in the voice-acted Remake

I still call her Aeris even after playing KH, CC, and FF7R.

I've successfully made the transition over to calling her Aerith but yeah that was really driven by Remake I think...

Fun fact: there is a glitch you can do in the game called "guard skip" by speedrunners where, when you're in Sector 7 and the screen to the playground is blocked by two guards, with a (pixel perfect?) series of movements you can get behind the guards which puts you in the playground, and if you move over to Wall Market it begins that sequence of the game with Aeris in your party (so basically skipping all of the No. 5 reactor run, meeting Aeris in the church through the playground scene with her). And what's funny is since you didn't go through the normal stage of Aeris joining your party and being able to name her, she's assigned a default name from the code which is... Aerith.

So at some point in the translation process, buried somewhere in the code there, she was named default as "Aerith" but it was later changed to "Aeris" default yet that buried instance still gets invoked with that skip. Pretty funny!

I just roll with whatever the official name and pronunciation is

Except for the Former Death because that's just too stupid

MartinFF7 posted...

So at some point in the translation process, buried somewhere in the code there, she was named default as "Aerith" but it was later changed to "Aeris" default yet that buried instance still gets invoked with that skip. Pretty funny!

From a technical standpoint, it seems that the default name in the name select screen is "Aeris" while the default name outside of that is "Aerith". I guess they changed this in one place but not the other. If the current speedrun uses this skip, then that gives that much more visibility to this obscure "Aerith" reference, since that'll be her name for the whole game.

Leonhart4 posted...

Except for the Former Death because that's just too stupid

It obviously means Extra Death.

the artist formerly known as death

I've been watching a video series on the translation of FFVII (the "Let's Mosey" one from Kotaku), which has been pretty interesting. In Japanese, I guess her name is Earisu or Aerisu, so in English I suppose it could've gone either way. I definitely prefer the sound of Aeris, but I'll have to try to get used to Aerith.

I think the name is supposed to be invoke the word "earth," so I tend to think Aerith is correct.

The s/th thing is tricky though. Sometimes the translation just gets it totally wrong (like calling it the Sunleth Waterscape instead of the Sunless Waterscape in FFXIII).

Leonhart4 posted...

I think the name is supposed to be invoke the word "earth,"

It's not.

Also, why would it be Sunless?

MacArrowny posted...

It's not.

Also, why would it be Sunless?

Because the area is literally a sunless waterscape. It's powered by artificial light.

After saying Aeris for so long it just sounds like you're saying Aeris with a lisp when you say Aerith.

That being said I do say Aerith now.

Leonhart4 posted...

Because the area is literally a sunless waterscape. It's powered by artificial light.

...I honestly never thought about that before, I thought it was just typical RPG/FF weird naming convention rather than a translation issue.

what's funny is when you google "sunless waterscape" it only returns 7 hits and 1 of them is from you (or at least your topic) on the log site

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/0/3/AAC56kAAE7SL.png

lol

Yeah I'm the only person dying on this hill LOL

I wonder what some other famous mistranslations people stubbornly refuse to correct themselves on are...

Waluigi1 posted...

I wonder what some other famous mistranslations people stubbornly refuse to correct themselves on are...

I feel like most of them are Final Fantasy related

Waluigi1 posted...

I wonder what some other famous mistranslations people stubbornly refuse to correct themselves on are...

Just reminded me that "Kate Sihth" is now canon pronounciation and I'm happy about it all over again, lol

Leonhart4 posted...

Because the area is literally a sunless waterscape. It's powered by artificial light.

How would you feel if the localizer knew this and deliberately decided on the change, like with Tina -> Terra and Cayenne -> Cyan?

MacArrowny posted...

How would you feel if the localizer knew this and deliberately decided on the change, like with Tina -> Terra and Cayenne -> Cyan?

What, to make it sound like an actual location name? I mean, I can only assume that's what they were going for, and it seems to have worked because literally no one questions it, so I guess in that sense, they did their job.