On the Overworld for the first time. And hear the main theme for the first time. You'll hear it so often that you associate it with the Overworld.
Final Fantasy Remake and Rebirth got two things wrong here. First, the main theme should not be played in Midgar. Second, Rebirth starts at the town of Kalm, not here.
In Final Fantasy 7, Barret tells you to go north-east to a town called Kalm. You don't have to go there immediately, you can explore around — FF7 is pretty linear, but there is some degree of freedom on the Overworld. The Overworld is such a fresh look that you will wander around to take in the scenery.
It just isn't FF7 if there is no Overworld. It gives a sense of scale. If you can move from location to location on foot, the world feels small.
You'll find two places of interest here: a Chocobo farm and a marsh with a super-strong giant snake that prevents you from entering the cave beyond it. So your only real choice is to enter Kalm.
Or is it?
The giant snake is Midgar Zolom. It has 4,000 HP (vs ~400 for your party) and can do 1,000 damage. It is winnable if you prepare your party beforehand. You want to do so to learn the Beta Enemy Skill early.
There are 4 ways to cross the marsh:
I like this because there are multiple ways to get around the obstacle.
Sadly, you can't skip Kalm*, especially the Nibelheim flashback. Otherwise, when you enter Mythril Mine, it tells you to turn back.
*Kalm skip was discovered in 2021.
You definitely want to go through the flashback on your first playthrough, but subsequent playthroughs? It'll be nice to skip it.
I watched FF7 Rebirth until Junon (second Open World location). The graphics is gorgeous as expected. Then, I lost interest and went directly to watch critiques of it, especially on the ending.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth does not disappoint. Like Remake, it follows the original plotline (mostly) until the end, then it goes off the rail completely.
But now I understand what the writers are going for.
Aeris died in FF7. Despite fans asking for her to be brought back, the Producer put his foot down and said no. Later, Aeris' boyfriend Zack was fleshed out in a different story, but he also had to die cos that happened in FF7.
Square Enix now has a problem. Both Aeris and Zack are well-loved characters, but because they die, any stories involving them have to be in the past. Square Enix wants to change that.
This is what FF7 Remake/Rebirth is about: creating a way so that Aeris and Zack remain alive. Then Square Enix will be able to use them in new adventures placed in the future.
What? You think it is about pleasing the fans? Sure, fans will be pleased, but it is secondary.
The idea in Rebirth is that there are multiple worlds. Sephiroth wants to create a world where he wins and merge that into "mainline" (where he loses). As for the protagonists, As long as they survive in one world, they will survive when the worlds "compress". (If you survive in two worlds, your experience merge. You don't get two of the same person.)
So yes, at the end, everyone will survive. Square Enix is happy. Fans are happy.
But, the story is totally destroyed.
Also, SE botched Aeris' death scene in FF7 Rebirth.
I'll rather the story be played straight as in FF7. There are less convoluted ways to bring Aeris and Zack back.
Here's an idea. Just bring Aeris back. Aeris is an Ancient and can tap into the Lifestream. The Lifestream can revive her.
Who said Zack died? Cloud thought he did in his semi-comotase state. Maybe he didn't. Maybe Zack woke up and went, "Who took my Buster Sword?!"
Yes, I'm slow. Final Fantasy VII Remake came out in Apr 2020. It is an reimaging of FF7 from 1997 and covers the first arc of the full story of the original game.
Back in 2020, I downloaded video OSTs of the game from YouTube. These OSTs show the cutscenes as the music play. The music is nice, but I prefer the original — perhaps it is nostagia. After that I forgot about it.
Recently, I listened to the OSTs again. As I watched the videos, I wondered, how come I didn't watch the playthroughs?
Also, the second arc, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was released in Feb this year!
I don't just want to watch them on YouTube. I want to download them. Just like 4 years ago, 4K videos are still too big for me to store. I had to download 2K version (1440p). I don't remember what codec I chose in the past, but the choices now are VP9 and AV1. I choose VP9.
Audio-wise, it's still 128 kbps Opus. This is the only (free) one that does not have frequency cutoff at 16 kHz.
It is now fashionable to have walkthroughs in a single video — most are over 12 hours! This is not a problem for watching, but makes downloading difficult. I'm old-fashioned and prefer shorter videos — by chapters, if possible.
I also realized there are two kinds of walkthroughs: "uncut" ones that show the entire play, including movement, exploration and battles (that can drag on), and "cut" ones that show dialog scenes only. It's the latter ones that I want.
On the whole, FF7 Remake is more bad than good.
The bad:
The Midgar part in the original game takes around 5 hours, maybe 10 if you do all the side quests. Now it is a complete game, so it has to stretch to 30 - 40 hours. See the problem?
If I actually play the game, I think I won't like the Battle system. I don't see the All materia and Summon materias now need to be researched?
I see most combat being physical-based. I don't see Fire used against organic enemies and Lighting used against mechanical ones.
The good:
The ghosts, Sephiroth and the ending have to go, totally. Then we can talk about improving the story and gameplay.
The game ends when the party reached the end of the uncompleted highway. Period.
My FF7 canon:
This is a rare webnovel that transcends webnovels. It is good enough to be considered a real novel. (Most webnovels are very low quality.)
This 7-book hardcopy is supposedly based on official text from 起点中文网. Only the first 96 chapters are free there, though the entire novel (1498 chapters) can be found elsewhere easily — with varying quality (due to censored words).
It does not seem to be an offical copy, though. It does not show 起点中文网 on the book cover, despite appearing in the listing. (The seller told me it was removed after 起点中文网 told the publisher to do so.)
The text is in two columns, so it is easy to read. The last chapter of each book is broken up and continues in the next book.
I found two more editions: a 4-book edition and a 10-book edition. One is enough. :lol:
Most online text are based on 校对版 — they are 99.9% identical. AFAIK, 校对版 is the first published edition. However, I've always wondered if the author went back to make corrections after finishing the story. In particular,
That's why I'm interested in 起点中文网's edition. It has user feedback, so mistakes may be corrected.
Dual 4K and Blu-ray release. New remaster. Includes English subtitles!
9,900 yen for the standard release. (The limited 1st edition costing 14,300 yen can only be purchased in Japan.)
It is not known if the blu-ray is improved or the 2016 release.
I am waiting for these 4K releases:
Castle of Cagliostro was already released by Discotek Media in 2021. Waiting for it to drop price to US$25. :lol:
For Cars, I'm waiting for a real 4K release.
I'm thinking whether I want any Studio Ghibli releases in 4K. Of the 3 I like, only Princess Mononoke will benefit from 4K.
