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Opinion: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Is a chore

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Wise

Wise

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Oct 27, 2017
6,228
Was liking it at first but now I'm now struggling to finish it. I'm on Chapter 13. The combat is so good but the actual content is very bad. The game is so overly long for the sake of it. It is bloated with a whole lot of nothing. Some of the chapters are so long for no reason, you just end up doing nonsense and boring puzzles. I just want to get to the story but like you have to do a whole lot of nothing before you can get to story content. You're basically grinding for story content. Chapter 6 and 7 in particular took me 2 weeks to finish because of how slow and boring they were. The poor padding bogs down the pacing and ruins the flow. With every cool boss fight you have long and bloated sections.

I know they wanted to flesh out midgar but if every part is going to be extremely long and bloated for the sake of it, wastes my time and forces me to grind out the story, then I think I'm out.
 
nogoodnamesleft

nogoodnamesleft

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Oct 25, 2017
7,710
You're right and a lot of the game ends up feeling like ff13 (walk straight through corridors, get into fights, rinse repeat) a lot of the issues you outlined seemed to get ignored and overlooked? Unsure why.
 
th1nk

th1nk

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Nov 6, 2017
6,386
I agree. I actually stopped playing in chapter 8 and will need to convince myself to continue playing. The side quests and corridor level design just suck.
 
Zones

Zones

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Oct 28, 2017
296
Have you ever played any Japanese made RPGs? Compared to those, this game is anything but bloated.
 
astro

astro

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Oct 25, 2017
57,306
I didn't like the mech hand "puzzles" and moments like them, but I thought the "padding" was no more "padding" than any other RPG, and I actually enjoyed some of the sections people point out as "filler" as I got to engage with the excellent combat more.
 

Deleted member 8196

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
9,859
People are really surprised? The day they announced that the game will cover only Midgar it was crystal clear that this remake will have severe pacing issues and when the game was released we all saw it.

No matter how good you are as a developer, but stretching a 5 hours story into a 30+ one means filling several hours of useless and not needed padding and Square Enix is good at filling their games with useless content.
 
Punished Dan

Punished Dan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,250
I really enjoyed the game and thought the 2nd half was much better paced.

Having said this, I'm not in a rush to play it again anytime soon. I'm not sure why but I don't really have any urge to do any of the things that unlock after finishing the story.
 
leng jai

leng jai

Member
Nov 2, 2017
15,137
There's clear padding laced out through the entire game, it's not just certain chapters that feel like filler. There are so many instances where you're blocked by contrived obstacles that involve busy work so it takes longer for you traverse what is actually a very simple path, not to mention the obscene amounts of "move through gaps" stuff too. Chapter 14's sidequests were the definition of bloat and padding too.

I enjoyed the game overall but it's not something I ever feel like playing again any time soon.
 
Hybrid Rainbow

Hybrid Rainbow

Banned
Jun 23, 2019
6,446
Completely disagree. Yea, there was a time where I had to take a break from the game, but like any good thing, you get too much of it and you have to stop. Once I got back into it, I couldn't stop until I was finished. Each chapter is just the right length to keep you engaged, but doesn't drag on too long. The only chapters I could say are "long" at all are any that have side-quests, but it's not like you have to do them. For someone going through the game without any side content, you are looking at 25 hours tops. For an RPG, that's short as hell.

Theorry said:
There is alot of padding indeed. And this is even on the main path.
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I really feel like a lot of you played the original game so much that you completely forgotten just how quickly you can get through the main beats of Disc 1. All of Remake can be done in like an hour and a half in the original game. Fleshing our areas doesn't equal padding.
 
Oni

Oni

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
311
I actually enjoyed chapter 6. Used to games treating me like an idot nowadays so the fact I actually got lost was kinda cool.
 
Malfious

Malfious

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14
just wait 'til you have to do it allll again on hard mode! at least you can skip a lot of it then
 
Theorry

Theorry

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Oct 27, 2017
61,586
Hybrid Rainbow said:
I really feel like a lot of you played the original game so much that you completely forgotten just how quickly you can get through the main beats of Disc 1. All of Remake can be done in like an hour and a half in the original game. Fleshing our areas doesn't equal padding.
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I never played the first game. I never played a FF game before.
There is alot of padding on the main path.
 
silva1991

silva1991

Member
Oct 26, 2017
10,552
I love the game(my favorite JRPG this gen), but I don't disagree about some of the parts feel long just for the sake of it. I really don't want the other parts stretched like this.
 
Tibarn

Tibarn

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Oct 31, 2017
13,378
Barcelona
Zones said:
Have you ever played any Japanese made RPGs? Compared to those, this game is anything but bloated.
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Hard disagree, I play JRPGs (both modern and retro) all the time, and most of them respect the player's time far more than FFVIIR. I mean, there's filler content on any RPG tbh, but the way FFVII presents it (a single, slow and boring corridor with no real exploration) makes all the sidecontent a pain, and considering how little story content the game has, the 30-35 hours it lasts feel more padded than in slower games.
 

t26

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
4,606
The alternative is you get people complaining they are spending $60 for half a game.
 
FallenGrace

FallenGrace

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,055
I started losing interest from chapter 4 and it never grabbed me again except for the occasional high moment.

I was so excited for it but ended up hating it and the nostalgia simply couldn't make me overlook how poor its design is tbh.
 
astro

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
57,306
Tibarn said:
Hard disagree, I play JRPGs (both modern and retro) all the time, and most of them respect the player's time far more than FFVIIR. I mean, there's filler content on any RPG tbh, but the way FFVII presents it (a single, slow and boring corridor with no real exploration) makes all the sidecontent a pain, and considering how little story content the game has, the 30-35 hours it lasts feel more padded than in slower games.
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I really don't agree that they do. I don't see more of it here than most other games. The difference will likely be how engaged you are and how much it bothers you per game.
 
snausages

snausages

Member
Feb 12, 2018
10,464
Yeah I found the padding very aggressive and was actually pretty bored for most of the game.

It's a testament to how brilliant the highs are that I wanted to platinum it. Some of the sections will be top 10 moments for 2020 for me. But this game will also fill a few places in my 'worst gaming moments' list too, like that catwalk with the sunlights and that awful dungeon on mission 17.

The problem is very little of the extra content leads you into any better understanding of the world or its characters. The sole exception IMO is chapter 4 which is low key brilliant. But mostly the strategy Square used to expand Midgar is to take a single screen and make it an hour long, maybe put in a (cool) boss fight at the end

I don't think FFXIII was padded quite like this? But I don't remember that game very well.
 
Blade24070

Blade24070

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,034
isn't there an OT for opinions to be posted? You aren't voicing anything that many others haven't stated either
 

Deleted member 543

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,065
I loved the game, but there were parts that felt exhausting and over long. I didn't mind as it was more of a game I was highly enjoying, but it also means I probably won't be replaying it any time soon.
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,286
I think that the second half is better paced than the first, with a lot more combat encounters. During the first 10 chapters the game stops you for a cutscene or some kind of slow interaction almost after every enemy encounter. It's quite annoying.

Having said that, I'm really enjoying the game overall (haven't finished it yet) and the investment in character development is definitely paying off, especially if you take the simplicity of the overall story.
 
Mechaplum

Mechaplum

Enlightened
Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,976
JP
snausages said:
Yeah I found the padding very aggressive and was actually pretty bored for most of the game.

It's a testament to how brilliant the highs are that I wanted to platinum it. Some of the sections will be top 10 moments for 2020 for me. But this game will also fill a few places in my 'worst gaming moments' list too, like that catwalk with the sunlights and that awful dungeon on mission 17.

The problem is very little of the extra content leads you into any better understanding of the world or its characters. The sole exception IMO is chapter 4 which is low key brilliant. But mostly the strategy Square used to expand Midgar is to take a single screen and make it an hour long, maybe put in a (cool) boss fight at the end

I don't think FFXIII was padded quite like this? But I don't remember that game very well.
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I'm playing FFXIII for the first time now and yes it's padded up the wazoo as are most JRPGs, or RPGS for that matter.
 
Encephalon

Encephalon

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,888
Japan
nogoodnamesleft said:
I dunno dude i feel the original is much better paced than the remake. Played it right before the remake came out too so it was pretty fresh.
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The original game has tiny maps with a low encounter rate, resulting in a breakneck pace where you can fight a total of like 10 battles in a stretch of three hours early on.

It could have used a little more.
 
Scottoest

Scottoest

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Feb 4, 2020
11,439
Hybrid Rainbow said:
So then how can you call something padding without even knowing what was padded? 🤔🤔🤔
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...? "Padding" usually refers to menial content meant to "pad" out the game's run time. Assassin's Creed games are chock full of padded out content, so they can advertise on the box that there's eleventy kerjhillion hours of content.
 
catboy

catboy

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,322
the padding (and i don't mean the side quests, i mean the constant inane obstacles along the main path) did drag it down imo. some of it was useful characterisation, other parts were clearly just filler to make this a "full length" game.
 

rude

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,812
Busy work mandatory side quests, forced walk and talk sections, loading disguised as crawling and tip-toeing, unnecessarily long battles even when fighting "correctly"

Beat Hell House and never looked back. It's a game with a lot of potential, but they just had to fuck up all the little stuff. I'm worried for the future of mainline FF if this is the best they can come up with.

The Zodiac Age is the best FF released this generation....
 
snausages

snausages

Member
Feb 12, 2018
10,464
Mechaplum said:
I'm playing FFXIII for the first time now and yes it's padded up the wazoo as are most JRPGs, or RPGS for that matter.
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Fair, it's been ten years and I think I ended up skipping some CS in that game cause I hated Vanille so much.

But in any event FFVIIr stood out to me as way more padded than any RPG in recent memory. I haven't played Persona 5 so can't compare really.
 
Tibarn

Tibarn

Member
Oct 31, 2017
13,378
Barcelona
astro said:
I really don't agree that they do. I don't see more of it here than most other games. The difference will likely be how engaged you are and how much it bothers you per game.
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I dunno, I just felt that watching Cloud slowly walking because: you're going through some narrow place /the ceiling is low/ you're talking to X... and the constant "press triangle during 2 seconds to do X" was a fucking waste of time, more than any other element I ever found in any JRPG. And it happens A LOT.


t26 said:
The alternative is you get people complaining they are spending $60 for half a game.
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The alternative should be people understanding how game budget works, if you want to play a good-looking JRPG with lots of cinematics and stuff and great production values you should accept that the game will be shorter than the average RPG.
 
Gundam

Gundam

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,801
I haven't played FF7 remake and I have no stake in it


Most RPGs are way longer than they need to be

video games should legally not be allowed to be over 5 hours long, unless they are good
 
dunkzilla

dunkzilla

alt account
Banned
Dec 13, 2018
4,762
Agreed. Artificial padding with a LOT of wasted time. It's a 10/15 hour game extended out to 30+ hours
 
astro

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
57,306
Tibarn said:
I dunno, I just felt that watching Cloud slowly walking because: you're going through some narrow place /the ceiling is low/ you're talking to X... and the constant "press triangle during 2 seconds to do X" was a fucking waste of time, more than any other element I ever found in any JRPG. And it happens A LOT.
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To be honest, the hold to use switch and the crawl space stuff absolutely did stand out here. It was incredibly annoying after a while.
 
nogoodnamesleft

nogoodnamesleft

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,710
rude said:
Busy work mandatory side quests, forced walk and talk sections, loading disguised as crawling and tip-toeing, unnecessarily long battles even when fighting "correctly"

Beat Hell House and never looked back. It's a game with a lot of potential, but they just had to fuck up all the little stuff. I'm worried for the future of mainline FF if this is the best they can come up with.

The Zodiac Age is the best FF released this generation....
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Click to shrink...


Im playing 12 again and holy fuck the dungeons in this game...and I use the term dungeons very fucking loosely

A lot to love in the game but that great crystal dungeon with all the circle rooms? Oh my god kill

Probably right in saying best this gen though, unfortunately
 
Sasliquid

Sasliquid

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Oct 25, 2017
4,321
It's a very good 20 hour game dragged out to 30 hours (for me). For example why is the second plant 3 chapters?
 
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