To quote a popular cliche about writing, it shows, instead of tells. Similarly, a later scene in which a character dies — arguably the most famous video game death scene of all time — is a masterwork of powerful emotion being conveyed through staging and music alone. It may be very powerful in its own way, but it will almost certainly be quite different, and my worry is that someone is going to open their mouth and somehow rob the experience of some of its operatic power.
This is a story about flawed people doing their best, and the clunky character models drive that point home, even if that extra layer of meaning has been added by time, and not an original intention of the design. Cloud seems surprised by his own reaction to an experience of intensely painful emotions in one scene. My eyes are burning! The emotional texture would be entirely different if I were watching someone who looks like a grown man say these things, and I suspect that Remake will have to find its own way of navigating this particular emotional and psychological territory as a result.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake , however, drowns us in detail, to such an extent that our imagination has nowhere to go, and no blanks to fill in. We see what Square Enix wants us to see, nothing more, and certainly nothing less. The realistic design could, in fact, hold back some of the more emotional reactions inspired by the original release. And what of the world that these characters inhabit?
Sometimes the framing emphasizes the industrial and military power of the Shinra corporation, as in one scene where Cloud moves through a shipyard, a barely visible speck, dwarfed by a massive airship looming above him. What Remake adds in immediacy, it lacks in the power of the sweeping grandeur of the original.
The challenge faced by the artists responsible for creating the environments of Final Fantasy 7 laid in how to make them feel alive, despite the limitations of pre-rendered backgrounds and a static camera. The team rose to this challenge with aplomb, understanding that subtle touches could go a long way toward making these places feel like more than just static images.
See that steam issuing forth above? One of my favorite tricks FF7 uses to make areas feel more alive. Both takes have value, and merit, and work best as companion pieces instead of a binary choice.
Finally, I appreciate that Final Fantasy 7 feels so inviting, especially when compared to Remake. I want as many people as possible to experience the enchantment that it offers, and I think the makers of the game did, too, and designed the game accordingly. Plus, even with a 3-person party, players could switch members as needed.
It also took a level of depth from debuffs such as Auron's own Break skills. As mentioned earlier, Final Fantasy X suffered from having overly difficult bosses that followed lengthy cutscenes.
Even the optional bosses , barring the Emerald and Ruby Weapons, offered a challenge without being too punishing. The Materia setups were in the player's hands and, as such, made bosses range from challenging to trivial. While some players were attached to the game's scene , it was perhaps the only standout tragedy.
Final Fantasy X , however, was not afraid to tug at heartstrings throughout the game. Final Fantasy X revealed devastating truths throughout its latter half. The entire game feels tragic once you learn the fates of key characters. With that being said, it isn't an exaggeration to say that Final Fantasy X has one of the best endings in the series. Shinra planned to take over the world with Mako while Sephiroth would destroy the world with Meteor.
They were given plenty of screen-time. Final Fantasy X had Seymour who was far less popular than Sephiroth. The overarching villain, Sin, was more of a being or force of nature while guided by a vessel, so to speak.
While that particular "villain" had his own development, the true, final evil appeared right at the very end. While Final Fantasy X doesn't offer the plethora of the Gold Saucer's mini-games, in exchange, it offers one big mini-game: Blitzball. Blitzball was used as a story element which also featured in both Tidus and Wakka's fighting styles.
At the time, a game that needed three whole discs seemed impossibly huge, and the final product showed you why Squaresoft had to ditch Nintendos cartridges for the CD-ROM format.
And though the graphics look laughably dated now, they were groundbreaking at the time, giving you an idea of what the PlayStation was capable of and permanently embedding Final Fantasy VII in your memory. And after you played it, you realized: Hey, this is a cool genre! Without Final Fantasy VII, you might have continued to stick to shooters, platformers, or whatever your preferred genre was, and missed out on the many amazing role-playing games to be released in the last 15 years.
Final Fantasy VII jumped right into the action, not wasting any time on character exposition and plot--at least, not right away. As more layers were peeled back, the story became more and more involved. With each new location explored, the plot thickened, though it never felt overly complicated. Throughout it all, Cloud and company were trying to evade the Shinra and defeat Sephiroth to achieve the seemingly unattainable goal of saving the planet, so there were constant sources of conflict.
And just when you think youve got it figured out, the storys twists and turns kept you guessing and held your attention from the first fight to the final battle--and long after. At first, FFVIIs characters seemed like complete clichs: the hardened mercenary with memory problems; the innocent girl who needed to be protected; the angry black dude; and the busty lady with an impossibly short skirt. Over time, however, you realized just how interesting these characters, and the rest of the games, really were.
They had backstories that were fascinating, tragic, and made sense of their motivations. Their histories fleshed them out and made them deep, and their roles within Final Fantasy VII built upon these stories.
Bits and pieces of each character were revealed slowly throughout the game, and by the end you really understood each party member, secondary character, and foe. Though debates about Materia vs. By equipping Materia to a characters weapons, the system tied together the physical and magical aspects of battle. This meant choosing a weapon upgrade was about more than sheer power; what if it was stronger but didnt have enough Materia slots?
What if it had many slots, but none of them were connected?
0コメント