#i want a remake that's the same story but expanded upon

[sunsetzer]

I cannot express enough how much I want a Final Fantasy VI remake.

[indiehorrorgamemovie]

isthefnafmovieout reviews the fnaf movie (SPOILERS)

Pre-movie thoughts (written 10/25):

I get to see it a day early! YAY!

I might have hyped this movie up in my brain a little too much, because I'm SUPER anxious.

The polarizing reviews i was seeing throughout the day were definitely a little nerve wracking! Lots of good and bad reviews, lots of weird contridicting statements. I saw lots of people complaining about the lore being "wrong" or whatever but... Eh. It has already been established that this movie won't have the same lore as the games, so I won't mind any lore changes. They're like the Silver Eyes books, in their own seperate canon but with similarities to the games.

Overall Im keeping my hopes reasonably high. Horror films and video game adaptations tend to get a bad wrap from even the fairest critics. I'm a die-heard fnaf fan, have been for all 9 years of its existence. If Dawko loves it then I will love it I think 🫡

Okay, now with that out of the way...

Spoiler free review, posted on my letterboxd:

Post-movie thoughts (written 10/26):

The way they incorporated Mike's dream sequences into the narrative was really interesting, how he tries to use his dreams to find out who took his brother. He and Abby were really sweet :) I like how their relationship drives the plot along, with how they befriend Abby but only as a front because they want her to "be like them," and how Mike is caught up in the past and realizes that he needs to focus on protecting Abby, not bringing his brother back. Its surprisingly emotional, i really resonated with their story. Josh Hutcherson and Piper Rubio both did well!

It's basically everything I expected, and I liked it! I think it's story was good, with its focus on childhood innocence.

Vanessa is great too! Different from her game counterpart, but thats okay! And the twist that she's actually William aftons daughter? Holy shit I gasped like I was watching a soap. Thats so interesting!! I loved how she just FELT suspicious. I know it's very different from the game lore, but I expected the movie to be, and I liked what they did! I got chills when Vanessa showed the picture of her and William to Mike and you could see her holding the plane that Mike's brother used to have.... my dad thought that was the creepiest part. Speaking of william btw...

Matthew Lillard, man. wow. What a great William Afton. They do some subtle implications that hes William in the beginning and if i didnt know it was him already i would've been surprised. He hams it up like he did with Stu Macher and it's great! I wish he was in it a little more, and they expanded a little more on Williams character through Vanessa, but yeah, he was good! I hope to see more of him in any sequels!

I wish the animatronics showed up a little more, thats probably my biggest critique or whatever. But they are so well made and cute. I liked how they befriended Abby, and that they rlly honed in on the animatronics being possessed by kids and that their violence is from William Aftons influence. I wish they went more into depth about how William influenced them though, and why it's all the pictures drawn of what happened that control their vision of what happened. What we did get from them though was so cool! Jim Henson did so well with these guys, they're so cute yet can be so scary.

The kills were pretty tame on the surface, as I expected, but some of the implications were quite disturbing to a point where it didn't rlly take away from it for me. Especially Max's, it gave me a "Ada in the laser room in the re4 seperate ways remake" vibes. Same with the security guards death to the faz-trap in the beginning.

There were some pacing issues, theyve definitely cut some things i wouldve liked to see, there was some goofiness (that fort making scene made me laugh so hard im sorry, it was cute though), and some story elements that needed a touch more expanding upon, but this movie was still really fun! For non-fans, honestly i dont know how they'reresponding as a whole besides those really weird reviews im seeing on rotten tomatoes and such, but I saw it with my dad, who knew very little going into it, and he liked it, especially the story with the missing kids! For fans... well, If you like fnaf, are are willing to forgive some lore changes for the sake of telling a coherent story, then you'll love it!

Also why was Matpat there lol. isthefnafmovieout, out. See you on the flipside.

[littlealeta]

The Remake/Sequel/Spin-off problem needs to be fixed

Many of us are tired of the remakes/sequels/spin-offs phase. Some of us might even be almost totally averse to them. But, I do want to get this off my chest in a proper blog, because I don’t think a lot of people have talked about how studios can scratch their franchise itch in a proper way. And also in a way that could’ve give them more respect than they get now.

Remake: Stuff That Actually Could've Been Better Or Expanded Upon

There are a lot of movies I’ve seen that have some clear potential underneath that never really got their chance to shine.

Examples being No Hard Feelings, The Boxtrolls, Ralph Breaks the Internet, The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. (They need to make another Thumbelina film anyway, it’s already been, what, at least 20 years at this point?) There’s also some anime that I think could use remakes, but Japan mostly keeps their paws off classics.

To explain why, I think these movies all have interesting premises and some kind of hook to them, but the execution turned out to be underwhelming. They're still fairly new, but maybe in another decade or so, they could be considered for a remake. But, really, I wouldn't mind hearing them being remade right now. As for expansion, something I’m thinking about is a TV show called Captain N: The Gamemaster.

I would like to see a remake or at least spin-off of that. It’s an 80s show about a guy who enters into a world of retro-gaming who can control stuff with a belt shaped like a NES controller. It’s been largely forgotten at this point, so bringing it back with newer games juxtaposed in with the retro games will also be a plus. The Great Mouse Detective also could’ve been made into a TV series.

Sequel: Stuff That Actually NEED A Sequel

I think a lot of people want sequels just to see their favorite characters again. But sometimes, that doesn’t always work, I mean look what we recently got.

All because of recent fan demand. The first movie, I believe, felt complete anyway.

There needs to be more sequels to anything that’s either ended on a cliffhanger, or could’ve used an expansion of the world and story.

Monsters vs. Aliens (another Dreamworks film and also highly underrated) ended off on a cliffhanger and could’ve used a sequel (the TV series unfortunately was underwhelming). Go back to the Madeline (Didn’t like the TV show for some reason, though but I did love the live-action one) or Eloise franchise (that had a ton of books that I don’t think got adapted). Bring those to the attention of the modern kids. Maybe go back to the Jumanji franchise WITH THE BOARD GAME and instead of being in a jungle, make it different like Zathura did where they’re like under the sea or in a desert or something.

For the spin-offs, I would kinda repeat the same things I’ve already said. Again, do spin-offs to expand the characters and/or the world. I can’t think of a movie or TV example that would work with this, so I’m just going to use a game example: Catherine.

A lot of the side characters in that one don’t get a lot of character development or depth and some of them had some interesting conflict and backstories that they were going through. I also would like to see the main character interacting with the other characters in more wholesome and complex ways outside of drinking, chatting and having conflict since we barely get any wholesomeness between them in the game. He can help out their problems and grow through each other. It would also show his bar posse as being more of friends than typical long-time acquaintances who just chill out in the bar every day.

I know studios won’t read this, but that’s what I wish would happen, even though a lot of it is most likely a pipe dream. But, you know me, it’s always fun to dream.

[elementalladymallorie]

Still thinking on Scooby Doo and rewrites/remakes and how I mentioned earlier about having the supernatural things be real too and how I wanted things like the Ghoul School and 13 ghosts to be mentioned and decided to expand on this.

I don't have a timeline thought out, so this is more just musing on how those things could be incorporated. Some might be more stuff that happen before the series happens that gets referenced/consequences later.

Like The reluctant Werewolf, Shaggy does racing occasionally as a hobby and still catches the attention of Dracula who needs a werewolf for his monster races. So Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, who I don't know quite how would be introduced but maybe it's time to bring him back and get him a second chance, and Shaggy's at the time girlfriend Googie get whisked off and have to race to get Shaggy turned back. When it's all said and done, Scooby and Shaggy immediately tell the guys what happened. Velma's immediately working to make sure Shaggy's back to fully human, if he wants to be of course, Daphne makes a new friend out of Googie, who breaks up mutually with Shaggy later though they remain good solid friends, and Fred wants monster race lessons cause you never know when those skills come in handy. Next time they meet Dracula, Shaggy mentions the incident as way to get Drac's reluctant help, and maybe even has to get turned into a werewolf once more to help solve the current mystery.

Quick side note on Scrappy. Give me this puppy who shows up and upon meeting Scooby calls him Uncle. They might be related, they might not be but they appear to be the same unidentified species of anunnaki descendant/eldrictch being/fae/monster/whatever they are as Scooby and they know Scrappy isn't his son but that's about the extent of it. He's eager, scrappy, and a little reckless but the gang help steer him away from the more dangerous actions. He's not allowed to classes with the gang because he's a puppy, so he's too young and has to stay home a lot, but he still manages to get up to his own adventures. He's good at offering what seems like 'obvious' solutions that the gang missed/overlooked when they're going over cases while he's in the room because he misses a lot of the theatrics they had to deal with.

13 Ghosts: Daphne wants to travel and look into other stories that may lead to creatures they'll encounter and work on a story for the school newspaper, Shaggy and Scooby go along for a chance to try new foods, a break, and to get Scrappy some more world experience. This would happen during some kind of school break, likely summer or winter. A chest accidentally gets opened, ghosts are released, and they meet Flim-Flam, who's still a little scammer and a clever little child that gets on with Scrappy like a house on fire. He introduces them to Vincent Van Ghoul, a warlock who poses as an actor to keep his talents hidden. Vincent assists them, but makes them all swear to keep it under wraps because revealing things like this to the whole world of normal humans maybe dangerous, and would not be the best look for his actor persona, but that's a minor point. They caught 12 of the ghosts, but the 13th evaded them for too long and the gang had to return home. It's Daphne, Scooby, and Shaggy's first experience with ghouls that are more intentionally malicious and consciously choosing to harm people rather than misunderstandings or fear based responses. They can't tell Fred and Velma, though they want to, and the other two take it with grace despite curiosity. Scrappy constantly texts/emails/face times Flim Flam, and Scooby, Shaggy, and Daphne make sure to keep in contact with him as well. All seems well, and like their promise can be kept until that missing 13th ghost starts making trouble, and it's time to finally collect all the ghosts.

I do have more of this, but this is long so I'm splitting it into two posts. I've got Ideas for at least Ghoul School, Zombie Island, and Alien Invaders.

[exceptionalzed]

Ranking all Dcoms I have Seen

Hello friends!!

I-I’m…. alive?

So sorry for the long hiatus but, well, you know how school is (it kinda sucks)

Anyway, I’ve decided to start branching out from pure Z-O-M-B-I-E-S content, so for the return, I’m going to be ranking all dcoms I have personally seen with a little snippet of my thoughts about them. Alright,

1. Zombies 3

Amazing, beautiful, absolutely perfect, un ironically hilarious, great songs, out of pocket story. I love it.

2. High School Musical 2

Same as previous, but more gay and slightly less interesting characters.

3. Descendants

Best descendants movie by far, but Mal and Evie > Mal and Ben for sure. Still, a good watch overall. A really interesting and dynamic main cast too.

4. Teen Beach Movie

Very funny, great music. The only reason it’s below Descendants is because I viscerally hate the two main characters.

5. Adventures in Babysitting

I actually liked the Disney remake, which I didn’t expect to. It may just be because I really like Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson but who knows.

6. Princess Protection Program

Really liked this movie when I was a kid, although looking back I don’t really understand why. I wouldn’t want to watch it nowadays but I still think it’s good.

7. Cow Belles

Good movie, my mom and I watched it together a lot. Reminds me a bit too much of Liv and Maddie though.

8. Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!

Honestly a comfort movie for me. It’s not exactly “good” in the slightest but I watched it a lot when I felt sick or anxious so whenever I watch it today it tends to make me feel safe. Also I really liked Good Luck Charlie.

9. High School Musical

I mean it’s alright. A little overrated considering there’s only like… 4(?) good characters.

10. Radio Rebel

Pretty funny at some parts but also just suuuupeer dumb. It’s fine.

11. 16 Wishes

Honestly everything Debby Ryan starred in kinda blurs together for me. Also this one apparently isn’t technically a dcom? It’s okay though.

12. Zombies 2

Good, but not Zombies at it’s best. That’s pretty much all.

13. Descendants 2

Okay descendants… you’re getting worse. You can stop here. The only thing I really remember liking about this movie is Mal and Evie’s relationship getting expanded upon.

14. Zombies

Yeah it’s okay. Not near as good as 2 and 3 but like, I’d watch it happily on my deathbed or whatever.

15. Descendants 3

Had one really good song with Mal and Hades and that’s about it.

16. Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie

Pretty good, actually. I really enjoy the Russo’s family dynamic so seeing them in stressful situations like this and how they responded was fun.

17. Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure

Worse than all the regular HSM movies, but it stars Sharpay so obviously it’s still alright.

18. Cloud 9

I think I remember liking this movie solely cause it had dogs in it.

19. Camp Rock

It’s… okay.

20. Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension

Yeah I didn’t like this movie. I mean, like I could watch it again and be pretty happy but I really just did not enjoy the plot. Reminds me of that one futuristic sci-fi Jessie episode but worse.

21. Frenemies

Uh… I think I liked this movie? I dunno it was okay.

22. How to Build a Better Boy

This movie creeped me out so much when I first watched it. Will never be watching it again. Had a nice song though.

23. Bad Hair Day

I don’t remember much about this movie other than that I didn’t hate it but like, I also reeeaaaally didn’t like it. So…

24. Zapped

This movie also creeped me out, less than How to Build a Better Boy did, but the plot of this one somehow was worse.

25. Teen Beach 2

Everything about this movie is good except for the ending. It’s like Bayonetta 3, amazing until the ending destroys every last bit of happiness your soul contained.

26. The Cheetah Girls 1, 2, and One World

I don’t actually know if these are good movies or not, I literally just don’t remember one single detail from these movies other than than that Raven-Symoné was in them (and don’t get me wrong, I love Raven-Symoné). I watched all of these movies one day when I was sick out of school and then never watched them again.

27. Invisible Sister

I think I fell asleep halfway through this one? I don’t know, but I’m not a huge fan of the two main actors either.

28. The Suite Life Movie

Literally so bad. Look, I’m not normally a fan of movie specials for shows, but this was the absolute worst. I wish I had never watched it.

29. Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam

Horrid. Horrid Acting. Horrid characters. Horrid Music. Horrid story. I hate it.

Anyway, there’s some stuff I would probably move around if I had seen more of these movies recently, but some I legit haven’t seen since elementary school.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Leatherface (2017)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

No long-running slasher series can resist telling us what happened before the killer got their favourite weapon, superpower, or iconic mask. These misguided efforts at expanding the characters always disappoint. There are now two prequels in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. The first, released in 2006, told us what happened before the 2003 remake. Now, the 1974 Tobe Hooper classic has received the same treatment. This is not a good movie but for what it’s worth, it’s the best of these “slasher origin” movies we’ve ever received. Before I tell you why, what’s this movie about?

In 1955, Verna Sawyer’s sadistic children are taken away from her and sent to a mental institution by Sheriff Hartman (Stephen Dorff), who believes the family is responsible for the death of his daughter. Ten years later, nurse Elizabeth White (Vanessa Grasse) and patients Jackson (Sam Strike) & Bud (Sam Coleman) are taken hostage by Ike (James Bloor) and Clarice (Jessica Madsen) following a riot that sees many patients and staff killed. As they travel the countryside, leaving a trail of violence in their wake, the police close in.

With the children’s names changed upon admission to the Gorman House Youth Reformery, neither the characters nor the audience know which of the three men is Jud Sawyer, the boy who will one day grow up to become Leatherface. Astute viewers can probably deduce who it is, but there’s still a mystery as we watch the events unfold and wonder what will turn them into the killer we know. This uncertainty is what elevates this film past the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Child, Rob Zombie’s Halloween, 2011’s The Thing, Hannibal Rising and other horror prequels. At least this one has ambition. It wants to tell a new story. In fact, if it weren't for one scene towards the end, you probably wouldn’t know Leatherface is a prequel, and I mean this in a good way.

Directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, along with writer Seth M. Sherwood have made a film that stands on its own… except when it doesn’t. In the opening scene, we see a young Jud receive his first chainsaw and you will roll your eyes. Still, it’s a breath of fresh air compared to what we've been subjected to by this series before. As of 2017, there are 8 Texas Chainsaw movies. Most of them simply regurgitate what we’ve seen before. Their stories are so bad they would need at least 4 passes through the ringer to become worthy of viewing… and at the end of the process, you’d just have the original movie so they’re utterly pointless. Revise this story 4 times and who knows? I know it sounds like a backhanded compliment but you don’t understand just how awful some of the TCM movies have been.

So it’s the cream of the crap essentially. I appreciated many things this film does but I still would never call it good. A full moon turns to a quarter moon and then a full moon again within the span of a few minutes. The evil characters are so evil they feel out of place. Everyone else is often too unlikeable for you to care what will happen next. The gore is excessive, certain characters or plot points are introduced and then disappear as if forgotten. Ultimately, by being a prequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, all this movie does is remind you of a better movie you’d rather be watching.

And so, we’ve finally come to the end of the series. What a downhill ride it’s been. If I were to rank them all from worst to best, I’d go #8: Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. #7: Texas Chainsaw 3D. #6 Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. #5 Texas Chainsaw Massacre IV: The Next Generation. #4 Texas Chainsaw Massacre II. #3 Leatherface (not too bad, eh? Though this mostly speaks to the inhumane wretchedness of the other movies rather than this one’s quality). #2 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and #1 - of course - the original. Now, let’s hope we can finally put the series to rest on this “high note”. (On Blu-ray, May 31, 2019)

[mk-wizard]

I HATE PREQUELS. Hear me out.

Hi, friends. Like the title says, I hate prequels. At least, I hate them 95% of the time. I find prequels tend to worse than cheap sequels you can just retcon and I think deep down, a lot of people feel the same way.

Hear me out as to why prequels stink most of the time. Be warned that there are spoilers ahead and... I'm not going to sugarcoat anything.

1- We already know what's going to happen. - And it is especially depressing if we know the hero is going to lose in the end. Plus, what is the point of wasting my time playing a game or watching a movie when I already know exactly what is going to happen? Unless the story is going to expand upon the lore and introduce us to new characters whose own stories may continue like the Clone Wars tTV series did, what's the point? We already know Zack is going to die, we already know the Scorpion King goes bad and sells his soul, we already know Guile's best friend Charlie gets killed by M. Bison, we already know that Big Boss goes bad, and so on. I would must rather take a look at a story that will surprise me.

2- They ruin mystery elements that make the fiction fun. - For example, one of the things that made the xenomorph from the Alien series, so terrifying is that we didn't know where it came from. For all we know, that thing literally came from the underworld. But then, the prequels came along and told us that the xenomorphs are nothing more than bio-engineered monsters which makes them kind of dull now. And it's not the only fun mystery that got ruined by prequels. I didn't really want to know Big Boss's story in Metal Gear because finding out that he really was just some guy makes him less threatening. We really have to take back the art of leaving some things to the imagination.

3- Nobody asked for them. - Pardon the harshness, but it's the truth. They don't answer any questions that are relevant to the series and sometimes, they don't even follow the theme that the series has like the Scorpion King here. What place does a film about an ancient Egyptian warmonger have in a film series about mummies? It's like making a prequel TV series about Peter Parker in his elementary school days where he is just an average human being with no spider powers. You just get a high school sitcom in a lore that's supposed to be about a superhero. Don't do this, people. Don't waste your time on details that do not matter.

4- The media already has a beginning that started everything. - The Hobbit was the exception not the standard. Series like Metal Gear, Predator, Alien, Castlevania, Resident Evil and more already have beginnings that not only started everything. They are iconic. Even if things happened that lead up to that moment, it was THAT MOMENT where the story really began. You will only find THAT MOMENT in those first instalments not any prequel that you attempt to go back in time for.

5- They stink. - I am about to say something very harsh, but... 95% of the time, just like bad sequels and remakes, prequels are someone's attempt to rewrite an established story their way instead of writing a good story that may open up other possibilities or give an opportunity for the lore to be expanded. In other words, they written out of ego and not out a genuine love for the art or lore, so they wind up failing. A lot of these people don't even know the lore that well to begin with and it's clear by their work. Why are we letting them try to tell us the history if they don't know the present? No thanks.

Anyway, this is my hot take on why I hate prequels and think that 95% of the time, they do not work. What is your opinion? Let me know.

Thank you for reading and as always, stay safe.

[starfriday]

*HIT is not like those usual remakes that audiences get to see these days, says Sailesh Kolanu, the director of the film*

Sailesh Kolanu is a director-writer known for the original HIT: The First Case. The film rose to fame for its gripping storyline. The audiences were so intrigued by the film that soon they will witness HIT: The 2nd Case in Telugu. In order to keep spreading such engaging tales, Sailesh decided to expand the reach and make a Hindi Version of this original Telugu film.

When people started debating on the whole North vs South Cinema and HIT is one of the many ships in this sea, Sailesh explained, “This is a remake, I agree. However, it's not like those usual remakes that audiences get to see. Honestly speaking, this is my personal belief that remakes should only be done by an individual who did the original film. However, let me underline some important facts about this film which usually happens in very rare scenarios where the original director, writer and even the original cinematographer, Mr S. Manikandan. Even the editor of the original HIT, Garry BH has also edited this HIT too. Dil Raju sir was one of the biggest distributors of the Telugu version and also felt that we can showcase this film to the Hindi audiences by increasing our scale and by giving it a little Hindi tweak, touching upon relevant topics by giving the same high into the Hindi audiences in theatres then it will be a great work of art. When the original technical team is retelling the story to a wider audience, I feel we should have a different term for it. May be an original recreation !!”

He further added, “Thrillers like this are meant to be watched in a theatre with an immersive sound and visual experience. That’s how the original was experienced. I wanted the nation to enjoy this movie like that.”

HIT: The First Case starring Sanya Malhotra and Rajkummar Rao has already captivated a lot of audiences since the release of its trailer. Fans are eager to unravel the mystery behind the life of Vikram.

_Gulshan Kumar and T-Series present in association with Dil Raju Productions HIT: The First Case. Directed by Dr. Sailesh Kolanu, the film is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Dil Raju, Krishan Kumar, and Kuldeep Rathore. The film starring Rajkummar Rao and Sanya Malhotra hits the theatres on the 15th of July, 2022._

[shrimpmandan]

Okay I’m tired and in pretentious animation nerd mode but like, The Lorax movie makes me so mad. Not because it exists -- I’m well aware Dr. Seuss didn’t want any of his properties to be turned into movies but that’s besides the point -- but because of the sheer wasted potential for a powerful political, environmental, and economic commentary regarding the state of modern corporate America.

The original Lorax is timeless, don’t get me wrong. It’s a story that stands true even today and transcends generations and time periods. It’s a wonderfully written and animated commentary that doesn’t hold its punches, and every single one of its criticisms of capitalistic greed and selfishness still hold true to this day. How greed warps not only your environment, but yourself. As time’s gone on these issues have gotten worse, and even still new issues have been brought up, especially in regards to the state of our environment and how money and power corrupts people. The Lorax is even more relevant now more than ever, and Illumination’s garbage cash grab only serves to highlight that.

To get the elephant in the room out of the way -- yes Biggering is one of the best songs I’ve heard in my life no exaggeration I adore it in every aspect that’s not what this is about. It’s about how the themes of the Lorax are still relevant and could even be expanded upon but they just weren’t. This timeless classic is now soiled with the same corporate greed it was criticizing and it just makes me so, so frustrated with the state of modern animation, storytelling, and human self-awareness and modesty. The Lorax was only adapted for money, and was watered down ON PURPOSE because Illumination KNOWS the messages the original send all apply to THEM. THEY are the very thing, the very idea, that The Lorax criticized way before the company’s inception. That very fact threatened them, so what’d they do? Made a watered down, insulting, black-and-white, meaningless piece of garbage that had any scraps of artistic integrity strangled out of it for the sake of simplicity. For the sake of making the audience -- primarily children -- comfortable. To allow them to not think. The very act of thinking is a threat to propaganda, ESPECIALLY blindly pro-capitalist propaganda, so the last thing Illumination wants their audience to do is to think. Think about all the trees that died to make their posters. All the waste their merchandising causes. All the cheap, shallow, fake, heartless, soulless, lies they sell their audience with their manipulative, artistically devoid schlock they churn out on a constant basis. Simply put, Illumination couldn’t remake The Lorax. The Lorax goes against everything their company represents. I don’t think ANY major film studio today is exempt from this.

That being said -- I’d love to see a small, passionate team expand on the original Lorax. That’s not to say The Lorax wasn’t enough. Just that, as times have gone by and its messages have become ever more relevant, there’s further commentary to be made, both regarding the state of our environment and the state of our economy, and how greed has warped and destroyed countless people and lives.

Think about it. The Onceler at the end of The Lorax was left with nothing. His family abandoned him, his business was destroyed, the world around him turned bleak with the pollution HE caused. The Lorax gave up on him and left long ago, and now this husk of a man is left waiting, hoping that one day The Lorax will return and that the world will be healthy again. His unquenchable thirst for more left him with nothing. You can’t tell me that isn’t a perfect metaphor for the state of capitalism and how truly, utterly disconnected the 1% is. Even back in 1972, this was an apparent issue. 

The planet we have right now will die if things don’t change. Greed will only become more and more of a corrupting force until it becomes humanity’s undoing. The works of Dr. Seuss are slowly but steadily being left behind, at a time where they’re needed more than ever.

The Lorax deserved better than a dated, shallow, disconnected pisstake on its grave.

[gramarye]

A summary of a Higurashi Gou interview

Hello! I made a long-ish summary of the recent interview Ryukishi07 gave about Higurashi Gou.

You may read the original Japanese interview here!

Spoilers for Higurashi Gou.  He touches upon the anime's themes, the creation of it, voice actors, the future of the series, connection to Umineko, etc.

↓ ↓ ↓ A summary in the read more below  ↓ ↓  ↓

- He came up with the idea while having tea with an anime industry person, saying "I wish I could make it an anime again" and they responded with "If it's a remake, why not transform it into a new work in the middle?"

“So I started coming up with new ideas for Higurashi.

- It wasn't what he originally envisioned. He wanted to respond to fans that said that they want to "erase their memory and read Higurashi for the first time again". Making it a different story would serve that purpose.

- When asked if he found it hard to write Higurashi again, he said they were "back in his heart immediately".

- When asked about why Satoko is the protagonist, he says it's because Satoko was much like a "damsel in distress" in Tatarigoroshi with Keiichi being the "prince", so he wanted Satoko to be a real protagonist now. He wanted to really dig deeper into Satoko's mind this time.

Interviewer: Satoko has grown into quite an unexpectedly impulsive child... R07: Ahaha, right. I've already shown the duality of Rena and Shion, so I wasn't sure if Satoko's shift would surprise anyone, but I'm happy it did.

- He said the director and animators understand him well, coming up with suggestions that he already had in mind and only had to correct a bit. He felt as if he'd bought 200 kg of tuna (expensive lol) and handed it over to the animators, and they did a great job with it (as a chef would).

Interviewer: Akio Watanabe's character designs sure are nice, they feel fresh yet nostalgic. R07: Yes, I wanted someone who could make Satoko look as good as possible. (especially fangs)

- The voice cast is the same to create a sense of familiarity. He did not inform them about the plot beforehand, and Hanyuu's seiyuu Horie Yui was shocked that she appeared in episode 2, saying "isn't it too early for me to appear?"

- He did not tell Yukari Tamura (Rika's seiyuu) about her role, but he did consult Mika Kanai (Satoko) and told her "it'll be quite tough to act Satoko this time".

Interviewer: All episodes are broadcast on TV, and people are making a lot of theories. How do you feel about it? R07: I think it's the ideal way to experience Higurashi. Back in 2006, it wasn't quite so easy to access social networking services.  I think it's great we live in a time where exchanging opinions casually is easy.

Interviewer: There are certainly many people watching it, from core fans to first-timers. R07: That makes me very happy. Higurashi was always meant to be less of a traditional mystery all about the murderers and the tricks they used, and more about the investigation and process itself. However, when it first aired, it really was seen as a game of guessing. I appreciate discussing our opinions and communicating over seeking what is the right or wrong answer.

R07: "I think social media has changed the way we enjoy content, and while it makes me happy there are people who are seriously thinking about (the logistics), I'm happy there are many ways to enjoy it.

- He says there are people who already have it all figured out, but whether or not your theory is right or wrong, the most important thing is to have fun while thinking about it. Wrong or not, it is a wonderful thing.

- He loves the old Higurashi anime and appreciates what Studio DEEN did, and does not want people to compare them and say "I liked this better" nor to make them uncomfortable.

- On the connection of Higurashi and Umineko: "I think people easily misunderstand it. Higurashi is a work that is complete within itself, you don't need Umineko to enjoy it. It's just that when you add Umineko to it, it may give you a new interesting perspective to think about.

- They compare it to Osamu Tezuka's "Phoenix". They are independent stories, but the same characters appear in the stories. In his head, they are a connected integrated world, but that's just how he views it. So, Umineko is not necessary, but of course, he would like you to read all of his works.

- He discusses how things go differently between the characters in the arcs, a tragedy occurs nonetheless, ie. Keiichi handing the doll over to Mion but things going awry regardlses. It's all original from Nekodamashi-hen on. He likens the end of the anime to how Matsuribayashi explains how Takano came to be the way she is, but this time, it explains Satoko's perspective. He says Satoko is certainly a hindrance to the future Rika wants, but he wants you to try and understand her emotions.

- The themes of the previous games were communication and relying on your friends, but this time, he does not want to reveal the themes out loud.

- He says the series is not over, and that he would love to expand on it if he ever came up with more Higurashi related ideas.

- One idea for a new story is Keiichi's children.

That’s it. Thank you for reading!

[zentherainbowunicorn]

hey, bet you've got a whole bunch of asks just floating in out of your inbox like this already, buuut do you think you'll ever finish everlasting party? or even just do writing for the fandom again? your writing pieces were all so captivating and so beautifully characterized and JUST INCREDIBLE. even if you decide not to get back into writing it mind maybe giving some hints on how you planned for the story to go BECAUSE IM LITERALLY DYING TO KNOW. binge read the whole thing in one night and can't get over it!

You know, you’ve given me a great excuse to finally write a post about this anon, ‘cause I have a surprising amount to say on the topic ^^ But first, thank you so much for your kind words! I do look back fondly at the things I wrote for the Mystic Messenger fandom and I’m really glad you’ve enjoyed reading them as well.

So, here’s a Q&A-style answer to things I get asked about Everlasting Party and what I’m doing in the MysMe fandom nowadays (after the cut):

Why did you stop writing Everlasting Party?

At the time I believe I’d gotten rather overwhelmed with school work and decided to put off writing the next chapter until I felt like I had things better under control. Weeks turned into months, and because I hadn’t played Mystic Messenger in a while I started to doubt my ability to even finish the story I’d intended to tell. It became easier to just leave it “until I felt like coming back”.

But don’t worry too much about me - I’m doing pretty great nowadays, and I’ve even done a bunch of writing again in the last couple years (just not for MysMe, sadly).

Are you still in the MysMe fandom?

Yes, I am! I don’t post on here so much, but if you’ve been following my Mysterious Messenger posts at all (see the pinned post on this blog) you’ll know that I’ve been working on a Mystic Messenger-style engine since 2018. I tended to work on it in bursts throughout 2018 and early 2019 but for most of 2020 and all of 2021 I’ve been making daily updates to it adding new features, fixing bugs, and maintaining the code. It’s even got a novel-length wiki to go with it lol. I’m also collaborating with a group of people working on a free fangame that will use the engine.

Are you going to come back to Everlasting Party?

All right so this is actually a couple of questions in one. First, do I want to come back to EP? The answer is yes. It haunts me that I’ve left it unfinished and I sometimes get messages or comments about it and I want very dearly to have it finished so I don’t have this loose thread dangling about ^^;;

Will I come back to finish EP? I don’t have a concrete answer for this one because I hate making promises I can’t keep, but I’ll give you some information on my process for this:

I keep telling myself if I remake all the chatrooms for EP with my program (mentioned above), I have to finish writing EP.

I feel like I need to replay the games to re-familiarize myself with canon to properly write the characters again, but don’t really have the same drive to go through all the chats

It’s been a while and my writing style has actually evolved quite a bit (but for the better, I hope!). If I finish EP, there are earlier chapters I’d like to expand upon and potentially modify to flow better. I do worry though that earlier readers might not like the way I change it, but also, I have no idea how many of those people would come back to read the ending, really, anyway.

The good news, though:

I actually wrote 25k on EP during Camp NaNo in July 2020

This is EP’s current word count in my drafts (unedited):

EP is also no longer constrained by my ability (and patience) to make chatrooms at all anymore since I can generate them in mere minutes with my program rather than painstakingly editing them frame-by-frame in Photoshop

I would really like the satisfaction of finishing this story :P

So in summary anon: I am cautiously optimistic about the fate of Everlasting Party. And I actually adore messages like this that let me know people have enjoyed it and would be willing to come back if it was completed! ♥ The odds of me finishing it do, in fact, increase with each person who tells me this, ‘cause part of my worry is that it would be pointless anyway since it’s been several years and what if it doesn’t live up to what people imagined it would be...

Basically, even though I’ve written several additional unposted chapters of EP, I really want to have the whole story complete before uploading again so I don’t get anyone’s hopes up. That said, it’s also pointless to sit on another 25k+ of words if I don’t finish it, so... well, how’s this: if I don’t finish EP by 2022, then I’ll upload what I have written and write a note on my plans so people like you can have some closure.

Thank you again for this message! And if anyone reading this has read Everlasting Party and is also interested in the ending, I’d love if you’d send a message or comment my way with your thoughts ♥

[outbythehighwind]

Aerith & Tifa: Visual Design

An Analysis of the Final Fantasy VII Heroines [Part 1]

This is the first part of my in-depth analysis on FF7′s heroines, where they are depicted as perfect foils to one another. For those who don’t know, a foil is a character who contrasts with another and simultaneously highlights the qualities of that other character. Foils can range from protagonists & antagonists to, in the case of the FF7 girls, very close friends. In exploring this particular writing technique, I will examine their differences and similarities, friendship, relationships to Cloud and Sephiroth, and their differing but equally important roles as heroines in the overall story. Before starting though, I want to mention one thing: I adore both characters, and Tifa and Aerith are to me the exemplary role models of fictional heroines.

Now let us begin with the first thing we are introduced to: their visual designs. (Note that visual design, like narrative, is a tool that can be purposefully accurate and/or purposefully misleading. This should be kept in mind throughout the entire analysis, for FF7 - to no exaggeration - gets more than the average game's pleasure out of tricking, subverting and astonishing it's audience.) Now, onto our beloved flower girl...

AERITH

Aerith’s visual design, at first glance, is one of a meek and kindly girl. Her long, sleeveless dress, pearl pink in color, elicits an air of grace, of softness and serenity. She appears gentle and pure. These qualities are enhanced by the matching pink ribbon in her hair, which adds an additional purity to the character – one of youthful girliness, evoking a naive separation from the gigantic world around her.

Accompanying the dress and ribbon is a short sleeve crop jacket. And instead of enhancing this grace and naivety, its crimson shade shows quite the opposite. Red is a bold and brazen color. Coupled with the 90’s crop-style of the jacket, it enforces strength and vigilance. The loud (and somewhat rebellious) qualities of her jacket countervail the quiet elements of her dress and ribbon. They are a contrasting balance, as we will soon find out, of Aerith’s personality. She is gentle and pure, but she is no softie. She has complete confidence in herself.

These contrasting qualities are connected in the fact that red and pink are proximate colors. While the dress and jacket themselves are from two different worlds, the colors go together. Moreover, red and pink are the colors that represent love. Mixed together, they create ‘hot pink’ – a color used to communicate playfulness. A beautiful metaphor for both Aerith’s love for all life and her playful, sassy personality.

Moving on to her footwear, we find an even sharper contrast. One would expect that a person who so fashionably marries grace and strength would have stylish footwear to match. Yet here is Aerith with a pair of grimy, commonplace boots. While the dress, jacket and ribbon communicate her nature and personality, these grimy, commonplace boots inform the player of the life she is leading – the life of a girl who has grown up in the slums. These grimy, commonplace boots are the wise and fitting footwear to get by.

Aerith’s boots and hair are the same shade of brown, framing the vibrant personality her outfit presents. In addition to the bright, lively clothing, her hair is a standout feature of her character. And there is another character that shares this feature. Aerith’s trademark bangs share an almost-identical design to Sephiroth’s, an allusion to her in-every-sense enemy foil. Not only do the pair share similarities in their hair, but also in clothing: Sephiroth’s collar parallels Aerith’s jacket; his wrist-cuffs parallel Aerith’s bracelets; his cloak parallels the length of her dress; and his eyes – although mako-induced – are an even deeper green than Cloud’s, in direct match to Aerith’s.

Their bright green eyes further represent their foil-roles in relation to the external plot of FF7 – the plot concerned with the Planet. Aerith’s eyes are green with life, representing her connection with the Planet. Sephiroth, of course, holds a connection too, though his Mako-induced green is not his authentic color, portraying him as the false ‘savior’ he acclaims himself to be, in contrast to the true savior that is Aerith.

To see Aerith and Sephiroth’s designs as directly antithetical to one another, consider their concepts below, with Aerith’s weapon and hair trailing right while Sephiroth’s weapon and hair trails left – like a mirror image. Also, notice Aerith’s bright, vibrant design against Sephiroth’s dark, monochromatic design - a visual display of life and light against darkness. But more on Sephiroth later.

There is no FF7 character with a brighter visual design than Aerith – fittingly, for she is the party’s light. In the remake, her outfit is much the same, if not expanded upon. The jacket reaches her hips rather than waist, and the boots are black, yet about as commonplace as the original brown boots. The notable difference is her dress. The remake fits Aerith in a looser, frilly dress, which actually enhances her grace and creates a more deceptive air of naive youthfulness, much like the longer crop jacket further enhances her boldness.

TIFA

There are two roles incorporated into Tifa’s visual design: Tifa the barkeep; and Tifa the monk (that is, a martial artist of FF-verse). We will begin with the former, the first role introduced when the player meets her in Seventh Heaven.

Tifa’s barkeep design consists of black forearm sleeves matching a black skirt that is held up by suspenders. With her hair tucked behind her left ear, a teardrop earring is visible. Immediately, one gets the sense of warmness and invitation they would associate with a hostess. The skirt and suspenders appeal to the sensuous aspect of the design while the sleeve and earring give off an aura of classiness. Overall, an attraction is formed between Tifa and player – that sense of warmness and invitation drawing the player toward her. This attraction is enhanced by her long, dark hair and warm, wine-hued eyes. Not only is the color of Tifa’s eyes a clever nod to her literal bar-hosting, but it alludes to what her bar-hosting metaphorically symbolizes – a nurturing motherliness accentuated by their warmth. Not only is the player drawn in by the clothing she dons, but Tifa’s natural features are what inaugurates the invitation.

Next is the role of monk. Padded gloves and boots match the dark red shade of Tifa’s eyes, coupling her warmth and hospitality with strength. Strength and its associated qualities – firmness, power, intensity – are usually found in opposition to tenderness. But manifested in these items of clothing that are the same color as the defining embodiment of the latter (Tifa’s eyes), strength and tenderness are bridged together. Tifa is a fighter fueled by compassion. Tifa is a fighter who fights to protect. A matching dark red band ties the ends of her locks together to keep them collected, and on her left elbow and boot are armored guards, enhancing her aura of strength. Finally, she wears an ordinary white tank top for practicality in movement.

Put together with the elements of her bartender design, Tifa’s fighting gear gives her an unconventionally unique appearance: a smash-’em-if-required barkeep; a drink-serving monk. This overall appearance has an appropriate balance between allure and profession. It is attractive without being voluptuous. It is welcoming without hiding the fact that she could easily kick one’s ass if need be. And across her entire visual design, the two roles are in equilibrium. The player is drawn in to her design in the one sense, and then they are let in on what she is physically capable of. In other words, Tifa’s visual design uses its every component to give the player insight on her character. At the same time, however, it purposefully masks a great deal.

Accompanying this ‘smash-’em barkeep, drink-serving monk’ design so centered on conveying its dual-role aspects, are two items that educate the more observant player on Tifa’s circumstances. One of these has already been mentioned and is the classiest element of her design, while the other – which will likely go unnoticed – is the most ordinary. The former, Tifa’s aforementioned earring, is in the shape of a tear, subtly reflecting her past of sorrows and heartache. Yet it is her outfit’s grandest, most expensive item; this past of sorrows and heartache is what enabled her to become strong while remaining compassionate for others. Being a single teardrop on only one ear signifies how Tifa deals with emotions – the emotions she, as her name suggests, locks away in her heart. One drop for herself, the basic remembrance, the fuel, is all she outwardly allows.

Then we have the most ordinary item – a pair of woolly black socks. These socks are so subtle that even the exceptionally observant player might miss them, yet they are the single item that appeals to neither monk nor barkeep. They are distinctly… Tifa – Tifa the ordinary. Every other element is inch-perfect on what it communicates, yet here is a pair of ordinary socks that look as though they were thrown on in a morning’s rush. They give her this every-girl, neighborly quality which the player will be distracted from until the truth comes to light, with Tifa’s centrality and intimacy in the internal plot being revealed – the plot concerned with saving Cloud.

Speaking of literal neighborly vibes and intimacy, it is worth mentioning in brief that certain elements of Tifa’s outfit share similarity with Cloud’s. Both wear two metal guards only on their left side (Tifa on her elbow and boot and Cloud on his shoulder and wrist), a subtle allusion to their being ‘half’-selves on the surface (Cloud with his Zack-delusion and Tifa with her hidden feelings). Cloud too wears an earring in his left ear – a studded one, signifying, like Tifa’s teardrop, a certain brokenness of self. In Advent Children, both wear a black sleeveless vest with a high zip collar, a black cape, black boots (notice that Tifa has now replaced her trademark red) and a wolf symbol (on Cloud’s badge and Tifa’s ring) – a symbol associated specifically with Cloud. I mention these details because of Cloud’s centrality to Tifa’s story and vice versa, which will later be discussed in her role as heroine.

Tifa’s design for the remake is a nice though slight variation that fits in with the more realistic aesthetic. Her skirt has pleated segments, making for more realistic movements during combat, and her abs are toned, further enforcing her strength and perseverance in protecting her loved ones. Her black thigh-highs are an additional element, complimenting her forearm sleeves.

Despite the subtle, throw-‘em-on-in-a-hurry socks being foregone, Tifa’s remake outfit perfectly balances her barkeep and monk roles. The omission of such a neutralizing feature works even better with regard to Tifa’s character, in my opinion, for her true thoughts and feelings will be hidden for much of the game. Thus we are led astray, and the narrative will constantly push us further and further away from her inner emotions hidden beneath these two outward roles.

By visual design alone, and in the narrative that will follow, the player is led to believe Tifa has complete confidence in herself. But appearance of course, like narrative, can be deceiving.

SUMMARY

Straight away, by visual design, we have two heroines who are each a blend of multiple characteristics, yet not fitting a particular trope. They are completely unique in their own right, exemplifying both relatable and admirable traits.

Aerith, who we expect to be the meek and youthfully naive girl at first glance, embodies an undeniable self-confidence that compliments her kindness. Tifa, who looks extremely confident on appearance, has an emotional shyness masked by two bold outward roles. Aerith is the vibrant light who guides outer world adventure; Tifa is the inviting warmth who makes one feel at home. Aerith bridges the attributes of grace and toughness; Tifa balances the qualities of compassion and strength. While both exemplify these heroic traits by their very design, they are - however subtly shown - struggling slum girls.

[aitaikimochi]

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Ultimania Book Interview with Nomura, Kitase, and Nojima

This is the full interview from the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Ultimania Book where Director Tetsuya Nomura, Producer Yoshinori Kitase, and Scenario Writer Kazushige Nojima discuss the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, talking about how the game’s development, ending secrets, and more! Enjoy~

PART 1: This is the fifth installment within the Compilation of FFVII.

—When did the FFVII Remake project start?

Kitase: Actually, this project has been in existence for a very long time.

Nomura: When we developed the Compilation of FFVII, the installments included Advent Children, Before Crisis, Crisis Core, and Dirge of Cerberus, so we knew that we wanted to make a fifth installment. However, we were a bit short on resources as I was the only one heading the project, and since we were busy with other things, the project was put on hold.

—If the project was put on hold, what made it come back officially?

Kitase: When the Final Fantasy series almost reached its 25th Anniversary, I thought about what we should do to commemorate that milestone. That’s when I thought that if we were to go through with the FFVII Remake project to coincide with the 25th Anniversary of the Final Fantasy series, we would have to start it as soon as possible. That’s what got the ball rolling. After that, we had a meeting with producer Shinji Hashimoto as well as Tetsuya Nomura to discuss the details of the remake. Hashimoto was also the one who said he wanted to correct some of the graphics from FFVII Advent Children, and that’s the stage where all three of us decided that we should officially start this project.

—Initially, the project was to be made using staff from external divisions, right?

Kitase: Of course the company’s staff were still involved in the development, but most of the team that had worked on Final Fantasy series were assigned to other projects, so we started the Remake project with other external division staff. However, because we wanted to upkeep the quality of the Final Fantasy series, we decided that we still needed members who had experience working on Final Fantasy. Because of this, we had to do a major shift of staff positions to accommodate for this project.

—Since the Remake will be comprised of multiple parts, when did you decide that the first part will take place up until the escape from Midgar?

Nomura: We made that decision at the start of the project. Midgar stands as a very recognizable symbol of the world of FFVII, and for the Remake Project, we wanted to expand on that. The first installment will establish the root of the battle system as well as the type of basic structure, data assets, etc. that we needed to prepare, so it would take some time to do so. On that note, we had to accommodate in terms of the scale. Since the game would cover up until the escape from Midgar, the contents we needed to develop, such as the world system, level designs, etc., would increase, so we had many reasons to make the decision that we made [to create the story into multiple parts]. When we announced that the project would take on multiple installments, there were many who were worried about how we would be able to make a whole game based solely on Midgar, but I didn’t think it would be a problem. I’ve repeatedly watched videos of gameplay, and in the original game, it takes about 7 hours to go through the Midgar section. In the Remake, the map would need to be in 3D, so there would be much more information to account for as well as time that it will take to go from one point to another, and all that adds up. Since we knew that we would have to add scenarios to the story too, I knew that the overall gameplay of the Remake would be well enough to cover a whole game.

Nojima: We also felt that stopping it at this point would also allow for an adequate amount of story scenarios to be put in as well.

Nomura: After you leave Midgar, you move to a world map, and I mentioned this earlier, but level designs would have to yet again change. If we were to do that, we would also have to split up other scenarios and even if we add new gameplay, it would have to end in an abrupt point of the story. That’s why we felt that if we had everything focused in Midgar, we wouldn’t have to split up any of the story elements that happen there. We had requests to add more content or to make only one installment for the whole remake, but if you take into consideration the quality put into this game, I’m sure players would understand why we made this decision.

Kitase: The Remake is not something that we can finish all at once, so when we decided that the first installment would take place in Midgar, the FFVII Remake Project became a reality.

PART 2: The title “Remake” has two meanings…?

—Nojima-san was added to the team when the project was still being handled by the external division staff, correct?

Nojima: That’s right. I was the one who initially wrote the main scenarios, and the external division staff was responsibile for writing the sub scenarios as well. However, when we transferred the project to internal staff, Toriyama-san (Co-Director) joined and looked over the scenarios we had written up until that point. He then gathered all the scenes we had and rewrote them, and after looking over it myself once more, we decided that the project would take on this shape.

Kitase: After Toriyama joined, we were able to formulate the scenarios and input them into areas within the game itself, and in order to keep the integrity of the story, we let him rewrite some of the story.

—Nojima-san, in what degree do you write the scenarios and how specific do you make them?

Nojima: I lose myself in my writing a lot. I’m always concerned about keeping characters in character, so I constantly make corrections. However, after I finish writing the scenarios, Toriyama-san and his scenario team add revisions, which is then handed off to the dubbing stage, which also makes adjustments to the dialogue. So by the time the scenario reaches completion, I’m not even sure what exactly remains from my initial draft.

Kitase: Of course, the main story’s developments are usually left as how Nojima-san wrote them. The changes that are made are usually minor details that are formulated into the story.

—The title for the remake is just “Remake,” which is a bit rare to put in a title. Is there any specific meaning to it?

Nomura: I am the one who decided on the title “Remake,” but there are two meanings to the title. The first being that we wanted to quell the doubt that arised when we first announced that we were doing a remake. When the first trailer was released, there were people who weren’t sure if this installment of FFVII was merely a remaster or an actual remake, which made them worry. When we revealed the trailer at E3 in 2015, the reactions were as I expected, with some even asking if this was going to be a movie. That’s why I decided to clearly express to those with doubt that this is a complete remake of the original with the title “Remake” as well. In regards to the other meaning to the word “Remake,” well, I can’t answer that right now. Ask me again in a couple of years (laughs).

—The title’s logo with the Meteor is now outlined with a type of metal finish. How did you come up with this design?

Nomura: We wanted to put the Meteor in the title logo when we showed the trailer at E3, but we had not decided on the logo yet at the time the trailer was made. I personally wanted to have the Meteor be in a metallic finish to go along with the mood of this project, so when I conveyed my idea to the trailer editors, they came up with a design for me. The logo wasn’t just for use in the trailer, but it would be used for the main title logo as well. Also, during the E3 trailer, the word “Final Fantasy” isn’t shown, only the Meteor as well as the word “REMAKE.” This was because I wanted to make the announcement of the FF7 Remake with only the Meteor symbol. When the original Final Fantasy 7 was released, the marketing producer at the time suggested that the package design only have the Meteor and said to me, “Even if we don’t write the title, people would know that this is Final Fantasy 7.” Back then, we decided against that, but I wanted to have that idea come to fruition this time around.

PART 3: Wanting to Delve Deep into the Characters from these Realistic Scenes

—What part of the Remake did you pay extra attention to?

Kitase: In the original game, many people were able to live comfortable lives thanks to the power of mako energy; however, the same could not be said for those living in the slums underneath the plate, which left a great impression. In fact, I don’t really remember seeing much about the lives of those living above the plate where mako energy powered the cities in the original game. We wanted to draw out those details, such as in the opening movie where you see people and children riding bicycles throughout the city. The scene then turns darker where you see the effects of a lifestyle reliant on mako, where the light and dark contrasts. We wanted to brush upon this by having the player visit Jessie’s home above the plate.

Nomura: I wanted to keep the elements of the original story. In terms of the battle system, things like the ATB gauge or materia, limit breaks, etc. made up an important part of the game, and I wanted to try to bring over that to the remake. However, we had to consider not only the old fans of the game but the new ones as well. For the veteran players who knew the ropes already as well as the new players who were just getting into it, we wanted to create a satisfying experience for both. Not only did we take the original game’s structured elements and modernized them, but it was important for us to make it so that old fans would also be able to come to terms with the changes as well. Since the original game was released more than 20 years ago, if we were to change the styles to reflect modern ones, I’m sure people would accept them. However, let’s say that we changed Cloud’s hairstyle to not be spiky anymore- that would be weird, right? It was difficult to find a good balance [between realism and the original].

Nojima: When writing the scenarios in the game, I had to pay great attention to the fact that the characters that appear are no longer shown in cute graphics from the original game, but actual people now. For example, in the original game, there weren’t many houses shown in the slums, but in this game, there are tons of houses that allows you to strongly feel the presence of people living within a city. I thought to create scenarios where people are living and breathing in this space. Whether it be the AVALANCHE members or other characters in the story, I always dug deep and thought “Why are they living like this here?” when creating the backgrounds.

—One case of that would be when it was shown that Jessie used to be an actress at the Gold Saucer, right?

Nojima: I wanted Jessie’s mannerisms to be like that of someone who has experience in theater, and I delved into creating episodes about her past leading up to her current family situation. There were many plans to create these types of sub-scenarios for the game when the project first started.

Kitase: When we were in the middle stages of development, we decided to put as many sub-scenarios into the main story to give breathers and pauses from the over-arching plot. We put several sub-scenarios about the Turks as well.

Nojima: That’s right, we had conversations such as “What are the Turks doing right now…?” or “What kind of character from the Compilation of FFVII would appear here?” and etc. Other scenarios we thought of was Tifa asking her landlord to help her figuring out which dress to wear in order to infiltrate Corneo’s Mansion, among other episodes.

Kitase: For example, after Cloud fell into the Sector 5 slums, what was Tifa doing? How did she get into that Chocobo Wagon that took her to Corneo? We had a few things planned during the first half of production, but due to time restrictions, we had to cut it out.

PART 4: Cloud Tries to Act Cool like an Adult but Fails

—As we played through the game, Aerith’s lines left an impression on us.

Nojima: Aerith is the utmost important person in the FFVII Remake, and I was very careful with her lines. Each and every part of her carries a great meaning throughout the story, and I used that premise to write her character.

—In particular, during the nighttime flower field scene in Chapter 14, Aerith tells Cloud “You can’t fall in love with me. Even if you do, it’s not real.” For those who are familiar with the original story, this line carries a lot of meaning.

Nojima: To be honest, some staff actually told me that this line made it seem like Aerith was looking down on Cloud, so it got rejected a few times. If you know Aerith’s fate, then this line would really pull at your heart strings, but if you did not know what happens to Aerith, then you might interpret the scene in a completely different way. I thought the gap between the two interpretations was very interesting. On another note, in Tifa’s scene in the flower field, I wanted Cloud to not look cool in this scene. Even though Cloud and Tifa are close in age, he has a 5 year blank slate, and he doesn’t have enough life experience to consider himself an adult. Even though most of the characters are around 20 years old, there’s one guy, Cloud, who has the mentality of a 16 year old, and that person tries to be like an adult. I really wanted to write that into the story. After the Sector 7 plate fell, Barret comforted Tifa with the temperament of an adult, and Cloud saw that and wanted to do the same for her [in the flower scene], but it didn’t go as planned. I wanted to try writing him as being awkward.

Nomura: On that same note, when recording Cloud’s voice, we had his voice actor perform his lines slightly differently depending on who he was talking to. For example, when Cloud speaks with Aerith, he stands up and tries to act cool, with Tifa he loosens up a bit, with Jessie he sounds confused. When Cloud speaks with Aerith, he’s too self-conscious and gives weird replies.

Nojima: Cloud isn’t able to keep the distance between Aerith and him, right? (laughs). He seems pretty impatient with Jessie, but she finds that amusing and pokes fun at him for it.

Nomura: However, when we did voice recording, initially Jessie came off as a bit too nosy, more than we expected, which might have given the impression that she was being rude. In order to avert that, we had her say lines jokingly each time she teased cloud, giving off a sense of charm and attractiveness, kind of like a “haha, just joking” type of attitude. We decided these things in the recording studio.

PART 5: The Remake’s Scenarios Provide a Vast Setting for Events to Follow

—The Remake’s story has many new episodes that I thought followed the flow of the original storyline, but then there’s suddenly a huge plot device that gets revealed, and that surprised me.

Nomura: Is that so? (laughs)

Nojima: I’m sure you were thinking, “What will happen next?”

—How did this development come to being?

Nomura: When I requested a scenario to Nojima, I first thought, “if I am to create the FFVII Remake, I would like to do it this way.” I then conveyed my ideas to him. During that phase, I planned to make this be more than just a mere “Remake.” For example, the battle system this time around is in real timee instead of using an ATB gauge, and with that, the story itself took a turn that isn’t just the basic FFVII, but something new. That’s the kind of story I wanted to create.

Nojima: As for me, I knew that even though at the very core, this story is about Cloud, the works from the “Compilation of FFVII” have greatly increased [over the years], and I wanted to make something that takes all of those works and combine it into one. Each person who played the original version also has their own vision of the world of FFVII, and I wanted to preserve that too. The results of those feelings are shown within the Remake’s story. These were all the ideas I had, so in the beginning I would initially show it to Nomura-san, and I tried my best to explain them clearly to make sure he didn’t reject them (laughs).

—In regards to the story’s important key points, there must be a flashback scene from here on out, right?

Nomura: At first, the direction we took was that we did not want to put any of these hints while still in Midgar.

Nojima: Right, we originally planned to have the storyline diverge only slightly.

Nomura: We thought to have only a subtle change where in the ending you see Biggs alive, which makes you think, “Wait, this is weird…” and gives a slight sense of unease. But then the staff thought, well if there’s room for more scenes, then let’s just add it (laughs). When we did that, there were scenes that we had to say, “No this won’t do,” and removed it from the story. We didn’t add too many new things, but we did leave a few scenes in.

Nojima: I myself added about two or three scenarios to that too….I’m not too sure what happened to those scenarios at the end. (laughs)

—The scenes where Sephiroth appear in have also be greatly added into the storyline.

Nojima: In the beginning we didn’t plan to have him appear so often, more as an overlooming presence instead. During the middle of production, we changed our minds and decided to have him appear more frequently, and suddenly he was in a ton of scenes.

Nomura: At that time, Hamaguchi-san (Co-Director) quietly pulled me aside and said, “I want the characters to fight Sephiroth in Midgar” and consulted me with this idea. In the original story, Sephiroth exists in a different space, and apparently he gathered materials to persuade me to have the battle play out in this way, but I just said, “Okay sure,” and greenlit the idea. (laughs)

PART 6: Doubts that Arise from Things Not Explained in the Game

—In the Remake’s story, there are a few doubts that are left that I would like to brush upon…

Everyone: …..

Nomura: The story will still continue, so I don’t think we can answer much.

—Then let’s talk about things you can answer starting with the Opening Scene in the alleyway, which was also portrayed in the original game. What was Aerith looking at when she was crouching down?

Nomura: I remember someone saying that she was trying to gather warmth from it…

Kitase: I don’t think so (laughs). If you’re in front of a bonfire, you would see the embers pop, but what you see is the flickers of light from mako.

—In the Remake’s version of this scene, after she looks at the light, it seems like she’s running from something. Why?

Nojima: She felt the presence of the Whispers and wanted to run away from them. Perhaps it’s because Aerith had several bad experiences with the Whispers up until then?

—Why is it that Aerith knows about things that happen in the future or of things she hadn’t heard of before?

Nomura: I wonder why……Please wait until the next installment for that answer.

—At the end of the Midgar Highway, before you pass through the wall, Aerith says, “This is the point of no return. Destiny’s Crossroads.” What was she referring to?

Nojima: If Cloud and the others pass through the Wall of Whispers, then they will be outside the boundaries of the Whispers, meaning they will be going into a place where there is no predestined fate. She meant that they will be at a crossroads where they might or might not be able to cross.

—After you defeat the last boss, Cloud and Sephiroth have a conversation with just the two of them. What was the meaning of that?

Nojima: Exactly what their conversation said. Actually, the lines that Sephiroth said in that scene were written during the beginning stages of production where we did not know the exact placement of when they will be delivered.

—In the ending of the Remake, Zack is alive, which leads to a contrasting development to the original story. What is the meaning of that scene?

Nomura: That’s the biggest highlight of the mysteries that have been been set up in this scene, isn’t it? (laughs)

Nojima: And you can also clearly see the dog Stamp too…

—Stamp looks different in this scene though.

Nojima: Oh, does he know…? (laughs)

—Did you have plans in the beginning for the mascot Stamp?

Nojima: Yes, when we decided on the Remake’s storyline, we said “Well then, let’s have this loyal dog Stamp be the mascot.” Stamp is a popular mascot that everyone in this world recognizes, and we decided to also use him as AVALANCHE’s secret way of conveying messages.

Nomura: By the way, the Stamp that you see drawn by AVALANCHE members is actually the design that I was in charge of. I usually don’t get involved in these designs, but I felt that this character would be very important, so I decided to draw him myself.

—During the ending, Aerith murmurs, “The sky, how I hate it.” [English localization “I miss it, the steel sky.”] Is there some deep meaning to this?

Nomura: For Aeritih, the sky symbolizes sadness. The people who were dear to her, such as Zack and her mother Ifalna, had all returned to the sky, and the sky that she sees above her in the slums was covered by Shinra too. The calamity that destroyed the Ancients, Jenova, also fell from the sky. All of these incidents remind Aerith of the sky, which is why she says she hates it.

—At the end of the game, the words “The Unknown Journey Will Continue” show up. What does it mean?

Nomura: Initially, there was another sentence we were going to put instead, but under various circumstances, we decided to change it [to what it is now]. Kitase told me there should be something that connects to what lies beyond the ending. I also wanted to put something there too, so we ended up using that sentence. I think some might think that the meaning of the sentence is unsettling, but we’ve already taken that into consideration.

PART 7: Original Elements Expected to Happen but Do Not Want to be Erased

—After this first installment, the number of expectations must be very high for the next installment, but how many installments do you think the entire project will be?

Kitase: We have a general idea of how the story will play out, but we haven’t decided exactly how many parts, nor can we confirm anything.

—There has been talk that the story will be in three parts…

Kitase: We have not said anything concrete about how many installments this will be, so people are probably just speculating with no proof.

—The fans would like to know when the next installment will be released.

Nomura: It depends on how many installments we decide to make. If we divide the story into large chunks, then it will take a much longer time to develop. However, if we divide the story into smaller parts, then it might be possible to release them in a shorter amount of time.

Kitase: On that note, if we are to maintain the same quality and volume as the first installment, then it is unrealistic to say that we can churn out the next one in just one year.

Nomura: Personally, I would like to release them as soon as possible so we can take a breather. I’m sure the fans would also want the next installment to come quickly too (laughs).

—If we follow this Remake’s story, then the next installment might have major changes compared to the original, right?

Kitase: I’ve talked about this extensively with Nomura, but I’m sure fans of the original are expecting to revisit familiar locations and scenes, so we have strong feelings to not stray away from that. From here on out, we’re not drastically changing the story and making it into something completely different than the original. Even though it’s a Remake, please assume that FF7 will still be FF7 as usual.

Nojima: For me, I create scenarios that follow the general flow of the original story but with the assumption that the way things are presented or how events occur might be slightly different. Personally, I would like to include towns and areas that originally appeared first in Crisis Core FF7.

—Lastly, do you have any messages to the fans who have played the FFVII Remake?

Nojima: I’m sure that they had a lot of fun playing it and might have doubts on what will happen from here on out, but please remember those doubts you had since you’ll probably find your answer in future installments.

Nomura: This was a very popular game in the past, and since we are remaking it, the amount of attention it had garnered even before it was released was high, and there are many who voiced their concerns about the game too. However, those concerns did not affect our staff as we put in our all to create this work, and we just hope that people will be interested in it. The base for the Remake has been successfully established with the first installment, so we hope to meet your expectations in the next installment too! However, personally, I think there might be some who think “Since this is the Remake, I don’t need to play the original game anymore and just play the Remake instead,” but I want to prevent people from doing that. The original and the Remake are two separate entities. So even if you play FFVII Remake, I would also like you to play the FFVII original game afterwards as well.

Kitase: In this first installment, I think we were able to figure out the exact direction and shape we would like to take with the FFVII Remake. Within the Remake, many hints were strewn along, and we would like fans to get excited and think about on what exactly will happen in the next installments. The theories posted on the internet do reach us, and I think that type of communication between the fans and us will help in creating a story together for all to enjoy.

(Square Enix Interview recorded on March 19th, 2020)

[rpgmgames]

April’s Featured Game: Nobody's Home

DEVELOPER(S): oates ENGINE: RPG Maker MV GENRE: Survival Horror SUMMARY: After a night of extreme drinking and partying, you wake up in stranger's bed to discover... Nobody's Home.

Buy the game here! Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *oates: Hi, this is oates! I'm a pixel artist and game developer, I've started making games with rpgmaker in 2016 with VX Ace and now currently using MV for recent projects. Previous projects I've worked on were the FNaF-inspired Souls-like One Night at the Steeze, my first rpgmaker game and it's prequel, the FNaF-inspired roguelike No Delivery. Other games I've worked on include the fangames Day Dreaming Derpy, made in VX Ace and Spike's Day Off, made in MV and the latest in a series of previous fangames previously developed on Adobe Flash.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *oates: Nobody's Home is largely based on my experiments to find and apply horrific elements in modern situations or phenomena. The scenario being explored here in Nobody's Home is the aftermath of some crazy party. Sound design is especially important when crafting a horror scenario, so I often look to music to draw inspiration. Much of the atmosphere and house design was inspired by music and imagery associated with '70s yacht rock (a sub-genre of soft rock). Another important note is a lot of the general mood and 'weirdness' was inspired by a band I listen a lot to, Dance Gavin Dance, specifically their "deathstar" album. However they have a tendency in all their albums to switch genres mid-song, often going from their post-hardcore sound to funk, pop, and even rap; aside from that, some of the subject matter covered can range from disturbing to unpleasant to nonsensical, but combined with the amazing music, it creates an experience that pulls the listener in all different directions. It got to the point that I was naming events in the game after some their tracks so I had to be careful not to inadvertently make a fangame haha But there are some easter eggs in Nobody's Home that were intentionally left in, and I'm fairly certain players have identified it already.

How long did you work on your project? *oates: I used much of the same framework left over from my previous project No Delivery for this development cycle, so the hassle for setting up asset pipelines was very much mitigated. I started in earnest, making assets back in January this year so it took roughly 2+ months to finish development for this project.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *oates: Aside from the previous music inspirations, I was really intrigued with the way Resident Evil 7's Beginning Hour demo was able to pick up where Konami's cancelled PT left off in terms of survival horror games to look forward to back in 2017. Prior to later updates, the initial demo really only included a few set pieces, basic item interaction, and almost no puzzles from the full game. It was largely able to pull off scaring players from almost atmosphere alone (if you exclude the Jack Baker and ghost encounters). It was later in the full game that it was able to show off it's metroidvania-esque design to its fullest. After my previous project, I wanted to step away from roguelike design for a bit and focus a little more on an exploration-based experience, so I took a few notes from the way RE7 and RE2: Remake handled map design and progression.

Did you come across any challenges during development? How did you overcome or work around them? *oates: I was coming off a severe cold last year and it took most of January for me to recover, so it was a little hard to start full-on development immediately like I normally would on top of other career matters. And looking at events today, it's even more imperative that developers practice healthy habits during development.

Did any aspects of your project change over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *oates: I've had the idea for Nobody's Home as a concept for a while, but filling in those gaps with actual gameplay between centerpieces was a big variable. I went back and forth between the turn-based item combat from the previous project to cutting out combat entirely. While I didn't implement it, I also brainstormed a few concepts for overworld action and combat ala Zelda, but it seemed too complex given the time frame I set for myself. Eventually I settled on a middle ground between full combat and separate encounters, with "enemies" acting as essentially a toll gate. The rest of the game followed suit with various tolls and "mouse traps" for the player to trigger at their own behest. This wasn't necessarily the design I had in mind at first, but it helped to concisely fill a relatively small location with specifically "deadly" content.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *oates: I largely work solo for both development and art, but I do regularly work with a few musicians for an original soundtrack. I first started working with other composers for the fangame Day Dreaming Derpy, where after the initial demo was released, I received emails from a few musicians volunteering to contribute some tracks for the game. In all, the original soundtrack contained 9 tracks in total, with 3 tracks from each composer; each of them doing an amazing job and, in my opinion brought the project back then to a higher degree of quality. This was how I met some of the composers I still work with today and they all have some really great work! TheNGVirus @NGVirusNG1 Kaminakat @thekaminakat dRedder @HornyGremlin

What is the best part of developing a game? *oates: It's a toss up between the initial brainstorming/research and the first run-through when you have your desired maps linked together. For the brainstorming, it's pretty fun to learn about subject matter you want to do justice to as well as stretching your creative muscles for the first time in service to a certain concept. However this obviously wears off when you devote too much time to a particular concept, but it's still enjoyable nevertheless. For making that run-through, it doesn't necessarily mean to have all the events implemented, but to experience your game the way players will experience it for the first time does give a sense of completion/cohesion to what you, as a developer, are trying to accomplish. It essentially puts what you're working on into a different perspective for you.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *oates: I do keep an eye out for what other rpgmaker projects are doing, and to see what others can do with the engine helps get the creative juices flowing; it's also fun to try to mentally reverse engineer how certain mechanics or effects were made. And it's always great to see fellow devs showcase what's possible with the engine.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *oates: Nobody's Home has a relatively small cast of characters, whom you do interact with but never see, this is largely to done to create a sense of "un-relatability", but if I had to pick a character, it'd be "car guy", the guy you find stuck in the car. They have a good line, " ...there'd be a good reason for this, but there isn't..." Story of my life.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *oates: There were a few areas I would have liked to expand on or add, specifically- the attic + roof, the front lawn, behind the walls, and an entire second floor. Unfortunately that meant potentially adding more questlines and NPCs while the first set of questlines were pretty interwoven so it would have been way more complex, also again, given the time frame I set, it would have extended the development cycle way beyond what I had time for. But if I had implemented those extra areas, the game's length would also go way beyond the 30 min - 1 hr it takes to complete the game as it is now.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *oates: I'd like to do both really, each installment of the VCRPG line of games is definitely a stand-alone story, or an isolated incident, but I would love to explore the aftermath of the game's events and how the passage of time ravages and twists the story into urban legend. I like to treat places and environments like characters as well, capable of making memories, being misunderstood, preserved, destroyed, and ultimately capable of change.

What do you most look forward to upon finishing the game? *oates: Both the fan reaction and free time honestly speaking. Once the development cycle finishes and the game is published, your work isn't really finished as there's always a chance someone's feedback can apply to immediate changes or patches you can implement, even during the release period. Marketing is also another large step to take into consideration after release, this includes tweeting, sending keys for lets plays, etc. Watching playthroughs is also a really good way to collect data on what parts of your design fall through and what fail to land. But after all that is said and done, some free time really helps the brain recuperate.

Was there something you were afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *oates: Just whether or not I handled the game's subject matter tastefully. Like horror cinema, everything done is in service the the themes and message of the piece as a whole.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *oates: The game engine is essentially a tool, and like any tool you can find plenty of creative ways to get the same result. And don't be afraid to research whatever it is you need help with, it also helps to be specific with what you want.

Question from last month's featured dev @moca-pz: If you can collaborate with any game developer in the world, who would it be? What would be their role(s) and what would be your role(s)? *oates: Game developer I'd like to work with: Hidetaka Miyazaki His role: Story Lead and Director My role: Drinking buddy Game we're working on: SciFi Souls

We mods would like to thank oates for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Nobody's Home if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy VII Remake Review

Year: 2020

Platform: PS4

I finished this game shortly after posting all my main single-player series Final Fantasy reviews. I was still digesting it and thinking about it to put together my review.

Synopsis:

The Shinra Electric Power Company rules over the city of Midgar, and the eco-terrorists AVALANCHE stop at nothing to try and prevent the life essence of the planet from being used as energy. Barrett, leader of AVALANCHE, hires a mercenary named Cloud Strife for their bombing mission on a Shinra Mako Reactor. Cloud doesn’t care much for the greater cause and only wants his pay. But then, after a mission goes awry, he meets Aerith, a flower girl who is the descendant of the Ancients. He quickly finds himself wrapped up in the greater conflict against Shinra.

Gameplay:

Final Fanatasy VII Remake has one of the best gameplay styles of any Final Fantasy game. It’s that good. It seems like after all these years, this is what Square really wanted to do. Since this was released after Final Fantasy XV, it’s pretty much the successor to its gameplay. While Final Fantasy XV has you more or less spamming the attack button with occasional spell casting and item usage, Final Fantasy VII Remake has you much more involved with the Materia system, abilities, and guarding/evading. One notable example is that Final Fantasy XV always told you when you should guard in order to counter, but Final Fantasy VII Remake has you figure that out on your own.

The abilities are so goddamn flashy and cool during gameplay. Tifa’s moves are quite possibly the most awe-inspiring.

My only complaint is locking onto the enemy during battle. You have to press down on R3 to lock onto an enemy, and I sometimes found that jarring with the camera controls. Sometimes I accidentally disengaged from an enemy and missed an attack. Since your moves are dependent on an Active Time Battle system, you can waste a turn if you get hit while conjuring a spell or taking out an item. That sometimes made me go “REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”. But in the long run, those were very small gripes. The battles are so much fun.

Since the game follows only the Midgar portion of the story, it’s linear. But you reach sections where you are free to roam around and do sidequests before continuing with the main objective. I’m sure the later releases of the remake will feel much less constrained. But this remake does a good job at expanding upon Midgar without feeling too redundant.

Graphics:

Jesus Christ. This game is gorgeous.

Both in-game graphics and pre-rendered cutscenes. The switch between a pre-rendered cutscene and in-game cutscene has become much more seamless than ever before.

If you remember my Final Fantasy XV review, I mentioned how NPCs and other in-game animations seemed stiff and stilted. Final Fantasy VII Remake takes steps to remedy that. Characters have more fluid movements and everyone’s lips move a lot more. However, lip movements can come off as awkward. My friend was watching me play, and during one in-game cutscene they said “Something looks weird with their lips.” At times, lip movements seem too dynamic when the character is standing relatively still, which comes off looking like Mr. Ed the horse trying to talk.

Despite those small awkward things, the rest of the game is extremely polished. Remember how blocky Final Fantasy VII was? We now finally see these characters and the world of Midgar brought to life in beautiful HD graphics.Like holy shit. Everyone looks so beautiful.

Before I played this game, I was a Tifa stan, but now, ho man, they made Aerith so much more appealing.

SO.

MUCH.

MORE.

APPEALING.

And Tifa shines better than ever. I’m very tempted to just gush about her but here is just a couple enticing gifs.

Imagine playing this game and still thinking gamers are oppressed.

Story:

Final Fantasy VII Remake follows from the start of the original game up until the party leaving Midgar. Square plans to release the rest of the remake later.

I have to say, they made the story a lot more engaging than the original. That may seem like blasphemy, but the dialogue and voice acting was just so damn good. Some of my favorite moments included the banter between Aerith and Cloud. Like I said, I wasn’t into Aerith that much until I played the remake. She’s just so damn cute and charming. One of my favorite parts was when she said, “Shit” and almost fell, after mentioning how she didn’t need help climbing a ladder. Her voice is so lovely and amusing to listen to. The growing romance between her and Cloud doesn’t come off as forced or cringey, because we now spend so much time with Aerith.

Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie have much more important roles in the story. This gives us a greater sense of Avalanche as a ragtag group.

Entire chapters focus on them, especially Jessie. I cringed a bit at Jessie to be honest, despite her popularity. She now comes off as a copy of Aerith in the sense that she comes on strong to Cloud. But really strong. Like “I want that D right now” strong. Cloud has officially become your usual anime boy who is good at everything that can make any woman magically fall in love with him. So that whole thing made me roll my eyes.

There are some new characters inserted, such as the SOLDIER Roche. I thought they were going to do more with him but, apparently not. The new characters can be a bit “meh”, such as Chadley. Johnny isn’t a new character but may as well be since his role is so expanded. He was probably the most annoying, constantly calling Cloud “bro”. That gave me some bad flashbacks of Prompto’s modern-speak in Final Fantasy XV.

The remake adds a certain new plot element that you’re not sure at first where it’s going until it’s revealed at the very end. The ending can be a bit out there, as the original storyline is changed significantly. SIGNIFICANTLY I was curious if this game would make sense to first-timers, but, probably not when you reach the end. The ending heavily relies on you knowing the original game.

My only complaint about the story was how they started the motorcycle chase cutscene. That was my favorite cutscene of the original game, with Cloud driving down the stairs and the group getting into the car. I liken it to the barrel scene in the original Hobbit novel. But like the Hobbit movie, they made the motorcycle scene pretty outrageous. Like so over-the-top that my initial reaction was to scoff at it. It also struck me as awkward, because there were many moments when the bad guys could have shot them but just. . .stood there watching Cloud kick their asses.

Some people may be upset by how the remake ended, while others find it cool. I thought it was cool. But at the same time, now I want an official “remastered” Final Fantasy VII too. Just a game strictly like the original but with vastly improved graphics.

Music:

The music was pure eargasm. There were many moments when I fanboyed screaming “THIS IS THE SONG! YESSS!” They remixed the songs so well, from the battle theme to the Shinra theme, and the Wall Market theme. Everything you loved about the original soundtrack but MORE gusto, more pomp and circumstance.

A couple complaints though.

1 – I think the focus on making the music more orchestrated takes away the mood of the original music. I missed some of the synth and electronic from the original game because it related well to the technological city of Midgar. The synth and electronic featured in the original game gave off a brooding, darker mood.

2 – I didn’t like what they did with the Crazy Motorcycle music.

Notable Theme:

It’s difficult to find pieces of the original soundtrack as of today, because Square is taking them down from YouTube. Still, some people have managed to keep up some of the coolest tracks from this game. Unfortunately, the videos have gameplay footage, which could be spoilers, technically.

I’ll just leave it as this:

The Jenova battle theme is a much longer piece in this game, but it pays off at the final quarter of the song.

Trust me.

Verdict:

The remake does the original justice. We waited so long for this game and it delivered, unlike Final Fantasy XV.

I don’t think a first-timer would really appreciate it though as much as a fan of the original game would. Sure, there’s nothing stopping you from just going into it without knowing the original game, but there are things that one wouldn’t understand unless you played the original game. In that sense, the word “remake” is a bit misleading. Maybe they’re “rebooting” the entire Compilation of Final Fantasy VII? It seems like they’re going for what they did with the newer Star Trek movies, if you catch my drift. But I can’t say for sure exactly where they’re going with it until the next game comes out, but it seems that way to me.

[appropriate-as-always]

If I had one thing to say in regards to BDSP, it’s that I feel like it’s too faithful of a remake. One of the things I loved about ORAS was the way it included and expanded upon the ideas of XY, the most recent Gen at the time. Adding more mega evolutions and applying them to some of the iconic pokémon of Hoenn was a GREAT step, and really felt like they were expanding that world. The addition of the Mega Latias/Latios flying was fun and added a new dimension to the classic flight mechanics. And clearly time had passed in this world; Mauville was a totally different thing, and many towns/routes felt totally different than the originals.

From what little we’ve seen of BDSP, it looks like the remake is JUST a remake: the same story and mechanics with new, shinier graphics. And… Look, I don’t know if adding Gigantamax forms to Sinnoh would work, (Dmaxing and Gmaxing feel more region specific than mega evolutions) but it would add a new aspect to the game, a thing these latest remakes seem to be severely lacking. I worry that without any significant innovation the games might not be original enough to stand as their own thing.

Diamond and Pearl were great, but I don’t think updated graphics are enough to make me want to play through their stories again, let alone pay 60 bucks to do so.