FF7 Remake
3 hours ago
Personally I think gaming culture holds "spoilers" far too preciously, so I'm just going to say it. In this game, the story has a meta-commentary where the threads of fate are trying to force this world to follow the "intended" story of the original game, and you have to "sever" those threads by the end and defy fate to make this story it's own.
Frankly, this is critical information more people considering whether or not to buy this game should know! I wasn't at all interested in it until someone actually told me that, and then I was intrigued.
I would like to know what exactly you consider "bad" or "cringey" writing and request, if you would, to elaborate on that a bit. While I'm not going to come to the defense of the writing in this remake, I can at least say it's better than the original translation, which was so infamously bad that at points characters said exactly the opposite of what was intended in the Japanese script, and for that reason I recommend the "Reunion" fan translation of the original version these days. It's also pretty shoddy English in many places besides, and inconsistent with items like the Megaelixer being called "Last elixer" in one spot. In that sense, the new version is actually written with good english and I appreciate that.
What I less appreciate are the odd accent choices that the English translators have made over the years. Not just Barret being given a "Mr. T" dialect, but Cait Sith being made Scottish ever since the movie. When exactly ONE character in that whole setting speaks that way, it beg the question of where all the OTHER Scottish characters are, in the same way one has to ask why Barret is the one black man in all the world (which admittedly is a problem in the original version too).
My bigger issue is the one I knew was going to happen when I found out they were splitting the remake into multiple parts. They felt the need to write in a full story arc with a climax and denouement for part 1. I get why, don't misunderstand, but it makes the overall story feel not just disjointed, but rather inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Who cares about Aerith getting back to the holy land and a meteor being summoned when COSMIC ENTITIES CONTROLLING OUR FATES are floating around? Imagine if SpiderHyphenMan randomly met Galactus and then just went back to beating up Green Goblin Man, and then won that fight, credits roll, yay, but you're there asking "Wait a sec, what about that GIANT ROBOT GOD?! Aren't we going to do something about THAT?"
It's an escalation of stakes that takes a bit of the impact from the main story, is all I'm saying.
Also, and I never once thought I'd say this, but in part 2? There's way too many mini-games! I was told there'd only be a FEW mini-games. This is a terrible vacation. I love sidequests and mini-games and so on, but there's just so many, and they are so EXTENSIVE, that I feel like I forgot what game I'm actually playing.
But back to my original point, what do you feel are issues that are "glaring" to the extent you'd say it was written by "a kid"? I can't say I speak for a true newcomer, but since they are still retelling the original story, though obviously with some changes after defying fate itself, it should be at least as easy to pick up or follow the impact of things as it was in the original game.
If nothing else, I do appreciate that they made the other members of Avalanche into more fully fledged characters, though making Jesse have a crush on Cloud came out of nowhere, at least to me.
Oh, as for the switch from turn based to real time? I don't at all thing that's a "relic of the past". I think that deserves a place at the table as a distinct style of play, focusing on strategy over twitch reactions. I'm glad they leave in some options to switch to at least SOMEWHAT of a turn based style in the game. It's unique, I'll give it that, but it's not like when I play Chess I'm thinking to myself "this is dumb, my whole army should just rush them at once!".
Frankly, this is critical information more people considering whether or not to buy this game should know! I wasn't at all interested in it until someone actually told me that, and then I was intrigued.
I would like to know what exactly you consider "bad" or "cringey" writing and request, if you would, to elaborate on that a bit. While I'm not going to come to the defense of the writing in this remake, I can at least say it's better than the original translation, which was so infamously bad that at points characters said exactly the opposite of what was intended in the Japanese script, and for that reason I recommend the "Reunion" fan translation of the original version these days. It's also pretty shoddy English in many places besides, and inconsistent with items like the Megaelixer being called "Last elixer" in one spot. In that sense, the new version is actually written with good english and I appreciate that.
What I less appreciate are the odd accent choices that the English translators have made over the years. Not just Barret being given a "Mr. T" dialect, but Cait Sith being made Scottish ever since the movie. When exactly ONE character in that whole setting speaks that way, it beg the question of where all the OTHER Scottish characters are, in the same way one has to ask why Barret is the one black man in all the world (which admittedly is a problem in the original version too).
My bigger issue is the one I knew was going to happen when I found out they were splitting the remake into multiple parts. They felt the need to write in a full story arc with a climax and denouement for part 1. I get why, don't misunderstand, but it makes the overall story feel not just disjointed, but rather inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Who cares about Aerith getting back to the holy land and a meteor being summoned when COSMIC ENTITIES CONTROLLING OUR FATES are floating around? Imagine if SpiderHyphenMan randomly met Galactus and then just went back to beating up Green Goblin Man, and then won that fight, credits roll, yay, but you're there asking "Wait a sec, what about that GIANT ROBOT GOD?! Aren't we going to do something about THAT?"
It's an escalation of stakes that takes a bit of the impact from the main story, is all I'm saying.
Also, and I never once thought I'd say this, but in part 2? There's way too many mini-games! I was told there'd only be a FEW mini-games. This is a terrible vacation. I love sidequests and mini-games and so on, but there's just so many, and they are so EXTENSIVE, that I feel like I forgot what game I'm actually playing.
But back to my original point, what do you feel are issues that are "glaring" to the extent you'd say it was written by "a kid"? I can't say I speak for a true newcomer, but since they are still retelling the original story, though obviously with some changes after defying fate itself, it should be at least as easy to pick up or follow the impact of things as it was in the original game.
If nothing else, I do appreciate that they made the other members of Avalanche into more fully fledged characters, though making Jesse have a crush on Cloud came out of nowhere, at least to me.
Oh, as for the switch from turn based to real time? I don't at all thing that's a "relic of the past". I think that deserves a place at the table as a distinct style of play, focusing on strategy over twitch reactions. I'm glad they leave in some options to switch to at least SOMEWHAT of a turn based style in the game. It's unique, I'll give it that, but it's not like when I play Chess I'm thinking to myself "this is dumb, my whole army should just rush them at once!".
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)