Random opinions that I just felt like talking about:

- Calling out people’s sexist and racist biases is good; assuming that the reason they dislike a certain character or the character’s actions/overall writing because they’re sexist or racist is NOT good. Give people the benefit of the doubt and see what they actually mean cuz sometimes English isn’t a person’s first language so what they mean to say comes out as something completely hostile or offensive.

- Preferring the jp/CN dub does not make you superior. Having a voice over preference is fine; acting like you’re all high and mighty for having one isn’t

- Forcing your headcanons on someone isn’t good. I don’t think I need to add anything more regarding this

- Constantly bickering over which archon is the ‘strongest’ is lame. Mihoyo has yet to set a power scale and they have not revealed enough lore regarding the archon’s abilities or where their personal power comes from not have they shared enough details about the archon’s battles, so fighting about it is dumb.

- ‘Blackwashing’ isn’t real. No, it isn’t the same as Whitewashing. No, it’s not taking away representation from ‘Asians.’ It’s how people online have hijacked conversations about racism in media and art by taking a term such as ‘Whitewashing’ which is tied to analyzing the portrayal and depictions of poc alongside a socio-political context. ‘Blackwashing’ is how media illiterate people attempt to shut down fans of colour from making their own fanon content by adding representation since the canon lacks any necessary skin based diversity. (Side eyeing all those East Asians and Europeans who make tiktok accounts dedicated to erasing fanon edits of playable characters as black or with dark skin. Y’all fucking suck)

- Being an asshole about someone speaking a different language in co-op mode is a horrible thing to do (looking at all those tiktok posts bashing Russian players in co-op mode for speaking their language); it’s one thing to call someone out for being rude and mean and thinking they can get away by speaking in a different language but it’s a completely separate thing to just bash and complain about players going about their time in co-op mode speaking a language you can’t understand

- The EN dub VAs being problematic doesn’t erase the fact that the CN and JP dub VAs have also done and said similar things. So please stop saying idiotic sentences such as ‘thank god I use the jp/cn dub’ whenever an EN VA is exposed for acting deviant. I guarantee you that the same JP/CN VAs for those characters probably have done shitty things as well but you don’t know about it because you most likely do not speak their language nor are you likely to be involved in the JP/CN fandoms in the first place

- You can care about meta, and it is necessary to care about meta so that mihoyo gets relevant criticisms on the overall gameplay and structure. With that being said, bashing other player’s damage is extremely shitty. Not everyone has the same priorities while playing. Some only play for the aesthetic, some play for the lore, some play to hang out with their friends, etc etc. So if you see a random person online showing you a clip of their gameplay and your first thought is to type out some passive aggressive comments about their low mediocre damage then I suggest you learn to scroll whenever these kinds of thoughts arise. Most of the damage revolves around artifacts, which have a horrible system in genshin. So if you’re bothered by players not following the meta, then go off on mihoyo’s ass instead for not implementing a fair system that guarantees players proper artifacts.

- Not being a shipper doesn’t make you better than others. ‘Shipping ruins everything’, no it does not. Fans can ruin anything as seen with how meta obsessed players have contributed to creating a toxic online environment where people hesitate from showing their gameplay out of fear of being attacked for their builds and team comps. Toxicity is not limited to a single part of the fandom. Yes shippers can be toxic, but if you don’t like any of them or their content, then it becomes an individual responsibility to block the respective tags, shippers, and their overall content. Complaining about generally shipping makes you seem as a loveless, unimaginative person whose misery lies in being unable to control the stuff they interact with online

- The previous one also applies to shippers. If you are not a fan of a ship, then it is your responsibility to scroll past those posts, to block the shippers for that ship, and to carefully avoid engaging in that ship’s content to avoid getting its stuff on your recommended or fyp. Don’t go commenting utter nonsense on posts dedicated to the ship that you dislike. Fans work hard on making fanart, animatics, edits, etc., so let them have their moments to appreciate their fav ships without dealing with unnecessary negativity.

- Stop associating the VAs with their characters. (Not necessarily about Elliot’s situation but an overall pattern I’ve noticed in the fandom). Disliking Childe because Griffin plays him means you are an immature person who cannot understand that voice acting is just acting, and that no matter how much the VAs interact with the fanbase for the characters they voice, they will never be the actual characters themselves. So complaining about the characters because of the VAs who voice them is dumb. Same with the people who dislike Paimon because of Corina. You can like/dislike any character you want but if your reason exists because of issues with the VA then you need to gain some common sense and learn that these fictional characters are not represented by their VAs

- Going back to the topic of meta, if you see players complaining and criticizing a character’s kit, mihoyo’s tendency to release characters without their adequate supports, or if you see criticisms on character designs (I mean appearances), or criticisms about writing. If you see any of this, and your first response is to go completely defensive because the complaints and criticisms are about a character that you personally like, then you need to learn to do one of two things. 1) if you see any of such content as negative and you feel that it will affect your feelings towards the character, then scroll 2) grow up and accept nuance. You can admit that sometimes there are aspects of a character that are great and some aspects that are bad. If you complain about people pointing the flaws with a character’s kit/writing/lore/design, then I’m going to assume you are a child whose screen time should be restricted and monitored. If you see these things and immediately go defensive, then you need to log off because these sorts of attitudes heavily influence in preventing companies from ever improving on their performance. They know they can release a character with flaws in any aspect and it won’t matter cuz people will defend the character due to personal dedication. Don’t fucking do this. I don’t care how in love you are with a character, if you get upset or defend a character for their shitty writing, overused recycled design elements, etc etc., then remember that your defensive reaction over valid criticisms and concerns is only gonna harm the game in the long run because that one opinion is gonna join the collection of similar takes from other fans and it’ll be so grand that mihoyo will see it as a pass for being able to get away with being lazy and negligent (this has already started happening, but I fear it’s only going to get worse)

i love your enthusiasm for steve burton -finalfanasty

Hi! :D oh my goodness, thank you! I love Steve Burton, I think he’s fantastic as Cloud, he’s definitely my favorite Final Fantasy voice actor. I know that there’s always gonna be criticism towards each and every single English voice actor, but I feel terrible every time I read any of it. I don’t know why, I’ve just grown so attached to the English voices, because to me, a voice is a big part of a character and I’ve just identified the English ones to be a part of the characters’ identities. So it sucks reading about how people don’t like them, or how the Japanese ones are so much better. I’m sure they’re good, but there’s no reason to talk down on one to praise the other. And yes, the criticism hurts the most when it comes to Steve because he’s my fave. But, I know a lot of people also really like him in the role, and he has been Cloud’s voice for almost two decades now, so I don’t think he’s going anywhere, thankfully. 

Anyway, thank you! I think Steve does a fantastic job at capturing Cloud’s personality, and the different stages of his life. Like, comparing his acting in Crisis Core to Advent Children, for example. I think the people who say he’s too monotone don’t really get (or don’t agree with me when I say this) that Cloud is a little bit like that. He’s very stoic, calm and collected in a lot of situations, and I think Steve’s voice is perfect for that. I’m biased though, I actually prefer most monotone voices to those who shout and scream all the time. I find those a lot more pleasing to listen to (ex. Willa Holland as Aqua, David Gallagher as Riku, Doug Erholtz as Squall, Ali Hillis as Lightning). Anyway, despite that, I think Steve can also deliver the more emotional, tense moments, like his confrontation of Sephiroth in KH2, or his ghost!discussions with Aerith in AC. Plus, his voice is just really, really nice to listen to overall, and every time I hear it, I immediately think of Cloud. 

I don’t know, I just think Steve was the perfect choice for Cloud, and I’m thrilled he’s kept voicing him all these years, and I cannot wait to see what he does in the remake! 

Thanks again for sending me this, it made my day! :) 

Final Fantasy VII: Remake is both a blessing and a curse, to newcomers and series veterans alike - a (kinda) in-depth review of Final Fantasy VII: Remake.

Final Fantasy VII: Remake is both a blessing and a curse, to newcomers and series veterans alike.

As the latter, and someone who has played and enjoyed (and watched, in the case of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children), most of the compilation that followed the original, I feel confident in saying this game is a worthy remake of the standout hit that put Final Fantasy on the radar of the Western audience. The blessing is an imaginative and fleshed out retelling of a fraction of an original thirty-hour story – stretching it out and giving backstory to returning characters, while introducing some fresh (and welcome) faces along the way. The Midgar section in the beginning of the original Final Fantasy VII clocks in at around 3-4 hours of a player’s overall journey.

Not this time.

But is that also the aforementioned curse of this game? That those players who have enjoyed the original many, many times know of what it still to come? Throughout my play through of the game this felt like it was going to be its main detractor, when actually the ending completely throws this into the air.

Only time will tell if this is a good decision that will pay off, or if it will backfire. Nevetheless, I’m optimistic that the best is yet to come.

How long will we have to wait for more? That’s anyone’s guess at this point, especially with the Coronavirus situation. Safety comes first, and any delays to the second and third parts of this episodic epic (and I hope it continues to be epic) will be understandable – and hopefully, much like this first part, well worth the wait.

GAMEPLAY (COMBAT, MATERIA, WEAPONS)

Much furore has been made about the series ditching a turn-based system – one still employed by Dragon Quest (another Square-Enix property, and the most recent instalment, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, one of, if not my favourite, recent JRPGs).

Final Fantasy now employs an action-based model, more akin to another property, Kingdom Hearts.

Sometimes erratic and frenzied in 2016’s Final Fantasy XV, I’m happy to say that Square-Enix appeared to fine tune most of the aspects I disliked about that game’s playstyle and the result is Final Fantasy VII: Remake’s fun gameplay.

Keeping the ATB gauge involved was a good move, and gave the game a familiarity. The oscillating difficulties mean that there is a playstyle for everyone to find. I managed the entire game on normal mode (even my first time fighting the Whispers), until the Sephiroth boss battle. I have my own narrative issues with us fighting Sephiroth in the first part of this game anyway, but the difficulty spike in this battle on Normal mode felt unreal. I’d managed the slog that was the Hell House boss battle, and the annoyance of the escape from Shinra section, including that boss battle, but this was another level, and the only boss I had to change to easy mode for (which meant redoing the Whispers fight on that mode too).

On the other hand, there were bosses where, understanding their attack patterns and developing a strategy meant that winning the fight felt genuinely rewarding, as opposed to just time and energy-draining. An example of this was the Ghoul fought in the Train Graveyard – a new inclusion, and a whole strand of story that I enjoyed immensely. That battle really made use of switching between party members – Cloud and Tifa taking the lead in physical attacks and Aerith using her magic whenever necessary.

Materia has been updated, but not massively. Rather than a huge overhaul of the system, it still works largely how it did before. It’s been adapted for an action-JRPG but still comes down to strategy. However, an option to change materia mid-fight might have been prudent, considering the variety of enemy weaknesses. I found myself having to restart more than one fight because a batch of enemy scrolled through at least three different weaknesses and I was never adequately prepared for them at first. But at least restarting these fights was easy and hassle-free.

I liked the additions of new materia; such as Synergy which is another way to control what your other party members do in a fight, and the Magnify materia which works like the All materia of the original game. It made finding new materia fun and fresh, and meant I was constantly changing up my strategies to see what worked best.

The weapons system has been changed significantly, however. The upgrade screen looks stylistically like the crystarium from Final Fantasy XIII and the Historia Crux from Final Fantasy XIII-2. Therefore, it looks interesting, but is actually kind of boring when it comes to upgrading weapons. I ended up letting the computer upgrade my weapons with the balanced option, and this was a cool feature for people like me who found the task of upgrading tedious; especially when having to click out of each character’s weapons to only click into another one.

But the abilities that came with the weapons and having to develop a proficiency for these abilities was a nice addition. The only time I felt hindered by this was when Barret had to learn an ability on a close combat weapon. I like the fidelity to the original, but at the same time it was a handicap. Of course this is probably my own problem as I could have chosen not to use those weapons, something I may not do in a second playthrough.

Nonetheless, I felt like it encouraged me to play as every party member, and some were just downright cool. Special mention has to go out to Aerith’s Ray of Judgement, and Barret’s Maximum Fury which are so OP it isn’t even funny.

STORY (CHARACTERS, PLOT, ADDITIONS)

The original Final Fantasy VII is well known for the infamous ship wars. Clerith vs Cloti has been the ongoing debate for the past twenty years, and I don’t think this game is going to convince anyone that their side is right or wrong. It’s still left open to interpretation, at least in my opinion, and perhaps this was the best way to keep everyone satisfied. However, the game adds the additional element of having Aerith confirm that she did indeed love Zack Fair, the main protagonist and her love interest in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. As a ‘Zerith’ and ‘Cloti’ shipper myself, this game gave me plenty of moments to love for both couples. As someone who does have a liking for Clerith and Aerti, it kept me more than fed.

I have to give kudos to those involved with the game that they stayed true to the very canon interpretation that Aerith and Tifa are friends, and always were. True, they both expressed some small mote of jealously in the original game (and, at times, in this one too), but it quickly becomes obvious that they are both strong-willed young women who admire each other greatly. There are great examples of their burgeoning friendship but my favourites have to be kicking the lecherous asses of Don Corneo’s lackeys, and discussing a shopping trip for stuff for the bar.

All in all, the characters are kept true to their original incarnations. If anything, they – as with everything else in this game – are given to breath and work through things organically. They are fleshed out, and given further backstories, motivations and plot. I think this was best done with the doomed member of AVALANCHE, Jessie. She’s given a last name which, to begin with, makes her feel less like an ancillary plot device and more a character in her own right. To add to this, we meet her mother and father; which absolutely tugged at my heartstrings, what with her father’s tragic accident leaving him in a comatose state. We find out Jessie wanted to be an actress and was working at the Gold Saucer (this also works as a nice nod to places we know exist in-universe but will not visit until a later instalment).

Marle, Leslie, Madam M, Andrea Rhodes – every Chocobo Sam – are all fantastic additions, and I hope we see them again. In particular I would love to see Leslie reunited with his lost love in a future game.

Now, in terms of the story, I have played the original inside and out for many years, and always thought I would be against changes made to the story. Throughout most of the game most of these additions are simply changes that just make things more interesting for someone like me who’s played the original before. Towards the end, however, things take a drastic turn, and turn everything we’ve known on its head. As I said before, I have no idea where this is going to go in the next part, and there were some aspects that left me scratching my head.

The main of these being Zack. As far as anyone who has played the original or Crisis Core will know, Zack died in a last stand against the Shinra corps sent after him and Cloud after their break out from Nibelheim. However, the ending raises some interesting questions. At first I thought us defeating the Whispers had rewritten Zack’s fate, but maybe that’s not the case. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see where they take it (one change I did not like was Zack’s voice actor. I know all the English VAs were changed – which I wasn’t a big fan of in the first place – but the new voice actor does not sound good compared to Rick Gomez).

Overall, our characters end the game in more or less the same position as the end of the Midgar section of the original, but after the events of the battles with the Whispers it appears that certain events that would have been due to happen (the original ending with Red XIII, Aerith’s death, etc) may not happen at all – or at least, not in the way we think.