My Thoughts On Final Fantasy 7

[Bartmanhomer]

Their NFT plans didn't age very well.

[Rynjin]

Their NFT plans weren't BORN well. They hopped on the bandwagon after the industry had already busted.

[Enceladus]

I think that part of the problem is that people in charge are not actually very (if at all) familiar with their own games. As far as I'm aware, Mr. Matsuda hasn't held any game-related positions in more than 15 years (at the very least). He's been listed as a CFO since 2004 before becoming president of SE in 2013.

Good point there.

But even from the financial perspective Mr. Matsuda's actions have been...interesting. Realistically, I can only surmise his NFT/Blockchain drive is perhaps, financially speaking, he is betting that such tech is going to get a big push forward and wants to be at the start to cash in. I can somewhat see this given a few key figures in Japan's government are pushing such things like the PM Fumio Kishida saying Web3 is a pillar of economic reform for the country. Others as well championing NFTs or blockchain in one form or another.

I guess from a historical stance he, and others that share is idea, are trying to transition the market like what happened with the shift to CD-rom as a storage medium instead of the old cartridges and bank on that. But even in that the shift was also caused by other industries embracing the technology which in the case of NFT/blockchain not much progress has been there. In that it still is interesting (putting it nicely) that they are trying to proceed in this despite there being no real market and attempting to create a market. Provide if that is the real case.

IDK, financially speaking it makes no sense to abandon something that is the proven money maker for what is really a shot in the dark.

[Psyren]

And here's Square-Enix live service failure #4 in as many months: Bravely Default Brilliant Lights Shutting Down

[Zevox]

And here's Square-Enix live service failure #4 in as many months: Bravely Default Brilliant Lights Shutting Down

They had a Bravely Default live services game too? Geez, were they just trying to crank out live service versions of any successful IP they had?

Not saying anything about Bravely Default, I haven't played the series. It's just that on the hierarchy of IPs Square-Enix owns, that seems like it's fairly low to my mind, so I'm surprised they were trying to milk live service game money even out of that.

Then again, I know there was a BlazBlue live service game for a little while, and that series is probably an order of magnitude more niche than Bravely Default, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised that every game company out there is trying to throw any IP they have into that space...

[Delicious Taffy]

They really do just hate making money in any sort of straightforward way, huh? Or waiting five damn minutes for their latest lemonade stand to get any business.

I swear, if Square Enix ran a fast-food chain, they'd open a hundred locations with only one point of service each, hire six people per store, charge $30 for a simple combo meal (plus $5 per additional condiment), set the business hours at 3am-10am, and then shut the entire thing down after six months because they didn't understand why they weren't making money during the lunch rush like everyone else and it wasn't breaking world records on overall profit.


Edit: Oh yeah, to keep the thread relevant to FF7 specifically, do y'all like the materia system overall? I like how it's incorporated into FF14, but I know there are some differences in 7.

[Zevox]

Edit: Oh yeah, to keep the thread relevant to FF7 specifically, do y'all like the materia system overall? I like how it's incorporated into FF14, but I know there are some differences in 7.

It's okay. In original FF7 I think it influences characters too much, to the point where they lack any individuality mechanically (barring Limit Breaks alone) - I was able to completely replace Aerith as my full caster just by throwing her materia on Yuffie or Tifa, no problem. That's much less of an issue in Remake, where the characters' movesets are inherent to them, and materia doesn't have as much influence over their stats as it could in the original, so there it works better as a way to customize the characters without overriding any sense of individuality.

[KillianHawkeye]

It's okay. In original FF7 I think it influences characters too much, to the point where they lack any individuality mechanically (barring Limit Breaks alone) - I was able to completely replace Aerith as my full caster just by throwing her materia on Yuffie or Tifa, no problem. That's much less of an issue in Remake, where the characters' movesets are inherent to them, and materia doesn't have as much influence over their stats as it could in the original, so there it works better as a way to customize the characters without overriding any sense of individuality.

That's good to know for when I eventually play the remake.

[lord_khaine]

That's much less of an issue in Remake, where the characters' movesets are inherent to them, and materia doesn't have as much influence over their stats as it could in the original, so there it works better as a way to customize the characters without overriding any sense of individuality.

Possibly one of the best arguments made for Remake so far.

[Delicious Taffy]

Gods, this is a hard game for me to get into. I finally gave it a shot and started playing, but I can't physically make myself play past the section where you sneak out of Aerith's house. I just get this overwhelming urge to play any other game in the world, and I don't know why. It's not even a remark on the quality, I just can't get around this block and actually play it. I haven't had this problem with any of the other FF games I've played.

[avensis]

Quite simply...Magic! Beautiful music, an interesting story and above all endearing and funny characters.

[Zevox]

And +1 to the "Square-Enix live service game failures" list: Avengers support is ending later this year. I'm honestly only surprised it took this long - I can only assume it was sheer brand recognition that gave it enough of an audience to last the three years it'll have been between launch and its end, because it definitely wasn't the quality of the gameplay, which was pretty mediocre. Fair warning, if you're interested in ever playing the single-player campaign of the game and would be buying it digitally, do so before that end point in September, because it'll no longer be available for purchase digitally after that.

Good thing the Square-Enix Guardians of the Galaxy at least turned out good, so we got one good game out of their stint with Marvel. Probably not coincidentally, that game doesn't have any live service elements at all, it's just a story-driven action game.