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43M's Gaming Journal: A Few New Review and Red Dead 2!!!!


43M

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29 minutes ago, rob_shadows said:

You mean IF it happens again... You'll know what I mean when you get to the end... Which I personally didn't like but we'll see what happens.

I kind of already know what you mean based on things Ive read from the developers.

I just hope its an option through decisions, kinda like in Mass Effect.   Not that I want it to happen....but I think such an iconic element of the original needs to have a place, even if its not the only possible outcome.

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Interested in seeing how you feel about Phantom Pain, if/when you play it.

Probably the most disappointing yet still great game I've ever played.  The gameplay itself is fantastic, and if you love stealth, you will love the missions.  Without a doubt one of the best games ever when it comes to gameplay and mechanics. 

But as someone who had played all the Metal Gears... the story, or lack thereof, ruined it for me.  So it really will depend on how familiar you are with those games.  To me it really wasn't a Metal Gear game, but it is a great stealth game.  And if you have never played Metal Gear before or don't care about the story, then you will have a great time.  

Edited by iknowcool
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4 hours ago, rob_shadows said:

You mean IF it happens again... You'll know what I mean when you get to the end... Which I personally didn't like but we'll see what happens.

I'm interested in what you didn't like about the end but we can talk about that once 43 is done to not tease him to look at spoiler tags.

I absolutely loved everything about this game except it being linear. FF, to me, means open world. It means exploration. Going to some distant island way TF over there and finding enemies that are 5 times stronger than you are and grinding for hours to be able to beat them. I didn't get any of that in this game but I understand it's just the first part of a series so I'm taking it all w/ a grain of salt assuming the next installments will give me what I want.

I just watched the Yuffie expansion via a guy who makes cutscene movies on YT b/c I have no PS5 and that was amazing! I wish I could play it.

This was one of my favorite FF games and I while I don't buy many day 1 releases, the next installment will be a preorder. That's how excited I am for it.

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7 hours ago, iknowcool said:

Interested in seeing how you feel about Phantom Pain, if/when you play it.

Probably the most disappointing yet still great game I've ever played.  The gameplay itself is fantastic, and if you love stealth, you will love the missions.  Without a doubt one of the best games ever when it comes to gameplay and mechanics. 

But as someone who had played all the Metal Gears... the story, or lack thereof, ruined it for me.  So it really will depend on how familiar you are with those games.  To me it really wasn't a Metal Gear game, but it is a great stealth game.  And if you have never played Metal Gear before or don't care about the story, then you will have a great time.  

Reportedly, huge parts of the story and game ended up being scrapped due to the feud between Konami and Kojima.    Disappointing.    Kinda reminds me of FF15....a really good game, but there was originally supposed to be alot more to it.

Im right there with you.  A huge huge draw of the MGS games has been the story and cinematics, especially those of us who have been playing the games since the first PS1 game.

I got the game really cheap, so it was worth it...even if the story isnt what it could have been.

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  • 3 weeks later...

FFVIIR_PS4_2D.jpg   Review

 

 

Aside from the Zelda franchise, no franchise is as storied for me and my experiences as a gamer than the Final Fantasy series.       Granted, I got into it a bit late, but still over 20 years of playing these games, and by and large, Ive had mostly great experiences.    As Ive mentioned numerous times,  FF7 was the first Final Fantasy game I played all the way back in 1996 or 97, and I couldnt get into it.     Unfortunately, as that point, I didnt have much experience with turn based JRPGs.   I didnt play some of the classic ones on SNES like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6 (3 in NA), and I believe the only one I played before 7 was Quest 64, which I absolutely hated and thought was utterly boring.   So when I first played FF7, I was turned off by the elements that felt similar, and didnt really give it much of a shot.    It wasnt until FF8 came along and blew my **** off that I decided to revisit FF7 and give it the chance it deserved, and I wasnt disappointed.   Between my teens and early 20s, I probably played through FF7 at least 3 full times and maybe a few others playthroughs I never finished.     Either way, I loved the game....even though I thought it was a bit overrated and I still preferred Final Fantasy 8 (I know Im in the extreme minority).

Fast forward almost 25 years and here we are, a Final Fantasy 7 for the new generation.    The question was, could it appeal to those who loved the original?   For years and years, fans clamored for a remake to the original, and many of the diehards would say "I just want the exact same game with updated graphics and cinematics", and even after this game out, many of the original FF7 fanboys bashed this game for not being enough like the original and changing the battle system and even story elements too much, and others simply said it wasnt as good as the original.

I agree...Final Fantasy 7 Remake isnt as good as the original Final Fantasy 7.

It's better. 

WHOA WHOA WHOA....before anyone jumps on me about that, let me clarify.     Final Fantasy 7 Remake is, in my opinion, the superior game experience.   HOWEVER, the original Final Fantasy 7 was a revolutionary game that transformed RPGs and honestly, the entire videogame industry going forward.      Final Fantasy 7 Remake cannot come close to replicating the legacy or the magic of the first one....not because its not a great game, but because the original was just iconic for the time it was released.     Final Fantasy 7 Remake could never really replicate that, regardless of how good it was.

And make no mistake, this was an amazing game.

It was so nice to really care about the characters in a Final Fantasy game again.  Its been nearly 20 years since the last Final Fantasy game to really make me love the characters (Final Fantasy 10).   From FF7, 8, 9 and 10, the characters were such a strength.    Final Fantasy 12 was a good game, but I just didnt really grow to care about the characters as much as previous games.     13 wasnt a bad game IMO, but the worst part was the characters.   I not only didnt care about them, I disliked most of them.      Final Fantasy 15 was a little better, but couldve been much better if they hadnt removed so much of the game.    

Cloud, Barrett, Tifa, Aerith and Red were all done nearly to perfection.         Cloud was stoic and cold with moments of levity, Tifa was a dime and a complete badarse....Aerith was kind, humble and adorable.....and Red, for the limited time in the game, was wise and ferocious.     The ONLY minor issue I had was with Barrett.  I still loved his character and 90% of the time, he was exactly how I wanted him, but he was a little too over the top sometimes.  I get he was like the in the original, but sometimes it just felt like too much.   Overall however, the characters and their development were done perfectly....not just the main characters either.      The Turks were fleshed out to perfection, and I really grew to hate the corrupt faces behind Shinra, especially the president and Heindegger...who I cant wait to fight in the future.

The gameplay is nothing short of masterful.    Its the perfect combination action and strategy, and IMO, easily superior to the original, which IMO wouldnt be quite as appealing to modern audiences....even though thats still fun to me too.      So many of the battles were absolutely epic and while the game was extremely challenging at parts, I never felt overwhelmed.    I did feel there were some cheap elements which Ill cover soon, but overall, it was very balanced and I had an absolute blast.     The materia and weapons systems were done extremely well, and a few tweaks in the next game could make it damn near perfect.

I could go on and on about this game, because there really isnt anything bad to say about it.   The graphics, story, characters and gameplay were all top notch, but alas, it  was not perfect.

I felt like the game did a somewhat poor job of developing Sephiroth.   I mean, they made it clear he was a threat, but he just kinda showed up randomly, mostly in Cloud's visions, but didnt really explain who he was or WHY he was such a threat.    I know that part 2 will likely get more into that, but for as much as they showed him, they didnt really do a good job building him up going into the next game.     

Some of the gameplay elements did annoy me, mainly when it came to disrupting my spells and attacks.   Not that I had an issue with it happening in general, but because it sometimes felt cheap and didnt feel like there was anyway to really speed up the rate in which certain attacks happened.     For instance, when casting magic, the more powerful the spell, the longer it took to be cast.   I actually like that idea, but I feel like there shouldve been away to reduce how much time it took.    All spells like Haste did was speed up the ATB, but it didnt speed up how long it took to cast those spells.      There shouldve been a materia or something else that allowed you to speed that up more.    Or maybe there was and i didnt notice.     Not a huge complaint, though.

The map got on my nerves a good bit.     It usually wouldnt tell you where to go, but the markers for where you got your missions would remain.     So I would go exploring for what I needed, and then Id see the marker, thinking it was new, only for it to take me right back to where I first got the mission.   Pretty damn annoying.      Honestly, the map was probably my biggest source of frustration in the game, but honestly, most huge games with large maps have frustrating elements. for one reason or another.

One last MINOR negative is the fact that this is a pretty linear game.   It doesnt allow you to do much exploring beyond the confines of a set area.   HOWEVER, I get why they did it, and in the original FF7, the first disc was pretty linear, just like this.   It wasnt until about midgame that you got to really explore world.   I just hope the future installments allow for more exploration like the original.   

Bottom line:   An absolutely incredible game from start to finish, and an extremely worthy remake to one of the most iconic games ever made.     I cannot wait for part 2....hopefully not TOO far off.     

Gameplay:  9
Story:  8
Graphics: 9
Value/Replayability:   8
Personal Enjoyment:  9.5

 

Final Score:    9

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On 10/12/2021 at 11:03 AM, BobbyPhil1781 said:

I'm interested in what you didn't like about the end but we can talk about that once 43 is done to not tease him to look at spoiler tags.

I absolutely loved everything about this game except it being linear. FF, to me, means open world. It means exploration. Going to some distant island way TF over there and finding enemies that are 5 times stronger than you are and grinding for hours to be able to beat them. I didn't get any of that in this game but I understand it's just the first part of a series so I'm taking it all w/ a grain of salt assuming the next installments will give me what I want.

I just watched the Yuffie expansion via a guy who makes cutscene movies on YT b/c I have no PS5 and that was amazing! I wish I could play it.

This was one of my favorite FF games and I while I don't buy many day 1 releases, the next installment will be a preorder. That's how excited I am for it.

Now that he's done I'll answer this.

It's not necessarily that I didn't "like" the ending so much as they I'm just really nervous about it... The way they did things opens the door for changing the story and they even said at the end "the unknown journey still continue" to really emphasize the fact that there may be some significant changes. Changing things just makes me nervous... It was an iconic story and while changing little things here and there aren't a big deal they opened the door to potentially major changes such as the most iconic scene in the original potentially not happening. 

I mean they've already changed it pretty considerably with Biggs living (and seriously come on man of you were doing to change it so one of them lived it should have been Jessie dammit! Lol).

I loved the game... The gameplay, visuals, voice acting, everything... But changing major story elements scares me.

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5 hours ago, rob_shadows said:

Now that he's done I'll answer this.

It's not necessarily that I didn't "like" the ending so much as they I'm just really nervous about it... The way they did things opens the door for changing the story and they even said at the end "the unknown journey still continue" to really emphasize the fact that there may be some significant changes. Changing things just makes me nervous... It was an iconic story and while changing little things here and there aren't a big deal they opened the door to potentially major changes such as the most iconic scene in the original potentially not happening. 

I mean they've already changed it pretty considerably with Biggs living (and seriously come on man of you were doing to change it so one of them lived it should have been Jessie dammit! Lol).

I loved the game... The gameplay, visuals, voice acting, everything... But changing major story elements scares me.

I get that and can't disagree with your logic. There was a rumor the second expansion wouldn't be open world and I would've been extremely upset with that. Pretty sure that's been squashed though

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On 10/31/2021 at 10:07 AM, BobbyPhil1781 said:

I get that and can't disagree with your logic. There was a rumor the second expansion wouldn't be open world and I would've been extremely upset with that. Pretty sure that's been squashed though

Has it? I've been anxiously awaiting the news of a true open world part 2 or not. 

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8 hours ago, NickButera said:

Has it? I've been anxiously awaiting the news of a true open world part 2 or not. 

Well they did say it will "explore the vastness of the world" but you're right, that could be interpreted differently lol. The world is too big to not be open world...... Right? It could be my confirmation bias leaking out when I read that line

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7 hours ago, BobbyPhil1781 said:

Well they did say it will "explore the vastness of the world" but you're right, that could be interpreted differently lol. The world is too big to not be open world...... Right? It could be my confirmation bias leaking out when I read that line

All Ive really heard is that part 2 could be wildly different from both the original and part 1 of the remake.

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1 hour ago, 43M said:

All Ive really heard is that part 2 could be wildly different from both the original and part 1 of the remake.

I mean, an open world, expanded FF VII R as part 2 might be my dream game. The first installment was spectacular. I got my PS5 up and running now as well so I'm ready..... very early, but ready lol

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MV5BMTUwMDI1NTExMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODk2   Review

 

So, this was a bit of a surprise in regards to me jumping into it out of nowhere.  I bought this game years ago after a friend of mine kept raving about it and I tried playing it when I first got it and I just couldnt get into it.  Im typically not a big fan of first person games with a few exceptions, so that initially took me out of it.    After finishing Final Fantasy 7, I was looking for a new game, and I was looking at several games Ive had for years that Ive either never played or at least never completed (Dishonored, Infamous 2, Fallout 3, Assassins Creed (first one) and Skyrim).    I ultimately went with Dishonored because a) I wanted to try something different and b) I wanted a short-ish game (under 20 hours),

Im not going to spend a ton of time on this review.   There were elements I really liked and I did enjoy the game, but first person games just dont really do much for me.    I get why so many people enjoy them, but just not my preference.     I especially thought it felt a bit clunky for a stealth game.     I got better as it went on, but some elements just frustrated me.   I think I wouldve enjoyed this more on PC though.  I had it on PS3, and the game had several issues that might have been somewhat better on PS3.

Pros

  • Intense moments as you sneak around the city
  • Fun gameplay dynamics and game moments thanks to innovative use of in game powers and weapons.
  • Something different that made me crawl out of my gaming "comfort zone"
  • Pretty decent story

Cons

  • Not big on first person games in general, so that kinda soured the game a bit from the get go
  • Controls were awkward at times
  • Stealth felt a bit off in a first person game, but you get used to it, I guess.
  • Graphics and characters models were meh, even for PS3, but probably wouldve looked a little better on PC

 

Bottom line:   Solid game that I'd probably grade a bit higher if I was more into first person games, but it did objectively have some issues.   Overall, pretty good experience. 

Gameplay:  7
Story:  8
Graphics: 6
Value/Replayability:   8
Personal Enjoyment:  7 

 

Final Score:    7.2

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