worried Crisis Core wont be as fun as the original.

[Raspberry]

I'm worried that Crisis Core won't be as fun to play as the original, or newcomers will treat this as another PS5 game when in reality it is a PSP game with PS5 graphics.

GAMEPLAY
The game's main structure is an incredibly linear gameplay with points of no return and a lot of secret side missions. If you went to fast in the story, you could miss out on some secrets. sometimes you had to backtrack to unlock a special missions. On a PSP at the time, we were grateful to have a portable 3d game with (mostly) free camera. But now that we have handheld devices that blow the PSP away, not sure people will enjoy it as much.

For example, we're limited to mostly Midgar and specific sections of it. There really isn't a whole lot to do other than to look for every corner where somehow an NPC might be relevant to unlock more missions. No minigames. You can't even visit other places like Kalm, Junon, or even Costa Del Sol. The missions also are incredibly linear with segments of hallways and monster zones. The game is fully self-aware of the design because some secret enemies are found just by hugging walls to avoid the main enemy.

STORY
Crisis Core's story isn't the best suited for modern games. A lot of the story telling is just Zack being pulled around into missions while everyone else knows more than he does. Even important moments that we should be able to see in the story, go through cutaways. As if there was more story but we're not allowed to see. In the beginning it was acceptable because it builds tension and mystery behind Angeal and Genesis's decisions. But once its clear, Crisis Core continues to do the same thing.

The story really picks up after Zack becomes 1st soldier, even though they still treat him like the runt of the group. Sadly, both FF7 remake and Crisis Core reference the original AVALANCHE. And yet, in Crisis Core, we don't see any hints of them. For continuity sake, it would've made sense to remake Crisis Core alongside Before Crisis as well.

 

[Vivi-Gamer]

I'm quite looking forward to the Remaster of Crisis Core. I personally would have been content with a straight port of the came upscaled through PS+ Premium but to have the textures upgraded is a huge bonus! Not every game has to be Triple-A remade, I actually would prefer more ports like this - I still feel Remakes are anotehr experience seperate to the original and an indulgence more than a necessity.

The only concerns I really have a the tedious nature of the Bonus Missions in the menu - The maps in these Extra Missions were very basic and felt awful even in the original game. Beyond that the only other hinderance I see is the voice acting, it simply isn't as good as the original version and still a little grating.

 

[Raspberry]

I'm quite looking forward to the Remaster of Crisis Core. I personally would have been content with a straight port of the came upscaled through PS+ Premium but to have the textures upgraded is a huge bonus! Not every game has to be Triple-A remade, I actually would prefer more ports like this - I still feel Remakes are anotehr experience seperate to the original and an indulgence more than a necessity.

The only concerns I really have a the tedious nature of the Bonus Missions in the menu - The maps in these Extra Missions were very basic and felt awful even in the original game. Beyond that the only other hinderance I see is the voice acting, it simply isn't as good as the original version and still a little grating.

I prefer ports too because theres no deception involved or false expectations (amongst new players). I don't like pseudo-remasters/remakes where they went to the effort of replacing every model and every texture, but keep everything else EXACTLY the same.

Considering that those "extra missions" (by my personal estimation) is 60% of the game, while the only 35% is the story and 5% was minigames (which also were just a way to unlock more mission). its hard to shrug that off as a small downside. Especially because you need to beat those bosses to fight Minerva, the games coolest boss.

And at the same time, i'm not expecting a full remake either. there's alot to use with Crisis Core, but there's also a lot ommitted from the design just because it was on PSP.

 

[Galadín]

I think that as far as FFVII lore goes, the premise behind a lot of it is very inconsistent - particularly when it comes to the Jenova project, Mako and SOLDIER. With the original FFVII getting its remake, it is only inevitable that they would have to rehaul some considerable chunks of their lore now that they have a better view of all the prequels and sequels they have since released. I can imagine the inconsistencies that a simple port of Crisis Core would reveal to newer players coming to the franchise via the FFVII Remake - a lot of it just wouldn't add up. Personally I agree with Raspberry that it would have made much more sense to fully remake Crisis Core and Before Crisis for the sake of continuity.

There is also an inherent problem with current day releases (across all entertainment industries) of capitalising on nostalgia to make a quick and easy buck. Simple remasters and reboots are the ultimate in laziness to cash in on your fandom. Although I am 100% aware of this - I still can't deny that I am actually so excited for the re-release of Crisis Core and have it pre-ordered even though it is simply for the privilege of replaying a game I have finished 100 times just with flashier graphics. I've completely fallen for the gimick here myself. Although I believe the FFVII Remake did actually add quite a lot more scope to the game and can legitimise itself beyond mere nostalgia, it is worth considering that there is no evidence as of yet, that this consideration is being meaningfully applied to the full ecosystem of FFVII. It's a pity to see this missed opportunity.

 

[Dionysos]

The missions also are incredibly linear with segments of hallways and monster zones.

Yeah, I hated this. The level design in some areas seemed lazy. Or perhaps 'lazy' is too harsh. It was after all a PSP game. But it was certainly frustrating and boring during those moments. The areas did not always feels like 'real' areas. Instead it seemed like we were getting suspiciously arena-shaped areas joined together by some paths. Enter the arena-shaped area and fight some monsters, move to the next. Rinse and repeat.

Playing a game like that on PS5 might make it less forgivable, or more noticeable.

In general though, this upgraded Crisis Core does look really good. It looks like they have improved it a great deal, even the gameplay. They've made the combat more fast-paced and fluid, and tweaked other things.

I don't hate the original Crisis Core, but I've never been a huge fan of the original Crisis Core either. It brought fascinating concepts to the table, but I didn't feel like the execution was great in some parts. In some ways I'd also have preferred keeping Zack's early years a mystery to turning him into a human puppy. But I grew to love Zack all the same, and I've learned to appreciate the game's contributions to FFVII's lore.

And much of that is making its way into the Remake now. And while Crisis Core: Reunion is to be a remaster/revamp rather than a full Remake-style reimagining, they've done subtle things to bring them closer together. The summon designs, for example, and also the Remake voice actors replacing several of the voices for the characters.

 

[Raspberry]

As a trophy fanatic, i will buy Crisis Core because its easily designed to have trophies in mind.

I just wish more was done than just making Crisis Core slightly more accessible to modern fans. if they're willing to go this far into remaking characters, environments, and rework voice acting. then why not just include Before Crisis as well? especially because they all tie in together.

 

[Bambi]

All I keep hinting of id the 300 stupid missions I’m gunna have to do again

AM STILL PRETTY HYPED FPR IT THOUGH. Ah am back 5 min and regress straight back into caps lock fail

 

[Dionysos]

if they're willing to go this far into remaking characters, environments, and rework voice acting. then why not just include Before Crisis as well? especially because they all tie in together.

Before Crisis is a very different thing with different sorts of assets. It wouldn't be a simple thing to rebuild that to the quality of Crisis Core: Reunion and Remake. Although I too would love to see that done.

Square Enix are / should be, however, reworking significant aspects of Before Crisis into the upcoming (somewhen?) Ever Crisis mobile game, alongside episodes from other games and films in the Compilation. So that'll be some glimpse (albeit altered / upgraded) into a game that has long been inaccessible.

 

[Raspberry]

Before Crisis is a very different thing with different sorts of assets. It wouldn't be a simple thing to rebuild that to the quality of Crisis Core: Reunion and Remake. Although I too would love to see that done.

Final Fantasy 7 was a ps1 game that was remade with compeltely new models, new background, and new gameplay but somehow Before Crisis a more recent mobile game can't reach the quality of Crisis Core Reunion and Remake? why?

of course the assets are different. none of the assets are the same in FF7 remake.

 

[Dionysos]

Final Fantasy 7 was a ps1 game that was remade with compeltely new models, new background, and new gameplay but somehow Before Crisis a more recent mobile game can't reach the quality of Crisis Core Reunion and Remake? why?

of course the assets are different. none of the assets are the same in FF7 remake.

A fair point.

What I meant was that the Final Fantasy VII Remake games are doing a much more extensive job of remaking the original than Crisis Core: Reunion needed to do. Crisis Core is being upgraded in terms of graphics and a bit of gameplay, but my understanding is that the core aspects of the original game will be as they were. They aren't being too ambitious with it.

That's not the case with the FFVII Remake. The moments from the original game have been recreated in entirely new ways and the maps look very different, have different plans, and so on. It is an entirely new game, which just happens to cover the events of the Midgar portions of the original game.

So the transformation of the original FFVII into FFVII Remake was a much bigger job (and continues to be). The original Crisis Core already had character models that looked more human than the original and had different camera angles and built-up 3D environments rather than painted backdrops. So while we've seen a big upgrade and might see some new stuff, they aren't including the large changes that FFVII Remake did to the game itself. At least so far as I am aware.

But Before Crisis? It originally looked like this:

​

In my opinion (and it might be personal taste), despite coming out after the original game, it looks substantially worse and is less easy on the eye. The changes they'd have to do to that may need to be even more extensive than FFVII Remake if they wanted the quality to be on par with even Crisis Core: Reunion. I have no idea how the gameplay felt, or if those camera angles would be popular today (they scream handheld), so to keep with the quality of the Remake they may need to completely rethink all of that too and create fully-traversable maps and work on the angles (it is hard to judge a game I have never played, but that is just how it always seems to look). Unless they wanted to simply remaster Before Crisis and re-release it looking cleaner and in HD but otherwise as it was.

And so far it seems like they've opted for the latter as they have so far determined that it would be easier to represent Before Crisis with the cartoony style of Ever Crisis instead.

I suppose, though, they could reuse a lot of Remake assets (including the upcoming games) and do it that way. And I'd love to see a massively upgraded version of Before Crisis in the style of the Remake, but with all of the plates spinning right now, I don't think Square Enix has any interest in doing that at this stage. The love and nostalgia for Crisis Core is significantly higher than Before Crisis, which is a game that slipped through the net for most fans worldwide.

 

[Raspberry]

A fair point.

What I meant was that the Final Fantasy VII Remake games are doing a much more extensive job of remaking the original than Crisis Core: Reunion needed to do. Crisis Core is being upgraded in terms of graphics and a bit of gameplay, but my understanding is that the core aspects of the original game will be as they were. They aren't being too ambitious with it.

That's not the case with the FFVII Remake. The moments from the original game have been recreated in entirely new ways and the maps look very different, have different plans, and so on. It is an entirely new game, which just happens to cover the events of the Midgar portions of the original game.

So the transformation of the original FFVII into FFVII Remake was a much bigger job (and continues to be). The original Crisis Core already had character models that looked more human than the original and had different camera angles and built-up 3D environments rather than painted backdrops. So while we've seen a big upgrade and might see some new stuff, they aren't including the large changes that FFVII Remake did to the game itself. At least so far as I am aware.

But Before Crisis? It originally looked like this:

​

In my opinion (and it might be personal taste), despite coming out after the original game, it looks substantially worse and is less easy on the eye. The changes they'd have to do to that may need to be even more extensive than FFVII Remake if they wanted the quality to be on par with even Crisis Core: Reunion. I have no idea how the gameplay felt, or if those camera angles would be popular today (they scream handheld), so to keep with the quality of the Remake they may need to completely rethink all of that too and create fully-traversable maps and work on the angles (it is hard to judge a game I have never played, but that is just how it always seems to look). Unless they wanted to simply remaster Before Crisis and re-release it looking cleaner and in HD but otherwise as it was.

And so far it seems like they've opted for the latter as they have so far determined that it would be easier to represent Before Crisis with the cartoony style of Ever Crisis instead.

I suppose, though, they could reuse a lot of Remake assets (including the upcoming games) and do it that way. And I'd love to see a massively upgraded version of Before Crisis in the style of the Remake, but with all of the plates spinning right now, I don't think Square Enix has any interest in doing that at this stage. The love and nostalgia for Crisis Core is significantly higher than Before Crisis, which is a game that slipped through the net for most fans worldwide

I was thinking something overly simplified. use Crisis Core's already established gameplay and just replace Zack with every Turk there. maybe with pre-set materia and combat moves. Similarly to how they just remade Dissidia by just adding a whole prequel chapter and an overworld. (except for the overworld part).

with Before Crisis, they don't have to be as accurate, just need to follow the general story-beats.

 

[Raspberry]

All I keep hinting of id the 300 stupid missions I’m gunna have to do again

AM STILL PRETTY HYPED FPR IT THOUGH. Ah am back 5 min and regress straight back into caps lock fail

It's not just tedious Missions. Its tedious Mission-hunting to do tedious Missions.

The gameplay loop was, travel all around Midgar and find any generic NPC and talk to them in the hopes of unlock such Tedious mission. There were no indicators of which NPCs had story content and which didn't, so you just kept talking to everyone.

And worst, Crisis Core did this thing of rewarding players from getting distracted, even in the most time-sensitive situations. Events like backtracking from Gongaga so you can get waterfall minigame or free loot. Or if you are in Junon, backtracking the elevator scene will unlock a whole side story.

 

[Galadín]

But didn't many RPGs do that back in the day? Talking to the NPCs in the town areas to uncover secrets/special items and such like was a common thing in even the PS1 and 2 era. I'm not sure I would put this down as a Crisis Core specific problem since it's pretty much in the DNA of an RPG - after all, it's supposed to be 90% story driven, and exploring the area and talking to towns people was part of that. Also, it is optional content, just like with FFVIII, you can clear the main story easily anywhere between Lvl 30-50 if you decide you don't like exploring and talking to NPCs.

A lot of games, Final Fantasy as well, have made their current titles pretty linear to play. Although action adventure games still have their fight mechanics to fall back on to deliver at least some challenge, RPGs haven't really fared as well on this front. Combat mechs are often criticised for being clunky and awkward since they haven't developed too well out of their origin days where turn based combat was the norm. One of the last vestiges of difficulty in an RPG comes from trying to discover the side plots and hidden challenges, with many titles not even doing that right. FFXIV for example, just telegraphs all unlockable content now making me wonder why they even have the extra optional side quests which don't unlock content there at all - it's basically just a 'tell me what to do and I'll do it, no thinking involved' scenario and it gets kind of dull having everything spoon fed to you. Having to explore an area just a little would be sort of nice and deliver a bit better interaction.

I'm not saying that Crisis Core was super involved or anything, it was a PSP title afterall which comes with considerable limitations by today's standards. But not having your hand held absolutely every step of the way is a least a tiny step in a positive direction - the secret content just needs to be even more rewarding than what it was to truly deliver the player satisfaction.

 

[Dionysos]

Some information in this (translated summary of a Korean interview) concerning Crisis Core: Reunion relevant to this thread.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1596512713873960961

Note that it also covers other things discussed in this thread like the (currently low) possibility of a Before Crisis remake. Seems like they aren't considering it at the moment for the reasons I suggested (it wasn't released worldwide, so it doesn't have a fanbase). Of course, if they had released it worldwide then it could have.

 

[Raspberry]

But didn't many RPGs do that back in the day? Talking to the NPCs in the town areas to uncover secrets/special items and such like was a common thing in even the PS1 and 2 era. I'm not sure I would put this down as a Crisis Core specific problem since it's pretty much in the DNA of an RPG - after all, it's supposed to be 90% story driven, and exploring the area and talking to towns people was part of that. Also, it is optional content, just like with FFVIII, you can clear the main story easily anywhere between Lvl 30-50 if you decide you don't like exploring and talking to NPCs.

So if we really going to compare it to a PS1/2 RPG era, then let's do the full comparison.

Crisis Core is limited to only one town Midgar. You walk around multiple areas, and you have to constantly walk to many of these areas to find which NPCs unlock any story. Not only that but because the story is triggered by either entering the briefing room or by selecting the story mission in the main menu, to ensure you didn't miss a single thing, you would go walk around every single area, talk to every single NPC, then go on a story mission.

It's not that I don't enjoy talking to NPCs, but in a blind playthrough, you're going to talk to every NPC repeatedly between missions on the off-chance that they have missions to unlock.

PS1/PS2 RPGs - were for the most part start off linear, but eventually, get more open-world and let you backtrack. So the pressure to talk to every NPC to unlock more stories is another aspect.

A lot of games, Final Fantasy as well, have made their current titles pretty linear to play. Although action adventure games still have their fight mechanics to fall back on to deliver at least some challenge, RPGs haven't really fared as well on this front. Combat mechs are often criticised for being clunky and awkward since they haven't developed too well out of their origin days where turn based combat was the norm. One of the last vestiges of difficulty in an RPG comes from trying to discover the side plots and hidden challenges, with many titles not even doing that right. FFXIV for example, just telegraphs all unlockable content now making me wonder why they even have the extra optional side quests which don't unlock content there at all - it's basically just a 'tell me what to do and I'll do it, no thinking involved' scenario and it gets kind of dull having everything spoon fed to you. Having to explore an area just a little would be sort of nice and deliver a bit better interaction.

I'm not asking for every game to tell me which characters have side quests or favors. But if it's going to be linear, and points of no return. then yes. Otherwise, I would have to make multiple save files or look up a wiki online. and for Crisis Core, it shouldn't be necessary.

I'm not saying that Crisis Core was super involved or anything, it was a PSP title afterall which comes with considerable limitations by today's standards. But not having your hand held absolutely every step of the way is a least a tiny step in a positive direction - the secret content just needs to be even more rewarding than what it was to truly deliver the player satisfaction.

Having to backtrack during time-sensitive moments such as a Waterfall treasure-catching mini-game? sure. that's a secret.

having to speak to every NPC in the hopes of unlocking more missions so you can get the final boss Minerva? I don't consider that a secret. Mission completion is also recorded by percentage. And a normal playthrough with no guides can lead to 66% completion. and since there is no backtracking, that means you have to dedicate to the current playthrough and do a new one or start over anyways.

It's too punishing for a linear game. And most people will have to go to a wiki to get 100% completion.

 

[Galadín]

I was pointing out that RPGs frequently have secrets you can't unlock after a point of no return even in scenarios which are 'time sensitive'. FFVIII, Suikoden 2 and FFX are just some examples I can think of which do this, it was part of the DNA of the genre of the time. Crisis Core was a game which cusped the era of 'old style' games such as these and more linear titles like FFXIII where there was very little achieved through exploration or interaction with NPCs or the environment. On top of this New Game + features or needing to complete a second playthrough is also still common today in many games, I believe FFXIII and Type 0 have this worked into the 100% completion of their games. Missing something in Crisis Core wouldn't be like missing something in FFVIII where story prevents you revisiting an area and the replay would be fairly long and involved, so that seems a slight advantage rather than a criticism.

If I recall correctly there were also scenarios in Crisis Core where if you completed a sequence in a main story quest perfectly you got better rewards and gear, like as a small example cutting down the bombs in Banora. I would definitely have a back up save so I could replay this just in case I messed up...or you could just reset if you were doing it as a replay since you know it's coming up. I mean, even the FFVII Remake has something like this with the bike race if you complete it perfectly - seeing an alternative cutscene is supposed to be a reward in itself.

All I'm saying is that the criticism being leveled here although obviously valid, is not so much an issue with Crisis Core persay, but something which crops up frequently within the RPG genre. I think it's sort of a given that you have a back up save when playing an RPG due to this being a common aspect of the gameplay.

 

[Raspberry]

I was pointing out that RPGs frequently have secrets you can't unlock after a point of no return even in scenarios which are 'time sensitive'. FFVIII, Suikoden 2 and FFX are just some examples I can think of which do this, it was part of the DNA of the genre of the time. Crisis Core was a game which cusped the era of 'old style' games such as these and more linear titles like FFXIII where there was very little achieved through exploration or interaction with NPCs or the environment. On top of this New Game + features or needing to complete a second playthrough is also still common today in many games, I believe FFXIII and Type 0 have this worked into the 100% completion of their games. Missing something in Crisis Core wouldn't be like missing something in FFVIII where story prevents you revisiting an area and the replay would be fairly long and involved, so that seems a slight advantage rather than a criticism.

I'm not advocating that the game should have no secrets. My concern is that a blind playthrough will be too punishing for the average player. especially because some of what Crisis Core requests during time-sensitive moments is to backtrack in events that are encouraging you to push through the story.

Imagine playing the game, going through all the missions that you unlocked (which is part of the problem I'm raising), and suddenly you realized you have 20% or 30% missing on missions, and you can't backtrack to complete them because you already did the NIebelheim event. Even worse, when you do decide to do NG+, your mission completion percentage goes back to 0%. So you have no choice but to play some of these boring missions just for completion. Being stronger doesn't make the missions less tedious either.

If I recall correctly there were also scenarios in Crisis Core where if you completed a sequence in a main story quest perfectly you got better rewards and gear, like as a small example cutting down the bombs in Banora. I would definitely have a back up save so I could replay this just in case I messed up...or you could just reset if you were doing it as a replay since you know it's coming up. I mean, even the FFVII Remake has something like this with the bike race if you complete it perfectly - seeing an alternative cutscene is supposed to be a reward in itself.

Yes, I'm aware of those. and no, that's not the concern being raised.

All I'm saying is that the criticism being leveled here although obviously valid, is not so much an issue with Crisis Core persay, but something which crops up frequently within the RPG genre. I think it's sort of a given that you have a back up save when playing an RPG due to this being a common aspect of the gameplay.

The reason why a lot of Square Enix and other JRPG-specialized company games did this was that they wanted to sell their official guides alongside the game.

But thats basically the point of the thread. On PSP in 2007. this would've been passable. But now that the game is being "remastered" for PS5/4, Switch, and Xbox, it's not going to be as enjoyable as it was back then.

it's like playing a remake of Pong in 4K with 60 FPS. Sure, its a faithful remake. But, is that all that should be done?

 

[Galadín]

But thats basically the point of the thread. On PSP in 2007. this would've been passable. But now that the game is being "remastered" for PS5/4, Switch, and Xbox, it's not going to be as enjoyable as it was back then.

it's like playing a remake of Pong in 4K with 60 FPS. Sure, its a faithful remake. But, is that all that should be done?

Don't forget, I already agreed in my first post on this thread that the game should have gotten a full remake versus simply being remastered. It would have shown a deeper consideration to the ecosystem of FFVII with the advent of the FFVII Remake, making it more of an exercise in continuity rather than simply cashing in on nostalgia.

I'm not quite clear, you said that you are worried that this remastered version won't be as fun as the original, but this conversation seems to revolve around how linear and unfun you found completing the original game. I don't think a remaster would ever address those problems you had, nothing short of a full remake could deliver a completely reworked system for the game - although I am still open to being proved wrong on this (here's looking at you Square Enix).

I would agree though that Square Enix opting for a simple remaster is a massively wasted opportunity and is disappointing to see that Crisis Core will not be revamped to a more current style game. It would have been great to get more nuance and an immersive gaming experience from it while retaining some of its original charm. In my view, I enjoyed the bit of exploration we had and would prefer if they expanded on this while not telegraphing every unlockable in the game - personally I feel like some of the DNA of the RPG genre has been lost over the last while, particularly within the Final Fantasy franchise and I would like to see some return to what made them challenging.

 

[Raspberry]

Don't forget, I already agreed in my first post on this thread that the game should have gotten a full remake versus simply being remastered. It would have shown a deeper consideration to the ecosystem of FFVII with the advent of the FFVII Remake, making it more of an exercise in continuity rather than simply cashing in on nostalgia.

I wouldn't have minded a simple Remaster. But for me, a remaster is using the same game and just refining the content already there. Crisis Core Reunion is replacing every model with a more modern one with a higher poly-count. They revamped the music. Mostly new voice cast with new voiced cutscenes. On top of that, it upsets me that Crisis Core is deeply connected to Before Crisis, and if they're going the extra length to do this, why couldn't they remake Before Crisis with Crisis Core's gameplay?

I'm not quite clear, you said that you are worried that this remastered version won't be as fun as the original, but this conversation seems to revolve around how linear and unfun you found completing the original game. I don't think a remaster would ever address those problems you had, nothing short of a full remake could deliver a completely reworked system for the game - although I am still open to being proved wrong on this (here's looking at you Square Enix).

The problem is that Crisis Core thrived by being portable and casual back in 2007, we would've dreamed to have a game just like that on a handheld. Full 3D models, real-time combat, mostly voiced cutscenes, and it's part of FF7? in 2007 we said "sign me up". we didn't argue about how repetitive it was, we didn't know how weak some of the plot was. At the time, that was the best version of a game we could've had. Maybe it would've been better as a PS2 game. Maybe Switch owners will be happy, but those who play on a home console may not.

But now that it's been about 15 years. I just don't agree that the game is as enjoyable as it was then simply because this is more than a remaster (as Square Enix likes to say), but not really a remake. So some of the things we tolerated because it was one of the best PSP games out there, may not be tolerated because it's a game trying to disguise itself as a modern game.

It's worse that Square is going to the trouble to have new players think this is a modern game. It's not. it just looks modern.

I would agree though that Square Enix opting for a simple remaster is a massively wasted opportunity and is disappointing to see that Crisis Core will not be revamped to a more current style game. It would have been great to get more nuance and an immersive gaming experience from it while retaining some of its original charm. In my view, I enjoyed the bit of exploration we had and would prefer if they expanded on this while not telegraphing every unlockable in the game - personally I feel like some of the DNA of the RPG genre has been lost over the last while, particularly within the Final Fantasy franchise and I would like to see some return to what made them challenging.

To some extent, i miss heavy secrets. but i don't think most of them are gone. we're just older and have access to the internet whenever. i personally go through a blind playthrough in most games, and half the "secrets" that show up in youtube are things that i already found naturally.

 

[Raspberry]

EDIT: the reviews are out. so one thing that makes the experience significantly better is the dash button. This will cut down needless combat by half. it means that i can complete these missions faster than the original.

i'm still seeing people bring up the similar points. the dialogue could've been better, and Zack's voice actor is awful.