Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (1 Viewer)

[Graham Perks]

Wish I could remember more about the ending of FF7, what happened to Aeris etc!

The orchestral redoes of the soundtrack are wonderful, all three tracks

 

[Tony_Ramos]

Aeris is one with the planet or in the afterlife or some New Age crap like that. Like Taoism; you become one with all things in the universe.

 

[Tony_Ramos]

One other thing; could Square's new leading characters look any more feminine? Makes me wonder about their CG artists: Tetsuya Nomura does not design them to be that feminine. The CG artists even made the muslces smaller from his designs.

 

[Tony_Ramos]

BTW, if Square had done this movie early on instead of Spirits Within, they'd still have their Hawaiian CG films studio, Square USA.

Ah, hubris.

 

[Devin_C]

Been a few months, has anyone heard anything more about this coming to Region 1?

The recent news about a FF:VII sequel got me thinking about this again...

 

[Sean Laughter]

Apparently they showed a reel or something at some festival in Venice or something and it got good remarks. That's about all I know.

By the time it's out though I think they'll have released every frame as a screenshot.

 

[Arnold Y]

While there isn't anything concrete, it is speculated that the delay of Advent Children in Japan is because Square-Enix is planning a simultaneous worldwide release of Advent Children. It's even possible that it may even see a theatrical release. However, FF:SW bombed at the theaters.

 

[Will_B]

Not a fan of the shoot-em-up games but since the animation looks similar to that of Final Fantasy (the movie, which was one I really enjoyed aside from the odd "Ben Affleck with the voice of Alex Baldwin" situation), I an hoping that this new film will manage to stand up well on its own, apart from the video game.

 

[Chad Ferguson]

The reason for the delay was so this movie could coincide with the PSPS release come Feb I think? OR April.

 

[Chris Wagner]

Since when is Final Fantasy a "shoot-em-up" game?

 

[Will_B]

What then? A cut-em-up-with-a-sword game? Or is it more of an adventure game like Myst?

 

[Dan Rudolph]

If you have to ask that, you have no understanding of video game genres and shouldn't be making claims.

It's a quasi-turn-based RPG (or actually turn based in early installments), so no twitching. You waiting for your turn timer to run out, then you select an action from a menu. There's also strategy in how you position your characters. And there are some adventure elements.

 

[Tony_Ramos]

Will_B:

FYI, Final Fantasy is a game where you press buttons and then a movie plays, i.e., you say yes to a dialogue and the story advances, or you hit an attack button adn you get to watch your character attack for a few minutes, especially if it's one of the overused summoning attacks ;p


I understand that i'm oversimplifying. Some might call Final Fantasy games an RPG, but unfortunately, it definitely does not qualify as one, b/c you never have any control over the direction of the story or how your character grows, or even your character's appearance. The only control you have is what order you attack the monsters in.

 

[TheLongshot]

To be honest, I could probably say that about most CRPGs, not just console RPGs. It is just tough to make a multi-path story that doesn't take forever to make, and that it worth playing. (Morrowind was probably one of the few successful ones.)

While the FF series are pretty much interactive stories, Square has mostly done a good job with the formats, creating characters and a story that you can sink your teeth into. I'm looking forward to this because I have fond memories of FF VII.

Jason

 

[Tony_Ramos]

Jason:

I don't think you could say that about *most* CRPGs. While it's hard to create entirely separate paths, ppl like Bioware allow you to influence the outcome of the story. Also, western developers give you loads of character customization options and equipment to use on your character, and the skikll progression makes sense, i.e., the warrior's fighting skills get better, not "Tidus learns fire 3 by jumping two spaces on the sphere board." ;p

However, Square's talent at making interactive movies is why I think they are well suited for all CG films like Advent Children. They make great characters and fantasy worlds too. I just had to get my distaste for what Square's games have become off of my chest.

 

[Tom Tsai]

I have to disagree. Where in the definition of RPG does it say that you have to have control over the direction of the story? FF, like other Role Playing Games, you take on the role of a character and progress through a plot. It doesn't matter if the plot is predetermined or multi-path, it's still a RPG. They're just different approaches to the same genre.

 

[Tony_Ramos]

Tom:

If deciding the order of combat attacks as the sole form of control is "taking on the ROLE" of a character, then yes it's an RPG.

My distaste with Square is that they don't really let us have freedom within their worlds or within the constraints of the very narror story they have created. The primary reason for this is that they choose to tell story almost solely through cinematics, rather than dialogue or action. I almost wish they'd stop making games and make more movies based on their games, b/c they haven't contributed anything new to the RPG genre since Final Fantasy 3US (6JP).

 

[Dan Rudolph]

By that logic, almost all games are RPGs. Anything where you control a specific charatcer, really. i.e. in Doom, you play the role of a space marine.

Eastern RPGs tend to be very linear. Practically adventure or FMV games with a RPG stat system thrown on.

 

[Mike_G]

Tony,
Your feelings about Square are very much in the minority. FF VII and to a lesser degree FF X have long been held as the best videogames of ALL TIME. The Playstation didn't have the capabilities to allow what you wanted. With FF X you were given much more control, and even more in X-2.

Do you want "Grand Theft Spira"?

As for cinematics, there were very few in VII. X had quite a few, and X-2 had MUCH less. The cinematics in VII were mainly the intro, the escape from Shinra, the "unmentionable", Cid's rocket launch, the very end, and a few minor ones. X's moved the story along. I always found cinematics to be a good break in the gameplay so long as they move the story along. I would challenge anyone who said that a Final Fantasy game's story was told soley through cinematics as you say.

The bottom line is that I can't see how anyone can complain about a series that's so highly regarded. Well, there's one person at work who said they slept through "Star Wars"....

Mike

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Mike, the complaints about constant cutscenes are mainly about VIII