Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

So, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth does let you freely choose between a few different alternate costumes for your party, but for whatever inane reason this feature seems to be locked to around 1/3rd of the map area of a single region.

Once you get too far away from Costa Del Sol the game forces everyone back to their default outfits. It's not just the beachwear either. All alternate costumes can only be worn in the tropical portion of Corel, even if the story portion of the game they were introduced in isn't related to Costa Del Sol at all.

For example, Yuffie wears a fancy dress during a certain cutscene at the Gold Saucer, and although you unlock the outfit afterwards, she can't actually wear it there. You have to go back to the area around Costa Del Sol to do so (the same is true for the beachwear, as well as the Shinra military gear you obtain during the Junon chapter).

Everything is fully coded for combat & exploration, the game just arbitrarily limits the feature for whatever reason I can't fathom. It'd be better if they didn't give the option at all rather than open it up and pull it away soon after.

Just to be clear this is a small issue in an otherwise fantastic game (though once again Fort Condor can do one. Luckily it hasn't popped back up yet), it's just so frustrating because it doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

@RR529 I'm pretty sure the costume thing is locked for the same reason they do it in Yakuza games - there's pre-rendered FMV cut-scenes while you're playing through the story and they want to maintain continuity between cut-scenes and gameplay.

@johncalmc, yeah, I don't necessarily mind being reverted back to the default attire when entering one of the linear story scenarios (since that's when the pre-rendered cutscenes are more likely to pop up), but when you're just running around the open environments doing all the side stuff the option should be available (if they're going to have it at all).

Maybe with the option to completely open it up in NG+ or chapter selection afterwards? Maybe that's the case, I haven't cleared the game yet.

@RR529 There's more areas later on where you can switch costumes. I don't think you can wear them whenever you want but I don't remember. I deleted the game the second I finished it :')

@CthulhuFhtagn Kinda. Yeah I was gonna go for the platinum originally so I'd like gone around everywhere doing everything. I'd done all of the sidequests and most of the minigames and everything. But it was really wearing out its welcome with me towards the end because I think most of the open world and side activities are really boring and I'd been on it for like 90 hours and then I got to the end and in my opinion the final boss and ending is like series worst stuff. Absolutely dreadful. Awful last boss, really bad finish. And that killed it for me so I decided to save myself the extra 50, 60, 70, whatever hours for the platinum and just deleted it immediately.

I'm looking for a bit of advice. I have Final Fantasy VII Remake in my backlog and have decided to get to it this year. However, I also have Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII Reuninon on my wishlist, which I understand is a prequel of sorts?
My question is, keeping in mind I have yet to play a single FF game, should I play Crisis Core or VII Remake first? I do expect I'll want to move on to Rebirth and the upcoming third (?) title as well, so it feels like Crisis Core is the place to start, but I would love some input from FF veterans

@FuriousMachine You should play the OG FFVII first.

I've played FFVIIR and the dlc but yet to play the Crisis Core remaster, but will hopefully get to it this year at some point before Rebirth. If memory serves me right, I think the references in FFVIIR to Crisis Core are fairly minimal.

@JohnnyShoulder Right, so CC first is by no means a necessity, if I read you right? Setting aside story/world/continuity concerns, I would also like to get a feel for any QOL disparities. If it feels clunky going from one game to the other because one is an improved experience over the other, I'd rather play the "lesser" game first (as I do plan on playing them all).

@FuriousMachine I hear some people say Crisis Core feels a bit of a step down from FFVIIR due to it being based on a PSP game and you would think also having a smaller budget.

I had to look up most the references to the original game in FFVIIR due to how long it has been since I've played it.

@JohnnyShoulder Right. Will probably play Crisis Core first, then. Thanks for the input, mate!
(though, before I get to that, I have some a-Witchering to do)

@FuriousMachine No worries, keeps us posted on how you get on. Be interesting what you make of it when you are new to the series.

@FuriousMachine Crisis Core Reunion was marketed as a remaster of the PSP game and while there's a bit more to it than that, you can definitely feel it's mostly an older game, definitely not on par with the new entries. A few months ago I'd even recommend to skip it unless you find yourself really into FFVII - but turns out it's referenced way more than I expected in Rebirth.
There's absolutely no need to play it before Remake though.

@FuriousMachine It’s a really good question and one which I also wondered how to approach. My situation is a little different — I played the original back on PS1 and it’s an all-time favorite and was my first of what would become a long love affair with the series, but I never played Crisis Core (despite having a PSP back in the day). And in present times, I have played Remake, but not Rebirth yet.

When I played FF7 Remake, I did feel a tiny bit lost as to some of the secondary prior narrative events which are more thoroughly explored in Crisis Core. But also, it had been so long since my playthrough of the OG FF7 that details of the plot were vague anyways. Nevertheless, a few characters in the story have their origins told in Crisis Core and in the original FF7 it didn’t really feel like those details were essential, but in the Remake I felt like that context is now more important. Perhaps it’s because I’m older now and follow the narrative a little closer than when I was a youngster, but regardless, after seeing the direction Remake had taken things I gauged that Crisis Core would be nice to have under the belt before getting further into the new series. I have a feeling Square-Enix remastered Crisis Core for the very reason that it’s a more essential piece in this new reimagined storyline. And a few other players have recommended to me that it would be a good idea to play CC before Rebirth. However, I suspect that the vast majority of the 2+ million people who’ve played Remake and Rebirth have never played Crisis Core.

So my plan is to play CC before moving on to Rebirth; hopefully I get to both of them this year sometime (I’m feeling some FOMO with the Rebirth hype). What I do wonder is how it will feel playing it “backwards” (CC before Remake) from a game design standpoint. My understanding is that CC is a remaster with updated visuals to make it line up with the Remake’s art and character design, but that they kept the gameplay loop intact from the PSP game. So I fear it will feel like a large step backwards in how it plays. Also, it’s a game designed for a portable so supposedly is made up of smaller and shorter missions and ‘jump in, jump out’ type of game design. It will be especially interesting to see how CC sits with you as your first Final Fantasy game. The basic mechanics of FF and specifically 7’s materia system might feel foreign to you since the original PSP game was clearly designed as an expansion of the original FF7 and I think it assumes some fundamental knowledge of those RPG and battle systems.

So I guess what I’m saying is there’s advantages and disadvantages to doing CC first, but either way I’m eager to hear how you get along with all of these since you’re a FF noob. 😄

Also, don’t sleep on FF16. I think it’s a really good entry point to Final Fantasy. It’s very contemporary in its gameplay philosophy and is less niche as a result. Remake is also quite updated and plays better for a modern audience, but has more classic JRPG roots than 16.

@JohnnyShoulder @Voltan @Th3solution Many thanks for some great and thoughtful insights on this, let's face it, weighty and important issue!
I will come back here and let you all know how I get on with the games; the first of which is currently planned to follow my first Witcher 3 playthrough (which will probably take quite a while, assuming I don't tire of it before completion... seems unlikely, but a huge game like this could overstay its welcome).
After considering all the responses and my own gut, Crisis Core will most likely be the one I start with.
I have FF16 in my backlog as well and I have considered beginning with that one (I also considered going all the way back with the pixel remasters), but I found I really wanted to get stuck in with the massive VII saga as soon as possible.

@FuriousMachine You’ve got some epic games on deck!
I’ve toyed with the idea of playing the pixel remasters too. FF1-6 are among the few in the series I’ve missed, along with FF13-3: Lightning Returns and FF15. And I never played the online multiplayer games 11 and 14, nor some of the supplemental stuff like Stranger in Paradise or FF Tactics. I’m usually averse to retro gaming but I might still go back to the pixel games one day.

Witcher 3 is another subject entirely, which I wouldn’t mind exploring (I’ll do so in the appropriate thread). Curious there too to hear a newcomer’s thoughts

@Th3solution Oh yeah, and there are oh so many more waiting for me further down the line as well. I'm not that into retro gaming either, I typically prefer the shiny new games over the pixelated older ones (or the pixelated new ones, for that matter), but I also know that if the gameplay and/or story is compelling enough, I can easily get sucked into an older game as well. I have both the full collection and the first game standalone on my wishlist waiting for a sale where the price is low enough for it to be a near risk-free purchase.

@FuriousMachine One nice thing about the older games is that they aren’t a very big time commitment, apparently. I think FF1 is like less than 20 hrs.

@Th3solution Yeah, that is definitely a plus! Makes it easier to commit to them too

Man, I'm doing the Brutal Challenges in Rebirth...
They're kinda brutal (I only have the last one left but it's insane).

After torturing myself with the minigames on Rebirth I finally finished all of them. The final chapter on hard, the final two brutal challenges and the legendary ones are the stuff between me and the Platinum...