The excitement for the upcoming expansion for Final Fantasy 14 is palpable amongst our free company – well, so is maybe a little bit of burn out trying to wrap up loose ends and feel fully prepared for the expansion release. I recently found out that I did in fact order the edition that came with early access although whether or not I will be able to get on during early release because servers and the sheer volume of players jumping on that weekend will be…interesting to say the least. I now feel like I am at a point where I can take some time away from the grind I’ve been doing for the past few months especially just so I’m feeling nice and fresh for the expansion and can sink back into the story.
I have always loved video games. I’ve never been particularly *good* at them but there are some stories that are just so beautifully told through gameplay. As an imaginative and creative person video games just become fully emersive experiences for me and I have loved playing a part of a different character through previous final fantasy games, amongst others such as Assassins Creed and Horizon Zero Dawn. I got fully into the lore that surrounds games like Bloodborne and the Souls games which have such compelling visuals and all of this stuff going on in the background that just brings me so much joy. But there hasn’t been a game that has engrossed me as much as Final Fantasy XIV and theres a little part of me that is kind of sad that I didn’t pick it up much sooner.
I fully love playing and essentially for raiding reasons, being, Avalon. Role Playing games are essentially for me at least more immersive because you become that character for a short space of time but I have created Avalon and whilst she follows the story of FFXIV I have picked how she looks, reacts, comments she makes and jobs she plays. I love my tiny lizard lady character. I love crafting cool glamours for her and making furniture for her which is just a little bit of me too. It’s such a fun and interesting way to put some of you into an online character with all the aspects that an MMO has. Like I just genuinely love that there is more to this game than just the story. The interactions with other players makes it a whole lot of fun.
Endwalker Levelling
I would say my main job is a Machinist so I’ll be pushing that through the Main Story Scenario quests but I will be swapping in my Warrior and Summoner (to level Scholar) at the same time, potentially followed by Dragoon as that is the only other class I have in 70s. If I have any story left over after those then I’ll be speed levelling my other tanks because I don’t like the thought of wasting EXP. I know having a tank at level will help with some dungeon queues and I’ve been practising with Warrior again recently to be better at running through dungeons. I’m not going to be doing wall to wall pulls though because that just isn’t my style of play.
Main Story Quest
This will, of course, be my main focus. I have early access and as long as I can get online I firmly intend to focus on the story as much as I possibly can before I go away for the week. I have no intention of forming a static to go through content with although I am more than happy to join in with other people I know in game if/when we are at the same place at the same time. Mostly though I’ll get as much as I can done before I head off on holiday for the week and then when I’m back Friday night I will be right back to it. I imagine I will probably have the story done within a couple of weeks, depending on lag, queues and the like. Then I’ll work through any blue side quests that open up all the other things and probably open up beast tribes too.
Aether Currants
The thing I am most not looking forward to is how slow walking is in this game without riding maps and without being able to fly and something I know I’m going to need to get sorted before I go in with crafting and gathering because flying will make it about one thousand times faster.
Crafting and Gathering
All of my crafters and gatherers are at 80. I plan to do Botany and Mining first, then by specialist crafters of Culinarian, Weaver and Blacksmith. My final gatherer to level will probably be fisher because it takes the longest and it isn’t one I enjoy the most. I’ll be doing a mix of daily deliveries, custom deliveries and leves to do this. I do want to get these done pretty quickly and in time for treasure maps with my FC because I absolutely do not want to have to pay for them and I’ll need a level 90 gatherer.
Unlocking New Jobs
I will be unlocking Reaper and Sage but its unlikely I’ll be doing much with them. Reaper is probably going to be more my style of play because it does look pretty cool but I’m not sure I want to be making it a main job for me. I have though got the gear for it thanks to levelling Dragoon. However, it would probably be the next best job to have unlocked and level to 90. Sage will probably chill with my white mage and astrologian for a while until I even think about healing. One day I might not have the fear so much and will be able to heal through fights.
Learning how to take a /gpose screenshot on console has been a fun learning experience for me whilst playing FFXIV. It has given me a chance to show off my character a bit more and work on things like glamour. Its a nice way to chill between doing raids and learning mechanics. I think the unique thing about an MMO is the balance between having fun and doing something a little more relaxing and creative as well as playing through an immersive and intricate story and raiding is what has kept me so engrossed since May 2021.
My character for FFXIV Avalon Lefae an Au Ra standing in the rain in Idyllshire
I recently wrote about how I’ve been playing Final Fantasy 14: An MMORPG video game in one of my all time favourite franchises of games. My PC is not up to scratch so I am a console player only and use a controller to play which has it’s frustrations for sure. I didn’t think taking cool screenshots in fancy glamours (the true endgame some might say) was really possible. Playing on console means I’m also a bit restricted when it comes to screenshots because I don’t have access to Mods, however, I have been practising and I’m pretty pleased with the results so far. I wanted to write down what I do to take /gpose screenshots in FFXIV on console to hopefully help other new players, like me, that want to try themselves. I even went out to create a character Instagram @avalon_lefae if you’re interested in following me.
Getting Started
Firstly, this is all about having fun and being creative with an original character or avatar. Seeing some peoples creations I can see there are so many people that love creating a story behind their characters and of course its a role playing game, that comes across as a part of it especially when using the characters outside the game on social media. You can get started by simply picking a favourite place, favourite emoji and get snapping. Some people prefer to plan a whole in game session so will have their glamour plates ready to switch things up. Theres no harm with jotting down some ideas you might have. Whatever makes it fun for you will work!
Choosing a Location for a /gpose screenshot
Location, I think, is key and thankfully this game is full of so many beautiful arenas and areas to use. The backdrop can help create a whole mood for your screenshots in FFXIV from cute and fun to dark and moody. Using the settings to enhance the photo is a really fun part of taking screenshots in /gpose mode I think and now each time I go into a dungeon or go back into a different place I think creatively about the type of photos I want to create to show my progress in the game. I genuinely think it gives you a fresh perspective when thinking about other areas more creatively. I really makes me appreciate all the hard work graphically that has gone into this game over the years.
I recently got all my crafters and gatherers to max level so I took the time to craft some furniture and place in my FC room. I made a lot of bookshelves which created a sort of mini library aesthetic which looked really cool as a summoner holding my little book. It just fitted really well and I really liked how the screenshot came out.
In my little home away from home personal library – much like my own home!
Setting Up a Screenshot
Once you have selected your location you need to think about what will be in the photo with you. Will you have a pet of faerie? Will you have a minion out? Do you want to show off a new mount? You can take screenshots in the sky, sat in the flowers or overlooking a vista from a clifftop. Just before you enter the /gpose settings you want to do the action of what you want to photograph. If this is a certain emoji or movement it will play over and over again in a loop. This allows you to create different character expressions and movements. I personally love using battle stance or victory stance as a way to show off a new weapon or glamour. I did this shortly after glamouring my gun into a flame-kissed weapon which looks very cool.
Avalon holding the Flame-Kissed Revolver (glamoured onto Augmented Exarchic Machinist weapon) in Lakeland
I personally found the settings a bit confusing at first and watched a few videos on YouTube to explain some what did what. I haven’t used everything as I feel I’m just getting started but I’ve used enough to create some shots that I’m happy with. There are a selection of presets available which can brighten up the photo, highlight the character and background for example. You can have a few effects allthough none of these are really to my taste. Some of the roles you can do an ability or cast a spell and the effect will replay which can change the way a shot looks too as rather than a looping emoji a casting effect will loop. I did this with the flamethrower attack on my machinist.
Theming a /gpose screenshot in Final Fantasy 14
My recent desire to learn how screenshots could be taken was because our Free Company were holding a Halloween/Samhain themed contest which sounded really fun and they made it so no mods could be used which made it fair for console players so I was like I’m going to give it a go and learn to do this. I had a lot of fun playing around and loved how it was themed for Spooky Season. I love how this kind of stuff allows people to be creative and have some fun with their characters, glamours and just have a good time.
Creating a Halloween themed screenshot with FFXIV /gpose
Final Fantasy games are some of my absolute favourite video games of all time but I’ve never tried the online MMO versions of the games. Final Fantasy 14 is one such that I hadn’t tried before but when we got our PS5 earlier in the year I decided to give it a try. I think I got the starter pack which included a free trial as well as the main base game and all the expansions up to Shadowbringers. I’ve since preordered the next installment – Endwalker – which comes out in November. I have no experience with MMO games like this, so I didn’t really know what I was getting into and it was a pretty steep learning curve. I don’t consider myself bad at video games but I’ve never really had to play with other people before and for the most part it’s been pretty fun.
I think I started playing in May but it took me a *very* long time to actually get into it and I’ve certainly made some mistakes along the way. It’s been a good view months of playtime now for me and I’ve finished the main story quest, have joined in on some endgame raid content with other players – discord has been really helpful for this and I’ve started levelling up all my crafters/gatherers. I have a nice collection of mounts and minions too. I don’t have a lot of money – crafting can be a pricey part of the game if you want to level up quickly rather than *actually* crafting the stuff you need (Oops) but you know I’ve had a really lovely time. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so into a game for such a long time. I think maybe six or so weeks is my limit but Final Fantasy 14 offers so much content, so many things to do and collect that it has kept me interested. I also actually really love the social side of playing this MMO game. I wasn’t sure at first and it took me a very long time to start speaking with others and regularly joining in on content – mostly because I wasn’t levelled up enough to join in.
I’ve changed my character’s aesthetic and job/class a few times. I mostly played the game as a Warrior but have since switched my main to Machinist.
I can easily see why some people have been playing the game for years and I am really loving all the buzz and excitement about Endwalker coming out next month. There are tons of new players on the server, the game I believe has become the most profitable of the Final Fantasy franchise and I can see just why people love to keep playing. It’s fun, it’s full of emotion, the story is great – particularly post level 50, and as I said there is just so much to do. Even at this point so many months in I have loads of side quests left to do, a whole bunch of jobs/classes to level up and still haven’t unlocked every dungeon and raid in the game.
The game starts off with making your avatar or character and there is a bunch of different customisations you can make. I went with a female Au Ra which is a sort of human-dragon hybrid with a tail and selected the job Arcanist as I usually like to be a magic caster but I quickly found out that dungeons require you to play with other people and you need to do them to progress the story. As a magic caster, a DPS (damage per second) role, which is very popular and has lengthy queue times, I kind of got stuck and changed my role to Marauder which later turned to Warrior and became a tank player. This is where I really learned to play the game and basically I messed up a lot of the time and probably made some people pretty annoyed. Thankfully, someone took some time to teach me how to play it and I had a much easier time in later levels.
As you can see I take the social part of the game very seriously. This was taken by another FC member whilst we were waiting for a raid to unlock. I am small in the game, not the smallest, but small, so my mounts are always smaller than other peoples.
As you progress through the story and unlock more areas (this game is huge!) you unlock more jobs and roles to play. My main job now is back being a DPS because honestly that is what I do best and have become a Machinist. I feel like it’s probably the role I know the best now and can manage to play relatively well. The introduction of Trust parties (NPC dungeons) at higher levels helps limit queue times although the dungeons do take longer and I have picked up some mechanics for certain fights relatively easily. Being in a Free Company (a guild as such) has been really good. There are a lot of members but everyone is pretty chilled and there are regular runs for high level content, help with getting in game mounts and all sorts. I really like it, the people are friendly and helpful which makes all the difference with a game like this.
I don’t know how long I’ll keep playing the game for but I haven’t gotten bored yet which is a good thing for me!
If you, like me, have been trying to get a PS5 FOR MONTHS then you will know it’s no easy feat. The newest console was released in November 2020 and preorders sold out incredibly quickly. Add in a global pandemic, people off work and furloughed, factories and ports running on skeleton staff as well as, here in the UK, all the issues Brexit has caused and you have a bit of a delay getting stock delivered. And then, you have people wanting to exploit this and make a huge profit. Now, I know people flip merchandise and tech products but I have never seen something quite so bad as this. There has been a whole system of people setting up bots to purchase all stock from retailers within the same minute of Playstation 5’s going online. This has included various retailers like Currys, Smyths, John Lewis, Game and Very – amongst a few others. It’s been really frustrating for genuine gamers who just like to play video games. This leaves us with two options – wait for stock to drop and attempt fastest finger first or buy one for double, sometimes triple the price on eBay.
Where Can I Buy a PS5 now in the UK?
The good news is most retailers are stocking them online more often but still quite sporadically. Stock is coming into the UK and more people are having better luck getting them from electronics and homeware retailiers such as Amazon, Very, Currys, Smyths, AO and ShopTo. BT customers have been able to get one from BT and John Lewis has stocked as well. Game regularly open up for preorders for their next big stock drop too. The bad news is they go out of stock very quickly thanks to people using bots to buy out all the stock virtually the same minute it comes in. I would not recommend buying one from eBay right now.
It’s been a problem honestly. Usually, we aren’t too fussed wanting a next gen console straight away but we both have anticipated games releasing, work is slow and we’re still supposed to stay home. Having something to do, for a lot of people, something to kind of take our minds off the crappy reality of a pandemic and brexit and just the mundane routine of staying home – well, a PS5 seemed like a pretty good option. Adam *almost* gave in and purchased through eBay but after looking into it in more detail and seeing that the seller would only discuss through Whatsapp rather than eBay’s messenger I was like no, that’s a scam. There are hundreds of these going on claiming to sell PS5’s but won’t communicate in the way eBay recommends so if you hand over the money and don’t get the goods you haven’t got a leg to stand on. We’ve had a friend get stung this way as well as I’ve seen parents who aren’t gamers themselves get caught out trying to get one for their children.
Then you have the parasites, otherwise known as ‘Scalpers’ that are using bots to buy out all of the stock as soon as it goes on sale to see the prices double, triple way over the RRP. These people are just wanting to turn a huge profit and honestly in this current climate it’s really awful. Frustratingly, online retailers seem to not care because it’s still a sale for them – although some have put in a 1 per customer policy. Adding a captcha would also help eliminate bots from purchasing as well as putting the products behind an account ie – no check out as a guest option. Of course, retailers are just ‘expressing their apologies’ rather than going above and beyond to allow genuine customers the chance to purchase. The thing is, the world will start up again and stock will be readily avalable and these sellers will be forced to bring their prices right down but until then it kind of feels like The Hunger Games when trying to make a purchase.
How Much is a PS5 now?
The RRP of a PS5 with one controller is around £449. Depending on the retailer this can vary up to around £549 and Game have plenty of bundle deals from the digital only console at around £349 to extra accessories and disc console for around £749. It depends on what you want and how much you’re willing to spend.
How We Snagged a PS5 in March 2021
I will say that we got a bit lucky and that doing this process took months. More people are having more success purchasing though which is brilliant because like I am for the gamers, not the sellers trying to exploit people out of hundreds upon hundreds of extra money. Firstly, there’s a few apps you can download which send push notifications to your phone when stock is available. The App we used was ‘Hot Stock’ and you can turn notifications on for PS5’s and Xbox Series X depending on the console you’re looking for. It’s also worth checking Twitter for PS5 Restock. This is handy because they usually have pretty good sources for when stock will drop with certain retailers. Using this in conjunction with the app can be really handy for securing the console you want.
We got lucky purchasing our PS5 recently. We knew that stock would be dropping on Very at some point. Twitter suggestted it would be around 10.30am on the Wednesday morning. Retailers seem to drop some of their stock, which does sell out in moments, then wait an hour or so before releasing more. I think this is to try and help eliminate the bot problem. We have the very app so when stock dropped it was a case of ensuring we were signed in and keep pressing refresh. The lone PS5 console sold out really quickly however Adam managed to spot one available with a 365 days of PS+ gift card. It seems to be purchasing a Playsation 5 with another item such as a gift card may be the way to secure a console.
Then we had to play the waiting game to see when our order would be accepted. It took while and so we were in doubt for a little bit to see if the order had actually gone through but within about an our the order confirmaton came through to our email. It was stressful but I’m really glad we didn’t end up paying well over the odds for the console. I think we ended up paying £509 in total but as it was on Very and we had credit available we can spread the cost a little easier. Also, I think this made the purchase a bit smoother because we didn’t need to apply for credit like you do with Currys to spread the cost and we didn’t have to enter card details.
Once the order had processed and the amount had been deducted from our account balance the purchase was locked in. We were given a delivery date of 31st March. However, on the Friday afternoon another email came through which informed us that our order had been dispatched and we were given tracking for Royal Mail. I thought this would just be the gift card because usually Very use Yodel. However, on Tuesday 16th March our PS5 was delivered by Royal Mail from Very. We have been using this method of stock checking and push notifications since January however, we haven’t been refreshing when stock notifcations have come through at 3am because, well, just no thank you. However, other people have been lucky this way.
So to summarise – 1. Follow stock accounts on Twitter and check in with their updates regularly. 2. Get an app with push notification set up. 3. Have an account with various retailers such as Currys, AO, Smyths, Game set up and logged in with an address and card details saved for a check checkout. 4. Act fast when a notifcation comes through and try and get a console with an add on if you can
I hope this has been helpful. I know it’s stressful when you really want a PS5 and just feel like paying a king’s ransom on eBay but don’t despair!
What games are currently available on PS5?
There isn’t a huge amount *right now* but then there never really is. I expect some games have also found themselves having to delay due to Covid. But there are some really good games available which make a PS5 worth having, some eagerly anticipated games coming and the best thing is it’s backwards compatible for PS4 games with some even getting a free PS5 upgrade. I’ve upgraded my AC Valhalla and if anything the quicker load time makes it completely worth it. I’m a huge fan of Final Fantasy so seeing that there is going to be an extra episode featuring Yuffie in between waiting for Remake Part 2 is pretty exciting and I’m really looking forward to upgrading this to the PS5 graphics. We also have Cyberpunk and Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War which are avaulble as a PS5 upgrade. We didn’t install the PS4 Cyberpunk version because of all the issues reported so I’m glad we held out but again it’s been months since we’ve been able to play anything new really.
We are currently playing the Demon’s Souls remake which is kind of the remake I didn’t know I needed for the PS5. The graphic upgrade is absolutely amazing. The souls games are some of my favourites despite how bloody difficult they can be. It’s so nice to go back into this world ten years on and relive the challenge. We’ve also got SpiderMan Miles Morales to play which looks really good. Anticipated PS5 games we are exicted about include Resident Evil village. We really wanted a PS5 before the 8th game in the Resident Evil world due out in May 2021 and something we have now been able to preorder. I’m also really excited for Horizon Forbidden West and Final Fantasy 16. It will probably be a great few years for exciting video games.
This post is going to talk about my thoughts playing the Final Fantasy 7 Remake as well as my predictions and hopes for the next installments. If you want a spoiler free read this is not the place because I have no chill. This review/thought experience is quite old now so read at your own peril…
affiliate link for FF7R
Playing final fantasy 7 as a kid and waiting for the remake
FF7 wasn’t the first of the final fantasy games I played, Final Fantasy 10 was. So that game will always have a soft spot in my heart. In fact it was a fair few years later that i began playing FF7 in my mid teens and I loved it. There’s a lot of charm about the game, a group of eco terrorists wanting to save the planet, the lack of speech and the amazing soundtrack. Despite the lack of speech and relying on text bubbles to get the story you still felt character growth and emotion. It was a really well done game. it was lengthy, challenging and emotionally driven. The original game had so much to offer.
We are living in the time for remakes right now with remasters galore and full on remakes coming out in all sorts of genres. The people seem to like these games being remade with quality 3D graphics. Resident Evil 2 was such a remake in 2019. It was amazing seeing resi get a fresh lease of life and yet I patiently sat here waiting for the remake I’d wanted since that PS3 tech demo over ten years ago.
Since the seed was planted about a final fantasy 7 remake there’s been the release of 13 and it’s two subsequent games, world of final fantasy, 14 online and final fantasy 15 which I enjoyed a few years ago. Then in 2015 at E3 the announcement came for a remake on the ps4 and i was thrilled although i didn’t quite expect it to take almost five years to get the game. So that’s the back story. I have waited for this game, like so many others for a very long time now and i was pretty apprehensive about how it would turn out.
Firstly, i didn’t think much of kingdom hearts three, it disappointed me in quite a few ways and that made me nervous for FF7R. secondly, it was only going to be based in Midgar, which is the starting city of the game. It was promised to feel like a full game (and it does, in terms of length and challenge) but the first time around you travel the entire world. The starting city is just a few hours in of gameplay. I questioned how this would be stretched out to the 40-50 hours i was expecting for a final fantasy game. The decision to come out in episodic format really annoyed me, I wasn’t sure if it was money making or just because the game is too big to remake all in one go without cutting huge chunks of the story. (Note – considering I’m editing this post in 2023 with Rebirth just around the corner and the mobile game, crisis core, intermission, PS5 version all related to FF7R – it’s def about the money)
First Playthrough
I’ve now completed the game in full with all the end credits, restarted because a second play is always fun, and done the majority, if not all the sidequests. I am actually really impressed with the game. The design is beautiful. It’s amazing revisiting a city that you didn’t really see much of in the original and having it so much more to scale. It felt really immersive. Sure the rendering of the background details is a little off but not enough to deter from the actual gameplay.
Most of the game, like the original, is played through sectors 7, 6 and 5 but you also go top side, underground and the Shinra building is so far above my expectations. Honestly, I didn’t expect the game to play the way it has at all, and I didn’t expect to love it as much as I do.
There’s plenty of throwbacks to the original and it basically follows the same plot. Blow up reactor, help out in the slums, blow up another reactor, meet Aerith, deal with Don Corneo, try to stop the plate falling, deal with Shinra. All this and more takes place in 18 chapters with beefed up boss fights, new npc’s and a fair few chances to just stop and take a look around the place.
Having dialogue has enhanced the game for me and really helped drive a bit of emotion and empathy for the characters in a way I didn’t expect. There were some beautiful animations and cutscenes throughout the game. There were some wonderfully cheesy one liners in the script which had me laughing out loud. I love Aerith so much more now, her kindness for everyone compliments her strength of will to protect that which is vulnerable. Aerith’s house is the most picturesque part of the game for me.
FF7R downsides?
Mostly having to wait for the next installment (Note – still waiting, but just a couple of months to go now with the release in 2024). As much as I think i can go back over the game and replay a bit for some extra challenges, the game is really linear and you can’t just freely roam all of Midgar. Not that you ever could of course but it did feel restrictive knowing that when I leave the city the game ends and knowing all that would usually happen after. It’s a little bit buggy but it’s days old and future patches will help fix that. Three areas of the game felt a little longer than i would have liked; the sewers, the train grave yard and the drum with hojo which is a completely new area to the game and pretty good but long winded.
The ending of ff7 remake – The Spoilers Part
It confused me a bit. Throughout the game you’re chased by what is eventually revealed as whispers who seem to be linked with fate and destiny. An easy escape for the developers to change the play of the game maybe? It was all a bit strange for me and left me with questions. I am guessing the game is still going to be about finding, hunting, stopping and eventually destroying sephiroth because he escaped. Is zack alive? That’s probably what is on my mind the most and how will that affect the game later on? will the game still have the same scenes of sadness? What changes do the developers have in store and more importantly what will they be keeping the same?
Hopes and personal predictions for the next installment of FF7R
From the way this game has played out i think there are a few events that are going to remain in the game
Visiting Wutai will not be a side quest. Wutai were talked about a lot, from the war, and being against Shinra. I think it’s already been said that optional characters will become mandatory for the game play, which includes Yuffie and i think Wutai is going to be a place we visit to learn a bit more on the truth of the war between them and Midgar.
The Gold Saucer is going to be all about the VR. From the game play so far there are the shinra vr domes, a collesium for match fighting, there’s been two motor bike chase type rides so i can see how that would be simulated again too. We’ve also heard that Jessie went to perform at the gold saucer. I’m expecting some sort of big VR vegas style place really with shows. Chocobo racing I can see being a thing, possibly chocobo breeding, but i don’t think we will be on a quest for a golden chocobo this time. This will include Barrets side quest for his backstory.
We will visit cloud’s hometown to get the whole truth of the event that happened with tifa and Sephiroth, particularly if cloud is still getting his flash backs and headaches each time an apparition of Sephiroth/clone/Jenova turns up.
We will hunt for some of the huge materia. In the remake game we saw a cutscene with Scarlett and her minions trying to manipulate huge materia so i think this will be explored again in the game at a later stage.
I think the weapons are going to be a part of the game but i’m not sure how. it wouldn’t be a final fantasy game without an obscenely hard boss and/or dungeon.
I’m hoping for knights of the round, but I’m not sure how it’s going to play out. I think it needs to be a decent quest to obtain it considering all the work you had to put into it before. I think we will be battling all summons like in FF7R combat simulation but i think in order to unlock knights of the round it will be a fair amount of grinding to meet the battle intel request. (Note – as it looks like chocobo breeding is going to be a thing, perhaps we will collected KOTR the same way as before but I think this will be in the final part of the now, trilogy?)
I think we’re going to see a map somewhat similar of ff15 in terms of transporting from place to place by road with towns and stop offs along the way. This would allow for loads of exploration, level grinding and stuff like that. I’d love to see the camp fires with attack and stat boosts come back as a place to refresh in the open world, and vending machines and benches a chance to replenish hp/mp in towns. I really loved the map of ff15, it was huge and has a lot of potential of acting as a world map for the next installment of the remake. This would mean there is probably another few games on the horizon, maybe 4 or five, but that hasn’t been confirmed and is all speculation. This would probably mean the second game could end after Juno (thankfully, no) when the gang set sail for the next continent. Perhaps a shorter second installment and then a really gritty, in depth, full of story third installment focusing on the biggest continent.
During the original gameplay of final fantasy seven, disc one was actually pretty massive in terms of story and locations and i just don’t think we are going to reach the end of that part of the story in the next installment. Not a lot of the game happens between midgar and the end of Juno but if they’ve expanded Midgar the way they did, they could very much do this when entering other towns and villages, not quite as huge perhaps, but absolutely extending this part of the game. Perhaps this part of the game will be pretty linear and short, a quick stop off at the chocobo farm before heading to juno and then the map really opening up after costa del sol? who knows. I’m hoping we will find out more in the summer but it’s likely with covid-19 development is probably a little slower.
I do hope the plot still follows the black materia, summoning of meteor and trying to save the planet and as long as that’s the key theme, the other things I’m happy to experience in a different way. I’m sure it will, developers have said they aren’t hugely changing the original story of the game and they’ll want to delight fans with favourite moments but done in a new way.
Ultimately, here’s what we do know. The game is going to differ in some ways from the original, the engine is done, the fighting system is done, the way summons are handled is done and the first part of the game was an excellent introduction into what is to come. I’m excited about what comes next.
