Thursday 16 August 2012

Final Fantasy VII Re-Released On The Square Enix Website


So Final Fantasy VII got re-released on the Square Enix website (as I'm sure you can tell by the title) and I will refer to it as the "new PC version". Admittedly I've never played the "original PC version" so I'm going to compare it to the PSX (Playstation) version.

Price
Like Super Meat Boy on XBox Live, the game is released "on offer" making it better to get it early (which is effective it seems).

Graphics
No this isn't a HD remake, it's the same game, but the new PC version looks so much smoother than the PSX version. Also I notice the characters have visual mouths on the new PC version, which can look really odd on characters like Wedge and Jessie where they always have their mouth open.

Speed
It may just be me, but the new PC version seems to run so much faster. That may be because I'm so used to playing a PAL copy of the PSX version.

Controls
The controls on the new PC version are a bit hard to get used to, but you can change them anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

Music
The music does sound different somewhat, I think worse on the new PC version, but that may be down to nostalgia.

Saving
Unless you have piles of PSX memory cards (or a PS3). The new PC version supplies loads more save slots. Whilst a PS1 memory card can hold 15 files, the new PC version has 10 separate lists of save files. Also the new PC version (and I know the old PC version didn't have this) is cloud saving (ay? ay!? get it!? "Cloud" saving!?"). This means that when you save your game it gets uploaded to the cloud, meaning you can access them online.

Achievements
Achievements are a really neat idea for a classic game, but they really could have been more creative. An achievement each for using the character's first limit break? Since the game is not on Steam or XBox Live. The achievements themselves don't accumulate to anything outside of the game itself, you have a separate profile online just for that game, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Also the achievements page on somebody's profile says "Aerith" when the game still translates it to "Aeris". There's an achievement to "get" her final limit break, so does that mean she has to learn it or can I just get the item? Some of the achievements are missable such as "master all materias" (I thought the plural of "materia" was "materia", then again it could be confused with mastering the "All" materia). So you need to be really careful if you want 100%. But that achievement could be rather ambiguous, does it mean master one of each type? do you need to have them all at the same time before "fusing" them? or do you need the "Master _____ Materia" too?

Character Booster
So on your online profile you can choose a save file and activate the "character booster" and it's irreversible (you can back up anyway so it doesnt matter really). Doing so takes your HP, MP and gil to "max". It doesn't cost anything, and it just happens. I find it really hard to accept that they would implement a "get super strong" button without any consequences. I have a feeling that achievements will be disabled, or you will be limited in other regards. There is an achivement for getting 99,999,999 gil, and the booster gets your gil to the "max" of 49,999,999 gil so maybe it just lowers the gil limit? There MUST be SOMETHING!