This can’t be understated, yeah. At least in the JRPG space, only FFVI and Chrono Trigger come close, but neither of those games was ever “advertisements during Monday Night Football” levels of mainstream (in the west at least)
I absolutely love this angle for talking about Chrono Trigger. I’d never thought of it through that lens before, but it is incredibly apt
I think however appreciated FFVII is, it’s still “under rated”, because of how misunderstood it is.
I don’t know man, you’re the one here trying to “well actually” me. If you want to get Digital Foundry with things that’s on you, I just know from experience playing on original hardware the load times are much worse.
It’s the long ass self indulgent camera pans that take forever at the start of every battle.
I like to think of Chrono Trigger’s team as the videogames supergroup. Just a group of incredible people firing on all cylinders.
They called them the Dream Team for a reason, after all. I’m not sure there really are any other games and associated teams that really hit the same level as Chrono Trigger in that way
Interesting thoughts y’all! I agree with quite a few things brought up.
I think Final Fantasy VII already introduces us to the idea of remaking it when you’re playing it because it has differing art styles in it already. There are perhaps 5 Cloud character models? With the combat showing us a distinct turn towards realism compared directly to the toy doll aesthetic of the game and constantly reminding us as we switch back and forth between the two.
I love the toy doll aesthetic of FFVII. I am super interested in how abstracted images convey meaning to us. This smiley face 
leaves a happy feeling even though it is incredibly simple and unlike a real human face. The settings in FFVII bring to mind a doll house that we are playing with. Each scene a little diorama. It blends both the digital with the real life experience of playing with toys. That sort of play time is rooted in powerful imagination.
Chrono Trigger also has abstracted images in pixel art. However to me I find them far more reminiscent of a comic book or animated series. The simple gestures and settings are expertly crafted to give us a moving 2 dimensional image. I think it feels more complete in this way. My imagination is still active but maybe in a different way. I’m thinking more about how I would feel traveling through time, or how neat that forest looks, or what’s going to happen in my future? It feels more like reading a book to me or watching a television show than playtime.
FFVII invites me to play. Chrono Trigger invites me to enjoy. They both ask me to solve little puzzles along the way.
FFVII feels like it invented a new genre. A mix between cyberpunk, fantasy, environmentalism, urbanism, outlaws and science fiction - there’s a lot of stuff going on in the beginning of this game!
Chrono Trigger feels like it snatched the quintessential time travel story out of thin air and presented it to us.
For me FFVII feels like it is begging me to explore more of its world and themes.
Chrono Trigger wants me to revel in it’s fantasy and execution.
I myself really enjoyed FF7Remake. I have been too daunted by the commentary on Rebirth to press launch on Steam as I’m not sure I’ll like it.
I was asking if it was hardware or not. Sorry to offend. Honestly trying to help and say there are fixes like loading the game from solid state rather than optical disc. Maybe the shrug emoji implied an attitude but that wasn’t my intention.
I even said “you’re right”!
It’s a common remark that FFIX battles are slow, and it’s a fact, you are correct. It’s also true that nowadays we have more control over that process than before. I’m just discussing, not trying to well actually or digital foundry anyone. We’re all friends here.
Back to your first post: You said you haven’t revisited the game because it is slow. I revisited it in 2022 or something, on PlayStation hardware with PSIO, accelerated load times, and with patches to speed up battles. It was fun! So just sharing my experience. Load times can vary wildly depending on hardware, even with optical.
If you liked Remake, I would definitely recommend giving Rebirth a try. The biggest point of contention is the bountiful amount of side content, but most of it and most of the mini-games are entirely optional! If you find yourself not clicking with it, it’s entirely possible to treat it as a more focused game (not unlike Remake) and focus on the main story instead
And if you do enjoy the side content, well, there is a whole lot of FFVII for you to enjoy. Personally, I landed somewhere in the middle: I enjoyed a lot of the combat challenges and the side quests, but I was less enthused by the minigames, so I eventually left them uncompleted
Sorry for being snippy. It either wasn’t there in your initial pass through or I completely overlooked the part where you said “you’re right.” So I completely misread the tone.
I’ll have to give your recommendation a shot, cause I would enjoy the game otherwise. thanks.
Yeah, I 100%d the first open world area, did some of the prestige scenario, got spat back into a new open world area, thought “Already?!” Did some of it and then proceeded to skip the entirety of the next 3+ open world areas I’ve been tossed into so far. You can totally play it like Remake. IMO the openworld busy work drags down the overall quality of the game a considerable degree. There’s cool stuff in there but in a game with a HowLongToBeat.com of 47.5 for main story packed full of high effort content, it’s not necessary to tack on another 120 of low effort stuff.
If I’m being completely honest, I just want another Tim Rogers video like the VII Remake Review to hype me up before I play Rebirth
Probably be just a short wait
Another quick 2.5 years maybe
Yeah, I was just using the term loosely for everything from the encounter initiation to when the player regains control. I always wondered if the camera stuff was just a really annoying choice or if it was to mask additional loading. I’m guessing the former given how indulgent summons and other stuff were back on PS1.
Fair enough, and yeah, all the 3d assets are on screen by that point anyway so I doubt there’s much loading left. I don’t know if PS1 games did much background loading anyway. Stuff like asset streaming was still fairly new. I think it’s just quirks of early 3D getting in the way of design, but that’s mostly speculation.
Also it’s throwing me for a loop that your avatar is Homer while he has a brother named Herb!
As bizarre as it may sound without context (fortunately provided in the video below), the most apt comparison would be:
Endō x Miyamoto x Ishihara x Nakamura x Sugiyama x Pajitnov
Final Fantasy IX gets compared to The Dark Crystal pretty often and that is fair, but you know what it really reminds me of? HEAVY METAL. The character design is all over the place in the best way. Zidane looks like one of those little pointy ear dudes with daggers.
