Looks like a generic hack and slash with a final fantasy skin.
Seems awful.
Definitely not hack and slash. It's going to be JRPG combat, just the modern 'active' style instead of the classic style that defined the older, better Final Fantasies.
So anyways, some implications of this episodic BS:
- I see a lot of people saying this means we get 'the game' sooner. Well no, it doesn't. It means we get a
piece of the game sooner. But then it gives Square the license to take even LONGER for the whole thing to be completed. So no, this is not a positive to me.
- Overall cost of the full experience is likely to be well above $60, so again, not a positive. Anybody who thinks they are going to put out $20 episodes are kidding themselves. This is being given full AAA treatment with big timescales involved.
- This affects design decisions. Granted, we had multiple discs in the original release, so this kind of thing wouldn't be unprecedented, but it still allows them to make more fundamental, terrible changes to the design of the game, like cutting out the overworld exploration(at least in the sense that we know/remember it).
Honestly, they may as well start thinking about the inevitable 4K Remaster version for the Playstation 5. Not even exaggerating there. This game will likely be complete near or after the next gen consoles come out in 2019 or so.
And it's such a terrible strategy for a game that isn't 100+ hours long. We're going to get a game no bigger/longer than many other RPG's, but since Square has the most incompetent management when it comes to making things on a reasonable schedule, this is what they feel they have to do to make it work. Just sad.
Really, I truly feel that this is nothing more than a game *based* on FFVII. Not the proper Remake people were asking for. So many people are defending their choices now, but nobody asked for this crap. Square has lost my trust in 'knowing what the fans want' quite a while ago and they aren't really doing much to suggest I can start trusting them again with this. The direction of FFXV isn't exactly fantastic either, taking road trips in a car with your boy band-looking buddies.
Just.....I cant express how disappointing this has all been. And I should have known. Square is not what they used to be. Letting them put their hands on legendary materials to 'do over' was probably not a great idea.