Final Fantasy VII Remake: When Too Much Filler Becomes a Lore Killer

Remake’s first episode is bloated and beautiful in equal measure. This is, of course, because there’s a gargantuan amount of new story crammed into this (once) brief opening section. While the idea of exploring every nook and cranny of one of the most beloved locales in video game history may have you salivating, it comes at a cost.

[sampsonon]

The cost....... FUN!

[UnSelf]

I attempted to play the original when it was released as a PS classic on the PS3. Got as far as the train area.

Im 35 hours into the remake and i am so happy im not blighted by nolstalgia because what is considered "filler" for those ppl i cant get enough of

On a side note, Cloud is the living personification of the perennial axiom "Women love douchebags" lol

[franwex]

Cloud is simply obsessed with Sephiroth.

[UnSelf]

Don't spoil me, Bro

[Rocketisleague]

It has good and bad filler. Finding cats/generic fetch quests are meh, added lore and story content is good. Some extra character development is good. For me I'm loving it so far,

Shame it's basically only the first 8th of the original, midgar really is only 5 hours or so, hoping they pack more story content into the next ones and no meh filler.

Music gameplay and story additions are great. One big gripe I have with it is..sephiroth reveal is way better in original, hes barely mentioned for first 5 hours until a big scene, hes much more...foreboding and in the background, like he might not even be a threat or villain in the game them bam, crap gets real, shinras true power/lack of power is shown. Sephirith interrupts the main story out of nowhere and everyone realized they screwed.

Not a fan of the hooded creatures too. I can understand why they did it for sure you could hardly remake ff7 with 35 hours in it and have no sephiroth. But still, it kinda stamps on the next few games with sephirith. The whole jenova Seph thing was amazing in original

Either way, still loving it. It drags on a little in places especially as main plot is escalating. But o don't care, can't wait for next 2, or 3 or 4. If they do what they dud with this their will be alot more parts. Unless they skip content or character backstory..

Also..How is..materia, abilities, etc..gonna carry to the next game..

[UnSelf]

i do also wonder how is your progress, etc, going to carry over into the next installments. This is unprecedented territory theyre charting, and ill be lying if i said a complete reset of my character would be ok with me

[bellome]

I guess you didn't start playing videogames in the ps1 era or before.

[sampsonon]

I think they did a great job. I hope they release a proper box set when all the chapters are done.

[UnSelf]

@bellome

theres a high chance ive been gaming before you were born. With all due respect, a game where u had to wait for your turn to attack was some of the most unappealing gameplay for me and my social circle who made the most of the Tomb Raiders, CTRs, MGSs, GTs, and japanese chip-accommodating Dragonball titles, to name a few

[Blackcanary]

I just completed it and I loved every moment first PS4 game that has made me smile and cry their was a part where i couldn't hold back the ties. I am now working on getting all my characters to level 50 so I can play all the chapters on Hard.

I main a FF7 die hard fan and i love all the changes they have done including showing Sephiroth in this game sense even though you didn't see him you knew he was there all along in the shinra building. Can't wait for part 2.

[MeteorPanda]

Cloud is a douchebag? what? have you seen the denied high five scene? Have you seen him charge 3gil to kids?

The guys got issues. they did a really good job showing how sweet he is despite being so conflicted.

[Babadook7]

Gameplay 10. Story 10. No filler at all.

[dumahim]

Finding cats or missing children is fun?
The stuff they've added that ties in with the story? Great! Random stuff helping people out that has absolutely nothing to do with the story other than to help people and is generic filler stuff? No thanks.

[smashman98]

All optional if you just want to go through the story that's fine. It literally tales like 5-10 minutes to do those quest and in turn you get neat moments with characters you love. While also getting materia and gil for the trouble.

[-Foxtrot]

@Smash

It’s optional but it’s clear they didn’t learn from FF15

[Babadook7]

@-foxtrot

Or maybe they did learn? I love FF7R. And got bored with ff15.

[NukeDaHippies]

Yea....Some of the filler in the main story filler is painful to sit through. I dunno what people mean by "added lore". None of it is interesting or new.

Heck, a great few parts of the game were replaced by some stretched out dungeon.

Sephiroth has also been botched up hard, with his random appearances. But someone would know that, if they played the Original.

[Blackcanary]

Ur forgetting its a Remake not a remaster. So they can change as much as they want they could rewrite the whole god damn story line if they want to. Also in the original Sephiroth was there you just didn't see him only his sword and the blood that was left behind.

They have done really well with what they have done and the fillers help you to understand the characters more which is a really nice touch since you get to see them grow more you start to care for them more and understand them better.

[MeteorPanda]

you...know sephiroth isnt really tere until the HQ building right?

We just actually see what Cloud is spazzing about now - l love it.

[NukeDaHippies]

@Blackcanary @MeteorPanda
It's called building up the bad guy. In this he just appears, delusion or not. In the original, he stayed very elusive until you get the back story. When you finally see him, you see why he's such a big deal. This game just throws him at you, expecting you to know who he is. That part you're talking about was great, and I hated its removal for some crappy lab.

They could re-write whatever they want, but the re-writing they've, done has only been worse so far. The best parts are basically just the original game. The filler is mostly bad, don't kid yourself.

It's funny you mention the crap moments Cloud is spazzes out......It represents one of the bigger problems of the game. This remake has no subtlety what so ever. Every time there's a red herring, there may as well be a neon sign saying "IMPORTANT". At times they spell things out for you WAY too early in the story. Being left in the dark works well for some stories like...... I dunno...FF7

[lucian229]

amazing for me; i don't want to hear complaints; people would complain if it was short and now complain that it's long >_>

[dumahim]

It's not about being too short. It's about adding pointless generic sidequests. If you want to add something, add something meaningful. To be fair, they did quite a bit of that and I've enjoyed it, but they didn't need to add the generic fetch stuff.

[Eonjay]

The game is amazing. Every RPG has side quests. You can't bitch a good game into a bad one.

[Redrex7000]

meh... its not bad
not GREAT when it come to side quest
its not bad
some people are just making it worst
then it really is

[lucian229]

Almost every single game especially jrpgs have these fetch quest. So does skyrim, so does witcher and etc etc. They are side quest.

Sure not awesome side quest like yuffie and Vincent in the original but oh well.

[isa_scout]

There's a lot of people complaining, meanwhile this is the best that a numbered Final Fantasy has been in years imho. Almost every RPG has filler side quests at least these ones aren't overy long or tedious. I'm loving it so far.

[Rocketisleague]

Agree, whike I'd prefer they not be there able to at all, they are quite good compared to other rpg filler

[isa_scout]

Yeah I agree, and most of the side quests can be completed in 15 or 20 minutes so they're not huge time sinks.

[hulk_bash1987]

Love the added lore, can't speak for everyone. But FFVII has remained my favorite FF since I played it on the original PS. This remake has added so much to the lore and reignited my love for this world and the characters. Even though I would've loved a complete game, I'm really enjoying my time with the game. And I can't wait for future installments in this remake to, what is in my opinion, one of the greatest RPGs of all time.

[isa_scout]

I feel ya. This is the first time in months that I'm excited to turn on a game because I know I'm going to love it every time.

[FullDiveDerail]

This is the best Final Fantasy game ever made in my opinion. I like being in this world and diving into the lore more. I want more of it. I would love for them to do with 8 as well.

[Blackcanary]

I really hope they do, do this with 8.

[galmi]

Seems you havent played a lot of final fantasys

[CorndogBurglar]

So.....because he has a different opinion than yours that must mean he hasn't played many FF's?

Whatever....

[Blackcanary]

@galmi I have played all the final fantasies and my favourite is 7. And I love what they are doing with the remake. People need to remember its a remake not a remaster. So if they wanna add new content to flush out the story or change it one way or another they can.

And for the people that don't well that's not a problem since you still have a HD version of the original.

[franwex]

It started out kinda slow, but now I love it.

It’s surprisingly challenging in some areas, but not unfair. I’m looking forward to replaying in hard mode.

[dumahim]

Have you done the pull-ups yet?

[franwex]

Nop. Heh.

[Blackcanary]

I did all the Pull up's you get something really nice for doing them. The last one is ass it speeds up quite a bit lol.

[dumahim]

Last one took me a while. It looks like most were saying they spent an hour on it, saw some saying 2 before finally beating it. I was probably about 45 minutes. Gotta be perfect and not rush. I won 45-46. Saw some say he will sometimes only get like 38, but I never saw anything lower than 42.

[VerminSC]

I don’t enjoy the side quests but I find the main story’s pacing excellent.

[CaptainOmega]

Yes.. the ‘side quests’... are really nothing but.. ‘go kill this monster’.

[smashman98]

Considering how fantastic the combat is I don't mind

[Elda]

It would have taken more years to make a full FFVII:R game. The game is a full 40+hr rpg that expanded the story on Midgar including fleshing out the characters stories & I really have no problem with it because I'm having a great time playing the game so far. I'm at Chapter 8 & I'm savoring it by playing the game on the weekends only while I play other games while I'm off. I just hope the next installment is out in 2 years.

[meka2611]

Nah game is only about 20 hours if you do the story, not sure where this 40 hours is coming from.

[dumahim]

Including the side quests, it is 40 hours. Part of recreating certain events requires side quest completion.

[andy85]

I don't know why people are trying to blow through it so fast I'm savouring everything. Nearly 30 hours and I'm still on chapter 9.

[Elda]

If you do everything it's 40+ hrs.

[meka2611]

Nah with side quests it'd be around 30 hours. Now doing everything else like learning all weapon skills and everything else in about 40 hours. I kind of crush RPG's when I play them.

[neutralgamer1992]

As I have grown older I just can't play a lot of these huge open world games because so much of the times spent in those games are doing stuff which isn't fun

Give me 20-25 hour of quality content in FF7 remake than bunch of fetch quests boring content to make the game 40 hours

Let me as my fellow gamers maybe it's just me but think of the last 10 open world games y'all played and how many of those would have better experiences if they had less content but more quality focused content

When games do side quests right like Witcher series than it's different story but I feel like the worst offender for me was dragon age Inquisition because to open up main story missions you literally had to do fetch quests. Lastest one being rage 2 after playing for few hours I simply quit it's boring open world

So would you rather have 20+ hours of quality content moving forward with these FF7 remakes or would you rather they add more content even if it means more fetch quests

[Blackcanary]

I have completed the game and I enjoyed all of the side quest it made care fore all the characters all of again it was done very well. I hope they add more of it in part 2. This game is the only RPG game plus FF14 online I have ever enjoyed the side quests.

[neutralgamer1992]

Cool that's why we all like something different

[Silly gameAr]

When you complain about a game having to much content, you know something was done right.

[GameZenith]

QUALITY content is the key. Otherwise quantity does not equal quality.

[Silly gameAr]

People can dig and find whatever faults they want with FF7 remake, but quality isn't one of the problems.

[CaptainOmega]

^ Lacking Quality side quests is one of them.

[Silly gameAr]

@CaptainOmega

That's your opinion, and that's fine.

[Rebel_Scum]

The side quests are pretty weak. What the heck is a mercenary doing looking for cats? Same type of side quest was in FFXV too.

Square lack imagination with adding side content. Id rather they didnt bother.

[l33t_haxx0r]

i have played the original so many times I cannot count, by far one of my fave games of all time, and sephiroth has been my gaming hero since the game was released. This remake is amazing, its true to almost everything so far ( only on chapter 11 ) and has added more to the game, I don't consider any of this filler, its the whole world rather than a basic rendition of it that was done due to limitations at the time, it really makes the game and characters come more alive. that being said, the original will always be better :)

[dumahim]

You don't think finding children around town or lost cats is filler?

[l33t_haxx0r]

not really no, they are optional, makes the game world more alive, I actually enjoyed it, makes alot more sense for character development between cloud and areis, she cares for the children and you helping builds a better relationship between the two

[smashman98]

You keep bringing up literally 2 side quest there are like 40 side quest all together. The cat side quest takes like 2 minutes and the kids take like 5.

[PaleMoonDeath]

Can't talk about it without spoilers, but there is a reason for this.

Stupid article should consider that, those that know, know.

[TheOtherMoon]

Love it! Some of the side-quests add depth to the characters. I have always had a hard time connecting with FF characters (FFXV for example) and getting and into the story. This game is great. The characters are interesting, the relationships that are being explored are worth watching, and the environment is great to look at/explore. It is neat to see them take a small moment from the original and explore the consequences of actions good or bad.

[Butters360]

True and unlike XV, Gaia judging just by Midgar feels alive.

[jjb1981]

The Nostalgic music brings back all those great memories. I think that's why I don't mind the fillers. I walk by as many people as I can to overhear what they're saying. This Remake has so much life to it.

[Blackcanary]

I was doing the same thing. I am so happy you didn't have to walk up to people and press a button to hear what they are saying. Hearing all the gossip around the slums made me feel more involved and caught up into the game. Including looking for the kids and the cats and I love cats. Bloody hell there are a lot of cats in midgar loool.

[meganick]

In the original, the Midgar opening was essentially the game’s prologue. It was just the first location in a large world with many locales. If it took Square this long just to make the Midgar section, I can’t imagine how long it will take them to remake the whole rest of the game. In fact, I’m going to call it right now and say that this remake will never be completed.

[smashman98]

You're being over dramatic. While it's true that midgar was only 5 hours the rest of the game was about 30-40 hours. I think the rest will happen in 2 more games.

[Blackcanary]

They started working on Part 2 in November 2019. The fact that the characters are all ready made some of the towns are already made as well it wont take them as long to bring out part 2

[Butters360]

How is it bloated with filler? You're actually a Mercenary in Midgar which OG completely forgets about very quickly. Plus it's woven in cleanly with player choices.

[Azfargh]

The thing is: "more is better". But there is a catch... it isn´t just because there is more that this would be exclusively adding great content. There was a lot of interesting new things, but one of the bad ones for example is: Heidegger. He showed so much on the starting chapters that honestly, it didn´t added anything to the story... at least, not enough to, if you exclude his participation on those starting chapters he would be missed. I am more into interesting and enlightening sidequest that expands the lore then unimportant bits of useless story fill that add nothing really interesting.

[PTMG]

There's 26 Optional side quests or 24 in a single playthrough. Wouldn't exactly call that bloated with content for an rpg. Sure some of the quests are generic but the monster quests come with decent rewards and the cat hunting quest introduced you to a character which has a small if non essential part to the story later.

I think a couple of hours outside of the main story never hurt any rpg

[metalhead]

In video games, heavy metal, anime, Star Trek, and Star Wars you'll always a have a collection of haters. Disney could release the unedited trilogy in full 4k TOMORROW and someone will be out there scoffing over it looking less grainy than standard def.

[phoenixwing]

I'm only a few chapters in but I'm enjoying the game. People who talk about the expanded content are just bitter I think.

[-Foxtrot]

The ending though...like...what the f***

[Blackcanary]

Chris Core Is no longer Cannon that'ts why its there that's all I am going to say. You can find articles where they explain it. I loved the ending.

[CorndogBurglar]

Maybe this is a well known fact I never heard of, but are Biggs and Wedge named after the Star Wars characters?

In the original trilogy two of the X-Wing pilots and friends of Luke Skywalker were named Biggs Darklighter and Wedge Antilles.

[AK91]

So I'm guessing you never played the OG FF7 or any other FF games besides 13 then?

[Maywell]

Another envious article LMAO

This game is so amazing that I can just smile to any controversial article about FF 7 Remake.

Happy to play this game, much fun!

[waverider]

fandom try golf or somenthing. Only someone that never played japonese RPG doesnt understand those side quests. Do even know whats the meaning of side quests?

[PGRfox]

Video game journalisms: When any idiot with a computer can write something like this article.

[MeteorPanda]

l...was hoping for more? rofl. wish there was a bit of more freeroaming instead of corridor loading but hey, midgar was never based on that.

Recruit security guard is best npc. I constantly checked on him whenever passing by. seeing him get instructed to lose his manners through out was so enjoyable. This game wants you to stop and smell the flowers, you play a local florist ffs.

[Thomaticus]

They should have called itFinal Fantasy 7 Prologue, or FFVII Partial Remake. It is kinda deceptive to not mention that the entire story isn’t in this package.

[CrimsonWing69]

What filler?

[Kaedro]

Fixed the title for you: "Games Journalism: When too much opinion articles become news killer"

[gleepot]

All style, little substance

[Suzyp]

Loved it so much, to each their own.