August 26, 2022
Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing over the past few days. This time: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy and one of the greatest games of all time.
If you feel like catching up on some older editions of What We’ve Been Playing, you’ll find our archive here.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, PS5
When people talk about Final Fantasy 7, I get a little quiet, because between you and me, I’ve never really played it. And I know, I know, but I didn’t have a PlayStation, so how could I? All I could do was go to my boyfriend’s house and watch him play, but there’s a limit to how long you can do that before it gets weird and the parents kick you out.
But now, 25 years later, I’m getting the chance to experience it again, as if it were a new game, courtesy of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade on PS5. And the whole thing fascinates me because I get both a history lesson and a modern game at the same time. And it’s beautiful and it runs great: I know technical issues aren’t always the sexiest thing to talk about, but FF7 is running like a rocket on PS5. This, as a project, as a remake, is about as lavish as it will ever be (excluding the upcoming installments) and only a game as historic as Final Fantasy 7 could ever command such a thing. So that’s great.
But there’s also that shocking dissonance of old and new. On the one hand, you’ve got a dazzling new combat system that’s acrobatic and cinematic, and feels more like an action game than anything with Final Fantasy (except maybe 15). But at the same time, you have an old level design and pacing and mission design from the original game, and they clash. Is it old, is it new? Not sure if it ever really knows – it rocks back and forth a bit.
Not that I’m complaining! l love that a project like this exists. I wonder, however, what a younger audience that detaches from the context around the original thinks, but perhaps such a detachment is impossible. Back to my Cloud I go.
Bertie
Final Fantasy 12, PS5
Double speed is a game changer. I never really enjoyed Final Fantasy 12 the first time on PS2, despite loving the series as a whole: the combat is too hands-off, the labyrinthine dungeons are labor-intensive, and the environments are sandy brown, dirt brown, and rock brown.
But the Zodiac Age version brought some changes, best of all double speed that lets you easily race through all the crap with a hilarious running animation, not including Benny Hill theme. That may sound like scathing praise, but I got to see the game with fresh eyes.
Final Fantasy 12 has always shined for its grounded political drama and lovable cast of characters (except Vaan, sorry). That is still the case. But at double speed, the dungeons are much less of a roadblock and I got into the lush, late-game areas much faster. Combat, meanwhile, is a breeze. Without getting bogged down in the lingering details of each encounter, the emphasis is instead placed on the licensing board metagame, tinkering with my party’s available abilities, and deciding which weapons and armor to unlock next before launching with one hand. dots crunch until it becomes so. OP that bosses are laughable. Suddenly, the long game of party management feels much more manageable at higher speeds.
I’m also more inclined to check off the game’s side quests and hunts. These require a significant amount of backtracking through any maze-like environment, but at double the speed I can focus on the destination and not the journey. And that led me to some more challenging and interesting boss fights, as well as additional stories to flesh out the plot. I’ve never dealt with these strange things before, but double speed has made the completist in me happy to spend an evening ticking off menu items, giving me the space to just relax and enjoy the ride. It’s a weird dichotomy of rushing and still taking the time.
I always felt like I misunderstood Final Fantasy 12 the first time and wanted to give it a second chance. Now, despite its height, I’ve been able to sprint through it and reevaluate its merits. Double speed is an option that all JRPGs should have honestly.
Ed Nightingale
Lumines, Switch
A book should probably be written the way Lumines and Tetris are not the same. However, it’s weird to report that I’m bad at both in exactly the same way now.
It’s greed, really – greed and a desire to show off. In Tetris, this means waiting forever for the long block and planning around it, taking stupid risks hoping it will invade and score me four lines at once.
In Lumines, the long block is called the fuse block – it’s the block that allows you to clear all blocks of the same color once it’s plugged in and sweeps past the timeline. This means rigging landscapes with a back and forth path of one color, building dangerously high and chasing disaster in search of the perfect pay-off.
And it must be said that the pay-off in Lumines is much more exciting than the pay-off in Tetris. Four lines are fine, but nothing beats a chain of orange blocks erupt, leading to a secondary chain of white blocks erupt at the next timeline pass.
If it works, at least. When it doesn’t work – and it hasn’t worked all afternoon for me – both games are completely similar in the way they evoke sweet frustration.
Chris Donlan
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