We could probably unpin this one, right?
FF7 Rebirth. I’m sort of struggling to push through. I just got to chapter 10, figure if I’m this far to just mainline the story to completion. I fully completed the first two open world areas but have been ignoring most of the others after that. The open world traversal seems bolted on to the hallway simulator that Remake was. That and the quests in the open world don’t feel substantial or consequential. Find this Spring, fight this legendary enemy, rinse and repeat. The campiness of the story is also getting to me.
For full disclosure, I didn’t play the original on PSX but was always intrigued by the art style and aesthetic back when it released. Alas, I only had a N64 at the time and never played it in the later years through emulation. I’m not sure if the original has the same level of camp, but would like to hear if that’s only in these games or in the series overall. The feeling I got from various advertisements was the game was more mature in tone than I’ve experienced so far.
I did finish Remake earlier this year, after initially trying it when it launched in 2020. The campiness of it turned me off a few years back but I really wanted to understand the hype.
I guess the only thing I’m getting out of it at the moment are the visuals. It’s gorgeous, but I don’t think I’m appreciating the story/lore like all the fans are.
I think campiness can be okay in short bursts but a lot of recent Japanese writing just overstays many jokes.
FFXIV (the mmo) for instance, often gets the balance right and most conversations involving the main heroes are about political drama, with the brief befuddled funtimes.
I just finished a horror game called Crow Country, and it gets some good laughs out of twisting surprise expectations; but it also keeps most conversations and general exploration serious.
Like a Dragon is definitely better with camp. It’s often very segmented to the side quests, and doesn’t just play up fanservice alone.
