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Final Fantasy VII - Disc 2 Yey or Nay
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How did you find Disc 2?



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0
 08.03.2012 11:22am
Thread Creator (Edited on 08.03.2012 at 11:36am)

shooter_mcgavin
Registered Member

 I remember playing Final Fantasy VII when it first came out. Being an FF fan before with FFI, II (IV), MQ, and III (VI) I was really excited to finally get my hands in the next state of the art FF title.

At the end of my playthrough I did think it was a great game but didn't live up to the progressive standards of I -> IV -> VI. I thought it was a great game but I also remember myself being slightly dissapointed.

Playing FFVII again on the PSN and as I am about to enter the Northern Crater.

Playing it again I think I know the core reason why I was initally dissapointed with FFVII.

Back then (1997) I had numerous reasons that had me a bit dissapointed with the game. The game was not challenging enough, the material system was flawed, lack of character individuality, etc. 

But I guess what I noticed was how underwhelming Disc 2 was. Disc 1 was a beast of a quest capping off with your journey around Midgar, and only stepping in the vast overworld after 10 hours, a mysterious cat and mouse chase for Sephiroth with Shinra not too far behind you, and that iconic end of Disc 1.

Suffice to say the first Disc was as very bit memorable as any FF game before it.

But what about Disc 2?

For some post FFVII fans out there let me put things into perspective. FFIV and FFVI both had one thing in common. They had more than one world. In FFIV you had the Underground World and the Moon, while FFVI had the World of Ruin. Both had diffrent purposes in the narrative.

FFIV's underworld and moon was still inear but that's when the drama and story kicked into high gear, yet you still visted new places and exlored new areas.

FFVI's world of Ruin, was the World of Balance totally f***ed up. But it was part of the narrative of hope. And it was cool getting your team back to gether and doing a bunch on non-linear sidequests to beef up your characters.

Since FFVII came after FFIV and VI for us English Speaking (North American, or North American Importing fans), I often associated Disc 2 as the "2nd World". JUst like FFIV and VI's 2nd world were the Underground World and World of Ruin respectivley.

Now for FFVII, disc 2 had some great moments. The first part of Disc 2 with the Snowy Fields and Mountains was memorable, the revelation of Cloud's past was emotional, and the final mission in Disc 2 in Midgar was an amazing climax to the final disc. But everything else surrounding that we kind of "meh".

What was the problem with disc 2's mssions and quest in FFVII? The missions and dungeons were short, you were just going back to the same places as disc 1. It felt like the creative people behind FFVII said "hey let's have three amazing set pieces" but we need to fill the void between them any ideas. The one guy says "I know let's have them go back to previous locations in disc 1 but have them chase Huge Materials but are kind of irrelevant to the story", then the other guy says "ok do it". You also had scuffles with the Weapons but for the actual encounters it normally just involves some cinematics with Shinra kicking their a$$es.

It also didn't help that rethreading these places still had the same enemies so the challenge was also gimpped.  

I don't know I guess my expectations were so high for FFVII that they could never have been met. So I admit it was also "me". But it does seem disc 2's production did feel a bit on the lazy side, especially when considering the amazing exprience disc 1 was. 

Any opinions on this?




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0
 08.03.2012 7:12pm


Rinoa
Night Star
Administrator



 I didn't like Disc2 either, in fact when I replay the game I kind of taper off and lose interest once I've been to all the 'new' places. The only thing worth looking forward to are the short, minute cutscenes that relate to the main story and getting their diff permutations depending on party members.



Rinoa.Nu




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0
 08.04.2012 12:46am


Spidey
So Sigh Ety



 I liked the whole entire game except for the ending.  For me, those plot points connecting the major plot points are really the bread and butter of RPGs, and I liked those points (which disc 2 was) just as much as the major stuff. Getting to know the characters backgrounds and seeing some of their development and trying to figure out where the story is going, is all exciting stuff for me when it's paced well which I thought it was paced perfectly through disc 2.

So Disc 1 = Disc 2 < Disc 3 for me.




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0
 08.04.2012 12:51am


Crusader
Not Even My Dad Hit Me



 Last time I played I realized how lame the impetus for the middle of Disc 2 was.  Hay guys, let's stop Shinra from using the Huge Materia to blow Meteor and, I dunno, SAVE THE FUCKING WORLD (those bastards!), because SOMETHING WONDERFUL MAY HAPPEN when we're around them.

Then let's be disappointed when the rocket doesn't do shit to Meteor.  Has nothing to do with the fact that we, y'know, stole all the punch from the weapon because we were, essentially, bored and needed something to pad length after Cloud finally gets over his epic psychological problems.

That said, Cloud's big revelation while Tifa was crawling around in his brain was one of my favorite moments of anything ever.  It still brings tears to my eyes when his little injured ass gets the better of Sephiroth.  And dat segment of the World Map theme.  ;_;!








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0
 08.04.2012 3:56pm


Nelfichu
I've been there, hombre.



 I love the whole game equally, but I always thought it was funny how the amount of content on a disc decreased as you went. Disc 2 might not be as epic as disc 1, but at least it has more meat to it than disc 3. 

It's interesting that IV, V, and VI all had the different worlds around halfway through their stories, and VII, VIII, and IX had the short last disc with something bleaker about the world map (meteor looming overhead, you can't get into towns due to time compression, mist everywhere) usually with different overworld music. No point here, just an observation.




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0
 08.06.2012 8:02am


Rinoa
Night Star
Administrator
Crusader said:


That said, Cloud's big revelation while Tifa was crawling around in his brain was one of my favorite moments of anything ever.  It still brings tears to my eyes when his little injured ass gets the better of Sephiroth.  And dat segment of the World Map theme.  ;_;!

Yeah that revelation made it all worth it.




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0
 08.06.2012 9:14am


shadowphoenix
It all ends with beginnings...
Nelfichu said:

I love the whole game equally, but I always thought it was funny how the amount of content on a disc decreased as you went. Disc 2 might not be as epic as disc 1, but at least it has more meat to it than disc 3.

Exactly




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0
 08.06.2012 10:37am
Thread Creator

shooter_mcgavin
Registered Member

 I believe the only deviation between the diffrent discs is just the FMV's. And it does look FFVII had more FMV's in Disc 2 than Disc 1.  I think this is the case because I remember swapping between disc 2 and 3 because the disc 3 I played had some issues and would freeze sometimes. So I would just swap to disc 2 during the final dungeon and it works just fine (battles, dialouge boxes, dungeons etc). However when you got an FMV cut scene or the final descent to Sephiroth the game crashes if you are playing it on disc 2. 

Though this still does not excuse how, as you guys said, there was so much little content and exploration in the 2nd disc. And Crusader nailed why disc 2 didn't make much sense story wise. 




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0
 08.07.2012 1:09am


SuperSquall
Shortening His Posts



 Disc II has some of the best storytelling.  The confrontation at the Northern Crater between Cloud and Sephiroth is better on Disc II than on Disc III.  Seeing Sephiroth retell the events in Nibelheim is haunting, particularly the first time through when you really don't know what's true and what's a  lie.

Disc II also has the scene with Cloud and Tifa in the lifestream.  I know a lot of people don't love it, but to me it is one of the highlights in gaming, and definitely in storytelling in the medium.  It's beautiful and really brings together hours and hours of storytelling.  I see everyone else who has spoken also loves it though =) =)

For me the weak link in the game is actually Midgar at the start.  It isn't so bad in the context of the entire game, but at the beginning the dark drudgery of Midgar (the city) really starts to rub off on the playing experience.  Factor in that typically systems in games tend to be best in the middle and worst at the beginning and end and it gets a little dry.  A lot of people talk about how you can abuse the materia system but I think most of the crap is in what is essentially the "post game" unless you do your Chocobo breeding on Disc 2 (weirdo).




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0
 08.07.2012 2:56am


Crisium
N/A



 The highlight is Cid's running.




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0
 08.07.2012 7:45am


Monetary Dragon
Just keep swimming

 FF7 followed the same basic structure of most RPGs: first your party explores the world, and then finds itself needing to revisit most of the locations that it had previously explored while dealing with a more big-picture problem than it had been addressing earlier in the game. By revisiting those locations, they become less one-dimensional (Cid??s rocket takes off, you see Shinra??s military force used in Junon, and so on), and the player gets a deeper immersion into the game??s world.

Just because a part of this is built on an obviously contrived strategy (let??s find the huge materia!) doesn??t change the effectiveness of the overall structure. Considering how beautiful FF7??s core plot/story is, I??m happy to give them some slack on the huge materia quests.

I don??t feel that the ??let??s find the huge materia!? gimmick was much more annoying/cliché/overused than the ??let??s chase the bad guy!? gimmick which drove the bulk of Disc 1. In both cases you have an ostensibly stupid premise explaining why you??re visiting the next area during that section of the game. For some of Disc 1, you??re visiting areas not even really because you??re chasing Sephiroth. You don??t visit Cosmo Canyon because you??re looking for Sephiroth there. You visit Cosmo Canyon because your buggy breaks down while chasing Sephiroth. Now *that* is a stupid gimmick. (But we forgive FF7 for that, of course, because that visit to Cosmo Canyon is awesome.)




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0
 08.13.2012 3:33pm


Blayze
Registered Member

 It was a bit pondering in places but I forgive it for having some of my favourite gaming moments. The aforementioned Cloud's past, the Weapon attacks on both Junon and Midgar felt suitably epic, and although it was a bit of a pointless endeavour (chase Huge materia to make a materia bomb rocket, then take out the materia and escape) the rocket mission still had good moments, especially in the aftermath when the smoke clears, and the citizens look up to see meteor still looming large, as The Northern Crater theme starts playing.

However, one of my favourite parts of the game is from my first playthrough. I'd played the game with no knowledge of the game would unfold, and through disc one I'd used a team of Cloud, Aeris and Tifa exclusively. And then, a few hours into disc 2, I found myself with my team decimated as all of the people I'd previously relied on were gone. That kind of personal experience can't be replicated, but for me it gave the game an added sense of drama.




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0
 08.14.2012 1:30pm


Arckanghel
Pirate.



 I did the same thing that first playthrough. I used Aeris like nothing else. And then bam. Made Disc 2 a much more interesting place.




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0
 08.19.2012 6:48am


SuperSquall
Shortening His Posts
Monetary Dragon said:
I don??t feel that the ??let??s find the huge materia!? gimmick was much more annoying/cliché/overused than the ??let??s chase the bad guy!? gimmick which drove the bulk of Disc 1. In both cases you have an ostensibly stupid premise explaining why you??re visiting the next area during that section of the game. For some of Disc 1, you??re visiting areas not even really because you??re chasing Sephiroth. You don??t visit Cosmo Canyon because you??re looking for Sephiroth there. You visit Cosmo Canyon because your buggy breaks down while chasing Sephiroth. Now *that* is a stupid gimmick. (But we forgive FF7 for that, of course, because that visit to Cosmo Canyon is awesome.)
Let's be fair here, most RPGs have... let's say  "stretched" reasons for getting us to travel across the *entire* world.  The real metric of quality is whether or not the places are worth visiting, and FFVII nails that the first time around.  The Disc 2 re-visits for the most part aren't as good but they also tend to be pretty quick experiences... It doesn't overstay it's visit in any one place (I'm looking at you FF8!).




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0
 08.19.2012 12:34pm


Murasame
HALE YEAH
SuperSquall said:

unless you do your Chocobo breeding on Disc 2 (weirdo).

dat's me

srsly, I always did it with Tifa as my main, because that's when you're finally able to start buying some good materia fo levelling.




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