Yeah, it really would be better if the places where something was present that could be interacted with were marked somehow - perhaps only when you were close enough to actually press the button, to preserve immersion.
Anyway, adding the full summary of the length of the various playthroughs for future reference, and so that it'll be easier to see how much longer than any of the preceding titles FFVII is, eventually.
FF - 7 threadmarks (no double update ones) - 18,2 k words
FF II - 12 threadmarks (5 double update ones) - 27,9 k words
FF III - 16 threadmarks (9 double update ones) - 44,8 k words
FF IV - 20 threadmarks (5 double update ones) - 69 k words
FF V - 30 threadmarks (12 double update ones) - 110 k words
FF VI - 26 threadmarks (5 double update ones) - 140,5 k words
Interesting that the "minimum of 5 double updates" has been maintained once again.
I did want to mention that I agree that Final Fantasy VI is a crazy ambitious game (emphasis on the crazy here) full of so much incredible stuff that it's hard to keep track, and that Kefka is the superior villain from what the first six games have to offer, even if it's annoying that half of his biggest moments happen because the writers say so rather than due to any serious development. There are great things in FFVI, they just aren't able to stand together - it's an example where the individual parts are superior to the whole, I think.
With that aside, it's time for my traditional transitional question between games!
The generational leap that came with the release of the Playstation, the advent of 3D, and the game that defined a generation of RPG and spawned its own entire franchise of spinoffs.
Final Fantasy VII.
So, what do you know about Final Fantasy VII? I imagine there's at least one or two big spoilers you've already been exposed to, but considering how many interesting things are there in Final Fantasy VII that are often not talked about (overshadowed by the big spoilers, often), I'm very curious to hear how much of this one have you been spoiled about. And it'd likely help people keep from spoiling things that they think have already been spoiled, but actually haven't been - which I suspect will be an even bigger problem than it was for Final Fantasy VI.
Yeah, the recent remake of FF7 isn't a remake, it's a whole AU of FF7
I maintain my opinion that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake is actually a sequel to the original Final Fantasy VII; the game is incomprehensible if you haven't played the original, and its narrative, while complete, is unsatisfying if you don't have the original to build off of.
Consider the difference with a true spin-off, like Dirge Of Cerberus; that's a bad game, but you don't need to have played Final Fantasy VII to understand it, the game is capable of standing on its own. Same with "Final Fantasy VII - Crisis Core"; it's a full game that tells its own complete story and doesn't need knowledge of the original to work (in fact it contradicts it in places, but so lightly that it's easy to overlook), although having said knowledge does (generally) improve it, making it an exceptionally good prequel.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake doesn't work as an independent game any more than "The Empire Strikes Back" works as an independent film. It is a complete story, mostly, with its own plot, but it's a plot that only fully makes sense with the previous installment in mind, making it a sequel. Probably the second-best sequel in the series, even (at least in my opinion, only FFX-2 is better in that special category), but a sequel nevertheless.
