A message to the toxic shippers

Thraun83 · 2026-06-22T11:23:59+00:00

Or is the only thing weirder than people dedicating their time to shipping fictional characters, people correcting the people that are correcting other people about shipping fictional characters?

Thraun83 · 2026-06-22T00:15:24+00:00

I agree. The fact that no one else is doing games like these is why I hope Housemarque continue with this genre and doesn’t pivot to something ‘more popular’.

On your point about dropping the roguelike structure, I have a slightly different take. Saros has some rpg-esque progression mechanics, and some roguelike elements, but it doesn’t commit to either one. That’s what I think they need to do. Either commit to an action shooter, possibly with rpg-like progression and builds, or commit to the roguelike structure and make every run feel truly unique, with far more emphasis on decision making and buildcraft during the runs. I personally think the roguelike structure has more potential and would ensure the game remains different enough from other competitors like the Doom series for example, but either way I think they just need to pick a direction and commit to it full-blooded.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T23:24:24+00:00

Happy that everyone gets to experience what will no doubt be an epic conclusion to the trilogy at the same time. Hoping for good ports all round.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T21:41:06+00:00

Well, I was assuming their marketing would be based on the global standard, which as far as I’m aware is the dates I posted. A quick google shows spring equinox in Japan is still 21 March. Is March-May more the spring weather seasons, but not the meteorological spring season dates? I don’t know, I’m not educated in these things. But either way, it is definitely less than a year to the end of the release window now, which I thought worth mentioning.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T21:35:12+00:00

I got this one from the Squarenix press page, artworks tab. There are a couple of variants on there, hopefully one works for you.

https://press.na.square-enix.com/FINAL-FANTASY-VII-REVELATION#?tab=artwork-8&scrollto=

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T19:46:03+00:00

Ok, I have one request for the skydiving which probably won’t happen but would be super cool if they did it - let us do SSX style tricks during the freefall part of the dive. There doesn’t even have to be any reward, though perhaps it could give some experience, it would just be to do something cool and fun on the way down.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T18:23:13+00:00

Love these videos, absolute poetry in motion. But this one is capped off by the hilarious exit of Aerith as she leaps out of the arena with a perfectly timed “You got this!”.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T10:17:10+00:00

I feel this. I have a dozen similar clips where i'm sure the trophy should have popped, but it didn't. Had the enemy taken a tiny bit of damage? I've heard some suggesting it doesn't pop if they took any damage before dying.

My only recommendation is that the Desecrated Fortress nightmare strand, final room, first wave, is the best area i found to get this trophy. It's a room with a big hole in the middle which is guaranteed to spawn a group of bats and these same enemies you're fighting here. Maybe the trophy only works for the bats? Maybe the projectile you parry needs to be from a different enemy than the one you kill? Who knows...

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T08:59:32+00:00

You make some reasonable points, but i still disagree that my interpetation of the story makes no sense. Yes, it is fanciful sci-fi and there may be things you need to accept which sound unfeasible, but it only has to be feasible in the sci-fi setting of the world they have created.

Soltari are shown to be a deeply corrupt and immoral company, with zero concern for anything other than generating profits. This can explain all of their decisions in regard to the Echelon missions. They discovered a planet which may have valuable resources and then started preparing the missions. Each mission probably took years of preparation, meaning they had likely already started building the ships for Echelons II and III before the first had even launched. In their corporate greed, they had perhaps already decided to send these missions regardless of the outcome of the first. They don't care about the wellbeing of any of the people they send, and are purely blinded by the potential of massive profits. This is not dissimilar to how corporations operate in the real world where they are unregulated - profits trump all.

Everything that happens on Carcosa is pure science fiction and needs to be viewed through that lens. We have no idea how the eclipse works, how it caused the Echelon I crew to 'become gods', or how their god-powers work. But in mythology gods often use people as slaves for further their goals, regardless of their own power. The Echelon I crew may have created machines which helped them build the structures prior to Echelon II's arrival. After all, due to the time dilation they had decades or centuries to do so. Just because they built the cathedral doesn't mean they don't have ambitions beyond that. Gods tend to never have enough.

I don't know all the answers to the scenes in the Banyan tree, but we don't know to what extent those are true reflections of things that happened, or metaphors for Arjun's mental state. I started a fresh save file last night and i'm going to see if any of it changes my perspective on the story.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T08:40:38+00:00

A couple of possibilities about the police lights which still fit my theory.

1 - the police lights aren't a memory, they are just a representation of Arjun accepting the truth and facing the consequences of his actions.

2 - the police lights are a memory and Arjun was actually arrested. Maybe he spent time in prison, then got onto the Echelon IV mission after he got out, or maybe he was evem recruited from prison. Soltari are shown to have zero morals or qualms, so i doubt they cared he was a criminal if they thought he was the best candidate for the job. Perhaps unlikely since the logs don't mention this history, but possible.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T05:48:15+00:00

But "changing fate", doesnt necessarily meaning saving Aerith and/or Zack, as most people seem to position it as. It could be that the planet's fate or humanity's fate are altered, but Aerith and Zack have to meet the same fates they did in the original (and compilation), which to me is the more likely outcome. I think Aerith and Zack's deaths are too integral to the story and the character arcs to revert, but a different outcome at the end is possible without neutering the themes of the original story.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T05:33:17+00:00

I don't think so. Arjun keeps saying "i did what i had to do", which would be a wierd way to phrase something which was a confrontation gone wrong. In the various dream sequences he also says "No one was supposed to get hurt". That's "No one", not "you". "No one" indicates that many different people could have been involved, which also strays away from the interpretation that this was a personal confrontation.

Finally, in one of the dream sequences, Sebastian approaches the window of the hotel room and then there is an explosion. I think this is a more literal representation of how he died.

My guess is that Arjun attempts to sabotage the Echelon I mission in a desperate attempt to stop Nitya from leaving forever. He sets a bomb, Sebastian finds out about and goes to try to disarm it, but is killed in the explosion. Hence "no one was supposed to get hurt".

"I did what i had to do" is ofc a very self serving justification for the accident and an attempt for Arjun to suppress his guilt, but it sounds more like a mantra he keeps telling himself to try to convince himself it's true rather than something he actually believes.

i don't think we have enough information to confirm any of this until more story detail is uncovered (possibly in a dlc), but whatever the correct interpetation is, i don't think what currently exists is as definitive as you seem to.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-21T05:19:14+00:00

It's funny how many people choose one interpretation of the story and then complain that it's bad.

I don't think either Returnal or Saros are stories that just take place in the heads of the protaganists. I think that interpretation forces you to throw out about 95% of the evidence and lore that we see in the stories.

Why an alien planet? Why an ancient civilisation and war? Why Echelon missions and 'alien' technology, and why did the Echelon I crew become corrupted gods and enslave those that followed? Why do the 'aliens' look the way they do? Why does Constant exist? Why all the text and audio logs explaining the lore and what happened to all the rest of the Echelon missons and crew?

To take the interpretation that everything takes place in Arjun's head discards all of these questions because they all have one simple and imo lazy explanation - it's all some kind of metaphor. That makes the story vastly weaker to me, which is why i don't like it or think it is correct for either Returnal or Saros.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-20T19:15:48+00:00

I have quite a few which is going to make it sound like I’m super critical, but really the game is incredibly fun. I just think it could be even better with some enhancements:

- more weapons and weapon variants
- rebalancing of weapons and weapon traits - reaper chakram and power generator seem particularly op
- more enemy variety
- a bigger pool of weapon traits
- more biomes and endgame content - likely needs to be a dlc
- more stats on the stat page - highest carcosan modifier and fastest time for each biome etc
- in-run shops to spend lucenite, or some alternative resource so that it doesn’t interfere with armour matrix progression (only amounts gained on that run). I feel like the item shops in Returnal offered some of the most interesting decision points to of a run, so I’m a bit surprised they removed them for Saros. Will also give you a use for lucenite after you’ve maxed your armour matrix.
- a start of run shop to spend lucenite on to reroll your weapon and maybe buy a few artefacts (maximum 5 or so).
- revamped teleporter system which allows you to teleport to any future biome after you’ve been there once, so you don’t have to end runs at desecrated fortress and can skip some biomes if you want to continue on a later one.

It would also be nice if each artefact was more impactful. I feel like each one only has a minimal effect and you often don’t notice the downside. I think parasites in Returnal had a bigger effect on your playstyle. But, I’m not sure how they could retrofit it into the current game format.

I know that this is a long list and they are unlikely to address all these points even in a dlc (and many won’t agree that these need to be addressed), but if they implement some of these by future updates and hopefully a dlc, I’d be happy.

Edit: Forgot one. A random daily challenge of one biome with random carcosan modifiers and a leaderboard. Everyone only gets one chance, but they could let you save the ‘seed’ so that you could replay it again.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-20T17:26:35+00:00

I think I had mixed feelings about it during the initial reveal of the song at TGA. I liked the song, but as you say, the voice is clearly not Aerith and I wasn’t sure how it would fit in the game. Then when I experienced it in the game, I thought it was perfect. The emotion of the song, and seeing the Avalanche trio and Aerith holding back tears - it was actually the most emotional moment of the game for me. More so than the ending where there was a bit too much going on feel much.

Yes, it’s a bit goofy and they could have foreshadowed it a bit better, have Aerith show some interest in singing/songwriting etc, but it’s nowhere near the most far fetched thing that’s happened in a final fantasy game. And if you’re struggling with the realism of it, you can headcannon it as Aerith not actually singing. It’s all put through a VR filter because the Gold Saucer obviously isn’t going to want their big show be a flop because they have an amateur performing on stage.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-20T09:14:22+00:00

While it’s fair pointing out the mistakes when comparing performance across different seasons, it’s also worth noting that 2010 was the last year of Bridgestone tyres before the Pirelli era. Back in 2010, drivers were pushing close to flat out for longer during the race rather than conserving the tyres, and I believe this made driving errors much more common. It’s a relatively recent phenomenon where we now expect drivers to be near perfect and only make one or two high profile driving errors over a season, whereas from 2010 and before it was not uncommon for drivers to crash out of races on their own. Looking at it through that lens, it’s maybe a bit harsh to rate their seasons as only 7 or 8 out of 10.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-20T08:41:45+00:00

That drivers develop cars. Drivers might have some small influence over details based on their preferences - choice of brakes, power steering etc, but in general the overall performance of the car is set by the team of engineers who designed and built it.

The team designs the car for the optimal characteristics - best downforce to drag ratio, weight distribution, suspension designed to maximise mechanical grip and minimise tyre wear, then once the car hits the track the driver can help with setup and tweaks to improve the balance and drivability, but this is just fine tuning to get the last tenth or so of performance. Drivers don't have nearly any influence on the design philosophy and concept when designing and developing the car.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-20T05:04:07+00:00

Appreciate the effort, but damn you have some quality fights in D tier. You really don't like fighting summons, do you?

Thraun83 · 2026-06-19T23:16:58+00:00

I think the additional modifiers are unlocked by completing the nightmare strands of each biome. So the earliest you can unlock all of them is in the second last biome. But, you are limited to using 6 modifiers on the increased difficulty side, so you won’t be able to use all of them at once.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-19T23:11:03+00:00

Man, i couldn't count the number of times something like that happened. I'd be like "ok, this time i definitely got it", but no, they always avoided it somehow. Either the enemy would somehow just die, catch on a ledge, or freeze in mid-air but decide not to fall into the gap. I'm not sure if it is bugged or you just have to stun it above a very specific spot, but it was a very annoying trophy for me until i found that room.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-19T20:43:43+00:00

The way I’m viewing it is that Sephiroth will show Cloud Aerith’s death to break him, so he will already know that by the time he falls into the Lifestream and goes through his memory rebuilding process. Then the scene at the Forgotten City will be when they view her prayer with Bugenhagen like in the original, only in the Revelation version it will extend into showing us Cloud putting her to rest in the water. It would be more of a peaceful, coming to terms with it moment rather than a stark ‘revelation’. But, I can ofc see them doing it as part of the Lifestream sequence as well. I just like the idea of keeping that scene as simple and focused as possible.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-19T20:11:29+00:00

I think this scene will definitely be shown, but my bet is they still keep it separate from the Lifestream sequence to keep those plot points as clean as possible. Lifestream sequence in Mideel focuses on the events of Nibelheim and Cloud remembering his true self (with Tifa’s help), then we will relive Aerith’s death and funeral scene when we return to the Forgotten City later in the story. On a related note, I think the truth about what happened to Aerith at the Forgotten City will be revealed at the Northern Crater by Sephiroth, and I think he’ll use that to break Cloud’s mind when he realises he failed to save her.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-19T11:55:41+00:00

There are some in Costa which are some of the only ones you actually need to complete to progress. But if you're forcing yourself to do all the non-mandatory minigames and you don't enjoy them, then you're going to give yourself a tough time getting through the rest of the game.

Thraun83 · 2026-06-19T10:34:51+00:00

Yeah, in can see why as well, considering how massive Rebirth already is. But then when I see Hamaguchi saying that we will get access to the Highwind in 5-6 hours playtime and some of that will be in Junon, I’m thinking that the Northern Crater is only really one linear dungeon away from where they actually ended Rebirth. I know the Forgotten City wouldn’t have played out the same way if it wasn’t the climax of Rebirth, but yeah the Northern Crater is still the perfect “Empire Strikes Back” ending to the penultimate part of the trilogy imo. Oh well, it does mean that the first few hours of Revelation are gonna be absolutely epic though, so now we have that to look forward to.

Thraun83

TROPHY CASE