This is another episode that is both vary satisfyingly purist and anti-purist lol, but not for lack of trying I can tell you that! Better to go scene-by-scene and describe what I did here:
[Chapter 12] Scene 41
The mod I made for last episode makes another appearance right off the top. In 7R, Tifa is interacting with the console before the plate separation has been confirmed, allowing Rude and the Whispers a moment of skullduggery. In OG (and here) we can cut all that and end up at the same place.
Tseng's appearance on the TV here is much like Shinra's appearance as a hologram: it "makes sense" and "doesn't really change anything" and I'm "being crazy" but, even so, this is going to bug me forever lol.
For the subtitles, I honestly just went with Remake's dialogue most of the time, already having thrown up my hands at not getting him there in person. Another reason for that is that whatever is playing on the screen in this scene is pre-rendered movie. It doesn't even pause when I freeze the engine! I basically had to use the scene as is.
It must be mentioned: Tseng slaps Aerith in the OG. While this displays the cruelty of both him and Shinra, the threat of a slap communicates the same violence without actually having to watch her get slapped. I'm personally fine with the change.
The music here is from Chapter 12 Hi Stakes Rescore by Neo.
Scene 42
A few shots between transitions here -- every shot required me to replay the boss battle, so this took a while.
Scene 43
The FMV here is an edited version of the mod Plate Fall Closer to OG by FantasyRaiderr (a name you may recognize from earlier episodes, we haven't seen the last of them). Even still, that mod includes an expanded moment here, which I have cut. I also reshot the last shot here - FantasyRaiderr repurposed an in-game shot of the Shinra Building, but since I have access to freecam, I booted up Chapter 16 (where Shinra HQ is fully rendered) and recreated the final shot of the original Plate Fall FMV from 1997:
[Chapter 13] Scene 01
I cut the small bits of dialogue that Remake added here, but I kept Cloud helping Tifa to her feet. While I kind of like the intro cue from 7R here, the rest of the track is not as evocative as what we are hearing, which is the EC version of On That Day, Five Years Ago…
Scene 03
Like most scenes in 7R, the pieces are mostly here for reconstructing the scene, but no one in Remake is actually using the original script. I much prefer the original lines of dialogue, but some of the blocking from the Remake scene is a nice touch (I really like the hug that Barret gives Tifa). To get coverage, I tried to mask their mouths as much as possible by getting super wide overhead shots - this was difficult becuase there are only a few instances where all three characters are rendered at once. In a few instances, I returned to this spot to film coverage using idle animations, the way I did heavily in Episode 13 and 14. It is difficult to direct the characters when it is not a simple matter of them facing one another from 5 feet apart. When three characters are in the party, they are constantly shuffling to give one another room - and they hate being forced to face away from Cloud.
The dialogue here returns to purism, with almost no adjustments to the dialogue from what you would have read on your TV back in the 90s. I think the scene holds up very well.
Final Thoughts
I was both dreading and salivating over making this episode. The original moment is so powerful, and Remake's changes are lamentable to me, even though its a beautiful game and the pieces are all largely there. Hopefully I've been able to bring the best of both worlds to you!
I'm practising colouring/shading/lighting and line work using Angel Ganev's art course before finishing off my Aerti painting, I'm still a bit rusty at it so thought I'd use Tseng's 3D model as a study.
