Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020)

JRPG fans are the #1 reason I've avoided playing JRPGs for the last ~20 years. Kind of like UFC fans, there are some fanbases that are just so undesirable to be associated with that, well, you go out of your way to not associate with them. However, I recently finishing buy all the Bitmap books, and there's two that sat on my shelf staring at me until I cracked them open and flipped through: The SNES RPG book and the Guide to Japanese Roleplaying Games. They started an itch, a curiosity, and so I grabbed my first JRPGs in 2 decades: FF7 Remake and FF7 Rebirth.

FF7 Remake was my first 'JRPG' in about 20 years, and it was a very enjoyable (if at times frustrating) return that resulted in me buying most of Square's Steam catalog during this current sale. I have 6 months off from work and will be working through a veritable stack of games thanks to FF7R, from Live A Live to Star Ocean to SaGa and (of course) all the non-MMO FF games.

There's so much here that is just fun, zany, over-the-top and ridiculous (so many early 2000s Hot Topic outfits), and at a certain point, FF7R does a great job of just convincing you to shut your brain off and enjoy a wild ride. It is cheesy, but knows that, and doesn't seem to take itself seriously all that much, until the moments it counts--though, I will say, the couple triple back-to-back sad-music sap-athons aren't super effective. Sap is a punctuation, and there's a few instances of it being turned into run-on sentences.

That this game includes two of the worst bosses I've ever experienced in my life and still ends up with a 5/5 speaks volumes to just how much of an experience it really is. Excited to do the DLC next and jump into Rebirth.

I have abandoned this game due to a mix of hating it and being bored of it.

I got bored because of how they wanted to hide the cutscenes. This had been a problem with the PS4 in general. They hid cutscenes by just letting yourself move through corridors and let you walk while the characters are talking. Why couldn't they just be some FMVs or in-engine cutscenes to load up the next area? Look at how the Metroid Prime games did it. I may not be the biggest fan of these games, but they hid loading screens just by using elevators for example.

And I hated it for introducing so much fluff and filler that I ended up giving up on this game. Less is more and this game failed to deliver it. And then it ended up getting worse in Rebirth. I hope it's not because of dollars/hour mindset people have nowadays. I'd rather have my fun be worth every dollar than I play or watch more hours of a game just for the sake of getting my monetary value/hour. It's a weird mindset when there are so many other games worth experiencing.

This title is a masterful reimagining of the beloved 1997 classic, blending nostalgia with modern gameplay innovations. The game takes the first portion of the original story and expands it with richer environments, fully realized character models, and cinematic cutscenes that make Midgar feel alive like never before. The level of detail in the world design, from bustling streets to sprawling slums, showcases the capabilities of modern PC hardware, delivering an immersive visual experience for both longtime fans and newcomers.

The combat system is a notable departure from the original turn-based mechanics, combining real-time action with tactical elements. You can switch between party members on the fly, use abilities strategically via the ATB system, and execute cinematic Limit Breaks. This hybrid approach allows for both fast-paced combat and careful planning, making encounters satisfying and engaging. While many praise this evolution, some fans of the original’s classic turn-based style may find the new system initially challenging to adapt to.

Though this will only be an issue if you not familiar in any way to action games in general, which is very rare not to be familiar with nowadays. Narratively, the remake expands on the story of Cloud, Aerith, and the rest of the team, giving side characters more depth and introducing new plot threads. This added content enriches the storytelling and emotional impact, although it can alter the pacing compared to the original. For those who appreciate character-driven narratives will likely enjoy these expansions, while some purists may find certain deviations from the source material unexpected.

The OST, which blends reimagined classics with new compositions, is another highlight, complementing the emotional weight and intensity of the story. Voice acting is strong across the cast, particularly for the main characters, adding another layer of immersion. This is a rare case which you can switch between the Japanese and the English dubs and you'll have a good time on both experiences. In summary, this remake is a visually stunning and narratively rich reimagining that modernizes one of the most beloved RPGs of all time.

While it has minor technical issues and pacing adjustments, its innovative combat system, expanded story, and breathtaking presentation make it a must-play experience for both fans of the original and newcomers alike. FFVII was one of my first RPGs of all time, and I consider it to be one of the best video-games ever made, so I was shocked when this remake was announced. Amazing that they were able to completely destroy my expectations in a good way, this is definitely one of the best remakes the gaming industry has ever experienced. Also, don't sleep on the optional Yuffie content, it is one of the best optional content I've ever experienced.

Final Fantasy VII Remake ~75 hours, two playthroughs, once on PS4 at release and Integrade on PS5.

Pro

• I can’t not lead with the music. Incredible. Modern approach to the classics has me listening to the OST frequently.
• The new combat system was fantastic. It felt good flowing from person to person.
• Expanding on the Midgar story was worth it, and it made sense from a standalone perspective. There was enough here to warrant a full game.
• The DLC was of appropriate length.

Con

• Some characters are really fun to play (example Tifa), but cloud tends to be the more valuable combat character even though Tifa launches more abilities.
• Tifa’s pull up mini game sucks. Not because the gameplay is bad, but because the difficulty jumps for the last play of the tiring mini-game without a need to.
• Square Enix’s pacing did not feel great. Story mode and side quests are siloed so hard they feel like they are different games.
• Graphics are really good in some aspects, but some flat backgrounds and weird facial animations make presentation a solid B.
• Menus, materia switching, weapon upgrading all feels tedious.
• Progression gate keeping makes over exploration not really worth it. You can advance so far and then the games like “go on do the story now”. It just breaks up the flow.
• That progression gatekeeping problem continues to the DLC with the special board game mini-game. Finally unlocked level 2 boards? All opponents are now level 3.

Conclusion:
Final fantasy remake is a solid first entry in the series and is typically free to playstation subscribers. Well worth the 35 - 40 hour playthrough although going the completionist route will likely feel tedious. Lastly, multiple-playthroughs and replaying just to enjoy intergrade did not feel worth it to me. Given the age of the game at the time of writing this review, I can certainly recommend playing it for the price and for the setup for the much awaited rebirth, which I am currently working on....

This is a reminder for why I never cared for action RPGs. I don't like this turn-based/real-time action hybrid style of combat. I love turn-based RPG combat. I love action games. This combination of the two loses the appeal of both. I can't take time to consider choices and plan several turns ahead which is something I appreciate about turn-based combat. The action is constantly interrupted because I have to select my attacks from a menu which removes the visceral, reflex-based satisfaction of action combat. This hybrid style also brings elements from turn-based combat that makes action combat frustrating such as unavoidable attacks that pretty much kill the targeted party member, and elements from action combat that makes turn-based combat frustrating such as lack of situational awareness with attacks hitting you from offscreen. Some of these problems are the fault of the game not including solutions that modern action games have such as visual feedback that tells you you're being targeted or a move is unblock-able. Sometimes I'm not even aware I'm being hit. I would just look down at my health bar and have no clue how it got so low. This all just made playing this game an often frustrating experience.

What I did like for a while was the story. I was impressed how much nuance was given to the story of the radical environmental activist group Avalanche trying to take down the big corporation Shinra that's destroying the planet. And the characters are all fun with big personalities. Too bad the game moves away from that. When the group gets to Shinra, this section of the game goes on for too long, and introduces new story around an ancient civilization and fighting fate. I started tuning out at this point. It all leads up to an ending that falls flat. I never played the original game, so some of this stuff didn't really make much sense to me. I didn't care anyways.

This game has high production value, but that wasn't able to save it in the end. I'm just left thinking about how much more I enjoyed playing Strangers of Paradise.

Episode INTERmission Review: This plays so much better than the main game. It leans more action. Yuffie has a small enough moveset, that I could map all my attacks to the face buttons significantly decreasing the number of times I have to pause the game during combat. Also, she is the only controllable character which removes the awkward character switching. Too bad this is a one-off. I would love for them to keep this for the next game.

This did expose how bad the lock-on system is in this game though. The game has fights that throw many small enemies at the player. Trying to target the right one was such a hassle. Then there are training missions where I had to destroy a bunch of boxes in limited amount of time, and this was a nightmare. I would have a box in front of me, sometimes it would target it, sometimes it would target a box way off in the background, sometimes it would target a box that was offscreen. It was so annoying.

The story is a wash sadly. I was happy to see the game return to the story of Avalanche, but it seems contradictory to the main game's story. Shinra said Avalanche was working with Wutai which wasn't true, and Barrett took offense to the lie. In this story, Yuffie is from Wutai and is working with Avalanche. And the game doesn't really dig into Wutai at all for me to understand what's going on there. Also, the character backstories were confusing. Yuffie reminds Sonon of his sister. The game shows a flashback of his sister who looks exactly like Yuffie. This confused the hell out of me. Is Yuffie actually his sister? I'm assuming not, but they should've used a more distinct character model for that. Also, Yuffie taking offense to the idea that she reminded him of his sister was weird. It was a bit hard for me to get a grasp on Yuffie as a character.

Finished this game up along with the DLC now that it's out on PC and it was... alright. I myself never played the original nor did I ever have any interest in doing so as this is a game where I already knew a general idea of everything by proxy of how popular it was(and with the remake ever looming in the distance for many years). As far as gameplay goes I think it's a good step up from XV's combat though it's still a bit too stiff at times and inconsistent with what attacks you're able to reliably dodge versus what you should be blocking. I don't want to go into too much detail but overall it was very solid and I hope they continue to improve upon it.

The story quite frankly was not very good in my opinion. Maybe it's not so much the story but rather how the story was told... more specifically the dialogue. The dialogue is just.. bad. Often times it feels like the characters are saying words and talking but they're not having conversations with each other, they're just... saying words. The dialogue feels so disconnected from what's happening in the moment or the gravity of the situation that's happening, had happened, or was about to happen. It feels so jarring that multiple times I was wondering if I had unknowingly blacked out and missed out on dialogue or a segment. The DLC is littered with moments like these and it's just bad writing. I don't know if this was in the original but I'm also unsure why they made the girls all so... infatuated with Cloud. The writing becomes quite uncomfortable during these times because again most of it doesn't feel like natural conversations, just words. As a side note, I'd like to point out that often times the Japanese dialogue simply does not match the subtitles and it's a little funny. This has no bearing on what I said before as both in english and japanese dialogue still feels awkward.

Anyway, it's an okay game. The music and it's 3d environments are by far the strongest point of the game. I'm sure fans of the original really appreciate how much life these beloved environments were given as I was certainly able to appreciate them. Really curious to see how they will carry out the rest of the story given the uhh changes being done. I myself am not very hopeful considering it's Nomura but I at least hope the gameplay continues to improve.

I finally got around to playing this game’s Intermission DLC—having recently played 3 entire FF games right before its release earlier this year, I chose to save it for later.

While I can’t recommend this DLC as strongly as the main game, due to some particularly bland, lower-effort content in its first half, it comes together to be a pretty solid addition by the end of its 4-hour-ish runtime. I guess they focused a lot more on the pretty great 2nd half, and didn’t really have enough to fill a $20 DLC, so some of the early characters and objectives are a bit phoned in. The positives largely come from the game’s take on Yuffie, a really fun character both to watch in cutscenes and to play as, as well as one returning antagonist from the main game. Boss fights in this are really fun, multi-phase affairs that go well with Yuffie’s toolkit and make me look forward to seeing how other characters will control in the sequel.

Definitely worth a play for those who really loved the base game, particularly if it goes on sale. Just be prepared to be patient with some weaker early parts.

Look. I'm loving this game. I really am. But why we excused so easily its absurd linearity?

There are extremely long sections when we only walk through boring hallways and passageways with few encounters and no room for exploration.

In that aspect, in that ultra-specific aspect, is even worst than FFXIII, but we didn't extend the same courtesy to that game. Why is that?

It's a good game with way too much filler. Most of the sidequests are uninteresting and doesn't seem to mesh with Clouds character at all. Why would this greedy, moody mercenary go hunt for a little girls lost cats without even getting paid?

Combat is awesome, loved that i had to switch between my characters so often to stay on top of the enemies and be able to pull off my special moves and magic.

Most of the stuff they added to the remake to make it longer fills unecessary.

And i feel sorry for the people who hasnt played the original, they must be so confused about so many things in this game.

Final Fantasy 7 has always felt like a gaming zeitgeist, it came out the same year i was born and i feel like ive heard people talking about it every year since then, if you are a fan of rpgs or have ever played an rpg you have heard someone talk about the original ff7. So i figured, hmm, i havent played the game yet and i've got the remake, surely this will be a good jumping in point but ughhhhh ughhhhhh Nomura sir you know you dont HAVE to make this right?

That is not to say the game isnt enjoyable, it is very well made and credit where credit is due, the music, art, animations and set design are firing on all cylinders, I wasnt expecting to like the characters as much as i did and surely never thought id find myself thinking "Cloud absolutely gets pegged" going in but boy did I.

So what is my issue with the game? Primarily its the fact that it is not a complete game, it isnt, and it bleeds into nearly every aspect of the game, the systems arnt fully fleshed out, the characters dont get to fully grow and stretch their legs because of what feels like invisible barriers telling them "no not yet, we need to save something for later but show a little bit of leg for the sizzle reel". But this fact is especially prominent in how the game tells its story, because firstly the remake only covers something like the first 6 hours of the original game and stretches to 40 hours, which is a mixed bag because while it does add some great context and additional story beats, there are several parts that feel deeply unnecessary, a drag to sit through, or completely bonkers for no other reason than to set up sequel bait that may not even go anywhere, because a primary issue of the story is that it feels allergic to just simply being a remake but too hesitant to do its own thing, so you have this confusing mish mash of both that, while I wont spoil here, if youre entering the game as a complete newcomer you will ask yourself "literally what is happening and what does any of this mean".

I concede that because of how ever present ff7 has been in the last 20 years, many people do have some idea of the game even if theyve never played, such as i was, id never touched anything ff7 related but i knew who Cloud, Barret and Tifa were, and some bits and pieces of the story and i feel like thats entirely why i didnt feel lost completely playing it, along with some friends who were more familiar filling in the gaps but i am of the belief that you should not require your audience to have a list of prerequisite knowledge for your content if you are marketing yourself as a remake AND especially as an entry point for newcomers, because multiple times in the game it feels like its nudging you and going “you remember that from the original right? Right? What do you mean you haven’t played that? Why are you playing the remake then idiot?”.

Overall while enjoyable after finishing this game im left with the question of who is this for? Because it doesn’t feel truly welcoming to newcomers, while also like its actively annoyed or trying to one up those who wanted to relive the magic and nostalgia they had for the original. It does make you want to go back and play the original but a large part being that you want to see what the ACTUAL story is before Nomura got his kingdom heart hands on it.

Also if they have Sephiroth keep trying to be discount Itachi telling me “my hate isnt strong enough, fight me when your hate is stronger Sasuke” im going to kill him myself.

Hello, here is me bashing FF7R in an incoherent manner. I’m not gonna talk about what I liked about the game because I’m too lazy to be quite honest.

The more I played, the less I liked it. I enjoyed the story much less even though there are parts I feel like they improved on from the original. The last 3 or so chapters was a real slog. I understand the need the go more in depth with each segment since this doesn’t even cover the first disc of the original game, but I feel like they took it to far at times. I don’t see myself playing this game a second time because they have cutscenes in the middle of fights which is honestly more annoying than watching the summon animations from the original game. And it also does that thing that modern games love to do where they make your characters walk and talk which basically just feels like an unskippable cutscene. Also I have no idea why they showed off certain characters. Ideally, a person can enjoy a remake without having played the original game (e.g. RE2), but this game shows off Cait Sith and Zack in a way that would only appeal to people who are already know about them. You can argue that it’s foreshadowing, but I don’t know any first time player that is going to remember seeing Cait Sith for 5 seconds when they play the sequel. And they definitely will not understand why seeing Zack is a big deal. This isn’t even all of the issues I had with the game, but I’ve already said so much I’m just gonna stop here.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is a new take on legendary game from 1997. As much as i wanted to play the original game, it just felt too old for me. I knew a little about the game, because i looked some things up after I absolutely loved playing cloud is super smash bros and also the reference to omnislash in dota 2 made mu curious. That's exactly why I couldn't wait to play this game and i had great expectations... and oh my God, they delivered.

The game played like bread and butter on my ps5. I played on 4k TV so the 30fps were as smooth as 30fps can be. And I start with that, because it genuinely surprised me. FFXV was awfully unsmooth and it really bothered me, i was totally surprised that i don't have to play FFVII in full HD because of the frame rate.

The visuals were absolutely stunning, I always loved the style of final fantasy games, but they really did wonders with the graphics. Pretty areas, detailed characters, the lightning, the particle effects, cutscenes of insane quality, they outdid themselves. I've heard that they rushed some things and there are pretty bad textures from time to time, but i experienced none. The music in the game is as good as the visuals, I knew some tracks from other games before, but after experiencing the whole soundtrack I place it right next to Xenoblade Chronicles which is my absolute favorite. Audiovisuals are just top notch.

The story is really interesting, I didn't get everything tho, because some things are left unexplained, but i was totally satisfied. I was curious to see what's coming next, I cared about the characters, a lot of cutscenes blew me away and left me with an open mouth. The plot provided everything, some humor, some sadness, goose bumpy scenes, shocking moments and in general, total awesomeness. The characters are absolutely great, I loved all of them. All of them had great personalities and they were made with great detail. I liked all the sidekicks as much as the main party. Every character that was introduced to me was interesting in some way. I was really curious about some characters motivations and their past. Antagonists were just as good, with Sephiroth being the main dinner. Midgar was a really interesting place and its design was really good. Just a fascinating location with some interesting story. As someone who's really bored with open worlds, this is how you make a good linear world that feels interactive and open. The game is just the first installment and it's just a portion of the original game, but it felt totally complete for me and provided a fine amount of gameplay (45 hours for the story).

The combat was really fun, it was a perfect blend between action and JRPG mechanics, materias and weapons left you with many options to build your party, the whole game was challenging and never irritating. Boss encounters were awesome and they often made you play tactically, to me personally there were just too many near the end of the game, so it was a little bit tedious, but they were all different and interesting. To be honest these might be the best boss battles I have ever encountered, the last fight in the game left me with open mouth. Hard mode was even better than playing the game for the first time, it required some serious attention, strategies and builds, it all resulted in super satisfying fights.

The side content of the game was well made, mini games were fun, arenas were cool and there was a fine amount of side quests, which were mostly fun and interesting, never tedious to do.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed the game, it was made with great detail and i had a blast playing it. My expectations were really high and I totally met them. There's just one thing with the game. I find it pretty "heavy" to play. I mean, I had to be in a mood to play that game, sometimes I just didn't feel like playing FFVII for some reason. But yeah, when I did play the game it provided a great experience and i can't wait for the next game.

9/10

You can also play just for the best girls ever. "Nailed it, I know, thank you. Moving on."

~Wo

4/5

Really enjoyed the gameplay and character progression in this game. Loved the materia system and the individual weapon trees that allow all weapons to remain viable and give different builds for each character. The combat was a well thought out combination of real-time action and turn-based commands. I did feel though that it was a bit messy, in the sense that neither was perfectly executed. The real-time component was a bit janky and it wasn't clear to me which attacks I should be dodging / blocking and which were guaranteed. The turn-based commands were balanced around active attacks so it didn't have the tightly designed turn-based strategy I loved in games like FFX. Locking hard mode behind beating the game is really stupid.

Story was decent but clearly padded out with bullshit - the ending was a bit whack but we'll see how that pans out in the sequels.

Also played through the Yuffie DLC which I thought was interesting gameplay wise but whack from a story perspective, just really uninteresting, and the characters were all bland.

Replayed the game in Feb 2024 before Rebirth came out and I have to say the bloating of it doesn't help a replay at all. Locking hard mode behind a first playthrough remains a really stupid idea to bloat playtime for players. While I can appreciate that they are probably taking the story in some interesting directions I can't help but think that the opportunity cost of having done a proper remake was extremely high. Losing things like following the blood stain, the actual impact of sector 7 collapsing (everyone survived?) is pretty bad. Also, all the new content added to the main story is rubbish. Leslie's backstory felt like a parody. The side quests are fine for extra content. The writing is mostly rubbish especially with all the sighing. Some lines however stand out like "I miss the steel sky". Overall not feeling super pumped about this remake series but will play the continuation soon.

Really enjoyed this game, think it will hold a special place in my heart as it picked me up during the early stages of lockdown, and kept me going through to getting the platinum trophy.

I loved the characters, who have a larger than life quality along with depth and subtlety. You see different sides of them and come to care about them. The balance between the sillier humour and more outlandish elements, and the more grounded character building and emotions generally works very well. It doesn't always land but for the most part it's very engaging.The voice acting is also top notch and distinctive.

The story is hit and miss, but there are some wonderful moments in this game that are incredibly memorable - fun, emotional, silly, powerful. While there is a certain amount of filler content and tonal inconsistency in this game, the moments it gets right are so well done that it never falls flat for me overall. It's worth playing the game purely for the high moments, which are up there with the very best I've ever played.

The world design, visuals, enemies and NPCs are fun to interact with and explore. Some areas can be a little samey and uninteresting, but most have a lot of character and visual flare. The music in particular is just fantastic, comfortably one of if not my all time favourite soundtracks now. Memorable, engaging, silly, fun, adrenaline pumping, heartbreaking, it's all there.

The combat is very engaging and fun. There's depth to getting to grips with the action, managing your team and ATB output, using materia to your advantage, and upgrading your weapons, armour etc. It keeps things interesting and fun, and the presentation of it all, in terms of how it controls, the soundtrack, and enemy dialogue makes it endlessly engaging and replayable. Playing it a second time on hardened mode in order to get the platinum trophy was a joy, rather than a chore.

A pesar de que no ha pasado mucho tiempo, que no se ha dicho del juego.

En lo personal, y siendo el original uno de mis juegos favoritos de todos los tiempos, tengo que decir que me ha gustado tremendamente este juego, a pesar de que es y no es, al tiempo, el Final Fantasy 7 que conocimos quienes jugamos el original.

No solo hablo del fabuloso y terriblemente divertido que es su sistema de peleas, donde se gastan muchas horas programando la materia, probando combinaciones entre goles, magia y ataques especiales, sino también de su historia. No entraré en detalles, pero por algo tiene la palabra "remake".

Si, gran parte es original, y otra no lo es. Por un lado, el adaptar un juego de psx a la presente generación, que está en su cúspide, en cuanto a jugabilidad, sino también en cuanto a diálogos (ahora para ser escuchados y no leídos), y por la extensión del juego, el cual solo se desarrolla en Midgar.

La música y las gráficas son soberbias. FFVII remake es una belleza, un placer visual en la gran mayoría del juego. Y en cuanto a lo musical, que decir, es el maestro Uematsu, un genio que ha sido capaz de respetar la música del original, mientras la reelabora y agrega lo nuevo.

El juego en general es de lo mejor que he jugado esta generación, lo único que lamento es que se acabara, pero nos queda la promesa de la próxima entrega, aunque eso ya será otra historia.

I was deeply skeptical of the Final Fantasy VII Remake project from the start. I am as nostalgic for the PlayStation era Final Fantasy games as anyone my age, but never loved Final Fantasy VII especially. The very vocal demand for a high-definition re-imagining, which probably started after the infamous PlayStation 3 tech demo, was never something I identified with. When the project was finally officially announced, I was ambivalent; when it was revealed to be episodic, and an action RPG as opposed to turn-based, I was put off. I didn't think I would even buy this game until the reviews hit and the game was revealed to in fact be a lengthy and deep experience. I was intrigued.

What the developers at Square Enix have delivered is, as many others have pointed out, a large standalone project of its own. It may only partially tell the story of the original Final Fantasy VII, but it invests the Midgar chapter with new characters, a richer world, and plenty of distractions. The level of environmental detail is astounding; the game painstakingly recreates the city and populates it with rich characters who have complex backstories and social dynamics. It's classic Final Fantasy by way of Red Dead Redemption II.

Among the many surprising and effective components of the game, the structure is its core asset. The game is divided into 18 distinct chapters. It mirrors the linearity of the original game's story, while reducing the amount of free-form grinding in a traditional turn-based RPG. There are chapters where the game "pauses" to allow you do run side quests in a particular area. In effect, it re-frames the "dungeon-town-dungeon-town" rhythm of a traditional RPG by embracing the enormity of the game's single setting. The bosses that punctuate each chapter are long and involved, with cinematic flourishes peppered throughout the battles (similar to, say, an Uncharted game). After the game ends, you can jump to any particular chapter to replay or explore more deeply. There are a number of things you can't get the first-time around, and it's really tempting to stick around and keep leveling up your team and materia.

The combat is more complex than in the original. The game retains the materia system from the original Final Fantasy VII, but introduces weapon upgrades which gives you a lot of flexibility to adapt the game to your own play style. (I preferred Cloud's Iron Blade to the original Buster Sword, for its heavier emphasis on magic.) It is very similar to Nomura's Kingdom Hearts games, in a way, but it is less frantic and more strategic. Perhaps there are a bit too many figures, bars and text boxes on the screen at any given time, but the flow of switching from character to character in real time is a really fun mechanic that, again, re-frames some of the fun aspects of turn-based battles into a more modern and approachable real-time configuration.

There has been an intense focus on how this game diverges from the original story. It is a remake very much in dialogue with the original, often commenting explicitly on what is or is not out of place in this version of the events. In my opinion, the approach works, because in the end they stick the landing on the narrative arc of this game specifically. Future games may take more or fewer liberties with the source material, but I am hopeful they will do justice to the characters, themes and settings of the original much as this remake has done with the first chapter of the original Final Fantasy VII. They didn't need to come up with a hook to differentiate this game from the original, but the fact that they did is really encouraging and potentially exciting.

The truth is you just don't normally see this level of detail or amount of resources (i.e. budget) dedicated to operatic storytelling in a different sort of "fantasy" setting, other than more conventional Western fantasies such as Elder Scrolls or The Witcher. The days that saw Final Fantasy arrive at its original, kind of goofy and very cool aesthetic have long passed - but seeing them recreated for a modern player in a game of this scale makes them seem new again. For all the money that is poured into blockbuster game development, very few games have the same sense of adventure or authorship as this one does. I found myself reflecting on what exactly drew me to the series in the first place, and suddenly I'm longing to jump back into games again.

Played physical copy on PlayStation 4.

This will be wholly spoiler-free.

I never finished the original FF7 but I have gotten to disc 3 probably twice back in the day. I watched my friend beat it when it originally came out. I did not particularly have any fondness for the series but I acknowledge its importance. I tell you that so you know what colours my experience with this remake.

On the whole, I really liked this! There are pacing issues and story issues and remake issues but overall this improves my engagement with the story as a whole. I think one of its faults is you MUST know the original FF7 to really "engage with the text".

I think the Kingdom Hearts-esque combat and the story will be enough for people new to the story to hold on to but to really appreciate what it is doing and where it is going an understanding of its subversion is needed.

The fact that the original came out before 9/11 and this one is after that is truly reflected in the story even though this is a Japanese game it is impossible not to see certain parallels. I like that it has really leftist political talking points, even if it sometimes fumbles it, I think it does some good stuff. Unfortunately, it also seems like a Libertarian can also feel like their beliefs are being reflected.

The give-and-take I feel is reflected in the final hours. I love the story, the lore, and where the narrative went... BUT, the combat suddenly flips you around in different party settings in a way that bogs you down with managing builds and materia. Like the fighting gets in the way of keeping the pace.

All-in-all this has me more interested in the future of the series where before I was not interested or excited about this game at all.