Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020)

i was trying to play something new, something different and yes i have done it. Final Fantasy VII - Remake is one of these gems that everyone should try at least just for curiosity. There are a lot of things that this game can offer starting from the basics such as the gameplay and continuing with the wonderful story telling. The athmosphere in this game is incredible i felt immerse in the universe of midgard from the start to end i was always intrigued on what could happen next, there was always the surprise factor in the gameplay.

What could go wrong? What is next?

There is not doubt in my heart that this is a masterpiece and i can't recommend you enough to invest your free time playing this absurdly incredible piece of art.

PROS

• Soundtrack - Delightful and it won the best sound track in the game awards 2020. Well deserved IMO.
• Story - I don't want to go in deep on this point but this was the reason i was so hooked up in finishing the game. Made me shed a some tears.
• Gameplay - So funny and it doesn't get old. There's always something new and new combos to learn.
• Companions / Friends - They have their own personality making the game alive and really enjoyable due to the interactions between the different characters. I don't know there were some moments where i was thinking that this was an anime or something like a movie. The characters were really well made.
• Antagonist - Yeap.

CONS

• Sliding animation while walking /sliding throught walls - this was something that was ok to help other zone to load while doing this but this was absurdly used. Not the end of the world but annoying for sure.
• Duration - i'd have liked to have more things to do, more hours, more exploring. it last enough but from the fan standpoint i'd really loved to have more.
• Wedge - Annoying af. fr dog.

These cons are not CONS that would ruin the game for you i'm just tying to find something bad about this game but at the end of the day it's more my point of view.

Finally i want to mention that if you are undecisive on playing this game i'd be the light in the path for you: Go ahead and play this Masterpiece.

This game was amazing and just what I needed in this stressful point in my life. I wasn't really expecting anything going in. I played through the original FF7, but I remember not being that engrossed with it. Like, it was okay, but it wasn't amazing. It was probably a victim of overhype since I played it several years later and I had already been spoiled that Aeris/Aerith was going to die, so I wasn't surprised when it actually happened in the game.

My husband got the free PS5 upgrade and I figured why not give this a go. I was not expecting it to grab me as much as it did.

The story is what drew me in. I think they did a great job explaining and refining the story. I care about the characters, especially the side characters. Jessie and Wedge can be a little stereotypical at times, but at least they gave them more personality. And of course, I'm totally shipping Cloud x Aerith now for whatever reason. You can't tell me otherwise. And Cloud is kind of a Gary Stu but oh well.

I'm really hoping that in the second game they find a way to let Aerith live. They sure hint at it a lot... so maybe there's hope? I originally played this game thinking Aerith was definitely going to die, but I'm glad to see it hasn't happened... yet.

The game is not without it's flaws, but I'm willing to overlook it. The world is gorgeous and the battle system is really good. Thank goodness for Easy mode because I don't think I have the patience to enjoy this on Normal. The side quests felt like a chore for me, and they are optional, although at the end of one of the Chapters I actually got guilted by Barret for not doing them... so geez Barret guess I gotta now..

I wasn't attached to the original FF7 story, so I don't mind changes or the simplification. I also didn't mind the removal of the turn-based battles. But if you love the FF7 story with all your heart (and for some reason still haven't played this game 2+ years later lol), tread carefully because there will be some changes. And it feels like they are going to change a lot of things going forward with the story too.

Beautiful & fun, It definitely holds a new spot as one of my favorite games of all time. You can tell there was a lot of love & care put into making this. The story was easy to follow, the characters were likable & I cared about them, and the battle/weapon system wasn't too overly complicated. I enjoyed this game and would def replay it in the future, so I really recommend it! The ONLY thing I would change is the slow side moving motion when you're squeezing through a tight spot :P

--edit Just finished INTERmission w/Yuffie & Sonon, Also just as good! I loved the story and synchronized abilities.

I first played Final Fantasy 7 years ago on PSOne when I was just a kid. It was awesome, and so when the remake was announced I was eager to try it -- yet it sat on my shelf for over a year. Now that I've finished it, I can say I should have played it sooner, but it wasn't perfect.

First, the good. The characterization is out of this world. I care so much more about each and every character than I did in the original. I couldn't get enough of the developing relationships between characters. Also, the graphics -- the game is beautiful, especially on a PS5. The story is also different enough that it keeps it intriguing without losing the charm of the original.

But now, the bad. Combat is irritating to a tremendous degree. I can't count the number of times I cast Magicka only for it to be flung into a wall, or worse: to hit an enemy only to have no effect. The same holds true for special moves. If I am knocked down or interrupted while using something, my ATB gauge shouldn't drain. There should also be a way to cancel an ability.

I found combat immensely frustrating. There were also "forced slow" segments of the game that couldn't be skipped. It's a pet peeve of mine when a game makes you walk slowly through a section that's basically an exposition dump, and those abounded throughout FF7R.

Will I play the next one? Absolutely -- but I'll know what to expect this time, and hopefully there will be options to improve the low points of the game.

It was a beautifully rendered, solid adventure so I am rating it highly (4/5) but I didn't like it enough to give it 5 stars. Not entirely sure why but I'll go into possible issues below.

First off, to give credit where it's due, the game looks really beautiful, it is impressive what they can do with the modest specs of a PS4. Also, I recently got a monitor with HDR and the in-game HDR support really gives the visuals an extra oomph, especially the lighting. Furthermore, the atmosphere, music, environments, characters are all beautiful and really enjoyable. I've played with the original Japanese voice acting and English subtitles, I like it that way as an anime fan.

The main issues that I think brought it down from my perspective:

Combat

Maybe because I've never gotten far into a Final Fantasy game besides Final Fantasy XIV but I really disliked the combat straight away and it took me like 15+ hrs to start to feel kinda comfortable with it. I did play on Normal difficulty which is the highest available for a first playthrough. But I didn't really get stuck on fights, so it wasn't an issue of sheer difficulty. It didn't help that the default settings for targeting are really awkward, I needed to tweak that and then it was more usable. Once I've gotten used to it, it was decent but still didn't feel strongly about it.

Story

In a story-driven game, if the story doesn't capture me, then I won't feel very invested in the game. This entire game almost felt like one big drawn out introduction. Though simply the overall highly polished execution level of everything kept me interested enough to keep going, but I was never really "hooked". The last few chapters did capture my interest quite a bit more but then it gets pretty weird in my opinion, dunno what to think about it.

Conclusion

I don't want this to sound too negative, it is a great game overall, that is definitely worth playing, as my rating shows and I'm curious what the next installment brings. I just thought it might end up being one of my favourites, but it falls short of that.

I know remakes like FFVII, RE2, 3 and Demon's Souls are great game, but I'm constantly worried that they are gonna make the originals 'dissapear' from pop culture and discussions.

It's already difficult to get some old games to work because the originals platforms are not available and there's no relaunch (FFVII '97, gladly, doesn't have this problem). But there's no easy way to play the original RE2 and 3 right now. When people mention those names now they're not refering to the classics.

And then there's Demon's Souls. Yes, the new version is faitful to the original and prettier, but It's not the same game. It has changes in visual style and enemy designs. The original game cannot work online anymore and that experience is completely lost.

I wrote a full article in spanish about this. Maybe I'm overthinking, but I'm always worried about video game preservation.

The game is an impressive achievement, for sure. It's beautiful and the new combat system is a success. It's a great compromise between traditional turn-based strategy and modern action gameplay.

The character relationships are well-developed, but the later-game story is not at all newbie-friendly. I played the original 20 years ago, so I vaguely remembered some plot details, and the story still didn't make much sense to me. I imagine anyone who hasn't played the original will be even more confused.

The biggest problem, in my opinion, is the bloat and padding - SO MANY CUTSCENES, minigames/puzzles that take too long, and a bunch of boring side quests ("find the cats!" "find the kids!"). I wish they had cut 10 hours off the thing and provided a little more clarity for new players. Or better yet, just remake the original as one game! Not multiple 30-hour games.

I never had that special childhood experience of playing the original Final Fantasy VII that cemented it as the greatest game ever made for so many people. Luckily, this first chapter in Square-Enix’s modern retelling is a wild ride so instantly magical and gripping that I didn’t really need to.

Presentation

The first thing everyone will notice about this game is just how amazing it looks and sounds. Midgar may be an urban sci-fi hellhole most of the time, but it’s full of patches of beauty, from huge breathtaking views to small pockets of greenery in just the right spots. Outside dungeons, the world bustles with chatter and movement that does wonders for developing a sense of place. Music is just fantastic, with strong themes and variation throughout the game. Voice acting for most named characters is superb, and combined with their strong visual designs and dialogue, this cast of heroes and villains is extremely easy to love.

Story

The expansion of 6 hours of story to 30 is a bit of a double-edged sword, but mostly a positive. The protagonists and their companions are given plenty of room to breathe, whether in lighthearted moments of camaraderie, worries about the future, or reflection on the consequences of their actions. They really sell the high stakes behind the game’s conflicts, which can be a real roller coaster of emotions. Chapter 4 is an early highlight that doesn’t move the plot along at all and wasn’t even in the original, but that feels crucial to the emotional core of this game for how it provides levity and bonds its characters to one another and to the player. The world of Midgar and all its factions and history and locations are genuinely interesting to learn about, and some side plot threads are great diversions from the main story that still contribute to the player’s understanding of it.

Gameplay-heavy areas unfortunately occasionally overstay their welcome, get repeated for minimal payoff, or walk in unannounced right after an emotional moment that needed more time to settle. To be fair, life is like that too, but this kind of padding seems driven by the business which needed to justify this as a full game but couldn’t realistically fit in any more of the following plot, and it occasionally harms the pacing. For most of the game, it’s fine, but I think they could have cut out 3 hours or so and had a tighter experience that still had all the good new additions to flesh everything out. The ending few hours really ratchet up the stakes in a story that I‘m not sure really needed it—but it’s a cool sequence, so I guess it works out.

Gameplay

Maybe the biggest surprise of this game is just how fun its combat is. I felt like the spirit of full-party control and ATB decision-making is still here, but stripped of its fully menu-driven roots, it’s allowed to run freely and feel so much more responsive, dynamic, and exciting. The meaty challenge provided by the game’s Normal difficulty makes the big, cinematic boss fights a real thrill to pull off—and wow, some of those are just spectacular. The Materia and weapon upgrade systems give some interesting flexibility to how you balance your party and I’d love to see that expanded in the sequel. Checkpointing is (usually) extremely generous and cuts out so much tedium from the older JRPG format!

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This game is setting a new standard for action-JRPGs, and stripped free of previous decades’ technical limitations, it is fully realizing so much of what made Final Fantasy amazing over the years. It should not be missed!

Honestly? Better than I ever imagined it would be. And this from someone who's played all single-player FFs save I–III and considers the original VII to be middle-to-lower end of the pack (personal order: VI/XII—tied for top—Tactics, IV, X, XV, V, VII, IX, VIII, XIII). It does what a remake should—it expands without sacrificing, it corrects wrongdoings (speaking as an enby person who was thrilled with how they reconfigured the Honey Bee Inn segment), it feels new while at the same time being very familiar, it looks STUNNING, and... let's be real, that soundtrack is worth three of the five stars on its own. It's likely my favourite JRPG soundtrack since FFXII, and it feels like they had something to prove. And as someone easily swayed by soundtracks (as in, an amazing soundtrack will, for me, take a mediocre film or game and make it brilliant—Drive is a perfect case-in-point) and my nostalgia for them, the ways they've expanded and built upon what previously existed are fantastic. Nowhere is this more present than the Jenova Dreamweaver fight—by the start of the fight's third act... chills.

And all that without touching on the biggest, most spoiler-heavy thing of all: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... This is a sequel, not a remake. It's an alt-history sequel in the same universe. It's fucking Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver, where Kain is split between Sephiroth and Aerith (both knowing the future and wanting to change it, albeit in different ways), while Raziel is Cloud—an unwitting pawn slowly glomming on to what's being asked of him.

There aren't words for how much I love this approach. I mean, just the guts of it—to take a company's most (undeservedly, IMO) beloved story and challenge and dismantle it so completely... it will be a huge disappointment if further entries don't capitalize on this. I've played the original so many times but can honestly say I have no idea where they go from here, and I love that.

I think I’m around the halfway point, about to go fight in a coliseum to get Aerith in to a weird guy’s house to save Tifa in Wall Market ? This game took quite a turn in the last hour.

Nothing has quite beaten Chapter 4 which I thought was the peak so far, but it’s been consistently good to great for this first dozen hours. My favorite character, Jessie, has unfortunately been offscreen for several hours straight, but the game is doing a fine job giving me reasons to care about just about everyone. Cloud and Tifa especially have been great.

The combat has been getting more and more fun, really loving this system and its challenge level. FFVI is the peak for me, and I wouldn’t be so quick to say this dethrones it, but almost everything I loved in the FF games I’ve played is across the board even better in this one. Like I loved XV, but this is making me reevaluate its quality in comparison. If all this great stuff is just the first few hours of the original, then they’ve truly taken the idea of a “remake” to the next level.

I think I'm done with this. I got to the part where Rude drops the plate, which was really jarring because he just had some kind of weird "change of heart" moment with the helicopter gun? Why even show that if it didn't matter?

I have no desire to play this game further. I don't like the way the characters are expressed, I don't like how plodding some of the sequences are, and worst of all I don't like the combat. At all. I was getting used to it, but you know what? "Getting used to it" isn't good enough for me. For me the combat ranged from frustrating to "OK I guess." There's a million trillion billion games in my Steam library, there's a few PS4 games on my shelf I haven't touched yet, and a handful of Black Isle titles I could be playing from GOG. I'm not going to spend time with a characters I find fundamentally irritating and combat that I find "OK I guess."

No longer do I play games for some strange sense of "conquest" or "achievement." Those days are behind me. I play games to have fun and I was not having fun with my time in Final Fantasy VII Remake.