A masterpiece of a game. The combat alone is reason enough for me to adore it, but the character writing and music are absolutely some of the best in the business. I don't know if I've ever loved a game's cast as much as I do 7 Remake's. The bones of them all were already there in the original, but each character is fleshed out so well, and the performances elevate the characters to even greater heights. I'll probably be replaying this one for the rest of my life.
Tentei jogar antes do rebirth e a sequência me fez desistir. Triste fim...
Has its issues such as fighting flying enemies being a hassle and some of midgars design is weird. Plus some side quests feel like they are pointless. But overall I had a good time with it. With being a diehard FF7 fan I loved to see midgar sprawled out into its own game.
Tetsuya Nomura is like Midas of the gaming industry, except everything he touches turns into shit instead of gold
NOMURA WTF?
This is truly a "remake", at the beggining it seems the same as the original game but later the plot changes...
But looks good, we'll see the next episodes...
This is truly a "remake", at the beggining it seems the same as the original game but later the plot changes...
But looks good, we'll see the next episodes...
With a combat system that feels more like a chore than a joy, dialogue that is disjointed at its best and groan-inducing at its worst, this retelling of a game I admittedly never finished was still somehow enjoyable to move through, owing a lot to strong performances and beautiful models and animation. I admit I'm only modestly invested in the characters, as so much of what happens in the game is intentionally a mystery, including some motivations simply being entirely unspoken. I hope that SQENIX take note of the criticisms of this game to improve upon their continuation of this trilogy.
This is a good game, but there are just a couple of things holding it back from being better. Starting with the good: the action is extremely fun. The way action and turn-based strategy are melded into one fluent experience is so fun. I just wish there were a couple less encounters with filler enemies. Now for the bad. There are two things which hold this game back from reaching that upper echelon for me. The first is the complaint everybody has on this game: the pacing. I understand why the story has to be slow at the start, but when that slowness drags on chapter after chapter, it gets grating. It's not that there aren't fun moments within, it's just that there is nothing motivating me to keep going. At some point, the stakes feel low and everything feels aimless. The story undoubtedly has very good and impactful moments, but these are all contained within the final few chapters or surrounded by drivel. The second thing is more of a personal complaint, but this game is so linear. I understand that it's meant to be a story that flows continuously, but everything down to the corridors makes this game feel like I have no choice to do anything. By itself, this probably wouldn't be such a problem if it wasn't mixed with the pacing issues before. Then, you're left with a low-stakes story that you have to continue following. Every now and then you'll get an area where you're given the freedom to explore the new sector and complete some side quests, but even that feels linear by the time you've done it for the third time. The structure just feels odd. My favorite part of the game was when all the areas finally fully opened up right near the end and you're given fast travel. It makes the world stop feeling like linear corridors and more like an interwoven community. This game is still good. The combat feels amazing, the characters are likable, the story beats hit sometimes, especially at the end, etc. There are just a few glaring issues that make this game hard to get through at times.
Intermission Side Review:
There is no reason for this to be better paced and arguably more hard-hitting than the main game. That ending hits different. It's a lot simpler, but that doesn't stop it from having a lot of good moments. The combat does feel worse than the main game, but maybe that's due to having less time to play with it (also the targeting can be horrendous; that boxes minigame is nightmare fuel). Overall, it's a very concise side story that's really fun.
Intermission Side Review:
There is no reason for this to be better paced and arguably more hard-hitting than the main game. That ending hits different. It's a lot simpler, but that doesn't stop it from having a lot of good moments. The combat does feel worse than the main game, but maybe that's due to having less time to play with it (also the targeting can be horrendous; that boxes minigame is nightmare fuel). Overall, it's a very concise side story that's really fun.
I was totally surprised by how much I still remembered about the original. I was even more surprised how well this game (sometimes too faithfully) recaptures the feeling and tone of the original, too. It wildly veers between serious socio-political allegory to wacky melodrama to high action to slow and tedious. It's a roller coaster, for sure.
Ultimately, it's a game that is greater than the sum of its parts. No single aspect stands out as being best-in-class, but somehow the various pieces all come together to make a whole game that feels exceptionally well conceived and conveyed.
Ultimately, it's a game that is greater than the sum of its parts. No single aspect stands out as being best-in-class, but somehow the various pieces all come together to make a whole game that feels exceptionally well conceived and conveyed.
Final Fantasy VII is one of the most influential video game and pop culture icons of all time. It was revolutionary in its day in storytelling, graphics, and scope. I never got around to playing the original PS1 game. When the game came out, I just wasn't into JRPGs and would never have had the patience to finish the game or even remotely understand the story. I was 7 at the time. Fast forward nearly three decades, and out comes the remake. The Final Fantasy VII projects have been in the making for nearly two decades. I remember the Adventu Children being released. I rented it and watched it with my parents, and I had no idea what was going on. There was a mobile game exclusive to Japan at the time, and Crisis Core had just been released. I also had no idea what was going on in that game. I couldn't appreciate these FF7 projects as I hadn't played the original title.
That has all changed. Square Enix did a great job bringing the game up to par with modern audiences and video game standards. Not only is the story well told and easy to follow, but it's still complex and full of interesting and lovable characters. While this game is only what the first disc from the original offered, there are 30+ hours of content here to explore. While the game isn't perfect, there is more to love than to hate, and I was surprised at how great this game was. I didn't want to put it down. From the well-done English voice-acting (which was a shocker) to the well-paced and fast-moving story, the game never got stale (at least during the story moments).
The basic structure of this game is very linear. This is a dated design choice that transferred over, but some think this game has been in development since the tech demo for the PS3 reveal was shown in 2006. If that were the case, then this linear design would have been considered mostly modern at the time. There are large towns to explore, but these still have linear paths, and the story mode is a single path you follow, and there's no way to branch off. This is both fine for a scripted story but also feels cramped in some aspects. Despite how large Midgar feels, with sweeping vistas and massive backdrops, you can explore very little of it. There's a large sense of scale, but what you can explore just feels so claustrophobic in comparison. Many thought this would be an open-world game, but to follow the story the way Square Enix's wants, that wouldn't be possible, and I can see why they chose this path.
Exploring the game (and even the menu system) is similar to most modern Final Fantasy games. You run around towards a goal, fight bosses, run into enemies, do some mini-games, complete side quests, and try to get the best accessories, armor, and weapons in the game. This is all slowly introduced to you, but let's start with the combat, as that's the bulk of the game. Combat is not turn-based, but you can pause the action to give commands. The controls are intuitively designed to allow this to be done with minimal effort. You have regular attacks, a special attack, a block, and a dodge button. When enemies have red exclamations over their heads with the attack name, you know it can't be blocked but must be dodged. Cloud's alternate special attack is actually a stance called Punisher Mode, and while you block him, he will auto-parry incoming attacks. This comes in handy all the time.
You can issue commands, such as using ababilities. These are obtained by changing weapons. Materia can be equipped to give you commands that use MP. Things like magic, offense, defense, and even passive Materia can be slotted. Different weapons and equipment determine your slot count. It's important that you learn this system well and balance your team. You can only have three active party members at a time, but you never change your party. It's all based on the story. You will go through multiple chapters with a missing party member, but you can still upgrade and equip them all the time, even when they aren't with you. Powering up weapons is also a must. Each weapon has strengths and weaknesses. Some focus on sheer power, some on magic, and some on defensive skills. You acquire SP through combat and can use it across all weapons. Each weapon gets the same pool of SP separately. If you have 90 SP, you can use that separately on each weapon, which is really nice. As you level up, you unlock new SP pools.
Combat is fast-paced, fun, and exciting. Each character can be controlled by the player in combat only. During exploration, you're mostly stuck as Cloud or another character, as the story deems fit. Cloud is an all-rounder; Aerith mostly focuses on magic and distance combat; Tifa is a fast-paced melee fighter; and Barret uses a mid- to long-range gun, which is great for aerial enemies. He also has a ton of HP and defensive points. You can issue commands to other characters with the triggers that pause combat. You all have two AP gauges that fill up slowly over time or quicker as you do damage. These are needed to even use items in combat. These guides are the center of your strategy because, without them, you will die. You have limit breaks, which really can only be filled during longer battles (mostly bosses) and summons that deal massive damage, but the battle needs to be long enough to fill these guages.
Summons are mostly acquired optically through the VR training. You only get two during the story mode automatically. These are the keys to strategizing battles and winning as quickly as possible. I found the combat rarely frustrating. Only during long boss battles with multiple phases did I find it annoying that these cut-scenes were not skippable. You need to watch them all over again if you die. This didn't become an issue until towards the end of the game. You can run away from battle by running away and fleeing, and thankfully enemies regenerate until you leave the entire area and come back. The boss battles are all unique and imaginative, and no one is the same. The smaller enemies are also unique and different, and they require you to learn their attacks and know what is weak against what type of attack. There is a lot more strategy in the combat system than a simple hack-and-slash setup.
While combat is the bulk of the game, you will spend a lot of time outside of combat. There are a few simple puzzles inside some dungeons, but the hub areas or towns you explore allow you to rest, buy items, materia, armor, and weapons, and that's about it. The side quests and mini-games are some of the weakest parts of this game. While not every side- question is bad, Some offer challenging boss fights and good rewards; some just don't offer much story-wise. I completed almost all of them anyway for more XP, SP, and the items they offered, but fetch quests are just not fun here. Not to mention, the mini-games are incredibly tedious and boring and not well thought out. There's an okay darts mini-game. Beating the highest score and achievement. But there's a box-breaking mini-game that requires you to run around breaking different-sized boxes. This was incredibly tedious and not fun. There are combat VR simulators that net you material. Most of which you can acquire elsewhere. Then there's the optional summons, which can be incredibly difficult to acquire early on as you need to beat them, and you need three party members to even have a fair chance. There's also a pretty stupid dancing rhythm mini-game. It's just, overall, a bit lame.
Some other annoying niggles come from dated design decisions, like treating the player like they're stupid. For decades, games would have you flip a switch, cut the camera away, show you that a gate in front of you opened, and then give you control. I'm pretty sure most people can figure out that the switch opened the only gate on the only path you can go down. I also got annoyed by how animations would have to line up to whatever script they were tied to, do the animation, re-align, change animations, flip the switch, then go back. It just slowed things down a lot.
Outside of the mostly optional and passable annoyances, the visuals are fantastic. Character models look amazing, the pre-rendered cutscenes are some of the best in the industry, and the story and overall character designs are some of the best you will ever come across. The story is deep and full of political intrigue, and I want to know more about this world, the characters, and see things move on. It's sad that Square Enix takes so long to make sequels, but what are we going to do? With the fantastic combat system that adds just enough strategy and depth to the large swath of enemies, bosses, environments, and perfect pacing, FF7 Remake is fantastic. The additional Intermission DLC is also wonderful, and playing as Yuffie is a blast. The short, 4-hour story DLC still has more of the same lame mini-games and annoyances as the main game, but the story is just so well done. There's nothing quite like it out there.
That has all changed. Square Enix did a great job bringing the game up to par with modern audiences and video game standards. Not only is the story well told and easy to follow, but it's still complex and full of interesting and lovable characters. While this game is only what the first disc from the original offered, there are 30+ hours of content here to explore. While the game isn't perfect, there is more to love than to hate, and I was surprised at how great this game was. I didn't want to put it down. From the well-done English voice-acting (which was a shocker) to the well-paced and fast-moving story, the game never got stale (at least during the story moments).
The basic structure of this game is very linear. This is a dated design choice that transferred over, but some think this game has been in development since the tech demo for the PS3 reveal was shown in 2006. If that were the case, then this linear design would have been considered mostly modern at the time. There are large towns to explore, but these still have linear paths, and the story mode is a single path you follow, and there's no way to branch off. This is both fine for a scripted story but also feels cramped in some aspects. Despite how large Midgar feels, with sweeping vistas and massive backdrops, you can explore very little of it. There's a large sense of scale, but what you can explore just feels so claustrophobic in comparison. Many thought this would be an open-world game, but to follow the story the way Square Enix's wants, that wouldn't be possible, and I can see why they chose this path.
Exploring the game (and even the menu system) is similar to most modern Final Fantasy games. You run around towards a goal, fight bosses, run into enemies, do some mini-games, complete side quests, and try to get the best accessories, armor, and weapons in the game. This is all slowly introduced to you, but let's start with the combat, as that's the bulk of the game. Combat is not turn-based, but you can pause the action to give commands. The controls are intuitively designed to allow this to be done with minimal effort. You have regular attacks, a special attack, a block, and a dodge button. When enemies have red exclamations over their heads with the attack name, you know it can't be blocked but must be dodged. Cloud's alternate special attack is actually a stance called Punisher Mode, and while you block him, he will auto-parry incoming attacks. This comes in handy all the time.
You can issue commands, such as using ababilities. These are obtained by changing weapons. Materia can be equipped to give you commands that use MP. Things like magic, offense, defense, and even passive Materia can be slotted. Different weapons and equipment determine your slot count. It's important that you learn this system well and balance your team. You can only have three active party members at a time, but you never change your party. It's all based on the story. You will go through multiple chapters with a missing party member, but you can still upgrade and equip them all the time, even when they aren't with you. Powering up weapons is also a must. Each weapon has strengths and weaknesses. Some focus on sheer power, some on magic, and some on defensive skills. You acquire SP through combat and can use it across all weapons. Each weapon gets the same pool of SP separately. If you have 90 SP, you can use that separately on each weapon, which is really nice. As you level up, you unlock new SP pools.
Combat is fast-paced, fun, and exciting. Each character can be controlled by the player in combat only. During exploration, you're mostly stuck as Cloud or another character, as the story deems fit. Cloud is an all-rounder; Aerith mostly focuses on magic and distance combat; Tifa is a fast-paced melee fighter; and Barret uses a mid- to long-range gun, which is great for aerial enemies. He also has a ton of HP and defensive points. You can issue commands to other characters with the triggers that pause combat. You all have two AP gauges that fill up slowly over time or quicker as you do damage. These are needed to even use items in combat. These guides are the center of your strategy because, without them, you will die. You have limit breaks, which really can only be filled during longer battles (mostly bosses) and summons that deal massive damage, but the battle needs to be long enough to fill these guages.
Summons are mostly acquired optically through the VR training. You only get two during the story mode automatically. These are the keys to strategizing battles and winning as quickly as possible. I found the combat rarely frustrating. Only during long boss battles with multiple phases did I find it annoying that these cut-scenes were not skippable. You need to watch them all over again if you die. This didn't become an issue until towards the end of the game. You can run away from battle by running away and fleeing, and thankfully enemies regenerate until you leave the entire area and come back. The boss battles are all unique and imaginative, and no one is the same. The smaller enemies are also unique and different, and they require you to learn their attacks and know what is weak against what type of attack. There is a lot more strategy in the combat system than a simple hack-and-slash setup.
While combat is the bulk of the game, you will spend a lot of time outside of combat. There are a few simple puzzles inside some dungeons, but the hub areas or towns you explore allow you to rest, buy items, materia, armor, and weapons, and that's about it. The side quests and mini-games are some of the weakest parts of this game. While not every side- question is bad, Some offer challenging boss fights and good rewards; some just don't offer much story-wise. I completed almost all of them anyway for more XP, SP, and the items they offered, but fetch quests are just not fun here. Not to mention, the mini-games are incredibly tedious and boring and not well thought out. There's an okay darts mini-game. Beating the highest score and achievement. But there's a box-breaking mini-game that requires you to run around breaking different-sized boxes. This was incredibly tedious and not fun. There are combat VR simulators that net you material. Most of which you can acquire elsewhere. Then there's the optional summons, which can be incredibly difficult to acquire early on as you need to beat them, and you need three party members to even have a fair chance. There's also a pretty stupid dancing rhythm mini-game. It's just, overall, a bit lame.
Some other annoying niggles come from dated design decisions, like treating the player like they're stupid. For decades, games would have you flip a switch, cut the camera away, show you that a gate in front of you opened, and then give you control. I'm pretty sure most people can figure out that the switch opened the only gate on the only path you can go down. I also got annoyed by how animations would have to line up to whatever script they were tied to, do the animation, re-align, change animations, flip the switch, then go back. It just slowed things down a lot.
Outside of the mostly optional and passable annoyances, the visuals are fantastic. Character models look amazing, the pre-rendered cutscenes are some of the best in the industry, and the story and overall character designs are some of the best you will ever come across. The story is deep and full of political intrigue, and I want to know more about this world, the characters, and see things move on. It's sad that Square Enix takes so long to make sequels, but what are we going to do? With the fantastic combat system that adds just enough strategy and depth to the large swath of enemies, bosses, environments, and perfect pacing, FF7 Remake is fantastic. The additional Intermission DLC is also wonderful, and playing as Yuffie is a blast. The short, 4-hour story DLC still has more of the same lame mini-games and annoyances as the main game, but the story is just so well done. There's nothing quite like it out there.
pica irmao quero mais QUERO MAIS VEM ZACK DELICIA
This review contains spoilers
Excelente!!! Lindo graficamente, história emocionante, cheia de nuances e momentos de reflexão. Personagens extremamente carismáticos, você passa a se importar com cada um deles.
Por ser um jogo dividido em três partes, estava com medo de terminar sem uma conclusão. Mas finalizar o jogo com Cloud e os amigos mudando o destino e derrotando Sephiroth (por enquanto) foi fenomenal.
Meu primeiro Final Fantasy e com certeza não será o último.
Jogão, simplesmente imperdível pra qualquer fã de RPG, aliás, fãs de videogame no geral.
Por ser um jogo dividido em três partes, estava com medo de terminar sem uma conclusão. Mas finalizar o jogo com Cloud e os amigos mudando o destino e derrotando Sephiroth (por enquanto) foi fenomenal.
Meu primeiro Final Fantasy e com certeza não será o último.
Jogão, simplesmente imperdível pra qualquer fã de RPG, aliás, fãs de videogame no geral.
great game , i just dont like jrpgs' combat systems and this one had the worst of all of them i played, story was so good that i forget about it till the end
im really looking forward to play rebirth when it comes to pc
this game has loads of technical problems .
npcs come to your face in the middle of talking to someone
, audio flickering, frame drops. no custom graphic settings
im really looking forward to play rebirth when it comes to pc
this game has loads of technical problems .
npcs come to your face in the middle of talking to someone
, audio flickering, frame drops. no custom graphic settings
This was a great first experience in the modern Final Fantasy games. The gameplay was fresh and the mechanical diversity of gameplay between characters was incredibly fun.
The story is also solid especially as a remake. Besides not loving an early decision that only the players see rather than the characters most of the depth added in this remake to the story help explore new concepts from the original game while still maintaining the heart of the original story.
The only real negative was the exploration aspect. Between the very stilted "parkour" movements and the constant voice lines from party members about where to go, the exploration always felt like a chore rather than being engaging.
The story is also solid especially as a remake. Besides not loving an early decision that only the players see rather than the characters most of the depth added in this remake to the story help explore new concepts from the original game while still maintaining the heart of the original story.
The only real negative was the exploration aspect. Between the very stilted "parkour" movements and the constant voice lines from party members about where to go, the exploration always felt like a chore rather than being engaging.
I found Cloud's personality somewhat boring. I felt like I wasn't able to get to know him. Maybe this opinion will change wants I play Rebirth. I Loved the other characters, combat, cinematics, and battle system. Chapter 8 quests in section 5 were really fun too! This game felt like it dragged on a bit, but overall I had fun playing it.
This is a very good start for a trilogy. Until the shinra building, this game was a 9 for me. The combat takes a while to sink, but, it is very fun and the characters are very different to control.
They manage to weave a very organic relationship between characters, given we have 30+h for the first 1 or 2 hours of the base game. They used it very well for this purpouse.
But..the end start to drag so much! The sewer sequence is very annoying, dind't like at all! The shinra building was one of my favourite parts of the original, but the parade of "final" bosses is very tiring.
In the end, I didn't even enjoy the ending because I was very tired. But I know some time from now it will hit really hard.
Final Fantasy VII may be one of the greates stories ever told. very pumped for Rebirth
They manage to weave a very organic relationship between characters, given we have 30+h for the first 1 or 2 hours of the base game. They used it very well for this purpouse.
But..the end start to drag so much! The sewer sequence is very annoying, dind't like at all! The shinra building was one of my favourite parts of the original, but the parade of "final" bosses is very tiring.
In the end, I didn't even enjoy the ending because I was very tired. But I know some time from now it will hit really hard.
Final Fantasy VII may be one of the greates stories ever told. very pumped for Rebirth
Despite a lot of blow-back from fans, I really liked Remake. I feel it was able to expand on a very short segment of the original game in a meaningful and fun way. Just coming off a 90-hour playthrough of Rebirth, I retrospectively appreciate the brevity and linearity of this game. I felt the ending was a little ham-fisted but appreciated a new take on an old favorite. Weirdly, I learned to love this game and it's mechanics during my hard mode playthrough and definitely recommended giving it a shot!
Ta wapo
Presentation wise, genuinely fantastic. Wish I played the original + Crisis Core first so the whole game + ending would impact me so much more.
Un parto fare il platino e il 100% ma combat system che mi è piaciuto molto. Scarlett la super milf definitiva.
They really could have done a better job handling this game...
the high points are incredible, but the pacing is bad at points, a lot of the sidequests are a slog to get through, and it can feel "on rails" a lot of the time.
I finally played this game and it was good, but had noticeable flaws. I had issues with the story and pacing which caused me to drop it for a while around chapter 7. The story was full of filler and I think some traditional silly JRPG dialogue is made more awkward with the more 'realistic' graphics and voice acting. I still enjoyed the story overall and it had some stand-out moments which were impactful. The action-focused cutscenes were very well done and were a great spectacle. I liked most of the English voices, but some of it was iffy at times. I tried the Japanese voices for a while, which I liked but I changed to back to English because I couldn't understand the chatter of NPCs in town. The combat was a surprisingly effective fusion of the original's systems with action combat. I do usually prefer turn-based games, but the original's turn-based combat wasn't exceptional even for the time, and I enjoyed the action combat of this game more than I thought I would. The game was carried by the music, which brings back familiar melodies in beautiful orchestral arrangements. Some of the best scenes would have been infinitely less impactful without the amazing music. I'm indifferent to the new stuff involving whispers and the final boss. It makes the extent to which the events of the sequel might differ from the original more intriguing to me. The intermission was of similar quality to the base game but I did enjoy the strategy minigame.
Bossların zorluk ayarlarında ciddi sıkıntılar vardı, oyunun sürekli takımda en az kullanılan kişileri buildlerini bile düzenlememize fırsat vermeden fighta atıp durması çok sinir bozucuydu. Yine de orijinal oyunda 15-20 dakikalık olan yerlerden devasa 2-3 saatlik içerik çıkarmaları takdire şayan. Ayrıca Tifa ile dövüşmek çok güzel <3
Great beginning to the story. Starts building the characters, world and premise extremely well. Also has Tifa in so it's almost a perfect game. -1 star for the ghost section :)
Voltando a jogar o Final Fantasy VII Remake no modo Hard e tentando platinar, deu pra ver uma mudança grande na minha opinião sobre o jogo. Na primeira vez, confesso que estava meio sem paciência, não dei muita atenção ao sistema de combate. Resultado? Sofri mais nas batalhas do que deveria e acabei não curtindo tanto a história e os personagens.
Mas na segunda tentativa, foi diferente. Fui com mais calma, dei uma chance pro sistema de combate e cara, que diferença! Descobri que é bem mais complexo do que eu pensava, mas também é muito divertido de explorar.
Uma coisa que me prendeu muito no Final Fantasy VII Remake foi a história. Ele expande consideravelmente o primeiro ato do jogo original, que originalmente durava de 6 a 8 horas, para cerca de 60 horas. Mas não se engane, essa expansão é altamente justificada e não se trata de uma mera encheção de linguiça.
Com certeza, esse jogo subiu rapidinho pra minha lista de favoritos dessa geração. Explicar o que faz ele ser tão incrível sem dar spoiler é complicado, mas uma coisa é certa: a galera que pula por achar que é só um remake tá perdendo uma baita continuação!
Mas na segunda tentativa, foi diferente. Fui com mais calma, dei uma chance pro sistema de combate e cara, que diferença! Descobri que é bem mais complexo do que eu pensava, mas também é muito divertido de explorar.
Uma coisa que me prendeu muito no Final Fantasy VII Remake foi a história. Ele expande consideravelmente o primeiro ato do jogo original, que originalmente durava de 6 a 8 horas, para cerca de 60 horas. Mas não se engane, essa expansão é altamente justificada e não se trata de uma mera encheção de linguiça.
Com certeza, esse jogo subiu rapidinho pra minha lista de favoritos dessa geração. Explicar o que faz ele ser tão incrível sem dar spoiler é complicado, mas uma coisa é certa: a galera que pula por achar que é só um remake tá perdendo uma baita continuação!
Playing this right after playing the original Final Fantasy VII added a new wonder to every interaction, location, and especially battle... on the flipside, it made it very, very obvious where the padding went in. Towards the halfway point I found myself very frustrated with how stretched out even the smallest moments of the original game were.
Still, the character work here is amazing, Midgar is an incredible location, whenever the story is moving it's very often full of charm and excitement. The combat emphasizing constantly switching up between party members keeps things fresh and kinetic, although I wish it was a bit more generous with materia slots.
The Yuffie DLC did wonders for Yuffie herself, even if her muscly big bro-type companion felt like a chore to drag around. I was a bit tired of seeing the same Midgar/Shinra locations at this point, but I can sympathize with the devs wanting to keep production time/cost down.
I hope that Rebirth values my time a bit more, and doesn't unnecessarily pad out every possible encounter just to add more time... or at least make them more exciting than moving robot arms around when they do. Get Rebirth to PC soon, Square Enix!
Still, the character work here is amazing, Midgar is an incredible location, whenever the story is moving it's very often full of charm and excitement. The combat emphasizing constantly switching up between party members keeps things fresh and kinetic, although I wish it was a bit more generous with materia slots.
The Yuffie DLC did wonders for Yuffie herself, even if her muscly big bro-type companion felt like a chore to drag around. I was a bit tired of seeing the same Midgar/Shinra locations at this point, but I can sympathize with the devs wanting to keep production time/cost down.
I hope that Rebirth values my time a bit more, and doesn't unnecessarily pad out every possible encounter just to add more time... or at least make them more exciting than moving robot arms around when they do. Get Rebirth to PC soon, Square Enix!
Peak ahh game but felt bloated and dragged out at the 75% mark
In a post-Rebirth world I decided to revisit this game and not only see how it held up, but also to finish off the trophy list after I appreciated the former so much. And upon my replay I found that while it definitely has its shortcomings in hindsight, it’s still a great experience and did a great job fleshing out the city of Midgar and the early parts of FF7 and its world.
The combat is where this game shines with the ATB system and the materia system working in tandem to create battles that are both exciting and allow for a ton of user preference in how they want to tackle fights. Each character shines in their own way, but I found that Cloud and Tifa were by far the standouts, especially in Hard Mode which puts a bigger emphasis on pumping out damage while minimizing risk in whatever ways possible.
The story changes from the original are divisive (and rightfully so) but overall I think they work and once the remake saga is complete I think we’ll have a much better idea of what they were going for and if they actually land. What you lose in changes or omissions are more than made up for with how fleshed out everything feels like characters (Avalanche actually feels important now) and locations (Wall Market and the slums are particularly great).
Also, the Yuffie DLC was exactly what additional content should be. A fun story that doesn’t overstay its welcome, introduces an interesting plot that remains important for the other games in the saga, and gives us a taste of Yuffie and her gameplay style which was insanely fun and was in hindsight just a teaser for her full introduction in Rebirth.
Overall, this game is a wonderful time and I appreciate it quite a bit as being my first introduction to Final Fantasy, a rabbit hole I look forward to going further down in the future with other entries.
The combat is where this game shines with the ATB system and the materia system working in tandem to create battles that are both exciting and allow for a ton of user preference in how they want to tackle fights. Each character shines in their own way, but I found that Cloud and Tifa were by far the standouts, especially in Hard Mode which puts a bigger emphasis on pumping out damage while minimizing risk in whatever ways possible.
The story changes from the original are divisive (and rightfully so) but overall I think they work and once the remake saga is complete I think we’ll have a much better idea of what they were going for and if they actually land. What you lose in changes or omissions are more than made up for with how fleshed out everything feels like characters (Avalanche actually feels important now) and locations (Wall Market and the slums are particularly great).
Also, the Yuffie DLC was exactly what additional content should be. A fun story that doesn’t overstay its welcome, introduces an interesting plot that remains important for the other games in the saga, and gives us a taste of Yuffie and her gameplay style which was insanely fun and was in hindsight just a teaser for her full introduction in Rebirth.
Overall, this game is a wonderful time and I appreciate it quite a bit as being my first introduction to Final Fantasy, a rabbit hole I look forward to going further down in the future with other entries.
This review contains spoilers
Really interesting reimagining of the original game. I personally liked the new twist on the story. The characters were all super fun too- I really liked all the party dynamics, and it was cool to see the original members of Avalanche get fleshed out and have a bit more screen time. The environments were really well-done as well, they succeeded in making Midgar feel absolutely massive. Combat felt really smooth, it's a turn-based system disguised as real-time because if you don't time your attacks well you will get fucked. The materia system rules, I really love that amount of customization depth.
The main flaw here is the pacing. I like how they integrated the side quests, because there's no way in hell I'm doing any side quests in an old FF game. However, the pacing was kind of weird as a result, with the main party members encouraging Cloud to go do random shit after discussing how dire the main storyline was. I had fun with them at first, but I ignored the last batch because I was not interested in them at all. I feel like the Chocobo fast travel system is a relic of the old game that they could have reworked, but by the time that was even an option I had stopped giving a shit about side quests to go set it up or use it. I also feel like the last few chapters were really drawn out, particularly Hojo's lab. Lastly, I wish there was more party customization and less of the gimmick where they took away characters all the time. Multiple times I was stuck without healing materia because the game would split the party or remove Tifa or Aerith without warning, and the only reason I had a chance at beating Sephiroth was because I equipped it on Cloud. Not getting to use Aerith at all at the end kind of sucked, and Red XIII not being playable kind of faked me out with how far away the ending was. I enjoyed most of the dialogue but there were times where I came to appreciate how pithy the original was.
Overall I enjoyed this a lot. The middle portion of the game is some of the most fun I've had in an RPG, but I'm hoping these flaws are at least addressed in Rebirth, whenever I get around to it.
The main flaw here is the pacing. I like how they integrated the side quests, because there's no way in hell I'm doing any side quests in an old FF game. However, the pacing was kind of weird as a result, with the main party members encouraging Cloud to go do random shit after discussing how dire the main storyline was. I had fun with them at first, but I ignored the last batch because I was not interested in them at all. I feel like the Chocobo fast travel system is a relic of the old game that they could have reworked, but by the time that was even an option I had stopped giving a shit about side quests to go set it up or use it. I also feel like the last few chapters were really drawn out, particularly Hojo's lab. Lastly, I wish there was more party customization and less of the gimmick where they took away characters all the time. Multiple times I was stuck without healing materia because the game would split the party or remove Tifa or Aerith without warning, and the only reason I had a chance at beating Sephiroth was because I equipped it on Cloud. Not getting to use Aerith at all at the end kind of sucked, and Red XIII not being playable kind of faked me out with how far away the ending was. I enjoyed most of the dialogue but there were times where I came to appreciate how pithy the original was.
Overall I enjoyed this a lot. The middle portion of the game is some of the most fun I've had in an RPG, but I'm hoping these flaws are at least addressed in Rebirth, whenever I get around to it.
The base game is definitely one of the best games I have ever Backseat gamed, as I watched this game be played. BUT, That was quite some time ago, and we only just now played the DLC Yuffie mission.
This was such an odd chunk of a DLC mission. The story was fun, and the time with Yuffie was great, but it felt very short. I feel like the implications of this DLC won't be understood until we get deeper into Rebirth. Also why did they make a full fledged Strategy game to fill out the DLC. Very weird.
This was such an odd chunk of a DLC mission. The story was fun, and the time with Yuffie was great, but it felt very short. I feel like the implications of this DLC won't be understood until we get deeper into Rebirth. Also why did they make a full fledged Strategy game to fill out the DLC. Very weird.