All the parts that are faithfully re-created are incredible. I got teary-eyed during a bunch of different moments. However, the story changes (especially to a pivotal scene) and some really tedious gameplay elements sprinkled in at some parts make this far from perfect.
And yet, its still the best FF since FFX (2001). Yikes.
As I was playing this game, I kept a running note of thoughts I had about the game. I'm pasting them here:
Pros:
- Solid gameplay, has increasing depth as the game goes on. Combat is really fun and engaging throughout.
- Retains the spirit of the original: Its lighthearted and goofy, while still balancing the tone of the rest of the story.
- Most side quests are worth it for the character interactions or the reward (summon battles become easier, new materia).
- Music is fantastic. There’s so much effort put into making sure every character, every region, and every scenario has an accompanying soundtrack. Nobuo Uematsu still got it.
- Mini games are abundant and fun, once again staying true to the original
- The way they've recreated all the areas and their traversal options (buggy, bronco) is incredible and done exactly right. I am in awe of what the environments look like.
- There’s just generally so much love and care put into recreating this world and its characters, and it shows.
Cons:
- Some parts are REALLY tedious. There’s sections where you have to slowly move through corridors, or perform boring tasks to progress through the level. A glaring example of this is Chapter 11 that has a 2 hour section that is extremely boring and should not be mandatory.
- Writing for all new content is bad. There’s also generally a bunch of unnecessary exposition.
- Chadley is a really annoying character, and his Battle Simulator for summons is unnecessary (Summons should be fought in the wild)
- Ending is unnecessarily convoluted and antithetical to the ethos of the story. The emotional impact is lost and does an injustice to the most important character in the story. All the “multiverse” stuff hurts this game significantly. Ending aside, all the other multiverse content (Zack, all of Chapter 14) is incredibly stupid, and also just has no real impact on the core story beats.
And yet, its still the best FF since FFX (2001). Yikes.
As I was playing this game, I kept a running note of thoughts I had about the game. I'm pasting them here:
Pros:
- Solid gameplay, has increasing depth as the game goes on. Combat is really fun and engaging throughout.
- Retains the spirit of the original: Its lighthearted and goofy, while still balancing the tone of the rest of the story.
- Most side quests are worth it for the character interactions or the reward (summon battles become easier, new materia).
- Music is fantastic. There’s so much effort put into making sure every character, every region, and every scenario has an accompanying soundtrack. Nobuo Uematsu still got it.
- Mini games are abundant and fun, once again staying true to the original
- The way they've recreated all the areas and their traversal options (buggy, bronco) is incredible and done exactly right. I am in awe of what the environments look like.
- There’s just generally so much love and care put into recreating this world and its characters, and it shows.
Cons:
- Some parts are REALLY tedious. There’s sections where you have to slowly move through corridors, or perform boring tasks to progress through the level. A glaring example of this is Chapter 11 that has a 2 hour section that is extremely boring and should not be mandatory.
- Writing for all new content is bad. There’s also generally a bunch of unnecessary exposition.
- Chadley is a really annoying character, and his Battle Simulator for summons is unnecessary (Summons should be fought in the wild)
- Ending is unnecessarily convoluted and antithetical to the ethos of the story. The emotional impact is lost and does an injustice to the most important character in the story. All the “multiverse” stuff hurts this game significantly. Ending aside, all the other multiverse content (Zack, all of Chapter 14) is incredibly stupid, and also just has no real impact on the core story beats.