in some ways I still can't believe this not only came out, but was honestly the best AAA square enix title in quite some time. the combat here is basically perfect; it's a flawless synthesis of many square action rpg mechanics from the 2000s on. while many of their previous titles have had on-screen menus in conjunction with the action, ff7r dovetails it nicely with the mechanics from the original games by only being able to perform actions by building up the ATB gauge via combos, and by putting the game into slow motion while you're selecting an action from the menu. since ATB builds much faster when you're in control of a character, it also incentivizes you to switch characters frequently to make sure everyone is consistently using their best attacks, or so your healers will always have ATB bars on standby for healing. this is ofc combined with the materia system, which opens up a wide array of various character builds, along with a number of special abilities for each character unlocked by using a given weapon long enough. on top of this there's also a staggering system, elemental weaknesses, etc. etc. down the line... this is a really well fleshed-out combat system, and I applaud square enix for finally pulling off an action rpg worthy of their legacy.
what scared me a bit going in was how they were going to stretch out the first six hours of the original ff7 to a full-length game, and I think ultimately they did a really solid job. the characterization here benefits significantly from the higher-quality localization and the abundance of new scenes meant to flesh them out... there's filler of course (the ghost train section probably being the worst of it) but the characters are fun enough to make it more than bearable. some of the new sections and characters are honestly great, I think many people would single out the expanded wall market as the highlight here and an excellent midpoint for the game. the political ramifications of the original game regarding ecoterroism and such are also explored more thoroughly which I appreciated, tho it certainly falls into the limits of what a AAA game can examine. it helps that the game adopts an odd linear/open hybrid structure, where certain chapters have open exploration in an area with side quests and such, while the vast majority of the chapters are linear dungeon crawls. this results in some repetition in locales near the end, though most of it is optional. it's really a testament to how rock-solid the combat is here that the rest of the game feels like a joy to play; even when I didn't care much about the story, the combat made me not think twice about jumping back in. of course, the ending is some terrible nomura garbage... but we have yet to see how that will affect the next entry in the series.
otherwise this restored my faith in square enix quite a bit. I'm already hyped for ff16 now that the ff14 team is taking over (with the combat lead from dmc5!), and I'll probably have to get a ps5 to play either that or ff7r at launch. some quick other notes: the graphics are lovely, and they did an excellent job giving the characters realistic-anime designs without them dipping into the uncanny valley. my one quibble of all things is the skyboxes... sort of an interesting issue to solve where you have a lot of structures that are far off in the distance (ie the midgar plates) but still close enough that they look weird as a flat image in the sky. the optional bosses are a lot of fun, and the difficulty is very satisfying overall. I wouldn't call this a "hard" game but this also isn't something you'll breeze through without thinking, as you'll need to invest time in your builds and learning weaknesses to get ahead. the motorcycle sections are also somehow not any better than the original game, and I don't know how they fumbled that... still playable though. I also found the puzzles to be reasonably engaging, even though I know that a lot of people found them to be a waste of time. that's sort of a classic square dungeon design trope so I don't really mind. overall... just can't get enough of that combat. hopefully the next entry is even better
what scared me a bit going in was how they were going to stretch out the first six hours of the original ff7 to a full-length game, and I think ultimately they did a really solid job. the characterization here benefits significantly from the higher-quality localization and the abundance of new scenes meant to flesh them out... there's filler of course (the ghost train section probably being the worst of it) but the characters are fun enough to make it more than bearable. some of the new sections and characters are honestly great, I think many people would single out the expanded wall market as the highlight here and an excellent midpoint for the game. the political ramifications of the original game regarding ecoterroism and such are also explored more thoroughly which I appreciated, tho it certainly falls into the limits of what a AAA game can examine. it helps that the game adopts an odd linear/open hybrid structure, where certain chapters have open exploration in an area with side quests and such, while the vast majority of the chapters are linear dungeon crawls. this results in some repetition in locales near the end, though most of it is optional. it's really a testament to how rock-solid the combat is here that the rest of the game feels like a joy to play; even when I didn't care much about the story, the combat made me not think twice about jumping back in. of course, the ending is some terrible nomura garbage... but we have yet to see how that will affect the next entry in the series.
otherwise this restored my faith in square enix quite a bit. I'm already hyped for ff16 now that the ff14 team is taking over (with the combat lead from dmc5!), and I'll probably have to get a ps5 to play either that or ff7r at launch. some quick other notes: the graphics are lovely, and they did an excellent job giving the characters realistic-anime designs without them dipping into the uncanny valley. my one quibble of all things is the skyboxes... sort of an interesting issue to solve where you have a lot of structures that are far off in the distance (ie the midgar plates) but still close enough that they look weird as a flat image in the sky. the optional bosses are a lot of fun, and the difficulty is very satisfying overall. I wouldn't call this a "hard" game but this also isn't something you'll breeze through without thinking, as you'll need to invest time in your builds and learning weaknesses to get ahead. the motorcycle sections are also somehow not any better than the original game, and I don't know how they fumbled that... still playable though. I also found the puzzles to be reasonably engaging, even though I know that a lot of people found them to be a waste of time. that's sort of a classic square dungeon design trope so I don't really mind. overall... just can't get enough of that combat. hopefully the next entry is even better