Although I have yet to finish Final Fantasy VII, I have played up to where the remake leaves off. So though I may not have the full context of this remakes changes over the original, I feel like I had enough to give this game an honest review.
From the story to the gameplay, the devs really put a lot of work into bringing the beloved classic to a new generation. The story is expanded incredibly well, giving a lot more time to flesh out characters and locations that were mostly breezed through in the original game. Particularly, the members of Avalanche not named Barret or Tifa are all given a lot more time to flesh out, and with the expanded locations you can get a much better idea of what life is like in the slums under the plates of Midgar.
In addition to just adding more into the first major act of the story, there are some subtle changes made throughout that culminate into a big reveal during the final chapter. This isn’t really a 1:1 retelling of the story, though it can feel really close most of the time. If you pay attention to certain changes made throughout, the larger changes to the story dropped in the final chapters of Remake piece together in a fun twist on the classic tale.
Gameplay on the other hand is not to subtle, as it has been completely revamped into an action-turnbased hybrid battle system. Like FFVII, the active time battle (ATB) system is the crux of combat. Instead of waiting for the bar to fill up in a turn based style battle though, the ATB gauge is filled by attacking and blocking. This leaves item and skill usage tied to the ATB gauge, with the rest of combat focused on using your basic attacks, defending and dodging.
I actually quite liked the new combat system, perhaps even more than FFVII original take on it. Waiting for the ATB gauges to fill isn’t that interesting, especially in low impact battles (such as with random enemy encounters). By allowing the player to attack and defend in the meantime it actually made every moment of battle engaging, and by the end of my 40+ hour playthrough I was still craving more. In fact, I was wishing there were more mini-boss and larger boss battles to really dive deep into its systems more.
This isn’t just a remake. In a lot of ways it a reimagining of a classic that provides a lot of fresh experiences for newcomers and veterans alike.
From the story to the gameplay, the devs really put a lot of work into bringing the beloved classic to a new generation. The story is expanded incredibly well, giving a lot more time to flesh out characters and locations that were mostly breezed through in the original game. Particularly, the members of Avalanche not named Barret or Tifa are all given a lot more time to flesh out, and with the expanded locations you can get a much better idea of what life is like in the slums under the plates of Midgar.
In addition to just adding more into the first major act of the story, there are some subtle changes made throughout that culminate into a big reveal during the final chapter. This isn’t really a 1:1 retelling of the story, though it can feel really close most of the time. If you pay attention to certain changes made throughout, the larger changes to the story dropped in the final chapters of Remake piece together in a fun twist on the classic tale.
Gameplay on the other hand is not to subtle, as it has been completely revamped into an action-turnbased hybrid battle system. Like FFVII, the active time battle (ATB) system is the crux of combat. Instead of waiting for the bar to fill up in a turn based style battle though, the ATB gauge is filled by attacking and blocking. This leaves item and skill usage tied to the ATB gauge, with the rest of combat focused on using your basic attacks, defending and dodging.
I actually quite liked the new combat system, perhaps even more than FFVII original take on it. Waiting for the ATB gauges to fill isn’t that interesting, especially in low impact battles (such as with random enemy encounters). By allowing the player to attack and defend in the meantime it actually made every moment of battle engaging, and by the end of my 40+ hour playthrough I was still craving more. In fact, I was wishing there were more mini-boss and larger boss battles to really dive deep into its systems more.
This isn’t just a remake. In a lot of ways it a reimagining of a classic that provides a lot of fresh experiences for newcomers and veterans alike.