This review contains spoilers
- Additional spoiler warning because I will be discussing major plot points in full detail
I’ve recently done my last playthrough of Final Fantasy VII Remake prior to the release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and wanted to share my general thoughts while my updated opinions are still fresh in my head and have them documented to see if Rebirth changes some of those opinions.
FFVIIR is a very ambitious project. Instead of being just one simple remake, it’s splitting the original story into three separate fully fledged games. Remake is part 1 of this project, taking what was only a few hours in the original and expanding it into the length of the whole original game itself. This leads to varied results which I’ll dive into here.
STORY -
In a vacuum, I really love a lot of the additions and expansions Remake makes to the story. I don’t believe some of them are exactly necessary, but they do certainly enhance the story in important ways. Getting to spend more time in Midgar and learn more about it is a huge plus. Midgar both here and in the original serves as a sort of exposition to become accustomed to the state of the world in FFVII which is important given how much of the story is about how the planet interacts with us through life and death. Just as much as the planet is a character in FFVII, you could argue that in a way Midgar is too with how much it represents the light and dark of humanity. By giving us more time to spend in this setting, Remake helps to make Midgar fully realized and symbolize much more for the greater story at large.
I believe the biggest victors of the story expansions are the supporting cast. Members of Avalanche like Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge are now fully realized characters who have much more of an on screen presence compared to their almost non existent original counterparts. It’s seriously impressive how many NPC’s are now interesting characters that serve more to the story than one liners or plot exposition. It makes the world outside of the main playable cast feel so much larger. And as for the main cast itself, they’re better than ever here. They were already a dynamic cast but Remake helps to make them feel even twice as alive. Every word they speak oozes personality and strengthens their bond as a group. It really reminds you why these characters became so beloved.
That being said, not all of these expansions to the story come without their downsides which is why I say I like some of these things in a vacuum. The pacing of the main story takes a nosedive around the third act as a consequence of needing “everything” to be expanded. Segments like the sewers or the train graveyard bring the game to a screeching halt and serve nothing to the story other than to act as padding. These were segments in the original that lasted no longer than a few minutes. Making the choice to expand these parts is made twice as jarring considering it comes right after a major plot revelation which loses its sense of urgency because you now have to finish filler chapters before you can get back to that. While I think most of the game benefits from stretching the original out, not every moment is a winner. It becomes really clear what moments are expanded with a purpose and what moments were expanded for padding. You could shave maybe 5-7 hours off of this game and still have it feel large but never dragging.
Now for the elephant in the room. What plot was CHANGED? If you’re reading this you likely already know. The big plot twist of Final Fantasy VII Remake is that it’s actually a sequel in disguise while still being…a remake. Aside from a few moments where the Whispers appear during the story, this is 90% a remake. By the final chapters it’s revealed to you that these ghostly figures you’ve been seeing are tied to fate and that the events of the original FFVII have actually already happened before. The Whispers’ job is to protect the canon flow of time from any anomalies which in this case is a Sephiroth who presumably knows of his fate and is trying to manipulate time to change it. Depending on who you ask, this either sold them on Remake or made them completely lose interest. I am…actually a big fan of this choice, although I can see why it would be a deal breaker for others. Remake strikes a balance for me where there’s enough of what I know and love recreated and expanded upon, but also enough new that I don’t feel like I’m just playing the same thing twice. Honestly, I find that his move to be really creative from a storytelling perspective. I know many credit this as feeling disrespectful to the original game, but I always found it to be the opposite. Remake is still a remake through and through up until the very end where it reveals itself as something more. That something being a plot that reinforces the original game as the canon center of FFVII’s universe by using how the original game already exists as an in universe plot point. It’s imaginative and doesn’t make Remake replace the original, rather it makes it serve as the original’s companion. This does mean however, I would not recommend starting your FFVII journey with Remake. Remake’s ending and the subtle plot points tied to its ending expect that you have already played the original game to understand them.
GAMEPLAY -
Something you’ll notice right off the bat is that this is no longer a more traditional turn based RPG, rather it’s now an action RPG that gives you full control over your movement, camera, and individual party members. I find this change to be pretty appropriate for the type of game Remake is even if I wouldn’t have taken an issue with keeping the original’s combat. Remake’s combat is pretty great but not without some heavy flaws. The best part about the combat is how different each character feels from each other. Each one offers their own distinct playstyle that keeps combat feeling fresh each time you switch between your characters. Selecting between your abilities, magic, and items slow down time which is something I really love. It strikes a balance between fast paced gameplay but also allows you to make careful decisions. Having to micromanage kinda sounds like a chore, but I always found it to be pretty fun and it always kept me on my toes. The Materia system also of course remains in tact from the original, allowing you to customize the builds of your characters.
What stops me from fully calling the combat 100% amazing is the AI and enemy design. Your party members are dead weight when not being directly controlled. You can have them cast magic, use abilities, or use items but you cannot command their general behavior during battle. They’ll just kinda do their own thing or do nothing at all. It often makes you feel like you’re fighting alone, even with a full party. The enemy design can also be pretty frustrating at times. Notably flying enemies. Only 2 of the 4 party members in this game are ranged fighters, yet there is close to no points where both of these characters are in the party while the rest are melee fighters who are all but helpless in these fights aside from draining all your MP to use magic. Perhaps I’m just not the best player, but I have seen many describe many gameplay deaths in this game feel unfair to which I’m inclined to agree. Sometimes you can face so many powerful attacks in quick succession that there’s very little you can do to defend yourself in time as you’re often waiting for your ATB gauge to fight back. This again loops back to the AI party members who don’t do anything helpful in these situations either.
All that being said though, I think that the combat system itself is good fun. It could use a lot of polish but it strikes a very satisfying balance between action RPG gameplay with traditional RPG elements.
PRESENTATION -
Presentation is Remake’s most consistent quality by far. This game is gorgeous. I always felt a remake of FFVII had the most to gain from a graphical upgrade, especially in the earlier Midgar portion of the game. Midgar is such a famous fictional location, but the PS1 was pretty limited in what it could do to show the player everything is stands for. In Remake, you see it all on full display. The clean, futuristic, but dystopian nature of the politically corrupt upper city on the plates, and the dirty, melancholic nature of the slums that Shinra has neglected but many less fortunate citizens have to call home. Getting to see and interact more with the life in Midgar really expands the stakes of the narrative. In the original, you know why you don’t want to let the world to keep falling into Shinra’s corruption but in Remake you really get to see and feel the city and eventually world you are trying to protect. The cutscenes are also directed extremely well which help to add to the cinematic grandiosity of the whole picture.
Being a Final Fantasy game, especially a remake of FFVII, you can expect an amazing soundtrack here. All the classic tracks are brought back with real instrumental covers or reworked into new compositions and A LOT of them at that. You’ll rarely be hearing the same version of a song twice which is awesome. It keeps the soundtrack feeling fresh and dynamic all whilst still using many of the tunes we know and love. Many of the completely original tracks are fantastic too. Everything about this game’s presentation comes together to create something that rarely feels dull when it comes to your eyes and ears.
Conclusion -
Final Fantasy VII Remake is a great but flawed game. I believe it is a mostly successful attempt to expand FFVII’s first act, albeit with some new pacing issues from a number of moments that overstay their welcome. In many ways it feels like a tease for something greater to come and that’s because well…it pretty much is. Similarly to the opening act in FFVII which served as the prologue to the larger world ahead of the unassuming player, Remake does the same here leading into Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. It’s likely that the release of Rebirth will retroactively change many’s opinions on Remake for better or worse which is why I wanted to get this out now before Rebirth’s release.
Still, Remake is its own full game and I think it holds its own very nicely for what it is. I could be a lot more strict on what this game does wrong, but…it that just wouldn’t sit well with me with how much it does right. This was a work of passion and that passion shines through more often than not no matter how distracting the pacing or occasional combat jank can be. Not to say those issues should be pushed aside, but there’s just so much to like that I think it would be wrong to say those issues consume the entire experience, because they don’t. And the new direction of the story? Well, I’m really intrigued. I think it’s imaginative and I’m eager to see where it leads. The idea that Remake has abandoned being a remake just because of this plot line is wrong. Everything that happens in the original game still happens here even if sometimes differently and the sequel-like plot elements very rarely appear until becoming the focus of the final chapter. I can’t yet speak for Rebirth, but Remake itself is still 90% a remake. It’s an excellent blend of new and old for me. Remake may not be a 10/10 best game of all time, but it is a pretty darn good first game in a trilogy that sets up a great foundation to be built upon while remaining a good, memorable game itself.
I’ve recently done my last playthrough of Final Fantasy VII Remake prior to the release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and wanted to share my general thoughts while my updated opinions are still fresh in my head and have them documented to see if Rebirth changes some of those opinions.
FFVIIR is a very ambitious project. Instead of being just one simple remake, it’s splitting the original story into three separate fully fledged games. Remake is part 1 of this project, taking what was only a few hours in the original and expanding it into the length of the whole original game itself. This leads to varied results which I’ll dive into here.
STORY -
In a vacuum, I really love a lot of the additions and expansions Remake makes to the story. I don’t believe some of them are exactly necessary, but they do certainly enhance the story in important ways. Getting to spend more time in Midgar and learn more about it is a huge plus. Midgar both here and in the original serves as a sort of exposition to become accustomed to the state of the world in FFVII which is important given how much of the story is about how the planet interacts with us through life and death. Just as much as the planet is a character in FFVII, you could argue that in a way Midgar is too with how much it represents the light and dark of humanity. By giving us more time to spend in this setting, Remake helps to make Midgar fully realized and symbolize much more for the greater story at large.
I believe the biggest victors of the story expansions are the supporting cast. Members of Avalanche like Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge are now fully realized characters who have much more of an on screen presence compared to their almost non existent original counterparts. It’s seriously impressive how many NPC’s are now interesting characters that serve more to the story than one liners or plot exposition. It makes the world outside of the main playable cast feel so much larger. And as for the main cast itself, they’re better than ever here. They were already a dynamic cast but Remake helps to make them feel even twice as alive. Every word they speak oozes personality and strengthens their bond as a group. It really reminds you why these characters became so beloved.
That being said, not all of these expansions to the story come without their downsides which is why I say I like some of these things in a vacuum. The pacing of the main story takes a nosedive around the third act as a consequence of needing “everything” to be expanded. Segments like the sewers or the train graveyard bring the game to a screeching halt and serve nothing to the story other than to act as padding. These were segments in the original that lasted no longer than a few minutes. Making the choice to expand these parts is made twice as jarring considering it comes right after a major plot revelation which loses its sense of urgency because you now have to finish filler chapters before you can get back to that. While I think most of the game benefits from stretching the original out, not every moment is a winner. It becomes really clear what moments are expanded with a purpose and what moments were expanded for padding. You could shave maybe 5-7 hours off of this game and still have it feel large but never dragging.
Now for the elephant in the room. What plot was CHANGED? If you’re reading this you likely already know. The big plot twist of Final Fantasy VII Remake is that it’s actually a sequel in disguise while still being…a remake. Aside from a few moments where the Whispers appear during the story, this is 90% a remake. By the final chapters it’s revealed to you that these ghostly figures you’ve been seeing are tied to fate and that the events of the original FFVII have actually already happened before. The Whispers’ job is to protect the canon flow of time from any anomalies which in this case is a Sephiroth who presumably knows of his fate and is trying to manipulate time to change it. Depending on who you ask, this either sold them on Remake or made them completely lose interest. I am…actually a big fan of this choice, although I can see why it would be a deal breaker for others. Remake strikes a balance for me where there’s enough of what I know and love recreated and expanded upon, but also enough new that I don’t feel like I’m just playing the same thing twice. Honestly, I find that his move to be really creative from a storytelling perspective. I know many credit this as feeling disrespectful to the original game, but I always found it to be the opposite. Remake is still a remake through and through up until the very end where it reveals itself as something more. That something being a plot that reinforces the original game as the canon center of FFVII’s universe by using how the original game already exists as an in universe plot point. It’s imaginative and doesn’t make Remake replace the original, rather it makes it serve as the original’s companion. This does mean however, I would not recommend starting your FFVII journey with Remake. Remake’s ending and the subtle plot points tied to its ending expect that you have already played the original game to understand them.
GAMEPLAY -
Something you’ll notice right off the bat is that this is no longer a more traditional turn based RPG, rather it’s now an action RPG that gives you full control over your movement, camera, and individual party members. I find this change to be pretty appropriate for the type of game Remake is even if I wouldn’t have taken an issue with keeping the original’s combat. Remake’s combat is pretty great but not without some heavy flaws. The best part about the combat is how different each character feels from each other. Each one offers their own distinct playstyle that keeps combat feeling fresh each time you switch between your characters. Selecting between your abilities, magic, and items slow down time which is something I really love. It strikes a balance between fast paced gameplay but also allows you to make careful decisions. Having to micromanage kinda sounds like a chore, but I always found it to be pretty fun and it always kept me on my toes. The Materia system also of course remains in tact from the original, allowing you to customize the builds of your characters.
What stops me from fully calling the combat 100% amazing is the AI and enemy design. Your party members are dead weight when not being directly controlled. You can have them cast magic, use abilities, or use items but you cannot command their general behavior during battle. They’ll just kinda do their own thing or do nothing at all. It often makes you feel like you’re fighting alone, even with a full party. The enemy design can also be pretty frustrating at times. Notably flying enemies. Only 2 of the 4 party members in this game are ranged fighters, yet there is close to no points where both of these characters are in the party while the rest are melee fighters who are all but helpless in these fights aside from draining all your MP to use magic. Perhaps I’m just not the best player, but I have seen many describe many gameplay deaths in this game feel unfair to which I’m inclined to agree. Sometimes you can face so many powerful attacks in quick succession that there’s very little you can do to defend yourself in time as you’re often waiting for your ATB gauge to fight back. This again loops back to the AI party members who don’t do anything helpful in these situations either.
All that being said though, I think that the combat system itself is good fun. It could use a lot of polish but it strikes a very satisfying balance between action RPG gameplay with traditional RPG elements.
PRESENTATION -
Presentation is Remake’s most consistent quality by far. This game is gorgeous. I always felt a remake of FFVII had the most to gain from a graphical upgrade, especially in the earlier Midgar portion of the game. Midgar is such a famous fictional location, but the PS1 was pretty limited in what it could do to show the player everything is stands for. In Remake, you see it all on full display. The clean, futuristic, but dystopian nature of the politically corrupt upper city on the plates, and the dirty, melancholic nature of the slums that Shinra has neglected but many less fortunate citizens have to call home. Getting to see and interact more with the life in Midgar really expands the stakes of the narrative. In the original, you know why you don’t want to let the world to keep falling into Shinra’s corruption but in Remake you really get to see and feel the city and eventually world you are trying to protect. The cutscenes are also directed extremely well which help to add to the cinematic grandiosity of the whole picture.
Being a Final Fantasy game, especially a remake of FFVII, you can expect an amazing soundtrack here. All the classic tracks are brought back with real instrumental covers or reworked into new compositions and A LOT of them at that. You’ll rarely be hearing the same version of a song twice which is awesome. It keeps the soundtrack feeling fresh and dynamic all whilst still using many of the tunes we know and love. Many of the completely original tracks are fantastic too. Everything about this game’s presentation comes together to create something that rarely feels dull when it comes to your eyes and ears.
Conclusion -
Final Fantasy VII Remake is a great but flawed game. I believe it is a mostly successful attempt to expand FFVII’s first act, albeit with some new pacing issues from a number of moments that overstay their welcome. In many ways it feels like a tease for something greater to come and that’s because well…it pretty much is. Similarly to the opening act in FFVII which served as the prologue to the larger world ahead of the unassuming player, Remake does the same here leading into Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. It’s likely that the release of Rebirth will retroactively change many’s opinions on Remake for better or worse which is why I wanted to get this out now before Rebirth’s release.
Still, Remake is its own full game and I think it holds its own very nicely for what it is. I could be a lot more strict on what this game does wrong, but…it that just wouldn’t sit well with me with how much it does right. This was a work of passion and that passion shines through more often than not no matter how distracting the pacing or occasional combat jank can be. Not to say those issues should be pushed aside, but there’s just so much to like that I think it would be wrong to say those issues consume the entire experience, because they don’t. And the new direction of the story? Well, I’m really intrigued. I think it’s imaginative and I’m eager to see where it leads. The idea that Remake has abandoned being a remake just because of this plot line is wrong. Everything that happens in the original game still happens here even if sometimes differently and the sequel-like plot elements very rarely appear until becoming the focus of the final chapter. I can’t yet speak for Rebirth, but Remake itself is still 90% a remake. It’s an excellent blend of new and old for me. Remake may not be a 10/10 best game of all time, but it is a pretty darn good first game in a trilogy that sets up a great foundation to be built upon while remaining a good, memorable game itself.