This review contains spoilers
I'ma be real with yall. This game kinda weird. Trying to do a review on this game is such a headache because quite frankly this game exists as setup for parts 2 and 3 of this remake trilogy square is doing.
I have a strange history with final fantasy 7. As a kid I thought all the FF games were connected so to the best of my ability I tried to play them in sequential order. By the time I got to 7 and completed it. I didn't really see what made the game so great personally. But I'ma keep it real with you. FF7R retroactively made me appreciate OG FF7 a lot more.
I find the combat enjoyable enough. In fact this cross between ATB and real time honestly feels like what square wanted to do for the longest they just couldn't get around to it for a multitude of reasons. The sound is fantastic, the graphics are great. It's very cinematic(derogatory) for lack of a better term. But I can't help feel that there was something lost in transition here.
Going back to the gameplay really quick. Fighting aerial enemies must be some sick joke Nomura is pulling on me because no way he looked at this one part and was like "yeah this aerial combat ass. DROP IT!" Which is a shame because it feels like a massive oversight. Idk what it is about action type games that want your characters glued to the floor but when you mix those types of enemies with the more grounded enemies I don't go "ah man let me experiment with my other party members to tackle this situation." All I think about is drive forms and KH2 and how there was a great synergy for aerial and ground combat. Is it fair to compare FF7R to KH2? Well I did argue with God.
I know I'm coming off as largely negative but I do enjoy this game there's just so much little things that add up that take away from the overall experience. Next up we have side quests. And honestly calling them quests should get you sued for false advertising. These are some of the worst quests I've ever done for a video game. Final fantasy 7 remake is a 20 hour experience bloated to a 40+ hour one. When they said the game was going to take place only in Midgar every red flag in my head was going off.
You see AAA games. No media in general has this WEIRD obsession of overexplaining everything and taking out all fun and mystery a series has. Midgar was so effective in the original ff7 because of how little there was. We saw just enough to know that Shinra is evil. We also saw the conditions people lived in with the slums of Midgar. There was an eerie subtlety to it all that is kinda lost here.
This leads me back to the side quests. I want to ask you a question. How many side quests are in the original ff7? Can't think of many can you? Because quite simply there are none. Or rather the barebones on display here. The kill 20 swamp rats for me type of quests aren't in the original.
The side quests here exists simply to pad out gametime cause square could never get away with selling you a 20 hour 60 dollar FF7R of Midgar. But aside from hurting the pacing they just aren't good. Like even on a base story level these quests don't offer much of anything.
And that's my major problem with the (remake?) of this game. For the 40 or so hours it doesn't really do anything with itself. At the time of writing this. I would say only 2 interesting things have come out of this remake. Jessie's expanded backstory and the intergrade part with yuffie. Everything else has been largely superfluous. Who knows Square could come along with rebirth and I could finally say I see the vision. But as it stands 7 remake just feels kinda there I suppose. The whole time ghosts things is so corny. I like them more as an in universe explanation of how sephiroth is messing with the timeline as opposed to the meta explanation of fans expectations.
But who knows maybe I'm the fool for only judging 1 part of a remake trilogy and pushing the cart before the wagon with this review.
I have a strange history with final fantasy 7. As a kid I thought all the FF games were connected so to the best of my ability I tried to play them in sequential order. By the time I got to 7 and completed it. I didn't really see what made the game so great personally. But I'ma keep it real with you. FF7R retroactively made me appreciate OG FF7 a lot more.
I find the combat enjoyable enough. In fact this cross between ATB and real time honestly feels like what square wanted to do for the longest they just couldn't get around to it for a multitude of reasons. The sound is fantastic, the graphics are great. It's very cinematic(derogatory) for lack of a better term. But I can't help feel that there was something lost in transition here.
Going back to the gameplay really quick. Fighting aerial enemies must be some sick joke Nomura is pulling on me because no way he looked at this one part and was like "yeah this aerial combat ass. DROP IT!" Which is a shame because it feels like a massive oversight. Idk what it is about action type games that want your characters glued to the floor but when you mix those types of enemies with the more grounded enemies I don't go "ah man let me experiment with my other party members to tackle this situation." All I think about is drive forms and KH2 and how there was a great synergy for aerial and ground combat. Is it fair to compare FF7R to KH2? Well I did argue with God.
I know I'm coming off as largely negative but I do enjoy this game there's just so much little things that add up that take away from the overall experience. Next up we have side quests. And honestly calling them quests should get you sued for false advertising. These are some of the worst quests I've ever done for a video game. Final fantasy 7 remake is a 20 hour experience bloated to a 40+ hour one. When they said the game was going to take place only in Midgar every red flag in my head was going off.
You see AAA games. No media in general has this WEIRD obsession of overexplaining everything and taking out all fun and mystery a series has. Midgar was so effective in the original ff7 because of how little there was. We saw just enough to know that Shinra is evil. We also saw the conditions people lived in with the slums of Midgar. There was an eerie subtlety to it all that is kinda lost here.
This leads me back to the side quests. I want to ask you a question. How many side quests are in the original ff7? Can't think of many can you? Because quite simply there are none. Or rather the barebones on display here. The kill 20 swamp rats for me type of quests aren't in the original.
The side quests here exists simply to pad out gametime cause square could never get away with selling you a 20 hour 60 dollar FF7R of Midgar. But aside from hurting the pacing they just aren't good. Like even on a base story level these quests don't offer much of anything.
And that's my major problem with the (remake?) of this game. For the 40 or so hours it doesn't really do anything with itself. At the time of writing this. I would say only 2 interesting things have come out of this remake. Jessie's expanded backstory and the intergrade part with yuffie. Everything else has been largely superfluous. Who knows Square could come along with rebirth and I could finally say I see the vision. But as it stands 7 remake just feels kinda there I suppose. The whole time ghosts things is so corny. I like them more as an in universe explanation of how sephiroth is messing with the timeline as opposed to the meta explanation of fans expectations.
But who knows maybe I'm the fool for only judging 1 part of a remake trilogy and pushing the cart before the wagon with this review.