Having played the Rebirth demo, I wanted to properly express my mixed feelings on Remake in succinct fashion- if only to set the record straight before the main course arrives. I... like Final Fantasy VII Remake fine enough overall. No more, no less.
The writing of these characters, seeing my fourth-favorite game come to life the way it does here in such fleshed-out detail, is nothing short of perfect. That extends to the visuals, voice cast, combat design, side content and prevalence of interactivity and minigames as a whole. Everyone who fell so deeply in love with Remake, I agree with them; the spirit of Final Fantasy VII is here...
pretty much. And that's for both better and worse in my eyes.
What that means boils down to two major factors: Materia and music. (I swear the alliteration was a coincidence and not me fishing for problems in a dry well, please trust me on that). The music in Remake is extremely complicated for me to think about. My personal feeling is that the songs feel like fan remixes- in the best possible way I could mean, but still. They don't feel like the original Uematsu masterpieces, they feel like hyper-specialized versions of those original songs meant to fit more specific situations and tones. It's not just the Turks theme anymore, it's the loud and brash version you hear when it's time to throw down and a slow version for the cutscene where the group reflects in Shinra HQ. It's not just one boss theme anymore, each battle has its own unique arrangement of that original track to suit itself. And this isn't a bad approach- far from it, this is probably better than the best decision anyone could have made- but there's a reason the original game is so prominent on my Spotify, while Remake gets Hollow and just a handful of others.
As for the Materia, I hesitate to even call this Remake's fault, but it must be said. The original FFVII thrived as a gameplay experience off of its customizability. The ability to start from nothing but a basic attack command and grow to having eleven basic commands and submenus within submenus of gimmicks and summons and god-knows-how-many-more little options is the most intoxicating form of progression in RPG history, and an enormous part of why I love it so much. Remake provides the perfect template to create that feeling again in an action space, but... we're just in Midgar. They aren't giving us all that many options yet. Silly as it sounds, the game feels lesser because it's trying to be its own whole and yet doesn't get as crazy as the original. It's entirely personal, that much I understand, but I can't help but feel myself straining against the game and praying for sixteen more options to be in my menu where there just aren't yet. I can't count on them to come in this game at all. Remake is a template, not the full potential unleashed.
All the criticisms aside, the amount of unique Materia in the Rebirth demo alone alongside the piano and literally everything else about it prove that my pre-order of the Collector's Edition was a good choice and that my faith shall be rewarded as we WILL be delivered unto the Promised Land OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO MY GOD I PHYSICALLY CANNOT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT
The writing of these characters, seeing my fourth-favorite game come to life the way it does here in such fleshed-out detail, is nothing short of perfect. That extends to the visuals, voice cast, combat design, side content and prevalence of interactivity and minigames as a whole. Everyone who fell so deeply in love with Remake, I agree with them; the spirit of Final Fantasy VII is here...
pretty much. And that's for both better and worse in my eyes.
What that means boils down to two major factors: Materia and music. (I swear the alliteration was a coincidence and not me fishing for problems in a dry well, please trust me on that). The music in Remake is extremely complicated for me to think about. My personal feeling is that the songs feel like fan remixes- in the best possible way I could mean, but still. They don't feel like the original Uematsu masterpieces, they feel like hyper-specialized versions of those original songs meant to fit more specific situations and tones. It's not just the Turks theme anymore, it's the loud and brash version you hear when it's time to throw down and a slow version for the cutscene where the group reflects in Shinra HQ. It's not just one boss theme anymore, each battle has its own unique arrangement of that original track to suit itself. And this isn't a bad approach- far from it, this is probably better than the best decision anyone could have made- but there's a reason the original game is so prominent on my Spotify, while Remake gets Hollow and just a handful of others.
As for the Materia, I hesitate to even call this Remake's fault, but it must be said. The original FFVII thrived as a gameplay experience off of its customizability. The ability to start from nothing but a basic attack command and grow to having eleven basic commands and submenus within submenus of gimmicks and summons and god-knows-how-many-more little options is the most intoxicating form of progression in RPG history, and an enormous part of why I love it so much. Remake provides the perfect template to create that feeling again in an action space, but... we're just in Midgar. They aren't giving us all that many options yet. Silly as it sounds, the game feels lesser because it's trying to be its own whole and yet doesn't get as crazy as the original. It's entirely personal, that much I understand, but I can't help but feel myself straining against the game and praying for sixteen more options to be in my menu where there just aren't yet. I can't count on them to come in this game at all. Remake is a template, not the full potential unleashed.
All the criticisms aside, the amount of unique Materia in the Rebirth demo alone alongside the piano and literally everything else about it prove that my pre-order of the Collector's Edition was a good choice and that my faith shall be rewarded as we WILL be delivered unto the Promised Land OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO MY GOD I PHYSICALLY CANNOT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT