I don't know what to feel about this game. On some aspects it's the game that I've dreamed of when I first played the original FF7 16 years ago, but on the other hand the game has some baffling narrative and design decisions that halted my enjoyment.
I hated the changes made to the story in FF7 Remake, however as time passed, I accepted these changes. I want to be clear that it's not the fact of that they were changing the story that I hated. What I hated was the direction that these changes were taking, that I don't trust Nomura as a coherent storyteller (kingdom hearts is a mess) and the rumors that you'll need to play multiple games to understand the story (like the mobile game and the battle royale).
Nevertheless, I came into this game curious where this could go, specially regarding to the events that occur at the end of Disc 1 of the original. Plus, the themes of accepting loss and the past, not letting this define your future and that you can always change who you are, are themes that can be as strong in your late 20's as they were in your early teens.
Finally regarding, the game itself. I will divide this into two sections, gameplay and story.
GAMEPLAY
Chapter 2 gives you a pretty good idea on how the template for this game is going to be. An open world area with side activities, that can be combat based or minigame based.
The combat is definitely the highlight of the gameplay. The combat is basically the same as in Remake with Synergy abilities. You do normal attacks, to fill in your ATB bar so you can use a special ability or a spell. When you do multiple abilities with two characters those characters can perform a synergy ability for increase damage or stat boost. The enemies are usually weak to a certain element and exploiting those weaknesses fills in the pressure bar staggering them allowing you to do increased damage.
Without going into much detail, I can say that every character feels unique and you have a reason to always switch your party around depending on the encounters.
The combat is accompanied by a great leveling and customizing systems, that don't feel overly complex.
The first system is a skill tree that unlocks as you increase your party level (this increases by doing sidequests, side activities and playing the story). In this skill tree you can spend points earned in combat to unlock new abilities and improve stats.
The second is the materia system, which is, in my opinion, the best customizing system Final Fantasy has. Basically materia, can be linked to your weapons and equipment, and materia can bring new skills and spells, augment certain stats, or linked with another materia to improve one another.
The final system are the weapons. Each weapons has unique stats, different materia slots and a skill. Once you used a weapon and a skill enough you can use that weapon's skill with any weapon. So you are incentivize to always use the new weapon until you mastered that skill, and then switch to one that has either better stats or materia slots to your liking.
Now the second part of the exploration, the mini games. In the first area you are introduced to three minigames, queen's blood, fort condor and the chocobo catching. Throughout the game you are introduced to more minigames to a total of 30. Now, there are some minigames that I heavily dislike, and that really impacted my enjoyment of the game, such as the Piano one, the sit ups, the 3d brawler. However, this is not my main problem with the minigames, that will be how many there are and how they are integrated within the game. To give you an idea there is an entire chapter dedicated to Queen Blood and on the next chapter the majority of it is to play different minigames to unlock a new area, and when you finally unlock that area a new harder version of those minigames unlocks. And these chapters are before the gold saucer, so when you get there you are expecting to spend a bunch of your time trying new minigames, but are already burned out on these, as you spent two chapters just doing minigames. Besides some gear is linked with the minigames so if you want that gear you need to master those minigames.
The amount of minigames, the way they are distributed and the need to master those made me feel like I was playing a Mario Party game and not a RPG. This is my major gripe with the gameplay. I feel like I've spent more time with these minigames then with the combat and leveling up.
STORY
I will be brief because of spoilers.
The retelling of the classic moments is where this game truly shines. It changes some aspects because Yuffie and Vincent are no longer secret characters so they have to be in the story, but these are the kind of changes that I understand and enjoy.
The story is truly timeless and the best moments of the original are heightened by the beautiful graphics and OST. Seeing these scenes makes you understand why so many people wanted a remake of this game. This story deserves to be told in a more cinematic manner. The dungeon design in the story is perfect, and when I was playing these I did not want to put the controller down.
However, the problems that I have with nomura's direction still hold. Everything to do with the Whispers is just confusing and sounds like nonsense. There are changes done to THAT moment, that I'm kind of mixed on it.
However, when I finished this game I felt an emptiness inside, like I was going to miss the time I've spent with these characters, and few games made me feel like this.
Will I want to replay it? The story missions and combat absolutely. The mini games never.
I hated the changes made to the story in FF7 Remake, however as time passed, I accepted these changes. I want to be clear that it's not the fact of that they were changing the story that I hated. What I hated was the direction that these changes were taking, that I don't trust Nomura as a coherent storyteller (kingdom hearts is a mess) and the rumors that you'll need to play multiple games to understand the story (like the mobile game and the battle royale).
Nevertheless, I came into this game curious where this could go, specially regarding to the events that occur at the end of Disc 1 of the original. Plus, the themes of accepting loss and the past, not letting this define your future and that you can always change who you are, are themes that can be as strong in your late 20's as they were in your early teens.
Finally regarding, the game itself. I will divide this into two sections, gameplay and story.
GAMEPLAY
Chapter 2 gives you a pretty good idea on how the template for this game is going to be. An open world area with side activities, that can be combat based or minigame based.
The combat is definitely the highlight of the gameplay. The combat is basically the same as in Remake with Synergy abilities. You do normal attacks, to fill in your ATB bar so you can use a special ability or a spell. When you do multiple abilities with two characters those characters can perform a synergy ability for increase damage or stat boost. The enemies are usually weak to a certain element and exploiting those weaknesses fills in the pressure bar staggering them allowing you to do increased damage.
Without going into much detail, I can say that every character feels unique and you have a reason to always switch your party around depending on the encounters.
The combat is accompanied by a great leveling and customizing systems, that don't feel overly complex.
The first system is a skill tree that unlocks as you increase your party level (this increases by doing sidequests, side activities and playing the story). In this skill tree you can spend points earned in combat to unlock new abilities and improve stats.
The second is the materia system, which is, in my opinion, the best customizing system Final Fantasy has. Basically materia, can be linked to your weapons and equipment, and materia can bring new skills and spells, augment certain stats, or linked with another materia to improve one another.
The final system are the weapons. Each weapons has unique stats, different materia slots and a skill. Once you used a weapon and a skill enough you can use that weapon's skill with any weapon. So you are incentivize to always use the new weapon until you mastered that skill, and then switch to one that has either better stats or materia slots to your liking.
Now the second part of the exploration, the mini games. In the first area you are introduced to three minigames, queen's blood, fort condor and the chocobo catching. Throughout the game you are introduced to more minigames to a total of 30. Now, there are some minigames that I heavily dislike, and that really impacted my enjoyment of the game, such as the Piano one, the sit ups, the 3d brawler. However, this is not my main problem with the minigames, that will be how many there are and how they are integrated within the game. To give you an idea there is an entire chapter dedicated to Queen Blood and on the next chapter the majority of it is to play different minigames to unlock a new area, and when you finally unlock that area a new harder version of those minigames unlocks. And these chapters are before the gold saucer, so when you get there you are expecting to spend a bunch of your time trying new minigames, but are already burned out on these, as you spent two chapters just doing minigames. Besides some gear is linked with the minigames so if you want that gear you need to master those minigames.
The amount of minigames, the way they are distributed and the need to master those made me feel like I was playing a Mario Party game and not a RPG. This is my major gripe with the gameplay. I feel like I've spent more time with these minigames then with the combat and leveling up.
STORY
I will be brief because of spoilers.
The retelling of the classic moments is where this game truly shines. It changes some aspects because Yuffie and Vincent are no longer secret characters so they have to be in the story, but these are the kind of changes that I understand and enjoy.
The story is truly timeless and the best moments of the original are heightened by the beautiful graphics and OST. Seeing these scenes makes you understand why so many people wanted a remake of this game. This story deserves to be told in a more cinematic manner. The dungeon design in the story is perfect, and when I was playing these I did not want to put the controller down.
However, the problems that I have with nomura's direction still hold. Everything to do with the Whispers is just confusing and sounds like nonsense. There are changes done to THAT moment, that I'm kind of mixed on it.
However, when I finished this game I felt an emptiness inside, like I was going to miss the time I've spent with these characters, and few games made me feel like this.
Will I want to replay it? The story missions and combat absolutely. The mini games never.