This review contains spoilers
Finished replaying Final Fantasy VII Remake's main campaign on the PC release of Intergrade. My thoughts are mostly unchanged from my original playthrough in 2020. The presentation is damn unreal, and the combat is great. At any given moment it's just mindboggling to look at the party and go "holy moly that's Cloud. That's Barret. Being all HD remakey and stuff". The graphics are drop dead gorgeous, and that's for the most part all I need from a remake of Final Fantasy VII. But then, the action combat also feels like a massive glowup. The whole game is just like playing one of them badass Crisis Core cutscenes. When you look at all the complementary content, Remake's directing and combat feel like the experience that Final Fantasy VII always wanted to be. And that's bloody awesome.
Phenomenal game. Yet I also still consider it as much of a missed opportunity as I originally did too. Anything they adapt from the original game is incredible. But I can't say the same for the story in its entirety. A lot of the new stuff, particularly that relating to the Whispers, ranges from silly to downright laughable.
I love this character and think I'll ultimately be happy to explore more of him in an alternate universe because hot damn that snippet of Zack on the church stairs made me emotional, but before that sways me I really just need to say: Literally what the hell Square Enix. You cannot revive Zack. That compromises the whole point of the story and Cloud's character. This is the story of Cloud's strife. He fails to save Zack, and he fails to save Aerith. Cloud falls into depression because of this, but then overcomes that by successfully saving Tifa and Denzel. Those character moments are so integral. It's how Cloud's growth is signposted. But if Zack didn't die on that hill and ask Cloud to be his living legacy, then who does that make Cloud? It's just not a good change. Do not Thrice Upon a Time me, Nomura. Final Fantasy VII is not a property that needs a Thrice Upon a Time. They've hinted at Aerith being afraid to sacrifice her life this time around and Sephiroth acknowledging that Cloud can save her, and I had always written that off since obviously it's not Final Fantasy VII without Aerith dying, and her response has always been that "I never blamed you. Not once." But now that Zack is actually for-realsies alive again now, I don't know what to believe. For the most part Remake does feel like it has great respect for the original game in how it makes its alterations, but the suggestions about Zack and Aerith border on blasphemous.
Not making it a straightforward readaptation/expansion of the original is fair on their part, however it is still a decision that I feel ultimately damages the game. The reason why, aside from just general storytelling incompetence, is that for 90% of its runtime Remake is geared to be a unified Final Fantasy VII. Remake brings the characters and the lore of Gaia up to their modern definitions. They sacrifice some ambiguity from the original and instead supplement it with a sense of excess. It deliberately has a hammier and more action-packed aesthetic that evokes the style of Advent Children and Crisis Core, and it makes specific references to Compilation subjects as well. They unite the visual design by having summoning materia look the same as it did in AC (though in saying that, I do find it a bit strange Cloud never got the Jenova eyes during his episodes like he does in AC). They mention the degradation, they mention Project G, and there are certain musical links such as the original trailer being set to Beyond the Wasteland or arrangements of The Promised Land and Elfe's Theme. Johnny reuses his established design from Episode Denzel, therein revealing that Dyne will likely look the same way he does in G Bike. Kunsel gets mentioned. They even threw the freakin Weiss program in there! Remake feels like it's rewarding you for being familiar with the rest of the Compilation. And with that in place I am certain that we will eventually run into Cissnei, Shelke and Genesis out there wandering the world. Let me visit the town of Banora. Let me fight Minerva in the North Cave. That's the kind of stuff I want to see! For the majority of this game the message conveyed by its stylistic choices is that this will be a new, unified version of the original story that replaces it within the Compilation timeline. Finally creating a version of the story that has synergy with all the otherwise tone-deaf sequel content, and severing the original's controversial ties to everything that came after. That was the obvious and imo best way to interpret the FFVII Remake concept, and indeed what the game itself seemed to want to be. So the fact that it turns away from that right at the last moment is just a bit dumb imo, and limits the story's potential as such. The Whispers were a bad idea. Bad in concept and bad in execution, and I think it's extra double dumb because I don't think they're going to be relevant at all in the narrative moving forward.
9/10. I have more fleshed out thoughts on my problems with it, but that doesn't equate to those being my dominant thoughts. Remake is biggo cool. I am still very impressed with it, and my hesitations are somewhat mitigated by the existence of Ever Crisis. I'm very excited for what comes next.
Phenomenal game. Yet I also still consider it as much of a missed opportunity as I originally did too. Anything they adapt from the original game is incredible. But I can't say the same for the story in its entirety. A lot of the new stuff, particularly that relating to the Whispers, ranges from silly to downright laughable.
I love this character and think I'll ultimately be happy to explore more of him in an alternate universe because hot damn that snippet of Zack on the church stairs made me emotional, but before that sways me I really just need to say: Literally what the hell Square Enix. You cannot revive Zack. That compromises the whole point of the story and Cloud's character. This is the story of Cloud's strife. He fails to save Zack, and he fails to save Aerith. Cloud falls into depression because of this, but then overcomes that by successfully saving Tifa and Denzel. Those character moments are so integral. It's how Cloud's growth is signposted. But if Zack didn't die on that hill and ask Cloud to be his living legacy, then who does that make Cloud? It's just not a good change. Do not Thrice Upon a Time me, Nomura. Final Fantasy VII is not a property that needs a Thrice Upon a Time. They've hinted at Aerith being afraid to sacrifice her life this time around and Sephiroth acknowledging that Cloud can save her, and I had always written that off since obviously it's not Final Fantasy VII without Aerith dying, and her response has always been that "I never blamed you. Not once." But now that Zack is actually for-realsies alive again now, I don't know what to believe. For the most part Remake does feel like it has great respect for the original game in how it makes its alterations, but the suggestions about Zack and Aerith border on blasphemous.
Not making it a straightforward readaptation/expansion of the original is fair on their part, however it is still a decision that I feel ultimately damages the game. The reason why, aside from just general storytelling incompetence, is that for 90% of its runtime Remake is geared to be a unified Final Fantasy VII. Remake brings the characters and the lore of Gaia up to their modern definitions. They sacrifice some ambiguity from the original and instead supplement it with a sense of excess. It deliberately has a hammier and more action-packed aesthetic that evokes the style of Advent Children and Crisis Core, and it makes specific references to Compilation subjects as well. They unite the visual design by having summoning materia look the same as it did in AC (though in saying that, I do find it a bit strange Cloud never got the Jenova eyes during his episodes like he does in AC). They mention the degradation, they mention Project G, and there are certain musical links such as the original trailer being set to Beyond the Wasteland or arrangements of The Promised Land and Elfe's Theme. Johnny reuses his established design from Episode Denzel, therein revealing that Dyne will likely look the same way he does in G Bike. Kunsel gets mentioned. They even threw the freakin Weiss program in there! Remake feels like it's rewarding you for being familiar with the rest of the Compilation. And with that in place I am certain that we will eventually run into Cissnei, Shelke and Genesis out there wandering the world. Let me visit the town of Banora. Let me fight Minerva in the North Cave. That's the kind of stuff I want to see! For the majority of this game the message conveyed by its stylistic choices is that this will be a new, unified version of the original story that replaces it within the Compilation timeline. Finally creating a version of the story that has synergy with all the otherwise tone-deaf sequel content, and severing the original's controversial ties to everything that came after. That was the obvious and imo best way to interpret the FFVII Remake concept, and indeed what the game itself seemed to want to be. So the fact that it turns away from that right at the last moment is just a bit dumb imo, and limits the story's potential as such. The Whispers were a bad idea. Bad in concept and bad in execution, and I think it's extra double dumb because I don't think they're going to be relevant at all in the narrative moving forward.
9/10. I have more fleshed out thoughts on my problems with it, but that doesn't equate to those being my dominant thoughts. Remake is biggo cool. I am still very impressed with it, and my hesitations are somewhat mitigated by the existence of Ever Crisis. I'm very excited for what comes next.