I have not played Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1 yet; I have struggled with getting over the ATB system on my multiple attempts to get started with the original. I'm not necessarily in love with timer RPGs as I feel like I spend a good portion of the game waiting, and I'm a very impatient person sometimes. But the game has always intrigued me from a story perspective, as the world of Midgar has such an allure to it, it feels like such a fully imagined world. I want to know about the characters and the history to it, but just couldn't get past the initial hangups about the battle system.
I was very happy to find that not only did I not hate the battle system in FF7R, but rather I really liked it quite a bit. It feels silly to say, but it feels closer to like "baby's first DMC" rather than a standard Final Fantasy. I am the number one defender of turn-based combat in games, but I have to say it was refreshing to play a JRPG with such unique combat. Playing as Cloud is great; you have the balance of switching between operator/punisher mode and adapting to a more bruiser/balanced role in combat and abusing their advantages in different ways. It was always wildly satisfying to land a fat counter in punisher mode and do huge damage back to the enemy with potential for a stagger. All of the other characters felt slightly less involved, save for Tifa who I feel like you could have a PHD in playing because her kit is like the ultimate stagger/blitz kit for doing INSANE damage, but there's a ton of combos you can string if you know what you're doing. The one compliment I will give all of the characters, however, is that they all felt fleshed out, and that they served different enough roles at base, while still being highly customizable with materia. I liked the gearing in this game quite a bit as a result, and I am dying to try the original as a result.
As for the music; it's Nobuo Uematsu. You could give that man two trash can lids and he would make the greatest game OST of all time. This game is no slouch in the soundtrack department. I feel like all of the fan favorite tracks that I've heard about got spectacular treatment in the remake. "JENOVA" is my number one standout, as the remix is insane. They really slowed down the song at first, making it this insane orchestral piece that feels like it's straight out of a symphony, making this feeling of uncertainty mount higher and higher. Then for the final phase of the boss, hearing it drop the pretense of this slower, more grandiose orchestral piece in favor of the energy and tempo of the original song was such an awesome moment in-game. That shit got me so energized and motivated to power through the fight. I can't avoid mentioning the remix of "One Winged Angel" either, as I didn't really think that song could get much better.
The only real gripe I had was with the pacing of FF7R. I loved the story and characters, as I felt like lingering in the beginning part of the game really helped with fleshing out certain characters in ways that made me really appreciate the brilliant writing from over 2 decades ago. This became a double edged sword though, as I felt like this game had some pacing issues with certain moments being drawn out more than they needed to be. In fact; the whole game is content with making things go really slow sometimes, which can get a little frustrating, especially in a mostly linear game such as this. No random encounters is nice too, but sometimes they don't really space out the combat as well as they should, as I had times where I would literally just be walking around doing puzzles with no combat for upwards of 15-20 minutes sometimes if I cleared all the encounters in an area already. Pair that with a myriad of super straightforward and boring puzzles and some of the dungeons overstay their welcome, and I just felt like the game drags its feet sometimes.
At the end of the day, a great linear ARPG with some fun set pieces, great boss fights, and a cast of endearing and beloved characters. You can't really go wrong with FF7R. If you can look past those times where the game drags a little, you will find a refreshing take on one of the most beloved JRPGs of all time, with a few new twists up it's sleeve.
I was very happy to find that not only did I not hate the battle system in FF7R, but rather I really liked it quite a bit. It feels silly to say, but it feels closer to like "baby's first DMC" rather than a standard Final Fantasy. I am the number one defender of turn-based combat in games, but I have to say it was refreshing to play a JRPG with such unique combat. Playing as Cloud is great; you have the balance of switching between operator/punisher mode and adapting to a more bruiser/balanced role in combat and abusing their advantages in different ways. It was always wildly satisfying to land a fat counter in punisher mode and do huge damage back to the enemy with potential for a stagger. All of the other characters felt slightly less involved, save for Tifa who I feel like you could have a PHD in playing because her kit is like the ultimate stagger/blitz kit for doing INSANE damage, but there's a ton of combos you can string if you know what you're doing. The one compliment I will give all of the characters, however, is that they all felt fleshed out, and that they served different enough roles at base, while still being highly customizable with materia. I liked the gearing in this game quite a bit as a result, and I am dying to try the original as a result.
As for the music; it's Nobuo Uematsu. You could give that man two trash can lids and he would make the greatest game OST of all time. This game is no slouch in the soundtrack department. I feel like all of the fan favorite tracks that I've heard about got spectacular treatment in the remake. "JENOVA" is my number one standout, as the remix is insane. They really slowed down the song at first, making it this insane orchestral piece that feels like it's straight out of a symphony, making this feeling of uncertainty mount higher and higher. Then for the final phase of the boss, hearing it drop the pretense of this slower, more grandiose orchestral piece in favor of the energy and tempo of the original song was such an awesome moment in-game. That shit got me so energized and motivated to power through the fight. I can't avoid mentioning the remix of "One Winged Angel" either, as I didn't really think that song could get much better.
The only real gripe I had was with the pacing of FF7R. I loved the story and characters, as I felt like lingering in the beginning part of the game really helped with fleshing out certain characters in ways that made me really appreciate the brilliant writing from over 2 decades ago. This became a double edged sword though, as I felt like this game had some pacing issues with certain moments being drawn out more than they needed to be. In fact; the whole game is content with making things go really slow sometimes, which can get a little frustrating, especially in a mostly linear game such as this. No random encounters is nice too, but sometimes they don't really space out the combat as well as they should, as I had times where I would literally just be walking around doing puzzles with no combat for upwards of 15-20 minutes sometimes if I cleared all the encounters in an area already. Pair that with a myriad of super straightforward and boring puzzles and some of the dungeons overstay their welcome, and I just felt like the game drags its feet sometimes.
At the end of the day, a great linear ARPG with some fun set pieces, great boss fights, and a cast of endearing and beloved characters. You can't really go wrong with FF7R. If you can look past those times where the game drags a little, you will find a refreshing take on one of the most beloved JRPGs of all time, with a few new twists up it's sleeve.