Considering the originalFinal Fantasy VIIis considered one of the greatest video games of all time, it makes sense Square Enix would be so apprehensive in remaking the RPG. Despite being released relatively early in the PS1’s life cycle (and it shows,)FFVIIhas an early hardware charm that gives it a timeless quality– especially in an era where video games on a whole are homogenized to an extent.
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All the same, enough time has passed where Square Enix clearly felt technologically comfortable in remakingFinal Fantasy VII. While a beautiful game visually,Final Fantasy VII Remakefails to live up to the 1997 classic.
10Loved: Combat
As far as combat goes,Final Fantasy VII Remakeis not trying to replicate the original. Where the 1997 classic was a turn based RPG with real-time accents, the remake goes full action RPG. All the same, the ATB is still in place and serves as the player’s means of using their abilities, spells, and items.
With dedicated dodging and blocking, on the fly character switching, a command menu that emulates the original battle scheme to an extent, and plenty of attack variety,Final Fantasy VII Remakeis one of the best action RPGs in recent memory. Part 2 is guaranteed to be a success because of the battle system alone.
9Don’t: Level Design
It’s important to note that level design in gaming applies to more than just segmented stages, and the originalFinal Fantasy VIIis filled with strong dungeon design and one of the best overworlds in the RPG genre. In expanding Midgar so intimately, the remake had an opportunity to flesh out the original’s level design even further.
If anything, Midgar is even more cramped than it was before. There’s an element of grandeur to the city, but it’s all superficial. There’s nothing meaningful to explore and just about every dungeon in the game invokesFinal Fantasy XIII’s penchant for hallways.
8Loved: Boss Fights
As good as the core combat is, it would mean nothing if the enemy design wasn’t up to snuff. While most regular encounters will fall in the player’s favor, there are a few standard enemies who put up a fight. When it comes down to it, though, the combat is at its best during the boss fights. These are bouts of pure spectacle that require real skill.
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Not only do virtually all bosses go through multiple phases that keep battles dynamic and ensure players can’t just rely on static strategies from start to finish, Chadley’s VR Battles offer even more challenging bosses that demand mechanical mastery on a level that’s seldom seen in theFinal Fantasyfranchise.
7Don’t: Pacing
It’s easy to take a well paced game for granted, but the originalFinal Fantasy VIImoves at such a smooth pace from beat to beat. This is a story with no wasted space, but plenty of room for the player to branch off and breathe for a bit.Final Fantasy VII Remakeby comparison is an incredibly stiff experience, where players are railroaded more often than not.
What moments there are of non-linearity tend to be purely surface level with little meaningful exploration (the sole exception being Wall Market, but more on that later.) Not helping matters is the mere fact that the remake stretches six hours of gameplay into 30. Needless to say, the story does not flow particularly well half the time.
6Loved: Difficulty Curve
The originalFinal Fantasy VIIis not a difficult game by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn’t need to be. The core gameplay and customization pair so well, it never feels like the gameplay is lacking even if getting a Game Over more than likely won’t happen. The remake remedies this with a difficulty curve that can actually break a sweat.
On Normal, enemies hit hard and bosses are quite relentless. Failing to understand the nuances of combat (like the fact enemies automatically agro to whoever the player is controlling) can result in some very one sided battles. Even understanding the combat fully, however,FF7Rnever lets up– including a very challenging Hard mode and some tough optional battles.
5Don’t: Side Quests
Final Fantasy VII Remake’s side quests are as mediocre as they come. The idea of Cloud taking on odd jobs as a mercenary not only makes sense, it helps his arc. The problem is that the side quests tend to be MMO-level junk quests where players need to kill x monsters or find x things.
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Worse yet, taking on side quests end up highlighting how poorly decided Midgar is. There’s very little to explore, enemies rarely ever respawn, and the map is shockingly small. All this said, completing every side quest in a chapter does unlock a new scene, so it isn’t as if the reward for doing them is worthless. It’s just that actually doing them is a bore more often than not.
4Loved: Materia
The Materia system is a highlight ofFinal Fantasy VII, remake or otherwise. Weapons and accessories have slots which players can equip with Materia. Through Materia, characters gain access to spells, abilities, and other attributes. Pieces of Materia also level up and upgrade into higher tiers, leading to quite a lot of player customization.
As every character plays differently, it’s important to carefully consider who gets which Materia. All the same, theRemakerewards experimenting with different builds and play styles. For all its faults,Final Fantasy VII Remakereally excels when it comes to the core combat and customization
3Don’t: Red XIII Is A Guest Party Member
Considering the first part of theFinal Fantasy VII Remakeends right before the party heads off for Kalm, it’d be safe to assume that the final party would be Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith, and Red XIII. After all, even though Red XIII joins in the game’s final dungeon– Shinra HQ– it’s far and away the singlest largest segment in the game.
It’s likely that the developers ran out of time to include Red XIII as a playable character, but wasn’t the whole point of making the remake episodic to ensure it was more or less a perfect remake? Red XIII being a half baked guest party member who basically goofs off in the background is a humongous disservice to one of the game’s most important characters.
2Loved: Wall Market
If the entire remake had the passion, care, and level of detail present in Wall Market,Final Fantasy VII Remakecould very well have matched the legacy of its source game. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Still, Wall Market is a franchise highlight and will stand out as one of the better gaming moments to come out of 2020.
Plenty of non-linearity, optional content, and a colosseum make Wall Market a massive time sink. Wall Market is basically the game’s Gold Saucer: a place to kick back, kill time, and indulge inFinal Fantasy VII Remakeat its absolutely best.
1Don’t: The Ending
Where to even begin? Beyond the implication that Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie are all alive, there’s reason to believe the main cross paths with an alternate timeline where Zack Fair survives and brings Cloud back to Midgar– essentially obliterating Cloud’s backstory. All the while, there’s nonsense about Sephiroth wanting to defy fate with Cloud.
The implication that the remake will veer into new territory is not one that inspires much home. Chapter 18 is a massive sore spot that brings the story to a screeching halt, killing hours of well earned build up. The final fight with Sephiroth is narratively unearned, and the story doesn’t so much end as it does stop dead in its track.
