Final Fantasy VII Remake: All Aboard Midgar's Wild Ride [Review/Discussion]

[Commander]

Final Fantasy VII Remake Review

 

Welcome to the show where I, the local contrarian, talk about controversial topics in ways people don't want to hear. And what better way than to talk about this absolute destine to be a trashfire for a game that came out 20 years ago with adults having hard ons for nostalgia all lead by a man who makes plots that makes me have aneurysms when time travel is involved. And this is all coming from a series which has declined into what people call a trashfire at worst and lackluster at best in the latest titles. And they literally could have made the shittiest game possible and it would have sold millions. If I were to sum up my entire thoughts in a single word it'd be this: how? And if I were to give it a sentence: they spent too much money on this game.

 

So let me start with some background. I was a huge Final Fantasy fan when I was younger playing them all up through X (I'll get to 12 pretty soon). I could probably go into pretty good detail what I liked and disliked about each one. My favorites have been V and IX which those games were a blast to play. IX was a big shock because I played it on a time it was ignored or nobody talked about it but nowadays people rave it as one of the best. But we're not here to talk about the full series (seriously, I could if people wanted), but a game called FFVII. I started really getting into RPGs when the genre kind of peaked and there was one game everyone kept mentioning. It was Final Fantasy VII. You would see it everywhere including how cool Sephiroth was (I blame KH for this) and made it sound like the moment you'd play it you'd love it. If you asked me years ago, I'd tell you FFVII was a bad game after disc 1, but I've mellowed and say it's an okay game but with quite the mess.

 

I'll start with FFVII's story. It's got a lot of ups and definitely a lot of memorable moments. It's easy to get attached especially for a game that could both be serious and completely nonsensical fun at the same time. Like I'd really enjoy the story...if it wasn't for Sephiroth. From my memory 15 or so years ago I felt like the game just poorly explained the main overall plot. I had to read explanation of things because I was just confused and "misunderstood" stuff. But if I have to give the game credit, it'd be for pretty much my absolute favorite opening in any game I've played. That is a masterpiece which probably is lost to gamers due to evolution of gaming. Graphics were...interesting and really jarring if you play it now but the background really stood out to me. I love the mural style in them. I really hated the gameplay. It was more less a copy paste for each character which you just set the magic you wanted on them. And oh boy was it a pain to rearrange Materia around. I did not find FFVII enjoyable so you can imagine that I had almost no interest in a remake. And even less interest when they were going to make you pay for 4 games for a single game that came out 20 years ago. A remake pretty much is just the same game just more polished and with bells and whistles. Even the new battle system didn't spark my interest.

 

So why am I making a review on this game? Well I tried the demo and now I've chained myself into a decade long journey through a world I never wanted to go back to. With all the bitching and complaining and all the stuff people want to talk about please just take my advice and just ignore all of it. Play the demo and if you enjoy it, get the game. If you don't like it, then just pass. Past this point we're going to go into spoilers so I'm going to get into it but save the part that everyone and their mother really wants to read for last. The part people who didn't play the game harp on and why those people should shut up and play the game before judging.

 

Music and Graphics

 

The music made me nut. It made me nut many times. I don't do that for music. That's all...okay fine I'll talk about it. So I'll admit FFVII had a very iconic soundtrack that Umetsu made. Many of the songs had some very iconic sounds to them. I don't want to spoil that much but they clearly gave the sound team a massive, massive budget to work off of and damn did they use all that money wisely. There are two boss themes in particular that are so good I looked them up on YouTube. I'm not going to spoil it but I'll say that it is a damn impressive soundtrack.

 

And now we get into the graphics. At first, I kind of hated how the characters looked with that weird realism stuff, but it did kind of grow on me. The real beauty in this game is the eye on the detail. Every square of the world is covered in detail. There's so many little things in this game it makes my heart sink just how much money they spent into designing stuff they didn't have to. There's a ton of extra little things you could just spend hours doing nothing but looking around. And as for someone who did not like Tifa's original design, damn. She looks great in the new one. Just reexperiencing all these iconic moments with these graphics was a treat alone. If you're a fan of the original, those scenes alone are more than enough to get your money's worth. They designed in a way where you could go "Oh I remember when this happened" from a game I haven't played in 13 years.

 

There is one big negative which I guess should be in gameplay but it ties into the graphics. While everything is nice to look it, the game is very, very linear. I mean narrow straight line path linear. This is absolutely going to offput some people (I don't mind "corridor" games tbh) as there's not that much exploration. I think the biggest culprit would be the sector slums. You go to these civilizations and...they are just two loops meshed together. There is one that is imo done very well but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by the town designs which I hope Part 2 designs them a little bit better. Really all I have to complain about here but....

 

Gameplay

 

Oh boy. Remember how I said FFVII I really didn't like the gameplay. They pretty much turned this into a pseudo KHII which I'm not really going to complain about. Let me explain. Everything is action based but you don't need to have ungodly coordination to play this game. I have the reflexes of a sloth and I was fine. I do like to compare this to KHII as at first glance it's a mash the attack button to win. FFVII keeps that basic toolset concept, but gives everyone unique skills and traits which learning will greatly reward you. And believe me, you'll be switching around characters in almost every battle. And what's even cooler is due to these skillsets and the Materia system, characters can take on different roles depending on the situation. FFVII Remake is a lot more strategy based than it is skill based. Even simple knowledge like knowing to spam thunder on machines goes a long way. This is due to a stagger meter which makes enemies vulnerable. Because enemies and especially end of chapter bosses make Xenoblade X enemies look like weaksauce (that game feels like it takes 10 minutes to kill normal enemies).

 

I will say though, I did have some trouble learning a couple of the mechanics since it's all thrown at you at the beginning (FFVII I will admit still did it better...one of the few times I will admit that). I had the hardest time figuring out how to lock onto enemies. And I still have issues controlling that. I kind of wish R2 and L2 were the options to switch targets instead of the right analog stick. It's not that much of an issue but something you lock onto the wrong part and it bounces your attack only to get KO'd due to it. It's seldom an issue though. But the game gives you plenty of room for error and time to experiment to learn your stuff. And take the time to learn it or you will get your ass kicked hard by certain bosses.

 

And now I get to discuss materia. This is the system that made everyone so generic. In this game, it's how you customize your characters which they give you a lot of freedom. Each weapon has its own unique differences which newer weapons are almost always better especially their final ones which give you materia slots. One of my major complaints is the lack of slots along with shortage of MP. In the early parts of the game it is better to waste items then it is to use a cure spell because of how reliant you become on magic. If you run out of MP, you're dead with the strong spells will drain your MP fast. Or in my Barret's case, sacrifice half your MP for one spell to do a good chunk of damage. There's a lot to it but it isn't that complicated. Just takes a bit of time to figure out. And oh, ethers only restore 20 MP so...you gotta learn to spend it carefully.

 

Oh there's one other random thing. I suck at this game. I'm like really bad because I get hit. I get hit a lot and have to heal a lot (thank god pray exists). But it felt more strategic due to the turn system. You have to spend your actions carefully. Anyways, I managed to make it through the final boss so if someone like me can do it, anyone can. And if you don't play on Normal you are a pussy. Normal felt just right for someone like me, but I felt like they should have had a slightly higher difficulty to pick from since I think some people really needed more of a challenge. There is a higher difficulty but that is more like a postgame challenge (there is quite a bit to do after the final boss) but it'd be nice just to have that. I'm probably going to stick to normal though.

 

There's also minigames in this game which are pretty fun. Of course these is one where you have to press buttons with some heavy, heavy distractions to look at. Like how am I supposed to focus on hitting buttons with that on my screen. There some other bells and whistles but honestly there's only one minigame that I'd say I really loved. If you played the original, you know exactly which one I'm talking about. It's the one at the end of Midgar. 

 

And now we get into the meat of this game: the bosses. Some of my reaction to these fights are absolute gold. One of them triggered my PTSD to a certain part of the original game I absolutely struggled with. I think the first boss sums it all up. In the original game, that scorpion was an absolute joke. In the demo, I lost about 25 potions on that thing because hitting it really hard is a great strategy. These bosses are puzzles which you do get small hints how to handle but you can handle them without exploiting their weaknesses and suffering through it. Believe me, you feel when you don't have the right magic equipped. Here's the craziest part: the feel cinematic while still providing a challenge. I never felt like I was going to wipe on any (only came close a couple times) but they weren't pushovers either in that I had to think what I was doing. And almost all bosses come in phases which you see a quick cutscene before jumping right back in. And it flows so smoothly. There was only one boss that I felt a little disappointed by. Most really delivered imo. Like I could make a paragraph for each boss on how I felt about them. They are awesome.

 

Story (Sub-scenarios/Extras)

 

I'm doing this a little backwards for my reasons. I'm sure you can just YouTube the FFVII Remake movie and see all of the clipscenes but...you're just missing out on so much. I'll just start with sidequests just to get them out of the way. There's a few little quests you can do in certain chapters of the game which is a fun little distraction throwing a bunch of little minibosses in the mix. They aren't the greatest bits but they aren't bad. One quest near the end made me die laughing due that dance animation. It reminds me a bit of the Trails in the Sky series which the first games kind of were like that but some of the later games made some fantastic sidequests. They aren't really dealbreakers, but they are a fun distraction adding to the game time. Except the cat quest. That last cat can go die in a whole even to Wedge's disapproval.

 

Another thing that may come as a surprise is the characters. They really fleshed out all of them. I was surprised at how on point Cloud and Barret were to the original despite more or less having an entirely new script. I mean they toned down Barret's swearing but that was due to poor translation (or the translators were trying to be funny). I remember Tifa being very annoying in the original at first but she felt fine in this one. And Aerith is no longer a flat as hell character and actually has personality. And on top of that they added actually story and personality to the Avalanche crew. And on top of that they added a number of new characters who I honestly really liked. I also had no idea that Jesse was actually a girl until this game. Yes, I know it's Jessie now but...that should really tell you something.

 

The real treasure is the sheer amount of dialogue which is all voice acted. You don't talk to NPCs for example and just listen to what they're saying. And their convos change as you progress the plot. It's really cool just to see what they are saying wondering around. Then there's all of this random dialogue put in while running around they really didn't have to put in. If you go the wrong way in one of the early chapters you can keep walking that way for a long time and your other party member keeps mentioning it until you are forced to go the other way. It's so nice and that little extra cherry on top that makes wondering around fun. If it weren't for this, it'd make the linear paths kind of boring.

 

Story (Main Scenario)

 

Now we get to that part. I know I've been hyping up something that isn't that big of a deal but I want to make something clear that will explain everything beyond:

 

Final Fantasy VII Remake is not Final Fantasy VII

 

And now you understand the controversy. I can't say much without spoiling anything but I'm not sure how much I can recommend playing this game before playing the original. I know, that's an odd thing to do about playing an outdated game which has the same exact story. If you played the original, you know what the story is in the new one...for the most part. They just added a lot of extras to many of the scenes. The original Midgard storyline was my favorite part of the original game so it was pretty obvious I was going to like this one as well. And now take heed as the rest of this contains major, major spoilers to both the old and new but I really think it needs to be said

 

Spoiler

This is not FFVII. I'm positive this is the sequel to FFVII. I'm going to leave most of the theory crafting out of this but I really do feel I need to explain this as it's really made a lot of people upset. And no, Nomura actually isn't off his rocker when doing it. First, we have to start at the end. FFVII is a game left to heavy interpretation as we see the heroes try to escape and then Red with his children looking at a deserted Midgar. That's it. And that ending felt very unsatisfying imo. And there's also the debate if Advent Children is canon but again, theory crafting.

 

FFVII Remake is a cleverly named title as it about remaking the world. Or in other words, doing things differently. The differences in the timeline become apparent the moment Cloud starts getting headaches and the one winged angel makes his appearance in the second chapter. The game drops a lot of hints that this most likely is the FFVII Sephiroth. Him going back in time may seem like absolute BS but...this is the game with an OP Time Magic that can destroy the world. And revive dead people twice. It's not really a stretch. And based on how the lifestream works it also isn't that much of a stretch that when a paradox occurs the planet would try correcting it. I might be the only person who actually liked that idea since we really only see one scene where the planet acts despite being alive. I get why puritans would absolutely hate it.

 

So the funny thing is that I actually have seen this concept used before (the number of similarities is hilarious even including being broken into parts) and early on it seemed meh but over time it actually really, really grew on me. I certainly understand that people are afraid of the unknown especially with thoughts that it could ruin a game that you once loved. Personally, I think it's a risk worth taking. Funny enough, I have my own theories what will happen but it still ends with "I have no idea how this is going to end." I feel like playing something new, yet nostalgic will be a fun experience and somehow I've latched back onto Nomura's wild ride after jumping ship with KH3. You truly can never escape but this time I'll gladly wait for it.

 

Conclusion

 

So if you couldn't tell, I absolutely hated the game and totally wasted 60 bucks to the greedy and evil Squenix people. But honestly, this has been one of the few games the minute I finished I wanted to go back and replay it all over again. Like I almost did. If I did scores, it'd be a 9/10. Is it flawless? Not even close. It's just from an entertainment standpoint I was stunned. It's between this an 9 which one is my favorite FF. The game I am reminded the most of playing this was The Last Story in which it really did everything I wished that game would've done. Except the lack of prank bananas. My life would be complete if I could watch Sephiroth slip on a banana peel.

 

Oh...I did remember something else. I'm gonna need a new hard drive since this one ate up the rest of my storage space. Never seen a PS4 game come with two discs until this one.

[Vinnie]

The remake was fantastic. Even much of the new content was truly appreciated. The original story wasn't as fleshed out as much as it should've been, so much of the added content really helped even the story out. I also admire the fact that the honey bee inn and the cross dressing section was kept.