Final Fantasy VII is, without exaggeration, the defining title of my gaming experience. I have been excited about the prospect of a remake since the now infamous tech demo from E3 2005. Even after years of no confirmation, I was sure that it would happen someday. I cried when Final Fantasy VII Remake was announced at E3 2015. It’s no exaggeration to say this is the most emotionally invested I have ever been in a new video game. But, after all that build up, is there any way the final product can meet my expectations?
Before we dive too deep, it’s important to establish that Final Fantasy VII Remake isn’t what most people would assume when they see the word “remake”. Remake takes place exclusively in the city of Midgar, a location that only took up about the first ten hours of the PS1 original. Final Fantasy VII Remake doesn’t retell the story of those ten hours in exactly the same way, either. Numerous plot points and places have been tweaked and expanded upon, and the end result is a full-fledged RPG experience that took me just over forty hours to finish.
The biggest change, by far, is the implementation of a real-time battle system more typical of an action game than an RPG. Basic attacks and combos can be performed at any time, and those basic attacks fill a gauge that can be spent on stronger special attacks or magic spells. I found the system to be pretty fun and easy to use at first, but my appreciation for it grew as I was forced to find more intricate strategies later in the game. The materia system, which allows you to equip characters with magic spells, skills, and more, adds a layer of depth that can make or break a combat encounter. On the higher difficulty settings, materia becomes an essential part of combat preparation. If this action-oriented system isn’t your thing, there is a gameplay mode that automates the basic attacks, only requiring the player to choose special moves.
The thing that benefits most from Final Fantasy VII Remake’s expanded approach to Midgar is the characters. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie from in-game ecoterrorist group AVALANCHE are fully-realized characters with charming personalities and motivations, as opposed to throwaway side characters they were in the original game. Brand new characters are frequent, and more often than not they make the world of Midgar and its slums feel like real, lived-in places. Main characters have benefited, too, of course. Barret in particular feels like a much stronger character than the borderline stereotype he was in 1997.
Visually, Final Fantasy VII Remake is absolutely stunning. The characters are faithfully re-created and beautiful to look at, but the real stars of the show are the environments. Midgar and its slums look like a fully-realized city in a way the PS1 classic’s top-down perspective could never convey. The layout of the streets has changed, but every interior felt like stepping into a memory. There are some low-resolution textures scattered around, but they never distracted me from appreciating the visual spectacle on display. Final Fantasy VII Remake is one of, if not the best looking game available on the PlayStation 4.
Music has been a strength of the Final Fantasy franchise from the very beginning, and Final Fantasy VII Remake is no exception. The classic soundtrack from the original game has been lovingly recreated and the results can be absolutely breathtaking. Character and location themes are often used in different places or at different times compared to the original Final Fantasy VII, but these changes always brought about an emotional response from me. My sole musical issue is the brand new tracks don’t always live up to the lofty standards set by the remade themes.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is something we don’t get to see often from a “AAA” game, a labor of love. Most of the senior staff behind Remake are veterans from the PS1 original, including some who left Square Enix years before development began. Their passion is evident, and can be seen in nearly every aspect of Final Fantasy VII Remake’s design and execution. As a long-time fan of the original Final Fantasy VII, Remake surpassed my every expectation. New players may find some of the writing to be confusing, but I believe they can still get a lot of enjoyment out of the game. Final Fantasy VII Remake is one of the defining games of its generation, and I whole-heartedly recommend it.
5/5
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