Video Games Thoughts on the Final Fantasy VII Remake

[Blockinlick]

I am a big fan of Final Fantasy VII. I was 8 when it was released, 13 when I played it the first time, and by now I have played it through probably 15 times.

That said, FF7 being remade was a big deal to me. However, my cynicism towards the modern gaming industry has had me cautiously pessimistic about how it would likely turn out.

While I went into it knowing full well it wouldn't be the remake of my dreams, I at least had to give it a chance. I am currently about to start the second reactor mission, but I've seen enough to have a lot to say already.

Since I was following its development, I knew that the cinematics and graphics were going to blow me away, and they certainly do. The voice acting is also of good quality with good casting. Sadly, that is the end of the list of positive things I have to say about this game.

To sum it up, everything is different and nothing is the same. The music, the story, the back-stories, the dialogue, the continuity, events that take place, items, mechanics, user interface... no stone was left unturned.

This is not a remake. This is a completely different game that is merely wearing FF7 skin. Like that alien roach farmer in Men in Black.

Let me list all of the ways I hate this remake so far. (They are in no particular order)

#1. Battle System

The battle system was something I was ready to look past and embrace, but that doesn't mean I had to like it either.

While you can change up your stance, block stuff, and switch between characters, you pretty much just mash square otherwise.

Maybe some people find this system fun, but I hate it enough that I've resigned to stay on Cloud, stay in Punisher Mode until I need to close distance, and just mash square and spam limit breaks all day... and it still works. Either way, the thrill of the battle in this game is pretty much dead to me. I just want to finish up and continue to see how this awful bastardization of the story unfolds, like trying to push your sibling out of the way to observe the carnage of bad car wreck.

#2. Atmosphere

Of all of the things I had hoped they could capture despite my ill predictions, the "Feel" of the original was the biggest one. This requires the music to be on point, the game to take itself seriously, and the dialogue to be moving. It managed to fail in all of these regards. It may LOOK like FF7, but it doesn't FEEL like it in any way.

#3. Music

I don't take issue at all with the music being redone to a fitting quality, however, I DO take issue with how it was done.

Firstly, the music in FF7 was mood and atmosphere setting. It was part of the experience. In this remake, it feels more like background noise that really has little bearing on the feel or experience of the game.

Secondly, it's playing the wrong music at the wrong time half of the time. For instance, at no point should the world map theme play while in Midgar.

This is important because the music is there to help define characters, settings, and certain events. These things lose their charm and definition when their music is merely being used as random noise.

...and don't even get me started on what they did to the prelude and chocobo themes.

#4. Everything about Jesse

I don't mind the idea of fleshing out Jesse's character more, but the way it was done is appalling. Not to mention that the love triangle didn't need to become a love square.

They turned her into an eccentric annoying blabbermouth that salivates for Clouds phallus.

#5. The Specters

Talk about egregious deviation, these things are lame, cliche, remind you of dementors from Harry Potter, and worst of all, are completely unnecessary because they aren't a thing in FF7.

#6. Roche

Another awful unnecessary deviation is Roche, "tHe SpEeD dEmOn" with his stupid Joe Dirt mullet and "Straight Couger if he was an annoying eccentric corny jerk-off" personality.

Between Roche, the specters, and chasing cats in Sector 7, this feels like either a parody that isn't funny or a crappy fan-fic, rather than a remake.

#7. Navigating Sector 7 is a nightmare

To the point: Sector 7 is a damn labyrinth and the quest markers meant to help you are no help at all, which made chasing cats around the place even more infuriating.

#8 Open World probably isn't going to happen

Between the fact that they are not willing to leave anything be as it were and that the world map of the original would be quite an undertaking to re-imagine, I feel pretty certain that it won't be a thing in the next portion of the game.

The bliss of flying around the world in The Highwind will be gone and the game will be less for it.

To close, Final Fantasy VII Remake does look damn good, but it plays like a fever-dream. The cliche "turd wrapped in gold foil" applies here, except that it's more like a turd dressed like a Faberge.

 

[Mustafar Reginald]

I love the Final Fantasy VII Remake, so I'll add my two cents into all this. First thing I'll say, is I first played Final Fantasy VII like a couple months before the Remake came out. My main motivation for playing it was I didn't want to play Remake without proper context (and I always wanted to play it too). So I don't have the nostalgia you have, which is probably at least part of why I can enjoy it.

#1. Battle System

The battle system was something I was ready to look past and embrace, but that doesn't mean I had to like it either.

While you can change up your stance, block stuff, and switch between characters, you pretty much just mash square otherwise.

Maybe some people find this system fun, but I hate it enough that I've resigned to stay on Cloud, stay in Punisher Mode until I need to close distance, and just mash square and spam limit breaks all day... and it still works. Either way, the thrill of the battle in this game is pretty much dead to me. I just want to finish up and continue to see how this awful bastardization of the story unfolds, like trying to push your sibling out of the way to observe the carnage of bad car wreck.

Biggest disagree here, the battle system is one of those things I far prefer in the Remake. I suppose early encounters and regular battles you could easily get away with just mashing square, but that was definitely not something I could get away with for the latter boss battles or most of the Summon Fights. Partially because the AI partners are kinda garbage, but in a way I kinda liked having a reason to switch between multiple characters for some of the tougher encounters.

There's a chance this might just make later fights more frustrating for you, or maybe you would be able to beat all the challenges with your current strategy & I'm just terrible at video games, but for me the battle system is much more engaging than FFVII's. More difficult too, since main game at least, FFVII is a cakewalk.

I also love that every character plays differently, with their triangle attacks all having different mechanics to them essentially. Cloud's mode switching, Tifa being able to stack multiple attacks on her triangle, Barrett's big load, Aerith's charging. Helped kept variety. I also loved the leveling up system, how each weapon has a unique ability attached to it and by fulfilling a certain requirement with said weapon you gain that ability across all weapons. Admittedly I didn't use a lot of them after unlocking them but I just enjoyed having that mini-goal to work towards.

#2. Atmosphere

Of all of the things I had hoped they could capture despite my ill predictions, the "Feel" of the original was the biggest one. This requires the music to be on point, the game to take itself seriously, and the dialogue to be moving. It managed to fail in all of these regards. It may LOOK like FF7, but it doesn't FEEL like it in any way.

Don't think there was any chance it was every going to be capable of capturing the feel of the original, especially for those who grew up with it. I do agree that the original probably had stronger atmosphere though, I would disagree that the dialogue failed. For me, the dialogue & characterization are the other elements of the Remake I prefer to the original.

Unless I'm blanking on the plot order, you wouldn't have gotten to most of the examples I'd point to, which are all pretty much Aerith & Cloud scenes. I don't feel like FFVII truly starts until Aerith's proper introduction, in both the original & the Remake. And most of my favourite moments in the game are just dialogue exchanges between Aerith & Cloud.

#3. Music

I don't take issue at all with the music being redone to a fitting quality, however, I DO take issue with how it was done.

Firstly, the music in FF7 was mood and atmosphere setting. It was part of the experience. In this remake, it feels more like background noise that really has little bearing on the feel or experience of the game.

Secondly, it's playing the wrong music at the wrong time half of the time. For instance, at no point should the world map theme play while in Midgar.

This is important because the music is there to help define characters, settings, and certain events. These things lose their charm and definition when their music is merely being used as random noise.

...and don't even get me started on what they did to the prelude and chocobo themes.

Actually, lowkey agree with you. I don't really mind the world map theme playing in Midgar or any of the the new renditions of the classic songs (I actually think many of them are great, though not necessarily better than the original). However, I do agree that the original 100% utilized it's soundtrack better and that in the remake it often comes across as background noise.

#4. Everything about Jesse

I don't mind the idea of fleshing out Jesse's character more, but the way it was done is appalling. Not to mention that the love triangle didn't need to become a love square.

They turned her into an eccentric annoying blabbermouth that salivates for Clouds phallus.

Eh, found most of that amusing myself but I could see her being annoying.

#5. The Specters

Talk about egregious deviation, these things are lame, cliche, remind you of dementors from Harry Potter, and worst of all, are completely unnecessary because they aren't a thing in FF7.

Sort of agree but I do end up liking what the whispers represent for the future of the Remake series.

#6. Roche

Another awful unnecessary deviation is Roche, "tHe SpEeD dEmOn" with his stupid Joe Dirt mullet and "Straight Couger if he was an annoying eccentric corny jerk-off" personality.

Between Roche, the specters, and chasing cats in Sector 7, this feels like either a parody that isn't funny or a crappy fan-fic, rather than a remake.

Yeah, Roche sucks. Probably my least favourite addition in the Remake, although I do at least like playing the mini-bike segments more than I did in the original.

I will say now though that they probably should've been more transparent that FFVII Remake isn't a Remake, it is it's own thing based around the original game, Remake is an intentionally misnomer. I personally sort of appreciate the decision to bury the lede since that shift in my expectation made me more interesting in the direction of future games. Because, FFVII is readily available on almost every platform, I didn't really need a remake since the original's still great.

But for others with more nostalgia around FFVII, promoting it as a Remake is only setting them up for disappointment.

#7. Navigating Sector 7 is a nightmare

To the point: Sector 7 is a damn labyrinth and the quest markers meant to help you are no help at all, which made chasing cats around the place even more infuriating.

Another thing I'd agree with. This is true for a few of the levels, I'd often just look at the blue mini-map to navigate to certain areas lol. That worked fine for me.

#8 Open World probably isn't going to happen

Between the fact that they are not willing to leave anything be as it were and that the world map of the original would be quite an undertaking to re-imagine, I feel pretty certain that it won't be a thing in the next portion of the game.

The bliss of flying around the world in The Highwind will be gone and the game will be less for it.

I mean maybe? I don't want to judge the future entries until we know for sure that they open world won't be included. I could see it going either way to be honest, though I would suspect the chapter based level system of Remake is more likely to carry through. But who knows.

Ultimately, I love both FFVII & Remake for different reasons. Battle System & Characterization are the main areas I prefer the Remake (and also graphically, but that's not a fair fight), whereas most other points I'd give to the original. Though the two areas where the Remake wins for me are the two most important elements for me, so the two games are pretty close to me, though I do probably prefer the original.

*Edit*

Forgot to mention, the one thing about the battle system I like much more in the original is limit breaks. I was surprised to read you spam limit breaks, I barely ever got to use them. The fact that the limit gauge resets after each battle rather than carries over in the original meant I almost never built it up. And when I did build it up, for whatever reason, activating the limit break doesn't pause the action or the lock the opponent in place. I've activated it right in front of people but by the time my character actually attacks with it, the enemy had already walked away. It's infuriating.

 

[Blockinlick]

I love the Final Fantasy VII Remake, so I'll add my two cents into all this. First thing I'll say, is I first played Final Fantasy VII like a couple months before the Remake came out. My main motivation for playing it was I didn't want to play Remake without proper context (and I always wanted to play it too). So I don't have the nostalgia you have, which is probably at least part of why I can enjoy it.



Biggest disagree here, the battle system is one of those things I far prefer in the Remake. I suppose early encounters and regular battles you could easily get away with just mashing square, but that was definitely not something I could get away with for the latter boss battles or most of the Summon Fights. Partially because the AI partners are kinda garbage, but in a way I kinda liked having a reason to switch between multiple characters for some of the tougher encounters.

There's a chance this might just make later fights more frustrating for you, or maybe you would be able to beat all the challenges with your current strategy & I'm just terrible at video games, but for me the battle system is much more engaging than FFVII's. More difficult too, since main game at least, FFVII is a cakewalk.

I also love that every character plays differently, with their triangle attacks all having different mechanics to them essentially. Cloud's mode switching, Tifa being able to stack multiple attacks on her triangle, Barrett's big load, Aerith's charging. Helped kept variety. I also loved the leveling up system, how each weapon has a unique ability attached to it and by fulfilling a certain requirement with said weapon you gain that ability across all weapons. Admittedly I didn't use a lot of them after unlocking them but I just enjoyed having that mini-goal to work towards.



Don't think there was any chance it was every going to be capable of capturing the feel of the original, especially for those who grew up with it. I do agree that the original probably had stronger atmosphere though, I would disagree that the dialogue failed. For me, the dialogue & characterization are the other elements of the Remake I prefer to the original.

Unless I'm blanking on the plot order, you wouldn't have gotten to most of the examples I'd point to, which are all pretty much Aerith & Cloud scenes. I don't feel like FFVII truly starts until Aerith's proper introduction, in both the original & the Remake. And most of my favourite moments in the game are just dialogue exchanges between Aerith & Cloud.



Actually, lowkey agree with you. I don't really mind the world map theme playing in Midgar or any of the the new renditions of the classic songs (I actually think many of them are great, though not necessarily better than the original). However, I do agree that the original 100% utilized it's soundtrack better and that in the remake it often comes across as background noise.




Eh, found most of that amusing myself but I could see her being annoying.



Sort of agree but I do end up liking what the whispers represent for the future of the Remake series.



Yeah, Roche sucks. Probably my least favourite addition in the Remake, although I do at least like playing the mini-bike segments more than I did in the original.

I will say now though that they probably should've been more transparent that FFVII Remake isn't a Remake, it is it's own thing based around the original game, Remake is an intentionally misnomer. I personally sort of appreciate the decision to bury the lede since that shift in my expectation made me more interesting in the direction of future games. Because, FFVII is readily available on almost every platform, I didn't really need a remake since the original's still great.

But for others with more nostalgia around FFVII, promoting it as a Remake is only setting them up for disappointment.



Another thing I'd agree with. This is true for a few of the levels, I'd often just look at the blue mini-map to navigate to certain areas lol. That worked fine for me.



I mean maybe? I don't want to judge the future entries until we know for sure that they open world won't be included. I could see it going either way to be honest, though I would suspect the chapter based level system of Remake is more likely to carry through. But who knows.

Ultimately, I love both FFVII & Remake for different reasons. Battle System & Characterization are the main areas I prefer the Remake (and also graphically, but that's not a fair fight), whereas most other points I'd give to the original. Though the two areas where the Remake wins for me are the two most important elements for me, so the two games are pretty close to me, though I do probably prefer the original.

*Edit*

Forgot to mention, the one thing about the battle system I like much more in the original is limit breaks. I was surprised to read you spam limit breaks, I barely ever got to use them. The fact that the limit gauge resets after each battle rather than carries over in the original meant I almost never built it up. And when I did build it up, for whatever reason, activating the limit break doesn't pause the action or the lock the opponent in place. I've activated it right in front of people but by the time my character actually attacks with it, the enemy had already walked away. It's infuriating.

I'm warming up to the battle system a little.

I still ignore Cloud Clouds operator mode and stay in Punisher, but the second reactor mission forced me to utilize Barret, because Cloud was useless against certain enemies.

Aeris (Yes Aeris) has me using her as well, because after getting a Magnify (All) materia and pairing it with Heal (Restore) materia, she became a heal-bot lol

Cloud was also useless against Hell House.

I may also be playing a lower difficulty than you. I wanted to focus on the story and plot, so I chose an easier difficulty.

When I said "spam limit breaks", I meant more that I was hitting them every time I got them. During the fight with Rude, I only got one limit break because it wrecked him for like 35% of his health.

I haven't really missed a limit break though. Cross-Slash seems to lock on. Maybe I just aim & time it well, or maybe the higher difficulty removes a lock on feature. Hard to tell.

As for the original being fine as it is, I disagree. I get annoyed by that logic.

Games from the 90's were incredible as far as story, mechanics, and gameplay go, but the graphics were trash. It's not unreasonable to pine for one to be better realized with todays graphical capabilities.

People who diametrically oppose me (Mostly younger generation) would suggest that people like me have a case of entitlement, and while it may be true for some, it's not the case for me.

I merely just want two things:

1. To re-experience the game I love in modern graphics.

2. For younger people to get to experience something akin to what I did when I was a kid and love the same game I did.

But the sad truth is that older games aren't being remastered and re-made for those reasons. They are being made because they are easy money and low risk/high reward.

So you have FF7R which was marketed to appeal to both new and old players, but it ended up just being made for the newer players, because at the end if the day, that's where the long-term money is.

I'd be just fine if it were a 50/50, where half the game was aimed at newer players and half the game was aimed to satisfy fans of the original, but that's far from what we got.

They tried so hard not to be this guy

And ended up looking like this guy (To people like me)

The point is that they missed the sweet spot somewhere in the middle by a long shot.

 

[Mustafar Reginald]

I'm warming up to the battle system a little.

I still ignore Cloud Clouds operator mode and stay in Punisher, but the second reactor mission forced me to utilize Barret, because Cloud was useless against certain enemies.

Aeris (Yes Aeris) has me using her as well, because after getting a Magnify (All) materia and pairing it with Heal (Restore) materia, she became a heal-bot lol

Cloud was also useless against Hell House.

I may also be playing a lower difficulty than you. I wanted to focus on the story and plot, so I chose an easier difficulty.

When I said "spam limit breaks", I meant more that I was hitting them every time I got them. During the fight with Rude, I only got one limit break because it wrecked him for like 35% of his health.

I haven't really missed a limit break though. Cross-Slash seems to lock on. Maybe I just aim & time it well, or maybe the higher difficulty removes a lock on feature. Hard to tell.

Well, glad to hear you're at least coming around on the battle system, if you're going to go through the whole game you should at least like something besides the graphics. I loved that Hell House fight btw, that was one of my favourite enemies in the original game and I was really hoping they'd find a way to keep it in the Remake. Transforming it into an epic boss made me ecstatic.

And ah, that makes sense. I chose Normal Difficulty which I believe was the hardest when you start the game (I've since tried a few levels on Hard, they get rid of your ability to use items at all, I don't think I'll ever be good enough to do that). I do recall reading a reviewer saying that easy mode was too easy and normal mode was too hard.

Classic mode might have a lock on since I know that automates a lot of the combat but I would assume Easy mode doesn't. Honestly you're probably just better at timing/aiming them than I am. In my defense, I didn't get a lot of practice, since the limit gauge doesn't carry over. Still my one gripe with the battle system.

As for the original being fine as it is, I disagree. I get annoyed by that logic.

Games from the 90's were incredible as far as story, mechanics, and gameplay go, but the graphics were trash. It's not unreasonable to pine for one to be better realized with todays graphical capabilities.

People who diametrically oppose me (Mostly younger generation) would suggest that people like me have a case of entitlement, and while it may be true for some, it's not the case for me.

I merely just want two things:

1. To re-experience the game I love in modern graphics.

2. For younger people to get to experience something akin to what I did when I was a kid and love the same game I did.

But the sad truth is that older games aren't being remastered and re-made for those reasons. They are being made because they are easy money and low risk/high reward.

So you have FF7R which was marketed to appeal to both new and old players, but it ended up just being made for the newer players, because at the end if the day, that's where the long-term money is.

It's definitely not unreasonable to want that and I do think Square made it easier to upset fans because they did market it as a Remake, and it's not. It's sort of like this weird pseudo-sequel to the FFVII more than a remake. To the point where I think if you don't know the original game on a level beyond cursory knowledge, the last chapter of the Remake will not work for you. So I don't entirely agree that it markets more to newer crowd because a lot of the plotting is meaningless without the context of the original (basically, everything with Sephiroth [which is poorly done] and a lot of the ending).

My point about the original is that I played the original for the first time last year, I loved it, and I don't feel like the graphics detracted from the experience. Well, except for this one screen in Sector 6 I got stuck on. Obviously the Remake looks better and I totally get wanting a faithful remake just with those graphics, but for me, the graphics did not dampen the experience I had with the original, and I think there's even a charm to them that I enjoyed. And presented the opportunity to just play that game again with better graphics or get a difference experience with the characters I grew to love, I'd take the latter option any day.

And to give Square credit, Final Fantasy VII Remake isn't exactly easy money. Obviously it's a sure thing that it's going to sell well based on brand recognition, but what you wanted would've definitely been the easier thing to develop, rather than having to craft all these new elements and basically commit to developing multiple games that are as long, if not longer than the original. Which, it actually took me longer to beat the Remake than the original. And they are definitely milking FFVII for long-term profits, but again, they are putting in way more work than they had to for a FF VII cash-in.

All this said though, are you aware of Ever Crisis? Cause it sounds like it'll be a lot closer to what you wanted from the Remake. Of course, it being mobile only & free-to-play isn't ideal, but I think it's cool that they doing their own weird thing with the Remake while also given what seems to be a proper remake of the original Final Fantasy VII as well.