# Final Fantasy VII Remake - Review / Opinions

# Overview

First of all let me say that the game is really enjoyable. I'm someone who's only liked a handful of the Final Fantasy games and really didn't like 13 or 15 (Vanilla, haven't played the other version) and this game's combat and use of the ATB system with tactical mode is actually really good, in my opinion - though it does have huge flaws, as does the changes to the story.

I finished the game last night and the last 3 hours are incredibly polarising to someone who grew up with, and loved the FF7 "franchise / universe". I did have a lot of fun with the game though and still believe this is Square's best universe for interesting characters.

I'll break these down into two sections respectively and also include a list of what I did like.

# Gameplay cons:

- Lots of Invisible Walls preventing you from going to areas that should be fully traversable, even if barren of anything to do. Feels like laziness on Square's part.

- Spending an ATB charge or Limit Break seconds before a cutscene, mid battle, drains the respective bar and does not give it back or do the effect you wanted it to. If you hit a boss before it goes into an animation with a limit, you just lose your limit and their health goes to what it would be after the cutscene. If you're casting a spell as you get hit you lose a bar. Though this is "difficulty" - it's very artificial and feels like a flaw more than anything else. Besides this, the battle system is fine for what it is... most of the time.

- Perhaps allowing swappable weapons for a ATB charge (maybe even 2 full charges) might have been a good idea. There were times where I'd end up in an impromptu Air Enemy battle and Barret would be totally useless until his ATB bar filled up for magic due to having a Melee Weapon. (Only Cloud and Tifa can jump 200 feet into the air, and probably Red too if he was playable...)

- Removing "sprint" feature to force player to walk at a snail's pace in scenarios where it does not require it, to account for more loading or wanting to keep in alignment with an NPC's walk speed. It's very obvious when they're masking a loading plane in this game. The hardware it's on is really showing its age.

- Shinra Building feels very weak in comparison to the original. There's some aspects about it that are great, but the overall gameplay is very lacking compared to things you do in the original and the way it makes you feel. I've only taken one option (the stairs) so far and may do another play through... but I'm not sure if this choice even does anything to the interactions the characters have now.

- There's a section near the end of the game that feels like it just doesn't belong in this universe. Feels like it was ripped out of a failed experiment in another Final Fantasy game or an abstract taken from another fantasy series such as Harry Potter. It felt very jarring and different compared to the 30hours before it or so. It feels like it really does not belong. The whole section feels very repetitive and doesn't have a good flow structure to it at all, fighting these "bosses" feels very tiring without much fluidity and to be honest, did not impose much of a threat at all.

- No playable Red XIII, although, I knew this going in... it's still very sad to see especially because his animations seem good and there was certainly enough gameplay in the last sections after getting him to make him playable just for the fans to get a taste of what he would be like in Part 2.
- Although the upgrade cores are a cool concept if you really want to use the Buster Sword later, during your first playthrough of the game you most likely will not do this as you'll be spending major time playing the game to unlock the other abilities with the other weapons. I feel like they added this just for second playthroughs or chapter jumping to appease fans if they really want to use the Buster Sword.

- Barret's melee weapons still suck ass and the gameplay with them is not fun. Barret is not an agile character. Getting him to fluidly hit an enemy while ensuring that he doesn't lose thousands of HP, while being the tank for others, is not smooth at all compared to his fire arm gameplay. I swapped back to Big Bertha after unlocking all the abilities of the weapons I had (Scissor, Cannonball) due to this.

- The rhythm games for Squats and Pull-ups DO NOT have a quick restart option. If you mess up and know you can't win you will either wait the timer out to lose to be able to restart quickly, or sit through approximately 45 seconds worth of load screens, to talk to an NPC, to restart the challenge when this should have been a case of pressing Start then pressing Restart X Mini Game. This made doing the highest difficulty of Pull Ups very frustrating and made me want to give up doing the challenge as one mistake basically costs you the game. I beat the game by being 1 Pull Up ahead of the NPC, in the end, while making a mistake in the last 4 seconds. Thankfully, the AI also "failed" and gave me the win.

- Chadly reports seem buggy. Sometimes talking to him twice registers your findings and unlocking more, even if he's already pulled up the inventory for buying shit mere seconds before with missing equipment you now have access to.

- Some Materia options feel utterly pointless and won't be used by almost anyone, sadly or is obsoleted by much better materia. Prayer materia is the biggest example of this in my mind, where it is either obsoleted by Chakra or Auto Heal materia immediately.

- Sometimes, if you end up game overing, it doesn't really feel like it was your fault necessarily and some dumb things happen such as the AI gets pinned into a wall and gets mauled when they're the only character who has MP / ATB to heal the others.

- Switching between combat modes with Cloud feels a bit finicky sometimes and you need to press the button several times for Cloud to change stance if he is in any sort of animation loop. It does not buffer for the change of stance after the animation is complete. Perhaps if this was changed, I'd find the alternative more of a con, though...

# Gameplay pros

**This is a really short list, not in a bad way, because there isn't much to say besides the combat system and the core exploration):**

- Battle system is fun. Tactical mode is welcomed. Gives the player a moment to think in what is a really hectic on screen display in some battles.

- Tifa is extremely fun to play, as is Cloud.

- Aerith being useful is a welcome addition. The double cast ability she creates on the field adds a lot of value to her.

- Exploration, though not as much of Midgar as we all wanted to see, was enjoyable.

- Some side-quests were enjoyable.

- Lots of good, new, welcome bosses some of which are somewhat challenging also.

# Story cons:

- Flash forward glimpses in Sector 5 church scene after Cloud wakes up, of Holy falling into the water after Aerith dies was not necessary, at all at the time. Later, obviously, this makes sense why they were showing this... but it's still unnecessary at the stage of the game that they're showing it. Even with the alterations. Getting any real glimpse of their future was extremely jarring and the filter effects on the scene made me pause and question for a split second if it was just abstracted from another FF7 source I didn't remember and injected into the game. (It's not, it's redone, but it looks pretty awful with the filters).

- Rosch only shows up in one (two if you count the bike thing as a separate sections even though it's 30 mins before the fight) in the game. I don't understand what the point of him being included was in this case. Maybe we'll see more of him in Part 2.

- Lots of unnecessary Whisper moments where they will carry an NPC or the main cast away from a given scenario that's happening. I don't see why this was really necessary in a lot of scenarios.
- The whispers knock Jessie down some stairs so she hurts her leg and Barret has no choice but to take Cloud on the 2nd bombing run.
- The whispers pull Cloud and Aerith into the back of the church away from Reno and the Shinra Troops.
- Whispers pull Hojo away after rescuing Aerith in a very... Disney like esc moment that really doesn't look like it belongs in FF7.
- Whispers cover Barret when Sephiroth stabs him, resulting in him being alive... Barret getting stabbed at all felt unnecessary and a cheap way of forcing him to not be in the party for the Jenova boss battle.
- Whispers pull Wedge out a window in Shinra HQ, resulting in Wedge reciting a line from the original game asking Cloud if he made a difference before going to his "Death" which is not shown. (It is left ambiguous if Wedge is dead and his death being removed until this point feels utterly pointless)
- Whispers hold up a tunnel in the express way preventing it from collapsing on the party. This would have been a lot cooler if the party had just narrowly escaped death... but instead, we're forced to listen to more "thanks for that ghostly beings! We owe you one!" moments.

- Dancing Minigame at the HoneyBee Inn is hard to swallow (though the gameplay isn't awful, it's the story element that is hard to digest) It's hard to picture Cloud doing this at all with how he is in the game at this point. One could argue the same for him dressing up, I guess, but it's a bit dumb.

- Wedge living to only "die" a stupid forced death by the Whispers to showcase how they're trying to preserve the original series of events while the party is trying to re-write the original series of events with their current actions, as is Sephiroth.

- We get a brief look at Cait Sith after Sector 7 collapse... there is no other mention of it in the game and no plot or character development of Reeve talking about observing the party with it. It's just there. Overlooking the explosion of Sector 7's collapse for an unnecessary nod to the fans to remind us that Cait Sith exists.

- No explanation as to how President Shinra was hanging off the side of the building. We didn't get to see it and he doesn't even explain how he got there. It's just implied Sephiroth (or the Whispers even, didn't think about this) did it.

- No palmer running around in a panic when Rufus arrives or when the president is eventually murdered.

- Too much shilling of Tifa and Cloud saving each other. Cloud saving Tifa on the plate and on the climb to Shinra HQ. Tifa saving Cloud after the Rufus fight where he almost falls 70 stories to his death after the Turks unnecessarily shoot out the scaffolding he's standing on as Rufus escapes.

- Rude pulling the chopper to the side to avoid Reno successfully shooting Tifa as she's running up the tower to Cloud in the Sector 7 collapse. Rude has never met Tifa at this point. Besides entirely physical attraction (like every male in this remake seems to have a hardon for her also), there is no reason why he, as a hardened Turk, would pull the helicopter away from killing Tifa at this stage. It's unnecessary and is just there as a nod to those of us who know that eventually, Rude falls in love with Tifa and won't hurt her. Even in the battle with Reno and Rude, Rude will only knock out Tifa and not directly assault her. Does Rude really have a blushing complex to busty women this much without knowing them at all that he can't hurt her at all? (It is a nice touch in some ways that he won't hurt her, for those that do know the original... but also forced in at this stage).

- Heidegger being at the front door to meet Barret / Red / Aerith and narrowly, centimetres away, from getting his face grinded off by Cloud's daytona's tires is stupid and is just there to showcase Cloud's inhuman capabilities more.

- Hojo spilling the beans to Cloud that he wasn't in Soldier feels far too early. Should have been left for Part 2. Feels like they did this to put new fans, who haven't played the original, into a "omg wtf?!?!" moment.

- The whole last chapter felt unneccesary. Whispers of fate alternative reality fight thing to change the course of Destiny. Felt like it was just Nomura trying to be like "yeah we're gonna change what happens in the original game's scripted fate scenes and there's nothing the fanbase can do about it" build up for Part 2 when they're going to drastically change some key events, clearly.

- Meteor being shown this early, although not Sephiroth's end goal this time around, feels bizarre as fuck.

- Biggs living after the final battle when "fate is altered". What the fuck? Why is Biggs alive and if he's alive why isn't Jessie alive if fate was altered this much?

- Zack surviving the Shinra Brigade showdown and limping to midgar after the battle with Cloud. No living legacy speech. Zack lives?? (he probably died later or the main element of Cloud taking on the bad cocky parts of Zack's personality, and, taking the Sword, doesn't make sense here)

- Party magically get over the walls of Midgar. Jump cut to the near future after the final battle. No real explanation as to what the fuck is going on.

# Story pros:

- Jessie backstory expansion was welcomed as was the character development for Wedge and Biggs. Makes their "deaths" feel very impactful later on and shows why Cloud would have been a little emotional at their passings. Especially Jessie.

- Reno and Rude character development is a very welcome addition. In the original we don't really get to learn much about the Turks. Seeing that Reno and Rude actually have a conscience and their involvements in the deaths of "some" of the Sector 7 people is nice.

- Rude executing the mission to drop the plate is a surprising twist but I'm also fine with it. Showing compassion for Reno and saving his ass off the Sector 7 plate into the chopper is also good for character development for his bond with Reno.

- Reno's asshole attitude towards Cloud and his one liners are great. Easily one of the best parts of the game.

- Cornero's creepiness is perfectly captured.

- The climb to Shinra HQ makes a lot more sense in the remake and is nowhere near as stupid as the original. Very welcome change.

- Showcasing the Shinra Directors more was needed to flesh out their importance. Especially Scarlette and Heidger. Welcome additions.

- Hojo's animations and voice work are great, captures how deranged he is.

- Good emotional moments between Tifa and Cloud after the Sector 7 plate collapse. Good character development bonding moments for Cloud to soften up and show he cares for the people around him.

- Barret's breakdown after the Sector 7 collapse was good and was very much anticipated for me. Very glad to have enjoyed seeing the emotion displayed by his voice actor. Very good job. (It's a shame this is negated a little by Wedge's survival, and, I guess, near the credits, Biggs survival also.)

- Cloud tripping out when Aerith says who Zack is on the slide in the park is a good touch. I'm glad this was in there to some degree. I feel like even mentioning Zack in the original should've triggered Cloud's skitz moments.

- Overall great expansion of some areas which were really lacking such as the Train Graveyard into hour and a half long sections instead of a quick 10 min screen.

# Miscellaneous Notes:
* Cloud's inner self talking to himself in the church, then also colliding with Sephiroth talking to him, feels super weird.
* I always kind of, post-game and looking back at it, thought it was Zack talking to him from the life stream keeping him going as his inner self is having massive identification issues right now and Zack was trying to help him get to the end of it all. I guess I was wrong...
* So... not really much of a con, but my poor interpretation of it? I would have been OK with Zack talking to him in here and there and just not showing his face or something for the new fans.

* Some camera angles in cutscenes and gameplay (when snapping / forced to look a certain way) are a bit jank. There's been a few times where the character camera was not perfectly aligned to the character model they're trying to show.
* This is mostly to do with bosses where the game does a poor job of refocusing during key moments at times resulting in the game trying to fit the boss in frame for a close up, but struggles to do so well sometimes.
* The camera work developers had a heavy emphasis of pointing the camera downwards when on Female characters to make them seem smaller than the male character models, even though, Cloud is about the same height as Aerith / Tifa or a little bit taller.
* Developers seemed to be very focused on showing the opposite for male characters, particularly Barret, where they showed upwards shots for him to make him look bigger. (He's already fucking huge compared to any other character in the game).
* Lots of Barret camera angles fixated for Guns only. No consideration for the melee weapons. This also goes for his dialogue.

* Ending FMV forces party to have base weaponry. Buster Sword, Gattling Gun, etc... CG'd cutscenes all do this in the game. This makes sense and one could argue it's in alignment with the original... but it is very jarring.

# Overall:
I think the game is really fun to play through at least once. I put 40 hours in. The weaker parts of the game are definitely from infiltrating Shinra HQ until the end.

This area... didn't really need to change this much for me at all for it to be enjoyable in remake... The only thing that obviously needed to change was the last "boss" for the arc if they were ending in Midgar... while this does change... it's... not what I wanted nor I expected...

I'd have been much more satisfied with just making a Sephiroth confrontation at the end of the express way and putting the Jenova battle there as the final boss and not in the President's room... Shoehorning in a Sephiroth fight into this game might eventually take away from the real Sephiroth fight in the distant future when they complete this franchises' remakes.

# Score:
8/10 - loses two points for some gameplay annoyances and Nomura's trip session story telling... I'm not sure what the fuck he's thinking but this is going to polarise the fanbase so much. Especially the Zack storyline changes.