REVIEW | Final Fantasy VII Remake
Written by Michael Richardson
Published 23 June 2020
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All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Opinions expressed in this review are of the reviewer alone.
Game Copyright 2020 Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
PS4 Timed Exclusive Until April 10, 2021
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NOTE: Clicking the link to the Google Docs version (which is provided at the top of any post) provides a version with pictures and captions that enhance the review.
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Unbridled Strength
The soft cushion of a maroon carpet relaxes your feet as you press toward a gleaming yellow door. As you spin the knob clockwise, a feeling of disbelief enters your mind. How have I done it? Greeted by gallons of champagne on the other side by all of your bosses and team members, you realize that you have done it. You have directed one of the most successful games of all time, at the cost of a beloved friendship with a cherished developer. Nevertheless, it was all worth it. Your company is at the highest point in its history, with the knowledge that it can only get better. After all the sleepless nights of development, a game starring a spiky blond-haired protagonist and a carnival-like ensemble became a sensation all of its own. You earned it.
At least, that’s how I like to imagine Final Fantasy VII director Yoshinori Kitase’s reaction upon the shipment of his critically acclaimed role-playing game. Final Fantasy VII not only marked the rise in interest for role playing games in America, but was a technical and narrative accomplishment that is considered one of the greatest games ever made. Nearly two decades later, I don’t even want to imagine how Kitase and his team felt about remaking such a beloved experience. Afterall, how the heck do you improve upon such a classic? After seemingly millenniums in development, we have finally gotten our answer. Final Fantasy VII Remake is a creative triumph that surprised me at every turn with its visceral combat, intoxicating presentation, and mostly realized setting that allows the story of Cloud Strife to breathe in ways I could have never imagined. But for those who lack a sophisticated knowledge of the original game and its myriad spin offs, I do not believe the impact will be nearly as great.
For those who have yet to play the original game, I will keep this review spoiler free past Midgar, where the entirety of Remake takes place. Of course, I will also not spoil major narrative developments in Remake. I hope you will join me for the motorcycle ride.
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City Blues
The biggest question I had upon booting up Remake was whether the six-hour portion from the original game that took place in Midgar could be padded out to fit an entire game. Thankfully, Remake’s story is fleshed out enough that a vast majority of the time spent in Midgar feels worthwhile. Starting out, ex-SOLDIER Cloud Strike is enlisted by the anti-Shinra organization Avalanche to help in destroying Mako Reactor 1 - one of the eight reactors throughout the city that provide what is effectively electricity to Midgar’s populace - due to beliefs that Mako processing is weakening the planet. Predictably, Shinra puts a bounty on Avalanche following the attack and what unfolds are events that are taken largely beat for beat from the original game, aside from the introduction of a brand new menace that Cloud and co. must deal with. I was not a fan of Cloud in the original game, with his dull personality and cryptic development, so I was delightfully surprised to witness how well Remake highlights his various traits. Cloud is still as quiet as ever, but that works to his benefit due to new voice lines and subtle facial animations that exude personality. The way his dialogue evolves over time when speaking to Tifa, Barret, and Aerith is a sight to behold. The same goes for the supporting cast, such as Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, whose stories I similarly grew to appreciate due to their added development. I truly loved witnessing each character’s arch, and by making me feel for these characters Remake succeeds in what was the biggest fault of the original game.
Nevertheless, the star of the show here is Midgar itself. The bustling metropolis breathes in a way few other video locals have, with vibrant imagery and an uncomfortable atmosphere that sucked me into the world. The poorly lit Sector 7 slums stand in stark contrast to areas on the wealthy upper plate, giving me a greater motivation to listen to the many denizens and understand their struggles. However, with all the ways Remake fleshes out the story of the original, I was disappointed at the lack of time spent exploring areas on the upper plate. A large portion of the experience is spent in the slums, and being able to explore the upper plate would have gone a long way towards properly messaging Remake’s themes of social inequality while also providing a change of scenery.
Moreover, Remake’s story is far from masterful. There are several characters who feel completely arbitrary and undeserving of inevitable appearances in future installments, with one egregious example popping up at the finale. Frankly, it feels as though Square Enix tried to add more characters to the story just to spice things up when the source material was more than enough to work with. Even worse, these new faces highlight pacing issues in a game where hours go by between major boss fights - the visible focal point of the adventure. I found myself getting increasingly frustrated navigating through confusing labyrinths for minutes on end or conversing with a boring new character just to get to the next boss encounter, and trimming some context could have greatly helped the pacing. There is also something to be said for a project whose story really only appeals to long time fans of the series, which is good on one end by not having to spoon-feed fans information, but dumbfounding on another since many of Remake’s best moments are those that appeal to nostalgia alone. While it's hard to fault the developers for something like this, further elaboration on the source material could have invited more people to the series when that seems to be this game’s purpose, and made powerful story beats stand out all the greater.
Moreover, for all Remake’s story does right - and believe me, it does a lot with genuine reverence - I cannot shake the feeling that Square improperly set their priorities when crafting the narrative. Focusing solely on the main cast and important side characters would have likely concocted a much more focused, more personable story instead of coming up with a plethora of minor additions. Because when Remake takes the time to delve into Jessie’s backstory or Aerith’s unlawful childhood, it resonates on so many levels. Nevertheless, I am excited to see how Cloud’s story unfolds in future entries, and I cannot wait to see more interactions among the marvelous main cast.
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This Time, Everyone's In Charge
While stories on the whole remain the biggest motivator for me to finish role playing games, I have found that the rpgs that stay with me are those with cathartic, versatile combat. In what is by far its biggest departure from the original Final Fantasy VII, Remake ditches the active turn based battle system of yesteryear in favor of a combination of real-time and turn-based battling. Each character has two ATB (Active Time Battle) bars that can be filled up by performing basic attacks with a simple button press. Once these bars are filled, players can use them whenever they please to freeze time and select from one of a combatant’s many unique skills, which range from multiple sword slashes to area-specific augment magic. From the start, it's apparent that the challenge comes from learning when and where to unleash an attack, since certain skills heavily increase an enemy’s stagger gauge that when filled will temporarily render them immobile and susceptible to increased damage output.
Furthermore, I absolutely loved the ebb and flow of Remake’s combat. Not only is each character wholly unique but they are all incredibly fun, with the sheer adrenaline of Cloud’s massive sword swings even being comparable to Aerith’s barrage of methodical magic-based wand attacks. The ability to switch characters mid-battle opens up so many innovative gameplay opportunities with the ability to string combos together in ways never quite seen before in the Final Fantasy franchise, and I loved it when enemies forced me to switch characters, such as when an enemy released guard drones that I had to use Barret’s arm cannon to take down to then follow up with a focused shot to stagger the enemy and annihilate them with Cloud’s punisher mode. Cloud’s punisher mode is his unique ability, which changes up his playstyle on the fly to a more attack orientated monster less focused on movement, and each character has a unique ability that similarly adds complexity to combat that I adored. The new summon system is great as well, with these behemoths fighting alongside you in battle for a period of time until they unleash a devastating finishing attack.
While normal encounters are very engaging, they pale in comparison to Remake’s stupendous boss battles. Challenging but fair, imaginative while seldom tedious, and unwavering in their splendor, Remake includes some of the greatest boss fights I have encountered in a role playing game. A lot of this is due to how bosses have multiple phases that become much more intense and impressive the longer the fight goes on in ways that subvert expectations, requiring an astute awareness of character abilities to survive the next hit. My favorite bouts were those where I had to take advantage of the environment to succeed, such as the first encounter against the Scorpion Sentinel which required me to stand behind debris to defend against the guard’s massive laser. I looked forward to what each fight would bring, and was left with nothing but immense glee upon witnessing their incredible setpieces and ultimately tearing my foe to shreds. Thankfully, I feel as though players not familiar with Final Fantasy VII’s lore will still enjoy these battles. In truth, it was the boss fights that made me appreciate Remake’s battle system and the distinct direction it took, and I cannot wait to see how future installments take what was a five-minute, tedious fight from the original game into an incredible twenty-minute brawl.
Nevertheless, I still have issues with the combat, with my biggest gripe stemming from a lack of playable characters. There are only four playable characters, and while they are all very, very fun to play as, seeing their faces for hours on end gets tiresome, and the fact that you are limited to three characters at any given moment certainly doesn’t help by limiting strategic thinking. Bewilderingly, while he is a programmed attacker, Red XIII - a wolf-like creature you meet near the end of the game - is uncontrollable. I can understand not wanting to add him into the roster so late, but he would have been a welcome addition especially when the endgame is filled with bosses. Adding more Avalanche members as playable characters during specific chapters would have helped alleviate some repetition, even if they had limited movesets, and could have immersed me even further in the narrative. Also, while I still like the way skills are learned by spending time with a certain weapon, they are far too quick and simple to obtain. Requiring more time to be spent with a weapon to obtain a skill would have made these rewards feel more satisfying, and perhaps made me invest more augments into certain weapons.
Outside of battle, Cloud and co. traverse a three-dimensional open-linear world and partake in a variety of side quests, and while few stand out, they offer useful rewards such as gil or rare materia. I enjoyed exploring environments to find items or slash a couple of boxes with Cloud’s sword, and even found myself enjoying Remake’s plethora of mini-games. However, backtracking can be a chore with fast travel not opening up until much later in the game, and certain areas outstay their welcome with either tedious puzzles or confusing layouts. The compass at the top of the screen also does little to help when stuck in dense areas such as the slums, which left me traveling aimlessly for minutes on end trying to find where I needed to be, which was similarly frustrating. Moreover, while occasionally tedious to navigate, exploration within Remake’s various locales serves as a nice change of pace between combat encounters, helping to bolster the world’s identity through human interactions that push the story along. And when those combat encounters do occur they are some of the best in the genre, with thrilling, fast-paced action that only gets better over time.
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Simply Angelic
From the outset, Final Fantasy VII Remake strikes with visual splendor due to great texture work and superb lighting that transported me into Midgar. Voice acting is great across the board, with Briana White as Aerith particularly stealing the show, with her character just being a joy to converse with and all-around relatable. The little details that permeate the experience deserve special mention, such as subtle, easily missable character animations that are a terrific touch, and cool stop logos in Wall Market. It's very obvious Square Enix put a lot of time and effort into making each area stand out, and their hard work paid off, making it so I was rarely unaware of my surroundings. However, when several backgrounds appear to be a JPEG image, it's hard not to question the one-hundred gigabyte download, and those points blatantly needed some extra development to bring them up to par, hurting an otherwise great presentation. I would also be remiss not to send condolences to my PS4; Final Fantasy VII Remake seemingly pushed my console to the limit, resulting in the hardware occasionally chugging loudly. Performance ran at a largely unhindered thirty frames per second, but this is yet another instance where Square Enix did not appropriate enough time and resources into making Remake the best it could be.
As to be expected, the music in Remake is great. Perhaps unexpectedly, it's one of the best soundtracks in the entire series. Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki did a terrific job bringing justice to the original’s classic tunes, while also taking the liberty to add some new tracks. Each song expertly fits its respective area, and I even enjoyed the various traversal themes despite not remembering many from the original game. Moreover, the obvious highlight here are the boss themes, whose sweeping orchestral melodies crescendo as the battle goes on to the point where it became hard for me not to nod my head along to them. Remake’s composers ought to be immensely proud of the incredible work they have done, and I see many of the boss themes becoming series favorites that continue to be played years down the line.
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Verdict
Square Enix, you have done it: You have successfully remade one of the most influential games of all time and done so with such divine grace that it’s tough to look at Final Fantasy VII Remake as anything less than the complete package. The story of Cloud Strike has been wonderfully expanded upon with a likable supporting cast and jaw-dropping atmosphere that leaves me giddy for the next installment. The gameplay is one of the best in the genre, with addictive, satisfying combat that strikes a competent middle ground between modern real-time and classic turn-based encounters. To top it all off, the roaring soundtrack and whimsical art direction whisked me into the world of Midgar. For all its achievements, Remake’s struggled development cycle does show, with many useless narrative interactions, a baffling lack of playable characters, poor pacing, jarring area backgrounds, and occasionally frustrating traversal, that limits its place at the top of some of the best role playing games ever made, especially since it so blatantly caters to an existing audience. If you love Final Fantasy VII I would whole-heartedly recommend this game to you, and if you are unfamiliar with the original game or the series as a whole but willing to sacrifice the story’s impact for incredible gameplay I would similarly recommend it. Having finished it, I am now all in favor of Remake’s episodic structure if future installments are anything close to this game’s quality, and I am optimistic that the structure will improve. For now, Final Fantasy VII Remake can competently stand as one of the best modern rpgs I have played, and I cannot wait to see where the series goes next.
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