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Spoiler Alert!

This article contains spoilers to Final Fantasy VII Remake. Continue reading at your own risk.

Overview

I finally got around to playing through Final Fantasy VII Remake, and on the whole, it was a blast of an experience! I had never played the original before, so it has been great to finally have the chance to play this old, hugely popular classic. In this article, I will give my personal review of the game.

Review

Intro

The first thing I love about the game is the straight into the action approach they have taken with the Bombing Mission. Immediately introduced to the combat mechanics with the various tutorials makes for a great strategy to nail two birds with one stone.

To top it off, the first boss is a beast! The Scorpion Sentinel will put your skills to the test big time as it is no slouch. I thought it was quite a challenge to throw in so early into the game, but at the same time it hyped me up to continue playing.

The only tutorial I would have liked shown to me early in the game would have been an introduction to the various status ailments that can be inflicted upon the party. This information is readily available in the options menu. Still, I never bothered looking it up until late game, even though there were plenty of fights beforehand where my characters were getting hit with statuses I had no idea what they did – Sedative and difference between Berserk and Fury. 

Side Quests

There was a period for me in the early part of the game where the game got a little slow for me – I believe it was around chapters three and four, but after which, the game kept its stride well. The chapter three side quests, in particular, felt too elongated on my first play-through, but in hindsight, it was just me being a bit impatient and being too eager to progress the story.

They are called side quests for a reason!

The rest of the side quests in the later chapters felt fine to me, except for the one which required you to have levelled up various materia to progress it. That was frustrating, but fortunately, with a second play-through, I completed that one, as I failed it the first time around.

Story

The story itself is pretty good on the whole, but I think the game developers assume the player to have some background knowledge of the game. There were certain aspects that I felt lacked explanation, particularly why Sephiroth is an enemy to the planet.

He is claimed to be a war hero yet for some reason Cloud, and more so Aerith announces him as a threat that must be stopped. The reason is never truly provided, however, but perhaps this is something that will be eluded to further in the second instalment.

Overall though, the story is solid.  

Duration

Here, is one aspect where I feel the game falls a little short. In comparison to other Final Fantasy titles which I have played such as X and XII, the content here feels significantly lacking in contrast.

While the developers ended the game at a clean break, I can’t help but feel that clearly there is more that should have been included. It was a clean break, but it felt forced. You can tell in the original that the game was meant to progress without pause.

It is not all bad, however. The game introduces hard mode after the first completion, which offers better than expected replay value. A few cutscenes undergo changes (chapter 14 resolution) during subsequent runs, which at least prevent them from being exactly the same.

Characters

The characters are likeable, but the only thing I would say is that in comparison to other games I have played, I haven’t connected quite as deeply with this cast. Barret is hilarious, Cloud is a boss, Aerith is sweet (but also a troll), and Tifa is cute.

I am so glad they made the characters feel real at least, especially Aerith. I was afraid she was going to be some ‘perfect girl’ stereotype but was relieved when she let a swear word slip during the descent from the church, as well as the troll banter between her and Cloud. The father-daughter relationship moments between Barret and Marlene are beautiful.

A lot of funny moments with this cast which is great, but for some reason, I just didn’t feel as connected to them. Even the Avalanche members, who fade into the background as the story progresses, didn’t resonate with me too deeply. It was cool that they had some extra screen time, as I heard that the remake intended to flesh them out a bit more, in comparison to the original.

It is a solid cast of characters. However, it’s just that in comparison to games like Persona and Stella Glow, I didn’t grow as attached. In defence, however, games like Persona and Stella Glow have a built-in system which encourages you to spend time with the cast to level them up etc.

On another note, not exactly a gripe but more like the game trolling, is that on more than one occasion, a character will leave your party (I am looking at you Aerith!), a short cutscene will trigger, only for them to return to your party immediately after. Aerith, you are such a troll!

Combat

I am biased toward hack and slash combat systems, so this gets a big tick in my book. The original was turn-based, but I much prefer real-time combat, even though I am a fan of Pokemon. I also like how the game goes into ultra slow motion when accessing the command menu to keep an element of the turn-based strategy. 

The combat system is pretty intuitive to use, and before long, you will be casting multiple commands and switching characters to best suit the situation with ease.

The weapon levelling system is well done, I like how you can automate the level ups based on preference (balanced, defensive, and offensive) as this saved me a lot of time which would have been spent periodically going to the menu and manually assigning my SP to learn new skills. The only downside, which isn’t really a disadvantage is that I barely ever bothered checking what new skills my weapons acquired because I didn’t need to.

Even when fighting through the toughest combat challenge in the game, the chapter 17 simulator, it would have been damn useful if I had equipped some weapons with the reprieve ability to prevent myself from getting MegaFlared into oblivion. Bahamut is definitely the toughest fight, moreso than Pride and Joy.

The materia system is also great, and there is plenty of different materia that you can experiment with to create a battle style that best suits you or the battle that lies ahead. There are some super funky combinations you can use to create some insane damage output or defensive capabilities – again, it all comes down to play style preference.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack in this game is phenomenal! The battle themes are rocking good, and the softer themes provide a great contrast. I think I am going to have to do a project learning some of the Final Fantasy VII soundtracks on piano.

I currently know a fair few from Final Fantasy X as this was the very first Final Fantasy game I played, but times are changing, and it might be time to learn some stuff from Final Fantasy VII.

My favourite theme is Ascension which surprisingly is not a boss battle theme, but one of the many regular fight themes played throughout the game. That being said, Ascension usually plays against tough enemy setups.

It is my new study soundtrack, as well as a great song to work out to!

Graphics

The attention to detail is astounding.