Charming Characters
Wonderously Well-Wrought World
RPG Reborn

A Classic Reborn

Some context for this review. I never played the original Final Fantasy VII. I’ve heard mention of it for ages, and long heard of its vaunted status as one of the greatest games of all time. But I never did get my hands on it, so this remake stood out to me as a great opportunity to experience the story that resonated so well with so many.

I have to say, I really enjoyed the experience. I love a good story, and I love a good sci-fi story all the more. While I haven’t played the original, I did play Dragon Quest, so the gameplay was familiar and hit the right JRPG comfort food notes for me.

Beautiful Graphics Bring this Classic to a New Generation

The game is gorgeous. The characters are well designed and modelled, but the real star of the show for me was the world of Midgar. While the actual game play levels aren’t overwhelming or comparatively ambitious in terms of sized compared to some of the open world games we’ve seen in the past decade, Final Fantasy VII Remake does a really incredible job of using skyboxes. Detailed skyboxes always keep you grounded in Midgar, and give you a constant sense of the scale of this city, and keep the characters place in it firmly at the front of your cognition.

Really, hats off to the team that designed the skyboxes for this game, they really stood out to me as beautiful and doing the story world justice.

The Gameplay

The gameplay is a interesting update from traditional turn based RPGs. I may be dating myself, as this is one of the first real-time Final Fantasy games I have played. But the combat system was instantly recongizable, lending itself to the same strategies like managing health and magic points, but adding in some real-time movement and dodge mechanics that keep you engaged. I found that both a plus and a minus at times, as it felt a little harder to play while multitasking than a fully turn based rpg (but that’s more a matter of what setting and how much time you will have to play).

There are some points that seem like they are likely staying true to the map structure of the original and can feel like a bit of time drain. You’ll immediately notice a number of scenarios where to get a highlighted item, you will need to run back across an entire location map, or remember to return in a later chapter. I wish they had added an option to avoid that, as for someone looking to play through without missing out on items, it feels like padding that takes you away from the story and character interactions where the game really shines.

The Story

Final Fanatasy VII comes with a great cast of characters.

And I loved seeing some of the character’s like Barrett just chew the scenery with fully bought in cheesy lines.

The well fleshed out cast gives your adventure weight as you become invested in their stories. It makes the at times handwavy sci fi/ecological/fantasy plot more meaningful and engaging as you really want to see this colorful cast of characters succeed.

The Verdict

Final Fantasy VII Remake is a great experience, even for a newcomer like myself. With a graphical update worthy of a weighty story, and updated gameplay. The world and characters are captivating. Well worth a playthrough to be pulled in by Midgar and a great cast of characters that flesh out this sci-fi fantasy epic.