Final Fantasy VII Remake

Final Fantasy VII Remake is nothing groundbreaking nor a game that will set new standards, but is at least the best Final Fantasy Square came up with after merging with Enix. Excellent source material aside, it's the first time in years the action RPG battle system is actually satisfying and the gameplay is well balanced. It's not as linear as XIII, yet not as dispersive and fragmented as XV. The city of Midgard has been beautifully recreated and expanded with high-detailed areas. It was also good to spend more time with the supporting characters which didn't get much attention in the original game. The main character models are superbly crafted, but sometimes clash with the low-resolution textures of the environmental elements around them. NPC's are a bit stiff, but at least you can tell them apart and engage in multiple dialogues with them.

Overall the pacing is pretty good, with the just-right amount of combat, a lot of dialogues and cutscenes, a decent amount of exploration, and some quick mini-games or different gameplay elements to spice things up. Narration, action, and exploration are well alternated throughout the 30-35 hours required to clear the game. Dungeons tend to be a bit too long and repetitive at times, but you will always want to find out what comes next. Subquests are far from being memorable or rewarding, but I wasn't bothered much as they are super quick and there is only a bunch of them.

The battle system merges action and tactical elements from past games. There is a lot of button mashing, dodging, and parrying, but unlike Final Fantasy XV, the game gives you the chance to suspend the action and take some time to plan your moves. Spells and special activities are easy to select, but have to be chosen with caution as each action, including the use of items, will cost one precious ATB point. For the first time, you can also swap between characters through battle instead of just giving orders to your teammates. Multi-character battle systems usually require sub-menus or tricky AI settings, but the interface is quick and intuitive. Switching between modes and characters makes the combat more dynamic and interesting, so that you won't get too bored during long dungeon sessions. Bosses and sub-bosses also offer a lot of epic battles like never before. It's sometimes hard to follow what's going on in a battle, though, as the camera moves pretty randomly and you will continuously need to fix it manually by tilting the right stick.

Character abilities and power-ups are managed through the upgrade of weapons and, like in the original game, the use of "materia."

The plot accurately follows the first quarter of the original Final Fantasy VII, while at the same time adding new locations and characters. There are some fillers and sections that felt unnecessary, but that's still nothing compared to the highly disposable quests of open-world games. Surely the original had much tighter pacing and visited many different locations in the same amount of time, but recreating all of them in one single game with a level of detail that is up to the modern standards would have been impossible.

The ending has been highly controversial, as it makes some risky choices that might have a significant impact on the plot of future installments. I am up for new things, but let's just hope any changes with the original story will be for the better, and not fanservice bullshit like in Kingdom Hearts. If they were planning on a reboot, they could have just marketed the game and such and change things from the beginning, without dealing with destiny and multiverse crap.