Final Fantasy VII Remake

This is a game I was looking to playing for a long time, I was patiently waiting for a definitive Xbox port or something of the like but things were looking like Sony might have locked this one forever. So finally bit the bullet, decided to dust off my PS4 and signed up to PS+ to get access to the full game. Final Fantasy always has a special place in my heart, the original one being one of my first RPGs played circa 1990. The best ones are from the 16-bit era, but the PS1 games are also pretty much amazing, and definitely curious how revisiting this story and adapting to modern features would come out.

So here we are with the golden child FF7 getting a remake. Now like many gamers I'm getting tired of every game getting a remake and when most of the time it's just a nice new coat of painting and some QoL changes to make things more playable. However FF7R is not one like that, it's a real proper remake with everything changed from top to bottom outside of the main characters and the story. Well even the story is greatly expanded (my memory of some details of FF7 is a little blurry, because I played it about 23 years ago) and it's taken the first portion of the game and really stretching it to add more locations and stories. That's cool cause Midgar is very iconic and for it to get the grandiose treatment it's something really well deserved. Actually that's my main takeaway from the game is that the original has such great locations and then blowing them up like this but top of the line modern graphics is really well warranted and done with quite some excellence here.

The battle system is pretty ingenious and while initially I missed the classic turn based battles of the original, this one goes for a full blown 3D action RPG battle system however it pauses whenever you want to choose an ability of skill, giving you a best of both worlds between action and turn based. And these battles flow really well, perhaps the AI of your teammates could be a little bit more aggressive, but that does force you to switch between them to maximize their effectiveness. Just for the graphics and the battle system this game is an absolute winner from the start, the game is just a pure blast to play from watching the locations, the epic cutscenes or just the strong battles.

The game works on a "chapter" system which I do think has its fault (no backtracking to previous locations) and if you've missed something, well it's gone for that playthrough. That game however benefits from being linear like that, while they are some side quests for rewards in some chapters, you are mostly following the story straight and not getting lost into a big open world with endless tasks to do. Each chapter features a pretty unique portion of the storyline and while some are slower than others, the story is told in a very grandiose and epic way. There's a big Uncharted influence on the game in its presentation, like how you walk in dangerous locations and those James Bond-esque impossible cutscenes, kinda shows just how much that franchise has changed modern gaming like that. But works well in the context here, as Final Fantasies have always been pretty epic like that.

My main criticism is perhaps in the equipment and summons, I feel that these systems are extremely limited. The gear outside of weapons isn't very interesting and there's not much customization to do with any of your main characters when it comes to that ("armor" is essentially, magic defense, balanced, or defense) and the accessories have very minimal/minor impact. Weapons are cool and after you've used them for a while, you can carry on that ability for your next weapons. However with just a new weapon every 3-4 chapter, they don't really feel like it's anything you really have control of. The summons have been an essential part of Final Fantasy for a long time and here they are limited to boss fights only, and you can only summon one during the whole battle. I love how they are presented and all, but it would have been nice to be able to use them more than that. The materia system is nice as you can have any hero have the abilities they need but that's where decision making ends for the game.

However, all in all, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is an amazing game. The graphics are absolutely stunning and some of the best I've ever seen, Midgar is an amazing place and they really blew up to super high standards and made it come to life even more. They've pulled off a great battle system that even I as a an old school FF head was greatly satisfied with, and playing the game was really an amazing experience. While yes I've pointed out some of its limitations (no game is truly perfect), these are minor points in the grand scheme of things. I hope they can work on fixing some of them and making the sequel an even better game that this one was. As far as PS4 exclusives, this is as good as it gets and one of the essential games for the system.