Final Fantasy 7 (FF7) is a masterpiece. What makes it a masterpiece?
The combination of in-depth combat mechanics, a strong main scenario, great
character development and an incredible soundtrack to boot. FF7 is the physical
embodiment of when the stars align. Squaresoft had developed 6 mainline Final
Fantasy (FF) games prior to 7, but this is the incredible culmination of
everything they had learned from previous games as well as the fortuitous jump
to 3D with the Sony Playstation. That was 1997, now we sit in 2020 with Final
Fantasy 7 Remake (FF7R) finally being out. This review will remain spoiler free
for the Remake but may contain spoilers for the original game so tread
carefully if you wish to remain completely spoiler-free.
FF7R opens with a gorgeous cinematic that establishes this
game world of Midgar. FF7R is a multi-part series, positioned as a narrative
epic by Square that wishes to transcend the original game by telling a story
that goes beyond the scope of the original. As such, this particular game only
takes place in the oppressive and impressive city of Midgar. A city that is equal
parts impressive and eerie. A city that siphons the planets own life force to
power itself and provide quality of life for those who live on an upper plate.
However, under this plate are the slums; the oppressed and unfortunate. They
live in the shadow of the great city and this is where the social divide is very
literally felt within the city. Remake shows this much more than the original
game had – after the original games incredible opening mission, what was only
three screens to the next narrative scenario has been expanded into a whole
action set piece in the Remake that only serves to add more realism to the
overall narrative and fill in some of the blanks left by the original. The Remake
features a nostalgic story that maintains the general flow of the original game
with several changes sprinkled throughout. Time is taken to develop characters
further, showcasing their strengths and weaknesses to a point where they feel
like real people with real problems. In certain Chapters of the game, the world
opens up to a point and optional side quests become available, more on them
later, but from a narrative perspective these quests add to the lore of the
world and feature welcome surprise cameos from the extended universe created
within the “Compilation of FF7”. It should be noted that throughout the years,
the developers have been clear to say that although this is a Remake, it is so
in a very literal sense.
”REMAKE: To make (something) again or differently.”
This quote has to be understood before going into FF7R as if
you are expecting a faithful recreation, you may be surprised and caught off guard
by the expansion required to turn what was a 5-hour tutorial in the original
into a full 40hr FF experience. This is not a Remaster or any other term that
can be applied to a faithful recreation, this is something new. But that’s not
a bad thing, it provides context to narrative moments that the original missed
and provides new plot threads that are downright enthralling. By the end of my
39-hour experience with the game, I felt like one thing must be said, “Final
Fantasy is back.” After years of struggling to capture that FF feeling, they’ve
managed to return home to Midgar and recapture what a Final Fantasy should feel
like; with its engaging combat mechanics, deep characters and engaging story
with optional endgame, it truly feels more like a return to form than the supposed
franchise reboot that was Final Fantasy XV.
One of the biggest complaints in recent Final Fantasy
entries was that combat is either too convoluted or too easy. With FF XIII; its
combat system was confusing, clunky, unresponsive and frustrating. Unfortunately,
FF XIII was created as a trilogy, similar to FF7R, deserving of expansion which
was not received well from the fanbase as the original game suffered so poorly
that the sequels were reserved to patching up the issues raised in the first game
that stifled it’s push forward narratively. FF XV, thankfully, did not receive sequels
but it did receive a fair amount of DLC’s that aimed to fill in the narrative
holes and create new gameplay scenarios that pit the player in control of new
mechanics. One of the main things that FF is known for is having a varied cast
of characters that are interesting and have different gameplay roles, both FF
XV and FF XIII take control of casting characters away from the player and you
only control the main character from the respective games. This is a trend that
FF7R looked to buck as every character that is in the main circle is controllable,
from launch you can play as Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Aerith in spectacular fashion
by issuing commands from a menu or taking direct control of them at any time.
The original game featured turn-based combat that played out more like a chess
game, you would wait for a characters Active Time Battle (ATB) bar to fill and
then you could make a command to that character. FF7R decides to modernise the
combat by making everything play out in a real time action environment but make
no mistake, it is just as strategic and challenging as the original. ATB makes
a return in FF7R and characters can only use items, magic or special abilities
when their ATB bars are full. And how do they do that? By attacking, hack and
slashing provides a boost to the ATB that allows you to continue to offense.
Blocking also fills the ATB in tight situations where you may not be able to go
out on the offense. Returning from the original is also the Materia system,
which allows characters to equip certain spells and abilities that can be used
in and out of combat. Materia load-outs are vital to surviving some of the
hardest boss fights in the game, of which there are many. Command Materia returns
too, allowing for unique combinations of abilities and spells that work in
tandem, for example a Materia called “Elemental” will add a connected element
(be it fire, wind, ice or lightning) to your weapon, however if equipped to
your armour it would then provide added resistance to that element. This only
scratches the surface of command Materia as it remains a deep system that can
be experimented with to provide you with a gameplay advantage. Also providing a
player advantage is the “Stagger” system from FF XIII, applying certain attacks
to an enemy will disturb them and put them into a “Pressured” state, from here
continue the pressure and you have the possibility of Staggering the enemy and
providing incredible damage increases to the party. It’s incredibly satisfying
when you exploit a boss’ weakness to then Stagger them and deal some incredible
damage with Limit Breaks (mega-final attacks) or abilities.
Although the original game featured an expansive open world that
allowed you to traverse multiple locations, this Remake is set solely in Midgar
and lacks some of that openness that you may have expected. However in the
original game, Midgar serves as a narrative setup for the larger scenario and a
gameplay tutorial that gets you ready for the larger world. As such, FF7R is a
full scenario with a beginning, middle and end that doesn’t focus on open-ended
game design as the original Midgar also didn’t have this design. Overall, it
works incredibly well as environments are beautiful to look at and are
incredibly indicative of the original locations and are quite recognisable.
There are several chapters in the game that feature some side areas that you
can partake in side quests (called Odd Jobs in this particular game), although
they may not be the most interesting gameplay sequences in the world they
feature incredible character development and provide valuable exclusive rewards
that make it entirely worth it. One quest in particular features a small child
who has lost her cat friends, Cloud hilariously then has to find three lost
cats. This sounds incredibly stupid for the context of FF7 but Remake allows for
Cloud to shine in these silly quests as he questions what he is doing and provides
voice dialogue for his thought process. It’s a small reward sure, but it only
helps to achieve exactly what this Remake was set out to do and that’s provide more
time with the characters we love and further develop their personality traits.
FF7 is renowned for its incredible soundtrack that perfectly
encapsulates the emotions felt in the scenes they are found in. On original
Playstation hardware, there was no voice acting to be heard so the music had
fill that huge gap but in the Remake; every main character, side character and
even NPCs are full voice acted. This provides a slight conflict of design. You don’t
want the Remake to not feature the original soundtrack, however if the original
soundtrack is intact then it would serve to overpower the voice dialogue. The Remake
strides to create a middle ground that features old tracks remixed into
something that’s more akin to a modern soundtrack with multiple versions of
tracks that play out during any given scene. As such, many action scenes
throughout the game play the iconic battle theme as loud and as epic as
possible during battle scenarios but as Cloud and the party adventure throughout
the locations, you may hear that same theme but lower in volume and with less
instruments. This dynamism is exactly what the Remake needed when it came to re-creating
the feeling of the original game and the ambience that can be felt throughout
Midgar. It must be noted though that the voice direction is fantastic and with
an all-star cast, every character is brought to life in ways 1997 me could only
imagine. The only downside I can say here is that sound mixing can be a little
hit or miss with a lot scenes where the music does tend to drown out the
dialogue and without subtitles, I would not have been able to understand what
was said. Sound settings can be changed within the game but I imagine this is
something they will either patch into this game or perhaps look at a more
refined implementation for the future instalments.
In conclusion, FF7R is almost the masterpiece that the
original was. If you look at this game as a brand new product, disregard what
you know from the 1997 release and understand that this is a complete
re-imagining of the story and characters you will be completely blown away by
the scale and ambition on show here. The combat mechanics feel incredibly deep
and the game can be very challenging at points. With the improvements to the
narrative and character development, it’s hard to deny that the episodic nature
they have decided to re-create FF7 with is the right choice. Taking the time to
develop the characters further than before and taking the risks to push the
narrative further than the original could have possibly gone. If the Remakes
future titles keep this level of polish and creative freedom, it could easily
overshadow the original but as it stands, it walks a fine line and future instalments
will be the make-or-break here.
Final Score: 9/10
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