A seminal game remade with perfection
WHEN Final Fantasy VII first hit shelves some 23 years ago, the developers sought to capture our hearts with fanciful futuristic themes and anime tropes.
With Final Fantasy VII Remake, Square Enix seek to convince us that the world is real, or at the very least suspend belief in a way that no Final Fantasy game has ever achieved previously. Though Remake only zooms in on a few hours of gametime from the original, the experience doesn’t feel truncated in any way, with those few hours being fleshed out to a full no-expenses-spared forty-hour makeover, treating the characters and story with the attention that they wholly deserve.
Some remastered or remade games are clearly meant to pay fan service, but while the same could be said of FFVII Remake, it would be grossly unfair to suggest pandering as its ultimate goal. Remake is nothing short of an astounding achievement. Playing it is like reaching to take off the rose-tinted glasses and realising you never had them on in the first place. The game utterly reeks of a blank check being given to the developers and both new and old players have benefitted greatly for it.
Besides the obvious graphical improvements, the biggest change is easily in the combat. It would be an understatement to suggest that the developer’s decision to switch from classic RPG turn-based combat to what is essentially real-time fighting is a bold move. To remove a feature so classic and ingrained in the genre that it is borderline sacred is a serious statement of intent on Square Enix’s part.
This is the first time that combat in a Final Fantasy main series game doesn’t feel methodical and somewhat sluggish and the game feels more modern for it.
Though the gameplay feels more streamlined than that of the original version and is clearly a herculean effort of planning and execution, the real crowning achievement of FFVI Remake is the characters and the story. The developers have zoomed in on a portion of the original game, but they have also zoomed in on the characters motives and inner complexities on a deeply personal level.
The scope of Final Fantasy VII Remake is so huge that any amount of words about it will likely never be enough. If you were unlucky enough to miss out on this gaming staple the first time, then you must do yourself a favour and experience it this time round. A seminal game remade with perfection.