Okay. This is going to be a long post but there are a lot of words I need to get out of my system...
It's no surprise to my followers that Final Fantasy VII is my favourite game of all time. I doubt there will ever be anything to knock it from that spot, too, as FF7 came into my life at the pivotal age of 11 years old – I was reaching the end of my childhood, entering adolescence and becoming the adult I am today.
When I finished FF7 for the first time, I remember feeling lost and alone. The characters and world I'd spent so much time with were gone, the story was finished and the music I'd fallen in love with had stopped playing. I didn't know what to do with myself apart from play it again, but I knew it wouldn't be the same as that first time, and I couldn't exactly keep replaying it the rest of my life.
Two things happened; the first being my introduction to anime. After completing FF7, I came across a music video animated by Studio 4°C (The Bluetones - 4 day weekend) and I realised it had a similar art style and theme. After some research, I learned that this was called anime and made in Japan, so I researched into it via the early internet. I stumbled across Sailor Moon, Tokimeki Memorial (which I still haven't played!) and even learnt about the sequel to FF7: Final Fantasy 8. Then Pokémon took over the planet and soon everyone knew was anime was, but it's obvious through my work and art style that Japanese animation has had a huge influence on me, and it started with FF7.
I first discovered FF7 through my brother, as his friend lent him a copy of the game for PC (yup, we played a pirated version...) and I sat to watch him play. However, my brother was busy studying for his exams at the time and didn't play as much as I wanted to. Eventually, I decided to start my own game and played it on his PC before he came home from college. I even roped in my best friend and we ended up defeating Sephiroth long before he did. Yet, despite all this, when I completed the game for the first time, I somehow felt like I had no-one to share it with – That no-one got it the same way I did. My brother didn't finish it for many years and my friend preferred The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, though I think the loneliness I felt also had something to do with my parents: I wanted them to experience this wonderful story which I found life-changing, but they don't play games at all. So, the second thing that happened once I completed FF7 was me literally praying that the creators make a movie of FF7. Everyone, even my parents, watches movies.
It's no surprise to my followers that Final Fantasy VII is my favourite game of all time. I doubt there will ever be anything to knock it from that spot, too, as FF7 came into my life at the pivotal age of 11 years old – I was reaching the end of my childhood, entering adolescence and becoming the adult I am today.
When I finished FF7 for the first time, I remember feeling lost and alone. The characters and world I'd spent so much time with were gone, the story was finished and the music I'd fallen in love with had stopped playing. I didn't know what to do with myself apart from play it again, but I knew it wouldn't be the same as that first time, and I couldn't exactly keep replaying it the rest of my life.
Two things happened; the first being my introduction to anime. After completing FF7, I came across a music video animated by Studio 4°C (The Bluetones - 4 day weekend) and I realised it had a similar art style and theme. After some research, I learned that this was called anime and made in Japan, so I researched into it via the early internet. I stumbled across Sailor Moon, Tokimeki Memorial (which I still haven't played!) and even learnt about the sequel to FF7: Final Fantasy 8. Then Pokémon took over the planet and soon everyone knew was anime was, but it's obvious through my work and art style that Japanese animation has had a huge influence on me, and it started with FF7.
I first discovered FF7 through my brother, as his friend lent him a copy of the game for PC (yup, we played a pirated version...) and I sat to watch him play. However, my brother was busy studying for his exams at the time and didn't play as much as I wanted to. Eventually, I decided to start my own game and played it on his PC before he came home from college. I even roped in my best friend and we ended up defeating Sephiroth long before he did. Yet, despite all this, when I completed the game for the first time, I somehow felt like I had no-one to share it with – That no-one got it the same way I did. My brother didn't finish it for many years and my friend preferred The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, though I think the loneliness I felt also had something to do with my parents: I wanted them to experience this wonderful story which I found life-changing, but they don't play games at all. So, the second thing that happened once I completed FF7 was me literally praying that the creators make a movie of FF7. Everyone, even my parents, watches movies.
I was surprisingly quite a religious kid.
Be careful what you wish for! As we know, Square did make a FF7 movie several years later. At first, I couldn't believe my wishes had come true, but when I finally watched it, I hated it. To me Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was style over substance, and although I enjoyed the music and seeing some of the characters in HD, I disliked the plot, "coolness" and how all the characters who'd died had somehow been brought back through flashbacks, reunions, the lifestream...whatever nonsense they could think of. (I recently read a brilliant article on how Advent Children undermines the theme of life, which is what FF7 is all about. You can read it here: https://goombastomp.com/advent-children-and-the-romanticization-of-final-fantasy-vii/). In my eyes, FF7 didn't need a sequel; It ended perfectly, and, like The Matrix, I decided to ignore it. However, upon starting the re-imagining of FF7 (FF7 Remake), I was left with mixed feelings. I hoped that, since the general consensus of Advent Children is now "bad", Square would not follow the same style with Remake as they did with AC, so I held onto this belief for the first 35 hours of the game, and then the ending happened.
I know many people reading this won't have finished the game yet, or even started it, so I will try my best to clearly mark spoilers in this post – both MINOR and MAJOR spoilers. MINOR ones will be discussing things like music, side-quests and new characters. However, MAJOR SPOILERS I recommend avoiding completely if you're a fan of FF7 and want to play Remake yourself. However, from now on I will be talking more about the original game and Advent Children, spoiling them completely as they have been out for many years now. You have been warned!
I know many people reading this won't have finished the game yet, or even started it, so I will try my best to clearly mark spoilers in this post – both MINOR and MAJOR spoilers. MINOR ones will be discussing things like music, side-quests and new characters. However, MAJOR SPOILERS I recommend avoiding completely if you're a fan of FF7 and want to play Remake yourself. However, from now on I will be talking more about the original game and Advent Children, spoiling them completely as they have been out for many years now. You have been warned!
Let's start by going back in time and remembering how Remake came to be. In 2005, Square teased a FF7 tech demo for PS3. It showed the game's opening cut-scene in stunning HD and the "fans" went wild. Cynical me, whilst enjoying seeing such a technical marvel, disliked what it meant. Soon, the "fans" were demanding a FF7 remake, stating how much it was needed because the original game was an ugly, convoluted, badly-translated mess. As someone who truly loves FF7, seeing this stuff hurt. I couldn't understand how "true fans" could say these things or even desire a remake, but I was very much in the minority loving FF7, warts and all.
One of my favourite things about the original is the blocky, chibi character models, yet it was clear from the tech demo that these would be the first thing to get axed. To me, this is a real shame because I believed a remake with Bravely Default-like character art would have worked much better. FF7's toy-like characters somehow work in a world where the protagonist is an amalgamation of his memories, his friend's, Jenova cells and his own weak will. Outlandish stories made sense in this world. The low-polygon models gave the player a sense of playing with dolls and, hence, were able to add their own interpretations to them. It also left room to focus more attention on the words, music and camera angles. I'm surprised even today at how certain shots and animations from the original succeed in expressing more emotion than Remake. I'm not convinced photo-realism is the best way to tell stories in video games.
Anyway, let's jump ahead 10 years to June 2015. It's E3 and Sony hosts its middle-of-the-night-UK-time conference. My boyfriend (now husband) and I caught up on the highlights the next morning. FYI he is a huge Shenmue fan.
One of my favourite things about the original is the blocky, chibi character models, yet it was clear from the tech demo that these would be the first thing to get axed. To me, this is a real shame because I believed a remake with Bravely Default-like character art would have worked much better. FF7's toy-like characters somehow work in a world where the protagonist is an amalgamation of his memories, his friend's, Jenova cells and his own weak will. Outlandish stories made sense in this world. The low-polygon models gave the player a sense of playing with dolls and, hence, were able to add their own interpretations to them. It also left room to focus more attention on the words, music and camera angles. I'm surprised even today at how certain shots and animations from the original succeed in expressing more emotion than Remake. I'm not convinced photo-realism is the best way to tell stories in video games.
Anyway, let's jump ahead 10 years to June 2015. It's E3 and Sony hosts its middle-of-the-night-UK-time conference. My boyfriend (now husband) and I caught up on the highlights the next morning. FYI he is a huge Shenmue fan.
I'll never forget how polar-opposite we were in that moment. He was overjoyed that Shenmue 3 was finally happening, whilst I was devastated FF7 was getting a remake. My fears had come true: The "fans" were getting what they want.
However, in the last couple of years leading up to Remake's release, Square Enix showed us trailers and promotional art of the game, and I can't deny that they gave me goosebumps. Nostalgia is a powerful force, especially now as the world feels so bleak – What I wouldn't give to be that carefree 11 year old again – So, I decided to give Remake a go. After all, I needed to play it for myself to be able to have an opinion on it.
FF7 Remake finally released on April 10th 2020, and I was there immediately. I vowed to work that day, but by lunchtime, I found myself back in Midgar, taking my very first steps in the reimagined world. For the first 30 minutes, I was in love: The music was great, the graphics were stunning, and I found myself walking around just staring at all the environmental detail. Pipes, crates and ladders have never been so interesting.
However, in the last couple of years leading up to Remake's release, Square Enix showed us trailers and promotional art of the game, and I can't deny that they gave me goosebumps. Nostalgia is a powerful force, especially now as the world feels so bleak – What I wouldn't give to be that carefree 11 year old again – So, I decided to give Remake a go. After all, I needed to play it for myself to be able to have an opinion on it.
FF7 Remake finally released on April 10th 2020, and I was there immediately. I vowed to work that day, but by lunchtime, I found myself back in Midgar, taking my very first steps in the reimagined world. For the first 30 minutes, I was in love: The music was great, the graphics were stunning, and I found myself walking around just staring at all the environmental detail. Pipes, crates and ladders have never been so interesting.
They're nice-looking pipes!
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Although, there were occasional texture loading issues, I wished there was a photo mode so much. I sincerely hope they add one soon, as I'd like to replay the game with Japanese voice-overs, taking many, many photographs.
Anyway, for my first play-through, I used English voice-overs and, at the start, I disliked almost every voice. In the original game, there is only text, so you add your own impression of the character's voice in your mind. To me, Cloud was always serious, cocky and occasionally hilarious. In Remake, he's as you'd expect if you'd watched Advent Children: Emo, lethargic and fed-up.
Although, there were occasional texture loading issues, I wished there was a photo mode so much. I sincerely hope they add one soon, as I'd like to replay the game with Japanese voice-overs, taking many, many photographs.
Anyway, for my first play-through, I used English voice-overs and, at the start, I disliked almost every voice. In the original game, there is only text, so you add your own impression of the character's voice in your mind. To me, Cloud was always serious, cocky and occasionally hilarious. In Remake, he's as you'd expect if you'd watched Advent Children: Emo, lethargic and fed-up.
Barret and Tifa seemed wrong, too, but after spending a few hours with them, they clicked for me. However, by then the party splits off and we meet Aerith, whose voice I again wasn't convinced by.
Worse than the voice-acting, though, is the iffy dialogue. I enjoyed the party chatting to each other throughout fights from time to time, but sometimes it went a little weird: Jokes fell flat, remarks were misread and I couldn't figure out if characters were being sarcastic or not. Barret said something said about Cloud being "1 year old" and I think it was meant to be a joke? Also, Barret's opening rant about saving the planet after the first mission felt awkward as hell, as this big scary dude, whose eyes you haven't even seen yet, is so angry that you think he's going to blast you into smithereens. This is something that didn't happen in the original, as Barret was a cute, chunky, lil' polygon man. Luckily, the dialogue improved as the game went on...Either that, or I got used to it.
When I play FF7, my squad is Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII. I love these characters the most and was excited to meet them in Remake. Sadly, I didn't like Tifa anywhere near as much as I did in the original. The general impression of her, I believe, is "she's a badass", but in Remake she is anxious, ruminating and often scared. Tifa has a big heart and this still came across, but the toughness she used to have – running a bar in the dodgy-looking slums – just isn't there. This is in part due to the slums themselves, which I'll discuss later. Now, I'm not saying Square Enix shouldn't have fleshed her out to have doubts or be more feminine or whatever, but it felt a little too far to me. I especially hated how she (and Jessie) couldn't talk without moving their whole bodies every time – Seriously, I'm surprised there haven't been memes made of this yet. Tifa's introduction was just weak, and Cloud's flashback to their childhood promise comes in randomly when he looks up at a building during a mission (?) instead of, like, you know...talking to Tifa herself. Remake does this kind of thing a lot – wanting to do something different from the original without considering why – and I really don't want to be that fan who disliked everything new, but most changes sucked. Many of the triggered memories, "headaches" and important story beats were too random and too frequent to be effective, too, and that's because Midgar is now a 40 hour game instead of 6-7 hours – Story gets padded over and over and over again.
Worse than the voice-acting, though, is the iffy dialogue. I enjoyed the party chatting to each other throughout fights from time to time, but sometimes it went a little weird: Jokes fell flat, remarks were misread and I couldn't figure out if characters were being sarcastic or not. Barret said something said about Cloud being "1 year old" and I think it was meant to be a joke? Also, Barret's opening rant about saving the planet after the first mission felt awkward as hell, as this big scary dude, whose eyes you haven't even seen yet, is so angry that you think he's going to blast you into smithereens. This is something that didn't happen in the original, as Barret was a cute, chunky, lil' polygon man. Luckily, the dialogue improved as the game went on...Either that, or I got used to it.
When I play FF7, my squad is Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII. I love these characters the most and was excited to meet them in Remake. Sadly, I didn't like Tifa anywhere near as much as I did in the original. The general impression of her, I believe, is "she's a badass", but in Remake she is anxious, ruminating and often scared. Tifa has a big heart and this still came across, but the toughness she used to have – running a bar in the dodgy-looking slums – just isn't there. This is in part due to the slums themselves, which I'll discuss later. Now, I'm not saying Square Enix shouldn't have fleshed her out to have doubts or be more feminine or whatever, but it felt a little too far to me. I especially hated how she (and Jessie) couldn't talk without moving their whole bodies every time – Seriously, I'm surprised there haven't been memes made of this yet. Tifa's introduction was just weak, and Cloud's flashback to their childhood promise comes in randomly when he looks up at a building during a mission (?) instead of, like, you know...talking to Tifa herself. Remake does this kind of thing a lot – wanting to do something different from the original without considering why – and I really don't want to be that fan who disliked everything new, but most changes sucked. Many of the triggered memories, "headaches" and important story beats were too random and too frequent to be effective, too, and that's because Midgar is now a 40 hour game instead of 6-7 hours – Story gets padded over and over and over again.
When Aerith shows up, I found myself warming to her surprisingly quickly and enjoyed her character a lot. In Advent Children, she appears like this perfect goddess, not the gutsy girl who grew up in the slums, but Remake gets her right and shows the impact she has on opening up Cloud's heart. It's difficult to consider Tifa as a love interest in Remake, as Cloud is so withdrawn from her...Plus Tifa herself seems more interested in Aerith anyway (spawning many Tifa x Aerith fan arts/ memes!).
I was about to write that there was no dating mechanics in Remake – Aerith gives you a flower, still, but you can't give it to Marlene – however, I just read that there was an "affection scene" after all. The reason it wasn't obvious was because you earn it not by making a series of visual-novel-like choices from the original game, but by how many side quests you do in each chapter. This random scene also appears outside Aerith's house as a dream-like haze, so my highest affection with Aerith didn't seem out of place here. Whilst having side-quests add to affection points may make sense in the grand scheme of things (do you help Tifa's slum friends or Aerith's slum friends?), it's likely the majority of players are going to do them all for experience and rewards. Which character they want to be closest to probably isn't on their minds – It certainly wasn't on mine. Again, I'd prefer visual-novel-like dialogue choices where you understand what's going on. Often, Remake replaces dialogue choices, hidden secrets and puzzles with combat instead.
The first side-quests open up when you reach the Sector 7 slums and the game becomes "open-world" (It even uses FF7's world map theme, ew). This is when Remake becomes your standard AAA affair, and instead of continuing with the story, you're now expected to break it up, kill some rodents and find lost kittens. This kind of thing always effects the pacing of a story, and it's no exception here. Luckily, I found these parts passed quickly as you're never overloaded by quests, but I still wonder what exactly they added, apart from perhaps a little purpose towards levelling up your party. Perhaps the intention was to get to know the slums better and understand how these people lived, but this didn't add anything. It's safe to say that players of the original game, even with only a few hours Midgar's slums, resented Shinra and the upper plate. It was clear just how gross the slums were, but instead of disgust, Remake focusses on pity. The old gritty slums under the rotting pizza are now brightly lit, airy little villages. Where it used to feel like a dangerous place, full of thugs, monsters and sick men living in pipes, Remake's slums are filled with kids and kittens. This isn't necessarily a bad change – you feel pity for the dwellers instead – though I'd argue if that's what they were trying to do, empathy would be better than pity. What did the developers want me to do with this pity? We were still going to plow ahead and blow up some reactors...Helping out folks in the slums isn't the goal of the game. Sadly, it didn't fuel my fire and only distracted me from the game's objective. It didn't even seem that bad to live in the slums....Until Shinra decides to drop a plate on you, that is.
SOME MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Or did they? Unlike FF7, where the plate instantly crashes down and kills everyone beneath it, Remake softens the blow with the plate only partially breaking down piece by piece. This gave the residents a chance to escape, and even Wedge made it out alive. Whilst a happier story, it lost the impact of just how cruel Shinra were in their ambitions to crush Avalanche...Though, again, showing hundreds of realistic humans getting crushed isn't quite the same as them being little toy people.
END OF MAJOR SPOILERS (FOR NOW), MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
There're options to play mini-games at this point, too. There are darts, squats, colosseum battles etc. though I found myself doing each of these only once, meaning I missed out on second limit breaks and collecting all the summons. For an open-world-like, AAA game, Remake is odd in that many mini-games cannot be returned to easily, if at all.
I did most of the side-quests, but wanted to press on with the story since the pacing was slow for me. Chadley, a Shinra Inc. intern, gives you battle intel missions to do, which I found difficult to focus on at first due to the battle system being quite challenging. He'd ask me to assess a certain number of monsters before I could progress further, but when my ATB bar filled so sparingly, I always used it to ensure I didn't die. Despite this, though, I actually enjoyed the battle system in Remake. It's not too different from FFXV's battle system, which was new to me at the time. It's fast-paced and action-packed, but left little skill apart from bashing X. Remake, however, requires you to plan ahead and ensure you use the correct moves. I played on normal difficulty, but I hear hard is a fun challenge which I'd like to try on my next play-through.
I read a quote somewhere, which said "Final Fantasy 7: Remake LOVES its boss battles" and that rang true throughout. There are boss battles after boss battles where there were no boss battles before. Whilst I don't mind these additions, I occasionally felt fed up when fights took nearly 30 minutes because I went in with the incorrect materia setup and only just scraped by. Luckily, if you fail, you can retry from before the fight and even change your loadout. (Please make a note of this, as I wanted to change my loadout with my fight with Reno and it nearly ended in tears as I selected "Retry from last checkpoint", which was actually in the previous chapter, well before the fight with Airbuster which took me many attempts to defeat!) Remake prioritises its new battle system over everything, and whilst enjoyable, I miss being sneaky or doing optional content that doesn't require killing things. Luckily, you can still run up the stairs in Shinra Headquarters,
As a lover of turn-based strategy games and side-scrolling beat-em ups, I found Remake's battle system like a mix of both of them, comparable to combat in the Yakuza games. It requires tactics and is satisfying yet tough, though I couldn't always act fast enough, especially when it came to dodging and blocking. I'd often switch between characters so I could get a breather from relentless, player-focused attacks. My typical squad of Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII was slowly becoming Cloud, Aerith and Barret, as the latter two are both long range, meaning I had the space required to think and assess the battlefield...and I needed that to win. It was also much easier to defeat enemies hanging on walls or flying around with Barret's gun or Aerith's magic. Close combat just lead to my characters dying over and over again.
Later in the game, boss battles became less enjoyable for me as I felt like I was never strong enough, and it seemed there were very few places to level up and grind. It's strange because I could have ran up and down the collapsed expressway if I wanted to gain some experience, and I did do that a couple of times, but because there was no after-battle summary screen of XP bars, GIL earnt, items found or even fanfare, I didn't feel like I got stronger. I missed feeling a little bit over-powered from time-to-time. Returning to earlier parts of the game never felt significantly easier as they always do in old FF titles. Cloud's sword seemed to constantly clash against metal, rather than cutting through it, and this reduced my enjoyment. Overall, the battle system is more fun than the original game, but it felt less balanced. I think enemies could have done with a little less HP and a little more recoil from your attacks. I loved fighting Hell House, though! Kudos to Square Enix for keeping this silliness in.
I was about to write that there was no dating mechanics in Remake – Aerith gives you a flower, still, but you can't give it to Marlene – however, I just read that there was an "affection scene" after all. The reason it wasn't obvious was because you earn it not by making a series of visual-novel-like choices from the original game, but by how many side quests you do in each chapter. This random scene also appears outside Aerith's house as a dream-like haze, so my highest affection with Aerith didn't seem out of place here. Whilst having side-quests add to affection points may make sense in the grand scheme of things (do you help Tifa's slum friends or Aerith's slum friends?), it's likely the majority of players are going to do them all for experience and rewards. Which character they want to be closest to probably isn't on their minds – It certainly wasn't on mine. Again, I'd prefer visual-novel-like dialogue choices where you understand what's going on. Often, Remake replaces dialogue choices, hidden secrets and puzzles with combat instead.
The first side-quests open up when you reach the Sector 7 slums and the game becomes "open-world" (It even uses FF7's world map theme, ew). This is when Remake becomes your standard AAA affair, and instead of continuing with the story, you're now expected to break it up, kill some rodents and find lost kittens. This kind of thing always effects the pacing of a story, and it's no exception here. Luckily, I found these parts passed quickly as you're never overloaded by quests, but I still wonder what exactly they added, apart from perhaps a little purpose towards levelling up your party. Perhaps the intention was to get to know the slums better and understand how these people lived, but this didn't add anything. It's safe to say that players of the original game, even with only a few hours Midgar's slums, resented Shinra and the upper plate. It was clear just how gross the slums were, but instead of disgust, Remake focusses on pity. The old gritty slums under the rotting pizza are now brightly lit, airy little villages. Where it used to feel like a dangerous place, full of thugs, monsters and sick men living in pipes, Remake's slums are filled with kids and kittens. This isn't necessarily a bad change – you feel pity for the dwellers instead – though I'd argue if that's what they were trying to do, empathy would be better than pity. What did the developers want me to do with this pity? We were still going to plow ahead and blow up some reactors...Helping out folks in the slums isn't the goal of the game. Sadly, it didn't fuel my fire and only distracted me from the game's objective. It didn't even seem that bad to live in the slums....Until Shinra decides to drop a plate on you, that is.
SOME MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Or did they? Unlike FF7, where the plate instantly crashes down and kills everyone beneath it, Remake softens the blow with the plate only partially breaking down piece by piece. This gave the residents a chance to escape, and even Wedge made it out alive. Whilst a happier story, it lost the impact of just how cruel Shinra were in their ambitions to crush Avalanche...Though, again, showing hundreds of realistic humans getting crushed isn't quite the same as them being little toy people.
END OF MAJOR SPOILERS (FOR NOW), MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
There're options to play mini-games at this point, too. There are darts, squats, colosseum battles etc. though I found myself doing each of these only once, meaning I missed out on second limit breaks and collecting all the summons. For an open-world-like, AAA game, Remake is odd in that many mini-games cannot be returned to easily, if at all.
I did most of the side-quests, but wanted to press on with the story since the pacing was slow for me. Chadley, a Shinra Inc. intern, gives you battle intel missions to do, which I found difficult to focus on at first due to the battle system being quite challenging. He'd ask me to assess a certain number of monsters before I could progress further, but when my ATB bar filled so sparingly, I always used it to ensure I didn't die. Despite this, though, I actually enjoyed the battle system in Remake. It's not too different from FFXV's battle system, which was new to me at the time. It's fast-paced and action-packed, but left little skill apart from bashing X. Remake, however, requires you to plan ahead and ensure you use the correct moves. I played on normal difficulty, but I hear hard is a fun challenge which I'd like to try on my next play-through.
I read a quote somewhere, which said "Final Fantasy 7: Remake LOVES its boss battles" and that rang true throughout. There are boss battles after boss battles where there were no boss battles before. Whilst I don't mind these additions, I occasionally felt fed up when fights took nearly 30 minutes because I went in with the incorrect materia setup and only just scraped by. Luckily, if you fail, you can retry from before the fight and even change your loadout. (Please make a note of this, as I wanted to change my loadout with my fight with Reno and it nearly ended in tears as I selected "Retry from last checkpoint", which was actually in the previous chapter, well before the fight with Airbuster which took me many attempts to defeat!) Remake prioritises its new battle system over everything, and whilst enjoyable, I miss being sneaky or doing optional content that doesn't require killing things. Luckily, you can still run up the stairs in Shinra Headquarters,
As a lover of turn-based strategy games and side-scrolling beat-em ups, I found Remake's battle system like a mix of both of them, comparable to combat in the Yakuza games. It requires tactics and is satisfying yet tough, though I couldn't always act fast enough, especially when it came to dodging and blocking. I'd often switch between characters so I could get a breather from relentless, player-focused attacks. My typical squad of Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII was slowly becoming Cloud, Aerith and Barret, as the latter two are both long range, meaning I had the space required to think and assess the battlefield...and I needed that to win. It was also much easier to defeat enemies hanging on walls or flying around with Barret's gun or Aerith's magic. Close combat just lead to my characters dying over and over again.
Later in the game, boss battles became less enjoyable for me as I felt like I was never strong enough, and it seemed there were very few places to level up and grind. It's strange because I could have ran up and down the collapsed expressway if I wanted to gain some experience, and I did do that a couple of times, but because there was no after-battle summary screen of XP bars, GIL earnt, items found or even fanfare, I didn't feel like I got stronger. I missed feeling a little bit over-powered from time-to-time. Returning to earlier parts of the game never felt significantly easier as they always do in old FF titles. Cloud's sword seemed to constantly clash against metal, rather than cutting through it, and this reduced my enjoyment. Overall, the battle system is more fun than the original game, but it felt less balanced. I think enemies could have done with a little less HP and a little more recoil from your attacks. I loved fighting Hell House, though! Kudos to Square Enix for keeping this silliness in.
Remake's music was generally beautiful and enjoyable, though old tracks were occasionally used in bizarre places that didn't quite work. I mentioned FF7's main theme in the Sector 7 slums, but another stand out was Wall Market's iconic theme removed and used as a battle theme. It made a banging tune, which I enjoyed tremendously, but I missed hearing it in Wall Market itself. Instead, it is replaced with a new repetitive track that I quickly grew tired of. Sometimes, themes were remixed with others, and whilst it sort of worked, it felt overblown and unnecessary at times. Jenova's battle theme, from near the end of the game, is incredible but the small addition of One-Winged Angel felt cheesy to me. There are also songs you can buy and play in jukeboxes around Midgar which contain new mixes of beloved songs from the original game. Remake also welcomed some great new songs (Hollow Skies and Midnight Rendezvous) and there is plenty of entertainment to be found in the soundtrack alone, as the entire OST is over 8 hours long, which is insane.
I've spoken about dialogue, characters, combat and music, so let's move onto the story. As with FF7, Remake starts with the opening bombing mission. This is where Cloud meets Avalanche and has his first "seizure". Once the squad is above ground, we spend some time on the plate and see what life is like up there. We meet Aerith, but things do not play out the same as they do in FF7: Sephiroth shows up, as do these black ghosts (which I'll call "dementors" for now) and I screamed "What the hell is this Harry Potter shit doing here?!" (FYI I like Harry Potter, but there's a time and place). Meeting Aerith was originally brief and seemingly insignificant, which was excellent because you didn't know her yet, though something about her seemed remarkable. Remake, however, deals with this and similar scenes with its prior knowledge i.e. Aerith is one of the most iconic video game characters ever so meeting her needs to be a big deal.
SOME MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
These approaches set you up for what Remake really is: a follow up to FF7, Advent Children and Crisis Core. Despite posing as a remake for the first 35 hours, hints of these changes – the dementors – are scattered all the way through, appearing where they shouldn't, and annoyingly pissing me off every time. It was only near the end of the game when I understood what they were about – when Red XIII tells you they're "whispers" – otherwise, I was just confused every time I saw them. It seems Square Enix missed the "show, don't tell" memo (though, I'd like to replay Remake to see if it was just me being dumb).
END OF MAJOR SPOILERS (FOR NOW), MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Many extra story beats were added in Remake. Before the second bombing mission, there's a motorcycle chase with the Avalanche gang, a run-in with a SOLDIER (who looks like he's straight out of Kingdom Hearts) and a cute meal shared with Jessie's family. I really enjoyed Biggs, Wedge and Jessie here and, considering how little time you spend with them in FF7, they did a great job fleshing them all out, even physically (hello Biggs). Jessie always had a crush on Cloud and in Remake they do not shy away from this fact. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed this as it expanded on the original.
SOME MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
These approaches set you up for what Remake really is: a follow up to FF7, Advent Children and Crisis Core. Despite posing as a remake for the first 35 hours, hints of these changes – the dementors – are scattered all the way through, appearing where they shouldn't, and annoyingly pissing me off every time. It was only near the end of the game when I understood what they were about – when Red XIII tells you they're "whispers" – otherwise, I was just confused every time I saw them. It seems Square Enix missed the "show, don't tell" memo (though, I'd like to replay Remake to see if it was just me being dumb).
END OF MAJOR SPOILERS (FOR NOW), MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Many extra story beats were added in Remake. Before the second bombing mission, there's a motorcycle chase with the Avalanche gang, a run-in with a SOLDIER (who looks like he's straight out of Kingdom Hearts) and a cute meal shared with Jessie's family. I really enjoyed Biggs, Wedge and Jessie here and, considering how little time you spend with them in FF7, they did a great job fleshing them all out, even physically (hello Biggs). Jessie always had a crush on Cloud and in Remake they do not shy away from this fact. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed this as it expanded on the original.
Can I just stay here?
Most of what I loved in Remake were these kind of expansions: When you meet Aerith, you pick flowers in her garden and deliver them to the local orphanage. When you sit in the play park outside Wall Market, you can actually slide down the slide. When you visit Wall Market, you can step into all the shops loved in the original, and they even have Moogle lucky cats! These moments filled me with joy and felt like a faithful adaptation of the original game, not Advent Children or Crisis Core. They even kept the humour and silliness of the original, particularly in Wall Market with the street thugs, Honey Bee Inn and suggestive massage scene. I could feel my icy shell begin to thaw out and I wanted to play more and more.
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However, Wall Market underwent many changes. I mentioned music and puzzles already, but the whole quest to dress Cloud up as a woman had changed significantly. Now, you need approval from three new characters who get to decide who is sent to Don Corneo's mansion to become his bride. You aren't left to figure out anything anymore, like how to source the dress and convince the dress-maker to go back into business. The Honeybee Inn is no longer optional, either. When you visit, the whole makeover is pretty much done for you. Then, you have to prove your worth in the new colosseum – yup, still more fighting. From screenshots and articles I'd seen about this part of the game, I thought it was going to be spectacular. Visually, I suppose it was; It was very reminiscent of Majima's cabaret club in Yakuza 0 (which I love) but other than a dancing mini-game you can never play again, there wasn't as much fun to be had here as I'd hoped.
Corneo's mansion itself didn't quite have the same impact it once did...Cloud and Aerith get gassed on entry for some reason, yet it changes nothing, though at this point, I can hear myself nit-picking! There was a funny moment where Tifa realises Cloud is in drag and he says "Nailed it, I know. Thank you. Moving on." and it seemed like the original game's Cloud was back! Afterwards, the group get dropped into the sewers and you spend many hours fighting your way out and through the train graveyard. This part was always a slog in the original game, but it's dragged out even more here. More strange story scenes are added, and the dementors show up again for unclear reasons.
Corneo's mansion itself didn't quite have the same impact it once did...Cloud and Aerith get gassed on entry for some reason, yet it changes nothing, though at this point, I can hear myself nit-picking! There was a funny moment where Tifa realises Cloud is in drag and he says "Nailed it, I know. Thank you. Moving on." and it seemed like the original game's Cloud was back! Afterwards, the group get dropped into the sewers and you spend many hours fighting your way out and through the train graveyard. This part was always a slog in the original game, but it's dragged out even more here. More strange story scenes are added, and the dementors show up again for unclear reasons.
Once out, we see the plate is going to be dropped above Sector 7. We rush to Avalanche's aid, and since we spent more time with them, their deaths were actually quite upsetting this time around...Although, not to sound heartless, but feeling sad for these guys wasn't really what FF7's story was about. Cloud simply does his job and shrugs death off at this stage of the original story. Only when Aerith dies, does he truly understand what loss is.
Anyway, Aerith gets taken away by the turks soon after and Cloud and Co want to rescue her. The momentum you feel during this stage in FF7 is fired with anger and passion. In Remake, you return to Don Corneo's sewers, fight the same boss again, spend time chasing its spawn all around the place, then hear a lame story about a new, boring, straight-outta-Kingdom Hearts character, full of cheesy tropes and adding absolutely nothing of value. It's here I started to dislike Remake again. It's the "Nomura" effect.
When you do eventually climb up to the plate, it's a fully fleshed out "dungeon" and takes plenty of time. Again, this added to the scale of Midgar and I didn't mind it, although, again, puzzles were replaced with combat.
Arriving at Shinra Headquarters feels pretty cool, although, as many hours had passed since Aerith was taken away, you have to try and remind yourself why you're there. Walking into the place, there is absolutely no-one around. The funny Barret moments of him running in, shooting and threatening everyone were gone. As I mentioned earlier, I can see why they decided to change this, but it didn't stop the HQ from feeling oddly empty.
I took the stairs to reach the top of the building and I'm so glad I did as the banter was hilarious. Barret acts like a little kid, and I found myself warming to him so much more by the end of it. Once at floor 60, there are a few keycard puzzles, though way less than the original game. There was no sneaking around the air vents to win rare items or library mini-games. However, we got given a Shinra tour and learnt all about the company instead. It was nice to see their cars, advertisements and mission objectives in a little more detail. My favourite part was the 4D cinema experience where Shinra introduces the ancients and the promised land...It was making me fall for Remake again.
Once on floor 65, after spying on the executives meeting, you do not need to do anymore puzzles for keycards. It's straight into Hojo's lab, reuniting with Aerith and meeting Red XIII.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD (Seriously, if you haven't played Remake and want to, I would stop reading here.)
Hojo's idea of breeding the two is no longer here as it's another odd story beat from the original which wouldn't work with Remake's realism. Still, it changes the scene and makes meeting Red XIII feel a little pointless. Introducing him at the end of the game also meant that he is not playable, though he helps a little in battle.
Then, instead of getting imprisoned as in the original, the party run around fighting for Hojo's "experiments". I won't lie, it felt like a lame excuse to pad out the game with even more fighting, especially since you're stuck in the drum for what felt like hours afterwards. The prison down time, chatting to the characters and getting to know them a little more, is now replaced by visiting Aerith's childhood bedroom. I enjoyed seeing this, but I really missed waking up in the night to see the trail of blood leading out of the open prison door. FF7 was ocassionally scary and I loved it for this. In comparison, Remake's trail of blood isn't even red, nor does the music play until you're right outside President Shinra's office...And guess what? He's not even dead.
This is when Remake starts really getting weird, and the whispers return to flood the building. Red XIII had just described them as "arbiters of fate", meaning they force fate to run on its intended path i.e. the original game's story. "OH! That's what they are!" I realised. So whenever the whispers had shown up in the past, it meant that they were forcing the original game to play out exactly as before. That's why they push Wedge out of the building and kill him soon after. Okay...but why now? And why didn't they show up every time there was a deviation from the original?
Sephiroth also appears in the President's office (because he's got nothing better to do than torment Cloud these days, it seems) and actually stabs Barret in the chest! "NOOO!" I screamed, as I'd come to love him even more than in the original game, but after a random fight with Jenova, the whispers bring him back to life, showing that this is not how this plays out. "Are they the fans expecting things to be just so?" Whilst I applaud Remake for trying to be so bold, it adds drama for stupid reasons: Why show Barret die only to bring him back a few minutes later? It's to show that the REAL story of Remake is these characters wanting to define their own fates, not, y'know, the actual story of FF7 we loved. It's like my final year University project all over again (I've taken it off YouTube because the standard does not live up to my work today, but it was an animation about a video game character who became self-aware and wished to oppose his fate and escape the world of the game). I understand that meta seems cool and edgy and is in vogue, but it doesn't automatically make for a good story. I'd argue that meta is something us video game designers feel the need to get out of our system when we're young and anti-establishment. I don't feel it belongs in FF7. Besides, Remake differed from the original a lot already, so why didn't they just run with that and remove all the whisper nonsense? The result would have been a better game.
Anyway, Aerith gets taken away by the turks soon after and Cloud and Co want to rescue her. The momentum you feel during this stage in FF7 is fired with anger and passion. In Remake, you return to Don Corneo's sewers, fight the same boss again, spend time chasing its spawn all around the place, then hear a lame story about a new, boring, straight-outta-Kingdom Hearts character, full of cheesy tropes and adding absolutely nothing of value. It's here I started to dislike Remake again. It's the "Nomura" effect.
When you do eventually climb up to the plate, it's a fully fleshed out "dungeon" and takes plenty of time. Again, this added to the scale of Midgar and I didn't mind it, although, again, puzzles were replaced with combat.
Arriving at Shinra Headquarters feels pretty cool, although, as many hours had passed since Aerith was taken away, you have to try and remind yourself why you're there. Walking into the place, there is absolutely no-one around. The funny Barret moments of him running in, shooting and threatening everyone were gone. As I mentioned earlier, I can see why they decided to change this, but it didn't stop the HQ from feeling oddly empty.
I took the stairs to reach the top of the building and I'm so glad I did as the banter was hilarious. Barret acts like a little kid, and I found myself warming to him so much more by the end of it. Once at floor 60, there are a few keycard puzzles, though way less than the original game. There was no sneaking around the air vents to win rare items or library mini-games. However, we got given a Shinra tour and learnt all about the company instead. It was nice to see their cars, advertisements and mission objectives in a little more detail. My favourite part was the 4D cinema experience where Shinra introduces the ancients and the promised land...It was making me fall for Remake again.
Once on floor 65, after spying on the executives meeting, you do not need to do anymore puzzles for keycards. It's straight into Hojo's lab, reuniting with Aerith and meeting Red XIII.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD (Seriously, if you haven't played Remake and want to, I would stop reading here.)
Hojo's idea of breeding the two is no longer here as it's another odd story beat from the original which wouldn't work with Remake's realism. Still, it changes the scene and makes meeting Red XIII feel a little pointless. Introducing him at the end of the game also meant that he is not playable, though he helps a little in battle.
Then, instead of getting imprisoned as in the original, the party run around fighting for Hojo's "experiments". I won't lie, it felt like a lame excuse to pad out the game with even more fighting, especially since you're stuck in the drum for what felt like hours afterwards. The prison down time, chatting to the characters and getting to know them a little more, is now replaced by visiting Aerith's childhood bedroom. I enjoyed seeing this, but I really missed waking up in the night to see the trail of blood leading out of the open prison door. FF7 was ocassionally scary and I loved it for this. In comparison, Remake's trail of blood isn't even red, nor does the music play until you're right outside President Shinra's office...And guess what? He's not even dead.
This is when Remake starts really getting weird, and the whispers return to flood the building. Red XIII had just described them as "arbiters of fate", meaning they force fate to run on its intended path i.e. the original game's story. "OH! That's what they are!" I realised. So whenever the whispers had shown up in the past, it meant that they were forcing the original game to play out exactly as before. That's why they push Wedge out of the building and kill him soon after. Okay...but why now? And why didn't they show up every time there was a deviation from the original?
Sephiroth also appears in the President's office (because he's got nothing better to do than torment Cloud these days, it seems) and actually stabs Barret in the chest! "NOOO!" I screamed, as I'd come to love him even more than in the original game, but after a random fight with Jenova, the whispers bring him back to life, showing that this is not how this plays out. "Are they the fans expecting things to be just so?" Whilst I applaud Remake for trying to be so bold, it adds drama for stupid reasons: Why show Barret die only to bring him back a few minutes later? It's to show that the REAL story of Remake is these characters wanting to define their own fates, not, y'know, the actual story of FF7 we loved. It's like my final year University project all over again (I've taken it off YouTube because the standard does not live up to my work today, but it was an animation about a video game character who became self-aware and wished to oppose his fate and escape the world of the game). I understand that meta seems cool and edgy and is in vogue, but it doesn't automatically make for a good story. I'd argue that meta is something us video game designers feel the need to get out of our system when we're young and anti-establishment. I don't feel it belongs in FF7. Besides, Remake differed from the original a lot already, so why didn't they just run with that and remove all the whisper nonsense? The result would have been a better game.
A clip from my final year animation project of a game protagonist trying to escape their fate. Funnily, Sephiroth, Red XIII and Squall are present!
Things only spiral downwards from here. Whilst the motorcycle chase and Rufus battle were fine, I guess, the game does not end when you reach the end of the highway. The whispers amass, showing the characters their fates (video clips from Advent Children), and despite saving the world and letting nature reclaim Midgar, they collectively decide that's a crap future now and they don't want it. Um....what?! Holy and the lifestream saved Midgar from meteor, and despite Aerith's death, it all went pretty well. FF7 is a bittersweet ending, but Remake decides it's terrible so we're supposed to feel motivated to fight the arbiters of fate before finally facing Sephiroth, who's there for no other reason but fan service. It's kind this kind of irony that seems to go completely over Remake's head: They wish to create a new story but bring Sephiroth in over and over and over again like they did with AC (seriously, he shows up enough to make a drinking game out of it). Again, because he's a beloved, iconic character, even the developers have forgotten Sephiroth isn't the real bad guy in FF7.
I enjoyed some of the changes and expansions on FF7 in Remake, but if the whole "changing fate" premise is to add even more Sephiroth and have Aerith and Zack live (which I fear it is) it sadly doesn't sound good to me – It sounds like more Nomura fan service, and yet if they don't kill Aerith off in Remake's follow-up, EVERYONE will talk about it – A good marketing stunt, but does it make for a good story?
Pretty much everything I disliked in Remake was like Kingdom Hearts bullshit...Basically, Nomura. Now, I love his work and original designs in FF7 and FF8, but I think giving him this much freedom to do whatever he wants is what's ruining these games. I believe he's talented if he's tamed, but I get the impression no-one had the energy to push back against him with Remake (or even wanted to). Kitase even admitted to unofficially making Nomura the director.
I enjoyed some of the changes and expansions on FF7 in Remake, but if the whole "changing fate" premise is to add even more Sephiroth and have Aerith and Zack live (which I fear it is) it sadly doesn't sound good to me – It sounds like more Nomura fan service, and yet if they don't kill Aerith off in Remake's follow-up, EVERYONE will talk about it – A good marketing stunt, but does it make for a good story?
Pretty much everything I disliked in Remake was like Kingdom Hearts bullshit...Basically, Nomura. Now, I love his work and original designs in FF7 and FF8, but I think giving him this much freedom to do whatever he wants is what's ruining these games. I believe he's talented if he's tamed, but I get the impression no-one had the energy to push back against him with Remake (or even wanted to). Kitase even admitted to unofficially making Nomura the director.
Imagine seeing this with no context. I'm sure you can tell, I'm full of mixed feelings regarding Final Fantasy 7 Remake. I think creators should only take fan/ player feedback where it makes sense and keep maintain their creative freedom, but changing the ending of an already-established game, right at the end of it, almost makes all those hours leading up to it a big troll for loyal fans (and is probably sucky for newcomers, too). Considering my feelings leading up to Remake's launch, it was incredible that I actually warmed up to it and enjoyed the fleshed out parts of the game. To have these turned around on me by the end...I just feel confused about everything regarding this game. As a game developer myself, I understand Square Enix's perspective: They had a vision and didn't want to compromise on it to make what the fans think they wanted. Still, the best moments were when the developers were creative in exciting yet subtle ways, fleshing out Midgar and adding background to the characters. It's as though Remake was trying to be two things: a faithful remake and a meta game about remakes.
Remake ends where the original game truly begins. It shouldn't be an ending to the original story, only the start of it...but, in actuality, it's now an ending. They say it's about the journey and not the ending, so it shouldn't change how I enjoyed parts of the game leading up to it but, looking back, it has. What's the point of certain things happening if this is the real story? I just don't know.
The weirdest part of this is people playing this without ever touching FF7 before. For the first 35 hours, I didn't think it mattered and would have happily recommended it to newcomers but I can't say this since the ending. It must make so little sense, and again, I'm worried it'll leave a sour taste in player's mouths. FF7 is about saving the planet and the philosophy of life, but since Remake doesn't get that far, new players will think it's about this Sephiroth guy causing headaches with the spikey-haired jerk, who's just fed-up and emo...and there's a random cat...and then they fight their fate for some reason...Did they all just want Barret to die after all, is that it? Ultimately, Remake has been fighting with itself over what it wants to be. I just hope people will decide to check out the original and not forget it exists. Like remakes of beloved films, I believe FF7 is still an important piece of gaming history and shouldn't be forgotten.
Still, I did enjoy my time with Remake and felt sad when it was over, though nothing close to how I felt defeating FF7 22 years ago. As I mentioned earlier, I want to replay Remake when the dust has settled (and a photo mode is added!) but the ending has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I guess my feelings will decide where they want to land once we know what's in store for the rest of the remakes, if there will even be any. Remake's ending could very easily be the story they've just shown, since the characters have freed themselves from the arbiters of fate (and Sephiroth even got beat up). Why do they need to return then? Are Jenova and Hojo really such a great threat anymore? Whilst Square Enix have set themselves up to do whatever they want after Remake, doing so doesn't make much sense anymore. What's the point? It's done.
For me, the saddest thing is that even I grew to love parts of Remake and found myself thinking "They've only gone and pulled it off!", which I would've never thought. Yet, doing a simple remake wasn't the whole team's goal...It's not very "Final Fantasy" to make something as uncreative as a direct remake, which is why I can't be too mad at the ending...BUT THERE WAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL! I honestly believe it could've been an astonishing game if it stayed closer to the original work. No more Nomura, that's what I say! *SHAKES FIST AT CLOUD*
Despite what you may think of my slightly negative review, I'm happy that Remake exists and everyone is talking about FF7. Even those who don't plan to play Remake at all are revisiting the world of FF7 right now and admiring just how amazing it is. Young me would be chuffed that I've found so many people who love this game as much as me. My real wish was to find connections to people who loved this game like I do, and thanks to Remake, I have.
...Also, I would die for Moogle kid. Just sayin'.
Remake ends where the original game truly begins. It shouldn't be an ending to the original story, only the start of it...but, in actuality, it's now an ending. They say it's about the journey and not the ending, so it shouldn't change how I enjoyed parts of the game leading up to it but, looking back, it has. What's the point of certain things happening if this is the real story? I just don't know.
The weirdest part of this is people playing this without ever touching FF7 before. For the first 35 hours, I didn't think it mattered and would have happily recommended it to newcomers but I can't say this since the ending. It must make so little sense, and again, I'm worried it'll leave a sour taste in player's mouths. FF7 is about saving the planet and the philosophy of life, but since Remake doesn't get that far, new players will think it's about this Sephiroth guy causing headaches with the spikey-haired jerk, who's just fed-up and emo...and there's a random cat...and then they fight their fate for some reason...Did they all just want Barret to die after all, is that it? Ultimately, Remake has been fighting with itself over what it wants to be. I just hope people will decide to check out the original and not forget it exists. Like remakes of beloved films, I believe FF7 is still an important piece of gaming history and shouldn't be forgotten.
Still, I did enjoy my time with Remake and felt sad when it was over, though nothing close to how I felt defeating FF7 22 years ago. As I mentioned earlier, I want to replay Remake when the dust has settled (and a photo mode is added!) but the ending has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I guess my feelings will decide where they want to land once we know what's in store for the rest of the remakes, if there will even be any. Remake's ending could very easily be the story they've just shown, since the characters have freed themselves from the arbiters of fate (and Sephiroth even got beat up). Why do they need to return then? Are Jenova and Hojo really such a great threat anymore? Whilst Square Enix have set themselves up to do whatever they want after Remake, doing so doesn't make much sense anymore. What's the point? It's done.
For me, the saddest thing is that even I grew to love parts of Remake and found myself thinking "They've only gone and pulled it off!", which I would've never thought. Yet, doing a simple remake wasn't the whole team's goal...It's not very "Final Fantasy" to make something as uncreative as a direct remake, which is why I can't be too mad at the ending...BUT THERE WAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL! I honestly believe it could've been an astonishing game if it stayed closer to the original work. No more Nomura, that's what I say! *SHAKES FIST AT CLOUD*
Despite what you may think of my slightly negative review, I'm happy that Remake exists and everyone is talking about FF7. Even those who don't plan to play Remake at all are revisiting the world of FF7 right now and admiring just how amazing it is. Young me would be chuffed that I've found so many people who love this game as much as me. My real wish was to find connections to people who loved this game like I do, and thanks to Remake, I have.
...Also, I would die for Moogle kid. Just sayin'.
Hey, if you've read this far, thank you! Most of my free time for the last month has been spent writing all this hahaha... Then I saw Dunky's FF7 Remake review and realised we pretty much share the same opinions (apart from Jessie). Check it out, it's very funny:
I hope lockdown is going okay for you and you and your families and happy and healthy. It's a tough time for us all but I believe we will get through it if we are patient and kind to ourselves and others.
Game development is steadily coming along, though it has been tough to focus some days recently. Hopefully, I will have a lot of stuff to show you real soon! Until then, stay home, stay safe and maybe give FF7 Remake a play ;-)
Game development is steadily coming along, though it has been tough to focus some days recently. Hopefully, I will have a lot of stuff to show you real soon! Until then, stay home, stay safe and maybe give FF7 Remake a play ;-)