It took a long time for it to be realized, and a long time for me to play it. It’s debatable which Final Fantasy title is best and nostalgia will always play a big role. For many, Final Fantasy VII was the first Final Fantasy game they played. Previously, only three titles had made it to US shores, but it seemed like each new game was more popular than the last. I know for me personally, I had quite a few friends who were into what we then knew as Final Fantasy III so whatever was next in the franchise would be on my radar and the radar of many I knew. When the company then known as Squaresoft pivoted from Nintendo to Sony, it felt like one of the first major “gets” for the new PlayStation console. And when images started circulating in gaming magazines of those initial summons it basically blew everyone away. I’m guessing a lot of people just saw the media and bought into the hype based on that and were pretty damn confused when they actually sat down to play it. No matter, the hype was real as Final Fantasy VII was a big seller for Square and Sony catapulting both the company and franchise into new heights.

Back in 2005, Squaresoft created a demo for the PlayStation 3 and opted to use familiar characters in order to demonstrate the power of the new console. Bad move. Did they learn nothing from Nintendo and their Gamecube demo? When fans saw Cloud and Sephiroth battling like never before it just created more hunger for a remake. Fans clamored for one for years, but Square Enix was mum on the topic or would flat-out say there are no plans. The call for a remake eventually became too impossible to ignore and it was finally announced that one was on the way in 2015. It would still be another 5 years before the game was released, and it turned out, only one third of the game was made and released. Sort of like how the original had 3 discs, the remake will be 3 separate games. It’s disappointing, more because we are now on the eve of the second game being released and it’s been four years, but that’s the reality of modern game design. It’s expensive and time-consuming and Square Enix knows it has a hit on its hands so it’s going to extract every dollar it can. I guess the story will finally be concluded in 2028 when we’re all wondering when the PlayStation 6 will be released (or apparently already playing it if Sony is to be believed).

To create the remake, Square turned to a lot of the folks responsible for the original game. Tetsuya Nomura, who was a writer and character designer on the original, was given the title of director for the remake. This came as a surprise to him since he was knee deep in the long-delayed Kingdom Hearts 3 at the time, which probably explains why Naoki Hamaguchi and Motomu Toriyama alse receive a direction credit. Kazushige Nojima returns as writer and Toriyama receives credit for that as well. Legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu returned to write the main theme while Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki are primarily responsible for any new compositions.

As someone who fell in love with Final Fantasy VII back in 1997, I have been on team re-make for decades now. The original is still very playable and quite good, but the visuals are supremely dated in a mostly not-quaint way. I have far more affection for classic sprite-based game design from the 16 bit era than I do the chunky polygons of the PSX era. Even in ’97, it felt like we were all lying to ourselves when we said these games were a definite visual upgrade to what we had before. They definitely were when looking at the cinematics, but those are essentially just CG movies inserted onto the disc. As video game visuals, they’re kind of fake. The battle engine graphics were fine though. Some quality of life improvements certainly couldn’t hurt either.

Square Enix apparently felt that a straight remake wouldn’t work. Gamers today don’t want traditional, turn-based, role-playing experiences according to whatever market data they have. I disagree, and it sure seems like the Persona series is doing quite well for itself with a more traditional battle system, but it is what it is. FFVII Remake takes a more action-oriented approach to its gameplay. Before release, there was some talk of the game being able to be played in both ways, but it was over-stated. In battle, which still restricts the player to a team of 3 party members max, you’re free to move around the field, attack, block, and dodge. The only relic of the original game is there is still an Active Time Battle system in place. Basically, you can do basic actions all of the time, but in order to perform other functions you need to wait on that ATB meter. Each character has two reserves of ATB and most abilities, spells, or items need just one store, but a few require two. Summons still exist, but they can only be used in certain fights and are basically restricted to boss battles. You know you can use one because a Summon Meter will just appear on screen. Once filled, any member of the party can initiate a summon provided they have the materia equipped (each character is limited to one summon and said summon can only be equipped to one character). Once summoned, the creature stomps around the battle field and any character can use one of their ATB stores to make the beast attack. Once it’s timer runs out, it then unleashes the ultimate attack we know and love from the original game and takes off.

Speaking of materia, that system is back and works mostly in the same fashion as before. Each character can equip a weapon and one piece of armor which may have one or more slots for materia. Materia is how characters equip spells and abilities and successfully defeating enemies in battle will earn players both experience and AP. AP is what materia uses to “level up,” and doing so will allow the Fire materia to learn Fira and ultimately Firaga, the best version of the fire spell. Once mastered, materia no longer spawns another version of itself which is a disappointment so players will have to scour the region for freebies or purchase additional sets if they want multiple characters to equip the same set.

The weapon system has been overhauled to add its own level-up component. Each weapon a character uncovers has a special ability tied to it and using that ability allows the character to eventually learn that ability. Once learned, the character can use that ability with or without the weapon. It’s a bit like the old Job System in that learning the abilities associated with a certain job would allow the base version of the character to make use of them, only now you don’t have to pick and choose which abilities to equip, but instead have access to all. The weapons also earn their own ability points which can be spent to unlock features for the weapon like Attack +3 or critical hit modifiers and such. This helps keep even the earliest weapons viable throughout the game as their attack, defense, and other stat modifiers can continually improve. And every weapon earns “experience” even when not in use. It’s not the Sphere Grid though, so each weapon still has a specialty and basically every character will have a weapon that’s more conducive to defense or magic use, though nothing radical enough to change a character’s obvious archetype (i.e. Aerith will always be more suited to magic and healing than physical combat).

The story of the game is essentially an expanded version of the Midgar portion of the original. You’ll be exposed to more regions of the city and there will be lots of little quests (yes, many of the “fetch” variety) for the player to take part in for one of the dwellers below the plate above. You’re still Cloud (Cody Christian), ex-Soldier and merc for hire by the eco-terrorist group Avalanche. Its Midgar chapter is spearheaded by Barret (John Eric Bentley), a fiery single father willing to go to great lengths to topple the Shinra Corporation which he blames for killing the planet. Tifa (Britt Baron), Cloud’s childhood friend, is part of the group as are non-player characters Jessie, Wedge, and Biggs. During their journey they’ll meet Aerith (Briana White), a flower sales person who belongs to an ancient race known as, appropriately enough, the Ancients and of course there’s the villain, Sephiroth (Tyler Hoechlin).

Sephiroth didn’t play a huge role in the original game’s Midgar portion, but he does here. I suppose from a practically standpoint, Square Enix didn’t want to force players to wait a dozen years to tangle with the legendary swordsman so inserting more encounters into the early part of the game isn’t as crazy as it sounds. What is a bit more crazy is that this FFVII Remake is not a direct remake of the original game. If you haven’t played it and don’t want any sort of spoilers then STOP READING! I intend this review to be both a review of the game and a reaction piece, so you have been warned.

The game is more like a remake of assets, but it exists in conjunction with the original game. For those completely new to Final Fantasy VII, it might be more confusing, but also possibly less. That’s because it takes awhile for the game to more explicitly tell you that the original story (game) already happened, and this story is Sephiroth trying to change the outcome. Throughout the game these shadowy ghosts will keep appearing and it’s unclear what it is they’re doing, but is later explained that they’re the shadows of destiny and they’re fighting to maintain the proper timeline. Sephiroth is trying to destroy them since he, and I guess it’s another spoiler for a 27 year old game, is defeated in the end of that game. Approaching the remake this way does have a practical element at play in that players who did play the original will have something new to look forward to. Whether this is the approach those players wanted is a matter of debate, or more like discourse.

Aside from those new plot elements, the game is quite linear in nature. That was true of the original, especially the Midgar portion, so I suppose it’s not a surprise here. It still doesn’t change the fact that it feels restrictive and there are definitely portions of the game that feel like padding. Square Enix was trying to turn what was 7-10 hours max into a full, gaming, experience so some padding was bound to happen. When I finished the game I was at the 42 hour mark and I felt like I had squeezed everything out of the game that I could in one playthrough. As an experience, there were times I was quite invested, and times when I was not. The fact that I had a 7 month gap between sessions at one point probably doesn’t bode well, but in the game’s defense, that gap was primarily due to Tears of the Kingdom so it’s not a massive insult to be sidelined because of that game.

Since I am reviewing the Intergrade version, I should say a few words on that. This version primarily adds a new intermission starring Yuffie (Suzie Yeung) which sees her journey to Midgar in order to hook-up with Avalanche to steal some materia from Shinra. She is still her young, plucky, self and is a pretty true to her origins portrayal. It’s referred to as an intermission, but it’s set pretty early in the events of the main story so the title is a bit misleading. It’s essentially more of the same though and provides players an early glimpse at a character they otherwise would not have encountered until the sequel. The game does add a new mini game via a sort of board game Yuffie can challenge folks to called Fort Condor. It’s more like a real-time-strategy/tower defense game in practice with the “board” just affecting how many units the player can have and what magic is available. The game uses an ATB system and the units available have their own cost. They’re not finite though as you have 4 available units at any one time and using one just sends it to the back of the line. There’s a triangle strategy element applied to the units, and the first player to destroy the other’s main base is the victor. There’s also a timer for each game and if it hits zero then the first player to take out an outpost (each player has a base and two outposts) wins. It’s fine, and the games are pretty quick, but it’s also frustrating because once you place a unit that’s it. It does what it wants and sometimes you just want your units to concentrate on the base or an outpost, but they’ll get distracted by enemy units.

The actual sequence with Yuffie adds a little something to the story. Mostly, it brings in some elements from Final Fantasy VII‘s expanded universe and I’m not sure how well that will be received since most of those games were bad. It’s also a vehicle for the villainous Scarlet (Erin Cottrell) as she gets more facetime. Playing as Yuffie is a bit different, and she has one party member who works in tandem with her. I found playing as Yuffie to be mostly entertaining. There are things to figure out about how she attacks and how her abilities play a role in her actions. It’s probably a 5-6 hour experience and is, once again, pretty linear. Actually, it starts off more open than it finishes which is a bit odd. Completing it will unlock an additional epilogue to the main game so it’s worth experiencing, though the epilogue doesn’t contain anything essential so no worries about feeling lost if you don’t play it. There are undoubtedly going to be references to Intergrade going forward, but probably not anything that can’t be explained quickly in the games to come.

I feel like I’ve told you a lot about how this game operates, but I don’t think I’ve really told you how I feel about it. It’s taken me a long time to figure that out. The initial demo left me feeling almost more perplexed than before, and after spending over 40 hours with this one I still can’t say if I even like this battle system or not. I like RPGs of all varieties and I like action games, but I like my Final Fantasy to be traditional. And I really like my Final Fantasy VII to feature a traditional, turn-based, battle system. I fell off of the series with Final Fantasy XII and that game’s battle system made it a chore. I finished it, but I never wanted to play it again. Since then, they’ve become more action focused and thus more vapid. Yes, you can take a less action approach with this game, but it’s essentially just putting the game on auto-pilot while you interrupt it here and there to cast a spell or something. It does not make the game a turn-based experience and it will likely drive you to just interact with it more because the AI is mediocre. More than anything, I just find it frustrating how non-committed Square Enix has been to just giving fans the remake they wanted. They resisted for years to even consider it, but then when they finally did, decided to do something else. It’s not as bad as a bait and switch just using the name Final Fantasy VII to sell a brand new game, but it sure is annoying.

There are things that I like about the game that have been improved upon. We get to see a lot more of Avalanche and the characters are given time to show nuance. That aspect of the remake has been well-served by the expanded approach. The visuals are obviously terrific and I think these redesigns for the main cast are superior to what we got in every other piece of Final Fantasy VII media. The score is still catchy and there’s an epic feel to a lot of the major moments of the story and it’s the music that really helps sell that. The voice acting is great and overall I feel like I have a much larger attachment to these characters than I did back in ’97. That might make a certain moment to come more impactful, if it happens at all. The odd approach to the narrative means we don’t know what’s next. We have an idea, but we don’t know for certain. I don’t know how I feel about that. I’m not someone totally resistant to change and mixing up the story a bit is okay, but basically doing it like a multiverse story feels almost played out at this point. I know this one was in development for a long time so it might just be bad luck that we’ve been inundated with multi-verse angles in media, but it is what it is. I just hope the story doesn’t turn out like Kingdom Hearts where it becomes so convoluted and up its own ass that I end up ceasing to care. And if a certain death gets undone it will feel cheap.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is a hard game to assess. It should be able to stand on its own merits, but Square Enix chose not to allow it to by tying it to the original game in the way that it did. It’s one part remake, and in a way one part sequel, or parallel story. Complete newcomers to Final Fantasy VII won’t have the same experience as those who played the original. They can read about it on a wiki or something, but it’s not exactly the same. Their enjoyment will hinge more on the battle system and other mechanics – and you either like them or you don’t. There’s definitely an element of style over substance here. My major critique of this era of Final Fantasy is that these action-oriented battles aren’t on par with actual action games. They just feel like mediocre action titles with some RPG window dressing. Some of that is due to the RPG nature of the game where enemies, bosses especially, can unleash attacks for which there’s no real defense. They’re just going to happen. The best moments of the game’s battle system, for me, was when these were kept to a minimum and I felt like I had more agency over what was going on. There’s a boss battle late in the game which does a good job of incorporating the environment and provides for cover. More of that, please.

If you’re a big fan of Final Fantasy VII, you’re probably going to play this. You actually probably already have since it’s four years old. I waited for the PS5, and when the original came out in 2020, I was also hopeful the sequels would come faster and that I could just hold out for the complete experience. When it became obvious that was going to take somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 years, I abandoned that notion. At least I waited long enough to get the Yuffie story. I do plan on playing the next game, Rebirth, and unless I absolutely hate it I can’t see myself skipping the finale whenever it arrives. Hopefully the chances Square Enix is taking with the story at least pay off, but I know there’s no way to shake the feeling that every time I play this I’ll just be lamenting what could have been?