Final Fantasy VII REMAKE REVIEW: THE DEFINITIVE FF7 EXPERIENCE
PLATFORMS: PC AND STEAMDECK
HOURS PLAYED: 28.4
Let’s say you went into Final Fantasy VII Remake without having played any of the original, without knowing how its story played out, how its combat mechanics worked, or how its visual style was executed. Could you then play Final Fantasy VII Remake and have a fulfilling experience – one that wouldn’t require you to play the original to truly appreciate what the remake was trying to accomplish? Let’s say none of that mattered to you in the first place, and that you went into this game because it looked cool, or maybe someone suggested it to you as your entry-way into the franchise. Whether your experience is tied to the original game or not, Final Fantasy VII Remake does more than enough to stand on its own as a masterpiece. It boasts a story that at times has issues with uneven pacing, but consists of a refreshingly dynamic cast of characters supported by an wildly impressive range of themes and events that more than makes up for that shortfall. Its hybrid turn-based character action combat is so expertly executed, that I struggle to think of a game that approaches its mountain high quality bar – save for Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. Its visuals, level, and musical design are crafted with so much thought and care, that I couldn’t break myself out of its immersive hold if I wanted to. Let’s break down how Final Fantasy VII Remake achieves its goal of being the definitive way to experience the first ⅓ of its legendary tale.
The Story of Midgar and The Miracle of Mako Energy (Analysis)
In Final Fantasy VII Remake, you play as Cloud Strife, a stoical, jaded mercenary who joins the eco terrorist group known as Avalanche in blowing up a mako energy reactor. Through a number of unpredictable events, Cloud finds himself blown far from the path he set for himself as a simple mercenary on a much grander journey to oppose Shinra, Sephiroth, and eventually, fate itself. Throughout the story, Cloud, Barrett, Tifa, and Aerith are constantly one step behind Shinra, always chasing the carrot dangling from their proverbial stick. Whether our heroes are fighting to oppose Shinra via Mako reactor bombings, or working to stop them from using Aerith to pursue their goal of reaching the “promised land”, pre determined fate plays an integral role in every outcome.
“Is it our destiny to defy destiny?” - a simple question, but one that defines the central pillars holding up this game’s narrative. In FF7 Remake, everyone has their own motivations, whether it be Shinra’s motivation to use Mako energy for their own sadistic goals, Cloud’s desire to go wherever the wind takes him as a mercenary, and everyone in between, everyone must contend with the plans that destiny has for them. To that end, destiny is anything but abstract, in fact, it is a very literal tool used to steer the actions of every character. Whispers, otherwise known as “arbiters of fate” often appear in critical story moments to either guide, or obstruct someone’s actions. As Red XIII describes it, “the whispers intervene not to defend us, but to preserve the flow of destiny”. In this regard, they are indiscriminate, constantly leaving the player wondering which direction they, and in turn fate, will take them. Watching the whispers work to preserve the flow of destiny puts the game’s events into an interesting perspective, especially in moments where we witness the cast fighting against it.
Final Fantasy VII Remake does a stellar job of helping the player feel the weight of what they are fighting to protect through a thoughtful execution of its world building. We spend most of our time in the Midgar slums, an area of the city seemingly left behind by Shinra to decay in poverty. Despite this, the citizens of the slums press on with the wealth of community in their hearts. Walking its narrow streets, you’ll see homes and shops held together with little more than scrap and tape, but within them are people full of life and happiness. This is the wealth that Avalanche risks their lives to protect from Shinra’s greed. What about life beyond the slums though? We get a brief glimpse into how the other half lives during the mission to help Jessie rob her childhood home. In this mission, we learn that employees of Shinra are granted housing above the slums in what appears to be at most, a normal middle class neighborhood. It’s in this mission that FF7 Remake illustrates Shinra’s pecking order of loyalty – the more loyal you are to them, the better your life will be..but is it always that simple?
The dropping of the sector 7 plate illustrates that not everyone follows Shinra because they agree with their ambitions. Many align themselves with Shinra to secure futures for their families and to gain the ability to live modest lives. However, this event shows that when Shinra slams its iron first, everyone is impacted – save for the ones at the very top of Shinra HQ. In the lead up and aftermath of this catastrophe, we see everyone from residents of the slums, Shinra middle managers and everyone in between to pick up the pieces. FF7 Remake greatly succeeds in its goal of painting Shinra as a seemingly undeniable force of evil, casting a grim tone over the games story. However it’s not all grim, in fact, FF7 Remake is boasting an impressive range of tones wired together in a nearly perfect, fluid fashion.
The Wall Market Entertainment District Saga simultaneously represents a strength and a weakness of FF7 Remake’s story structure. In Wall Market, Aerith and Cloud work together to save Tifa from the cartoonishly love deprived Italian mob-like goon known as Don Corneo. To do so, Cloud and Aerith must fight in an underground tournament where one of the enemies is a literal house capable of fighting with magic, as well as participate in a 80s themed dance off with one of Wall Market’s famous club owners. It’s certainly a far cry from saving the world from a tyrannical electric power company, but nonetheless, this goofy, lighthearted saga represents the incredible emotional range this game has. It’s a testament to the fact that the more you allow yourself to just “go” with what this game is throwing at you, as wacky as it may be, the more you’ll enjoy the experience.
Despite that, this saga also exposes the game’s issues with pacing. To get to Wall Market, Aerith leads Cloud through a tunnel connecting multiple sectors together. Here, we’re made to engage with a sequence of environmental puzzles that feel as if they grind the game’s pacing to a halt. This could have also been an opportunity for Cloud and Aerith to connect as characters, but there is little to no consequential dialogue that happens between them that makes the time spent down there feel worth it. In addition to this, while I applaud the Wall Market Saga for its display of tonal variety, it went on for a little too long owing to a series of quests that consisted of frustrating and pointless running around. Thankfully though, this lull in story pacing did little sour the thoughtfully crafted character relationships.
Final Fantasy VII Remake has easily my favorite cast of characters of any RPG I have ever played. Despite having such wildly different personalities and quirks, Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and Barrett fit together like a puzzle. Take Cloud and Aerith for example. Cloud is cool, calm, collected, and even stoical most of the time. Despite his freezing levels of cool guy personality, he’s very socially awkward, making it easy for Aerith, a woman bursting with a bold and childlike nature to break his walls down. Barrett is nothing if not passionately shot out of a canon, which is a stark contrast to Tifa’s reserved, but thoughtful nature. Despite this wide difference in personality, they share a common sense of justice that makes them a force to be reckoned with when paired together. All of these unique personalities yield wildly interesting character dynamics that add an important layer of intrigue to the Final Fantasy VII adventure.
With all that said, aside from some pacing issues born out of what feels like a desire to stretch the campaign as much as possible, the story is a masterpiece. The writing, supported by undeniably masterful vocal performances, is bursting with emotional depth and range. Even side characters were given more depth than many main characters in other games. The world building is executed with refreshing nuance, showing that not everything needs to be shown to be understood or imagined. Character relationships breathe life into this game, as every character’s personalities, fears, hopes, and dreams differ widely, but fit together like puzzle pieces. For me, the true mark of a great story lies in its ability to force me to struggle to move on from it when I’m done, but luckily, the unknown journey continues on.
Combat: As Dynamic as it is Chaotic
The only game that features a combat system I enjoy more than FF7 Remake’s is Rebirth’s, and that’s only because it boasts a more expanded upon version of that same system…but more on that later. Remake’s combat consists of a hybrid character action/turn based system that leans heavily in favor of character action. Based on a rotation of cool-downs, this system encourages the player to constantly switch between characters to take full advantage of its design. However, where Remake separates itself from other games with a similar design, is that your cool down, or ATB meter, fills much faster by actually using that character but will fill slowly if you are not. This provides a number of options for how you can go about rotating between characters, especially given that everyone’s combat abilities are so varied.
Cloud, Aeith, Barrett and Tifa’s fighting styles couldn’t be more different, but that’s what makes the combat system so great. Their diverse range of styles gives the player tons of options for how they want to approach combat. For example, I prefer to use Cloud as my main fighter, as I gel with his close/medium range sword fighting style the most. However, if I have Tifa in my party, I’ll make use of her close range hand-to-hand combat style to follow up on Cloud’s physical attacks as a 1-2 punch to add stagger. Not a fan of close range fighting? Put Barrett on the front lines with his medium range firearm combat, or use Aerith to fight from longer distances with her spell casting abilities. I typically prefer to not use Aerith as my main combat character as I would much rather keep her at a distance for healing or magic support, but in a handful of cases, the game won’t give you that option.
Through most of the game you’ll enter combat with a party of three, but in some cases you’ll have to adapt and work with just a duo instead. In one of the first boss battles that features Aerith, the game forces you to not only adapt to fighting with a smaller party, but it asks you to adapt to Aerith’s newly introduced combat system against a powerful foe, Rude from the Shinra Turks. Cloud joins Aerith in this battle and can be used as a bit of a safety net, but Rude’s deadly combination of close ranged hand-to-hand combat and midrange magic attacks puts Aerith’s slower spellcasting style at a major disadvantage. To win, you’ll have to figure out how to combine Cloud and Aerith’s abilities to contend with Rude’s versatile combat approach. Situations like these are woven throughout the game in such a way to ensure you are never too comfortable with your combat strategy.
Where each character’s combat styles are designed to have you meet it on its terms, the materia system does the opposite. For the uninitiated, materia is a material that provides the means to use magic. Since there are no archetypes to predetermine what kind of magic each character is predisposed to, you can assign any materia to any character. In my view, this is an approach meant to balance the entire combat system, which if utilized correctly can yield a wide swath of combat capabilities for your party. For example, since Aerith is primarily a magic caster, I’ll assign her as my healer and equip her with the elemental materia best suited for that fight. If the party is battling an enemy weak to ice, I’ll prioritize equipping her with ice materia and give any left over to other characters to multiply the damage. From there, you can decide if you want to handle the fight with a magic first or melee first approach, or, you can balance the two as you see fit. But much in the same way the game will pull the rug from under your character utilization strategy, it’ll do the same for how you strategize materia and magic use thanks to a deeply diverse enemy variety.
Most of the common enemies you’ll face in the game can be approached with whatever combat strategy you see fit, but you’ll still have to consider proper materia use to deal effective magic damage. The mid and major bosses are a different story however. From time to time FF7 Remake’s wildly unpredictable boss designs will throw strategic consistency out the window – case in point, The Hell House. What is the Hell House you might ask? Believe it or not, it’s exactly what it sounds like: a house that can fight – something that has been seen to be believed. Enemies in the game that have elemental weaknesses can be conquered by using the materia that exploits that weakness. However, the Hell House has the ability to rotate it’s elemental disposition, making it so that having just one type of elemental materia equipped will do very little to help you win. In addition to this, the Hell House is mostly impervious to physical damage, forcing the player to rely on magic to combat it. The key to beating the Hell House is to equip as wide of a variety of materia as possible, and exploit the elemental weakness it presents in the moment that it presents it. It’s a test of your timing and a check on how efficiently you’ve been gathering materia up to that point.
What about enemies who have no elemental weaknesses? Yes, believe it or not, these enemies do exist. In the fight against Rufus Shinra that takes place at the end of the game, you’ll have to set aside all the information and strategy you’ve formulated for materia use and focus on finding the one way he can be exploited using physical attacks instead. The Hell House fight, the battle with Rufus, and a number of other unique combat encounters in between are solid proof that Final Fantasy VII Remake has no desire to keep the player comfortable. It’s an approach that is challenging to grapple with at first, but is deeply satisfying once you conquer it. From combat diversity to enemy variety, Final Fantasy VII Remake’s combat system is an expertly executed gameplay design masterpiece.
Art and Level Design
Shinra would have you believe that Midgar is a shining city on a hill, but the visual design and color palette illustrates their delusion, as the slums are packed to the brim with dilapidated structures, many of which are barely hanging on. The environment here consists of a clash of drab, earthy browns fighting with the cold copper and silver of the structures rising from its dirt roads. Looking up, you’ll see the overwhelming scale of the plate above acting as a literal sky for those living below it. Above the plate, the environment transitions from dirt roads and crumbling homes to the paved streets and brick houses of a typical middle class neighborhood. Despite being a nicer place to exist, the city above the plate exudes a similar kind of dread as the slums. Shinra HQ on the other hand, built like a modern day castle, boasts a luxurious design that almost feels as if it’s hoarding all the wealth for itself – a microcosm for Shinra’s relationship with its people. Whether you’re in the slums or Shinra HQ, the visual design and color palette presents a consistent and intentional dreariness that effectively illustrates Shinra’s very literal life sucking greed from the planet around them.
The level design in Final Fantasy VII Remake shares the same kind of consistency as the art and visual design, while staying pretty faithful to the direction of the original game. Whether you’re in the slums, above the plate, in the train graveyard, or anywhere in between, each area is designed as a corridor that you are meant to move through in a linear fashion. It’s interesting then, how Final Fantasy VII Remake’s level design manages to avoid becoming repetitive due to its lack of level design variety, especially given the semi open world design of the game. My feeling is that the game achieves this by not overstaying its welcome by carefully pacing how often it has you returning to certain areas.
Technical Performance
I’m happy to report that FF7 Remake ran flawlessly on my PS5, PC, and Steam Deck playthroughs. See my Steam Deck setting below:
Resolution: 1280x720
Textures: High
Framerate: 60
With these settings, I was able to maintain around 60 FPS in cutscenes and around 50 FPS during heated moments of combat. See my PC settings below:
Resolution: 2560x1440
Textures: High
Framerate: 120
With these settings engaged, that 120 FPS cap stayed pretty consistent throughout the game. It would dip to around 100 during combat, but still felt buttery smooth. Additionally, there were no bugs or crashes throughout my playthrough either resulting in a flawless experience. Check out just how good this game looks on PC:
VERDICT
The best way I can sum up my experience with Final Fantasy VII: Remake is to simply say that it is as close to perfection as it could be in my eyes. Every aspect of this game is so well thought out, so well executed, so well presented, and just an absolute joy to grapple with. Save for certain portions of the Wall Market saga, I never felt that this game was trying to waste my time. It tells a story that taps into every emotion possible, brought to life by a cast of characters that I find more memorable than many things in real life. It boasts a combat system that demands that you meet it on its terms in the best possible way while still giving you flexibility to strategize how you see fit. As an added bonus, it’s flawless technical performance feels like not one, but two cherries on top. If you’ve never experienced Final Fantasy VII, or if you’ve only played the original, I can say with the utmost confidence that this Remake is the absolute definitive way to experience this legendary game.
