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8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8148 Ratings

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  1. Apr 17, 2020
    9
    The game remets The original FF, excelente Osts qnd The best playable ver of final fantasys
  2. Apr 22, 2020
    0
    Final Fantasy VII Remake is exceedingly mediocre, I would not recommend purchasing it and instead watching a playthrough or waiting for a BIG sale - this goes for fans of the original as well as those who are new to the game.

    The game begins on a very high note, the visuals, voice acting, and general production quality are mostly excellent and remain so throughout the game. Fans of the
    Final Fantasy VII Remake is exceedingly mediocre, I would not recommend purchasing it and instead watching a playthrough or waiting for a BIG sale - this goes for fans of the original as well as those who are new to the game.

    The game begins on a very high note, the visuals, voice acting, and general production quality are mostly excellent and remain so throughout the game. Fans of the original will enjoy seeing a few of the great early moments reimagined with modern graphics, and newcomers will be drawn in by the stunning visuals and gripping plot which hits most of the right beats from the original. The combat feels a bit hack-and-slashy, which may be off-putting to FF fans, but it also features an ATB gauge and the ability to pause time to unleash spells and abilities.

    However, after making it through the classic opening sequence, the game quickly reveals the mountain of padding and tedium that will define your coming experience. MMO-style fetch quests with no relevance to the plot, turning screens that you originally ran through in 20 seconds into a 45-minute slog through scripted battles and boring, tedious puzzles, and introducing new original story content that is also entirely irrelevant to the plot and filled with the the exact same padding. Well, that explains why they could only fit about 15% of the original game into a single release and market it as a "complete experience."

    I was honestly willing to endure the padding and did get some enjoyment out of the game. It was awesome to hear the extra banter between party members and expanded dialogue. But the final chapter of the game is an absolute dealbreaker. Without spoiling anything, the only thing I can say is that the writers completely changed the events in the plot to a point where there is no logical way it can progress as it was supposed to. When Square Enix said the story of the remake is "very faithful" to the original, it was simply a bald faced lie. Even on its own, the ending is poorly done and nonsensical, and leaves an extremely bad taste in your mouth. And to top it all off, this chapter COMPLETELY replaces one of my absolute favorite scenes from the original!

    I frankly feel scammed after buying this game. I cannot in good conscience recommend this game to anyone.
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  3. Apr 22, 2020
    1
    Pésimo. No se justifica que sea por episodios si viene con relleno tan pobre como las misiones secundarias. Groseros problemas gráficos. Pésimo control de cámara en combate (esencial para batallas en tiempo real). Cambios argumentales ridículos y absurdos. Escenas que dan vergüenza ajena (intro de Roshe por ej). Un engaño el titulo de REMAKE siendo que es un REBOOT. Juego que pasó de tenerPésimo. No se justifica que sea por episodios si viene con relleno tan pobre como las misiones secundarias. Groseros problemas gráficos. Pésimo control de cámara en combate (esencial para batallas en tiempo real). Cambios argumentales ridículos y absurdos. Escenas que dan vergüenza ajena (intro de Roshe por ej). Un engaño el titulo de REMAKE siendo que es un REBOOT. Juego que pasó de tener un tono maduro en su argumento, ahora es infantil y mediocre.

    Me obligué a terminarlo. Así de malo.
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  4. Apr 22, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I love what they did with the ending it’s like Twin Peaks season 3 meets JJ Abrams Star Trek...incredible. Expand
  5. Apr 22, 2020
    9
    When I had dreamt of a FF7 remake, this is mostly it, at least for part 1. The gameplay is amazing, the visuals, backgrounds and characters are amazing, and the story is mostly amazing, all that to me is a 9 out of 10, but I have some gripes with the game...

    Major gripes: - Changes to the already perfect music, with the new renditions often being in different styles with parts removed
    When I had dreamt of a FF7 remake, this is mostly it, at least for part 1. The gameplay is amazing, the visuals, backgrounds and characters are amazing, and the story is mostly amazing, all that to me is a 9 out of 10, but I have some gripes with the game...

    Major gripes:
    - Changes to the already perfect music, with the new renditions often being in different styles with parts removed and added that just don't sound nearly as good, nor do they fit, and anytime I heard the beginning of one of the classic songs, I would get pissed shortly after because of the changes made in it. There are some exceptions, but at least let me choose between the old song renditions and the remake renditions, with any new songs added still in both modes.

    -Time/whisper story aspect, I won't go into further detail so I don't spoil, but this isn't Kingdom Hearts, don't make it like Kingdom Hearts...

    Minor Gripes:
    - Sephiroth is less menacing because of the changes

    - English voices don't fit most characters, nor do I think they were acted well (sorry, some needed better direction), but I switched to Japanese and that solved all problems

    - Farming experience is way too easy at chapter 9+, too much of a breeze and we're only on part 1

    - Lots of open areas, and areas added, but lack of treasure, I'm mostly talking before chapter 9, and I'm not asking for insane rewards, or anything I just want to feel rewarded for exploring, not walk several minutes off the path only to get nothing, FF7 felt much better with that

    I did list a lot of gripes, but everything else really did make up for it, the combat and boss fights especially, and there is honestly no way to accurately express how much the original FF7 has impacted my life, its such a perfect experience and this remake hits very, very close, with some parts being even better and just being able to play Cloud in this way is a dream come true, so thank you, I greatly look forward to the rest if I'm still alive that is (3-6 yrs is a long time, also please remake FF8 after :))
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  6. Apr 22, 2020
    4
    A massive dissapointment I have to say and sadly the main reason is just one. They decided to make this episodic. Really square enix? like really? The first time I played this game I was like omg this game is amazing.

    - Cool graphics - Amazing Story staying loyal to the classic while also surprising you with extra content and details - Amazing combat system - New sidequests - Great
    A massive dissapointment I have to say and sadly the main reason is just one. They decided to make this episodic. Really square enix? like really? The first time I played this game I was like omg this game is amazing.

    - Cool graphics
    - Amazing Story staying loyal to the classic while also surprising you with extra content and details
    - Amazing combat system
    - New sidequests
    - Great Enviroment
    - Awesome music

    Everything was painted in pink until I found out that this amazing game only covers 25% of the game. I felt cheated. I felt like I bought a long demo. I was expecting to find characters like yuffie, vincent, cid, cat-seith and kick sephiroth's ass with a whole new amazing animation for the omnislash but all I got was a "stay put for the part 2" ****

    If they are going to make this episodic. I doubt they will be able to cover the whole thing in part 2, meaning that we are gonna have to wait for part 3 and maybe even 4.

    This makes me believe that they are just a bunch of greedy mofos and they wanna make more money by selling this game in parts. and Its gonna suck even more if they release future episodes for a different console. PS5 is coming soon. So this is gonna be a mess spreaded into multiple consoles and multiple episodes.

    Summary

    Everything is cool except for the fact that is episodic, and no, you won't get to see the whole content in this game
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  7. Apr 22, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Changes at the end were amazing, doesn’t mean the plot unfolds differently, just that it has the potential to have a different outcome! Loved every moment both new and old Expand
  8. Apr 22, 2020
    9
    tl;dr : The game is amazing and really worth the wait/purchase price!

    Years of waiting, fears and doubts we're blown out of the water for me with the release.... The music, the story, graphics and gameplay are just amazing! Yes it has texture issues... but that doesn't take away from the entire experience... All I can say is that I cannot wait for part 2... Its scary what will happen
    tl;dr : The game is amazing and really worth the wait/purchase price!

    Years of waiting, fears and doubts we're blown out of the water for me with the release.... The music, the story, graphics and gameplay are just amazing! Yes it has texture issues... but that doesn't take away from the entire experience... All I can say is that I cannot wait for part 2... Its scary what will happen from here on out after the ending and how this wil tie in to the next parts of this game...

    A must have for me, but perhaps not everybody. Thank you to everyone who made me cry with happiness playing this game and stare with longing whilst the credits rolled past. Thank you.
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  9. Apr 22, 2020
    7
    The game is good, not spectacular, but two weeks after release there's been no patch and the texture issues have forced me to stop until they fix the game as they should have.
  10. Apr 22, 2020
    9
    A TON of extremely high highs! Some lows. Nearly perfect but not quite there.

    In short, this game is a wild experience and it's extremely fun to play! The game managed to combine great strategic elements with fast-paced, action-packed, elements to deliver something we've never seen before. At the end of the game you'll be left wanting more enemies and bosses to fight, more of the story,
    A TON of extremely high highs! Some lows. Nearly perfect but not quite there.

    In short, this game is a wild experience and it's extremely fun to play! The game managed to combine great strategic elements with fast-paced, action-packed, elements to deliver something we've never seen before. At the end of the game you'll be left wanting more enemies and bosses to fight, more of the story, and more of the overall experience. People who gave this game a bad score is being unreasonable. The game does so many things better than all the other games: amazing characterization, fantastic combat, great lore and story.

    Now with the flaws (not major enough to really dock points) buy they are very evident cannot be ignored:

    - Marketing. Apparently many people thought this was a completed original FF7 game from head to toe. Although I knew this, I can admit that it can be slightly misleading since there are not "parts" or "episodes" on the box. Rather, it only says "Remake" with small captions on the back of the box that explained the game being episodic. I don't personally find this worthy of docking a ton of points since I got over 60 hours out of this game so the value is worth it.

    - Bad and/or slow texture bugs on day 1 launch. It's something that is noticeable and does take away immersion a little. Game still plays fine and I haven't experience crashes or anything serious.

    - Aerial combat is a annoying. Luckily you don't fight too many aerial enemies but when you do the battle always feel extremely drawn out because you cannot get to the enemy and when you do the can only hit them a few times before falling. Aerial combat also potentiates the camera issue.

    - Camera issues. It's not horrible per se, rather, it's somewhat inconvenient? Even with the lock-on system I've used skilled in the opposite direction or miss a combo entirely just because of the way the camera is. You sort of have to constantly move it yourself. Many areas are too cramped or small and the camera is literally at your character's head and can barely see anything. Overall this can easily be fixed and i's more of an inconvenience than a deal-breaker.

    - Lastly is the pacing. Trust me, you'll be able to tell which part is pure 100% filler or padding. Some parts feel inorganically drawn out and overly long or no reason.

    Overall these are all technical issues that can be fixed. The core of the game: the story, combat, graphics, and characters are ALL fkin amazing. I'm on to getting Platinum while waiting for the next chapters.
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  11. Apr 22, 2020
    9
    I loved the game, it was visually amazing, the game chapters were extensive which helped to really establish the character development and the relationship between cloud and the party. The battle system was fluid, the music was nostalgic with a twist, the fights were challenging.The only few complaints i haveare that some of the dialogue is long, drawn out, and not skippable makingI loved the game, it was visually amazing, the game chapters were extensive which helped to really establish the character development and the relationship between cloud and the party. The battle system was fluid, the music was nostalgic with a twist, the fights were challenging.The only few complaints i haveare that some of the dialogue is long, drawn out, and not skippable making revisting chapters to collect whatever you missed tedious. There are some parts that are confusing but this is installment 1 of ??? So i figure that as the other installments come out things will make more sense. Expand
  12. Apr 22, 2020
    9
    Art is great, Game play is a vast improvement to the FF15 battle system, music is really good,Ending is controversial but i'm optimistic about the future installments.

    The only draw back i had with the game is some of the dialog can almost reach kingdom hearts level cringe. However its not prominent enough to tank my experience with this game.
  13. Apr 22, 2020
    7
    Pros:
    - Graphics: Character models and cut scenes look like a 2020 AAA release should.
    - Gameplay: I experienced only one glitch in my 40 hour playthrough at the time of this review (crawling through the vents in the Shinra Tower, I would get stuck when looking down into the offices). - Combat: Combat was a mixed bag. It was enjoyable but I wish they would adjust how aggro works.
    Pros:
    - Graphics: Character models and cut scenes look like a 2020 AAA release should.
    - Gameplay: I experienced only one glitch in my 40 hour playthrough at the time of this review (crawling through the vents in the Shinra Tower, I would get stuck when looking down into the offices).
    - Combat: Combat was a mixed bag. It was enjoyable but I wish they would adjust how aggro works. Enemies will almost immediately switch to target whoever you're controlling. However animations work and look great, and the combat is easy to coordinate and follow.
    - 8/10 parts of the story are amazing. Barret crying after the collapse was incredible - he felt like a real person.

    Cons:
    - Graphics: Super low resolution textures can be seen everywhere. To make matters worse Nomura tried to make light of it while acknowledging it by stating "Sorry everyone. The slums are so poor they couldn't afford better textures. Maybe next time." That's a pretty lousy excuse for a AAA game.
    - In Game Healing: You have to heal out of combat in the most tedious way. Even holding L1 you have to go through each individual animation to heal. You spend quite a bit of time healing in this game. It should've been made somewhat faster outside of combat.
    - The second time you mount your motorcycle while leaving Shinra Tower, the "boss" mechanics are cumbersome. Nomura likes vehicle battles (Kingdom Hearts Gummi Ship)
    - Chadley is incredibly awkward and forced into the game. A child is forging materia while appearing everywhere throughout the game? Ok - it's a FF game. But he doesn't feel fleshed out or like he belongs. It was a character built to support a game mechanic and I wasn't really a fan.
    - The game was incredibly linear. Too Linear. I would be exploring paths and suddenly be unable to turn around or blocked off with immersion breaking cancel signs.
    - 9/10 if you see a bench you're about to have a boss battle. I thought this was too on the nose considering you can save the game - at any time. This con in particular is a nitpick of mine, so it doesn't factor into my score.

    The biggest con:
    I understand the love and hate for this game. It was mostly well executed and well made. However fans had been pushing for 2 decades for essentially a remaster, rather than a retelling by Nomura which is why this happened at all. They feel betrayed because this was marketed it as a remake. Had it been more forthright that this was a retelling with major plot alterations to come I think more people would have been much more accepting and likely waited to purchase. Or just a different title so that people knew they were getting 100% Nomura.

    I am ok with Nomura changing the story to add world building and to flesh out and realize characters more. Making slice of life scenes all of which weren't originally there. What I am not a fan of is taking an established property and claiming that this game that stands on the original story success is good because of the Nomura brand changes in the final 2 chapters. People are applauding those 8/10s of the game. The fans that are upset likely feel upset because every single story Nomura has ever touched coincidentally has the lowest overall metacritic scores in the entire franchise and for good reason. He is a notoriously convoluted story teller made glaringly apparent by the objectively poor story telling over the course of KH1 through KH3 - that isn't even debatable. Newcomers and some old fans are fine with the changes he made at the end because it's so minor in the grand scheme only in the first installment that it seems fresh. It is likely not going to be minor come future installments now that Nomura and the team can point to this ending as rationale for whatever they may have in mind. This is the setup for potentially massive changes so Nomura can tell "his" story. Fans didn't want Nomura's story, they wanted the FF7 story expanded and brought to life on modern consoles.

    I am still excited to see where these installments go. But I will be waiting much longer after release of the future installments to see if this all holds true. Fate ghosts/seeing the future/negating on screen deaths - those are typically hallmarks of poor writing. So I guess we'll see.
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  14. Apr 22, 2020
    0
    The formula of this CASH-GRAB is far too simplistic:

    * Kingdom Hearts + Fantasy Fantasy 15 + Harry Potter = Final Fantasy 7: REBOOT *

    * That's right! This CASH-GRAB is definitely not a REMAKE, so I advise you to invest your MONEY in something that is at least worth it, since this CASH-GRAB is not..!! *
  15. Apr 22, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I rate this game a 7/10.

    For decades fans of the original were clamoring for a "remake" lifted to greater heights by the next generation of consoles. A great story, characters, world building, and all the elements needed were already there. Unfortunately, Tetsuya Nomura at the helm proved all of our worst fears true and his notoriously convoluted story telling was allowed to poison the remake in a fashion reminiscent of Kingdom Hearts - a giant "heartless" type boss, plot device ghosts, and a retcon nobody wanted.

    The remake uses "Whispers" and "Arbiters of Fate" to establish that the events of the previous game are the direction that the remake is supposed to head in. This whisper element presented in the form of ghostlike creatures becomes more and more prominent as you head towards the climax. Up until Shinra tower it is a minor plot device that drives player actions to follow a similar chain of events to the original.

    Upon reaching the top of Shinra tower the entire story takes a massive swing into nonsense. Barret is stabbed through the chest and "saved" by these ghosts because it "wasn't meant to be". Followed shortly after by the worst boss battle of the game on the bridge in a boss battle with barely passible motorcycle combat mechanics. Ending in a boss battle with all aerial opponents which are a massive annoyance to fight throughout game. Whereby the player is seen defeating "fate." An element never present in the original game but all but directly stating that Nomura can now do "whatever they want" with the future installments. Then you fight "Sephiroth" or more accurately along the original story you fight what you think is Sephiroth.

    I am deeply apprehensive of Nomura using these whispers or now lack thereof in lieu of a well thought out and compelling story to give the team carte blanche to do whatever they want to change the remaining installments to an almost entirely different story now that "fate" has been broken. Fleshing out the characters, expanding the world building, and introducing some minor changes wouldn't have required an overt statement of altering fate. This was intentionally done to allow them to make massive changes to the story in the future installments - changes which will certainly be convoluted nonsense if Nomuras history is any indication.

    Minor issues:
    - Healing outside of combat is incredibly tedious. You have to individually cycle through each heal animation from items or spells. You cannot perform this action in the menu. You must watch each individual heal. This takes so much time in a game where you're healing all the time.
    - Player control is yanked away frequently to enforce an incredibly linear gameplay experience. A "cancel" sign will appear to force you to walk in certain directions. There were multiple times where I was watching more than playing - though this is mostly an issue upon reaching Shinra tower.
    - Side quests are a mixed bag. In order to “get you to want to play” the side quests most of the items you’ll actually want are the rewards (gear and materia) for somewhat tedious tasks. Some are quite enjoyable. However this manifests very awkwardly through a character named Chadley that “creates” materia and summons and he does not fit in whatsoever. Chadley is very obviously forced into the game and stands out painfully. Do not put such an awkward and poorly thought character in the future games, please.
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  16. Apr 22, 2020
    8
    I am one of those people that wished they stuck with the original material and didn’t deviate that far from the original story. Since this is only the first part of the remake series, we don’t really know how the whole story will unfold. To me, the deviations just make plot holes that ruin character development, themes, and create a mess of confusion.

    Positives - music, animations,
    I am one of those people that wished they stuck with the original material and didn’t deviate that far from the original story. Since this is only the first part of the remake series, we don’t really know how the whole story will unfold. To me, the deviations just make plot holes that ruin character development, themes, and create a mess of confusion.

    Positives - music, animations, voice acting, visuals, cinematic camera work, dialogue, setting, character development, combat/gameplay, weapon upgrade system, materia system, humor/charm, lighting.
    Negatives -
    Long Boss Battles, Some Bosses alone take like 20 minutes or more.
    Sound Design, Several times I was expecting a big thud or a noise from setting down a coffee mug and I didn’t hear anything. Like right in the beginning when Jessie kicks the Shinra guard, I would expect a big sound from the impact but there’s hardly anything. To me, a game with a big epic theme should have a big epic sound design pallet. It’s thematically inconsistent with me.
    Combat Interruptions,
    Few dialogue choices,
    Awkward player/camera movement at times, The game does the thing where it forces the camera in a certain direction and you to walk towards it in order to progress the plot. A lot of the times it’s just annoying.
    Sidequests,
    Lots of Filler,
    Last Dungeon and Graveyard Dungeon,
    The main Theme seems forced at the end,
    Censoring - game avoids anything graphic. No blood, no dead bodies. Not that visually horrifying.
    Dull/Boring sidequests
    Motorcycle minigame is too long
    Loss - The consequences of certain events are irrelevant.

    For people that like the story additions and changes, I can understand them giving this game a 10/10. But for me, I’m so torn by it and just want to ignore the changes. FF7 is something I have always cherished, and this is not what I had in mind, or ever wanted. If the major story deviations weren’t there, I would give this game a 10/10, but as it is, I’ll give it an 8/10.
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  17. Apr 22, 2020
    10
    The Best game I played in my life. Genius, heartouching story ans characters. I am constantly thinking while playing: story please do not finish yet, please be just a bit longer. Love it!!!
  18. Apr 22, 2020
    10
    I just can't believe that are so many negative reviews here.
    If you are aware that the game is not the entire story of the original FF7, but the first episode (and for that I give the credits for those who complained about it, since Square-Enix should make it more clear in the title). This is as close as a perfect remake can get.
    This was by far the best experience I had in games for
    I just can't believe that are so many negative reviews here.
    If you are aware that the game is not the entire story of the original FF7, but the first episode (and for that I give the credits for those who complained about it, since Square-Enix should make it more clear in the title). This is as close as a perfect remake can get.

    This was by far the best experience I had in games for years. And I've found the additions to story excellent, gave us a fresh air and a lot of surprises without compromising the main story.

    I just hope the next episode don't take too long to launch.
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  19. Apr 22, 2020
    3
    The success this game may be achieving is basically the result of a good marketing operation, nothing more.
    They built a massive hype about it over time through interviews, previews and **** so that fans would become more and more excited, but if you look at it as it is, this game is actually very poor.
    I can somehow understand people rating this so high, because I really wanted to
    The success this game may be achieving is basically the result of a good marketing operation, nothing more.
    They built a massive hype about it over time through interviews, previews and **** so that fans would become more and more excited, but if you look at it as it is, this game is actually very poor.

    I can somehow understand people rating this so high, because I really wanted to love this game as I loved the real FF7 playing it 23 years ago.
    Yet to truth is... this is not FF7. It just don't look, sound or feel like FF7 in anyway.

    I'm sure real fans of the original get what I'm saying. All the sense of mistery, of haunting, melancholy and beauty of life expressed by the original have been replaced with... well... flashy visuals. That's pretty much it. They basically sold the very soul of the game to buy an empty good looking body.

    The trick here is: all the good you may be experiencing playing this remake belongs to the nostalgia; thus belongs to the original.
    Visually they actually made a good job to reproduce every place as we remember it. But, when the nostalgia effect ends, nothing remains and you will begin to see the game for what it is: a PROLOGUE to the original story, diluted with some generic and meaningless content which simply does not belong to FF7.

    But, let's split it up a bit. The following are huge mistakes which alone would be enough to ruin the game at once; and we have all of them:

    1. THE EPISODIC CHOICE
    You don't split an RPG in episodes. Ever. You completely destroy the sense of continuity, you reset the tension built until the moment you interrupt an episode, you break the story, you fail to deliver a sense of greatness and massive world; and most of all you lose one of the core concepts of an rpg, that is character building.
    What's the point of even level, equip and customize characters if they go to oblivion at the end of the episode? The character state at the beginning of the next episode will be just reset to some standard point, thus they will not be MY characters. Can you tell how possibly bad is that in this archetype?

    2. SUBQUESTS AND PADDING CONTENT
    What do you get if you merge a lot of water with good wine? Better wine? I think not. More likely more wine, but with a horrible taste.
    That's basically what they did here. They interrupted the storytelling several times to make the player do some generic meaningless quest.
    Well, side quests don't belong here, they belong to open world games. For a reason.
    And reason is, you have a world to explore and what you want to do in this world is up to you.
    You just can ignore them, or some of them, and still have a massive world to explore.
    This is not the case. There's no reason to pause a thrilling story from being told, well... unless you don't have much of a story to tell, having cut it. (see point 1)

    3. MAJOR STORY CHANGES
    This one is pretty obvious. You don't want to change the story everyone remembers to something different. On top of that you put in it elements from the original showed as "future visions". Why would you that? Fans will get upset because they were asking to re-experience the story like they remembered; new players just won't understand it in the first place, not knowing the original story.
    Furthermore, you don't do this in a game you call remake. This is just not what people expect, at a point that feels scam-like, misleading and insulting.

    Again, this is not FF7. You cannot simply put a logo, characters and skins onto a generic empty game and hope it will become what you are trying to shape. Things just don't work this way, it's not something that a decent company in gaming industry would EVER do.

    Things are, this game is out since 2 weeks, so people is understandably still excited about it, but it will be easily forgotten in few months.
    The reason we are all talking so much about this remake is the glorious game the original still represents after 23 years.
    And 23 years VS few months gives a very accurate idea of the difference between the two.
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  20. Apr 22, 2020
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ahhhhh ! So close but yet so far....graphics are great for the most part, with some eyeball watering bad textures that look like they leaped across from the original 97 version that need to be patched out. The battle system is decent, and pretty fun and the summons have great animations. Voice acting is good and the sound is epic in parts.
    ...then the issues start to creep in ! Most people who fell in love with the original would have been jumping like a teenager again as you progress through the story until you realise early on that its trying to fill out its content, dragging its arse across the floor like a dog with worms. Slowing you down and squeezing you between gaps to literally pad out the game to hit the golden 30hr mark ..its starts to change key elements of the story, but you can live with it..what you cant get over is the childish surreal nonsense Nojima adds to this so called REMAKE. Adding **** characters, twisting the plot until it reaches its climax and totally ****s on the original..different timeline, characters that should be dead are alive and the biggest elephant in the room revealed..'its too expensive to make the full game in this fashion'...so it lures you in with a faithful first section of the game then they change the whole thing at the end and leaves the door open for Square Ennix to do whatever the hell it wants going forward with a bull**** Kingdom Hearts twist that a two year old could have made up. Its akin to the last installment of Star Wars, lures you in with old characters then totally destroys the originals lore and great story telling...if that pissed you off, then be prepared for a REMATCH with this REMAKE...it gets lots right, and some parts are magic, but it just seems like an elaborate ruse to get your hard earned cash before they recreate the whole story with the next parts of this multi faceted release the way they want. I hope to god Im wrong, but its got all the hallmarks of trying to please everyone and ending up not knowing where the hell its going !
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  21. Apr 22, 2020
    9
    *never played the original* the game was great the whole way through up until the last half of the final chapter. Then I was confused af. Though after playing through the entire game again on hard mode I began to appreciate the story more. The game is mostly carried by the combat and the great characters, story isn't bad but I don't think they did enough to explain some things to new*never played the original* the game was great the whole way through up until the last half of the final chapter. Then I was confused af. Though after playing through the entire game again on hard mode I began to appreciate the story more. The game is mostly carried by the combat and the great characters, story isn't bad but I don't think they did enough to explain some things to new players before the end. But! The final half of the last chapter still felt really epic and if that was what they were going for, then they nailed that. So despite me being confused it was fun and I was kinda blown away.

    My other complaint is that there is nothing to do now, I've got the plat and every item etc. An extra dungeon or an endless wave challenge might have kept me busy for awhile. If anything the game told me to play the OG and I'm definitely here for the next installment, once again the characters are soo good I love them. The boss fights were top notch, music is a 10/10.
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  22. Apr 22, 2020
    5
    Honestly it was beautifully made and really well done. All the way up to chatper 17 was amazing. It was the ending that was bad. It was literally 2 hours of nothing but a crap tone or pointless bosses and subbosses. They changed the ending to the original which alone isn't so bad. It's just felt rushed and half assed. felt like that just ran out of time and said screw it.
  23. Apr 22, 2020
    0
    This is not a remake of FFVII; this is a prequel to Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus. It DEFECATES on everything good about the original game.

    Contrary to what paid reviewers will claim, this game is not ‘expanded’, it is ‘padded’. It’s padded and drawn out to a downright idiotic extent: 3-minute short segments in the original game have been turned into hour-long copypasted
    This is not a remake of FFVII; this is a prequel to Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus. It DEFECATES on everything good about the original game.

    Contrary to what paid reviewers will claim, this game is not ‘expanded’, it is ‘padded’. It’s padded and drawn out to a downright idiotic extent: 3-minute short segments in the original game have been turned into hour-long copypasted FFXIII-hallways. You walk down a poorly-rendered linear hallway and fight the same three guys for 30 hours, broken up by god-awful cutscenes that openly mock you for caring about the original plot. This is the game.

    The replacement ‘plot’ is Premature Ejaculation – the Video Game. You never leave Midgar, yet Sephiroth, Cait Sith, bits of the Nibelheim flashback, and Aerith’s death are all flashed in front of you (again – this is a sequel, not a remake, so you can already ‘remember’ these things) in paper-thin attempts to keep to invested in the Korean-MMO-tier grind that makes up 99% of the playtime.
    This game is not fun to play. It is a chore. It is grind. There is objectively NOTHING fun in this game.

    It.
    Is.
    Bad.

    The plot reads like it was written by a bipolar 7-year old. The art is soulless and rushed (Square Enix outsourced development of 3D assets to a sweatshop in Malaysia) and the environment textures look like they were designed in the PS1-era. Literally everything reeks of design-by-committee – from the Tifa’s floating suspenders that they were too lazy to readjust after shrinking her breasts to the reintroduction of Dirge of Cerberus enemies to retconning Nibellheim as a desert outpost. The ending is so mind-numbingly stupid that, at time of writing, Square Enix is literally threatening to sue people for talking about it for fear it will hurt their sales.

    This is the most shameless cash-grab in the history of videogaming and to purchase it is to get scammed.
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  24. Apr 22, 2020
    8
    Positives
    + 80% of the story and recreation was perfect and out of this world.
    + The graphics and visuals on the main story missions were unreal + The new gameplay was a great combo of button bashing, turn based, and strategy. + The weapon upgrade and levelling mechanics + Character design, scripts and voiceovers + Mini games Negatives - The delivery of the 2 most key
    Positives
    + 80% of the story and recreation was perfect and out of this world.
    + The graphics and visuals on the main story missions were unreal
    + The new gameplay was a great combo of button bashing, turn based, and strategy.
    + The weapon upgrade and levelling mechanics
    + Character design, scripts and voiceovers
    + Mini games

    Negatives
    - The delivery of the 2 most key scenes/chapters in the story (S7 plate and Shinra HQ) was poor, felt messy and didn't give the emotion the original events did. Cinematics need to be improved going forward.
    - Content - This isn't quite worthy of a 'full RPG' status, especially by Square Enix standards. Revisiting locations, fighting same bosses twice, and a good handful of poor side quests are obvious attempts at 'filling out' the game to sell as a full price title.
    - Summons are now too rare and obtained in battle by pure luck - this has removed their strategic importance as they can't be planned or relied upon.
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  25. Apr 22, 2020
    10
    I enjoyed this game more than any final fantasy game since FF9, and I've been a lifelong fan of FF and played them all. I started a metacritic account just to rate this game. Would give it around a 9-9.5/10, but rounded up because anyone giving this game less than an 8 is just trolling.
  26. Apr 22, 2020
    10
    Svajonė išpildyta, gavau mėgstamiausia vaikystės žaidimą. Grafika neriali, istorija nuostabi, nėra ką pridurti.
  27. Apr 22, 2020
    3
    The Good
    -The combat isn’t half bad. The tactical menu is pretty cool and lets you plan + execute your strategy nicely.
    -There’s some nice banter and dialogue between the characters in some scenes which I thought was neat. -The music can be a bit too much at times but other than that it’s mostly good. The Bad -LOTS of padding which ruins the pacing throughout the game. -While the combat
    The Good
    -The combat isn’t half bad. The tactical menu is pretty cool and lets you plan + execute your strategy nicely.
    -There’s some nice banter and dialogue between the characters in some scenes which I thought was neat.
    -The music can be a bit too much at times but other than that it’s mostly good.

    The Bad
    -LOTS of padding which ruins the pacing throughout the game.
    -While the combat is alright, some parts bother me. For example, it’s easy to have your attack interrupted. I wish summons were a bit cooler as well. -Inconsistent graphics. Some textures look good, while others look absolutely terrible. The Ugly
    -Anything involving the ghosts, time traveling, or alternate universes. I have no idea why they thought introducing all of that crap into the game was a good idea. The last sections of the game go off the rails HARD and basically cements that this game really isn’t a remake but a sequel which is really messed up if you ask me. Overall the game has some good stuff, but it’s ultimately soured by all of the terrible stuff.
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  28. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    Incredible game. Should definitely get your hands on it even if you dont particularly are a FF fan like me. FF7 Story and combat style are just on point; The materia system, weapons diversity, limit breaks, summons - The plot is great, characters are unique, ect. Only good things to say about this game. A MUST TRY (AT LEAST)
  29. Apr 21, 2020
    9
    Another GOTY contender for this year, i really enjoyed i never played the original so i didn't care much about the changes in the story but i didn't like the final chapter, it was a KH final battle completely unnecessary, i hope that even if i didn't play the original i would prefer to experience the original story and not a new one. But nonetheless i loved the gameplay, the music was oneAnother GOTY contender for this year, i really enjoyed i never played the original so i didn't care much about the changes in the story but i didn't like the final chapter, it was a KH final battle completely unnecessary, i hope that even if i didn't play the original i would prefer to experience the original story and not a new one. But nonetheless i loved the gameplay, the music was one of the best this generation, and the graphics were outstanding. I fell in love with Tifa's abs tbh Expand
  30. Apr 21, 2020
    8
    FF7 was the first JRPG I ever beat, and was one of the PS1 JRPG's that introduced me to the genre.
    So I have very fond memories of it, and I knew there was no chance Square Enix would remake it as is.
    The Remake is easily one of their best games in recent memory and apart from a very upsetting ending, I really enjoyed most of my time with it. The combat system is a great take on the
    FF7 was the first JRPG I ever beat, and was one of the PS1 JRPG's that introduced me to the genre.
    So I have very fond memories of it, and I knew there was no chance Square Enix would remake it as is.

    The Remake is easily one of their best games in recent memory and apart from a very upsetting ending, I really enjoyed most of my time with it.

    The combat system is a great take on the A-RPG genre, with a basic attack button that charges your ATB bar, that you then spend on Spells, Abilities, and Items. This adds a unique challenge and you don't want to be caught with low HP and no ATB. You can block and dodge, but both of those actions are sketchy in their execution. The dodge has no invulnerability frames, and the block only works against some moves... And some moves just seem to eat through either one.

    One issue I haven't seen any review mention so far is how the enemies don't play fair. They seem to have infinite MP (thus the ability to cast spells as many times as they want) and don't even seem to have an ATB bar either, as I've seen them spam moves over and over. I noticed it early on, but later in the game it becomes a blatant crutch that the AI relies on to be challenging. Considering that the original game had fair fights, I can't say I'm too thrilled about it. Barret originally had a move to specifically eat MP, which was a legit strategy against certain bosses and harder enemies, now totally gone as enemies don't even have that stat to worry about.

    The story sometimes follows the original perfectly, word for word even, so it was clear they did their research, and at its best I was happily reliving my childhood seeing these characters interact. Most of the new content and dialogue is good as well, and apart from the ridiculous usage of autistic anime sighs/groans, is fairly natural too.

    The original Midgar section, which acted as the games defacto tutorial, took about 3 hours to beat, and this game extends that to beyond 30, so you'd imagine they added a ton of new content. They did and didn't. You'll find some totally new quests and of course a litany of generic fetch quests as side missions, but the new story beats are usually good. That said though, the developers took several areas from the original and extended them, sometimes to upwards of an hour.
    This isn't always bad, I enjoyed seeing the extended train graveyard, but for the most part the 'extended areas' are a slew of similar encounters, mundane puzzles, and copy-paste level design. While it didn't ruin my experience, some of these areas grew very tiresome.

    The game is excessively linear as well, you never get to travel off the beaten path, and while you do get to see some beautiful sights, most of the game takes place in the least polished area of the game, the slums.
    The slums have issues, from low resolution textures, to NPC's repeating their spoken lines over and over, to meaningless side quests, and so-on. I had no interest in exploring the side content because it felt like they chose the worst area of the game to open up. Meanwhile the upper plate areas are lovingly crafted with insane attention to detail, but are 1-off areas you never visit again.

    My joy for this remake was a rollercoaster ride of positive experiences hampered only a few times by frustrating encounters or padded areas, but the ending was probably my absolute least favorite moment and has me worried about the rest of the series.

    I don't want to spoil major story beats, but I can't really avoid it... You fight literal destiny or literal meta commentary, depending on how you want to look at it. This entire final segment just bombshells the game out of nowhere, makes absolutely no sense, adds nothing of value to the story or lore, and I'm sure stirred up the exact controversy Square Enix wanted. It's important to consider that this is literally the beginning of our heroes journey here, and we've already killed destiny? It's so random and offputting to me. The game was throwing out our antagonist left and right too, ignoring the originals subtlety and slow build of mystery, instead opting for a "HEY THIS IS THE BAD GUY, OKAY?! THIS DUDE YOU KEEP SEEING IS THE BAD GUY, RIGHT HERE, YEAH. HIM. THAT GUY"
    The ending is a slap in the face in contrast to the original subtlety, which if you didn't know, Sephiroth, our antagonist, had only been hinted at and barely seen in passing by the point the remake decides to end at.

    I'm conflicted. It's a good game, no doubt, with a few flaws that did hamper my experience, and an ending that straight triggered me, but if the future of this series is to revive the original, with a few changes, I'm still game. I enjoyed my ride through Midgar, and if they can remake most of the towns and areas to the same level of detail, I'll have a good time.
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  31. Apr 21, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's an extremely well-crafted game that muddied the story with the bafflingly juvenile plot device of time ghosts and an ending that should have simply followed the script. The remake served its purpose though: to remind me of the greatness of the original. Expand
  32. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    Great remake, gets evwrything you know a out The Classic game and turn it even better.
    Fantastic
  33. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    I was one kid who played the original in 1997. I played the original 5 times a n my life doing everything the game had to offer. I'm pleased with this new game. It has a heart. It captured the essence of the characters. I fell in love again for that universe.
  34. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    I feel the need to post a rating for the first time because of all the controversy being sturred up online and people who have been eager to play this potentially getting scared off so here we go!
    I have waited for this remake religiously ever since the ps3 tech demo way back when as this was my favourite game of all time and as you may be able to tell from the score, I was not
    I feel the need to post a rating for the first time because of all the controversy being sturred up online and people who have been eager to play this potentially getting scared off so here we go!
    I have waited for this remake religiously ever since the ps3 tech demo way back when as this was my favourite game of all time and as you may be able to tell from the score, I was not disappointed in the slightest, every single moment you love from the original is here and it's recreated with state of the art graphics, sound and an incredible new combat system to boot!
    The ending might not be exactly what you expect if you played the original, it will be far more epic and it might scare you a little but don't worry, since everything we loved from the original is in this part, I have no doubt they're going to continue that this trend in the future!
    Even if they don't I was blown away by the quality and clear love out into this game by the decelelopment team and can't wait to see what the future holds for both the remake and future final fantasy games in general!
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  35. Apr 21, 2020
    2
    Some of it looks nice but the new combat system is a failure to update a working game mechanic.
    99% of fights are too easy to an embarrassing degree, with the last 1% being overpowered misery factories.
    Some goals they present you with are difficult because there are SO few opportunities to battle.
    The story is a bloated boring mess and only a small portion of the original story.
  36. Apr 21, 2020
    1
    You didn't play FF15 because it sucked. FF7R is the same game, but with some nostalgia thrown in.

    The most simple dialogue is painfully drawn out. (I just wanted to buy some Phoenix Down why are you still talking to me? can I go now?) You spend a strange amount of time sliding through tight spaces or holding down Triangle for 3 seconds to open gates for seemingly no reason (don't get
    You didn't play FF15 because it sucked. FF7R is the same game, but with some nostalgia thrown in.

    The most simple dialogue is painfully drawn out. (I just wanted to buy some Phoenix Down why are you still talking to me? can I go now?)
    You spend a strange amount of time sliding through tight spaces or holding down Triangle for 3 seconds to open gates for seemingly no reason (don't get me started on the big-hand crane thing)

    The combat is brainless and tedious. The block function is barely working. The camera doesn't fix on your target so you are attacking enemies off screen.
    The menu's are clunky.
    It will cost you$180 - $240 to complete the story.

    Still, it looks nice.

    Honestly though, I stayed away from previews and articles about this game purposely. No where does it say that this is not the full game and you will only get as far as Shinra HQ. Its marked as FF7 Remake , not FF7 Remake Part 1. I will wait till all the cut scenes are on youtube and just watch it. Cant take anymore of the gameplay.
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  37. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    It was everything I wanted in a game. I laughed, I cried. I felt like a kid again playing this game. There are certainly controversial changes, but FFVIIR has established itself as a game to be reckoned with and made itself relevant again. I can't wait to see the direction of this wonderful series.
  38. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    One of the absolute best JRPG’s I’ve ever played. Love, love, LOVE this game! One of the best Square games in years. They did the impossible in remaking this classic in satisfying the old schoolers and the new generation in every aspect. They only thing I can say is they goofy Japanese script is a little strange sometimes but well acted and combat is a blast. Voice acting is great and theOne of the absolute best JRPG’s I’ve ever played. Love, love, LOVE this game! One of the best Square games in years. They did the impossible in remaking this classic in satisfying the old schoolers and the new generation in every aspect. They only thing I can say is they goofy Japanese script is a little strange sometimes but well acted and combat is a blast. Voice acting is great and the graphics are incredible. Buy this one! Expand
  39. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game hints to the player that there is a 3rd party alternating the destiny of these characters. The final boss fights is against an entity that is trying to protect the original timeline. When you defeat this boss, you are essentially defeating destiny. Aeriths death was foretold, and defeating destiny opens this game to a completely different game post-midgard. That's right, so if you wanted to play the original story, that game is already available. Right now you are playing something different. Expand
  40. Apr 21, 2020
    2
    Pros:
    combat is pretty good even though I am not a fan of kingdom hearts like combat.
    Voice acting and graphics are 10/10 Music is okay 6/10 experience new character growth moments for members of avalanche as well as Cloud Cons: Plot is not the same as original and it is worse for it Music is not as good as the original, although new songs are okay the remixes of old music felt
    Pros:
    combat is pretty good even though I am not a fan of kingdom hearts like combat.
    Voice acting and graphics are 10/10
    Music is okay 6/10
    experience new character growth moments for members of avalanche as well as Cloud

    Cons:
    Plot is not the same as original and it is worse for it
    Music is not as good as the original, although new songs are okay the remixes of old music felt tacked on and didnt always fit
    Pacing was very slow, some areas felt like they were intentionally dragged out. This happens less frequently the further into the game you get, but even just before the end of the game there is a section that just felt tacked on

    Will get into SPOILERS here:
    They added a new plot element about the main characters and sephiroth fighting against fate, at the end of the game you literally kill the arbiters of fate who have been doing weird **** all game and distracted from the main story considerably.

    This new plot element subverts the themes of the original for seemingly no gain, I was really happy for the majority of the game's new content but none of the scenes with these fate monsters really made sense as a player and when it was finally explained it felt cheap. After beating the game the existence of this plot line has basically destroyed my hopes for the next titles to actually tell the real story.

    Should have called it FF7 Reimagined
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  41. Apr 21, 2020
    7
    There are a lot of 10s on here but I believe that those are all coming from the hype and excitement and not the game itself. This game is good, really good but not great.

    There are huge flaws in this game that can't be overlooked. Just to name a few there is poor motion capture (watch their mouths when they talk), wildly varying difficulty throughout the game, the story feels like they
    There are a lot of 10s on here but I believe that those are all coming from the hype and excitement and not the game itself. This game is good, really good but not great.

    There are huge flaws in this game that can't be overlooked. Just to name a few there is poor motion capture (watch their mouths when they talk), wildly varying difficulty throughout the game, the story feels like they stretched it to get their numbers high but most of it lacks any real depth, the fight mechanics are hit and miss, the equipment is mostly useless except for a few things, the graphics also change from amazing to amateur in the same scene, the side quests are something else, and I can go on.

    I believe this 40 hour game could have been an amazing 15-20 hour game but they just had to keep adding to it. The artist just couldn't stop painting.

    I would give it a 7.5 or maybe even 7.9 but I can't so it's an 7.
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  42. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    dint play the original before but this is the best game i ever played in 2020.
  43. Apr 21, 2020
    6
    Pros:

    Fantastic graphics for the most part bar some areas with poor textures. Played very smoothly on my base ps4, impressive stuff Music is mostly great, original had fantastic music and this had remixes of those same tunes and some new ones to boot, 2 stood out to me as bad but the rest was mostly great stuff. Characters look and sound great, they did an amazing job bringing
    Pros:

    Fantastic graphics for the most part bar some areas with poor textures.

    Played very smoothly on my base ps4, impressive stuff

    Music is mostly great, original had fantastic music and this had remixes of those same tunes and some new ones to boot, 2 stood out to me as bad but the rest was mostly great stuff.

    Characters look and sound great, they did an amazing job bringing the old ff7 characters into the modern age and the game expands further on their backgrounds especially jesse which was welcome.

    Some of the areas from the original were clearly shown so much love and care and it shows , Aeris house/church, Seventh Heaven, The shinra building, Some areas in this game really look jaw dropping and have such attention to detail.

    Mixed:

    Combat is a mixed bag, sometimes its great when it all comes together and it is more enjoyable the further you get into the game as more materia and abilities unlock for you but the camera can be a real pain sometimes and it can get very messy, An example is when a boss is lining up an attack and I run to get away sometimes a team mate will run into his line of fire, if i quickly switch over to avoid this then my original character runs back out into line of fire, hard to explain, its a decent battle system but needs some more tuning, looks fantastic when issuing commands though, love that slow mo effect.

    Story I wont get into here but it changes a whole lot especially toward the end, this is gonna be subjective but personally considering they changed so much anyway in terms of expanding the world, changing the combat etc I am kind of ok with them changing the story up, at least I wont know whats coming despite playing the original and loving it. (Mind you I am a turn based lover so my expectations for this game went down when the combat was revealed and thus I feel I care a little less than most what way the story goes) Ill always have my original ff7 so I am not too concerned, thus I feel meh about the story changes and it goes into the mixed feelings pile.

    Cut-scenes, Many of the cut-scenes in this game are great and look fantastic but there is too bloody many of them, it has gone for that cinematic approach that every big game these days has to do for some reason, so expect to play 10 mins, watch for 5, play for 10 more mins, watch for 3, play for 15 mins watch for 2 etc, a very 'stop and go' gameplay that I always hate, It is worth noting that there are a few chapters where this eases up thank god.

    Hated:

    Linear corridors, so much linearity in the game, Nearly felt claustrophobic at times, I am aware Midgar was linear in the original but the original was not broken up into parts and expanding Midgar into 30 plus hours! open it up a bit if your gonna expand it this much like. Also while on the topic of Midgar, it was not nearly as large as I was expecting given how expanded square enix claimed this game was as well as promising it was the length of a full fledged final fantasy. they obviously didnt mean any of the recent ones.

    Padding. The game has no shortage of it, the sidequests are mostly fetch or kill quests that do little to add to the game but I could have put up with them if not for the god awful slow walk speed in this game constantly, the game never makes up its mind, sometimes you can run, other times you can jog, other times you can only walk slowly, sometimes you can swing your sword to break boxes, other times the game wont let you swing the sword, it all happens nearly at random. This is one of the most annoying things about the game, its so restrictive, like as if i am playing an interactive walking simulator sometimes, This is needless slowing of the pace and dragging out the game. There are 2 exceptions where I felt the forced walking was justified but I wont spoil. I wont even get started on all the damn ladders and shimmying across between ledges and squeezing through tight spaces really slowly, that combined with the above really slows the pace and seriously hurts the replayability of the game. I threw my eyes up to heaven every time My character suddenly slows to a crawl because someone is speaking,

    Level design, Level design is very uninspired for the most part, leaving aside the linearity mentioned above, some of the areas that do open up a bit are large square rooms with trash mobs in them followed by a tiny corridor and another large square room. over and over, very very basic level design stuff here. Uninspired but you know what? Ill take it over being forced down another damn corridor and sometimes I got to at least choose the order in which I entered these rooms so thats a start :)

    Blue arrows pulsing on the ground guiding you so you dont get lost......this is bad in ANY game but how in the name of god would you get lost in this, its like getting lost in a 2d mario game, at least give the option to turn off immersion breaking bright blue arrows on the floor. Just the option please.
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  44. Apr 21, 2020
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Despite the number above I really liked the game. Its actually a strong B+ however given how many glowing reviews there are I don't want Square enix to get the wrong impression and think they re-captured lightening in a bottle. Amazing game. Loved every second of it until the end. I know they want to give us a new experience but they really don't need to. The updated audio and graphics, side stories and the intricate environment IS the new thing. It's ok. The story can be the same exact story. Just look at the facebook or reddit game threads, it is what the fans actually want. The story is literally already perfect, it can't be more perfect, changing it can only make it worse and lead to fan rage/less sales. So please do us all a favor and just remake the original game going forward. Please don't reboot the game, no one wants that. I'm glad you kill the big whisper at the end because I never want to hear about fate, crossroads, or see another dementor again. Also other constructive feedback, let a character stay dead, it cheapens the stakes if everyone comes back. Finally stop with Zack. Cloud is the protagonist not Zack. Zack is like superman great but conceptionally boring. What makes Cloud a million times better is that there is nothing innately special about him. Hes just a kid with some mild altruistic traits who crushes on the girl next door and through a series of traumatic events and some Jenova cells/Mako later becomes the hero we all know and love. The fans love Cloud BECAUSE he is a flawed character, let the protagonist be flawed. It's ok. His flaws give him the strength to be the hero. So let Zack die, like the one dimensional plot device he is. You got it right the first time. You don't need to change it. Please for the sake follow up parts, remake not reboot. Expand
  45. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    14 hours in and this game has vastly exceeded my expectations. It's been about 20 years since I played the original version and I have to say I'm satisfied with how it stays true to the original as far as my memory serves. I've seen people complain that easy mode is too easy. Well then accept the challenge, use strategy, and enjoy normal difficulty! I'm sooooo thankful that the Fame idea a14 hours in and this game has vastly exceeded my expectations. It's been about 20 years since I played the original version and I have to say I'm satisfied with how it stays true to the original as far as my memory serves. I've seen people complain that easy mode is too easy. Well then accept the challenge, use strategy, and enjoy normal difficulty! I'm sooooo thankful that the Fame idea a little bit if a challenge at times to where I need to exit the battle re-equip different spells and try again. This game is perfectly balanced. I was scared it was gonna be too easy to appeal to the lowered average IQ of modern day gamers so I'm very thankful for the challenging fights. I really hope future installments are exactly the same.
    This is the best game I've played on ps4 as far as fun factor and music and overall addictiveness.
    Some complain about the side quests, but this is what rpg's were always like! And some side quests have great boss battles.
    Even the mini games are fun. 10/10
    Square enix created a masterpiece
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  46. Apr 21, 2020
    9
    I have never played a Final Fantasy game before because I did not find turn based RPGs intriguing. However, the reason I decided to play this game was because the combat looked really good and I enjoyed it in the demo. If this game was not an action RPG I would have not purchased it.

    The game took me 46 hours to finish and it was absolutely amazing. The combat is really deep and makes
    I have never played a Final Fantasy game before because I did not find turn based RPGs intriguing. However, the reason I decided to play this game was because the combat looked really good and I enjoyed it in the demo. If this game was not an action RPG I would have not purchased it.

    The game took me 46 hours to finish and it was absolutely amazing. The combat is really deep and makes you adapt depending on who you are fighting. Simple enemies could seem impossible to kill at first but once you figure out how to exploit their weakness with spells and abilities they can be killed very quickly. This goes the same with bosses you fight. Each boss had their own set of attacks, strengths, and weaknesses you had to figure out. You would struggle and die a lot if you decided to just hack and slash with certain enemies so you basically need to experiment with spells, abilities, weapons, and Materia for each character you play as. The abilities each weapon has can be very powerful, useful, flashy, and fun to use.

    The story was very long, but very well made and very immersive. I never played the original so I did not have any expectations with the story. The character development it very good and makes me care about all the main characters involved. I see why so many people love Cloud, because he is an absolute badass.

    Only downside is the inconsistency of the graphics. Characters look amazing but some environmental object seem like they were made from Minecraft. Other than that, the game was well worth my time and money. I can tell Square Enix put a lot of time and passion into this game. Amazing job!
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  47. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    Excelente en todos sus apartados, y el que diga lo contrario es que no se lo a pasado, quitando algunos fondos o texturas bajas(resaltan dado la alta calidad del resto peor ay pocas), lo demás de 10
  48. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    Это было мое первое знакомство с данной серией игр и оно превзошло все мои ожидания! На протяжении 40 часов прохождения я был вовлечен в процесс и еле мог оторваться от игры. Кинематографические сцены, атмосфера и графическая составляющая все на высшем уровне. Так же хотелось бы отметить отличную оптимизацию на приставке, ни одного падения частоты кадров не заметил! Главных героев игрыЭто было мое первое знакомство с данной серией игр и оно превзошло все мои ожидания! На протяжении 40 часов прохождения я был вовлечен в процесс и еле мог оторваться от игры. Кинематографические сцены, атмосфера и графическая составляющая все на высшем уровне. Так же хотелось бы отметить отличную оптимизацию на приставке, ни одного падения частоты кадров не заметил! Главных героев игры полюбил всей душой буквально на 2 часу прохождения, кроме пожалуй Баррета Уоллеса, он бесил до середины игры ну и в целом его характер не близок по духу. Так как неплохо знаю английский проблем в понимании не возникло, скорее наоборот поднял знание языка благодаря игре! В общем если вы любите японские игры то обязательно рекомендую! Если нет то все равно рекомендую попробовать! Expand
  49. Apr 21, 2020
    9
    it's not perfect, but it's a very good remake, well at least the Midgar story it tells; let's see how Square evolves the rest of the great FF7 original story
  50. Apr 21, 2020
    9
    Square Enix finally hit home in making a Final Fantasy game that feels like how we imagined Final Fantasy as kids.

    The story is great, but hardcore fans will not be happy. Square pays tribute to the old story and adds some new elements. Though some of the new elements might feel a bit confusing to a start, they do add some quality to the story and freshens it up. The pacing of the
    Square Enix finally hit home in making a Final Fantasy game that feels like how we imagined Final Fantasy as kids.

    The story is great, but hardcore fans will not be happy.
    Square pays tribute to the old story and adds some new elements. Though some of the new elements might feel a bit confusing to a start, they do add some quality to the story and freshens it up. The pacing of the story is great as well, with some truly dramatic climaxes and more relaxed episodes. Square knows how to build the tension and when to release it to continously make the game interesting. However, for the hardcore fan, there might be some disappointments in the changes to the story.

    The characters are absolutely amazing and are spot on as modern interpretations.
    Barret, Tifa and Aerith are well built with great voice acting and character models, making every move feel authentic and real. Side characters are also fleshed out, giving more purpose to their parts of the story and the villains are well introduced and have great acts within the game. Cloud as the main protagonist is great and their remake of him in a modern body is excellent.

    The gameplay is what we've always wanted.
    Since Final Fantasy X, the FF series has changed gameplay and combat systems each iteration. Some for the better and some for the worse. However, FF7R nails the gameplay perfectly. The combat is crisp, elegant and hectic and is a perfect remake of the old turn-based combat. It truly feels like a Final Fantasy game and the abillity to take command of each character and their unique abillity is absolutely amazing. It's a new type of combat that I believe will be built upon, and stolen.

    However, other parts of the gameplay can be a bit lackluster. The side quests has for a long time been a weaker part of the FF-series and things like puzzles are more or less non-existent. More variety and challenges could have been added to spice up some of the longer pathways. Certain parts of the gameplay however are true fanservice acts from the old game and even though they might not be the best parts of the game, it's lovely that Square are brave enough to keep the goofy parts in for the fans.

    A Final Fantasy game is always beautiful - isn't it?
    Final Fantasy has always had cutting edge graphics and FF7R is not an outlier. The character models are incredibly detailed, Midgar is beautiful and the effects are mesmerizing during combat. However, there are some sloppy detailed textures and in certain scenarios the character models lack proper lip-syncing and are rendered quite badly. This is mostly during non-essential gameplay such as sidequesting, but I would still notice it each time. But during the most crucial cutscenes, as my girlfriend stated it; "this could be a badly made Disney-movie".

    Nobuo Uematsu is a genius - who knew? The music is, to no surprise, incredible. Remaking such classical tunes into orchestral masterpieces blended into the gameplay is fantastic. One of my biggest expectations for this game was the soundtrack, and that definetly lives up to the expectations.

    Overall it's an amazing game and Square is truly onto something huge here. FF7R might not be what the truest FF7 fans want with the changes to the story, but as an immense Final Fantasy fan that does not rate FF7 as the best, it's exactly what I wanted. It's a great mix of fan service and new thinking, and in my eyes a revolutionizing combat system. With the latest FF-games not being on-par with what Square previously have provided, Final Fantasy VII Remake truly shines and gives hope for amazing future games from Square.
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  51. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    I did not like Square Enix lately, and then they did this. I am amazed.
    The game's good things are sooo good, that those that are not, do not bother me.
    I did almost everything, clocked 55 hours. Pros: - Combat gameplay. It is super fun, I usually dont enjoy action so much, but this is the perfect spot between action and classic RPG, with many decisions to make on the fly and
    I did not like Square Enix lately, and then they did this. I am amazed.
    The game's good things are sooo good, that those that are not, do not bother me.

    I did almost everything, clocked 55 hours.

    Pros:
    - Combat gameplay. It is super fun, I usually dont enjoy action so much, but this is the perfect spot between action and classic RPG, with many decisions to make on the fly and preparation/customization opportunities. Bosses are A BLAST to fight.
    - Story. One of the main reasons I was attracted to Square enix in the first place. It is good, it is presented how it should (forget FF13 or 15, this is like FF7 Midgar section but enlarged).
    - Characters. They have never been so good. All of them are crazy interesting and they grow during the game.
    - Sound and music. Really impressed about this, the music even changes depending on the situation, the mood of the scene, etc. It really helps you feel much more.
    - Graphics
    - Customization. Thanks to the materia system and weapon upgrade system, you can build your characters as you want, and depending what you are fightning. I loved playing Cloud as a mage type, with more magic attack power than physical attack, using area of effect poison attacks, crazy fun.
    - Animations. They managed to make the characters express so much through the animations, I wanted to give them an Oscar for acting.
    - Voice acting. They chose very good professionals to do it. Cloud was soo good.
    - Inmersion. Midgar felt amazing just to walk and listen to NPCs, it felt the city was very lived, and I found myself looking around so many times just listening and enjoying the inmersion.

    Cons:
    - A couple low quality textures, which honestly I did not mind at all. This game really pushed the technology. It is a pity, but for PC I hope this will be changed.
    - Level design is indeed simple, classic RPG, nothing special. Which is not really a problem since the combat is so fun, and everytime the characters talk is a blast.
    - Controversial Ending. Without giving spoilers, the ending is different from the original FF7 and therefor means the next game will not be necessary exactly the same story as the rest of original FF7. This at first I did not like, due to incertainty, but after some thought, I do not care so much, I will trust them. Also, not knowing what will happen is really starting to excite me!
    (This is the reason hardcore fans came here to give low score to this game, which is by far not enough to lower it even a little, since we are talking 1 hour out of 56 in my case)

    But as I said, the good things are sooo good, that it is impossible not to rate this game high.
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  52. Apr 21, 2020
    9
    the team nailed the game, expand it exceed everyone expectation..the combat is amazing, tons of well designed boss fight with cinematic cut....the level design is great although the level area bit repetitive..the music is amazing as always..cinematic is awesome..it feels like i playing sony's single player game ..bit downside is side quest is just like poor fetch padding..since the questthe team nailed the game, expand it exceed everyone expectation..the combat is amazing, tons of well designed boss fight with cinematic cut....the level design is great although the level area bit repetitive..the music is amazing as always..cinematic is awesome..it feels like i playing sony's single player game ..bit downside is side quest is just like poor fetch padding..since the quest is little, they atleast should give more storyline attention..everything is great,wish there more location but understanding the original what we have is overall is satisfying...but the ending is convulted kingdom heart cluster trainwreck fillers...those things kind of out of place in vii universe... last 30 minute ruined not only 90% of whole game, but also ruined the legacy, betrayed fans, devs, and the game itself..why fans want remake at first place? hope they understand why and take lesson from star wars..the ghosty things arent contributing to the story, it distrupt the scene..never enjoyed each moment those things appear...dumb idea from writer...hope they stop doing this for sequel..its like the devs crafted tonnes of diamond but one of them throw a pile of **** towards it...the game design foundation already being laid upon they need to increase the scope with bigger open area for next iteration..it could get higher score and deserve goty if not so for these dumb 'twist' ending despite minor problem like lazy quest and low res texture problem..the devs better thread carefully for next installment Expand
  53. Apr 21, 2020
    6
    Game of the year, you say? ...Are you kidding?

    I can't believe the number of reviews praising the game's graphics. This easily has the worst textures I've seen in a triple-A title this console generation. The only exceptions are the early and late game environments, possibly due to the low-key lighting, making the texture issues less noticeable. In many of the game environments,
    Game of the year, you say? ...Are you kidding?

    I can't believe the number of reviews praising the game's graphics. This easily has the worst textures I've seen in a triple-A title this console generation. The only exceptions are the early and late game environments, possibly due to the low-key lighting, making the texture issues less noticeable. In many of the game environments, textures lack simple bump maps. They're insultingly bad for fans of the original who have waited decades to see this project come to fruition. The character models are very nice, but that's about it. There are moments when the textures are literally comparable to PS2, especially in the sector 5 junkyard area. That's not an exaggeration.

    The side quests are throwaway "fetch quests." The hard linear nature of the game takes away from the experience of the old final fantasy games that opened up near the end, giving you the chance to explore the world and build your characters. That never really happens here -- you can only explore one sector of Midgar near the end.

    The combat is fun at some moments and a klunky mess at others. It's so easy that you'll never face a significant challenge in the game (i died 3 times in my entire playthrough). Because of this, there isn't the necessary level of strategic depth that the original had; for example, I never had to use an item to remove a status effect because they rarely affected battle in a significant way. The most common ailment was the toad status, which you can ignore for literally a few seconds until it wears off naturally. Never used a "remedy," "smelling salts," "echo screen," etc. By extension, status defense materia and skills are arguably useless.

    The worst part of the battle system by far is the camera; despite changing the in-game settings, enemies frequently go off screen or block your view, and when you try to reposition the camera with the right stick you end up targeting a different enemy. We had the same camera issue in the last single player final fantasy title, and SE is simply not learning from past mistakes.

    Fanboys will jump on the bandwagon, but those who judge the game according to current standards and not based on nostalgia for the original will have a hard time calling this a GOTY contender.

    P.S. Worth noting that there are tons of annoying narrow passageways you need to squeeze through in this game. They're almost constant. Of course, they're really hiding loading screens. This game should be much better optimized given that it's offline, segmented into chapters, and so incredibly linear. Maybe SE should worry less about making Cloud's hair so damn pretty (his hair literally has collision detection) and worry more about building a game with functional environments that don't force you through narrow passages every 10 minutes and textures that don't look like they're 15 years old. Maybe actually texture a rock or a door every now and then. Just a thought.
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  54. Apr 21, 2020
    3
    Last chapter does not do justice and seems very fairytale like. It would have been an 8 as most of the story was captured nicely with good sense of realism until the last chapter.
  55. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    Only a game this beloved by many for its place in the history of video games could be this divisive in some of its new aspects and mechanics. I truly applaud Square-Enix for having the courage to remake what was already a masterpiece and making in it another one. A must play game storywise and gameplaywise.
  56. Apr 10, 2020
    8
    Halfway in but absolutely love this game. It would be a straight 10 if it weren’t from some really bad graphical issues I’ve noticed. Still a must own!
  57. Apr 21, 2020
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Finally a good and tactical combat system, way superior to FFXV. Character models are impressive and very detailed.
    BUT lot of low res textures and mediocre details .

    The level design is absolutely terrible : corridor , go right /left , straight corridor. Linear and very boring , major letdown .
    By chapter 14 this was beginning to be a drag.
    Secondary quests are mostly bland fetch quests and totally forgettable.

    It seems more a walking simulator at times , then a true flashed out action jrpg.

    I hope the sequel part 2 at least build up on the great new combat system . Overall a big let down.
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  58. Apr 21, 2020
    0
    Nul pas aimé du tout j’en suis à la moitié du jeu et le relancer et un calvaire jeu couloirs système de combat chiant et long le moindre mob est un sac à pv pour rajouter de la durée de vie pff plusieurs années d attentes pour ça pfff l original est à des années lumières de celui ci c’est bien dommage
  59. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    Amazing. Keeps the formula and adds more to it. I think we're on a crazy ride here.
  60. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    The real score is 9.5. I give 10 to compensate for 0 underrated score. I won't describe which pro and con that a lot of people already said.

    Pro 1. Every NPC characters have their own dialogue, so it look like they alive. 2. Almost materia is useful in it own way. It hard for me to choose due to limited materia slot. In the original, you use 20-30% of materia to win the game. 3. It's
    The real score is 9.5. I give 10 to compensate for 0 underrated score. I won't describe which pro and con that a lot of people already said.

    Pro
    1. Every NPC characters have their own dialogue, so it look like they alive.
    2. Almost materia is useful in it own way. It hard for me to choose due to limited materia slot. In the original, you use 20-30% of materia to win the game.
    3. It's quite hard for me despite normal mode. You have to use good skill to win the battle even it's not a boss.

    Con
    1. The camera view in the combat is not wide enough. Many times I can only see only 1 of them, so I don't know what will the other do to me.
    2. Stupid teammate AI
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  61. Apr 21, 2020
    7
    Overall I enjoyed playing through Final Fantasy VII Remake. Being a fan of SE back in the SquareSoft days, I am trying to isolate my nostalgia with the criteria of what makes up a superb game in this genre.

    Visuals 1.5/2 - The game is gorgeous but with some hiccups. The first 2 chapters are pretty flawless but there there is some drop off in quality with low res textures and pop in but
    Overall I enjoyed playing through Final Fantasy VII Remake. Being a fan of SE back in the SquareSoft days, I am trying to isolate my nostalgia with the criteria of what makes up a superb game in this genre.

    Visuals 1.5/2 - The game is gorgeous but with some hiccups. The first 2 chapters are pretty flawless but there there is some drop off in quality with low res textures and pop in but still remains a smooth experience. I would say the low res textures can reduce the impact of certain scenes such as Aerith's garden being filled with low res flowers. Just don't sniff too close.

    Sound 1.5/2 - The music in this game is overall well done with some drawback as the recreations of tunes seemed overly thought/complex which reduced the emotional impact when delivering a scene compared to the classic tune. I think a classic tune mode would of been appreciated by fans. Environmental sounds and battle sound effects all assisted in delivering impact and grounding into the scene.

    Narrative/Pacing/Delivery 2.5/4 - Starting with the strengths, they know how to deliver emotional impact though character building and delivery, and throughout the experience, FF7R does not bog itself down with being too serious as many lighthearted/funny moments are beautifully weaved within. The main narrative is well done with pacing issues. The side quests and much of the content between main narrative points are lacking impact, and become dull. The main character's lip syncing is well done, but the side characters are lacking work. I liked the expanded stories, but didn't like the fate elements as they distracted from many impactful scenes. The trade for creative freedom brought storytelling complexity at the expense of emotional delivery.

    Gameplay 1/2 - SE's strongest showing of its new age combat system. Took a little to get used to, but overall an enjoyable experience. Strategically, I would of preferred more depth with both the battles (Mostly dodge mechanics) and the environments (Reminiscent of FFXIII hallways).

    6.5/10
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  62. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    Absolutely magnificent work. Starting from battles and gameplay, ending with the plot. Not to mention the excellent graphics. I beseech Square to continue the story, as well as to continue to complete such an excellent work on the following parts. God bless you.
  63. Apr 20, 2020
    9
    Enjoyed the game! Excited to see more ahead. Interesting how they are steering this ship differently.

    I understand the hate from some fanbase. But imo it could be boring reliving the memory of the game but with souped up graphics knowing what will happen next in turn of events. Being a completely unknown journey would be kinda playing the game again for the first time, but with our
    Enjoyed the game! Excited to see more ahead. Interesting how they are steering this ship differently.

    I understand the hate from some fanbase. But imo it could be boring reliving the memory of the game but with souped up graphics knowing what will happen next in turn of events.

    Being a completely unknown journey would be kinda playing the game again for the first time, but with our favourite characters. Best Barret victory fanfare singing voice****

    Let the haters hate.
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  64. Apr 21, 2020
    4
    Honestly I think a lot of people rating this very high are blinded by the hype that this game has come with. The game has issues for me. The battle system been one. Not what I wanted to see in a ff7 game at all and yes I know it's 2020 but a good old-fashioned system would now be refreshing again amid all the action titles that are out on the market today.the game has some very bad textureHonestly I think a lot of people rating this very high are blinded by the hype that this game has come with. The game has issues for me. The battle system been one. Not what I wanted to see in a ff7 game at all and yes I know it's 2020 but a good old-fashioned system would now be refreshing again amid all the action titles that are out on the market today.the game has some very bad texture issues if you look at it and has a lot of character clipping when running through areas to which Squares answer it to not run through the areas rather than to sort the issue. I know my opinion is in the minority but it's still a valid opinion and I didn't enjoy this game at all I'm very disappointed that Square didn't make a game for the fans that wanted it but for the masses who like to bash buttons. Expand
  65. Apr 21, 2020
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game in general is great but the impossible pull-up minigame kills the entire experience for me. Can't beat it can collect the trophy item or anything. Ive been trying for 10 hours and nothing Expand
  66. Apr 10, 2020
    7
    I have played 4 hours so far and it's good. I will come back to change my review once I have finished the game. One thing that's bugging me is that after each fight the messages disappear too quickly and I keep missing what items and experience I receive. 8

    Now I have played 12 hours, I am starting to like it even more. I am finding it hard to put it down. Though it's been 12 hours I am
    I have played 4 hours so far and it's good. I will come back to change my review once I have finished the game. One thing that's bugging me is that after each fight the messages disappear too quickly and I keep missing what items and experience I receive. 8

    Now I have played 12 hours, I am starting to like it even more. I am finding it hard to put it down. Though it's been 12 hours I am the type to look for every corner for items. It has the elements of ff15 and ff13 put together, but for a long time, this has the ff feel of old. All credit to the team to take on such a brave project, that is dear to alot of people, so everything they do will be very critically analysed. For me I have no complaints. Great idea for the battle system, seems a mess at first but once you wrap your head around it, it's becomes clear and great fun. The story to me they can take to any direction, they have stayed true to the main story line but with added depth, I am just excited to find out more about these characters, after all no one knows the story more than they do. Graphics was a big thing for me in the old ff games, it's one reason why I use to play these games. This game apart from the opening bomb mission, the graphics slope slightly downhill. The main characters are brilliantly detailed but the extra characters and some background seem rushed. 8

    Wrote one for 50-60 hours game play. But stupid metacritic made me refresh page. So cant be asses now. Maybe be back at the end of the game. 7
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  67. Apr 12, 2020
    10
    I've played the original game once through in 2016 really enjoyed it. Playing it now really gives me another perspective of the game and the storytelling is so much more rich and makes me want to invest soooooo much time in it. Love the combat system but also the enriched character development which is further explored in the well implemented side missions. Definitely going for theI've played the original game once through in 2016 really enjoyed it. Playing it now really gives me another perspective of the game and the storytelling is so much more rich and makes me want to invest soooooo much time in it. Love the combat system but also the enriched character development which is further explored in the well implemented side missions. Definitely going for the platinum on this one Expand
  68. Apr 21, 2020
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. 32-year old FF7 Veteran here, reporting. *WARNING, SPOILERS*

    Just to provide a little context, I’ve been an all-round gamer (PC, Console, multiple genres) for as long as I can hold a controller and I’ve played FF7 extensively. So here goes. Straight out of the gate I’d like to say that I’ve enjoyed parts of this game, but my overall judgment of it is negative. I’ll try to keep it brief.

    Gameplay(Battles):
    By far the best aspect of this game for me. The battles are the best and most enjoyable I’ve come across in any RPG that utilises an ATB-type system. It was fun, intelligent and engaging. It mattered what I did tactically, and the fights were not easy, like in many games nowadays. The moves that Cloud and Tifa perform are awesome. I defeated Shiva on the second try, by settings Ice and Elemental materias on defense, I love that the materia system has some depth like that. The original had this already, but it’s still worth mentioning as it is also part of this game and it adequately ties into the Remake battle system as well. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the battle package. Sometimes battles could take an extreme amount of time, when by coincidence I wouldn’t have the correct Materia equipped for the correct weakness of enemies.
    Pacing/Logistics:
    Quality over Quantity is the catch phrase here. The pacing is a bit too slow for my taste. There is a lot of filler content in the form of side missions that are slightly reminiscent of crisis core missions. The quality battle system soothes the filler content, but doesn’t completely negate the effect. I regret saying that the filler content also seeps over into more important cutscenes a bit. I do believe having characters go through more ordeals together generates more bonding with and between the characters but only when the ordeals are meaningful and personal to the characters, such as the shenanigans with Don Corneo, the Sector 7 pillar, etc. I like the fact that you can just take the “chocobo-bus” for free and fast travelling later on, as soon as that form of travel becomes relevant. I’ll say it once more; Quality over quantity folks. Compared to the Witcher, the side quests are just bland.
    Graphics:
    Not bad, the main character models are nicely done, although I do wish some characters had a less perfect face to give them a bit more character. Tifa looks like a sex doll to me. Regular NPC’s are complete garbage, and their generic out-of-place (always happy, though they live in a slum) voice acting doesn’t help with that. Bad textures for everything except the main characters pretty much. So surfaces, walls and objects are mostly blurry. When you have something like God of War out in 2018, there’s just no excuse for this. The magic and ability effects are best-in-class as you can expect form SE. Summon models are also well done. The first time I looked up at the plate from the slums was a breath-taking moment. In summary: Also a mixed bag, and could’ve been much better.
    Story/Presentation/Voice acting:
    Generally, zooming in on a story arc works well if you’re trying to give it more depth. SE has succeeded somewhat in this regard, when it comes to memorable characters like for example Jessie and Aerith. Especially such a scene as where you go to Jessie’s house can make the gravity of the events that unfold more relatable and grounded in reality. Really though, if you have not played FF7 before you play this game, you will have a question mark above your head throughout the whole game. Hell, I even had a question mark a good amount of times, and there’s very little info on the new plot-line untill pretty much the end. Fighting the ultimate bad guy while in the OG you only just found out who he is, feels wrong. In the context of this game, which completely changes the story arc it might turn out not to be strange later on. And here is the segway into the most controversial problem with this game. It just destroys and nullifies story arcs like JJ Abrams did in the latest Star Wars film. Although I am curious to see where they go from here. This new direction neither respects nor adds to the original. Not a good choice overall, and not the choice people were hoping to see either.
    When it comes to voice acting and animation I strongly believe they should’ve gone with motion capture and corresponding voices, at least for the important scenes. This would’ve given so much more life to the characters and story. Especially Aertih’s voice is bland, typecast and generic. The script is also a mixed bag. Barret’s voice acting is good, but also easy as he’s always over the top and angry. But you can feel that the scenes aren’t acted together like they are with mocap, and although they did a reasonable job with the animation it just doesn’t hit the mark anno 2020. The animation system in the Witcher 3 is better, and so is the voice acting. Red XIII’s voice deserves an honorable mention.
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  69. Apr 21, 2020
    7
    ! xpected mor from d best game of all time , d additions r not beter in most cases , filler burns d gud_
    tifas face , camera, sumons.. if u trust old players
  70. Apr 21, 2020
    10
    For me playing this game was so emotional, after playing then original when I was only 11 years old. They have created a masterpiece and done an amazing job, yes changed pieces but I'm excited in what's to come. This is the game of the generation for me. Thanks square x
  71. Apr 21, 2020
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is just horrible. I mean I had to stop playing, because I just couldn't bare another mini attraction with that handcrane thing. This is just too much. The dull and repetetive corridor **** broke me. And I know there's much more of the same in the chapters to come. So I'll watch the rest on youtube.

    While the main scenario cutscenes are great and frankly speaking all a fan could dream of and more, the gameplay is just horendous pile of garbage. But this is a GAME for **** sake. It is supposed to be played. Not watched. So what do we have beside the amazingness that is FF7R the movie?

    Repetetive gameplay, boring bloated mazes with ve-e-e-ry informative chit chat from your companions. Locked doors to open, keycards to find, switches to push, and levers to pull. All that is sprinkled with Cloud constantly shimmying in narrow spaces to allow for the game to load more of the same **** and the WARNING icon for when you try to have fun. Who's idea of entertainment is this? Even the characters themselves comment on that from time to time. They're like..."Cloud we know this is fecal, but we have to press on". How could you **** it up so badly. Man. This game is a drag. And the quests? Lol. Find some **** find some kids, bring this here, take that there. Mob hunts. Done. Yeah right, it's the FF7 glory as we remember it. And while're doing these meaningful quests you learn about the characters you love. You'll learn that Tifa is a waifu. Aerith is very nice. Jessie wants to **** but maybe not, because syke. God.

    The combat is all over the place. You've used the assess materia - you know the combination. You're good. You don't. Well tough luck. Reload. Sit through the loading screen. Try again. FUN! Hope you like hearing the same lines from your team over and over again. Activating combat mode combat resolved ptsd to the max.

    And the story....Oh lord have mercy. Nomura san, you just had to do it, didn't you. You just needed to inject some of your destiny ass keyhole aids into a perfectly fine story. But wait. If the story was left as it was this game would be BORING. Right? Sure. Yeah. Thanks squeenix. And thanks Nomura, for ****ting all over what could have been something really amazing. **** you too by the way.

    Don't believe those nostalgia induced 10 outta 10s. I've watched lots of reviews for this game. They ususally go as follows: Well um the quests are lame, but the game is amazing. Well the corridor stuff kinda sucks, but I'm so thrilled for what's to come. Well I was sitting there pressing X screaming OH MY GOD I DON'T **** CARE!!!! But i like what they did with the characters. Graphics looks really really bad, but the game is an eye-candy. What?!

    I don't really get where this is coming from, and i don't really care. Crazy people be crazy i suppose. Again. Cutscenes are great. Rest is cancer.

    On a more positive note...I like that I've lost any faith in SE capability to produce anything fun. I mean they did prepare me for this for quite some time now. It started with FFXIII. And after FFXV, i'd say this game is a tremendous success. So honestly i'm not dissapointed in the slightest. Too late for a refund though, so that's a shame. But oh well.

    P.S. Check out the four identical copies of and old man in an apron in the area by the orphanage. It is sublime.
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  72. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    Absolutely amazing. The soundtrack, the combat, the story, everything is good. Even if you've never played FF7 ever, you'll still love this game.
  73. Apr 20, 2020
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Critical this game gets a 9/10 for me, personally it is one if the best games I have ever played and definitley one of the best Final Fantasy titles, personally the best since X (and I rate X very highly).

    90% of this game are a beautiful recreation of the original Midgar part. Every aspect here is build with so much love and respect that it felt like they build this world directly out of my memories. Start of chapter 2, entering the slums, looking at the upper plates skybox and seeing all this people talk made me tear up, because it was exactly "my" Midgar.

    The other 10%, the ending, is where things show you that this is not just a Remake, but almost a Sequel. The ending itself is genius and the next game will show if this is a good or a bad thing.

    Characterization in this game is the strongest part of the game. Every character feels perfect and they have so much more character traits then in the original, best FF character design in ages. All additional characters feel like a great addition, especially Roche to show how crazy SOLDIERs actually are.

    The world itself looks stunning, Midgar looks perfect, Wall Market is exactly what it should be. The size of the Shinra HQ is impressive as it really shows the power of this company. Overall the world feels so alive due to the many NPCs with unique voice acting.

    The voice acting itself is also great, I loved every one of them, especially if you consider that some of these VAs had no experience before (e.g. Aerith). Barret and Red VAs are perfect and just capture the characters personality very well. The only one I was not sure about was Sephiroths VA - but after almost 100 hours I also really enjoy his voice. It is the same tone, all the time, with no emotions, which makes the character itself even scarier.

    The gameplay is the best gameplay a Final Fantasy ever had. It perfectly combines action based combat with tactical components. Its like they took the best parts of every FF and put them into this. Stagger mechanics feel nice and rewarding, the character movement delivers much more tension, the weapon system gives great choices of how you build your characters and especially the fact that every weapon is viable and they do not replace each other. If you want to play the game only with the Buster Sword, you could do that. And at the same time every character can fullfill every role because of the different weapons. Overall this fighting system feels awesome and so rewarding. Bossfights are 100% action from start to finish, just feels great.

    The soundtrack is on the one hand very faithful to the original and in these cases perfect. There are also new tracks and remixes which are great. Only song that does not fit at all and did miss the situation was the song at the Honey Bee Inn when Andrea starts his show. Otherwise the soundtrack is easily a 10/10.

    But there are also some negative points regarding the game:

    First there is a issue with textures not loading. In many places the textures just show the basic ones, sometimes the real ones are loading after some seconds, some are not loading at all, which leads to some janky looking areas.

    The level design itself is average, almost bad. Many spaces are linear - which is ok because the original Midgar part is very linear aswell - but those parts also dont look too good. For example: Leaving the Reactor in Chapter 7 leads to through the reactor, but its just the same hallway, 4-5 times with a control room in between. Same for other areas like the sewers. So: Midgar itself and the world is great, level design very average.

    There are some CG rendered scenes in the game and the characters do look very strange there, almost too smooth and not really appealing. The in game models look way better here.

    Regarding the story: The "plot ghosts" itself are way too obvious. Would be great to just have Cloud these visions as a story telling option, but the ghosts are too much into your face to show you what they are supposed to be. Otherwise I loved the thing they were leading to.

    Overall I enjoyed every second of my playthrough, I love the ending and cannot wait what they will do from here on now. The next part will definitly the one to be judged regarding story. The fundation was set here - lets see what they will do with it, but I am with a positive mindset for the next title.
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  74. Apr 20, 2020
    9
    Truly amazing . Reimagines the original so well, the dialogue is so natural . The combat system is very easy to pick up but hard to master with how much you can micro manage . On top of that the added depth and length of midgar is excellent and I love how they are not making a 1:1 remake of the original.The game looks and runs great even on my original ps4. The original ff7 was an amazingTruly amazing . Reimagines the original so well, the dialogue is so natural . The combat system is very easy to pick up but hard to master with how much you can micro manage . On top of that the added depth and length of midgar is excellent and I love how they are not making a 1:1 remake of the original.The game looks and runs great even on my original ps4. The original ff7 was an amazing game and it didn’t need to be tampered with so they didn’t and did something else and I personally think it’s better . I love this game and really excited for the later parts. I recommend you go into this game without any expectations or outside opinions . I did that and it really helped me enjoy the game for what it is. An amazing achievement in show casing the classic ff7 story in a new and fresh light for a new generation. I wish the ending would have been closer to the og ff7 however they did such a job i have faith it will end well Expand
  75. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    A perfect reimagining of a classic title. They finally got these characters right after a long time of missing the mark since the original. I do have some minor nitpicks but hopefully they get ironed out in a part 2.
  76. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    Phenomenal. Everything has been brilliantly and breathtakingly recreated. The battle system is so fun and fairly challenging on normal. The music is gorgeous. It is everything I wanted out of a remake in more.
  77. Apr 20, 2020
    0
    It's sad how low our expectations of square enix has gotten where this hot garbage gets such high reviews. We deserve better, our money and most importantly our time is worth much more.
  78. Apr 20, 2020
    9
    Hardcore fans expected too much. Newcomers didn't expect this much! This games an easy 9 out of 10 for the soundtrack, game play and visuals alone. The story is well done no matter what anyone says. If you want the original go play the original. This is a REMAKE. Everyone KNEW things were going to change and that more content would be added. If you want to play the exact same game withHardcore fans expected too much. Newcomers didn't expect this much! This games an easy 9 out of 10 for the soundtrack, game play and visuals alone. The story is well done no matter what anyone says. If you want the original go play the original. This is a REMAKE. Everyone KNEW things were going to change and that more content would be added. If you want to play the exact same game with better visuals then go play a REMASTER. This is not a remaster, it's a remake so fix your expectations and stop trolling your game scores when you know you enjoyed it ;) Expand
  79. Apr 20, 2020
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I feel like rose-tinted-glasses are the only reason this remake was a success.
    As you play through the beginning from the first reactor to the slums and Seventh Heaven this game seems great, it seems like it stuck with the original game and it keeps the same tone, atmosphere, and story. As an individual that grew up playing the original FFVII, I was in love, it was beautiful to see these scenes recreated, and the beginning filler quests were things like pest controls or finding cats, some obvious filler, but hey, it's the beginning of the game and Cloud's trying to get his name out as a merc, so it was passable and made sense he was stuck doing small-fry work.
    It only went downhill from there, the filler became more tedious, and my god is there filler, it's a chore by the halfway point, the only thing that drives you onward is the fact that the scenes that stayed true to the original are amazingly done, the music, voice acting, emotion and love put into it is felt through. Yet an even amount of iconic scenes are ruined by the addition of the Dementors, which not only ruin old beloved scenes, but also their meta-narrative will rip you out of the story once you figure out their purpose.
    The characters are amazingly well done, they sound exactly like I always imagined, their personalities fit the original game so well, doing away with the one-dimensional husks the compilation made them. Definitely the best part of the remake.
    The use of Sephiroth is atrocious and just ruins his character and the mystery behind him, killing what tension the original had.
    The last step that made me simply want the game to end so I could stop being disappointed was the Shin-Ra HQ, there was so much linear pointless corridor filler I thought I was back in FFXIII. At one point I forgot I was in the HQ because I was desperately trudging through trying to make it end. This is the same place where you meet Red XIII, a main character than is no longer playable, and the excuse given was his character wouldn't be developed enough to justify him being playable(?) even though he fights side by side with you for pretty much every fight, because screw you Red XIII fans, you should've been Cloud or Tifa fans instead.
    After that the iconic "trail of blood" scene is butchered because the developer is now afraid of blood so you follow purple goo in an otherwise spotless HQ, which is the least intimidating thing I've ever experienced. Then you get a pretty awesome Rufus fight, which was the only good thing about the HQ besides taking the stairs.
    Then the ending simply becomes Kingdom Hearts and completely changes the story so it's officially no longer the original FF7, Cloud and co. transcend realities and fight Dementors and Sephiroth while Advent Children anime fight scenes happen, Cloud almost defeats Sephiroth right there, which further makes remake-Sephiroth a joke and no threat whatsoever.

    This is not a remake of the original FF7 like it was advertised, they said there would be story changes, but given the name "remake" I feel like many (including myself) assumed it would just be changes of things like the addition of Roche, or characters like Leslie Kyle and Kyrie getting some side-arcs, things that weren't in the original but could still reasonably exist alongside the original story we expected, added content that has some level of quality that wasn't in the original, to give more life and playtime to Midgar.
    Not that this would actually be a literal spinoff that isn't even close to the original FF7 and should be considered an entry in the compilation. We asked for a remake or remaster for years, and they said that's what we were getting, so it's not unreasonable to think people would expect a FF7 remake, not a spin-off under the guise of a remake. While technically the name makes sense, being a remake of the original storyline, and how they're "remaking" destiny. SE could have said they were completely changing the entire plot, but they chose not to, they chose to mislead customers. It's deceitful and my final strands of respect for the company left with this remake, Makes me miss the days of Squaresoft.
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  80. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    Beautiful game with aspects that any gamer will enjoy. Cant fault it in the slightest.
  81. Apr 20, 2020
    1
    Amazing visuals, great music, overall a good game. However it’ was falsely advertised as a faithful retelling of the story, and it doesn’t, it completely changes the story. this isn’t FF7, more like Alternate Final Fantasy 7, what would have happened if none of the important things actually happened.
  82. Apr 20, 2020
    0
    No me parece que el juego tenga un cero. Pero considerando lo corrupta que está la prensa de videojuegos como para que la nota sea tan alta, me parecía adecuado compensar. Digo que el juego no merece un cero porque si alguien que no conozca el original lo juega, a lo mejor lo disfruta. Por mi parte le daría un cuatro si yo no hubiera jugado al de 1997. Pero como lo he hecho, deseo vomitarNo me parece que el juego tenga un cero. Pero considerando lo corrupta que está la prensa de videojuegos como para que la nota sea tan alta, me parecía adecuado compensar. Digo que el juego no merece un cero porque si alguien que no conozca el original lo juega, a lo mejor lo disfruta. Por mi parte le daría un cuatro si yo no hubiera jugado al de 1997. Pero como lo he hecho, deseo vomitar en la boca de Nomura para que se sienta un poco como me ha hecho sentir a mi.

    ¿Se puede insultar en Metacritic?

    Lamentable juego.
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  83. Apr 20, 2020
    2
    tldr; making this game episodic killed it. Think of the Hobbit.

    I played these types of games for the leveling/grinding experience. You start off as an ant and by the end you were a God. The fact this had a good story was icing on the cake. Square dropped all of that in lieu of focusing entirely on the story, which is now packed full of needless filler. This is to say nothing of possibly
    tldr; making this game episodic killed it. Think of the Hobbit.

    I played these types of games for the leveling/grinding experience. You start off as an ant and by the end you were a God. The fact this had a good story was icing on the cake.

    Square dropped all of that in lieu of focusing entirely on the story, which is now packed full of needless filler. This is to say nothing of possibly the worst fetch side quests I've ever encountered in a game. Ever. The pace has been entirely thrown off and ALL of your progress will be deleted at the end of each episode, which will take until the end of upcoming console gen . I had max health at the end of this this one... *facepalm*

    I have zero interest in the others now. What a wasted opportunity. I am literally playing the original again. Graphics are old, but endearing. I get the full leveling, materia, grinding, endgame system, AND the original story as intended when Square used to know how to make FF games.

    At least they get their attempt to triple dip their crown jewel since that's really what this was about. This was less of a labor of love and more of a labor of greed. Money is all that matters to them and it shows - Typical out of touch corporation. SE is quickly becoming the EA of Japan.

    Square absolutely dropped the ball as expected. They changed too much. If all they did was upgrade the graphics it would've been amazing. This is not even remotely a 5 star game, but don't take my word for it. The average rating for this on here is 3 out of 5 stars. 'noigh said.
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  84. Apr 20, 2020
    8
    DISCLAIMER: I have not played the original FF7.

    Straight to the scores: Graphics quality: 9/10. Gorgeous game. My only gripe is that there are definitely some inconsistencies with textures and characters. Picture it this way - Main cast = 4k graphics, Side characters = 1k graphics. Now that is a gross exaggeration, but you will DEFINITELY notice it at some point, and not in a good
    DISCLAIMER: I have not played the original FF7.

    Straight to the scores:

    Graphics quality: 9/10. Gorgeous game. My only gripe is that there are definitely some inconsistencies with textures and characters. Picture it this way - Main cast = 4k graphics, Side characters = 1k graphics. Now that is a gross exaggeration, but you will DEFINITELY notice it at some point, and not in a good way. There are also some surface textures that are so bad you will think they haven't loaded in yet. They have. They are just that bad. But these are nitpicks, hence the 9/10.

    Animation: 10/10. Does this even need explanation? Every animation in the game was rad. Even the silly ones.

    Story: 7/10. Of the elements I use to score games, this element is the worst in FF7R. I never played the original so I am not sure how faithful this version is to the original, but my God this story was a roller coaster in the worst way possible. It is really hard to explain my position without spoiling it, but needless to say some things happen towards the end without some much needed foundation and explanation. It was bad enough that once I finished the game, I immediately replayed the chapters leading up to the end to see if I had missed something or just did not understand what transpired. Nope. I got it. It is just not great storytelling. The conclusion lacks support and reaches its plateau too quickly. And it is really too bad, because there are moments much earlier in the game that are the culmination of really great storytelling. The other reasons for this score are: (1) the ending wasn't... an ending. I can't really explain it without spoiling it, but it just was not the completion of the story presented in the preceding 38 hrs; and (2) there is VERY REAL padding throughout the game that sometimes made me feel like I was grading a development student's first gaming project on pacing. I am not exaggerating when I say that cutting 5-10 hrs from this game would have made it better.

    Characters: 10/10. These characters are so well realized. I loved every one of them. And I knew I loved them because when they would leave the party, I would miss them. And I would keep missing them until I saw them again. One of the reasons I am playing the hard replay-through is to see them again.

    Customization: 8/10. 5-ish second animation every single time you want to spend skill points on a weapon, something you will do FREQUENTLY. This may seem like a small gripe to you, but until you have actually played the game all the way through having to see that animation for every single character, every single time you want to spend skill points on every single one of their weapons, you can not speak to how annoying it becomes. It was actually bad enough towards the end that I no longer wanted to spend skill points when I got them. I would bulk save and wait until I felt like spending 10-20 minutes leveling things up.

    Gameplay: 10/10. In this game, the gameplay for me is the combat, and the combat is great. It is nothing like what I have ever been exposed to. The sort of quasi-pause combat. Really cool. One thing I will say though, is that I wish the game was balanced with less pausing in mind. There are some fights that require a bit TOO much pausing to succeed. Still 10/10 though.

    Voice-acting quality: 10/10. This game has really good voice acting and it literally makes the characters. I mean MAKES them. You will know it when you hear it.

    Music: 10/10. The music was the first thing my friend mentioned to me, and I can see why. The game has a really great set of music, notwithstanding some of the game's songs that you can "find" in the game world. Seriously great though - may buy the soundtrack.

    Price of game: 10/10. A pretty great game for $60.

    Extrinsic positive/negatives: +0/-1 I am going to just be blunt - the side quests in this game are not side quests. They are semi-required for reasons that I can not explain because of spoilers. But needless to say, that I would not mind them being semi-required, if they did not suck. But they do. They really do. And for a lot of really obvious reasons that are not worth sharing. If you are going to put side quests in a sequel (if there is a sequel!), please for the love of God make them better. The only reason this wasn't a -2 extrinsic is because of the VR battles. They are sick and I had fun with them. The rest of the side quests blow.

    Average score: 8.1/10. FF7R is a great game. I am not sure how faithful it is to the original, as I have never played it, but I did enjoy the remake. Having said that, the end of the story in this game needed work. And if they intend to make a sequel, that element better be nailed on the head, because I really wanted to give this game a 9 or 10 out of 10. Some of the other elements in this game are Game of the Year material. They are enough to carry the game, but not enough for me to recommend this game to people who play for really good storytelling.
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  85. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    wonderful remake, I think we all need a reborn final fantasy 7, not a 4K version FF7.
  86. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    Started the game with low expectations and without watching any trailers and it blew my mind. What the game does best is world building and atmosphere.Combine that to its deep combat, a fantastic soundtrack and few story surprises to make this game a must buy.
  87. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    I really loved the game i had 30 hours of fun.. i am ready to get all the trophies. thanks so much FF7R team, you did an amazing job. 10/10.
  88. Apr 20, 2020
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I just can't believe the amount of perfect score reviews that I am seeing on this website. They always talk about review bombing because of the negative ones, but on metacritic is happening something very suspicious in the other direction. It doesn't seem normal to me that many of these 10 score reviews are three or four lines long and many of them say that the game is very faithful to the original and totally respects the characters. Seriously? Have these people actually play the game and finish the game?

    The ending of the game is a real disappointment and I even signed in on Metacritic just to write a review. This is not a FF VII remake, this is something else. You can call it a sequel, an alternate reality or whatever you want to call it but it is not a remake. During my playthrough I was enjoying and reminiscing my childhood in spite of the damn ghosts that kept showing up and ruining almost every important scene of the game. I thought: "well, Nomura is behind this project, I could expect something like this after the disasters of KH3 and FFXV" but how could I imagine what they had in store for us waiting at the end of the game.

    I feel betrayed, I feel scammed, I feel like I want my money back. They told us that this would be a remake of the original game and I could accept changes such as certain scenes played differently or even characters that were supposed to be dead to be alive on this one, but was it necessary to add different realities and all that bull**** at the end? I think that Nomura and the guys in charge of this think they are smarter than they really are and what they have added to the game is complete nonsense.

    They only had to follow the script. I hope there is a great negative response to what SE has done to this beloved masterpiece and they reconsider their plans for it.
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  89. Apr 20, 2020
    0
    As amazing as the game is it is a product of false advertising. This isn't a remake but a retcon that is used as an excuse to not remake FF7 story like it was marketed to us but to change the story to whatever they want to. Great gameplay, but the game is destroyed by bad writing decisions that are like from bad fanfiction. The ending of this game is flat out insulting and absolute nonsense.
  90. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. SPOILERS!!! Brilliant game! Beloved characters displayed in more depth than ever before, great combat, visuals, and creative direction. The combat is extremely smooth and easy to pick up, very reminiscent of the Kingdom Hearts series, whilst still standing on its own. The visuals are breathtaking, truly bringing Midgar and its citizens to life. The added length to this part of the story allows for more in depth character moments, and prolonged interactions to build relationships. I honestly do not understand the mixed/negative reactions towards this games ending, I would have been perfectly happy with a straight up Remake off the original game, but the prospect off seeing this story play out differently, different character fates, interactions, endgame material, is beyond exciting! The original game will always be there, and it tells an amazing story on its own, but with this new series we could get something equally as great, whilst being completely new using the same wonderful characters. Expand
  91. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    Best game!! Waiting for part 2 to come out.
    Have playd THE game mode 3 Times and Still cant get enough.
  92. Apr 20, 2020
    9
    This game satisfied my expectations, full stop. I spent 45 hours with this (I didn't even spend the full time with everything they give you) and if you are a fan, you'll enjoy it! As a game loved by many, they had a tall order to fulfill and everything from character interactions, voice acting, harnessing colloquialisms, music, capturing the charm of the story, it all worked. I'm notThis game satisfied my expectations, full stop. I spent 45 hours with this (I didn't even spend the full time with everything they give you) and if you are a fan, you'll enjoy it! As a game loved by many, they had a tall order to fulfill and everything from character interactions, voice acting, harnessing colloquialisms, music, capturing the charm of the story, it all worked. I'm not getting these '0' and negative reviews - it's a beautiful game and very worthwhile.

    It is heavily story-oriented, leaving me wanting for more gameplay, to be released into the world. The main game had this portion of the story very on rails as well, so the scope of the game was detrimental to this specific entry. That said, they were able to add small elements of freedom, which was very bite-sized and wasn't completely satisfying. Their reuse of all of the areas was creative but again seemed a bit like spreading a little butter over too much bread.

    That said, the game is remarkably beautiful, fully polished and rang true to a remake. The boss fights were tough, variable and interesting. There were a lot of ways to build your characters. I found the gameplay very interesting, though there is room to improve. My main gripes with the battle system is that it felt a bit too messy sometimes- I couldn't properly use abilities, spells, items because the actions took too long to animate. It basically took out the element of skill and planning if an enemy can jump across the screen and immediately stop you. I suppose this is supposed to make it more challenging but I found it was often hard to tell when that was going to happen. If there was a buff that could make you uninterruptible that could provide a good solution.

    I hope the rest of the game is less on rails... I loved the open-world aspect of the original and am very excited to see the next iteration.
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  93. Apr 20, 2020
    9
    I decided to take the plunge into FF7R being a noob to the FF franchise. I have to say I didn't think I would enjoy it. I'm actually just starting out. So far the game has managed to blow me away both technically, but more importantly from the story. There is something relevant about a game that talks about energy issues as we are facing them today. Oil in this case. I found myselfI decided to take the plunge into FF7R being a noob to the FF franchise. I have to say I didn't think I would enjoy it. I'm actually just starting out. So far the game has managed to blow me away both technically, but more importantly from the story. There is something relevant about a game that talks about energy issues as we are facing them today. Oil in this case. I found myself grinning and laughing at some of the banter as well. I'm still working my way through the game, but I have already enjoyed what I've seen and I recommend others to give it a try. I give it a 9.0. There are mainly technical hiccups that prevent it from getting the golden score. Anyway, solid game thus far.

    Update: I'm 20hrs in and I am still enjoying the game. It's been a wonderful game to play. I hope the next installments are as wonder as this. If so, we may be looking at the best PS4 series to come out and that is a tall order.
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  94. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    Not giving it a ten just because as most here have sentimental involvement and a grave nostalgia trip.
    Giving it a ten because its a captivating cinematic masterpiece and super fun too. Yes the ending indeed diverse but still its a great way to move things forward while having increased anticipation with what comes next.
    Combat was engaging at all times. The music was phenomenal and the
    Not giving it a ten just because as most here have sentimental involvement and a grave nostalgia trip.
    Giving it a ten because its a captivating cinematic masterpiece and super fun too. Yes the ending indeed diverse but still its a great way to move things forward while having increased anticipation with what comes next.
    Combat was engaging at all times. The music was phenomenal and the replayability immerse.

    can't wait to see what's next hopefully sooner rather than later!!
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  95. Apr 20, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Definitely anxious about where the ending takes things and if the writer(s) have the chops to pull it off over multiple games, but if they do it right it could really elevate the entire story. Beyond that, everything else was a wonderful Remake of what made the original FFVII a masterpiece....ahhh who am I kidding, the ending was brain-dead stupid and they don't know what they're doing with this franchise any longer. Expand
  96. Apr 20, 2020
    8
    First of all, most negative Reviews you see are people unhappy with the direction the Story takes in the Remake. They are extremely biased and not very objective.
    Aside some Chapters flashing out some Side Characters the game is faithful until the last 2 Chapters. At that Point you either hate the game with a passion, or you are curious were they will be going with this. I count myself to
    First of all, most negative Reviews you see are people unhappy with the direction the Story takes in the Remake. They are extremely biased and not very objective.
    Aside some Chapters flashing out some Side Characters the game is faithful until the last 2 Chapters. At that Point you either hate the game with a passion, or you are curious were they will be going with this. I count myself to the 2nd group, yet i will try not to have too high expectations.

    Gameplay:
    The gameplay has about 4 things
    1.Battle
    2.Walking, Running and a bit of Platforming with Dialogue
    3.Cutscenes
    4.Minigames

    1. Not much to say, i had fun with it. Though there are thing i hope they work on.
    Camera (like in most 3d games, the Camera is your biggest enemie), Air Combat (flying monster were a pain without a ranged weapon), maybe better invincibility frames for the roll.

    2. Without interactions between characters, this would be hard to bear, good thing there are things that make the world feel more alive than the dreaded Tunnels of FF13. And to be fair, the Original FF7 was at least as linear as FF7R.

    3. Square Enix can do cutscenes, enough said.

    4. Wish there were more, or you could do most of them without playing through a bunch of story first, then again i had a blast with them.

    Presentation:
    Game looks gorgeous, just a few places were you just see the limitations of consoles (sometimes the resolution of the background is fuzzy).
    I love game soundtracks, a game with a bad soundtrack can be hard for me to enjoy, no problems here though. This game alone has a big enough Soundtrack that you can fill 7 CDs with it.
    Some are arragenments or remixes of the original FF7 Soundtrack, done by Masashi Hamauzu (hand picked by Uematsu) and Mitsuto Suzuki, both of them know for their Music in the FF 13 Series.
    I really like the cinematic approach they are taking with the music, also the transition from normal to battle. There are a bunch of new tracks, maybe missing the Uematsu charme, yet i could listen to some of them for hours.

    Normal price is okay for this game, if your own pace is about average you will spend about 30 - 40 hours on your first playthrough and about 50 - 60 hours for the platin trophy.

    Things that made me lower the score:
    - Camera and air combat
    - not much exploration, now that you have a map, you see how linear the game really is
    - oh please tell Normua and Toriyama not to make the storyline more complicated
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  97. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    I'm a huge fan of the original game and I absolutely loved this, including the 'controversial ending'. I will say that some general knowledge of the original game is required to completely understand the ending but I'm extremely excited to see where the next game takes us.
  98. Apr 20, 2020
    6
    Ainda estou jogando, mas já estou bem decepcionado. Vamos ver até o final. Tecnicamente o jogo perde muitos pontos, texturas péssimas e npcs com aspecto de PS2 assustam. Todo esse tempo pra entregar um jogo defeituoso desse?
  99. Apr 20, 2020
    10
    "Honey, I'm in love!" - this is how I feel about this project. Remake is everything I've ever whished for. Stroy, music, characters, dubbing, esthetics, visuals are exactly as they should be. Ending is bold and innovative and it changes cannon but at the same time creates new grounds for future installments. Just can't wait for next games, well done Square Enix, well done!
  100. Apr 20, 2020
    5
    Este juego ha tenido el potencial de ser mejor que el juego original y se ha quedado en intento. Como puntos positivos debo poner el desarrollo de los personajes principales y sobretodo los miembros de avalancha que me ha parecido espectacular, no voy a poner como punto positivo los gráficos porque es algo que se esperaba y el sistema de combate no me convence pero a cada uno con suEste juego ha tenido el potencial de ser mejor que el juego original y se ha quedado en intento. Como puntos positivos debo poner el desarrollo de los personajes principales y sobretodo los miembros de avalancha que me ha parecido espectacular, no voy a poner como punto positivo los gráficos porque es algo que se esperaba y el sistema de combate no me convence pero a cada uno con su gustos.
    Lo que me parece mal son los nuevos personajes con 0 relevancia y que son para meter paja y que no sea un juego de 10 horas, han cambiado la historia y no estaría mal si no fuese un despropósito, en el original ya veía mal como tratan el tema de Zack pero aquí es incluso peor, hubiese sido mejor el no sacar el tema. La banda sonora creo que las músicas de escenario son mejores porque tiene variaciones y acompañan muy bien, pero las músicas de batalla y en específico la de jefe creo que han perdido su fuerza y los que las hacían míticas o al menos es la sensación que he tenido a lo largo de este juego.
    En conclusión, es un juego con un final que lo único que hace es que los jugadores tengan que jugar al original o esperar unos añitos para que sepas algo más de esta historia. Yo lo hubiese vendido como un reboot y no como un remake.
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Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 126 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Negative: 0 out of 126
  1. Sep 14, 2020
    90
    Final Fantasy VII Remake is the game we've been waiting for from Square Enix for so long. Atmospheric, interesting and exciting all your attention modern jRPG with an interesting story and spectacular battles. To achieve the ideal, the project only needs more even graphics and all the content from the original release. If you were waiting for a turn-based classic with new graphics you will most likely be disappointed, since the game has changed a lot. Everyone else is happy with the release of the first really powerful single-player release from the internal Square Enix studio for many years. Especially after the failure of Final Fantasy XV.
  2. Aug 20, 2020
    80
    A good remake of the introductory part of the cult-favorite Final Fantasy VII. It improves on the original game in almost all aspects, yet lacks in scale and drops the ball at the very end.
  3. Aug 10, 2020
    90
    What matters is still intact, and that’s the heart and soul of one of the greatest stories in video game history. It’s a return to form that has felt a long time in coming, and what’s even better is that there’s still at least two more games of this quality to come...They can’t mess this up, can they?