Final Fantasy VII Remake

Shasserix

Apr 10, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. They sell me REMAKE for 5 years, they showing trailers with oryginal content, playing with nostalgia, nad in the end they give me game that isnt remake, but sequel, or reboot? With **** time travel ending, super linear locations and boring sidequests? **** you SE, I should know it will be dissapointing after FF15 disaster.… Expand

SinsOfChaos

Apr 10, 2020

4

Final fantasy 7 is not a remake for fans, it's a remake for Square Enix's pockets and we can see that through the decision to make a single game into 3-4 games. They wanted to squeeze as much as they could from their consumers and this first installment is a proof of that.

This first installment could've easily been an 8 to hours long game, it didn't need to be this long. It's basically aFinal fantasy 7 is not a remake for fans, it's a remake for Square Enix's pockets and we can see that through the decision to make a single game into 3-4 games. They wanted to squeeze as much as they could from their consumers and this first installment is a proof of that.

This first installment could've easily been an 8 to hours long game, it didn't need to be this long. It's basically a series of repetitive mundane activities that you do for the sake of prolonging the game without bringing any substance or development to the story. The little story we have in this installment is interesting, some people might like the major changes to the story and others who are nostalgic might not.

As for combat, they are using ff15's combat system which I personally hated. Movement in combat feels almost robotic, camera movement is annoying and characters sometimes just stand there and do nothing when you're not controlling them.

I do feel that if they would've just made the whole game, worry more about giving fans who have supported the company for years and years what they deserve instead of thinking of how they can abuse them, it would've been a great game. It doesn't need all these unnecessary content that brings absolutely nothing to the player, it needs to engage people, to make sure that we are having fun at every step of the way. This is not a final fantasy game, this is just another software SE created to fill their pockets like every console and mobile projects in the recent years.… Expand

Sembritch

Apr 11, 2020

4

I've played almost all of the final fantasy games and FFVII is my favorite game this is sickening to a fan, the game was purely made for easy cash anyone rating this as good either has clearly never played the original or any game of the series even FFXV which is pretty much the same thing is somewhat superior this game only has poorly implemented features meant to drag on the gameI've played almost all of the final fantasy games and FFVII is my favorite game this is sickening to a fan, the game was purely made for easy cash anyone rating this as good either has clearly never played the original or any game of the series even FFXV which is pretty much the same thing is somewhat superior this game only has poorly implemented features meant to drag on the game fetch/slay quests, mini-games and pointless story alterations which in the end result in nothing but wasted time, even if the graphics are good and the expanded story on the Avalanche team is beautiful this game is nothing but a waste of time and money if they keep on with their plan of releasing it in episodes its dead as my dreams of a remake because this is not one.… Expand

Godhand1982

Apr 10, 2020

4

If 5 is an average than I can only give this game a 4. As a die-hard final fantasy fan I knew I wasn't going to get the remake I really wanted, the current attention span limited generation of gamers wouldn't allow it but square..what the heck is this square? A stupid real time combat system that seems to take the very worst parts of kingdom hearts with its crap camera and bad AI, aIf 5 is an average than I can only give this game a 4. As a die-hard final fantasy fan I knew I wasn't going to get the remake I really wanted, the current attention span limited generation of gamers wouldn't allow it but square..what the heck is this square? A stupid real time combat system that seems to take the very worst parts of kingdom hearts with its crap camera and bad AI, a nonsensical story also seeming like it was vomited up by the worst of kingdom hearts., why was the story meddled with at all? Why? It makes no sense.the excuse that this is just part one of God knows how many parts is a poor one too, if Atlus can give us Persona 5 royal and CD projekt red can deliver the witcher 3 then why can't square make a decent game anymore?. Don't give into the hype people, it's hot garbage and that's coming from a lifelong final fantasy fan of 37 years of age.… Expand

Lowflunky

Apr 11, 2020

4

The initial playthrough was enjoyable but a subsequent one has removed the rose tinted nostalgia goggles and the rough edges stand out strong. Where there is beauty in the cutscenes and majesty in the new soundtrack, there is a far more worrying trend of anime style over acting, poorly textured environments and side characters, unnecessary side quests that provide no long term benefit and,The initial playthrough was enjoyable but a subsequent one has removed the rose tinted nostalgia goggles and the rough edges stand out strong. Where there is beauty in the cutscenes and majesty in the new soundtrack, there is a far more worrying trend of anime style over acting, poorly textured environments and side characters, unnecessary side quests that provide no long term benefit and, most importantly, story additions and amendments that break this away from a remake down a path of potential retcon. Fun can be had but this feels like multiple teams and directors fighting each other to tell their own version of the story whilst cashing in on the obvious fanbase love that will have driven many to pre-order. I suspect the second game will make or break not only the trust original fans will have lost since this first part, but also the final hopes for many that have been met with disappointing modern Square Enix games. I want them to do well, I want to fall in love with a modern JRPG, I want to feel lost in their world's. Only time will tell.… Expand

godessoftime19

Apr 11, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As a longtime, devoted fan of Square Enix and the original FF7 and the other spin offs, this has to be the worst one. Yes. Worst than Dirge of Cerberus, worst than Crisis Core, and most certainly, worst than the original FF7. There are spoilers down below so read at your own risk, i have marked them accordingly.

When playing this game in the beginning, I was rather excited for the invigorating game play, the stellar level designs, and the beautiful character. As the game progressed, it quickly went downhill.

1. I will say, the gameplay was what kept me on my feet but the boss battle lasted WAY too long and did become repetitive. My BIGGEST problem was how the first 30 hours of the game was just milling around in Midgar doing meaningless fetch quests just to earn some boring character cut scenes. While I did like exploring Midgar a little more, it was nothing like they marketed. It isn't really open world nor as expansive as they tried to advertise it as. In reality, this is the biggest marketing gimmick I've ever seen.
2. The voice acting was alright in the beginning, and then it just hit a brick wall. The voices are jarring and bland, it pulled me out of the character immersion, the characters became rigid and in the end, it was very stale and unbelievable. It was as if I was watching inexperienced actors table read a script for the first time. Not what is to be expected in a Triple A game. Get Troy Baker, Jennifer Hale, and Nolan North in there and have them voice everyone, it would sound a million times better. Heck the original cast would have nailed it better than this cast.

3. The storyline (will contain endgame spoilers) . Boy oh boy, this is where it tanked for me. If you were expecting just a little shuffle with the story, a little additional content with the backbone of FF7, this game isn't for you. It completely re-wrote FF7 within an hour's time. Not only that, Sephiroth appears WAY too much and does not have that mystery surrounding him. They are shoving this character in your face as much as possible. FF7R is like a sequal to Advent Children in the way that both Cloud and Sephiroth have traveled back to the past to relive the events of the original but both battling to stop it with their Advent Children selves...or something like that. The dead to not stay dead, they NEED to stay dead. It's like they saw how popular these characters were in the past and then wanted to keep them alive for a cash grab. Not cool man, part of the reasons we like them is because of their sacrifice. They made this game to be a giant "what if" where you can't take characters deaths seriously. It's ridiculous.
4. The music is lackluster at best. It looks like they took Uematsu's compositions and then just butchers them and then stuck his name in the credits to try to appeal to fans. It's not well done. Don't get me started on the Chocobo rap, hip-hop thing.

All--in-all, this game does not live up to the hype it is receiving. It was a huge letdown. I don't really have faith in them to fix this for part 2, but I sure hope they will see what dumpster fire they created.… Expand

CyberX

Apr 11, 2020

4

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is far from being perfect! It’s quite the contrary. Let me explain!

The battle system is extremely positive, in the sense that it rivals action games. For a JRPG this is the most impressive fragment of the game. I THINK THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH SQUARE ENIX IS STORYTELLING AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT – They just don’t know how to tell a good story. All the FinalFinal Fantasy 7 Remake is far from being perfect! It’s quite the contrary. Let me explain!

The battle system is extremely positive, in the sense that it rivals action games. For a JRPG this is the most impressive fragment of the game.

I THINK THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH SQUARE ENIX IS STORYTELLING AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT – They just don’t know how to tell a good story. All the Final Fantasy up to FFX had good stories and good character development. Since FFX and onward, every FF game was a disaster in terms of story.

My Final Fantasy 7 Remake Ratings
Story 0
Character development 1
Game play 10
Graphics 5
Overall rating 4

FF7 ORIG already had a complicated story and now Square Enix made even worse. To come back from this will be difficult. All I see is another FF13 on the rise.… Expand

enansein

Apr 13, 2020

4

This game is not a Final Fantasy VII remake. The idea of splitting it and make just the first Midgar part is a very bad idea to begin. This make the game a very slow paced experience that makes you not even want to finish it. The great plot of the original is ruined by Nomura's fan fiction with ghosts and Sephiroth popping out as much as he can. Combat System is a mess. I mean how couldThis game is not a Final Fantasy VII remake. The idea of splitting it and make just the first Midgar part is a very bad idea to begin. This make the game a very slow paced experience that makes you not even want to finish it. The great plot of the original is ruined by Nomura's fan fiction with ghosts and Sephiroth popping out as much as he can. Combat System is a mess. I mean how could anyone think that combat system makes sense? If you don't hit, you don't get ATB, so if enemy is out of range you basically can't do anything, no use items no use of magics. Lot of damages taken without even noticing, ATB ruined if you get hit while doing an ability.
What was SE thinking?… Expand

Gravvy85

Apr 11, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As an avid fan of the original awaiting a faithful remake I was sadly disappointed while some points were great and they did well expanding on the world and the side characters but some of their changes to combat and the materia system made it a bit jarring to play as I realised the ramifications of that system and that my favorite combinations and some of my favorite attacks/materia wont make it into the game. Then to get sucker punched with the ending where they basically completely rewrote the story and are trying to turn it into a Kingdom Hearts spin off **** thing just made me sick to my stomach.… Expand

Samriv

Apr 12, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The audio/visual presentations top notch. Some texture work is a but pedestrian in some ares, but FFVIIR got the visual part right. Where it steers wrong, is perhaps on the most important category in an RPG: Story telling. The original Story was a harsh, if social relevant one, but this time around some changes are made from the get go to portray the game's cast as more heroic than they actually well. Avalanche is a Geo-Terrorist group and the FFVIIR tries to sugar coat that. Perhaps more egregious of all, is Nomura's penchant for the nonsensical. FFVIIR pulls a stunning 180 degree turn into Kingdom Hearts 2 and beyond territory. A move that renders the original cannon (which was the superior work) meaningless in the end. Truly the game in someways is a slap in the face to the original fervent fanzine.… Expand

Punkit

Apr 12, 2020

4

Los gráficos son una risa con patas, las texturas son de play 3, lineal a no más poder y lo más importante el final... Cambiarle el nombre a este juego porque no es un remake.

Keymons

Apr 13, 2020

4

Pro Graphically high quality detail in the characters and environment. (Some background scenes are poor quality)

Good instrumentals but very quiet at times. Pretty much bug free (current moment could 2 bugs both missable, you can complete the game still.) Narrative is good with the serious scenes and the humour to boot, the comedy did make me giggle a lot. Con Story/narrative (the lastPro Graphically high quality detail in the characters and environment. (Some background scenes are poor quality)

Good instrumentals but very quiet at times.

Pretty much bug free (current moment could 2 bugs both missable, you can complete the game still.)

Narrative is good with the serious scenes and the humour to boot, the comedy did make me giggle a lot.

Con
Story/narrative (the last segment of the game ruined it, this is new content but it felt a half arsed attempt to finish the game)

Battle system is ok but there are flaws such as rolling is a gimmick (evading) hence enemies will always hit you no matter what. (I would class it as 1000% hit wich for me is a pettty system, instead of the sensation of fighting a battle, instead I feel like I am playing against a scripted code aiming to resolve everything as fast as possible)

Overall It is a good game but I am worried about the direction it may go, it could be a good game or it could go very bad being at the current moment give a take about 20% ish of the game is out as the remake compares to the original.… Expand

0xf8006

Apr 13, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is the epitome of style over substance.

For everything this game does well, it gets overshadowed by staggering things that it does wrong. The way SE expanded some characters and gave them more development is then immediately followed by meaningless kill X amount of monsters side quests. Or a sequence involving a reactor that turns a short sequence from the original into a sprawling set piece chased with a new character and a fast paced boss fight that is then followed by a 30 minute sequence of walking to the next city with maybe 2 encounters (see combat for later problems with that) and "character development that could have been established just as well without slamming the brakes on the pacing.

Visually, the game looks wonderful, I'm not going to argue that. In fact, the game looks so well made, that I believe that a movie called Final Fantasy VII Reimagined would have been a more pleasant experience than this game. I will defend this by also pointing out that every meaningful fight and experience is pushed so hard to be a cinematic experience that they should have just crafted a cinematic experience.

The sound is not my thing at all, but for the most part is well composed. I don't enjoy jazz or modern takes on old video game music. The music from the original was the first game that spoke to me that music in a video game could be a well made thing. But I get that everything must be made modern lest there be money left on the table. The new compositions by Uematsu are also some of his worst compositions to date, in my opinion, and don't add anything of substance to the game.

The combat system. Oh boy, here we go. So, the combat system is SE once again trying to redefine a concept that doesn't need redefinition in Square's titles, but not taking the same missteps in formerly Enix made titles. For an example of this, look to every Final Fantasy title since 10, then compare that to every Dragon Quest title since....I suppose, 1. On one side, you have redefining every iteration, sometimes successfully, other times, less so. Then on the other side a series who knows what it is, stays true to that and continues to receive praise and enjoyment from it's fan base. So, true to form, SE decided once again to redefine combat for a Final Fantasy title. And...it works...except when it doesn't. This aspect is the one I had the most concern for up to release. I do not usually enjoy action rpg's so I went into FF7R expecting the story to carry me through a combat system I wasn't a fan of. The combat system is actually fun and enjoyable, but there are caveats. The first caveat is that a battle is either over in milliseconds or is a sweeping epic encounter to last the ages. There is no just middle difficulty battles. The easier battles only draw out the already padded sequences which halt the pacing and the harder battles end up serving as a signpost that there will be much less content of interest past that point.

The story is where the game completely bottoms out its score for me. I wasn't looking for a 1:1 story of the original, but I didn't want something like this mess either. The original is still highly regarded to this day because it did so much right: character development, sound, gameplay, story-telling (which includes pacing), it even subverted expectations before that was the cool thing to do. So, what could be done with something so perfectly crafted? You can look at the result objectively, see the tiny cracks and flaws that time has shown, subtly repair those imperfections and improve the entire project through minor changes. Instead, we got Nomura. And Nomura does things the Nomura way. This means we get ridiculous over the top villains (but not really, cause friendship will save the day), we got convoluted plot lines designed to span over years and years of content with the pay-off usually amount to too little, too late, and we get his story that he wanted to make. What we got was NOT Final Fantasy 7 Remake, what we got was Final Fantasy 7 Reimagined. Nomura's direction allowed the fundamentals of the game to exist, but not when they would get in the way of the story he felt he needed to change the original in to.

Final thoughts: Final Fantasy 7 Remake is an overproduced game that will appeal to fan boys in a similar vein that a jingling pair of keys will appeal to an infant. It's shiny and sparkly and new. It lacks any substance or reverence for the original story (not world, there's a difference). This game will sell very well and will pave the road for canon spin-offs spanning multiple consoles and hand-helds and maybe in 15 more years, the final part will come out where Sephiroth and Cloud join forces to prevent Aerith's death at the hands of the watchers because the black materia and the white materia can bring paradise to the planet if they're linked.… Expand

Elfyth

Apr 14, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am very disappointed wtih Squer Enix. They took a diamond which was the FF7 and transformed to a charcoal. Apart that the whole scenario is for kids of 10 years old the biggest disappoint is that there is not an open world. FF7 without beeing an open world it is not FF7 not even a remake .… Expand

cormacmcs

Apr 14, 2020

4

An, at times decent and endearing, although unnecessarily padded, reimagining of a classic, marred by convoluted and ridiculous story changes, which are equal parts baffling and amateurish. The last section of the game takes what should of been an easy win for Square-Enix and drives it headfirst into a wall of disappoint, so foul, it almost strips away all positive feelings garnered by theAn, at times decent and endearing, although unnecessarily padded, reimagining of a classic, marred by convoluted and ridiculous story changes, which are equal parts baffling and amateurish. The last section of the game takes what should of been an easy win for Square-Enix and drives it headfirst into a wall of disappoint, so foul, it almost strips away all positive feelings garnered by the fluid combat and enjoyable character interactions.… Expand

Laschoni

Apr 15, 2020

4

I didn't wait all of this time for a sequel. I have to say it was a masterful troll job to bait me with a remake - I honestly can't believe the ending. Nomura shows no restraint, makes Star Wars sequels look well written.

r3zuri

Apr 15, 2020

4

I feel like I was bait-and-switched. Aside from the ridiculous ending and the last few chapters, this seemed like it was a faithful retelling of the game I loved. The characters and dialogue and set design was so, so great. And then they threw it all away with an absolute mess of an ending. I feel so sad.

Hemcsi

Apr 16, 2020

4

Once the fantastic visual department is removed, the game proves unable to aspire even to mediocrity. a system of mutilated and simplified materials to meet the children, the summons were better not even put them since it is the game that decides when they can be used, the growth of the pg seems the simplified and badly made version of ff10. Leaving aside the fact that the whole game isOnce the fantastic visual department is removed, the game proves unable to aspire even to mediocrity. a system of mutilated and simplified materials to meet the children, the summons were better not even put them since it is the game that decides when they can be used, the growth of the pg seems the simplified and badly made version of ff10. Leaving aside the fact that the whole game is the fair of the script, and the recycling of models is extremely ridiculous (someone even advanced by Kingdom Hearts), just to water and lengthen the number of hours ... Who would you like to address this game to? those who have not played the original FF7 do not understand more than half of the events, with players who hate Sephiroth without reason since they don't even know it ... And those who have played the original finished the powerful nostalgia effect of finding those characters so beautiful, there was once again a growing hatred for this which is clearly a work of total cancellation of the original plot. With the grip for the final pads "Thanks for financing the cancellation of the memory of FF7"… Expand

OGFF7FORME

Apr 16, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is not a remake. It is a re-imagining/sequel to the original ff7. It is not meant to be played instead of the original JRPG. The audience is expected to have a familiarity with at least the original game and Crisis Core. The "remake" follows the original game somewhat, often stretching out plot points as much as possible to make the game seem longer. Tasks that took 10-20 minutes in the original game now take over an hour, because Cloud needs to walk as slowly as possible down narrow hallways and play cutie pie waifu simulator at regular intervals.

Cloud also spends a lot of time doing thrilling side quests such as finding cats and killing rats in a junkyard.

Additionally, there are new and exciting fanfiction characters who add nothing to the plot except filler. That is what this game basically is: a double decker filler sandwich with a little bit of plot holding it together.

Why did I rate it a 4, you may ask? The combat is pretty fun. The graphics and music are good. And sometimes the game surprised me by being faithful enough to the source material that I felt like I was actually just playing the original with upgraded graphics. Then, the spooky time ghosts would show up, and I would realize that nope, I was still playing an expensive Kingdom Hearts fanfiction.

You know how a lot of people play the original game every few years? They're going to keep doing that. You know what they're going to do with the remake once the initial hype of seeing their favorite characters in HD wears off? Toss the game in the back of the closet until they are looking for stuff to throw in the Goodwill donation box.… Expand

DevAtStation

Apr 16, 2020

4

The parts of the game that were taken from the original most of them remain good. ALL THE NEW PARTS, specially the dementors from Harry Potter, ruin this game.

rpgconsumer

Apr 17, 2020

4

It's not a remake as they promised us but a reinvention of the title, only for that reason the game has a negative aspect of great importance. After years, waiting for it after the promise of the remake, we find ... this. Playable and graphically it's outstanding (except for the popping in some textures and the camera during fighting in small spaces). But what gives the suspense without aIt's not a remake as they promised us but a reinvention of the title, only for that reason the game has a negative aspect of great importance. After years, waiting for it after the promise of the remake, we find ... this. Playable and graphically it's outstanding (except for the popping in some textures and the camera during fighting in small spaces). But what gives the suspense without a doubt are the plot changes that not only influence this chapter that concerns us but will also affect the following chapters. We all like the story of the original game and absolutely nobody has asked for events to change, I do not consider myself a purist and I would have tolerated certain changes, but this is too much, in an RPG the story is a fundamental pillar and add time travel , premonitions and resurrections makes it a cheap story worthy of a B-movie, in short, the game is overflowing with fanservice from all sides in an uncontrolled way. They had it very easy, they just had to repeat what they did 23 years ago with current technology, that was the only thing we asked for and we found a first part that is only faithful to the original during the first hours of the game and that is going crazy for as the story progresses with an ending taken from the top hat that leaves a very bitter taste and completely eliminates the desire to acquire the next episode of the title. Conclusion: this is not Final Fantasy VII.

No se trata de un remake como nos prometieron si no de una reinvención del título, solo por eso el juego tiene un aspecto negativo de gran importancia. Después de años esperándolo con ilusión tras la promesa del remake nos encontramos con... esto. Jugable y gráficamente es sobresaliente (salvo el popping en algunas texturas y la cámara durante los combates en espacios estrechos). Pero lo que le otorga el suspenso sin duda son los cambios argumentales que no solo influyen en este capitulo que nos atañe sino que también afectarán a los siguientes capítulos. A todos nos gusta la historia del juego original y absolutamente nadie ha pedido que cambien los acontecimientos, no me considero un purista y abría tolerado ciertos cambios, pero esto es demasiado, en un rpg la historia es un pilar fundamental y añadirle viajes en el tiempo, premoniciones y resurrecciones la convierte en una historia barata digna de una película de serie B, en pocas palabras, el juego rebosa fanservice por todos lados de manera descontrolada con todo lo que ello implica. Lo tenían muy fácil, solo tenían que repetir lo que hicieron hace 23 años con tecnología actual, eso era lo único que pedíamos y nos encontramos con una primera parte que solo es fiel al original durante las primeras horas de juego y que se va desmadrando a medida que se avanza en la historia con un final sacado de la chistera que deja un sabor muy amargo y elimina por completo las ganas de adquirir el siguiente episodio del título. Conclusión: esto no es Final Fantasy VII.… Expand

Kitika

Apr 17, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First of all, I've finished the game, so I'm going to talk about the entire content and not just the demo. (No spoilers though).
Indeed, the demo was really in the spirit of the original is this and that explains most of the sales. But how many people actually played the game with it?
Indeed the game is quite beautiful, even very beautiful at times. However, there is a huge problem with the physics of the engine. A lot of objects on the ground are moved when you crash into them. I can understand this when you crash into a small plastic stud, but a 200 kg steel beam? this is quite ridiculous. Then, the majority of dialogue scenes in the form of cinematic are plan-plane, no real gestures, in short, this is the level of animation of the years 2010... in the end, it hasn't evolved since FFX. Most of the dialogues are very badly written, unlikely. Since The last of Us I haven't seen another game being able to tell me "it's credible!", the only interaction I found credible was Cloud and Jessie, the rest was forced, badly played or pure filling. A lot of filling for not much in this remake. Moreover the game is enormously sanitized, never the slightest drop of blood or evidence of physical violence makes the whole thing very unbelievable...
As for the main story of the FF7 Midgar game, it's basically correct but nothing more (the ending is just absolutely rubbish). For the rest, I'll go to the Spoiler zone.
Otherwise, the music is either nice (well, only in the playable part of the demo, which takes the theme of the game) and then, in everything else, or it's massacres of the original themes (the TURKs theme for example, what a horror). Either from the insipid nightclub sound... but hey, since de Nobuo Uematsu doesn't deal with FF musics anymore, they are only interchangeable background musics and not musics designed to express an emotion or an atmosphere.
Then, the fighting system... I didn't know that the future of jrpg was dark drunk and even slower and more boring... it goes at the beginning, but becomes very quickly heavy, repetitive and slow. Maybe the solution found to increase the playing time .
Anyway, my ideas are in a mess, but clearly, this game doesn't deserve the notes (probably made only on the demo) of the game. It's a game that relies only on nostalgia to ensure its sales, but taken as a standalone on a new license would have been an average PS4 game and not a "best-seller".

POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT

But for me this game is to FF7 what Star Wars 7 and Star Wars 4 are to FF7, that is to say an identical narrative, but without impact because it's very badly brought. For example, Sephiroth is shown as the big bad guy at the end in a completely stupid fight just to make fan service advent children. There is absolutely nothing that says Sephiroth is the bad guy before the last 10 minutes. Moreover, the previous comparison remains valid, I felt like I was playing a design game by Disney. No one dies, no more stakes, everyone comes back to life.
And as for the ghosts, which is a deus ex machina bad, but so bad... Those ghosts are only there for people who finished the game in 1997 saying, well, you wanted the game from then? well, we don't want to do it again. I see the ghosts as being the players wanting to force the story to be the same as it was back then, and the developers saying to force fate and tell people who want to play a remake **** you, we're changing the story". In that case, don't do a remake, release FF16... But hey, considering the quality of 15 and 13-213-213-3, Square clearly has no more aura. This is the last Final Fantasy I buy. In my mind the license is definitely dead.… Expand

Zyvera

Apr 18, 2020

4

So! 33 year old boomer here. Like many here I first played the original FF7 when I was around age 12, leaving a significant mark on my childhood. In the 21 years that have passed I've finished the original at least 50 times, done a few runs of Crisis Core, and watched Advent children.

Positive; - Graphics - Music - Battle system Even though textures are surprisingly bad in someSo! 33 year old boomer here. Like many here I first played the original FF7 when I was around age 12, leaving a significant mark on my childhood. In the 21 years that have passed I've finished the original at least 50 times, done a few runs of Crisis Core, and watched Advent children.

Positive;
- Graphics
- Music
- Battle system

Even though textures are surprisingly bad in some maps I'm generally positive about the graphics. Especially the main characters are exceptionally well done, and the majority is pure eye-candy.
Some tracks are a bit 'overdone' or lower quality than Uematsu's classic tracks but I still loved most of it. It was beautiful hearing the classic themes I remember in a new coating.
I've seen many criticising the battle system, but I believe with it being a hybrid this is as good as it gets. The battles are fast paced, interactive, and even though the AI seems lacking at times, with some fast swaps and command inputs with L2 and R2 this is no deal-breaker.

Mixed;
- Voice acting
- Pacing

Though some are especially well done (mainly Barret), I have mixed feelings. Some voices don't seem to 'match' and miss the emotional depth I expect them to have in certain scenarios and contexts.
When it comes to movement the game tends to feel very 'sluggish' at times. Narrow alleyways, frustratingly slow movements in some spaces, and the inability to simply walk/run faster in specific places seem just there to extend the game.
Further the game is loaded with needless 'boring' detours (every path is always blocked, and bridges always break) that increase the gap between main events to the extent it completely takes away their value and meaning. Endless corridors, ladders, switches and enemies for pretty much every dungeon does not equal good content for me.

Negative things;
- Lineair/Railroading
- Sidequests/Padding
- Story..

Now one of my main issues - especially compared to the original game - you have next to no freedom. It is literally spelled out for you through the entire game where you absolutely must move. In case you want to look around a bit you get told off, followed by a slow turn around. It feels like you're constantly in a narrow box without freedom of movement to forcefully follow the script.

The padding and sidequests are nothing short of obnoxious. The sidequests would've been fine would they have any relevance to the story line (think about Fort Condor in FF7 for example, optional bosses like weapons etc.), however, the sidequests feel like they've been taken straight from a random generic MMORPG, with zero relevance. They are but simple fetch quests, kill x enemy quests for random characters that nobody really cares about. Had this been in the original game it would've felt equally out of place, as it would demean the story.

Last, the story. I expected some adaptations, perhaps in the sense of fleshing out characters, and going more in depth on all the facts around the events. However, the story as presented in the remake for me was the difference between an 8 and a 4. Now I think we can safely assume that the audience the remake was intended for are people that have played at least the original game, and preferably crisis core. I find it hard to believe people that have no affinity whatsoever with the original game would understand what is going on. Think about flashbacks, the identity and relevance of some characters, and the significance of the final ending sequence - because let's face it, you don't get a lot of background information at all.

So if the audience was intended to be mainly oldschool FF7 players, why change the story so drastically towards the ending? I understand very well where they were going with the ending, and in what perspective it has to be seen. To go against fate, and against the 'known facts'. But this is at least not what I wanted for this game.

The game severely lacks the original slow-burn feel of impending doom and build up towards significant events that take place. Instead we get an installment with a lot of sensory-overload and zero build-up to actually make certain events seem relevant. Different timelines, alternate realities, and the ending in general does not add anything to a story that was already great, and - from my perspective - they feel absolutely nonsensical. After I finished the game I couldn't help but feel a pretty big 'what the actual ****' boiling up.

With this said, this game - even if awesome in many aspects - does not feel like a REMAKE, but more like a modernised spin-off that seems to miss the point in regards to what actually made this game great in the first place. The freedom, the mystery, and the story. I honestly feel like SE missed an opportunity here to make something great by choosing this route, and I really hope they manage to surprise me in some unforeseen way in the upcoming releases. It's painful for me to give this game a negative rating. It just could've been so much more.… Expand

RamManRamsay

Apr 18, 2020

4

So let's get this out straight away.....its not a remake of FF7, its game where about 20% of it is based on about 10% of FF7. So let's break that down.

Everyone knows that its only the midgaurd section that is included, and the actions that do follow the path of the original, I.e. the opening and main plot to destroy the reactors, is an amazing nostalgia trip of the original, and a visualSo let's get this out straight away.....its not a remake of FF7, its game where about 20% of it is based on about 10% of FF7. So let's break that down.

Everyone knows that its only the midgaurd section that is included, and the actions that do follow the path of the original, I.e. the opening and main plot to destroy the reactors, is an amazing nostalgia trip of the original, and a visual treat, save for some of the most noticable texture streaming pop up in recent times. However it's what happens between these sections that let's the game down so badly.

Once you're given the freedom to run around midguard, the problems become evident quickly: busy work. There are lots of side missions, but they all involve the same basic mechanics and reuse the same locations over and over. These locations, thought often stunning, suffer from poor texture optimisation and steaming outdoors, and long empty corridor sections inside to hide each hub area loading in the background.

The new story additions too are very our of place, and in particular the motorcycle sections and boss there seems very at odds with the rest of the grotty setting, complete with controls so bad that it leaves the impression that your playing a 90's arcade game. The graphics too outside of the main story, especially these sections, are often poor - one mission to a residential area has you walking around a completely pristine neighbourhood that would look more at home in the sims than FF, and it utterly spoils the deep of the game. Its painfully evident where the new story elements are being written.

For die hard fans of the mechanics of the original, classic mode is offered but it's really nothing more than an AI controlled version of action mode, which in itself is too often hidden behind a screen so busy you just mash buttons randomly and hope for the best.

Summoning is also hugely disappointing, with the ability to do it control to only boss level battles where the game decides you should be able to do it, and choosing which character to use - if you pre-ordered prepare to see the Chocobo Chick, the least useful of all, on a VERY regular basis. In fact at one point the game let me summon Ifrit and I had genuinely forgotten I even had him.

The realtime combat also means that confrontations are less frequent than before, and normally feature only one or two creature types per large area, pressumably due to memory limitations.

The games transition to 3D also lends to some amazingly glaring "linear path" moments....one early in during a factory missions sees you running down a path with wooden fences on each side and coming to a section which has fallen over, but which your character refuses to cross because.....reasons.

The game does look amazing, and the main FF7 story is as compelling as ever, and I challenge any fan of the original not to get chills during the opening section, but the forced realtime combat, frequent confusing and bland level design, numbingly boring side quests and unskippable dialogue, and poor summoning mechanics take so much away that I didnt enjoy the experience nearly as mich as the demo. In fact, after the first 4 hours, I'd day it's not even worth playing.

And that's before we even discuss the guiding "ghosts" which serve as nothing more than a mechanic to allow them to dispense with the open map sections in the next installment, and diverge away completely from the story we all love.

What should have been amazing is in reality a run of the mill action slasher riding the coat tails of legend.… Expand

CidVicious87

Apr 19, 2020

4

###SPOILERS###

Anybody who gave this game a good score, hasn't finished the game or is so worn down by square enix that they just don't care. While the first 2/3rds of the game made me feel like the good times, before the empire, the last third of the game is a blatant slap in the face to fans of the classic game. I understand it's a remake, and that you need to make it fresh, but to###SPOILERS###

Anybody who gave this game a good score, hasn't finished the game or is so worn down by square enix that they just don't care. While the first 2/3rds of the game made me feel like the good times, before the empire, the last third of the game is a blatant slap in the face to fans of the classic game. I understand it's a remake, and that you need to make it fresh, but to change critical story points and add a half baked notion of fate/destiny to a world where that never existed is disgusting and disrespectful to the classic. This game takes away from the agency of the characters, their trials their sacrifice in order to make something more Nomura like, i.e. bringing Kairi back to life in KH3. Barrett is basically Kairi in this game, he gets stabbed in the chest by Sephiroth, then the fate ghosts bring him back to life, yes their are actual FATE ghosts in the game. Not to mention that the fate ghosts look like giant mummified phallus. I'm sorry if you have to suffer through this game, because if someone with half a brain had kept Nomura from writing this ending then it could have been a classic.

Also the combat is amazing, till you realized it doesn't evolve at all. Enemies use too much interrupting abilities to actually play the game without hitting r2 to pause. Also they turned it into an mmo where you have to manage aggro, because guess what, your allies' atb bar doesn't fill up on its own. So you will be spending most of combat slamming square to build it up. It's needlessly micro-managey. I hoped they would implement mechanics so that your teammates didn't stand around doing jack while you build your atb, but nope. Basically they took a less refined version of ff12's combat and made it even more useless. Add all up this isn't even a complete game and they have the nerve to charge a full price is the end. The good will earned by 14 and 12 is done. I will not buy a single square enix game again, even the western ips. Thanks guys for being arrogant and disrespectful.… Expand

Thesgnuk

Apr 20, 2020

4

Oooh, Square enix...
You just had to do the nomura magic trick and change the story uh?
I Mean, we alll wanted a remake, we shouted that for years, and the community wanted a remake that doesn't go off the rails Was that too much to ask? You had to go crazy interdimensional space stuff timeline vortex in the last hour? Dunno about the rest of you guys but i felt the last part wasOooh, Square enix...
You just had to do the nomura magic trick and change the story uh?

I Mean, we alll wanted a remake, we shouted that for years, and the community wanted a remake that doesn't go off the rails
Was that too much to ask?
You had to go crazy interdimensional space stuff timeline vortex in the last hour?
Dunno about the rest of you guys but i felt the last part was weak and uninspired, and i ENJOYED every moment until then. What a shame, but at least i know that to expect from the project
And seeing the recent SE works (FFXV, KH3).. well you get the idea of what to expect… Expand

Vincent_graymor

Aug 25, 2020

4

EDIT: I really did not want to lower my score but so many reviewbump this that I feel that I have to.

This game is a great game. There is no going around that but giving it 10 out of 10 should not be what either old or new fans do because it is not perfect as a remake nor stand-alone game, yet the ones giving 10s are complaining about review bombing while they do the reverse. People areEDIT: I really did not want to lower my score but so many reviewbump this that I feel that I have to.

This game is a great game. There is no going around that but giving it 10 out of 10 should not be what either old or new fans do because it is not perfect as a remake nor stand-alone game, yet the ones giving 10s are complaining about review bombing while they do the reverse. People are being hyperbolic on both sides and the claim of "a true fan" is given far to much attention as it is never about being "true fan" so I will give my fair assessment. Throwing Purist or newbie around is not creative but I understand the need to vent emotion.

What I am seeing here is a very passionate fanbase because the game does a lot of things right. This game means a lot to a lot of people and almost always because of either selective nostalgia (both sides suffer from this whether it is seeing old characters again or not staying true to combat mechanics or something else) or the simple fact that this is a Square (Enix) title. Those that praise it too much should realize this because blaming bad reviews on nostalgia is just as bad as praising because of wanting more content regardless of form. It is also unfair to blame the marketing because many people from both sides avoided trailers and discussion to try and not spoil their experience. Hopes were shattered for some (as is always the case) and people that want to drown out critical voices, hostile or not, need to check their own level of investment and reactions. I will keep this spoiler-free but there will be mentions in a non-specific way.

Great things:
++ Main character realization is amazing, banter is mostly good, the dialogue feels like real characters, so much more body language, great use of small scenes being longer
+ Characters looking very much alive, even if some mouth movement was very strange
+ Expanded maps and areas, feels like a real place most of the time, it has nice views but sometimes horrible textures but these are seldom a problem
+ New combat that feels fluid and works great, it is a pleasure working with the combat even though it has many flaws.

Moderate
* The music is good but not so special people think. Personally I find gripes with the music being too bombastic and orchestral at times and adding new weird music seems unnecessary (hip the Chocobo, no more needed to be said). It is wrong to expect the music to be in tune with the old game but that game had simple gentle music and such exists in this game but blends out because sometimes it feels like I am sitting in a theater. It fitted Advent Children better because that was a movie. The music also reminds me of FF XIII sometimes.
* The padding is sometimes just a get through. Many mention certain areas and it is easy to understand why they do

Bad
- Camera, the camera was very annoying at times and while it never destroyed the game it was frustrating how it worked when it seems it should be something simple. A simple "restore" button would be nice.
--- The new story elements that are tied to specific spoilers. Now before a tantrum is cast this is actually something that even those that give 10 or nines actually states in their reviews so don't freak out at this mention. There is also no truth in that selective parts of media can't be judged on their own or give an impact on the review score. Many praise the game for being something new but this is like Terminator dark fate all over again with the difference that this calls itself a remake while Terminator dark fate was Terminator dark fate. There is much to be said and it cannot be explained away by positive reviews as "it is a remake so expect X" nor discarded as "didn't like it" by negative ones. People are entitled to their opinions but people are too eager to engage and thus we have another media war (like with so many titles these days). The truth is that this is not faithful to the originals story and will not be in future titles, regardless of how much people praise it or try to twist the obvious lore breaking stuff. This does not mean it is bad but from a story perspective, it is baffling. It would be the equivalent of rewriting the new testament so that Jesus survives. This both as the lore alteration and that there is a cult following. It is a remake alright but people should understand what this means for different people and respect each other.

People of all ages and old or new fans can and many will like this game a great deal but this game seems to have started a fan war where people just blame each other rather than thinking. The game is very similar to Kingdom hearts on many levels and that is off-putting for many people because FF VII never had that kind of stuff in it regardless of what people want. It also feels as even the game knows when they deviate with voice acting shifting in tone and characters themselves being indifferent or overreacting.… Expand

Nimler

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

kenpy

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 - GreatA 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… Expand

Climhazzard101

Apr 26, 2020

4

Dont believe the critics, they are written by fanboys blinded by what hides under the surface.

As someone who worshipped the original and wrote essays about it in high school, i looked forward to to FF7R for years. I thought, what could possibly go wrong? Considering the impeccable source material, crisp graphics and action packed battle system. It would turn out to be the greatestDont believe the critics, they are written by fanboys blinded by what hides under the surface.

As someone who worshipped the original and wrote essays about it in high school, i looked forward to to FF7R for years. I thought, what could possibly go wrong? Considering the impeccable source material, crisp graphics and action packed battle system.

It would turn out to be the greatest disappointment in video game history.

FF7R is lazy game design at its finest. It may appear as grandeur and ambitious, but i assure you its not. Almost every map of the game is a thin corridor with only two directions: backward and forward. Actually, strike that. Most of the time you are not allowed to go back to visit previous areas in FF7R. Not that you wanted to anyways because all the environments are unappealing and there is little incentive to explore, unless you want to commit to stereotypical JRPG quests (rescue kittens, kill some rats yay!) but more on that later.

You may think I'm nit picking, but really the core of an RPG is exploration and to be able to walk around freely. Unfortunately, FF7R holds your hand so tight its not much different than playing a FPS like say Modern Warfare. You may also say, "well the original game's Midgar section was fairly linear." Yes, but at least you could walk in more than 2 directions! Often times, the game forces you to walk in slow motion, or slowly crouch under an object or along a tight space, which is to mask the loading times. This completely ruins the games pace, something that Square Enix started doing since Tomb Raider 2012. Thus, traversing the corridors of ugly rubble is not only boring but extremely tedious.

Keep in mind that FF7R is about 100gb, the same size as Red Dead Redemption 2. However, the latter is a sprawling open world with endless opportunities and freedom. My question is, where did all the FF7R data go?

The best parts of the game, is when they stick to source material. The Sector 1 bombing mission, the church meeting with Aerith or the Sector 7 plate collapse are all well done pieces. As soon as the game deviates from the original's path it gets bad quickly. One of the worst sections is the chapter with Roche. He is a repulsive annoying prick that served no purpose. Classic ridiculously directed action from Nomura side. There is a lot of needless filler that was obviously put in to make the longer and less enjoyable, such as Hojo's lab or the Leslie mission. The NPCs are stereotypical, out of place and you can only overhear their conversations. Many times through the game, the party says "you wont be able to go back, are you sure you want to continue?" Seriously, when did this happen in the original? Why does the game decide what you can do and where you can go? Furthermore, the great majority of the sidequests are petty and outright stupid. It was fully possible for the developers to go further in the story than Midgar and have a more well balanced and focused experience. Regretfully, Nomura and his team chose to make this project a cash grab and have it in installments.

The music and the battle system are the brightest part of the remake, but it can also be a hit and miss. Wall market replaced the funky tune of "The Oppressed" with some generic jazz music. Fighting is fun, but the environments were so dull that it took out all the enjoyment.

The nail in the coffin was the ending. Just wow, talk about going off the rails. Without going into detail, I can just say that it was utterly abysmal and didnt feel like Final Fantasy, it felt more Kingdom Hearts-esque. I cringed through the whole part and lamented the fact that Square Enix had defiled one of the most beloved RPGs of all time. The implications of the ending quickly eradicated all the excitement about the potential of any sequels. Certainly, the argument could be made that a remake must be different, but this is out of proportion. A good remake (i.e RE2) sticks to the original and builds upon what made it so great. Playing FF7R is like watching a bad filler arc in an anime waiting for it to get back to the main storyline.

This game could have been a masterpiece but in my opinion it was developed by a mediocre team marred by mediocre results (FF13 + spinoffs, FF15, KH3). The failure is a testament of the downward spiral of the company. There hasnt really been a good Final Fantasy since XII and I sadly dont see it getting any better. Playing FF7R felt like playing the second half of FF15 with FF7 characters. Critics are mesmerized by the surface without looking underneath and they are too obscured by the love of the original. Also, theres the fact for many that bad game design is not an issue as long as it is wrapped in a neat package with impressive graphics and a cinematic story, as we have seen with Uncharted and the Last of Us. But I decided to be honest and see it for what it is.

The greatest disappointment in video game history.… Expand

Jonas-san

Apr 26, 2020

4

Bon je vais essayer d'être objectif et bref.

On nous vend ici un remake d'un chef d'oeuvre, or il n'a de remake que le nom. Ne vous attendez pas à ce que le scénario original soit pleinement respecté : le dernier chapitre (pas le seul mais surtout celui là) vient tout bouleversé. Cela change non seulement la partie Midgard mais aussi toute la suite de l'aventure à venir (et pas que desBon je vais essayer d'être objectif et bref.

On nous vend ici un remake d'un chef d'oeuvre, or il n'a de remake que le nom. Ne vous attendez pas à ce que le scénario original soit pleinement respecté : le dernier chapitre (pas le seul mais surtout celui là) vient tout bouleversé. Cela change non seulement la partie Midgard mais aussi toute la suite de l'aventure à venir (et pas que des **** changements), a tel point que ça dénature complètement l'histoire originale. Ok mais imaginons que cet épisode était appelé reboot et non remake, est ce que ça passerait mieux ?
Et bien non, les choix scénaristiques n'ont aucun sens, dignes d'une fanfiction d'un gamin de 12 ans. On vient incorporer à l'univers de FF7 des histoires de destin, de timelines, d'univers parallèle et en prime, on vient même cracher au visage des puristes explicitement dans la représentation d'un des derniers combats. Je ne vais pas m'étendre sur le côté DBZ de la mise en scène à certains moments, si vous avez vu Advent Children, sachez que c'est maintenant introduit dans le jeu. Voilà pour mon avis sur le scénar, dans un soucis d'objectivité, je dois tout de même préciser que l'ajout du pan de scénario sur Jesse est plutôt bon sans pour autant être extraordinaire ni imposant.

Pour ce qui est de l'aspect visuel, c'est en dent de scie : tantôt magnifique tantôt honteux pour cette gen, surtout pour un jeu couloir ...

L'ost est pour moi l'un des meilleurs atouts de ce jeu, elle est sublime.

La durée de vie est dans la norme, première run en 35h pour faire toute l'histoire et toutes les quêtes en normal. J'ai platiné le jeu en 80h.

La progression dans l'histoire est juste désastreuse, lente et d'une autre époque. On vous coupe sans arrêt par des cut scenes (dont la grande majorité est d'une inutilité sans nom), on vous ralenti constamment par des mécanismes inintéressants (innombrables leviers et mécanismes long à actionner, passages étroits qui nous font avancer doucement à répétition :malade:). J'ajoute également le manque de liberté dû à un aspect trop couloir, sans grande surprise : mécanismes - couloir - Arène combat - couloir - mécanismes - combat - cinématique et ainsi de suite. Ça coupe presque l'envie de faire une deuxième partie. Les nouveaux pans de scénario sont presque tous inintéressants, et très mal introduits. On sent bien qu'on à voulu agrandir maladroitement la durée de vie.

Le doublage FR et la VA sont bons. Mais dans les deux cas, Aerith est juste insupportable. J'ajoute également qu'on perd en crédibilité dans les combats quand on entend dire "C'est mon tour !", "Laisse moi tranquille, vas t'en" ... un peu niais.

Pour finir sur une note positive, le gameplay est quasi parfait. Il mélange de manière ingénieuse le tour par tour à l'action avec une composante stratégique intéressante, surtout en mode difficile. Ce système devrait être repris (et adapté) pour les futurs opus de la série à mon sens. Dynamique et nerveux, il est pour moi l'argument n°1 du jeu.

Je n'ai maintenant aucune attente pour la suite, si ce n'est pour le gameplay. Ça sera en occasion dans tous les cas, et je vous le conseille déjà pour ce premier opus.

Merci de m'avoir lu :)… Expand

spal-777

Apr 28, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Terrible remake. It starts very well retelling the original story with better graphics, voice acting and a serviceable (not amazing, but ok) battle system but then:
- New plot devices (ghosts) ruining meaningful original scenes - Ridiculous ending which is a direct insult to old fans and a deceit to grab endless cash. - Most of the tone and themes of the original are lost and relegated to an afterthought, focusing on KH-like plot and interactions
- Bad new NPCs
- Sidequest are mmo tier - find 3 cats, kill 10 rats
- Most gameplay involves running through empty linear corridors pushing switches to open more corridors. All feels like meaningless filler.
- Butchered the OST
- Only the main character models look good. Rest of the game feels like PS2 at times

It's not completely awful, the beginning is very solid and it's still neat to see things like limit breaks in full 3D but overall it's mediocre and falls apart pretty soon.… Expand

Furballcleaner

Apr 30, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. If i was to give a one sentence review of this game it would be "A classic case of a epic story ruined by needless padding".

I have played the original numerous times over the years including recently so i am not looking back with rose tinted glasses when i say the original was one of the most epic and moving games ever created with overall brilliant gameplay.
The story telling was outstanding and well ahead of it's time, I felt attached to all the main playable characters and even on repeated replays i still feel sad when Aeris (or Aerith) dies. I hated Shinra, even more so because i felt it was terrible what they did dropping the plate on the slums and overall the world felt epic and well designed with every part having it's place.

I had some trepidation starting the game as i was not impressed with FFXV combat in particular and the story was weak but after playing the first mission i was very impressed with what they had done with game including the combat which seemed like they had kept the best bits of the original combat style while modernising it in just the right way.

It then slowly started to fall apart...

You soon start to realise that 'expanding on the original story to flesh out Midgar' really means just add a load of increasingly repetitive, boring and incoherent fluff to a great story which only serves to ruin it.

The playable area itself is actually quite small with you repeatedly sent back to the same area which is particularly noticeable with the final batch of side quests which entail revisiting every single zone you have already been to, sometimes for the third or fourth time.

Most of the areas you traverse seem artificially stretched to elongate the game and justify releasing this small part of the story as a 'full game'. There were a number of sections in the latter half of the game in particular where i had to take a break as i was frankly bored of snaking around the most elongated route possible and return to the game later once my brain had stopped dribbling out of my ears.

For the story it would seem the developers have taken the 'alternate timeline' route that is now standard for milking a franchise.
If done properly this can be done well but this has not been done well because the new bits seem little more than pointless, boring, badly written filler. Where the remake sticks to the original story and expands on it properly it is generally great but almost every time it diverts from the original story the writing, the voice acting and even the context seem out of place.
Who is Roche? Apart from being some annoying idiot on a motorbike? He is introduced like he is going to be an ongoing rival who will challenge you throughout the game as you become stronger and then is never to be seen again...
What the hell is that totally out of character dance thing with Cloud? Cloud is portrayed as the strong, macho brooding type who has a good heart but gets very defensive and clams up whenever it comes to opening up yet stick him in a gay club and he turns into a queen. (i know cloud went drag in the original but at least true in line with his character he protested).

They try to reimagine the shock of Aerith dying but having Barrett killed instead and it manages to be possibly the most lame and unemotional incident of the whole game as you just know he isn't dead.
Overall, even knowing the story i felt nothing throughout the game apart from disappointment. I didn't care about any of the characters, that the slums had been destroyed or when Jessy or Biggs died.
I didn't find myself hating Shinra or find any of the bad guys particularly sinister.
Overall the main story points 'just happened'.
It is obvious that they want to open the story up so they can do as they please with it and this is why i won't be buying the follow-ups as whenever they drift from the original story it is just poor.

Combat started out good but there are major flaws. I found Cloud the most boring character in combat, made worst by the fact that the right stick is both the camera and the target change so you constantly change target while just trying to see what is going on (that is when you can actually target the thing you want to target) which makes melee particularly annoying but even comparing melee characters Tifa was much more interesting to play.
A good chunk of the materia seem situational at best particularly as status elements were used sparsely by enemies.
Summons are only available when the devs feel you should have them where this restriction on their use ironically makes them feel less epic as they feel contrived.
Classic mode is an insult but honestly i reverted to it in the end as my time was being wasted enough and i just wanted to see it through, but i still i gave up after the after Barrett 'dying' as i couldn't take it anymore.

If you want to know this epic story, play the updated original game with the 'cheats' that eliminate the 'boring' bits… Expand

Gamediver

May 6, 2020

4

Hi, ich denke das jeder (hardcire)fan der ff-serie sich diesen titel kaufen wird. Alle die momentan überlegen kann ich vom kauf nur abraten. Wieso? Weil: der inhalt absolut lächerlich ist. Manche sagen es beinhaltet 15% vom original. Ich sage vlt 1% vom original. Hat man midgar abgeschlossen war es das. Wobei selbst das nur eine light version vom original ist. Die meisten dungeon artigenHi, ich denke das jeder (hardcire)fan der ff-serie sich diesen titel kaufen wird. Alle die momentan überlegen kann ich vom kauf nur abraten. Wieso? Weil: der inhalt absolut lächerlich ist. Manche sagen es beinhaltet 15% vom original. Ich sage vlt 1% vom original. Hat man midgar abgeschlossen war es das. Wobei selbst das nur eine light version vom original ist. Die meisten dungeon artigen bereiche wie kanalisation oder U-bahn wurden gekürtzt, rätzel und knobelaufgaben wurden gekürzt oder weggelassen. Loot truhen weggelassen oder mit heiltränken aufgefüllt. Gegenstände im algemeinen sind sinnfrei. Im schwierigkeitsgra normal oder leicht brauch man sie nicht und auf schwer kann man sie nicht nutzen. Das kampfsystem ist auf leicht und normal ganz passabel aber auf schwer eher nervig. Die gegner können ganze serien von atacken starten ohne castzeit und können nicht unterbrochen werden. Der user muss aber castzeiten abwarten und kann auch noch durch jeder noch so kleinen hit unterbrauchen werden,. Hinzu kommt das die manapunkte oder atb balken trotzdem verbraucht werden. Ebenfalls schlecht ist das balancing der schadenswerte. Macht man auf schwer selber zwischen 20-500 scjaden, esper machen max 4k schaden, hauen bosse im schnitt 3k-5k schaden raus. Bei maximal 10k life könnt ihr euch denken wieviele hits man abbekommen darf. Dazu kommt das die nicht aktiv gespielten charaktere nur rumstehen und nur selten angreifen. Dementsprechend füllt sich auch nicht ihre atb leiste, falls also der aktive char. stirbt muss man erst fighten bis man wiederbeleben kann. Der nächste schachpunkt alle aktionen verbrauchen atb ich muss mich also immer entscheiden heile ich mich oder ruf einen esper oder greife ich an, mit der gefahr das ich einen grossen hit bekomme und dan tot bin. Da man wärend der castzeit und der ausführung weiter schaden bekommen kann. Und meistens sogar unterbrochen wird. Nächster schachpunkt. Limit und esper skill dauern viel zulange bis man sie nutzen kann. Auf leicht und normal konnte ich sie gar nicht nutzen und auf schwer nur bei endbosse. Nächster schachpunkt, die kampfanzahl. Es gibt keine zufallskämpfe mehr das heisst wenn ich straith durchlaufe komme ich auf max. 150 kämpfe. Viel zu wenig. Was ich auch schlecht empfinde ist das verhältniss spielzeit und film schaun. Öfters schaut man minutenlang film um dann 3 schritte zu machen und der nächste film beginnt. Videosequenzen sind toll aber ich will spielen und keinen film schauen. Minispiele wie bankdrücken funktionieren nicht wie im tutorial beschrieben Das motorad minispiel ist unschaffbar auf schwer mit perfekt abzuschliessen. Man kann froh sein wenn man es mit katastrophal abschliesst. Das kistenspiel ist zwar schaffbar aber man muss etliche versuchen starten da immer kisten kilometer wegfliegen und man alle kisten zerhaun muss um die trophäe zu bekommen. Und da für ist der timer zuknapp. Also alle minispiele sind eher nervig als unterhaltsam. Ein weiterer schwachpunkt ist das finden oder eine übersicht von nicht spielerelevanten aufgaben. Wie zb das blumengesteck beim hälmchenhof oder die sachen zu corneos brautschau usw. Ich weiss das ist absicht aber ich würde ein bischen mehr transparents beführworten. Ebenfalls nervig ist wenn man walkpassagen hat wo alle protagonisten irgendwo lang gehen die collisionsabfrage ist total sinnlos, da das ein reines rumgestolper und geschubse ist. Durch sowas so komisch sich das anhört aber es holt einem aus dem spielfluss und man hat selten das gefühl im spiel "drinn" zusein. Für mich gibt es noch viel mehr schlechtes wie zb. die musikstücke die man finden kann. Ich glaube bis auf goldsaucer theme sind alle anderen irgendwelche remixe und nicht mal halbwegs am original sind. Solangsam geht mir aber der platz aus. Ich möchte aber auch sagen das grafisch, musikalisch und cineastisch absolut höchstes niveau geboten wird und das ist auch der grund wieso ich ff7 remake, was eigentlich ff 7 remake trailer heissen müsste nicht 1 punkt sondern 4 gebe. Zusammen gefasst würde ich sagen ff7 remake ist zwar bugfrei und ein fest fürs aber alles andere einfach schlecht gemacht ist. Erst recht wenn ich dafür 70€ bezahlt habe und so wie es aussieht, für jede kommende erweiterung wieder zahlen muss.und bei der menge was fehlt wird das richtig teuer ich rechne insgesamt nicht unter1k €. Ich hoffe ich konnte euch helfen. Ich möchte aber auch noch festhalten das ich im algemeinen den qualitativen schnitt von square/enix als unter durchschnittlich bewerten würde. Die letzten 5 spiele von square die in europa veröffentlich wurden waren absolute flopps und würde da nicht square draufstehen hätten sie ihre machwerke in der wüste begraben müssen wie seiner zeits E.T.… Expand

Jimbojenkins

May 6, 2020

4

I remember a day back in 1999, the first time I played FFVII. I was so excited. And as the game moved along I was in love with an amazing story and great characters. Now, it seems, we finally get an upgraded version. Playing through this was wonderful. And some of the extras added some depth to the original. But now it seems like they plan to stray away from the original storyline and thatI remember a day back in 1999, the first time I played FFVII. I was so excited. And as the game moved along I was in love with an amazing story and great characters. Now, it seems, we finally get an upgraded version. Playing through this was wonderful. And some of the extras added some depth to the original. But now it seems like they plan to stray away from the original storyline and that is a tragedy. I hat the reimagining on classics. It is like a movie adaptation where extra liberties are taken and ruin the original source material.… Expand

Vinsentvalentyn

Jun 6, 2020

4

The game looks good. But it is not a Remake along the lines of RE2 remake which is the same story.

They make stupid anime changes to this story which is a travesty given how good the original game was all they had to do was use that basis.

The actual game is only 20 hours long if you don't do side quests. Very disappointing.

squire865

Jun 13, 2020

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I mean this had me supper excited until you get to ch 17 & 18. If you have not played the original, I'm not sure how you would reconcile why cloud is fighting sephiroth. In the original, you really get a sense of how crazy and evil sephiroth is. In this game, it's like he's a cool looking bad guy. in the original, you'll end up hating him for some of his actions he perpetrates on your team. Now I just end up hating square for selling out and hate myself for buying into another Final Fantasy. They really have derailed from awesome story telling in exchange for a wider audience, more games and more money. It's no wonder indie games are becoming so popular because big corporations like this are like shinra and mako. They want more of it.… Expand

Veskass

Jun 20, 2020

4

What a disappointment ... I expected nothing until I played the demo that had slapped me ... and I think I should have stopped there. The gameplay is frighteningly repetitive, the characters are frankly average apart from one or two and the pace is really bad. The worst it remains all is frankly heavy and soulless side quests, you will go back and forth in loop and it's really painful ...What a disappointment ... I expected nothing until I played the demo that had slapped me ... and I think I should have stopped there. The gameplay is frighteningly repetitive, the characters are frankly average apart from one or two and the pace is really bad. The worst it remains all is frankly heavy and soulless side quests, you will go back and forth in loop and it's really painful ... I would only remember the character modeling, particle effects and music (especially the music) in quality but apart from that, I don't see much to learn.… Expand

CrackBandicoot

Mar 7, 2022

4

I will never understand why FF13 gets so much flack for being linear, but this game is praised to no end. Sure, this game technically has side quests, but you have to complete them before you move on to the next area or you are never able to complete them. I hate when games do this, and FF7 is no exception.
The combat is not particularly well done either. It feels like it's trying to beI will never understand why FF13 gets so much flack for being linear, but this game is praised to no end. Sure, this game technically has side quests, but you have to complete them before you move on to the next area or you are never able to complete them. I hate when games do this, and FF7 is no exception.
The combat is not particularly well done either. It feels like it's trying to be turn based and real time simultaneously and it just doesn't work. This game's rendition of the AP system is a shallow attempt at making combat similar to the original game. Needing to rack up damage in order to use offensive abilities makes sense, but needing to do this to heal your party doesn't make much sense. In a turn based game you would choose to either deal damage or heal yourself. In this combat system, you have to do both and it makes no sense. This game would be much better if it went all in in either direction. I would prefer turn based combat, but even going all in on the real time combat would've made it better. I may not have liked FF15's combat system, but at least it didn't try to be something it's not, keeping it straightforward.
Although there are some positives. The different combat styles for each character can keep gameplay unique, which is an upgrade over 15's combat system. The materia system is also fun. There can also be fun character interactions. Cloud has zero personality, which makes him kinda boring, but also creates some funny moments when other characters actual personalities juxtapose with his.
This game has some pros to it, but not enough to make this game actually enjoyable.… Expand

Thebigbumaloo

Jun 27, 2020

4

I got half way through the game before I sold it. The graphics are pretty great, the music is great, but the gameplay is average at best during combat. That’s not the real issue though, it’s the voice acting. The voice acting, on paper, is solid, but the inclusion of anime noises is SO prevalent that it’s impossible to listen to a single conversation without cringing or rolling your eyes.I got half way through the game before I sold it. The graphics are pretty great, the music is great, but the gameplay is average at best during combat. That’s not the real issue though, it’s the voice acting. The voice acting, on paper, is solid, but the inclusion of anime noises is SO prevalent that it’s impossible to listen to a single conversation without cringing or rolling your eyes. Hard pass.… Expand

superhan

Jul 19, 2020

4

Not a good game, just a good animate! Game is boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

riotgerms

Jul 24, 2020

4

I was having a decent time until i got to the Honey Bee Inn part of the game. They make you dress up like a woman and dance with a gay guy and the whole thing just made me ill. I don't want to play a game crammed to the gils with homosexual and transsexual **** The graphics are great, really shows off what a PS4 Pro can do, but I really wish the devs would not have **** on one of my allI was having a decent time until i got to the Honey Bee Inn part of the game. They make you dress up like a woman and dance with a gay guy and the whole thing just made me ill. I don't want to play a game crammed to the gils with homosexual and transsexual **** The graphics are great, really shows off what a PS4 Pro can do, but I really wish the devs would not have **** on one of my all time favorite media properties. I couldn't even play that Honey Bee part in front of my wife and kids, it was just sick. I'm so disappointed this SJW **** has infected Japan too.… Expand

fatimaganoon

Jan 29, 2021

4

you know i hate to rate dear game to my heart this low i play it untill chapter 18 it begun great than you will hate it untill chapter 16 and chapter 18 bike mini game who desighn this it was my fav mini game here i wanna strungle square enix if it was a person who convice you this is great idea and story is horrible spirits my ass its only saving grace its characters

TheHouseKeeper

Jan 20, 2021

4

The ff7 Remake is a very courageous and audacious project from SE, but is it really a remake of the beloved ff7? I think it’s a travestied sequel unfortunately.
SE were ambiguous and misleading and this is unforgivable.
Sure, there were good aspects about the game; the music for example was great, I didn’t regret buying the cds. impressive CGI ( sometimes inconsistent in qualityThe ff7 Remake is a very courageous and audacious project from SE, but is it really a remake of the beloved ff7? I think it’s a travestied sequel unfortunately.
SE were ambiguous and misleading and this is unforgivable.

Sure, there were good aspects about the game; the music for example was great, I didn’t regret buying the cds.
impressive CGI ( sometimes inconsistent in quality though ).
interesting battle system and what else? maybe that’s it really....everything else left me conflicted; cheesy dialogues, shallow and incoherent story....It plays on nostalgia and how you remember the universe and characters from the original game.

Warning Spoilers!
.
.
My only concern in this Remake is its story, most precisely Sephiroth;
unfortunately for him after being a well written villain in the original ff7 game (for me the equivalent of the Darth Vader in games) he became heavily disrespected by the writers especially In Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts where we see him as a pathetic man without much of a plan that can easily be brushed aside once the script decide its time for him to lose, in Dissidia he is constantly defeated every time he test himself against Cloud, you are not supposed to fear him anymore but to laugh at him.
In this remake they didn’t bother to introduce him how he originally was introduced but instead (thanks to Nomura and co. ) they assumed everybody already knew who Sephiroth was; a ridiculously over the top villain with no life that keep stalking Cloud.
So here is my question; if your antagonist starts as weak as your hero, then what is it left for the hero to strive against? If Cloud and his party are already all powerful and all mighty defeating consecutively Jenova, the Arbiter of Faith and Sephiroth himself at 1/4 of the game then what shall I be excited for in the next game?
Is it the adventures of Cloud? an unstable liar and violent punk or the intrigues of Aerith? aka Mary Sue going on a mission to save the world by changing destiny and bla bla bla ...
My point is that weak villains make for weak stories because it rob the narrative of its tension and drama and end up undermining the heroes themselves, because if they are not tested by worthy opponents then they haven’t really achieved anything.… Expand

Schweeps

Mar 19, 2021

4

Plot details side this game has buggy textures and the npcs look kinda bad. Moving on from that the game is filled with extermely tedious and entirely not fun segments. The motorcycle scenes are so noninteractive and suck so much fun out of the game. Wayy too much padding you really start to feel it as you near the end of the game and you pray that its over but it never feels like itsPlot details side this game has buggy textures and the npcs look kinda bad. Moving on from that the game is filled with extermely tedious and entirely not fun segments. The motorcycle scenes are so noninteractive and suck so much fun out of the game. Wayy too much padding you really start to feel it as you near the end of the game and you pray that its over but it never feels like its ending. Played for free on PS+ , would never spend money on this.… Expand

Neens

Mar 21, 2021

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Level design was far too linear in comparison to the original game , not many secrets and items to find in 'dungeon areas'. Lack of materia. Ending changed, giving away far too much of the latter story. Did not stay true to original game Sephiroth introduced way to early. Positives - graphics look amazing, some of the reworked sound track sound good however not all.… Expand

Yo-yo

Mar 28, 2021

4

The game is boring, and almost every boss is some big machine. It’s linear and feels like it’s full of bloat. If the devs were not greedy they would of made the game better by having it be 50% of the original game. Instead it’s based on the first few hours of the original. I imagine the complete version will be 4-5 parts long and equally as bloated. Imagine having to wait 20 years toThe game is boring, and almost every boss is some big machine. It’s linear and feels like it’s full of bloat. If the devs were not greedy they would of made the game better by having it be 50% of the original game. Instead it’s based on the first few hours of the original. I imagine the complete version will be 4-5 parts long and equally as bloated. Imagine having to wait 20 years to finish the story for the remake, only reason I played it was because it was free on ps+ and that I loved the original. This is a soulless cash grab.… Expand

judgment_

Apr 3, 2021

4

Square-Enix (que no SquareSoft, la verdadera creadora del videojuego) han cogido uno de los mejores juegos de la historia, y lo han destrozado. La nostalgia de ver ciertos eventos me ha mantenido jugando hasta el final, pero tan difícil era coger la historia, un lavado de cara y ya está? Se han centrado más en los gráficos (con tantos fallos que necesitaría varias reseñas para explicarlosSquare-Enix (que no SquareSoft, la verdadera creadora del videojuego) han cogido uno de los mejores juegos de la historia, y lo han destrozado. La nostalgia de ver ciertos eventos me ha mantenido jugando hasta el final, pero tan difícil era coger la historia, un lavado de cara y ya está? Se han centrado más en los gráficos (con tantos fallos que necesitaría varias reseñas para explicarlos todos) que en la historia original, añadiendo nuevos personajes que sobran, antiguos que han evolucionado fatal, y misiones paralelas para alargar un juego corto. Sephiroth que era todo misterio en esta parte del juego, acaba aburriendo de tanto salir. Cero interacción con el entorno, que era una de las mejores cosas de FFVII. El combate es un machacabotones fácil. Y te pasas más rato viendo escenas cinemáticas que jugando. ¿Lo peor de todo? Que está misma experiencia ya la viví con otro juego: Kingdom Hearts 3. Y ambos comparten director. Así que por favor, Tetsuya Nomura, lárgate, lejos, y no vuelvas a poner tus zarpas en ningún videojuego más. Si quieres dibuja, pero nada más.… Expand

MrSt0ne

Mar 30, 2021

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What have they done?! Is it my romantic late childhood memory or just the fact that the original game was so much more intense than this ... „product“. As I first heard about the remake, I really couldn’t trust my ears, nearly zwo decades after releasing the original, there was announced what everyone wanted for years .. but with this wish, the look back at squares latest projects and the sky high expectations at this Remake, they had have just let it in retirement .. Absolutely nonsense story extensions, useless extended bossfights, with absolutely no demand for strategy, just button smashing, waaaay to silly story(moires? Really??) - they missed the original so much, they missed to create the atmosphere. The whole game feels like a tube level extended to the max, less content, worthless story extensions and the last 30% of the game consisting out of bossfights, which are even artificially stretched to the max. FF 7 is one of my all time favorites - I absolutely loved this game! But this remake isn’t worth, to be called a ff 7.. Maybe I’m a little bit too hard with my critics, but for me, this game is just disappointing.… Expand

ElSchlumpi

Apr 24, 2021

4

This game fails at the very principle of what a video game should be. It's not fun to play.
While the character (re)designs are fantastic and Midgar as a whole are exceptional, the gameplay is horribly slow paced. Endless forced slow walk animations and a feeling that the entire game is set on a single railwax is going to accompany you throughout every chapter. This combined with theThis game fails at the very principle of what a video game should be. It's not fun to play.
While the character (re)designs are fantastic and Midgar as a whole are exceptional, the gameplay is horribly slow paced. Endless forced slow walk animations and a feeling that the entire game is set on a single railwax is going to accompany you throughout every chapter. This combined with the unnecessary dull minigames, which ate also forced takes away every illusion of freedom.
Pairing this with the ATB Action combat the devs chose to go with makes the game a horrendous mess. Action combat itself was a great choice for the remake, as it's Story is action packed with the main group being literal eco-terrorists. However the decision to, yet again, force the ATB into the game ruins the entire immersion. Combat feels like a weird mix between classic rpg and modern hack and slash. But it does not work. Pairing this with the idea that almost every enemy can either disable or stunlock a character and the messy status ailment system made the combat a chore.

FF 7 re is a mess that is plagued by weird and to be honest straight up dumb design choices. And is yet another prime example of SquareSofts biggest flaw. All graphics no substance.… Expand

MrGuyDude

Jun 30, 2021

4

Too much fluff, Made Jesse and Aerith super annoying. Even with the padding, The game isn't long enough. Battle system is fun and the character models look really nice. At least till they start talking and the Shenmue level voice acting/ lip synching kills the immersion. The remix of the original soundtrack is amazing. Though when you're walking around the different areas in the WallToo much fluff, Made Jesse and Aerith super annoying. Even with the padding, The game isn't long enough. Battle system is fun and the character models look really nice. At least till they start talking and the Shenmue level voice acting/ lip synching kills the immersion. The remix of the original soundtrack is amazing. Though when you're walking around the different areas in the Wall market, The track will change/reset every 5 seconds. Some of the environments look like they're from the ps2 era. Square wants to milk this bull more than anything. All the best moments in the game were taken from the original and most of what they added detracts from the experience.… Expand

Tidis1991

Sep 18, 2021

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pocos escenarios en todo el juego, sistema de combate sin profundidad, y lo de dividir el juego en varias entregas.... Para mí una estafa. Square Enix debe dar una vuelta a la forma en que desarrolla estos juegos.… Expand

UltanCombo

Jan 10, 2022

4

I don't think I'm going to make any friends here by saying this is a poor game. Theres parts of me that loves this game but the combat is terrible. Hated every fight and every boss battle. I dreaded a boss battle. When ever there was a boss battle I had to mentally prepare myself for the ordeal. Never was there a time I found any combat enjoyable. If you enjoy this type of combat I reallyI don't think I'm going to make any friends here by saying this is a poor game. Theres parts of me that loves this game but the combat is terrible. Hated every fight and every boss battle. I dreaded a boss battle. When ever there was a boss battle I had to mentally prepare myself for the ordeal. Never was there a time I found any combat enjoyable. If you enjoy this type of combat I really don't understand how.

The world and the environment is fantastic. The characters are brilliant. These elements were the only things that kept me playing. Without these elements at the level of polish they are at I think this game gets a three or a two. But they are carrying this game to a four.

This is a game and has to be rated as a game first and a story second and as a game its poor. I couldn't bare to go near this again… Expand

Tomplexthis

Jul 7, 2022

4

I hate this game, i like this game, They completely Vomited out the heart and soul of the original, for money, they split the game up for money, there is a great game here, but this is the first 3 hours of the original 45 hour story of FF7, there are awful textures in this game that look like 1997 year old Jpeg files, terrible padding, terrible characters, ham-fisted in dementors, TheyI hate this game, i like this game, They completely Vomited out the heart and soul of the original, for money, they split the game up for money, there is a great game here, but this is the first 3 hours of the original 45 hour story of FF7, there are awful textures in this game that look like 1997 year old Jpeg files, terrible padding, terrible characters, ham-fisted in dementors, They lost what made ff7, Life and Death, and just made another Kingdom Hearts, but with the skin of ff7 on it, this game is about destiny hearts and darkness, and i hated it. but it still wasn't terrible, even though iam disgusted with everything this game stands for. it is definitely Greedy. and i just wish it was gone.

There is way too much padding and slow down in this game, you can barely move, it feels like molasses, and it holds your hand.… Expand

Crimson9

Nov 23, 2022

4

Since the release of Final Fantasy XII, Square Enix has been in terminal decline in terms of quality. However, it has managed to sustain the Final Fantasy brand through trading all that the series used to be about for state of the art graphics and flashy, style-over-substance gameplay.

FF7 should have been a return to form. The combat is certainly flashy, but it is not lacking inSince the release of Final Fantasy XII, Square Enix has been in terminal decline in terms of quality. However, it has managed to sustain the Final Fantasy brand through trading all that the series used to be about for state of the art graphics and flashy, style-over-substance gameplay.

FF7 should have been a return to form. The combat is certainly flashy, but it is not lacking in substance. Thanks to the fact this is a remake, the characters and humor from the old game are present here, too. And the soundtrack is still largely made up of the same tracks, and the new additions are brilliant as well.

However, despite all that, the rot and utter degeneration of this once-great video game developer is blatantly evident.

For one, their decision to split the game into 3 parts for monetary reasons means the pacing here is utterly atrocious. It shows in the combat, which ends up being marathon tussles with bosses who have an obnoxious amount of HP. But pacing is most detrimental to the story...

...And God, how badly has the story been butchered? This has to go down as one of the worst stories ever told in the gaming medium. And considering that FF7 had one of the best opening acts of any video game, this has to be in the running for the worst remake ever, purely as a result of this fact.

Tetsuya Nomura does not understand ANYTHING about what makes a plot good. The changes in the plot would have been bad enough on their own (since the plot now literally makes no sense), but he had to add in the time traveling ghosts that appear whenever a major story point is changed, to further slow the pacing. To make matters worse, the whole thing seems to be some metanarrative about the fans and other square enix employees who dared to want Nomura to make this remake be a... remake, and not a new story.

Talk about narcissism.

But apparently Square Enix's fanboys are swallowing this trash right up. So I guess good graphics and stylish gameplay is all you really need. Who needs a story to make common sense?

4/10… Expand

Playtoomuchbruh

Mar 28, 2023

4

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Gameplay is good, smooth and maybe a little repetetive, but overall good. Areas are beautifully crafted but not as dark as the original would’ve suggested. What really drags this game down is the audacity to rip up the foundation of what everyone came to love from the original. The original game deals with heavy terms such as identity and loss(life/death) which are ripped out of the game, everyone survives, nothing matters and apparently Aeris knows way more than she lets on. The game is acting extremely self aware and dont even to attempt to hide its disgust for the original fans by the not so subtle metaphor of the whispers. I dont even want to write about the last part of the game as it was just disrespectful.

This game feels like someone looked at it and thought they could surpass the original, but all they did was destroying the soul of it, so they could persue their own little fanfic.

Tl;dr Director turns FF7 into his personal fanfic and kills off the originals soul.
(Anyone who mentions that this is a sequel should read the title of the game; Remake)

I would not recommend.… Expand

livelaughlove7

Apr 12, 2023

4

Game was insulting and childish. WHAT WAS SQUARE ENIX THINKING? The constant hand holding, the goofy cut scenes every 5 mins was a huge barrier in enjoying this game. I was expecting a literal 1:1 scene remake the entire way through. The story is there, now us Millennials who enjoyed this game while young, we wanted a good remake of this story. I'm morbidly disappointed in FF7 Remake. IGame was insulting and childish. WHAT WAS SQUARE ENIX THINKING? The constant hand holding, the goofy cut scenes every 5 mins was a huge barrier in enjoying this game. I was expecting a literal 1:1 scene remake the entire way through. The story is there, now us Millennials who enjoyed this game while young, we wanted a good remake of this story. I'm morbidly disappointed in FF7 Remake. I love Final Fantasy so much I'm still wiling to support and buy their games, but gone are the days of great story telling and adventure. I recently got the PS5, played Elden Ring while waiting for this game. Elden Ring was just mind blowing and PHENOMENAL! I was gobsmacked with the great graphics and great LoTR style story. Ecstatic to get FF7 Remake, playing it, realizing it's some episodic style of gameplay, Wedge is cringy as hell just hearing that voice is painful, the graphics are just OK. I was so disappointed. And NO OPEN WORLD???? Square Enix, the next one better stay faithful to the story and have an open world, or it will be a flop. The top head wigs at Square are so unbelievably out of touch. That being said, I'll still buy the FF7 Remake Part 2. I hope the guys designing this game can TAKE A HINT AND TAKE OUR REVIEWS SERIOUSLY!… Expand

TheLittleMelo

Apr 11, 2020

3

Como juego no está mal, sin embargo peca de numerosos defectos típicos de las últimas producciones de SE (y en general de los videojuegos recientes que se consideran AAA). Todo se centra en mostrar unos decorados, entornos y batallas espectaculares a nivel gráfico (aunque esto ya no sorprende a nadie) pero luego las mecánicas de gameplay son anodinas. No esperaba nada en términos deComo juego no está mal, sin embargo peca de numerosos defectos típicos de las últimas producciones de SE (y en general de los videojuegos recientes que se consideran AAA). Todo se centra en mostrar unos decorados, entornos y batallas espectaculares a nivel gráfico (aunque esto ya no sorprende a nadie) pero luego las mecánicas de gameplay son anodinas. No esperaba nada en términos de exploración y movimiento por los escenarios puesto que es un remake, pero aún así es todo muy lineal y plano. El sistema de batalla ha sido cambiado siguiendo la estela de FFXV, abandonando innecesariamente los turnos para ofrecer más acción, no es necesariamente malo pero no hay necesidad de hacerlo, además es tedioso en el sentido de que los enemigos son sacos de boxeo con HP alto...
La historia se la medio cargan y para colmo esto es el trozo de un juego. Todo el contenido "extra" es mero relleno innecesario y poco agradecido. Existe infinidad de rpg mejores que este saca cuartos (incluso algunos de la propia SE, como Octopath Traveler).

Si al menos hubiese venido el juego completo le podría poner un 7-8; así no puede llevarse un aprobado.… Expand

MNecromancer

Jun 11, 2021

3

The combat is pretty good for the first half, but it gets really stale by the end. Once you have the abilities you like and can pace in healing and switching characters, it's pretty much copy and paste for every battle. It would have been cool if they kept switching up the characters, but it's the same 4 characters throughout the game. I was excited for a 5th one to be introduced towardsThe combat is pretty good for the first half, but it gets really stale by the end. Once you have the abilities you like and can pace in healing and switching characters, it's pretty much copy and paste for every battle. It would have been cool if they kept switching up the characters, but it's the same 4 characters throughout the game. I was excited for a 5th one to be introduced towards the end, but he's not playable. RIGHT WHEN IT WAS GETTING REALLY STALE. So frustrating.

As for the story, it's garbage. I played ff7 for the first time as an adult, so there's not a nostalgia bias. It was pretty **** but it kept things moving. This game is the Hobbit of videogames. It takes every moment of the original and drags it out until it's completely over the top and utterly boring at the same time. The best word to describe the entire story is "arbitrary." You're constantly killing bosses who dominate you in the cutscene after you beat them, and they're constantly killing off characters and bringing them back. I was so happy when they finally killed these annoying ass characters. The disappointment at seeing the WORST of them come back in the story really ruined my day. Cloud can jump 30 feet, 5 times in a row, but he can't step over a 3 foot barrier. Every path is utterly linear and boring as hell. You shimmy through more than 100 narrow corridors for no reason. Who wants to shimmy slowly through narrow corridors? Who thought this was a fun gameplay element?

The worst part of the game is really the dialogue. I would forgive the stale combat and **** story for the cool aesthetics, but these aesthetics are utterly ruined by the D-tier anime writing in this game. The voice actors are actually good too. It's the bottom of the barrel anime writing that kills the vibe. The game is so horny; it is so painful. I would really be embarrassed to play this in front of anyone I know. It's as bad as a harem anime. The original was not like this. It was its own sort of nuts, but it wasn't this cringy. I can honestly say I did not enjoy a plot point from beginning to end. I kept expecting something to happen. I enjoyed plenty of other Final Fantasy moments, FF10, FF8, even poor FF12 had a couple of decent scenes. There was SO much new stuff added on from the original, but NONE of it is good enough to justify this remake.

Obviously, a ton of people loved this game. I really can't explain it except that they must watch some awful anime, that this type of writing seems acceptable. Or they're really horny for the characters. I dunno. I haven't met a single person in real life.

I finished it just in case it pulled something out of its ass at the end. It only got worse and more arbitrary as it went along. I will not be playing the sequels.… Expand

kuehnau

Sep 27, 2022

3

The original Final Fantasy 7 was the whole reason why I even bought a Sony Playstation to begin with. I worked a paper route at the time and I was making about $75.00 a month.

Maybe it was the fact I had to work so hard to even buy the game that it holds such fond memories? So, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, where do I begin..? Well, it's not what I expected. A lot of the dialog feels weirdThe original Final Fantasy 7 was the whole reason why I even bought a Sony Playstation to begin with. I worked a paper route at the time and I was making about $75.00 a month.

Maybe it was the fact I had to work so hard to even buy the game that it holds such fond memories?

So, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, where do I begin..? Well, it's not what I expected. A lot of the dialog feels weird or off. Characters will say things that seem incredibly awkward or misplaced. Barrett seems like they changed him in to a full blown psychopath Greenpeace terrorist. And I get it, Avalanche were basically terrorists at the time, but Barret just seems so over the top it isn't funny.
Then I remember that this first installment of the game only goes up until the point you actually leave Midgar. The developers said they wanted to tell a bigger, wider story. I don't know if I feel inclined to believe that. The slums in Midgar are just terrible mazes of hallways with little pockets of open spaces, all of the environments in this area all look the same and it gets to the point traveling without the mini map is actually almost impossible.

Adding to that is the fact there are areas you just can't go to. They are either literally locked off, or the game will simply force you to turn around and tell you to get bent. There's a ton of optional quests that are either fetch quests or combat quests. And they are placed so far apart they have you running to opposite fringes of the slums to complete them. The developers must have realized that their design of the slums were awful, because they added options to automatically go back to a quest giver after you complete your tasks.

So far none of these quests feel meaningful in any capacity. Go kill some rats, go find my cats, go talk to this NPC. These quests and the characters that are involved with them are almost instantly forgotten by me. This doesn't feel like it's expanding the story or the world in a thoughtful way. This feels like padding tacked on as an excuse not to present the whole story in a single installment.

I sometimes wonder if it's because Final Fantasy 7 came on so many disks that the developers felt inclined to drag the entire story out or if it was sheer greed motivating them, stretching the series out as far as they could to milk it as long as possible. I feel inclined to believe it's the later. People need to remember Final Fantasy 7 wasn't actually all that long, the extra disks that came with the original game were there mostly to hold all the CGI elements, not the major contents of the game itself. T
he combat system is what it is. It feels clunky and oddly paced to me. They included a optional mode called classic mode that makes an attempt at emulating the classic combat feeling of the original game while still using their own combat system, almost as if the developers realized people weren't going to like their new combat system.

Bottom line is this, the game feels badly paced, a lot of the additional story telling feels forgettable, the dialog is weird and the combat is clunky. After waiting so long for a remake of Final Fantasy, this isn't what I was expecting and it's not really what I wanted.

I am probably not going to buy any of the other games, I am unsure if I am going to even keep buying Square Enix games, they've really went down hill.… Expand

kun001

May 23, 2020

3

Original FF7 is one of my favorite games of all times, so I may be extremely biased in this review.

I didn't expect much from the remake and I didn't even get that. I just finished the first boss (first try) in normal mode. I really dislike the action combat, feels a little bit like in an arpg like DS or bloodborne, just in bad, camera sucks, especially with big enemies, enemyOriginal FF7 is one of my favorite games of all times, so I may be extremely biased in this review.

I didn't expect much from the remake and I didn't even get that.

I just finished the first boss (first try) in normal mode.

I really dislike the action combat, feels a little bit like in an arpg like DS or bloodborne, just in bad, camera sucks, especially with big enemies, enemy tracking is even worse. The menu and slow down, totally destroys the flow of the action gameplay.

Worst they didn't even bother trying to integrate a "real" classic mode.
The BS they call classic mode is just a second easy mode in disguise, thx for nothing Square Enix.

The good:
Graphics - pretty impressive for the old ps4… Expand

TheVJ

Apr 10, 2020

3

This could have been a good remake if it wasn't for Nomura's obsession with story changes that are on the level of bad Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. People mainly wanted to see FF7 with modern graphics and a freshened up combat system. No one asked for them to completely mess up the story, but that's what they did.

The gist: If you're a fan of FF7 who loved that game, then you should findThis could have been a good remake if it wasn't for Nomura's obsession with story changes that are on the level of bad Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. People mainly wanted to see FF7 with modern graphics and a freshened up combat system. No one asked for them to completely mess up the story, but that's what they did.

The gist: If you're a fan of FF7 who loved that game, then you should find this remake to be an insult that ruins its story.… Expand

AsboXFlemzo

Apr 10, 2020

3

Well it's a reboot not a remake so for false advertising it loses 1 point. Second point lost is the poor story that has replaced to original in this reboot. Third point is lost because the combat isn't as good as the old turn based formula. Oh its at 7 already. The time line ghost broke me out of the story completely so - 1. The terrible fan fik ending which destroys the plot of the gameWell it's a reboot not a remake so for false advertising it loses 1 point. Second point lost is the poor story that has replaced to original in this reboot. Third point is lost because the combat isn't as good as the old turn based formula. Oh its at 7 already. The time line ghost broke me out of the story completely so - 1. The terrible fan fik ending which destroys the plot of the game - 1 so we're at 5, the music being worse than a game made 20 years ago lol. How is that possible 4. H
I find it hard to believe a team who has a job of making a remake of a game given 5 years could have spent time on a mission to find 3 cats, yet couldn't d finish the rest of the game. So I give it a 3 for the 3 cats that took all the time and development d t of the rest of the game.… Expand

ScrapBrain

Apr 12, 2020

3

A patchwork assembly of elements from the original game set into a revisionist story that fails to deliver on the moniker of a 'remake'. There are certain sections that are pitch perfect in its delivery, though the end of the game summarily discards the legacy of its source material and has a pacing problem throughout. Texture issues plague the game, including one large sequence where theA patchwork assembly of elements from the original game set into a revisionist story that fails to deliver on the moniker of a 'remake'. There are certain sections that are pitch perfect in its delivery, though the end of the game summarily discards the legacy of its source material and has a pacing problem throughout. Texture issues plague the game, including one large sequence where the background textures are so low-resolution it pulls you completely out of the experience.

There are nice things in this game; The character models and environments are fantastically realized, and the music is well produced and catchy, pulling favorites from the original game and remixing them in a more modern style - but as an RPG this game rests on its story, and if you're looking for a heightened, more intricate retelling of the original story, this most certainly is not it. This is a new story that uses elements of the original game to tell a new story with the same environments and characters, and some scenarios to it's own detriment.

At the end screen I felt as though I had been punched in the stomach. If you've never played the original, sure, go nuts, I'm sure you'll have a great time...but if you love the original game, and want to see the rest of the excellent story of the original play out, you're going to be sorely disappointed.… Expand

jdhathrisen

Jul 28, 2020

3

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What a shame.

I will set my stall out as an FFVII nostalgist. I have played the original through four or five times in the last twenty years or so. I don't think it's perfect by any means, but even now, I think it holds up as a high point in game design.

I was quietly optimistic about this game. Given that I haven't really enjoyed a Square game since FFXII some fifteen years ago, I had hoped they would stow away some of the habits that have made their recent releases unsatisfying. Broadly though, they have not, and the result is disappointing. First, the positives. The music is sublime. The mixing sometimes leaves something to be desired, and the new tracks are quite bland, but the remixes of the original tunes are mostly excellent. That the best tune is reserved for a squatting minigame is also quite funny.

The graphics are terrific. Midgar is well-realised, and the sense of oppression from the great megalopolis is there in spades. Wall Market felt like a Midgar version of Kabukicho, and the seediness and neon beauty really shone. The high camp of the Honeybee Inn was a lot of fun, though the dance minigame felt hastily added and tacked on.

Now, the faults. The reimagined story is confused and boring, in the main. Stretching out the original beats with mindless corridor wandering and backtracking is just lazy game design. Mostly, I felt no impetus to proceed. Too often, the characters wander around looking for a lever, or a switch, or explain the bleeding obvious. Not only does adding padding like Jessie's story make for unfocused storytelling, it detracts from the better parts of the original story. It made me like the characters less. And retconning the original story, to justify chopping up the original game to sell over a period of years, is heinous in the extreme. The early arrival of Sephiroth and the plot-altering ghosts are just egregious, and add nothing whatsoever to the story. It's akin to re-releasing Lord of the Rings, and adding a metaverse in which ghosts try to prevent Frodo from destroying the ring, every five minutes. I couldn't say whether this addition came about as a result of Square's greed, or Nomura's overinflated ego, but regardless, it leaves a sour taste. The attempted fleshing out of bit players from the original did nothing to add more engagement to any of their stories or personalities. It simply felt hollow.

The combat feels like they have tried to marry two gameplay types, and have been left with the faults of both. Pausing frequently to navigate a sub menu, spells and attacks whiffing all too often, boss fights which seem unending, and a poorly implemented stagger system add up to an ultimately unsatisfactory outcome. All it made me think was that I'd much rather be playing DMC5, or Yakuza 0, or Nier Automata, or any number of games whose action battle systems are much more fun. The levelling up of weapons and frequent rearrangement of materia are little more than a chore, and feel like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, for all the difference it makes. In the end, mashing □ was 90% of what was required.

The voice acting was acceptable at best, though as others have highlighted, once you notice the anime grunting, it is very distracting. I suppose there are few examples of a reimagined version of a classic being as good as, or better than, the original. And Square's recent handling of the final, wholly unedifying episode in the Kingdom Hearts series might have given me a hint as to the quality of this project. And indeed, the original will remain a quality game in spite of this experience. But the cynical way this game has been constructed leaves me feeling hard done by.

So much more could have been made of this. When games like Persona 5 are so satisfying and inventive that I basically buy it twice, there is no excuse for Square putting out an inferior JRPG in this day and age.… Expand

easterfields

Apr 13, 2020

3

I'm 15 hours into FF7R and I actually hate this game. This is sad. The original Final Fantasy 7 was a HUGE part of my childhood. It was magical, immersive, engaging and fun. All the things this abomination is NOT. FF7R is frustrating, nonsensical, repetitive and anger inducing. There's some good aspects such as the voice acting and storytelling, but a bulk of the rest such as the subparI'm 15 hours into FF7R and I actually hate this game. This is sad. The original Final Fantasy 7 was a HUGE part of my childhood. It was magical, immersive, engaging and fun. All the things this abomination is NOT. FF7R is frustrating, nonsensical, repetitive and anger inducing. There's some good aspects such as the voice acting and storytelling, but a bulk of the rest such as the subpar graphics (the textures are Xbox era quality no joke), ridiculous level design, tasks that make hemorrhoid removal seem appealing, and a soundtrack that was so overbearing, loud, obnoxious and repetitive that I actually muted the the game, tank this modern retelling of a classic. It also makes it painfully obvious, that this story just does not hold up well in today's day and age. Even as a remake released in 2020, it feels dated. And for my final beef with FF7R, since when does a beloved classic RPG deserve to get re-envisioned as a button masher???… Expand

Alternative4

Apr 30, 2020

3

Nomura once again proved he is incapable of writing a decent coherent story and thus decides to bastardize FF7R with space jannies and deus ex machina. This truly sucks because the gameplay, environments, music, graphics, JP voice acting were all Elder Deity tiey. Yet this is all overshadowed by the woefully inadequate writing. Im so incredibly dissatisfied

Dovahslayer

Nov 26, 2021

3

Great visuals, good soundtrack, hot waifus.
The rest of the game is absolutely trash. I can't fathom how anyone could've made this and thought it's a job well done.

klkevinkl

Apr 16, 2020

3

The biggest problem of the game is its inability to decide whether it's an action game or an RPG. The combination ends up feeling like someone lazily cobbled the two together without a concern about how it worked. The main feature is circled around using enemy weaknesses to pressure them, then stagger, and finally damage/kill them. The problem with this is that enemies have super armorThe biggest problem of the game is its inability to decide whether it's an action game or an RPG. The combination ends up feeling like someone lazily cobbled the two together without a concern about how it worked. The main feature is circled around using enemy weaknesses to pressure them, then stagger, and finally damage/kill them. The problem with this is that enemies have super armor and do not flinch until you can pressure or stagger them. Bosses will change patterns several times over a fight and make it harder to do this each time with the occasional instant kill in their final form. Melee characters also have a hard time hitting the mobile aerial units because they were not designed for that. This is especially noticeable for someone with short reach like Tifa who sometimes fails to hit them even if they are right in front of the target in the air.

Item uses (not allowed in hard mode by the way) and spells are limited by the ATB bar which you get two charges of. Some skills require one, others require two. There is a special skill to get three bars for a fight, but you will rarely have the opportunity to use it, making it a waste. This is different from previous games, but they probably wanted to make magic and items more meaningful compared to their other games. But by doing so, it ends up making a lot of other things in the game like materia linking kind of useless.

The game's story is okay, but the end is rushed. There's a ton of good voice acting too. The problem comes towards the end when a lot of things are not explained and all of Cloud's headaches and freak outs throughout the game are visions that we do not actually see until near the end of the game. This is fairly important, yet we the player as Cloud never actually see them until the end.

Overall, this feels like a halfway experiment between incorporating the old more turn based elements of the RPG genre with the elements that are normally only found in action games. If they decide to make a sequel, they should just abandon the older RPG elements in favor of the action elements they are already favoring to make it better rather than try to keep elements they clearly have no interested in just for the sake of nostalgia.… Expand

Beardman

Mar 6, 2021

3

Through all the amazing trailers, I kept my expectations low for this game cause I just knew in my heart somehow square enix would screw it up. Not surprised. The title of this game isn't even accurate. It's NOT a remake. The story is completely different than the original. Why put remake in the title when it's not? Just straight up lying.

You can't improve a masterpiece square enix, stopThrough all the amazing trailers, I kept my expectations low for this game cause I just knew in my heart somehow square enix would screw it up. Not surprised. The title of this game isn't even accurate. It's NOT a remake. The story is completely different than the original. Why put remake in the title when it's not? Just straight up lying.

You can't improve a masterpiece square enix, stop trying. Square soft was much better than you. All you had to do was make the same damn game with improved graphics /sound, and this game would have been 100x better. I'm even fine with some changes here and there, in fact the battle system is pretty good, but when you go and change core elements of the story and put in modern rpg side quest trash like "go collect 5 cats!" you can **** right off. It's also incredibly stupid how certain songs play completely out of place. For example in the original, there would be a dark eerie song playing during clouds flashback of sephiroth or something. That same song will play in FF7 remake with some pointless interaction with cloud and Tifa at the bar. It's just mindless fan service like "oooh look guys member this song!?". Not to mention the collecting of song disks around town... way to ruin immersion. Drop your damn ego square enix. You've literally never made a good final fantasy game and you've ruined a legendary series. You had an easy job with this game to just copy what your superiors did with FF7 but you couldn't even do that. Pathetic. Glad I didn't spend money on this and waited for it to be free with ps+.… Expand

onetrickwolf

Apr 15, 2020

3

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Would probably wait until all the parts are out and it's on PC or a newer system. The story is kind of a mess with some major retconning that tries to tie it into the not great sequels and prequels and then on top of that they add a very convoluted "Kingdom Hearts-level" multiple dimension story to explain why the story might diverge from the original. I don't mind if they diverged the story, but I found the way they did it to be extremely lazy, not interesting, and confusing.

That being said, the visuals are great and it's really neat seeing some of the old graphics recreated and some characters and areas expanded on. But since that's all the game really has going for it, I will probably just wait until all the parts are out and released for the newer systems at a higher quality.… Expand

kobe_gosu

Apr 10, 2020

3

I'm going to make an account just to rate this game. I mean, you really start the game after midgar in the OG FF7. Other than graphics, this game is a huge let down. And that Ending, wtf were they thinking. Just a money grab project meant for hard core fans unlike the OG that impressed the entire video game community.

zasham

Apr 14, 2020

3

Positive:
+ Awesome music.
+ *Few* nice extra story and character presentation, especially Jessie but is also overdoing it a little. Neutral: ~ Graphics in general are really nice. in some parts, especially later parts are absolute trash. ~ Voice is acceptable in English, Best in Japanese, other (only tested in German) are not recommended.. Negative: - Enemies / Bosses feelPositive:
+ Awesome music.
+ *Few* nice extra story and character presentation, especially Jessie but is also overdoing it a little.

Neutral:
~ Graphics in general are really nice. in some parts, especially later parts are absolute trash.
~ Voice is acceptable in English, Best in Japanese, other (only tested in German) are not recommended..

Negative:
- Enemies / Bosses feel unbalanced at times.
- Unnecessary stretched Story in total with stupid side quests and few extra "story" which no one cares about.
- Multiple Episodes to milk you (the cow) even more, and no one knows when the next part(s) will be out (until then you won't even know nothing about EP1 anymore) and how many there actually will be.
- Over complicated fighting system, the alternative classic isn't really classic at all.
- Some new interpretations are way too far from the original, which doesn't classify as a remake anymore.
- Price, for 1/3th(?) 1/5th(?) (Who knows! it's modern money hungry Square Enix after all) of the original game is way too high.

Some few more points in positive and negative, but in overall i'm not really convinced at all.… Expand

OmnislashVII

Apr 19, 2020

3

Ending was a complete and total mess. Will come back and change my review if they ignore all the stupid Nomura crap for part two. I know a three is dramatic and I loved 97% of the game, but the ending is really that bad.

jamesdanton

May 11, 2020

3

How can they call this a remake? This isn't even a third of the original game's story, the characters are completely different and not for the better and most of them don't act like human beings or have identifying personality characteristics, just the same hyper-kawai nonsense from all, all serving tonal shifts that will leave you scratching your head.
Chocobos? Nope. Open world? Nope.How can they call this a remake? This isn't even a third of the original game's story, the characters are completely different and not for the better and most of them don't act like human beings or have identifying personality characteristics, just the same hyper-kawai nonsense from all, all serving tonal shifts that will leave you scratching your head.
Chocobos? Nope. Open world? Nope. Cid? Nope.
It's a very pretty cash grab (that has some jarringly poor texturing) and my girlfriend, who is a FFVII devotee doesn't want to play it anymore.
Don't waste your money, get yourself a copy of the infinitely better original.… Expand

HappySpaceInvad

Mar 24, 2023

3

This appears to have been made for nostalgic fans with rose-tinted spectacles only.

I bought the original game on release, but quickly tired of it as it seemed really childish. To be fair, I was already 25 in 1997, so possibly not part of the target demographic. I did enjoy the battles though…. So I decided to give this remake a go, thinking it might be made to cater to modernThis appears to have been made for nostalgic fans with rose-tinted spectacles only.

I bought the original game on release, but quickly tired of it as it seemed really childish. To be fair, I was already 25 in 1997, so possibly not part of the target demographic. I did enjoy the battles though….

So I decided to give this remake a go, thinking it might be made to cater to modern sensibilities… but no. The dialogue is still horribly corny (and full of bizarre non sequiturs), the voice acting is hammy as heck, the characters are hackneyed and 2-dimensional (protagonist of few words, fawning female, jolly fat man, gruff muscle man who’s always shouting…).

I don’t even think the graphics are especially good for a PS4 title, with very repetitive NPC models. And the combat is no longer typical JRPG turn-based, but instead a rather vague and sloppy real-time affair with abysmal camera controls.

I always felt the original was a bit overrated, but I’m stumped as to why this remake got such glowing reviews. Nostalgia is a powerful force, I guess.… Expand

kLRc4GE

Apr 17, 2020

3

Sadly after 23 years SE fails to deliver a proper REMAKE.
Project was too ambitious - from hardware perspective and new story & content approach.
It's not a game for younger audience (story too complicated) and not for fans (too many boring filler quests and unnecessary changes).
Funny - almost 70% of "new and great" content is lame and boring.
Nomura - whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy????????

VendonJura

Sep 17, 2020

3

I love Final Fantasy games and 7 was kinda good. It had a cool lvling system, Materia and some mini games originaly but it's kinda different in the remake version of this game.

1st I wana say that this is NOT a game it is just a small episode OF the game which 90% of people do forget and not mention about it. 1st the good stuff. Posetive: 1. Graphics of most places, CharactersI love Final Fantasy games and 7 was kinda good. It had a cool lvling system, Materia and some mini games originaly but it's kinda different in the remake version of this game.

1st I wana say that this is NOT a game it is just a small episode OF the game which 90% of people do forget and not mention about it.

1st the good stuff.

Posetive:

1. Graphics of most places, Characters but there are some graphics which are rlly rlly baaaad.
2. Materia is still a cool thing
3. Amazing summoning system of esper.
4. Animation of skills etc.
5. Music.
6. Aerith, Tifa and Jessie are totally gorgeous.
7. If Barret is not sweating it's not Barret xD
8. Barret is singing the fictory music sometimes. Totally funny.
9. Bestiary
10. Quests

Negative:

1. Balancing is horrible. It's actually non existent.

2. The enemy does not care if you hit them with a 100kg sword, they do not flinch nor anything at all. They just ignore your hits but only 1 slap and YOUR character flys all over the map. Most annoying stuff of all.

3. 100% of the time I am walking and looking for enemy to grind some lvl but there are none and no real respawn. I was hoping to have a monster respawn when reloading the game but no there is just nooooooothing so you are walking around looing for monsters and find nothing at all to lvl up and that's the balancing issue problem here. FF7 original was an easy easy game just because you could lvl up and grind but this remake here is just garbage. Atleast no lvling way possible.

4. What the h.... is this ATB stuff. I can not use items nor skills when I don't have my ATB bar atleast at 1.... who came with this stupid idea. This is the most annoying dumb mechanic I have seen in my whole life. I mean why is this crap in the game? It was not originally in the game. What kind of sadistic person came up with this dumb system? The whole battle is getting harder by a billion times just because of this garbage.

5. There are quests yes but no real quest leading so you have to watch and search your stuff. There is no real arrow that leads where you have to go nor you can not put your own marks on the map to make it easier to walk to your wanted location. I mean we are in 2020 so why is this not in the game ? Marking the map like every Borderlands game has. There is a Route button but it's more a deko. When you press that button... just nothing happens. It will not show you the route where you have to go. It's just a dumb button that makes nothing.

6. Graphic. Yes there are allot of horrible bad graphics in the game. It's blury like on the PS1. We are living in 2020 but you still can not read texts written on walls or books in the game. What a weak way of showing ppl some extras. When I see a note written something on it then dang I wana reaaaaad it and not see the blurry pixels on it. When deffs will finally understand that? Also what's the problem with the doors in this game? some doors look blurry as hell. Like the door where Tifa and Cloud has to sleep in the beginning of the game. They tell you a number of that flat but you can not even see it.

7. Cloud and all the rest is talking stuff like Cloud is strong bla bla bla Cloud says I am strong are you sure you wana fight me ? and dies in 3 seconds. As I said balancing in this game is non existent. Why is there no monster respawn?

8. You 100% ALWAYS have the aggro no matter what character you play with because the enemy turn their focus instantly on you when you switch the character and this happens 100% always when you switch. Totally annoying.

I am not sure if I will buy the other episodes of this game since Jessie and Biggs has died. I am not wanting to see how Aerith dies again. Also since there are to many things that I hate and makes me very angry while playing the game.… Expand

baerenknuddler

Apr 12, 2020

3

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The whisps, the ending, time travel, ... Sorry, FF7 had a simple but powerful story. That story made that game great. But SE **** it up.… Expand

Laviar

Apr 12, 2020

3

Разрабы! Если у вас есть идеи, то добавляйте их в новые части финалки. У вас есть оригинал и относится надо к нему с уважением! Что за дементоры Азкабана? Что за д.рьмо вы наворотили в конце? Слегка разочарован игрой! 35 часов коридоров это не то что я хотел получить и плевок в сторону оригинала с добавлением какой то чуши меня просто взбесил.Разрабы! Если у вас есть идеи, то добавляйте их в новые части финалки. У вас есть оригинал и относится надо к нему с уважением! Что за дементоры Азкабана? Что за д.рьмо вы наворотили в конце? Слегка разочарован игрой! 35 часов коридоров это не то что я хотел получить и плевок в сторону оригинала с добавлением какой то чуши меня просто взбесил.

LuGaMi

Apr 11, 2020

3

El jugo graficamente esta bien pero no es top de graficos, La historia llega ser afectada por el cambio de controles, pasando de un RPG a uno mas encaminado a la acción cuando se enfrenta con el enemigo, Añadiendo que la historia no esta completa y falta contenido, su precio muy elevado para estar sesgado, lo cual influye en la percepción en su totalidad del juego, si tu lo juegas porEl jugo graficamente esta bien pero no es top de graficos, La historia llega ser afectada por el cambio de controles, pasando de un RPG a uno mas encaminado a la acción cuando se enfrenta con el enemigo, Añadiendo que la historia no esta completa y falta contenido, su precio muy elevado para estar sesgado, lo cual influye en la percepción en su totalidad del juego, si tu lo juegas por primera ves te quedaras sin entender su totalidad lo que es algo frustrante, por todo la modificación del juego se encamino para ser un Juego POP desapegado de sus orígenes y mas comercial, claro vendiendolo por partes.… Expand

rawrbearclaws

Apr 10, 2020

3

Update; after completing this I'm knocking my review score lower to 3/10.

Not terrible but certainly not as impressive as I thought it would be. SE seems to have resurrected a lot of mistakes from previous installments; they seemed really close to getting things right after FFXV. This plays kinda like a VII spin-off rather than a remake. As other reviewers have said; it seems kindaUpdate; after completing this I'm knocking my review score lower to 3/10.

Not terrible but certainly not as impressive as I thought it would be.

SE seems to have resurrected a lot of mistakes from previous installments; they seemed really close to getting things right after FFXV.

This plays kinda like a VII spin-off rather than a remake. As other reviewers have said; it seems kinda padded rather than expansive.

Midgar is not very "open". The environments do well to represent scale in most places and are also often relatively reminiscent of the original PSX BG art. However at the same time they feel quite claustral, meandering, cardboard-like and bland. The familiar XIII corridor syndrome is alive and kicking, just not as horrifically.

The end-result was a sort of "guided tour" of Midgar, environments that didn't cohesively fit together to make up the city in a physical sense. It seems at odds with the larger Midgar that Square were going for.

From the get-go the opening cinematics show the hustle and bustle of Midgar's streets. That's just not there; instead it's a hollow shell with limited exploration; it feels like a movie studio back-lot to me at least.

It does do a fair amount right and there's some fantastic portions of the game; mainly chapter nine - however it's wildly inconsistent. It feels like every other chapter drops the ball. A fair amount of the dialogue sounded like it was written to fill gaps and, to me at least, drama lacked impact more often than not.

It also seemed to bounce from realising the original game perfectly at some points; other times it felt like a generic RPG with a VII skin - then there was an odd touch of Kingdom Hearts. A few tropes such as ghosts (akin to heartless), melodramatic side-characters and KH-like level design in places made it seem like it was having an identity crisis. Some might enjoy this aspect of KHness but for me, it felt out of place and unwelcome.

I have enjoyed it insofar it's been satisfying to play most of the time. Though I grew frustrated the more I played and by the end I was angry with the cheap changes they made - it was a bit like the Game of Thrones finale; yet worse in that it screwed up beyond forgiveness in its final moments. Chances are many fans will enjoy this game more than I did and I am a little jelly of that. If you played it and liked it then I'm happy for you.

I still think Square could have done better though; I'm hoping successive parts are stronger and more consistent. I'd like to see meaningful side-quests that don't feel like an after-thought, story execution that doesn't seem oddly paced or padded with 'much ado about nothing' moments and consistent environments that don't feel like I'm on a movie-studio back-lot tour with "this way" signs. However the main thing is the extent to which the story has been sodomized - it's too late now and all I can do is my best to ignore Nomura's terrible edits.

One big concern - which I think many are wondering - is that this is a very small portion of the original game and that makes me wonder just how many parts it will be divided in to. As each part will likely be a full-priced game I'm hoping they don't repeat these same mistakes in the next parts and don't give us a good-yet-inconsistent expanded chunk of the original each time, five times over. I'm really hoping part two is twice as big for that reason.

On a side note, I've seen many comments about the soundtrack... I actually quite liked it myself. It didn't do some tracks justice but for the most part it was fun to listen to.… Expand

PokeBluedude

Apr 14, 2020

3

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First 3/4 of the game are truely amazing! I was in complete awe of how right square enix had got this. However the last two chapters basically rewrite the story. And the story means everything to me. They have ruined it in my opinion… Expand

TheGamerGirl

Apr 26, 2020

3

Final Fantasy 7 has been my favorite game of all time for over 20 years now. I grew up with it, fell in love, and replayed and enjoyed it multiple times over the years.

Sadly, playing the Remake quickly shows that SquareEnix is doing their own thing, and doesn't really care to follow the original too closely. There are some scenes that are 1:1, some are made better with additionalFinal Fantasy 7 has been my favorite game of all time for over 20 years now. I grew up with it, fell in love, and replayed and enjoyed it multiple times over the years.

Sadly, playing the Remake quickly shows that SquareEnix is doing their own thing, and doesn't really care to follow the original too closely. There are some scenes that are 1:1, some are made better with additional elements, and generally everything looks amazing with great graphics, voice acting, and orchestra music.
But everything is ruined by an ending that is a slap in the faces of the original fans, practically telling us that the future FF7 Remake games will not follow the original storyline and there's freedom ahead.
Oh and let us revive a character who is, or was, otherwise dead in 2 games and 1 movie. Because alternative timelines make everything possible!
Next thing we know, some random, unlikable character will become a new main party member, and major story events from the original will not even happen to make a completely different game.

Go into this knowing this is NOT a remake, maybe a reimagining.
As someone who thinks the original story was very close to perfect the way it was, this is utterly disappointing.… Expand

Kaymanillo

Apr 10, 2020

3

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Solo necesitabamos crear la misma historia con la tecnologia actual, FF7 Remake es un gran juego que durante 35 horas te hace sentirte igual que hace 23 años, plasmando la misma magia a cada paso que damos. Hasta que lo terminas y ves que toda esa magia acumulada se desvanece en la ultima hora de juego, rompiendo completamente la historia que todos recordamos y creando algo nuevo que para lo unico que sirve es para insultar nuestros recuerdos. gracias Nomura… Expand

wotakit

Apr 10, 2020

3

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Most people knew that this wasn't going to be a shot-for-shot replica of the original game which is fine, but the ending to FF7R completely derails from the original to the point where semantics of what a 'remake' is becomes irrelevant. It uses the history and characters of the FF7 universe to start a brand new story on an alternate timeline. Characters that should be dead, no longer are so fundamental motivations and character arcs are out of the window. The next parts will be starting fresh and this should be extremely worrying to anyone who knows Squares recent history. Square no longer has the ability to create new stories that are coherent or interesting. This is why people were excited for a remake of a story that everyone already loved. They couldn't possibly screw this one up and yet they still have.

Aside from the ending, there are plenty of other negatives too. Filler is a major problem. The side quests are almost all basic filler fetch quests. "Go here, kill x enemies, come back, go somewhere else, repeat." I've seen people defending this saying that you can't create a 30+ hour game without some padding. I don't understand this at all. Either make the game shorter or make the "padding" GOOD content. The game is much more linear than I expected. Almost every single walkable area in the game is a narrow corridor.
The hybrid combat system is actually pretty good but there are big flaws in the AI. The enemies always agro on the character that the player is controlling and your allies do very little to help or defend themselves. This combination seems to be Squares way of ensuring that you switch characters often but it is so poorly executed and feels forced.
The camera sucks in combat even with the recommended changes to the settings. You can't see what you're looking at half the time, especially if the enemy is above you.
There is also a serious texture problem. The worst being looking down to the slums from the plate. I believe that this will be fixed in the day 1 patch though. It needs to be.

It sucks to give this game such a low score. FF7 is my all time favourite and I really wanted this to succeed. The game gets some things right, and when it does, it absolutely nails them. But sadly there is just far too much crap surrounding it, that i'm left disappointed overall.… Expand

kfarnef

Apr 10, 2020

3

An insult to everything Final Fantasy 7 used to represent. This game covers less than 10 percent of the original, that's the reason why we have so many pointless, boring quests and characters nobody wanted, otherwise we would have been able to complete it in less than eight hours or so. Same for the ridiculous cutscenes. The storyline has been mangled so bad that you will need to play theAn insult to everything Final Fantasy 7 used to represent. This game covers less than 10 percent of the original, that's the reason why we have so many pointless, boring quests and characters nobody wanted, otherwise we would have been able to complete it in less than eight hours or so. Same for the ridiculous cutscenes. The storyline has been mangled so bad that you will need to play the original game in order to make a sense of it. No, I don't care about Kingdom Hearts, Advent Children or any of that stuff. I wanted what was promised: Final Fantasy 7 REMAKE, they even wrote it in capital letters. This game is comparable to the prequels AND the sequels of the original Star Wars trilogy with the ewoks teleporting from the future movies just to mock you and your expectations. Is this the future you want for your games? FF-7 episode 1, 2, 3, 4, 80 dollars each and extra DLCs for the plot, secret characters and summons?… Expand

Sir_Ligma

Apr 10, 2020

3

Game feels stretched to keep the story within Midgar, personally I didn't like the combat but I'm more of a fan of the turn based. After waiting so long I really wanted to love the game but after finishing it I cant say I would ever play it again.

Net__

Apr 10, 2020

3

On nous avait promis un remake , et nous voilà finalement avec un jeu découpé en morceaux qui tient plus du reboot qu'autre chose . L'histoire n'est pas respectée , et pire encore l'intrigue est complétement décousue avec un Sephiroth qui apparaît toutes les dix secondes et ce délire de vouloir expliquer chaque scène , comme si le public visé était dépourvu de cervelle . Je ne parleraiOn nous avait promis un remake , et nous voilà finalement avec un jeu découpé en morceaux qui tient plus du reboot qu'autre chose . L'histoire n'est pas respectée , et pire encore l'intrigue est complétement décousue avec un Sephiroth qui apparaît toutes les dix secondes et ce délire de vouloir expliquer chaque scène , comme si le public visé était dépourvu de cervelle . Je ne parlerai même pas des fameuses serpillères volantes sans intérêt qui viennent massacrer le scénario , on devine déjà ce qu'ils ont derrière la tête pour la suite et ça augure la pire chose qu'on pourrait faire à ce jeu .
La scène finale totalement ratée confirme qu'on a plus affaire à FF7 premier du nom , mais à un espèce de pâté de crisis core , advent children et ff15 ... , c'est à vomir .
En parlant de ff15 on retrouve le même gameplay , et s'il diffère dans les commandes il n'en est pas moins rebutant , et encore plus dans le visuel . Là aussi on nous avait promis qu'on allait retrouver les sensations d'origine , bin ... c'est raté ! Les combats se résument à du bourrinage 80% du temps , et quelques passages en ralentit pour faire semblant de faire des choix stratégiques avec 3 ou 4 magies ... Absolument aucun intérêt si ce n'est de faire durer les combats pour palier à une durée de vie de jeu risible .
SE a voulu faire du grandiose , c'est bien , mais c'est fait au rabais et c'est surtout trop visible . Je ne vais pas me plaindre des textures ni des graphismes parce que ce n'est pas essentiel à mes yeux , par contre les clones pnj tous les 2 mètres ... voilà quoi . Tout le budget a dû passer dans les feux d'artifices des combats et la fanfare .
Je dis fanfare parce que certaines musiques sont réussies , mais alors d'autres ... à faire saigner les oreilles . Et le pire c'est qu'elles ne correspondent presque jamais avec le contexte du jeu , pour le joueur habitué à retrouver tel morceau à tel endroit ou moment du jeu , c'est presque un viol auditif . Quand en plus ça se mélange à des sonneries d'alarme , des bruitages de combats et des "hi han" que couinent les persos ... Une horreur .
On se serait largement passé de cette réorchestration , surtout pour le thème d'Aerith ...
La musique me dérange plus que les voix , les doublages je m'en fiche un peu , je fais avec . Les dialogues me dérangent un peu plus , avec des "fils de p.." et autres grossièretés qu'on entend et qui n'existaient pas dans l'original , qui d'ailleurs n'existaient pas dans ce genre de jeu à l'époque . Le style est complétement dénaturé .
Je parlais de la durée de vie précédemment , je voulais mettre une mention spéciale pour les quêtes bidons au passage , SE veut faire du death stranding avec le scénario et nous sert des quêtes 3-7 ans à côté ..
Je crois qu'ils se sont un peu perdus dans leur trip.

Malgré la nostalgie qui parfois l'emporte sur tout ces défauts , il faut rester lucide . Ce remake n'est pas un bon remake , et ce n'est pas plus un bon jeu . Se avait la pression et peur de se lourder , et bien c'est fait .
Je m'imagine même pas faire une suite dans 2 ans , c'est du n'importe quoi .
Ma note sera au niveau de ma déception , un petit 11/20 .… Expand

Arctosa

Apr 10, 2020

3

Visually, the game is absolutely stunning, the artistic direction, the character design, everything that involves using your eyes is a thing of beauty, an absolute masterclass.
Everything else is simply a gigantic mess.
The soundtrack is overall a mixed bag, some musics have been reorchestrated, with inspiration, and talent, some others have been simply stripped of their souls, and areVisually, the game is absolutely stunning, the artistic direction, the character design, everything that involves using your eyes is a thing of beauty, an absolute masterclass.
Everything else is simply a gigantic mess.

The soundtrack is overall a mixed bag, some musics have been reorchestrated, with inspiration, and talent, some others have been simply stripped of their souls, and are simply unrecognizable. The music of the motorbike scene nearly had me cutting the sound. The voice acting on the other hand is spot-on, but that was expected.
The battle system is a giant mess, unresponsive, unprecise, unbalanced, the aerial fights are terrible and highlight the numerous camera problems, the materia system simply doesn't work in an action oriented game, or at least not in this case.

The progression is even worse, and clearly explain why this game make us go through roughly 10% of the original game, because it is filled with uninteresting sidequests, and even most of the main story (yes, the main story got changed A LOT) simply isn't interesting.

As expected from the Final Fantasy series at this point, a visual experience, nothing more.… Expand

tifani

Apr 10, 2020

3

I'd love to give this game 10/10 if only it actually was a REMAKE, as marketed! I've paid money for a REMAKE and got a reboot or something and it makes me absolutely disappointed. Hope more people will start to think critically towards this game.

Maxentirunos

Apr 10, 2020

3

I created this account just to be able to put my review. I can't believe how much people gobble giving this game 10 and 9 but you can see that the negative review are actually more prevalent in the 'useful' view of the silent majority.

First thing first, an argument that have been made that need to be debunked right now. This game cannot be judge as a standalone game. If it could, itI created this account just to be able to put my review. I can't believe how much people gobble giving this game 10 and 9 but you can see that the negative review are actually more prevalent in the 'useful' view of the silent majority.

First thing first, an argument that have been made that need to be debunked right now. This game cannot be judge as a standalone game. If it could, it would be named FFXVI, episode 1, and would have received a solid 7 or even 8 from me. But it's not, his name is FF7 remake, and was marketed as a remake of FF7, a game existing for more than 20 years, that millions of people played and still have a massive community of players and modders. Giving a review while ignoring the original game and without comparison is absolutely disingenuous. Now, let's go over the review

Graphics 9/10
This is, without a doubt, the greatest strength of FF7RE. From the modern look of characters to the modernization of the 240p backgrounds of original FF7, the game is gorgeous. The engine and photo-realism are stunning, to the point that my only way sometime to separate actual cinematics from pre-scripted in game events was when Cloud sword and other characters weapon goes back to default. Without this detail, I wouldn't have been able to see the differences.
More over, the facial expression of the characters give life to the emotions the original FF7 was lacking into transmitting to us. Where the original polygon had only one facial expression and the polygons of Barret had to do a pirouette with the polygons of Marlene to try to transmit the familial love between the two, a 10 seconds scene of Barret and Marlene give way more information about how soft Barret actually is. Of course the voice acting play as much but will be mentioned later in musics and ambiance.
I can also now see how Hojo can be the actual father of Sephiroth and the kind of guy that attract beautiful women when he take a day off at Costa del Sol instead of the creepy crawly scientist that should give his father card to Vincent.
My only negative about this is that the engine generic asset taken directly from FF15 give me once in a while a sore eye when I see them.

Gameplay 4/10
This is, with the story, the most divisive point concerning the remake. If this game was a standalone, I would give a 6 or 7. It's a direct follow up in the evolution of rpg combat system square have in his FF since the beginning. From turn-based, to ATB based, to going more and more toward action rpg akin to a beat them all.
But it's not a standalone, it's a remake, was marketed as a remake, and must be judged as such. What me and most of the fans of FF7 i was talking with on the FF7.fr forum were expected was a return to the source, a modernized version of the original atb system, a tactical turn-based rpg where you heavily prepare your party to face opposition in a turned base system. Instead we got FF15 combat system moderately modified with a skin applied over. One of my friend sentence resumed very well the situation : I like FF7, FF12 13 15 and kingdom heart too. But if I want to play an action rpg, I play FF15 and KH, not FF7. I am not launching a play of FF7 for that.
Some people will say there is a turn-based mode but it's only workable with grunts and basics enemies, not bosses, because of what I am going to describe.
The game work on a mix between a beat them all with apparent numbers and an action rpg. You control one character at a time that are the main target of enemies. While you are doing basic actions like attacking, moving and dodging, an atb bar load letting you use actions like objects, special attacks and magic in exchange for one or two atb bars. The system seems effective and simple, enjoyable to play. But here begin the problems:
Most ATB actions have a long build up that is constantly cut by enemies attacks, making you miss that action, from specials attacks to basics magics and items. Some of you seems to think this is a good thing, forcing you to learn enemy pattern to know when you can and cannot use these actions... I am sorry, when did I begin to play Dark soul in my FF ?
More over, You must switch between characters in battle to make them do any other actions than the basics given above. The IA don't do these by default and there isn't any way to set that... Are you kidding me? This kind of feature exist in FF since FF12 with the gambit system, since 2006, almost 15 years, or even 2002 if you take other Square games like the original KH.
Even worse, the concept of player character being main target id done as a way to balance the game but the IA is absolute dumb in the move and dodge part. It constantly put the characters in the way of the most harmful attacks and begin a game of trying to make them survive said attacks instead of a fight.
Outside of fight gameplay, the outside of it is padded with useless side quests that can all be resumed by 'go found the slightly more stronger monster.'… Expand

socorobo

Apr 11, 2020

3

FF7 Remake is both good and original. Unfortunately, the parts that are good aren't original and the parts that are original aren't good. When the game does what it was intended to do - remake the original FF7 - it's a great experience. Those parts have clearly been done with a lot of love and attention to detail. However, the Remake is not content to be just a remake. It feels it needs toFF7 Remake is both good and original. Unfortunately, the parts that are good aren't original and the parts that are original aren't good. When the game does what it was intended to do - remake the original FF7 - it's a great experience. Those parts have clearly been done with a lot of love and attention to detail. However, the Remake is not content to be just a remake. It feels it needs to improve upon the original with a completely new spin on the story. So the audience is inflicted with an entirely new plot that grows more and more absurd as the game progresses.

Classic scenes from the original are ruined, new scenes added are conspicuously terrible - almost every new substantial addition is bad. There are two FF7 Remakes co-existing in this game. FF7 Remake is a straight up remake. It's great, it's nearly perfect. FF7 ReMAKE is an attempt to one-up the original game with new story additions and additional content drawing heavily from the FF7 'Extended Universe'. All of the ReMAKE, without exception, is awful and cheapens the original game. It's all of the worst tendencies of modern Squeenix - nonexistent characterisation, floaty and pointless anime duels, adolescent edginess and a complete lack of humanity.

Nobody would remember the games in the FF7 Compilation if they weren't associated with the original game. They're terrible. The FF7 Compilation games are tiny parasites feeding on the mighty whale corpse that is the original FF7.

It's a testament to how good FF7 is that it can inspire this sort of emotion 20 years later, and in the moments where the game hews closely to the original - even enhancing it - it's a fantastic experience. But the new additions are so bad, and so disrespectful to the original to which its indebted, that it hurts all the more because you can see how good the game could have been.… Expand

coffee13bean

Apr 11, 2020

3

I cannot express to you how disappointed I am with this game. It was announced in 2015 and then we had to wait until 2020 and THIS is what we get? A broken, unfinished game with a mangled story line. It is NOTHING like the original. It is not honest to the source, it is nothing like FF7 except the character skins and locations. This is a terrible testament to FF7's legacy. I can't believeI cannot express to you how disappointed I am with this game. It was announced in 2015 and then we had to wait until 2020 and THIS is what we get? A broken, unfinished game with a mangled story line. It is NOTHING like the original. It is not honest to the source, it is nothing like FF7 except the character skins and locations. This is a terrible testament to FF7's legacy. I can't believe they would even label it as FF7. There is none of that magic that the original had.

This first part stand -alone game because it doesn't deserve to be a part of the FF7 franchise. It isn't a full game, it's 40 hours of running around doing side-quests and then you get to the last hour and it just take a big crap in your mouth.
The voice acting is terrible, all the newbies are not believable. Can't stand Aerith, she's incredibly inconsistent through the game, Tifa is too deep, and Cloud is bored out of his mind. I don't even want to talk about Sephiroth and Zack.

Overall, this is a huge waste of my time. Visuals are stunning, but it's like a hot girl with no personality.… Expand

someguinea

Apr 11, 2020

3

All you had to do was follow the script, Nomura, but no, you had to put your weird destiny-fate lame KH spin on this.

Besides the AWFUL rape of the original plot, this game is basically a series of corridors that you press square to win battles in. Enemies scale with you, materia system has zero imagination, everything is bad.

Lukea108

Apr 11, 2020

3

Overall it's a fun game, great music with fun combat and brilliant characters just like the original. Unfortunately this game pads out the midgar section of this grand story to an exhaustively long length.. With later installments of the ff7 story this is the part of the remake series i highly doubt i will replay sadly.

Honestly disappointed that i felt as if i was forcing myselfOverall it's a fun game, great music with fun combat and brilliant characters just like the original. Unfortunately this game pads out the midgar section of this grand story to an exhaustively long length.. With later installments of the ff7 story this is the part of the remake series i highly doubt i will replay sadly.

Honestly disappointed that i felt as if i was forcing myself through what felt like hollow and unnecessary chapters of the game to get to that main story beats.… Expand

Spoonfishlee

Apr 12, 2020

3

It's very hard to score this game. Many of the moments in this game had me floored. I loved the combat, although I notice a lot of people are missing the turn based system. The deeper storytelling and acting had me plastered to the screen all the way through. The impossible had happened: an amazing, faithful remake of FF7 had come into existence. It was a couple of hours before the endIt's very hard to score this game. Many of the moments in this game had me floored. I loved the combat, although I notice a lot of people are missing the turn based system. The deeper storytelling and acting had me plastered to the screen all the way through. The impossible had happened: an amazing, faithful remake of FF7 had come into existence. It was a couple of hours before the end where I was completely sold. I expected to escape and ride down the highway into some sort of To Be Continued-screen. My 9 or even 10 score was ready to be dealt out.

But then it takes a turn. A very hard turn. I tried to buy what it was trying to sell me, but my attachment to the story was quickly dissolving on the screen. After seeing that conclusion, I felt like I could no longer recommend this game to anyone. It's very hard to pick a score, but I think I have to base it on how fatigued and empty I feel whenever I see a thumbnail of the game now.

I would say I'm a difficult fan to please when it comes to FF7. The original has been the most influential gaming experience of my life, since I played it in -99. I know every line and beat. But I will not be picking up the subsequent releases of this reboot series.

A lot of new players enjoy it. That's good. But for me, it was a sad waste of an opportunity, and a sad waste of all the earlier phenomenal moments that were based on the source material.… Expand

Arnbla

Apr 13, 2020

3

The graphics are amazing, the battle system works (execpt for enemies always focusing the person ur playing, making u only play one tactic) but its really **** boring. Plotwise its a **** doing quest and side quests feels like someones holding ur hand all the way through the game and the whole game is 60 % cinimatics. Square Enix is really trying milk the nostalgia for whats its worth.The graphics are amazing, the battle system works (execpt for enemies always focusing the person ur playing, making u only play one tactic) but its really **** boring. Plotwise its a **** doing quest and side quests feels like someones holding ur hand all the way through the game and the whole game is 60 % cinimatics. Square Enix is really trying milk the nostalgia for whats its worth. Almost a bigger flop than final fantasy 13… Expand

imc_manu

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.… Expand

Danni5659

Apr 13, 2020

3

I hope J.K.Rawling sues over copyright infringement. A mild update in graphics doesn't overcome the destruction of a perfect story.

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