Didn't experience any of the glitches others have, but this was the blandest world of the entire series - the cities are horrible! Even in SwSh I could visually distinguish them all. The open world is pretty ugly too, had absolutely no desire to explore it all - what's even the point with all these randomized items? Why do they keep going back to limited-use TMs? The pokemon themselves are pretty good, especially some of the abilities and moves (but none as good as Dragapult or Glastrier, so). And finally, finally, Ice weather is good! But Tera, while interesting, I found requires too much of a knowledge base and combined with this terrible world and non-narrative, for the first time I lost motivation to play competitively since I started more than 10 years ago. I hope that will change but seeing the meta shifts in just a few months of inactivity is really daunting.

I: PREFACE

This is the second time I play through Final Fantasy VII Remake and boy have I had two completely different experiences. My first playthrough back in 2020 was actually my introduction to the Final Fantasy VII world. This was how I first met Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and the rest. This was how I experienced Midgar which at that point, I had only experienced as a Super Smash Bros. stage. Final Fantasy VII Remake was the big welcoming parade into the FFVII compilation for me and it was absolutely delightful. I had the freshest eyes with no point for comparison. I had a great time with it and really loved it, I found myself left with a lot of questions when I finished it and soon discovered that there was no space for me to discuss the game without getting spoiled over things that are coming up in the story, so I just decided to let it sit and wait for the next part’s release, whenever that may be.

Two years have passed since then, it was easy to just avoid the conversations around FFVII Remake until the sequel was revealed to be FFVII Rebirth, alongside an announcement of a remake of the prequel game Crisis Core. This was when the conversation started getting riled up and it was getting hard to avoid the discussions, especially in the circles I frequent online. I’ve been waiting for a couple of years to continue the story but it seemed like FFVII Rebirth is going to further rely on knowledge of the original game and the FFVII compilation for its moments to truly hit. Something I was lacking for my playthrough of FFVII Remake which resulted in really impactful moments leaving me kind of lost and confused.

I decided that that would not be the case with FFVII Rebirth as it seemed to be gearing up for some big stuff so I decided to finally play the original FFVII. It was freaking fantastic. Just as everyone has been saying for all those years. What started off as me wanting to know where the story goes after Midgar, turned into me being completely swooped into FFVII and falling in love with it. So much so, that while playing it I had realized that it was the best game I have ever played. After that, I went through the entire Compilation of FFVII, enjoying some of it and despising other parts of it. Making me now completely well-versed in FFVII. Here I am now, a little more than a year later, and FFVII Rebirth is right around the corner. With my newly founded love and appreciation over FFVII and the overwhelming excitement over FFVII Rebirth, it was finally time to revisit FVII Remake.

II: REUNION

At this point, it’s been almost 4 years since my first playthrough of FFVII Remake and here I was booting the game up again but this time it wasn’t to get introduced to the FFVII world but to be reunited with it. Even though this was the second time I play through it, this playthrough invoked such different emotions out of me that it felt like I was playing something new. Now that I had the chance to play through the compilation and fall in love with the original game so much that it became my favorite game of all time, FFVII Remake had something to live up to for me and boy did it live up.

FFVII Remake feels like a dream. It’s so crazy that even though I had played it before, I couldn’t believe I was playing a real video game and not a fan made unreal engine demo of what a potential remake of FFVII could look like. From the opening moments, to the soundtrack, to the world design. They absolutely nailed the FFVII feeling. I still can’t believe that this game exists and it’s not even a complete remake of the original! I can not believe that in a few years I would have the entirety of FFVII in this quality! It is absolutely insane.

What I love so so much about FFVII Remake is that it’s not just a graphical upgrade to FFVII. This is pretty much a complete reimagining. Everything is expanded upon in significant ways. You get to see all the layers of Midgar and the stories its people hold. This used to be just the opening area to the larger FFVII story but they masterfully made it the setting of a full entry. The politics are expanded upon, the way each sector lives is expanded upon just everything seems bigger. Taking what was roughly a 3-5 hour section in the original and turning it into a 35-40 hour game and doing it well is a huge ask but they managed to pull it off! Granted, there is a bunch of padding added and filler sections but they’re added in a pretty natural way into the story.

The characters are honestly all at their best here. After going through the compilation, some characters started to turn into things they’re not. Mainly Cloud turning into this stoic, cold guy that’s super serious. I was really worried that that would be the version of Cloud I’ll see here but I’m really really happy it isn’t. All of the characterizations are top tier in this game. Tifa and Barret are the best they’ve ever been. A controversial opinion but this Aerith is the first iteration of the character that I actually like. They made her so so lovable and quirky in all the cute right ways. She really has this magical feeling around her and is able to shift the air whenever she’s around. I appreciate that a lot. The Avalanche members were also given some great great characterizations too. They had maybe 30 minutes of screen time in the original game? They now have families, side jobs they like to do, character flaws. Ugh so so so so good.

I’m really happy that they didn’t shy away from all the quirky moments of the original FFVII. There are so many whimsical moments in FFVII Remake that reference those of the original but also newly added ones which gives me so much faith in this project. That’s pretty much the biggest thing about FFVII Remake to me, it feels like a fully polished, playable tech demo of a potential remake of FFVII that acts as a statement of “Have faith in us, we know what we’re doing and we can make this work.” I can’t understate this, they KNOW what they’re doing especially when they’re not being faithful to the original game. There’s a strong, palpable vision there and I just can not wait to see it become fully realized. I’m reminded of the monologue that was in the reveal trailer for this project and how it said “The reunion at hand may bring joy, it may bring fears but let us embrace whatever it brings” and that’s exactly how I feel. I am very happy about what’s there, kind of worried about the direction they’re taking but also reminded that they know what they’re doing and I’ll be here to see it through.