I've never played a Final Fantasy game before, other than bits and pieces of various GBA, PSP, and DS titles in the distant past, so I had little idea of what to expect from Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade—needless to say, I was throughly impressed.
(I have vague memories of visiting Midgar on the PSP, which must have been Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, but I can only recall the robotic minions and dystopian, industrial aesthetic.)
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FF VII Remake is a surprisingly complete experience despite being just the first of three standalone games remaking the 1997 PlayStation classic.
Players are immediately thrown into the action. Protagonist Cloud Strife, an ex-SOLDIER now mercenary, is hired by group of eco-terrorists know as AVALANCHE to help infiltrate and blow up one of eight reactors that power the futuristic city of Midgar. Unfortunately things don’t go as planned; the team is discovered and have to escape before the entire building comes down on their heads.
It’s a thrilling opening sequence that effectively teaches the game’s combat while setting up it’s main conflict—the Shinra Electric Power Company is using the reactors to harvest excessive Mako (i.e., spiritual energy) from the planet, slowly killing it. Despite this, in an obvious parallel to our own society’s reliance on fossil fuels, Mako provides substantial material benefit to the citizens of Midgar (although not to the underclass of slum dwellers with whom our heroes primarily identify). These folks are not particularly evil or malicious, which introduces compelling shades of grey into the plot.
The story continues building on this strong foundation, pitting Cloud and AVALANCHE against Shinra and its various corporate goons. It's largely linear, which works to the story’s benefit, in my opinion. Too often, games try to mimic successful open worlds (e.g., Elden Ring) and fall far short; the tailored experience that the team at Square Enix has created here feels far more purposeful—players are never left wondering what to do or where to go next and don't need to grind for levels, it all just works, playing out like a movie would. In fact, the pseudo-open world segements (e.g., Chapter 14) are the weakest parts of the story, padded with extraneous side quests that detract from the momentum of the narrative. The final sequence, from Chapter 15 onwards, is riveting, catapulting players to the credits through a high-stakes infiltration, motorcycle chase, and several epic boss fights.
We also meet a wonderful cast of characters throughout the roughly 40 hour-long story. Tifa, Cloud's childhood friend who wants revenge on Shinra, but is held back by her desire to avoid violence; the fiery and sometimes brash leader of a local AVALANCHE cell, Barrett, who wants to save the planet and protect his adorable daughter; AVALANCHE members Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, who become friends with the apathetic Cloud and slowly draw him out of his shell. And of course the relentlessly optimistic Aerith; descended from the Ancients that originally inhabited this world and whose fate is pivotal to the plot.
The game features phenomenal combat that mixes the Active Time Battle (ATB) system of the original with real-time action using normal (X) and strong (Y) attacks. Characters can roll to dodge (B), guard (R1), and access a menu of special abilities, spells, and items (A), which slows time to a crawl letting you spend segments of the ATB bar. Alternatively, players can assign abilities to custom shortcuts and execute them in real-time. Taken together, these elements make for fluid and fun combat that preserves the feeling of a turn-based RPG thanks to the rhythmic nature of building and spending ATB segements.
Each of the four playable characters - Cloud, Tifa, Barrett, and Aerith - have their own special abilities as well as normal and strong attacks. Personally, I spent most of my time with Cloud, who plays in a traditional hack-and-slash style, switching to Barrett, who possesses potent survivability skills, on harder fights. The game encourages players to switch between characters to take advantage of boss mechanics and often restricts party members for story reasons.
This action plays out in a beautifully realized world. The team has pulled off a stunning aesthetic using Unreal Engine 4—the characters are realistic, but also stylized and cartoonish in their own way (e.g., Cloud's iconic spiky hair or Barrett's huge build). The monsters are often very quirky in typical Final Fantasy fashion, but they fit in nicely with the world seemingly due to exquisite texture work. Midgar is industrial, overbearing and claustrophobic, shrouded in perpetual night, while the slums beneath (where players spend most of their time) are crowded and dilapidated, but warm and welcoming. Perhaps my expectations were unreasonably low given lack of recent experience with AAA titles, but the graphics and animation work blew me away.
Finally the music. Original composer Nobuo Uematsu and collaborators Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki have crafted a truly magical score. There is an unbelievable number of tracks and the audio adapts based on the player's actions, fading arrangements in and out to match what's on screen. Some personal favorites are Tifa's Theme - Seventh Heaven and Aerith's Theme - Home Again, just beautiful orchestral arrangements.
(I have vague memories of visiting Midgar on the PSP, which must have been Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, but I can only recall the robotic minions and dystopian, industrial aesthetic.)
---
FF VII Remake is a surprisingly complete experience despite being just the first of three standalone games remaking the 1997 PlayStation classic.
Players are immediately thrown into the action. Protagonist Cloud Strife, an ex-SOLDIER now mercenary, is hired by group of eco-terrorists know as AVALANCHE to help infiltrate and blow up one of eight reactors that power the futuristic city of Midgar. Unfortunately things don’t go as planned; the team is discovered and have to escape before the entire building comes down on their heads.
It’s a thrilling opening sequence that effectively teaches the game’s combat while setting up it’s main conflict—the Shinra Electric Power Company is using the reactors to harvest excessive Mako (i.e., spiritual energy) from the planet, slowly killing it. Despite this, in an obvious parallel to our own society’s reliance on fossil fuels, Mako provides substantial material benefit to the citizens of Midgar (although not to the underclass of slum dwellers with whom our heroes primarily identify). These folks are not particularly evil or malicious, which introduces compelling shades of grey into the plot.
The story continues building on this strong foundation, pitting Cloud and AVALANCHE against Shinra and its various corporate goons. It's largely linear, which works to the story’s benefit, in my opinion. Too often, games try to mimic successful open worlds (e.g., Elden Ring) and fall far short; the tailored experience that the team at Square Enix has created here feels far more purposeful—players are never left wondering what to do or where to go next and don't need to grind for levels, it all just works, playing out like a movie would. In fact, the pseudo-open world segements (e.g., Chapter 14) are the weakest parts of the story, padded with extraneous side quests that detract from the momentum of the narrative. The final sequence, from Chapter 15 onwards, is riveting, catapulting players to the credits through a high-stakes infiltration, motorcycle chase, and several epic boss fights.
We also meet a wonderful cast of characters throughout the roughly 40 hour-long story. Tifa, Cloud's childhood friend who wants revenge on Shinra, but is held back by her desire to avoid violence; the fiery and sometimes brash leader of a local AVALANCHE cell, Barrett, who wants to save the planet and protect his adorable daughter; AVALANCHE members Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, who become friends with the apathetic Cloud and slowly draw him out of his shell. And of course the relentlessly optimistic Aerith; descended from the Ancients that originally inhabited this world and whose fate is pivotal to the plot.
The game features phenomenal combat that mixes the Active Time Battle (ATB) system of the original with real-time action using normal (X) and strong (Y) attacks. Characters can roll to dodge (B), guard (R1), and access a menu of special abilities, spells, and items (A), which slows time to a crawl letting you spend segments of the ATB bar. Alternatively, players can assign abilities to custom shortcuts and execute them in real-time. Taken together, these elements make for fluid and fun combat that preserves the feeling of a turn-based RPG thanks to the rhythmic nature of building and spending ATB segements.
Each of the four playable characters - Cloud, Tifa, Barrett, and Aerith - have their own special abilities as well as normal and strong attacks. Personally, I spent most of my time with Cloud, who plays in a traditional hack-and-slash style, switching to Barrett, who possesses potent survivability skills, on harder fights. The game encourages players to switch between characters to take advantage of boss mechanics and often restricts party members for story reasons.
This action plays out in a beautifully realized world. The team has pulled off a stunning aesthetic using Unreal Engine 4—the characters are realistic, but also stylized and cartoonish in their own way (e.g., Cloud's iconic spiky hair or Barrett's huge build). The monsters are often very quirky in typical Final Fantasy fashion, but they fit in nicely with the world seemingly due to exquisite texture work. Midgar is industrial, overbearing and claustrophobic, shrouded in perpetual night, while the slums beneath (where players spend most of their time) are crowded and dilapidated, but warm and welcoming. Perhaps my expectations were unreasonably low given lack of recent experience with AAA titles, but the graphics and animation work blew me away.
Finally the music. Original composer Nobuo Uematsu and collaborators Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki have crafted a truly magical score. There is an unbelievable number of tracks and the audio adapts based on the player's actions, fading arrangements in and out to match what's on screen. Some personal favorites are Tifa's Theme - Seventh Heaven and Aerith's Theme - Home Again, just beautiful orchestral arrangements.