Final Fantasy 7 Remake Review

00:00:00.490[Music]

00:00:07.080there are tons of remakes being made

00:00:09.640these days but what does that word

00:00:11.350really mean well lots of things well the

00:00:14.890recent Resident Evil remakes have been

00:00:16.330mostly faithful modernizations of the

00:00:18.010original Final Fantasy 7 remake is more

00:00:20.529like a complete reinvention it boldly

00:00:23.169swaps the traditional turn-based combat

00:00:24.820of the 1997 original with exciting

00:00:27.400real-time action and expands the first

00:00:29.589act of the classic story into a full

00:00:31.449game by adding dozens of hours of

00:00:33.489character development and world building

00:00:34.899and also a bit too much filler it may

00:00:38.650not be a perfect reunion but with or

00:00:40.690without nostalgia and play this is still

00:00:42.280a great JRPG in its own right

00:00:47.800[Music]

00:00:54.230Final Fantasy 7 remake zooms in on the

00:00:56.790first hours of the original game which

00:00:58.770takes place in the city of Midgar here

00:01:01.110Cloud Strife and his freedom fighting

00:01:02.700allies battle the evil Shinra

00:01:04.470corporation that run it and that

00:01:06.150conflict has been stretched into a

00:01:07.560campaign that took me more than 33 hours

00:01:10.229to complete in a spectacular style both

00:01:12.960in and out of its epic cutscenes and in

00:01:15.479its truly phenomenal soundtrack

00:01:23.840as a big fan in the originals turn-based

00:01:26.430battles I was thrilled to find that

00:01:28.260remakes revamped combat still proved to

00:01:30.450be endlessly engaging flashy basic

00:01:33.330attacks charge up things called ATB bars

00:01:35.340which then let you use your team's

00:01:36.690unique weapon abilities equippable

00:01:38.400spells and items from the comfort of a

00:01:40.440slow-motion menu it's extremely

00:01:43.260different but there's still attention to

00:01:45.030every choice that truly reminded me of

00:01:46.770the originals frantic decision-making

00:01:48.540moments and you can't just mash square

00:01:51.210part of that is because filling up an

00:01:53.130enemy's stagger gauge will make them

00:01:54.660take extra damage for a time we've seen

00:02:00.630that in games before but the clever

00:02:02.040twist here is that every enemy staggers

00:02:04.260in a different way learning those

00:02:06.030differences kept Kombat fresh the whole

00:02:07.470way through that variety is a big part

00:02:10.050of why it's epic multi-phase boss fights

00:02:12.000are so incredible - these powerful

00:02:14.550enemies push you to learn tricky

00:02:15.959patterns and the way they seamlessly

00:02:17.880blend in cinematics always put a smile

00:02:19.950on my face

00:02:31.640we have a massive amount of flexibility

00:02:34.200in your party management thanks to role

00:02:35.880defining material orbs and upgradable

00:02:37.950weapons materia can be slotted into any

00:02:40.530character's equipment to give them

00:02:42.000spells and buffs that's important since

00:02:44.550your active team of three is entirely

00:02:46.440determined by where you are in the story

00:02:48.210I just wish I didn't have to keep Reece

00:02:50.370loitering my best materia every time I

00:02:52.350party [ __ ] thanks anyway

00:02:57.610[Music]

00:02:58.940weapon upgrading also had me digging

00:03:01.290through menus too much but it's such a

00:03:02.940cool new system that I didn't mind new

00:03:05.160weapons are rare but they upgrade as you

00:03:07.470level to keep them relevant I found

00:03:09.210myself frequently switching weapons as

00:03:10.980my materia builds and party changed but

00:03:13.140even clouds signature starting weapon

00:03:15.090the Buster Sword remained a solid option

00:03:17.130rather poetically it ended up being my

00:03:19.470favorite weapon by the end the visual

00:03:30.630variety of midgar's levels is fairly

00:03:32.610impressive ranging from dirty slums to

00:03:34.980industrial Shinra facilities that said

00:03:37.620the level design itself is serviceable

00:03:40.200but simplistic the combat is always a

00:03:42.720blast and that keeps momentum high but

00:03:44.880there's not much else to think about

00:03:46.260beyond some simple puzzles and lightly

00:03:47.940hidden items that makes the areas you're

00:03:50.370asked to reach shred for side quests a

00:03:52.560repetitive drag generally speaking

00:03:55.200though I love that this brief section of

00:03:57.210a much larger RPG has been fleshed out

00:03:59.280with real character development and a

00:04:01.020more robust story okay I get it

00:04:04.560by letting me breathe I loved learning

00:04:08.280more about jesse biggs and wedge and

00:04:10.560seeing lively neighborhoods full of

00:04:12.240people one excellent new mission has you

00:04:14.490wrestling with the decision to turn off

00:04:16.049the giant Sun lamps that provide light

00:04:18.540to Midgar slums to progress giving more

00:04:21.359direct weight to your group's actions

00:04:23.330what I didn't love however was when this

00:04:26.580remake clearly decided it just needed

00:04:28.500more stuff to pad out its length

00:04:30.350regardless of quality the dullest of

00:04:33.450these by far are when cloud is asked to

00:04:35.670do odd jobs around Midgard slums

00:04:37.790suddenly you're faced with

00:04:39.360bottom-of-the-barrel JRPG tropes that

00:04:41.580belittle the high stakes events around

00:04:43.500them a shopkeeper literally asks you to

00:04:46.530kill some rats then there's a little

00:04:48.450girl who can't find her kitty cats

00:04:50.360seriously scary man was chasing them

00:04:54.479there are plenty more and sure you could

00:04:57.060skip these side quests but that'll mean

00:04:58.919you miss out on extremely valuable items

00:05:01.169and unlocks and can even influence later

00:05:03.300scenes in subtle ways exactly is it

00:05:05.760you're trying to say

00:05:07.440you need people who can follow orders to

00:05:10.340this pointless filler isn't always

00:05:12.870reserved to just side quests either a

00:05:14.940handful of the new main missions

00:05:16.440similarly pushing through events that

00:05:18.060feel totally irrelevant they can be

00:05:20.100amusing diversions but if you could

00:05:21.660somehow skip a few of them entirely

00:05:24.060probably wouldn't even notice square

00:05:31.889enix has generally done a great job of

00:05:33.480making this originally brief Midgar

00:05:35.070section feel like a bigger story and

00:05:36.810showing things like clouds cold murk

00:05:38.820heart warm over time gives vital

00:05:40.710character development to a part that

00:05:42.030didn't have much in 1997

00:05:47.270but it also raises tons of unanswered

00:05:50.310questions some of those are clear nods

00:05:52.680for longtime fans that will be

00:05:54.060incomprehensible to anyone else but a

00:05:56.819lot of the totally new stuff is

00:05:58.500convoluted and confusing regardless the

00:06:01.020way it's characters want in Li spout and

00:06:02.909do nonsense it just expects you to roll

00:06:05.550with towards the end of the story can

00:06:06.930only be described as some Kingdom Hearts

00:06:09.240BS and I say that as a Kingdom Hearts

00:06:11.639fan ultimately I would have liked a more

00:06:14.099satisfying conclusion to this story and

00:06:16.680a better jumping-off point for its

00:06:18.449eventual sequel thankfully reaching the

00:06:20.849credits does unlock a hard mode and a

00:06:22.860chapter select allowing you to easily

00:06:24.210return to any area with your current

00:06:26.219equipment filler or not I do plan on

00:06:28.469diving back in to tie up some loose ends

00:06:30.389or just throw some darts

00:06:39.400Final Fantasy 7 remake scum bat is

00:06:41.960top-notch and its enemy variety kept me

00:06:44.510constantly entertained seeing this

00:06:46.760snippet of a story fleshed out with the

00:06:48.470previously hidden humanity behind Midgar

00:06:50.840filled me with pure joy the dull RPG

00:06:54.440filler and convoluted new plot points

00:06:56.690that a company that did stop my ear to

00:06:58.790ear grin from being constant but never

00:07:01.220long enough to kill the mood completely

00:07:02.450this remakes still delivered on letting

00:07:04.790me relive part of a classic and

00:07:06.400stupendous fashion while also standing

00:07:09.200as a great RPG all its own be sure to

00:07:12.500head over to IGN comm and read our full

00:07:14.270written review of Final Fantasy 7 remake

00:07:16.390also be sure to check out some of the

00:07:18.260new cutscenes compared to the original

00:07:19.670or watch the first 15 minutes of

00:07:21.770gameplay and for everything else keep

00:07:23.780right here on IGN