New Final Fantasy VII Remake Trailer Solidifies my Feelings about this Remake

A new trailer has just dropped for the Final Fantasy VII remake that features presumably most of the characters that players can expect to see in the first chapter of what could arguably be Square Enix’s most monumental task ever. Final Fantasy VII is a game that defined an entire generation of role-playing games and it can be pointed to as the reason PlayStation became competition for a market dominated by Nintendo. PlayStation console and game sales continue to shatter records and a lot of that success can be traced back to their connections to third party developers, publishers, and franchises. This makes Final Fantasy VII Remake one of the biggest projects in gaming history.

Even though this latest approach to the Final Fantasy VII world is something that many players are familiar with, there seems to be lots of surprises in store. We already know of at least one new character, Roche the “Speed Demon”, a Turk that seems dead set on besting Cloud in the new trailer. The trailer also proposes a staggering amount of depth to even the smallest scenes. This allows for a stronger tone with layers of depth to a narrative that hasn’t aged well. For example, the Honey Bee Inn was mostly a moment of comedy in the original game but that section now seems to be laced with more modern concepts of gender that could lead to either interesting insight that AAA games rarely explore or it could miss the mark and create uproar among several groups.

One of the other major moments of the new trailer is seeing Red XIII, a sentient wolf-lion creature that suffered at the hands of Hojo’s experiments. Another character shown in the Shinra lineup also confirms one of the more unique party members.

We have yet to see two late-game optional characters, the ninja Yuffie and the vampire gunslinger Vincent, in the marketing for Final Fantasy VII Remake which suggest that their sections of the story will probably not appear in this release. Based on what we’ve seen, this first episode will probably cover the events of the original’s first disk up to the confrontation with Sephiroth and the tragedy that follows.

This trailer is wrapped in a beautiful new song from Nobou Uematsu called “Hollow”, which was sung by Yosh of Survive Said Prophet, lyrics by Kazushige Nojima, translations by Ben Sabin and John Crow, and arrangement by Kenichiro Fukui. In a press release, Square Enix shared that music from the remake will be feature in ten cities during the Orchestra World Tour with cooperation from AWR Music Productions. Those concerts start in Los Angeles in June and will be conducted by Arnie Roth who also was a part of the Distant Worlds concert series. Concert dates and ticket information can be found on this website.

A special behind the scenes video for the production of “Hollow” was also uploaded.

What worries a lot of players about Final Fantasy VII Remake is the episodic structure that Square Enix is laying out even though they are trying to make each episode a full RPG game. From what I’ve played at PAX West and gathered from the various trailers, I think that what will be available in the first episode will provide enough depth to make it feel like a varied, complete experience regardless of the rest of the story coming later. I am also interested if elements of the expanded Final Fantasy VII universe, such as Crisis Core or Dirge of Cerberus, will eventually be explored or if those games will be remastered entirely.

What worries me is the massive undertaking, coupled with potential holds that this production likely put on furthering the Final Fantasy franchise. If Square Enix really are seeking to make these episodes the absolute best version of the of the Final Fantasy VII story, they may have several years of work ahead of them. It also seems like Square Enix has been struggling with DLC which was evident in the unfocused nature of what was added and tweaked in Final Fantasy XV and the reactions to the Kingdom Hearts III Re: Mind content. Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV both suffered from having extreme expectations and gravitas, but both ultimately failed to meet that energy. I consider both to be fine games, but I walked away from Kingdom Hearts III disappointed.

Despite these worries, I think that Final Fantasy VII Remake is going to impress a lot of players both new to the classic story and those who know it front to back. The combat especially feels meaningful, tactical, and engaging throughout almost every second of any given encounter. Playing as other characters feels awesome and there were lots of reasons to switch around in the demo I played at PAX West in September 2019, which included the battle in the mako reactor against the red scorpion.

While I am far more connected to Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy VII also has a special place in my heart. In fact, my wife walked down the aisle to Aerith’s theme. Hearing that theme or that melody in the remake immediately swells my soul with feelings. For that alone, I plan on picking up FFVII Remake as soon as I can.

More information can be learned by keeping up to date with official Square Enix social media sites and their website.

Find my hands-on impressions of Final Fantasy VII Remake and Trials of Mana over at Marooners’ Rock.