Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) Review

A SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE ENDEAVOR THAT SHATTERS EXPECTATIONS AND PROMISES A BRIGHT FUTURE

I never imagined all those years ago as I was curled in a huge blanket sitting in front of a bulky floor model television that I would one day see Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Aerith living out their storied lives in a more realized Midgar. Back in those days, I was so amazed at the mythical beings summoned from raised fists that I instantly delved into everything there was to know about Final Fantasy. From my time clutching a PSOne controller as an adolescent to holding a DualShock 4 as a young adult, the love I have for the various iterations of this franchise hasn’t wavered much but I did find myself disappointed once the credits rolled, if I even get that far, in most of the major Square Enix releases since Final Fantasy X. Despite some odd technical misses, I can safely say that Final Fantasy VII Remake is the best major Final Fantasy game they’ve put out in over two decades. 

A remake of the wildly popular Final Fantasy VII has been teased for a long time, even showing up as a tech demo for the PS3 in 2005 during E3. Even today, that demonstration is impressive though when compared to the opening we get in Final Fantasy VII Remake it’s incredible how far digital graphic design has come. Years later in 2015 Square Enix stole the show by confirming that a remake was actually in production. Even before the 2005 tech demo though, a remake was regularly requested by fans especially considering the release of Advent Children, a film following the events of the original game, and the several releases in the FF7 Compilation which included Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core, the never localized Before Crisis and the anime OVA Last Order. Each of these pieces of media either expanded upon the FF7 lore and characters or fleshed out scenes of the original game. 

Being in Midgar again feels fresh and familiar.

As a teen, I poured through every minute detail of these releases. Even on awful dial-up internet I examined every mention of these characters and studied the lore with a magnifying glass. Only the Japanese-only media like the novel “On the Way to a Smile” (which was recently translated) evaded me. Amazingly, I’m still learning things about this world as an adult and this time I’m experiencing a different perspective of the plot points and themes. That attention to detail must not have been exclusive to me and other fans because it’s clear that this was a game made with fans in mind and by people who have great respect and adoration of the legacy of this sci-fi fantasy dystopian opera. 

From the start of Remake, we are given a bird’s view of the desert-like area surrounding Midgar and the smoggy streets, instantly adding more depth to the dense city. We get to see the various citizens from the well-off but clearly drained office workers of Shinra to the folks scraping by in the lowest parts of the Sectors. After showing an environment where industrialism has left almost any natural element decayed and withered, we get a scene of the iconic green glow of the Lifestream being harnassed by a massive Mako reactor that’s being observed by children playing on a dusty playground. Throughout this setup, we hear the various choir segments of One-Winged Angel, a musical score that eventually became synonymous with the terrifying Sephiroth who is the silver-haired, planet-threatening antagonist of the game. Odd that Sephiroth is already being brought up; more on that later. . . 

It is only after this set of scenes that we get the original opening of Aerith kneeling down in an alley and stepping out into the busy Midgar streets followed by the legendary camera pull-out revealing the superstructure of Midgar with the Shinra tower sitting in the center of a mass of twisted pipes, structures, reactors, and the green glow of Mako energy tinting the whole city. Of course, this opening is followed by the first reactor attack where Cloud Strife joins the eco-activist group Avalanche. 

This medias res beginning immediately lays out just how different Final Fantasy VII Remake feels to play when compared to the original. For the remake, the developers focused a ton of energy into the game’s combat mechanics wanting to capture people’s attention with a real-time core but also sticking to the roots of the ATB (Active Time Battle) system. The result is a hack-and-slash base that can be paused by expending ATB gauges for things like using an item, casting a spell, or harnessing a character’s unique abilities. It’s also made apparent in this opening act that the game is not afraid to teach players along the way with pop-up hints and lessons that can be quickly tested. For example, when players get to the gruff Avalanche leader Barret Wallace the arena is littered with far-off turrets that Cloud can’t reach making use of Barret’s arm-gun and the concept that players will need to switch characters in some situations to overcome challenges and maximize damage. 

This combat system is impressive, easy to learn, tough to master, rewarding, flashy, layered with just enough complexity to stay interesting throughout, and filled with some subtle nuance for those wanting to get the most out of it and clear the final challenges and the unlockable Hard Mode. There’s so much energy in the way the game captures the visual flair the series is known for and combines it with the more guttural feedback of some of the best action games ever. Attacks feel weighted and the sound effects help sell the impact. Hitting a Shira MP with the Buster Sword never gets old and there are little things added throughout the game even in the final hours that keep it fresh and exciting. 

Each of the four playable characters fights and moves in their own unique ways. The team members each have their own staple ability mapped to the triangle button such as Barret’s Overdrive which allows for the quick buildup of Stagger or Tifa’s combo ending hits that increase with power by using Unbridled Strength. These moves help characters build stagger, lock foes in place, or provide instant counters in the case of Cloud’s stance change. Adding to this are special abilities earned from each weapon creating more opportunities for hard-hitting combos and reactions. I opted to build Barret as the defensive anchor of the team, giving him spells like Barrier and Cure and utilizing the abilities that keep enemies focused on him. This isn’t the only way to build Barret though which hearkens back to the original game but in the remake, they never lose what makes them special. There’s an incredible amount of attention put into these characters mechanically and narratively. I was surprised by just how viable playing as Aerith was both for recovery magic and offensive setups and I cheered when I unlocked her Ray of Judgment, a powerful laser that can absolutely melt the health pool of monsters. 

New for the remake is the ability to upgrade each character’s weapons, which surprisingly keeps them viable throughout the game rather than just tossing the previous weapon aside for the new one. I adore this system because I always liked the various weapon models in the series but they are usually discarded for the next thing. This approach was also used successfully in Kingdom Hearts 3 where each weapon had various stat buffs and form changes, even though by the end there’s only a handful used. By the end of Final Fantasy VII Remake, a mostly upgraded weapon could provide an entirely different benefit, for example, Cloud’s hilarious Nail Bat has a ton of modifiers geared towards critical hits and building Cloud’s equipment and materia with that in mind can make for a fun alternative to his usual rounded out fighting style.  

The weapon upgrade system allows almost every weapon to be viable for various character builds.

The action-driven combat is also paired nicely by the return of the Materia System. Most weapons and armors have slots that magical stones can be put into, granting users things like spells, passive buffs, or expanding a materia’s usefulness in the case of linked slots. Even though the overall list of materia is smaller than the original game, there is a ton of depth to this system that kept me reconfiguring my team for the harder challenges. Some of my favorite materia are the blue ones that grant new applications to others like All which allows for full group targetting for things like casting Fire on all foes or Cure for all allies. There’s also Elemental which can give basic attacks an elemental charge and because exploiting enemy weaknesses is a big part of the combat I had this going the entire game, eventually letting it rest snugly on Barret’s gun for long-range weakness exploitation.  

Another returning feature is the summoning of powerful entities. Summoning magic was always my favorite part of spell-casting in the Final Fantasy series, as well as what sold me on playing this franchise, to begin with, and the design and attacks of these beings are once again stunning. Rather than taking up a materia slot, each character can equip one summon magic at a time and there is a handful to shuffle around. Most of the summons are unlocked through special VR challenges that are unlocked by doing various combat challenges thanks to the odd and helpful Chadley, a new character that’s a young Shinra scientist prodigy that helps Cloud and the crew for personal reasons. The summon battles are some of the most fun encounters, almost rivaling the multi-staged boss fights, that when overcome provide that being’s summon materia. The first one of these unlocks Shiva, the serene queen of ice, and battling her was quite a challenge especially when doing so as soon as she’s available. I do wish we could have gotten more summons or that the summon materia was able to level up like any other materia but the way they enter and exit battle provides some of the best spectacles of the game. 

Boss battles are where the combat mechanics shine the brightest in Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Speaking of boss encounters, Final Fantasy VII Remake is stuffed full of jaw-dropping, sometimes absurd, battles that are extremely impressive on even a standard PS4. Just about every boss fight happens in stages, where hitting a certain health threshold will result in the enemy unleashing devastating attacks or changing up their attack rhythm or strategy. I can’t stress enough how cool these fights are; they just have to be witnessed for oneself. For longtime fans, there are lots of surprises in these battles. Plus every single creature featured in Final Fantasy VII Remake expands on the original design, even the goofy or more abstract ones, in ways that feel familiar but way more realized. Seeing the slobbering tongue of Abzu, a hulking gross knockoff of the classic Behemoth design is astounding when considering just how simple the original model was. 

All of these combat elements combine for a really engaging gameplay flow that is pretty combat-focused but there is some fun exploration to be had. Environments can be boiled down to crisscrossing paths much like Final Fantasy X but they’re not as linear or boring, thankfully, as Final Fantasy XIII.  Throughout the game, the camera will shift slightly when reaching the top of a ladder or when getting a view of the Shinra building. It feels epic and gives the game’s environments more weight as a backdrop to the various plot points. What results is a lot of moments where things outside of reach spark enough imagination to give the world more depth.

Filling these environments are various NPCs of varying detail. The common folk is usually the least detailed character models that speak as the player walks by them. These lines often show the perspective of the people after major events like when crowds gather around a newscast and start labeling Avalanche as Wutai (an area with feudal Japan inspirations and architecture that warred with Midgar several years prior to the game’s events) allies playing into the false narrative being orchestrated by Shinra and the media. Where this gets interesting is when the player starts moving through the various layers of Midgar. In the Slums, we see repressed people struggling to survive and sometimes cursing the people above as well as their corporate overlords. However, when we get to the suburban areas we see families neatly lined up in their homes and when an explosion crushes the silence we even get an elderly woman eager to fight the Wutai once again, causing a lot of trouble for Shira’s police force. Additionally, in the Shira building, we see stressed office workers just trying to keep management happy but without the evil nature that supposedly permeates the Shira Electric Power Company, something that both Tifa and Barret comments on from two different sides.

Main character models and those that are important side look better than general Midgar residents, which can be off-putting.

Where things get messy is when moving through crowded areas which can result in a lot of lines dropped all at once, creating a layered mess of audio overload. Moving back and forth in an area will also result in repeated lines so while the illusion of overhearing chatter can add details to the world it can sometimes be an unnecessary amount of noise. There are also some obviously poorly realized details that are just downright ugly. This was most apparent on Cloud’s apartment door in Sector 7 which is just an amateur-looking wall of poorly considered textures complete with a rudimentary piece of geometry for the handle. This also carried into some close-up shots of Aerith’s flowers in her massive garden. I’m sure that this is the kind of smaller detail that can be patched out and it very well could have already been addressed but the fact that these graphical missteps were featured so prominently in the frame is astounding and left me confused about the display I was playing on and my PS4’s settings. 

Aside from weird textures scattered throughout the game, the game’s performance was buttery but note that there are some longer than average load times between chapters. I’m amazed by just how smoothly the game transitions between active combat to the cutscenes and then back again. Playing Final Fantasy VII Remake is, mostly, a visual feast that’ll absolutely drop jaws on higher-end hardware and displays. 

Those playing with a nice pair of headphones or a good sound system will also get the most out of the incredibly varied soundtrack that ranges from predictable but beautiful orchestral arrangements to dubstep to hip hop to heavy metal to a delightful whistle and more. Players are able to collect songs through the various Potion vending machines sprinkled as rest areas or by interacting with certain characters. While not every song is as enjoyable as some this is definitely a soundtrack I want to own a vinyl release to be shared in my family for generations. I do wish that a song could be played at any time in the game though, rather than at specific points like at a jukebox. I also wish that I could’ve played the pinball machine in the Seventh Heaven bar that would’ve been an excellent companion to the jukebox tracks. 

The entire Wall Market chapter is full of interesting, dynamic tracks that are delightful.

Where the music shines brightest is when the characters enter Wall Market, the part of Midgar known for its exciting nightlife as well as the criminal actions led by a wealthy, sleazy cretin of a man, Don Corneo. This arc of the story is full of the weirdness that flows beneath the more serious and dramatic nature of Final Fantasy VII and a lot of players were wondering how this segment would be handled. While I cannot comment on whether or not this is a good representation of queer culture, there’s a lot of things here that I found delightful and fun. Doing squats with the muscley Jules and dancing at the Honey Bee Inn with the androgynous Andrea was a fabulous experience full of showmanship, humor, and some deeper lines that had me smiling. Seeing Aerith bouncing in her seat as Cloud dances this elaborate number and then her losing her breath after Cloud is revealed in drag added so much more to a pretty awkward set of scenes from the original. Tifa and Aerith’s dresses are absolutely breathtaking and the romantic themes of this story still have me blushing with how cute it can be. I also love how there are some flirty options with Jesse and I do wish that there were actual dates that Cloud could go on but the Wall Market section with Aerith is pretty close to that. 

Once Cloud reunites with a captured Tifa who is flabbergasted by his appearance, Cloud says “Nailed it, I know. Thank you, moving on,” which had me rolling with laughter and says a lot of Cloud’s character. 

There’s another moment involving a hand massage that I think awakens something in Cloud sexually and there’s a lot to be extrapolated about sexuality in the Wall Market chapter but I’ll leave that discussion to people more learned than I to break down and examine.  

While the general gameplay loop is far more enjoyable than I expected, and honestly it reminds me a lot of the flow in the Yakuza series though the environments are not nearly as dense, what I was playing Final Fantasy VII Remake for was to see the story expanded. I was eager to see scenes like Wall Market and the Shinra Building and dreamed about all the nuance that could be injected into those moments. While Final Fantasy IX is my favorite entry of the franchise, the story and characters of Final Fantasy VII hold a special place in my heart. Playing Final Fantasy VII Remake was like visiting old friends that I haven’t seen in years. In fact, I hadn’t touched the original Final Fantasy VII in over a decade, although I am now replaying it on the Switch and it holds up more than I gave it credit for, especially with the little improvements available in the most recent ports. The political and environmental themes of the story of Final Fantasy VII feel far more important as an adult and I was happy to see some solid writing and line delivery in Remake that gave me such a broad set of reactions and emotions. 

While FF7R doesn’t have a lot of actual play space, the backgrounds make it feel much larger.

These characters mean more to me than I realized and there are absolutely moments that can leave players with similar experiences in tears. Personally, I love stories that make me feel something and Final Fantasy VII Remake shatters my expectations in big ways. 

I’ll save spoiler discussion for later in this review but I highly urge anyone with even a passing interest in this story and these characters to play through the game from start to finish as soon as possible. There are details of this remake that will be openly discussed by millions of players until the next chapter is released so expect it to be a common part of geek culture conversation.

It was a given that the game’s writing and characters would be expanded but Square Enix really nailed making these anime-style characters feel more realized in ways that ultimately make them more believable as humans. I think this is most interesting in the case of Barret who starts as a gruff asshole that’s frustrated with Cloud’s lack of enthusiasm for their cause and the constant insistence that he’s working with Avalanche for the money. We see it plain on Barret’s face how this angers him and by the end when the shades are off, and we see the soft eyes of this mammoth of a man, it’s powerful. Barret strives to make a better world for his daughter Marlene who he’s raising as a single dad though he does get some help from Tifa, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. Out of the main cast, Barret surprised me the most by how loaded his statements could be, how inspiring his speeches felt, and just how funny his jokes are when trying to break the tension. 

Character interactions throughout the story are written way better than previous Final Fantasy titles.

Even the supporting cast feels vastly more significant than the original release. This is most prominent for the splinter cell of Avalanche players are a part of. Jessie is downright hilarious with how open she is about her attraction to Cloud. Her sweetness is palpable and her moral dilemmas add significance to the actions of this group as a whole. Wedge is still kind of played in a way that body shames his larger frame but he is so loveable and funny that I found him to be one of my favorite supporting characters. Wedge never failed to make me smile and that starts to break down the barriers that Cloud erects in meaningful character development. Biggs maintains his cool throughout, balancing out the group but he also has some fun and heroic moments. I also loved seeing characters like Marle, the landlord of the complex Tifa lives in, and the increasingly ridiculous situations of Johnny who I was convinced was a new character but sure enough, he’s in the original release. 

The Midgar section of the original game can be completed in about 10 hours and while this remake ends as the party steps out of the city it has been expanded to a 40-hour epic full of great characters, excellent world-building, and detailed seed-sowing of bigger themes that will assuredly play into future releases. 

Final Fantasy VII Remake goes big with how it delivers this small part of an iconic story and even the smallest details are expanded. Filling in the gaps are new sections and new characters that can sometimes feel isolated to a certain scene like Roche, the motorcycle-obsessed Soldier fought in a new scene that takes players to Jessie’s parents’ house to steal her bedridden father’s access card to acquire better bomb components to reduce casualties, who I really wished would have returned at least once more. Maybe we’ll see more of Roche in the next games but for now, his inclusion does seem weaker than the other new characters even if the fight against him is a highlight of the game. I did enjoy doing each sidequest, interacting with new situations, and being rewarded for my efforts. I hadn’t planned on being so thorough in my first playthrough but I did so happily because it made sense in the game’s narrative. That said, moving around outside of battle can feel pretty awkward and I do wish that Cloud’s run speed was slightly slower more often. Aside from this, a few super slow puzzles, the disconnect in detail of character models, and the weird low-res textures sprinkled throughout Final Fantasy Remake is the full package that Square Enix has been promising for the last five years. It’s still unclear what form the next chapters will take and I do think that Square Enix needs to discern that pretty soon but what we have in this remake is enough to feel satisfying and it rewards those who loved the original release, the varied additions to the world, and new players as well. 

The start of this iconic story is handled with such incredible care and longtime fans will surely revel in this remake for years to come.

The word rewarding actually sums up Final Fantasy VII Remake for players of the original game. When credits rolled, my chest was swollen with happiness because of this game’s existence.

I’m also happy to report that there is a post-game list of things to do that will push players to the extreme, although I will admit that I was hoping for a few series staples that are absent here. Trophy hunters will have a tough time with this one but people I’ve seen that have the Platinum Trophy seem satisfied with the chase. I’m actually kind of bummed that some of the optional fights are restricted to Hard Mode but it is cool to be able to play the entire game with the same equipment and stats as well as hop to a specific chapter to try other dialogue options or track down a missed materia. There’s also a handy checklist that shows what’s missing for those chasing a 100% completion. I do hope we get to see an extra chapter or something as DLC but overall I am so excited to see what happens next in the world of Final Fantasy VII. 

The final chapters of Final Fantasy VII Remake are extensive, rewarding, and shocking.

The game’s ending had me pouring through every detail once again, opening up exciting conversations with friends to the point that I am so excited to be a fan of Final Fantasy again. This series has had a lot of downs even though I obsessively play through almost every entry and I have a lot of forgiveness for missteps. That said, I’m fully aware of how much of a mess Final Fantasy XV is with all of the various multi-media connections and parts of the FFVII universe can feel weaker than others. This time though, Square Enix kept my attention and excitement throughout the entire 40-hour experience and I feel like they stuck the landing at the end. It’s so refreshing for Square Enix to put out a game with minimal issues, especially since there are fundamental problems that have plagued these games since arguably Final Fantasy X on PS2. 

From here on out, I hope we get a more matured Final Fantasy franchise because Final Fantasy VII Remake has raised the bar. 

More information about Final Fantasy VII Remake can be found on the official website. A digital copy was purchased by the reviewer. Screenshots were captured on a standard PS4 using the built-in share functionality. 

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 10/10

VISUALS - 8/10

SOUND - 10/10

CONTROLS - 8/10

REPLAY VALUE - 8/10

OVERALL - 8.8/10

Now, let’s breakdown the larger themes of the remake’s narrative, the ending, and how Square Enix may have pulled off once of the best subversions of expectations in games that I’ve experienced so far. 

Back in the day, I did everything I could to stop Aerith from dying at the hands of Sephiroth. That was the first character death I remember, aside from Lavitz in Legend of Dragoon, that left me broken. Throughout this entire remake, any time Aerith showed kindness or smiled I winced, preparing myself for the coming pain. This time it was going to hurt so much more and it didn’t help that Aerith almost speaks directly to the player when she talks about the inevitability of events. Seeing her so happy as she and Cloud explored the colorful, yet seedy nightlife of Wall Market brought me so much joy. The way she connects with Tifa and how the pair tease Cloud is heartwarming. Aerith’s resolve when faced with the dastardly Hojo, only to break when he’s left the room speaks volumes. Aerith is so much more complex this time and it really helps connect the player to her character. 

When I got to the end and Aerith was not only safe in this slice of the story but possibly safe from that destined plunge of Sephiroth’s Masamune, I sobbed. 

Shinra shares their vision for Neo Midgar via a hologram which also shows the planet’s history and Shinra’s obsession with the Ancients and their prophetic texts.

Let me explain how this happens, although I fully admit that there are some details that could be just speculation and extrapolation. There are these cloaked entities that frequently haunt the game from the moment we meet Aerith that are later called Whispers. These things show up at the strangest times in the story. For the most part, they are only seen by certain characters, and Cloud only sees them when Aerith touches him. At one point they outright attack everyone in Sector 7 in a hurricane of spirits but when running from Reno in the church, one of them saves Aerith from falling over a crumbled railing. Things really get weird when Sephiroth runs Barret through the chest right before the party faces Rufus Shinra, a moment that freaked me out so much but was almost immediately rectified as a Whisper revives Barret who sits up and just thanks the ghostly being. At this point, I knew that the Whispers were far more important than I had realized and after witnessing the end, a second playthrough opens up so much more depth that it’s insane how good this convention works, even if it does hearken to some of the themes running through the most tiresome parts of Tetsuya Nomura’s work in Kingdom Hearts and the three FFXIII games. 

In the end, Cloud and the gang are openly challenged by Sephiroth to change destiny where the party fights a huge manifestation of destiny, three distinct Whisper foes, and Sephiroth himself. In the original game, Sephiroth was talked about but didn’t show up until President Shinra is killed at the top of the tower as he was thought to be dead. In the remake, Cloud is constantly hallucinating, haunted by Sephiroth and the PTSD of his previous conflicts which players of the original will be familiar with but many of those details are only lightly touched on here. Yet, here is Sephiroth and a symbolic monster strangely standing as the guardian of the end of this part of the story. 

Cloud’s trauma and fear of Sephiroth are spread throughout the entire game, culminating in an epic, unexpected clash. Cloud is given this vision of merciless death during the hologram scene.

Beating Sephiroth and the Whispers shatters the course of destiny and seems to create a parallel universe or an alternate timeline. This is evident by the inclusion of the second saddest scene of the FF7 world where Zack Fair faces down an overwhelming Shinra force. However, while in Crisis Core this moment becomes his demise, where he passes on the Buster Sword and (unknowingly to Zack) his memories and persona to Cloud, in Remake we see Zack survive. In the distance is the swirl of Whispers around Midgar, something that Zack seems to be able to see. Also in this scene is a shot of a chip bag swirling in the breeze as Zack reflects on this battle. As the bag comes into the center of the frame we see the Shinra mascot character Stamp, which is an image that even Avalanche uses for their own gain to direct members, but instead of it being a beagle the mascot is a Yorkie solidifying that things have changed. 

This whole game, the Whispers were ensuring that the events lined up with the script of the original game, interfering when the characters strayed too far from the path. Not even Sephiroth controls these entities as his action of killing Barret is quickly undone which leads me to believe that Sephiroth (and by extension Aerith and Red XIII) are aware of the destiny of these heroes. This is probably due to their deep connection with the Lifestream that flows through the planet, meaning the Lifestream likely flows through time and space as well. Furthermore, I think this Sephiroth is the same one seen in the original game. Somehow, he’s discovered a way to jump into another universe (or the past) with the goal of leading Cloud and the others to break the flow of destiny, a destiny that ultimately results in Sephiroth’s demise. I’ve been gathering some major details that solidify and explore this idea in additional writing but I think the disruption of destiny is all of part of Sephiroth’s new scheme. 

Aside from clones masking themselves, this Sephiroth is likely the same one that Cloud defeated at the end of the original Final Fantasy VII, maybe even with the extended canon in mind.

Considering he’s been a more metaphysical being of the Lifestream since he was killed by Cloud in the reactor, the world-ending power he achieved at the end of the original release, and the persistence of the character from beyond the grave in Advent Children and beyond, a dimension-hopping Sephiroth makes a lot of sense makes him even more dangerous and menacing. Sephiroth even entertains the idea of Cloud joining him, offering his hand in the remake’s universe to the ex-Soldier who has always thwarted his endeavors. Sephiroth has a history of being able to control Cloud’s actions and Cloud is able to refuse him but he still plays into Sephiroth’s hand by opening a door for the evil being to grow even stronger than before. 

The last words of Final Fantasy VII Remake are “The Unknown Journey Will Continue” leaving developers with a clean slate to create unshackled to the original Final Fantasy script while still respecting the legacy and carrying it through. This is one of the most meta things I’ve ever seen in games, playing with player expectations throughout the entire experience. Not only will Aerith likely survive this time around but clearly we’ll be getting more of Zack Fair which could cause complications romantically for the group in a new way. 

The magic of Final Fantasy VII has been carried into the present and what lies in wait for the future carries a newfound excitement.

It is such a cool time to be a Final Fantasy fan. I totally understand why some players are upset and feel like the rug has been pulled out from under them but this approach to this legendary, nigh untouchable story was such an overwhelming surprise for me. I even kind of predicted a more sequel approach to Final Fantasy VII back in 2015 when I was writing for Giga Geek Magazine. I wasn’t spot-on of course, but those thoughts were close to what happened. Slight predictions aside, the future of Final Fantasy VII is an open book and I cannot wait to see where this goes; it feels like a major turning point. 

Those involved with the creation of Final Fantasy VII Remake deserve to celebrate this historical release.