Final Fantasy VII RemakeWants to Know Its Own History

release in 1997,Final Fantasy VIIwas a landmark game of its era , making waves across its own series , genre , and the entire spiritualist . Over the age , rooter turnedthat loveinto hopes for a remake or some kind of revisitation . Those hopes seemed to bear yield in2015 , when Square Enix give away at E3 that a remaking was happen ! After the initial excitement , fans waited …

… And keep waiting for years , wondering where it was as veteran developer Tetsuya Nomura worked on other undertaking likeFinal Fantasy XVandKingdom Hearts III . After trailer after trailer and a very near demonstration , Final Fantasy VII Remakefinally unloose on April 10 , 2020 for PlayStation 4 , the first of a multi - game saga . It was a deed of conveyance that came at just the proper clip : the PS4 ’s big two first - party games , The Last of Us Part IIandGhost of Tsushima , weren’t due until the summertime , and the then - early COVID-19 pandemic made staying at family to play TV games a valid activity . add together onto that the interest in see how Nomura and other alums from the original game would re - develop the title that helped make ( and in some cases , completely delimitate ) their careers in the industry , and it ’s no wonderment it was a critcal and commercial-grade darling .

The term “ remake ” carry a unassailable minus connotation in the film infinite , but in game , it ’s slenderly more complicated . Ports and remasters have been a part of the spiritualist since everlastingly , and everyone knows what that mean . A remake is another matter entirely and varies from game to game . When thefirst twoHalogameswere remade , players could toggle between its original nontextual matter or a modern interlingual rendition at the push of a push button , and both come in with suplemental material that helped set up up future title . Capcom’sResident Evilremakes feature overhaul gameplay and updated game element , while theDead Spaceremake ’s braggy change was giving a voice to Isaac Clarke , who did n’t speak until the second biz .

Final Fantasy 7remake

© Square Enix

FinalFantasy VII Remakeboth is and is n’t what its title suggests . Underneath the pelt of the originalVIIis the DNA of then - recentFinal Fantasygames Nomura contributed to in some style . FromFinal Fantasy XV , the remaking takes real - time scrap , allow players to freely switch between three company members — from time to time reducing the sizing to just one or two characters — while hearkening back to the originalVII’sturn - based nature by slow down time so players can queue up specific attacks or take potions . Structurally , it borrows from theXIIItrilogy , which was deride for take on players down a running way of life . Remakeis likewise straightforward most of the sentence : its two hub areas are braggy , but notthatbig , and you’re able to only do specific action like jump or enter specific areas when motivate . Such one-dimensionality was noted at the clip , but that was nearly drowned out by how good the combat felt and quondam players ’ affectionateness for playing through a prettied up version of Midgar on innovative ironware .

By far , Remake’sbiggest change arrive to its narrative . At first , it was minor things like enter main villain Sephiroth much earlier than in the original game , or fleshing out patronage casting members Jessie and Biggs . Over fourth dimension , those tweaks extended to the introduction of altogether new characters like Roche or beefing up the original ’s early section in Midgar into its own get-go , middle , and terminate to serve rationalise the transmutation into what ’s likely a trilogy . To quote Austin Walker duringWaypoint ’s podcastonRemake , several conversations in the original secret plan were effectively twist into party boss fights or minigames for its modernistic day avatar , which can palpate like padding in its bad moments . ( 2024’sFinal Fantasy Rebirthis especially guilty of this , give its many minigames and talkative open - world country . )

Oh right , there ’s also another large tarradiddle variety : Final Fantasy VIIRemakeis aboutthe legacy ofFinal Fantasy VII . It frequently teases the participant with lineament or upshot deviate from the source material , resulting in ominous ghosts called Whispers working to put things back on rail . normally , this number to bring through or kill someone that did n’t die where they were meant to , occasiaonally sticking around to check that the job ’s done before vanishing again . For character in the know about how this all shakes out , like Aerith and Sephiroth , the Whispers can be used to their own remnant . In these beings exists the potential to tell apart the original tale and keep everything as is or break off into unexampled , chartless territory . Maybe some of the same ground is tread , but the endpoint could be different forVII’scast , who all become increasingly aware they ’re being manipulated to one degree or another .

© Square Enix

With much of the original game ’s natural endowment at the helm , it may have been inevitable thatRemakewould directly search the importance of its own reference material . Still , the way it does this makes all the difference , since this full enterprise from Nomura and Square Enix includes bring in part or element from spinoffs likeCrisis heart , plus the feature filmAdvent Children . Its entire scope is at once exciting and potentially exhausting , depending on how thing resolve in the unpredicted third installment . 2024’sFinal Fantasy VII Rebirthhad it both ways , leave playersuncertainjust how much would really change when it paradoxically recreated Aerith ’s deathandgave some she may live on in another timeline only visible to the ever - shock Cloud . ( Plus , his study hubby Zack , who died prior to the original case ofVII , is alive inRebirth , concisely teaming up with Cloud against Sephiroth before he returns to his own alternative timeline . )

What is theFinal Fantasy VIIremake saga ? The resolution is , ostensibly , something for everyone : a way for longtime fans to relive the master copy as it ’s at the same time expand , tweaking , or in conversation with portion of that earlier production . Newcomers get to play a serial of sleek military action - RPGs that could guide them to otherFinal Fantasygames , or even just a simple remaster of the original . ( Like EA withDead Space , Square Enix gratefully does n’t want these remake to wholly erase the OGFinal Fantasy VII . ) The developers are care for it as a way to muse on one of the biggest games of their careers , and for the characters ? We ’ll have to wait for whenever Part 3 come to find oneself out .

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