Final Fantasy VII Remake

Of course, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is only the first in a series of still unknown length, if it is ever completed, and which will once again tell the entire story of the classic 1997 JRPG. The game covers the events that take place in the city of Midgar, where Cloud Strife and his freedom fighter allies face off against the evil Shinra Corporation who runs the scene. Which means that the first 5 hours or so of the original game were stretched into a campaign that took me 33 hours to complete, with a few optional surprises that I left out.

It's an odd move that sure leads to some structural issues, but gives the town and its heroes more time to be transformed into interesting characters - even the most innocuous like Jessie, Biggs, and Avalanche's Wedge have the opportunity to become more nuanced and intriguing co-stars. This new narration regularly switches from shot-for-shot reproduction of the original, to judicious extended versions of existing footage, including brand new scenes that sometimes offer a tantalizing new point of view, and sometimes boring fill that makes you revisit frequently. areas already explored.

Bust a Move

Fortunately, the common thread between the new areas and the old ones is the combat of FF7R, which is shown to be more than engaging for dozens of hours and against more than 100 different types of enemies. I admit that I was initially saddened to learn that the remake would not use Final Fantasy 7's turn-based Active Time Battle (ATB), but how the famous system evolved into a fight. in real time is exceptional. And even if you only lead one character at a time, you won't stop giving orders or switching to the other two characters during all fights.

If you can hit the enemy as much as you want with the square button, it mostly loads your ATB bars, which you can use for some unique skills of weapons, equipped spells, and items. Bringing up the menu to choose one of these slows down time sharply, letting you comfortably decide what your party should do in the midst of a fight - but this lingering slow-motion adds tension to every decision, just as I remember rushed choices. caused by the original system. (There is an optional 'classic' difficulty mode, but all it does is automate your actions in combat aside from using ATB, making a 'in-between' system that doesn't work. hardly liked.)

All characters have a unique ability programmed on a triangle that does not use ATB - Cloud, for example, can go into "Punisher mode" for more damage, but with lower speed, while Tifa can unleash a big finish that depends on one of its abilities. You can also dodge or parry at will, and you'll have to do that often. While the game has never been very tough on Normal difficulty, there is enough nuance that just hammering Square and stringing basic attacks together won't get you anywhere, pretty as they are.

In addition to their health bar, enemies display a stun bar that knocks them out and increases damage against them when filled. It's a pretty popular system right now, but the smart difference here is that each enemy's bars fill up in different ways. Of course, more basic opponents like wererats or Shinra soldiers will only have to be hit hard, but others may be more vulnerable to certain elemental magics, or will require you to dodge some. attacks, or attack one of their limbs in order to stun them. These variations allow combat to renew itself throughout, and I loved looking for weaknesses in each enemy.

The diversity is a big reason why FF7R's boss fights are just so amazing. These cinematic clashes are as intimidating as they are exhilarating, and still feature a multi-phased showdown that never required me to grind my Buster Sword without strategy. It's amazing how these Returning Bosses were reimagined too, with what were sometimes kleenex monsters, like Abzu in his sewers, turned into epic encounters with a whole new personality. Bosses have unique attacks that you have to learn to avoid as well as weak points to eliminate in a strategic order with the right moves. And the way the cutscenes are interwoven with key moments in the fight is always heartening.

While I loved the spectacle of a fight against a robot or a giant monster, most of my favorite encounters were against human enemies. FF7R was clearly inspired by the design of Kingdom Hearts (and not always in a good way, but we'll come back to that later) and these intimate one-on-one duels are a good example. Each of these Bosses are interesting and unique, but they all rely heavily on parrying, dodging, and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. They play out like an overpowered anime duel in the best possible way.

Another important aspect of winning any combat is the use of parry. You will have up to three of the four available characters who will fight at the same time (the team being determined by the scenario). Those you don't control will attack and defend well enough on their own, but never as well as if you lead them - and most importantly, they won't use their ATB bars unless you order them, which is easily done via the command menu. Juggling the ATBs of the three characters in this way is rather galvanizing when you also have to watch out for the robot trying to smash your face, and it's intuitive enough that I managed to get used to it much faster than I could. did not think.

You will also often have to change the character you are controlling, as each of them is like a specific tool for different situations. Barrett can easily take down flying enemies, Cloud will quickly increase stun, Tifa unleashes heavy damage on vulnerable enemies, and Aerith takes care of deep healing when needed. Switching between them is a bit like switching weapons in the heat of battle, especially if you need to switch over to a character to charge their ATB faster for a special move. If I've spent the most time with Cloud, I've also rotated my characters frequently just because they're all fun to use.

Choice of weapons

It's perfect if their style is so different, by the way, as all Materia can be given to any character. These collected orbs are inserted into the equipment to give the characters spells and bonuses, which allows you to transform whoever you want in your party into a mage, tank, healer, etc. (Although their base stats also influence this decision.) This flexibility is really nice, and I've spent time organizing Materia and roles quite often when the story changes my party makeup.

There were times when it got a little frustrating though. It's vastly easier to tune your Materia than it was in the original game, but people can come and go from your party so often that I found myself in the menu recalibrating my rarer Materias though. more often than I wanted. Materias gain power when used, so even though I had duplicates of them, the ones equipped were always better, and reassigning a Level 3 Life Materia to a new character every time I got them. forced to change my group quickly became boring.

FF7R's weapon system also made me spend more time in the management menus than I wanted, but these are such intriguing mechanics that it bothered me less. Instead of offering the usual quickly replaced stat boost like so often in an RPG, FF7R's new weapons are persistent items that you collect, keep, and upgrade throughout the campaign. Each has a unique ability that you can permanently gain by using it - like Aerith's Sorcerous Storm area attack or Cloud's amazing Infinity End finisher - and that has always prompted me to try a new weapon. . each character has about half a dozen in total, so you won't get a ton of those much-needed upgrades, but my party, weapons, and Materias have swapped so much over time the action never has. had time to stagnate.

As you get stronger, your weapons can even be upgraded with points called SP, earned automatically when the character wearing them levels up. SP can be spent on increasing stats, like physical or magical attack, or other unique effects, like one that heals you when an enemy dies or one that increases your damage when your health is full - it There are also effects unique to each character, such as the fixed percentage chance for Tifa to enter combat with her finisher (and fists) already loaded. These upgrades aren't really exciting as such, but the overall result is significant: every weapon stays in the race for the duration of the campaign, gaining strength alongside you.

These upgrades exacerbate the strengths and weaknesses of the weapons over time, clarifying the role of each depending on how you want this or that character to be played. Cloud's famous Buster Sword does some good damage, but his Iron Blade sacrifices that in favor of defense. The Hardedge is a physically crushing machine, while the Mythril Saber relies all on its magical power - and if the studded bat (yes it's back) remains weak at base, it can be upgraded to deliver a ton of critical hits. It even turns Cloud's Punisher Mode combo of attacks into a violent single-use home run. I switched weapons quite a bit as my Materias and party configurations evolved, but I found it quite poetic that my favorite weapon remained the Buster Sword for the last few chapters.

Filler Fantasy

Wandering through levels ranging from the slums of Midgar to the factories of Shinra (the visual variety is very impressive for a set of locations limited to a single city) while spinning these powerful weapons has always been fun, even if it was often thanks to the enemies more than for their environments. The level design of FF7R is practical, but at the very least simplistic; They are usually linear paths with larger areas to fight, with nothing to challenge the intellect other than a few puzzles and hidden objects to find. The abundance of small bridges to cross carefully and tedious piles of boxes to avoid don't help much either.

While the bulk of the original Midgar is present in FF7R - some locations being perfectly recreated as I remembered them, and others having evolved dramatically - there are quite a few new features to be found as well, and I wouldn't say it is. always for the best. Basically, I love that the small section of a bigger RPG has been placed under a microscope and fleshed out with good character development and a more robust storyline, but there are times these additions improve the initial content, and others where it pulls it, and the whole game with, down.

Anything that offers more context and information about the town of Midgar or its people I once knew in the form of piles of PS1 polygons is phenomenal. I loved meeting Jessie's mom, learning that Wedge loves cats, and seeing that Biggs has a real problem with anxiety - and I enjoyed my simple strolls through the Midgar neighborhoods populated by busy locals. their daily lives as Cloud and his friends attack their Shinra masters. I particularly liked one of the missions that sees you engaged with the idea of turning off the huge solar lights that provide light to the slums of Midgar in order to be able to progress, which gives concrete weight to the actions of Avalanche. These injections of humanism are amazing and welcome, whether in known sections or entirely new.

What I didn't like, however, was when FF7R made it clear that it needed more content, regardless of quality, just to get a "full" RPG size. The most annoying of those moments comes when Cloud reaches a residential area in the slums of Midgar - all wonderfully detailed and full of life, with truly magical achievement - where he's asked to do odd jobs as a mercenary (this we've never seen him do outside of his Avalanche job.) The problem is, these are arguably the worst quests in the game.

Suddenly, the unique and exotic world of Midgar gives way to the most rehashed clichés of the JRPG: a merchant who asks you without laughing to kill a few rats, a professor who wants you to meet his students across the city, several mail quests that sends you looking for random items for no good reason. All of this destroys the rhythm and lessens the importance of the issues at hand around you. These stories are rarely interesting, but even worse: almost all the battles related to these quests require you to return to areas already completed, scuttling FF7R's efforts in terms of diversity.

While these side quests (along with arena fights and mini-games like darts or the market squat competition, all of which are already more fun) are completely optional, skipping them will cause you to miss some very important items and abilities - like unique weapons, rare accessories, and more - and that may have a minor influence on the story later, without being warned. I completed almost all of the side quests, but more out of obligation than for fun. Most of the time, I couldn't wait to start the main quest again.

This observed padding is not limited to side quests, unfortunately. An important mission asks you later in the story to go back to a previous section for what I thought was a textbook case of filler. I'm not against this Remake adding more detail - in the way the Train Graveyard has been redesigned for example: exceptional work, as well as a very fun new level towards the end - but there is a major problem. : Square Enix wanted to make changes, but without touching the main story, which means that most of its more elaborate additions are unrelated to the current story. It's reminiscent of filler episodes or popular anime movies: these distractions can clearly be fun, but no one in the main story will ever mention them after the fact, and nothing will change the story afterwards. If you could skip them somehow, you would find that you haven't missed a thing at all.

Roche is a good example of this: an all new character who shows up shortly after the story begins in an additional motorcycle chase scene (these sequences remained as weak as in the 1997 original) and a single fight. against Cloud, before we heard from him again. Okay, the combat is cool, and the character is cool, but her inclusion (and all of the storyline around her, as far as it is) has so little to do with the storyline that she really does a job.

Fortunately, filler aside, this story is at least told in a nice way. The cutscenes are gorgeous, and the graphics are both stunning in any case. Not to mention the amazingly good music throughout, with many excellent remixes of iconic tracks that go beyond the walls of Midgar. There is a real spectacle to be discovered with this game, even if part of this spectacle (like my mate Roche) made me roll my eyes so much that I am dizzy.

To infinity and beyond

One of the big concerns I had when I first started FF7R was whether or not the small Midgar section of the original game would be enough to make a full game, and the outcome is mixed. Square Enix did a good job of making it a bigger story, showing Cloud the mercenary, cold and awkward in society, and the way he mellowed out during character development that wasn't. too much in the game initially. However, you can't help but see this as the basis for a bigger story that we won't be able to see just yet - because that's what this game stands for. I got invested in the fight against Shinra again, but in the end I want a more satisfying conclusion to this story, and I'm a little anxious to see how the next game will continue after this one's cliffhanger. .

This remake also raises a ton of questions it doesn't seem to want to answer - some are clearly nods to fans of previous games and will be incomprehensible to others, but there's plenty of new stuff (like the hooded opponents seen in the trailers) convoluted and confusing whatever your experience. The way FF7R throws nonsense stuff at you towards the end of the game asking you to swallow it all up can only be described as “Kingdom Hearts-style bullshit” - and I say that as a Kingdom Hearts fan. Plus, its crazy ending left me with an unpleasant aftertaste, no matter which direction the story takes next.

Apart from the additions that manage to make the world of Midgar and its inhabitants more real, the idea behind the new content of FF7R is more like a cheerful spectacle with no ulterior motives or thoughts at all. Be sure I always had a great time thanks to the excellent fights and I almost always liked what I saw from this incredible achievement. The problem isn't that there are new story elements, but most of them fall apart as soon as you dwell on them a little too much.

A good post-game point, however, is that as soon as the credits roll, you access hard mode and the option to return to any chapter with your stats and gear to complete missions, collect items, or just replay from the beginning. So you can embark on this kind of "New Game +" or resume what you missed. I'm planning on going back there to complete a couple of things and throw a few more darts, just because Square Enix made it so easy ...

The saga, which started on Famicom and NES and then brought to Super Nintendo (with a totally busted numbering for the western releases), is offered to the public by keeping several common elements firmly in place. The topics covered, the strong idealization of principles such as love, hatred, loyalty, friendship are supported and carried forward in a gigantic shared universe. And looking at the past, thinking about the release of the seventh chapter on the first PlayStation, one cannot help but feel a slight shiver down my spine.

The covers of the game, for example, also have a little story of their own. The Japanese and European covers are totally white, with a simple writing in the center, as if to underline the essentiality of the name, the guarantee of a brand. By contrast, the US covers saw Cloud in front of the lights of Midgar, with his broadsword clearly visible, in a momentum of Freudian power. But the intent is not to dwell too long on memories. Let's continue with the analysis of this remake and its roots, which sink into the universe of Final Fantasy 7 in search of fertile soil, but with the intent to grow a plant only similar to the original, and with flowers totally different.

I do not want to delay, therefore, pitting the usual diegetic introductions on the genesis of the saga, its evolution or the affirmation of the genre among the general public of the first PlayStation. There is already a very interesting article about it (which you can read here) and we will have the opportunity to deepen this speech later too. However, what I want now is to go into a careful and meticulous analysis of the game. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is an operation that must be framed properly and examined with extreme attention .

Final Philosophy

To fully understand the work done by the developers I will try to act by subtraction, placing you in front of any misunderstandings - typical of the long-awaited titles - and trying to clarify the real nature of the game . Strictly following all possible anti-spoiler rules, it is important to understand what the Square-Enix title is not .

We are not facing a remake in the strictest sense of the term, as Bluepoint's Shadow of the Colossus can be; nor is it a reboot along the lines of the new Tomb Raider chapters . The remake of the first Resident Evil, originally published on GameCube, is what comes closest to him, perhaps, but even in this case, an enormous wrong is being done to the whole operation, given its unique and surprising features.

Among fans of video games, but also of other entertainment works, there are some unwritten rules, which I have never personally supported. We often talk about the "usefulness" of the remakes, opposed by an ill-concealed need to diminish a priori an operation that might seem almost superfluous. In my opinion, no job, in the varied world of entertainment, can truly be defined as "useless". Every work of ingenuity can be reinterpreted, rewritten and re-imagined.

The other blunder, the idea that I bear even less, is the attribution of a substitute power that the remakes seem to have on the original works. Why tear your clothes off at the mere idea of a re-release? It must be clarified, once and for all, that a remake does not want to change, improve, expand or even worse replace the original project. If thought and created with an idea and strong foundations, the remake can approach the concept of oral narration, which, passing down over the centuries, changes times, rhythms and dialogues, but never the fulcrum of the story, its suggestions or its expressive power . Useless, therefore, to think that Final Fantasy 7 Remake is "the part of Midgar a little more extended", or "the first CD of the original role-playing game". Approach in this way the remake created by Square-Enix and you will have done a wrong not only to the software house, but above all to yourself. It is a premise that is not at all obvious and on which I invite you to reflect.

Returning to a less ideological but equally important analysis, we descend among the smoky suburbs of Midgar, in a metropolis that idealizes, with its marked verticality, a clear social stratification. Cloud, a former soldier of the Shinra military unit, finds himself fighting as a mercenary for a ramshackle but willing group of revolutionaries, called Avalanche. The story begins by giving us small emotional jolts and continues in crescendo, both playfully and narratively. The story weaves its strings without haste and soon we will end up trapped in a sordid and fascinating spider web . Whether you have loved the original chapter or are new adventurers in the Midgar lands, the story manages to capture, amaze and amaze.

The nostalgia operation expected by many, but which many opposed for fear of a scorching disappointment, therefore proceeds on parallel tracks. All the pieces of the puzzle are scattered on the table: the ghosts of the past, the pitiless eyes, the tears, the fluttering of black robes engulfed by the flames. Each fragment creates a star and each star shines with the same strength as twenty three years ago. Yet, the compass of memories, looking at that sky, leaves us more and more astonished and bewildered. I cannot and do not want to go any further, but rest assured that Square-Enix has proven to have immense courage in handling one of his most important works in this way.

Basically it's just a game

The game structure, which skilfully mixes and re-elaborates the original dynamics, remotely inherits its classic JRPG shape, to open up to a blatant action drift. The movements of the various protagonists take place in real time, but everything is still marked by the ATB , an essential bar for carrying out the most important actions. As a rule, we are called upon to lead a leader, but you can switch from one moment to another to the other team members, with the push of a button. The AI is not always very ready, however we soon realize that it is up to us to create the conditions for a party with a choral twist, through the equipment and the use of specific subjects, on which we will return widely later. The action can also be blocked, to have time to choose and calmly use the various possibilities offered to us.

Whether it's a super attack, a spell or a special ability, everything in Final Fantasy 7 Remake is subject to the filling of the aforementioned bar. This emphasizes the frenzy without affecting the strategy, which in the most difficult clashes is essential in order not to end up in the dust . Despite the initial, inevitable sense of confusion, a minimum of experience is enough to better read the game action and tame the combat system. The infamous Matters, Mako energy spheres capable of giving powers, special moves and additional spells simply by allocating them in the slots of the various items return with great pomp. With the accumulation of experience we can use the points obtained to expand their properties, within a planimetry very similar to a stylized galaxy. Increase in basic parameters such as physical or magical strength, resistance to the elements, additional slots for other Matters: the opportunities are innumerable.

Weapons also accumulate points - or rather, it is we who increase the level of mastery in handling them - and this allows us to use new special moves. Once we reach the maximum degree of excellence, we will learn the attributes of that weapon forever and we can use its skills even without equipping them. Evocations also make their triumphant return, available thanks to particular materials. The wonderful creatures linked to the fury of the elements are ready to take the field and fight alongside us, and then leave the scene with a spectacular and devastating final attack . The excellent balance of the combat system translates into a galvanizing gameplay, with a power in the slits perceivable with every lunge.

A matter of numbers

Despite the frenetic pace, the rules of the fight are still subject to statistics, so it is not said that a well-aimed hit was really effective. Regarding the absence of the world map, we have an exploration rather guided from one macro-zone to another. Once we reach our destination, we often find ourselves in medium-sized areas, but made with obsessive attention to detail , full of details that are always new and fun to explore.

Even the sub-quests, in this sense, do not stand out for particular qualities: the mere execution of struggles, tense and galvanizing, the objects to be conquered, turn out to be pleasant and rewarding activities. Each event, then, is accompanied by dialogues and insights into the story, blending perfectly into the narrative fabric and representing a natural extension. Tinkering with Matters, dealing with tough and demanding bosses and mini-bosses and exploring the wonderful scenarios of the game are actions that immediately prove to be very satisfying.

Technically, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is undoubtedly one of the highest peaks reached in this generation: all the protagonists are wonderfully modeled and animated , each fabric reveals its nature with unquestionable realism, the wind moves hair, clothes and drapery. The landscapes extend as far as the eye can see in a riot of lights, puffs of smoke, sparks and reverberations. The lighting effects, the chromatic filters that cover certain areas and the work done for every minutia are simply breathtaking. The expressiveness of the faces, often in the foreground, manages to convey the emotions of the characters in a commendable way.

The frame rate is granitic, and even if there are no specific options for using PS4 Pro, the game runs without any uncertainty. Only a few sparse textures appear subdued, but these are trifles in a scenario of undisputed, dazzling splendor. The soundtrack, rearranged with great respect for the original epic, frames a truly amazing technical milestone . With an English (good) and Japanese (really superlative) dubbing, and a localization of the texts in a perfect Italian, the Square-Enix game remake makes the somersaults to always be on a higher step than the competition.

As far as I am concerned, I don't want to ask myself about the game and the gaming community like an old trombone, ready to mumble from his rickety pulpit. However, it is clear that anyone who played and loved the title twenty-three years ago, like myself, receives totally different inputs from those who have only recently tried it, or approached it for the first time . The game knows this and behaves promptly accordingly.

It is something that goes beyond mere registry elitism, because the developers, together with those bad boys of Yoshinori Kitase, Kazushige Nojima and Tetsuya Nomura have made a huge bet, sure to pluck the right strings: and they have succeeded. This "new" Final Fantasy VII is therefore a unique remake, perfectly autonomous despite being part of a huge project. How all this is possible, you can only discover it by playing it, and playing it will be a wonderful discovery .

You can make game remakes in two ways. The first is simply to recreate an old game. Using the benefits of modern technology, graphics and physical engines to faithfully transfer the old plot, characters and locations to the present day. In such cases, as far as possible, the mechanics are not interfered with, at best by tweaking some wooden solutions or introducing minor amenities. Such an approach usually goes perfectly to die-hard fans of the prototypes ... and to hardly anyone else. The new Shadow of the Colossus , Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and MediEvil appealed to people raised on their original versions, but the feelings of new players (whom many did not attract) were more varied.

The second approach is to take off your gloves and let yourself go crazy. Turning the original gameplay upside down, adding completely new chapters to the story - making an almost completely new game. A great risk that will always arouse resistance among fans of the original who recall it with nostalgia. But - as Capcom proved with the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and, to a lesser extent, Resident Evil 3 - also a chance to give the game a completely new life. To return not only old fans to it, but also to attract a completely new generation of players.

Final Fantasy VII Remake definitely focuses on option number two. The changes to the combat mechanics, which were most discussed by fans before the premiere, turn out to be the least controversial of the introduced modifications. These new threads with which Square Enix has infused its creation are a surprise. They make the script of the original FFVII seem to be merely a general outline of a re-told story. It is a pity that while some of the novelties make it genuinely better, the others are ordinary stuffers used only to artificially extend the time of play.

Rebuild of Final Fantasy VII

Even before the premiere of the new version of Final Fantasy VII, I was among the people disappointed that this is not a remake of the entire original game, but only its first location, which in the original provided classes for only a few hours. Having become acquainted with the finished product, however, I understand and buy this decision. First, because Square Enix really wasn't exaggerating, saying that recreating the entire game like this in one fell swoop would simply be financially unrealistic. The scale, ambition and momentum of this project are truly impressive.

I also buy this selection for plot reasons. It is true that the milk has spilled too much when, for reasons that I do not understand, the final trailer of the game was released, but I will try to write it as vaguely and as spoiled as possible. The new plots in Final Fantasy VII Remake go beyond simply extending the original story. Square Enix has shown that it has a lot of cojones, and I have no doubt that the subject of this review will raise a lot of controversy among fans. The game can be treated as well not as a remake, but as another part of the FFVII universe next to Advent Children or Crisis Core .

Before there is a revolution, however, we have a lot of nostalgia playing. There are some familiar notes, and the introductory movie, slightly modified in relation to the original, but also containing iconic fragments, throws us into the very center of the action. Here, as a taciturn mercenary Cloud, we help a group of eco-terrorists Avalanche blow up a reactor that takes the life energy of the planet and uses it to power the giant city of Midgar. A dangerous mission puts Cloud on a collision course with the powerful and greedy corporation Shinra, and allows us to meet his colorful companions - the lovable florist Aeris and members of Avalanche: Barret, Tifa, Wedge, Jessie and Biggs.

Most of the time, the plot recreates the events of the original Final Fantasy VII , expanding them strongly here and there. Many of these changes are successful - already in the original, well-written dialogues (apart from occasional flaws when translating from Japanese to English) now turn out even more natural or fun, and the previously barely sketched Wedge, Jessie and Biggs have become full-size characters . What the creators give players at Honey Bee Inn is absolute madness, for which I was not even prepared to complete five different installments of the Yakuza series. Some of the new threads are not brought to the end, but it is rather understandable - the creators decided to save some for the next installments.

Unfortunately, not all new features hit the bull's eye . I understand that if a few hours of material is made into jRPG for 40 hours, you have to stuff it with cotton here and there, but Final Fantasy VII Remake exaggerates sharply at times. I can endure poor side quests, but when in the middle of the main storyline, at a crucial moment, the game suddenly makes me chase the sewers for almost an hour after a rat-like creature that has stolen an important key, my hands drop. Another time we have to fight the primary enemy, and here instead we suddenly have to deal with a two-hour environmental puzzle. The pace of the narrative, especially in the chapters preceding the finale, is sometimes very poorly distributed.

Despite these clogging gaps, the plot definitely defends itself. And contrary to fears, it offers a quite satisfactory ending - you can feel that it is part of a larger whole, but there is enough of it to wait for the rest with satisfaction, not insufficiency. The main characters have been perfectly depicted, and the gradual building of relations between them is presented in a very credible way, new plots - those that are not only used to artificially extend the time - are a great added value to the story, and moments that are to evoke emotions, even if we expect them in connection with the acquaintance of the original game, and they work anyway. They work like hell.

Final Fantasy XIII Remake

The game is divided into 18 chapters. According to my predictions, the average player will take 30 to 40 hours to complete them, and the biggest players will probably get an extra 20 from it. The creators have prepared a lot of side attractions. Many chapters have a fairly simple, corridor structure that may evoke associations with the infamous Final Fantasy XIII . We go from point A to point B, of course we fight monsters along the way, from time to time there is also a small path leading to the treasure or a simple environmental puzzle that diversifies the gameplay. Some of these corridor locations have a rather non-obvious layout and quite skillfully hide their linear structure under a multitude of bends, dead ends and branching to nowhere.

From time to time, we also find ourselves in more open locations that are hubs. There, we can let go of the main plot for a moment and focus on activities and side quests. The former are often fun mini-games - known from the original (although of course much improved) doing squats in the gym, fighting in the Colosseum or throwing darts at the bar. Side quests, on the other hand, are the absolute worst thing we can find in Final Fantasy VII Remake .

Limit break

The lion's share of Final Fantasy VII - both old and new - is obviously a fight. This aspect caused the most confusion just before the premiere, because instead of the previous half-round system, this time we have fully dynamic duels. A special classic combat mode was to be a tribute to the supporters of the original, but here I will tell you bluntly that it is better to just let it go and immediately try to get to know the new one. This mode does not change the gameplay interface in any way, it differs from the normal one only in that when we do nothing, the active character is controlled by artificial intelligence, and it also sets the opponents' difficulty level to low. This is more of an autopilot than even a substitute for a real classic combat system.

As for the new style of dueling, despite some controversial solution, it fares very well. Depending on the storyline, our team has from one to three characters that we can freely switch between. Each of them is played differently. Sword slashing Cloud has two fighting styles and deals the most damage. Melee Tifa can stun enemies the fastest. Barret, with his machine gun instead of his arm, is great at distance, and Aeris specializes in spells.

Everyone has access to a variety of special skills, and we can equip them with magic spells. There are also classic summons, although - not to be too easy - only summoned in the most difficult fights. You can use items, limit breaks - if my memory serves me correctly, virtually all tactical possibilities from the original game have returned, plus the above-mentioned and known from other "Fun" options to stun enemies.

Final Fantasy VII Remade

The visual setting of FFVII Remake can delight. When we watch perfectly directed cutscenes, admire the phenomenal effects of spells, or just look at the beautifully recreated 3D locations that we used to largely imagine, it's really easy to succumb to this magic.

However, not all elements of the virtual Midgar were treated with the same care. Third-plane characters passed by in hubs come out very, very poorly, especially against the background of our stars. Textures often fail to load in time, scaring the eyes with blurry scribbles. Some of them still look dull when loaded. Visually, it is uneven - and the phenomenal performance of the game in the most important moments causes the greater dissonance in comparison with the moments where clearly less work has been devoted.

I was concerned that there would also be little visual variation due to being confined to Midgar itself, but surprisingly Square Enix managed it. Although the game is dominated by industrial atmosphere, Midgar turns out to offer quite a lot to the eye - run-down slums resembling wastelands, green surroundings of the Aeris house or residential districts ensure that the views do not get bored.