Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade

I grew up with Final Fantasy VII in many ways. It was my first turn-based RPG video game. It was a narrative epic unlike any game I had ever seen, rivaling the best of the books I had read up until that point. And the graphics, goodness gracious did they light my mind on fire. The cool characters and what was now possible for telling stories.

I replayed the original FFVII close to a dozen times. I replayed for the heck of it, I replayed with a gameshark and cheats injected (my second stint with game hacking -- the N64 gameshark with Goldeneye being my first). I poured over every part of the world, littered with hidden characters and bosses and dialogue and seemingly endless things to discover and do (and I earned that gold Chocobo).

This now, is a different game. And I'm a different person. There's undoubtedly much of what I described. And I hope others in their formative years find much of what I found in the original. But me now, it's just hitting differently.

The good is that they're able to lean into the core of the story much more. Mako and the implications of delving too greedily and too deep. Terrorists and the role of media. All that was there in the original, just now expounded and enriched -- such as Sephiroth's backstory as you turn the chapter to the next.

But I just don't have the time I used to for endless exploration. And I miss turn-based combat (which is a part of why I adored Clair Obscur - Expedition 33). Some of the battles in the endless Shinra research tunnels just wore on me. The clunky design of walking a few feet and then cutscene then walking a tad and then cutscene -- just cutscene it all for me!

These days I play virtually all games on the easiest mode and this is no different. Easy (classic) along with a head start allowed me to actually play and enjoy most of the adventure in a solid ~25 hours. And I don't mind largely cutscenes -- see my love of Mixtape and the Life is Strange series et al. This game just felt a bit overstuffed and overindulged where some restraint would have been better. But again, I'm biased and looking for a more limited experience, despite my own sprawling adventures when I first played the original.

All in all, it's a great game. I think newcomers and those returning should love it for what it is, which is almost an entirely new game. The graphics are great, even if the animations a bit clunky outside battle. And the soundtrack sits in S-tier with some new and old tunes doing some seriously heavy emotional lifts.

Now, give me a restrained remake of FFVIII and then let's talk the magic of video game storytelling.

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