• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

I finally beat Final Fantasy 7 Remake

danklord

Gold Member
The biggest issue the title. Calling it a remake feels like a weird marketing decision, as it’s more of a franchise reboot, and there was no intention to do a 1x1 remake like we’ve seen with other games recently.

That’s the next title is rebirth and not remake part 2. They’ve broken the narrative and can do whatever they want with the best title.

I’m willing to wager more diehard fans would have liked it more with a different title. But I don’t think it would’ve sold as well.
 

93xfan

Banned
It is one of the most drawn out games ever

Filler, filler, filler. Forced slow walking, squeezing through cracks and being foced to retread areas

I would REALLY have enjoyed it as 12-14 hour focused experience. Now - it is 50% a chore

Still enjoyed the good parts .. 7/10 in total imo
I loved every minute up until I saw it really diverge from the original.

The world was so well done and it just felt like the perfect balance of nostalgia and something new. Hope the cash in and give us an altered version that doesn’t make it a sequel to the original.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
The biggest issue the title. Calling it a remake feels like a weird marketing decision, as it’s more of a franchise reboot, and there was no intention to do a 1x1 remake like we’ve seen with other games recently.

That’s the next title is rebirth and not remake part 2. They’ve broken the narrative and can do whatever they want with the best title.

I’m willing to wager more diehard fans would have liked it more with a different title. But I don’t think it would’ve sold as well.
If you look at most remake came out, none of them put "remake" in title, not even Resident Evil 2 Remake, while this game actively put "Remake" on title and I think that was on purpose.

NoU4f3I.png

This basically confirms the reason they called it "remake" was story reason rather than actual Remake.
 

Katajx

Gold Member
Silent Hill Shattered Memories took the characters and the plot premise of Silent Hill 1, I wouldn't call them the same game either.
It is not the same game, no. It very much has things to do with the original. I just mentioned a few of them.

Nothing against you. It was just a take that I have seen multiple times that doesn’t make sense to me.

Does it have to be 1:1 in your eyes to meet that criteria? Is this about not being turn based?

I am just curious how you come to the conclusion that it doesn’t have anything to do with the original.
 

Valt7786

Member
If you look at most remake came out, none of them put "remake" in title, not even Resident Evil 2 Remake, while this game actively put "Remake" on title and I think that was on purpose.

NoU4f3I.png

This basically confirms the reason they called it "remake" was story reason rather than actual Remake.

That's definitely why it's called Remake. It's a bait and switch for sure, but it's so obvious once you finish the game why it's called FF7 : Remake. The people who don't see that are just too busy blindly choking on their anger froth that it's not what they thought it would be, that they can't see it.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
The padding initially seems egregious when you're coming off of Memories of the original, with Midgar being a masterclass of pacing on the PS1, containing like ~1/3 of the script in the first six hours of the game. It's very front loaded with establishing events, new characters, new mechanics, intrigue, comedy, The whole shebang, and it's essentially the prologue.

The sooner you go into it without the baggage of the originals pacing, it becomes a lot better. People go into this lamenting that they won't see the Nibelheim incident, or the Cargo Ship, or the Temple/City of the Ancients, and take it out on the extended sections.

Let's break it down here: Spoilers ahead.

Events that are consistent with the OG:
-Intro, second scene on.
-Mako Reactor 1
-The train escape
-arrival in the slums
-Seventh Heaven and Beginner's Hall visit
-Guy admiring the Pillar
-The two bickering Guards
- the corkscrew tunnel
- the plate interior
- Mako Reactor 5
- the fall/episode in Cloud's head
- Meeting Aerith and Reno
- Aerith's house/sneaking out
- the collapsed expressway
- Wall Market/cross dressing
- Don Corneo's Mansion/Sewers
- Train Graveyard/Pillar
- Aerith's house II - The Reckoning
- The Climb/Shinra HQ
- The G-Bike chase/escape

Events that WEREN'T consistent with OG:
- Shinra blowing the Reactor
- some MP recognizes Buster Sword
- WHISPERS
- Sephiroth appears super early
- Promise flashback is moved
- Sidequests (did you know there's one with a cat? JFC WORST GAME EVER)
- Jessie's scenario
- Sector 7 is bigger.
- the Corkscrew tunnel, Plate Interior are turned into proper dungeons as opposed to three screens.
- Reno fight, WHISPERS
- MOAR SIDEQUESTS
- Rude introduced early, fought early
- Wall Market glow up.
- Cross dressing is now more fabulous and PC.
- Sewers and Train Graveyard are extended into full dungeons.
- Whispers, one OG casualty survives.
- Additional dungeon
- SIDEQUESTS OMF AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
- The climb is changed from a bullshit PS1 prototype of a QTE to an actual chapter.
- Heli Gunner fought early.
- Some mini games were removed from Shinra HQ
- An additional dungeon is added, with two parties, a la old FFVI dungeon design. People hate this, too, though, because it sucks, or something.
- Chapter 18 and the DLC
- Is Genesis in this game? No? Fuck it, I'm counting it against the game because fuck Genesis and fuck this Remake.

NOW THEN, let's break this down in autistic levels of detail here. The big complaints about this game are:

- Sidequests
- Padding
- HURR DURR NOMURA KINGDOM HARTSDFF
- It's not a 1:1 Remake
- I was touched by someone who made anime grunts as a small boy and now I must protest the inclusion of it in everything in which it may appear until my face is as blue as majestic sapphire.

Lightning round!

- sidequests - you hate them? Fucking skip them.

- Most of the padding is extended dungeons. If you split the dungeons up, I count ~9, without the DLC counter. 9 dungeons in a full length RPG. Oh no. The horror. The OG had like 35, and for all this uproar, if one room is removed from those 35, it will be ARMAGEDDON from the fanbase, but as for now? 9 is too God damn Many.

- Nomura, Kojima, Hasan, Tom Hulett, Spencer, Ryan, Quinn, Sarkeesian, we all have our Hitlers.

-Nothing is a 1:1 Remake, anymore. Furthermore, if we look at other media, shot for shot Remakes in say, cinema, are usually looked down upon as derivative. But nah, we all have social disorders, so any change Ruins our day/game.

- Ngh! I completely *pants* understand why that would *nods* MHMMM, bother you.

Uh. Ok.
 

anothertech

Member
I have played through the original FF7 several times over the years lol.

Keep in mind side quests in the original are spread out and have a rewarding feeling to find . Like finding the fight with emerald weapon, or getting all the best items to pimp out Cloud to win over Tifa and Aerith to go to the Don.

Finding kittens ain’t it chief.
That's just it. If 'finding kittens' was rubbing you wrong, there's no way you did the sidequests in the original. There were waaay more of them, and they were mostly WAAAAY worse lol

The sidequests in this remake were very much in the spirit of the original, albeit far far less in quantity
 

Griffon

Member
Feels like a shitty anime adaptation of a great manga, with shitty fillers and huge arbitrary ending changes (thankfully both FMA and Hellsing got a redo).

Maybe once their shitty sequel trilogy is done and gone, they can reuse the assets to make a real remake.
 
Last edited:

pramod

Banned
I bought it and was excited to play it since believe it or not, I barely played the original, but when I started playing first I was blown away by the awesome art and cutscenes, but when the actual "game" started....I was like, WTF is this shit?
I know the original FF7 wasn't some action RPG with weird controls.

Turned it off and haven't touched it since.
 
Last edited:
The actual content from FF7 covered in FF7R is about 2 hours long.

Adding the fillers needed to create a 40 hours long game made it a fucking slog to play through. 38 hours of filler and 2 hours of original content is shounen anime tier time wasting.
 

Lethal01

Member
Remake has already far surpassed the original in every aspect.
The writing and character dialogue is leagues better and the battle system is the best thing to ever come out of Square Enix.
The music is better too.

I can agree the level design isn't good, but not in a way that actually hurts the game, A level where you just get from A to B is fine the problem is that I love the world so much that I wanna freely explore every nook and cranny and platform around this world like it's a Mario game.

Sidequests can't ruin pacing, if you don't like them, skip them. You choose the pacing.

The one real issue isn't a problem until replaying, The character dialouge is fantastic but walk and talk sections mean you can't skip cutscenes that you've already seen ten times.

still an 11/10. Its combat system should be the basis of every final fantasy going forward and even other JRPG franchises.
The writing is top tier and I only wish that there were more talking between the part.

The English dub isn't insulting, as good as some native western game like God of War/Horizon, but The original language is the only real way to play, it's far better in Japanese.
 
Last edited:

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler

I'll double quote this to say: The first little bit applied to your post, but the rest was just stuff that I've wanted to type out about the game but never had a reason to before.

I *do* think being a remake that does it's own thing here and there really makes having played the original a double edged sword. It allows for some clever subversion going forward, but it's a tight rope line that some would say has already been well exceeded. And again, knowing the original in and out hurts the pacing, because you, the player, KNOWS all the relevant plot points as they originally occurred. This makes it super easy to think in terms of canon = main stuff, and additional or extended material = filler.

And I mean, opinions are just different eyes looking at the same unchanging thing, so I mean, that's valid for a portion of the player base. However, on the occasional sizzle reels I see from streamers on YouTube who went into it blind, they have no reference. To new players, the only thing they clearly pick out as "filler," or "padding," would be the (admittedly basic) sidequests.

Not trying to convert you to the church of Nomura or anything, but 2 out of 12 times someone gives me a different perspective that helps something click for me, so what the hey.
 

Chukhopops

Member
If you have to play an action-based FF, at least play Stranger of Paradise.

It’s not perfect (Nomura was involved so the story, writing and characters are wack) but the combat system is massively better than FF7R with an actual class system, proper feedback, a bit of depth and resource management.
 

SlimeGooGoo

Party Gooper
Feels like a shitty anime adaptation of a great manga, with shitty fillers and huge arbitrary ending changes (thankfully both FMA and Hellsing got a redo).

Maybe once their shitty sequel trilogy is done and gone, they can reuse the assets to make a real remake.
I agree, but the 2003 FMA anime was better than the manga

 

ergem

Member
I loved ff7 remake’s combat system. I was hoping ff16 would follow its footsteps.

But I’m open minded with what they did with ff16 combat.
 

Rickyiez

Member
I'm at the same boat with you OP . I bought and started it on PS4 , stopped at Chapter 8 . Started Intergrade again on PC with all the bell and whistle (120FPS , HDR) but still stopped at the Ghost Train chapter . I don't really get the hype , I wanted to love it badly due to the lovely visual and characters . BUT it's just so dull and everything is so lifeless it's like interacting with bunch of mannequin dolls .

Maybe I'm just old but nowadays I'm more emotionally attached to creatively written story like Sentinels 13
 

mxbison

Member
I enjoyed it overall but it's the absolute worst example of 'cinematic gameplay'.

Press a button -> cutscene of character pressing the button. Wtf....
 

NahaNago

Member
This reminds me I need to beat this game. I got to chapter 9 and stopped there. I was just not feeling the game. The level/ world design hasn't looked that great except for Aerith's home.
 
I love the original, really enjoyed the remake.

There are problems with the pacing, the sidequests are horrendous, and the very end of the game falls off hard with the last section leading up to the final boss fight and apparent story divergence.

If they can just stick to the original main plot points and avoid throwing in new dumb shit, that would be great. But I can’t help but worry they are going to royally fuck up a few key things all because they want to sUbVeRt ExPeCtAtIoNs. Guess we will see by this time next year.
 

WoJ

Member
I loved it. My 2021 game of the year (which is when I played it). I love the original and I loves this remake. Most of the complaints people have don't really bother me. I loved being able to explore Midgar more and get a better feel for what life was like in the slums. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
I enjoyed it overall but it's the absolute worst example of 'cinematic gameplay'.

Press a button -> cutscene of character pressing the button. Wtf....
During that part where you have to press the button at the same time in Reactor 5, I swear they talk for like 5 minutes about how to press the buttons. Then each successful button press they say something about it like “HELL YEAHHHH that was another successful button press, we nailed it, 2 button presses down and only one more to go!” Then after you succeed they break out into another cutscene and Tifa makes some cutesy remark about it.

In the original that part was just some quick, game-y little thing that was memorable because it gave you some short dungeon puzzle to do besides just fight enemies.

In Remake they even managed to turn that part into a bloated cutscene filled with inane yapping. The whole time I was like “ok I got it, stop talking, I got it, I press the buttons, OK shut up, BITCH SHUT UP YOURE SUPPOSED TO BE HURRYING, YOU KILLED LIKE 30 GUARDS ALREADY AND THE REST ARE COMING FOR YOU WHY ARE YOU STILL TALKING GOD DAMMIT”
 
It is not the same game, no. It very much has things to do with the original. I just mentioned a few of them.

Nothing against you. It was just a take that I have seen multiple times that doesn’t make sense to me.

Does it have to be 1:1 in your eyes to meet that criteria? Is this about not being turn based?

I am just curious how you come to the conclusion that it doesn’t have anything to do with the original.

One is a turnbased JRPG with prerendered backgrounds, with a big plot told with a quick pacing and to the point dialogue. The other is a restrictively linear action game that puts the plot behind lots of talking and endless sidestories that distract you with fetchquests. Not to mention the wholly alien elements like destiny ghosts. One has a rusty atmosphere with many mellow musical tracks, the other has a sleak looking world with lots of action and loud orchestra. One feels like a relatively restrained lighthearted adventure, the other like a Michael Bay Netflix show.

As I said, I don't even mean this as a bad thing. I enjoy this game for what it is - and it certainly helped that I didn't expect an actual remake to begin with. But it's hard to argue that these two games have much to do with each either. It's as if the Resident Evil 1 Remake actually wasn't the Resident Evil 1 Remake, but Resident Evil 5 instead. Ok, there's still Chris and Jill and monsters. And that's about it.
 
Last edited:

begotten

Member
I appreciate the creative direction they went with the Remake. I reckon It seriously would have been a waste of time if they went for a 1:1 remake of the original given how rich in content 7 already is compared to other entries which actually could have used the 1:1 remake more. No doubt it was clever also to use some of 7s plot devices like the lifestream and the Cetras' powers to actually conjure up a meaningful new story and take for the world of 7.

That aside, Remake is still an incredibly boring fucking game where I'm sure the next two entries will actually make this trilogy "must play" given gameplay improvements and not being suffocated by the shitty setting of Midgar.
 
Last edited:

Katajx

Gold Member
One is a turnbased JRPG with prerendered backgrounds, with a big plot told with a quick pacing and to the point dialogue. The other is a restrictively linear action game that puts the plot behind lots of talking and endless sidestories that distract you with fetchquests. Not to mention the wholly alien elements like destiny ghosts. One has a rusty atmosphere with many mellow musical tracks, the other has a sleak looking world with lots of action and loud orchestra. One feels like a relatively restrained lighthearted adventure, the other like a Michael Bay Netflix show.

As I said, I don't even mean this as a bad thing. I enjoy this game for what it is - and it certainly helped that I didn't expect an actual remake to begin with. But it's hard to argue that these two games have much to do with each either. It's as if the Resident Evil 1 Remake actually wasn't the Resident Evil 1 Remake, but Resident Evil 5 instead. Ok, there's still Chris and Jill and monsters. And that's about it.
First of all, thanks for clarifying some of your points. I think I understand your perspective a little more now.
Would you approach these games as a linear experience and not do the side stuff because you consider it fluff and not progressing the story? For example, chocobo racing, exploring more of the other character’s backstories, mini games, collecting summons,ultimate weapons, limit breaks,etc.

I think I see what you are getting at, but this is still Final Fantasy 7 and it has plenty to do with the original version. I think everyone agrees it has some divergences, but it varies greatly between person to person what is acceptable.
 

Kaachan

Member
Awesome boss battles, great combat system, fantastic music and they filled in all the gaps for the set pieces and extended story pieces. It's a 10/10 game if it wasn't because of all the Nomura bullshit aka all the Sephiroth shoveling, Whispers and the worst of if it; the ending. Alternative timelines/destiny breaking is seriously horrendous and screams poor writing. The original story had structure and told an amazing story about loss, grief, revenge that was completed with a proper conclusion that unfolds exceptionally. The new story throws all that away

Such a shame. Nomura should stick to his Kingdom Hearts teenage writing instead of destroying what could otherwise be a perfection of a game. I don't have any hope left for the remaining parts but I do look forward to seeing what old locations and set pieces they'll include and of course the amazing music
 
Last edited:

TMLT

Member
I liked it overall and thought it did several things better than the original but the amount of filler and the absolutely exhausting last few hours drags it down a fair bit.
 

Mung

Member
One of my favourite games of all time. Wish I could play it again for the first time. Can't wait for Rebirth!
 

Astral Dog

Member
its a very charming game with areas of improvment , alot of the enjoyment you will get out of this one depends on how much you like the characters.

Combat is ok but could be even better, Art is awesome(but the technical side lacked polish on PS4), pacing has issues, music is fine,sidequests are annoying, bosses are the highlight.

Its a good first step, the sequel should be much improved, and i think its going to be a classic once the trilogy is complete
 
Last edited:

saintjules

Member
The biggest issue the title. Calling it a remake feels like a weird marketing decision, as it’s more of a franchise reboot, and there was no intention to do a 1x1 remake like we’ve seen with other games recently.

That’s the next title is rebirth and not remake part 2. They’ve broken the narrative and can do whatever they want with the best title.

I’m willing to wager more diehard fans would have liked it more with a different title. But I don’t think it would’ve sold as well.

I think there's a reason why they named it the way they did (stamp)

 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
I'll double quote this to say: The first little bit applied to your post, but the rest was just stuff that I've wanted to type out about the game but never had a reason to before.

I *do* think being a remake that does it's own thing here and there really makes having played the original a double edged sword. It allows for some clever subversion going forward, but it's a tight rope line that some would say has already been well exceeded. And again, knowing the original in and out hurts the pacing, because you, the player, KNOWS all the relevant plot points as they originally occurred. This makes it super easy to think in terms of canon = main stuff, and additional or extended material = filler.

And I mean, opinions are just different eyes looking at the same unchanging thing, so I mean, that's valid for a portion of the player base. However, on the occasional sizzle reels I see from streamers on YouTube who went into it blind, they have no reference. To new players, the only thing they clearly pick out as "filler," or "padding," would be the (admittedly basic) sidequests.

Not trying to convert you to the church of Nomura or anything, but 2 out of 12 times someone gives me a different perspective that helps something click for me, so what the hey.

I wasn't trying to be flippant, I just thought it was funny that our conversation spurned such a long rant :D
 

Arsic

Member
That's just it. If 'finding kittens' was rubbing you wrong, there's no way you did the sidequests in the original. There were waaay more of them, and they were mostly WAAAAY worse lol

The sidequests in this remake were very much in the spirit of the original, albeit far far less in quantity

?????????
https://jegged.com/Games/Final-Fantasy-VII/Side-Quests/

Nothing in this quick glimpse jogs my memory to be on the level of killing rats, scanning enemies, or collecting kitties.

Original FF7 side quests are leagues above remake, and again, reward the player for finding these things . It isn’t just a ! Above a head then go to ? to complete.

I don’t see how this is even a point of contention. You can like remake all you want, but nut hugging the side quests as being on par with the original is a weird hill to die on.
 

TheAssist

Member
I'm tired of arguing about the game. Some people love it, some hate. Most have absolutely no clue how to formulate an opinion without shitting on the work or opinion of other people (just look at some of the responses in here) . But thats just the internet for you.

Personally, I love it. It has some flaws like the pacing in certain areas and weak side quests. But it makes up for it with its great gameplay, fantastic music, stellar presentation and by god those characters. I love most of the things they have added to them, including all the VA's (except for that one, you know which one).
I even like the ending and what it entails. It was one of the greatest gaming experiences for me in recent memory. And the whole process from first announcement to actually playing it showed me having a positive mindset is just so much more rewarding than being a constant cynic. It really did something to my way of thinking, just like the original did way back when.

I have played through it 3 times so far and I am just waiting for things to slow down on my end and finally get the time to play through it again.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Awesome boss battles, great combat system, fantastic music and they filled in all the gaps for the set pieces and extended story pieces. It's a 10/10 game if it wasn't because of all the Nomura bullshit aka all the Sephiroth shoveling, Whispers and the worst of if it; the ending. Alternative timelines/destiny breaking is seriously horrendous and screams poor writing. The original story had structure and told an amazing story about loss, grief, revenge that was completed with a proper conclusion that unfolds exceptionally. The new story throws all that away

Such a shame. Nomura should stick to his Kingdom Hearts teenage writing instead of destroying what could otherwise be a perfection of a game. I don't have any hope left for the remaining parts but I do look forward to seeing what old locations and set pieces they'll include and of course the amazing music
You’re in luck, because Nomura is lead designer for Kingdom Hearts 4 - just like you wished for
 

Thabass

Member
Some random thoughts I'll put out:

  • The combat system is the best combat FF has had since probably FFX. You're crazy if you think otherwise.
  • The Remake characters are superior to their OG counterparts. They're better written and have even more chemistry with each other. Barrett is a far more interesting character in Remake, and that absolutely nailed the balance between Cloud being a badass and an awkward dork.
  • The soundtrack was an absolute banger.
  • Sephiroth is only overexposed if you don't fully understand what's going on with the story. Given what's going on, his place in the Remake's story makes perfect sense and there's nothing wrong with it.
  • The added depth to the Avalanche characters was a welcome addition.
  • Level design wasn't great I'll give you that. Linearity is a dumbfuck argument since old school FF games were always linear, the Open World just gave you the illusion that it wasn't.
  • The ending was bold and sets up a far more interesting premise than a 1:1 Remake where you know everything that's going to happen. These devs were not going to spend a decade of their professional career telling the same story all over again.
It's the best since FFX-2. Yeah, I said it.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
Ok, on chapter 6 on PS5. My previous two attempts were on PS4 Pro.

I am having a lot of fun. I think my long time away from the game really helped. Feels new again in some ways, and the 60 fps is definitely helping and easy on the eyes. Looking forward to finishing it this time.
 
Last edited:

Batiman

Banned
Probably the only trilogy I won’t enjoy but will continue through it. Usually when I’m not enjoying a game I just drop it quick. But for this I sort of forced myself through it to see how it compares to the original. Nostalgia is strong.

It did look nice and some of the boss battles were intense. Everything else was boring
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom