My console of choice growing up was a Black slim PS2, but the first console our family ever owned was the PlayStation 1. This console was home to some of the greatest games of all time. Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Metal Gear Solid were all pioneers in their respective genres, with Metal Gear Solid in particular being seen as a revolution in the field of cinematic gaming. But it’s legacy is unmatched compared to the utter behemoth that is Final Fantasy 7. Everything was big for this game: the story is complex and bombastic, with political and religious allegory sprinkled throughout. The soundtrack, composed by Final Fantasy veteran Nobuo Uematsu encompasses several different genres and styles and does them all very well. The graphics, while dated now, were impressive for the time, especially getting the pre-rendered CGI cutscenes just right. The gameplay, while standard for Final Fantasy titles up to that point, added in just enough to stay interesting, with strategy and decision making very important factors for survival in this game. The game came on three discs, even! One was not enough to hold all that this game had to offer! The emotional power of the narrative sank its hooks in me. It made me root for this colorful cast of characters and made me genuinely invested in some subplots. And with the remake having been out for over a year, I felt it appropriate to write down my thoughts on the game as a whole, especially now that it’s on the PS5. The story in particular hit all the beats with the appropriate amount of “oomph” especially in the new voice cast, and it changed just enough to hook us all in in anticipation for Part 2 (eventually entitled Rebirth). So let’s get started because we’re going to be here a while! 

One of the big questions with this remake was how it would translate in terms of story and length, once it was revealed that it would be an episodic release. As I said when I nominated it for Game of the Year in 2020, this is a legitimate full 40 hour game, so that concern was immediately put to bed. The only concerns I had after that were regarding the gameplay and how the story would carry through with the graphics and new voice acting. Needless to say, this game impressed me!

From the outset, you can see and feel the polish that Square Enix put into this game, it looks gorgeous graphically! It looked great on the PS4 but thanks to the PS5’s increased processing power, the visuals take a jump in quality that I was really impressed by. Just look at some of these screenshots:

Again, Twitter cropping and compression doesn’t do this justice but trust me when I say, the graphics options added to the PS5 version of the game really do a lot to address the criticisms of the game not looking it’s best when the PS4 version was released. Performance mode makes the game run at 60 frames-per-second, and 1080p resolution, albeit upscaled to 4K. Graphics mode, as the name suggests, gives you better graphics (a 4K resolution), but reduces the framerate to 30 frames-per-second. In these situations where you have to choose either-or, I usually go for better graphics. I wanted to game in 4K, and now that I have the equipment to do it, I am going to get the most out of it! But all this is well and good, what about the story?

Set in the dystopian city of Midgar, the story sees you playing as Cloud Strife, a former member of the Shinra electric power company’s SOLDIER division. Cloud, now a mercenary, accepts a gig with the eco-terrorist group Avalanche, as they blow up a Mako reactor, Mako being the source of power for almost all of Midgar, and also the lifeblood of the Planet. From within Avalanche, you have our supporting characters. Tifa Lockhart, bartender and martial artist who solves her problems by punching and kicking, even if said “problems” are things you think you can’t beat by mere punching, like robots, automated weapons, that kind of thing! She’s very useful and can pile damage onto enemies quickly! She also has a sweetness about her that is incredibly endearing!

There’s also Barret Wallace, the man with the cool sunglasses and the machine gun for an arm, he also is great at dealing quick damage from a distance, which is effective at dealing with smaller, weaker enemies and bosses alike. Joining the party later is Aerith Gainsborough, a girl who we see selling flowers at the beginning of the game, who possesses an ethereal sense about her that is explained in the Remake, which I will not spoil for anyone, but for those of you who know the story, we know who she is!

Aerith is one of my favorite characters in this game. There’s almost a saccharine sweetness and wholesomeness about her. Charles Dickens pioneered the “absolute character”, a character that is the prototype of a good and pure characteristic, and I think Aerith fits that style very well. A good comparison I can make to Aerith is the character of Lucy Manette, from Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Both are extremely altruistic, almost to a fault, and they want to assist as many people as possible. But Aerith does have a little bit of sass to her, and she does swear a few times! Brianna White turns in a fantastic voice performance, bringing out not only that wholesomeness, but an optimism that is infectious. Tifa is also a standout character, not only for her fighting style and looks, but also her portrayal in terms of her voice. Britt Baron does an incredible job, bringing Tifa strength, but also sweetness, toughness, but also vulnerability around those she trusts, and I love that about her character! But for every good guy and gal in the story, there needs to be a bad guy!

Sephiroth is one of gaming’s most famous villains and for good reason. His rivalry with Cloud is the driving motivation for Cloud to work with Avalanche to save the Planet. A former member of SOLDIER and war hero, Sephiroth went insane while on mission with a young Cloud, and believes himself to be a prophet and a descendent of the so-called Ancients who wishes to bring his people to the Promised Land, which can only be achieved through the destruction of the planet. At least in the original game, this is what the overarching plot is. Sephiroth is a good villain because he torments the party at almost every turn, kind of like a Darth Vader type. He always seems to be stronger and a step ahead of Cloud, and he certainly is aware of that fact! He also possesses a kind of ethereal power and strength, that is revealed at various points in this game, and in others like Kingdom Hearts. These are only 2 characters, but in my mind, these two show the strengths of this narrative quite well. They might be “absolutes” in their development, but they are strong absolutes! There are some differences here in the narrative, and they begin to show themselves near the end…I won’t reveal too much except to say that I am very excited to see how Square executes Part 2 and 3 and if there’s more than 3!

As I stated at the beginning of this post, the strong narrative and characters (almost all of them, really) carried the original game for me, but now that the remake is out, the gameplay catches up to the narrative, in my opinion.

In the original game, the game was turn-based. Your party would take a turn, attack, use magic (called Materia in game) and build up a meter to use a special move called a Limit Break, an ultra powerful attack that can change the course of battle. Then the enemy would do the same, turning every encounter into a war of attrition. It definitely lagged behind in the gameplay department but the version that I played (the 2015 PS4 port) added some handy fixes, including God Mode, instant Limit Breaks and game speed adjustments. This mitigated the problems with the original somewhat but with this remake, it is no longer an issue. In fact, I would wager that it’s now a completely different game. Take a look at this, won’t you:

As you can probably see, this retains certain elements of the original combat, namely controlling other members of the party via the “Abilities” and “Spells” tabs, and the “Limit Breaks” have been graphically updated for more flash and flair. But this game resembles more of an Action RPG in the vein of Kingdom Hearts, with precise attacks and strategic spell usage key to your extended survival. Weapon upgrades also are present, with a Skyrim style upgrade system, adding weapon skills and additional Materia slots, if one so chooses:

Additionally, each character has different abilities that can be activated by pressing the Triangle button. For example, Cloud has 2 different “modes” of attack. Operator mode, the normal mode with quick movement, and Punisher mode, with slower movement but the ability to deal much more damage. These two modes can be swapped to at will, but each carries their own set of risks, so some strategy is required to be sure to know when to swap. Different characters and different weapons have their own special commands that are activated by pressing the triangle button, adding an extra layer of strategy to keep in mind over the course of each battle.

The music is, as usual, a standout. The original soundtrack is fantastic, and as I said at the beginning of this review, thanks to the absolute legend Nobuo Uematsu, it encompasses various different genres and moods. Here, they are updated in orchestration, but they still retain that epic feel, when appropriate. Nowhere is that more apparent than in “One Winged Angel”, Sephiroth’s boss theme and one of the most iconic pieces of music in all of video games. Uematsu stated in an interview that he was inspired by Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” to create a truly bombastic, destructive track. The original ran over 8 minutes, which is an impressive enough feat in itself, given the technological limitations. It also featured a choir and synthesized vocals, with lyrics appropriated from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Pretty highbrow and impressive stuff if you ask me! But the Remake takes it to another level, going well over the 10 minute mark, incorporating several different sections and motifs, including others found in the FF7 soundtrack. Other tracks found in the original PS1 game are remixed in different genre styles, and can be purchased and played in game whenever you find a jukebox, some taken from the 1997 FF7 jazz CD. The soundtrack really enhances the presentation of the game and is one of the most welcome changes to the game, in my opinion.

New to the PS5 version is a small expansion to the story called InterMISSION (aside: JRPGs do these weird things with their titles, giving them seemingly random words and capitalizations that I just don’t get) starring the ninja Yuffie, who longtime fans may recognize from the original game, as a party member after an optional sidequest. Here though, she gets the starring role, alongside a new character, Sonon, her mentor. They, along with other allies you meet in the game, are agents of Wutai, a sort of play on Japan. They work with AVALANCHE, and there are secondary references to the “Splinter Cell” (that is, the main party of Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, et al.) throughout the game. There are even brief scenes with Barret and Tifa sprinkled in there! It’s a nice introduction to the Yuffie we would get to know in Rebirth, and one that sets up her character in such a way that far surpasses her character in the original game.

Overall, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a love letter to one of the greatest games ever made, and a rare example of a remake done right. It hits all the original beats, and changes just enough to keep the story fresh, the gameplay has been refined and updated while retaining enough to keep the combat feeling fresh, but familiar, and the soundtrack and graphics push this game from good to great! The various PS5 upgrades do a lot to help here as well! It was an experience that was well worth the five or so years we had to wait and I can’t wait to see where the Remake series goes from here!

Update 7/2024: Hello me, from 3 years ago! And hello reader. What you have just read was written between March 2020 (majority of the first paragraph) and July of this year (second to last paragraph, starting in the third sentence plus some extension in the character section). I’ve had the bulk of it ready to go since about August of 2021, but I couldn’t finish the Yuffie DLC (InterMISSION), so I gave up on it and went back after I had finished Rebirth and FF7 and the Remake again. SO MUCH HAPPENED IN THE MEANTIME! I finished the DLC finally, so I’m publishing it as is, even though opinions have changed (for instance, Tifa is now my favorite character). I wanted to publish this to clear the backlog, but also to set up the Rebirth review I am currently working on. Rebirth is the kind of game you come out of retirement for, and I want to give it it’s proper place. Because, holy smokes, it went somewhere! See you when it’s done!