Final Fantasy VII Remake Review - Very Fantastic Sweet Nostalgia!
After waiting for at least six years, finally the super
ambitious remake project from Square Enix is now in the grip. Final Fantasy
VII Remake is ready to make you feel nostalgic by diving into the new Midgar
that is far more charming. Certainly not made in a single day and night, Final
Fantasy poured through the sweat and tears of talented talented people behind
Square Enix. We have to admit that the hard work paid far above expectations.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is like a masterpiece carved by
artists with great care, compassion, and extra sacrifice. We were lucky to get
the chance to taste this game thanks to Sony Interactive Entertainment and
Square Enix. Of course you have also seen a little picture of how cool this
remake project is. it has now arrived for us to provide a review of Final Fantasy VII Remake, which of course remains without spoilers.
Story
Just like the original version that was launched 23 years
ago, Final Fantasy VII Remake has a storyline that is still similar, only now
with a much clearer portion. Midgar is a giant futuristic city controlled by
Shinra - a giant company that dominates and controls Midgar. As a giant
corporation, Shinra dredges the essence of the planet from Midgar to get energy
called Mako.
You will still accompany the journey of the figure of
Cloud Strife, a former SOLDIER military officer who was once under the auspices
of the Shinra flag. Now he became a mercenary hired by a rebellion force named
Avalanche. Avalanche itself is a group of rebels who oppose Shinra's actions
which are considered damaging the planet they live in.
As expected, this effort against Shinra was extremely
difficult and almost impossible. Moreover Shinra has a variety of first-class
military troops who are ready to eliminate anyone who gets in the way. Together
with Avalanche, Cloud got to know his new colleagues and met Tifa, who was none
other than his childhood friend.
Initially Cloud only followed Avalanche's wishes for
money and his new reputation as a mercenary. But as time went on and the
experience he went through, he felt that his ties with Avalanche and his new
friends were getting stronger and he realized to do "more". Besides,
Cloud and Avalanche know that Shinra has ambitions that are far more terrible
than what was ever imagined.
During the life and death conflict that is being faced,
the Cloud must also be faced with problems that hit itself. Where is the figure
of a war hero he once idolized - Sephiroth always appears in his head and says
things that are difficult to understand. Besides the mysterious abstract-shaped
entities also began to show themselves to Cloud and his friends.
Final Fantasy VII Remake will present a story that
follows the original plot with additional spices that make it more colorful and
"make sense". For those of you who want to reminisce about the story
by bringing a far more interactive and in-depth story, then this remake is the
answer!
More Immersive, More Impressive!
Extraordinary appreciation is deserved for Square Enix,
the old story that is presented now feels far more coherent and deep to be
enjoyed. The limitations of the mechanism and visuals in the previous version
of the PlayStation One, have now been updated with very neat and create a more
immersive and impressive experience. Through Final Fantasy VII Remake, you will
be invited to dive deeper into the story, characters, and settings themselves.
The characters now have a redesign that looks much more
amazing, Tifa, Aerith, Cloud, and others will now make the players feel at
home. In addition to design, they now also seem to have a deeper personality
with an increasingly strong emotional side. In the original version, to see the
personality certainly feels more vague, given the visual presented can not show
expressive facial expressions, not to mention the scene which is only wrapped
in silent dialogue.
But now everything is much clearer, you will see Tifa's
new personality, who looks friendly and cares about his surroundings. The
figure of Barret who is very temperamental but has a personal level of a father
who is very fond of his little daughter. Or even the quiet, non-sensitive,
sensitive figure, and sometimes annoys the players who play it.
All of the persona of the character now feels more real
and more interesting to observe. To further deepen it also shows the quality of
voice acting that persona. Both for the Japanese and English versions, both
have very neat qualities and fully support various emotions. Throughout the
game, we certainly recommend not just trying out one voice option.
Apart from the location itself, you will be taken to the
new and more immersive Midgar world. You will be shown how the
"supposed" Midgar, a giant city with separate sectors that describes
the social status and economic conditions of its people.
This time we ended up stunned, seeing various details
that were presented. We can see how the situation and condition of the people
in Midgar, starting from the elite class, to those who suffer below the poverty
line. Everything now looks more real, giving us a clear picture after looking
at situations that were previously drawn to be more vague and limited in the
PlayStation One era then.
Gameplay
In addition to visuals and character updates, one of the
most striking changes that is no less striking is the gameplay. Now everything
feels denser, more complete and fresh, Final Fantasy VII Remake offers an RPG
gameplay that feels very new and more revolutionary.
Discarding
turn-based classic gameplay, now Final Fantasy VII Remake feels more
action-oriented with the taste of hack n slash. The entire battle is now
running more intense and more interesting, you will now be direct attacking
action-packed. But even so, the game still presents a classic flavor by
inserting a command list base.
When the battle is going on, you can do a super slow
motion to determine what attacks or abilities you will do. In the middle of the
battle, you can also change the characters in the party with just one tap. Just
like the original series, the characters have their abilities and special moves.
But his invention is now shown to be more intense and neat.
Spell, ability, and special move systems are still
present and use the ATB system, where to launch an action, you must wait or
issue a standard attack to meet the ATB bar. The limit break is now back, too,
for those of you who are unfamiliar, it is the ultimate attack that can be
launched depending on how long you are in an intense phase of battle.
The stats of the characters can be increased through
leveling up, types of weapons, weapon upgrades, and attachment material. To
upgrade weapons, you must get the points obtained by increasing the level. The
weapon upgrade also serves to provide a play style for your character, whether
you want to attack offensively, defend with support, or be balanced. Of course,
from parties consisting of 1-3 people, each member will be more efficient when
giving their respective roles.
The potential of the characters for each role can be
maximized with material features that are now also returning. Material itself
is an attachment in the form of a solid ball that will give certain abilities
to each user. Starting from raising health, giving attack spells, giving
healing spells, and many others. Characters with long-range attacks for example
can be given material that is more inclined to support, as well as attacking,
can be given an appropriate attack spell cast attachment.
What's interesting about the most interesting, of course,
the presence of material summon. These special materials allow you to summon
special summon with fatal attacks that will help your fight. To summon, you
must first survive a certain amount of time from a battle. Usually to fight the
boss you will be "required" to summon the help of summon.
Even though you have a new gameplay with a strong hack n
slash aura, you still have to keep playing using strategy. Many enemies must be
subdued with special strategies, such as kroco and boss battles for example
which we will also discuss later. Each enemy has their weaknesses through
certain elements. To find these weaknesses you can use the abilities of Assess
material. If seen in general, enemies with the element of fire will be weak
against the element of ice, and vice versa.
Talking about the level of difficulty, Final Fantasy VII
Remake provides a difficulty level of classic, easy, normal (and hard, which is
unlocked after finishing the main story). To get a commensurate experience, we
will recommend you to play at the Normal difficulty level.
More interestingly, as an RPG game, you don't need to do grinding
here, because everything has been made as parallel as possible following the
story progress and the enemies that you face. So, to enjoy a challenge that
feels genuine worth, you must fight various enemies and bosses to follow the
storyline. Here grinding can be said to damage the game experience, in addition
to having to be faced with a decreased level of difficulty. To do grinding you
also have to load the place where the monsters are taking uploading time.
Boss Iconic Battle and Stay Challenging
One of the main attractions of Final Fantasy VII in the
past is the myriad of interesting boss battles encountered. The original boss
battle series, now present and ready to provide a more tense challenge. If you
play in the normal plus difficulty level without grinding. Then the boss
battles that are there will be ready to give you quite challenging challenges,
many of which require quite a long time to be subdued.
Of course, here every boss battle has cool and terrible
abilities respectively, which of course also comes with certain weaknesses. It
takes a special strategy and a solid party combination to defeat each boss.
Always prepare adequate material and items before facing the boss, don't forget
to give the appropriate role so that the strategy can run more effectively.
Destroying certain body parts or parts is one important
key in defeating large-sized bosses. This method is more effective to make them
stagger without having to be more troublesome. For bosses on a human scale, of
course it will also provide more different challenges. Where they have a faster
attack with a hitbox that is less. All the bosses present were truly able to
raise challenges that would give satisfaction when successfully subdued.
With a variety of new gameplay available, Final Fantasy
VII Remake feels revolutionary as an RPG game. The combination reminds us of
the combination of original Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XV, and Final
Fantasy Crisis Core. All of these combinations look very solid and cooler than
what is imagined.
Semi-open
Looking at screenshots and gameplay that have been
circulating, you might wonder, is Final Fantasy VII Remake an open-world game?
The answer is no, as Square Enix has previously emphasized, Final Fantasy VII
Remake does not carry the concept of the open world. But that does not mean
this is a linear game, Final Fantasy VII Remake still has a world that can be
explored.
Carrying the concept of per-chapter, each chapter,
sometimes you will be taken to a different location setting. Many of them offer
an open side of the world that can be explored freely. Not as big as the
expected portion, of course, but each world which is called a sector has its
uniqueness and is certainly always interesting to explore.
Has a Myriad of Extra Attraction
All the remodeling that was presented by Final Fantasy
VII Remake feels very fresh. Many old things are re-designed in today's
packaging. Angry, sad, happy, and laughing can create emotions that become one.
For those of you who have played the original version, guaranteed this time you
will find a variety of extra surprises and updates that look more interesting.
In addition to playing missions, there are a myriad of
side missions that you can complete in certain chapters. And it must be
recognized also that the side mission appears so attractive and more
interactive. Everything feels interesting to follow with each unique story.
Some of them even offer a portion of humor that is guaranteed to shake your
stomach.
In addition to the side mission, the Final Fantasy VII Remake
world also provides an interesting mini-game in it to relieve boredom. Many of
these mini-games feel fun and have an entertaining sense of humor. In addition
to temporarily releasing fatigue, some of these mini-games also offer
attractive rewards.
Stunning New Visuals
Presentations are in a modern console format, so visual
presentations are much better for him too. Square Enix can present it very
nicely into Final Fantasy VII Remake. Through Unreal Engine Songkongan, we
think Square Enix can pump it to the maximum level, especially for PlayStation
4 which is now at the end of its age.
The visuals presented are truly amazing, you will be
brought into the new Midgar world which is far more impressive. Something that
was once only seen with low pixel visualization with a limited number of
polygons, is now presented with visualizations that spoil the eyes. Through
this livelier visualization, we can see a variety of very detailed environments.
A densely populated city in a sector with rapid
development, for example, will show an accurate modern world. Likewise, slum
sectors for lower-class social strata, will it be shown a simple life complete
with a more seedy visual perspective that supports. Various aspects such as
texture, shadow, fog, reflection, lighting, etc. can present an immersive
visual session.
In addition to the environment, visual quality also makes
all the characters look more attractive as we explained before. The expressions
of each character are now able to be detailed and clear, able to describe the
emotional situation they feel, and of course we end up feeling as well as a
player. Something that has not been presented optimally in the original version.
Gaming Movie Experience
As we explained before, Final Fantasy VII Remake has a
very charming visual quality. Through this visual quality, they succeeded in
presenting the experience of playing video games with the sensation of watching
a film. Many emotional cuts and action-packed emotional are served as a film.
For those of you who have watched Final Fantasy VII:
Advent Children, of course see how cool the visuals and intense actions are
presented. Super-fast sword battles, acrobatic actions, explosions, and battle
effects mesmerize him look spectacular. And in Final Fantasy VII Remake this
time, Square Enix also presents something similar and the same epic.
Even crazier, 90% of them are rendered cutscene, meaning
that the cutscene presented is not in the form of video, but rendering directly
from the game's visual engine itself. Something that we think looks neat and
full of precision to be created.
In addition to the cutscene, the battle also looks very
cool, some of them even show a direct battle with a cinematic dressing in the
style of a cutscene. The fight against the boss battle will usually trigger at
certain moments and will show a direct action that looks more cinematic and
cool.
Cool Soundtracks
The news was both shocking and encouraging, when he heard
the legendary composer - Nobuo Uematsu returning in this ambitious remake this
time. We know that it was his reliable hands who previously created a myriad of
memorable soundtracks in the original version of Final Fantasy VII.
In the midi format that is limited to PlayStation One, he
is still able to create a myriad of soundtracks that continue to be known to
this day. And through this remake he was once again able to show his capacity,
Final Fantasy VII Remake can appear with a row of cool soundtracks that are
ready to pamper your ears all.
Various scenes can be wrapped with a soundtrack that
feels very fitting and strong. Tense moments against boss battles for example,
will be wrapped with epic music that is ready to make your adrenaline pumping
fast. Emotional scenes will be wrapped with music that reinforces the emotions
of the characters who are intertwined. Likewise, various "dime"
scenes will also be wrapped with music that feels more "fun". All
soundtracks feel very appropriate.
Interestingly again, to give the impression of a deeper
nostalgia, many soundtracks which have a touch of old typical version. It's
just performed with a variety of more modern instruments. Surely this will give
you a sweeter sensation of nostalgia while you see Midgar's more enchanting new
world.
Conclusion
Through his years of hard work, Square Enix was finally
able to present a masterpiece of remake that far exceeded expectations. The
myriad of evolution presented looks epic, bringing your experience in a deep
nostalgic hole that feels fantastic and unforgettable.
We now understand very well why Final Fantasy VII Remake
will be divided into two or even three parts like the original series.
Everything that Square Enix has worked on this time feels very detailed and
full of struggle. Throughout the game you will be confronted with nostalgic
aspects in a format that feels immersive and impressive. From the gameplay
itself, Final Fantasy VII Remake offers a lot of revolutionary things in it.
Making it the solution if it applies a new high-class RPG standard that could
be the new foundation of other RPG games in the future.
To be honest, we are very difficult to find the
shortcomings of this remake, all of which look stunning and far from what we
imagined before. Final Fantasy VII Remake is the right answer for you old
gamers who are looking for fantastic nostalgia and also for those of you who
haven't had a chance to taste the original version. There is nothing we can add
anymore besides recommending you to try this masterpiece yourself. Welcome back
sweet memory in Final Fantasy VII Remake!