Final Fantasy 7 means a lot to me.
It launched at a time once I wanted a distraction. I’d by no means linked with a narrative in a video game earlier than and this weird story of alien gods and eco-terrorists grabbed me, for some cause. It additionally appeared wonderful on the time. I keep in mind my dad coming in my room simply to see the cutscenes – it was the primary game I’d owned that he took such an energetic curiosity in.
While nonetheless taking part in the primary disc, a random, actual life assault modified our lives eternally. Final Fantasy 7 helped me and my father reconnect within the aftermath.
I keep in mind hitting a wall – fairly actually a wall, within the type of that wall-bastard boss within the Temple of the Ancients. I simply couldn’t beat it. I went out sooner or later and got here residence to seek out my dad taking part in it. He’d been doing laps of the dungeon for hours, letting the clock palms knock him off earlier than making his method again up. Grinding it out. My characters had been much more highly effective and I used to be lastly in a position to beat the factor. He didn’t even try the boss as a result of he knew I wouldn’t wish to miss the story.
When I ultimately reached the tip of the game my TV died, simply as I obtained Sephiroth into his second part. I had been making an attempt to get this far all day. My dad went by the attic and located an previous monitor, hooked me up, and I completed the game on it.
I nonetheless get emotional once I hear the music as a result of it takes me again to that place in time. That a part of my childhood was principally terrible, however Final Fantasy 7’s music offers me a deep craving, reminding me of the fleeting good moments. Nostalgia is a robust factor.
That deep connection to a chunk of media complicates issues when making an attempt to take a look at Final Fantasy 7 Remake by an neutral lens. But from what I’ve performed up to now, it would simply reside as much as my excessive expectations.
At E3 I’m first proven a hands-off demo of the opening part, the bombing run on the mako reactor. Beat for beat, it’s precisely the identical as the unique. The dialogue is tweaked so it matches trendy requirements, however Cloud nonetheless dramatically flips from the highest of the steam practice like he’s the best prick alive, Jessie nonetheless roundhouse kicks a soldier in the very same method. Cloud stays a grumpy bastard and Barret continues to be a potty mouth. Modern efficiency seize methods deliver these moments to life like by no means earlier than. It seems like a correct, full, new Final Fantasy game, regardless of being such a trustworthy recreation.
After the brief opening we’re straight into fight which is now a hybrid system of real-time and command inputs. You smash enemies along with your buster sword manually, every faucet slicing into them, throwing them again or knocking them into the air. As you assault, you cost the ATB gauge which will be spent on magic (you additionally want MP for that) and skills corresponding to Braver. You additionally want ATB for merchandise use, so you’ll be able to’t simply purchase 99 megaelixirs and game it. When you do deliver up the command menu, it’s like basic Final Fantasy 7: time slows nearly to a pause, and you may flick by the menu to decide on an enter.
You can even swap between social gathering members, which is significant since you’ll want to take advantage of ATB gauges which are all charging at totally different paces. Not solely that, however Cloud can’t contact flying enemies simply, though Barret can along with his arm cannon. Then there are the nuances round magic use and enemy weaknesses. You can even maintain up your guard to cut back incoming harm, or manually dodge out of the way in which of huge assaults. It feels such as you’re taking part in because the characters we might solely ever see in cutscenes within the unique.
On prime of all this, there’s a brand new stagger mechanic that works equally to Final Fantasy 13’s. If you retain attacking enemies and utilizing their weaknesses in opposition to them, you finally fill the stagger meter, they’re incapacitated and opened up for additional harm for a restricted time. The technique right here comes from ensuring you’re totally stocked once they’re staggered so you’ll be able to take advantage of this window. Characters even have totally different assault modes: for Cloud, Operator Mode is his customary stance, whereas Punisher Mode slows him down, raises his sword into an attacking stance, and permits you to deal extra harm on the expense of motion velocity.
The structure of the mako reactor is nearly precisely as you keep in mind, besides there are additional items the place screens used to suit collectively, it now being one steady, seamless factor. As you progress round these areas, the motion transitions into cutscenes with no break, shifting easily out of them once more and placing you again into the motion.
Some of the dialogue is a bit hammy, nevertheless it looks as if an enormous enchancment from the unique, even when the unique textual content continues to be exudes a wierd attraction. At one level, Barret says, “While you sleep, while you eat, while you shit, it’s here sucking up Mako. I can hear the planet crying out in pain.”
“You really hear that?” Cloud replies.
“Yeah,” Barret solutions.
“Get help,” Cloud responds, deadpan.
Barret barges previous Cloud at each alternative. Cloud is a dick to everybody. I can’t wait to observe these characters develop past this hubris once more. Even in battle, their personalities conflict, with Barret saying, “That was something else,” at a battle’s climax, whereas Cloud responds, “That? That was nothing…”
In my hands-on, I obtained to tackle the Boss Scorpion. It’s a multi-layered battle, feels tactical, and is stuffed stuffed with spectacle. I truthfully don’t know the way Square Enix plans to maintain up this stage of high quality for everything of the 2 blu-ray discs. But the developer is aware of how a lot this game means to everybody – there’s a cause it’s taken this lengthy for them to cave and make the factor, in any case – and up to now it’s exceeded my excessive expectations, taking me again to these fleeting moments the place nothing else mattered.
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