#RagdollReviews: Final Fantasy 7 Remake
With the highly anticipated release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth coming out in under a month, this was the perfect time to sit back and explore the adventure from the first game. Final Fantasy 7 Remake released on PS4 in April 2020. It is the first installment in remaking the 1997 classic known by the same name. The game follows the main protagonist Cloud Strife, a former soldier turned mercenary, as he joins a small band of Avalanche members to fight the mega-corporation: Shinra Electric Power Company. While I am not new to the Final Fantasy franchise, I had never played the 1997 original. I loaded into the game for the first time with limited knowledge of the characters and no knowledge of the story. I was immediately invested in the game.
I was so immersed in the storytelling that I struggled to put the controller down. My curiosity was piqued by each of the characters and what they brought to the table. While most of the story was easy to follow, the parts that confused me the most often occurred during flashbacks/flashforward involving Sephiroth. The last two chapters also had me struggling as they dumped new information on me and then ended the game. This was probably due to me having not played the original game.
I found the gameplay fun and challenging. With combat being 90% of the game, it always felt fun. Enemies were always changing, which helped make the combat not feel repetitive and tedious. Each sidequest felt unique which led to me completing all of them. Every weapon had a special ability you could obtain, so I wasn’t using the same set of moves repeatedly. Finally, the map was mostly linear, which is a refreshing change from collectibles hunting on an open-world map.
The graphics were stunning. There were so many scenes that I just had to stop and stare. The amount of detail that went into making every little detail stand out is unbelievable, and they didn’t just stop with the characters. They made each weapon unique-looking not only when in the menu, but the character's weapon would change on the character model as well.
Overall, I was completely in love with this game. The story was amazing, the gameplay was challenging and fun, and the graphics were eye-burningly good. If asked, I definitely would recommend Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
