Re: Can You Play Final Fantasy 7 Remake On Pc
Mathilda Gibby
On July 4 just over 25 years ago, I rode a float in a parade, stuffed myself at an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, splashed in the local pool, and played in the woods ahead of our town's fireworks extravaganza. That evening, at a friend's sleepover, 11-year-old me took turns playing Final Fantasy 7 with five of my friends.
Like many, many other gamers, Final Fantasy 7 would become one of my favorites of all time. It almost single-handedly popularized its style of roleplaying games outside Japan and set a new standard for cinematic storytelling. It was an event in gaming history.
In 2020, Final Fantasy 7 Remake carried forward that pioneering legacy. Most fans assumed it would faithfully retread old ground. But publisher Square Enix flipped the game on its head. Turns out it was not a remake at all; it's a sequel that expanded the original's five-hour opening Midgar section into a 40-hour epic with brand-new combat, fleshed-out characters, and a fully realized, bustling city.
2020's Remake ended on a cliffhanger that opened the trilogy up to deviate from the original storyline. Rebirth's fresh twists are an absolute delight, but its formulaic open world design hampers its momentum.
That's not to say the open world is bad. It makes narrative sense after the party leaves the claustrophobic confines of Midgar. But it doesn't rise much above the Ubisoft checklist quests that felt stale a decade ago. There are diamonds in that rough (I encourage you to pursue the Protorelic in Junon), but you have to sift through hours of filler to get to the good stuff.
The remake trilogy's greatest strength is how it manages to further develop characters that have been established for over two decades. I didn't think it was possible to appreciate them more, but Rebirth deepened my attachment to the original cast. Yuffie has quickly become a new favorite; Red XIII and Cait Sith are both fantastically reimagined. And Cloud. Sweet, moody Cloud. He's as dreamy and tortured as ever.
Rebirth particularly excels at evolving a believable group dynamic, now that all the party members have joined the fray (although Cid and Vincent aren't playable yet). Gorgeous cutscenes and incidental banter add up to a compelling story of how this fantastically random crew of people (plus a lion-dog and a robot cat) could band together to save the world. It's really quite touching how much everyone grows to care about each other; Aerith and Tifa forge an especially strong connection.
Relationships are even built into gameplay mechanics. When you complete character-focused side-quests or pick certain timed dialogue options, Cloud improves his Bonds of Friendship with a party member. This emphasis also extends to the excellent combat, with new, flashy Synergy Abilities that encourage you to try out each character combination. Eventually, your Bonds pay out unique scenes (dates, essentially) that you'll get treated to at a few points in the story, which are a real joy.
After hours of bland exploration, I walked into the inn at Under Junon and the track "On Our Way" came on. I went from room to room, chatting with my lovable party members, studying their expressions and dialogue with fascination. I smiled. I teared up. I felt like a kid again, and I was discovering my new favorite game.
I just want to say: keep on keeping on, Square Enix. I see how impossible it's been to please everyone. Final Fantasy 13 was too linear, so you opened Final Fantasy 15 up to mixed results. Then you tried to steer the series further towards action with Final Fantasy 16 and it didn't go over well with many fans.
I'm not sure what you're cooking up for the last installment in the remake trilogy, but I'm betting you'll make me weep for joy in between groans of frustration at tedious gameplay. Whatever it looks like, and whatever it's called (I'd suggest "Final Fantasy 7 Refinance"), I'll be playing it.
I've never played a Final Fantasy game before. There's no nostalgia here for me. I don't have fond memories of staying up until 2 AM to beat the game. I'm not familiar with its characters or have any sort of emotional attachment to them. So why did I get chills at the beginning of Final Fantasy VII Remake? Simply because I realized I was playing a piece of history.
Final Fantasy VII is one of the most beloved video games ever created. While I may not have played it before, I'd definitely heard of it. It was impossible not to. The original cemented itself in pop culture forever, especially if you were a young anime/manga fan. The entire time I've been playing the remake I've been in awe of its scope and also disappointed in myself for not playing the original sooner. It's like I missed out on an important cultural milestone that everyone else had experienced. It can feel a little alienating.
Regardless of whether the original's graphics hold up, you can still appreciate how revolutionary it was for its time. And if Square Enix has its way, Final Fantasy VII Remake will go down as one of the most ambitious and successful remakes of all time.
When I'd heard that Square Enix wasn't releasing the full game all at once, I was skeptical. Now I completely understand why the company made this decision. The breadth of it would have been unprecedented, and I'm not entirely sure possible on current-gen consoles.
What I have played I've really enjoyed. So much so that it's like I'm back in middle school and high school during my anime phase (I say as if my anime phase ever left). I can only imagine that playing this would have been formative for me ten years ago when I was avidly reading manga and watching just about any anime I could torrent online. I may or may not have tried to make Ichigo's bankai from Bleach out of a metal yardstick at one point, so just picture that but with the Buster sword. As I'm writing this I've already looked up "Final Fantasy 7 AMV" on YouTube. There are some good ones... depending on your definition of the word.
For better or worse, I'm also not constantly comparing it to the original. Change is controversial, whether you're a purist or a fan who doesn't mind it. Because I don't have a point of reference, I have no idea how the Final Fantasy VII Remake differs from the initial release back in 1997. Are there new characters? Plot points? Gameplay sections? Were these alterations and additions made for the better? Possibly. But I can't say for certain. And that's okay.
When you imagine your favorite games from decades past, you tend to do so through rose-colored glasses. You think of an idealistic version of your experience, all of the good with none of the bad. That's what Final Fantasy VII Remake creates so well. Without ever playing the original, I can tell this is exactly how I'd imagine it because it's how I imagine all of the games I played as a kid.
It's easy to see why people fell in love with Final Fantasy VII to begin with. You don't need flashy cinematics to realize it has a ton of heart. Is the remake the best game ever made? Not in my opinion, though I can't fully judge since I'm only on chapter 8 out of 18 (and this is just part 1). There are plenty of games I've enjoyed more and liked far better, but that doesn't diminish its own achievements.
At the end of the day, the remake succeeded at making me want to play the original Final Fantasy VII from 1997 just to experience the magic for myself, because if this is what only one part of it's like, I can't imagine how mind-blowing that would have been to play over 20 years ago. And I think that's just about the best compliment you could give a remake.
The first part in a much larger story
I've had a lot of fun playing Final Fantasy VII, so much so that it was hard for me to put the controller down and write this. If you've never played the original for yourself, then I definitely recommend giving the remake a shot.
Jennifer Locke has been playing video games nearly her entire life. You can find her posting pictures of her dog and obsessing over PlayStation and Xbox, Star Wars, and other geeky things."}), " -0-9/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Jennifer LockeSocial Links NavigationGames Editor - PlayStation, Android, VRJennifer Locke has been playing video games nearly her entire life. You can find her posting pictures of her dog and obsessing over PlayStation and Xbox, Star Wars, and other geeky things.
Before this year's E3, I doubted Square Enix's ability to actually make good on its promises for Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The trailers seemed too polished, too beautiful to be something a studio could actually deliver; they promised an impossible dream, not a video game.
I was wrong. What I've seen and played of Final Fantasy 7 points to a remarkable design achievement; one that caters to long-term fans while ensuring that faithfulness doesn't get in the way of quality or playability.
As you've likely seen from the highly polished footage released thus far, Final Fantasy 7 Remake has a hybrid combat system - one that swaps frequently and fluidly between typical action game sword attacks, all delivered in real time, with the ATB system that will be familiar to any franchise veteran. While it's hard to make combat encounters flow as smoothly as those shown on the livestream, swapping between combat modes and playable characters is nonetheless both tactically rewarding and surprisingly intuitive.
Indeed, the hybrid system establishes a cadence that wasn't in the original game as you swap between its two modes, and is was absolutely the star of the playable demo. For one thing, it's easy to keep track of - personally I've always found Final Fantasy games a little fiddly and I've struggled to really get the knack of knowing when to get certain characters to perform certain actions. With the remake, however, your job is very simple from moment to moment; if you aren't committing an ATB charge to an ability, spell or item, you're hacking and slashing which, effectively, moderates the amount of time you need to spend thinking tactically.
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