Final Fantasy VII Remake

Final Fantasy VII Remake is a reissue of the Japanese role-playing game Final Fantasy VII from 1997. Fans of the cult JRPG and newcomers unfamiliar with the series are in for an exciting adventure, lasting nearly a hundred hours, telling the story of Cloud Strife and the eco-terrorist group Avalanche, striving to stop the activities of the mega-corporation Shinra.

In an effort to convey the spirit and motives of the original, Square Enix took an unusual step by dividing the reincarnation into several separate, large-scale games, released at intervals of several years. Remake was the first, followed by Rebirth. Each release differed in conceptual and genre terms, introducing new elements and ideas, but the gameplay only improved after VII Remake, which featured an entirely new combat system.

Considering the scale and status of the original in the industry, Square Enix enlisted significant forces to work on the remake. It was made completely "from scratch," but with an eye on the original when creating locations and characters, preserving the style and memorable moments, whether key or silly. Behind the beautiful appearance of the remake, fans will easily recognize the source material.

In the spirit of the times, the Remake is not so much a JRPG as a single-player story blockbuster. In terms of gameplay, it's a third-person action game in real-time, with a tactical pause and switching between heroes, upgrading equipment and characters, and role-playing the heroes. The journey has also been reimagined: a level that used to be run through in a minute will now offer a fight or a puzzle to solve.

The main difference between the remake and the original is the use of modern 3D graphics technology and a meticulously created extensive game world. The game smoothly transitions from cutscenes to gameplay and back, creating a sense of a unified whole, largely due to the artistic direction of CGI elements and high-quality graphics.

Final Fantasy VII forms an extensive universe that the player systematically explores as they progress. It is a deeply meaningful dystopia about the totalitarianism of power, the despotism of science with a touch of magical fantasy.

The game's action takes place in an alternate reality, on the planet Gaia, which resembles Earth in its biomes and landscapes but has its own flora and fauna. The dominant species is a humanoid civilization with interspersed forms of life uncharacteristic of Earth.

This is explained by the existence of the Lifestream—a mythical flow of life energy flowing in the planet's depths. This living and intelligent substance influences all events on the planet; all beings originate from it and return to it after death.

The civilization of humans on Gaia developed similarly to ours but eventually learned to extract a special energy called Mako from the Lifestream, converting it into cheap and endless electricity. The Shinra company, the first to do this, eventually came to rule the world, and states fell under its technological might or regressed to the era of coal and steam.

Shinra absorbed the roles of government, court, and police, and is also the main employer and technological giant. She conducts unethical experiments, censors the media, and suppresses dissent, which does not prevent the development of human civilization, in all respects reminiscent of our reality.

In Final Fantasy VII, there were three continents; in the remake, the player will visit them all, but the action of the first episode takes place in the metropolis of Midgar and does not go beyond its borders. This is the headquarters of Shinra, literally grown out of the city: the poor and middle class live on the ground, while the rich and corporate employees live above them, in cyclopean skyscrapers.

Midgar is represented by dozens of locations of various shapes and sizes, but without an open world; even large levels resemble intestine-like corridors to fairly open, large levels. In the spirit of the classic, the remake is entirely linear, and before moving on, it's worth thoroughly searching everything and completing side quests. Therefore, the life simulation is simple, NPCs are static and create an atmosphere by saying a couple of phrases.

The city is divided into districts, each with a unique style: the center has a cyberpunk theme, with neon-lit buildings that seem to float, the middle class lives in familiar low and high-rise buildings, and the slums, as everywhere, are marked by total decay. This prevents monotony, and the linearity is hardly felt.

The remake has preserved one of the best plots among games of all time; the authors have carefully transferred the story of the original 1997 game, and the quality of the narrative meets all modern standards. Get ready to immerse yourself in a grand story, featuring not only the protagonist but also 3 main heroes and several antagonists, a multitude of secondary characters, not to mention a heap of NPCs with short quests.

Former Shinra SOLDIER 1st Class Cloud, by fate's will, becomes a mercenary and ends up among eco-terrorists, initially interested only in money for dirty work. But over time, the hero changes and finds his calling in saving the planet from Shinra. This is influenced by his acquaintance with the charismatic commando Barret, the sexy childhood friend Tifa, and the charming flower girl Aerith.

This story will have everything — love and betrayal, mutual aid and deceit, reflections on dubious ways of countering a corrupt state machine, and plenty of unexpected twists. But without the cynicism, cruelty, and overall drabness characteristic of modern games. On the contrary, the plot of Final Fantasy VII is a kind, memorable tale of friendship and unity, with characters you believe in and empathize with.

The scriptwriters have changed many details: they removed narrative errors, logical inconsistencies, replaced inappropriate lines and dialogues with new ones, significantly increased the number of phrases, lines, and dialogues, thoroughly worked on secondary characters, and reinterpreted aspects of the lore that always raised questions.

As in the original, the remake features three party members, with relationships developing throughout the game, but only two can be taken into battle. Each character is unique in their own way; for example, Cloud wields a sword well but also uses magic tricks, while Aerith is a typical support mage, avoiding direct combat but weakening enemies and strengthening friends. However, the leveling system is very flexible — Aerith can be turned into a battle mage, and Cloud into a healer.

Между персонажами в бою можно переключиться и отыграть ту или иную задачу, скажем метко пострелять или зайти в трудный ближний бой — ИИ напарников с этим плохо справляется. Удары, стрельба, блокирование атак заполняет шкалу ATB, которую можно потратить на специальные приемы, магические заклинания и применение микстур, лечащих/усиливающих персонажа. Тактическая пауза позволяет и просто командовать со-партийцами.

Экшен и система прокачки сделаны по современным стандартам, просты и понятны, каждый найдет свой стиль игры, но боевая часть глубокая. Так, враги реагируют на действия игрока и могут законтрить применение способности. Он же может их оглушить либо нанести критический урон, зная уязвимость к типу атаки.

Битвы с боссами сложные, разделены на несколько фаз и чем дальше — тем злее и опаснее становится враг, а игроку приходится менять тактику действий. Бездумно лупить не получится — нужно знать уязвимые точки, использовать спецспособности и магию.