Final Fantasy VII Remake

When I first read the term "AAAA game", I thought it was merely a marketing buzzword. I still do, largely. Compared to the decades of AAA releases we've seen, companies with hundreds or thousands of people working on every last detail for massively scoped projects, how can you claim your game is somehow above that echelon of quality? Such a distinction doesn't seem like it should exist.

And yet, it's been done. When I look back at my time with Final Fantasy VII Remake, it's just absolutely oozing with care and high production cost. They took a 50-hour JRPG, decided they were going to go above and beyond what was capable in 1997, chopped off the first 5ish hours, and expanded it into its own full-length game. And somehow, in doing so, it feels complete. No aspect of the story feels like padding here, no aspect of the environment feels out of place, and the pacing of the game is both consistent and never overstays its welcome on any given section. The characters feel real, with clear motivations and realistic and well-acted dialogue. There's a sense of camaraderie that develops that makes you genuinely care about your party and how they go about their goals. The guts of the old combat system have been ripped out and transplanted into one of real-time action combat to create a system that rivals some of the best I've played in a game. The soundtrack is a mix of both stellar remakes of old tracks and new ones that feel right at home, tracks that all get stuck in your head for weeks after finishing it. The absolute balls it takes to commit to the scope of this project is staggering and could not have been cheap. If we're talking about what a "AAAA game" looks like, this would be it. This sets the bar for all future remakes far, far higher than what is probably fair. This game shouldn't exist, and the fact that it does is a triumph.

I came into this game with no real experience with Final Fantasy 7, minus that moment that everyone knows. I did, however, come in with some knowledge of what to expect about this game's final act from back when everyone was first talking about it. It seems weird that knowing some spoilers improves the narrative, but in this case, it gave me perspective on scenes throughout the game that I would have at least been slightly confused about as a first-timer. I know that the notion of deviating from the original does not sit well with some, but for me, I think what they've done here is rad as hell. This game does things that no other remake is really doing, and I think it makes the prospect of a sequel really exciting.

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Finally, a quick word on the DLC and the PC port of this that I played. I think Yuffie is very fun to play, with a cool mix of short and long range attacks. I like the changes to the combat here, and can't wait to see how co-op moves might work with a full party. That said, it's too short to be of much note past that. The PC port by all accounts is not great, but if you run it in DX11 mode it removes basically all of the stutters, and despite it using resolution scaling, running in 120fps feels smooth and rock solid. It's a hard sell for the premium asking price, but with a coupon or discount, it's closer to reasonable. It's fine, at least for me.

All in all, this game sold me so hard on this universe that I will buy a PS5 when they announce part 2, just because I don't want to wait two years to play it again. Despite the years and years of waiting we likely have ahead of us, I'm extremely jazzed about future instalments and will play the hell out of them whenever they may come.