My 10 year old walks in as I'm watching this video. Him: "What game is that? Final Fantasy? 7?" Me: "Yeah, it's VII Remake." Him: "Remake? What was wrong with 7?"
As a game and just a game. its good and not great just as you say Derek. But I will always elevate what a Final Fantasy 7 remake is suppose to be over "just a game". It is incredibly important as its modernizing the most celebrated RPG of all time. The developers had a responsibility to stow their desires to make a game that they wanted to essentially restore a piece of actual history in video games to meet the presentational standards of modern day. And they just couldnt discipline themselves. Its on full display how selfish they got creatively and I wont ever forgive the team for that. This game absolutely needed to be a fully respected adaption. Not a toybox for the writers fanfiction. And while I normally look at things at various perspectives to walk away respecting unusual choices made. This is a case where I just cant and never will.
I completely agree. I think it's important to judge each game on it's own merits, but in the case of a remake it just doesn't work that way. Comparisons to the original are not only inevitable, but completely necessary to even justify the reason for remaking the game in the first place. They took a delicious strawberry cake recipe and rather than following it, they added pickles, ketchup, chocolate, BBQ sauce and apple slices (and removed the strawberries), all while saying "it's still the same strawberry cake, we've just expanded upon the original recipe!" I think calling the developers "selfish" is the perfect word to describe it. Square Enix wanted a FFVII Remake for $$$, and the dev team wanted to do their own thing and make their own original game, simple as that. It's the Lufia II Remake on DS all over again (except in that scenario, the game sold poorly because Lufia fans refused to buy it).
Oh you're absolutely right, fans do deserve a great remake. I think there are basically two different ways to evaluate the game: Either at face value, or given the full context. And as someone who didn't have a chocobo in the race, as some have put it, I think I'm best equipped to handle the former. :)
I'm not quite there, but I think what their creativity told them they needed to get out there was lame as shit, so they should've tried something different. People fought destiny enough in kingdom hearts.
@@mopeybloke It's simply a case of an incompetent dev team being back by an incompetent company. Final Fantasy's biggest failing in recent years has been a lack of talented developers working on the games mixed with heavy doses of mismanagement. I really wish that they would bring in some of the Dragon Quest XI dev team or the Bravely Default director to make Final Fantasy XVI, as they're clearly much more proficient, creative, and talented at making RPGs than the guys currently working on FF. Hell, I'd even accept Yoshi P of Final Fantasy XIV fame making the next game, he's already done a good job of turning a sinking ship around once before.
And your opinion is obviously above everyone, so if you say that it's good and not great, that is the absolute truth. Very arrogant. You are entitled to your opinion(as everyone is), but I am pretty damn sure that you are in the minority thinking that this is merely a good game(7-8/10). And again, your opinion that this had to be a faithful adaptation is yours. The truth is that the same writer, character designer and directors of Og are working in this remake, it's their creation and their artistic vision, and just as any artist, they would not come back to work in the same project if they didn't have anything new to say
I my opinion your more than qualified for offer a unbiased opinion on the game there are people whom don’t hold the original to a god tier status of all games like myself being late to the game. The best things about remake are the VA and more importantly the music holy crap the music was done really well.
I love this game. Where it stumbles, as you've alluded to, was...a lot to consider, and it really challenged how I felt about the whole package. It took three playthrus for me to decide/realize overall, yes even with the stumbling (I know where and what you're referring towards) I honestly think I love this game. But its not perfect. The padding and filler needs to go by the next installment, and stretching out segments you can explore with excessive wall-hugging "squeezing past debris" bits got old. I liked your take on this game. I dont agree with a few things you opined and thats okay. Very nice video.
Yeah that's what made me quit playing it. Hated the stretched out parts that just seemed way too long and moving through debris . Just made me want to play the original more.
This is a work of art! I love how much you invest into the writing and presentation of the review. You and Happy Console Gamer are my favorite videogame channels. 🤗
"it's different and therefore it's bad" is the most frustrating mind set to listen to. I love the original. I love this remake. The fact that they are different means I still have two different games I can play if I want to experience FFVII again. If it was the EXACT same game but with PS4 graphics (what some people wanted) there would be no reason to go play the original. The fact that this is different doesn't invalidate the earlier experiences people had from the first game. I'm happy it's different. It certainly makes it way more exciting to play when I don't know exactly what is going to happen at every point and it makes the next installments much more exciting to look forward to and theorize about. I understand that some people wanted and expected a very particular experience but I just wish they were more open minded and willing to accept the game for what it is. As far as the ending goes - I'm not trying to change your mind but my opinion on the ending has evolved quite a bit after doing research and listening to more viewpoints and about what it means. Not sure how much digging you have done but there is a TON out there in terms of what that all meant. It's fascinating and has really risen my spirits in terms of both my opinion about this game and my excitement for the next installments. Great video!
BringBackMy90s there was not as ingle character that was out of character. They absolutely nailed aerith, tifa, cloud and they made characters like jessie and barret even better. The only difference is sephiroths being introduced earlier which makes sense since many people who played the remake without even touching the og ff7 was able to recognize who sephiroth was which renders any suspense and shock a slow burn reveal similar to what the OG had null.
@@kyzersoze8408 Respectfully disagree. Cloud in the real FF7 was always trying to stay out of conflict during the early stages, remember when he says (and I translate from German FF7, sorry) "I just wanna finish the job before the Guards or the Roboguards come and get out of here". He was rather shy and calm and timid, and not a crazy maniac flying around with Sephiroth or wiping out Robo-Armies. It was Barret who throughout the Midgar campaign enters every scene with "guns blazing", while shy Cloud preferred the quiet and stealthy approach. To overpower Cloud already in Reactor 1, let alone CD1, was a stupid idea and out of this character per definition. "sephiroths being introduced earlier which makes sense since many people who played the remake without even touching the og ff7 was able to recognize who sephiroth was". -That was already the case in the PSX game. Sephiroth was introduced right at the beginning, in the manual to raise awareness that a mystery surrounds a secret warrior, who may be encountered in the future. The anticipation of Sephiroth was already given in the Tifa/Cloud Nibelheim "promise" scene, as Clouds motivation to leave. There is no need to insert ridiculous and dumb action scenes with Sephirot anywhere on CD1. That is a "George Lucas kind" of Special Edition which does not improve anything. "They absolutely nailed aerith, tifa, cloud and they made characters like jessie and barret even better." I guess this shows us once again, that the so-called Remake is only for not-fans, who disliked the original characters for one reason or another, fine.
@@bringbackmy90s The arrogance of thinking that your opinion is the only valid opinion that a true fan can have. I am not gonna answer you to all, but there a lot that you are wrong. Cloud is still trying to be out of conflict. I mean he tells Wedge several times he doesn't care about the cause, he doesn't care about not going to reactor 5, also Cloud idea is to infiltrate Shinra HQ in a quiet and stealthy approach why Barret wants to enter guns blazing. I mean did you even play the game? All your first paragraph is wrong. All those things appear in the Remake explicitly(I can show you youtube videos if you want). So making characters like Barret, Marlene, the Avalanche trio infinitely better means that the devs hate the original characters...
I really struggle with the scaling of the NPC’s compared to any story character... they look designed for a different game and when you stand next to them it just gives me an unfinished feeling. Thanks for the honest review!
To be completely honest, I played approximately half of the game, largely enjoying the content, but with a few gripes, before I got spoiled on the major changes at the end. I was pretty upset, as I was one of the people who have for multiple decades wanted to see Final Fantasy VII get a definitive HD update. I still think the story of the first game stands extremely well alone, and making a really pretty version of it with corrected translations would have been amazing. I apologize if I offend by recommending another video here, but then I went and looked at the Easy Allies' Spoiler Mode video with Maximillion Dood. It is a two and a half hour long discussion about the game, and it dives very deep into the layers of interpretation of how the game plays out. After seeing that video, I was not nearly as upset at the way the game plays out. I would highly recommend it to anyone who had similar expectations to myself, or ended the game confused about what was going on. With that said, I am still quite angry with SquareEnix's methods of announcing and promoting the game. What they did borders on false advertising, which is a problem growing at an increasing rate these days as publishers try to squeeze every sale possible for their game. Had they given a decent idea of what the game was going to be, I would have still bought it, because I am a fan of the type of crazy stuff they did in it, and it would have properly tempered expectations of what we were going to get. Instead they went full force into acting like it was the remake everyone had been begging for since the PS3 tech demo showed off the opening cinematic in HD, and I think that is going to burn them on sales of the second game. It certainly has made me lose some respect for the company, just like Nintendo has with the way they advertised the new Paper Mario game, putting out screenshots and carefully cut videos to make old fans think it was returning to RPG roots when it is largely a puzzle game. I honestly feel bad for the people who worked insanely hard to make the game, getting more hate than they deserve, all because the people in charge misrepresented what they were selling.
Palpatine? Sort of? Wiping out all his nemesis in one swift stroke while taking over the galactic superpower the Jedi were building for over a millenia from the inside while effectively being the first Sith to rule the entire galaxy? Or Thanos? Although if the talk is restricted to video games or Final Fantasy then I have nothing more to say.
Some areas definitely drag on way too long and outstay their welcome. There are too many parts of the remake where it feels like it's just playing for time, going back intro the sewers for a second time just to help that Leslie guy out was a joke and not necessary. If it was trimmed down to a 20 hour game I think it would've been a better experience. I still think it's a good game, but it should've been great, it was let down by their desire to make a longer game than they had the material for.
@@Masertmaster PS4's fault? How come God of War and the Last of Us 2 didn't have half as much of this as FF7 then? I get they used it to disguise load times, but they could have reduced how often it's necessary with better optimisation and streaming tech. Blaming the PS4 is like saying any PS4 game with long load times is the PS4's fault, even though plenty of PS4 games have much shorter/less load times in comparison.
@@darrylrobson4376 yeah you're right can't blame the console alone SE has the shittiest map designers and everywhere you don't cramp crouch through you see the textures load in front of you I don't know man SE really needs to hire people with better vision in terms of map design all these cramped corridors to get from point A to point B gave me hard FF 13 PTSD(even though I love FF13 has hair map design) and it astounded me how similar the map roaming felt to FF13 LR and I can even say its kinda a downgrade from FF13 LR since it was much more fluid to get around and it does not even make sense FF 7 characters who can like jump 3 meters into heights but have to climb a 1 meter ladder in the slowest way possible. At this point I don't even believe the PS5 SSD will save part 2 since the devs are really not holding up this current technology. SE really need to improve their map designs
I’ll never pay full price for a 20 hour game. You might revisit some locations, but the character interactions, dialogue and context never becomes stale or repetitive. That’s the type of game I want. I don’t need a new location for every single mission.
A very fair and honest review, I think the best thing about the Remake is we just don't know whats going to happen now with the next few games, all expectation that it'll be a straight one to one retelling has been thrown out the window and everything is fair game at this point. If anything I feel that Remake will give that sense of the unknown and I can't wait to see how it all ends.
Thanks dude! They take a while longer to make these days since they tend to run a little longer, and the games I'm reviewing are getting longer, but reviews are still what my channel is about. :)
16:20 Im not going to lie I am guilty of having one of those self righteous opinions, the fact that they deviated from the story essentially has made me not want to even bother picking it up. I think you have changed my mind and made me feel differently with the way youve interpreted those changes. "A retelling, by a different story teller, someone that may have heard the story a little differently and remembers some parts more than others" The story of Final fantasy 7 will be retold for years, from one generation to the next. Ofcourse things will change and be retold differently over time. As did Beowulf, gilgamesh, and other mostly oral-traditions/legends. Great video as always man.
I don't have a problem with them changing stuff... The issue I had, is many of the things they changed, were stupid, and it made the game worse. Of course, all changes that made the game better, were welcome... and I really feel that people get out of hand with this. The idea that people, who criticize a handful of the changes, are these angry fans that want 100-percent faithful material, or not at all... I actually think most of us fall inbetween. Not saying anyone here is claiming that, and I enjoyed the review.
FF7 was never just a story to be retold or to be summarized just to be retold and to be lost in translation. It is not so much about the story, rather about the storytelling, the atmosphere, the style, the music, the visuals, the text, the pacing. If you change all of that, then there is no point in retelling FF7, which is more than the sum of the stage directions and the plot summary
@@bringbackmy90s I hear the argument that this is the same story and game (just better) all the time. The story is FF VII because of event A->B->C etc and Character 1, 2, 3 are in it but I would argue that the theme, tone, and presentation just as important. A story is more than just points but I lose every argument because it changes to "the journey is the same" or "but I do not care about that, it is still the same story" or "the characters are the best!". People did not want the OG or even similar. People wanted a sequel and after getting this remake it was just confirmed.
@@vincentgraymore yeah could not summerize it better! For them it is just going through a checklist of formal elements or places. Insert FF7 names and characters here and there, and they already go “oh it is so nostalgic“. How is it nostalgic, when it is nothing like it...
It's a story being retold by the friendly circus clown who knows that you already know the story so mixes it up and taunts you at moments in the story while more or less keeping it intact until the very end where he gloats at you and cooks up a bunch of nonsense that doesn't make any sense.
I think Nobuo Uematsu's score is a large part of the reason it was so emotionally investing as a teenager. Spot on about the ending being such a big problem with this game. Sure, for the most part it was pretty good, but the ending was so underwhelming that it reduces the quality of what came before it. Someone really needs to poke the writer in the ribs and tell them FF7 is not Kingdom Hearts. The more straight forward and honest the script is, the better.
Are you saying that FF7 Og script is straightforward? I mean, I love Og, but the story is a mess and convoluted, and it's one of the reasons why I love it. The script is as honest as it can be. It introduces the whispers in the first hour, the characterization is miles better than Og, the dialogue is great. And why is like Kingdom Hearts? Because there is a giant black figure at the end?(hello weapons in the Og are like this!!) Destiny and mechanisms of defense of the planet are topics from the Og and also re closely related to some of the compilation works.
Nothing wrong about growing up attached to different games, Derek. I think you had an interesting perspective for your review. I personally think the game is great, but I definitely recognize its flaws, too. I don't feel the same way you do about the ending, but I can understand why some people think the way that they do. I'm looking forward to seeing where this new FFVII series goes in the future. Glad you had fun with it!
Thanks a lot for the review Derek. Final Fantasy VII is my favorite game of all time. I don’t own a PS4 so I haven’t had a chance to play the remake. I highly enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the “retelling”.
Fantastic review Derek. I'm a huge fan of the original and I have to say that even though I'm not crazy about some of the changes they made to the story, I am honestly happy that they are trying to do something different with this remake. Personally I'm just happy that we get to see more of the universe of FFVII. The way they fleshed out the characters and all the small details made it to a really nice experience. Would I say it's a perfect game? Absolutely not. Is it a memorable experience that dares to try something new? Definitely, and I think this is the thing that made the original so good too. I'm really curious to see how they proceed in the next "chapter". Keep the great work up!
okay I have to ask, is there a sorting order at all to your games aside from platform? X-P edit: my OCD flared up from the close up of you pulling the game from the shelf :P
Derek, thank you for this thoughtful review. I do think that this is a great game, but obviously far from perfect. However, when you said you thought of it as a "reimagining" of the original overarching story, that is true in some aspect. But I have found that the directors took inspiration from other projects within the FF7 compilation such as Crisis Core, Before Crisis, Advent Children and even some of the books to reshape an overall worldview to fit the FF7 Remake into. In my opinion, FF7 remake is going to be the "compilation" of all derivative works of FF7, with the interlacing of different viewpoints from different areas of the FF7 World. All in all, that was a good review. By the way, since the last time I watched one of your videos, I could tell something was different about the way you were speaking. It could just be my imagination. Keep up the great work!
Just watched this video now in December 2022. Had to go back and watch the game collection. I miss these reviews. Really would like to see you go “back to basics”. Believe me, you can still grow your channel this way. There are lots of You Tubers who do awesome reviews (like you used to do) that have hundreds of thousands of subscribers and some in the millions. Drop that other stuff Super Derek. Big fan!
For about 6 months earlier this year I released only episodes of The Game Collection, and gained about 500 subscribers during that time with fewer views with each release. In the last 3 months I've been putting out weekly videos and have gained a few thousand. The reality is that people who have hundreds of thousands of subscribers gained those viewers when RUclips was less competitive. To grow on RUclips today requires constant content, unfortunately. My experience this year has made that abundantly clear. You may not realize it but asking me to focus only on The Game Collection is asking me to let my channel die, and I refuse to let that happen. New ep of The Game Collection comes out next Friday. :)
Great review Derek. Glad you got through it lol. I think the ending is such an interesting case study in big media pieces, because at this point we basically have confirmed that FF7R is literally a sequel. Gotta hand it to square for being ballsy at least. The idea that any story as big as FF7 could be marketed the way it was and then actually be a sequel, and then also be made purposefully unclear so that people would have to do the digging to find out that it was, in fact, a sequel... That's crazy! And I love it, but for me it was only after I understood what it was that I embraced it, but they still required you to do the digging. The post game community discussions that sussed out all these details truly ended up being what saved the game's story for me. We know now the advent children are the three whisper bosses at the end. I wonder if square would have been better off using Kadaj, Loz, and Wazoo's original likenesses from advent children instead of the kingdom hearts PTSD inducing whispers at the end. It seems like the following games are going to have Sephiroth try and convince cloud and the player that the events of the original game (perhaps a certain character's fate) can be changed, and Kitase also said the following games aren't going to deviate from the original game. SO, what that brings me back to is the fact that this game's ending was just never done in a way that was going to be clear, and with such a huge on its face deviation, so much, so fast, I think that it's not surprising the ending is so divisive. But like, it's weird. Because if they were going to do a sequel, I kind of like them doing it this way, if they end up following through in the following games: You effectively play a nearly entirely true recontextualization of the original while being bated by the story that it might be different (and ya, who the F knows what happens with Zack). It's just such a huge decision, and with the whole whisper end game stuff being a late addition apparently, I hope we don't end up looking back at it as a rushed decision that boxed the follow up FF7Rs into a story corner they couldn't get out of.
If they intended to make a weird sequel x reimagining of the original game, then they should have marketed it as such. Also, it makes very little sense for them to be taking plot points from Advent Children. That film is only popular because Kingdom Hearts fans love watching Cloud and Sephiroth fly through the sky at the end, and even those people admit that the plot is trash. I see this project as more of an excuse to say "let's do whatever we want and try to rationalize it while exploiting people's nostalgia for $$$" rather than a genuinely interesting case study on the nature of media. It just goes to show that you can give an incompetent dev team millions of dollars and have them create an incoherent mess, while you give a more talented dev team $100,000 and they can make a masterpiece.
What can I say other than that this is a solid video! I can always appreciate when people look at this sort of thing from a more balanced perspective because you're right... SO many people refuse to believe games like this can be anything other than a travesty or a perfect experience. It's a shame too, because it WON'T improve in the future if we're not honest and fair in our criticism of it. We'll just send the wrong messages and NOBODY will end up happy with future parts.
For me it comes down to this. While I enjoyed the Remake, I most likely won't ever play through it again. On the other hand, I'll play through the original many more times in my life.
It's like watching a modern film remake. You think "wow, they remade that movie? I'll go check it out!" You sit through two hours of crap and think "that wasn't anything like the original, and it wasn't even a good movie, either". Then, over time, the remake fades from your memory while you watch the original every couple of years.
What about the PSP remake. Even that is complete. This is just 20% of the game milked to death. Pretty graphics doesn't cut jack shit and we shouldn't wait for them to patch a released game. Fuck all that. Later they bitch about how not many copies were sold. Well no shit sherlock. When you make a full game for decent price and we can actually own it then people will start buying games again.
@@energyflow7564 PSP Remake? Are you talking about Crisis Core? That's not a remake, it's a prequel that follows Zack before FFVII begins. I agree, though, they should have made a complete game rather than padding out the prologue of the original. It's obvious that they didn't want another Versus XIII situation with the game being in development hell for a decade and losing them a lot of money, so they decided to split it into parts so that they could could make less assets and make more money on the final product. Let's assume that it'll be split in 3 parts at minimum, that's $180 that a single consumer is spending to get the complete the game (and even more is spent on DLC/collector's editions). If it's split into 4 or more parts, then there could genuinely be people out there that spend almost $1000 on the complete package (assuming they buy every single one of the overpriced collector's editions). Square Enix went with the laziest route that would make them the most money, and people applauded them for it. I really do hope that the game ends up being a financial flop for them, as its success would only mean that *this* is the future of Final Fantasy, and that's not a great prospect.
@@Jordan3DS It's been a while and I always remember a remaster-remake being released alongside Crisis Core and the movie. I remember playing it but can't find any info about it atm. Might as well be a fan made game. Speaking of fans, most time some random people make far better games then these actual devs on a payrole. It's pathetic...
I appreciated your opinion here. FF7 was definitely that game for me when I was a kid. Must have played through it 5 times back in the day haha. There's a sublety to the writting and world design that really captured my 10 year old imagination. Plus that music, wow. Anyways, you're totally right, it's unreasonable to expect the remake to have the same impact. Honestly, I remember even ff8 being a huge dissapointment when it was released. I was optimistic though because of how well the resident evil remakes turned out.
I'm a mega fan of final fantasy 7. It has a special place for me, but with that being said, I agree with your review. I love the remake, I'm excited for part 2 and I think that's the point. I waited 23 years for this remake and it was beautiful. It uses the storyline from the first disc to carry you forward, but broadened the world itself. I knew this wasnt going to be the complete first disc. I have to admit, I was nervous to continue playing it, because I was sad when it was over. That's what a good game is. I'm excited for more, my fandom is satisfied and expanded, and it felt fresh despite being the same story.
I'm a mega fan of FF7 too since 1997, and the only good thing about seeing the "remake" is that instead it makes me want to play FF7 on my Playstation again, although I have barely the time...
Fantastic review, Derek. Was really looking forward to this one. I think this was one of the first streams I tuned in for on your show, never really utilized twitch much before that. It’s me, Seto_Blade. In any case, I appreciated your insight and perspective on the remake. I didn’t realize you weren’t especially fond of the OG game. Understandable, given you had extensively played Legend of Dragoon and Chrono Cross prior to FF7, both of which are excellent ps1 RPGs. As for the ending of FF7 Remake part 1, I similarly felt very mixed about how they chose to end the game. For lack of a better description, it really did feel like they blew the climax for the entire Remake at part 1. It was way too premature. However, I will say that while my initial impression on how they chose to end part 1 and alter the story direction was negative/mixed, I’ve grown to be more optimistic about the implications of such a “meta-narrative”. In this way it can become a game that never tries to replace the OG game, but will serve to enhance that overall FF7 experience. This “new” story can be very exciting because it isn’t bound by any he old. Anyways, thanks for your awesome content, Derek! I look forward to tuning in to future streams. Peace brotha ✌️
I bought the game used, I wanted to play it but many people said it is not worth it, the whole game is like a demo and is not a complete game by any means and that I should wait for the "Full FFVII Remake" ... this made me play other games and renew but subscription to FFXIV. Would you recommend the game for someone who never played the original FFVII?
Wow, I didn't know you were a Glass Reflection fan as well! Also, great review as usual! I think it's definitely important to get a wide variety of perspectives regarding this remake, and there's plenty of people who have never played VII before or felt similarly to you, that may find themselves interested in this remake but want to avoid the (either intentional or unintentional) bias of some fans who hold it as such a monumental game for their childhood (nothing against that, of course; just that there can be bias there that may affect one's opinion). I'm a big fan of the original and I loved the remake, though I definitely see parts that weren't as great and the story's potential direction leaves much caution to be had IMO.
After all this time, your first Final Fantasy review. (unless I forgot something of course, Adventure doesn't count of course) I have not played this yet but I'm glad they are changing things up, even if sometimes for the worse as it makes for more interesting. I have no issue going back and playing the original if I want the OG experience. Well damn, I double spaced my comment and it still looks short.
I liked this game a lot, got me to finally squeeze some time to play the original for the first time and rekindled my love for Final Fantasy. Some things do drag a bit but even then I went ahead and platinum-ed the game and want to play it again, which is uncommon for me lately.
hey i played dragoon too, one of the most underrated gems of all time. But I also started with FF7 as many did. It was the game that got me into the genre. Nostalgia aside, it was and is still one of best games I've ever played if not the best still. As for the remake, I really don't believe they changed the main story or plan too as much as many want to believe. The remake I actually found to be one of the better games I've played since the original. The expansion of back story to certain characters and addition to more indepth character development for the members of avalanche was something we never got before and was one of the best additions to the remake. Jessie, I wasn't even 100% sure of her gender from the original because their blocky figures, but the remake, really brought these characters to life. The way they introduced them and how the story progresses, it really immerses you into their world and makes your feel for the characters in a way the original never did. In the next games, when we get to some of the more intense parts of the story, I think many people will really start seeing how amazing this game is going to be and why it needed to be done in parts.
I noticed Tales of Berseria in your game collection. Do ever plan on reviewing a tales game? As my all time favorite series and my preferred youtube channel, I'd love hear your take on some the series entries.
The ending is really good imo. Not on my first playthrough, but I've come to really appreciate it after thinking about it and after playing the original. This is easily my game of the year.
This review reflects my own thoughts on this game pretty well. "train graveyard was cute for 10 mins" "It was good until it wasn't" "It was only good, not great". I've always worked under the mindset of FF7 R should be able to stand on it's own without any piece of ff7 media, and unfortunately it doesn't. For new players the ending must be so out of nowhere and silly......and for veterans the ending is so out of no where and more silly. I also didn't like the game ending on the most unearned, fan servicy final boss
I like the notion that this is technically a sequel based on certain characters knowing more than they should. I'm excited to see where it goes. Also, whats that big game on the shelf to the right of Lunar 2?
I’m speechless, that was a damn good review. Personally, I am satisfied. Without going into detail, I’m just happy people can enjoy and talk about RPGs
That was a very helpful and enjoyable video. I appreciate your measured critique. I may have to eventually give this game a try. FF7 was the first game of the series I played ad i really enjoyed i back in he day.
Great review, Derek! I would love to hear your thoughts on other Final Fantasy games at some point as well! Is there a reason you haven't reviewed any of the main games yet?
Yeah, I put those on the back-burner early on because there are millions of reviews and videos about each, some of which are far better than I could hope to make (especially earlier on in my reviewing career,) so up to this point I've been focusing more on shedding light on other titles. I'll get to Final Fantasy eventually, but I'll probably need to finish up my DQ series review first. :)
I figured the answer was something like that. I definitely appreciate you talking about games that don't get as much attention. Still, I look forward to you reviewing them someday. You and Pro Jared are my favorite rpg youtubers. I'm glad your channel has been growing, and can't wait to see more from you!
Thanks man, that means a lot to me! Pro Jared was one of my biggest inspirations to get started on RUclips. Even now his newest videos show me I've still got a ways to improve. :)
@@SuperDerek I would also very much see you reviewing the Final Fantasy games. I'm especially curious how you will feel about FF3 for the Famicom. I just watched your Dragon Warrior 4 review, and you mentioned that it was your favourite RPG on the NES. In my opinion, FF3 is the only RPG that can beat DW4, or at least rival it in greatness. Keep up the good work! :-)
Thank you for this review I really enjoyed this. Being a fan of the original and now playing the remake I agree with you,while it may not be better it still is a good game that deserves the care of a jrpg collector.
This was the first SE game I've really enjoyed since KH2. I thought the ending was super interesting, but I'll have to see how things play out. All in all, the game has its flaws for sure, but I had a lot of fun with it. And sweet Jesus, the music. THE MUSIC! 8/10
its nice to see someone give a simple opinion on a game like this that doesn't praise it or condemn it Also its far too early to condemn the remake project as its only just started.
The FFVII Remake is a prime example of a company forgetting everything that made people love their series to begin with. It's a padded Kingdom Hearts x Advent Children fanfiction-fest filled with absolutely no respect or love for the original game. The directors even laughed together in an interview saying that they don't remember what happens after Midgar in the original. The fact that they can't remember what happens after *3 hours* of FFVII is a huge red flag, and just goes to show the incompetency of modern Square Enix (the company that can't even manage to make ports of games without doing the worst job they possibly could). Hell, Nomura didn't even know that he was directing the game until a bit into development, Kitase just kept asking him development questions and said "I thought you knew!" when Nomura voiced his confusion down the line. The fact that they decided to scrap the established turn based gameplay of the series alone was enough to kill the game, but they somehow managed to screw it up in every conceivable way. On that note, how is anybody okay with a franchise, let alone a remake, changing the entire genre on a whim, just to appeal to casual gamers that hate RPGs? If this were any other remake or franchise then people would flip their lids if the genre got changed, but because it's suddenly "cool" to hate actual RPGs nowadays, nobody cares if they turn a turn based game into a hack and slash Kingdom Hearts game. On top of that, the stagger system destroys the pacing of combat, and bosses are monotonous and take ten years to beat. They stretched Midgar sooooo far for absolutely no reason besides "we don't know what we're doing and we want to reuse assets and make more money, sorry!" The best part is that they only adapted the first 3 hours of a 30 hour game, there was no reason to split the game into parts and fill part 1 with so much pointless filler. Some people might say "Oh, but that's how remakes work!", but it's really not. A remake takes an existing game and refines and expands upon it in meaningful ways while keeping the core of the game in-tact and updating the game visually. Games like this are more of a complete reimagining, choosing to try to replace every single part of the original game with something completely different, rather than refining what was already there to actually try to improve upon it. This remake isn't "better" in any way because they didn't actually try to improve it, and so it just comes off as a cheap means of exploiting people's nostalgia while also making a brand new game to appeal to the casual market. To Square Enix, it's a win-win; it's like any modern film remake, trying to get the fans with the name recognition alone while making it completely unrecognizable in order to appeal to a mass audience (which usually involves dumbing it down to the lowest common denominator). Then there's the ending... hands down, the biggest, most hilarious shitshow I've seen in video game history. Yeah, there's stuff like Fallout 76 that turned into a disaster, but this is the remake of FFVII that people have been anticipating for over a decade. To end it with future, alternate dimension Sephiroth throwing buildings while you fight time ghosts... they've jumped the shark so hard. There's altering a game's story, and then there's just saying "fuck it" and changing the plot into a poorly done shonen anime because you're Tetsuya Nomura, and being a giant manbaby is what you do. All of the themes of FFVII have been thrown away so that we can re-enact Advent Children's stupid climax in video game form. It's a sad time when a remake takes more from the shitty movie based on a game than from the actual game itself... I just can't see how any genuine Final Fantasy fan could approve of this game, it's literally a giant middle finger to the Final Fantasy fanbase and RPG fans in general. Square Enix just can't manage to make a good mainline FF game anymore. XIII was awful, XV was just as terrible, and now the VII Remake completely shits on the legacy of both the series and the original game while also still not managing to be a good game in its own right. If this game had nothing to do with FFVII, then everybody would just write it off as another bad FF game with a bad plot, bad gameplay, and bad pacing. Mark my words, this is going to turn into the next XV where it gets sales from all of the casuals alone, but once they move on to the next thing then NONE of the Final Fantasy fans are going to talk about it again and just pretend that it didn't happen. 30 years from now, when there's no more hype for these crappy remakes, everybody is still going to be playing and loving the original FFVII, while the remake is going to be lost to time.
So true, finally someone addresses these flaws. "FF7R" is what "Picard" is for Star Trek. Wrong pace, distorted world, wrong colors and wrong atmosphere. No respect for the real FF7 or FF in general.
@@bringbackmy90s Exactly! I'm not a Star Trek fan, but after watching Red Letter Media's videos on Picard I thought the exact same thing. It sucks when the people who are currently in charge of a franchise chose to ignore all of the elements that made it popular in the first place in order to try to become more mainstream, trying to appeal to the people that wouldn't have given the originals a second glance. Neither Square Enix nor CBS appear to have any semblance of respect for their franchise or its legacy, they just see it as a cash cow that they can do whatever they want with. It's funny, because RLM highlighted a bunch of tweets about the Picard finale, and they were all saying the EXACT same things that I saw people saying about the FFVII Remake on Square Enix's channel. "I'm crying so hard, thank you so much for bringing back my childhood!" "What an incredible experience, a true masterpiece, my life is fulfilled!" It sounds like hyperbole, but I actually saw people saying stuff like that, it's nuts. I think it's great if something makes people happy, but it's obvious that people that say things like that are overly sentimental and emotional to the point that they can't think rationally or logically about the show/game.
@@Jordan3DS indeed, everything is always "oh it's sooo nostalgic". Oh and look, Lord Vader is killing everyone onboard in Rogue One with his lightsaber like a maniac, oh we waited soo loong for this! Really? Don't they realize how out of character that was, compared to the calm and restrained portrayal of Vader in the original entrance scene 1977? This is only another example how everything is reduced to dumb action garbage. Only good as RLM material
@@bringbackmy90s Yeah, the FFVII Remake also excelled at forcing fanservice into the game that made absolutely no sense, much like the Darth Vader scene you mentioned. Sephiroth doesn't act like himself at all, they've reduced him down to the "cool, badass man with a big sword" only, because that's how all of the Advent Children fans see him. He got shoehorned in all over the place, and his scenes at the end are just painful to watch. I didn't know whether to laugh or feel sad when I saw Cloud start flying through the sky cutting buildings in half in one slash that Sephiroth threw at him with his mind, or when he had his black wing from Kingdom Hearts. It's just horrible; my biggest fear for the Final Fantasy series was for it to become Kingdom Hearts, and now that's the reality that we live in. You also have Cloud dancing scene which was also completely out of tone with FFVII (and the FF series in general). They just flat out didn't care, and that sucks for people the that love Final Fantasy and hate watching it die like this.
This was a fantastic video. I always found Square Enix games to be impossible to discuss with any nuance. You have one side who suck off the developers harder than a vacuum cleaner on high and you have another side that has such a vendetta against certain developers, you would think they murdered their family, and theres nothing in between these extremes. This video was a breath of fresh air of you understanding the legacy of the original and what it means to recreate a cherished game like that 20+ years later, while acknowledging the negatives and positives of the remake in a balanced manner, really fantastic stuff.
I think you and I are in the same boat here. Dragoon was my FF7. And I only played a little bit of FF7 back when it was still newish, so I don't have the same levels of nostalgia and expectations as other people. I have since played FF7 and enjoyed it, and I think FF7R has done an admirable job thus far translating that experience to the modern age. Is the game perfect? Absolutely not. But I'd be lying if I said this game didn't impress me. I guess I kinda forgot how good Final Fantasy games can be when the development isn't horribly mismanaged. As for the ending, I completely understand a lot of people's misgivings. I have them too. At the same time though, I had misgivings before Part One came out and pretty much all of those fears were allayed. Also there are elements of the ending (and overall story telling) that are intimately tied to the FF7 Compilation (particularly Advent Children). I'd recommend reading into some of the fan theory crafting to get a better sense of what that ending was all about, and where Square is headed. I think Part Two could get very interesting.
Great review! I loved the game and can't wait for part 2. I want to know if you start game 2 at lvl 1 or does your save file transfer over to part 2. Also, I hope it doesn't take 5 years for part 2. I'm hoping 3 years at the most.
As much of a Final Fantasy VII as I am, I haven't bought the game yet. The main reason is because I think we can expect a PS5 version of Part 1. Apparently Square-Enix is already working on Part 2 which would probably get a PS5 release anyway.
I feel like being a huge FFVII fan should be the reason that you DON'T buy the game, it has none of the elements that even made people enjoy the original to begin with. The gameplay is bad, the writing is bad, the story additions and alterations are hilariously poorly done at worst and mind-numbingly stupid at best, and they've completely ignored trying to give people a proper version of FFVII in order to make "THEIR" version of FFVII (aka, a brand new game with a VII skin slapped onto it). You know how people change parts of an original car, and then ask the question of "at what point is it not even the same car anymore?" This is that situation in video game form. They've taken the "car" of FFVII and changed out the engine, the brakes, the radiator, the chassis, the battery, the windshield, and gave it a new paint job. Can we even call it FFVII anymore if that's the case?
@@Jordan3DS that's the best analogy I ever read and it sums up perfectly why i dislike it. Superderek says okay let's be unbiased and give it a chance as a not fan. Then I don't understand, who is the targeted audience? Those who are not huge fans? Why bother naming the game FF7 then...
@@bringbackmy90s Thanks! I agree, it's ridiculous. The audience for it is: 1. People who have a lot of nostalgia for FFVII, and just want to see Cloud and Sephiroth in HD 2. Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children fans, who love over the top, ridiculous shonen action and plot of both and the hack and slash gameplay of Kingdom Hearts 3. People that hate RPGs, and "just want to hit stuff" 4. Mainstream audiences/casual gamers that never cared about Final Fantasy before Basically, everybody BUT genuine Final Fantasy and RPG fans, which is really sad. The Final Fantasy series is one of my favorite franchises, and I really wish that they would actually make games that appeal to their fans rather than chasing success via casual gamers (which is part of the reason that XIII, XV, and the VII Remake all sucked so badly).
@@Jordan3DS i think many of the people who claim to love this game are just haters of turn based rpgs. they're so happy to see one of the most popular ones be turned into a mediocre action game, they were going to praise it no matter what because they're so happy to see a genre they don't like take a kick in the nuts. there are also the type of fans that will just praise anything ffvii no matter how badly it's butchered. there's a channel with this absurdly overly emotional 12 or 13 year old girl that literally cries every time she sees a trailer or anything of a series she likes. you already knew they could have butchered this remake ten times more than they already did and she was still going to cry and say how it's the most beautiful and amazing thing ever, there is literally nothing the company could do to turn those type of people away even if they tried. they're going to milk these people with at least 4 parts, possibly more, all with dlc, then they'll move on and do the same with other popular rpgs like ff8 and 9, xenogears, chrono trigger. why come up with original ideas that could fail when you can just remake and milk classics and they will sell good no matter what? they already have people begging for ff8 next when it'll be another 20 years before they're done milking 7. remember when we used to get good, complete games from companies every year? no you wait 5 to 10 years for a partial game that almost certainly was glitchy and required a large patch at launch, idk i have no desire to play it but nearly every game does require a large day one patch these days. ok i'm done ranting about how severely game quality overall has dropped in recent years.
@@Jack_80 I don't know if there are many people that would claim love for the game just to spite turn based RPGs, but I will completely agree that recent irrational hate towards turn based RPGs is the reason that there's not as much anger about them changing the game/franchise in general from turn based RPGs into hack and slash action games. If, say, they remade Super Mario 64 as a first person shooter, then people would go ballistic. Hell, even brand new games that change genres in popular franchises receive a lot of ire on the internet (like Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and Star Fox Adventures). It's highly hypocritical and obnoxious, it feels like us RPG fans are being kicked while we're down. I think the worst part is that none of the complaints that people throw at RPGs are logical or rational at all. They say that things that have no problems are examples of horrible game design that makes RPGs terrible, like menu based combat, random encounters, and "forced grinding (despite 95% of the RPGs that I've played requiring no grinding at all). This is how I see those people playing an RPG: they start one, get a couple of hours in (before the gameplay is fully fleshed out with all of the abilities, mechanics, and party members that you get later), start fighting a boss and spam normal attacks while thinking "man, there's no strategy to this!" Then they die and think "damn, this game sucks, it forces you to grind a whole bunch!" Then they quit the game a couple of hours in and write it off as trash, even though it's their own lack of patience and skill that's ruining their experience, while actual RPG fans like us can get through the game with no issues. There's also the problem where those kinds of people run from every battle because they don't want to play the game, then complaining that the bosses are too hard. The random encounters complaint is also obnoxious, because it's essentially just detractors saying "I hate it when the game makes me play it!" Nobody complains when the room locks in a game like Bayonetta until you beat all of the enemies, so I don't understand why RPGs are expected to be the one genre where you choose whether to actually play it or not. I agree that a lot of people would have been happy no matter what. The fact that an HD Remake of FFVII actually came out overshadows any of the actual game for those people. They could spend 99% of the game collecting sticks off the ground and they would still say that it's incredible because they get to see Cloud's buster sword in 1080p. Hell, that's also the same reason that so many people are fans of Advent Children despite it being an objectively terrible movie, they just love seeing Cloud in super CGI. I also agree that most of its fanbase are the kinds of people that hate RPGs, but I think they're thinking more along the lines of "thank god this game has actual gameplay unlike the shitty RPG original!" rather than "I only like this because it's NOT an RPG". Honestly, I feel like them making FFVIII Remastered was their idea of a FFVIII Remake. That game is so divisive that I don't think Square sees as much monetary potential in it, so I think the next remake would be IX. This is the company that considers FFV and VI on phones to be the "remakes" of those games, so they obviously have incredibly low standards when it comes to remakes. It sucks, too, because they were doing really good for a while (FFI and II on GBA are great remakes, as are III and IV on DS and I, II, and IV on PSP). I'm starting to fear that Square Enix will never make another good mainline FF game again (remake or otherwise), and that's a really sad thought. Honestly, even though I'm a massive fan of FFIX, I will straight up not buy the remake if they screw it up like this. Also, there are still good games coming out nowadays, you just have to sift through all of the generic, greedy, soulless triple A trash that comes out. In terms of RPGs, Octopath Traveller was amazing, the Bravely games are both awesome (I can't wait for Bravely Default II!), Persona 5 was the worst Persona game but it's still decent, Shin Megami Tensei V will probably be good, and Dragon Quest XI is arguably the best Dragon Quest game. There's also a Suikoden spiritual successor being developed called Eiyuden Chronicle that's being made by the a bunch of the people responsible for the Suikoden games and it looks pretty damn good so far.
I agree with your review 100%. I hated the fact there was too much filler. I just loved how after destroying the first reactor, the next thing to do is find some kids Cats.....
Ah beautiful, another fellow fan of Legend of the Dragoon. Like you that was my first real JRPG and since then I have found very few RPGs that bring back to that special place. Probably the most recent one to do so was Biowares gems Mass effect and Dragon Age. I do remember for a long time I use to think Jessie was guy 😆
Thank you for doing this review! I loved the original, it was the first final fantasy we got here in Europe and for that its special to me. Honestly though I was so let down by the remake. First of all I hate the pacing, both story and gameplay wise. So many parts you are going through hallways without many enemies and its just a slog! I know many places are hidden loading times but it made me crazy. Also the battle system is not for me, I get its based on FF 13 the worst in the series in my opionion. I hate the idea of having to stagger enemies to be able to hurt them. Some of the boss battles, especially the harder/hidden ones took forever. Maybe I just suck but I didnt enjoy myself. And the big one, the story... its easy to tell that the director came straight from Kingdom Hearts and thats not a good thing. I hate to be such a grumpy old man about this game but playing Trials of Mana the week after made me realize that was the type of remake I like. I loved the original secret of mana 2 and even if Trials is a lower budget game its so much better in my opinion.
I will never understand why changing the story to be "fresh" for everyone is a necessary or good thing. Its a change, but I dont really see a reason for it beyond being new. I just wanted it to have a better paced story, a few more options to the gameplay ( DS remake of chrono trigger style). I dont really want the extra cheap mini-games or quest board style gameplay. Trials of Mana remake is fantastic and I could only hope SE continues down that path. And I hate to say, but i dont like the music in the game. They changed the tone of every zone and it feels weird to me to listen to upbeat jazz in a graveyard or the chocobo themes that I usually love, but hate in this game. Its like the game with an OC remix soundtrack.
It was good for me at the beginning but became a slog around mid-late game I haven't finished it since. Story is too all over the place (I haven't play the originals). Music and visuals are exceptional though.
I love the original, but i don’t really like the remake for many reasons : You can’t really go on the plate (that night with Jesse doesn’t count) Roche is useless No dramatic mood like the original (spoilers nobody dies this time) It’s nonsense to go at the sector 7 after the plate has fell. And when you go there it’s seems not that bad, you can see the central pillar of midgar intact, but when you climb to go on the plate : wow everything is destroyed! There’s many building on the central pillar. Basically the point is there no cohesion! The whispers, just why? Change the story if you want, but don’t make ghosts who want the same story! Many fillers things just to expand the Life time of the game And some minor other things.
It was so close to being great though. So close. And it's not even like they had to do anything special to make it great. They just had to resist the urge to do something special. It would have been great. The original game had a very intimate moment when the crew left Midgar. It was a bittersweet moment, filled with uncertainty, but nothing grand or amazing. It was a sombre moment of reflection, of leaving behind their home for something else. And this ragtag crew was only barely starting to get to know each other yet now they have to start on this journey together. I feel this could have been explored properly and brought to life with modern techniques. Not every video game ending needs to be an epic boss battle changing the fate of the world. It was a wasted opportunity.
I’m a big new fan of the channel.. I’ve consumed many episodes of SDs reviews. I don’t have any criticism of your... well.. criticisms of FF 7 remake. I would just ask what is objectively better? See using a word like better makes me believe that to be a bit of an oxymoron. Objective is something that can be measured and has no opinion involved. Like a 2x4 is a piece of wood that might be “better” for certain jobs, it’s not any better or worse than a 4x4 (unless either piece or material is more suited for a particular task, of course). It is a thing, it weighs or can be measured as x, but simply using the term better throws you into the realm of subjectivity.. like you can objectively say the graphics produce so many more polygons than the original (idk if they even use polygons anymore, lol, but hopefully my point isn’t lost). Like the graphics may look better to you, but that doesn’t technically make them better. I just am confused by the way people throw around the term objective anymore. If it’s filtered through your mind or perception it’s subjective.
Totally a fair point. By "objectively better" I was mostly referring off handedly to things like a symphonic OST, higher fidelity graphics, that sort of thing that has less to do with the more subjective aspects of the game like the story, gameplay elements, subtext and so on. But your totally right, "objectively better" is a loaded phrase I should be careful to wield more cautiously. :)
It looks crazy good! I would have had a video ready this morning but ended up having to take care of Amy for the last few days. I'll be sure to cover it in the JRPG weekly update though! :)
SuperDerek RPGs REALLY looking forward to this as Suikoden 1 and 2 are some of my favourite 90s JRPGs. I’m hoping they get enough interest/funding for a Switch version.
I'm really hoping it's a spiritual successor in the way all the "xeno" games are to xenogears, whereas its essentially the same story, just names of particular prominent things are changed to satisfy copyright infringement. It could gives that suikoden sequel and harmonia storyline we always hoped for.
I heavily disagree with you about the ending. There's a lit of depth to it but since you're not a huge fan of the OG I can understand you not wanting to dig deep about it. There's some stuff that'd blow your mind. BTW Arkada/Glass Reflection liked the FFVIIR ending. BTW it was confirmed that FFVIIR is a sequel to the OG.
Maybe I ought to look into the ending more, and if I do maybe I'll appreciate it more. That said though, I believe any game _ought_ to give players enough context during a normal play-through to understand its ending on a surface level. I suspect the majority of _my viewers_ are going to experience the game similarly to how I did: Casually. You could make the case that players should have more context because of all the side-content Square Enix has been putting out over the years, but Square Enix threw that player expectation out the window when they slapped "Remake" on the game title. Players who believe this really is part 1 of a remake, as advertised, won't understand they need to have gone through the entire back-catalogue of FFVII media to comprehend the ending. I think too many fans of the series are too quick to hand-wave issues like this because they've already watched Advent Children, played Crisis Core, read the Turks manga, and have already been digesting the implications of this expanded universe for _years_ now. It's not a big deal to them. But most players aren't invested that heavily. And expecting them to is asking a lot.
I played the OG, the ending is just poor and needless in RE. Had it just ended after the highway boss it would been infinitely better and given us more to look forward to(they blew the main villain's ending fight in the first act...). SE are making a mistake treating remake as more more Compilation of FF7 content, its shackling what could be great to half baked cash grabs from a decade ago.
I enjoy old school, games were completed not stuck in dlc hell or remake hell or episodic hell. Liked the game but I'll probably wait for it to be over before I pick up any more episodes.
I loved the game. Ending has me a little skeptical but that aside the combat really allows for these characters to be fully realized. Objectively speaking the only real difference for characters in the original was their limit breaks. I hope next time they give classic mode options for normal and hard. Some of the side quests were definitely a waste and some parts overstayed their welcome (train graveyard, and the second bombing run chapters) and aerial combaf is abysmal but luckily not too often. There are also a lot of things the game doesn't tell you or doesn't explain well about the gameplay, but I think that allows for people. To experiment. For example did you know that if you stance switch from operator.to punisher as an enemy attacks not only will you counter but you will take less damage than if just held block in punisher mode to counter? Or that you can chain counterstance into stance switch into counterstance (helpful in some hardmode fights). I fully acknowledge I'm a fan of the original so seeing these characters fully realized has been a delight for me.
Going for this level of graphical fidelity, those FF13/15 underpinnings and the battle system is what has the alarm bells ringing for me. While I'm not excited to play FF7 remake (when it comes to PC), I am curious to play it, but my expectation is low.
I always liked it but wasnt the best FF but remaking it was worth it, it was so nostalgic to see this game with these graphics. Just wish the towns looked more like the originals
The original is my fave game of all time. But I didn't enjoy the remake much at all. Didn't enjoy the combat and it was ridiculously dragged out in alot of sections. The music is superb though!
I agree, although I didn't like the music, either. It felt like a very disingenuous way to arrange a soundtrack; "just make it all "generic orchestra" and people will love it, right?" That stuff is fine for an orchestral concert, but the arrangements don't fit playing in the actual game itself. Much like the the rest of the remake, the music decided to do something completely different rather than trying to make faithful arrangements of the original tracks.
@@Jordan3DS the original had such a variety in tone... Thanks to the appropriate use of different kinds of music. Why do they have to insert everywhere the generic LotR choir...oh yeah because every second in Cloud's life is so "epic", it is so dense, so many things are going on
@@bringbackmy90s Yeah, the overuse of choir is really obnoxious, they even tried to make the battle theme overly epic for absolutely no reason, despite it not matching the tone of the moments it plays in. A composer's job isn't just to make a song "epic", they need to have their songs match the tone and mood of the moment that they play. I enjoy a lot of video game jazz arrangement albums, but they wouldn't fit playing in the games themselves at all. Hell, even listening to it on its own the VII Remake OST isn't very good, all it does is make me want to listen to the superior original compositions.
The game is most definitely a remake but the twist that you realise at the very end is that its Sephiroth who's trying to remake the timeline to suit his goals. When you look back at chapter 2 and realise that Sephiroth is trying to lead cloud away from his first meeting with Aerith and the whispers have to hold her in place to make sure the meeting happens, that blew my mind, it's genius from Square enix. Sephiroth trys to manipulate and change events while the whispers try to keep things on the original games path to ensure humanity is wiped out by Meteor and it gets to return to its natural state as seen in the end credits of ff7 when Red looks apon the ruins of midgar reclaimed by nature. I don't understand the hate for the ending because if it had been a 1:1 remake people would have finished it and moved on but Square have had people talking and speculating and theorising for 4 months now and they have ensured the original FF7 is just as relevant and important today as it was 23 years ago, I've seen tons of people on twitter, forums, facebook and so on go on to play the original after finishing the remake to see the original story. I mean a 1:1 remake would have rendered the original game obsolete but square have just ensured it will forever live on as to now understand the entire history, story and legacy of the ff7 universe you must now play both, its truely genius from them and this lets them move the story in any number of possible ways for the sequals, will the gamble pay off, i have no idea but i'm bloody excited to find out. Considering they sell the original game on every playstation store rendering the original obsolete would have been stupid but they have ensured the game will forever live on unlike every other game thats been remade and its original been long forgotton like crash or spyro or shadow of the colossus. I freaking loved the remake and I'm amazed they found a way to keep the original just as important today and get a host of new players to go back to it, its fantastic for the series. the haters just have nothing better to do but complain.
@@celticspike2522 the best video game experience I had was replaying the original FF7 after finishing the Remake. I've never seen a game with such a good attention to details
@@quack_a_doodle5922 I can well believe it. I know they did a great job expanding Midgar in the remake but personally I felt the original did an amazing job in its own right in worldbuilding and making the various towns and cities feel real. Which I feel is down to all those little details everywhere.
I've never played the original FF7 and experienced the story and characters for the first time in remake! I really enjoyed the game. Incredible graphics, fun combat and an enjoyable plot. Although that final chapter felt quite out of place and confusing compared with the rest of the game.
I’m right there with ya man! Though I like the original FF 7 it isn’t the best in the series in my opinion. And I also liked the remake! Way to keep it balanced!
Texture loading seems to be a confirmed random UE4 engine bug, where sometimes high rez textures just refuse to load in, problem is; this is a Square Enix game and they are notorious for slow patches, just look at ff12 on ps4, took over 6 months to get patch to add changes which were added to switch version. In regards to game ending when i first finished it i would of agreed with you, but then I analysed each bit of the ending and what everything meant then replayed game on hard and changed my mind about the ending, now i think the ending is really amazing but over-complicated in hidden meanings.
I am one of the people who regard the original as "special" but I still have not played the remake. I'm 40 years old and I just can't see myself falling in love with these characters and the world again, knowing that I will likely be in my 50s before this thing wraps up. I understand they needed to split the game into smaller releases as you point out, but I just feel like they could have at "least" covered up to Junon with this game, as from what I have heard these is a LOT of fluff and padding here that makes no sense to me when they have such a huge game to remake. Ever since I heard about the game only covering Midgar it lost a LOT of appeal for me. I am going to hold out for a PC release, and hope that by then we have a clearer picture of when part 2 will actually be out and what it covers.
Way back when...I was working in a local game store, I would have people going nuts over FVII, I however was not much a fan, so I introduced them to a little gem called Suikoden.
So many people are quick to hate on this Remake .. Why?? ; Because , it wasn't the same way it was 20 years ago 😕, I feel like when people try to remake anything , there's always gonna be old fans who can't accept it, how do they still hate this game after playing it, the music , the characters, the lighting , all of it is well done , and highly detailed , they should be happy it didn't turn out like Cyberpunk2077 , do you really think the ps1 turn base system would have worked for the ps4 , What?? Also since when is having a long game a bad thing, most of the time having a short story is an issue , and if you don't like the side quest then don't play them , all square was trying to do is breath new life into an old game, that was an integral part to many gamers childhoods , and yeah not everyone is just and FF fan , I enjoyed almost everything this game had to offer , this vedio is done really well , and I hope many people get to see it , and decide for themselves if they will support the continuation of this series , good job man thank you 😎
It had a lot of potential, and it looks amazing, but I don’t like how they deviated from the story and some of the core mechanics: All materia changed, is super scarce and not as effective. You can’t master a materia and have another one be born. I don’t like how your ATB gauge doesn’t just fill on it’s own with the same expediency if you aren’t controlling the person- I literally had times where my other characters died, my last character had no ATB slots filled and I had no health, so I had to run around and dodge for a long time, just hoping to get a slot filled to actually do something. I don’t like how you don’t get to choose to use Simmons whenever you want. I don’t like how your limit breaks are so scarce. I don’t like how linear it was and wouldn’t allow you to explore areas. I don’t like how the weapons are so drastically different- for the most part in the original, the newest weapon was the most powerful and the main difference was materia slots and growth rates. In this game, you could unlock a new weapon and it could be all attack power or all magic, so it could be completely useless if you don’t utilize that style of attack. I don’t like some of the fights where you can easily get killed very quickly if you aren’t equipped to deal with a foe you haven’t yet faced, so you don’t know how you have to be equipped. Towards the end, I was just wanting to finish the game so I could start Ghost of Tsushima...and that’s not something I was expecting, as the original FF7 was my favorite PS of that era.
I loved FF7R, I put more hours into that single playthrough than I have any game in a given playthrough thus far. That being said, I definitely saw the flaws as I played it and I am definitely understanding of criticisms. It's okay to love something without putting it on a pedestal just like it's okay to criticize something without needlessly condemning it. I can't wait for part 2!
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My 10 year old walks in as I'm watching this video.
Him: "What game is that? Final Fantasy? 7?"
Me: "Yeah, it's VII Remake."
Him: "Remake? What was wrong with 7?"
As a game and just a game. its good and not great just as you say Derek.
But I will always elevate what a Final Fantasy 7 remake is suppose to be over "just a game". It is incredibly important as its modernizing the most celebrated RPG of all time. The developers had a responsibility to stow their desires to make a game that they wanted to essentially restore a piece of actual history in video games to meet the presentational standards of modern day.
And they just couldnt discipline themselves. Its on full display how selfish they got creatively and I wont ever forgive the team for that. This game absolutely needed to be a fully respected adaption. Not a toybox for the writers fanfiction. And while I normally look at things at various perspectives to walk away respecting unusual choices made. This is a case where I just cant and never will.
I completely agree. I think it's important to judge each game on it's own merits, but in the case of a remake it just doesn't work that way. Comparisons to the original are not only inevitable, but completely necessary to even justify the reason for remaking the game in the first place. They took a delicious strawberry cake recipe and rather than following it, they added pickles, ketchup, chocolate, BBQ sauce and apple slices (and removed the strawberries), all while saying "it's still the same strawberry cake, we've just expanded upon the original recipe!" I think calling the developers "selfish" is the perfect word to describe it. Square Enix wanted a FFVII Remake for $$$, and the dev team wanted to do their own thing and make their own original game, simple as that. It's the Lufia II Remake on DS all over again (except in that scenario, the game sold poorly because Lufia fans refused to buy it).
Oh you're absolutely right, fans do deserve a great remake. I think there are basically two different ways to evaluate the game: Either at face value, or given the full context. And as someone who didn't have a chocobo in the race, as some have put it, I think I'm best equipped to handle the former. :)
I'm not quite there, but I think what their creativity told them they needed to get out there was lame as shit, so they should've tried something different. People fought destiny enough in kingdom hearts.
@@mopeybloke It's simply a case of an incompetent dev team being back by an incompetent company. Final Fantasy's biggest failing in recent years has been a lack of talented developers working on the games mixed with heavy doses of mismanagement. I really wish that they would bring in some of the Dragon Quest XI dev team or the Bravely Default director to make Final Fantasy XVI, as they're clearly much more proficient, creative, and talented at making RPGs than the guys currently working on FF. Hell, I'd even accept Yoshi P of Final Fantasy XIV fame making the next game, he's already done a good job of turning a sinking ship around once before.
And your opinion is obviously above everyone, so if you say that it's good and not great, that is the absolute truth. Very arrogant. You are entitled to your opinion(as everyone is), but I am pretty damn sure that you are in the minority thinking that this is merely a good game(7-8/10).
And again, your opinion that this had to be a faithful adaptation is yours. The truth is that the same writer, character designer and directors of Og are working in this remake, it's their creation and their artistic vision, and just as any artist, they would not come back to work in the same project if they didn't have anything new to say
“Getting a good look at Tifa’s bar-“
I don’t think folks are looking at her bar.
You misspelled bra 😆
She has pretty nice bar.
Nah they are looking at her “bra”
heYYYYYOOOOOOOO!
The title should have been: "FFVII Remake review from someone who's got no chocobos in the race"
Octagrammaton Veilchenstein der Dreizehnte This is it, this it the one, this wins.
@@HyggeState Thanks!
Aw man, that's a missed opportunity! D:
@@SuperDerek It's kinda long though. Maybe it's better this way.
Bwahahaha!!!
I was there day 1 in 97 for the original it’s always remained one of my favorites, this remake was an amazing experiences start to finish for me.
I my opinion your more than qualified for offer a unbiased opinion on the game there are people whom don’t hold the original to a god tier status of all games like myself being late to the game. The best things about remake are the VA and more importantly the music holy crap the music was done really well.
I love this game. Where it stumbles, as you've alluded to, was...a lot to consider, and it really challenged how I felt about the whole package. It took three playthrus for me to decide/realize overall, yes even with the stumbling (I know where and what you're referring towards) I honestly think I love this game.
But its not perfect. The padding and filler needs to go by the next installment, and stretching out segments you can explore with excessive wall-hugging "squeezing past debris" bits got old.
I liked your take on this game. I dont agree with a few things you opined and thats okay. Very nice video.
Yeah that's what made me quit playing it. Hated the stretched out parts that just seemed way too long and moving through debris . Just made me want to play the original more.
Those wall segments replaced loading screens.
^
This is a work of art! I love how much you invest into the writing and presentation of the review. You and Happy Console Gamer are my favorite videogame channels. 🤗
Thanks so much man!
I appreciate the amount of thought and care you award your reviews.
"it's different and therefore it's bad" is the most frustrating mind set to listen to. I love the original. I love this remake. The fact that they are different means I still have two different games I can play if I want to experience FFVII again. If it was the EXACT same game but with PS4 graphics (what some people wanted) there would be no reason to go play the original. The fact that this is different doesn't invalidate the earlier experiences people had from the first game. I'm happy it's different. It certainly makes it way more exciting to play when I don't know exactly what is going to happen at every point and it makes the next installments much more exciting to look forward to and theorize about. I understand that some people wanted and expected a very particular experience but I just wish they were more open minded and willing to accept the game for what it is.
As far as the ending goes - I'm not trying to change your mind but my opinion on the ending has evolved quite a bit after doing research and listening to more viewpoints and about what it means. Not sure how much digging you have done but there is a TON out there in terms of what that all meant. It's fascinating and has really risen my spirits in terms of both my opinion about this game and my excitement for the next installments.
Great video!
Being different was never a complaint, but being completely out of tone, out of character, etc.
cptawesome I‘m agree, that‘s the right point.
FF VII Remake has Weak Points, but its a fascinating new way
to experience FF VII!
BringBackMy90s there was not as ingle character that was out of character. They absolutely nailed aerith, tifa, cloud and they made characters like jessie and barret even better. The only difference is sephiroths being introduced earlier which makes sense since many people who played the remake without even touching the og ff7 was able to recognize who sephiroth was which renders any suspense and shock a slow burn reveal similar to what the OG had null.
@@kyzersoze8408 Respectfully disagree. Cloud in the real FF7 was always trying to stay out of conflict during the early stages, remember when he says (and I translate from German FF7, sorry) "I just wanna finish the job before the Guards or the Roboguards come and get out of here". He was rather shy and calm and timid, and not a crazy maniac flying around with Sephiroth or wiping out Robo-Armies. It was Barret who throughout the Midgar campaign enters every scene with "guns blazing", while shy Cloud preferred the quiet and stealthy approach. To overpower Cloud already in Reactor 1, let alone CD1, was a stupid idea and out of this character per definition.
"sephiroths being introduced earlier which makes sense since many people who played the remake without even touching the og ff7 was able to recognize who sephiroth was". -That was already the case in the PSX game. Sephiroth was introduced right at the beginning, in the manual to raise awareness that a mystery surrounds a secret warrior, who may be encountered in the future. The anticipation of Sephiroth was already given in the Tifa/Cloud Nibelheim "promise" scene, as Clouds motivation to leave. There is no need to insert ridiculous and dumb action scenes with Sephirot anywhere on CD1. That is a "George Lucas kind" of Special Edition which does not improve anything.
"They absolutely nailed aerith, tifa, cloud and they made characters like jessie and barret even better." I guess this shows us once again, that the so-called Remake is only for not-fans, who disliked the original characters for one reason or another, fine.
@@bringbackmy90s The arrogance of thinking that your opinion is the only valid opinion that a true fan can have.
I am not gonna answer you to all, but there a lot that you are wrong. Cloud is still trying to be out of conflict. I mean he tells Wedge several times he doesn't care about the cause, he doesn't care about not going to reactor 5, also Cloud idea is to infiltrate Shinra HQ in a quiet and stealthy approach why Barret wants to enter guns blazing. I mean did you even play the game? All your first paragraph is wrong. All those things appear in the Remake explicitly(I can show you youtube videos if you want).
So making characters like Barret, Marlene, the Avalanche trio infinitely better means that the devs hate the original characters...
I love the sign off 'A spot in the game collection' Super Derek stance
I really struggle with the scaling of the NPC’s compared to any story character... they look designed for a different game and when you stand next to them it just gives me an unfinished feeling. Thanks for the honest review!
To be completely honest, I played approximately half of the game, largely enjoying the content, but with a few gripes, before I got spoiled on the major changes at the end. I was pretty upset, as I was one of the people who have for multiple decades wanted to see Final Fantasy VII get a definitive HD update. I still think the story of the first game stands extremely well alone, and making a really pretty version of it with corrected translations would have been amazing. I apologize if I offend by recommending another video here, but then I went and looked at the Easy Allies' Spoiler Mode video with Maximillion Dood. It is a two and a half hour long discussion about the game, and it dives very deep into the layers of interpretation of how the game plays out. After seeing that video, I was not nearly as upset at the way the game plays out. I would highly recommend it to anyone who had similar expectations to myself, or ended the game confused about what was going on.
With that said, I am still quite angry with SquareEnix's methods of announcing and promoting the game. What they did borders on false advertising, which is a problem growing at an increasing rate these days as publishers try to squeeze every sale possible for their game. Had they given a decent idea of what the game was going to be, I would have still bought it, because I am a fan of the type of crazy stuff they did in it, and it would have properly tempered expectations of what we were going to get. Instead they went full force into acting like it was the remake everyone had been begging for since the PS3 tech demo showed off the opening cinematic in HD, and I think that is going to burn them on sales of the second game. It certainly has made me lose some respect for the company, just like Nintendo has with the way they advertised the new Paper Mario game, putting out screenshots and carefully cut videos to make old fans think it was returning to RPG roots when it is largely a puzzle game. I honestly feel bad for the people who worked insanely hard to make the game, getting more hate than they deserve, all because the people in charge misrepresented what they were selling.
“Sometimes the good guys lose.” Kefka: F#%&ING A THEY DO
And part of the reason why I love FF6 so much. Second half of the game is trying to pick up the pieces and save what’s left.
I have to say, I have always felt Kefka was a much better evil villian than Sephiroth is. He just looks cooler.
Kefka, Caius and Ardyn had the most success with their villain careers. 😅
Palpatine? Sort of? Wiping out all his nemesis in one swift stroke while taking over the galactic superpower the Jedi were building for over a millenia from the inside while effectively being the first Sith to rule the entire galaxy?
Or Thanos?
Although if the talk is restricted to video games or Final Fantasy then I have nothing more to say.
Hahah underrated comment!!
Some areas definitely drag on way too long and outstay their welcome. There are too many parts of the remake where it feels like it's just playing for time, going back intro the sewers for a second time just to help that Leslie guy out was a joke and not necessary. If it was trimmed down to a 20 hour game I think it would've been a better experience. I still think it's a good game, but it should've been great, it was let down by their desire to make a longer game than they had the material for.
Agree. I also found the amount of slow moving crouching, climbing and squeezing through gaps drove me nuts.
@@alucardvania986 me too but it's actually the PS4 hard drives fault it's a dev technique to hide assets that need to load in.
@@Masertmaster PS4's fault? How come God of War and the Last of Us 2 didn't have half as much of this as FF7 then? I get they used it to disguise load times, but they could have reduced how often it's necessary with better optimisation and streaming tech. Blaming the PS4 is like saying any PS4 game with long load times is the PS4's fault, even though plenty of PS4 games have much shorter/less load times in comparison.
@@darrylrobson4376 yeah you're right can't blame the console alone SE has the shittiest map designers and everywhere you don't cramp crouch through you see the textures load in front of you I don't know man SE really needs to hire people with better vision in terms of map design all these cramped corridors to get from point A to point B gave me hard FF 13 PTSD(even though I love FF13 has hair map design) and it astounded me how similar the map roaming felt to FF13 LR and I can even say its kinda a downgrade from FF13 LR since it was much more fluid to get around and it does not even make sense FF 7 characters who can like jump 3 meters into heights but have to climb a 1 meter ladder in the slowest way possible. At this point I don't even believe the PS5 SSD will save part 2 since the devs are really not holding up this current technology. SE really need to improve their map designs
I’ll never pay full price for a 20 hour game. You might revisit some locations, but the character interactions, dialogue and context never becomes stale or repetitive. That’s the type of game I want. I don’t need a new location for every single mission.
A very fair and honest review, I think the best thing about the Remake is we just don't know whats going to happen now with the next few games, all expectation that it'll be a straight one to one retelling has been thrown out the window and everything is fair game at this point. If anything I feel that Remake will give that sense of the unknown and I can't wait to see how it all ends.
Bro, I was a bigger fan of FF8 just because I played that one first. I have the same feeling about FF7.
i'm glad you are still doing reviews
Thanks dude! They take a while longer to make these days since they tend to run a little longer, and the games I'm reviewing are getting longer, but reviews are still what my channel is about. :)
No joke though, your description about it being a retelling by someone who might not have heard the story right, is spot fucking on.
16:20
Im not going to lie I am guilty of having one of those self righteous opinions, the fact that they deviated from the story essentially has made me not want to even bother picking it up.
I think you have changed my mind and made me feel differently with the way youve interpreted those changes.
"A retelling, by a different story teller, someone that may have heard the story a little differently and remembers some parts more than others"
The story of Final fantasy 7 will be retold for years, from one generation to the next. Ofcourse things will change and be retold differently over time.
As did Beowulf, gilgamesh, and other mostly oral-traditions/legends.
Great video as always man.
I don't have a problem with them changing stuff... The issue I had, is many of the things they changed, were stupid, and it made the game worse. Of course, all changes that made the game better, were welcome... and I really feel that people get out of hand with this. The idea that people, who criticize a handful of the changes, are these angry fans that want 100-percent faithful material, or not at all... I actually think most of us fall inbetween. Not saying anyone here is claiming that, and I enjoyed the review.
FF7 was never just a story to be retold or to be summarized just to be retold and to be lost in translation. It is not so much about the story, rather about the storytelling, the atmosphere, the style, the music, the visuals, the text, the pacing. If you change all of that, then there is no point in retelling FF7, which is more than the sum of the stage directions and the plot summary
@@bringbackmy90s I hear the argument that this is the same story and game (just better) all the time. The story is FF VII because of event A->B->C etc and Character 1, 2, 3 are in it but I would argue that the theme, tone, and presentation just as important. A story is more than just points but I lose every argument because it changes to "the journey is the same" or "but I do not care about that, it is still the same story" or "the characters are the best!". People did not want the OG or even similar. People wanted a sequel and after getting this remake it was just confirmed.
@@vincentgraymore yeah could not summerize it better! For them it is just going through a checklist of formal elements or places. Insert FF7 names and characters here and there, and they already go “oh it is so nostalgic“. How is it nostalgic, when it is nothing like it...
It's a story being retold by the friendly circus clown who knows that you already know the story so mixes it up and taunts you at moments in the story while more or less keeping it intact until the very end where he gloats at you and cooks up a bunch of nonsense that doesn't make any sense.
Im absolutely loving the FF7 Remake. Im on chap 10 and hope it continues to impress
The ending of this review was just beautifully told. Outstanding work.
I think Nobuo Uematsu's score is a large part of the reason it was so emotionally investing as a teenager.
Spot on about the ending being such a big problem with this game. Sure, for the most part it was pretty good, but the ending was so underwhelming that it reduces the quality of what came before it. Someone really needs to poke the writer in the ribs and tell them FF7 is not Kingdom Hearts. The more straight forward and honest the script is, the better.
Are you saying that FF7 Og script is straightforward? I mean, I love Og, but the story is a mess and convoluted, and it's one of the reasons why I love it. The script is as honest as it can be. It introduces the whispers in the first hour, the characterization is miles better than Og, the dialogue is great. And why is like Kingdom Hearts? Because there is a giant black figure at the end?(hello weapons in the Og are like this!!) Destiny and mechanisms of defense of the planet are topics from the Og and also re closely related to some of the compilation works.
Not a fan?! You came to the wrong neighborhood homie
Glad you guys are not fighting further over it.
Nothing wrong about growing up attached to different games, Derek. I think you had an interesting perspective for your review. I personally think the game is great, but I definitely recognize its flaws, too. I don't feel the same way you do about the ending, but I can understand why some people think the way that they do. I'm looking forward to seeing where this new FFVII series goes in the future. Glad you had fun with it!
Thanks a lot for the review Derek. Final Fantasy VII is my favorite game of all time. I don’t own a PS4 so I haven’t had a chance to play the remake. I highly enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the “retelling”.
Fantastic review Derek. I'm a huge fan of the original and I have to say that even though I'm not crazy about some of the changes they made to the story, I am honestly happy that they are trying to do something different with this remake. Personally I'm just happy that we get to see more of the universe of FFVII. The way they fleshed out the characters and all the small details made it to a really nice experience. Would I say it's a perfect game? Absolutely not. Is it a memorable experience that dares to try something new? Definitely, and I think this is the thing that made the original so good too. I'm really curious to see how they proceed in the next "chapter". Keep the great work up!
okay I have to ask, is there a sorting order at all to your games aside from platform? X-P
edit: my OCD flared up from the close up of you pulling the game from the shelf :P
Derek, thank you for this thoughtful review. I do think that this is a great game, but obviously far from perfect. However, when you said you thought of it as a "reimagining" of the original overarching story, that is true in some aspect. But I have found that the directors took inspiration from other projects within the FF7 compilation such as Crisis Core, Before Crisis, Advent Children and even some of the books to reshape an overall worldview to fit the FF7 Remake into. In my opinion, FF7 remake is going to be the "compilation" of all derivative works of FF7, with the interlacing of different viewpoints from different areas of the FF7 World. All in all, that was a good review.
By the way, since the last time I watched one of your videos, I could tell something was different about the way you were speaking. It could just be my imagination.
Keep up the great work!
Just watched this video now in December 2022. Had to go back and watch the game collection. I miss these reviews. Really would like to see you go “back to basics”. Believe me, you can still grow your channel this way. There are lots of You Tubers who do awesome reviews (like you used to do) that have hundreds of thousands of subscribers and some in the millions. Drop that other stuff Super Derek. Big fan!
For about 6 months earlier this year I released only episodes of The Game Collection, and gained about 500 subscribers during that time with fewer views with each release. In the last 3 months I've been putting out weekly videos and have gained a few thousand. The reality is that people who have hundreds of thousands of subscribers gained those viewers when RUclips was less competitive. To grow on RUclips today requires constant content, unfortunately. My experience this year has made that abundantly clear. You may not realize it but asking me to focus only on The Game Collection is asking me to let my channel die, and I refuse to let that happen. New ep of The Game Collection comes out next Friday. :)
Great review Derek. Glad you got through it lol. I think the ending is such an interesting case study in big media pieces, because at this point we basically have confirmed that FF7R is literally a sequel. Gotta hand it to square for being ballsy at least. The idea that any story as big as FF7 could be marketed the way it was and then actually be a sequel, and then also be made purposefully unclear so that people would have to do the digging to find out that it was, in fact, a sequel... That's crazy! And I love it, but for me it was only after I understood what it was that I embraced it, but they still required you to do the digging. The post game community discussions that sussed out all these details truly ended up being what saved the game's story for me. We know now the advent children are the three whisper bosses at the end. I wonder if square would have been better off using Kadaj, Loz, and Wazoo's original likenesses from advent children instead of the kingdom hearts PTSD inducing whispers at the end. It seems like the following games are going to have Sephiroth try and convince cloud and the player that the events of the original game (perhaps a certain character's fate) can be changed, and Kitase also said the following games aren't going to deviate from the original game. SO, what that brings me back to is the fact that this game's ending was just never done in a way that was going to be clear, and with such a huge on its face deviation, so much, so fast, I think that it's not surprising the ending is so divisive. But like, it's weird. Because if they were going to do a sequel, I kind of like them doing it this way, if they end up following through in the following games: You effectively play a nearly entirely true recontextualization of the original while being bated by the story that it might be different (and ya, who the F knows what happens with Zack). It's just such a huge decision, and with the whole whisper end game stuff being a late addition apparently, I hope we don't end up looking back at it as a rushed decision that boxed the follow up FF7Rs into a story corner they couldn't get out of.
If they intended to make a weird sequel x reimagining of the original game, then they should have marketed it as such. Also, it makes very little sense for them to be taking plot points from Advent Children. That film is only popular because Kingdom Hearts fans love watching Cloud and Sephiroth fly through the sky at the end, and even those people admit that the plot is trash. I see this project as more of an excuse to say "let's do whatever we want and try to rationalize it while exploiting people's nostalgia for $$$" rather than a genuinely interesting case study on the nature of media. It just goes to show that you can give an incompetent dev team millions of dollars and have them create an incoherent mess, while you give a more talented dev team $100,000 and they can make a masterpiece.
What can I say other than that this is a solid video! I can always appreciate when people look at this sort of thing from a more balanced perspective because you're right... SO many people refuse to believe games like this can be anything other than a travesty or a perfect experience. It's a shame too, because it WON'T improve in the future if we're not honest and fair in our criticism of it. We'll just send the wrong messages and NOBODY will end up happy with future parts.
Great review man. Alot of the criticism you gave it was the criticism I had with it. I'm hopeful the remake part 2 will not let us down.
For me it comes down to this. While I enjoyed the Remake, I most likely won't ever play through it again. On the other hand, I'll play through the original many more times in my life.
It's like watching a modern film remake. You think "wow, they remade that movie? I'll go check it out!" You sit through two hours of crap and think "that wasn't anything like the original, and it wasn't even a good movie, either". Then, over time, the remake fades from your memory while you watch the original every couple of years.
agreed.
What about the PSP remake. Even that is complete. This is just 20% of the game milked to death. Pretty graphics doesn't cut jack shit and we shouldn't wait for them to patch a released game. Fuck all that. Later they bitch about how not many copies were sold. Well no shit sherlock. When you make a full game for decent price and we can actually own it then people will start buying games again.
@@energyflow7564 PSP Remake? Are you talking about Crisis Core? That's not a remake, it's a prequel that follows Zack before FFVII begins.
I agree, though, they should have made a complete game rather than padding out the prologue of the original. It's obvious that they didn't want another Versus XIII situation with the game being in development hell for a decade and losing them a lot of money, so they decided to split it into parts so that they could could make less assets and make more money on the final product. Let's assume that it'll be split in 3 parts at minimum, that's $180 that a single consumer is spending to get the complete the game (and even more is spent on DLC/collector's editions). If it's split into 4 or more parts, then there could genuinely be people out there that spend almost $1000 on the complete package (assuming they buy every single one of the overpriced collector's editions). Square Enix went with the laziest route that would make them the most money, and people applauded them for it.
I really do hope that the game ends up being a financial flop for them, as its success would only mean that *this* is the future of Final Fantasy, and that's not a great prospect.
@@Jordan3DS It's been a while and I always remember a remaster-remake being released alongside Crisis Core and the movie. I remember playing it but can't find any info about it atm. Might as well be a fan made game. Speaking of fans, most time some random people make far better games then these actual devs on a payrole. It's pathetic...
You have an epicly calm voice perfect for reviews
I appreciated your opinion here. FF7 was definitely that game for me when I was a kid. Must have played through it 5 times back in the day haha. There's a sublety to the writting and world design that really captured my 10 year old imagination. Plus that music, wow. Anyways, you're totally right, it's unreasonable to expect the remake to have the same impact. Honestly, I remember even ff8 being a huge dissapointment when it was released. I was optimistic though because of how well the resident evil remakes turned out.
You look like you slimmed down a bit in the thumbnail for this video, Derek. You gain: Agility +2.👍
Derek is looking pretty good these days if I do say so myself.
Acid Wizard he was always looking good 😍
Good job on the review Derek! I still need to do a Hard Mode run before 2022 when the next game is out lol
My first big rpg games was breath of fire 3 and 4 along with legand of the dragoon. And I like them 3 more than ff7
I'm a mega fan of final fantasy 7. It has a special place for me, but with that being said, I agree with your review. I love the remake, I'm excited for part 2 and I think that's the point. I waited 23 years for this remake and it was beautiful. It uses the storyline from the first disc to carry you forward, but broadened the world itself. I knew this wasnt going to be the complete first disc. I have to admit, I was nervous to continue playing it, because I was sad when it was over. That's what a good game is. I'm excited for more, my fandom is satisfied and expanded, and it felt fresh despite being the same story.
I'm a mega fan of FF7 too since 1997, and the only good thing about seeing the "remake" is that instead it makes me want to play FF7 on my Playstation again, although I have barely the time...
Fantastic review, Derek. Was really looking forward to this one. I think this was one of the first streams I tuned in for on your show, never really utilized twitch much before that. It’s me, Seto_Blade.
In any case, I appreciated your insight and perspective on the remake. I didn’t realize you weren’t especially fond of the OG game. Understandable, given you had extensively played Legend of Dragoon and Chrono Cross prior to FF7, both of which are excellent ps1 RPGs.
As for the ending of FF7 Remake part 1, I similarly felt very mixed about how they chose to end the game. For lack of a better description, it really did feel like they blew the climax for the entire Remake at part 1. It was way too premature.
However, I will say that while my initial impression on how they chose to end part 1 and alter the story direction was negative/mixed, I’ve grown to be more optimistic about the implications of such a “meta-narrative”. In this way it can become a game that never tries to replace the OG game, but will serve to enhance that overall FF7 experience. This “new” story can be very exciting because it isn’t bound by any he old.
Anyways, thanks for your awesome content, Derek! I look forward to tuning in to future streams. Peace brotha ✌️
I bought the game used, I wanted to play it but many people said it is not worth it, the whole game is like a demo and is not a complete game by any means and that I should wait for the "Full FFVII Remake" ... this made me play other games and renew but subscription to FFXIV.
Would you recommend the game for someone who never played the original FFVII?
Wow, I didn't know you were a Glass Reflection fan as well!
Also, great review as usual! I think it's definitely important to get a wide variety of perspectives regarding this remake, and there's plenty of people who have never played VII before or felt similarly to you, that may find themselves interested in this remake but want to avoid the (either intentional or unintentional) bias of some fans who hold it as such a monumental game for their childhood (nothing against that, of course; just that there can be bias there that may affect one's opinion). I'm a big fan of the original and I loved the remake, though I definitely see parts that weren't as great and the story's potential direction leaves much caution to be had IMO.
I like the original FF7, but I do not mind the deviations.
Same
I loved the Final Fantasy 7 REmake and I am looking forward to part 2.
After all this time, your first Final Fantasy review. (unless I forgot something of course, Adventure doesn't count of course)
I have not played this yet but I'm glad they are changing things up, even if sometimes for the worse as it makes for more interesting. I have no issue going back and playing the original if I want the OG experience.
Well damn, I double spaced my comment and it still looks short.
I liked this game a lot, got me to finally squeeze some time to play the original for the first time
and rekindled my love for Final Fantasy.
Some things do drag a bit but even then I went ahead and platinum-ed the game and want to play it again,
which is uncommon for me lately.
I love the original, loved the remake, but have had difficulty describing how I felt about it. This review is how I felt about it. Thank you, bro!
hey i played dragoon too, one of the most underrated gems of all time. But I also started with FF7 as many did. It was the game that got me into the genre. Nostalgia aside, it was and is still one of best games I've ever played if not the best still. As for the remake, I really don't believe they changed the main story or plan too as much as many want to believe. The remake I actually found to be one of the better games I've played since the original. The expansion of back story to certain characters and addition to more indepth character development for the members of avalanche was something we never got before and was one of the best additions to the remake. Jessie, I wasn't even 100% sure of her gender from the original because their blocky figures, but the remake, really brought these characters to life. The way they introduced them and how the story progresses, it really immerses you into their world and makes your feel for the characters in a way the original never did. In the next games, when we get to some of the more intense parts of the story, I think many people will really start seeing how amazing this game is going to be and why it needed to be done in parts.
You are right Derek. I was more amazed at the lunar games and tales legend of dragoon games rather than ff, but I do love final fantasy games
I noticed Tales of Berseria in your game collection. Do ever plan on reviewing a tales game? As my all time favorite series and my preferred youtube channel, I'd love hear your take on some the series entries.
The ending is really good imo. Not on my first playthrough, but I've come to really appreciate it after thinking about it and after playing the original.
This is easily my game of the year.
This review reflects my own thoughts on this game pretty well. "train graveyard was cute for 10 mins" "It was good until it wasn't" "It was only good, not great".
I've always worked under the mindset of FF7 R should be able to stand on it's own without any piece of ff7 media, and unfortunately it doesn't. For new players the ending must be so out of nowhere and silly......and for veterans the ending is so out of no where and more silly. I also didn't like the game ending on the most unearned, fan servicy final boss
0:37 GOD THAT GAME ROOM IS A DREAM ALL THOSE SHELVES ARE SOOO SATISFYING
I like the notion that this is technically a sequel based on certain characters knowing more than they should. I'm excited to see where it goes.
Also, whats that big game on the shelf to the right of Lunar 2?
Arc the Lad Collection
@@Kuroitakai Thanks!
I’m speechless, that was a damn good review.
Personally, I am satisfied.
Without going into detail, I’m just happy people can enjoy and talk about RPGs
That was a very helpful and enjoyable video. I appreciate your measured critique. I may have to eventually give this game a try. FF7 was the first game of the series I played ad i really enjoyed i back in he day.
Great review, Derek! I would love to hear your thoughts on other Final Fantasy games at some point as well! Is there a reason you haven't reviewed any of the main games yet?
Yeah, I put those on the back-burner early on because there are millions of reviews and videos about each, some of which are far better than I could hope to make (especially earlier on in my reviewing career,) so up to this point I've been focusing more on shedding light on other titles. I'll get to Final Fantasy eventually, but I'll probably need to finish up my DQ series review first. :)
I figured the answer was something like that. I definitely appreciate you talking about games that don't get as much attention. Still, I look forward to you reviewing them someday. You and Pro Jared are my favorite rpg youtubers. I'm glad your channel has been growing, and can't wait to see more from you!
Thanks man, that means a lot to me! Pro Jared was one of my biggest inspirations to get started on RUclips. Even now his newest videos show me I've still got a ways to improve. :)
@@SuperDerek I would also very much see you reviewing the Final Fantasy games. I'm especially curious how you will feel about FF3 for the Famicom. I just watched your Dragon Warrior 4 review, and you mentioned that it was your favourite RPG on the NES. In my opinion, FF3 is the only RPG that can beat DW4, or at least rival it in greatness. Keep up the good work! :-)
Thank you for this review I really enjoyed this. Being a fan of the original and now playing the remake I agree with you,while it may not be better it still is a good game that deserves the care of a jrpg collector.
I'm on board with the ending. Took balls to do what they did, lets see where they take it...
This was the first SE game I've really enjoyed since KH2. I thought the ending was super interesting, but I'll have to see how things play out. All in all, the game has its flaws for sure, but I had a lot of fun with it. And sweet Jesus, the music. THE MUSIC! 8/10
its nice to see someone give a simple opinion on a game like this that doesn't praise it or condemn it
Also its far too early to condemn the remake project as its only just started.
The FFVII Remake is a prime example of a company forgetting everything that made people love their series to begin with. It's a padded Kingdom Hearts x Advent Children fanfiction-fest filled with absolutely no respect or love for the original game. The directors even laughed together in an interview saying that they don't remember what happens after Midgar in the original. The fact that they can't remember what happens after *3 hours* of FFVII is a huge red flag, and just goes to show the incompetency of modern Square Enix (the company that can't even manage to make ports of games without doing the worst job they possibly could). Hell, Nomura didn't even know that he was directing the game until a bit into development, Kitase just kept asking him development questions and said "I thought you knew!" when Nomura voiced his confusion down the line.
The fact that they decided to scrap the established turn based gameplay of the series alone was enough to kill the game, but they somehow managed to screw it up in every conceivable way. On that note, how is anybody okay with a franchise, let alone a remake, changing the entire genre on a whim, just to appeal to casual gamers that hate RPGs? If this were any other remake or franchise then people would flip their lids if the genre got changed, but because it's suddenly "cool" to hate actual RPGs nowadays, nobody cares if they turn a turn based game into a hack and slash Kingdom Hearts game. On top of that, the stagger system destroys the pacing of combat, and bosses are monotonous and take ten years to beat. They stretched Midgar sooooo far for absolutely no reason besides "we don't know what we're doing and we want to reuse assets and make more money, sorry!" The best part is that they only adapted the first 3 hours of a 30 hour game, there was no reason to split the game into parts and fill part 1 with so much pointless filler. Some people might say "Oh, but that's how remakes work!", but it's really not. A remake takes an existing game and refines and expands upon it in meaningful ways while keeping the core of the game in-tact and updating the game visually. Games like this are more of a complete reimagining, choosing to try to replace every single part of the original game with something completely different, rather than refining what was already there to actually try to improve upon it. This remake isn't "better" in any way because they didn't actually try to improve it, and so it just comes off as a cheap means of exploiting people's nostalgia while also making a brand new game to appeal to the casual market. To Square Enix, it's a win-win; it's like any modern film remake, trying to get the fans with the name recognition alone while making it completely unrecognizable in order to appeal to a mass audience (which usually involves dumbing it down to the lowest common denominator).
Then there's the ending... hands down, the biggest, most hilarious shitshow I've seen in video game history. Yeah, there's stuff like Fallout 76 that turned into a disaster, but this is the remake of FFVII that people have been anticipating for over a decade. To end it with future, alternate dimension Sephiroth throwing buildings while you fight time ghosts... they've jumped the shark so hard. There's altering a game's story, and then there's just saying "fuck it" and changing the plot into a poorly done shonen anime because you're Tetsuya Nomura, and being a giant manbaby is what you do. All of the themes of FFVII have been thrown away so that we can re-enact Advent Children's stupid climax in video game form. It's a sad time when a remake takes more from the shitty movie based on a game than from the actual game itself... I just can't see how any genuine Final Fantasy fan could approve of this game, it's literally a giant middle finger to the Final Fantasy fanbase and RPG fans in general. Square Enix just can't manage to make a good mainline FF game anymore. XIII was awful, XV was just as terrible, and now the VII Remake completely shits on the legacy of both the series and the original game while also still not managing to be a good game in its own right. If this game had nothing to do with FFVII, then everybody would just write it off as another bad FF game with a bad plot, bad gameplay, and bad pacing. Mark my words, this is going to turn into the next XV where it gets sales from all of the casuals alone, but once they move on to the next thing then NONE of the Final Fantasy fans are going to talk about it again and just pretend that it didn't happen. 30 years from now, when there's no more hype for these crappy remakes, everybody is still going to be playing and loving the original FFVII, while the remake is going to be lost to time.
So true, finally someone addresses these flaws. "FF7R" is what "Picard" is for Star Trek. Wrong pace, distorted world, wrong colors and wrong atmosphere. No respect for the real FF7 or FF in general.
This.
@@bringbackmy90s Exactly! I'm not a Star Trek fan, but after watching Red Letter Media's videos on Picard I thought the exact same thing. It sucks when the people who are currently in charge of a franchise chose to ignore all of the elements that made it popular in the first place in order to try to become more mainstream, trying to appeal to the people that wouldn't have given the originals a second glance. Neither Square Enix nor CBS appear to have any semblance of respect for their franchise or its legacy, they just see it as a cash cow that they can do whatever they want with.
It's funny, because RLM highlighted a bunch of tweets about the Picard finale, and they were all saying the EXACT same things that I saw people saying about the FFVII Remake on Square Enix's channel. "I'm crying so hard, thank you so much for bringing back my childhood!" "What an incredible experience, a true masterpiece, my life is fulfilled!" It sounds like hyperbole, but I actually saw people saying stuff like that, it's nuts. I think it's great if something makes people happy, but it's obvious that people that say things like that are overly sentimental and emotional to the point that they can't think rationally or logically about the show/game.
@@Jordan3DS indeed, everything is always "oh it's sooo nostalgic". Oh and look, Lord Vader is killing everyone onboard in Rogue One with his lightsaber like a maniac, oh we waited soo loong for this!
Really? Don't they realize how out of character that was, compared to the calm and restrained portrayal of Vader in the original entrance scene 1977? This is only another example how everything is reduced to dumb action garbage. Only good as RLM material
@@bringbackmy90s Yeah, the FFVII Remake also excelled at forcing fanservice into the game that made absolutely no sense, much like the Darth Vader scene you mentioned. Sephiroth doesn't act like himself at all, they've reduced him down to the "cool, badass man with a big sword" only, because that's how all of the Advent Children fans see him. He got shoehorned in all over the place, and his scenes at the end are just painful to watch. I didn't know whether to laugh or feel sad when I saw Cloud start flying through the sky cutting buildings in half in one slash that Sephiroth threw at him with his mind, or when he had his black wing from Kingdom Hearts. It's just horrible; my biggest fear for the Final Fantasy series was for it to become Kingdom Hearts, and now that's the reality that we live in. You also have Cloud dancing scene which was also completely out of tone with FFVII (and the FF series in general). They just flat out didn't care, and that sucks for people the that love Final Fantasy and hate watching it die like this.
“Impaired dexterity”. Yeah! I like that one. I’m gonna use it
This was a fantastic video. I always found Square Enix games to be impossible to discuss with any nuance. You have one side who suck off the developers harder than a vacuum cleaner on high and you have another side that has such a vendetta against certain developers, you would think they murdered their family, and theres nothing in between these extremes. This video was a breath of fresh air of you understanding the legacy of the original and what it means to recreate a cherished game like that 20+ years later, while acknowledging the negatives and positives of the remake in a balanced manner, really fantastic stuff.
I think you and I are in the same boat here. Dragoon was my FF7. And I only played a little bit of FF7 back when it was still newish, so I don't have the same levels of nostalgia and expectations as other people. I have since played FF7 and enjoyed it, and I think FF7R has done an admirable job thus far translating that experience to the modern age. Is the game perfect? Absolutely not. But I'd be lying if I said this game didn't impress me. I guess I kinda forgot how good Final Fantasy games can be when the development isn't horribly mismanaged.
As for the ending, I completely understand a lot of people's misgivings. I have them too. At the same time though, I had misgivings before Part One came out and pretty much all of those fears were allayed. Also there are elements of the ending (and overall story telling) that are intimately tied to the FF7 Compilation (particularly Advent Children). I'd recommend reading into some of the fan theory crafting to get a better sense of what that ending was all about, and where Square is headed. I think Part Two could get very interesting.
Great review! I loved the game and can't wait for part 2. I want to know if you start game 2 at lvl 1 or does your save file transfer over to part 2. Also, I hope it doesn't take 5 years for part 2. I'm hoping 3 years at the most.
Shout out to Legend of Dragoon and Chrono Cross because those were also some of my first RPGs that still place a close spot in my heart!
As much of a Final Fantasy VII as I am, I haven't bought the game yet. The main reason is because I think we can expect a PS5 version of Part 1. Apparently Square-Enix is already working on Part 2 which would probably get a PS5 release anyway.
I feel like being a huge FFVII fan should be the reason that you DON'T buy the game, it has none of the elements that even made people enjoy the original to begin with. The gameplay is bad, the writing is bad, the story additions and alterations are hilariously poorly done at worst and mind-numbingly stupid at best, and they've completely ignored trying to give people a proper version of FFVII in order to make "THEIR" version of FFVII (aka, a brand new game with a VII skin slapped onto it). You know how people change parts of an original car, and then ask the question of "at what point is it not even the same car anymore?" This is that situation in video game form. They've taken the "car" of FFVII and changed out the engine, the brakes, the radiator, the chassis, the battery, the windshield, and gave it a new paint job. Can we even call it FFVII anymore if that's the case?
@@Jordan3DS that's the best analogy I ever read and it sums up perfectly why i dislike it. Superderek says okay let's be unbiased and give it a chance as a not fan. Then I don't understand, who is the targeted audience? Those who are not huge fans? Why bother naming the game FF7 then...
@@bringbackmy90s Thanks! I agree, it's ridiculous. The audience for it is:
1. People who have a lot of nostalgia for FFVII, and just want to see Cloud and Sephiroth in HD
2. Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children fans, who love over the top, ridiculous shonen action and plot of both and the hack and slash gameplay of Kingdom Hearts
3. People that hate RPGs, and "just want to hit stuff"
4. Mainstream audiences/casual gamers that never cared about Final Fantasy before
Basically, everybody BUT genuine Final Fantasy and RPG fans, which is really sad. The Final Fantasy series is one of my favorite franchises, and I really wish that they would actually make games that appeal to their fans rather than chasing success via casual gamers (which is part of the reason that XIII, XV, and the VII Remake all sucked so badly).
@@Jordan3DS i think many of the people who claim to love this game are just haters of turn based rpgs. they're so happy to see one of the most popular ones be turned into a mediocre action game, they were going to praise it no matter what because they're so happy to see a genre they don't like take a kick in the nuts. there are also the type of fans that will just praise anything ffvii no matter how badly it's butchered. there's a channel with this absurdly overly emotional 12 or 13 year old girl that literally cries every time she sees a trailer or anything of a series she likes. you already knew they could have butchered this remake ten times more than they already did and she was still going to cry and say how it's the most beautiful and amazing thing ever, there is literally nothing the company could do to turn those type of people away even if they tried.
they're going to milk these people with at least 4 parts, possibly more, all with dlc, then they'll move on and do the same with other popular rpgs like ff8 and 9, xenogears, chrono trigger. why come up with original ideas that could fail when you can just remake and milk classics and they will sell good no matter what? they already have people begging for ff8 next when it'll be another 20 years before they're done milking 7. remember when we used to get good, complete games from companies every year? no you wait 5 to 10 years for a partial game that almost certainly was glitchy and required a large patch at launch, idk i have no desire to play it but nearly every game does require a large day one patch these days. ok i'm done ranting about how severely game quality overall has dropped in recent years.
@@Jack_80 I don't know if there are many people that would claim love for the game just to spite turn based RPGs, but I will completely agree that recent irrational hate towards turn based RPGs is the reason that there's not as much anger about them changing the game/franchise in general from turn based RPGs into hack and slash action games. If, say, they remade Super Mario 64 as a first person shooter, then people would go ballistic. Hell, even brand new games that change genres in popular franchises receive a lot of ire on the internet (like Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and Star Fox Adventures). It's highly hypocritical and obnoxious, it feels like us RPG fans are being kicked while we're down. I think the worst part is that none of the complaints that people throw at RPGs are logical or rational at all. They say that things that have no problems are examples of horrible game design that makes RPGs terrible, like menu based combat, random encounters, and "forced grinding (despite 95% of the RPGs that I've played requiring no grinding at all). This is how I see those people playing an RPG: they start one, get a couple of hours in (before the gameplay is fully fleshed out with all of the abilities, mechanics, and party members that you get later), start fighting a boss and spam normal attacks while thinking "man, there's no strategy to this!" Then they die and think "damn, this game sucks, it forces you to grind a whole bunch!" Then they quit the game a couple of hours in and write it off as trash, even though it's their own lack of patience and skill that's ruining their experience, while actual RPG fans like us can get through the game with no issues. There's also the problem where those kinds of people run from every battle because they don't want to play the game, then complaining that the bosses are too hard. The random encounters complaint is also obnoxious, because it's essentially just detractors saying "I hate it when the game makes me play it!" Nobody complains when the room locks in a game like Bayonetta until you beat all of the enemies, so I don't understand why RPGs are expected to be the one genre where you choose whether to actually play it or not.
I agree that a lot of people would have been happy no matter what. The fact that an HD Remake of FFVII actually came out overshadows any of the actual game for those people. They could spend 99% of the game collecting sticks off the ground and they would still say that it's incredible because they get to see Cloud's buster sword in 1080p. Hell, that's also the same reason that so many people are fans of Advent Children despite it being an objectively terrible movie, they just love seeing Cloud in super CGI. I also agree that most of its fanbase are the kinds of people that hate RPGs, but I think they're thinking more along the lines of "thank god this game has actual gameplay unlike the shitty RPG original!" rather than "I only like this because it's NOT an RPG".
Honestly, I feel like them making FFVIII Remastered was their idea of a FFVIII Remake. That game is so divisive that I don't think Square sees as much monetary potential in it, so I think the next remake would be IX. This is the company that considers FFV and VI on phones to be the "remakes" of those games, so they obviously have incredibly low standards when it comes to remakes. It sucks, too, because they were doing really good for a while (FFI and II on GBA are great remakes, as are III and IV on DS and I, II, and IV on PSP). I'm starting to fear that Square Enix will never make another good mainline FF game again (remake or otherwise), and that's a really sad thought. Honestly, even though I'm a massive fan of FFIX, I will straight up not buy the remake if they screw it up like this.
Also, there are still good games coming out nowadays, you just have to sift through all of the generic, greedy, soulless triple A trash that comes out. In terms of RPGs, Octopath Traveller was amazing, the Bravely games are both awesome (I can't wait for Bravely Default II!), Persona 5 was the worst Persona game but it's still decent, Shin Megami Tensei V will probably be good, and Dragon Quest XI is arguably the best Dragon Quest game. There's also a Suikoden spiritual successor being developed called Eiyuden Chronicle that's being made by the a bunch of the people responsible for the Suikoden games and it looks pretty damn good so far.
I agree with your review 100%. I hated the fact there was too much filler. I just loved how after destroying the first reactor, the next thing to do is find some kids Cats.....
Ah beautiful, another fellow fan of Legend of the Dragoon. Like you that was my first real JRPG and since then I have found very few RPGs that bring back to that special place. Probably the most recent one to do so was Biowares gems Mass effect and Dragon Age. I do remember for a long time I use to think Jessie was guy 😆
Thank you for doing this review! I loved the original, it was the first final fantasy we got here in Europe and for that its special to me. Honestly though I was so let down by the remake. First of all I hate the pacing, both story and gameplay wise. So many parts you are going through hallways without many enemies and its just a slog! I know many places are hidden loading times but it made me crazy. Also the battle system is not for me, I get its based on FF 13 the worst in the series in my opionion. I hate the idea of having to stagger enemies to be able to hurt them. Some of the boss battles, especially the harder/hidden ones took forever. Maybe I just suck but I didnt enjoy myself.
And the big one, the story... its easy to tell that the director came straight from Kingdom Hearts and thats not a good thing. I hate to be such a grumpy old man about this game but playing Trials of Mana the week after made me realize that was the type of remake I like. I loved the original secret of mana 2 and even if Trials is a lower budget game its so much better in my opinion.
Very accurate comment.
I will never understand why changing the story to be "fresh" for everyone is a necessary or good thing. Its a change, but I dont really see a reason for it beyond being new. I just wanted it to have a better paced story, a few more options to the gameplay ( DS remake of chrono trigger style). I dont really want the extra cheap mini-games or quest board style gameplay. Trials of Mana remake is fantastic and I could only hope SE continues down that path. And I hate to say, but i dont like the music in the game. They changed the tone of every zone and it feels weird to me to listen to upbeat jazz in a graveyard or the chocobo themes that I usually love, but hate in this game. Its like the game with an OC remix soundtrack.
@@WhatAboutZoidberg all valid points. I'm not far into trials of mana but I'm loving it so far.
It was good for me at the beginning but became a slog around mid-late game I haven't finished it since. Story is too all over the place (I haven't play the originals). Music and visuals are exceptional though.
I love the original, but i don’t really like the remake for many reasons :
You can’t really go on the plate (that night with Jesse doesn’t count)
Roche is useless
No dramatic mood like the original (spoilers nobody dies this time)
It’s nonsense to go at the sector 7 after the plate has fell. And when you go there it’s seems not that bad, you can see the central pillar of midgar intact, but when you climb to go on the plate : wow everything is destroyed! There’s many building on the central pillar. Basically the point is there no cohesion!
The whispers, just why? Change the story if you want, but don’t make ghosts who want the same story!
Many fillers things just to expand the Life time of the game
And some minor other things.
Oh i forgot : why Sephiroth and Zack!? I really feel the incomprehension of New players
It was so close to being great though. So close. And it's not even like they had to do anything special to make it great. They just had to resist the urge to do something special. It would have been great. The original game had a very intimate moment when the crew left Midgar. It was a bittersweet moment, filled with uncertainty, but nothing grand or amazing. It was a sombre moment of reflection, of leaving behind their home for something else. And this ragtag crew was only barely starting to get to know each other yet now they have to start on this journey together. I feel this could have been explored properly and brought to life with modern techniques. Not every video game ending needs to be an epic boss battle changing the fate of the world. It was a wasted opportunity.
I’m a big new fan of the channel.. I’ve consumed many episodes of SDs reviews. I don’t have any criticism of your... well.. criticisms of FF 7 remake. I would just ask what is objectively better? See using a word like better makes me believe that to be a bit of an oxymoron. Objective is something that can be measured and has no opinion involved. Like a 2x4 is a piece of wood that might be “better” for certain jobs, it’s not any better or worse than a 4x4 (unless either piece or material is more suited for a particular task, of course). It is a thing, it weighs or can be measured as x, but simply using the term better throws you into the realm of subjectivity.. like you can objectively say the graphics produce so many more polygons than the original (idk if they even use polygons anymore, lol, but hopefully my point isn’t lost). Like the graphics may look better to you, but that doesn’t technically make them better. I just am confused by the way people throw around the term objective anymore. If it’s filtered through your mind or perception it’s subjective.
Totally a fair point. By "objectively better" I was mostly referring off handedly to things like a symphonic OST, higher fidelity graphics, that sort of thing that has less to do with the more subjective aspects of the game like the story, gameplay elements, subtext and so on. But your totally right, "objectively better" is a loaded phrase I should be careful to wield more cautiously. :)
look up Suikoden spiritual successor if you haven't yet, the images of it look quite good!
What is the name ? 🤔
@@taciolothar3794 Eiyuden Chronicle
It looks crazy good! I would have had a video ready this morning but ended up having to take care of Amy for the last few days. I'll be sure to cover it in the JRPG weekly update though! :)
SuperDerek RPGs REALLY looking forward to this as Suikoden 1 and 2 are some of my favourite 90s JRPGs. I’m hoping they get enough interest/funding for a Switch version.
I'm really hoping it's a spiritual successor in the way all the "xeno" games are to xenogears, whereas its essentially the same story, just names of particular prominent things are changed to satisfy copyright infringement. It could gives that suikoden sequel and harmonia storyline we always hoped for.
I heavily disagree with you about the ending. There's a lit of depth to it but since you're not a huge fan of the OG I can understand you not wanting to dig deep about it. There's some stuff that'd blow your mind. BTW Arkada/Glass Reflection liked the FFVIIR ending. BTW it was confirmed that FFVIIR is a sequel to the OG.
Maybe I ought to look into the ending more, and if I do maybe I'll appreciate it more. That said though, I believe any game _ought_ to give players enough context during a normal play-through to understand its ending on a surface level. I suspect the majority of _my viewers_ are going to experience the game similarly to how I did: Casually.
You could make the case that players should have more context because of all the side-content Square Enix has been putting out over the years, but Square Enix threw that player expectation out the window when they slapped "Remake" on the game title. Players who believe this really is part 1 of a remake, as advertised, won't understand they need to have gone through the entire back-catalogue of FFVII media to comprehend the ending.
I think too many fans of the series are too quick to hand-wave issues like this because they've already watched Advent Children, played Crisis Core, read the Turks manga, and have already been digesting the implications of this expanded universe for _years_ now. It's not a big deal to them. But most players aren't invested that heavily. And expecting them to is asking a lot.
I played the OG, the ending is just poor and needless in RE. Had it just ended after the highway boss it would been infinitely better and given us more to look forward to(they blew the main villain's ending fight in the first act...). SE are making a mistake treating remake as more more Compilation of FF7 content, its shackling what could be great to half baked cash grabs from a decade ago.
I enjoy old school, games were completed not stuck in dlc hell or remake hell or episodic hell. Liked the game but I'll probably wait for it to be over before I pick up any more episodes.
I loved the game. Ending has me a little skeptical but that aside the combat really allows for these characters to be fully realized. Objectively speaking the only real difference for characters in the original was their limit breaks. I hope next time they give classic mode options for normal and hard. Some of the side quests were definitely a waste and some parts overstayed their welcome (train graveyard, and the second bombing run chapters) and aerial combaf is abysmal but luckily not too often.
There are also a lot of things the game doesn't tell you or doesn't explain well about the gameplay, but I think that allows for people. To experiment. For example did you know that if you stance switch from operator.to punisher as an enemy attacks not only will you counter but you will take less damage than if just held block in punisher mode to counter? Or that you can chain counterstance into stance switch into counterstance (helpful in some hardmode fights).
I fully acknowledge I'm a fan of the original so seeing these characters fully realized has been a delight for me.
Going for this level of graphical fidelity, those FF13/15 underpinnings and the battle system is what has the alarm bells ringing for me.
While I'm not excited to play FF7 remake (when it comes to PC), I am curious to play it, but my expectation is low.
I always liked it but wasnt the best FF but remaking it was worth it, it was so nostalgic to see this game with these graphics. Just wish the towns looked more like the originals
I most certainly love the remake.
I love the original too. I played them both simultaneously for the first time. Both are awesome games.
Thumbs up for showing the old footage.
I really enjoyed this review, dude. Thanks for the great video!
This was good stuff Derek. One of your better reviews, I'd say.
Thanks Seth!
The original is my fave game of all time. But I didn't enjoy the remake much at all.
Didn't enjoy the combat and it was ridiculously dragged out in alot of sections. The music is superb though!
I agree, although I didn't like the music, either. It felt like a very disingenuous way to arrange a soundtrack; "just make it all "generic orchestra" and people will love it, right?" That stuff is fine for an orchestral concert, but the arrangements don't fit playing in the actual game itself. Much like the the rest of the remake, the music decided to do something completely different rather than trying to make faithful arrangements of the original tracks.
@@Jordan3DS the original had such a variety in tone... Thanks to the appropriate use of different kinds of music. Why do they have to insert everywhere the generic LotR choir...oh yeah because every second in Cloud's life is so "epic", it is so dense, so many things are going on
@@bringbackmy90s Yeah, the overuse of choir is really obnoxious, they even tried to make the battle theme overly epic for absolutely no reason, despite it not matching the tone of the moments it plays in. A composer's job isn't just to make a song "epic", they need to have their songs match the tone and mood of the moment that they play. I enjoy a lot of video game jazz arrangement albums, but they wouldn't fit playing in the games themselves at all. Hell, even listening to it on its own the VII Remake OST isn't very good, all it does is make me want to listen to the superior original compositions.
It's not a complete game. Fight me. But good on you SQEnix, for a grand retelling of a game.
The game is most definitely a remake but the twist that you realise at the very end is that its Sephiroth who's trying to remake the timeline to suit his goals. When you look back at chapter 2 and realise that Sephiroth is trying to lead cloud away from his first meeting with Aerith and the whispers have to hold her in place to make sure the meeting happens, that blew my mind, it's genius from Square enix.
Sephiroth trys to manipulate and change events while the whispers try to keep things on the original games path to ensure humanity is wiped out by Meteor and it gets to return to its natural state as seen in the end credits of ff7 when Red looks apon the ruins of midgar reclaimed by nature.
I don't understand the hate for the ending because if it had been a 1:1 remake people would have finished it and moved on but Square have had people talking and speculating and theorising for 4 months now and they have ensured the original FF7 is just as relevant and important today as it was 23 years ago, I've seen tons of people on twitter, forums, facebook and so on go on to play the original after finishing the remake to see the original story.
I mean a 1:1 remake would have rendered the original game obsolete but square have just ensured it will forever live on as to now understand the entire history, story and legacy of the ff7 universe you must now play both, its truely genius from them and this lets them move the story in any number of possible ways for the sequals, will the gamble pay off, i have no idea but i'm bloody excited to find out.
Considering they sell the original game on every playstation store rendering the original obsolete would have been stupid but they have ensured the game will forever live on unlike every other game thats been remade and its original been long forgotton like crash or spyro or shadow of the colossus.
I freaking loved the remake and I'm amazed they found a way to keep the original just as important today and get a host of new players to go back to it, its fantastic for the series.
the haters just have nothing better to do but complain.
For real though. They're just never gonna finish the whole story are they.
That's my biggest concern and the main reason I have not played the remake, and the original was that "special" game for me.
@@celticspike2522 the best video game experience I had was replaying the original FF7 after finishing the Remake. I've never seen a game with such a good attention to details
@@quack_a_doodle5922 I can well believe it. I know they did a great job expanding Midgar in the remake but personally I felt the original did an amazing job in its own right in worldbuilding and making the various towns and cities feel real. Which I feel is down to all those little details everywhere.
They're consulting with George R.R. Martin on the ending. ;-)
I've never played the original FF7 and experienced the story and characters for the first time in remake! I really enjoyed the game. Incredible graphics, fun combat and an enjoyable plot. Although that final chapter felt quite out of place and confusing compared with the rest of the game.
I’m right there with ya man! Though I like the original FF 7 it isn’t the best in the series in my opinion. And I also liked the remake! Way to keep it balanced!
FFVII is probably my 7th or 8th favorite FF. 9th if we're counting Tactics.
Texture loading seems to be a confirmed random UE4 engine bug, where sometimes high rez textures just refuse to load in, problem is; this is a Square Enix game and they are notorious for slow patches, just look at ff12 on ps4, took over 6 months to get patch to add changes which were added to switch version.
In regards to game ending when i first finished it i would of agreed with you, but then I analysed each bit of the ending and what everything meant then replayed game on hard and changed my mind about the ending, now i think the ending is really amazing but over-complicated in hidden meanings.
I am one of the people who regard the original as "special" but I still have not played the remake. I'm 40 years old and I just can't see myself falling in love with these characters and the world again, knowing that I will likely be in my 50s before this thing wraps up. I understand they needed to split the game into smaller releases as you point out, but I just feel like they could have at "least" covered up to Junon with this game, as from what I have heard these is a LOT of fluff and padding here that makes no sense to me when they have such a huge game to remake. Ever since I heard about the game only covering Midgar it lost a LOT of appeal for me. I am going to hold out for a PC release, and hope that by then we have a clearer picture of when part 2 will actually be out and what it covers.
Well, tastes are different.
I wasn't a fan of FF7, but I am a huge fan of the remake now. I can't wait for part 2 to get released :-)
Aeris death😭 was a huge shock to us all
Way back when...I was working in a local game store, I would have people going nuts over FVII, I however was not much a fan, so I introduced them to a little gem called Suikoden.
So many people are quick to hate on this Remake .. Why?? ; Because , it wasn't the same way it was 20 years ago 😕, I feel like when people try to remake anything , there's always gonna be old fans who can't accept it, how do they still hate this game after playing it, the music , the characters, the lighting , all of it is well done , and highly detailed , they should be happy it didn't turn out like Cyberpunk2077 , do you really think the ps1 turn base system would have worked for the ps4 , What?? Also since when is having a long game a bad thing, most of the time having a short story is an issue , and if you don't like the side quest then don't play them , all square was trying to do is breath new life into an old game, that was an integral part to many gamers childhoods , and yeah not everyone is just and FF fan , I enjoyed almost everything this game had to offer , this vedio is done really well , and I hope many people get to see it , and decide for themselves if they will support the continuation of this series , good job man thank you 😎
It had a lot of potential, and it looks amazing, but I don’t like how they deviated from the story and some of the core mechanics:
All materia changed, is super scarce and not as effective. You can’t master a materia and have another one be born. I don’t like how your ATB gauge doesn’t just fill on it’s own with the same expediency if you aren’t controlling the person- I literally had times where my other characters died, my last character had no ATB slots filled and I had no health, so I had to run around and dodge for a long time, just hoping to get a slot filled to actually do something. I don’t like how you don’t get to choose to use Simmons whenever you want. I don’t like how your limit breaks are so scarce. I don’t like how linear it was and wouldn’t allow you to explore areas. I don’t like how the weapons are so drastically different- for the most part in the original, the newest weapon was the most powerful and the main difference was materia slots and growth rates. In this game, you could unlock a new weapon and it could be all attack power or all magic, so it could be completely useless if you don’t utilize that style of attack. I don’t like some of the fights where you can easily get killed very quickly if you aren’t equipped to deal with a foe you haven’t yet faced, so you don’t know how you have to be equipped. Towards the end, I was just wanting to finish the game so I could start Ghost of Tsushima...and that’s not something I was expecting, as the original FF7 was my favorite PS of that era.
I loved FF7R, I put more hours into that single playthrough than I have any game in a given playthrough thus far. That being said, I definitely saw the flaws as I played it and I am definitely understanding of criticisms. It's okay to love something without putting it on a pedestal just like it's okay to criticize something without needlessly condemning it.
I can't wait for part 2!
You. We need more people to be like you. Thank you for being you. :)
@@SuperDerek awww thanks Derek, you're the best dude!