It's 2 o'clock and I just finished the game (all side-quest, minigames and Chadley's missions) and like many of you I feel terribly in between the amazement of what I've been playing and the confusion of what I might gonna play in the future. For this reason I decided to write a few words about the 3 major questions that I had before playing this game.
1. Should I Play It?
Yes. Absolutely yes. FF7 Remake is probably the best nostalgic operation ever made in videogame history. In my opinion it’s massively important to remember the original game in order to get the best experience out of it. If you have never played FF7 before I suggest you to go through the PS1 game (it’s on the PS Store for £12.99) before playing the remake. In case you are a long term fan, replay it till the end of the Shinra Building part then go through the remake. In this way you can come back to the original and have lots more content to play after you finish the remake. I made the mistake of playing the whole 1997 game before and now I’m left with no FF7 story related stuff to play. I might play it again from the start just to push the nostalgia even more.
2. Is The Game Long Enough?
No. Compared to a classic Final Fantasy experience this game feels really short. To get a good complete run takes around 30 to 40 hours without major difficulties. The flow of the game is amazing and because of that it feels even shorter. The experience is however really satisfying. It feels like the length of the game is not important. The main feature of the game didn’t seem to be the actual gameplay but just the fact of being back in the FF7 world.
3. Is "Midgar Only" a Good Idea? (minor spoiler on second paragraph)
It could have been. Everything comes down to the really confusing ending. Let’s make it clear. The overall experience of FF7 Remake is incredible. The expansion of the story is so well told, the things that weren’t in the original story are fitting really well and they go naturally up to the point that it seems that they have already been in the original. Having only Midgar is probably the only option that was left in order to include all those cinematic epic moments, amazing voice acting and giant battles. Get ready to tear up more than once.
Now let’s be extremely honest here. FF7 Remake is made of 18 chapters. 17 of them are FF7, one is Tetsuya Nomura (director of the game) going insanely nuts over his Kingdom Hearts storyboard. The ending is frenetic and confusing, it feels good to play but leaves you with too many questions about how he might take FF7 onwards and recreate it on his own schemes. Knowing how complicated he made the whole KH world I feel somehow downhearted and sad about what’s coming up.
Conclusion
FF7 Remake remains a must for fans and somehow a great introduction/reminder to what great storytelling in videogames is. Every moment reaching a new area is filled with emotions supported by one of the best soundtrack ever made (Nobuo Uematsu rocks!). It leaves us with huge questions regarding what a remake is and should be. Should it respect the fans ideas, the purity of the game or the director’s philosophy? Meanwhile I think about it I might gonna give it another run.
Let me know if this has been somehow helpful.