If you owned a PlayStation, chances are you played (or heard about) - the blockbuster title Final Fantasy VII. It was the first entry in the series which used 3D graphics, sold a huge amount of PlayStation consoles, and introduced many to the Japanese RPG sub-genre.
For years, Square (and Square Enix) have teased their nostalgia driven fans for remakes. Between Final Fantasy: Advent Children, Dirge of Cerebrus, and Crisis Core, to name a few - the universe of FFVII sees much expansion and lingers beyond the 1997 original title.
Now, there's a demo on the PlayStation store, available on the PlayStation 4. This is a title that saw me spend many weekends, and an enormous amount of hours playing the game in my grandparent's spare room, where the PlayStation was.
This meant, every weekend, for a very, very long time, I saw myself immersed in the gameplay, story, and lore of Final Fantasy VII. Essentially being a child at the time, and having entire weeks between play sessions instilled a great sense of continuity and length into the title for me. The game, as a result, is closely associated with memories of my grandmother's cooking, and my grandfather's helpful hands around their home.
Final Fantasy VII, by extension is more than a game to me, it is a reminder of that time, and a reminder of those family members who are no more.
But, it is a game. And today, it is being remade. At long last.
So, what's the demo like?
The demo opens with the opening chapter of the game, where the Avalanche group attempt to break down a Mako reactor. "Mako", is the essence of the world, a swirly, bubbly green energy that is exploited, mined, and consumed by the megacorp Shinra, which the Avalanche group's leader, Barret hares with a deep, explosive, and firey passion.
The demo takes about 45minutes to an hour to play through, and there's a number of poignant differences on the game.
Tempered by the fact that many gamers know this world, know this place, and know the layout, there's a significant element of fore-shadowing in the title. The first time you see the reactor - you know what is going to happen - and you know how it is going to go down.
Square have done a decent job of differentiating and converting this world to full 3D, enabling it to not feel stale, with just enough fan service present for those looking for those specific details and deeper world-building, enabled by far more visual sophistication.
I feel as though the music is also excellent. The title screen music and first few barrage of notes when we catch a glimpse of Aerith in the game's opening cinematic is 100% nostalgia power to the maximum, without changing things far too much.
The battle system is very different. While there's a "Classic" option, promising to be more menu driven, there feels to be a strong sense of the combat presentation leaning more heavily into real time battles, very similar to Crisis Core, and other recent forays into real time combat in the Final Fantasy universes.
This is something that I do not feel all that enthused about - but; the year is no longer 1997, and a series of animations played by a menu driven combat system is not what we are used to or expect in games. As a result, I feel like there's still more to see about this, but with the wonders of the very same technology that brings us a game like this, we can revisit the original title if we prefer.
There'll be complaints about this, but to me, this is the thing we recieve in exchange for progress.
Other articles and reviews tend to indicate that, as Square first stated, this title will be episodic, with the Final Fantasy VII remake release due to include the full presentation of the City of Midgar, which back in the day, meant around 8-10 hours worth of gameplay, if not more.
With further embellishments that are added (evident through the demo) - this gives us the opportunity to go far deeper into the world build by Shinra, Avalanche, and the power struggle that defines much of the game's plot.
Due for release on the 10th of April, 2020, the Final Fantasy VII remake will use the Unreal Engine. While a release is only announced for the PlayStation 4 at this stage, the use of the Unreal engine means that this remake will be fairly easy to port to other platforms in the future.
Of course, none of this is confirmed, but it would be excellent to see this title proliferate onto as many platforms as possible.
To me, this is one of three games that I will be purchasing this year - the other two being Cyberpunk 2077, and The Last of Us: Part II.
There's no shortage of ways to buy Final Fantasy VII remake - retail, or through the menu system in the demo, or thorugh the PlayStation store website. I have a feeling this will sell many, many copies.
Are you going to purcahse the Final Fantasy Remake?
What was your first experience with this game?
Let's have a discussion in the comments! Please let me know if you've played the demo, I'd love to know the thoughts of other members of the community!
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day, no matter where you are in the world. Expect to see far less of me on Steem as soon as this game launches later in the year. It's less than a month away now - which will go by very, very quickly.
I am probably going to purchase the physical copy of this game, but I haven't pre-ordered yet!