As a person who loves JRPGs and has managed to finish the whole FF collection from the first Nintendo installment up to the later ones (FF online and derivates not included). I would like to say that FF7 Remake is a beautiful yet shallow makeover that leaves much to be desired.
Without getting too much the plot which most of you probably know by now. An ex-soldier (Cloud Strife) joins a terrorist group to take down Mako Reactors which are power plants designed to suck the life out of the planet. They must join together to take down the evil Shinra corporation and save the world.
The Pros:
The graphics are breathtaking especially on PS5. The game is simply beautiful. It could be a full-motion picture all by itself. Tifa and Aerith are literal bombshells and everything is so well drawn its like a sci-fi painting brought to life. It really showed the full capability of the PS4 regardless of the age of its lifecycle. Graphics and Animations 11/10
The new combat system is great, it has that "Kingdom Hearts' feel where you can move and perform turn-based attacks at the same time. For those who like the original FF system more, the classic option is available. However, the new real time / turn based system gives you the ability to dodge attacks altogether. I have found myself beating bosses by going behind them or simply hitting them and running away since your position is now flexible. You are no longer stuck in one spot, so you can dodge attacks at will. The combat 9/10
The Cons:
The story doesn't seem to follow much of the original. There are a few elements that I don't remember happening in the original story. For example; I don't remember Cloud having a mom and spending his childhood with Tifa. Wasn't Cloud some kind of lab experiment gone wrong which turned out to be right? For those who finished the original FF7, it will surely ring a bell. They expanded some characters which in the original version were almost invisible. The bosses differ and the character relationship is brought to a whole new level. The game is entirely focused on asexual flirting and innuendos by the female lead and Cloud Strife. Everything screams" I want to bang Cloud but we have more important fish to fry as of now" and because of this the game doesn't appear dark and fatalistic anymore like the fate of the planet is really on the edge. No! its let's just saved some people whenever something happens and flirt while playing annoying mini-games in between. The Story 5/10
The minigames oh lord! Why? You are supposed to be mercenary fighting against an evil corporation. Why do you have to jump up and down, dance on stage in a club, and push switches while following some pattern? The puzzles are meaningless and easy and believe me that they are not even qualified to be in a beginner's brain game app. They are simple time-wasters! If you want to put puzzles in your game, make them challenging and not for 2-year-olds. In essence, a solid 5 hours of your game will be dedicated to chasing cats, aligning mechanical hands, and opening pumps that take longer to operate than to solve. Puzzle Gameplay & Minigames 1/10
The character builds and leveling up is one of the most disappointing elements of this game. You can't really farm enemies like in the original since the enemies don't really respawn the same way. So basically you can't really make your character stronger until you find certain spots where monsters do respawn and believe me that these spots are extremely rare. The available items are limited and it has less of that "I am making a character build" rather than " I am simply getting stuff based on how far I am in the game". Character Customizing 5/10
It's not the full game. In terms of length compared to the original, it feels as if this remake is barely 1/4 of the original game. Milking some of that FF7 nostalgia money you say? you bet! At the same time, the world is becoming dumber every day so the idea of dumbing everything down for the new ADHD generation of Millenials is not surprising at all. On the other hand, I can see how a game so beautifully designed could take time.. I am just not comfortable knowing that they took an epic journey and broke it apart into a few chunks. The game should take you a mere 20 ish hours to complete and perhaps 60 to get everything. Game Lenght 4/10
That's all folks! Remember that this isn't a bad game, it just has its flaws and seems to have been made for the new generation rather than your average 30-year-old who had the opportunity to beat FF7 when it first came out in the 90's. If you have the chance, pick it up, it's a great game nonetheless! However, it doesn't quite catch up with the original FF7 game because it just lacks so much detail in the none graphical kind of way.
Graphics aren't everything! Please take notes!