Final Fantasy VII Remake review | EGM

Reid McCarter: "Final Fantasy VII Remake manages to balance the introduction of new concepts with faithfully recreations of the original game's most memorable aspects, but it also unnecessarily pads out this first installment in a larger story with too much downtime between its most striking moments."

[solideagle]

wow, a 6/10 they must feel this game is shit...
but many are complaining that original 4 hour section is stretched without any good story...I wonder if any of you have completed the game and can give honest review

[NukeDaHippies]

I've finished it. Long story short, it's a great game with dull and convoluted filler added to it. They effectively changed parts of the story to make them considerably worse. They don't change too much, but when they do, the repercussions are HUGE.

I don't mind the areas expanding in size, but there are also a lot unnecessary sections that take away from the pace of the story.

But when it's just being a recreated Final Fantasy 7 with no added bullcrap, it's fantastic. Main Characters are GREAT, and their chemistry is loveable. The action can be outstanding, with so much effort put into the recreated set pieces/monsters. Those alone worthwhile, especially if you're a returning fan. I'm just sad to tell you, it might leave you with a bad feeling in your gut. At least, if you have any respect for the storytelling of the original. Because they deviate, for all the wrong reasons.

[solideagle]

thank you for your honest review. now I am on fence to buy or wait for sale :(

[Outlawzz]

@Nuke I'm playing through the original right now and I must say the story feels a little disjointed and all over the place, which is why I would always begin and never finish the game.

Telling me there's too much filler is great imo because the original lacks the dialogue needed for a more connected story so it might be that they rectified this. Of course I have none of the nostalgia for the original so my view is different from most.

Your opinion has given me more to look forward to when I purchase later in the year. Thanks

[kayoss]

I some what agree with you Nuke. I felt that the original story seems to be missing a lot of stuff, like plot holes, not enough character development (the enemies anyways), and it felt a little all over the place.
But playing the remake, even though the story just for this part is expanded, i felt it slowed things down for you to grasp the story more. I like the fact that they go more into depth regarding Avalanche (especially Jessie) which i thought in the original, they quickly gloss over it.
True, there are some unnecessary fillers, but i think the majority of the new characters introduced and more background to the existing characters make it a better game overall.

[VGA]

I haven't finished the original PS1 version. Would you recommend me continuing the PS1 or try this one from the beginning? Of course, I'm assuming you have played the original...

[TheGamez100]

Good to know. Had a feeling thered be some negatives like this knowing the current square...

[rainslacker]

The original suffered from some translation issues as well. There are things out there that explain what the point is of some of those disjointed scenes, but that doesnt really make the original any less disjointed unless you're willing to go to that extra effort. Kind of like ff13 had a really good story and lore, but they had such a terrible presentation it wasnt really that good in practice. Ff7 was better than that, but they too often did just talk about things they expected the player to understand, and the jumping between time lines wasnt immediately apparent. Clouds true nature and origin weren't very well explained in the english localization.

[SegaSaturn669]

I remember in ff15, a lot of the horrid shit at the ending was removed (made avoidable), I wonder if this is fixable through patching.

[Husk94]

Hey,

Never played the original but I have it. Would u reccomend me play that or this new one? Or play the original then this one later?

Appreciate any help :)

[NukeDaHippies]

@husk94 @VGA

Personally, i would recommend the original first. I tried looking at this game through the eyes of a new comer, and found it didn't pander to new comers that well.

I feel it's made for returning fans, which is why they probably tried to change certain things dramaticly. I don't think they realise fans don't want their expectations to be messed with.

There's alot from the original thats faithfully recreated tho. As a returning fan theres alot here to love and enjoy.

If you do want to start with the remake. Keep in mind, if you ever think "what?" Or "that was strange" or "what are they talking about" thats completely added. Same with any time you see Sephiroth.

The entire end sequence after getting off the bike and everything to do with ghosts is added, and sucks imo.

I would like to add the original has more charm in certain areas. The music had some good tracks for sure. But in most cases they didn't capture the originals charm. I rarly took notice of the ost at times.

[Husk94]

Awesome. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll play the original, then play this whenever they release the full remake.

Appreciate it

[gold_drake]

i wonder if some.of these reviews just wanna be the odd one out so ppl click it.

[MadLad]

Why does this argument always need to come up when the odd low/high review comes out? EGM has been around seemingly forever, and has salaried writers.
The odd "clickbait" review isn't hurting their credibility at this point, just for a few more clicks on an article.

They just didn't think too highly of it. That's an opinion, and that's fine. A 6 isn't a damning review. It's an average score.
One of my only true trusted reviewers, ACG, liked the game, but had a number of things he picked at. It wasn't exactly a glowing review, if not a bad one.

[CrimsonWing69]

Well, if most reviews are positive and then you have those 3 or so out of 60 reviews that review it lower and they have a site that isn’t popular, you kind of have to wonder...

[Ilovetheps5]

Crimson, I think you have to look at the history of the reviews rather than just the one review. If they have a history of going against the rest of the reviews (kind of like quarter to three used to always do), then I think that raises suspicion. But if it's just one review out of the rest of their reviews that seems different, then they probably just had a different opinion. I think it all depends on the trend the site has rather than looking at one individual review.

[MadLad]

@crimson

Again, EGM has been around for a long time, whether in print or online, and have paid employees. They have to have some sort of following to make that happen.

[drunkenspy007]

Just seemed like a review, but I agree some sites do this. Have you played the game that leads you to believe this?

[sealava]

so its just the first 5 hours of the original game (midgar) charged full price and will be spread through many chapters .. :((
just another way for the NEW SQUARE ENIX to milk the cow .

[stupidusername]

That’s in no way how I feel about it. Though I’ve not played the original, this game is awesome and focuses a lot on the characters, dialogue and narrative. In no way do I get the feeling that any of it is filler and that this is easy money for Square. It’s a full blown game with gigantic production value and a huge focus on details.
I didn’t like the sound of them making it episodic before but if every game is this fleshed out, we’re in for three amazing games the coming years.
It’s also wise to remember that there’s way more work to be done in games to day compared to 1997 in terms of gameplay, animations, environments etc.
(I’ve played it since last week.)

[CrimsonWing69]

It’s a 30 hour game. I think it’s fair to get off the “they charged full price for just a slice of the pie” bandwagon.

Getting through just the main story of the original game without doing side content or being a completionist will run you about 35-40 hours. So, this is essentially a full game and most likely part 1 in a trilogy.

[Teflon02]

I don’t get people smh. A 100gb game is milking because they can’t fit the other 2 discs into story into this game lol.
Use your head. Stop bandwagoning the games midgar second alone has too much in it to half ass just for the sake of putting it in 1 game. It’s better they do this and release in parts or this game would never end lol. If you’re going to cry. Buy at the end of ps5 when they eventually bundle or it have em $20 a piece.

[dennigo]

every other reviewer says it's superb so i'll just not click this

[Mr_Luke]

I wonder who gave you 2 downvotes, since the reviews and the votes are here to see :O... maybe someone that can't play the game because it's not on his/her device?
Well, i just know i bought it months ago and i really wished they released it in these days :(

[Kaedro]

Please click me! I have a chocking opinion! Oh yes, please click me! SMH...

[CDbiggen]

If they got a 30+ hour game out of just Midgar then what have they got planned for everything else?? How many parts will there be?

[averagejoe26]

Just for context, this same "publication" gave:

Kingdom Come: Deliverance a 2/10
Jedi: Fallen Order a 6/10
Borderlands 3 a 6/10
Outer Worlds a 10/10
Control a 10/10

So I am DEFINITELY not considering their review at all. Their scores are way off of my personal taste. I even really liked Control, but it's not a perfect 10/10 by any means. And Outer Worlds was so boring I sold my copy after trying to force myself to finish it.