I finally finished the FFVII Remake
that I got with PS Plus.
Pros: This game focuses on the
Midgar chapter of the game only which allows for Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge to
get more characterization. Jessie is by far the best performance of the three.
Mixed: The combat. I tried playing
the Classic version in the demo and did not like it. So I set it on Easy. I
figured the combat out after I played Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2. FFVII Remake
literally uses the same system but with an active battle system. In HNmk2, you
use AP points to attack and do combos to increase an SP meter which can then be
used with a combination of AP and SP to activate abilities and items. This
usually means you won't be able to use items or abilities until your second
turn. In FFVIIR, you do the same thing in real time to increase the ATB meter
to get ATB bars to perform commands. With MP being another limiting factor. It
is hack and slash with command interrupts. Once I understood the combat it was
much more enjoyable, but it took a long time to get there, like Chapter 8 or
so.
I don't understand the need to make
every weapon have its own sphere grid. Materia alone was where you spent a lot
of time in the original. We didn't need more fiddly bits. On the plus side, I
figured out late you can select all the materia up abilities then just set the
weapon to auto to speed things up. I just wish I saw that way earlier in the
game.
Cons: Mini-game-itis. This starts
with drunken darts simulator in 7th Heaven and continues with a brutal sequence
of mini-games in Sector 6 Wall Market. Some of my least favorite sequences are
the squat and armlift exercises. And the rhythm mini-game which ended with
Aerith saying, "Well at least you tried." I was so tired of these
mini-games I just stopped playing for a year.
This game is long, like I spent 50
hours but it felt like 100 hours with 18 different chapters and a lot of
padding in terms of mini-games and extra side quests.
I hate, hate, hate the fight with
the giant 6 wheeler car while Cloud is on the motorbike. No healing at all from
the truck. Meanwhile you need to dodge and weave and try to slash the tires of
the six wheeler with a limited armor pool on the bike. I died like two or three
times in a row before I finally won.
The story adds in the whispers and a
free will versus fate/destiny subplot that it just did not need. It feels like
every side story, every movie, and every retelling of this tale just makes the
plot even murkier and less interesting.
I am glad I paid like 2.50 for this
rather than 60 (PS Plus subscription is like 60/12 = 5 dollars a month, so each
game is 2.50. Don't lie to yourself and say it was free, it was not). I have no
desire to buy a PS5 to continue the tale.