Kai Arcos

When I started Final Fantasy VII Remake, I already knew it’d become a game that I’d come to associate with the word ‘impressive’. I will admit that it’s not too hard to impress me when it comes to video game graphics, as I mainly played on handheld consoles until recently. In fact, FF7 Remake was the first AAA game I played on my first custom desktop PC, so I’m aware that a lot of the visuals that blew my mind also came with switching to better hardware. I will also add that I have never played the original Final Fantasy VII (although I’d love to eventually), so I won’t focus on comparing the two here.

One of the first things I noticed about FF7 Remake was the combat system. In my opinion, it felt very satisfying and stood out to me as a great combination of classic turn-based Final Fantasy battles and action combat. As someone that struggles with action-packed games, I appreciated the choice to slow down time while the player navigates the skills and items that can be used during battle. To be honest, even the normal difficulty proved somewhat challenging for me, but this made the victories so much more rewarding.

Something else that instantly caught my attention was the great voice acting and, as mentioned before, the beautiful graphics. These brought the characters to life in a way that I hadn’t experienced much before. Since I’m currently learning the language, I opted for the Japanese dub and was not disappointed. Another great aspect of this game is that it establishes some mysteries surrounding the main character, Cloud, from the very beginning. This made me excited to learn more about him through the story and experience his character development. Moreover, the story delves into certain political concerns that feel very relevant nowadays. The main cast of characters is a group of eco-terrorists attempting to stop a mega-corporation from draining the planet’s resources, after all…

I was also surprised by the amount of content towards the end of the game. Every time I thought “okay, this is probably it”, the game threw me into another intense cutscene plus combat sequence, topped off with amazing music. Of course, this was a positive in my book because I was enjoying the game so much that I didn’t want it to end. I honestly can’t wait for FF7 Rebirth, although it looks like I’ll have to wait quite a while since I don’t own (or plan on owning) a PlayStation 5. Regardless, I’m sure the wait will be worth it.