Review: Final Fantasy VII Remake

Seems pretty fair, I am staying away from this game when I saw all the various censorship sony was slapping down on it.  The worst being from my understanding that in the story it is shinra who brings down the plate or whatever instead of avalance, making the blurry lines non existant.

From the moment I saw early teasers, I hated that SE used the same art style as in Advent Children and the like. I actually like those, but a remaster was a perfect opportunity to finally see Tetsuya Nomura's original, semi-cartoony, concept artwork come to life in a 2020, triple-A production.

And then it's this:

This time around, Sephiroth is present more or less from the get-go - terrorizing and taunting Cloud through visions periodically.

I'll wait for a BIG discount.

Also, splitting into parts, especially so late in the gen, seems ridiculous.

Sinvergüenzas

Totally agree. And don't forget to fair rate this remake in the metacritic website. A lot of people are falsely rating the game with 10 score.

jesusraz said:
Also, splitting into parts, especially so late in the gen,
seems ridiculous.

In all seriousness though, I've a little over a third of the way through the game, and I gotta say, it's definitely an odd one  Combat's great but combat encounters are repetitive.  Haven't liked a single new character, but the story is pretty good, and I like what they did with some of the original characters (Cloud and Tifa mainly).  Sephiroth though....gah, from what I've seen they've made him something of a generic anime villain.  Real shame that.

Nice attention whoring. 
Based reviewers are the worst kind of people. 
Stop wasting your time. 

Marcus (guest) said:
Nice attention whoring. 
Based reviewers are the worst kind of people. 
Stop wasting your time. 

Dragon0085 said:
in the story it is shinra who brings down the plate or whatever instead of avalance, making the blurry lines non existant.

Fair review if that's how you felt!

Personally I loved it, feels like the pacing was off mostly because they'd designed some bits differently and then not mopped up all of the loose ends. I'd probably give it an 8, mostly due to the texture issues and the few occasions of off character moments, like Aerith swearing and Cloud being an arse.

( Edited 18.04.2020 11:43 by Sandy Wilson )

Loved it too, easily a 9/10 for me.

I adore what they're doing with the story. Hard mode shows the strength of the new combat system. By making it episodic they've given a 50+ hour game for just this part and established the series with a new generation who have likely never played it. I can't say enough about how much I loved this and I was terrified considering the original is literally my favourite game of all time.

Your review read very positive other than the story changes towards the end Ren, surprised you went with just a 7. Though I understand that the changes are hitting some original fans hard.

Sasari said:
Loved it too, easily a 9/10 for me.

I adore what they're doing with the story. Hard mode shows the strength of the new combat system. By making it episodic they've given a 50+ hour game for just this part and established the series with a new generation who have likely never played it. I can't say enough about how much I loved this and I was terrified considering the original is literally my favourite game of all time.

Your review read very positive other than the story changes towards the end Ren, surprised you went with just a 7. Though I understand that the changes are hitting some original fans hard.

 

a 7 is accurate.the pacing is horribly stretched and the story is dreadfully inefficient with its time. a lot of the changes are not for the better and result in a worse story. 

It may be accurate to your review of the game. I was stating it did not seem that way from the content of Ren's review.

Again its a solid 9/10 here too.
Unexpected twists and a genuine feeling of excitement and surprise as the plot goes on. The Last Jedi of games if you will. Nostalgia is a powerful thing but I don't see anything wrong with mixing up what is expected.
As with Sasari, FF7 is easily my favourite game of all time and I have it there on multiple consoles if I ever want to revisit what made it so special. For the moment however, I want to be shocked and challenged.

Hmmm let's have a look at this reviewer's other reviews to see if there's any consistency...

• Chocobo Dungeon 8/10 (right)
  
• RE2 review 9/10 (totally agree but look what's stated) "...=13.3333pxdoesn't seek to replace its base game. Rather, it twists and reimagines its source material into a fresh experience that never strays from the tone or spirit of the product it's remaking. "  Hmm... consistency and integrity pls?
  
• Windjammers port 7/10 - nice
  

Statements based on severe rose-tinted glasses like: "​t=13.3333pxhe original Final Fantasy VII=13.3333px has some of the best dungeon design..."
What are you talking about dude?  Pls conduct some basic due diligence before you write something so ridiculous .  It may have been awesome when you played it at 8 years old, but take off those nostalgia glasss and do your job as a reviewer and bring some objectivity when you make such a matter-of-fact comparison like this *sighs*

=13.3333pxRandom takes which are just straight-up wrong like: "[FF7R] operates on the assumption that the audience is familiar with the 1997 original...". 
Did we play the same game?  New-to-FF7 players can enjoy this game as a standalone without playing the previous games at all.  The main scenario has been told crystal clear.  The ambiguous and mysterious ending is intended for fans and newcomers alike to discuss and ponder what might be coming up in the next game.  If the game truly operated under such assumptions then why does the game stick so closely to the original FF7's context and world building?  e.g. Barret explaining Mako and Avalanche's plight.  It's like saying the LOTR movies are operating on the assumption that the audience is familiar with the Silmarillion?!​​

"Complexity was traded for longevity, and meaningfully storytelling was traded for self-indulgent fan service. As a complete game, FFVIIR doesn't even come close to rivalling the original. It's a nice companion piece that helps flesh out Midgar, but this is not a worthy remake."
What the reviewer would like, and to be fair, we would all like is a 150 hour epic game at RRP USD250, which is commercially unfeasible given the complexity and the practicalities of developing a triple-A, modern video game.  Think about it this way -  what is your even vague idea what this 'ideal' remake be like??  

It's these sorts of things which makes =13.3333pxit hard to take what's written seriously as a critical review for the purposes of informing would-be players.  

With previous reviews garnering little to no viewership and given the points made above, just can't shake the feeling the score given is really just for the clicks

I see nothing wrong with giving a 7/10 game the score it deserves.

I'll also remind everyone that a 7 on Cubed3 is very good, which is all I'm going to say on the matter.

Also, "Tar," the only way you could know how viewership is on Cubed3 is if you were a registered member. I'm assuming you're just throwing a tantrum by your talking points, but in the event you're someone using an alt, bad form. 

Actually I think it's tough to point out flaws the way that Ren has done so here. Even still, a 7/10 is a very good score and doesn't mean that people shouldn't play, nor enjoy it. 

I have to admit I would really still like to be able to play it myself after reading this review
 

Yeah, I actually really think a descriptor of good art is that it should divide opinions like this.

dont get so worked up. Horse for courses, isn't it?

Renan said:
...the only way you could know how viewership is on Cubed3 is if you were a registered member... 

Also, 7/10 is indeed "Very Good" and a Bronze Award. Nothing to turn your nose up at. I'm playing through the original again, and loving it. There's good reason why it shot up the eShop charts on Switch again recently.

EDIT: Also, I wonder if EGM, Telegraph and Digital Trends got a lot of abuse for scoring this 6/10?

( Edited 19.04.2020 22:19 by jesusraz )

jesusraz said:

Renan said:
...the only way you could know how viewership is on Cubed3 is if you were a registered member... 

Even I've lost track of our readership nowadays

Also, 7/10 is indeed "Very Good" and a Bronze Award. Nothing to turn your nose up at. I'm playing through the original again, and loving it. There's good reason why it shot up the eShop charts on Switch again recently.

EDIT: Also, I wonder if EGM, Telegraph and Digital Trends got a lot of abuse for scoring this 6/10?

Meh, I think there are always devout fans who will defend something to the ends of the earth over a score. If there are flaws in a game then it is best to call them out like Ren has done. 

Deffo 7/10 is still a high score, I'm forever grateful that Cubed3 actually uses the full spectrum of scores effectively.

Also Tar's trawling through of other reviews is... Ooft, honestly the most ridiculous thing I've seen. Renan scored this well and if you read the review it all makes sense. If you have such a strong opinion write your own review and post it somewhere instead of being a comment troll.

We always seem to get this, because of our use of the full scale. Sometimes we may be too generous, but other times we may be seen as too harsh. Swings and roundabouts, and it's always going to differ dependent on reviewer, mood, genre of game, etc. The amount of times I used to really struggle with a final score, changing my final opinion from one day to the next. It's tough!

People don't understand that there are more numbers than 10 and 1.
Also, they don't understand that scores are meant to be used as a rough guide. A 7/10 can easily be a 8/10 for some, and a 6/10 for others, but it's unlikely to be 5 or 4 or 3.

Glad I didn't get flak for my Mario Tennis Aces review to be fair, everyone seem to love it but I called it out for being incomplete compared to previous iterations (minus Ultra Smash)

It's like when Sam Turner did a MK7 review that went against the grain... it's going to happen sometimes!

Dragon0085 said:
Seems pretty fair, I am staying away from this game when I saw all the various censorship sony was slapping down on it.  The worst being from my understanding that in the story it is shinra who brings down the plate or whatever instead of avalance, making the blurry lines non existant.

You know nothing about the original story, yet you´re annoyed because they,ve changed "whatever it happened" for "whatever happens now"

Shinra still brings down the plate xD, you still meet a flower girl, and you still scape from a city.