Final 7 update for update 7: Bloody and good

In 1997. Final concept 7 it always sounded, a game before its time.

I see Final concept 7 it should have been when I added the first one, not in vain blocky character models and front entry fittings and backgrounds, however because theirs. I always see the beauty in the missing parts, the times when you can hear the developers' idea of ​​what the game might be hitting the edge of what it was then.

Plays original release of Final concept 7 in 2020 he revealed the game with the power of someone trying to build a block with high school gaming equipment. The vision, and the breadth, of everyday beauty was there. Technology was still under construction. It is this dynamic that makes the actual game one of the most exciting experiences of its time. Hardware was strong in its time, but the team already wanted – and probably needed – More.

Now what happens when those technological limitations have passed, replaced by 23 years of progress?

Last Wonders 7 Remake it happens, but how do you feel about Square Enix's attempt to be taken back? Final concept 7 today – widely expanded and not supported by modern technology – can say more about your feelings on technology and stalgia than on the game itself. You can see the original as a timeless masterpiece or an old timer, and the lens that looks at this second chance to find it "right" will depend on what you think is "wrong" about the game from the beginning.

Active storage

One of the most remarkable things about it Be warned is that, without extending the first portions of the opening game over and over, they still feel a little too credible to the original.

Be warned it takes the first six hours or so of the first game – a part that takes place entirely in the walled city, Midgar – and is extended and extended by about 40 hours. The whole story of Final Fantasy 7 will be told in upcoming games. Also, though paired with a whole new narrative narrative, the broad strokes of the story are very similar.

He plays primarily as a Cloud Strife, a haunted remenenticenic with a mysterious past. The cloud falls with a group called the Avalanche – who are brave rebels or eco-activists, depending on who asks it – to stop the Shamra Electric Power Company from soliciting the world's thirst for an important natural resource called mako. But Cloud has no idea, at least at first. She's just looking for money.

(Note: Final Fantasy 7 is a very old game, but some of the details discussed in this review may be considered very young spoilers.)

The cloud environment here is tricky, and partially successful. She needs to be away from feelings, because her absence is an integral part of her character's arc, but she also has to hold our attention as a primary narrator. And while the original game took Cloud on its full journey as a character, Be warned stuck with the cloud we know at the start of that journey. She also often ends up feeling like a blank slate, the standard character of a "hero," but thankfully she's surrounded by so many sound characters who get the majority of the slide.

There's Barret, the head of Cloud & # 39; s Avalanche cell. Barret had always felt like a kind of strong dancer, with his tendency to fury and the language of conflict, even in 1997. Square Enix was very fond of this type of character back then: See also Aya's partner Daniel from the 1998 drama Eve's parasite.

That mysterious path does not completely define Barret at the time, and now it is not. We have been given more time to see him fall in love with his daughter Marlene on the return trip, and most of us may have caught our angry speeches about the future of the globe, now it is much easier to comprehend his goodness. indignation at a company that is forcing the world into an environmental crisis where it cannot return. Barret still struggles with the age-old appearance of the previous races, but the size of this part of the story at least gives him a lot to do, and more time to show his personality other than what was so much more than a caricature.

Tifa has always been my favorite member of the Avalanche crew because of her silly personality and strong personality, and she's right here, as is the case with Aerith, a flower girl with a deep connection to the planet and a vital role to play in her destiny.

Throughout the length of the extended game, however, I have not come to understand either the new or the new. They are familiar with each other, and I'm excited to see them again and spend time with them, but nothing this game offers about them has taken their chances or affected my sense of who they are.

That is not a criticism of Be warned than the high praise that, with its six-hour Midgar intro, already made Tifa and Aerith feel like characters I will remember for the rest of my life.

Over time, Cloud gradually invests more in the Avalanche struggle, and discovers that the actor who has played some mysterious role in his past, the mighty Sephiroth, is in his destructive ambitions on behalf of the world. However Be warned it ends when the actual narration actually goes on, and it turns FF7an introduction to full-scale development presents some of the challenges of storytelling. Without wasting anything, it's fun to see the credits of this right-handed release when you initially pierce the world map beyond Midgar in the first game.

The moment that once gave an exciting feeling of freedom as things opened up has really been replaced by… well, the new climax that exists as part of a bigger, newer story. Be warned introduces a conclusion that makes me feel like I have gained momentum, but more importantly, victory, it is clear and there is more to come.

This whole thing looks stretched, sadly. Most of Be warnedThe extra time spent is not from new logical experiments on familiar characters and their relationships, but from things that feel difficult to matter. For example, a completely new quest finds that you learn a lot about a character named Leslie, who never appeared in the original game, and who works in the criminal ministry of Don Corneo.

Taken in its own terms, it provides an interesting insight into Leslie's conflicting credibility and beautifully mocks the supporting character who may seem simple, but also feels insignificant in the game's narrative structure.

Leslie can be removed from this game completely and this story will still work, and we know that because We already played that game. What we do not know is if his character has only started a major arc that will pay off in a big way in the upcoming release. It is important to remember that we are stuck trying to judge these changes without knowing all about how this story plays out, so some criticism, or some fame, should be considered as an anticipation for the upcoming games.

Where Be warned did an excellent job of enhancing our understanding of the characters from the first game featuring Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, founding members of Cloud & # 39; s Avalanche cell, who had been in vague sketches of the character before. Here, the recent deviation from Jessie's parents' home not only allows us to see the suburban area where people live in luxury compared to those in the valleys below; it also gives us a clear idea of ​​what Jessie is fighting for, and what she has sacrificed for her political goals. Even the people who benefit, at least theoretically, from the existing power structure have reason to destroy it.

The opportunity to spend more time with these characters initially becomes more important in the story as the battle between Shinra and the Avalanche escalates, and the chance that some characters may die becomes more real. Many characters are now very human, and this greatly enhances the story, even though the battlefield does its best to reduce that sense of urgency – we'll get a bit of that.

Painting with detailed brushes

Revisiting the game in a traditional sense is tricky due to the great dignity done by the original, but at least the design team knows that. Throughout its new narrative history, all but impossible to imagine Be warned as a new, independent work, because it is so clear, and so often, working to interact with our acquaintances, and the nostalgia of, the real.

So maybe, to look at this release critically, we should start from scratch. What it actually does Final concept 7 dear? What is appropriate for the purposes of this type of recovery have you been? What should be saved, and what should be erased? It may also not be possible to separate what many of us like about the early release from the technical aspects of its creation, especially since removing those restrictions alters the game in many basic ways.

A unique, and very common, re-sale of cameras with a very modern, and standard, third-party view. But while the original cameras may have been released due to necessity – thanks to the game's use of previously translated domains that were needed to show more detail on the screen – the shifting view provided a kind of kinetic viewing power with no remake. The first issue, excessive quarterly use, is very cinematic, even though it looks dated.

There is also the power and meaning of seeing Cloud as the youngest person, short of your maker's gas factory equipment, at the start of the first game. There was creativity and creativity in those decisions about how to create unique scenes. It was directed, in other words, even if that index was created because of a need. The new camera angle has its advantages, however. While the idea of ​​the original game might keep you from getting fired, it is Be warned, as the people of the Midgar shacks suffer, he is there in their greatness, walking among the crowds as people lament their inability to find work, or express the misery of life in these violent and unstable times.

So returns give as much as it takes. There are some spectacular moments here that were impossible at first. After the game, after a major disaster has left much of Midgar's ruins in place, you can look down and see buildings piled up at the same time as opposed to blocking children's buildings. It may begin to see.

Characters have more freedom to express feelings because of the amount of information that modern Hardware does. When the spectacular and purple sunshine spread over Midgar after the removal of the massive metal part of the block, you felt the way our world heroes call home experiencing a dramatic, irresistible change .. for good or ill. Updated visuals aren't just there for them; Square Enix has found another purpose in the new tools they have for this release.

Some aspects of the game and its story are useful Be warned a treat too, probably nothing more than some famous part of Wall Market.

In the first games, Cloud and Aerith come to Wall Market to assist Tifa, who has presented herself as a "bride" to the king of pornography Don Corneo to reveal important details to her, and then Cloud keeps dressing as a woman to be allowed into her big house. The original game suggested that the need for clouds to dress as a woman was something to be debated by, but also how it made fun of "male" men in a local gym by having a woman's wig that Cloud must win doesn't go well.

The demand for cloud access to the houses of Don Corneo is now becoming more prosperous. He should get the approval of Andrea Rhodea, the man who runs the local Honey Bee Inn. Reaching Rhodea's honors means sharing the stage with her with a simple rhythmic dance number, and the fun thing about this program is that the sequence of the two men dancing together is not intended for comedy at all, but rather is presented as something fun and fun.

The cloud is transformed into a "beauty parlor" by Rhodea's staff in an obsolete, in good condition, where Rhodea tells our newly transformed hero that true beauty is something to be ashamed of, and that Cloud must be fearless, the transgender heart grew in size three. Touch humor is transformed into an honest and fun moment of growth and expression in Remake, which is a changing scene from the first game. She is very welcoming.

I wish I had felt like that Be warnedEarly expansion efforts have been important and successful, but most of them simply modeled the game until it interfered with the practical, economical positioning of the original.

Remember the sight of a giant hand of robots underneath the lower decks passing through Cloud and Aerith? It was an excellent dump report that helped lift the planet, but has now expanded into a series of basic puzzles where you have to take the giant handcuffs and move Aerith to areas where it can drop down to the Cloud ladder. These are the times when Remake's philosophy of "more is more" begins to show its limits.

Sometimes I was reminded of Peter Jackson The Hobbit trilogy, who takes over J.R.R. Tolkien's gentle book for children then transforms it into three blockbusters, blockbusters, which seems to have failed to realize that it was the only book friendship that many of us recommend. Just because a team now has more freedom to display something, or turn background information into a puzzle or side effect, doesn't mean it always has to, and the result is often compelling.

And maybe nowhere Be warnedThe tendency to stop everything, no matter how much it costs in tone to the whole experience, is more apparent than war.

Everything is bigger than everything else

Fighting now takes place in real time, a huge departure from the formation based on the first turn, but you can only guard, deflect, or use regular physical attacks when the battle begins. Your ATB gauge (or Active Time War) fills up as you attack or damage, and then the full parts are used to disperse resources, use items or use your special abilities.

You control one character directly at a time, but you can switch between your team members on a voluntary basis, and reduce the time when you pull down menus to use your ATB gauge currency or issue commands to other characters. Combat often turns it into a simple, easy-to-use test tool to detect the enemy's weaknesses, using that weakness magically to replenish its measuring power, and then bark at it to eliminate it. It works, but is that what we want? Is that what it is Final concept 7 needs? I'm not so sure. It's different, but not better.

Problem with Be warnedFighting is not one of the ways, but it does. This game you like its wars. You would think it was real FF7 loved his battles, and loves, though Be warned a game indeed, indeed he loves his boss's battle. Virtually every boss is fighting a big air force or a violent spirit or a poorly run house or some other big deal where you can feel the party sweat, as the battle goes on and the enemy moves from one assault point to another, making war on nations with great surprise, as if this is a specific threat that your team and the world have never faced before.

There is a diminishing return for this kind of approach, however, and when everyone you meet is bumped into a major youth, the epics eventually become just another word for disillusionment. It is hard to feel that the stats are raised in each battle when you know that the big one is only an hour or two away or, worse, just the latest.

Be warned and adds marginal requirements during the Cloud to Midgar, but their effect on the whole experience cannot be determined. Side quests can be a way to inform our sense of the world and the people who live there, but only if used properly.

Measurements of evil within Be warned they were stranded at random throughout the game. At a few points, usually when you arrive in a new town, you will have the opportunity to pause to advance the important issue for a while and do things for the people, but that opportunity closes the moment you decide to pursue a middle class quest. This format prevents the quices from feeling as though they are a living, integrated world and the lives of its people.

And the content is not very attractive. You may need to find cats in various locations around the slums, or request regular monsters to attack and kill monsters with a standard NPC. They are filthy, in other words, and not particularly entertaining or film-making.

For all the unnecessary points of unnecessarily deciphering a new environmental puzzle or boss battle or quest, there's a time for a new character, or a dialogue between characters that brings the game's political concerns to greater relief.

For example, when you enter the splendor of the Shinra building at the end of the game, Tifa expresses its recognition that many Shinra workers do not understand any of the pressure and suffering their work is doing. They are just ordinary people, trying to provide their families with a good life. Barret replies that that is not an excuse for their unity. It's a complicated time, and he acknowledges that Final concept 7 it has always been political.

Be warned it does not deny that or try to simplify the politics of the game. On the contrary, it makes the fight for planetary perfection feel personal and urgent, and allows characters like Tifa to have unpleasant ideas of what the best way to fight that war is, as they know war is to be fought.

Is it better, or is it just different?

Be warned it is inconsistent in its own right, accompanied by evil ways, and not as utterly successful as the game itself. It takes a game that still feels amazing and often transforms into something more traditional, even if all aspects of the experience are technologically advanced.

However Be warned and the best thing a game can be: intriguing. It forces us to deal with the things we like to do, and it asks us to look at what we like in the games we play. Your feelings about the Remake will be determined by what you, personally, are able to deliver at first.

It is a mirror held in front of each audience member. What are your favorite parts The final concept of VII, and did Square Enix improve those aspects of the game, make it worse, or eliminate it altogether? Every real follower may have very different answers to both questions.

Gaming has grown, and so have we, but what have we lost in change? This is no substitute for the first game, some take on the same ideas, a breeze to complete many releases in a way that feels guilty of the art in some ways and a respected concept that is on its way to being a commercial juggernaut in others.

We know where we are, and this preview of the updated version of this experience gives us an idea of ​​where Square Enix today thinks we are heading. The big question that remains is whether fans will agree with its assessment.

The release of Final Fantasy 7 will release on April 10 on PlayStation 4. The game has been updated using the last download code provided by Square Enix. Vox Media has a partnership. This has no effect on editorial content, or Vox Media may earn money for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find more details about Polygon's ethics policy here.