Final Fantasy 7 Remake Review - 6 Ups & 5 Downs

4. WAY Too Many Story Changes For The Worse

Final Fantasy VII is one of the best games of all time for many reasons - most of them being thematics, loveable characters, great builds and payoffs, and an intricate world where plot twists land with weight and sometimes horror.

FF7 Remake is very much not trying to replicate that sensation, which feels like a mistake. I've mentioned the "celebratory feel", but this applies to a general tonality of blockbuster cinema or the recent spate of Disney remakes.

It's like all the plot points of the full game were scattered onto a table, then remixed and gathered in different groups. Yes, every major story beat of Final Fantasy VII (the original) is here, but by compacting everything into its opening section and stretching that out, we have a TON of notable changes for the worse.

Main villain Sephiroth for example, is completely different. He loses ALL of his most iconic scenes - the ones that set the tone for his character and impact on the gang - and is given a "is he real/is he not" cutaway over and over until the climax.

Cloud's cross-dressing scene - while still having its heart in the right place - doesn't come together with the same agency on behalf of Aerith, and ditches the angle of a retired male dress maker choosing to come back for one more project.

These are just two things that stand out, but in the coming weeks and years when people have time to compare everything, it's staggering how much was changed for the worse.

MANY plot reveals and moments from post-Midgar are inserted as a way to try and tell a "fuller" story, but they have a knock-on effect of not making sense, as characters can't fully follow up until much later in the overall narrative.