I have gaming FOMO again. Everybody is playing and talking aboutFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthand I want in on the conversation. Some are saying it’s rivalling my favourite game of the year so far, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and it seems that everywhere I turn, I see people talking about how much fun it is. But I didn’t playFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeand itdoesn’t make sense for me to jump into the series now, of all times.
Just play Remake then, I hear you say. Well, I would, except it would be wasted on me. The cool thing about Final Fantasy 7 Remake is that unlike the incessant swarm offrankly unnecessary remakes that the industry has been foisting on gamers for the last few years, FF7 Remake reinterprets its source material. It creates a meta-narrative by consciously diverging from Final Fantasy 7, and that divergence is the whole point. It’s an alternate universe retelling of the same story, and that’s a fascinating take on the idea of what a remake can be or should be.
But I never played the original Final Fantasy 7, and playing Remake now would mean I lose a lot of context in a game where context is the entire point. I was a year old when it was first released in 1997, and I didn’t play JRPGs as a kid. I didn’t have gamer friends growing up, and as an adult, I never got around to it. I had a lack of time, and a lack of motivation, but more importantly, by the time I had a real reason to get on it, the game was severely outdated. Sure, I could play it now, but I can’t lie – the graphics are pretty whack.
Why are you booing me, I’m right!
I want to say I’m above bad graphics putting me off a game, but I’m not. I tried playing Fable Anniversary last year, and it felt absolutely terrible. I tried to tough it out, but only lasted about five hours before I gave up. It’s not even that the graphics arebadin old games, per se. At the time, the graphics were acceptable, but that was then, and this is now – as much as I hate to say it, the pursuit of photorealism has poisoned my brain and I have subconscious opinions about what games should look like. FF7 is almost as old as I am, so of course it’s going to look and feel outdated.
But as of right now, if I ever want to reallygetRemake and Rebirth, that’s what I have to do. I just wish there was another way – like, for example, if Square Enix used the assets and engine they’ve already used for FF7 Remake and Rebirth to make atrueremake. It would still take a few years, no doubt, but it would be much faster than making a game from scratch. On top of that, the modern releases have a lot of quality of life features like sped up gameplay and unlimited resources that make a potential remake much more appealing than the originals are.
I’ve been vocally anti-remaster in the past, but mostly because I feel like the majority of them have been unnecessary and made way too soon after the game’s original release. (I’m looking at you, Naughty Dog.) But FF7 is almost three decades old and would benefit hugely from a real, faithful remake, especially since there’s been so much interest in the original games drummed up by the changes that Remake and Rebirth have made to the story. I know I’m not the only one who never got to experience the original game and wants to know what I’m missing.
It wouldn’t be the same as playing the original games, I know that. A lot of FF7’s appeal is because of its jank, and a cleaned up remaster with better, modern graphics and possibly different gameplay would make it a very different beast from the original. But right now, the alternative isn’t very appealing, and from a business perspective, it would be a cheaper way to generate a lot of money from rabid FF fans who would love the chance to play a faithful adaptation,andintroduce what some consider to be the best FF game to a new modern audience. Everybody wins. So… please, Square Enix? Pretty please?
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
WHERE TO PLAY
Final Fantasy Rebirth is the second part of the FF7 Remake project. It continues the story of Cloud Strife, a former SOLDIER turned mercenary who joins Avalanche, a group of eco-terrorists seeking to save the planet from the malevolent Sephiroth. As the party pushes out of Midgar, leaving the Shinra Corporation devastated, where will their paths take them?
