E3 2019 - Hands on with Final Fantasy VII Remake
I have never been the biggest Final Fantasy fan, the series just never grabbed me in my SNES days, I only got the original PlayStation after the 2 had been released and recent entries just delved to far into that JRPG rabbit hole, but I knew that I had to play this, so at E3, I made sure I did.
I was actually at the PlayStation conference back in 2015 when the game was first announced and let me tell you, I had heard rumors that it was to be announced and made sure to sit away from the PlayStation die hard that were front and centre at the show. A move I am quite happy with, as the response was incredible, so given that it has been 4 years later, getting the chance to play it, was a real experience, something that Square Enix fully understand. Before I could go hands on with the game, I got to enjoy a briefing video, which was actually a hijacked signal, overlaid on the Shinra companies’ promotional video. The briefing was delivered by Jessie and a side note, the actress who provides the voice for the character was in the room as well, but with the introduction done, it was time to play.
The demo only gave me the chance to fight the boss, that was showcased in the presentation at the Square Enix conference, jumping in, there was a little like exploration and combat, before the main event. This gave me time to adjust to the games unique battle system, where you attack with light attacks, but then when the ATB gauge was full, allowed you to pause the game, and key up some much stronger attacks. I want to say that this system is not worth the time and in the early fights, against the weak enemies, you would be right, but with the boss, it works amazing and I found myself using it as often as I could. While the system could easily fall into gimmicky, there is something about it that adds a little layer of strategy to the game, but even without it, the action is quite removed from the traditional JRPG mechanics.
Once down to the where the boss encounter was set to take place, the game presented a story cutscene and I got a moment to really enjoy the visuals, as well as see where things are not right. For the most part, both Cloud and Barret were wonderfully executed, but there are some odd quirks, most noticeably with the hair on Cloud’s head, it just seems to fade out, rather than have a proper ending. This something that could be due to the build of the game, so I am not going to worry about it to much, just to say that with everything else looking as great as it did, it was quite obvious. With the story scene over though, it was time to battle the giant Scorpion Sentinel.
If you have seen the presentation, then you will have seen a lot of this fight, there was nothing hidden in the playable build, it was the same as what was shown. What I did do during it though, was spend time exploring the battle system, because as I said, on small fry it was hardly worth it. The best example I can provide is that when the tank equipped a barrier, I took control of Barret and had him run around behind it and target the exposed weak point. This was the best strategy and was able to be quite effective, even more so when using his burst attack, which was triggered in the BLAH menu.
With the creature defeated, the demo itself was over and it was time to move on, but I walked away with two thoughts from it, the first being that the battle system should be the new standard for modern JRPG’s, as it is just that good and the second is that I am annoyed the game is being released in parts. The design that the team have come up with for the game is amazing and as someone who has no connection to the original, I am ok with it, for those who remember the original with fondness, I can only hope they given this game its chance, as it is worth it.
