The Revival of Final Fantasy VII

By Greta Flanagan 

The year is 1997. You come home from school ready to unwind with some video games on your PlayStation console, and you start-up a new game--one filled with lovable, multi-faceted characters set to save the world from the megacorporation draining the planet of its life-force. Twenty-three years later, that game gets remade for a new generation of fans, with new graphics and new adventures to explore.

​Final Fantasy VII is the most popular game within the Final Fantasy franchise, a series released by Square in 1987. When asked which game in the franchise fans would be interested in seeing remade, a resounding majority pointed towards VII, and in 2015, a remake was announced to be in the making.

But what is Final Fantasy VII about? What makes it so popular? Well, VII is a role-playing game that follows Cloud Strife, a mercenary, who joins an eco-terrorist group that aims to take down a corporation called Shinra, which has been draining the planet of its natural resources out of sheer greed. Events later send Cloud and his gang to hunt down Sephiroth, a human set on wounding the planet. It’s no wonder why the game is so appealing, especially to today’s world. A corporation harming the planet for monetary gain? I wonder if that sounds familiar? The game is full of three-dimensional characters and a well-developed, intricate world that immerses the gamer entirely. ​

The Remake was released April 10th of this year, on the PlayStation 4, just in time for quarantine. The new game breathes a whole new life into the Final Fantasy universe, where there were once limitations with the late 90s graphics, now there is a world to look at through a new lens. Scenery, facial expressions, and fight scenes are all advanced, and, to the delight of many old fans, there is voice-acting, which gives characters a whole new life.

However, the Remake is not just a straight telling of the original game with better graphics. There have been many significant changes that took original fans by surprise. Some of the larger changes, which I can’t write for spoilers’ sake, have sparked controversy among fans. Some find the changes refreshing, while others think the changes ruin the original story’s themes. 

​All-in-all, the Remake has taken the gaming world by storm. Reviews for the new game have been overwhelmingly positive, and many fans believe it is the perfect remake of a perfect game.