Final Fantasy VII Remake's Nostalgia Is A Double-Edged Buster Sword

Final Fantasy VII was an eye-opening experience for me growing up. Back in 1997, it was a lightning bolt that merged the language of games and cinema. Playing the remake’s PS4 demo stirs up a strong nostalgia in my heart. It feels like the game I remember, even if the smallest changes feel like radical departures from the original.

Playing the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo today was a real trip. On the one hand, I was sucked back into a world I loved. When I first saw Final Fantasy VII years ago—watching my friend complete it over the course of multiple sleepovers—Midgar was astounding. The gross poverty of the undercity clashed with the enormous corporate skyscrapers above. I’m wary of remakes as a default and always wonder what we lose from moving games into a new format and mold. Final Fantasy VII Remake’s Midgar bypassed that worry. It was wildly different from the original in many respects. It’s a bit like an over-produced album by comparison. Underneath all of that, it still somehow felt like Midgar: daunting and gritty.

Final Fantasy VII Remake has always seemed like a curiosity to me. The original is right there, after all, and the remake has to cover so much stuff. In this regard, I agree with the concerns of my colleague Jason Schreier. Making a full game out of what is essentially the introductory portion of the original is concerning in some ways. Will this project ever be completed as the story’s scope grows larger and larger? This skepticism clashes with my gut feelings playing the demo.
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