3.5/5 ★ – BCC_LQ's review of Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Well it's certainly very pretty I'll give it that. This game was a mixed bag for me. I should preface the review by mentioning I never did play the original FFVII, so I went in to this mostly blind. Let's start with the good. The music is amazing, just spectacular. The visuals were of course very good as well. After a while I did start to really enjoy the combat as well. The story I enjoyed a lot, at least when it was moving. I really grew to like all the characters and enjoyed some of the heavier portions of the plot, however I felt this game padded it out at points and it could really drag on without anything compelling happening. This caused me to take several long breaks from the game before completion. The gameplay also felt extremely unrefined. You move so darn slow for some areas and complete tasks so repetitive and benign, that it's just not fun. Why do they make you wait so long just to pull a lever? What does that add to the experience? Why are there so many areas that slow your movement down to scoot through tight spaces? All they did was make the experience frustratingly boring at points. Had they cut the fat and made the game more fun to control in the non combat sections it would have been a much nicer experience. I should also note that having never played the original FFVII, I feel like I'm missing out on what certain plot points really meant ... Which is odd. You'd think a remake is a perfect time for newcomers to try the story for the first time, even if it has some changes. Instead, however, it really feels like the game expects you to have played the original and know the plot in order for everything going in this story to make sense. Not a lot of time is spent explaining stuff. Overall, I really enjoyed parts and was really bored by others. Could have been a more refined experience, but there's certainly some impressive fireworks to be had.