Someone who never played FF7 tries the remake demo

We were more Nintendo kids growing up so my exposure to Final Fantasy didn’t happen properly until FF10. Since then I’ve had a go at the tent-pole releases (12, 13 and 15) and have a working knowledge of the popular ones. But going in to this FF7 demo, I basically knew nothing.

I knew there was a bit with a reactor at the start. I knew most main people in your party, their rough descriptions and that one of them dies. But I had no real knowledge of characters or plot beyond “she’s the tough girl and he’s a dog… cat…thing.”

There’s a lot I like about Final Fantasy even if I am a dirty casual, so I wanted to give this demo a try. If I enjoyed it, I might then go on to play the full game and finally understand what all the hype was about.

Characters

As I said, I knew very little about the characters and despite him being the main character I probably knew the least about Cloud. I knew he was prime fan-girl bait but nothing beyond that.

By the end of the short demo I was in love. The dialogue, voice acting and animation were all spot on. In a short time I got a good grasp of his character and motivations and was given reason to empathise with him, despite his indifference to… everything.

My favourite part was Cloud’s reaction when the woman in boob armour (I have now been informed she’s Jessie) comments on how cool he looked after he does some prime anime moves and avoids falling to his doom by flipping off crumbling structures to land neatly back on the bridge next to her. His response to the compliment is a tiny little smile. It’s a sweet “He DOES have a heart!” moment.

The rest of the small crew are all instantly likeable, getting some fun lines in during the short time I had with them. (Although I’ve been told not to get attached).

As for Barret I don’t have much to say, mostly because he was exactly as expected. Although why he’s so bothered about Cloud being the one to plant the bomb I don’t quite get. Cloud’s just your bodyguard dummy! Stop faffing around.

Second favourite bit is probably when Barret asks Cloud his age only for Cloud to misunderstand and assume it means rank. Cue Cloud suddenly becoming awkward at the confusion. This is more a Cloud moment than a Barret one though… I’m gonna be just another Cloud fan-girl by the end of this aren’t I?

Story

Rebels blow up reactor… It’s a demo so that’s it. I am intrigued to learn more about this world though. It feels more grungy and lived in than FF15’s did.

Gameplay

I’m going to be straight with you. I didn’t play the original but I am a big fan of turn-based RPGs. After the last decade of FF games I’ve come to terms with the fact the mechanic is probably not coming back to Final Fantasy. (This is why I love you Digimon Cyber Sleuth). Even so, I was concerned about how I’d feel about the combat this time around.

As the system was introduced to me bit by bit I felt okay with it. If you’re wondering if it’s like the FF15 combat, it’s different enough that comparisons aren’t really worth making.

Early on it was like a basic action game with some added spells thrown in. By the end of the demo you’ve gained a second party member to control, commands and you get to use your first Limit break. And I could NOT get the hang of it.

The regular enemies were fine, it was when I reached a boss that things got tricky. I was constantly having to take potions that barely felt like they helped. I was switching between Cloud and Barett but never felt like I grasped what the game wanted from me.

It didn’t help that I kept mixing up the button for change character with change target. I’m sure with practice it would get easier but overall it wasn’t an enjoyable experience.

After talking with my husband we decided it was trying to meld the concepts of turn based and action mechanics. Your spells and special actions can only happen when they’re charged, a replacement for “waiting your turn”. But you also need to be aware of your MP which can still run out.

On top of this you’re still performing the regular combat actions like attack, block and dodge which require their own set of skills.

AND THEN add to this another party member that you can also micro-manage and I was getting lost in the minutia of it. I can’t imagine how lost I’d feel with a full party of 4. I mean, I’m someone who only ever controlled the main character in Dragon Age Inquisition because micro-managing everyone seemed too much. I preferred setting the AI and concentrating on one set of actions.

Before the demo wrapped up I decided to give “Classic mode” a go. This was… interesting. How this mode works is that it plays in easy mode AND the character you’re controlling auto-attacks. This means you only have to worry about setting the specific actions. Which is kind of like the classic turn-based system in the same way that a duck is kind of like a fish.

How it was in the demon I think I’d prefer to stick it in Easy and take my chances. Although I would be interested in trying it when I’m commanding 4 characters. Perhaps at that point it will feel more like battle management and I mean that in a positive way.

Will I play the full game?

I love the characters already and I want to learn what the story of this game actually is. If I still struggle with combat on easy and the “Classic Mode” remains unsatisfying, I might just give up on playing it and become a back seat gamer while my husband plays instead.

Have you played the demo? What did you think?