Poll: 5 Years Later, How Do You Feel About Final Fantasy 7 Remake?

Never played the original and both Remake and Rebirth are among my favorite games of all time.

I feel like 5 years goes much quicker than it used to...

This site censors words I need to describe this yaoi fanfic.

boring, weird combat, too stretched out, too much filler content, unnecessary story changes, 1/3 of the first disc got turned into a 40h game. It was bad, it's still bad

I think FF7 Remake is good. Rebirth is less good (waaayy too much filler/bloat), but still good. But I've also always been disappointed that we never got a real remake of the original FF7.

Just give us the original game with remade visuals and the original gameplay. What makes it even more annoying is that they literally have the new visuals now in that mobile game, but they're wasting them on said mobile gotcha game. Use those assets and give us the original game! It's such an easy win that it's mind boggling that they aren't grabbing that low hanging fruit.

Loved Remake, loved Rebirth even more and now I'm waiting for part 3.

Loved Remake and Rebirth. No game was as important as FFVII for me when I was growing up. They nailed the remakes, I just enjoy to exist in that world. Some of the best combat I've seen, lots of extra content, I don't mind any of the story changes at all, it's a JRPG for goodness sake, not a work of literature.

Not every choice they made is a home run, but by and large they knocked it out of the park. I also like Rebirths side content, I'm glad they gave us our money worth.

Fantastic games. Loved every second except for maybe a couple parts in both games. Very hyped for Part 3!

Not a patch on FFXII.

It's not perfect, some of the additional content is a bit lacking, compared to other parts. I think Rebirth is much more streamlined in the sense that the additional content feels less tacked on and of course this is aided by the wider scope of the game given the events it covers.

Crucially I think Rebirth has a better soundtrack with less low quality filler and better arrangements when they've tried to make a new approach to an existing track.

As I thought at the time, a number of the story changes/additions paid off in Rebirth where their purpose became clearer.

not that I ever hated Remake but I think I can appreciate some of what it was doing better now the wider narrative has become clearer.

I'm currently playing through Remake (PS4 version). I think it's fantastic. Great combat and boss battles especially. I'm really looking forward to Rebirth and getting out of Midgar though.

I played this during the heart of the pandemic and that experience will always be with me. Complete chaos in the outside world, not even able to leave the house, but able to disconnect into this world all hours of the day brought me peace

I love them they're some of the best modern gaming experiences and I look forward to the final part. I still wish they hadn't split it into 3 parts though. But I can't lie and say I felt like I was only playing a piece with both games. They both felt like full fledged games

And while I do prefer the story structure and beats of Remake more, I vastly prefer the grand adventure vibe Rebirth had. So much fun side content whenever you wanted to stray from the story path. And I still will never understand how that's an issue. Only 1 instance stood out to me where it was excessive. Every other time was entirely optional and moreso were just fun

To me, it's akin to the newer Star Wars film trilogy (and to note, I'm a huge FF7 fan and not a very big Star Wars fan). The first entry had some big highs and major lows, but overall filled me with excitement for what the series could do. The second entry ensured that hope is dead and buried. Skipping #3 (but I'll read a synopsis). The fact it was split into a trilogy was easy to stomach, the changes to the plot and pacing were not. Not intending to ruffle chocobo feathers here, it's just my opinion 🤷‍♂️
On a positive note, the OST is beyond amazing in Remake. When I heard the Jenova remix kick in, I got goosebumps!

I Find It Crazy That Square enix will most likely finish this trilogy before they Finish Dragon Quest 12 and Kingdom hearts 4.

Remake was unnecessarily long. well it was only necessary to drag and kill time. terrible pacing. and honestly I was disappointed when realized it was going to be in parts.
I love the characters and the combat is amazing.

It's great, the combat system is close to a perfect interpretation of a modern menu-based combat system

Still love Remake and I really enjoyed Rebirth. I remember being bummed out when we first heard that it was being split into three parts, but after playing part 1 and 2, it makes total sense why they did it.

Some of the story changes, specifically in Rebirth, are kinda odd but the game is still a blast to play and the characters really shine. Also the combat is still so good.

Never played the original, but there were some aspects I really disliked about remake.

Whats interesting is that when I discussed the parts I hated with a friend who had played the original, it turns out all the stuff I disliked were parts they had changed / added for Remake. Maybe they shouldn't have changed things like they did?!

NB I didnt buy Rebirth on launch as I wasn't happy with the game technically - I only play performance modes. Pro has since solved this issue, but I still am yet to buy it even on sale - with the changes, I just didn't enjoy Remake enough.

This remake project is weird for me; it's not at all what I wanted from an FF7 remake, but it's also everything I wanted from an FF7 remake. It has replaced the original for me, but the experience is something I just love and appreciate too much.
That was a too complicated way of saying, I love FF7 Remake, I love it even more now that Rebirth is out, and when the trilogy is complete, I'm sure I'll still cherish the experience just as much as the original.

I feel the same as back then, it's a decent game with far too much filler to extend what is a very small part of the original and I still don't feel it needed to be (or benefits from) a trilogy

@kyleforrester87 I've not got round to Xenoblade Chronicles 3 but 2 was outstanding and showed that you can do these huge sprawling JRPG's in 3D and as one game

@IOI Same. FF fans get super mad when I say that Remake and Rebirth were my first FF games. I don't care. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Rebirth is one of my favorite games of all time. It took over my life for a good month.

Loved it. There was a bit too much fluff in spots. I’d say 8 out of 10. The yuffi section was great though. More focus and combat was on point. 9 out of 10 dlc.

The changes don't benefit the game in any way, the meta "fates" story angle is cringe worthy and they should have never included the edgelord characters from the extended universe.

These games have no filler, just greatness.

FF VII was my first ever real RPG as a kid and my favourite game of all time so I was a little worried, but loved Remake and Rebirth. Hopefully part 3 can keep it up. And if it falls flat, I still have my OG perfect game to play.

While I think they're fantastically well-made games, naturally I'm going to compare them to the original FFVII, and while I enjoyed my time with Remake/Rebirth for the most part, they're both a bit too overblown and drawn-out for me to wholeheartedly recommend over the original.

I used to really like Final Fantasy, but that stopped decades ago. For me, the whimsical and storybook adventure look, story, and great music made these games a relaxing experience. After IX it all went downhill.

The cringy weebo anime vibe, badly written story and dialogues with the stereotypical grindy combat. I've played Remake and FFXVI all the way to the end, but will probably never play another one again. It's really, really bad.

Change my mind SE..

Remake's combat has aged poorly, compared to Rebirth's combat which to me is one the best combat systems ever made and if SE don't keep using, that would be one of the biggest fumbles ever.

Also, it being a trilogy wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t have to wait 4 years in between games.

I will be forever thankful to Square for remaking my favourite FF- Game into a full blown trilogy. I can't wait for Part 3.

Have them both. Didnt played them. Waiting for the "complete" experience!

Honestly, I really liked Remake, but after trying to start Rebirth a couple of times and falling off of the open world design that I have never really enjoyed in any game, I appreciate Remake that much more because of it. The linearity complaint about XIII never held a lot of weight to me, and I feel like Remake cements that a linear world and story can very much work when done correctly. I do still plan to try Rebirth again, especially now that it can take advantage of my Pro, but I will have to push myself through it and I will probably just ignore and avoid a whole lot of the stuff that I know will bog me down and be a detriment to my enjoyment.

I own both but onlyplayed Remake. While I enjoyed certain aspects of the game, but the big problem for me was that it was not remotely challenging. The combat was just far too easy. I also found the end sequence in the building rather dull and tedious, so I actually quit the game about 10 or 15% before it was over. I would put it somewhere between overrated and disappointing.

I thought it was really boring. I have tried 3 times to get into it and just can't break through how boring it is to play.

It’s acceptable. Great graphics and world but let down by glacial pacing and truly awful dialogue. I think when I was younger the Final Fantasy troupes were fine but now I just can’t get into the characters and the storylines are so trite. It wouldn’t be an issue if the plot was just in the background and I didn’t need to be invested in it, but given it’s prominence, it just feels juvenile but not in a fun way. Very 15 year old boy coded.

Both Remake and Rebirth are top 5 FFs. The fact that they’re both soft sequels to the original (they haven’t changed the original, it still happened) is nothing short of genius. Hard to see how they’ll come close to topping them for the final part but interesting to see how it will play out.

@Pandalulz I mean while there is plenty of “open world busy work” available, basically none of it beyond introductions to the subjects are required.

The original game also had an open ended map design. Yes it funnelled you through a story driven path but you had the choice to explore or make a beeline for the next location, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the part of the game.

I never played FF7 original. I REALLY liked Remake but really don't like Rebirth. I want to, but it's just feels so much like a bunch of chores. I just want to do the story, I don't want to play some of these tedious mini-games. I'm on chapter 10, but it's a slog. I love the combat though.

As someone who hasn't played the original yet the grandeur of both games was off the charts. I loved Remake and Rebirth and the game I'm most excited for is the third part. The combat was amazing, the music was amazing, I really enjoyed the characters and writing. It felt like a total joy to play and replay. I really like Kingdom Hearts and it felt like a more grown up version of that. Also the progressive combat music is super good. It may not be for everyone but it was definitely for me.

Loved remake and initially had no issue with the trilogy aspect. The first game was pretty tight too. Unfortunately I thought rebirth had too much open world padding between story sections which was to the detriment of the narrative - to the point I almost would have preferred the game to be told over 2 games max

I just want to know why Rebirth isn’t as well received by fans compared to remake/Intergrade. Like is the story not as great?

Five years went on just like that.snaps fingers🫰
Happy fifth annivesary FFVII Remake.

CONS

• The FF7 Remake literally hands you the Summon materia on a plate.
• They removed the secret hideout underneath the Pinball machine in Tifa's bar.
• The fighting sequences, broadly, play themselves.
• The game is split up into copy and paste sections of the same stuff. The entire opposite of how the original felt.
• Exploration is never rewarded. Entire opposite of the original.
• Chadley as a character utterly ruins the game. His interruptions. His dialogue. His demeanor. He is the worst character I have ever endured in any single piece of entertainment, ever. Whoever created him should be ashamed of themselves for ruining Final Fantasy 7.
• Locations are boring.
• Visuals are plain.
• Climbing and traversing are frustrating. Playing this game after playing BOTW is truly one of the most infuriating experiences in my entire life.

PROS

• The soundtrack is, once again, spectacular. At least the sound department did their job.

@Lowdefal And I figured as much. My problem with open world games is that my completionist brain starts down the side content hole, I wander off the beaten path and then I just get bored and quit. The obvious thing to do would be to laser focus on story and ignore that stuff, but I am weak and my willpower is low and I self sabotage.

Still haven't played rebirth yet but remake was amazing. Gorgeous looking, fun gameplay that really makes you properly utilize your party, the twist that it's actually a continuation or whatever of the original game, the incredible OST. This game is special to me

I loved the first part of 7 and then disliked Rebirth, its open world annoyed me and the nonstop minigames pissed me off and I dreaded anytime I had to do one. I still enjoyed Rebirth's story and combat though.

@nocdaes They never removed the secret hideout in Tifa's bar though? There was literally a cutscene that has them go to it.

@anoyonmus The ending is pretty controversial. I liked it imho, but I can understand why some people would not like it. I just didn't like the mini games, chadley, and the open world.

Could certainly do without all the Kingdom Hearts-esque story changes they felt compelled to make.

Enjoyed Remake a lot more than Rebirth. Part 2 was too long and full of filler.

@Nepp67 You know what I mean and their decision to remove it from the game is factually a poor decision.

@DonkeyFantasy Remake is a considerably better game. Even the jukebox music feature alone was more interesting than a single thing they put in Rebirth.

Honestly, the lack of secrets and collectibles and discoveries... the lack of STUFF... it's unforgivable. Final Fantasy 7 was all about exploring. The Summon materia is such a great example. Rebirth literally just hands them to you like it's free candy.

I stand by my comment. The soundtrack is the only aspect of the remake that anyone associated with the game can take any pride in.

I love this game so much.

I enjoyed remake so much more than rebirth. The Dyne 3 phase mutant bullet sponge battle was where I said to myself I hate what they did. The characters, world and music are so wonderfully realized. But damn...<<shown cut scene of 4 bullets essentially causing amputation/gun arm installed>>...now let's shoot Dyne with 15k bullets over the course of the slog infested phases where he turns into some mutant...that was it for me lol

It's pretty to look at. About as deep as a kiddie pool.

@Jey887 always makes me laugh when kids complain that a game gets pushed back a couple of months , wait till you get older sonny jim, 2 months is like a couple of days 😂 im convinced when you get over 40 they speed up the simulation so you're not taking as much bandwidth 😂

@nocdaes No I don't, I've only played the remake so I assume what you mean is that you could enter it gameplay wise?

It was the first final fantasy game I ever played. I didn’t know it was part of a trilogy and I was so confused at the end of the game lol

They should have kept the entire story, within ONE game, like the original. There is so much fillers and bloat, to pad it out into three games.
Remake wasn't too bad, but Rebirth is a major chore to playthrough. And I'm bored of the button mashing combat. I hope we can get a mainline FF game, with turn-based combat again, in the future. My hype for the third chapter is dead now.

I have no nostalgia for the series, but I was actually pretty stoked to play it when they did a PS5 patch. I dropped it after about 10 hours… 🤷🏽‍♂️

@IOI

Agreed. I became addicted to Queen's Blood and I rarely replay games but was happy to do so for these games as the combat is insanely fun

I enjoy final fantasy 7 remake more than the original .the graphics.the gameplay.the story.etc is excellent. Word up son

I'm not yet played Rebirth but i love Remake. It has some flaws for sure but the pros far outweigh the cons and this came from someone who love and finished the original FF 7.

Obviously it has filler aka optional stuff just like the original game and you don't need to do those stuff. You don't need to finish Corneo secret stash, Johnny stolen wallet, or mysterious Moogle merchant side quest if you think they're pointless. But some of these filler stuff gave more depth for some characters and also Avalanche that they're not just some 'terrorist' group who fight the big bad company and blow up Mako reactors because "the planet is in pain".

I don't have problem with the trilogy part too. The original FF 7 is a massive game with tons of places and characters. Recreating them from the ground up and in HD that fits the standard for a modern FF main title will definitely took a long time. If someone don't like the trilogy idea then you can just stick with the original game. It's not like the original game suddenly dissapear into thin air.

Preferred it more than Part 2

It takes so long it kinda took the interest away. I dont Mind it being a trilogy but how long did it take to get all games and the optimisation on PS5 quite dissapointing. At this point i wait to play all three one after another

Absolutely loved Remake. The original game is great, but REALLY dated at this point. Remake isn’t perfect, but it did a fantastic job of bringing the FF7 universe and characters to life, and got off to a bangin’ start. Perfect length too, sans a few small areas that went on too long. Loved it!

Rebirth, on the other hand, feels overstuffed to me. Way too much open-world busy work; would have preferred a bit more linear. I still need to finish it; ran out of steam after Gold Saucer. Hopefully this summer…

The fights were fantastic but the corridors and filler was atrocious. Cloud was such a moody get too, he's got 3 beautiful women chasing him and all he does is sigh and moan !

@saffeqwe I am new to FF, and I know how loved it is, so I went in hoping for something special. I just didn't get it. The combat was just too boring for me. The world is beautiful and the story OK, but it was all a bit of a drag.

For that reason I haven't bothered with Rebirth

I haven't played it yet. Once i learned it was a 3 parter i was in no rush to play it. I got 2 parts now. Once the 3rd is about to hit i might get to it.
I didn't want to play it just to get hit with a cliffhanger.

Easily one of my favourite FF games. Looking back i might even prefer it to Rebirth now.

I think it has some incredibly lazy things like the missing door texture or the ugly low res jpeg background at the end of the game.

That aside, the game was good. Main characters were beautifully modelled and side characters looked like weird dolls. Full voice acting was really nice. The battle system was much better than FF15.

And it was missing the rest of the game, but still felt kind of like a standalone with open ending. But I didn't feel like buying the sequel. Maybe if it drops to 30-35€

@Superstar74 "Cloud was such a moody get too, he's got 3 beautiful women chasing him and all he does is sigh and moan"

Because the guy is an introvert and he deal with a lot of trauma including lost his mom and best friend. Not to mention he's suffering from Mako poisoning thanks to Hojo experiment. That's why he's quite moody in the first part.

Had no expectations or even real interest towards Remake, before I decided to try the demo they put out. One of my favorite games that year and even the oddities in the story didn’t bother me much back then, because I was unfamiliar with the original story (except for THAT part). Even replayed it before Rebirth came out, which is something I very rarely do.

I’m not sure I have much positive to say about Rebirth. Even the great combat started becoming tedious far before reaching the end. I’d like to stay positive for the third game, but they probably double down on the open world bloat…

I started playing with the original FF7 on the ps1 and found the recent Final Fantasy game to be a tad depressing for my liking. I've enjoyed the titles up to the FF13 trilogy but both FF15 and FF7 remake just feel depressing in my opinion. I found the ending of both these games to be very unsatisfying and disappointing. I tried FF7 core crisis and lost interest in the game. Not particularly interesting in FF16 since I doubt I'll find it interesting. My attitude is that the new Final Fantasy game just don't have the magic they used to. The JRPG series that I am more interested in is the Tales of and Neptunia series instead.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is amazing! FFVII Rebirth I still have to paly it is already in my catalog.

I first played through FF7Remake last year on Steam, and honestly, I was not overly fond of it at all. Way too drawn out, boring buttonmashy battles (boss battles were fun though, but usually dragged on for far too long)
This is to me the perfect example of less is more, because when I rolled credits, I just wanted to go back to the original FF7, and I have no intention of engaging with the rest of the trilogy.
This is glitzy, unecessarily padded and drawn out, and adds NOTHING to the original game. Resident Evil 2 Remake this is not.

I personally like rebirth more than Remake and that's because it felt like they brought back some more RPG elements as well as more of that Final Fantasy VII charm.

My hopes for the future is that once all parts have released and it's been out for a few years perhaps Square Enix can go back to the trilogy and rework it into one massive seamless games where levels and difficulty is rebalanced in such a way that you carry levels, items, materia, and so on from one part to the other without it feeling strange.

And I think it would need a new reworked battle system that works for all three parts to really make it feel like one massive seamless experience.

I don't know if this can be done, but it would be awesome.
It would essentially be the game we all (or most of us) wanted when they first announces the Final Fantasy VII remake.

If they were feeling generous they could even go in and tweak the turn based mode to work and feel more like an actual classic final fantasy ATB battle system. (Perhaps at the expense of letting you freely swap between modes, similar to the 2D mode in DQ11 DE, since it would require specific gameplay balancing to work well)

This will probably never happen but a guy can dream right

Why is this a thing?

One of the best ex-exclusive games for ps4, I remember cant stop smiling while playing the game, the remake is just so right, the graphics is how I imagine ff7 psone back then, the voice too, they have perfect cast for cloud, tifa, aerith, barret, etc.

I haven't play the sequel yet, I didn't like the difference between the original story and the remake in the first game, but it seems in the sequel the difference is greater with different timeline and stuff.

@Nepp67 Right... well of course you don't see a problem then!

I am playing it for a 3rd time on PC (using the head start feature this time) and I must say that it is still an amazing-looking game.

I daresay it looks better than Rebirth (but I guess it’s more down to the game being able to have a much more hand-crafted lighting model in a city).

I have yet to try Rebirth on PC (I got the Double Pack when Rebirth got a PC release) to see if the improved lighting is actually improved because I felt that it was a step back in terms of image quality on PS5.

But playing Remake at 1440p/120fps on PC is an absolute feast for the eyes and thumbs!

@MARl0 What you are asking for literally isn't a "remake" that's a remaster.

I played through the original several times and liked many things about it. However, I was never on the FF7 is the greatest in the series team. So when I played FF7 Remake, it was an enjoyable experience and I liked many of the things in this game that I enjoyed during the original, such as the music. FF7 is a solid game. Nothing super great, but also nothing really disappointing.

Now, if you need the best JRPG series, you will need a Nintendo Switch and Xenoblade 1-3, X, and all the DLCs.

Oh Queen's Blood I rather enjoyed — took me a while to fully understand how it actually worked but once I did I was well hooked. I'd actually quite like to have had it as a separate spin-off mobile game

@NicolausCamp I agree! FF7 is one of my favourite games ever, but I really enjoy the remake. I didn't enjoy the hybrid-style combat system, and the side missions felt like superfluous padding for the sake of it, and I struggled to push through to the finish line. When I heard pt.2 leant into it even more I removed it from my wishlist. I'm glad that most people enjoyed it though and it's been a success!

@solocapers honestly this is one of the dumbest takes and I've seen it pop up over and over and over again since the game was released.
To REMAKE a game is to make the same game again. But you use new assets.
It's SUPPOSED TO BE THE SAME GAME.
They did remaster the game. They put in slightly better models and some QoL features.
I want them to REMAKE the game. That means I want them to MAKE IT AGAIN. THE SAME GAME.
This concept can't be that complicated.
I can't think of a remade game that was fundamentally changed like this.

They've done an excellent job of getting the vibe of the characters and the world, and retelling the story. Pinpoint on that.

But as a game, for fun, they're severely lacking. Its much more of an interactive story than the fun exploration and leveling up experience of the original. Even as an open world, the experience is still PAINFULLY linear.

@solocapers No, I'm asking for a remake. A remaster already exists on PS4 and other modern consoles/PC. A remake is a remake of the same game but with remade modern visuals (Demon's Souls and Super Mario Allstars). A remaster is the same game with the same visuals but in higher resolution and sometimes higher res textures and other minor tweaks. You're thinking of a reimagining for remakes. The new version of Resident Evil 2 and Metroid Zero Mission are reimaginings. They are completely different games compared to the originals and do not replace them.

@Supern0va Exactly! I was really looking forward to it, so it sucked being let down so hard, but I am happy for everyone who ended up loving the game. I can see why, it just didn't do it for me personally, and that's okay.

Really lovin the dong on this one!

@MARl0 @MJF the literal definition of a remake is not the same game/movie just updated visually.

A remake is updated visuals, and can include changes to the story etc.

My take isn't "dumb" as you put it. You clearly don't understand the word remake.

Here's the first of many definitions of a remake:

"A game remake is a new version of an existing game, typically built from the ground up with updated graphics, gameplay, and sometimes story elements, while still retaining the core identity of the original. It's essentially a reimagining of the original game, often to bring it up to modern standards and appeal to both new and old players. "

@nocdaes Then explain it and stop being such passive aggressive loser about it. I asked you a question if it was part of the gameplay or not.

@solocapers right so FFVII remake is a completely different game in a FFVII skin.
thanks for confirming that it isn't actually a remake.

@Nepp67 you've not played Final Fantasy 7. Our discussion is over!

They are great games and i love them but I rather they would have made only one game more 1:1 and then two new games like ffxvi or viii remake

Remake its an ok game, and rebirth is a great game but not wroth the pharaonic proyect in my opinion

I had a good time playing through it, but let's be honest, almost all of the game is filler/bloat.

I'm never planning to revisit the game again and I'm not even sure if I would play through the 2nd part once it becomes available on PS+