I haven't completed a front to back RPG in a LONG time. I just don't have the engagement anymore like I used to, but the original is my favorite game of all time. With everything going on in the world, I played this game non-stop and finished it and then finished it AGAIN on Hard Mode. I have a hard time finishing games nowadays, nonetheless finishing them TWICE. That's how much I loved this game.
Legit. Barret has become my legit favorite character from FF7 now. (With Red XIII being a CLOSE second surprisingly!) I absolutely LOVE how much they have wrote Barret and his interactions with the rest of the party. I even love him and Red's... strange relationship. Like a solemn, yet awkwardly friendly partnership. I see them as a PAIR. THEY FREAKING JUST NAILED RED XIII TOO! GOD it's so great! But I love how amazing they did Barret. Claps and a half for the VA because he really just... MAKES you empathize and align with him. Especially when he was in the *SPOILERS* 7th Plate wreckage and he started punching the wall! When his voice cracked and he said, "...DAMNIT! DAMN YOU!" AAAAABSOLUTELY made me start crying instantly. It just... it broke me. The despair in his voice was SO lifelike I actually got goosebumps and tears wouldn't stop falling. I love his character arc and just love this idea that this man with a machine gun arm LOVES the planet enough to die for it and truly believe that, "Some things just shouldn't be tampered with."
Not only that but his design is one of the best jobs ive seen of a model of a black character. His skin tone, hair texture (especially his chest hair) and the expressions he gives off. The character design team and animators for this game did an excellent job
Three most useful special abilities in the game in my opinion are Starshower, Infinity's End, and Arcane Ward. Those are the ones I found myself spamming. Special mention goes to Sorcerous Storm which is just so damn fun to use. Hop into a group with Aerith and just obliterate everyone. XD
i love barret, hes melee weapons just over power ground enemies and hes tank skills allow him to save the party from powerful aoe or mob damage (lifesaver) while tanking so much damage and making aerial fights less annoying to deal with my favorite skill is maximum furry because of how much damage it deals and cant be interrupted
watching you play through this game was an absolute treat max, I finished it pre-release thanks to australian eb games and felt empty not being able to talk to anyone about it but watching you play through it was like experiencing it again for the first time appreciate you brother
See I’ve honestly never even played the original game, but still knowing what happened I feel like the entire snowboard sequence was a way to get the characters to open themselves up and an attempt to try to get their minds off of what happened. Even if it’s only for a second.
Clouds and Aeriths interactions with each other were so cute and heartwarming, just thinking about the high five situation in the dungeon put a huge smile on my face!!
"Every character in this image except for one goes through some kind of transformation" If this game is anything to go by, Cosmo Canyon is going to fucking break people.
Man, I'm tempted to buy a ps4 just so I can play it. I'm thristy for that game! But apparently the ps5 is coming out this or next year so this is holding me back. :( Wish there would a possibility to play it on PC..
Totally unrelated, but I think it'd be awesome if there was a "Max reacts to FF7 remake" compilation of all the best reactions in the first playthrough(But I can definitely keep rewatching the vods too)
I say this as someone who isn't a Final Fantasy 7 fan, as I've never played the original. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is one of my favorite games this year. Between Doom Eternal, Persona 5 Royal and this.
You should Totally try The original FF 7, I Like persona 5 and Royal has been a nice surprise but then i remember that JRPG After 1997 were heavely Inspired By FF 7 in someway or form, is true, i am serious XD. IF not then I could recomend You Final Fantasy 9.
@@mobious01 It just mean the game is successful to people completely new to Final Fantasy 7. It's similar to how people can enjoy a Anime adaption of of Light Novel/Web Comic/Manga without touching the source material, then it means that medium was done well enough for them to enjoy it. If they like it enough, they may check out the source material.
@@mobious01 Purists aren't the only crowd out there, fool. FF7 Remake has been VERY successful with new fans, quit acting like your opinion matters more just cause you played the original. New players are more objective while old fans are biased as all hell, that's the problem
Gowon Gang that is absolutely not what he said. It is pure logic. If one hasn’t played the original, he just can’t compare the new experience to the original one. That being said, new fans and purist opinions are equally valid. They’re not just motivated by the same factors. Besides, new players love it, other new players hate it. What does objectivity has to do with feelings?
Never played the original but damn did the characters make me fall in love with this game. This is some of the best dialogue I've ever seen in a game which is a surprise considering how final fantasy/Japanese RPGs typically are. Just sad now I have to wait a few years for the next part of the story
@Cameron Pangborn Stop being a downer because someone dared do something different. No matter how the story goes from here, the characters can still carry it easily.
I could maybe understand the argument about the story because of the ending and some of the added elements in the game which could feel divisive, but saying the characters are a negative is a big stretch. One of the biggest pros of this game is the wonderful characterization of the cast. If there is one major thing they absolutely surpassed from the original, it's the character development and execution by miles. The OG game was certainly a product of it's time, but let's not pretend that the english translation was anything to write home about. The absolute rush job of the script, the literal junior level errors left in, some parts so mistranslated it completely deviates from it's original meaning (and not in the good translation kind of way) is not doing it any favors. Plus, the treatment of it's characters dialogue can be sometimes... ham fisted and maybe a little dated (Barret anyone? The whole Wall Market part?). Meanwhile in FF7R, I loved every character I came across because they were written with so much more naturalness and better execution- a testament to the absolutely stellar voice cast who just really personify the characters so well.
@Cameron Pangborn yeah that ending was super confusing for me and was a big tonal shift almost as if someone else wrote the last two or so hours instead of the team that was working on the rest of the game.
@Cameron Pangborn its funny how many people are pissed with the ending...... Its hilarious 😂 I loved the original but I'm glad they adapted it. Just cause people are so pissed.
@@sparxskywriter2589 The Witcher 3 has Flaws Uncharted 4 has flaws so did MGS 4 in its time and a lot of other games .... that still have been getting a lot of 10/10 scores. I think 10/10 does not mean perfection by any means I think it refers to games that have such an impact they transcend gaming and are a cultural/artistic phenomenon and FF7R is definitely in that league.
Best Review I’ve seen of this game hands down. 👏 Not only did you talk about the positives of the game, but also the negatives, you didn’t come off as a biased FF7 fan that automatically said this game was a masterpiece or as a FF7 fan who said “this game was trash because I didn’t like the ending”....weres most reviews I’ve seen of the game so far have said that....you definitely explained good points, that Part 2 could improve on, such as air combat and having more stuff to do. As well as talk about the best positives about the game, that made it so good, such as the character development and dialogue between the characters, as well the combat and music and visuals. Great review and this is only Part 1 all the, well atleast positive feedback Square Enix can take from Part 1 they can use to make Part 2 better.
Yeah I think the most irritating part about these discussions is the "0/10" or "10/10" mentality. Some ragey person says the the worst game ever and "total garbage that ruined their childhood" or something ridiculous like that, then someone who likes it feels they have to defend it as feverishly and act like nothing could ever be wrong with it, completely destroying any chance for reasonable ratings or discussions with any meaningful outcome.
To add, I also hate when people that put a time mark in their review. Like sure say how long a game literally goes on for, but I've never had a game that time factored into quality. Personally, a game like Last of Us goes on for a while but that game was so fucking boring for me, 3 times I've tried to play it and I've fallen asleep each time. And that doesn't mean it's a terrible game for others, it's one of Sony's biggest titles! But there are so many other factors that are so much more important than telling me that the game goes on for 30 or 40 hrs.
Sadly, some people are stupid as hell when it comes to reviewing games and even more than that, it creates mob mentality. If one review site says the game sucks because of its ending, then everybody and their mother will follow suit.
@@Lakross101 That shit annoys me. Since when on earth is the quality of a game determined by its length? RE2 is one of the most praised games out there and it's barely that long of a game. I think FF7R has a very good middle ground, not long enough that it starts to feel like it overstays its welcome but its also not short.
@@albelvalentine8983 The question is, how will he fit all 5+ hours into one video? Because even then, I will watch all 5+ hours about his thoughts, speculation, and theories with the chat.
I love everything about it except for the fact that there's long parts where you just walk with nothing for you to pick up. Not chest, no item bags, nothing for you to interact with. Just random debris and occasional boxes that you can slash. If those long walking parts at least had that then it'll be more exciting and rewarding for you as a player to go through. I explored every nook and cranny only to be disappointed to not find an item or secret. Give us incentives for us to explore in part 2.
The long walking is definitely because of loading assets in the background, it's entirely because of the hardware holding it back. Next gen would fix this for sure.
I finished the game last night. I am blown away. Such a rollercoaster of a game and I loved it. As a huge fan of FFVII this is what I needed. I want to shake everyones hand who worked on it and say thank you. Yes there are parts of the game that are not perfect but I still enjoyed all of it and just wanted to keep playing. I am excited, so so excited to see how the rest of it turns out. I'm gonna try out hard mode and get some things I may have missed. I neglected my steal materia when stealing in the original was a big deal for awesome items I kinda forgot all about it. Now I'm kicking myself! But I'm gonna enjoy replaying it anyway. I look forward to a spoliery review and speculation video!
Same just beat it last night this game blew me away this is my personal Game of the year shout out to all the devs that worked on this they did a amazing job
This was an experience for me. Some of the side quests felt like chores to me, but even then I enjoyed doing those chores because I helped paint a broader picture of the people in these slums. We found those cats in the beginning of the game for the little girl (name escaping me) and then we see her with Aerith when the sector is evacuating. I made that connection when I completed that side job. Everything about this blew me away and I’m not speaking from a nostalgia POV. I was exceptionally critical of the episodic approach and having experienced part 1, I’m so glad they’ve done it this way personally speaking
To me hard mode feels like the “original balance” of the combat system. By taking away item usage, mp is an insanely valuable resource and actually made me use abilities that I seldom used in normal mode (barret’s steelskin as an example). The battles become WAY more meticulous and punishing in a way to force players to learn patterns and efficiently dance between attack and defense. This combat system is truly a breakthrough in making a hybrid turn base/action rpg. Truly genius
I also totally agree, Hard mode is so much fun! I just beat hell house after like 8 attempts haha, but it gives me that satisfaction that only Souls games or Bloodborne/ Sekiro can give you. It is so good!
Totally agree. When I slept on Cloud's bed and woke up and got the message saying that HP is complete filled, I was like "What about my MP?" and quickly realized that MP does not fully replenish and there's no way to instantly replenish MP coz you can't use items. I have been constantly using Cure to heal and Ether my way to victory, but in Hard Mode I was forced to use Pray and Chakra, and only use Cure in very crucial situations or if I know the chapter's about to end.
@@Slash8675 The first time I tried to beat Hell House on Hard Mode I probably took more than 10 tries (at one point I almost rage quit when those Cutter and Sweeper machines all of a sudden came into play, damn those fucking machines) and probably an hour of theorycrafting to determine any possible way to beat that boss. The second time (since I need a second run through to take a different path), I was able to take him on 1 shot (also with the help of Bahamut) coz you know the patterns already.
FF7R's combat is one of the best combat systems I've ever experienced in a JRPG. There's obvious issues, like the stagger bar or stagger state of a boss resetting after a phase transition, and the tracking for special moves being a little wonky, but nothing they can't iron out for part 2.
The tracking for special moves is not wonky, in my opinion. In fact, it is better than I thought. The fact Barret switches between targets when they die during attacks like Overcharge and Maximum Fury is incredible. Same for spells cast in Aerith's Arcane Ward: if your primary target dies in the first cast, the next cast will target the nearest enemy. It is quite impressive.
@@BingBangPoe Ranged tracking is good, but when you prep a Braver and your opponent steps 5 feet to the left it completely whiffs because they don't even try to change course at any point.
After having 100% the game a couple days ago I can say with confidence that this combat looked absolutely stupid to me at first, the demo made me in to a true believer and now I can’t imagine a game that doesn’t make use of at least some of these elements. Some issues did arise for me though. I think that the default settings are awful and they need to direct the player to those settings in some way if they stay the same. For instance the camera is too close which makes visibility atrocious but a simple trip to the settings lets you fix it making you wonder why it was ever set to zero by default. The lock on breaks your neck when enemies move around and removes control of the camera but there’s a setting that gives the control while locked on back. The other major issue is addressed my max. Air enemies are not fun. The characters have limited air attacks (Barrett has none) and they must fall all the way back down after each combo to start again. The intended counter is air magic which has a delayed activation so the enemies often just move away wasting atb and mana. The air combat also cause the camera to hit the ceiling of indoor sections which is.....not great. And lastly I fell like allies should generate atb when they land basic attacks just like when you control them directly. I understand that switching is the main focus of the combat but I think that the punishment for not switching is already steep enough. You get focused down, can get grappled, and are stuck on the defensive, but now you also have to deal with the fact that your party has no resources because it’s building slowly over time? That change alone would make a lot of the more stubborn and with all due respect “lesser skilled” players enjoy the combat more while not undermining the depth over all.
@@SH1NK1R01 I hope that in the subsequent episodes they fix the wonky camera and allow for even farther zoom. I still feel that the camera, even at 3, still is too damn close to the characters, which often leads you to getting hit by stuff offscreen.
Took me close to forty hours to beat it in a span of one week since I got it. It was fun while it lasted. The story kept me engaged while I played. For some reason this was parallel to the Yakuza franchise with the amount of weird and serious story beats. It's a fine balance and the remake found it. I missed the other items so I'll have to play it again for that platinum.
i don't want to be an ass here but there is a ton to the game you don't know. You got the main story to be sure but you missed out on the world building aspects. Learn the world building via the npcs takes considerable amount of time. Im just shy of 30hrs an i am only at chapter 8 close to 9.
@@densetsu4286 Ehhh, I dunno. Loved the game but my first playthrough was about 38 hours and I didn't really miss much. Have since platinumed it and gotten all extra scenes etc and it took me 63 hours.
Max: "The fact that so many characters have so much different stuff to say. They have like 2 or 3 different things to say PER character, but they also change what they say as the story events happen. That's crazy to me." Me as a Trails fan: ".... Dude"
I was going to say, “Huh, that sounds like Trails from the Sky,” when Max said that. I haven’t even played a Trails game, but I know that’s one of the great features that the series showcases. I might have to check out a Trails games while I wait for FFVIIR to release on Xbox One. XD
I know right? Trails is on another level and Final Fantasy is catching up with that stuff. Currently on Zero no Kiseki and there's so much character moments in the first few hours!
@@DiscoCokkroach Ideally you'd start with Trails in the Sky, but the gameplay and buildup for it is rather slow (it has my favourite characters though). Otherwise, Cold Steel is a good entry point. Unfortunately the Crossbell games haven't been fully localised, but there are decent fan-translations available. I still wouldn't recommend starting with Crossbell though. @Andrew Hom Even town NPCs have their own small story arcs. It's impressive to say the least.
There will never be a perfect game EVER, thats impossible, what is important is that you enjoy the game, not nit pick it to the ground based on other types of games like souls and things like that, from software level design is something that characterizes the franchise, FF is based on story and characters, 2 different genres in a sense, I can't imagine they creating souls level design in a way that would remain loyal to the story telling, keep in mind that Midgard was a linear section of the game, hell, pretty much all Final fantasies are linear. People need to understand that when it comes to game design, you need to invest time and work in specific elements of the game, you cannot do everything in just one thing, its like balancing a diet, you cannot get all nutrients in a meal if you wanna see it that way
"ENDING WAS BAD SO GAME IS TRASH" So the bombing run, Jessie chapter, combat, music, maybe not level design but art, expanded content, direction of characters and scenes... all TRASH? Ok sure. You don't have to like every decision a director or team makes but did they put love into the game? OBVIOUSLY YES.
That’s what I was gonna say,the things that would be nitpicked so to speak are not really a issue 90-95% of this game is done amazingly well his review is really good but coming at it like this game isn’t perfect is kinda silly to me nothing is but there is not one glaring issue with this game it’s ok to say this game is blowing my mind and I love it and not be a “fanboy” everybody that has played alllll say this game is fun as shit one of the funniest game they played this year the combat the sound the characters the story being driven thru the characters is all done damn near perfect honestly I wouldn’t change a single thing I can’t wait for the next parts cause this could be a lord of the rings type situation improve on the game very minimally across all the parts coming out so by the end we’ll have a game that literally gets better as you play
There was never a time in this remake that I wasn't smiling like an idiot while playing. It captured everything I loved about the original FFVII and then some. And the music was stellar as expected, gonna be listening to it for a long time. Now time for hard mode.
Only legit problem I had was that sidequest where the sleep status is introduced. Genuinely frustrating. Everything else i really enjoyed what they have done with it
Dmen05 I disagree this is an amazing 1000 iq choice by square I didn’t think they could find a way to make me feel the need to want to play this game more and experience the story cuz I already know the original but now things could play out differently and that was such a pleasant surprise
I loved everything but the stupid dancing scene at the Honeybee Inn. I like that they changed it to a cabaret, but Cloud dancing along with little objection and no prep really pulled me out of the story.
Tanner Montgomery the ending was a fucking mess. There is a reason FFVII is one of the best games ever and they’re jizzing their kingdom hearts happy-clappy bullshit all over it.
I’m taking my sweet time with it. I’m on Chapter 12 and it’s been such a great ride that I don’t want to end. I love the fact that it’s “the first time” I get to replay FFVII again. I give it a a perfect 10.
I’ve never played the original FF7. Only the remake. Felt the same way - an excellent game overall and I am hyped to see where they take the next couple games Destiny just got the middle finger and I am loving where that will take things!
I finished the game last night and I will say, one of my favorite things about the remake is the world building they did in this game. Midgar actually feels like a massive city now. Shinra feels like an actually omnipresent oppressive company. The world feels like a place that people live in now.
Right! In the original I don’t think I spent to much time with them to really get emotionally invested, but in the Remake, when IT happens, I was wrecked 😂
I am 10+ hours in. Totally feel the same way. 7R is like a dream, and you have to pinch yourself wondering if it's real. And it is, it's right there. I love the journey, character & world building. It is a marvel, to just hear what's on their minds, or what brought to this point. And Cloud just plays it cool. It keeps you going, motivated, to explore what's ahead, sometimes challenging, but still fun. I had to take a break to gather my thoughts, because you are right there are moments that digs deep into your soul. I think it's fantastic, and love this so much. The memories of the original FF7 are there, but Remake excels on so many levels as to what was limited, and now it's gone beyond that. I am going to keep going. New game + sweet jenova!!! 🤣
To me I say that this game addresses the problem I had with the original game which is the characters. Once the plot was done with certain characters they walked off a cliff and some of their resolutions felt very unsatisfying to me like Red XIII it felt like his entire arc started and ended on the first visit to Cosmo Canyon. If the characterization keeps what this game did and improve it in the next episode I think I can finally bury my hatchet with the original game.
Characters like Yuffie and Vincent were meant to be main party members but due to time constraints became optional. I think now with the games being stretched out they will have a lot more time to give everyone much needed development. And the best part is we get to see the entire party interact with each other.
@@SevenBlades with Wutai being such a huge factor I think Yuffie is gonna be WAY more important to the overall story. And Vincent's story might be explained alongside the main story, getting that history and dark side of Shinra.
@@Lakross101 Vincent is actually one of the most important characters in the original. Because the connection he has with Hojo, Lukretia, Sepiroth and the Turks
Just got this game for PS+. Never played the original or any FF game for that matter but its insane how much I fell in love by the end. The combat starts off fun but kind of simple, just spam attack button and shoot some spells sometimes. But by the end of the game it gets so intense as you’re constantly switching between characters to chain together different moves and use different strategies to take down enemies. The last 10 or so hours of this game are just pure insanity from both a gameplay and a story perspective and its incredible. I loved the story and the characters. In the first mission I thought Barret was annoying and weird but at the end when he turned around before he went into the portal I was smiling and my heart was swelling. Its the perfect combination of fun, badass, serious, heartfelt, and campy.
As someone who played the original in 1997, it’s so weird there’s now a lot of new people who played the remake first - and don’t know the full story, and get to know these characters for the first time.....cool you liked it 😜👍🏻
Because of this comment, I went straight to watch that video again. No matter how many times I watch it, it always makes me smile because I remember how shocked I was when I was told Cloud is gonna be in Smash Bros before I even saw the news on the internet. It was also the video (besides the Mega Man reaction) that made me subscribe to Max Dood in the first place.
thinking about it, Square just needs to improve on the issues and if they can, improve on the better aspects for part 2 and the next chapter will be even more awesome.
I think a lot of issue now are not technical problem, like camera and texture quality, especially the texture issue it depends on hardware spec, like no.5 slum, The Aerith house garden just too much polygam and texture face for the ps4 to show high quality I think. And the camera just need more time to fix and test, they cannot did that on time before the sale date I think. It's too obvious to un-recognize that issue.
Given how much work they put into cleaning up FFXV, I'm hopeful that not only will they make improvements in future entries, but that those improvements are also rolled into this first entry. There are some pretty big improvements they can make to this game that would only require fairly minor fixes and changes.
@@Cosmoman78 Exactly. I don't know wtf people are complaining about like these "issues" are the end of the world. It's an RPG, and every RPG has lower quality textures when compared to other games, simply because the games are so much bigger and current gen hardware can't handle it. It's always been like that. Anyone who plays RPGs knows that. Main characters, and main locations look as good (if not better) than any other AAA game out there, but the rest looks worse because of hardware limitations. It's simple as that.
That's why I agreed on this multi-part series, devs can see the mistakes and then improve. Imagine if they made the whole story. FF7R as we know will be in development hell and we will probably only see it in another 5-10 years lol. And when it came out , there were no room for feedbacks.
Character development is so important. Just look at a fun action movie like Predator and how nothing came close to it in its day - because of great characters. Back to the Future, all driven by great characters. Aliens... characters (some cool FX of course). Now they only had the length of a movie to development them, but still.
It's why the Uncharted games are ao much more popular than the three newer mainline Tomb Raider games. People don't come back to the Uncharted games for its gameplay, but for its characters. That's why Naughty Dog could get away with Uncharted 1-4 having relatively minor gameplay changes. You could argue that the Tomb Raider games have more gameplay depth, but most of the characters in the new TR trilogy are just flat, and the games take themselves way too seriously. Uncharted games are self aware. Characters point out how absurd the situations they're in are, and it shows their personalities, and so players come back to every new entry to see more of those personalities.
Damn Max, I've been following your playthrough here on youtube, while being just a few chapters ahead of each video release. But I love seeing you play through it and share your pure awe and excitement. As a first time player that makes me that much more excited too and somehow feel that magic of this universe as well. I was afraid when I saw your review you would be a bit biased as an uber-fanboy to not criticize this game for its obvious faults. But it's really cool you're being absolutely fair and real about it. As a game designer myself these shortcomings are on the nose, and I guarantee SE knows about these as well. Every designer does, but the budget and money only go so far. The question remains why they did leave in some of the more atrocious stuff in regards to sidequests and not invest in a different part. Scrap some of that stuff and replace it by a single AMAZING sidestory at each location or some more involved minigames. Because the minigames acted as the diversions they probably wanted, but also as amazing worldbuilding, like the gym, box whacking and arena fights. That would've worked way better. In regards to some of the horrible texture stuff, I'm sure this will get patched out (along with probably some additional features like photo mode) and it's only due to the nasty COVID situation that it hasn't happened yet. The game definitely has it's faults, but you're right; my god that music, those characters, the setting - some of the sewer stuff was a slog, but it's the other factors that pulled you through with ease. This game is one of the few that I would actually call cinematic too. I'm definitely on board this train, excited to see where it goes. Again, good work on this review Max!
I absolutely loved this game. My nostalgia factor goes nuts when I see the nods to the original. I agree with Max that some things it does felt unnecessary. However, the things it does right...IT DOES RIGHT. This game reminded me of what Final Fantasy used to be all about. I had forgotten as I haven't felt this way really since Final Fantasy X. This game got me so interested on how other people view things. I catch myself watching reactions vids on certain scenes. Theories on whats to come. I haven't been this invested in a story since the last of us. I loved the new characters which I thought I would hate. Love characters like Madam M with her very short temper. Even Johnny who reminded me of Quagmire when it came to Tifa. But can't blame him because well its freaking Tifa. Almost done getting platinum. Just a few more chapters on hard mode. But Loved the review max, and I'm just happy that I lived long enough to see that this exists.
I feel exactly the same as you. Not since Final Fantasy X have I felt the gameplay has been fully polished. Of course, it has a few minor issues, every game does.
Been dying for your review. This was my first final fantasy game I've played and I platinum'd it last night. My first time platinuming a video game ever. I loved it so much I just started the original today.
Dylan K if you never played the original, I warn you that you should be prepared to the 90’s graphics (at the time those graphics were the best ever seen). Asside that, I hope You enjoy it because its amazing
Hard mode makes you REALLY appreciate the combat more and becomes way more fun imo because you HAVE to be tactical and you cant get away with mindless button mashing and healing if you take too much damage, it makes you strategize and actually engage with the battle mechanics of each boss,or else you're dead and I learned much more about the combat that I didn't before when I played on normal and I wish hard mode was there from the beginning and they instead added like a hardcore version after you complete the game where you cant even recover HP on benches and from completing quests and cant heal outside of battles or whatever idk im not a game designer
I thought benches were the only thing you can recover HP on but you can't use items. I haven't tried it yet since I just got done beating the game on normal.
100% agree with the difficulty. The fight with Roche was super cool and engaging from a mechanics standpoint that I was hugely wanting for it to last long. But story-wise it still kinda makes sense because he was not injured at all after the fight. But the fact that this game made me excited for boss fights in 2021 is a huge testament to the quality of this RPG. I never played the original at all and this is already my favorite final fantasy game.
Went in expecting max to talk about his love for ff7 og and how he enjoyed this remake. Got that and him praising yakuza, one of my fav franchises so I'm happy.
Even if the ending is different and the next installment might be going in a new direction, I’m in. This game convinced me that even if it’s not the same story, as long as these characters are here I’m here for it.
I think what this game did best was lay the ground work for why we should be excited the next game will be new and different. I love the arbiters of fate because they gave me as a fan an in universe reason to be ok with any changes made to the story.
It can't go too differently but I am really interested to see what direction they do go since they seem to be showing a completely different timeline and Aerith seems to know what's going on this time.
This game is now my second favorite game of all time! I think part 2 will definately surpass it though because it’s not midgar anymore and it will be more open. Also they can fix air combat and take in more feedback.
You expect it to be more open? I wouldn't be so sure. I'm sure it will push you from lineal carved path through lineal carved path that cuts through various towns, caves and whatnot. Once you are finally able to captain the highwind you're going to have a Final Fantasy 10 type situation where you choose the town you want to go to from a list. Basically no different from the chapter selection screen that you get at the end of the first installment. The game is barely a final fantasy or an RPG anymore. It's an action fantasy.
@@jamesmiller5331 going over every comment that praises the game to say that it sucks and that sephiroth shows up too many times(???) makes you look really pathetic and look like an absolute crybaby
@@jamesmiller5331 this guy must be from the future, he's basically referring a different entry of FF into this modern times where PS5 can absolutely expand more game design philosophy of creating open zones or open worlds and the fact that it's not coming to PS4 or older gens anymore gives an idea as to what to expect in FFVII Rebirth considering the devs have responded it's going to more open zones this time. "The game is barely a final fantasy or an RPG anymore. It's an action fantasy." tell me dude what's define a RPG or JRPG? is it just about being turn-based? you must be some purist who can't move on about the past even devs from those older games of FF had interview the sole reason how it was turn-based before because of due to technical limitation where hardware isn't enough to push their decision back in the day. Final Fantasy isn't some kind of sacrilege where it's mandatory to follow their old tradition formulas where you personally knew already they've always been heading towards into more evolution than simply following into their old traditional combat system, might as well stick the Dragon Quest series considering how DQXII will be an action game by now.
I know that there was a complaint of those “walking simulator” moments in FF7 but honestly it was great inclusion because it just helped to spend more time for character development. It’s like a slice of life approach, and I can’t see a way were you can bond with the character without having a few of those moments.
This game didn't need to start on the highest of highs imo. Having somewhere to go, while still being a great game, is the best thing a first entry can do.
I disagree there was so much hype surrounding this game square knew they had to deliver on part 1 can you imagine the amount of pressure they must have been under? People have been waiting a long time for this game this is no time to half ass it go big or go home. And thankfully they delivered and their hard work definitely payed off in the end.
@@Ronin-kk4bt I agree. Plus, we're talking about a big company here (resources-wise). I did not hop on the hype train when they announced FF7R, because let's be honest: FF installments have not been the same since FFX (and I don't like FFX). I was expecting them to mess this one up big time, especially when they announced that it would be episodic. Yet the moment they released the intro cinematic, it was impossible not to beg for more. They sure raised the bar tremendously high for the next parts, but if someone could deliver it had to be SE and they couldn't aim any lower.
As someone who wasn’t old enough to have played the og game when it came out, I have to say thank you, Max! I feel like because of you, I was able to get extremely hyped for this game. I definitely can’t say I understand how people from the og release feel, but man as a newcomer, I think this was as excited as I could get! I’m glad you love it too!
Magnificent Waltz yes we’ll have to wait for part2 to come out. Its amazing to play the original, but god I wish I never played FF7 before so I could first time experiencing it onde again
@@Tiago_C same here.... those grind for master materia, breeding gold chocobo for knights of the round, ruby and emerald weapons.... it was so exciting
T C and @Magnificent Waltz I definitely plan on checking the OG game out after finishing hard mode as well! I’m so excited! I just can’t wait for part 2, I need to experience the rest!
Dude I said that 95% if this game followed the original storyline. I love it. The other 5% was the ending that threw me off but I love this game man. I'm so happy for part two and three. Like I said, this game is beast all day. This is the best modren FF game made so far.
I think for me personally, that 5% only felt so terrifying because the whole game was so good but it was now uncharted territory. After some time and thought though I'm way more excited than I am nervous about the future parts, not having everything set in stone.
Fair review, my dude. I personally loved the whole game and never really felt it had any lows, and I really like the story changes, but that’s me. I agree the narrative in this was excellent, especially the characters and their interactions. I felt more emotions this time around than with the original. I would actually rate this remake higher than the original, and that’s saying something.
I think I agree with literally everything you said. 10/10 for me personally, 9/10 if I had to put on a critic hat. The highs are absolutely awe inspiring and there are a ton of them. I could scoop dog poop between those moments and the game would still be essential.
FF7 original was such a mind blowing game when it was released, and over 2 decades later I’m glad with modern gaming advancements it brings justice to the way we envisioned it back then. 10/10 personal score as well
When FF7 came out, I was only 2 years old. In 2000, my family has the first television. In 2003, we have first CD player. In 2007, my dad bought me the first computer, there, is the first time I know about something call video games. So I have no special feeling or nostalgia about this game at all. The first thing I know about FF is from a CD a bought, a CD with Advent Children movie, a low quality CD, and all they said is Japanese which I don't understand anything. But I swear until that point, in my life I haven't ever seen something beautiful like that. In my country we watched a lot of Kung Fu and Wuxia movies but what I saw that day is most amazing fight scenes I have ever seen. And I watched that movie everyday of that week. It's so beautiful that after about 30 mins, I just realize this is CGI (I didn't know what CGI is back then, I thought they all humans, actors,...). I'm absolutely in love with all those characters despite know anything about them. FF7 remake and Max made me live again in those childhood moments. For me the game nailed it in every way a RPG should be. And I love every moments watching Max plays. He's like the ambassador of this game. I hope I will have PS4 and this game soon. Can't wait to watch Max's plays when part 2 come out.
What a cool story bro , I loved your comment, enjoy and have a lot of fun , I had a great time with the original ff7 and the remake which I have just finished 1hour ago.
for me the biggest downside I saw to the remake was midgar not being fully explorable. before this games release, I assumed since ff7 was just entirely midgar that they were gonna have cloud be able to travel through sectors 1-7 top and bottom, and the train was gonna be the main aspect of transportation. instead you can only go to sectors 5,6, and 7, and although they give me plenty of locations to explore in these areas, it would've been cool to explore all of midgar.
That'd be really cool, but as it is right now the game is already around 100GB and/or has 2 disks, imagine the bytes if all of Midgar is explorable lol.
Yep that's my major downside aswell. Like when they announced the first part being midgar I didn't mind as long as I can explore more of midgar. But that wasn't the case. Like you can only go to the upper plate probably 3 times in the entire game and even then they were short lived. I still loved the game but they couldve easily removed some parts like the midgar lamp mission with a new sector to explore.
I think they could have perhaps done more with the Sector 7 Plate (it would have been fun to revisit, maybe see Roche again, and the suburb type area was mostly unused), but it's unreasonable to expect the entire city to be explorable. I mean it took half a decade for them to design and implement just what is available here. There are simply practical limitations here.
Guys lets juzt agree that remake is disc 1 until sephiroth got impatient and used his black materia early which happened when he absorbed all the whispers he just became god
That's a tricky expectation. I didn't think we would even SEE the upper plates aside from the reactor bombings and Shinra HQ. So I was pleasantly surprised.
Great, amazing game. However, that ending will never not be controversial. And whether the remake succeeds or fails depends on how they handle the story elements in the following games. Hopefully they are able to keep the same general spirit because many major crucial aspects have been completely changed this remake. I honestly miss the horror feel of the Jenova/Shinra-President segment the most.
@AJ Because you have expectations. The developers are trying to tell the ORIGINAL story which involves *redacted* dying instead of *redacted* . Remake was made to set up for the storyline to be different than the original, since you bitchy purist fans won't accept the changes anyway
I finished the original FFVII 3 or 4 times, and how they managed character development in the remake actually made me care about Biggs, Wedge & Jessie for the very first time ever.
@@jorgelugo9473 not that much, it was executed in a way where it wasn’t really clear they died, it didn’t feel like I had known them enough to really feel for them. It was a sad moment but I didn’t feel a connection with them as I did in remake (also, I was 11 when first played the game)
Honestly, this game's level design (like most games of this scale) is held back the HDD hardware. PS5's SSD will change that; like no longer the need for long corridors to hide loading. I think that that's the benefit of this series being multi-part.
It should be obvious that they aren't going to make the future games exclusive to the next gen. Square Enix has even stated outright that they're going to be continuing to develop primarily for the PS4 going forward because the PS5 is backwards compatible.
Right about where I landed as well, 8.5 The combat is the best they've done since like ff10 for me, which may seem like an odd comparison but the way you can swap characters on a dime is to me, the core of a party-based rpg like this. And the overall idea of an action-oriented game that let's you go into slowmo at will to analyze the situation, react to attacks more easily, or even just to appreciate how cool everything looks is perfect. Can't wait to see how they do other large monsters/weapons/etc. So much potential there. But holy hell are right about the camera/air combat. If I had been a play tester I would've told them to just straight-up delete drakes from the game. Or at the very least make aero a guaranteed hit so you end those fights faster
Just feels like Lightning Returns, FFXV and FF Agito, or an evolution on those. Which is cool, because they're learning and getting better. Kinda like how the Sphere grid was so good, that they keep trying to implement it in everything somehow
I think maybe if air combos were longer, the air combat wouldn't be such a hassle. Like if Cloud and Tifa made more of an effort to reach their enemy and stay on them while airborne, that might solve a lot of it. Also, Blizzard magic was awesome when it worked but a lot of the time enemies just move out of the way after the initial hit.
@@blackwidow7804 I totally agree, you don't need to remove anything from combat system the way it is now, just add the gambit system and we would have even more control over the whole team.
@@blackwidow7804 I never finished 12 simply because the rest of the game didnt grab me but the battle system was not the problem. Im generally fine with the ai as it is with a few exceptions, like aerith refusing to stay near her arcane ward/running into melee range for no reason
It didnt originally. "This city don't have no day or night." The only places we ever see light shining through to are Aeriths house and the church. They probably changed that to make chapters less visually samey.
@@KarasuVII Damn good memory, I always just figured that sunlight was so rare due to them LIVING UNDER A GODDAMN CITY ON A PLATE ABOVE THEM... This remake is ... ugh!
I was first introduced to Final Fantasy when i played FF Crisis Core and Tactics on PSP. Never had the chance to play FF7, i bought it digitally so i'm going to play the heck out of it.
The NPCs in FFVIIR finally having different lines of dialogue and new stuff to say as the story moves along as you talk to them is actually something Dragon Quest is known for. It's kinda funny but so ridiculously welcomed that Final Fantasy FINALLY got onboard with doing the same since that's what always made Dragon Quest games (and Lunar 1 & 2 as other examples from back in the day) feel so lived in and added wider lived in world building that felt so endearing to spend time talking to all of them.
Chakra as well, I had to use to get past Scorpion since items are never useable. (Seriously, like not even in town?? I understand mid battle or dungeon but CMON)
@@applejuicejunkie316 yh I don't recall that at all. I just typed in UA-cam cloud beats aerith and immediately found it lol. This definitely won't be in the remake lol.
Yeah,the scene where Cloud spat on Tifa and told her to "be quiet,you dirty woman" was pivotal for his character development,hope they show that in future installments
i sure theyll have an excuse to shy away from this like how barret no longer beats the shit out of the shinra employee on the train like in the original
I was really extremely relieved when playing. I was holding my breath with this game. But damn it is actually so good. Now my worry is them pulling this quality of game off for 2 more games, and not having to wait 30 years for them to come out.
I think it holds up pretty well for a psp game, both graphically and as a game. Of course, if you put side to side with the remake, it will look dated.
Max, I hope only you get the chance to read this. I have played OG FF7 alittle late, 2018 PS4 port, I had a blast... I'm from the Nintendo Legend of Zelda OoT universe before being introduced to PlayStation, and anything final fantasy related. My first FF game was 15... as much as people feel it's a mediocre disappointment, I had some of the coolest memories in some of the things I've experienced in that game. Then I play ff7, great game, great story... didn't think I would dig the gameplay either. What helps is how you talk alot about your love for video games, fighting games and ff games. It got me interested more. I am more than 50 hours in... I'm on the last couple of chapters... according to your playthrough in which I watch one twitch after I go through it myself first...I just enjoy your reaction to a game I am having a very rare experience in. You get this a ton.. but you as a person are inspirational, and a dude I wish I knew personally as a friend. It's just so fun seeing you chill with your friends on your videos and it's nice to imagine myself doing the same with you guys. I know you appreciate everything and everyone, and it is for that I trust you as a content creator and appreciate you too Hearing some of the things you say, and I don't always have to agree to.... *ahem* RESIDENT EVIL 6 is a great game!!! *ahem*.... I have nothing but respect to you. Knew you since your Killer Instinct reaction lolll, subscribed and been watching you since. good times. From the bottom of my heart Thank you dude
That is insanely wholesome dude. Ignore this douche above me, it never hurts to let creators know how much you appreciate them and even how it impacts you. There are times people just feel really down or have a rough day, and just that alone is enough pick them up when they may need it.
@@RokushoTheRavager I'm too busy man, I didn't notice the douche at all lol Thank you though dude, I couldn't agree more. It's that positivity we need to spread now especially more than ever
XxThePh4ntomxX, Hey I’m with you man, we definitely should be trying to spread as much positivity as possible, but I apologize, I’m not above telling someone off if they choose to be an insensitive dick for seemingly no justifiable reason.
I'm fine with the direction the game takes near the end, I just feel like we could have had about two, maybe three less boss fights at the end. Really felt like they were stretching it out.
The original _Final Fantasy VII_ was the reason I bought a Playstation back in 1997, and it was the game that changed my life. The _Final Fantasy VII Remake_ was the reason I bought a Playstation 4 roughly a month ago, and again it changed my life. History repeats itself. Like Max said, this game is a gigantic rollercoaster. It made me hype, it made me anxious, it made me laugh, it made me cry. There is so much heart put into this game in every little detail. You can really see the developers took real care with the source material and did their best to improve it; which in my opinion they suceed majestically. It is a masterpiece, and will definitely set a new bar for JRPGs in the future. Characters have a lot of personality, and the motion capture made me raise eyebrows more than once due to the huge amount of expressivity the characters show. Voice acting in this game is top notch, whether you play with the japanese audio or the english audio. Every character, from the main cast to the support cast is memorable. This game is very character driven. It is a very "human" experience, where the dwell deeply into making the characters convey as much emotion as possible. Your comparison with the Marvel movies was spot on; the story might not be perfect, but the characters carry the story easily. The chemistry between characters in this game is off the charts. Feels so natural. Music, like you said, was nailed so damn good. It is amazing how they made perfect use of leimotivs where one song references two others, bringing this sense of unity and connection that taps into your brain and gives you the feels. Both the arrangements of old themes as well full new original music hit the right spot and give a lot of immersion. The dynamic music in this game is simply jaw-dropping. Combat feels engaging and flashy, yet there is a lot of strategy behind it with the whole stagger mechanic and ATB system, incorporating hack'n slash with classic JRPG moments. The amount of polish the combat system has is mesmerizing. It captures everything the original FFVII delivered, and pumps to eleven. The way they balanced and improved the Materia system is really amazing and adds tons of replayability. The quality of life changes are fantastic, with stuff like saving anywhere, being able to retry lost battles from the go instead of being dragged to the title screen to reload saves, and the amazing chapter select. There is a lot of comodity that breaks the mold of what JRPGs have always been, and they are all welcome additions that enrichens the overall experience. The story is solid and it is amazing how they managed to extend the roughly 7 hours you spend in Midgar in the original game into a plus 30 hours experience without feeling a drag or with filler. There is a lot of world building that was very much needed in the original game. The devs really tried to deliver a complete Final Fantasy experience instead of a half-baked episode with too many cliffhangers. They even added stuff that only appears much later in the original game as a way to give us a taste of what is in story. I know the ending generated a lot of controversy, but I'm more than ready to embrace the changes. I highly doubt the developers will disregard and make any massive changes that undo the original story (you know what I'm talking about). I want to see where they will take us next in this "unknown adventure", and I feel that subsequent episodes will be delivered much faster in the future. Yes, there is a lot of nostalgia that affected my judgement of this game, but even when I try to look at this game as something separate from the original game I can't help but to feel how much depth there is in this game, and how much they make you care for the cast. I didn't feel this with any other Final Fantasy since FFIX. While this game has its issues, it still is a masterpiece in my eyes, as a whole. Your comparison with Yakuza is pretty much how I feel about this game. 70% of the time I was playing this game and getting strong Yakuza vibes all around. And it is awesome. Maybe the subsequent sequels can have a level design on par with the Souls game. Then the experience will be complete. Hehe. I really liked your review, Max. A very genuine love letter from a fan, seeing beyond the lows and praising the highs. We think alike. I just finished my second playthrough, on Hard Mode, and I watched all the cutscenes again with the same enthusiasm as when I saw them for the first time. Just seeing characters interact in this game is worth the experience. It feels good, feels cozy, feels comforting. I don't know if you'll ever see this comment, but thank you for your review.
I did love this game, though the ending left me wanting more. I really enjoyed watching you play through this game, thank you for all you did for this game.
But I feel thats the point. Its not DONE! so we can keep looking forward to more stuff. Its just, getting that feeling after so many years of waiting already. So, the feeling is extra potent and sad.
I appreciate the sentiment. I really do, but I didn't do anything that really assisted FFVIIR. I've just been in the extremely fortunate situation to deliver to you guys the stories about my experiences with the original and this game pre-release. The fact that people listen is something I'll never take for granted.
@@Maximilian_Dood Your original reaction to the announcement of the game is one of my favourite reaction videos I've ever seen. I've been an avid viewer of your content ever since.
@@Maximilian_Dood Your reaction video gave life and energy to the dev team. Could they have done it without that? Sure. But you still helped in your own way. That's big.
One thing that Woolie and Pat mentioned is that the quality of life upgrades to this game are amazing. The playtime stops ticking up if you leave the game idle for a minute or so, sidequests give you the option to fast travel straight back after completing them and characters outright tell you if the area are heading toward is hard progress or a side area to explore. Good job.
As a long-time fan of the original, the character development and interactions you undertake within the different environments really help in creating this more fully-realized world and experience. As a remake, it does so much in building on the original narrative (respectfully) and in fleshing out the characters and their personalities. I just loved learning so much more about characters I have grown up with. Amazing game.
Spending the time with max and seeing the core emotional reaction and just seeing him enjoy the living hell out of this game, is the reason im a gamer today. Overall, the game is amazing. Hope all you doods enjoyed it just as much as i did. SHINE ON!
I won’t spoil anything but I think it’s very telling that they carries certain concepts from Crisis Core over to this game. Out of all the alternate games and media that took place in the FF7 universe, Crisis Core added the most interesting and important lore and explanations to things and it was a really fun psp game. And based on what this game did it retroactively makes CC that much better.
Music is incredible. I wish we could access the juke box in the main menu and listen to the audio tracks in high quality rather than in-game only via juke box in am-radio sounding... Unless you can access the audio tracks and I’ve missed something... LOL.
So Max, where do I begin...I'm 38 years old, and this has been one of the most fun games I've ever played and as much as I enjoyed the original, I'm really loving this version so much. I've even let my 9 year old daughter play a few missions/chapters for me, to let her experience that joy that I got to as a kid
When *REDACTED* turned up after being *REDACTED* I was like whaaa? Oh and let's not forget *REDACTED*! That was *REDACTED*. Can't wait for the next one 😁
An Acc I think I think it’s more that the change is unnecessary. The fate people seem odd and unnecessary. I’m playing FF7 original first, and those fate things aren’t in the original. I don’t see why they would change that. I played the demo and didn’t like the combat, but I wasn’t a fan of turn based combat and I’m loving the original, so maybe through time I’ll like the new combat. I would say that fans getting angry about change is passion more than it is just hate. I hate the changes in the Resident Evil remakes, but it’s not because I hate change. I wanted some things to change, and was open to change, but the change was mostly terrible. Just remember that a lot of hate comes from passion.
@@ragingraccoon3964 you're absolutely right. I thoroughly enjoyed the remake up until the ending. Had nothing to do with not liking change, it had more to do with expecting a more fleshed out 7 all together. I'm not a huge fan of kingdom hearts and I have played all 3 of them, so that Nomura filled final chapter was scary and cringe af lol. Not to mention how all that dramatic impact of the remake gets washed away when the fates are like "nah, biggs is fine, so is barrett after being impaled, so is zack, so is...." sigh. It was just strange. Not to mention that if you're a newcomer to ff7 playing for the first time, the word remake fooled you just as it fooled me. I expected minor changes and deviations but not a whole new multiverse time travel extravaganza. Fighting sephiroth that soon was a huge mistake too, while cool to fanservice, newcomers have no idea what's going on at all, and OG's have less to look forward to fighting him again? Anyway, you put it perfectly, its passion not hate. Didnt expect a remaster, wanted a remake, got a reboot 🤷♂️
nailed it regarding the characters - i keep repeating this as well. Since Square completely captured the characters and treated them awesomely - i doubt they can mess anything up in the future.
My only complaint is how absolutely loooooonnnnngggggg some parts were dragged out. You could really tell which parts of the game they used to add hours here and there
Can we say Hojo's "floors" in the shinra building... don't get me wrong, I loved the character building during that portion.... but the whole puzzle aspect just felt out of place and unnecessary at the time. I kinda wish that was put in a one of the VR missions instead. Otherwise all the long parts felt pretty good for world building.
Yep agreed. The lamp area, the train graveyard, the second sewers encounter, hojo lab, climbing the destroyed sector 7 and the second mako reactor (same as first just blue) all give me PTSD now.
Yeah. Parts like this could have been used to collect little side quests or little lore expanding objects , like books or something. Like go look for this monster that happens to be here to complete a quest for chadley.
I couldn’t even play any Kingdom Hearts after the first one. And after Final Fantasy 10, I couldn’t play any main Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy 7 Remake has reignited the Square Enix flame for me. So I’m hoping for a bright future.
Out of curiosity, what did you not like about the og Kingdom Hearts? If it's the combat system that gets substantially improved in future games. The characters also get a lot more development as the series goes on as well.(The story's a cluster fuck, but still enjoyable if you don't take it so seriously).
the one thing i love about the dialogue is it never feels forced or they don't say things that make you think "nobody talks like that", the conversations are natural so much so that I was completely drawn in to every character, even the side characters. It may not be perfect, but it made me fall in love with FF7 all over again and i can't wait for the rest of it! Also can i just give props to the summon effects as well, the first time i saw Ifrit cast his special I was like "hooooooooly faaaaaaaark!"
I disagree completely. I honestly don't understand people who claims these characters acts and talks like human beings. The dialogues are bad man, these characters are anime robots. So many grunts, moans, forced "kawai" moments/poses, retarded characters giving the thumbs-up, etc.. extremely generic moments like: Aerith and Tifa starting a girly friendship out of nowhere, Barret and Red starts a bromance, the forced harem moments featuring Cloud, etc... Jessie's motivation to fight the big corporation it's because a close parent suffered an accident... the "bodyguard" (who looks more fragile than Justin Bieber) helps Cloud and his anime gang because his fiance was taken away by his pimp boss... a random SOLDIER suddenly backflips his motorcycle for no goddamn reason, even the generic housekeeper have a spiked anime hair, etc... These are not human beings, I'm sorry. To experience these characters + the storytelling and acting/directing style, it's like watching a more "lenient" version of Advent Children (until the game goes full Advent Children at the end). It's fine if some people like the anime cringe, but to say this kind of storytelling feels "human" is a big stretch.
I haven't completed a front to back RPG in a LONG time. I just don't have the engagement anymore like I used to, but the original is my favorite game of all time. With everything going on in the world, I played this game non-stop and finished it and then finished it AGAIN on Hard Mode. I have a hard time finishing games nowadays, nonetheless finishing them TWICE.
That's how much I loved this game.
Didja get the ultimate weapon trophy?
How did you find the time to finish it twice? Already quarantined?
@@tigerex777 been quarantined a month already lol
Exact same bro going through hard mode now cause I just couldn't get enough
Dan L I managed to put 16 hours in it the night it released 😅
"The lows aren't low enough for me to hate any aspect of this game."
That's what I want more people to hear.
This is what every FF7 fanboy is saying.......they won't hold FF7 remake to the standard of criticism they hypocritically held other FF games too
JIX9ISLER1986 even the weird texture issues it has get ignored lol
Agreed. And the lows were barely lows.
For most people I’m hearing the lows are indeed low enough to affect the whole game and I agree with them
@@Milkman69ner what are they saying are the parts they hate out of curiosity?
now i want the spoiler-filled review
yes please
The spoiler filled review is Litterally like 5 hours I’m not joking
Hopefully not till after all the parts have aired.
Plz a spoiler review for at least an hour.
will nelson if you go to his twitch, he talks through it in one of his episodes last week. This segment here came from his twitch broadcast too
Barret's voice actor nailed it, obviously everyone else is great too but he's exactly how I imagined him
I think this is a consensus. All my friends even say it. You couldn’t get anymore perfect.
Legit. Barret has become my legit favorite character from FF7 now. (With Red XIII being a CLOSE second surprisingly!) I absolutely LOVE how much they have wrote Barret and his interactions with the rest of the party. I even love him and Red's... strange relationship. Like a solemn, yet awkwardly friendly partnership. I see them as a PAIR.
THEY FREAKING JUST NAILED RED XIII TOO! GOD it's so great! But I love how amazing they did Barret. Claps and a half for the VA because he really just... MAKES you empathize and align with him.
Especially when he was in the *SPOILERS*
7th Plate wreckage and he started punching the wall! When his voice cracked and he said, "...DAMNIT! DAMN YOU!"
AAAAABSOLUTELY made me start crying instantly. It just... it broke me. The despair in his voice was SO lifelike I actually got goosebumps and tears wouldn't stop falling.
I love his character arc and just love this idea that this man with a machine gun arm LOVES the planet enough to die for it and truly believe that, "Some things just shouldn't be tampered with."
he is an old fan of FF7 . That's why he was on point.
I would personally like Terry Crews or Mr. T to voice him, but the voice actor is great.
Not only that but his design is one of the best jobs ive seen of a model of a black character. His skin tone, hair texture (especially his chest hair) and the expressions he gives off. The character design team and animators for this game did an excellent job
Tifa is my fav to play in combat, she’s so damn speedy and has such high impact. Star shower always makes me grin :)
Three most useful special abilities in the game in my opinion are Starshower, Infinity's End, and Arcane Ward. Those are the ones I found myself spamming. Special mention goes to Sorcerous Storm which is just so damn fun to use. Hop into a group with Aerith and just obliterate everyone. XD
@@PassiveWealth True Strike to multiply the stagger percentage
i love barret, hes melee weapons just over power ground enemies and hes tank skills allow him to save the party from powerful aoe or mob damage (lifesaver) while tanking so much damage and making aerial fights less annoying to deal with
my favorite skill is maximum furry because of how much damage it deals and cant be interrupted
Hope the sequel has combo attacks like in 15.
Starshowers makes me beat sephirot so easy
watching you play through this game was an absolute treat max, I finished it pre-release thanks to australian eb games and felt empty not being able to talk to anyone about it but watching you play through it was like experiencing it again for the first time
appreciate you brother
Just finished it today and it's wonderful
I'd love to see you share your own experience with the game, even if it's just chatting over some hard mode battles so you don't die from editing.
Now kith
@@SevenBlades 😂😂😂
Now go and make a funny Cloud Strife being a pimp video, mate.
LMFAO "This HUGE Tragedy happens then they're all just like YO LETS GO SNOWBORDIN" HAHAHAAAAA so true omg
See I’ve honestly never even played the original game, but still knowing what happened I feel like the entire snowboard sequence was a way to get the characters to open themselves up and an attempt to try to get their minds off of what happened.
Even if it’s only for a second.
Yea…spoiler free…🙄🤦🏻♂️ and does he need to repeat himself twice every single sentence?
Clouds and Aeriths interactions with each other were so cute and heartwarming, just thinking about the high five situation in the dungeon put a huge smile on my face!!
It so funny how socially awkward Cloud is. Hits close to home...
I never have such a long post game emotion after playing a game for a long time. FF7R really bring me back to teenage days. And I am 36 yo.
"Every character in this image except for one goes through some kind of transformation"
If this game is anything to go by, Cosmo Canyon is going to fucking break people.
Thisssss
I hope they don't change it. It's too much of an iconic moment.
Bugenhagen is going to be buck wild.
The moment with Red's dad still crushes me to this day.
IF, that part happens....
I just beat it last night. I immediately restarted it and got goosebumps with the opening again. Walking into sector 7...again!
Man, I'm tempted to buy a ps4 just so I can play it. I'm thristy for that game!
But apparently the ps5 is coming out this or next year so this is holding me back. :(
Wish there would a possibility to play it on PC..
@@sircloud9923 It might be better to wait, especially if you don't have much interest in other PS4 games.
Totally unrelated, but I think it'd be awesome if there was a "Max reacts to FF7 remake" compilation of all the best reactions in the first playthrough(But I can definitely keep rewatching the vods too)
5 straight minutes of "This is a video game."
Yes!
Doomrat?! Where's the doomrats...are these doomrats? Doomrat?
Can you imagine an alternate timeline where Max did assess the Doomrats thus making the Doomrat meme non-existent? Truly we live in the best timeline.
Easily a 10+ hour vid we’re looking at there XD
I say this as someone who isn't a Final Fantasy 7 fan, as I've never played the original. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is one of my favorite games this year. Between Doom Eternal, Persona 5 Royal and this.
You should Totally try The original FF 7, I Like persona 5 and Royal has been a nice surprise but then i remember that JRPG After 1997 were heavely Inspired By FF 7 in someway or form, is true, i am serious XD. IF not then I could recomend You Final Fantasy 9.
Not sure how to take your comment, i mean your vision lacks the comparison of the original so your opinion will go into a different poll
@@mobious01 It just mean the game is successful to people completely new to Final Fantasy 7. It's similar to how people can enjoy a Anime adaption of of Light Novel/Web Comic/Manga without touching the source material, then it means that medium was done well enough for them to enjoy it. If they like it enough, they may check out the source material.
@@mobious01 Purists aren't the only crowd out there, fool. FF7 Remake has been VERY successful with new fans, quit acting like your opinion matters more just cause you played the original. New players are more objective while old fans are biased as all hell, that's the problem
Gowon Gang that is absolutely not what he said. It is pure logic. If one hasn’t played the original, he just can’t compare the new experience to the original one.
That being said, new fans and purist opinions are equally valid. They’re not just motivated by the same factors.
Besides, new players love it, other new players hate it. What does objectivity has to do with feelings?
Never played the original but damn did the characters make me fall in love with this game. This is some of the best dialogue I've ever seen in a game which is a surprise considering how final fantasy/Japanese RPGs typically are. Just sad now I have to wait a few years for the next part of the story
@Cameron Pangborn Stop being a downer because someone dared do something different. No matter how the story goes from here, the characters can still carry it easily.
I could maybe understand the argument about the story because of the ending and some of the added elements in the game which could feel divisive, but saying the characters are a negative is a big stretch.
One of the biggest pros of this game is the wonderful characterization of the cast. If there is one major thing they absolutely surpassed from the original, it's the character development and execution by miles. The OG game was certainly a product of it's time, but let's not pretend that the english translation was anything to write home about. The absolute rush job of the script, the literal junior level errors left in, some parts so mistranslated it completely deviates from it's original meaning (and not in the good translation kind of way) is not doing it any favors. Plus, the treatment of it's characters dialogue can be sometimes... ham fisted and maybe a little dated (Barret anyone? The whole Wall Market part?).
Meanwhile in FF7R, I loved every character I came across because they were written with so much more naturalness and better execution- a testament to the absolutely stellar voice cast who just really personify the characters so well.
@Cameron Pangborn yeah that ending was super confusing for me and was a big tonal shift almost as if someone else wrote the last two or so hours instead of the team that was working on the rest of the game.
Hopefully Nomura won't go full on KH, but I have a feeling he will. The ending was a step in that direction
@Cameron Pangborn its funny how many people are pissed with the ending...... Its hilarious 😂 I loved the original but I'm glad they adapted it. Just cause people are so pissed.
For me this game is a masterpiece, absolutely 10/10, yeah it has flaws, but all games do.
The flaws are NOT small flaws though. The highs are high but it's dented. It can NEVER be a ten on ten... But it could be a VERY high eight
@@sparxskywriter2589 The Witcher 3 has Flaws Uncharted 4 has flaws so did MGS 4 in its time and a lot of other games .... that still have been getting a lot of 10/10 scores.
I think 10/10 does not mean perfection by any means I think it refers to games that have such an impact they transcend gaming and are a cultural/artistic phenomenon and FF7R is definitely in that league.
hugothester Lmao what? Has flaws but is perfect? Well ok then
@@MTart96 a 10 doesn't mean perfect. Look at any review that gave a 10 and you'll still see that there are issues.
@@MTart96 its 2020 and you STILL dont know what a personal 10/10 means. are you not ashamed of yourself?
Best Review I’ve seen of this game hands down. 👏 Not only did you talk about the positives of the game, but also the negatives, you didn’t come off as a biased FF7 fan that automatically said this game was a masterpiece or as a FF7 fan who said “this game was trash because I didn’t like the ending”....weres most reviews I’ve seen of the game so far have said that....you definitely explained good points, that Part 2 could improve on, such as air combat and having more stuff to do. As well as talk about the best positives about the game, that made it so good, such as the character development and dialogue between the characters, as well the combat and music and visuals.
Great review and this is only Part 1 all the, well atleast positive feedback Square Enix can take from Part 1 they can use to make Part 2 better.
Yeah I think the most irritating part about these discussions is the "0/10" or "10/10" mentality.
Some ragey person says the the worst game ever and "total garbage that ruined their childhood" or something ridiculous like that, then someone who likes it feels they have to defend it as feverishly and act like nothing could ever be wrong with it, completely destroying any chance for reasonable ratings or discussions with any meaningful outcome.
To add, I also hate when people that put a time mark in their review. Like sure say how long a game literally goes on for, but I've never had a game that time factored into quality. Personally, a game like Last of Us goes on for a while but that game was so fucking boring for me, 3 times I've tried to play it and I've fallen asleep each time. And that doesn't mean it's a terrible game for others, it's one of Sony's biggest titles! But there are so many other factors that are so much more important than telling me that the game goes on for 30 or 40 hrs.
Sadly, some people are stupid as hell when it comes to reviewing games and even more than that, it creates mob mentality. If one review site says the game sucks because of its ending, then everybody and their mother will follow suit.
@@Lakross101 That shit annoys me. Since when on earth is the quality of a game determined by its length? RE2 is one of the most praised games out there and it's barely that long of a game. I think FF7R has a very good middle ground, not long enough that it starts to feel like it overstays its welcome but its also not short.
tehtayziez that just seems to be a common mentality these days imo 🤷🏼♂️ everyone likes to draw lines in the sand so to speak
HELL YEAH, SPOILER FREE REVIEW.
I'm waiting for the full theories and speculation video for the next installment.
There are so much! I hope he goes over all of them in one video.
@@albelvalentine8983 The question is, how will he fit all 5+ hours into one video? Because even then, I will watch all 5+ hours about his thoughts, speculation, and theories with the chat.
It worth indeed.
NeroAngelo1990 YES, gimme!
He goes into that after he completes it on Twitch
I love everything about it except for the fact that there's long parts where you just walk with nothing for you to pick up. Not chest, no item bags, nothing for you to interact with. Just random debris and occasional boxes that you can slash. If those long walking parts at least had that then it'll be more exciting and rewarding for you as a player to go through. I explored every nook and cranny only to be disappointed to not find an item or secret. Give us incentives for us to explore in part 2.
I agree let me fight. I don't like walking cut scene fight walk walk walk cut scene fight..I love it just need more in that aspect
Midgar felt dead for me.
The long walking is definitely because of loading assets in the background, it's entirely because of the hardware holding it back. Next gen would fix this for sure.
Yeah...sometimes is way too much
The same here, I like explore and unknoe adventure, but yeah, they need give more fight on the normal map and road.
I finished the game last night. I am blown away. Such a rollercoaster of a game and I loved it. As a huge fan of FFVII this is what I needed. I want to shake everyones hand who worked on it and say thank you. Yes there are parts of the game that are not perfect but I still enjoyed all of it and just wanted to keep playing. I am excited, so so excited to see how the rest of it turns out. I'm gonna try out hard mode and get some things I may have missed. I neglected my steal materia when stealing in the original was a big deal for awesome items I kinda forgot all about it. Now I'm kicking myself! But I'm gonna enjoy replaying it anyway. I look forward to a spoliery review and speculation video!
Same just beat it last night this game blew me away this is my personal Game of the year shout out to all the devs that worked on this they did a amazing job
This was an experience for me. Some of the side quests felt like chores to me, but even then I enjoyed doing those chores because I helped paint a broader picture of the people in these slums. We found those cats in the beginning of the game for the little girl (name escaping me) and then we see her with Aerith when the sector is evacuating. I made that connection when I completed that side job. Everything about this blew me away and I’m not speaking from a nostalgia POV. I was exceptionally critical of the episodic approach and having experienced part 1, I’m so glad they’ve done it this way personally speaking
To me hard mode feels like the “original balance” of the combat system. By taking away item usage, mp is an insanely valuable resource and actually made me use abilities that I seldom used in normal mode (barret’s steelskin as an example). The battles become WAY more meticulous and punishing in a way to force players to learn patterns and efficiently dance between attack and defense. This combat system is truly a breakthrough in making a hybrid turn base/action rpg. Truly genius
Andy Kim totally agree.
I also totally agree, Hard mode is so much fun! I just beat hell house after like 8 attempts haha, but it gives me that satisfaction that only Souls games or Bloodborne/ Sekiro can give you. It is so good!
Yeah, and Prayer becomes an extremely valuable materia to get maxed ASAP. I completely neglected it on my Normal playthrough.
Totally agree. When I slept on Cloud's bed and woke up and got the message saying that HP is complete filled, I was like "What about my MP?" and quickly realized that MP does not fully replenish and there's no way to instantly replenish MP coz you can't use items. I have been constantly using Cure to heal and Ether my way to victory, but in Hard Mode I was forced to use Pray and Chakra, and only use Cure in very crucial situations or if I know the chapter's about to end.
@@Slash8675 The first time I tried to beat Hell House on Hard Mode I probably took more than 10 tries (at one point I almost rage quit when those Cutter and Sweeper machines all of a sudden came into play, damn those fucking machines) and probably an hour of theorycrafting to determine any possible way to beat that boss. The second time (since I need a second run through to take a different path), I was able to take him on 1 shot (also with the help of Bahamut) coz you know the patterns already.
FF7R's combat is one of the best combat systems I've ever experienced in a JRPG.
There's obvious issues, like the stagger bar or stagger state of a boss resetting after a phase transition, and the tracking for special moves being a little wonky, but nothing they can't iron out for part 2.
One of the main reasons I didnt minds the busy workish side quests in the game, the combat is generally fun and engaging.
The tracking for special moves is not wonky, in my opinion. In fact, it is better than I thought. The fact Barret switches between targets when they die during attacks like Overcharge and Maximum Fury is incredible. Same for spells cast in Aerith's Arcane Ward: if your primary target dies in the first cast, the next cast will target the nearest enemy. It is quite impressive.
@@BingBangPoe Ranged tracking is good, but when you prep a Braver and your opponent steps 5 feet to the left it completely whiffs because they don't even try to change course at any point.
After having 100% the game a couple days ago I can say with confidence that this combat looked absolutely stupid to me at first, the demo made me in to a true believer and now I can’t imagine a game that doesn’t make use of at least some of these elements. Some issues did arise for me though. I think that the default settings are awful and they need to direct the player to those settings in some way if they stay the same. For instance the camera is too close which makes visibility atrocious but a simple trip to the settings lets you fix it making you wonder why it was ever set to zero by default. The lock on breaks your neck when enemies move around and removes control of the camera but there’s a setting that gives the control while locked on back. The other major issue is addressed my max. Air enemies are not fun. The characters have limited air attacks (Barrett has none) and they must fall all the way back down after each combo to start again. The intended counter is air magic which has a delayed activation so the enemies often just move away wasting atb and mana. The air combat also cause the camera to hit the ceiling of indoor sections which is.....not great. And lastly I fell like allies should generate atb when they land basic attacks just like when you control them directly. I understand that switching is the main focus of the combat but I think that the punishment for not switching is already steep enough. You get focused down, can get grappled, and are stuck on the defensive, but now you also have to deal with the fact that your party has no resources because it’s building slowly over time? That change alone would make a lot of the more stubborn and with all due respect “lesser skilled” players enjoy the combat more while not undermining the depth over all.
@@SH1NK1R01 I hope that in the subsequent episodes they fix the wonky camera and allow for even farther zoom. I still feel that the camera, even at 3, still is too damn close to the characters, which often leads you to getting hit by stuff offscreen.
Took me close to forty hours to beat it in a span of one week since I got it. It was fun while it lasted. The story kept me engaged while I played. For some reason this was parallel to the Yakuza franchise with the amount of weird and serious story beats. It's a fine balance and the remake found it. I missed the other items so I'll have to play it again for that platinum.
still have to beat it on hard mode bro you not done yet not to mention pride and joy
Yeah I felt the parallel it made the substories fall so much worse than Yakuza..
i don't want to be an ass here but there is a ton to the game you don't know. You got the main story to be sure but you missed out on the world building aspects. Learn the world building via the npcs takes considerable amount of time. Im just shy of 30hrs an i am only at chapter 8 close to 9.
@@densetsu4286 Ehhh, I dunno. Loved the game but my first playthrough was about 38 hours and I didn't really miss much. Have since platinumed it and gotten all extra scenes etc and it took me 63 hours.
this is how video games on powerful consoles should have been. a week of playing until you finish the game. unlike capcom making short ass games...
Max: "The fact that so many characters have so much different stuff to say. They have like 2 or 3 different things to say PER character, but they also change what they say as the story events happen. That's crazy to me."
Me as a Trails fan: ".... Dude"
They don't even know
I was going to say, “Huh, that sounds like Trails from the Sky,” when Max said that. I haven’t even played a Trails game, but I know that’s one of the great features that the series showcases. I might have to check out a Trails games while I wait for FFVIIR to release on Xbox One. XD
I know right? Trails is on another level and Final Fantasy is catching up with that stuff. Currently on Zero no Kiseki and there's so much character moments in the first few hours!
@@DiscoCokkroach Ideally you'd start with Trails in the Sky, but the gameplay and buildup for it is rather slow (it has my favourite characters though). Otherwise, Cold Steel is a good entry point. Unfortunately the Crossbell games haven't been fully localised, but there are decent fan-translations available. I still wouldn't recommend starting with Crossbell though.
@Andrew Hom Even town NPCs have their own small story arcs. It's impressive to say the least.
I have friends that will not shut up about Cold Steel. Lol
There will never be a perfect game EVER, thats impossible, what is important is that you enjoy the game, not nit pick it to the ground based on other types of games like souls and things like that, from software level design is something that characterizes the franchise, FF is based on story and characters, 2 different genres in a sense, I can't imagine they creating souls level design in a way that would remain loyal to the story telling, keep in mind that Midgard was a linear section of the game, hell, pretty much all Final fantasies are linear. People need to understand that when it comes to game design, you need to invest time and work in specific elements of the game, you cannot do everything in just one thing, its like balancing a diet, you cannot get all nutrients in a meal if you wanna see it that way
"ENDING WAS BAD SO GAME IS TRASH"
So the bombing run, Jessie chapter, combat, music, maybe not level design but art, expanded content, direction of characters and scenes... all TRASH? Ok sure.
You don't have to like every decision a director or team makes but did they put love into the game? OBVIOUSLY YES.
That’s what I was gonna say,the things that would be nitpicked so to speak are not really a issue 90-95% of this game is done amazingly well his review is really good but coming at it like this game isn’t perfect is kinda silly to me nothing is but there is not one glaring issue with this game it’s ok to say this game is blowing my mind and I love it and not be a “fanboy” everybody that has played alllll say this game is fun as shit one of the funniest game they played this year the combat the sound the characters the story being driven thru the characters is all done damn near perfect honestly I wouldn’t change a single thing I can’t wait for the next parts cause this could be a lord of the rings type situation improve on the game very minimally across all the parts coming out so by the end we’ll have a game that literally gets better as you play
I'd also see the levels were also carried by the whole "is that a materia over htere?" or "is that a chest with a weapon? I need that."
There was never a time in this remake that I wasn't smiling like an idiot while playing. It captured everything I loved about the original FFVII and then some. And the music was stellar as expected, gonna be listening to it for a long time. Now time for hard mode.
And then it shits on the story at the end
Only legit problem I had was that sidequest where the sleep status is introduced. Genuinely frustrating.
Everything else i really enjoyed what they have done with it
Dmen05 I disagree this is an amazing 1000 iq choice by square I didn’t think they could find a way to make me feel the need to want to play this game more and experience the story cuz I already know the original but now things could play out differently and that was such a pleasant surprise
I loved everything but the stupid dancing scene at the Honeybee Inn.
I like that they changed it to a cabaret, but Cloud dancing along with little objection and no prep really pulled me out of the story.
Tanner Montgomery the ending was a fucking mess. There is a reason FFVII is one of the best games ever and they’re jizzing their kingdom hearts happy-clappy bullshit all over it.
I’m taking my sweet time with it. I’m on Chapter 12 and it’s been such a great ride that I don’t want to end. I love the fact that it’s “the first time” I get to replay FFVII again. I give it a a perfect 10.
you get 3 first times!
I’ve never played the original FF7. Only the remake. Felt the same way - an excellent game overall and I am hyped to see where they take the next couple games
Destiny just got the middle finger and I am loving where that will take things!
I finished the game last night and I will say, one of my favorite things about the remake is the world building they did in this game. Midgar actually feels like a massive city now. Shinra feels like an actually omnipresent oppressive company. The world feels like a place that people live in now.
I love how they developed the members of avalanche. Makes you care about them..... before, you know.... lo,
Right! In the original I don’t think I spent to much time with them to really get emotionally invested, but in the Remake, when IT happens, I was wrecked 😂
It doesn't happen though, so its impact is unfortunately a bit neutered.
Even if you didn't like the game, you can't lie that you weren't bopping your head to the music every moment you can
The music is not as good as in the original,and as a big music fan/listener,the recording and instrumentation,for me,feels extremely thin and flat
One Winged Angel Remake sounded like Dark Souls Boss Music which isn't bad, it's great
One winged angel was overplayed to hell, ruined it for me. Literally the first track you hear ffs.
Sector 5 theme was probably my favorite
Well, can't say I know how yall are feeling since I never played the original. The remake of the music just matches with my taste in music.
I am 10+ hours in. Totally feel the same way. 7R is like a dream, and you have to pinch yourself wondering if it's real. And it is, it's right there. I love the journey, character & world building. It is a marvel, to just hear what's on their minds, or what brought to this point. And Cloud just plays it cool. It keeps you going, motivated, to explore what's ahead, sometimes challenging, but still fun.
I had to take a break to gather my thoughts, because you are right there are moments that digs deep into your soul. I think it's fantastic, and love this so much.
The memories of the original FF7 are there, but Remake excels on so many levels as to what was limited, and now it's gone beyond that. I am going to keep going.
New game + sweet jenova!!! 🤣
@Cameron Pangborn I feel the same as that guy and I platinumed it lmao.
To me I say that this game addresses the problem I had with the original game which is the characters. Once the plot was done with certain characters they walked off a cliff and some of their resolutions felt very unsatisfying to me like Red XIII it felt like his entire arc started and ended on the first visit to Cosmo Canyon. If the characterization keeps what this game did and improve it in the next episode I think I can finally bury my hatchet with the original game.
God if the Seto scene still happens in the remake I'm gonna die from crying. That scene hurts more for me than Aerith dying
Characters like Yuffie and Vincent were meant to be main party members but due to time constraints became optional. I think now with the games being stretched out they will have a lot more time to give everyone much needed development. And the best part is we get to see the entire party interact with each other.
@@SevenBlades with Wutai being such a huge factor I think Yuffie is gonna be WAY more important to the overall story. And Vincent's story might be explained alongside the main story, getting that history and dark side of Shinra.
@@Lakross101 Vincent is actually one of the most important characters in the original. Because the connection he has with Hojo, Lukretia, Sepiroth and the Turks
Just got this game for PS+. Never played the original or any FF game for that matter but its insane how much I fell in love by the end. The combat starts off fun but kind of simple, just spam attack button and shoot some spells sometimes. But by the end of the game it gets so intense as you’re constantly switching between characters to chain together different moves and use different strategies to take down enemies. The last 10 or so hours of this game are just pure insanity from both a gameplay and a story perspective and its incredible. I loved the story and the characters. In the first mission I thought Barret was annoying and weird but at the end when he turned around before he went into the portal I was smiling and my heart was swelling. Its the perfect combination of fun, badass, serious, heartfelt, and campy.
As someone who played the original in 1997, it’s so weird there’s now a lot of new people who played the remake first - and don’t know the full story, and get to know these characters for the first time.....cool you liked it 😜👍🏻
THE MUSIC! YES!! Not gonna lie there were some segments I just took as slow as possible because I didn't want the music to end XD
"One of the biggest emotional ties to FF7 is actually it's music"
I mean it checks out if you saw his Cloud smash bros reveal
Still one of the most passionate "Fuck you!" from Max in that reveal lol
Because of this comment, I went straight to watch that video again. No matter how many times I watch it, it always makes me smile because I remember how shocked I was when I was told Cloud is gonna be in Smash Bros before I even saw the news on the internet. It was also the video (besides the Mega Man reaction) that made me subscribe to Max Dood in the first place.
thinking about it, Square just needs to improve on the issues and if they can, improve on the better aspects for part 2 and the next chapter will be even more awesome.
I think a lot of issue now are not technical problem, like camera and texture quality, especially the texture issue it depends on hardware spec, like no.5 slum, The Aerith house garden just too much polygam and texture face for the ps4 to show high quality I think.
And the camera just need more time to fix and test, they cannot did that on time before the sale date I think.
It's too obvious to un-recognize that issue.
Given how much work they put into cleaning up FFXV, I'm hopeful that not only will they make improvements in future entries, but that those improvements are also rolled into this first entry. There are some pretty big improvements they can make to this game that would only require fairly minor fixes and changes.
Those "issues" are relatively minor tbh, sure it can be improved more for the next installments, but honestly they weren't really an issue.
@@Cosmoman78 Exactly. I don't know wtf people are complaining about like these "issues" are the end of the world. It's an RPG, and every RPG has lower quality textures when compared to other games, simply because the games are so much bigger and current gen hardware can't handle it. It's always been like that. Anyone who plays RPGs knows that. Main characters, and main locations look as good (if not better) than any other AAA game out there, but the rest looks worse because of hardware limitations. It's simple as that.
That's why I agreed on this multi-part series, devs can see the mistakes and then improve. Imagine if they made the whole story. FF7R as we know will be in development hell and we will probably only see it in another 5-10 years lol. And when it came out , there were no room for feedbacks.
Character development is so important. Just look at a fun action movie like Predator and how nothing came close to it in its day - because of great characters. Back to the Future, all driven by great characters. Aliens... characters (some cool FX of course). Now they only had the length of a movie to development them, but still.
It's why the Uncharted games are ao much more popular than the three newer mainline Tomb Raider games. People don't come back to the Uncharted games for its gameplay, but for its characters. That's why Naughty Dog could get away with Uncharted 1-4 having relatively minor gameplay changes. You could argue that the Tomb Raider games have more gameplay depth, but most of the characters in the new TR trilogy are just flat, and the games take themselves way too seriously. Uncharted games are self aware. Characters point out how absurd the situations they're in are, and it shows their personalities, and so players come back to every new entry to see more of those personalities.
Taka Baruna This is definitely true and it’s why I was so disappointed with the newer Tomb Raider games because the characters felt so flat.
Damn Max, I've been following your playthrough here on youtube, while being just a few chapters ahead of each video release. But I love seeing you play through it and share your pure awe and excitement. As a first time player that makes me that much more excited too and somehow feel that magic of this universe as well. I was afraid when I saw your review you would be a bit biased as an uber-fanboy to not criticize this game for its obvious faults. But it's really cool you're being absolutely fair and real about it.
As a game designer myself these shortcomings are on the nose, and I guarantee SE knows about these as well. Every designer does, but the budget and money only go so far. The question remains why they did leave in some of the more atrocious stuff in regards to sidequests and not invest in a different part. Scrap some of that stuff and replace it by a single AMAZING sidestory at each location or some more involved minigames. Because the minigames acted as the diversions they probably wanted, but also as amazing worldbuilding, like the gym, box whacking and arena fights. That would've worked way better.
In regards to some of the horrible texture stuff, I'm sure this will get patched out (along with probably some additional features like photo mode) and it's only due to the nasty COVID situation that it hasn't happened yet. The game definitely has it's faults, but you're right; my god that music, those characters, the setting - some of the sewer stuff was a slog, but it's the other factors that pulled you through with ease. This game is one of the few that I would actually call cinematic too. I'm definitely on board this train, excited to see where it goes. Again, good work on this review Max!
I absolutely loved this game. My nostalgia factor goes nuts when I see the nods to the original. I agree with Max that some things it does felt unnecessary. However, the things it does right...IT DOES RIGHT. This game reminded me of what Final Fantasy used to be all about. I had forgotten as I haven't felt this way really since Final Fantasy X. This game got me so interested on how other people view things. I catch myself watching reactions vids on certain scenes. Theories on whats to come. I haven't been this invested in a story since the last of us. I loved the new characters which I thought I would hate. Love characters like Madam M with her very short temper. Even Johnny who reminded me of Quagmire when it came to Tifa. But can't blame him because well its freaking Tifa. Almost done getting platinum. Just a few more chapters on hard mode. But Loved the review max, and I'm just happy that I lived long enough to see that this exists.
I feel exactly the same as you. Not since Final Fantasy X have I felt the gameplay has been fully polished. Of course, it has a few minor issues, every game does.
This is the game I have the most fun with since God of war. What a ride. Ima triple dip this on ps5 and pc
BankZa I don’t think you will need to rebuy for PS5 I reckon this will be one of the cross platform games ^^
Same. I can't stop playing this game
You might like Jedi Fallen Order then! (Another one I really loved.)
Yeah, waiting for PC release for mods and sweet 144fps :)
PS5 can play PS4 games so there's no need to get PS5 version
Been dying for your review. This was my first final fantasy game I've played and I platinum'd it last night. My first time platinuming a video game ever. I loved it so much I just started the original today.
Dylan K if you never played the original, I warn you that you should be prepared to the 90’s graphics (at the time those graphics were the best ever seen).
Asside that, I hope You enjoy it because its amazing
The original.... welcome... to amazing.
Play the original,then 9,then 6,then play whatever you want
@@bernardocarneiro1982 FF VI has one of the best stories in FF series IMO
Magnificent Waltz agreed,FFVI is awesome
Hard mode makes you REALLY appreciate the combat more and becomes way more fun imo because you HAVE to be tactical and you cant get away with mindless button mashing and healing if you take too much damage, it makes you strategize and actually engage with the battle mechanics of each boss,or else you're dead and I learned much more about the combat that I didn't before when I played on normal and I wish hard mode was there from the beginning and they instead added like a hardcore version after you complete the game where you cant even recover HP on benches and from completing quests and cant heal outside of battles or whatever idk im not a game designer
haven't played hard mode yet. did they remove the pausing system when you're in combat?
I thought benches were the only thing you can recover HP on but you can't use items. I haven't tried it yet since I just got done beating the game on normal.
@@Shatter149 What like when you go into the commands menu? If so then no I think that would be pain lol
@@KaranaiaPlaysGames oh bummer. that would be a perfect challenge for hardcore fans.
100% agree with the difficulty. The fight with Roche was super cool and engaging from a mechanics standpoint that I was hugely wanting for it to last long. But story-wise it still kinda makes sense because he was not injured at all after the fight.
But the fact that this game made me excited for boss fights in 2021 is a huge testament to the quality of this RPG. I never played the original at all and this is already my favorite final fantasy game.
"THANK GOD THERE'S A NEW GAME PLUS!"
Best spoiler I ever heard. This brings me great happiness!
Went in expecting max to talk about his love for ff7 og and how he enjoyed this remake. Got that and him praising yakuza, one of my fav franchises so I'm happy.
Even if the ending is different and the next installment might be going in a new direction, I’m in. This game convinced me that even if it’s not the same story, as long as these characters are here I’m here for it.
I think what this game did best was lay the ground work for why we should be excited the next game will be new and different. I love the arbiters of fate because they gave me as a fan an in universe reason to be ok with any changes made to the story.
It can't go too differently but I am really interested to see what direction they do go since they seem to be showing a completely different timeline and Aerith seems to know what's going on this time.
As long as they bring Jessie back. I'm on board
why is ppl even upset about the end direction this game is going? i feel like if u alrdy know what is going to happen that it's gonna be boring af.
@@anirudhamalraj7836 you see her gove on the tabel at the end i think she makes it
This game is now my second favorite game of all time! I think part 2 will definately surpass it though because it’s not midgar anymore and it will be more open. Also they can fix air combat and take in more feedback.
Is your no.1 Xenogears!? Great icon
I loved Xenogears
You expect it to be more open? I wouldn't be so sure. I'm sure it will push you from lineal carved path through lineal carved path that cuts through various towns, caves and whatnot.
Once you are finally able to captain the highwind you're going to have a Final Fantasy 10 type situation where you choose the town you want to go to from a list. Basically no different from the chapter selection screen that you get at the end of the first installment.
The game is barely a final fantasy or an RPG anymore. It's an action fantasy.
@@jamesmiller5331 going over every comment that praises the game to say that it sucks and that sephiroth shows up too many times(???) makes you look really pathetic and look like an absolute crybaby
@@jamesmiller5331 you must be the absolute authority who decides whats final fantasy and whats not
I thought it was Square Enix all along
@@jamesmiller5331 this guy must be from the future, he's basically referring a different entry of FF into this modern times where PS5 can absolutely expand more game design philosophy of creating open zones or open worlds and the fact that it's not coming to PS4 or older gens anymore gives an idea as to what to expect in FFVII Rebirth considering the devs have responded it's going to more open zones this time. "The game is barely a final fantasy or an RPG anymore. It's an action fantasy." tell me dude what's define a RPG or JRPG? is it just about being turn-based? you must be some purist who can't move on about the past even devs from those older games of FF had interview the sole reason how it was turn-based before because of due to technical limitation where hardware isn't enough to push their decision back in the day. Final Fantasy isn't some kind of sacrilege where it's mandatory to follow their old tradition formulas where you personally knew already they've always been heading towards into more evolution than simply following into their old traditional combat system, might as well stick the Dragon Quest series considering how DQXII will be an action game by now.
I know that there was a complaint of those “walking simulator” moments in FF7 but honestly it was great inclusion because it just helped to spend more time for character development. It’s like a slice of life approach, and I can’t see a way were you can bond with the character without having a few of those moments.
Some people just like to complain for the sake of complaining. Those guys are average gamers who can't appreciate gaming in general honestly.
This game didn't need to start on the highest of highs imo.
Having somewhere to go, while still being a great game, is the best thing a first entry can do.
The Gheist agreed. This was a great start.
I disagree there was so much hype surrounding this game square knew they had to deliver on part 1 can you imagine the amount of pressure they must have been under? People have been waiting a long time for this game this is no time to half ass it go big or go home. And thankfully they delivered and their hard work definitely payed off in the end.
@@Ronin-kk4bt I agree. Plus, we're talking about a big company here (resources-wise). I did not hop on the hype train when they announced FF7R, because let's be honest: FF installments have not been the same since FFX (and I don't like FFX). I was expecting them to mess this one up big time, especially when they announced that it would be episodic. Yet the moment they released the intro cinematic, it was impossible not to beg for more. They sure raised the bar tremendously high for the next parts, but if someone could deliver it had to be SE and they couldn't aim any lower.
@@Ronin-kk4bt they sure did a great job.
As someone who wasn’t old enough to have played the og game when it came out, I have to say thank you, Max! I feel like because of you, I was able to get extremely hyped for this game. I definitely can’t say I understand how people from the og release feel, but man as a newcomer, I think this was as excited as I could get! I’m glad you love it too!
After playing this one, play the original. Its super fun!!!
@@Tiago_C I'm about doing this when I finished VIIR on hard mode lol something just doesn't feel right to just end the game when we leave Midgar
Magnificent Waltz yes we’ll have to wait for part2 to come out.
Its amazing to play the original, but god I wish I never played FF7 before so I could first time experiencing it onde again
@@Tiago_C same here.... those grind for master materia, breeding gold chocobo for knights of the round, ruby and emerald weapons.... it was so exciting
T C and @Magnificent Waltz I definitely plan on checking the OG game out after finishing hard mode as well! I’m so excited! I just can’t wait for part 2, I need to experience the rest!
The Yakuza comparison is a great one because it totally feels like that in the world
That or Sleeping Dogs
Truindividual90 That’s GTA
*"Why you should play Yakuza"*
Freelancing works well with gangster themes. As a merc, you'd do well in that type of game style alone, but on top of the story just made it better
True. One of the things that makes Yakuza great is exactly that.
Dude I said that 95% if this game followed the original storyline. I love it. The other 5% was the ending that threw me off but I love this game man. I'm so happy for part two and three. Like I said, this game is beast all day. This is the best modren FF game made so far.
True. Can't wait for part2 and 3
I think for me personally, that 5% only felt so terrifying because the whole game was so good but it was now uncharted territory.
After some time and thought though I'm way more excited than I am nervous about the future parts, not having everything set in stone.
By far the best modern ff game in while
tehtayziez im really nervous...why couldn’t they stick to the original storyline it was perfect!! 😞
DB experience it yourself fellow friend! dont take the hype/heat over this ending to heart - have a fun 80+ hours (:
Fair review, my dude. I personally loved the whole game and never really felt it had any lows, and I really like the story changes, but that’s me. I agree the narrative in this was excellent, especially the characters and their interactions. I felt more emotions this time around than with the original. I would actually rate this remake higher than the original, and that’s saying something.
I think I agree with literally everything you said. 10/10 for me personally, 9/10 if I had to put on a critic hat. The highs are absolutely awe inspiring and there are a ton of them. I could scoop dog poop between those moments and the game would still be essential.
"My quick spoiler-free review"
24:58
I can't wait for the spoiler version
FF7 original was such a mind blowing game when it was released, and over 2 decades later I’m glad with modern gaming advancements it brings justice to the way we envisioned it back then. 10/10 personal score as well
When FF7 came out, I was only 2 years old. In 2000, my family has the first television. In 2003, we have first CD player. In 2007, my dad bought me the first computer, there, is the first time I know about something call video games. So I have no special feeling or nostalgia about this game at all. The first thing I know about FF is from a CD a bought, a CD with Advent Children movie, a low quality CD, and all they said is Japanese which I don't understand anything. But I swear until that point, in my life I haven't ever seen something beautiful like that. In my country we watched a lot of Kung Fu and Wuxia movies but what I saw that day is most amazing fight scenes I have ever seen. And I watched that movie everyday of that week. It's so beautiful that after about 30 mins, I just realize this is CGI (I didn't know what CGI is back then, I thought they all humans, actors,...). I'm absolutely in love with all those characters despite know anything about them. FF7 remake and Max made me live again in those childhood moments. For me the game nailed it in every way a RPG should be. And I love every moments watching Max plays. He's like the ambassador of this game. I hope I will have PS4 and this game soon. Can't wait to watch Max's plays when part 2 come out.
What a cool story bro , I loved your comment, enjoy and have a lot of fun , I had a great time with the original ff7 and the remake which I have just finished 1hour ago.
FF7 and RE2 are the standout games for me this generation. And the fact these are two games I remember fondly growing up just makes that even better!
let me just say that the “cloud dood” art in the thumbnail is AMAZING
for me the biggest downside I saw to the remake was midgar not being fully explorable. before this games release, I assumed since ff7 was just entirely midgar that they were gonna have cloud be able to travel through sectors 1-7 top and bottom, and the train was gonna be the main aspect of transportation. instead you can only go to sectors 5,6, and 7, and although they give me plenty of locations to explore in these areas, it would've been cool to explore all of midgar.
That'd be really cool, but as it is right now the game is already around 100GB and/or has 2 disks, imagine the bytes if all of Midgar is explorable lol.
Yep that's my major downside aswell. Like when they announced the first part being midgar I didn't mind as long as I can explore more of midgar. But that wasn't the case.
Like you can only go to the upper plate probably 3 times in the entire game and even then they were short lived. I still loved the game but they couldve easily removed some parts like the midgar lamp mission with a new sector to explore.
I think they could have perhaps done more with the Sector 7 Plate (it would have been fun to revisit, maybe see Roche again, and the suburb type area was mostly unused), but it's unreasonable to expect the entire city to be explorable. I mean it took half a decade for them to design and implement just what is available here. There are simply practical limitations here.
Guys lets juzt agree that remake is disc 1 until sephiroth got impatient and used his black materia early which happened when he absorbed all the whispers he just became god
That's a tricky expectation. I didn't think we would even SEE the upper plates aside from the reactor bombings and Shinra HQ. So I was pleasantly surprised.
Great, amazing game. However, that ending will never not be controversial. And whether the remake succeeds or fails depends on how they handle the story elements in the following games. Hopefully they are able to keep the same general spirit because many major crucial aspects have been completely changed this remake. I honestly miss the horror feel of the Jenova/Shinra-President segment the most.
joedatius controversy is just free advertisement for them
@AJ it's not even the true ending how do you know it shit?
@@joedatius agreed, not to mention it's just sephiroth messing around with black materia nothing change anything on storyline at all
Well it clearly not over
@AJ Because you have expectations. The developers are trying to tell the ORIGINAL story which involves *redacted* dying instead of *redacted* . Remake was made to set up for the storyline to be different than the original, since you bitchy purist fans won't accept the changes anyway
So I haven’t beaten it yet but so far: it’s absolutely incredible. The characters were already great, but they found a way to make them better.
I beat it in 53 hours, almost exactly the same time as you. I did every side quest, got all the weapons, was an absolute blast.
I finished the original FFVII 3 or 4 times, and how they managed character development in the remake actually made me care about Biggs, Wedge & Jessie for the very first time ever.
You didnt care before?
@@jorgelugo9473 not that much, it was executed in a way where it wasn’t really clear they died, it didn’t feel like I had known them enough to really feel for them. It was a sad moment but I didn’t feel a connection with them as I did in remake (also, I was 11 when first played the game)
Honestly, this game's level design (like most games of this scale) is held back the HDD hardware. PS5's SSD will change that; like no longer the need for long corridors to hide loading. I think that that's the benefit of this series being multi-part.
Kingdom hearts has F-teir level design as well if that's any indication
It should be obvious that they aren't going to make the future games exclusive to the next gen. Square Enix has even stated outright that they're going to be continuing to develop primarily for the PS4 going forward because the PS5 is backwards compatible.
@@SuzakuX That... doesn't make any sense. Can I get a source on that?
@@skorpeion1509 the source is - out of his ass. It should be obvious. :)
@@removezoul jesus christ, they just said it last month. You dont know what the phuck you are talking about.
Right about where I landed as well, 8.5
The combat is the best they've done since like ff10 for me, which may seem like an odd comparison but the way you can swap characters on a dime is to me, the core of a party-based rpg like this.
And the overall idea of an action-oriented game that let's you go into slowmo at will to analyze the situation, react to attacks more easily, or even just to appreciate how cool everything looks is perfect. Can't wait to see how they do other large monsters/weapons/etc. So much potential there.
But holy hell are right about the camera/air combat. If I had been a play tester I would've told them to just straight-up delete drakes from the game. Or at the very least make aero a guaranteed hit so you end those fights faster
Just feels like Lightning Returns, FFXV and FF Agito, or an evolution on those. Which is cool, because they're learning and getting better. Kinda like how the Sphere grid was so good, that they keep trying to implement it in everything somehow
I think maybe if air combos were longer, the air combat wouldn't be such a hassle. Like if Cloud and Tifa made more of an effort to reach their enemy and stay on them while airborne, that might solve a lot of it. Also, Blizzard magic was awesome when it worked but a lot of the time enemies just move out of the way after the initial hit.
FF 12 have great combat. I dont know why people dont like the gambit system. Some version of gambit will benefit this game combat as well.
@@blackwidow7804 I totally agree, you don't need to remove anything from combat system the way it is now, just add the gambit system and we would have even more control over the whole team.
@@blackwidow7804 I never finished 12 simply because the rest of the game didnt grab me but the battle system was not the problem. Im generally fine with the ai as it is with a few exceptions, like aerith refusing to stay near her arcane ward/running into melee range for no reason
I never knew Midgar even had daytime tbh. In the original a lot of it is shown in darkness.
Cause they were not thinking of that
It didnt originally. "This city don't have no day or night." The only places we ever see light shining through to are Aeriths house and the church. They probably changed that to make chapters less visually samey.
@@KarasuVII Damn good memory, I always just figured that sunlight was so rare due to them LIVING UNDER A GODDAMN CITY ON A PLATE ABOVE THEM... This remake is ... ugh!
@@ranma36 hence the sunlamps
Yeah when cloud woke up and it was daytime outside I was surprised
I was first introduced to Final Fantasy when i played FF Crisis Core and Tactics on PSP. Never had the chance to play FF7, i bought it digitally so i'm going to play the heck out of it.
The NPCs in FFVIIR finally having different lines of dialogue and new stuff to say as the story moves along as you talk to them is actually something Dragon Quest is known for. It's kinda funny but so ridiculously welcomed that Final Fantasy FINALLY got onboard with doing the same since that's what always made Dragon Quest games (and Lunar 1 & 2 as other examples from back in the day) feel so lived in and added wider lived in world building that felt so endearing to spend time talking to all of them.
I hope you’ve leveled up your prayer materia Max. You’re gonna want it for hard mode. Also Enemy skill Spirit Syphon+ HP Absorb is your friend.
Chakra as well, I had to use to get past Scorpion since items are never useable. (Seriously, like not even in town?? I understand mid battle or dungeon but CMON)
I personally haven’t used Chakra even though I should. I need to grind the AP for them now that I can and get used to using them.
I’m waiting to see how they're gonna adapt the scene where Cloud jumps on top of Aerith and beats the shit out of her like he's an MMA fighter
He did that in the original?? Cause I don't remember it if he did. When was it?
@@applejuicejunkie316 after cloud give black materia to sephiroth
@@applejuicejunkie316 yh I don't recall that at all. I just typed in UA-cam cloud beats aerith and immediately found it lol.
This definitely won't be in the remake lol.
Yeah,the scene where Cloud spat on Tifa and told her to "be quiet,you dirty woman" was pivotal for his character development,hope they show that in future installments
i sure theyll have an excuse to shy away from this like how barret no longer beats the shit out of the shinra employee on the train like in the original
"Advent Children, Crisis Core... DiRgE oF cErBeRuS."
lol
lmao
Woof wowowowoof
@@zackperkins6107 Bonus woof. :3
all but the original are just Nomura wanking over the game without knowing what the game was
I was really extremely relieved when playing. I was holding my breath with this game. But damn it is actually so good. Now my worry is them pulling this quality of game off for 2 more games, and not having to wait 30 years for them to come out.
The “your ass is good” scene adds more meaning to why his name is Wedge
God. I wish crisis core had this modern look.
It wouldn't surprise me if that madman Nomura does a remake for that eventually.
Yes,they should definitely remake Crisis Core. And take the opportunity to take Genesis out of the game,somehow
I think it holds up pretty well for a psp game, both graphically and as a game. Of course, if you put side to side with the remake, it will look dated.
With how well the game is selling, FF7 compilations likely will be made into DLCs.
big gummy naw this games gameplay is so much better than Crisis cores
Max, I hope only you get the chance to read this.
I have played OG FF7 alittle late, 2018 PS4 port, I had a blast... I'm from the Nintendo Legend of Zelda OoT universe before being introduced to PlayStation, and anything final fantasy related.
My first FF game was 15... as much as people feel it's a mediocre disappointment, I had some of the coolest memories in some of the things I've experienced in that game.
Then I play ff7, great game, great story... didn't think I would dig the gameplay either.
What helps is how you talk alot about your love for video games, fighting games and ff games. It got me interested more.
I am more than 50 hours in... I'm on the last couple of chapters... according to your playthrough in which I watch one twitch after I go through it myself first...I just enjoy your reaction to a game I am having a very rare experience in.
You get this a ton.. but you as a person are inspirational, and a dude I wish I knew personally as a friend.
It's just so fun seeing you chill with your friends on your videos and it's nice to imagine myself doing the same with you guys.
I know you appreciate everything and everyone, and it is for that I trust you as a content creator and appreciate you too
Hearing some of the things you say, and I don't always have to agree to.... *ahem* RESIDENT EVIL 6 is a great game!!! *ahem*.... I have nothing but respect to you.
Knew you since your Killer Instinct reaction lolll, subscribed and been watching you since. good times.
From the bottom of my heart
Thank you dude
Gay
That is insanely wholesome dude. Ignore this douche above me, it never hurts to let creators know how much you appreciate them and even how it impacts you. There are times people just feel really down or have a rough day, and just that alone is enough pick them up when they may need it.
@@RokushoTheRavager I'm too busy man, I didn't notice the douche at all lol
Thank you though dude, I couldn't agree more.
It's that positivity we need to spread now especially more than ever
XxThePh4ntomxX, Hey I’m with you man, we definitely should be trying to spread as much positivity as possible, but I apologize, I’m not above telling someone off if they choose to be an insensitive dick for seemingly no justifiable reason.
_"Last Square Enix game that was really good."_
Dragon Quest XI.
My immediate reaction to that statement as well.
Yep agreed I personally enjoyed DQ11 more than FF7 Remake but thats mainly because overall I prefer the DQ franchise over FF
Nier Automata
Max did mention Nier at 2:15, but clarified that it was made by an outside company
@@charlesblack9959 not a square enix game. It was published by square enix, but developed by platinum games.
I always wanted to see a young Sephiroth, like when he started as a SOLDIER Cadet or something like that.
Well, you’re getting that in Ever Crisis 👀
I'm fine with the direction the game takes near the end, I just feel like we could have had about two, maybe three less boss fights at the end. Really felt like they were stretching it out.
thia game makes me feel I am in a dream visiting friends in the past.
The original _Final Fantasy VII_ was the reason I bought a Playstation back in 1997, and it was the game that changed my life.
The _Final Fantasy VII Remake_ was the reason I bought a Playstation 4 roughly a month ago, and again it changed my life. History repeats itself.
Like Max said, this game is a gigantic rollercoaster. It made me hype, it made me anxious, it made me laugh, it made me cry. There is so much heart put into this game in every little detail. You can really see the developers took real care with the source material and did their best to improve it; which in my opinion they suceed majestically. It is a masterpiece, and will definitely set a new bar for JRPGs in the future.
Characters have a lot of personality, and the motion capture made me raise eyebrows more than once due to the huge amount of expressivity the characters show. Voice acting in this game is top notch, whether you play with the japanese audio or the english audio. Every character, from the main cast to the support cast is memorable. This game is very character driven. It is a very "human" experience, where the dwell deeply into making the characters convey as much emotion as possible. Your comparison with the Marvel movies was spot on; the story might not be perfect, but the characters carry the story easily. The chemistry between characters in this game is off the charts. Feels so natural.
Music, like you said, was nailed so damn good. It is amazing how they made perfect use of leimotivs where one song references two others, bringing this sense of unity and connection that taps into your brain and gives you the feels. Both the arrangements of old themes as well full new original music hit the right spot and give a lot of immersion. The dynamic music in this game is simply jaw-dropping.
Combat feels engaging and flashy, yet there is a lot of strategy behind it with the whole stagger mechanic and ATB system, incorporating hack'n slash with classic JRPG moments. The amount of polish the combat system has is mesmerizing. It captures everything the original FFVII delivered, and pumps to eleven. The way they balanced and improved the Materia system is really amazing and adds tons of replayability.
The quality of life changes are fantastic, with stuff like saving anywhere, being able to retry lost battles from the go instead of being dragged to the title screen to reload saves, and the amazing chapter select. There is a lot of comodity that breaks the mold of what JRPGs have always been, and they are all welcome additions that enrichens the overall experience.
The story is solid and it is amazing how they managed to extend the roughly 7 hours you spend in Midgar in the original game into a plus 30 hours experience without feeling a drag or with filler. There is a lot of world building that was very much needed in the original game. The devs really tried to deliver a complete Final Fantasy experience instead of a half-baked episode with too many cliffhangers. They even added stuff that only appears much later in the original game as a way to give us a taste of what is in story.
I know the ending generated a lot of controversy, but I'm more than ready to embrace the changes. I highly doubt the developers will disregard and make any massive changes that undo the original story (you know what I'm talking about). I want to see where they will take us next in this "unknown adventure", and I feel that subsequent episodes will be delivered much faster in the future.
Yes, there is a lot of nostalgia that affected my judgement of this game, but even when I try to look at this game as something separate from the original game I can't help but to feel how much depth there is in this game, and how much they make you care for the cast. I didn't feel this with any other Final Fantasy since FFIX. While this game has its issues, it still is a masterpiece in my eyes, as a whole.
Your comparison with Yakuza is pretty much how I feel about this game. 70% of the time I was playing this game and getting strong Yakuza vibes all around. And it is awesome. Maybe the subsequent sequels can have a level design on par with the Souls game. Then the experience will be complete. Hehe.
I really liked your review, Max. A very genuine love letter from a fan, seeing beyond the lows and praising the highs. We think alike. I just finished my second playthrough, on Hard Mode, and I watched all the cutscenes again with the same enthusiasm as when I saw them for the first time. Just seeing characters interact in this game is worth the experience. It feels good, feels cozy, feels comforting. I don't know if you'll ever see this comment, but thank you for your review.
I did love this game, though the ending left me wanting more. I really enjoyed watching you play through this game, thank you for all you did for this game.
But I feel thats the point. Its not DONE! so we can keep looking forward to more stuff. Its just, getting that feeling after so many years of waiting already. So, the feeling is extra potent and sad.
I appreciate the sentiment. I really do, but I didn't do anything that really assisted FFVIIR. I've just been in the extremely fortunate situation to deliver to you guys the stories about my experiences with the original and this game pre-release. The fact that people listen is something I'll never take for granted.
@@Maximilian_Dood Your original reaction to the announcement of the game is one of my favourite reaction videos I've ever seen. I've been an avid viewer of your content ever since.
@@nathanmatlick5958 For sure, in the meantime I've been working on getting the Platinum Trophy. Hard Mode is refreshingly challenging!
@@Maximilian_Dood Your reaction video gave life and energy to the dev team. Could they have done it without that? Sure. But you still helped in your own way. That's big.
One thing that Woolie and Pat mentioned is that the quality of life upgrades to this game are amazing. The playtime stops ticking up if you leave the game idle for a minute or so, sidequests give you the option to fast travel straight back after completing them and characters outright tell you if the area are heading toward is hard progress or a side area to explore. Good job.
As a long-time fan of the original, the character development and interactions you undertake within the different environments really help in creating this more fully-realized world and experience. As a remake, it does so much in building on the original narrative (respectfully) and in fleshing out the characters and their personalities. I just loved learning so much more about characters I have grown up with. Amazing game.
Spending the time with max and seeing the core emotional reaction and just seeing him enjoy the living hell out of this game, is the reason im a gamer today. Overall, the game is amazing. Hope all you doods enjoyed it just as much as i did. SHINE ON!
I enjoyed the game so much, not even tired enough that I went on to beat hard mode... I just loved it.
@@kevinred9 it was awesome! I couldnt put it down! It felt like seeing everything again for the first time. An awesome feeling.
Yeah, the game just has this magical moments and watching max play it was truely a pleasure.
@@TheCheckthisshitout yes! 6 years led to this! Glad i saw it through!
@@cybernoble2034 Seeing how Max reacted to the Remake made me love the game even more. Really happy that Max enjoyed it!
This is wholesome review from a man who knows what he's doing, wow
Exactly there are to many trolls trashing it for no reason at all
I won’t spoil anything but I think it’s very telling that they carries certain concepts from Crisis Core over to this game. Out of all the alternate games and media that took place in the FF7 universe, Crisis Core added the most interesting and important lore and explanations to things and it was a really fun psp game. And based on what this game did it retroactively makes CC that much better.
I just love Tifa's voice, is like a smooth tone but raspy, and at the same time jouyful but sexy. Is perfect for her.
Music is incredible. I wish we could access the juke box in the main menu and listen to the audio tracks in high quality rather than in-game only via juke box in am-radio sounding... Unless you can access the audio tracks and I’ve missed something... LOL.
The music is God tier I loved every single track😂
So Max, where do I begin...I'm 38 years old, and this has been one of the most fun games I've ever played and as much as I enjoyed the original, I'm really loving this version so much. I've even let my 9 year old daughter play a few missions/chapters for me, to let her experience that joy that I got to as a kid
Via right?! It's like it ignited a dormant fire inside of you
"Can you walk?"
"Believe me, if I couldn't you'd be the first to know."
Now.... Onto the spoiler talk. *REDACTED* is *REDACTED* near the *REDACTED*. Remember when *REDACTED* did *REDACTED*?
Remember when the screen REDACTED like the REDACTED but it was just a REDACTED?
When *REDACTED* turned up after being *REDACTED* I was like whaaa? Oh and let's not forget *REDACTED*! That was *REDACTED*. Can't wait for the next one 😁
*THIS COMMENT WAS REDACTED DUE TO TOO MANY SPOILERS*
Final Fantasy VII Remake isn't a *REDACTED,* it's a *REDACTED* and I'm 100% on board.
Great! Thanks for spoiling the game guys! 😑😑😑
I know I'm crazy but I enjoyed EVERYTHING about this game. Yes. Even the fillers. Even the ending. Each and every character.
Same
Same 100 %
An Acc I think I think it’s more that the change is unnecessary. The fate people seem odd and unnecessary. I’m playing FF7 original first, and those fate things aren’t in the original. I don’t see why they would change that. I played the demo and didn’t like the combat, but I wasn’t a fan of turn based combat and I’m loving the original, so maybe through time I’ll like the new combat. I would say that fans getting angry about change is passion more than it is just hate. I hate the changes in the Resident Evil remakes, but it’s not because I hate change. I wanted some things to change, and was open to change, but the change was mostly terrible. Just remember that a lot of hate comes from passion.
@@ragingraccoon3964 you're absolutely right. I thoroughly enjoyed the remake up until the ending. Had nothing to do with not liking change, it had more to do with expecting a more fleshed out 7 all together. I'm not a huge fan of kingdom hearts and I have played all 3 of them, so that Nomura filled final chapter was scary and cringe af lol. Not to mention how all that dramatic impact of the remake gets washed away when the fates are like "nah, biggs is fine, so is barrett after being impaled, so is zack, so is...." sigh. It was just strange. Not to mention that if you're a newcomer to ff7 playing for the first time, the word remake fooled you just as it fooled me. I expected minor changes and deviations but not a whole new multiverse time travel extravaganza. Fighting sephiroth that soon was a huge mistake too, while cool to fanservice, newcomers have no idea what's going on at all, and OG's have less to look forward to fighting him again? Anyway, you put it perfectly, its passion not hate. Didnt expect a remaster, wanted a remake, got a reboot 🤷♂️
nailed it regarding the characters - i keep repeating this as well. Since Square completely captured the characters and treated them awesomely - i doubt they can mess anything up in the future.
Your review mirrors my feelings almost exactly. I'm excited to see where they take it. I just hope it doesn't take forever for it to come.
My only complaint is how absolutely loooooonnnnngggggg some parts were dragged out. You could really tell which parts of the game they used to add hours here and there
YUP.
Can we say Hojo's "floors" in the shinra building... don't get me wrong, I loved the character building during that portion.... but the whole puzzle aspect just felt out of place and unnecessary at the time. I kinda wish that was put in a one of the VR missions instead. Otherwise all the long parts felt pretty good for world building.
Yep agreed. The lamp area, the train graveyard, the second sewers encounter, hojo lab, climbing the destroyed sector 7 and the second mako reactor (same as first just blue) all give me PTSD now.
I liked the Sector 7 climb, tho. Really felt like "rising up to the top for some payback".
Yeah. Parts like this could have been used to collect little side quests or little lore expanding objects , like books or something. Like go look for this monster that happens to be here to complete a quest for chadley.
I couldn’t even play any Kingdom Hearts after the first one. And after Final Fantasy 10, I couldn’t play any main Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy 7 Remake has reignited the Square Enix flame for me. So I’m hoping for a bright future.
Out of curiosity, what did you not like about the og Kingdom Hearts? If it's the combat system that gets substantially improved in future games. The characters also get a lot more development as the series goes on as well.(The story's a cluster fuck, but still enjoyable if you don't take it so seriously).
12 is absolutely up there with the quality of 6-10.
21:52 “I just wanna see Vincent do stuff and YAAA” lmaooo I started cracking up 😂
Chief Lana the exact reason I bought it at the time. What a fool I was. Now I’m an informed fool.
the one thing i love about the dialogue is it never feels forced or they don't say things that make you think "nobody talks like that", the conversations are natural so much so that I was completely drawn in to every character, even the side characters. It may not be perfect, but it made me fall in love with FF7 all over again and i can't wait for the rest of it! Also can i just give props to the summon effects as well, the first time i saw Ifrit cast his special I was like "hooooooooly faaaaaaaark!"
I disagree completely. I honestly don't understand people who claims these characters acts and talks like human beings. The dialogues are bad man, these characters are anime robots. So many grunts, moans, forced "kawai" moments/poses, retarded characters giving the thumbs-up, etc.. extremely generic moments like: Aerith and Tifa starting a girly friendship out of nowhere, Barret and Red starts a bromance, the forced harem moments featuring Cloud, etc... Jessie's motivation to fight the big corporation it's because a close parent suffered an accident... the "bodyguard" (who looks more fragile than Justin Bieber) helps Cloud and his anime gang because his fiance was taken away by his pimp boss... a random SOLDIER suddenly backflips his motorcycle for no goddamn reason, even the generic housekeeper have a spiked anime hair, etc... These are not human beings, I'm sorry. To experience these characters + the storytelling and acting/directing style, it's like watching a more "lenient" version of Advent Children (until the game goes full Advent Children at the end). It's fine if some people like the anime cringe, but to say this kind of storytelling feels "human" is a big stretch.
@@RRRRRRRRR33 god not only the horrible opinion but also the r slur! You sir, win the stupidest comment of the year
@@ajarraccoon7660 r slur, wth you're talking about? Since when a mental condition became a "slur"? Oh the internet, what a beautiful place