The wait for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been a long one, as is the case for several of this year’s biggest game releases. Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake delay pushed back the game’s release date, making eager fans of the original wait even longer. In the meantime, there are plenty of details to dig into about the Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s story and gameplay, as well as how those elements compare to the original.
If any of the best Final Fantasy games deserved to be remade, it was Final Fantasy 7. While earlier games like Final Fantasy 6 had pixel-art graphics that still hold up today, and later PlayStation titles like Final Fantasy 8 were able to better utilize the hardware, Final Fantasy 7’s chunky, early-PlayStation polygons look crude and downright ugly by today’s standards. It’s fortunate, then, that Final Fantasy 7 Remake gameplay footage and trailers have shown nothing but beautiful visuals so far.
It’s not just visuals Square Enix has revealed, however. In the years since the Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s reveal, fans have gotten tons of information about the game’s setting, story, and gameplay changes. Here’s everything known so far.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Release Date
Despite the game being announced back in 2015, the initial Final Fantasy 7 Remake release date wasn’t revealed until June 2019. The remake was planned to release on March 3, 2020, but Square Enix changed course in early 2020. The company now plans to release the Final Fantasy 7 Remake on April 10, 2020. That delay initially put the game into the same release month as Cyberpunk 2077, making for what could have been one of the most absurd months in gaming history, but CD Projekt Red delayed Cyberpunk to September just days later.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Story
If most of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake screenshots and trailers look similar to each other, that’s because - in what will likely be the game’s most controversial choice - the entire remake takes place in Final Fantasy 7’s starting area, Midgar. Speaking about the Final Fantasy 7 Remake at E3 2019, Producer Yoshinori Kitase explained that the Midgar section, which only took a few hours to get through in the original game, has been expanded with new scenes and characters into the length of an entire game. This means the remake is technically only the first “episode” of a multi-part re-imagining of the original - though the Final Fantasy 7 Remake box art fails to mention this. There’s currently no word on when the next parts of the remake are planned to release.
Because of this “fleshing-out” of the Midgar section’s story, it’s hard to say exactly what will be different from that part of the original game. Square Enix has already revealed a new character, Roche, and confirmed that the remake will keep Final Fantasy 7’s infamous cross-dressing scene (although this will be modernized in some way), so the door is open for more elements of the original to change or remain.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Gameplay
Some of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s most significant new elements come in the form of gameplay tweaks. The remake features a real-time battle system similar to Final Fantasy 15’s that also incorporates more tradition Final Fantasy elements, like an Active Time Battle gauge for charging up abilities. In this hybrid system, players build up the gauge by performing attacks and dodging enemy strikes, then select a special ability when the meter is full. Additionally, there will be a turn-based Final Fantasy 7 Classic Mode for players who want an experience closer to the original.
Along with the combat changes, there will also be changes to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s weapon system. It appears players will upgrade their weapons as the game progresses, earning access to those weapons’ unique abilities as they go. If a weapon is upgraded to a certain level, the character will gain permanent access to that weapon’s ability, even when using other weapons. Materia can still be slotted into weapons to give them enhanced abilities, though some Final Fantasy 7 Materia is being removed to ensure it works properly with the game’s new combat system.
Finally, the combat changes also affect how summons work in the FF7 Remake: If players equip a Summon Materia, a summon gauge will fill during combat (similar to the ATB gauge). Players can then unleash a summoned character to assist them. Summons are AI-controlled by default, but players can also order them to perform certain abilities by using ATB charges. The summoned character fights until the summon gauge is empty, at which point it uses its ultimate attack and disappears.
Next: Players Must Confirm Final Fantasy VII Pre-Orders Soon Or Risk Losing Them
The Final Fantasy 7 Remake will release for PS4 on April 10, 2020.
