When Square Enix first announced its intention to chop Final Fantasy 7 into pieces for the long-awaited remake, fans were understandably skeptical. But four years later and after having completed what turned out to be a 30-hour JRPG epic, most would surely now agree the developer had a plan for the remake that went beyond their expectations.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake deviates from the original story, with its dramatic conclusion revealing an absolute bombshell that blew us away here at Twinfinite. And it’s got us all hotly debating the future of the game moving forward, which prompted this appropriately numbered shortlist of the 7 biggest questions we have after beating the game.
Final spoiler warning! Do not read the article if you’ve not played through the game to its conclusion.
How Much of the Saga Will Be Recognizable Moving Forward?
Final Fantasy 7 Remake‘s story takes a surprising left-turn when it is suddenly revealed that as a result of Cloud and co destroying the Arbiter of Fate, the world of Remake actually isn’t the same as the original’s. More than just a reimagining of a classic, Final Fantasy 7 Remake appears to be operating in some kind of alternate dimension. And throughout the game only Sepiroth had the memo.
So the big question now is whether this unexpected plot twist left the door open for Square Enix to ignore great swathes of the original game? Might we be headed into completely unchartered territory rather than scenes from the original game reimagined?
The alternate dimension angle certainly spices things up. We’re excited to be playing a guessing game over a plot that is otherwise 20 years old, but it’s also a little concerning. While new storytelling is always welcome, there’s so much from the original game we want to see reimagined. Let’s hope there isn’t too much discarded.
How Much Will We Play as Zack?
Could it be that we’re not leaving Midgar behind entirely? The scenes with Zack and Cloud toward the end of the game suggest we may yet have the opportunity to wield Zack’s mighty Buster Sword in the big smoke for the first time.
We’d certainly be down for seeing more of the story through Zack’s eyes. He’s a character so intricate to the entire plot of the original game but one we really don’t get to appreciate in much detail outside of the Crisis Core PSP spin-off.
If that’s a premise that’s being teed up, then how much of Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s second episode will be a back and forth between the original and new game’s two dimensions?
Will the “Weapons” Feature Prominently?
Originally created to destroy Jenova, the Weapons are a big part of the original game. Some of them are weaved into the main story (and are pretty major plot points), while others roam around the world map as optional bosses. Will they feature in the second episode of Final Fantasy 7 Remake?
We certainly hope so, though only if Ruby weapon gets a major nerfing! In all seriousness, taking out Final Fantasy 7’s Weapons were the most challenging boss fights in the entire game and taking them on with Remake’s new combat system would be a treat.
Is Square Enix Willing to Tweak Combat?
Don’t expect to read many opinion articles about how disappointing it is that Final Fantasy 7 Remake doesn’t feature turn-based combat. That once-popular talking point has surely been put well and truly to bed; Square Enix has proved the sayers wrong in spectacular fashion with a brilliant battle system that we absolutely loved.
But there is room for improvement if you ask us. For example, the inability to queue actions for other party members to perform as you would in, say, Dragon Age games, is a bit of a bummer. Too often other party members really aren’t doing anything very constructive in combat, which makes for a hell of a lot switching back and forth.
Also, the option to pre-set characters to prioritizing different attacks, spells, or even just their general battle tactics –aggressive, support, tank, etc– would be a welcome addition.
The ultimate expression of the action/ATB battle system would surely be to provide more depth to its strategic element, right?
How Linear Is Part 2 Likely to Be?
The original Final Fantasy 7 opens up quite a bit after Midgar. While it doesn’t go “open-world” until much later in the game, there’s a fair bit of roaming around the countryside of Gaia’s eastern continent. Considering just how linear this first episode was, how likely is the second to emulate that same freedom of exploration as in the original?
Hopefully, we’re at least given a fairly meaty sandbox or two to explore during the next game. Perhaps, even, a sort of mini open-world that we can continually return to in between more linear story sections that take us elsewhere.
However Square Enix chooses to achieve it, the second episode should certainly have us feeling as though we’re exploring a world, as opposed to being hemmed in behind the walls of a dystopian metropolis.
Do We Get to Play Fort Condor?
Final Fantasy 7’s mini-games are iconic, and the Remake did a great job not only paying homage to that but actually making them just as much a part of the experience. From peripheral mini-games like playing darts at Seventh Heaven to the enhanced motorcycle combat, there’s a similar emphasis on breaking up sections of the game with a variety of fun distractions.
But the real question is: will we get to play the Fort Condor strategy game! Gazing up at the image above, it’s funny reminding ourselves just how awful the Fort Condor mini-game actually looked, but man, it was such a novelty to have a strategy game packed into an RPG in that way back in 1997. We’d love to see what Square Enix can do now.
Will Shinra’s Wutai Excuse be a Major Plot Point?
Another big deviation from the original Final Fantasy 7 story is that Wutai is referred to as a rival to Shinra and Midgar. A war with the country is at the core of Shinra’s agenda, it seems, and Avalanche is the catalyst it’s using to earn support for the cause amongst Midgar’s population.
What isn’t clear, however, is whether Wutai is a similar sort of superpower or just a small, peaceful nation as they were in the original game. Are they really a threat to Midgar? Because if that’s the case their infrastructure and military must be substantial to worry Shinra.
Or maybe Wutai is despised by Shinra simply because its culture is based on opposing values? Or perhaps it’s just a case of Wutai possessing something Shinra thinks that it needs in its pursuit of locating Cintra’s promised land?
It remains to be seen exactly how big a role the Shinra vs. Wutai conflict will play moving forward, but it does seem destined to be a major plot point and we can’t wait to learn more.
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