Robit Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Review

Score: 94.6 (gameplay and story get counted as 2x, then everything is averaged). As of this review, I'm still playing (over 9 hours played so far in 2 days) Gameplay: 90/100 Pros: The side quests felt fresh, the combat mechanics were familiar but not dated, and the game ran almost flawless on a GTX 3050 at 2K-60 high shadows, high graphics Cons: The hair can get a little weird at times (this is mitigated if you up-res the graphics), wide shots cause (a little) lag for a small amount of time. During some battles, the screen goes white on me. I couldn't see anything, but I can still control characters. I don't know if this is supposed to be the blind condition or not, but I don't see a condition marker on the character bars when it happens. The game (on a 3050), never hits 60FPS, but it always seems to be above 30, so it still works to smooth out the gameplay. This would have been a perfect opportunity to have Biggs, Wedge, and Jesse as part of your party instead of NPCs, but oh well. Also, not a fan of not being able to use items from the menu, and I wish we could set non-active characters to do certain things themselves (for instance, if health gets low, focus on healing). If this is in the game, I don't see where. Juggling all this while also real-time attacking is a little hard. Lastly, the voice doesn't sync with the mouth movements. I'm playing in English, so this may be because the mouth movements are synched to Japanese, but just in case I'm wrong, I'm posting it here. Graphics 95/100 This game was made in 2022 so it's not surprising that the graphics look amazing but can play on (what is now) a mid-range video card. I don't need graphics better than this. With the RAM and video card situation happening in 2025, game creators need to focus on gameplay and story while relying on graphics not much higher than this. I mean my 3050 can run this game on high 60 at 4K (it's maxed when I do this, but it's possible), and the game looks flawless. Why games in 2024 and 2025 require 16GB or more VRAM and a 4080 to run on ultra for a marginal increase, I can't fathom, especially when we can rely on AI upscaling. The only reason this didn't get a 100 is because of the weird hair issues as lower resolutions (1080p, even thought this isn't low). Top notch Square, top notch. Story: 99/100 I was skeptical. I just picked this game up (Black Friday 2025) because for a long time the idea that I was going to pay the equivalent of over $120 for FF7's remakes because the story was split over three games didn't sit well with me. Then this went on sale for $20. I'm not a kid anymore, but when I started playing this game, I couldn't stop. I lost sleep because I just wanted push the story a little more before bed. The combat felt so familiar but I couldn't place it, and I would be looking at cloud's facial animations but seeing Sora. Then it hit me; the combat mechanics work almost the same as Kingdom Hearts. This was also a game that when i was a kid, I would stay up until sunrise playing because the story was so good. The expanded content of Remake lends well to fleshing out bit characters from the original and Midgar actually feels like a city. People are milling about talking about the state of things, enemies have their own conversations when they don't notice you, the little shops and music make the slums feel alive. Wedge taking one for the team by having a bunch of hounds chase him so I can whittle them down as Cloud was Hilarious. In this world, I'd be Wedge, 100%. I'm docking 1 point because you made me fall in love with Biggs, Wedge, and Jesse and it doesn't seem like their presence will migrate to the other games in any significant capacity. I was hoping for a deviation from the original here, especially with Jesse. These three's personalities are so infectious, that if they were extra party members, it would have only enhanced the game more. Dang it Square for making me fall in love with more FF7 characters that aren't coming with me for the whole journey. The tally is currently at 5 is you count the two you lose from the original and it's prequel.