• Final Fantasy VII Remake - Fall in love again more than two decades later
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Final Fantasy VII Remake has three problems that can be significant. On the one hand, it does not have a maintained rhythm and it is hitting highs and lows. On the other hand, it has problems with the textures and geometries of certain elements of the scenarios, to the point that they seem to be taken as is from the original. And finally, it has some pretty absurd and boring side quests.

If you can live with these three elements, the second of which seems to be a bug that they can fix with a patch or two, congratulations: you are going to be able to play a video game that everyone will talk about for the next month and that does not only live on nostalgia, because its combat system is very interesting and the story has some nuances and changes from the original that will surprise and give even more to talk about.

I'm not going to say anything more about the latter because I don't want to be that kind of person, but there is a lot I can say about the combat system. Yes, it is very similar to what we have seen in the Nintendo Xenoblade and what at first seems that it only asks you to pound buttons, little by little it asks you to be somewhat smarter.

The materials (the magic and modifiers of the same) that you can put in your weapons (which teach you skills with the use and level up like each character) play an important role, since it is not the same to hit the Shiva invocation to get its power than launch a magic ball of fire that, as it is paired with your sword using a special blue matter, modifies the damage of this and thus can break its defense and do more damage, charge faster your summon and your limit and power kill her by yourself, since you cannot use the rest of your team in this secondary mission. And don't forget to dodge at the right time to free yourself of the damage and return it in duplicate to the enemy.

Of course, not all combat is solo or against a single powerful enemy. Normally, you are tanning your back against three or four or more enemies, most of them weak, but one of them somewhat stronger. The toughest, single-enemy fights are reserved for bosses, ranging from a certain machine with a scorpion complex to a certain guy in very deep red hair.

If for some strange reason you thought the turns would continue to be present in Final Fantasy VII Remake, what cave have you been in for 23 years? The inheriting system of these dynamics depends on the load of the skill bars. Each character has a bar divided into two sections, and when one of them is filled, you can do an ability or magic or use an object. The most powerful movements require both bars. So you do have to do some time management and insert what each character does, but they are not turns in a strict sense because you move and attack with your main weapon to fill them.

Continue playing as a team, jumping with a button from Tifa to Cloud and from Cloud to Barret to better combine each person's particular skills. You can't destroy those robotic machine guns in the distance with your sword: you have to do it with the machine gun that Barret has on his arm.

Each character has a very clear identity and, to my surprise, the script makes you know him very well and you become attached to them, something that a lifelong fan will not need, but that will undoubtedly reinforce his idea of each. That Cloud is a cold and hard guy you endured in 1997 because you were a child. In 2020, it would have been excruciating if they hadn't touched dialogues, adapted attitudes, and changed how they interact with each other here and there. And rest assured, this time the translation is competent and has more of a nod to the original goons.

That affection for the original is absent in much of the game, but it does not seem bad to me, since in this way Final Fantasy VII Remake looks like another game. They have taken a clear step to do something different and it shows: the course of the missions is not the same as you remember it and it is quite difficult to recognize where you are compared to the original at many times. But I insist: this is good and it makes when the game really wants to give you a nostalgic shot, it is much more effective. There are quite a few and I love them. That not everything is nostalgia in this game is one of his greatest successes.

Still, I could be here for a long time talking about how incredible the adaptation of the music is, which was good in the original and is still wonderful in this one, but almost better I'm going to let you discover that who remembers the soundtrack of yesteryear. I could also praise how the summons have been introduced, those super powerful magic that is now something halfway between what was done in Final Fantasy XV (a single magic with a very powerful animation and with a lot of presence of the invoked creature) and what they were in Final Fantasy X (the creature is next to you fighting while you continue in the present body combat). And I could, finally, applaud the work on adapting the outfits and hairstyles and voices of the main characters (Tifa being the only questionable point of all this).

But all this will matter only to the fans and, in that case, it is better that they discover it personally when they play it, because there are many surprises and changes that it is better to discover personally.

If you are a new player, I think the story about man's role in destroying natural resources might be something that interests you. The original was very combative in this regard and this is even more so because the script is much better carried out. It is almost ironic that a 1997 game has a message of prevention and fight against climate change so effective in 2020. You will also like the combat system, because once you enter it and understand it, you can do outrageous things and feel very powerful .

Final Fantasy VII Remake is a good game both for this player who wants to find out what the pod is about and enjoy a different combat system than usual, and for those who are looking to revive one of the most beloved chapters in video game history. Note the 'chapters', because this is the first of the three that have divided the game. Let's see if for the next generation of consoles, in which the following will undoubtedly be released, the ugly details of the graphics no longer exist.

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