FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE

Final Fantasy VII Remake is a game that excels in presentation. The story is great, the graphics are beautiful, and the soundtrack is outstanding. The side content is more uneven: the quests, supporting characters, and character development range from okay to genuinely good. The voice acting is also inconsistent. Some performances are excellent, while others are so overacted or awkward that they can take you out of the experience. My biggest criticism is the combat. Square Enix moved away from turn-based combat because it was supposedly too slow or boring, but I don't think they actually solved that problem. Instead of managing resources through menus, you're constantly building ATB by attacking in real time, switching between party members, exploiting enemy weaknesses, staggering them, and only then dealing meaningful damage. At its core, it still revolves around building a resource before you can do anything important. The difference is that it's now wrapped in an action RPG system that is less cinematic, less strategic, and more punishing when you make a mistake. Rather than creating something fundamentally different, it feels like they replaced turn-based combat with another resource-driven system that I found less enjoyable. Despite my criticisms, I enjoyed my time with Final Fantasy VII Remake enough to finish it. That said, I won't be picking up the sequels at full price. I'll wait for a deep discount, because there are plenty of game/RPG/action RPGs with much stronger combat systems that deserve my time and money more than this one and it sequel.