FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE

Let me start with the minor issues I had with the game—setting aside the story, which I have mixed feelings. Even in the final chapters, the game doesn't give the player full control over Cloud's movement outside of combat; far too often, it prevents you from running, forcing you to jog or walk instead. This creates an artificial sense of wasted time or a lack of control. I’m not counting instances that are clearly excusable—like slowly squeezing between narrow walls—since those moments are mostly there to mask loading screens (a necessity given the game's PS4 release). However, other sequences, such as exiting the church roof with Aerith, feel particularly sluggish. In contrast, my favorite parts were what you might call "dungeons"—areas with more open maps and free movement—as well as the combat itself (for example, Chapter 7: Infiltration of Mako Reactor 5). I enjoyed the combat system, though—as is well known—aerial battles are problematic when you lack a long-range character. Many side quests and added features seem to have been included primarily to pad out the runtime. Similarly, the game features numerous cutscenes that take a long time to play out despite the actual substance of the story being relatively brief, once again making the game feel deliberately drawn out. Regarding the story—and touching on spoilers—it is impossible to fully appreciate this game without having played or learned the story of the original first. In a way, this means many aspects of the game suffer when experienced by those outside the FFVII universe; for instance, the "fall of the plate" sequence is undermined because a certain character appears—without any prior appearance, mention, or hint—completely breaking the immersion of the moment. Then there are moments like the scene with President Shinra: instead of comparing Cloud to Sephiroth—as in the original, which served to introduce Sephiroth's name and build his legend—the game has Shinra talk about Mako poisoning in soldiers. This detail was clearly added due to its importance in the movie *Advent Children*, yet it only creates consistency issues later on—such as Tifa hearing about it and reacting with surprise, only for the topic to never be revisited for the rest of the game (despite how important Cloud is to her, and the fact that this could have explained Cloud's strange behavior). There was also an attempt to give more personality to characters like Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie, but only in a very superficial way, even though various NPCs could easily have been cut to give these characters greater prominence. Finally, there are many aspects added simply because the game is *FFVII*—such as the night before the mission to rescue Aerith, where you can trigger an optional scene (clearly an attempt to recreate the "date" from the original) with one of three characters. Whether it involves Tifa, Barret, or Aerith, these moments carry no real weight in the story; since their inclusion depends on the specific aspects a player has unlocked or missions they have completed, the scenes' relevance to the rest of the narrative is negligible. Cloud’s behavior toward any of the characters remains unchanged regardless of whether these cutscenes are viewed or not. Consequently, they feel like mere additions—included simply because the developers felt compelled to pay homage to every element of the original game—which in turn undermines the narrative they are trying to tell in this title, given that it is actually a sequel to the original. In conclusion, due to these factors—and other more personal gripes, such as being annoyed that Cloud leaves doors open after walking through them (which frustrated me during the missions at Jessie’s parents' house and Aerith’s house, especially since he *does* close the door at Jessie’s father’s place—proving the animation exists and it would only make sense to close the others)—I consider this to be merely a decent game. While it boasts outstanding graphics, music, cinematics, and gameplay, it has issues that could alienate players enough to make them quit the game entirely; a clear example of this is that less than 33% of players have completed the final chapter, based on the trophy awarded for doing so.