Flush it Fantasy VII: Slumming it in Midgar Edition
My life is a haze of death metal and video games, and BOY DO I HAVE THE GAME FOR YOU
I’m not the biggest Final Fantasy VII fan in the world; I saw Advent Children before I played the game (which I haven’t touched since 2006), and while I certainly enjoyed it, I’ve never had the attachment to the characters or story that most of its diehard acolytes do. But I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t excited for the remake to hit, and I’ve poured a substantial amount of my spare time into it since getting it this past Tuesday. Maybe my nostalgic connection to the original is less tenuous than I thought, because I’m over the moon for this remake.
It goes without saying that this is one of the best-looking games of this generation, and it’s not just for the screenshots; with the exception of some wonky facial animation on some minor NPC’s, the game is super fluid in motion and a thrill just to watch. The city of Midgar (in which the entirety of the remake takes place) is a beautifully rendered shithole; leave it to Square to make a blasted-out slum town look incredible. And oh my god, the music; hearing these old tracks updated from their PS1 incarnations, fully orchestrated and expanded upon, is a rush of nostalgic joy (the battle theme gives me goosebumps every time it ramps up). It plays great, too, doing away with the traditional RPG combat for hack’n’slash action while retaining its Final Fantasy DNA in its magic system.
The particle effects are the true heroes of this game
And while I expected it to take itself much more seriously now, the game retains that goofiness endemic to ’90’s RPG’s. There’s some stilted dialog and musical cues that don’t quite feel like they fit, but it feels like it’s supposed to be like that in a way. Final Fantasy games have always been full of weird, off-kilter nonsense, so it’s pleasing to see that they haven’t dialed that back at all for this game.
In short, it rules. Between this, Resident Evil 2 and 3, and Link’s Awakening, it feels like my generation is getting spoiled; it might be pandering, but I’m sure as hell not complaining.
Anyway, that’s enough from me. Here’s some highlights from around the bowl this week:
Brandon Corsair treated us to some Wizar’dly wond’rs:
Our podcastiest of boys covered a lot of ground in this one:
The future’s going to be a desolate shitscape, but it’s going to look rad as hell:
Lacertilian brought us a new track from Feral Light:
Carcassbomb hit us with another round of that free shit:
That’s all from me. How are you all holding up?
