VII Things We Found Out From the Final Fantasy® VII: Remake Demo

The Final Fantasy® VII: Remake demo may not be a perfect representation of the game's final form, but it's the closest we'll get before the full game releases in April. Here are seven things we learned from the demo.

I. Players Can Choose Between Classic and New Combat

Final Fantasy® VII remains a relic of its time in that it employs a standard turn-based combat system. The new Final Fantasy® VII: Remake allows players to play a new-fangled system that paces combat in a way approximate to that old system, while still managing to keep things active. Players can choose between this new combat and the classic one at will.

II. Moogle Medals Appear In-Game

Moogle Medals are a collectible in Final Fantasy® VII: Remake despite never appearing in the original game. What these collectibles will do in the full game is currently unknown, but their existence is a fun tie-in with the Kingdom Hearts series, where they first appeared.

III. Characters Hum Victory Fanfare

The original Final Fantasy® VII starkly segmented combat and exploration, allowing for a specific piece of music to mark the end of any successful fight. That victory fanfare, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, is among the most iconic sounds in gaming. With those stark divisions absent in the more free-flowing combat of Final Fantasy® VII: Remake, it becomes harder to find an excuse that music fans love so dearly. To preserve it, players will hear characters like Barret hum the same tune occasionally upon winning a fight. The detail is an adorable and reverent one.

IV. Cloud's Battle Stances Reflect His Internal Struggle

Cloud Strife faces dueling influences on his soul: his dead friend Zack Fair and the villain Sephiroth. Those two influences find expression in his in-game fighting stances, Operator mode and Punisher mode. The former resembles Fair's fighting style, while the latter recalls Sephiroth's typical fighting stance, and their in-game effects match those approaches.

V. More Emphasis on Midgar as a Setting

Being able to realize Midgar more vividly allows Final Fantasy® VII: Remake to focus more on the city as an important player in the story. The player's actions — in the demo, blowing up the Mako reactor — have a much more strongly felt effect on the game world in the Final Fantasy® VII: Remake.

VI. Choices for Players

In the Final Fantasy® VII: Remake demo, players are presented with one story choice. They can set the timer on the bomb for 20 minutes or 30. This decision does affect how long players get to leave, but either option is plenty of time. The real difference comes in the secret ending to the demo, opening up the chance similar differences will be discoverable in the full game.

VII. The New Voice Actors Hold Up

Final Fantasy® VII: Remake features a new voice cast, and the actors have huge shoes to fill. Not only are they facing comparisons to the original game, they're also up against heavy nostalgia. Luckily for Final Fantasy® VII: Remake, the demo shows the actors doing a bang-up job.

This article is brought to you by Final Fantasy® VII: Remake. Check out the trailer below: