Hey there, sports activities followers. I’ve performed a sports activities videogame earlier than; my first was Baseball for the Nintendo Recreation Boy, a outstanding sport for its time as a result of it allow you to simulate taking part in baseball outdoors, you realize, the place they play baseball and stuff. However this isn’t a assessment of Baseball on the Nintendo Recreation Boy. This can be a assessment of Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade for the Nintendo Swap 2. Although Baseball on the Nintendo Recreation Boy is related right here, for exactly two causes.
First, due to dissonances: simply as I labored out the cognitive dissonance of taking part in outside sports activities videogames within the outside on a handheld sport console circa 1997, FFVII Remake now affords me a chance to resolve a distinct, longstanding dissonance I’ve with 1997’s Ultimate Fantasy VII (the OG). Specifically, based mostly on the sport’s jewel case, little me as soon as thought it will be set in a snowy locale.
Nonetheless, to my nice disappointment, Ultimate Fantasy VII is nearly solely not snowy; the duvet is simply hella washed out, like me after I peaked in life as a highschool Baseball star—the videogame for the Nintendo Recreation Boy, not the well-known outside sport (I imply, who’re we kidding, I’m a author for RPGFan, I can’t hit the broad facet of a barn with a baseball bat).
However now, due to the impeccable timing of winter storms within the northeast United States and the portability of the Nintendo Swap 2, I can lastly stay my dream of a snowy Ultimate Fantasy VII taking part in expertise by as soon as once more going outdoors to play erstwhile inside videogames. That’s, till my fingers get frostbite or my Swap 2 brief circuits.
The second/actual motive I deliver up sports activities video games is as a result of I’m going to present ya’ll some inside baseball: I obtained this assessment code per week in the past. Now, that’s loads of time to assessment one thing like, say, Baseball on the Nintendo Recreation Boy, however Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake is a downright chonky role-playing videogame. So, at first I cursed the Squenix gods for this—why have you ever forsaken me!—however then it dawned on me.
This was fairly appropriate, in actual fact, as that is no mere port of Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake to a portin a position console. This new model appropriates the concepts of 2015’s FFVII (OG) PS4 console rerelease: you may fast-forward by means of dialogue, apply helpful “cheats,” equip difficulty-modifying objects, and expertise the story of Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake a lot faster this time round.
Or, if that is to be your first time round Midgar, it could come as a reduction that you’re now not shackled to the time constraints of a humongous, sprawling, operatic, and unabridged role-playing videogame. Actually, I’d wager the time-to-completion of this new model of the sport is roughly half what it was for an off-the-cuff/story run prior to now, which can be welcome information for people who wish to crush the previous two thirds of the Remake trilogy in time for Ultimate Fantasy VII 3 & Knuckles, or no matter they find yourself calling it. This model, particularly with its portability, is good for anybody seeking to catch up in time for the trilogy’s conclusion.
However it’s not simply because the sport can now go Sonic the Hedgehog superspeed mode that it is a perfect approach to play. The Swap 2 model is ostensibly Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake. It seems, sounds, and performs at the very least in addition to the unique PS4 model, and it’s even higher in issues like loadtimes, sidequest dialogue (fast-forward is a godsend, and it’s surprisingly performant on Swap 2), and content material—Intergrade, with its numerous PS5 retoolings and Yuffie side-episode, is included. Yeah, textures are much less constant, polygons are choppier, and the decision is decrease, however truthfully I’m nearly nostalgic for these artifacts from the 1997 unique, so I used to be unbothered by this.
The framerate is 30fps on Swap 2, however it’s steady at that framerate. In fact, 30fps is hard for high-octane motion video games, and this is an motion RPG, technically. However the movement blur of full-HD 30fps didn’t hassle me whereas I used to be taking part in—even in handheld mode on the Swap 2’s already blurry LCD display screen—as a result of Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake remains to be oriented to story and technique. Now, in case you are delicate to that type of factor, I’ll be aware that black body insertion, in case your television has it, helps fairly a bit with this.
I’m not a tech genius, however I think about the Swap 2 model performs so effectively and appears so good because of a mixture of DLSS know-how, like we noticed with Cyberpunk 2077, and the sheer willpower of Sq. Enix’s QA division. Their devotion and dedication to the sport is evident in how strong this port is, and there’s actual synergy with Nintendo’s new {hardware}. Sq. Enix seemingly may have ported the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake on PS4 to Swap 2 with decrease constancy for a $40 money seize, however they went the additional mile to make this model price it by including all of the PS5 Intergrade content material, a heap of graphical trickery, and people new accessibility choices.
And, all instructed, that is precisely the Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake I keep in mind. It sees Sephiroth traverse the space-time continuum to rewrite historical past—not simply that of FFVII‘s world of Gaia, however of our world as effectively, the actual world with snow and baseball (and, after all, Baseball). Remake considerably tinkers with the unique’s imaginative and prescient to go well with the trials and foibles of the 2020s, that are related however nonetheless completely different to these of the Nineties.
Remake sees the imaginative and prescient of FFVII’s spectacle on life, dying, and alter realized below new, extra centered lenses of propaganda, destiny, and management. Shinra is larger and badder, and extra decided to do stated dangerous. The world has extra visible heft to mirror its underlying lore. And, most significantly, the sport’s characters are extra fleshed out, and somewhat than experiencing character progress based mostly on world occasions, they primarily develop in relation to one another.
The characters and story are thus extra rhizomatic in Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, which means there’s a persistent interconnectedness to the sport’s storytelling components. And its thematic mycelia increase into each side of the sport, from gameplay (significantly Materia and different weapon upgrades) to story through dialogue, facet quest missions, and background noise equivalent to TV broadcasts, NPC pitter-patter, and even unlockable music themes. There are extra dialogue selections to be made right here, extra character interactions and backstory, and even essential quests dedicated to facet characters. My favourite quest within the sport, for instance, facilities across the peppy and candy Jessie, a personality who was sparsely developed within the unique (see ‘fridging’) however is pivotal to Remake’s core narrative.
With Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, Sq. Enix weaves collectively a richer tapestry of Midgar, softening the perimeters of the PlayStation unique whereas additionally stiffening the impression of Shinra’s damaging fatalism. I inform ya, that rattling pizza within the sky hit me like a freight practice after I noticed its overwhelming vastitude overhead for the primary time, and it continues to hit arduous over 5 years later. Sq. Enix managed to take what is probably the very best linear story this style has to supply, and crafted a grand slam trilogy (er, two thirds of a trilogy to date) out of it, one which integrates the current technical and phenomenal second gracefully.
Which is why the Swap 2 model is so on-theme. It fills within the gaps that half-blank web page jewel case cowl represented in 1997, now utilizing the know-how and perceptive affordances of the current. It richly treats its inspiring materials, each typically talking and with this well-optimized—hell, frankly spectacular—moveable model. And, most significantly, it affords me the chance to frolic within the snowy Midgar I perceived from that half-blank web page jewel case, as I carry it outdoors into the snow (for, like, two seconds—brrr!).
The tales of artwork and media shift over time, however when handled with care their impression stays the identical. Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake is a shocking instance of this, and this moveable, extra accessible model displays that very same stage of care. Which is sweet information for all you sports activities followers RPG followers on the market.
