7 Moments from Final Fantasy 7 I Need to See in the Remake

Ladies and gentlemen, the Final Fantasy VII hype train is hitting top speed for me. Reports are coming out that there are places where the it has already become available. That’s over a week before the official release date.

I don’t know if it’s this quarantine or the fact that the remake is coming so soon, but I am ready to play it. That got me thinking about seven different moments in the game that have the potential to be spectacular in the remake

I know that most of these moments don’t happen until beyond the supposed cutoff point for the remake, but I’m including them anyway. These scenes really stood out to me in the original and should look amazing on the PS4.

Oh, spoiler warning

(Related: 4 Questions That Keep me from Getting Too Excited About the FF7 Remake)

1.  Midgar Zolom Impaled

You’re goddamn right.

The Midgar Zolom is a massive snake that you encounter in the swamps outside of the Mithril Mine. Unless you do some moderate leveling before running into it, it’s a pretty tough fight. The game even gives you a way to see the snake coming before starting an encounter so it doesn’t just mop the floor with you. 

You avoid the big deadly snake in the swamp, or fight it for the “Beta” enemy skill, and come upon this scene. That’s a tree shoved through a snake that is said to be over 30 feet tall. “Sephiroth” really knows how to send a message. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill threat. That’s art! I can’t wait to see how that plays out in the new one. 

This whole thing happens after you visit the town of Kalm, a place where you hear the misremembered story of Sephiroth’s fateful trip to Nibelheim’s Mako reactor. If there has even been a way to put an exclamation point on the whole “this guy is dangerous” scene, the Midgar Zolom scene is it.

2. When a Slice of that Big F***ing Pizza Comes Down 

It’s a false flag attack. But who will believe them? Gya haa haa haa!

President Shinra of The Shinra Electric Power Company wants to crush your little rebellion. No, he literally wants to crush Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and the other members of AVALANCHE. To do that, members of the Turks are dispatched to blow up the support pillar for Sector 7, dropping a large plate structure onto the slums and killing just about everyone there. 

Your party shows up just in time to get involved in a pretty intense fight that leads to the top of the pillar structure. The scene culminates with the support pillar being blown up and your party barely escaping the destruction.

This entire scene is cool, and I’m sure it’s going to be a lot more intense with the new graphics.

3. Diamond Weapon Attacks Midgar

Either we get into a Gundam or I’m leaving

Alright, I’m skipping ahead quite a bit here. So, the planet, Gaia, has dormant beasts that are summoned to protect it in times of crisis. These massive biomechanical monsters are called WEAPONs (or however else you want to capitalize it). 

One of them, called Diamond Weapon, starts to rip and tear its way to Midgar. Your party shows up and fights it, but it kinda blows you off and keeps stomping towards the city.

Eventually, the Sister Ray cannon blasts through Diamond Weapon. It dies and the barrier surrounding the Northern Cave Crater is destroyed. That way, you are free to go and take part in Chocobo racing for another 10 hours before fighting the final boss. 

Anyway, this scene was awesome in the original, especially because Diamond Weapon launched an energy salvo before dying.

For one happy moment, I thought that Rufus Shinra died. Either way, the remake could amp up the damage and make the fight even cooler if the game developers wanted. Although, with the new apparent emphasis on realism, I don’t know how we’re going to fight a walking skyscraper. I’m excited to give it a shot, though. 

4. Going into Space to Stop Meteor

Not just a meteor. A “magical” meteor, so it’s different

The 1990s were a simpler time. We had at least two movies, Armageddon and Deep Impact that featured a threat similar to that in Final Fantasy VII- a meteor was going to destroy the planet. Oddly enough, the same solution was reached all three times. Get a scrappy crew together and blow that sucker up. 

Well, in this game, your band of misfits gets accidentally launched into space with some Huge Materia that is supposed to blow up the meteor. Whether or not you steal the Materia away, the rocket slams into the meteor, does a little damage, and the meteor keeps coming. 

The entire space journey, brief though it may be, is iconic to me.

Cid gets a little bit of closure in his life by going into space and realizing that he was actually being a jerk towards Shera. You get to see the meteor up close, watch Shinra’s plans go up in smoke, and witness the hopelessness of people when they realize that big rock is coming down one way or another. 

It’s going to be amazing to see that one happen.

5. Playing Doctor in Cloud’s Head

Wanna see someone struggle with identity issues up close? I mean, really get in there?

Cloud is a little unhinged due to some of the stuff he’s been through. You don’t get a good idea of just how messed up the poor guy is until you fall into the Lifesteam with him. 

In the Lifestream, you get to go back through Cloud’s memories with different parts of his subconscious that are trying to figure out what actually happened. Is he the tough guy SOLDIER 1st Class, a complete nutcase, or that little kid that promised Tifa that he was going to be famous one day?

Tifa somehow comes along for the ride, and you have to talk to all the different versions of Cloud in a surreal setting to piece him back together. I think this has the potential to be one of the coolest moments in the entire remake. 

You aren’t going to see any cool fights, but watching everything fall into place with a proper translation and a more cohesive story than the original will be awesome.

6. Any of the Jenova Battles

Now THAT is terrifying

That’s Jenova, the “calamity from the skies” and the thing that Sephiroth refers to as “mother”. Long story short, you spend a lot of the game chasing after Jenova in the form of Sephiroth believing that it’s the Masamune-wielding badass back from the dead. 

At least, I think that’s the story, right? Sephiroth is in the lifestream cocoon controlling everything?. I’m sure someone will correct me in the comments.

Anyway, the cool part is that every time you catch up to this “Sephiroth”, you get into a battle with Jenova. The Sephiroth clone literally chucks a piece of Jenova at you, and suddenly you’re fighting a massive beast

I really can’t wait to see how they do this. Is the clone going to hack off a hunk of its body and throw it at you aboard the cargo ship? How about after the uh…shish kabob scene? 

There is a lot of potential for greatness in these battles. Also, the music is awesome when fighting Jenova. I hope that stays. 

7. Corel Train Chase

Hype Traaaaaaaaaaaain

Do you remember the rocket that they used to try to blow up the meteor? It was supposed to be loaded with Huge Materia until you stole it. The same highly volatile material is loaded on this train. Just like the hype train for Final Fantasy VII: Remake, this thing is outta control

Now, you can stop the train and get the Huge Materia and also get the Ultima Materia without shelling out a ton of Gil. However, if you mess this operation up, the train crashes into the town of North Corel and wrecks it even worse than it already was. The people in that town already hate Barret, so they don’t need another reason for that. 

Battling across the train and trying to get the thing to stop was one of the most intense moments of the game for me. That was mostly the case because I kept screwing up the button sequence on my busted PS1 controller. I think the remake could make this scene even better than it was before, either making me feel like a hero for saving the town or showing me that I suck at videogames and the PS1 controller was fine the whole time. We’ll see. 

The Final Fantasy VII: Remake is already out in some places, and I am sure people are having a blast with the first installment, episode, or whatever the hell you want to call it.

I know that some parts of the game that I listed here will be shown, but I’ll definitely be waiting for the others. 

In case you haven’t noticed, a lot of people around the world are quarantined right now and their daily lives are being radically altered. While it’s easy to feel trapped by everything going on, it’s also a good time to play some of those long video games you’ve been meaning to get to. If not the remake, then maybe try the original Final Fantasy VII or some other long, fun game.

Stay safe, folks.

One response to “7 Moments from Final Fantasy 7 I Need to See in the Remake”

  1. […] we didn’t have a story about crazy sorceresses or a giant meteor about to blow through the planet. It was a relaxing, somewhat sweet game that focused on fun and […]

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