Less remake, more reinvention.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake has a brand new combat system that’s a significant departure from the 1997 original’s Active Time Battle system. Of course it does, because we’re in 2019. As much as using that old-school turn-based mechanic continues to bring me joy two decades after I first used it, the remake needs to put a fresh spin on it. And, with a sigh of relief, it looks like we can say that the new system is taking Final Fantasy 7 Remake in the right direction.
The new system is a hybrid design, blending a Kingdom Hearts-like action approach with a modified version of the Active Time Battle mechanic. Playing as Cloud, you can swing the Buster Sword around as you would in a hack-n-slash, landing blow after blow. But, while that iconic sword may be a chunky lad, standard sword attacks are a slow way of killing enemies. That’s why you need to combine them with special abilities, which is where our old friend the ATB gauge comes in.
In 1997’s Final Fantasy 7, the ATB gauge fills over time, and when it hits its limit you’re able to take your turn in battle. In Remake, each strike of your blade (or shot of Barret’s gun and punch of Tifa’s fists) speeds up two ATB gauges the lower left of your HUD. When one of these fills, you’re able to select special skills and Materia magic attacks from a menu.
This menu is accessed in Tactical Mode, which slows combat down to almost a standstill. This allows you to make a more deliberate choice with your next attack; a breather to explore your menus, assess your Materia and items, and then select something to use. It’s in this component of the new battle system that you can really see the DNA of old-school Final Fantasy show through. The series has never been about relying on a small collection of attacks, but a huge collection of magics, skills, items, and powerful Limit Break attacks. Menus are key to allowing that breadth of choice, and I’m delighted that they’re making a return.
Oddly, it also feels a little like Fallout’s VATS system. Never thought we’d see a bit of Bethesda shining through in a Final Fantasy game.
Square Enix emphasizes that it’s looking to provide choice, though, and so abilities can be assigned to shortcut buttons. This means you can bypass Tactical Mode and its combat menus by simply hitting your assigned skill shortcut when an ATB gauge has filled. This approach removes the part of Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s combat that’s most like the original, and thus presumably makes it feel like an entirely refreshed system.
To many, that may sound like a frightening prospect, but it’s also an important design consideration: as much as Final Fantasy 7 Remake is made for those of us who have grown up on Square’s most enduringly beloved game, it’s also made for people who have never played Final Fantasy before. For a likely not insignificant portion of the game’s audience, menu-based tactical battles may seem either antiquated or odd. The fact that Square Enix has found a way to cater to these two sets of people in the same combat system, apparently without making either side of it seem redundant, is to be commended.
The E3 demonstration shown at Square Enix’s conference concluded with a battle against the Guard Scorpion – now known as the Scorpion Sentinel – and it’s in this fight that the system really clicks. In the original game, the Scorpion is able to fire a devastating laser that can obliterate your two-man party. By unshackling combat from a static affair where participants stand in a line, you’re able to take cover as the laser traces across the battlefield. You’re then able to roll out from behind your safe spot and re-engage, opting to hit shortcuts buttons for quick lightning magic or select skills like Braver or Cross Slash from the slow-motion tactical menu while giving yourself a bit of a breather (something you’ll need if you’re transitioning from old-school to new-school; this is a far more frantic affair than the fights of 1997).
The Scorpion Sentinel also has a weak point towards its back, indicating the ability to target specific locations on at least boss enemies. That’s a really neat tactical trick that helps emphasize that Final Fantasy 7’s combat is still about a thoughtful approach, rather than lightning-quick Devil May Cry combos. Turn-based ATB may be gone, but its spirit is still definitely there in some form.
It would be easy to see Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s combat system as a half-way house between the two inevitable camps of the devoted and the newcomers. But Square Enix has made something more complex than that, as the system doesn’t simply find a middle ground, it actively pivots between a couple of ideas. There will no doubt be those upset that it’s not a straight recreation of the classic system in next-generation graphics, but what we have feels like what I’d imagine from Final Fantasy 7 were it originally conceived in the latter days of the PlayStation 4 era, rather than the 1990s.
Most of all, though, I like what this new battle system represents: that this is a true re-thinking of Final Fantasy 7, not a new set of clothes. In an era of HD remakes, it’s easy to limit your thinking on what a remake should be. Square Enix could very easily have released the same game with modern graphics and music, and the fans would be satisfied. Instead, it’s making something new: a bigger, more developed story with new threads, and new areas that make the introductory city of Midgar large enough to be its own game. This may fire my nostalgia neurons, but it’s about more than reliving the past, and the battles are representative of that. It’s the braver option, and I’m thrilled that it’s the route that Square Enix is taking.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer, and is more excited for Final Fantasy 7 Remake than any human should reasonably be.
