Final Fantasy 7 Remake – no end in sight (pic: Square Enix)

A reader offers a spoiler-filled exploration of Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s ending and why he thinks it bodes poorly for future sequels.

By now I imagine most people that have an interest in Final Fantasy 7 Remake have played and beaten it. But for those who haven’t I must warn you that this feature contains serious spoilers. I don’t know anyway to avoid that because there’s certain things I need to mention in order to discuss the ending and why I think Square Enix are going to regret ever starting the remake.

I should preface by saying that, overall, I very much enjoyed the remake. It has the best combat system since Final Fantasy 12 and the most likeable cast of characters since, well… forever probably. (I still have a soft spot for Final Fantasy 6, but it’s hard to compare such vastly different storytelling styles and technologies.) The role-playing elements are fairly shallow, but then they were in the original, and the game is very linear, which we’ll get into later, but overall I thought it was great and a very good balance between fan service and making something anyone can enjoy.



If the game had ended with the confrontation on Shinra Tower I would’ve said it was an almost complete success, but unfortunately it didn’t. It continued on from there and suddenly became a meta commentary on the idea of remakes and a desperate attempt to turn Sephiroth into the game’s main villain, even though the game had offered no explanation of who he was and he’d only been appearing in mysterious cameos up until that point (which I was totally happy with).


Now, if you’re a Final Fantasy fan you know exactly who Sephiroth is but imagine you hadn’t played the original and think about what information the game offered on who he was and what he wanted. It’s basically zero.

But suddenly, after fighting Shinra for most of the game, before pivoting onto the Whispers, you’re now fighting this weird guy with the cat eyes who seems to know Cloud but who you’ve never really been introduced to.

The fight with Sephiroth is basically a recreation of the ending of the original game. Which obviously creates a major problem for what they’re going to do when they get to the end of the remake. This creates many problem but the most obvious is that the game has nowhere to go from here.

All the main characters have already completed their main story arcs and the only playable ones we haven’t met yet are the ones no one likes (Cait Sith, Vincent, and Yuffie). Sephiroth has already been fought and beaten and it’s pretty obvious that the main reason for setting up a way to change the story is so that Square Enix don’t have to do some of the trickier open-ended bits.

Consider how linear sections of this game are – basically just long corridors to walk down – I don’t see how it’s suddenly going to switch to having an open world to explore. The reason the remake is only set in Midgar is because of the amount of work and money it’d take to do more than one major setting. That’s not going to change, so rather than wrapping the story up in a sensible amount of time you’re going to get at least three or four more new games that also have only one main setting/art style.



Final Fantasy 7 Remake is going to need at least six years or more to complete and for all that time it’s going to be millstone around Square Enix’s neck, tying up their best developers on a series they cannot now stop. And all for a game who’s first entry has sold less than Final Fantasy 15. So much for the most anticipated remake of all time.

There’s lots of great stuff in Final Fantasy 7 Remake but it should’ve been one game, an indulgence that once completed would lead to other brand-new games instead of more rehashing. Even as a fan the thought of four more games seems more like a threat than a promise, and I’m certain Square Enix is going to regret ever starting this whole project well before it’s end.

By reader Patton

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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