‘Final Fantasy VII’ Hits PlayStation 4 Today, Remake Far From Original

When Square Enix and Sony announced that Final Fantasy VII will be making a return in the new generation PlayStation 4 console with better and badder graphics, among other enhancements, the Final Fantasy VII community rejoiced and was moved to tears. Since that huge Final Fantasy VII announcement in the E3 2015, people have been at the edge of their seats, waiting for the release date of the said Final Fantasy VII remake in the PlayStation 4.

Final Fantasy fans are getting restless and Square Enix knows that. To ease the restless Final Fantasy fans that are eager for the upcoming FF7 remake and another upcoming Final Fantasy title, Final Fantasy XV, Square Enix revealed at the 2015 PlayStation Experience (PSX) this week that the original Final Fantasy VII is now downloadable and playable on the PlayStation 4.

You can purchase the original FF7 on the PlayStation Store, and it comes with a free static custom theme featuring Cloud and the cityscape of Midgar from the Final Fantasy VII Remake. It also comes out with a list of trophies to earn throughout the game, something different from the original version from the PlayStation One and the PC port.

Final Fantasy VII was first released at the PlayStation One console in 1997 and it has become one of the best-loved titles in the Final Fantasy franchise. Because of its success, it has spawned several spin-offs and related material such as the mobile game Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, a prequel to Final Fantasy VII focusing on the Turk’s activities; Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, a PlayStation Portable game that touched base with Zack; and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, a CGI film sequel set two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII.

It was no doubt that Final Fantasy VII was immensely loved by fans and starting fans on the franchise and it only made sense for Square Enix and PlayStation to create another material from its success–ergo, the Final Fantasy VII remake.

Square Enix reveals at the PlayStation Experience keynote speech that the Final Fantasy VII remake will have a lot of deviations from the original. Other than a huge upgrade in the graphics (they are basically redoing everything since the graphics are now looking like Final Fantasy XV), people are expecting that there will be revisions in the gameplay, as well. The speech reveals:

“They are coming back to Midgar… It’s still early days but we want to show you a glimpse of how the game looks and perhaps more importantly for you guys — how it plays. There’s a lot of familiar scenes which I’m sure fans of the original Final Fantasy VII will recognize. You see the famous train from the Sector 7 slums, the Sector 1 Mako Reactor, and some of the streets of Midgar, so you get a feel for how you move around throughout Gaia. And how awesome does the Guard Scorpion look now?! So gameplay is probably what you really wanted to know about since the game’s announcement. The new trailer gave you a glimpse into how Final Fantasy VII Remake will play and you’re probably thinking that it has changed quite a bit. It definitely looks more action oriented and has a real feeling of speed. There’s a lot going on in the trailer so hopefully you managed to pick out all of the details.”

So while Final Fantasy VII Remake is still in production, you can be occupied, for now, with replaying the original Final Fantasy VII. Maybe you can note the differences between the original and the remake once it comes out.

Final Fantasy VII Remake has yet to have a set release date but from what we know about the trailer released at the PSX 2015 this week, Final Fantasy VII Remake will be a timed exclusive for PlayStation 4. Watch the preview of the Final Fantasy VII Remake for PlayStation 4 showed at the PSX below:

[Image via Square Enix]