A bunch of news has come out of PlayStation Experience (PSX) over the past weekend. The biggest news in my opinion came not from a new game’s announcement but rather new details regarding the Final Fantasy VII Remake. Up until this past weekend all gamers knew about this highly anticipated remake was the fact that it was a thing and that it was coming to Playstation 4 first.

Gamers still do not have a release date but they did get another awesome trailer combined with some impressive gameplay. My first impressions of the gameplay is the fact that it appears to be incredibly similar to what we have seen of Final Fantasy XV & even Kingdom Hearts. In other words the gameplay is not the traditional turn based combat that was in the original Final Fantasy VII. Instead it appears to be fast paced strategy combat that visually looks very hack n slash. Obviously the latter half of my description is wrong since the game will utilize some turn based elements combined with real time action combat.

This of course has made some fans of the original game upset since this remake lacks true turn based combat that was in Final Fantasy VII. I personally believe that this was a smart move. The original Final Fantasy VII had an incredible story. It combined several noteworthy themes ranging from opinions on the environment to the purpose of Gods while not attempting to break out of its own medium. Therefore, I think that the new combat system will be easier for new players to get engaged with the retelling of this classic story. True turn based Japanese Role Playing Games (JRPGs) are sadly becoming less common in the West. Square Enix might be attempting to gain the attention from a younger generation of gamers. The countless hours of grinding in a traditional JRPG, something FF VII was, is simply not relevant or enjoyable when received by the mainstream gaming audience. The original game will be 20 years old in 2017, it’s time that this story was retold not only to the original audience but also to a new wave of gamers. This new combat system is far more inviting than the orthodox combat of the original. I personally am all for it.

Lastly it was also announced after the gameplay reveal that the Final Fantasy VII Remake will be released in parts (It also runs on UnReal Engine 4!). So gamers shouldn’t expect to play through this entire story on one disk alone. Square Enix has yet to explain what exactly this means but I know that this also made a bunch of fans of the series upset. I personally am fine either way, I’m just glad this is finally a thing.