Why Episodic FFVII Will Be A Blessing

Let's get a little something out in the open: Final Fantasy VII is tied as my favorite in the series, alongside Final Fantasy XII. It's not the 'cool kid' thing to like FFVII the most, but it's definitely the installment I've spent the most time with. During its initial PSX run, I maxed out all but one Materia, and every character was upwards of level 96. Of course, PSX memory cards being finicky as they usually are, I lost all of my save data a few months later. While I had a few nights of being upset and shaking my proverbial fist at "the man" for allowing this to happen, I sucked it up and started again. For a second time, I completed the game, having all characters at a high level (85+).

When the Steam version released, I had mixed emotions; I'm forever happy that I now have an instantly-accessible, "definitive" version of one of my favorite games, but I'm also a bit weary: Do I have the patience to do the whole rodeo again? Do I have one last 100+ hour save file session of FFVII in me at the ripe old age of 29? It's not 1997 anymore, I'm not 11 years old with all the time in the world, and I don't have my middle school friends to swap war stories of racing chocobos with, or friends that would help me draw maps of FFVII dungeons in the middle of class (yes, it happened multiple times, with letters sent home to my parents from angry teachers as proof). Times are different, my responsibilities have grown, and frankly: There are hundreds of fantastic games to play that I haven't had the pleasure of playing to completion yet.

The news of an episodic FFVII has thrown the internet into a frenzy. People are worrying that the decision to go episodic is a cash grab (it is), and that certain aspects will be cut from the original game (almost certainly), but that doesn't bother me. I can feasibly play 6 installments of a 10 hour product released over a 2 year span, but the same can't quite be said for a full 60+ hour experience from day one. I need to portion my time playing games, and if the game shows the courtesy of doing that for me, that's fine by me. I understand it's not a popular opinion, but I hoped that Square would shake things up with the Remake. Adding Crisis Core gameplay systems to the tried and true story and characters of the original FFVII is a move I'll never scoff at. I loved the way that game played, and think that it's a wise move to make the original more action-based and responsive. Mixing that change of gameplay with the change of going episodic, this remake should be easy to view as a separate beast entirely.

I love FFVII dearly, but I've played it to death. The Steam (and PS4) releases of the original make sure that I have a perfect, beautiful archive of the game I fell in love with almost 20 years ago: This new remake promises to give new perspectives to the characters and story, and seeing as how I have new perspectives as well, it should be a comfortable fit. The old version of FFVII isn't going anywhere, so I'm looking forward to what they'll give us, and how it all fits together.

Who knows, maybe my middle school cartography skills may come in handy, almost 20 years later.