Final Fantasy 7 — and by that, I mean the original, not the three-part remake — is clocking up negative reviews after developer Square Enix re-released the game on Steam with quality of life improvements that seem to have had the opposite intended effect.
Announced last month and released just yesterday (February 24), this updated version of Final Fantasy 7 comes with a handful of new features, including a 3x speed mode — more on that in a bit — the ability to turn off random encounters, a “battle enhancement mode” that will max out the Limit gauge and let players recover HP/MP during battles, and a handy autosave feature.
Shortly after launch, though, it was clear there were significant issues with the new edition, not least the speedier combat that doesn’t match the speed of the animations or menus, plus blurry textures, including in its important cinematic sequences.
Square Enix was on the case within hours and released a small update just a short while later, claiming it had “fixed the speed of certain scenes, including battles,” and addressed other, unspecified “minor bug fixes.” What it didn’t address, however, is the forced 4:3 resolution, and while there will undoubtedly be players happy to jump in and experience the game in its native resolution, the 2013 edition that this new version replaces did let you select other resolutions, leaving some wondering why on earth this was changed.
The problem is compounded even further given this new version of the game replaces the 2013 Steam edition on the Steam storefront entirely, so players looking to buy Final Fantasy 7 for the first time will only have this option available — only those who already owned the 2013 edition are able to switch between the two.
“The battle animation speeds are WAY too high, even without the 3x speed, so the game just plays wrong and feels wrong right now. Hopefully, they fix this,” wrote one player. “In addition, you appear to be locked into a 4:3 display, which makes sense as the original format, and many people will prefer to have it that way, but even the 2013 PC version has the ability to stretch it to full screen (which is how I prefer). This should be an option.
“It’s very hard to recommend. May I suggest that companies make sure their re-releases at least function on a basic level before delisting their old versions? That'[d] be great,” added another.
“I’d just play the 2013 version without glasses on if I wanted the game to look like this,” quipped someone else.
All in all, the issues have brought the game’s overall Steam user rating down to ‘Mostly Negative,’ with just 36% of players leaving positive feedback.
As for the remake? Final Fantasy Remake Part 3 director Naoki Hamaguchi recently discussed the impact of expanding the platforms on which the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series is available, insisting that going multiplatform “will not in any way lower the quality of the third instalment.“
“Both the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox versions have been incredibly well received and generated a lot of buzz online,” Hamaguchi said. “That attention has also made me realize how many people are worried about this issue. However, our decision to go multiplatform with the FF7 Remake series will not in any way lower the quality of the third installment.”
We also recently learned that the “core game experience is almost complete,” and while Hamaguchi “really want[s] everyone to play it as soon as possible,” the team has now moved on to “refining and polishing.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
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