First off, this year's E3 has been on the boring side, focusing more on early teaser announcements as opposed to actual gameplay. With Sony not in the venue, this could be the decline of E3 for the future. However the one game that stood out for me was Final Fantasy VII Remake.
After 4 years, we final got some actual gameplay of the upcoming FFVII. The fighting mechanics are more action-based, compared to the original time-based RPG style. In ways, this is similar to the latest Final Fantasy games in the series. This is a complete change, but fits the style of the game perfectly. There seems to be more of a focus with switching from offense and defense; Knowing the right moments to attack the enemy, and to avoid oncoming attacks. The added ATP gauge seems to help build combos, and may be necessary to take down bigger enemies and bosses.
The environment is no doubt, outstanding. The updated look to Midgar makes the city so lively and in a way closer to modern times. Judging by videos, there might be some interactivity / side quests that players could partake. Seeing the Shinra building, it shows even more of a cold industrial place, heavy on technology and scientific designs.
At the end of the long trailer, we finally get a release date, March 3, 2020. Along with that, we also get a glimpse of all of the editions available to preorder. The First Class edition being the most pricey, that also includes a scale model of Cloud on a motorcycle.
With all that is shown, it still leaves a couple of questions. Since only Midgar gameplay was all that was shown, it is safe to assume that the release of next year is for only episode 1 of the game, as it was stated that this remake was going to be broken down into multiple episodes. If that is the case, how long would this episode be, as well as when will the subsequent episodes come out? Along with those lines, since Sony is nearing the announcement / release of the next console (PS5 mostly), How is the game going to be distributed over multiple consoles? Would save date be transferable across the consoles, or would you need to start from scratch?
We got some idea of what to expect with FFVII, and I am extremely pumped up for the game, but it still leaves players wanting more information of the future goals for this game.
