The Final Fantasy 7 Remake is finally here after years of anticipation, albeit without a considerable amount of content from the original game available on release. However, with the game being revamped and expanded into multiple episodes, the first installment of the game had some big shoes to fill and a seemingly insurmountable task to conquer in the form of making a satisfying ending for Episode 1.
Somehow, it would seem that Final Fantasy 7 Remake made good on both filling the shoes of the nostalgic title of its namesake, while also having a compelling and rewarding endpoint that leads into the next episode. From here on in, there’ll be discussion of the ending of the new remake in detail, so Spoiler Warning for anyone who hasn’t made it to the end yet, as it is certainly worth experiencing fresh, whether as a newcomer to Final Fantasy 7 or a veteran player.
The Whispers
The final boss of Final Fantasy 7 Remake is the mysterious Whispers, aka the Arbiters of Destiny and the massive Whisper Harbinger. These strange, new entities appear a number of times in the remake, interfering any time the story seems to be straying from how it originally played out in the original Final Fantasy 7. They don’t seem to be a malevolent, nor benevolent force, simply taking on the task of keeping the players on the path that will lead them to the end of the adventure that fans are familiar with.
In a twist on the established canon of Final Fantasy 7, the remake pits the players against these Whispers as the party is about to escape the newly realized Midgar and begin the rest of the journey to hunt down Sephiroth and save the planet. This final confrontation has a number of consequences, leading to a whole new continuity where the future isn’t quite as written in stone as players may have expected when first booting up Final Fantasy 7 Remake. As a result, Episode 2 could take any number of routes through the world of Final Fantasy 7, with surprises ready and waiting, even for the most knowledgeable fan.
Zack is Alive
Following the aftermath of the fight with the Whispers, players are granted the sight of Zack carrying Cloud on his back in a familiar scene from the end of Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core. In fact, this isn’t the only time that the Zack-led spinoff is mentioned in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, as Kunsel is mentioned by name by a Shinra Officer who recognizes Cloud from training. For those unacquainted with Kunsel, he was Zack’s best friend and a source of information for the player in Crisis Core.
This could mean a number of things for the future of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, with Zack possibly coming back to join the party or at least give support in one way or another throughout future chapters. However, his survival certainly does also throw a number of wrenches in the continuity of the game, especially when it comes to the passing on of the Buster Sword and Cloud’s arrival in Midgar. Even more troubling than the ramifications of the character’s signature weapon is the effect seeing Zack will have on Cloud’s less than perfect memories that have been infused with his SOLDIER companion’s own memories.
Sephiroth Knows He Loses
In the end, it’s Sephiroth who invites Cloud and the party to fight the Whispers and change the course of Destiny, ultimately culminating in a final battle against the series’ lead villain. This could even be the whole reason why the Whispers have been appearing throughout the game in the first place, attempting to correct the wrongs that Sephiroth has been enacting on the timeline through his clones. However, if he’s working towards trying to defy Destiny, then that must mean that he is aware of the events that the Whispers are attempting to lead them to, which he would have a vested interest in stopping.
This could mean that the Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7 Remake could be a whole new villain than most fans are used to, having formulated a new plan after already being stopped by Cloud and party. If this is the case, then the final victory may be even more hard fought than in the original, which for those that may not remember, involved the Sephiroth sending the sun into supernova in an attempt to kill the player. So it may take more than a powerful summon and an Omnislash to take the final boss down for good this time.
Deaths aren’t inevitable
As is the case with every other aspect of Final Fantasy 7 Remake after the Destiny shattering ending, major character deaths are no longer set in stone. Two notable deaths that were spared in the new remake include Biggs and Wedge, two members of Barret’s cell of AVALANCHE who die in the original during the assault on the Sector 7 pillar. However, during the events of the remake, the player actively saves Wedge, altering the continuity before even having the final confrontation with the Whisper Harbinger and Biggs is shown to be alive during the final cutscene.
After all of the character development that went into fleshing these characters out, it makes sense that Square Enix didn’t want to just axe them so quickly, like how Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie died in the original. However, this now means that the deaths of major characters in Final Fantasy 7 Remake don’t necessarily have to follow the pattern from the original, meaning that some characters whose deaths have yet to come might be avoidable, like Barret’s fate at Shinra Tower. Of course, the most notable event from the original game is the death of Aerith at the hands of Sephiroth, which may be as preventable as Zack’s, Biggs’, and Wedge’s own certain fates from the original game.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is available now for PS4.
