When Square Enix showcased Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth at Sony's most recent State of Play, my heart skipped a beat. It looked gorgeous, of course, not just because it seems like the latest portion of the trilogy will push PS5 hardware to its limits, but also because it marked a moment I'd been waiting the best part of 30 years for.
You see, I'm certain that players today, those who weren't around the first time, look back at the original Final Fantasy 7 and think it looks like shit. And they're not wrong, it does. The thing is, it did at the time too. The three-disc-spanning PS1 JRPG sacrificed visual appeal for a thorough and sophisticated story (for its time) that explored themes of everything from climate change to terrorism, love and loss and mental illness. But try telling that to my dad who could not believe how realistic Tomb Raider 2 looked – especially in comparison to the blocky, wall-clipping, polygonal ensemble who engaged in turn-based battles underpinned by a chiptune soundtrack that I spent literally hundreds of hours with in my pre-teens.
