One of the biggest worries going into Final Fantasy VII Remake was whether or not it would stay faithful to some of the stranger elements present in the original 1997 Japanese RPG. All worries were quickly assuaged, however, upon booting up the game and playing for a few hours.
The quirky sense of humor and oddities of the world shine brighter than ever in this hyper-realistic interpretation of Midgar. As a series, Final Fantasy is able to pull off strange moments no other game could execute without being laughed out of the room. If any other title tried any of the 10 things below, it would feel totally out of place.
10 Don Corneo
The remake manages to make Don Corneo creepier than ever with the Wall Market residents' talk of women who enter his mansion and never leave. The party infiltrates his estate auditioning as future brides, Cloud included. What makes the scene even funnier is how a couple of characters seem to see through Cloud's disguise right away, but Corneo is fooled up until the end.
9 Everyone Wants To Smooch
It is understandable, considering everybody in this game is a young warrior at their physical peak, but any other game with this much flirting would be considered unbearable.
Cloud either doesn't read signals or doesn't care, but Tifa, Aerith, and Jessie clearly have feelings for him. Additionally, everybody in town seems to have a crush on Tifa. Being admired is nice, but literally everybody in town talking about you has to get worrisome after a while.
8 The Plot Twists
If Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes or the recent Resident Evil 3 remake did something similar with its source material, people would probably be gathering outside the developer's office with torches and pitchforks. With Final Fantasy, however, it is the perfect way to make longtime fans excited for the future and keep them guessing until the end. To its credit, the ending also has a lot more logic than some of the other more outlandish plot twists in other Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts games.
7 Scarlet
Scarlet has a small role in this entry, though every scene showcases her unique personality. A cameraman flees in fright from her and drops his apparatus, while later on she is shown using a Shinra soldier as a footrest. She constantly berates everyone and does her best to degrade them. While some would consider this overboard, for Final Fantasy VII it just displays how evil she is.
6 Madam M's Hand Massage
Chapter 9 features a hand massage from Madam M. Depending on which type of massage the player purchases, Cloud's reaction slightly differs.
The most luxurious hand massage sees him walking out slightly in a daze, barely acknowledging Aerith's words. That was certainly some mighty hand massage and definitely not a euphemism used to imply anything else about what transpired between Cloud and Madam M.
5 Wedge
For such a dark story, Final Fantasy VII Remake never relents on its humor. However, not every joke lands equally. For example, in 2020 the writers still thought it was funny to have the overweight character constantly muse about food and bemoan his hunger. At least he turns out to be heroic and help the party on several occasions.
4 Making A Small Portion Of The Original A Whole Game
Could another game in the medium's history pull off a similar format for a remake? Would people accept if an Ocarina of Time reimagining made the Great Deku Tree dungeon and Kokiri Forest an entire game? Probably not. Final Fantasy VII covers so much ground and so thoroughly fleshes out its world that the idea of chopping it up into several games seems more doable.
3 Power Of Music Quest
One sidequest after the Sector 7 Plate's collapse sees Cloud gather specific pieces of music to cheer up refugees in Wall Market. After putting them on the jukebox, the residents gain new inspiration to move on with their lives after the tragedy. One of the tracks is a dance-themed number. Once players activate the song, an old man starts grooving along with the tune and shows Betty, the young quest giver, the proper moves.
2 Johnny
Johnny is a small recurring character whom Cloud and Tifa save in the opening hours. He then shows up in Wall Market and vows to save Tifa's life after hearing about her auditioning to become one of Corneo's brides. The clumsy character ends up getting himself into more trouble as the game goes on, with the final sidequest involving him tasking players with retrieving his stolen goods. Even after the darkest chapter of the game, players still run into this doofus and fix his problems.
1 How Different The Party Looks From Everyone Else
Did any of the Shinra soldiers scouring the streets for the terrorists who just bombed the reactor stop and think to question the guy walking around with the giant sword on his back or the dude with a literal gun for an arm? Nobody should be stopped and questioned based purely on how they look, but Avalanche are walking around with deadly weapons after part of the city just blew up; surely that is a red flag.