Final Fantasy 7 Remake Is Getting New 'Streamlined Progress' Features For Its Xbox Launch

These are weird features that I personally don't appreciate, half the fun of an RPG is growing with your character. But also, I don't really care that it exists, power to the players and all that 🙏

The mere existence of these options usually kills my enjoyment of a game… it was exactly the same with the ports of FF VII, VIII and IX where you could just activate everything with a single button.

I still have to play my PS4 copy anyway which doesn’t have this feature. It’s totally psychological but for some reason, it just grates on me

I'll never understand people bemoaning the inclusion of optional difficulty options. If it allows more people to play a game, then that is in no way a bad thing and doesn't take a thing away from you if you played the game "normally" or "as intended".

I just finished up Rebirth and had to tone down the difficulty for a few of the boss fights; partly because some of them are quite tricky anyway, and partly because there can be a hell of a lot of visual effects going off in combat, and as someone who is visually impaired I found it difficult to see what was going on sometimes. I dare say that had the ability to adjust the difficulty not been there, I might not have been able to finish the game. The forthcoming extra difficulty options would have been even more welcome.

Wait WHAT? People will make progress in the game at a level that suits them AND they might have ... f ...f ... (pukes 🤢) f fun. BLASPHEMY BURN THE HERETICS!

Random internet response - 2025

I misunderstood the title and subtitle, it had me hoping they fixed the bad combat system. This is just a difficulty setting.

I hated the combat system where it seems like action rpg but once a meter fills up you have to constantly pause the combat and select an action from a menu. Like 10+ times per battle you are fully pausing combat. It would have been better to hotkey those or go with a full turn based combat. It was a bad mix of both genres that didn't work for me.

I didnt hate the combat enough to want a god mode but I did hate the combat enough where I haven't played part 2 yet. Not sure if I ever will.

@BacklogBrad I don't remember if you can do it in Remake, but in Rebirth you can set hotkeys for stuff like spells, skills, synergy abilities, etc.

@Markatron84 that sounds promising.

They just want people who havent' played it to catch up quickly so they can release and build hype for the third lol

Seems like a mode to ensure everybody who plays the game is eligible to purchase a sequel.
Which is fine I guess, I won't be using it, but if you are just interested in a streamlined experience, wish to follow the story without hustle of actually playing.. now you can. There is also YouTube as an option, it's cheaper.

It seems like a semi-automatic mode for enjoying the story. I'd never use it, but I don't mind at all if it exists and people choose to play like that. I would never use it because I'd never learn to play a game like that and I'd never really enjoy it, but if some players want to rush the game or focus on the story, it's absolutely fine. Even playing Donkey Kong Country Returns and other games that have unfair sections that you can only beat after learning the layout of the level by heart, I have never used the assistance! 😂 However, playing some games I have not tried before and are fast-paced, I may start with the easiest difficulty mode, like Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. That case is an exception, because I learnt to play like that.

I used god mode to beat the OG FF7 earlier this year. Went into the final dungeon three times, each taking 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, just to die. I’m not proud of this, but I’m too old to grind. It’s just an option, no one is forcing players to use this feature. People get their feathers ruffled way too much.

@Davinex that or or for people who have played to just go through again quickly or both.

@DJKingaling I remember getting to the end of FF7 on PSone. I couldn't get past the final dungeon as all enemies felt like boss fights. A friend from back then, who was a huge FF7 fan, told me that I apparently messed up the leveling of my characters and I am missing crucial materia. So he intended to show me the end of the game via his own save game. After 50 minutes trying to defeat the last boss, he lost and we gave up. Had to look up the ending online. A big disappointment. 😅

If it's optional, I think it's fine. Other games like Control, Celeste, or Alan Wake 2 have similar options, and I don't think that has prevented anyone from enjoying them.

Eh, I don't mind these in the OG FF games for the simple reason of getting through long battles that were lengthy due to the technicalities of the times, but modern games? No. I personally think Expedition 33 did it better. This just seems like a lazy way to grant accessibility that essentially gives you a god mode.

@Kaloudz out of interest, what are the accessibility and difficulty options like in Expedition 33? I've had my eye on it - as I heard it wasn't obnoxiously long, for a JRPG-inspired game anyway - but I'm a bit wary of the talk of parrying.

Yes, autocorrect: parrying. Not partying, although I am also wary of that.

@Markatron84 Dude!! I'm exactly the same with parrying but it's practically optional. I'll explain...

The game has some difficulty modes (story mode being the accessible mode). Story mode basically makes it easy but not handholding - I believe you can even change the difficulty at any time.

During a fight, you can evade an enemy attack by either dodging or parrying. Both are optional. If you dodge, you avoid damage. If you parry, you avoid damage and counter attack automatically. It's very forgiving though. You could take the hit and (in story mode) it wouldn't make much of a dent.

FF7 (OG) was my favourite game of all time until E33. It's honestly outstanding. It's only about 30 hours long. 50 hours with side content.

@Kaloudz is there a way to alter the length of the parry (or party, thanks again autocorrect) window? I played through Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown earlier in the year and while that had a lot of parrying, it let you lengthen the window, which made it a lot more manageable.

I can understand where the people who want Achievement’s disabled when you use these type of Difficulty/Accessibility options are coming from though.

I play most games on Easy difficulty these days. I ain't even sorry. I'll play this on normal until it annoys me then I'll activate the 9999 HP damage and call it a day.

@Markatron84 I understand it. Some people play games for the challenge. Climbing Mt Everest would be less appealing if there was an escalator.

@Markatron84 Haha, spellcheck is the best isn't it? No there's no way to alter the window, but it's pretty forgiving in story mode. I think the latest update even extended the amount of time needed to react. Honestly though, you can complete the game without ever using it. The penalty isn't that big. You could just dodge instead, which is very, very easy to do. I hate parry systems (I hated and sucked at Sekiro) but in E33, it becomes second nature for even people like us.

@Kaloudz thanks for the info, much appreciated 🙂👍

@Jenkinss but it also takes nothing away from your accomplishment if you don't use the escalator and someone else does.

@Markatron84 Anytime brother!

“You can ignore them if you want to.”

If you add to the end of that sentence:

“But people won’t, and instead bitch and moan about it”

Then you’ve got a slogan for the modern day everything.