Final Fantasy 7 Remake was met with seemingly unyielding praise for the way it took the classic story of the original and modernized it in grand fashion, but Square Enix could take things one step further to create the ultimate experience, raising the ante for Final Fantasy 16 even higher. Considering that the first part of the remake consisted of only the first five or so hours of the original game, it stands to reason that the game has a lot of room to grow in future installments, and one great way for it to do so would be to implement an online cooperative multiplayer mode.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is predominantly a single player experience, and there is nothing wrong with that. As players immerse themselves in Midgar, the care and attention to detail put in by the developers becomes abundantly clear. Even still, adding a multiplayer mode to the game would allow players to experience all of that together as a team, and there are a number of ways this could be done that wouldn’t take away from the experience of the main game. What’s more, there’s actually a history, albeit a small one, of multiplayer Final Fantasy games that Square Enix could look back on for inspiration moving forward.
It should be said right off the bat that multiplayer has never been a focus within main entry Final Fantasy titles, so it is no surprise that it wasn’t featured in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, especially since the original game didn’t have multiplayer. Final Fantasy 4, 5, 6, and 9 each featured a pseudo multiplayer mode where players could assign different party members to different controllers, and Final Fantasy 11 and 14 were both MMOs and therefore had multiplayer baked into them by nature, but aside from this, there was no multiplayer in mainstream Final Fantasy games until recently.
Final Fantasy 15 broke the mold with its Comrades DLC, allowing players to create their own custom character and go on cooperative missions with their friends in online play. This was the first time players weren’t just taking turns selecting commands, but instead moving around a 3D battlefield simultaneously in a main entry Final Fantasy game defeating enemies and completing objectives. Of course, this still wasn’t exactly what fans were hoping for, as being able to play through the story mode in co-op would have definitely been preferred, but it set a precedent for the future of the Final Fantasy franchise.
One of the things holding Final Fantasy 15 back from multiplayer initially was that only Noctis was playable as a character. With each story episode Square Enix released, it came one step closer to allowing players to create their own character with a unique style. By contrast, Final Fantasy 7 Remake already allows players to use Cloud, Barret, Tifa, or Aerith in battle, and each of them have fully functioning movesets and progression laid out. What’s more, the combat of Final Fantasy 7 Remake feels very similar to that of Final Fantasy 15, with just a little more polish placed on top.
If Final Fantasy 7 Remake were to add multiplayer, there are two main ways it could go about this. The first and most preferable way would be to simply make the story playable in co-op, allowing additional players to control the other party members whenever they are with Cloud. This would invite some challenges, but it certainly isn’t impossible. Another option would be to create a mission based mode similar to Final Fantasy 15 Comrades, perhaps allowing players to take on VR Battles online each controlling a different character. Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 will expand the roster of playable characters as well, making this even more viable.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is available now exclusively on PS4.
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