The upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake – announced way back at E3 2015 – will feature a time-based combat system based on that of the original game. It will be called ‘Classic’ mode and feature action (or ATB) gauges that fill over time rather than as you take actions, and will even include the familiar FF menu format, which you can choose to use if you prefer.
Yoshinori Kitase, Final Fantasy VII Remake producer, announced at the Tokyo Game Show this weekend (via Polygon). Further details have been shared on the game’s official Twitter account – one says “in the original FinalFantasy VII, you would wait around until the ATB Gauge fills up, and then select a move to initiate your attack. With Classic Mode in FF7R the team have re-created the same style of play!”
The tweets go on to say that, while the ATB (Active Time Battle) gauge will fill as you pound on your enemy, it automatically refills in Classic Mode, meaning you won’t “have to worry about the action side of the combat system, and can instead focus on selecting commands, making it possible to play FF7R as if it were a classic menu-based RPG.”
This will likely be welcome news to fans of the series and original Final Fantasy VII, which first launched on PC and consoles in 1997, looking for a pretty authentic recreation of the now 22-year-old game.
So anyone playing #FinalFantasy VII Remake in Classic Mode does not have to worry about the action side of the combat system, and can instead focus on selecting commands, making it possible to play #FF7R as if it were a classic menu-based RPG!
— FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE (@finalfantasyvii) September 14, 2019
However, as the Classic Mode will be optional, there’s plenty of scope for trying the game’s new combat system instead if that’s your thing. Or both – your choice. One thing’s for sure – these offerings will add a nice aspect of replayability to the game, as they’ll likely feel like quite different approaches to combat.
Earlier this year, Square Enix said that it didn’t have plans to release the games on other platforms beyond the PlayStation 4, but we can always hope that one day a PC release might arrive.