Briana White, the English voice actress for Aerith in Final Fantasy VII Remake, has a popular gaming channel on YouTube called Strange Rebel Gaming. She recently started an all new series where she, along with Barrett voice actor John Bently, play through the original 1997 release of Final Fantasy VII.
The first video in the series can be viewed below.
The two play through the first major adventure in the game, marveling at the opening cinematic before diving into the assault on the Sector 1 Mako Reactor. They’re playing the game on the recently released Nintendo Switch version, which comes with cheat codes that supply you with unlimited limit breaks, three times speed, and the ability to turn off random battles.
For Bently, this was a return to form. The voice actor confirmed that he played the original release back in 1997 when it first came out for the original Sony PlayStation. White, however, has never played the original Final Fantasy VII, so this was an entirely new experience for her. Bently tries several times to explain to White how groundbreaking the graphics were for the time, and how Final Fantasy VII changed the face of modern gaming forever.
White seemed fairly unphased by the graphics, clearly comparing them to the gaming experience of today, but thoroughly enjoyed the tactical style of combat offered by the original’s turn-based battles.
The voice actors also read the dialogue lines aloud, as there was no voice acting in the original Final Fantasy VII. Bently even drops into his Barrett voice for one line in the very beginning, but delivers the rest of the dialogue in his normal speaking voice. When we briefly see Aerith, following the reactor’s destruction, White totally came alive with glee and gave us a little taste of what we’re in store for in the remake by reading the Flower Girl’s lines.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is a complete remake of the original release. While the game has seen several re-releases over the years, this is the first time it is being completely redone with modern graphics. The original game is an absolute masterpiece, and one of the most famous RPGs of all time.
The game was originally set to release in early March, but Square Enix recently pushed the date back to April 10, 2020 in order to have a few extra weeks to finalize the game and perfect it. This is just the first installment of what Square has promised to be a multi-game project.
