The Final Fantasy VII Remake official Twitter account tweeted that the release date for Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade on the Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Xbox is January 22nd. The accompanying image in the post included a comparison of the notorious enemy Hell House, showing the incredible transformation from the original game of 1997 to the modern remake. The users who do electronic purchases will receive the original Final Fantasy VII game and so have the chance to compare the two versions of the game directly.
Thus, Square Enix has announced the date and it is close. Very close. January 22nd. The entire Intergrade package is coming – including the Yuffie DLC and all the next-gen upgrades – to the consoles that missed them before. Naturally, the Switch 2 is a considerable gain, but also the owning of a proper Xbox version finally will be a significant milestone for many gamers who have been anticipating the release for a long time. The tweet amounts to nothing but a mere side-by-side comparison of the no-longer invisible and blocky and polygonal house monster and its detailed and terrifying remake counterpart. It is a competition, plain and simple, and a “look what we can do now” competition at that. And the comments? Oh yeah, the comments are where it gets messy in the best way.
Players have dived right in the middle of the debate, which has always existed, very quickly: is the remake really better than the original? Players like AnimexPlayer and TheVikingNinja117 are very vocal in the threads and are actively defending the new vision. “I love ff7 og and I played ff7 og before ff7r and I consider that ff7r it’s better than og,” AnimexPlayer claims, which is a pretty bold position indeed. VikingNinja117 goes even further, declaring that the haters are afraid of change and that Square Enix are “geniuses” because of the alternate timeline approach. They see the remake project as their own ambitious thing, a “part 5” as one reply puts it, not just a copy-paste job.
However, if you scroll down just a bit, you will see that the other side has already hit back. User PRIMAL just simply comes in with a brutal one-liner: “Except the top image is still more fun than whatever that is in the bottom.” Ouch. That’s the argument of the purist in a nutshell – the simplicity of the old turn-based combat, the mystery of the original’s storytelling, all that nostalgia. Another user, ggalindo23, is even more straightforward: “Never. Og always better. Stop remaking games while pandering to the west.” It is a battle that has been going on since the release of Remake, and this tweet just added more fuel to the fire.
The fighting comes along with the usual humorous gamer reactions. People are sharing bad memories brought on by the games. “This boss in remake made me so mad. I had a lot of trouble with it,” Lock user says, and honestly? That’s the case with me too. Hell House in Remake is a difficult fight. Another gamer, Krabs, says that original has absurd charm: “I love how the original FF7 doesn’t explain the house enemies you just have to accept it and move on.” Indeed! A haunted house simply… attacks you. Don’t bother asking why, just fight. Modern games need to explain everything, but the OG was just vibes. And of course, there’s the hype. Dizzaract calls the visual upgrade “chef’s kiss” and assures that he/she is ready for January. Vash just posts a hype GIF. The excitement of finally getting to play this on their desired box is very real.
There is some practical talk too, like xoshi being disappointed that the pre-order seems to be digital-only when they were looking for a physical copy. And opwnusprime expressing the need we all feel: “Make queens blood a standalone game.” Seriously Square, we will pay for that card game trust! But the core of the conversation always swings back to that split. Is it a respectful modernization or a betrayal of the source material? The tweet itself, with its “good renovation” line, clearly plants Square’s flag in the first camp. They are proud of the glow-up.
This whole thing is way bigger than just a release date announcement. It’s a snapshot of a gaming community wrestling with its own history. Final Fantasy VII is not only a game but also a monument. The risk of touching it was always going to be tremors. Some players regard the new combat, the expanded Midgar, the wild story deviations as thrilling evolution while others see it as losing the soul of what made the original special. And to be honest? Both sides have their arguments.
