History YMMV / FinalFantasyVIIRemake

* CompleteMonster:
** [[BigBad President Shinra]] is the leader of Midgar and the President of [[Characters/FinalFantasyVIIRemakeShinraInc Shinra Electric Power Company]], which powers Midgar with the Mako Energy from the planet's Lifestream, with Shinra uncaring of what will happen to the planet if the energy runs out. When AVALANCHE fights back against Shinra, he has his men destroy Mako Reactors 1 and 5, endangering many lives while [[FrameUp framing AVALANCHE for the crimes]]. In order to get rid of AVALANCHE for good, Shinra orders Sector 7 to be destroyed, resulting in the deaths of many innocent lives, while framing AVALANCHE and accusing them of being allies for Wutai in order to [[PretextForWar have a excuse to go to war with them]]. After Aerith is captured by the Turks, Shinra plans on using her to lead him to the "Promised Land," while also allowing Hojo's plan on having Aerith [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped by SOLDIERS]] in order for her to reproduce to "mitigate the risks". Afterwards, he plans on abandoning Midgar and its people and then building a new Midgar in the "Promised Land" with unlimited Mako Energy for him to rule. A [[CorruptCorporateExecutive cruel and vile businessman]] who believes that truth, justice, honor, and freedom are vain indulgences, President Shinra will gladly kill anyone in order to [[ItsAllAboutMe achieve his own personal desires]].
** [[TheDon Don Corneo]], the lord of Wall Market, is a ruthless Mafioso fully on board with Shinra's plan to bomb Sector 7 to oblivion with the promise of a new and improved Wall Market to reign over, and [[CardCarryingVillain has no compunction calling himself a "villain"]]. A [[DirtyOldMan sickening pervert]], Corneo is known for [[SerialRapist claiming nightly brides]], from willing and unwilling women alike, passing others to his men to be "enjoyed" by them. Once he is done, the women are [[FedToTheBeast fed to his monstrous pet Abzu]], a pattern that has continued for a very long time, with not even the loved ones of his own subordinates safe.

** Another popular theory with Cleriths is that certain [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GB7n7DzXsAI_B02?format=jpg&name=medium concept art]] depicting Cloud approaching Aerith's home in his AC outfit, despite "official" explanations that the AC outfit was a placeholder from back when they wanted to re-imagine the FFVII characters as having worn the AC outfits throughout the entire compilation, is allegedly a subtle hint that Aerith would survive the events of the ''Remake'' trilogy and get her happy ending with Cloud.

** Even for how depraved Hojo was in the original, he should have known that it was [[ArtisticLicenseBiology impossible for Aerith and Red XIII to breed viable children]]. In ''Remake'', he instead suggests breeding Aerith with SOLDIER members, which preserves his depravity but makes much more logical sense.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Some players take issue with Red XIII's change in voice, believing it to be an unnecessary decision that ruins his character. However, Red's speech patterns changing from an adult to closer to how a kid would talk was always a part of the original Japanese version, and was simply never translated over.

** The existence of ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' has made players who are fans of Zack Fair wonder if they get to play as him whenever you reach the true flashback scenes and his LastStand. The ''Crisis Core Reunion'' remaster released in the aftermath of ''Remake'' keeps the original ending intact [[spoiler:but you do get to play the sequence again, with Zack surviving, in the opening level of ''Rebirth''.]]

** The existence of ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' has made players who are fans of Zack Fair wonder if they get to play as him whenever you reach the true flashback scenes and his LastStand. A rumor that there is going to be a DLC for this also ran rampant.

** Adding to the previous point, if a bosses' HP is lowered to a certain level, they're staggered and a cutscene ''doesn't'' play, their HP becomes locked and you cannot damage them any further until the stagger ends and the cutscene begins. The sequel, ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRebirth]]'' at least amends this problem by adding a visual indicator to tell you when HP damage is blocked and a phase change needs to occur.

** Adding to the previous point, if a bosses' HP is lowered to a certain level, they're staggered and a cutscene ''doesn't'' play, their HP becomes locked and you cannot damage them any further until the stagger ends and the cutscene begins.

** The Wall Market subquest was considered by some to have aged poorly, with the bodybuilders being blatant homosexual non-con stereotypes, the Honey Bee Inn being a brothel employing girls in sexy bee costumes, and Cloud's cross-dressing was treated like something shameful and embarrassing that others made fun of. ''Remake'' revamps the sequence in various ways to make it go over better. In place of the bodybuilders, we have Andrea, who is definitely {{Camp}} but is much more dignified than stalker Mukki; the Honeybee Inn has employees of both genders and is presented more as a fancy entertainment lounge than a seedy brothel; the only person who teases Cloud's cross-dressing is Aerith, but she does so because she's amused by ''him'' being embarrassed by it and she doesn't mock the act itself; and as a whole the Honeybee Inn sequence is ''so'' campy and over-the-top that it achieves RefugeInAudacity.

** In the original release, the Auto-Cure and Synergy Materia only wasted Materia slots on having your AI teammates use their ATB to act under certain circumstances, a function also provided by the R2 button. Averted in ''Intergrade'' which massively increases the usefulness of Synergy materia as spells casted with it no longer have ATB or MP cost, allowing the teammate to spam a large amount of spells resource free.

** "Peeress of Pull-Ups" requires you to beat all three opponents in the pull-up minigame in Chapter 14. The first two aren't that bad, but the last one against Jules requires you to press buttons so fast that muscle memory and dumb luck can very well factor into whether or not you win. If you make even '''one''' mistake, you may as well give up since Jules will gain a lead you'll never be able to catch up to. To add to this, Jules lets out a laugh when he wins. This isn't so bad the first few times, but chances are you're going to hear it over and over ''and over'' before finally you beat him. [[note]]The true difficulty here comes from the fact that the button prompts are randomized and can change order between rounds. Not to mention, Jules will only ever suffer a single stamina penalty per round, and given that Tifa's own stamina drain can occur at the same time Jules fall from the bar, it could effectively erase the one "safety net" the player is given in the contest. Combining this unfortunately leads to this becoming something of a LuckBasedMission.[[/note]]

** On the other hand both the expansion of Cloud's interactions with both girls and the ending heated up shipping war discussions in the fandom with both factions of the shipping war, with debates on the ending being split in many circles based on shipping preferences. The vast majority of Clerith shippers believe that the Remake trilogy is a StealthSequel where Cloud and Aerith finally get their happy ending(with the ending theme ''Hollow'' seemingly foreshadowing that Cloud will save her this time around). Conversely, the vast majority of Cloti shippers either believe the Remake trilogy to be a genuine remake or Compilation-friendly reimagining of the original game or they believe that Aerith's fate to be immutable regardless of any major stroy changes. Heating things up further is the presence of Toriyama and Hamaguchi in the development of the Remake trilogy and the perception of both developers as excessively pro-[=CloudXAerith=] within shipper circles, with Cleriths believing that their presence on the development team will see the love triangle be resolved towards [=CloudXAerith=], while Clotis believe that Normura and Nojima (both of whom are commonly perceived as favoring [=CloudXTifa=], even through their [[CommonKnowledge actual stances are more complicated]]) will restrain them from tilting the love triangle in that direction.

** "Battle Intel 18: MP Consumption" asks that you master all twelve kinds of magic materia in the game. Most of them you'll easily max out just by grinding a bit during your first run, but some of them require loads of AP, with the Revival Materia needing a whopping five '''''thousand''''' AP to upgrade. Even with both the AP Up Materia (acquired from maxing out the Pedometer Materia) and AP bonus you get from finishing the story, that one will take a while.

** So this is were Kyrie went.[[labelnote:Explanation]] Thanks to the same name, many fans joked that the reason why Kyrie never appeared in ''Devil May Cry 5'' was because she was in Midgar City.[[/labelnote]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Jessie started off as very popular with her detailed background, her flirty personality and a possible love option for Cloud. The fact that she was added to Dissidia Opera Omnia is an illustration of it. However, there are fans who find her sassy attitude annoying, cast doubt on her feelings for Cloud, and argue that she overstayed her welcome, seeing as Cloud already has two potential love interests, Tifa and Aerith. With [[spoiler:Biggs confirmed to have survived his fated death at the end of Remake and the implication that Jessie could've too, fans became even more divided, with some interested in seeing more of her and others wishing she'd either stay dead or be relegated to a lesser supporting role]].

* MisBlamed:
** As expected, Creator/TetsuyaNomura gets the brunt of various criticisms from some fans and critics concerning things that are out of his control, such as the lack of news concerning the development process. While Nomura is a noted perfectionist, he has also been on record as stating that he's wanted to share news on the project for some time, but the higher-ups at Square Enix kept insisting on having the project under wraps, usually using the excuse of "saving it for a big event." It's also to note that Nomura can easily be seen as ''the'' scapegoat, as ''he'' didn't even know he was in charge of the remake until Square announced it at E3. In addition, while Nomura is the director, he is not the writer for the games as some have implied; Kazushige Nojima and Motomu Toriyama are (though Nomura does still share some of the blame here, as his role as director still means that he ''did'' have the authority to veto their decisions and apparently chose not to). It also wouldn't be close to the first time that Nomura has come under fire over the writing of [[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren various]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII divisive]] [[VideoGame/The3rdBirthday projects]] they were creatively involved in.

** On the other hand both the expansion of Cloud's interactions with both girls and the ending heated up shipping war discussions in the fandom with both factions of the shipping war, with debates on the ending being split in many circles based on shipping preferences. The vast majority of Clerith shippers believe that the Remake trilogy is a StealthSequel where Cloud and Aerith finally get their happy ending(with the ending theme ''Hollow'' seemingly foreshadowing that Cloud will save her this time around). Conversely, the vast majority of Cloti shippers believe in the "[[spoiler: alternate timeline Zack is actually main timeline Zack DeadAllAlong and stuck in limbo]]" theory or any theories about the next two games in the trilogy that will see Aerith dying regardless. Heating things up further is the presence of Toriyama and Hamaguchi in the development of the Remake trilogy and the perception of both developers as excessively pro-[=CloudXAerith=] within shipper circles, with Cleriths believing that their presence on the development team will see the love triangle be resolved towards [=CloudXAerith=], while Clotis believe that Normura and Nojima (both of whom are commonly perceived as favoring [=CloudXTifa=], even through their [[CommonKnowledge actual stances are more complicated]]) will restrain them from tilting the love triangle in that direction.

** Whether or not Chapter 18 actually [[spoiler:[[OffTheRails pushes]] Remake into full-blown StealthSequel territory]], the discussions around such having only intensified in the years following Remake's release. One side of the fanbase argues that [[spoiler:''Remake'', and by extension the rest of the trilogy, can be still considered a genuine remake or "definitive" re-imagining of ''FFVII'' which fits better with the rest of the ''Compilation'']], citing developer statements claiming that the story won't change all that much and that all the locations, characters and story beats from the original game are still present in the ''7R'' trilogy. With regard to the big revelations in Chapter 18, they argue that many of these plot changes can be well-explained by Lifestream shenanigans and/or obscure lore already present in the original game or ''Compilation'' side materials (e.g., that the planet has always been omniscient; that the Whispers could have plausibly existed in (the background of) earlier entries; that [[spoiler:Zack and Biggs (and perhaps Jessie and Wedge as well), are not alive but in a sort-of limbo between life and death]]). The other side argues that Chapter 18's [[spoiler:revelations have already added so many new mysteries and plot devices that it is no longer possible for future games to follow the flow of the original narrative]], and that the developers could just be lying yet again, since they also [[LyingCreator said]] that ''Remake'' would be faithful to the original game, only for [[spoiler:Chapter 18 to prove otherwise]] in the minds of those who believe the ending changes are already too drastic. They also argue that the prospect of the ''Remake'' being a [[spoiler:genuine remake/reimagining with new elements such as the Whispers]] retroactively [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks depreciates the original game's legacy]] by making the lore and narrative [[KudzuPlot more needlessly convoluted]].

** The Wall Market subquest was considered by some to have aged poorly, with the bodybuilders being blatant homosexual stereotypes, the Honey Bee Inn being a brothel employing girls in sexy bee costumes, and Cloud's cross-dressing was treated like something shameful and embarrassing that others made fun of. ''Remake'' revamps the sequence in various ways to make it go over better. In place of the bodybuilders, we have Andrea, who is definitely {{Camp}} but is much more dignified than Mukki; the Honeybee Inn has employees of both genders and is presented more as a fancy entertainment lounge than a seedy brothel; the only person who teases Cloud's cross-dressing is Aerith, but she does so because she's amused by ''him'' being embarrassed by it and she doesn't mock the act itself; and as a whole the Honeybee Inn sequence is ''so'' campy and over-the-top that it achieves RefugeInAudacity.

** Whether or not Chapter 18 actually [[spoiler:[[OffTheRails pushes]] Remake into full-blown StealthSequel territory]], the discussions around such having only intensified in the years following Remake's release. One side of the fanbase argues that [[spoiler:''Remake'', and by extension the rest of the trilogy, can be still considered a genuine remake or "definitive" re-imagining of ''FFVII'' which fits better with the rest of the ''Compilation'']], citing developer statements claiming that the story won't change all that much and that all the locations, characters and story beats from the original game are still present in the ''7R'' trilogy. With regard to the big revelations in Chapter 18, they argue that many of these plot changes can be well-explained by Lifestream shenanigans and/or obscure lore already present in the original game or ''Compilation'' side materials (e.g., that the planet has always been omniscient; that the Whispers could have plausibly existed in (the background of) earlier entries; that [[spoiler:Zack and Biggs (and perhaps Jessie and Wedge as well), are not alive but in a sort-of limbo between life and death]]). The other side argues that Chapter 18's [[spoiler:revelations have already added so many new mysteries and plot devices that it is no longer possible for future games to follow the flow of the original narrative]], and that the developers could just be lying yet again, since they also said that ''Remake'' would be faithful to the original game, only for [[spoiler:Chapter 18 to prove otherwise]] in the minds of those who believe the ending changes are already too drastic. They also argue that the prospect of the ''Remake'' being a [[spoiler:genuine remake/reimagining with new elements such as the Whispers]] retroactively [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks depreciates the original game's legacy]] by making the lore and narrative [[KudzuPlot more needlessly convoluted]].

** Whether or not Chapter 18 actually [[spoiler: [[OffTheRails pushes]] Remake into full-blown StealthSequel territory]], the discussions around such having only intensified in the years following Remake's release. One side of the fanbase argues [[spoiler: that ''Remake'', and by extension the rest of the trilogy, can be still considered a genuine remake or "definitive" re-imagining of ''FFVII'' which fits better with the rest of the ''Compilation'']], citing developer statements claiming that the story won't change all that much and that all the locations, characters and story beats from the original game are still present in the ''7R'' trilogy. With regard to the big revelations in Chapter 18, they argue that many of these plot changes can be well-explained by Lifestream shenanigans and/or obscure lore already present in the original game or ''Compilation'' side materials (e.g., that the planet has always been omniscient; that the Whispers could have plausibly existed in (the background of) earlier entries; that [[spoiler: Zack and Biggs (and perhaps Jessie and Wedge as well), are not alive but in a sort-of limbo between life and death]]). The other side argues that Chapter 18's [[spoiler: revelations have already added so many new mysteries and plot devices that it is no longer possible for future games to follow the flow of the original narrative]], and that the developers could just be lying yet again, since they had also said that ''Remake'' would be faithful to the original game, only for [[spoiler: Chapter 18 to prove otherwise]] (in the minds of those who believe the ending changes are already too drastic). They also argue that the prospect of the ''Remake'' being a [[spoiler: genuine remake/reimagining with new elements such as the Whispers]] retroactively [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks depreciates the original game's legacy]] by making the lore and narrative [[KudzuPlot more needlessly convoluted]].

** Whether or not Chapter 18 actually [[spoiler: [[OffTheRails pushes]] Remake into full-blown StealthSequel territory]], the discussions around such having only intensified in the years following Remake's release. One side of the fanbase argues [[spoiler: that ''Remake'', and by extension the rest of the trilogy, can be still considered a genuine remake or "definitive" re-imagining of ''FFVII'' which fits better with the rest of the ''Compilation'']], citing developer statements claiming that the story won't change all that much and that all the locations, characters and story beats from the original game are still present in the ''7R'' trilogy. With regard to the big revelations in Chapter 18, they argue that many of these plot changes can be well-explained by Lifestream shenanigans and/or obscure lore already present in the original game or ''Compilation'' side materials (e.g., that the planet has always been omniscient; that the Whispers could have plausibly existed in (the background of) earlier entries; that [[spoiler: Zack and Biggs (and perhaps Jessie and Wedge as well), are not alive but in a sort-of limbo between life and death]]). The other sside argues that the developers had already said that ''Remake'' would be faithful to the original game, only for [[spoiler: Chapter 18 to prove otherwise]] and that they could be lying yet again, and that Chapter 18's [[spoiler: revelations make it impossible for any future games to follow the flow of the original narrative]]. They also consider the idea of the ''Remake'' being a [[spoiler: genuine remake/reimagining supplanting the original with elements such as the Whispers and characters receiving visions of the future]] as ultimately making the story [[KudzuPlot more needlessly convoluted]] and [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks cheapening much of the pacing and themes present in the original game]].

** Whether or not Chapter 18 actually [[spoiler: [[OffTheRails pushes]] Remake into full-blown StealthSequel territory]], the discussions around such having only intensified in the years following Remake's release. One side of the fanbase argues [[spoiler: that Remake, and by extension the rest of the trilogy, can be still considered a genuine remake]], noting developer statements over the years claiming that the story won't change all that much. With regard to the big revelations in Chapter 18, they argue that many of these plot changes can be well explained by both general Lifestream shenanigans(mainly the idea that [[spoiler: the Whispers]] have always been hinted at in earlier material and that [[spoiler: Zack, Biggs, and likely Jessie and Wedge as well, are not revived but are rather in an ''afterlife'' of sorts]]) and obscure lore present in compilation side material and the original game now made more apparent in order to create a "definitive" and reimagined version of FFVII fitting better into the Compilation. Another side argues that the developers have claimed the same things regarding Remake, only for [[spoiler: Chapter 18 to prove otherwise]] and that they could be lying yet again, and that Chapter 18's [[spoiler: revelations make it impossible for any future games to follow the flow of the original narrative]]. They also consider the idea of the Remake being a [[spoiler: genuine remake/reimagining supplanting the original with elements such as the Whispers and characters receiving visions of the future as ultimately making the story more convoluted and cheapening much of the pacing and themes present in the original game]].

** Chapter 18 as a whole along with its [[spoiler:meta commentary on the concept of remakes with the Whispers, the major deviation from the original game's plot as compared to previous chapters and [[TheEndingChangesEverything the ending itself]] revealing that the series is actually a StealthSequel]]. Supporters are glad that [[spoiler:Remake is becoming its own thing and resolving issues which they might have had with the original game, find the [[MetaFiction meta commentary]] to be a clever and interesting concept, including the DoubleMeaningTitle, and consider the battle against the Whisper Harbinger and Sephiroth an epic way to end Part 1. They also argue that the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII the original game]] is still there for those who want a faithful retelling of the story]]. Detractors [[spoiler:believe that Square Enix promoting the first installment as a "remake" and then delivering an entirely different meaning of the word is effectively [[NeverTrustATrailer tricking them into buying something other than the straight remake they wanted]], that the [[SerialEscalation escalation of the threat was far too abrupt and early]] (going from Shinra's military to a godlike physical manifestation of destiny), that the meta commentary feels shoehorned and [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall immersion-breaking]], turning the characters into mere conduits for it, that the heroes lack a sufficient motivation to defy destiny, the Whispers' addition feeling unnecessary, inconsistent and reminiscent of [[Franchise/KingdomHearts the Heartless]], and having the heroes defeat the Whisper Harbinger and going toe-to-toe with Sephiroth this soon nullifies any future threats they might face]]. Another group of fans who liked the changes, or at least are fine with them, feel the game may have shown its hand too early and are left wondering [[spoiler:how future installments can possibly top the finale of the first part wherein the characters destroy a physical manifestation of fate and even get an epic showdown with Sephiroth (complete with the iconic "One-Winged Angel" theme), during which a mirror-universe version of Midgar is blown up by the scale of the fight]].
** Whether ''Remake'' in general loses a lot of the interesting subtlety, pacing and tone-building in the original, like [[spoiler:the characters getting several glimpses of future events from the original (i.e., Aerith's death, Meteor falling, the battle with Sephiroth at the Northen Crater), Hojo nearly revealing to Cloud that he wasn't in SOLDIER or Sephiroth appearing much earlier than in the original game and openly stating a lot of his intentions]]. Supporters say that most of the original game's twists and plot points are well-known, and that these changes allow for deeper characterization, and if ''Remake'' and its sequels are meant to be a StealthSequel to the original game and the Compilation, they would be justified by the events having already happened in the past in an earlier timeline. Detractors believe that this bombastic and unsubtle approach lessens the overall impact of the story not unlike the ''Compilation''.

** The fact that many characters now appear to have been SparedByAdaptation (including [[spoiler:Zack, AVALANCHE, and a larger number of Sector 7 citizens]]) has further deepened the divide, between supporters who are [[spoiler:happy for their survival, are interested in their roles in future games and hope they [[EarnYourHappyEnding get the happy outcome they didn’t had in the original game]], or alternatively believe that the devs are planning to make Aerith's death a even bigger PlayerPunch by offering the player the illusion that they can save her via sparing multiple characters that died in the OG, only to still kill her off regardless]] and detractors who believe [[spoiler:these characters surviving is contradictory to a CentralTheme from the original game, that being living with tragedy and [[WeAllDieSomeday accepting loss as a fact of life]]]]. A third camp contends that [[spoiler: it is too early to tell if these characters are really SparedByAdaptation, either theorizing that the aforementioned characters were spared in an AlternateTimeline (which increasingly appears to be the case on Zack's part) but still died in the main timeline or that they are all dead anyways and are trapped moreso in a limbo between the real world and the Lifestream, unable to truly pass on due to Mako contamination]].