Final Fantasy 7 Remake looks surprisingly good with the fixed camera angles of the original game, as a new fan-made video proves.
Final Fantasy YouTuber Final FanTV put together six minutes of the remake looking much more like the 1997 original with the assistance of some modding tools. It follows Cloud through the opening assault on the Mako Reactor, framing the modern character models and environments with the high and wide camera angles favored in the original game.
The new shots with classic camera angles show off the massive scale of the Shinra facility, with its huge towers and tiny scaffolds stretching out over seemingly bottomless pits. This familiar perspective also makes it easier to appreciate just how close to 1-to-1 some of the recreated environments are compared to the original. The video even features a couple of classic battle scenes, complete with enemies stationed on the left side of the screen and Cloud lunging forward and dashing back for each attack.
While this isn’t a mod itself – if you want to play this way, your best bet will be to grab the same photomode mod tools created by Otis_Inf (opens in new tab) and then manually set up each shot – Final FanTV hopes this inspires modders to apply the same treatment to the game proper. They do recommend modders leave the battle scenes as-is, since most of them are just “too massive” to be able to follow with the old camera angles.
In the meantime, Final Fantasy 7 modders have already gotten busy with the Chaerith mod, which lets the humble flower girl take her brutal arena finisher with her wherever she goes.