Final Fantasy VII Remake Player Survey Results

Famitsu conducted a survey on Final Fantasy VII Remakes’s players and published the results in the 6 August 2020 issue of the magazine.

The survey was conducted from 26 June to 2 July 2020 and answered by 2938 people. Not all surveyees answered all questions.

Also see:

• FFVII Remake: Interview with Nomura Tetsuya and Kitase Yoshinori
• FFVII Remake: Producer Kitase Yoshinori Discusses What Lead to the Remake and the Original Team’s Involvement in Development
• Safer Sephiroth, W-Materia and More: 7 Mistranslations and Other Oddities in Final Fantasy VII

The Surveyees

There were 1585 male and 1328 female surveyees, while 45 answered “other”. 1287 surveyees were in their 30s while 789 were in their 20s, 682 were in their 40s, 107 were between 10-19, 88 were in their 50s, and 16 were above 60.

2426 surveyees (85.6%) had played Final Fantasy VII, while 399 had not.

Of those who had played FFVII, 2168 surveyees (89.4%) played it on the Playstation, while 369 (15.2%) played it the PSP/PS3 Playstation Classics release, 241 (9.9%) played it on PC, 215 (8.8%) played it on iOS/Android, 825 (34%) played it on the Playstation 4, 229 (9.4%) played it on the Nintendo Switch, 7 (0.3%) played it on the Xbox One, and 45 (1.8%) played it on other platforms. Some surveyees selected multiple platforms.

Satisfaction

Surveyees were polled about how satisfied they were with the game. 2196 (75%) were very satisfied, 511 (17.6%) were quite satisfied, 78 (2.7%) were neither satisfied nor unsatisfied, 67 (2.3%) were quite unsatisfied, and 59 (2%) were unsatisfied.

Some of the comments on how satisfied they were with the game are as below:

• “It was great how it was not just a remake, and respected the flow of the original while changing things” (20s/Male)
• “The graphics and voice acting made it easier to understand the characters’ expressions and thus the story. You can read into more than what is just in the dialogue, and I was moved by the quality. The battles were difficult, but it was fun how the characters’ individuality is put to good use.” (30s/Female)
• “Before I played it I did not want them to change anything. But when I actually played it I found myself engrossed in the story. I had not been into something this much since playing FF7 as an elementary schooler.” (30s/M)

Playtime

493 (16.8%) surveyees played the game for under 40 hours while 912 (31.1%) played it for 40-60 hours, 831 (28.3%) played it for 60-100 hours, and 694 (23.7%) played it for over 100 hours.

Difficulty

293 (9.9%) surveyees played the game on classic mode while 359 (12.2%) played it on easy, 1262 (42.9%) played it on normal, and 1027 (34.9%) played it on hard.

1589 (55.2%) found the game balance to be just right, while 779 (27%) thought it to be slightly difficult, 211 (7.3%) found it to be slightly easy, 171 (5.9%) found it to be very difficult, and 126 (4.4%) found it to be very easy.

Favourite Character in Battle

Surveyees were asked which characters they liked using the most in battle.

Cloud was chosen by 1234 (43%) surveyees, with comments such as:
・”Counters are the best.” (40s/F)
・”When counters activate it feels so good.” (30s/M)

Tifa was chosen by 1033 (36%), with comments such as:
・”I spent more time using Cloud, but Tifa was the most fun. The ease of building up the ATB and being able to overwhelm enemies with speed felt good. The animations were great too, I would like to thank the motion actress for what a great job she did.” (30s/M)
・”Aiming for 300% was really fun!” (40s/F)

Aerith was chosen by 330 (11.5%), with comments such as:
・”The flower-like effects were pretty and using her was fun.” (30s/F)
・”It took time to get used to her, but she’s quite strong! Her animations and voice acting are cute too!” (40s/M)

Barret was chosen by 271 (9.4%), with comments such as:
・”I wasn’t very good at the battles, so being able to attack from long range was helpful. Being able to shoot a lot was also fun.” (60s/F)
・”Like in the original, it feels great when you use Maximum Fury*.” (20s/M)
* Anger Max in the Japanese versions of the game; “Ungarmax” in the original English release of FF7 and “Maximum Fury” in the English release of 7R

Enemy to Leave the Greatest Impression

Surveyees were asked which enemies left the greatest impression on them, and the top ten were:
1: Hell House (492)
2: Rufus Shinra (172)
3: Bahamut (101)
4: Tonberry (72)
5: Reno (63)
6: Whispers (23)
7: Motor Ball (21)
8:Roche (12)
9: Hundred Gunner/The Arsenal (11)
9: Type-0 Behemoth (11)

Favorite Characters

Finally, surveyees were asked what their favourite characters were, being allowed to select up to three. The top ten were:

1: Cloud (1991)
2: Tifa (1548)
3: Aerith (1433)
4: Jessie (535)
5: Barret (498)
6: Sephiroth (404)
7: Reno (376)
8: Red XIII (312)
9: Rufus Shinra (241)
10: Zack (113)

What would your answers have been? Let us know in the comments below!