Part of what makes the recently releasedFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeso special, other than the original’s heritage, is its ability to adapt for modern audiences. Much of the remake has been revamped and adapted for these audiences, in aspects of gameplay as well as significant narrative revisions. Though with changes to the plot comes consequences in context of the original game that can dramatically shift and compromise motivations.
One in particular is the smallest detail that’s changed in the first Mako reactor raid. While the majority of the game’s opening adheres to the original game to a tee,Final Fantasy 7 Remakemakes a miniscule but significant change that shifts the Shinra-Avalanche dynamic in a polarizing way.Note: Some minor spoilers for theFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeopening hours.
The Original Mako Reactor Raid
Between both theFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeand the original game, the events of the first Mako reactor raid play out practically the same. Cloud and Avalanche infiltrate the reactor compound on the Shinra cargo train, fight through Shinra security forces, before planting the bomb in the reactor’s core andfighting the iconic Guard Scorpion boss battle. The two games begin to differ after the Guard Scorpion boss battle in significant ways.
In the original game, Avalanche and the gang plant the bomb in the reactor’s core and escape the facility just in time. Avalanche succeeds in their mission to destroy the reactor and they escapeto the Sector 8 Slums. The explosion destroys the reactor and some surrounding neighborhoods, with Avalanche justifying civilian casualties in the name of saving the planet and taking the fight to Shinra. Avalanche returns to Seventh Heaven and celebrates their success unscathed, despite the implications that several civilian lives were lost in the process. Avalanche is branded a terrorist group for their actions, leaving players to imagine Midgar’s society has to interpret whether or not their actions came from heroism or anarchy.
Remake’s Mako Reactor Raid
Remake’s interpretation of theMako reactor explosion follows an ultimately different path. Rather than Avalanche’s bomb creating a more calculated explosion of the reactor, the bomb is sabotaged by falling debris in the reactor. The Guard Scorpion boss battle causes environmental chaos, surrounding the bomb with tons of scrap metal. Avalanche escapes the reactor, but the bomb doesn’t cause enough significant damage to ignite the reactor. President Shinra monitors the situation and realizes Avalanche doesn’t fulfill its goal and enacts its unexpected contingency plan.
Rather than repair the reactor after the attempted detonation, Shinra’s automated security forces were ordered by President Shinra to fire on the reactor themselves. In the end Shinra causes an even grander chain reaction than what Avalanche had planned, causing severe damage to the Midgar’s top plate inhabitants and neighborhoods. Cloud and Avalanche escape amidst the chaos, though not without realizing the irreparable harm they brought upon Midgar citizens.Jessie, Biggs, and Wedgeall have to come to grips with the destruction they wrought, while in their minds thinking that they were the sole perpetrators of all the damage.
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Less Moral Grey-Area
Both scenarios evoke a distinctly different feeling, despite the similarity between scenarios. In the originalFinal Fantasy 7, Avalanche is deliberately causing the destruction to the reactor and the surrounding sector neighborhoods. There is no evidence of Shinra tampering with or influencing the operation, only acting in the defense of the reactor. Justifying Avalanche’s mako reactor raid becomes much more morally ambiguous, since it lets players interpret whether or not they believe their actions were heroic in nature. Giving players that freedom of interpretationmakes Avalanche’s righteousness that much more nuanced and complex, fully knowing the lives of innocent citizens may have been lost with no regard from Barret or anyone else.
InFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, the scene is changedto paint Shinra in a blatantly sinister light. Causing the destruction themselves places Shinra in a position of pure evil, which in turn lessens the impact of Avalanche’s mission. For example, Jessie explains after the reactor bombing that she’s perplexed as to why detonating the bomb was seismically stronger than expected. Jessie feels remorseful for the amount of destruction the bomb created, meaning Avalanche was attempting to limit or eliminate the possibility of civilian casualties.
This intention was never made clear in the original game, which in a way added a surprisingly subtle but deep moral quandary as a result. Barret makes it clear that Avalanche’s actions are in the name of saving the planet, but players are left to their own devices to determine whether civilian casualties are a worthy sacrifice.Final Fantasy 7 Remakedoes allude to this feeling in its own way, but makes a concerted effort to remove the blame from the Avalanche crew.Shinra is the enemy in this case, not Avalanche, and any blame should be pointed their way without a shadow of a doubt.
Of course, the originalFinal Fantasy 7andRemakedo eventually reveal the true evil intentions of Shinra in the end, but this moral ambiguity in the beginning of the original game helped cultivate a sense of a moral grey-area. Midgar had no perfect heroes, and while that statement does still ring true forFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, it does lessen the “anything it takes” mantra of Avalanche’s sabotage significantly.
