They've finally done it, FFVII Remake is officially confirmed for PS4 (and apparently later Xbone and possibly PC):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Kznek1uNVsg

Accordingly, although I'm now revoking this site's long-standing policy of no discussion about a FFVII remake as it's now official, I don't want to see a billion threads all going on about how great this is going to be. Hence make all discussion related to the remake in this thread please. ;)

I hope they don't screw it up too much. Rather curious to know which kind of battle-system it will use; I can't wait to see screens of Yuffie, either.

Gonna buy again a PS4.

They'll fuck it up. Retconning the Compilation in and all the other shit, Nomura will fuck it up.

This post has awakened my account here.

If it comes out and there's consensus that it's amazing, I'll get a PS4 and the game. Right now, I'm actually more excited about Cuphead. But I think remaking it is an intriguing idea.

I am looking so much forward to this! Then I heard this today: "if you love FFVII you don't want this remake, because you don't need or want them to make it any different than what it was."

My view on this is that
it is OK if they mess it up completely,
it's cool if it becomes an inferior rip off,
it's awesome of it's decent.
Because what it is, is a fan service allowing me to look at the world I love so much and revisit the characters I became so attached to from a different angle. And I will still have the original as the original unsullied by any mess they may make. And if they by some miracle make it everything we could only dream of, I will soak myself in tears of joy and rainbows!

So far, the one thing I want the most, is that they keep the feeling and 'taste' of Midgar and the surrounding world. And from what I saw in the trailer FMV they do.

So yeah, I'm allowing myself to be hyped! XD

I can't wait to be honest but they'll never please everyone; some fans will want as much of the original retained as possible but it'll never work that way :)

Hopefully it won't be as boring as the original.

I look forward to seeing how this turns out.

Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. *fingers crossed*

I'm pretty hype about this remake...I wanted it before I knew I wanted it. I wonder what's gonna happen with the materia system and potential improvements.

I don't want to see a billion threads all going on about how great this is going to be.

Wishful thinking. :P

Seriously though, this is so long overdue that I've completely lost whatever interest I might have had. It's been nearly 20 years and all the kids/teens who made AngelFire websites with the moniker XxXSephirothXxX back in the day are in their early to mid-thirties now. If it had been ten years ago, when everyone and their mother was talking about it potentially happening, that would be one thing. But now I feel it's too little too late. I know I can only speak for myself, but for me personally, it's irrelevant. Only a fan remake could ever do it justice. But it seems even SE knows this is probably their last chance at potentially winning back their lost audience, if only temporarily. It will never recapture what FFVII did... it's just another cash-in.


They'll fuck it up.

Indeed.

What's with all the negativity? My bro and I are hyped about this. Who doesn't want to see the best scenes from the original game in HD?

What's with all the negativity? My bro and I are hyped about this. Who doesn't want to see the best scenes from the original game in HD?

Because it's not needed. If you can't be bothered to play the original on PSX, that's your problem. The game was good, but does not deserve all the hype it's been heaped with, and it does NOT need all the compilation. Hironobu Sakaguchi always intended each FF to be complete and whole as a standalone... NOT as part of a compilation.

I agree that it's not needed but I also believe that lots of people will want to see it. So it may not be necessary but it certainly will be a massive talking point in the video gaming regardless of if people are excited for it, find it overhyped, find it a waste of time or think it'll flop. It's got people talking and it'll make lots of money... and hopefully be critically acclaimed in its own right, regardless of the changes to the original game :)

I don't have high hopes. I'll hold out for the PC port and if the PS4 version has really impressed people I'll give it a go, but the room for error is vast. Square-Enix is a joke of the company that crafted the original Final Fantasy 7, and they will rush this in spite of it promising to outsell anything they've done in the past decade.

It's like "burr hurr compilations are bad deviations from original are unacceptable must...be...stand alone.". I mean that's your prerogative and I like the individual universes in each final fantasy but there are compilations for a reason and obviously, to a lot of people, VII has merited a rather extensive compilation! I'm just shivering with antici. . .pation. maybe then they can focus on more compilations for other games...like extending the ivalice alliance (stopping there; this is VII, not XII). I'm sure those guys at square enix got priorities after all.

maybe then they can focus on more compilations for other games...like extending the ivalice alliance (stopping there; this is VII, not XII). I'm sure those guys at square enix got priorities after all.
Or maybe they can make a good standalone game? You know, the kind that Square did? Would be a nice change of pace from forcing their crap down people's throats by making terrible sequel after terrible sequel and capitalizing on successful works before their merge.

Or maybe they can make a good standalone game? You know, the kind that Square did? Would be a nice change of pace from forcing their crap down people's throats by making terrible sequel after terrible sequel and capitalizing on successful works before their merge.

Couldn't of said it any better myself.

Bravely Default was received well and that was a standalone. Besides, trying to guess what any Japanese games developers will do is a thankless and impossible task (hell, we're even getting Shenmue 3, and I never would have thought that would happen! But hey, so long as I can still play Space Harrier down the arcades...)

Square Enix are not immune to the calamity that is engulfing and has basically wiped out the Japanese home console scene. The japs just aren't into console gaming any more, so their developers are winning most of their bread by publishing other people's games right now. Square have published all sorts of stuff in the last few years (Deus Ex Human Revolution, Tomb Raider, and they're even springing for smaller indieish projects like Life is Strange which DontNod were having a hard time selling to anyone else).

So I think its quite unfair to get on their case quite so much. The realities of the Japanese console market mean we can't expect as many original IP games to be developed by the Japs as we're used to anymore. They've got to keep the lights on somehow, and that means publishing games by others which they feel will be hits, and getting their own development teams to focus on what promises to bring in the bacon. Which for them is obviously Final Fantasy, as it is still one of the only truly global franchises.

Basically, being a Japanese games developer/publisher is not a desirable job right about now. The whole landscape of their home industry is being terraformed around them, and uncertainty is the touch of the reaper's scythe to any business. Times have changed, the old rules don't apply anymore, particularly for Japanese developers and publishers.

So throwing out 'helpful' suggestions like 'Oh, why don't they just make some great games?' isn't going to solve anything. Not that it was ever that easy (heck, Final Fantasy got its name from the fact that it was Hironobu's last ditch throw of the dice, before he would be forced to pack in video games development if it wasn't a hit), but the current state of the Jap games market means you look to survive first, and any thoughts of great innovation and inspiration will have to wait. At least until the market stabilizes and the companies at least know what kind of products they need and in what format they should be delivering them,

Because in Japan, all of that is in disarray at the moment with the collapse of traditional console gaming.

No component for a good game depends on the state of the market or shifts of the industry. A good story, script, gameplay, art design, music...none of those are dependent on a specific way of the market. So I don't buy this excuse that they can't make good games because of "the current state of Jap games market," and I'm certainly not going to feel sorry for them simply because the industry is shifting away from where they have succeeded in the past. When the industry or environment changes, you either work hard to re-establish yourself, shift your focus to something you can succeed at, or you go the way of the dinosaurs. Sorry, them's the breaks. If S-E has moved on to publishing, that's fine, they can be a publisher. That's probably where they're best at. But they're trying to have the best of both worlds by publishing and trying to develop games that are simply capitalizing on previous successes. With their track record of putting out shitty game after shitty game, I'm not going to give them the benefit of the doubt that the FF7 remake will break that track record nor will they gain my sympathy just because the economy or industry is bad for them. I've been there myself, but I didn't use that as an excuse to lower my own standards.

And frankly you're missing the point. S-E's standards of what makes a good game just don't cut it. That has nothing to do with the collapse of traditional console gaming. They just don't care.

Well, personally on one hand I admit I am very cynical about this, that it is guaranteed to be retconned to pieces in order to shoehorn the stupid Compilation into it. On the other hand, given how well FFXIV was rebooted into A Realm Reborn (which is definitely SE's best game in, well a very long time,and thoroughly deserving of it's praise), I am cautiously and quietly optimistic that this isn't a FFXIII-style trainwreck.

Having said that.... this pretty much sums it up:

Olde, you cannot really believe all that, can you? They aren't making good games... because they don't want to???!! So... they want to make bad games, do they? Or they just want to make money? Well, that I can believe, because that's what all businesses want. I've said many, many times that true inspiration is like lightning in a bottle. You can't know when it will hit, when you will have someone of true genius who can do this. And even then, trusting them implicitly to always deliver is an extremely dangerous policy. Moreover, you cannot know how a project will turn out until it is already underway. If the magic clicks and you end up with real gem on your hands, that's the dream scenario. But it rarely ever happens. It doesn't make all the other games that get made into bad games, but you are making the process of creating a great game sound *far* simpler than it actually is.

If it was that easy to make great games, then why doesn't everyone do it? Why is the industry so scared and risk averse, that it keeps pumping out sequels and reboots? Answer - because it isn't that easy. Games costs eye watering amounts to make, and one costly mistake can break even the biggest company (look how long it took SE to recover after Spirits Within for example). People might bitch and moan about sequels, but they buy them. By the boatload. And they don't buy new IP games. Release 2 games, and slap the logo Final Fantasy on one of them. Same game, same packaging, but one doesn't have the FF logo. The FF one will be top 10, probably at No.1 on release week. The other game won't get into the top 40.

To say that the realities of the industry and consumer buying habits and trends, what formats they are using etc, don't matter? What planet are you living on?

Companies make products because they want to sell them. To do this, they need to make products which people want, and which people will buy (because they aren't always the same thing). A game being high quality is no guarantee of anything, if it is something the public will not buy. And the Japs are (reletively speaking of course) not buying console games of any description these days. If I make a fantasic football, the greatest, roundest, bounciest and all around greatest ball ever that is a joy to play with, I'm not going to sell very many of them if everyone is playing snooker, am I?

Great games flop all the time, and it certainly isn't because they lacked quality. In an ideal world, games like Ico, Psychonauts, Persona 3, Valkyria Chronicles etc would have been smash hits. But they weren't, because they aren't what people were buying at those times.

And for the record, my opinion on this remake is unchanged from what its always been. I think its a bad idea, because unless it is 10,000% perfect, the most legitmately, indisputably amazing game you have EVER played, then they will be *buried* by fan backlash. Because everyone has their own opinion on what should and absolutely should not be in the remake, all these opinions contradict each other, and there are many people who regardless of quality will never, ever, ever admit that it has any merit whatsoever, because it just isn't in their DNA to be support it over the original.

But they *will* all (despite what they will claim) buy it. And at the end of the day, that is evidently good enough for SE to open themselves up to the limit breaking ferocity of its fans old and new. You think people hate on them now? But you haven't seen anything yet...

What's funny about what Vrykolas is saying (which I completely agree with) is that this is EXACTLY what happened with FF7.

FF7 wasn't the "perfect" game. It had flaws. Lots of considerable flaws. It's not the best looking game, it's not their best battle system, it's not their best storyline even... in my opinion anyway. But all the components came together as one at the right place at the right time, and all that "lightning was bottled", in Olde's words, when it came to FF7. :)

Er... not that Olde doesn't have many fine views across many threads, but wasn't it... well... me who said those things, Johnny? :D

Plus to another Olde's points, I simply don't accept that they have been releasing shitty game after shitty game. FF12, FF13-2 and Bravely Default are great games IMO. On the publishing side, the Tomb Raider remake, Deus Ex Human Revolution and Life is Strange are all very good games. And that's just off the top of my head.

You may not agree, and that's your lookout. Everyone has their own opinion. My own is that they are doing okay. I would like to see a legitimately great game from them sooner rather than later, but I always want great games. Don't we all? I don't single them out for blame in lean times. Its simply a pretty barren time in gaming, and I don't think that its any coincidence that its happening at a time when Japan's console market is struggling.

We need Jap developers to get their groove back. The industry just isn't the same without them.

Er... not that Olde doesn't have many fine views across many threads, but wasn't it... well... me who said those things, Johnny? :D

Plus to another Olde's points, I simply don't accept that they have been releasing shitty game after shitty game. FF12, FF13-2 and Bravely Default are great games IMO. On the publishing side, the Tomb Raider remake, Deus Ex Human Revolution and Life is Strange are all very good games. And that's just off the top of my head.

You may not agree, and that's your lookout. Everyone has their own opinion. My own is that they are doing okay. I would like to see a legitimately great game from them sooner rather than later, but I always want great games. Don't we all? I don't single them out for blame in lean times. Its simply a pretty barren time in gaming, and I don't think that its any coincidence that its happening at a time when Japan's console market is struggling.

We need Jap developers to get their groove back. The industry just isn't the same without them.

Haha, oops, it was you I meant to make reference to :p

Lol! No Worries.

Vry, as usual you bring up a number of fair points; I personally did not like anything post-FFXII, and even XII is almost impossible for me to play beginning to end again. I didn't like Tomb Raider, never tried Human Revolution or Bravely Default (heard the former was bad, heard the latter was good). It is true that there does need to be a market for things to be successful, and many failures are retroactively seen as works of genius way ahead of their time. But I can't say anything S-E has made in the past 10 years is a work of genius, and would be reluctant to even use the word "good" on anything I've seen. It may seem like a cliche or oversimplification, but I feel that S-E has become so afraid to take risks that they stick to their formula of making their games simply movies where the player runs from cutscene to cutscene mashing X along the way. I have yet to witness interesting gameplay, dialogue, music, and even an interesting story from S-E. From what I've seen from them, they're just pumping out the same bland, superficial, beautiful graphically but otherwise hollow and meaningless "games." I use the word "game" here loosely because S-E's creations aren't so much about winning or losing as they are about moving the character along a set of tracks to unlock the next video clip of a shitty story; and with games like that, we all lose.

The ultimate problem though is something that you have stated very clearly, which is the truth as I see it, and which is what I'm afraid perpetuates their cycle of shit:


But they *will* all (despite what they will claim) buy it. And at the end of the day, that is evidently good enough for SE...

That's what I mean when I say they don't care. The fans vote with their wallets and when the transaction is complete, the company receives fan approval. There's no alternative (who else has the rights to remake FFVII?) so really nothing's ensuring quality control. They could release dog shit and they'd make bank. And, as far as I understand it, if the game is distributed digitally (isn't that becoming the default method of distributing games now?) there's effectively no way the customer can get a refund if the game technically works. A declining console market may inhibit the franchise at the outset but recall that FFXIII, XIII-2, and XIV are all on Steam now. There's no reason why S-E can't and shouldn't start to focus more heavily on catering to the PC market, and in fact FFXIV shows that that may be where they're headed. Although at this point we've gotten sidetracked and aren't talking so much about the FFVII remake as about S-E in general.

But what is caring exactly? Because let me put this way - if I took every FF from say FF10 onwards (and I could go back further, but this is just for the sake of argument, keeping it to modernish consoles for comparison purposes), and compared the performance with that of Bethesda, Obsidian and Bioware games, then SE's games absolutely blow the others away in terms of how smoothly they run, certainly hold their own in how nice they look (relative to when they were made of course) and crucially how little they crash or have game breaking bugs.

I can count on my fingers the numbers of crashes or game destroying bugs that have affected my Final Fantasy experiences (and that's taking them all together). In comparison, I probably had more crashes on any single game by those other companies, than I have had on all the SE games I've played combined. Say what you will, but SE do care about putting a quality product out there. Western games crash *all* the time, and are released riddled through with bugs and glitches. Japanese developers like Atlus and SE don't have anywhere near that level of technical incompetance and carelessness.

And if you haven't played the best games they have been releasing these last few years, then is that their fault?! You haven't played Deus Ex or Bravely, but are content to label all their recent releases and projects as garbage? Its like saying Charles Dickens was a hack writer who never wrote anything good, after only reading his kindergarden scribbles on the walls during playtime. At least look at the material first, before you dismiss it out of hand! And you disliking Tomb Raider doesn't make it a bad game (it doesn't necessarily make it a good game either of course, although I think its pretty good myself). And if you haven't played it, then I really do recommend at least FF13-2. 13 and Lightning Returns are divisive games, but 13-2 is one of the best JRPGs I've played in God knows how long. Its just my opinion of course, but I think I've established that if nothing else, I try to be honest about what I think about every game I play. If I think its good, I'll say so. If I think its bad, I'll say that. Nobody is free from at least some bias, but I try to stay objective as much as possible and not get tribal about these things.

And yes, we can all get behind the fact that gamers and their buying habits are very annoying. What gamers *claim* to want is never really what their buying habits suggest they *actually* want. Innovation and new IP are rarely given any credit at all, and hardly anyone buys new IP, unless the developer and publishers spend big bucks on ad campaigns and bribing the press into pushing these things. Even then, many such games flop. Like all businesses, SE engage in many unsavory practices in the name of O Mighty Dollar. But that is simply the reality of what must be done to survive. You see what's happening the industry - developers are folding left, right and centre. And any suggestion that these big companies are 'too big to fail...' Well they said that about Lehmann Brothers, didn't they and look how that turned out. Business is a murky world, and even the companies who are at the top of the finanncial tree are only a few missteps away from complete ruin.

SE has a particularly difficult job, because its main franchise is a global one. On the one hand, that means money from all over, but it also means that they have to create games which appeal to Western and Eastern fans. And the culture divide between the 2 is immense. We don't like the same kinds of stories, we don't tell stories in the same ways, and we don't revere the same kinds of characters. Add in the translation and localisation that story heavy games must go through, and the whole recasting of voice actors for the western versions, and its a wonder any of it ever works or sells at all.

And like it or not (God knows I don't), but this isn't the golden age of the JRPG anymore. Its a dying genre, and that's putting a generous spin on it. The west prefer their own RPGs these days, and the Japs are into shorter and smaller gaming formats than the traditional old epics now. A lot of people in the Internet Echo Chamber *think* they have all the answers on what SE should *obviously* do. But they all contradict each other, and its still largely a case of a niche community talking to itself. Without mainstream support, without regular non niche gamers buying into this stuff, SE would never be able to release games with the production values that people expect of them. Its the same problem RE has. The Revelations spin off series is closer to the original series' survival horror roots, but has such a small budget that it looks and plays too scratchily for many gamers. Sakaguichi himself has tried to stay true to the roots of the JRPG genre since leaving SE, but his games have been of very uneven quality, and most of them seem painfully old fasioned and behind the times (Lost Odyssesy etc). Meanwhile, From Software have been a Japanese success story, but their games are more like 3D actioners than true RPGs.

How to make a JRPG in modern times that looks and plays well, is true to the genre and delivers a truly engaging story that forges its own path, rather than relying on old glories and which will has a chance of selling well enough that it won't bankrupt the company making it in the process? Hell, if you know how to do it, then get on the phone to SE right now! Because its pretty much the Holy Grail that I've been seeking, and nobody really seems to have a clue how to do it.

I'm not trying to pick a fight on this, just pointing out that despite what the Internet Echo Chamber insists, this is not a simple case of some greedy corporation who could make great games, but are choosing not to, because they can't be arsed. They spend huge amounts getting these games to work properly in the way that Western companies never really do. They care about quality, because its their business and their reputation on the line. And compared to the cookie cutter sequels of the west, their games are always wildly different in terms of systems, so they can't really be accused of resting on their laurels. Yes, they are going back to the well with FF7, and I'm not happy about that either, but its the times we live in. Are SE the only ones indulging in remakes and direct sequels? Of course not - everyone is doing it now, because everyone needs a quick buck and a sure thing just to survive these days.

It sucks, but there it is. We all wish it was a better time for JRPGs, and that people would buy them and reward the quality ones that do come along (if you listened to the Internet, you'd think Persona was some huge selling series, but it isn't at all). None of this is any excuse for bad games - on that we do agree. We simply disagree to the extent to which SE are making bad games. Are they making lots of games that inspire me in the way their earlier ones did? No (but again, I really *did* feel that way about 13-2, so...) But their output has still been pretty good, despite the huge pressures the market is under, and their publishing work is allowing some great games to see the light of day (Life is Strange is an interesting oddity that DontNod candidly admit wouldn't exist without SE, because everyone else they approached insisted the main character be Male, and that they alter the story to be more commercially appealing).

As much as any of these businesses care, I still believe SE care. Money will always come first, but art still lives in their games and the games they choose to support and publish. And since that is my principal reason for gaming at all, I don't tend to sugarcoat my opinions on such things (doesn't make me right all the time of course, but I do what I can :D) Business will always frustrate and disgust us consumers, but SE are no worse than anyone else (and frankly they aren't close to being the worst). The FF7 remake is depressing, but they have other projects on the go that are interesting and intriguing me, so I can deal with this sad but predictable news.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. A pleasure to debate it as always though, Olde.

This is getting off topic. Please return to the topic of the thread (as much as I am to loathe it). Thanks.

It's the little things I'm intrigued about, when it comes to keeping them in or not.

Like will Yuffie and Vincent be optional? I just can't see it being the case. Would the Wutai side quest be made permanent - with it being such a big arch of Yuffie's background story? Finding out Vincent's past as well.

They can expand on a lot of the little things as well - will we see Sephiroth actually take on the Midgar Zolom rather than just see the snake spiked on a massive bit of wood? The Gelnika Abandoned Ship with all the Mako monsters... was an awesome part of the game that was completely optional, as was finding out about Zack's parents being from Gongaga.... that's a MUST surely? Some thoughts off the top of my head to keep the thread on topic :)

But I was just about to talk about how Pac Man's history has relevance to the Gulf War. Man, we can't talk about anything anymore... :D

Well, if we *must* stay on topic...

I suspect that their approach will be to make everything the same, as near as is possible. As the project develops, people will make suggestions on refinements and additions, but they will have their work cut out for them just seeing to the casting of the characters, and what to do about the script. It will need some updating, as the translation and localisation was infamously uneven.

But they must be aware that whenever they changed *anything* at all, they will enrage someone, no matter how small of insigificant the changes may seem. Remember that if a new director or writing team make any changes, it will be seen as desecration by many, who simply will not accept any changes at all. There will be many who won't even want obvious syntax and translation errors to be changed.

Balanced against this is the argument that gaming has moved on since FF7. Do random battles still have any place in gaming these days, when they have been disowned by just about every game made in the last 10 years? Do gamers have the patience to grind out items, money, put in all the endless trekking about and bother that has to be put into the Golden Chocobo quest? But again, if any of it changes, then there will be mobs with pitchforks marching on SE headquarters. This is an impossible task they have set themselves. If they update this aging classic for modern times, they will be killed by the fans. If they don't change anything but the graphics, then the mainstream will have far less interest in it, and the fans *still* won't be happy because they'll say its just a con with SE trying to get them to pay for a game they've already played and/or already own.

For every person they please with 1 decision, they will annoy 10 others. And when you collect that together over all the various decisions involved in making this game, you will a product that enrages everyone, and because JRPGs are so out of fashion, still won't be anything more than a passing couple of days curiosity to the mainstream. It'll make an ocean of cash, but the grief they get over the game will be all anyone talks about for decades afterwards.

The only thing that could save this misguided project is if 'The Magic' happens, and lightning does indeed strike the same place twice. Particularly if by some miracle they can update the script to be of genuinely high quality, and the actors manage to click in their roles (which will almost certainly mean hiring unknowns, because the old favorites are too well known and ubiqitous by now). Basically if 'it just works somehow', then they would be alright. But the odds of that are like saying if I take a bus out to the middle of nowhere, take out a spade and start digging in a random spot, I might find a treasure chest filled with gold bars. It could happen, but its masssively, massively unlikely.

Like will Yuffie and Vincent be optional? I just can't see it being the case. Would the Wutai side quest be made permanent - with it being such a big arch of Yuffie's background story? Finding out Vincent's past as well.

I find this question really interesting, actually, because it shows how different games are now than they were back then. I think there were a lot more secrets/hidden gems that rewarded exploration and straying from the beaten path. Think about how much games these days hold your hand, hell, even going so far as to basically insult the player's intelligence by tutorial after tutorial about such basics as moving the player around. Given how "essential" Yuffie and Vincent are to the plot, do you really expect the game developers to "hide" such important and charismatic characters? I really don't think so. It's sad actually because FFVII had those secrets at a time when the internet wasn't nearly as pervasive as it is now; it was entirely possible to play through the game and not only not get either character but not even know they were in there! Bizarrely, now we have the internet at our disposal but games try to be more inclusive than ever, and at least in my experience, there are fewer "hidden gems" than ever before (e.g. completely optional side quests). I'll admit, FFXII went WAY overboard on the secrets to the detriment of the game but that doesn't mean there can't be a happy medium.


They can expand on a lot of the little things as well - will we see Sephiroth actually take on the Midgar Zolom rather than just see the snake spiked on a massive bit of wood? The Gelnika Abandoned Ship with all the Mako monsters... was an awesome part of the game that was completely optional, as was finding out about Zack's parents being from Gongaga.... that's a MUST surely? Some thoughts off the top of my head to keep the thread on topic :)

That's another interesting thing; to what degree is this going to be a remaster, a remake, a retelling, or a re-envisioning? Personally I'm on the fence; on the one hand I don't want to see them completely ass-rape the story and think they should just go with a graphical update. But on the other hand, I'm thinking, to what degree would a graphical update even be necessary? If they're going to update it, might as well add more content, no? The most I can hope for is that they stay true to the source material and any expansion is not only in line with the original story/later compilation but also tonally appropriate. There's no way the remake will have the impact that the original had, which was groundbreaking, and I don't think it's going to win any converts to the series. It just seems to me like a cash-in and pandering from a desperate company.

But probably my biggest source of skepticism comes from not knowing how the newer style of games can keep the story from falling apart at the seams. Remember that the more primitive design, with no voice acting and more or less deformed anime character design, afforded a greater suspension of disbelief. How well will the story and characters translate when the characters walk and talk like real people instead of like the cartoons/caricatures that they were in the original? I can only hope it translates well to the new medium.

Another thing I want to mention is, like the idea of a remake or not, but you have to respect the fact that, to my knowledge, this is the biggest remake in video game history to one respect.

I don't think a game has been remade before that takes 40-80 hours to complete. This is a MASSIVE game being made into probably an even bigger game. We've had some decent remakes in the past, Resident Evil 1, Halo 1, Pokemon FireRed, Twisted Metal, Mortal Kombat etc, but in terms of such a vast storyline, a vast world, this is the biggest remake in history.

Which also means more chances to fuck it up. This is why I'm against remakes on principle... they NEVER stand up to the original material. Due to either mismanagement of the team, no idea of what one part of the team is doing to the other, retconning of new material etc etc.

I don't know if I agree with that necessarily. Resident Evil 1 remake is *far* better than the original, and the changes were all for the better. I'd also take the new X-COM game over the old original. But I agree that the process is so fraught with trouble that most remakes aren't worth the effort, because they will end up pleasing nobody. The 2 examples I gave there are pretty much the only remakes I can think of that haven't completely sucked!

And on the note of secret characters - it has *always* been a bad idea to have optional characters in any game, and I said as much back then too. If a character is optional, the game cannot guarantee they are there in any given scene, so they tend to get next to nothing to say or do, beyond simple interchangeable 'So, what do we do now?' lines. This is also why the 2nd half of most JRPGs aren't as good as the first half, because the game frees you up to take whoever you like in your party, and the tight scripting of sequences breaks down, so only the mandatory characters (usually the main hero and heroine) get anything of substance to say or do.

I think the fact that Yuffie and Vincent's presence is considered canon by the various other FF7 related materials, may encourage them to just make them mandatory pick ups to join the team. But on the other hand and to reiterate the point, people will rage hard if that is the case.

I don't know if I agree with that necessarily. Resident Evil 1 remake is *far* better than the original, and the changes were all for the better. I'd also take the new X-COM game over the old original. But I agree that the process is so fraught with trouble that most remakes aren't worth the effort, because they will end up pleasing nobody. The 2 examples I gave there are pretty much the only remakes I can think of that haven't completely sucked!

Knowing S-E's track record, do you really think this remake has a chance to surpass the ORIGINAL? Remember, this is S-E we're talking about, the company that released FFVIII on Steam with the shittiest MIDI versions of the music and still hasn't fixed all the bugs involved with that game, like the fact that you can't use a controller's analog stick and D-pad at the same time.


And on the note of secret characters - it has *always* been a bad idea to have optional characters in any game, and I said as much back then too. If a character is optional, the game cannot guarantee they are there in any given scene, so they tend to get next to nothing to say or do, beyond simple interchangeable 'So, what do we do now?' lines. This is also why the 2nd half of most JRPGs aren't as good as the first half, because the game frees you up to take whoever you like in your party, and the tight scripting of sequences breaks down, so only the mandatory characters (usually the main hero and heroine) get anything of substance to say or do.

Considering how much data a disc can hold nowadays, I'm pretty sure they could write four versions of the script: one with no optional characters, one with just Yuffie, one with just Vincent, and one with both. It's really not that hard.


I think the fact that Yuffie and Vincent's presence is considered canon by the various other FF7 related materials, may encourage them to just make them mandatory pick ups to join the team. But on the other hand and to reiterate the point, people will rage hard if that is the case.

Yup. I know I would...

...if I gave a shit in the first place.

I don't think anyone within their right mind will expect this to surpass the original. But if it comes close I'll be happy :)

As for the question of do I think it will? I think it'll be better than the pessimists think it will be. But I also think it'll be worse than the over-excited optimists think it will be. I'm neutrally excited about this game and think it'll be good but not great :)

I see they already screwed with the battle system. The same battle system that made alot of people love this game. The same battle system that the persona series uses still and is STILL one of the best selling rpgs ever. And personal 5 comes out soon, Wich is sticking to its roots and keeping there turnbased battle system. You don't see Zelda changing anything accept there graphics and they still sell millions... what I'm saying is if a formula worked before , don't change it....

I'm still going to buy this game and probably beat it 15 times because I love it to death... but as soon as I seen the battle system in the game play trailer , my heart sank. How are we gonna choose each characters action, are they dumbing down the materia system, and am I going to be able to just spam attack and beat the game? (I don't want that at all). . My biggest concern is how are they going to make the battle system work. Heart broken. If I'm not happy within 5 hours of game play I won't even attempt to ruin the good memory I have for the game. .

---------- Post added at 09:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:09 AM ----------

Atleast they promised the storyline untouched... they can screw with the script, just keep the story atleast.

Square-Enix has this unnatural belief that Turn-Based Combat simply has no place in today's gaming even though that perception is purely ass backwards since it's proven that it's still welcome to us gamers regardless, had it not been the case then why are Shin Megami Tensei, Persona and POK�MON still going strong?

But going back on topic, the Remake has a dubious task to accomplish and it sure as hell won't be pretty given the venomous image that SQ has today. Either the company mans ups and pulls it's shit together or this has the potential of being their biggest disaster to date. Remember how Final Fantasy XIV's initial launch almost killed the franchise AND THE company? This could be the death blow if the worst case scenario happens.

But still, if I were to give Square-Enix credit where it's due, is that they're not as moronically brain-damaged as say SEGA or Konami.

Square-Enix has this unnatural belief that Turn-Based Combat simply has no place in today's gaming even though that perception is purely ass backwards since it's proven that it's still welcome to us gamers regardless, had it not been the case then why are Shin Megami Tensei, Persona and POK�MON still going strong?
I noticed that too. I hadn't played a turn-based combat game in a long time until I recently picked up Cthulu Saves the World and I was amazed at how effective a system it still is. It seems like S-E thinks that gamers nowadays have the attention span of a goldfish and need to constantly see the characters hitting things to keep interested. Their new combat system is just...meaningless.


But going back on topic, the Remake has a dubious task to accomplish and it sure as hell won't be pretty given the venomous image that SQ has today. Either the company mans ups and pulls it's shit together or this has the potential of being their biggest disaster to date. Remember how Final Fantasy XIV's initial launch almost killed the franchise AND THE company? This could be the death blow if the worst case scenario happens.

Does anybody still pay them any mind? I figure that for most Final Fantasy fans, the company might as well have died in 2006, as that was when their last good FF game was released, and even that is controversial.

Remember how Final Fantasy XIV's initial launch almost killed the franchise AND THE company?

Yet A Realm Reborn has exceeded their wildest expectations... and is still going strong 2 years after release.

Does anybody still pay them any mind? I figure that for most Final Fantasy fans, the company might as well have died in 2006, as that was when their last good FF game was released, and even that is controversial.

The last good Final Fantasy game, for me at least, was the DS remake of IV despite of how murderously hard it was, though I've grown to appreciate more of XII after playing Xenoblade Chronicles.


Yet A Realm Reborn has exceeded their wildest expectations... and is still going strong 2 years after release.

Sure, but that doesn't excuse at all that they messed up big time at the time of it's initial launch and nearly were driven out of the gaming business, so what's the chances the same won't happen with the Remake once it first releases given the inflated budget and the plethora of changes going against it (Battle System, Episodic Format, Retcons, so forth)? Of course, I might be talking outta my ass given the blind fans who'll eat anything Nomura digests out.

Hell, I can even see Squeenix trying to pull a Crapcom or EA with DLC practices on this one along the lines of such bullshit like �Aerith Lives! Now for 40 Dollars.�

SE learned from their mistake and shitkicked the original director of FFXIV out the door... Yoshi P, the guy currently in charge of XIV ARR has done a lot of good and XIV ARR has come a long way since XIV V 1.0. The original director wanted nothing to do with a online FF from what I was told (that or he just didn't have any experience with a MMORPG before) and did the bare minimum...

Regarding the VII remake.. meh, don't care what happens with that.

some new info

The Final Fantasy 7 remake was announced at E3 2015 with a sweet-looking trailer and not a lot in the way of actual information. But in a recent interview with Dengeki PlayStation, translated by Gematsu, Director Tetsuya Nomura and Producer Yishinori Kitase revealed a little bit more about what's in store, including that the game will be fully voiced.

The developers still haven't settled on the voices of characters who weren't in Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, but added that dating events—in which you decide who takes Cloud Strife out for a night on the town—will be voiced just like everything else. "It would be impossible not to. However, since it’s different from that time and social situation, we need implement the reproduction of original events carefully," Kitase said, apparently in reference to the Honey Bee Inn, a quest-related brothel featuring content that ultimately proved too steamy for the final release of the game............

http://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-vii-remake-will-be-fully-voiced/

---------- Post added at 03:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:43 PM ----------

some more this interview they sort of make it seem like there completely changing the plot to the original?!?!?!?!.. I would be very disappointed if that was the case... check for yourself..... vvvvvv link and story below vvvvvv

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-12-13/final-fantasy-vii-remake-team-elaborates-on-changes-confirms-cross-dressing-cloud/.96195

In interviews with Dengeki Online and Famitsu on December 7, Final Fantasy VII Remake director Tetsuya Nomura and producer Yoshinori Kitase elaborated on the remake's multi-title split, the battle system, and the changes in the game's story. Nomura also confirmed that the remake's scenario retains the cross-dressing Cloud from the original, although the HD designs have not been done yet. CyberConnect2 is collaborating with Square Enix on development.



Splitting the Game into Multiple Parts

Regarding the decision to split the remake into a multi-part series, Nomura stated that "There will be parts that have to be removed, but there will be a significant number of added scenes as well. We decided that it has to be split into multiple titles to be a 'full volume' remake." Kitase added that they had "only shown Sector 1 and Sector 8, and if we made the entire game in that quality, one title wouldn't be enough."



Character Designs

In the Famitsu interview, Nomura said that players would also be able to explore areas such as the city of Midgar, and go to places that they previously could not in the original game. He also stated that character designer Roberto Ferrari worked on the character designs for Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, who appeared in the latest trailer (viewed below). Nomura also commented on Barret's new character design, mentioning that this is how Barret would look in a more realistic setting, and that he had planned for redesigns for some of the characters from the beginning.