The four Ws and one H of a Final Fantasy VII remake
The debate on whether or not Square Enix should remake Final Fantasy VII has raged on for years, and everyone’s anxious to get an answer as to whether it will materialize or remain a dream. Those who are for it are dying to see Cloud and the gang in next-gen glory while those who are against it are holding the PSX version sacred and are telling everyone to leave the game alone for fear of getting a bad rendition.
This article won’t throw more fuel to that fiery topic. Instead, this one assumes that a remake will eventually come to be. The only questions are what the particulars will be and how it’s going to be pulled off. While no single post will be able to cover such a broad subject, this blogger would like to offer an overview of possibilities using the general queries: what, who, where, when, and how. Let’s start.
What: This is perhaps the trickiest question of them all. What do we want to be in the game content-wise? Do we want an exact reiteration of the original story where the events take place in the exact same way with the exact same dialogue or do we want it to be told in another perspective with the same context? Perhaps some more light on interesting people like Zack and Hojo’s experiments? How about if we have the game re-told with Tifa or Red XIII narrating it in the manner that a witness recounts an experience? Think of the possibilities.
On a personal level, this blogger would love to have the game told in the exact same manner that made it the legend that it is today. However, it would be even more interesting for me if it’s done in a way that we wouldn’t be able to tell exactly what happens next in every sequence. The highlights shouldn’t be changed, such as Sephiroth with flames in the background or Cloud riding his bike, but for the minor parts, Square Enix may have better ideas than before. In any case, it’s their game, and we’re the audience, so anything goes.
To read the rest of the Ws and H of remaking FF VII, just click on the Full Article.
The debate on whether or not Square Enix should remake Final Fantasy VII has raged on for years, and everyone’s anxious to get an answer as to whether it will materialize or remain a dream. Those who are for it are dying to see Cloud and the gang in next-gen glory while those who are against it are holding the PSX version sacred and are telling everyone to leave the game alone for fear of getting a bad rendition.
This article won’t throw more fuel to that fiery topic. Instead, this one assumes that a remake will eventually come to be. The only questions are what the particulars will be and how it’s going to be pulled off. While no single post will be able to cover such a broad subject, this blogger would like to offer an overview of possibilities using the general queries: what, who, where, when, and how. Let’s start.
What: This is perhaps the trickiest question of them all. What do we want to be in the game content-wise? Do we want an exact reiteration of the original story where the events take place in the exact same way with the exact same dialogue or do we want it to be told in another perspective with the same context? Perhaps some more light on interesting people like Zack and Hojo’s experiments? How about if we have the game re-told with Tifa or Red XIII narrating it in the manner that a witness recounts an experience? Think of the possibilities.
On a personal level, this blogger would love to have the game told in the exact same manner that made it the legend that it is today. However, it would be even more interesting for me if it’s done in a way that we wouldn’t be able to tell exactly what happens next in every sequence. The highlights shouldn’t be changed, such as Sephiroth with flames in the background or Cloud riding his bike, but for the minor parts, Square Enix may have better ideas than before. In any case, it’s their game, and we’re the audience, so anything goes.
Who: This isn’t a who as far as the characters are concerned. Few people would disagree that we want the same cast back and we’d have it no other way. This question of “who” deals with the people who’ll be working in the development team. We all know FFVII producer Hironobu Sakaguchi has already left the Square Enix fold, but the core group that comprised the original dream team is still active and better than ever. Therefore, this blogger suggests that the following people be placed in the inner circle with the following roles:
- Yoshinori Kitase – Director
- Yusuke Naora – Art Director
- Kazushige Nojima – Scenario Writer
- Nobuo Uematsu – Musical score composer
Where: Again, this is a question which shouldn’t be taken literally. This isn’t a question of which geographical region it should be released in. This game will be sought after all over the world and it should be available everywhere a series fan is. The real deal, though, is a question of where when it comes to platforms.
So where does an FFVII remake land? There’s no question that at this point, the Sony PlayStation 3 is the odds-on favorite. The relationship between Sony and Square Enix remains strong and that will mean a lot in the bid for exclusivity. However, nobody will dispute the fact that the PS3 is struggling at this point, and that could lead to a few complications.
Will we see an initiative from Square Enix to go cross-platform and develop a Microsoft Xbox 360 version? Nobody really knows. Everything’s possible in the business world and Square Enix is an enterprise that exists to generate revenues. We’ll have to wait and see.
Whether the franchise remains exclusive or goes multiplatform, will it really matter? Sure, there might be whines and moans here and there from purists, but is there really anything wrong about making more people happy and doing good business at the same time? PS3 exclusive or otherwise, this blogger sees nothing wrong with each scenario. As long as the project does justice to the original, we should be happy.
When: Another interesting question not often asked is “when.” How soon do we want the remake to be in our hands? Sure, there’s an off-chance that we could hear a confirmation in TGS 2007 or something of the sort in the near future, but realistically, will we? Everyone knows that most of Square Enix’ key people are hard at work in the development of Final Fantasy XIII and its spin-offs, and the game is still in its early stages. It’s reasonable to think that they’ll be busy for at the next year’s first half, maybe more if delays occur.
Bottomline, it means that if we want the best people working on this endeavor, we would have to be real patient. A couple of years won’t be so bad, maybe more if the project gets really huge. If this game does come out on Sony’s PS3, a lot of us will want it to come around the time when developers have mastered the system’s architecture. We’ll want the best experience possible and that will only happen if the hardware resources are maximized.
How: This is undoubtedly the toughest speculative question to ask about this topic: How do you rewrite a legend? Everyone knows that this is arguably the greatest RPG ever created due to the fact that in every conceivable aspect, it sets the gold standard. From the storyline, the characters, the graphics, the gameplay and the music, the original FFVII simply fired on all cylinders.
Speaking to people who favored the idea of having a remake, this blogger found out the lofty level that an FFVII remake must attain in order to at least equal the success of the original: RPG fans are looking for a rendition as far above the original as the original was far above SNES RPGs. It’s a tall order which is a stop short of asking Square Enix to revolutionize the genre, but if anyone can do it, it’s them. Squaresoft caught lightning in a bottle a decade ago, let’s hope they catch it a second time.
Fans will probably bicker about two main things here: the graphics and the gameplay. As anyone who ever played the first Final Fantasy VII would know, the off-battle animations were done in cutesy-style considerations wherein the characters were chibi-fied with tremendous success. The question now is do we want that changed? We know that FFX didn’t use the same look but was still excellent. However, will changing the ambiance alienate long-time fans or improve it to a more realistic level?
When it comes to pre-rendered cinematics, this blogger would personally be happy to see something of the same quality as FFVII: Advent Children with some HD bling. If Square Enix can come up with something way better, then that makes the deal all the more sweet.
The combat system would also be a tough question to answer. Will we rather have the classic turn-based fighting driven by menus or do we want an action-RPG overhaul similar to Crisis Core:FFVII and FFXII? It all comes down to personal preference, but in the end, Square Enix will be making the call for us.
Other curious things would be how the materia system would work this time around. The RPG kingdom has seen a lot of innovations that may make the simple materia system seem simplistic with today’s standards. In another angle, the old-school style may just make the remake that much more fun and nostalgic.
Summons will probably experience a deviation away from the simple casting model which the original PSX version used. It would be nice if the mighty beasts had more of a lifelike feeling to them rather than seeming to be a little more than a spell with a mythical animal in the animation.
At the end of the day, these are just suggestions on how we might arrive at a successful remake to an immortal title. Square Enix, among other people probably have better suggestions and we’d love to know what’s on their mind. Square Enix did hint at not creating a remake for FFVII in a recent statement, but with how they’ve been doing business lately, this blogger would have to never see it to believe it. What do you think?