No change to FFVII

[Jonci]

I don't think Square-Enix is really looking at the right picture. They may be looking at what would take to completely redo the environment, which, given the detail of the pre-renders back then, doing it in true 3D would take forever. Basically a full re-development over a HD remake.

But I think people would be happy if they kept the background, just updated the character models to Dissidia quality, update the special effects to higher resolution art, rework the script some (as translations were always half-assed during those days), and sharpen up the CG to the tech demo's look. I don't think dubbing would work well and wouldn't be horribly missed.

Considering the assets they could take from Advent Children and the spinoff games, they could refine the rendered stuff in a year or two. A handful of coders would be necessary to get the engine running on the PS3 or PSP.

 

[norwegian-guy]

Square Enix might be afraid to ruin there best creation, since of course all the new ones i hear about apparently suck. Square might be afraid they don't have it anymore

I don't think Square Enix gives a hoot what people think about them. They promoted that FFXIII would be awsome, they had the balls to release FFX-2 and FFXIV. AND they are making FFXIII-2.

No I think that the reason is that they can't. The original FFVII was actually not only a rise-or-fall project, but also Sakaguchis (the creator of Final Fantasy) mother had recently passed away, wich lead to the the storys focus on life after death (lifestream).
I simply think that Square Enix knows that they cannot remake the project because they lack the tension, the inspiration, emotional weight and everything else that made the original work good.

BTW, has there been a single good Final Fantasy game that has been released after Sakaguchi left?

 

[Kingsnake661]

Maybe I'm just stupid for not knowing this, but is there a specific reason as to why square enix refuses to remake FFVII? I cant see why not because if they do I'd personally sell my house to buy it. Is there another reason? Because money is clearly not the issue.

Maybe I'm just stupid for not knowing this, but is there a specific reason as to why square enix refuses to remake FFVII? I cant see why not because if they do I'd personally sell my house to buy it. Is there another reason? Because money is clearly not the issue.

To barrow an expression form Yahtzee, "they must have a crippling fear of money and sucess". (It's not a perfect quote and i can't recall the review it came from, but that phrase got instentally stuck in my head for some reason.)

I have no idea why they haven't did a "modernization" of FFVII. Assuming they just pretty up the graphics, polish up the language transulation, and leave most of the game elements ALONE, they essentually be printing there own money. But, if they go and do a full blown, ground up reMAKE, that... could be disasterious. The game needs updated graphics, and better text. It needs a facelift. It's bones are FINE, leave them alone IMO.

 

[Chibz]

Maybe I'm just stupid for not knowing this, but is there a specific reason as to why square enix refuses to remake FFVII? I cant see why not because if they do I'd personally sell my house to buy it. Is there another reason? Because money is clearly not the issue.

You know what they SHOULD do? How about a remake of the best FF game (FF3) on the DS and... and...

Wait. They DID do this. Time to go play it!

 

[andyboyd]

The question is, why do people want a remake? If it's because of the graphics, remember that good graphics do not make a good game, and while FF7 is OK, it's not that great either. Its popularity is mostly due to nostalgia, IMO.

Well, you're one person, and while your opinion is valid and important, many people including me love FFVII. Nostalgia aside, it's well written, beautifully designed and while the game play gets repetitive with the combat, it has a few sprinkles of variety here and there. And the fact that I could play through all the 80 hours to complete it I think shows that nostalgia doesn't weigh that much. Nostalgia usually gives me enjoyment for an hour or two until I realize that the game I'm playing is actually pretty bad.

Im sure there are also a lot more folks who side with KarmaTheAlligator's statement, some people dont want it because theyd rather just play the older version and others didnt like it to begin with

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Maybe I'm just stupid for not knowing this, but is there a specific reason as to why square enix refuses to remake FFVII? I cant see why not because if they do I'd personally sell my house to buy it. Is there another reason? Because money is clearly not the issue.

I heard that it's because they can't get the original creation team back together, since they are currently working on half a dozen other things, and that the lead designer doesn't want to remake it without the rest of the creative team.

Also, the absolutely insane amount of dialog in the original script would kill any voice acting budget ten times over. So either they'd have to cut the game down a bit (which would piss off fans), make changes to the story to simplify things (which would also piss off the fans), or they'd have to leave the game unvoiced (which... actually wouldn't bother me, as long as they voiced the major cut scenes, but I think I'm in the minority on that one).

Edit: One reason people like FF 7 is the Materia system. You can literally customize every single spell and ability (even HP and MP) that a character has. And you can change it whenever you want by reequipping. THAT is one reason I loved FF7, and that I've replayed the game half a dozen times. It is simple, yet deep (to reference Extra Credits). It's freeing. The plot of FF7 is really good (probably due to the recent death issue) but the game mechanics are the best in any FF game ever. Job systems, direct classes, GFs, etc - none of them are as completely customizable as materia.

 

[gibboss28]

I don't get why people would want a remake of it. If the original is so good let it stand by its own merits without needing some fucking plastic surgery.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

The question is, why do people want a remake? If it's because of the graphics, remember that good graphics do not make a good game, and while FF7 is OK, it's not that great either. Its popularity is mostly due to nostalgia, IMO.

Well, you're one person, and while your opinion is valid and important, many people including me love FFVII. Nostalgia aside, it's well written, beautifully designed and while the game play gets repetitive with the combat, it has a few sprinkles of variety here and there. And the fact that I could play through all the 80 hours to complete it I think shows that nostalgia doesn't weigh that much. Nostalgia usually gives me enjoyment for an hour or two until I realize that the game I'm playing is actually pretty bad.

Im sure there are also a lot more folks who side with KarmaTheAlligator's statement, some people dont want it because theyd rather just play the older version and others didnt like it to begin with

Yes, and I probably wouldn't play it either, mostly cause they'd either fuck it up or there wouldn't be much in it I couldn't get from the original. But his statement made it seem that his opinion reflected what everyone else thinks. Given the success of the original, I think it's safe to say that many loved it.

 

[andyboyd]

The question is, why do people want a remake? If it's because of the graphics, remember that good graphics do not make a good game, and while FF7 is OK, it's not that great either. Its popularity is mostly due to nostalgia, IMO.

Well, you're one person, and while your opinion is valid and important, many people including me love FFVII. Nostalgia aside, it's well written, beautifully designed and while the game play gets repetitive with the combat, it has a few sprinkles of variety here and there. And the fact that I could play through all the 80 hours to complete it I think shows that nostalgia doesn't weigh that much. Nostalgia usually gives me enjoyment for an hour or two until I realize that the game I'm playing is actually pretty bad.

Im sure there are also a lot more folks who side with KarmaTheAlligator's statement, some people dont want it because theyd rather just play the older version and others didnt like it to begin with

Yes, and I probably wouldn't play it either, mostly cause they'd either fuck it up or there wouldn't be much in it I couldn't get from the original. But his statement made it seem that his opinion reflected what everyone else thinks. Given the success of the original, I think it's safe to say that many loved it.

Glad we agree, i jus hope the SE gets its finger out it's @rse and starts making decent games again instead of just throwing remakes at us.

 

[chronobreak]

It's going to happen within our lifetimes. I think people just need to be patient. Square likes money, as all companies do.

 

[Atmos Duality]

The thing people love about the old FF games is the ability to run around in the open world. People also expect that the graphics are up to scale. Here's the thing, there isn't enough room on a multilayer disk to have that much information and companies are trying to completely phase out disk switching. So, you get a choice, do you take the updated graphics and lose the world or do you take the world and have sub-par graphics (something Square refuses to do)?

Disc capacity has little to nothing to do with it. It's the time investment in making said environments.
This explains the appeal of major Bethesda titles; they can make everything else in their game mediocre at best, but they have MASSIVE, detailed environments to run around in.
Trade-offs in game design vs presentation. That sort of thing.

We've passed the happy threshold where graphics and gameplay converge and are on the downward spiral of gameplay quality in answer to these rising expectations.
The few companies that can afford such polished titles (without sacrificing gameplay) are far and few between. This is why they fall back on tried-and-true gameplay variants without much regard for how well they fit; they don't have the funds to experiment after development costs.

FF13 was dazzling graphically, but incredibly bland combat-wise.

 

[Rinji]

I have no idea why they haven't did a "modernization" of FFVII. Assuming they just pretty up the graphics, polish up the language transulation, and leave most of the game elements ALONE, they essentually be printing there own money. But, if they go and do a full blown, ground up reMAKE, that... could be disasterious. The game needs updated graphics, and better text. It needs a facelift. It's bones are FINE, leave them alone IMO.

I agree.
Just improve the graphics, refine some moves and animations... in simpler terms: make everything look better but leave the story and gameplay mechanics alone.

they could sell the game for 35-40 bucks to silence those who complain that it's "the same game with better graphics", but they'd still make millions if they leave the story and gameplay alone.

 

[KEM10]

The thing people love about the old FF games is the ability to run around in the open world. People also expect that the graphics are up to scale. Here's the thing, there isn't enough room on a multilayer disk to have that much information and companies are trying to completely phase out disk switching. So, you get a choice, do you take the updated graphics and lose the world or do you take the world and have sub-par graphics (something Square refuses to do)?

Disc capacity has little to nothing to do with it. It's the time investment in making said environments.
This explains the appeal of major Bethesda titles; they can make everything else in their game mediocre at best, but they have MASSIVE, detailed environments to run around in.
Trade-offs in game design vs presentation. That sort of thing.

We've passed the happy threshold where graphics and gameplay converge and are on the downward spiral of gameplay quality in answer to these rising expectations.
The few companies that can afford such polished titles (without sacrificing gameplay) are far and few between. This is why they fall back on tried-and-true gameplay variants without much regard for how well they fit; they don't have the funds to experiment after development costs.

FF13 was dazzling graphically, but incredibly bland combat-wise.

I can dig it, but I'm going to disagree with you on one thing. FF is experimental. Every game since 6 has had a different system (maybe before that, haven't sampled that far back). Sometimes it's just combat, sometimes it is just stat building, sometimes they go nuts and change everything, but each game plays a little differently than the last. I think they got a lot of positive feedback from the FF12 combat which is why they did 13 that way (this is hearsay and deduction since I haven't played 13 yet) but they change the game every time instead of being safe and redoing the old systems. I appreciate it, but I'm sure some people would love it if FF 13 was Adventures of Cloud in Future Dystopia 7.

 

[Glaive_21842]

Because we don't fucking need one >_<!
FF7 is out on PSN, and doing really well I might add.

...Ya know, here's a thought. Square did some major graphical upgrades for FF8 and FF9, so why not remake FF7 in those graphics instead. It surely wouldn't take that long or cost all that much money, considering that they did it twice.

 

[Undeadpool]

You could make the argument that Square has contempt for their user base if you wanted to.

 

[Detective Prince]

Firstly love the Itachi avatar.

But I think that Enix are worried that if they did FFVII in high def, they'd basically risk ruining one of their most beloved gems.

Not only that but the time and effort put in and getting the voice actors in, rendering the overworld map, sorting out the 3D animation models, it would be a huge task for a remake.

 

[twaddle]

besides the obvious graphic chalenges the over all story would be hard to translate. The game had a lot of cartoon/anime humor in it that would just not translate well to realistic character models. Realistic character models often give off a sense of over seriousness to a game. The solution would be to render it in anime-ish decent graphics kind of like the ds versions except looking a little better, and do all or most cut scenes the full realistic character model treatment

 

[Con Carne]

Maybe square is waiting for history to repeat itself. When they first started, they weren't doing all that well as a game company, so they released the game that started it all "Final Fantasy" it was supposed to be their final attempt at making something good happen. To their surprise, it worked and they didn't have to close up shop. So maybe they're dumping all their money into crappy titles like FF13 and FF14 so the world can lose hope, and once things begin to look bleak for them again. They will finally bust out a FF7 remake and they will be laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[auronvi]

I am a big Final Fantasy VII fan. The game is my reason for getting into the creation of games. Graduating in June with a programming degree and am actually on my way to the GDC at 4 am tomorrow.

Square-Enix probably does not want to make a remake of their beloved series because the fan base for Final Fantasy VII is so large and they don't want to risk losing them. I personally am a huge fan and even IF they messed up the remake would still be in love with the game and I believe most hardcore Final Fantasy fans are the same way.

I don't except any of the BS about it being "too big" or "too expensive" to make. An above poster said to use HD pre-rendered 2D backgrounds would probably be the best way to go. Hell, keep the chibi style world characters but make em more detailed. I think that would be sweet as hell. The battles would be in HD. Don't mess with the materia system, only add new materia would be what I say and you have yourself a remake worth playing.

I hate that the industry HAS to have full 3-D environments, realistic lighting and shading with only the best of the best models. I am a graphics whore and do enjoy those things but I understand that with the games that have those things, I am usually sacrificing a more in depth game because there just isn't enough time or money to do both.

A Final Fantasy VII remake IS POSSIBLE, just depends on how you design it. Voice acting would be cool with the Advent Children cast but that is A LOT of dialogue so limited or no voice would work. So don't buy into Square when they say that, what it is though is a very big risk.

 

[tahrey]

*skims rapidly* ...
I thought they were currently working their way through doing NDS remakes and the like, and had made it up to FF5 so far.

I'll be quite happy with a well made DS version of FF6, but if they then crack on to FF7 with the 3DS that'd be quite interesting...