The Final Fantasy VII Remake is a Fantasy

[SenseOfTumour]

Skipped to the end as it's 200 posts, but why not just straight port it to a PS2, and PSP disc straight? Don't upgrade it, just release it for say $15-20

People who can't get the old 4 cd version will be able to play it, and Square don't have to risk millions tarting up a game that millions of people still rate, with its PS1 visuals, as one of the greatest RPGs ever.

People who want to play FF7, aren't really overlapping the group of people who demand trilinear pixel wanking on everything.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Skipped to the end as it's 200 posts, but why not just straight port it to a PS2, and PSP disc straight? Don't upgrade it, just release it for say $15-20

People who can't get the old 4 cd version will be able to play it, and Square don't have to risk millions tarting up a game that millions of people still rate, with its PS1 visuals, as one of the greatest RPGs ever.

People who want to play FF7, aren't really overlapping the group of people who demand trilinear pixel wanking on everything.

FF7 is already available over PSN for the PS3 and the PSP.

As is FF8 and 9.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Heh, fair enough, I don't follow the PS3 or PSP myself, but that brings the question, who's demanding an HD update, if they have the game?

A new FF game, I can understand, but the exact same game again, with smoother corners?

Nice to hear some sense from the guy in charge, saying 'no, we're going to invest our time and money in making some new games thanks.'

 

[xanith02100]

The bottom line is they would make such a ridiculous assload of money from the game that they really stand nothing to loose by undertaking it.

I can't really imagine anyone who has a PS3 and played the original FF7 -not- buying it, not to mention any new fans of the series that have been following since the newer prettier releases.

 

[theultimateend]

So basically the point is.

Stop expecting to get good games anymore. Graphics are the primary goal of all game developers so unless you like shiny shit you are up a creek without a paddle.

And that creek is full of piranhas.

And the surface is on fire.

and you are nearing a waterfall.

and at the bottom are robot alligators with lazer vision waiting to destroy you.

Games in the past sold on substance because visually they weren't blowing any minds, I guess, I thought they were damn good. Now games are sold visually and substance comes a distant distant second.

Jeeze. Minecraft is far better a game than FF13 and its just in Alpha. It was when Final Fantasy 13 hit that I realized that graphics had officially been the replacement for any sort of gaming substance. 12 Was good (but a nip restrictive), 10 made me wish you could turn off voice actors (Tidus was terrible), 9 was fantastic (my favorite), 8 was ok, 7 was great, 6 was really good, I don't believe I've ever played 5, 4 was great, 3 was fun, 2 was ok, and 1 was...well frankly that was a long time ago so it was good for its time.

I'm assuming at this point 14 is going to look better than a fourway with 3 nymphos but is going to be as much a game as a 3D movie is a game. I'll walk to the next corridor, watch a cutscene and listen to 10 minutes of dialogue, then walk to the next corridor and repeat. I'm sure they'll have fully automated combat by then too.

Heh, fair enough, I don't follow the PS3 or PSP myself, but that brings the question, who's demanding an HD update, if they have the game?

A new FF game, I can understand, but the exact same game again, with smoother corners?

Nice to hear some sense from the guy in charge, saying 'no, we're going to invest our time and money in making some new games thanks.'

For most old games I'd just prefer a framerate enhancement. I've become jaded and like my games to be smooth in motion (not necessarily in looks).

Old games like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark are still solid titles but their framerates and resolutions can actually be hard to handle these days. Not that I'm picky, I just literally can't make out what I'm doing anymore :/.

They could just as easily upgrade Final Fantasy 7 to the level of Final Fantasy 12 graphically and people would be all over them with sex and alcohol. Yes I know, that's still expensive, but FF12 wasn't exactly a small game and they managed to make it :/.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I get that it would be expensive, but I still don't see why it would be more expensive than, say, making a new final fantasy game (E.G. FFXIII) from scratch, and considering it would probably sell crazy good... I'm still not seeing why not.

First, the fans of the original are precisely the wrong crowd to try and please here. Sure, it may be possible to give some portion of them what they want but for the rest there would undoubtedly be nothing but howling about one betrayal or another. The game was released ages ago - so long in fact that the people who played that game when it was released are often pushing 30 or so. There is a huge portion of the modern gaming community that was not old enough to hold a controller when it was released - people who are the very sort who will post threads like "Why is Doom considered good". Sure, you have a vocal crowd in the form of the old fans of the series but I'm hardly convinced they are sufficient in number to warrant the cost nor am I even remotely convinced that such a crowd can be pleased. Such attempts at a reboot/remake are RARELY well recieved. If you don't believe it, just look at the backlash of old fans of things like Star Wars, Star Trek, Fallout, Bionic Commando, Day of the Dead, The Watchmen, Sin City, Transformers and any of the countless examples. Sure, some of these things found success, some of them even managed to convert a reasonable portion of the old guard into fans of the new direction, but you'll find that in each and every case of success it did not hinge on the fanaticism of that vocal minority. Did Fallout 3 become a wild successs story because it adhered to concepts a decade old or ideas that the fans though crucial or because they tossed it out the window and made a game that appealed to the masses of the moment?

Second, that game was made with different limitations than currently exist, and Shamus did a pretty good job of pointing out what these were. If you want to painstakingly recreate a scene designed for a 2D game in 3D, you are almost certain to incur far more work as a result. The world was designed very specifically to work within it's limitations - removing the limitations does not imply one ought to execute the idea in precisely the same fashion using new technology and techniques. Inevitably, the result of forward progress is rarely that a problem is well and truly solved - it simply moves the problem into some other domain. Before the advent of audio in motion pictures, physical acting was critical when conveying emotional states of characters. Once audio was added it did not make the job of an actor easier - it just gave them another set of tools to master. The same is true in games - as technology has marched relentlessly forward, the games we see made generally narrow in scope. Fallout 3 has only a tiny fraction of the content present in Fallout 2 yet cost far more to produce. What's more, the content in these new games is designed from the ground up knowing the precise limitations that are present with modern technology. It is rarely a question of "can we do this" but rather a question of how long will it take and what needs to be cut to make it happen. In order to have any hope of pleasing the old guard you would be forced to simply find a way regardless of the cost, which leads back to the first problem.

One COULD make a game that follows the same story with the same chracters that went to the same places for a similar budget as FF13 I'd suspect. But this is not the game the people are asking for. They want precisely the same game they played more than a decade ago presented in spectacular 3D - and this is almost certainly more difficult than a simple remake.

 

[Cinnonym]

I have two opinions to belatedly share--and I feel this is moot because when people read a thread their interest seems to taper off around the start of page three, but I'm going to do it anyway.

I fail to see how the budget of creating the game is an issue [yes, I did read the entire article]. Let me explain:

For Square-Enix to present a PS3 game, it requires prohibitively expensive graphics and hundreds of thousands of hours worth of work. Square-Enix is a business that presents PS3 games. It aims to sell those games, and I can't fathom how an investment like a Final Fantasy VII remake, with all those trimmings, would fail to capture an immense profit from purchasers both in fans of nostalgia and newcomers alike. A repackaging is exactly what a business does to further their earnings by catering to these two audiences. Is it because other projects would be cut or delayed in order to make room in the budget? I guess maybe I'm just bitter: I would've preferred a PS2 remake of FFVII to have wasted tens of hours on rather than what I got instead... installment XII.

And the second:

You know what I find to be more "prohibitive" towards this remake than the cost? The goddamn campiness of it. Does no one remember that Cloud spent a portion of the game doing competitive squats for a wig to complete his motherfucking drag show?

 

[FloodOne]

You know what I find to be more "prohibitive" towards this remake than the cost? The goddamn campiness of it. Does no one remember that Cloud spent a portion of the game doing competitive squats for a wig to complete his motherfucking drag show?

Or the fact that an integral character to the story is a talking wolf, or that there's a god damn cat riding a moogle in your party.

Or Don Corneo doing the hip thrust in your face, Reno and Rude chatting about girls they like, the scene in the Honey Bee Inn which can only be described as a "man stew". And also, Dio the Golden Saucer's manager wearing nothing but a speedo and a handle bar mustache.

I can't imagine this shit flying well to a new generation of gamers accustomed to roided out space marines shooting their way through baskets of gore.

 

[Kavonde]

Screw an FF7 remake, we still haven't gotten an FF6 one. Don't suppose they mentioned that at all?

Friggin' Squeenix.

 

[Tarrker]

I don't care if fifty other people made a similar post, I simply HAD to comment on this particular subject. Even if it's just to reaffirm it... Why do we even NEED top of the line, eye-blistering current gen graphics, lighting, sound, etc, and so on!??? Is everyone in the gaming world really THAT spoiled by new technology that every game simply HAS to have it? If so, then I would say it's the gamers themselves that are making a remake impossible. Personally, I would happy if they remade it with previous generation graphics and such. The PS2 had great graphics and geez, as far as sound goes, I remember plugging my PS1 into my uncles $3000 movie stereo system to play GT2 and him being surprised by how high quality the sound was. I'm sure it would still take years and years and truck-loads of money to make, but, it would be easier and maybe cost some truck-loads less than trying to bling it out like it's the freaking Crytech engine or some crap.

 

[throumbas]

The article overhypes the development time and cost of graphics. Bringing the cities to current gen is not impossible as stated. And they dont just have the script done, they have everything from battle balance to dialogues and everything in between. It would take a year to create the graphics for it. As for the cost, they have the resources and they know the profit to be made.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

if they can do 2 "big" FF titles at once they can do a normal FF title and a FF7 remake too.

Would love to see FF12 environments and a over world based off it used as the main world.

They can do it with context based combat based off ATB bars and have turn based mode,active TB mode and real time mode.

Use FF12/FF13 properties redo models textures, remake the game with alil something extra level design wise, drop the skill/equipment systems put in the FF7. Its not that impossible not for them the trouble is will it get in the way of the people in charge and their pet projects like FF13?

 

[Eldarion]

They remade Final Fantasy Tactics, why not 7?

And how is designing a 3D FF7 any different from making a whole new game? The FF7 remake would probably sell better than a new Final Fantasy anyway.

 

[ArmorArmadillo]

The article is sort of flawed...he's explaining why it would be difficult to make a FF7 Remake, but he doesn't explain why it would be more difficult than making a new game. Even if interesting story and characters are only .1% of making a game (Which, for Square-Enix, could very well be the case), that's still .1% you don't have to do, and we all know that an FF7 Remake would sell like hotcakes.

I wish Square would just come out and say "We don't want to make a remake, we want to make a good new game." THAT I would really respect...but enough of pretending they can't.

I also wish they would apologize for ruining the Grandia series.

 

[Silver Patriot]

For the tech demo, they wanted to show the PS3's power, and what better way to get people's attention with the game that has alot of....fanboys..., and those fanboys would go rush out and buy a PS3. Seems a bit smart to me.

Then they kinda shot themselves in the foot when you look at it that way. To show such an amazing game off to get people's attention and then say "BTW, We can't make that." Not the best idea IMO. Though to be fair, it might have gotten people excited for the next FF. I still don't think it was a good idea.

On that topic I need to go show my friend that opening and get his hopes up, then dash them horribly for fun.

Also, I agree with the script bit. When they redid MGS for the Gamecube, I'm sure as hell Kojima never intended Snake to like do matrix flips every 5 seconds, and stuff. The only thing that was common between the both games was that it had A) Snake, B) Shadow Moses, C) All the same characters, and D) The same story guidelines. The rest just was destroying of what made the orginal MGS great. Ocelot's boss battle, with First Person Shooter, was like 10X easier then in the orginal when you eaither had to run after him, or plant C4 at the one corner.

I remember reading somewhere (I don't remember where) that it makes sense if you look at it this way. The first game is what happened, the remake is how it was told. See the difference.

Also personally I believe the Ninja cutscenes (and only them) were better in TS. Unlike Snake, who was badass but still human, I could believe what Gray Fox did.

Spoiler: Compare

to

 

[Glaive_21842]

I understand that the major point here is a remake up top par with FFXIII, but do we really need that? Personally, i say stick it on a handheld so people can't get all butt-hurt over not having XIII's graphics. It should stand to reason that a FFIV remake on a handheld should look at least as good as the FFIV remake, which is probably all we'd really need.

And as another point, Square Enix has already "remade" FFVII in a sense. It is available on PSN, after all.

 

[okitana]

dude i love your articles but whats the deal with going out of your way to explain stuff to bias fanboys?

*shrug* i learned nothing from this really.. all because i have payed attention to the news when stuff on this comes up.

 

[almostnot]

Ya know what would be nice? To leave FFVII in the past with all those good memories and for Square to MAKE A F**KING DECENT GAME EVER AGAIN? Surely?

Ooh, and while you're about it, WHERE IN THE NAME OF SANITY IS MY REMAKE OF TOBAL NO. 1???????

 

[JuryNelson]

The fact remains that there's only one, in all of Square's long, long list of games, that millions of people are actually calling on them to remake, and regardless of such obstacles, it's a very valid possibility they'll revisit the option at some point.

First, there isn't only one. Final Fantasy VI routinely beats out VII in fan favorite polls, Chrono Trigger spawned fan sequels, and am I the only one who still holds a torch for Seiken Densetsu 3?

and Second, of the millions who loved FFVII, at least hundreds of thousands are pragmatists who, like me, don't want to see it remade. Thing were different in 1997. We needed FFVII to come along and tell the world that, yes, video games can have stories and marketing budgets and emotional investments. But today, we don't need that. We've already had a pretty extensive wank-fest over Final Fantasy VII, with a bunch of movies, tangentially related video games, and a G.D. line of energy drinks. Let's put away the cum rags and grow up along with our favorite medium.