Well, the basic arguement that I hear is that they won't re-make Final Fantasy VII because they simply don't have the budget to do it under current technology, the world, maps, scenes, etc... being far too complicated given the paydays the guys working with current tech expect, it would take them too long. Final Fantasy XIII on the other hand is designed around current technology and while the backrounds and such are good, they are comparitively simplistic in scope and it's an easier world for them to work within than the FF VII-verse.
There are also two other major issues involved. One is that FF VII is viewed as having too western an aestetic for the rather racist Japanese. This is one of the reasons why they tried to replaced Snake with Raiden in "Metal Gear", Raiden being a bit more popular in Japan than overseas because of his ethnicity, hence him "surprisingly" getting his own games and such.
I won't sit here and tell you that the cast of Final Fantasy VII dressed practically, but as someone commented in looking at Lightning's Outfit... yeah, the aestetics for XIII have more generally been "eastern", as opposed to guys in suits (Turks), etc... though there are a few characters like Snow and Szash in XIII which follow a more westernized design.
There is also the opposite issue ironically enough that holding back Final Fantasy almost tanked Squeenix. A lot of people tend to forget this but one of the most overtly racist anti-western things ever happened with "Final Fantasy X". Basically there was a THIRD part of the series called "Final Fantasy X: Final Mission" which was held back from a western audience and kept "Japan Only" as a sort of power trip, and to appease fans claiming JRPG developers were "selling out, to the inferior westeners". As a result the end of the story never got a US release, and left
western audiences hanging after X-2. X-2 also failed to an extent because "Final Mission" had already been developed and was announced it was not going to be released, so a lot of people never played X-2 not wanting to end with what amounts to an unresolved storyline. Around this same period we also saw the release of "Final Fantasy X: International Edition" with additional content and difficulty modes and such, which was intentionally a slap in the face because "International" did not mean US release.
You might wonder where I get the whole "racist" accusations here, but the truth is that back around 2000 Anime was a bit more popular than it is now, being in something of a bubble, it was also a time when Japanaphilles were a bit more mainstream and you had people doing things like translating Japanese gaming and fandom periodicals into english, since it had yet to be discovered that english language editions of these would be able to see (for a while). What this means is that you had some fans from subbing groups and such doing this who discovered what was being said in Japan, to a Japanese audience about Final Fantasy as well as J-fan responses, which lead to some understandably strong reactions within the gaming community of the time. This is one of the reasons why people occasionally look back say say "Final Fantasy X-2 wasn't that bad" or wondered at the intensity of the reactions to "XII" that went beyond it's problems, and that's why.
At any rate the point is that while XIII might not be the best Final Fantasy game out there, I think Squeenix realized there is a lot of money to be made from the Western/American audience, and that attempts to snub Americans like that weren't going to go unnoticed or unresponded to. As a result they are seeing to it that the US audience gets everything, at least from the series that are already sold here. The bottom line is that since they released XIII, if they didn't localize and reliease the next two chapters, people would probably get extremely POed, and it would hurt them on their release of XIV (which will happen).
That's my thoughts on the subject at any rate. I know all of this largely because I was nearly a weeaboo once (never quite made it there) having been far more heavily into JRPGs, Anime, Manga, etc... than I am now. I'm one of those people who was able to claim I was into all of that stuff before it was cool, and supported it before "the gread DVD changeover", having actually paid $30 for a couple of anime episodes on a VHS... more frequently than it would be heathy to admit. That interest meant I was kind of "there" listening to the translation communuties and waiting for/reading a lot of that stuff as soon as it came out, so I was at the forefront of the outrage. The internet and fandom communities actually changed a lot over 10 years. That said, I doubt I'm the only one on a site like The Escapist who was "there" for this, but I'd imagine many people don't know this, and are probably unaware (well those from the US) that there was even a third "Final Fantasy X" game or an international remake of the first part of that trilogy.
There are also two other major issues involved. One is that FF VII is viewed as having too western an aestetic for the rather racist Japanese. This is one of the reasons why they tried to replaced Snake with Raiden in "Metal Gear", Raiden being a bit more popular in Japan than overseas because of his ethnicity, hence him "surprisingly" getting his own games and such.
I won't sit here and tell you that the cast of Final Fantasy VII dressed practically, but as someone commented in looking at Lightning's Outfit... yeah, the aestetics for XIII have more generally been "eastern", as opposed to guys in suits (Turks), etc... though there are a few characters like Snow and Szash in XIII which follow a more westernized design.
There is also the opposite issue ironically enough that holding back Final Fantasy almost tanked Squeenix. A lot of people tend to forget this but one of the most overtly racist anti-western things ever happened with "Final Fantasy X". Basically there was a THIRD part of the series called "Final Fantasy X: Final Mission" which was held back from a western audience and kept "Japan Only" as a sort of power trip, and to appease fans claiming JRPG developers were "selling out, to the inferior westeners". As a result the end of the story never got a US release, and left
western audiences hanging after X-2. X-2 also failed to an extent because "Final Mission" had already been developed and was announced it was not going to be released, so a lot of people never played X-2 not wanting to end with what amounts to an unresolved storyline. Around this same period we also saw the release of "Final Fantasy X: International Edition" with additional content and difficulty modes and such, which was intentionally a slap in the face because "International" did not mean US release.
You might wonder where I get the whole "racist" accusations here, but the truth is that back around 2000 Anime was a bit more popular than it is now, being in something of a bubble, it was also a time when Japanaphilles were a bit more mainstream and you had people doing things like translating Japanese gaming and fandom periodicals into english, since it had yet to be discovered that english language editions of these would be able to see (for a while). What this means is that you had some fans from subbing groups and such doing this who discovered what was being said in Japan, to a Japanese audience about Final Fantasy as well as J-fan responses, which lead to some understandably strong reactions within the gaming community of the time. This is one of the reasons why people occasionally look back say say "Final Fantasy X-2 wasn't that bad" or wondered at the intensity of the reactions to "XII" that went beyond it's problems, and that's why.
At any rate the point is that while XIII might not be the best Final Fantasy game out there, I think Squeenix realized there is a lot of money to be made from the Western/American audience, and that attempts to snub Americans like that weren't going to go unnoticed or unresponded to. As a result they are seeing to it that the US audience gets everything, at least from the series that are already sold here. The bottom line is that since they released XIII, if they didn't localize and reliease the next two chapters, people would probably get extremely POed, and it would hurt them on their release of XIV (which will happen).
That's my thoughts on the subject at any rate. I know all of this largely because I was nearly a weeaboo once (never quite made it there) having been far more heavily into JRPGs, Anime, Manga, etc... than I am now. I'm one of those people who was able to claim I was into all of that stuff before it was cool, and supported it before "the gread DVD changeover", having actually paid $30 for a couple of anime episodes on a VHS... more frequently than it would be heathy to admit. That interest meant I was kind of "there" listening to the translation communuties and waiting for/reading a lot of that stuff as soon as it came out, so I was at the forefront of the outrage. The internet and fandom communities actually changed a lot over 10 years. That said, I doubt I'm the only one on a site like The Escapist who was "there" for this, but I'd imagine many people don't know this, and are probably unaware (well those from the US) that there was even a third "Final Fantasy X" game or an international remake of the first part of that trilogy.
