In the wake of remakes, reboots, and HD ports that have found their way into this generation, many gamers have made a wishlist of sorts, pertaining to what they want revisited. However, one game that had drawn the most requests has to be Final Fantasy VII. Propelling the PS1, and RPGs, into mainstream popularity, many gamers have heralded Final Fantasy VII as one of best, if not the best, game ever created. Several Final Fantasies, a movie, an anime, and much corporate whoring later, Square shows off the now infamous tech demo for the PS3 in which they recreated the opening scene of Final Fantasy VII. The gaming public loved the hell out of this, but at the same time was upset that this vision of FFVII would be confined to being a mere tech demo. They wanted a full game, something that Square has said time and again that they had no plans for. And now, after the polarizing Final Fantasy XIII and the abysmal Final Fantasy XIV, fans are begging for a remake. Hit the Jump to see what we think Square should do in regards to remaking Final Fantasy VII.
Steven”DPX”: Personally, in the state Square Enix is in right now, they should stay off trying to remake FFVII. Their handling of old properties has been suffering lately with The 3rd Birthday, the Mana series, and even Final Fantasy taking a massive hit as of late. Final Fantasy XIV, though an MMO, demonstrates how far Square has fallen. Even Wada has stated that FFXIV tarnished the Final Fantasy name. Also, their resources have been stretched thin and lots of teams are tackling other projects, like FF Type-0, Kingdom Hearts 3D, Versus XIII, Bravely Default… it’s madness. Square Enix has only seen success so far (this year anyway) with with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, an Eidos developed game that Square published.
Daikuma: No more remakes plz….that is all.
Prota: I don’t think Final Fantasy VII should be remade. At the very least, not for now, but I’m not too thrilled of it ever happening to be honest. Final Fantasy VII is probably one of my favorite RPGs of all time. It was actually the first RPG I ever played, before I even knew what a role playing game was, so it really is a special game to me. You’ve already mentioned some of Square Enix’s recent faults: spreading their sources too thin between a large number of games currently in development, and how their established franchises have met with less than stellar criticism from their fans.
However, one of my biggest concerns is from hearing that if Final Fantasy VII were to be remade, it wouldn’t be the same game. An interview I read about the possibility of a remake pretty much made it apparent that there would be quite a bit of creative liberty involved, and that the remake would be more of a retelling. My main worry about this is that some of the charm of the original, and nostalgia for that matter, will be lost with this new transition. Especially when you consider the approach Square Enix has had with the franchise post FF7.
I think if a remake occurs, it would just feel too different to be the FF7 I remember. Cloud goes through some serious shit in this game, so some guilt and depression is more than natural given what he deals with, but I also don’t remember him pausing halfway between every sentence and being so angsty that he appears extremely one-dimensional. Heck, I remember early in the game, after spending the night resting, Tifa asks Cloud how he slept, and one of the choices you could make was something along the line of “I would’ve slept better next to you.” Or when masquerading as a foot soldier, Cloud taught the entire squadron his victory pose, with the victory theme playing in the background. It’s quirky instances like these that would be lost in translation and, if that’s going to happen, I’ll gladly replay the original any day.
Daikuma: I would like a new fighting game though. Ehrgeiz ftw!
LSlick: Hmmm…Personally I really don’t care about FF7…However from a consumer pov, it would make more sense to remake FF7 since it is in higher demand compared to what they are going to release with FFX HD. I don’t know for what reason they would do an HD port of FFX…-_____-….I think to please the fans and since they have been asking for it for a very long time… I think they should remake FF7 in that regard.
Steven “DPX”: From the consumer side it would make sense. I mean, of course if this thing gets made, no matter how bad it may be, it will sell. Hell, Sonic ’06 sold, and that game is terrible! But, even if it turned out to be a good game, this would be the most polarizing game in existence. It would be worse than Metroid Other M, and that event was really ugly. Even Nintendo’s avoiding that thing like the Plague. I remember around summer before podcast taping, we were talking about FFVII. Anthony and James said that Cloud was actually a badass in the game and was a pretty likable character (like what Anthony “Prota” described just now). But then Square changed his character into this angsty emo that does the worst William Shatner impression ever seen. There’s a good chance that Square will use that characterization of Cloud if they remake FFVII.
And the fandom of FFVII would have a colossal hissy fit with this game since they tend to feel very entitled. They’ll just spout out “Well, regarding this scene, I would done it this way.” “Oh oh, when Aerith dies, it’ll happen in slow motion.” Trust me when I say that fanons can get ugly (as much as I would enjoy seeing them get all mad and shit).
Hachi76: While I do agree that a remake of FFVII would be interesting, purely from a fanboy perspective, the biggest barrier would be how to go about “remaking” it. The game is more of a force now than anything actually regarded as a creation, if you think about it. More than any other installment in the franchise, VII has been canonized as one of the sacred creations, one that is untouchable. But to play the game now, you would see that some things need to be switched around. And since fans don’t come that much crazier than FF fans, it would be a full shitstorm.
But I agree with Anthony that the characterization would be a major issue. Back before I had exposed myself to all his other characterizations, I found him to be a fascinating lead character. A psychologically complex and damaged man, who was about as flawed and imperfect a protagonist I had ever seen. Not in the Cecil or any of those other guys way where they had committed some great crime that prayed upon them. It was because he was mentally multifaceted and questionable, not a great hero or anything, just an unwell young man. He had issues, they made sense, and therefore he was likeable.
Then, all of a sudden, he’s mopey and bitchy and self-loathing and shit. No. No way. By the end of VII, he had made steps to becoming a self realized person. What the hell happened? It’s all a lot deeper than this, and I would need a verbal medium to fully express what went wrong after the original, but the biggest issue would be if Square could resist the temptation to tamper with their product.
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Aw man! I missed the FFVII convo >___<, hit me up next time so I know when these discussions go on, hopefully we have more debates during the break.
It was on the staff page on Facebook, you should have gotten a notification. And even though it was already posted, I don’t see the harm in you still putting in your two cents.
Am i the only one that thinks that if they remake it people will hate it?It was a masterpiece the time it released and the old-school “cartoon” style matched perfectly for the game.The remake will take 3-4 years to make if u want ffxiii graphics.Especially if there is a whole new game:P
a FFVII remake would never satisfy the fanbase. Some would want the original product to remain untouched, others would like to see new things in it as well as old stuff tweaked.
Kitase said very well, at this point each fan has their own vision of FFVII and its world. To mess with that would be very dangerous.
You do have a valid point Mihael about the remake would never satisfy the fanbase. However, I feel that Square Enix releases a remake of the game, then they can hit both demographics. The original FF7 is already on PSN so people who do not like the remake can easily be happy with the port. If the remake is created then it can make the consumer base that want the remake to happen be happy.
But even if they have the original, some fans will still be displeased. Just having a remake isn’t guaranteed to make the consumers happy, the remake would have to be good…and that definition of good is the underlying problem. Some people, like myself, would love a remake if it tried to stay close to the original. Others may prefer making dramatic changes and shaking the game up a bit.
Basically you can’t please everyone and when it comes to FF7’s fan base, that’s a lot of people.
Filipakos and Mihael: I agree with both of you. No matter what they do, there will be upset fans. I’m sure many would share Filipakos’ sentiments, but just as many would welcome the new version Square Enix develops. Kitase’s view on the matter summarizes the situation perfectly.
And to be honest, unless Square Enix somehow restores my faith in the company, I’d rather pass on a remake and just stick with the original.
Before I proceed, let me just remind you about the definition of remaking an old game. The remaking process of an old game mainly rely on improving the graphical representation of the game and updating them up to current standards. Other than that, the story will remain the same and creativity involvement of the remaker is almost close to nothing.
A remake of FFVII will make some heads roll in Square Enix. Just imagine how a remake of an old game will outsell all the garbage Square Enix have been doing since FF10 combined.
What the current bosses at Square Enix are trying to show to their superiors is that they are able to make better games and that what they are making sells well and when their superiors question them about the decline in sales compared to previous years, they will just say that the market for such genres is dying.
This is why Square Enix will never do a remake of a game that has been made by Square Soft or Square.
This is why Square Enix always keep doing FF7 titles that are not the remake of the original game, because the original game didn’t involve Square Enix broken creativity.
This is why Square Enix is thinking about doing a remake of FFX which is the best they have ever done, but no where near the best of the series.
Yep. At most, they would need the old team back for a remake. But that’s gonna be hard as hell now that most of the old team are off to greener pastures. In all honesty, at their current state, they shouldn’t remake anything they made during the Square/Squaresoft era, So in that sense, I agree with you.
I remember when someone questioned one of the fewer old guard Square employees about a Chrono sequel. He said that in order for that to happen, they’d need the old team back. Unfortunately, a good chunk of ’em don’t work for Square Enix anymore. It would be like me having an old, nice ass car and giving it to my 18-year-old son (don’t have one IRL). He can drive, but he doesn’t know the intricacies of MY car, and he dives that thing into a tree and ruins it. Making a Chrono sequel now would be like that.
I absolutely loved FF13, I’m one of the people that considers FF7 to be, possibly, the greatest game ever made and I just recently completed FF7 all over again on PSN.
I would buy a FF7 remake on launch day but I don’t think it needs a remake. So many great things in life are remade. It can sometimes be nice when the Greatest things are left alone.
OhForChrissakes!!!
It’s obvious isn’t it? Remake it the same way Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time was remade, i.e, completely replace every graphical file and redo the menus, but keep the text, physics, and gameplay the exact same (to the point of keeping any glitch based hacks).
And keep the maps the exact same (obviously)
i should be remake lol!dont sum ffvii with other game….ggvii is something else!it deserve remake naturally…even motherearth agreed and want it….that it was should be since is release 1997 ago!
ffvii**
I don’t often comment on forums but here I can’t resist.
I’m in two minds about a remake, first is, why not make a remake, when crisis core came out, I was highly impressed with everything. Especially the updated look of cloud and how it ended at the beginning of ff7, it was then I thought, that’s how ff7 should look. I would love to play through ff7 if it was like that.
Second is NEVER touch a classic, look what happened when they remake the Italian job. It was a joke.
So my conclusion is why not make a ff7-2 bring back some old characters, give them a history of then and now, bring in some new characters and do something square cocked up after ff9, the battle system. Give our battle system back. Then give us the one thing fans have craved…..the return of sephiroth or at least something fans can really relate to. Just my opinion.
That’s an interesting perspective to take. Square Enix definitely hasn’t been shy about doing sequels to Final Fantasy.games. Ironically enough, what you just described pretty much summed up Advent Children, minus the fact that it’s not a game.
To be honest, I don’t know how I’d feel about a sequel to FFVII. Not that wouldn’t be interested, I just don’t trust Square Enix with the franchise. I may try playing Crisis Core soon so I can get a better sense of how the current Square may handle newer FFVII related games.
isn’t there a fan made remake in teh works? i would devote infinite free time to such an endeavor as a graphic artist. as fans, we could and shoudl remake it and fuck property rights, it wouldnt ever be commercially released jsut passed on form fan to fan. why not? you live once, why not make what you want? hit me up with any info.
What the fans want is very difficult. I’ll give you an example take myself and my older brother our ages 24 & 28. FFVII is my holy grail, he prefers FFVIII. I found FFXIII to limiting and couldn’t play didn’t stop him. We both tried to get into FFXIV but found it a mess. He won’t mind if square took some liberties but for me a FFVII remake would have to be mind blowing to warrant a look because I feel like I’ve already been burned by Square.
May come as a shock but I would prefer Versus over XIII-2 or FFVII remake.
Kind of funny the only reason he was going to buy a ps3 was for FF and then it went multiplat even traded his box in for the limited edition FFXIII box haha.
Sony didn’t even bring out a bundle here in australia.
Square can’t afford another blunder they need a hit maybe FF greatness should stay in the past. Give us more good games like deus ex, where is Kingdom hearts 3, even something similar to The Last Remnant I enjoyed that game even with it’s problems and broken quests.
even dissidia on consoles would be better
One of the most overrated games in history.
At this point it needs to be done, if only to shut the fans up and give Square-Enix a financial shot in the arm, but they need to do it right. I actually think it may be under development right now and has beeen for some time — for the next gen possibly. I think if they follow the style and tone of Advent Children they’ll be fine. Punctuate the seriousness with some of the funny moments we remember and stay as true to the spirit of the original and more fans than not will love it.
I think a FF7 remake is already long overdue. With the incredible success of Advent Children, the remake should have been a guarantee. Especially because so many find it the crowning achievement of the entire Final Fantasy series. And they need do little more to it than upgrade the graphics. Look at the huge success of 343 Industries’ Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. 343 Industries barely did a thing to it. The graphics are only marginally better. But it sold big. And with Sony staggering from bad publicity and the Anon attack, (which I honestly think was warranted, but that is my opinion), they need something huge to give to the gaming community that will not only reward them for being fans, but give them what they have been asking for for over a decade. If Square cannot step up to the plate and get the job done, I’m am sure there are plenty of people working for Sony that can step up to the bat. This is Japan…these people are suppose to be really smart. Why can’t they figure out what is going to be a huge success? REMAKE FF7!
A remake of Final Fantasy VII would be a huge commercial success, no question. However, the sad thing is that Square Enix isn’t the same company we grew up with. If this was still the Squaresoft of old, this probably wouldn’t even be up for debate. Most fans would’ve been on-board right away. But we all know the company has seen better days, and we can’t forget the fact that they’ve lost key members that greatly influenced their older titles.
Overall, it feels less about whether fans want a remake and more about whether or not they think Square Enix can actually do it right.
Oh, and one other thing…
Tifa ta-tas in 2010 graphics! You saw what the Japanese could do in Onchanbara…imagine the flags that would fly worldwide in the FF& remake. ^^
^_^
I have read all of your multiple positions, but i see one main thing we all can agree on, Square no longer has the dexterity to craft such sacred majesties as FF7. However, to be completely honest, i am stoked about XIII Versus. And I think that’s what’s in the bush we keep beating around; that Square is more fixated on Top-notch graphics, a decent storyline, and printing their label on garbage and calling it art. Oh and BTW, when we were complaining about a new Kingdom hearts game, we only wanted ONE, and that is KHIII, but nope, yall decided to create a bunch of crappy games instead of the ONE we wanted. Square, please your hardcore FF fans before this gets out of hand.
I was thinking about Versus XIII (and I’ll make an article about what I think its fate will be soon). But The more I thought about it, The more I realized that there weren’t really that many RPGs that looked like it took place in a really modern setting (without looking futuristic). Earthbound and Parasite Eve 1 comes to mind in this case. And since the game’s combat looks like it’ll have the fluidity of Kingdom Hearts, I’ll be putting this game on my radar to watch.
On the subject of Kingdom Hearts, They really milked that teat dry. While the gameplay on some entries might’ve been great, they really did nothing to truly advance the story. All they did was make full blown stories on previous events that were very insignificant. Before you know it, they’ll make a story on Sora’s breathing pattern.
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