Final Fantasy VII Remake - Thoughts?

[† cloud1414]

Square-Enix's CEO Yoichi Wada deflects shareholder questions as to why the company hasn't remade Final Fantasy VII. We examine how the company is ignoring just how easy, and profitable, a remake could be.

Square-Enix doesn’t care that people want a Final Fantasy VII remake in high-definition! Fans aren’t the only ones that want the iconic Japanese publisher and developer to revisit the 15-year-old role-playing game that made it an international powerhouse. Shareholders in the company want to see Final Fantasy VII HD as well.

According to Andriasang, Yoichi Wada, Square-Enix’s CEO, said during an investor question and answer session that his company will only make a Final Fantasy VII remake when the company makes a game that exceeds the quality of Final Fantasy VII.

It’s a telling statement. Sales of recent titles in the series, including Final Fantasy XIII and its 2012 sequel Final Fantasy XIII-2, have helped keep Square-Enix solvent since 2010 but both those titles have been divisive amongst critics and fans. Wada’s statement indicates that Square recognizes that even its own internal teams have failed to match the high bar set by Final Fantasy VII back in 1997.

Final Fantasy VII character designer Tetsuya Nomura made statements in May that reflect Wada’s. Nomura said that he and his team, currently working on the 6-years-in-development Final Fantasy Versus XIII, are committed to making new titles rather than revisiting old ones.

A Final Fantasy VII HD remake, not just a high-definition remaster, would be an absolutely immense undertaking. The game’s pre-rendered CG backgrounds are, even by today’s standards, remarkably detailed and though they aren’t massive there are many of them. The sheer size of the game’s world is prohibitive in an era when ever single inch of a game is rendered individually rather than as an animated pre-rendered background.

Then again, why not just remake Final Fantasy VII with improved pre-rendered backgrounds and character models? Square’s insistence that it can’t simply remake the game without making significant changes is just silly. Capcom’s 2002 remake of the original Resident Evil for Nintendo Gamecube is proof positive that a remake of a polygonal game with pre-rendered backgrounds can be absolutely stunning.

The use of pre-rendered backgrounds with improved character models would also give Square-Enix a great deal of flexibility in terms of what platforms the HD remake could be released on. PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo’s Wii U, and PCs could easily accommodate a Final Fantasy VII remake with pre-rendered backgrounds, but more importantly, so could the current Apple iPad, a platform that has proven quite lucrative for Square-Enix.

Stop trying to best Final Fantasy VII, Square-Enix. You can’t do it. You have lost too many creators. Best to just make a brand new, very beautiful version of the classic.

Source: http://www.digitaltr.../#ixzz20XPS93kO

Edited July 13, 2012 by cloud1414

[Koby]

= No FF7 Remake EVER.

They've completely changed the FF series, and FF13 killed the series for me. I won't even bother looking into FF15.

I might check out FF13 Versus, but only because it's suppose to be in a similar vein to Kingdom Hearts in terms of battle system.

FF13 was nothing more than an interactive movie where you had to push the analog stick straight up to go down the linear path and have the x button taped down so it'd auto select auto-battle during battles. There really was no game within FF13 to play. They say it turned into a game after 20 hours, but damn, I beat most FF games in 20 hours or less.. So why would I bother with that crap? Cut the movie down to like 30 minutes, make the tutorials optional, give us back the battle system from X-2, and I'd be happy.

[† Mute point]

Making a game that I like better than ff7 wouldn't be hard.. Because I couldn't get into that one.

[† Emotional Outlet]

Remaking games seems to be a waste of time. Just move onto something new or approach it like the comics do--use the same characters, create a new story, and canon be damned! If they're just doing it for the money, what's the point in worrying about continuity?

I mean, I get what people must be feeling when they want to see more of FFVII--that's why people create fan art and fan fictions and RP about books, movies, and games that have been completed or otherwise no longer updated. They're still fans. But with no new official content coming out, they have to create their own and/or petition the creators to do more with it! Remaster it or continue it! Make another story!

But then you'll get these people who dig in their heels and cry foul, saying the original was better, why'd they have to go and ruin something great?

We examine how the company is ignoring just how easy, and profitable, a remake could be.

This line in particular amuses me. You so often hear people complain about how all companies care about is money, all they worry about is the bottom line, such that they don't worry about the quality of the games they put out so long as sales are good. And yet people criticise and judge when companies don't make these moves, pointing out how profitable it would be and what a mistake it is for them not to pursue it!

Damned if they do, damned if they don't. Personally, I'd rather they continue to make new games vice remaking old ones.

[† cloud1414]

Thats why I loved then they made DoC for the PS2. Same characters but different story and the game was great IMO. Same thing with CC, same characters, yes we knew the story but it still had a twist and that game was awesome too. People just demand remakes left and right. Yes I would also love a HD remake but honestly I dont at the same time. People dont understand how much money it would have to take to make a HD remake with the graphics of 13. And it would take at least 5 years for them to make it so honeslty it would just be a waste since we've already been waiting 6 years for versus13 and honeslty thats going to be alot better than 7 and blow it out of the water.

[Koby]

People dont understand how much money it would have to take to make a HD remake with the graphics of 13.

Honestly the GFX of 13 sucked ass. All it was... was over contrasted eye cancer IMO.

Tone done the contrast, not everything has to sparkle as if it came straight out of a twilight movie.

[† cloud1414]

Well to me I thought the graphics were amazing and thats all that matters to me, but honestly im getting sick of VII. Games I would really love to see remade in HD would be VI and IX. Those games were so much better than VII and people just forget all about those games which were 1000x better than VII.

[RagnaBlaze]

I'm going to stick with the Final Fantasy series. I mean yeah it seems they've lost the magic along with all the great creators AND Nobou now THAT suck to find out. BUT I have faith they'll find the magic again. Unlike I think the majority of FF fans I actually liked FF XIII and the sequel and I am waiting for a Final Fantasy XIII-3. Patiently but yeah I was one of those fans that wanted a remake too, but Seven has plenty of love! From a CG movie to a prequel it's got it all. Sorry if I got off track but that's my two-cents.

[solidsnake916]

They really should remake FFVII, it would financially skyrocket Square Enix when all the fanboys/girls buy the game.

There is HD Collections coming out all the time now for game series, it makes me alittle angry when they only redo half the series, like the Silent Hill HD Collection didn't even include Silent Hill 1 the best one...same with Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, didn't include MGS1, the ps1 games never get redone, they just redo the ps2 versions. That really pisses me off.

For the people who said don't remake it, tell that to all game companies and movie companies who remake movies and games.

[darkjusticex]

That's just WRONG for them to act like that. It's not OUR fault they keep taking shortcuts in their games, which leads to the games not being hailed as being better or selling better than 7.

EXAMPLES:

Point and click world map and no real airship in FFX

FF X-2 turning into a corny comedy

No towns in FF13

[† Apollo]

Making a game that I like better than ff7 wouldn't be hard.. Because I couldn't get into that one.

Agreed. FFVII is my least favorite of all the ones I've finished (IV, VI, VII, VIII, X, X-2, XII, XIII, and XIII-2). So they've already made plenty of "better" FF games than VII, at least to me anyway.

But it's stupid, because you can't define "better" in an objective kind of way, like they seem to be doing here. It's all a matter of opinion, so who's opinion will they base this on anyway? There's plenty of people who will say that they've already made "better" titles than VII. Now, if they mean until they have a title that SELLS better than VII, I'm pretty sure they've done that too.

With that said, I'd like to see an HD remake of VII. I thought it was a good game, not OMG THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER, but still an okay game. But at the same time, I won't lose any sleep if it never happens.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Apollo

[renovalentine]

Ha Ha good luck trying to make a game better than FFVII square. Especially after the direction you went with 13.

[Sevurai]

Maybe if they remake FFVII they'll remember how to make a good Final Fantasy again.

[chaossaturn]

It will get remade randomly one day.

[ukanthuk]

So they're basically never going to make a remake.

[Dractaros]

as much as I'd love to see a remake of 7 with better graphics, there are unfortiantly several things that are preventing that from ever happening, first of, whenever they've Remade a game it is seldomly the same unless it's a version that can be played on the newer systems, second the likely feel that the profit they get from it would not even compare to newer game releases because it would only be a re-release of an older game, and third, the ammount of effert to revamp 7 which whould more or less mean a complete remake from scratch wouldn't justify the amount of work required to satisfy a "Minority" group of gamers, and by minority what I mean is the old final fantasy 7 fans, as opposed to the newer final fantasy fans. The only think we can expect that is 7 related would be re-releases or (although I dout this next part now) sequals and/or prequals.

[MABFanForLife]

I find the topic name funny considering the fact that they've already made games better than VII. VIII had a much better story and I loved the Junction System once I learned how to exploit it. IX had a better story and was a much more fun game to play (especially with the Chocobo Hot/Cold Game). X had the best story and the gameplay was solid. X-2 and XII just sucked. XIII had a semi-weak story but I thought it's had the best combat system to date (just this writer's opinion). XIII-2 may have had a confusing story and practically zero Lightning but it was still pretty fun to play.

So, in reality, SE, you have made better games than FFVII. Just admit that you have no desire to make the remake. And then either admit Versus is dead or give us something to show you haven't abandoned it yet.

[enarose]

God, if we wait for one better than 7 then no one will care if 7 gets remade. Not to mention that the whole FF 13 made me not want to even bother with any new ones. I really hope they can make a new one that... well not like 13.

If they do remake 7 I am so going to buy it, as long as the characters actually have voices all the reading kills me.

[icyred64]

BRING VII IN HD... Please lol... Was one of the best so i would buy it.

[mnop]

In that case it will never happen

Can't make a better game than a perfect one.

Edited December 12, 2012 by mnop