Final Fantasy VII won’t be remade until the series improves
The remake of Final Fantasy VII won’t happen unless the series shows improvement, says Suqare Enix’s CEO…
It’s without a doubt one of the most requested and desired video game remakes of all time, but Square Enix won’t be remaking Final Fantasy VII any time soon, according to CEO, Yoichi Wada.
Talking to shareholders, Yoichi Wada stated that new games in the Final Fantasy series must first better the seventh instalment before the company will remake it. He considers recent instalments of the series inferior to the fan favourite of the line, and believes that if they remake Final Fantasy VII with the series the way it is currently, it’ll end the franchise.
Only when a Final Fantasy game comes along and eclipses the classic will the remake possibly be considered, which, depending on your view of the PS One RPG, may well be something that can never happen until the game itself is remade and released. Talk about a catch-22 situation.
Yoichi Wada obviously feels strongly about this, and in a way his point does make sense, as remaking the seventh game would, essentially, undermine new instalments, but, at the same time, it’s also a guaranteed seller, and would fly off the shelves, boosting the series and introducing a whole new generation of players to the all-time classic.
Personally, I’d pay good money to be able to replay Final Fantasy VII with today’s tech behind it. And let’s make this clear, just in case the game is eventually remade. Leave it alone Square! Don’t cram in new silly battle systems or mess around with the story and Materia mechanics for the sake of it, just give us a great-looking, up-to-date version of the classic we all love. Do that, and we’ll be happy, and you’ll make a mint.
What do you think? Should Final Fantasy VII be remade at all? If so, should it incorporate new game mechanics, or be a faithful representation of the original? Is this whole situation simply in-your-face blackmail to get us all to buy more Final Fantasy games? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
Disqus - noscript
Eclipises th classic? Really? so we should just give up then huh?
Why can't they just take the game, and all the stuff that has been added, like Advent Children, Last Order, Dirge of Cereberus, and Crisis Core. Make the gameplay like Crisis Core maybe, and then have updated cutscenes. The game grapichs would get a complete overhaul and the game would cover all the supplimentary material. So you'd start with a game that basically was about Crisis Core and Last Order then moves into FFVII and then into Dirge of Cerebus and finally advent Children. All the rehashed stuff would be epanded with new gameplay and story elements.
they should remake 7 and 8 and just stop whinging. it would be a massive cash cow
Well with their FF games going downhill, I really don't see how that can happen. They'd have to do something very different/creative to catch my attention, but I don't think Square-Enix is allowed to take those kind of risks anymore.
I do agree that FFVII should be done with new mechanics, though Square-Enix doesn't have much innovation in comparison to other game companies and ramp up graphics to make up for it. Seriously. After ten years, Final Fantasy gameplay changed about as much as Dynasty Warriors.
It's time to do something awesome. Actually drive the motorcycle away form the Shinra building, like in GTA IV. Free-run through the junkyard with Aeries hot on your heels like in Mirror's Edge. Have some sort of button sequence to summon like in God of War, and if you do it perfectly it does something extra, from damage to status effects. These are all things that were IMPOSSIBLE to do well in one game ten years ago, let alone when FFVII came out. It's sure as hell possible now.
I personally don't want a remake, because SE would feel compelled to change things to keep up with modern standards - for example, the static environments, the world map proportions, the music synthesis and so on. All of these little details would change the tone of the game, and most likely subtract from what I enjoyed about it. I also expect that certain characters would be ruined by hammy anime voice actors (cartoon Hojo, Vincent Spike Spiegel Valentine etc.). I mean, that all might sound snobbish, but I just can't see how it would work. The kooky graphics are part of the reason they got away with goofy stuff like Don Corneo, Gold Saucer and all the rest of it. But then, I've hated all of the FFVII spin-offs, so maybe other people would take my opinion with a pinch of salt ...
this might just be silly old me, but i got FF 7, 8 and 9 from the PSN and playing them again is an absolute blast - no need for a remake, overhaul, new battle system or anything (though of the 3, FF9 is by far my least favourite, really by far far far)
I want the materia system to be kept intact, but I wouldn´t mind the addition of some minor improvements, as long as they don´t just cram them in for the sake of adding something new. A few new and subtle improvements would be perfect.
I used to be a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series, but ever since the series transferred over to the PS2, it´s slowly but surely been on decline. I have extreme doubts about Square Enix ever again being able to produce a game that´s good enough to even be mentioned in the same sentence as FF7, FF8 and FF9 (gameplay and story-wise), let alone eclipse them. However, I think they´ll be able to get the series back on track if they manage to hire someone who´s half as capable as Kazushige Nojima was, during his glory days.
I feel that the failure to meet the consumers´expectations towards their recent games, has been largely due to their reliance on Daisuke Watanabe to create scenarios that can live up to the great legacy that Nojima left behind him on PS One. The overall quality of the Final Fantasy series (post-PS2) probably won´t change much in the future, unless, Square Enix brings in someone who´s got the balls and the creative mind to experiment with the story and character development, as opposed to the predictable, commercial garbage that Square Enix have been shipping out over the past couple of years.
loved the origional, played it again recently and brought back so many memories not just of the game but what i was doing in my life around the time i was playing it.
You can't improve on perfection so why try..long live nostalgia!
If it ain't broke don't fix it. FFVII is fine exactly as it is.
One way Square Enix could improve the series is by not feeling compelled to change the interface every time. Final Fantasy VII's ability to place materia into different slots, and to give each character their own summon was amazing. If they chose just one perfected interface for their games, it would save them a lot of development time, and not run the risk of creating an interface that doesn't click with players. Final Fantasy's in-games are also something that need to be looked at. I remember Final Fantasy X on PS2 had one of the must complicated card games that made zero sense. In contrast, FF VII had an amazing RTS sub game (and I'm not a fan of RTS games) and a superb submarine mini game. And while I completed Final Fantasy VII, and it felt like a real accomplishment, I haven't yet completed any subsequent Final Fantasy games. Why? FF VIII had a T-Rex I couldn't get past. FF IX had a bit where I had to go somewhere but there were no clues other than the npc instruction as to where I was supposed to go. FF X had a three headed creature that I simply couldn't defeat (as well as its ridiculous mini game). I'm not sure why I didn't buy FF XII, though I will if it becomes available on the PSN. I did buy FF XIII and I'll go back to it after I've finished Bioshock (which I didn't buy when it first came out).