In the early 2000s, Square announced a remake for PlayStation 2 alongside Final Fantasy VIII and IX, but nothing further was heard of the project.[19][20] It was abandoned because of the increased challenge of developing on new hardware and would have necessitated cutting content.[21] The staff were preoccupied with developing Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels, and Remake would have been an equally large or larger project hard to undertake at the same time. Once the XIII series ended, the team was free to pursue other projects.[22] Kitase claims that since XIII, he had been asked multiple times about developing this game. Co-director Naoki Hamaguchi was originally just a fan of the game so he was glad about his inclusion into the core development team.[23]
Demand for a remake grew following a PlayStation 3 tech demo at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, showcasing the opening of Final Fantasy VII with Square's new Crystal Tools engine. Further demand came during the game's impending tenth anniversary in 2007. On both occasions, Square denied that any remake was in development,[24][25][26] for reasons including their focus on new games, the necessity to cut elements to make a remake manageable, the difficulty of developing for modern hardware, and the amount of development time it would require.[27][28][29][30][31]
The Remake project began when Final Fantasy producer Shinji Hashimoto broached the subject to Kitase, Nojima, and Nomura. All three were reaching a stage of life that they defined as "that age": all felt that if they waited much longer, they might not be alive to or would be too old to develop a remake, and passing the project on to a new generation did not feel right.[32][33][34] Another reason for developing the remake was that Square Enix was creating a growing library of PlayStation 4 titles, and the team hoped to increase the console's popularity.[34] Nomura was appointed as director much to his own surprise when it was decided to create the remake but he was busy with the making of the video game Kingdom Hearts III at that time.[35]
While the team had the option of simply remastering Final Fantasy VII with better graphics as many fans had requested, they noted that its graphics and many of its mechanics had become dated by modern standards. With this in mind, they decided to do a full remake, rebuilding the game systems to suit contemporary tastes and using current gaming technology to recreate the world.[32][34] An overarching goal of the project was to make the game feel both "new and nostalgic" for players of the original game while exemplifying the idea of Final Fantasy VII for new players.[40] This decision led to the creation of Remake's action-based battle system, which draws from that action-based style of Dissidia Final Fantasy.[22] Teruki Endo, who had previously worked on Monster Hunter World, served as battle director.[41] The team aimed to retain all of the gameplay mechanics popular in the original game, including Active Time Battle, while merging them with the action-based system.[42][40]
Despite being marketed as a remake, the narrative has multiple changes from the original game, such as Barret being attacked by the antagonist Sephiroth and saved by a Whisper. Sephiroth appears during the Midgar scenario despite not being properly introduced until a flashback Cloud experiences. Vice noted that Cloud sees the future of Aerith in the original 1997 game, leaving her fate unknown to returning fans.[52] Yoshinori Kitase refrained from explaining the reason for the changes from the narrative: "I want to let you know is that all of the lore from the works created after the original game, the [Compilation of Final Fantasy VII], that's all very much in the base of the canon for the remake, and going forward it will be too".[53]
The main characters were adjusted in various ways for Remake. Rather than the "cool and collected" Cloud as seen in other games, Remake depicts his apathetic attitude as a façade to mask his insecurities. Nojima wanted to convey that his standoffishness could be seen as lame.[54] Cloud's initial redesign for Remake departed more dramatically from the original's, but was later altered to more closely resemble Nomura's design.[43] Tifa's desire for revenge against Shinra is complicated by her reluctance to enact violence. Barret's passion and charisma rallies other characters to follow his lead.[54] Nojima worked hard to make the interactions between these three natural.[55] It was important to Hamaguchi to include a scene wherein Cloud has an intimate conversation with one of his teammates based on the player's choices in homage to the "date" scene from the original game.[56] The development team avoided playing favorites between Tifa and Aerith, treating them both as main heroes.[57] In addition to returning characters, the team decided to expand the role of minor characters and write new characters.[58] Cloud's interactions with AVALANCHE members Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie further his character development and deepen the world of the story.[54] Sephiroth was initially intended to be a looming presence, inspired by the shark in Jaws, to mirror his role in this section of the original game.[59] However, Kitase reasoned that the original's Jaws-like approach would be ineffective because even new players were too familiar with the character.[60] Hamaguchi pitched an alternate ending in which Cloud faces off with Sephiroth, which led to him appearing more and more in the remake.[51]
Final Fantasy VII Remake received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic,[113] with critics praising its faithfulness to the original game. Tamoor Hussain of GameSpot states that, while Remake is only the initial entry in a full reimagining of the original game, it is rich in details that were previously unexplored, realizes new storytelling ambitions with confidence, and presents fresh perspectives that feel both meaningful and essential in his review. To summarize, he says that the game tells a smaller, more personal Final Fantasy VII tale and marries it with a smart mashup of action and RPG gameplay in order to deliver a must-play experience.[125] Tom Marks of IGN calls the game a "complete reinvention", praising the combat system.[140] Nahila Bonfiglio of The Daily Dot regarded it as one of the best games of 2020 based on multiple aspects that would appeal to the audience.[141] EGM claimed the game was captivating like the original.[120] Eurogamer also highly regarded the remake, to the point of finding it superior to the original title.[121]
The narrative was praised for the characters and their arcs.[117][125][140] IGN called its "story fleshed out with real emotional arcs", praising its nostalgic feel, while criticizing the game for having "filler" and sometimes convoluted new plot points and side missions, but concluding that the remake brings a new life into a classic while standing as a great RPG on its own.[140] Shacknews wrote that the story in the remake is one of the strongest ever achieved by the company.[135] In general the voiceactors were well received,[134][133] with Cody Christian's performance as Cloud standing out as he enhances his character arc.[142][125][140] His interactions with the cast and the expansion of the minor characters in Avalanche was also well received by writers with his confrontations with Sephiroth[119][143] Destructoid agreed about the cast, most notably Aerith, noting her fun characterization.[117] The handling of the city of Midgar and expansion of minor characters were praised by the media too.[123][120][121]
Set in a post-industrial fantasy world that has fallen under the control of the shadowy Shinra Electric Power Company, take on the role of Cloud Strife - a mercenary and former member of Shinra's elite SOLDIER unit - and team up with anti-Shinra organization Avalanche as they step-up their resistance.
r/FFVIIRemake is designated specifically for news, content, and discussion surrounding the Final Fantasy VII Remake or an extension of that project where it is aesthetically and functionally similar in terms of gameplay. While enthusiasm for the original game and spin-off titles is appreciated and encouraged in discussion, please avoid posting content from the original game or any spin-off titles that would not apply to the remake.
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH is the highly anticipated new story in the FINAL FANTASY VII remake project, a reimagining of the iconic original game into three standalone titles by its original creators...
I never did finish FF7, got bogged down by random encounters and eventually gave up. If I'd been 13 years old with all the time in the world maybe I would have been one of those people who made it to the end, but even they seem to mostly reminisce about disc one's Midgar rather than the rest of the game. Which is why the remake turning that cyberpunk city opening into its own 35-hour modern prestige videogame sits fine with me.
The remake rubs Cloud up against the setting's goofiness in a self-aware way, especially in sidequests involving the children of the slums. He wants to be a mercenary, but half his jobs involve rounding up or working directly for the local kids. He competes in their whack-a-box game, tracks down their missing cats. One kid cosplaying as a fuzzy moogle makes him collect "moogle medals" to exchange for treasures. Cloud's tough guy act is constantly deflated by his circumstances, and not just in that one bit where he puts on a dress.
This all happens in the first couple of sidequest hubs, areas where a lot of the remake's new additions take place. First Tifa and then Aerith drag Cloud around their neighbourhoods, introducing him to everyone. Tifa's landlady is particularly unimpressed, telling her not to bother with a guy who has no personality even if he's got a "big sword", nudge, nudge.
e2b47a7662