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How Square can still save Final Fantasy VII Remake
Sephiroth will have something to say if this rescue plan isn’t enacted ASAP.
The Final Fantasy VII Remake is on the way to PS4
© Square Enix
Things were looking so bright for Final Fantasy VII Remake, the next-gen overhaul of the classic 1997 Japanese role-playing game. Square Enix dropped a new trailer at the PlayStation Experience this week, teasing the game’s opening scenes. Fans went nuts, because Final Fantasy VII.
Then Square squandered all the goodwill it had built up since the original announcement E3 by quietly announcing that the game would be episodic. “Final Fantasy VII Remake will be told across a multi-part series, with each entry providing its own unique experience,” read a brief and unnecessary press release, which also happened to make no mention of a release date for any of them, issued this week.
Fans went the bad kind of nuts, fearing that Square would be breaking down the game for parts and selling them piecemeal. Clearly this was Square Enix behaving just like Shinra, the evil multinational corporation sucking the planet dry in Final Fantasy VII.
It’s not quite so simple as all that, of course; it never is. Recreating the world of FFVII on modern consoles is a massive undertaking, one that might be difficult to even fit on one hard drive. And it’s by no means clear that the audience for such a game is there: the original JRPG is about as close to scripture status as you get in the medium and there are plenty who would prefer to keep its memory intact. And what’s wrong with serialised games anyway?
Regardless, Square Enix have a long road ahead if they want to convince fans that Remake is a labour of love and not another Advent Children, the utterly forgettable straight to DVD sequel movie. Here’s how we think it can turn the game from a lazy Shinra guard into an elite SOLDIER commando.
Let players double back
One of the key concerns fans have with splitting up Remake into parts, beyond having to pay for each, is how this will affect the open-world nature of the game. Final Fantasy VII has a vast world map with many hidden secrets, and its storyline sees you returning to points of interest several times. Your actions early on in the game directly affect the story much later on: who Cloud goes on a night on the town with at the Golden Saucer (a much more important plot point than it sounds, you’ll have to trust us) is determined by which characters you have in your party throughout disc one.
But if the game is sold in episodes – we’ve yet to see any Remake footage set outside of Midgar, the game’s initial location, giving us reason to suspect a first episode might culminate with Cloud’s daring escape from the city by motorbike – then surely each part will have to act as a standalone title. If that’s the case, what happens to your character progression between each part? That’s an integral part of an RPG. Can you revisit cities from earlier episodes? Will there even be a world map? Take that away and you’re left with just another corridor simulator like Final Fantasy XIII, no thank you.
If Square Enix wants to keep its fans happy, it’ll need data to carry over between episodes. Ideally, each instalment should act as an expansion pack too, so that you can explore and revisit the world when you like, and dig up the key to Midgar so you can slip back in and let Barret pay his daughter a visit in Sector 5.
Don’t change the story – warts and all
Final Fantasy VII is a rightly lauded as a leap forward for the medium of video games, with a mind-bending plot set to a score that has never been equalled. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t aged though, and badly.
As a reminder, here is a list of things that actually happen in Final Fantasy VII:
- Cloud dresses up as a woman in order to break into a bordello to seduce a paedophile and rescue his childhood friend.
- A giant genetically-modified tiger successfully disguises himself as a human soldier by walking around on two legs with his tail hanging out of his trousers and wearing a hat.
- To break into Junon, Cloud rides a dolphin who flips him hundreds of feet in the air over live electricity lines.
- Tifa has a slapfight with a female Shinra executive on top of a giant cannon.
- You get to play as a cat armed with a megaphone riding a giant stuffed animatronic robot. Spoiler alert: the cat is later revealed to be an animatronic robot as well.
What we’re trying to say, in other words, is that there are lots of cringe-making and morally-dubious moments in Final Fantasy VII that the Remake will have to re-imagine in 3D and HD, some of which it will receive flak and ridicule from many quarters for. But Square Enix should not shy away from them. It should embrace them – these absurd, campy, revelatory moments are what made us fall in love with the game to begin with. Tetsuya Nomura, who served as character designer for the original game and is directing the remake, has already said the iconic crossdressing sequence will remain, so let’s hope we get to re-enact the movie Flipper in HD all over again too.
The FFVII Remake is already worrying fans
© Square Enix
Remix the battle system
Some Final Fantasy purists have bemoaned the action RPG combat seen in the two Remake trailers so far – certainly battles look more like something out of the still-being-developed Final Fantasy XV, The Witcher or PSP spin-off Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. “Why isn’t it turn-based?” they cry. “Where does Vincent shop for his cloaks?”
Times have changed though, and so have gaming sensibilities – FFVII is just too slow by today’s standards. But it’s also easy to forget though that Final Fantasy VII isn’t actually turn-based – if you don’t hurry with your battle commands, the enemy will jump the queue and punish the player for taking so long to press X. The ATB battle system, not to be confused with the German techno DJ of the same name, actually requires something closer to reflexes.
Based on the latest trailer, it appears Square is holding onto some elements of the system – you’ll see the standard Final Fantasy options menu at the bottom of the screen – while trying to merge it with frantic realtime action. Lots of questions remain, however. How will cover materia work when you can free-run in battles? Just how badass ridiculous will summons be? Square Enix will have to strike a very careful balance here to keep all players happy.
Ramp up the difficulty
We know, we know. “Japanese video games are way too easy”, said nobody anywhere, ever, but it really does apply in this instance. If you think the international version of Final Fantasy VII is difficult, there’s a good chance you haven’t played it since you were a nipper. We know, because we’re rubbish at JRPGs and we just trounced Sephiroth first time without Knights Of The Round or any grinding. If you’d like further proof though, the video above shows Level 7 Tifa defeating Emerald Weapon, the second hardest boss in the game, by just punching it in the face until it dies. Yeah.
It’s a shame, because the Materia system for pairing types of abilities is far and away the most interesting magic system ever crafted by Square, but outside of the optional Weapon fights, FFVII never requires much preparation (It’s entirely possible to complete the game without ever casting Barrier, for instance). Many of the fans awaiting Final Fantasy VII Remake are in their late 20s or 30s now, and smart enough to steamroll over most of the game’s bosses without much effort, while newcomers to the series will be schooled on the likes of Dark Souls. Square Enix would do well to up the challenge, or at least provide multiple difficulty settings, much like rival JRPG series Tales Of allows, so that Materia levelling and placement becomes essential in boss fights, rather than something you can flog to buy a virtual holiday home on the Costa del Sol.
Japanese audio, please
Barret Wallace’s character design was clearly inspired by Mr T, so it’s a crying shame to discover in the latest trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake that he doesn’t sound a lot like BA Baracus. That’s the least of the problems for the dialogue in this clip, mind, which as corny as turning up to a cosplay convention with a buster sword strapped to your back and your hair spiked up with gel. Let’s have the standard option to switch to the Japanese audio track with subtitles please.
No micro-transactions
You haven’t endured Final Fantasy: All The Bravest, have you? If you had, you’d know that Square Enix would rather you pay mobile games than play them. This shameless cash-in is a classic example of how freemium can run a fun game idea into the ground, and one of the reasons FFVII fans are right to be worried about Remake.
In fairness, Square Enix usually keeps its main entry Final Fantasy games fairly clear of such tosh – its recent port of the original Final Fantasy VII for PS4 is excellent, even giving you optional cheats without paying for them should you run into trouble on a random encounter – but we still can’t help but wonder if its execs aren’t seeing dollar signs like a slot machine at the Golden Saucer, and tempted to take fans’ patience and wallets for another spin.
Actually release the game some time this generation
You’d have thought this one might be obvious, releasing games being how most developers tend to make money, but in Square’s case, it’s probably worth reiterating. Final Fantasy XV has been in development for almost a decade now, and is yet to receive a release date. Kingdom Hearts III still appears years from release too, so where Square Enix is going to find the resources to recreate a beloved game from scratch on top of this is anyone’s guess.
Granted, Square Enix has confirmed that Final Fantasy VII Remake will be coming to PS4, so it’s at least eyeing a release this decade, and the Japanese publisher has shown its willingness to enlist other studios to help on the title, including CyberConnect2 of the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm franchise. But Square still haven’t said when we’ll be able to play the game, leaving Remake lost in the same limbo as the publisher’s other blockbuster JRPGs.
The episodic release structure might help mitigate the delay by letting Square Enix release the game in chunks, but consider this: Square first announced Final Fantasy XV in 2006, just a few months after the release of Final Fantasy XII. 2006! And somehow it’s still TBC. Pull your fingers out of those materia slots, guys.
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