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The Remake After The OG Story: Living Games

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
Now, this is obviously getting way, WAY, WAY ahead of things but it's something that I think has a lot of merit for discussion given what's been happening with FFXV, and also looking at the original game's own conclusion.


Final Fantasy VII's ending is ridiculously abrupt and ambiguous. In fact, the closest thing it has to an "ending" is actually the Nanaki & kids scene 500 years later, which also serves to just spark instant speculation about, "What happened within that time?" that probably is responsible for why TLS exists at all. Given that we'll be getting the game in (likely about 3) parts, I think it's a LOT more difficult to provide an ending like that as the final piece, especially since the Compilation has actually filled in some of those gaps between the ending and the 500 years later moment.


So, what DOES that mean for the Remake?


Well, looking at what FFXV is doing with the idea of a "living" game, I think that given what happened with the Compilation there's a strong possibility for FFVIIR to follow that same model – if it continues to work out well for XV – which it seems to be so far, but we'll really have to see how this whole year of Episodic DLC works out for them to know how much confidence SE'll have in doing something like that as FFVIIR actually gets moving.

My point is that FFVII is already VERY well set up to conclude the game and then give you the world to wander in afterwards at your leisure: The time around AC's "Case of" content can serve as post-game missions focused on what the world looks and has to cope with like then, and as I've stated before, Deepground works really well as an EX Dungeon within a mostly ruined Midgar. On top of that, with the game coming out as continuous releases, it seems like a natural way to have the team work on maintaining it in a scaled-down way (again, like how 70% of the FFXV team is still working on the game).

Plus – If FFVIIR is actually setting itself up to be the standalone new canon, it makes a lot of sense to design things so that when the game reaches its admittedly VERY open-ended conclusion, they could still present expanded parts of the Compilation stories within periods of time like AC & DoC as post-game DLC to keep players in that world, while also providing more focus on the things that the Compilation created but that don't really serve themselves to being addressed directly within the narrative format of the Remake's main story.

Hell, they might even go the whole, post-game "create your own avatar and explore the world with your friends, free of the constraints of the story" type multiplayer that FFXV appears to be working on.



tl;dr – With the way the story is structured, and with the existence of often partially-resolved Compilation content, I highly expect us to get a good chunk of auxiliary content when FFVIIR wraps up the proper story, especially if FFXV's current model serves them well.





X :neo:
 

Unit-01

Might be around.
AKA
Sic, Anthony
I want to thank this over and over again.

If the Remake is set up to be a "new canon" as Nomura told(or at least hinted at)in a interview about 2 days ago, then I could totally see DLC set after part 3 or whatever is the last part.

I wonder if they would change up the events of Advent Children and DoC or make completely new story line for after the end of the game. Also the question of Before Crisis and Crisis Core. Would they not bother with prequel dlc or remake some of the events before the game.

Hell what about an episode for each character(that would be alive) much like XV's episodes of Gladio, Prompto, and Ignis?
 

Octo

KULT OF KERMITU
AKA
Octo, Octorawk, Clarky Cat, Kissmammal2000
Oh good lord. I actually feel ill at the prospect of any more of it....best case scenario for me: The remake isn't total shit.
 

Pixel

The Pixie King
DLC of what the characters do on their last day, before descending into the crater.

OTWTAS made with in-game assets.
 

Tetsujin

he/they
AKA
Tets
Yeah I'm pretty sure once the final part is out I'd rather they move on. They'll probably spend the better part of a decade working on this due to the ludicrous multi-game scope they envision.
No need to put more on top when the entire point of the multi-part approach is already to put more on top.
 

Claymore

3x3 Eyes
With the amount of time and effort they are putting into this, I can't see them just calling it quits at 3 parts. I'm fully expecting downloadable content packs for AC, CC and DC.

And like you mentioned with the 'living game' scenario of XV, I think we should also be prepared for booster packs with new Materia, characters weapons, and new Gold Saucer events and mini-games.
 

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
The biggest part of it all comes down to this:

• The 1997 OG FFVII's ending was: "The big moment that we all tried to bring about happens AND– ... ... ...hundreds of years later the Planet actually recovers - even at the site of Midgar."
- No idea of what happened to anyone, or anything in between those moments other than Nanaki survived and (somehow) reproduced. Simply the knowledge that our ragtag group of Cloud & Co. decided to mosey on in to this conflict and kept the Planet alive in order to recover because of what they did, and that THAT FINAL MOMENT was the definitive tipping point and ultimately that's all that mattered because it let us speculate about everything else.

• The 20XX FFVII Remake's ending can't possibly achieve that same level of mystery, because we already know things that happen after the Holy/Lifestream/Meteor collision, and that they're things that still impact the stories of the characters we care about.
- Sephiroth tried shit, Hojo tried shit, and other things still happened. The OG ending was still the tipping point where the fate of the Planet was ultimately saved, but there were still battles afterwards, too and fans especially have a vested interest in those.


It doesn't make sense to have fans play the old games to figure all that out, and it also doesn't make sense to try to cram every little bit in to the Remake's primary content. FFXV ran into this as well which is how we got the game delivered as Noctis' PoV and actually had it released rather than living in a permanent development hell trying to tell the story of the whole world's worth of events.

At MOST, I'd be willing to argue that ACC could work like Kingsglaive did for XV as auxiliary content, but really if they're going to smooth out the Compilation the way that it really deserves, the "living game" DLC format seems like the best way to accomplish that, while also letting the Remake actually be a Remake.





X :neo:
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
"Living Game" is the third? neologism that I've heard from Square in the last year. Great phrase. They should become a phrase company.
 

Tashasaurous

Tash for Short
AKA
Sailor Moon, Mini Moon, Hotaru, Cardcaptor Sakura, Meilin, Xion, Kairi, Aqua, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Elena, Misty, May, Dawn, Casey, Fiona, Ellie
Concerning Final Fantasy VII Remake, which is a title loaded with a lot of mystery for now, it will be different from the original Final Fantasy VII. If we make a compilation, these games will hardly have an overall coherence. It will be difficult because there is no more continuity between the Compilation and the Remake for the moment.


This has got to be the most stupidest excuse ever. What difference would it really make just to Remaster these games for the fun of it? Everyone knows that Crisis Core leads up to both the Original game and the Remake and Nomura already made it clear to not make new titles.

If they can remaster previous Kingdom Hearts titles by just upgrading the graphics while still developing KH3, why not do the same here?
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
Because (I infer) KH breaks its own continuity less than the Compilation.

A depressing notion...
 

Tashasaurous

Tash for Short
AKA
Sailor Moon, Mini Moon, Hotaru, Cardcaptor Sakura, Meilin, Xion, Kairi, Aqua, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Elena, Misty, May, Dawn, Casey, Fiona, Ellie
It's still a lame excuse, though. Can't people just enjoy the universe of Final Fantasy VII from other characters' point of views? If Square Enix really expect people just to focus on Cloud the same way FFXV only focused on Noctis with only a few minutes of other characters' point of view and not expanding them, then that's practically boring.

I enjoyed the different point of view of others through out the Compilation and even though the Original game had that too via Cloud, Cid, Barret, Tifa, then the Remake is going to be a complete disaster.

People outside this site wanted a Remaster of Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus since the Remaster of Type 0, Final Fantasy X and X-2, and even the remasters of all of the previous games and just four hours of a new one(0.2).

Square's reason to not wanting to Remaster the three games of the Compilation because they think it's doing a new Compilation or making another one is just ridiculous. It's not creating a new Compilation or redoing them at all. It's just updating them to HD the same way the other remasters got.
 

Obsidian Fire

Ahk Morn!
AKA
The Engineer
I'm holding off on thinking SE should do this until I see the Remake. A lot depends on how much backstory stays the same from the OG or not and what stuff from the Compilation makes it in. There's a big difference between the Remake taking place in the Compilation instead of the OG and the Remake being inspired by the Compilation and from the sound of it, it's more inspired by it at the moment.

I have a feeling we'll end up with the Old Compilation and the Remake Compilation and ultimately two different FFVII canons. Hopefully the the Remake Compilation will have less plot holes then the Old Compilation does.
 

Tashasaurous

Tash for Short
AKA
Sailor Moon, Mini Moon, Hotaru, Cardcaptor Sakura, Meilin, Xion, Kairi, Aqua, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Elena, Misty, May, Dawn, Casey, Fiona, Ellie
I'm holding off on thinking SE should do this until I see the Remake. A lot depends on how much backstory stays the same from the OG or not and what stuff from the Compilation makes it in. There's a big difference between the Remake taking place in the Compilation instead of the OG and the Remake being inspired by the Compilation and from the sound of it, it's more inspired by it at the moment.

I have a feeling we'll end up with the Old Compilation and the Remake Compilation and ultimately two different FFVII canons. Hopefully the the Remake Compilation will have less plot holes then the Old Compilation does.

They already said that they didn't want to make a new Compilation, which for some stupid reason is why they refused to remake Before Crisis and remaster both Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus because they thought that doing so would be a brand new Compilation.

Here's what Nomura said.

Tetsuya Nomura : Concerning Final Fantasy VII Remake, which is a title loaded with a lot of mystery for now, it will be different from the original Final Fantasy VII. If we make a compilation, these games will hardly have an overall coherence. It will be difficult because there is no more continuity between the Compilation and the Remake for the moment.


I just don't understand why they think remastering these games is like making new games to the Final Fantasy VII universe. Do they seriously think remastering previous games mean they are new games in general or something?
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
That's not what he is saying. He is admitting that the stories of the FF7 games don't make sense together, so re-releasing them would only confuse people who want to play FF7R.
 

Tashasaurous

Tash for Short
AKA
Sailor Moon, Mini Moon, Hotaru, Cardcaptor Sakura, Meilin, Xion, Kairi, Aqua, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Elena, Misty, May, Dawn, Casey, Fiona, Ellie
So in other words, the Remake might as well very be a complete Reboot then despite what they said on their plans to add materials from the Compilation.

Still very stupid. There are players who would want to see some of the Compilation parts within the Remake.

If Square lied about that as well, then it might as well be just like the upcoming Pokemon movie; Remade/Retold completely differently which confuses things even further.
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
Now hold on there just a minute. Let's wait and see what happens when the game comes out. They *might* include content, they *might* totally reboot the franchise, most likely they'll find a middle ground. I think more than anything they don't want to stifle their own creativity. They want to have the freedom to tell the best story they can with the new capabilities of better hardware and two decades of design experience. He's saying that they'll use the Compilation as inspiration rather than law, which is EXACTLY what each of the Compilation titles did with the OG, so there's no need to worry too much.
 

Tashasaurous

Tash for Short
AKA
Sailor Moon, Mini Moon, Hotaru, Cardcaptor Sakura, Meilin, Xion, Kairi, Aqua, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Elena, Misty, May, Dawn, Casey, Fiona, Ellie
Well, for one thing, the only thing that will always stay the same in all versions of Final Fantasy VII is Sephiroth walking through the fires in Nibelhiem to head towards the Mako Reactor.
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
*knocks on wood* :monster:

mk3IYqp.jpg
 
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lithiumkatana17

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Lith
I really like the ideas that X has presented here. If the Remake its successful in its execution, I'm totally for it.

I'd write more of my thoughts, but I have to go to work. :monster:
 

Claymore

3x3 Eyes
Minor disorganized thoughts, apologies for the rambling...

With the entire gaming industry seeming to shift towards 'Games As A Service' and 'Living Games', and associated development costs continuing to rise, I've been thinking a lot lately about how exactly the Remake is going to handle this. Checking back on this topic, I've realised that we haven't really contemplated what SE are going to do between releases - and that is definitely an area for great concern.

Retaining players for as long as possible, halting any possibilities of selling the game / second hand market, enticing them to purchase additional aspects etc, is the main goal. But the Remake is an a strange position, as though you could (somewhat) easily throw these things into the aftermath of the story or near the end of the game, in say, the Gold Saucer and such; with the Remake being structured and split into a (minimum) of three parts, just how is this going to occur?

I mean, say part 1 is just Midgar. Can you imagine a Valentine's Day event being unceremoniously dropped in? Christmas? ... Just how immersion breaking would this be as you are on the run from Shinra or in the middle of making your way through the slums? Of course, that's just a wild example. They could do something more subtler, like weekly 'hunts' where you have to defeat stronger versions of monsters from the slums. If it was framed in the right way, that could work without breaking the immediate story or tension and properly integrating such an aspect into the game. For example, you could have the people of the slums post fliers in Tifa's bar, and as a Mercenary, it wouldn't be too out of place for Cloud and co to get some additional cash to fund their Avalanche exploits whilst also helping out the poor people of the slums.

Would people be ok if say, you had access to a global leaderboard, with scores for the highest kills of a specific monster in Midgar and prizes awarded on a weekly basis? What if they shuffled the items available in shops from week to week, giving the feel of a marketplace and providing the sensation that the game is more 'alive'? Would that work or would it break the atmosphere too much? I mean, you don't have to participate in any of these, but it's the fact that it's there that can be off-putting to some players.

The 'second' part of the game, with access to the Gold Saucer would obviously open things up and make things a lot easier to integrate these GaS aspects. You could then easily throw in the holiday and hunt events, and anything else within one of the Squares really, without it creeping into the tone or feel of the game or the overall events being played out. Would people accept that or feel that it's too separate and bolted on? Could people be happy if, say, Tourist Trap Wutai was open, and you have all the holiday and special events take place in there?

But that's jumping ahead somewhat, the initial part of the game is the most concerning with how they will implement this stuff. For me personally, it really does depend on where the first game will end and just how integrated into the story they will make these things instead of feeling bolted on.
 

ChipNoir

Pro Adventurer
I've been thinking for a long while that the novellas and AC could be reimagined as a DLC episode series.
 

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
This is another big reason why I feel like there's a chance that the first game would make sense to end at Midgar OR in Junon before sneaking onboard the boat. They feel like natural cut-off points where the party can wander around on their own time that doesn't feel as though it's breaking the experience of the game. Both of them also lend themselves to placing content between releases in ways that're enjoyable as well.

I figure that weapon / item / materia sidequests as well as misc enemies are a good way to tackle it. One of the bigger questions I have is how they'll handle character levels between each part. Will players who do everything feel OP at the start of the next part? On the same note, that'll also feel interesting based on whether or not we get Yuffie/Vincent in Part 1 since if not, they might feel odd diving in and having them already have, or lacking abilities compared to other characters. That also ties back in to whether or not they'll be reworked to join you earlier if the game only goes so far in Part 1, so that you'll get enough time to really pal around with the whole party in whichever configuration you want.





X :neo:
 

Claymore

3x3 Eyes
That's a very good point about the character levels. The simplest solution would be for there to be a level cap for the characters within the first part, it's the only way to ensure proper balance, to tailor the encounters for additional content, and for the eventual second part.

That's a tough either / or. Having them join earlier would enable players to get a feel for the entire party, conversation / banter, and work towards abilities, but delaying them to where they naturally occur would also give players something to look forward to for the second part., and give the story more room to breathe. I'm not sure what the best answer is there. Like you said, a lot really hangs in the balance of where they are going to end the first part of the game.
 
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