FF7 Remake "Multi part series"

[AerithLives]

The more Final Fantasy 7 the better as far as I am concerned (unless they turn it in to another FF13 and ruin it). They will be able to accomplish this with several releases. The detail they will be able to go in to now will be unparalleled. All I keep thinking however is the cost...THE COST! PS4 releases are about £60 a pop on release. This is going to murder me!

 

[Vito]

if you buy the two ps3 games (hd remix 1.5 and 2.5) then you'll get 4 of the games and video adaptations of the other two ds games for one console. that leaves the browser/mobile game, and dream drop distance. but if you have a ps4 you'll be able to play 3d and all you need is two console generations

This. In order to play all the currently released games, you only need two consoles: A PS3 and a 3DS. The PS3 gives you access to 1.5 and 2.5 which have playable versions of KH1, 2, BBS, and COM. Meanwhile, 3DS has 3D, and thanks to backwards compatibility you can also play Re:coded and Days on it.

Don't you need a PS4 to play 2.8 too?

 

[lithiumkatana17]

I believe the multiple installments idea is going to be a double-edged sword, but I'd like to think that it will be a good thing. I'm really trying hard to think about this in a positive light rather than believe that Square is just milking this opportunity for the money. I remember reading in past interviews with Nomura and Kitase about how several people at SE who worked on the original game have really wanted to work on a remake, so I can only hope that those same people are working on the project right now.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

In terms of gameplay, I'm not terribly concerned about whether we'll be able to carry experience, materia, etc. over from one part to the next (I'm sure that will be possible) -- my biggest curiosity is what sort of gameplay someone starting with the second or third part will experience. Will enemies in each part be scaled to Cloud's starting level?

 

[Interslicery]

I just don't want the final product to suffer because of the multi-part format. Once it all comes out, there's zero benefit to it being multi-part, so it better not be dragged down by it's release method.

 

[AvecAloes]

In terms of gameplay, I'm not terribly concerned about whether we'll be able to carry experience, materia, etc. over from one part to the next (I'm sure that will be possible) -- my biggest curiosity is what sort of gameplay someone starting with the second or third part will experience. Will enemies in each part be scaled to Cloud's starting level?

I just can't imagine who would even be starting with the 2nd or 3rd installment. I'm not saying that's not a valid question, or that it's not something they should be planning/programming for, but seriously - who would do that? But I'm sure they they will have to have it programmed so that the enemies are scaled even if they're not thinking that someone might pick it up after the first installment or two, because I'm sure not everyone is going to have Cloud at the same level at the end of the first game. It will have to have some room for level scaling/adjustment.

Although whoever isn't going to play the first installment of the game to hell might as well be dead to me

 

[Alex Strife]

Will enemies in each part be scaled to Cloud's starting level?

If it works in an way similar to Baldur's Gate or the .hack series (made by CyberConnect2), the game should have a basic starting level that your own savefile will override. A new player will have level 20 (for example) while you will port your own savefile which can probably be around level 24 or 25. Something along those lines.

 

[hian]

I just don't want the final product to suffer because of the multi-part format. Once it all comes out, there's zero benefit to it being multi-part, so it better not be dragged down by it's release method.

Based on the interviews, it's seems like they chose the multi-part format because making it a single-part format is what would have made the final product suffer rather than the other way around.

As it is - splitting it up, means that they can start generate revenue before the game is finished, which they can then use to keep the project afloat and add more content as they go along.

There is no way SE would have floated Kitase and Co. the founds to sit on this game for 5+ years for example, after what happened with FFXV and KH3, which would mean that if they were to make this a single release they'd probably be looking at a total development time of 1-2 years at most - which would mean that they final game would suffer great content cuts as a result.

Literally, the only way to avoid this, at this point, is to make it into a series. At least, that's my impression.
This can backfire badly though if not enough people buy the first part, as that would suggest to the share-holders in SE that the project doesn't warrant extensions of time and funds, which will lead to content cuts again.

I just can't imagine who would even be starting with the 2nd or 3rd installment. I'm not saying that's not a valid question, or that it's not something they should be planning/programming for, but seriously - who would do that? But I'm sure they they will have to have it programmed so that the enemies are scaled even if they're not thinking that someone might pick it up after the first installment or two, because I'm sure not everyone is going to have Cloud at the same level at the end of the first game. It will have to have some room for level scaling/adjustment.

Although whoever isn't going to play the first installment of the game to hell might as well be dead to me

For all we know it might not actually even be possible to play the second or third installments without the previous ones on your hard-drive.

If they plan to design this using an expansion system, it's conceivable that the world will be stored on your hard-drive and that each new installment will simply add areas to your base-game, much like an MMOPRG.

Ex.
Part 1 : First Continent : Midgar to Junon continent with the story ending at the defeat of the first Jenova
Part 2 : Second continent : From Costa del Sol up until Tiny Bronco
Part 3 (and maybe 4) : The rest of the world (the Islands)

 

[Tashasaurous]

I just don't want the final product to suffer because of the multi-part format. Once it all comes out, there's zero benefit to it being multi-part, so it better not be dragged down by it's release method.

Considering how big the original game was, they might as well do something similiar to FFVIIR in a mixture of placing the multi-part series onto separate discs like in the original game and downloadable content like the FF online games-FFXI, FFXIV(A Realm Reborn and Heavensward)-for example.

I just can't imagine who would even be starting with the 2nd or 3rd installment. I'm not saying that's not a valid question, or that it's not something they should be planning/programming for, but seriously - who would do that? But I'm sure they they will have to have it programmed so that the enemies are scaled even if they're not thinking that someone might pick it up after the first installment or two, because I'm sure not everyone is going to have Cloud at the same level at the end of the first game. It will have to have some room for level scaling/adjustment.

Although whoever isn't going to play the first installment of the game to hell might as well be dead to me

As far as I can see, since they making this into a new trilogy, this feels more like a reboot to me, and that it'll probably be the last FFVII game they'll ever make, and I have a feeling that all those ideas that were meant for the future newer titles to the FFVII franchise were silently scrapped and they'll reveal that most likely in 2017, which to me, sucks big time.

I really wanted to know what happens next after Dirge of Cerberus, and what happened to Rufus and his Turks since they were absent in the game after their last scene in the ending of Advent Children, and how the lives of Cloud and the rest of his friends are going, ect. But that's probably just me.

At least the gameplay is pretty decent. Though when the ShinRa army arrived in cars, I saw a split image of FFXV's gameplay and it was almost the same...except with FFVII characters.

But then I imagined several KH game gameplays to be similiar to the current KH gameplay and FFXV's gameplay, with FFVII's new switch-character in battle gameplay.

 

[Flare]

I've just been thinking of this multi-release thing and how they'll split it up again. Does anyone remember the first time you actually see Sephiroth? Is it in the Nibelheim flashback?
As someone mentioned, President Shinra seems like the main bad guy at the beginning of the game, and it isn't until Jenova escapes and he's killed that Sephiroth is suddenly the much bigger threat/bad guy you're now after.
Story-wise, at the end of the first installment of the Remake, I think it would be good if they at least showed Sephiroth in some form or another, even if it's just a glimpse, so new players know what the 'new' villain looks like (assuming the first installment would end with the party leaving Midgar, as some suggest). Maybe just me, but I think that would be more powerful than it ending with just a mention of him.

 

[Tennyo]

Yeah, our first actual glimpse of Sephiroth is the Nibelheim flashback. I think the first time his name is mentioned is the flashback of the promise at the water tower. I think it would be cool to maybe show like newspaper clippings or his image on TV or whatnot. Maybe a memorial was built to him after his death?

 

[lithiumkatana17]

Yeah, our first actual glimpse of Sephiroth is the Nibelheim flashback. I think the first time his name is mentioned is the flashback of the promise at the water tower. I think it would be cool to maybe show like newspaper clippings or his image on TV or whatnot. Maybe a memorial was built to him after his death?

Or maybe run into remnants of his fanclub while in Midgar?

But I hope this could hold true for Genesis and Angeal as well. I can't remember where I've mentioned it before, but I'd love to see easter eggs of them throughout the game, either from NPCs or Shin-Ra staff bringing them up in conversation or whatnot.

 

[e.suna]

Story-wise, at the end of the first installment of the Remake, I think it would be good if they at least showed Sephiroth in some form or another, even if it's just a glimpse, so new players know what the 'new' villain looks like (assuming the first installment would end with the party leaving Midgar, as some suggest). Maybe just me, but I think that would be more powerful than it ending with just a mention of him.

But a big reason why he was such an epic villain was that your "introduction" to him was the literal trail of blood and dead bodies in the Shinra HQ. Remember how chilling that was? Remember fighting through those halls while your brain tried to fill in the blanks of what they didn't show you? And how much more terrifying and formidable it made this mysterious Sephiroth you keep hearing about? At least to me, it did.

I hope the remake doesn't spoil that and keeps Sephiroth hidden until the flashback, because the way they have it in the OG is brilliant. Compared to CC, even as you relive the Nibelheim incident in that game, I feel that all the exposure demystified him.

 

[Theozilla]

I've just been thinking of this multi-release thing and how they'll split it up again. Does anyone remember the first time you actually see Sephiroth? Is it in the Nibelheim flashback?
As someone mentioned, President Shinra seems like the main bad guy at the beginning of the game, and it isn't until Jenova escapes and he's killed that Sephiroth is suddenly the much bigger threat/bad guy you're now after.
Story-wise, at the end of the first installment of the Remake, I think it would be good if they at least showed Sephiroth in some form or another, even if it's just a glimpse, so new players know what the 'new' villain looks like (assuming the first installment would end with the party leaving Midgar, as some suggest). Maybe just me, but I think that would be more powerful than it ending with just a mention of him.

Well that's only a an issue if, as you say, the first installment is only constrained to the initial Midgar events. If it were to end instead in Junon/the boat to Costa del Sol (basically being constrained to the initial events of the Eastern Continent like hian previously mentioned), it would end with the final events/"final boss" being the first non-flashback glimpses, of Sephiroth and Jenova, which could work well I think.

As far as I can see, since they making this into a new trilogy, this feels more like a reboot to me, and that it'll probably be the last FFVII game they'll ever make, and I have a feeling that all those ideas that were meant for the future newer titles to the FFVII franchise were silently scrapped and they'll reveal that most likely in 2017, which to me, sucks big time.

I really wanted to know what happens next after Dirge of Cerberus, and what happened to Rufus and his Turks since they were absent in the game after their last scene in the ending of Advent Children, and how the lives of Cloud and the rest of his friends are going, ect. But that's probably just me.

But Tashasaurous beyond your "feeling", there is virtually no evidence for this assumption (that the Remake is a "reboot" and the FFVII title that will be ever made). As many people on this forum have stated repeatedly if the FFVII Remake does well, that would probably make it more likely for additional Compilation/post-DoC content to be made. Nothing they have stated has indicated that future potential Compilation content was scrapped for the Remake (or even necessarily existed in the first place)

 

[Flare]

Yeah, our first actual glimpse of Sephiroth is the Nibelheim flashback. I think the first time his name is mentioned is the flashback of the promise at the water tower. I think it would be cool to maybe show like newspaper clippings or his image on TV or whatnot. Maybe a memorial was built to him after his death?

Or maybe run into remnants of his fanclub while in Midgar?

But I hope this could hold true for Genesis and Angeal as well. I can't remember where I've mentioned it before, but I'd love to see easter eggs of them throughout the game, either from NPCs or Shin-Ra staff bringing them up in conversation or whatnot.

I'd love to see most or all of these things, and it would be so fun to run into the remnants of the fan clubs, or remnants of Angeal and Genesis somehow (by remnants I mean info and memories and stuff). Imagine running into SOLDIERS talking about Gensis quoting Loveless to them, or some talking about how Angeal taught them how to fight?

But a big reason why he was such an epic villain was that your "introduction" to him was the literal trail of blood and dead bodies in the Shinra HQ. Remember how chilling that was? Remember fighting through those halls while your brain tried to fill in the blanks of what they didn't show you? And how much more terrifying and formidable it made this mysterious Sephiroth you keep hearing about? At least to me, it did.

I hope the remake doesn't spoil that and keeps Sephiroth hidden until the flashback, because the way they have it in the OG is brilliant. Compared to CC, even as you relive the Nibelheim incident in that game, I feel that all the exposure demystified him.

Oh, I love that part in the game, where you don't see anything, not even Sephiroth, just the carnage moments after it happened. It's very chilling; I want the Remake to make me scared to play this part in a dark room.
I'm not saying they should show Sephiroth during that or before it, but rather that before the first installment ends (and after the whole Jenova escape) I'd like to see them show him somehow. I mean, if I was a new player, I would feel a bit disappointed to end the first installment without even seeing the guy I was supposed to be going after.
That's from a story/gaming perspective, though I'll admit, I also just want to see the Remake Sephiroth in the first installment. I'm so excited to see him appear.

 

[Miscreant]

Gematsu just reported that the scenario for the first part has been finished, I have no idea what this means for production time etc though.

http://gematsu.com/2015/12/final-fantasy-vii-remake-part-one-scenario-complete

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Once we know the size of Part 1, speculating on where the other breaks will fall should be easier.

 

[Roger]

I'd say this points more towards it ending at Midgar though. The very next thing afterwards requires creating both Kalm and Nibelheim, the introduction of the whole flashback cast and so on.

 

[AvecAloes]

In all honesty, won't it be rather easy for them to complete the scenarios for these games? I mean, the scenarios are basically the screenplays, right? They have source material, obviously. Could it really be that difficult? I mean, how hard could it have been for Baz Luhrmann to complete the screenplay for his Romeo and Juliet film?

There are obviously changes that will be made, especially when taking into account that they have to decide how to divide it up and how that will make the story flow. But the news that they have completed the first scenario already doesn't shock me, frankly. What would have shocked me is if they said the whole first game was complete.

 

[hian]

Scenario writing isn't exactly a large part of making a game. Even the script writing for the dialogue is relatively minor. What takes time is event scripting - scripting what everyone is doing and adding dialogue to it etc. in game.This just means that they've decided what events are going into the game and how those events will unfold on screen - something you'd usually be done with before you do pretty much anything else in most cases

 

[Wolf_]

Yeah I wouldn't be reading too much into that. They told us the scenario for 'versus xiii' was done in 2010

 

[Miscreant]

Yeah I didn't think it would be much towards it, at least they are giving us updates now, I'm still expecting the first part on the 20th anniversary to be honest.

 

[AvecAloes]

I was just telling Force this morning that I don't think it's completely out of the question that we could get the first installment sometime late next year. I don't know how realistic that is, but I wouldn't be completely shocked. My ideal scenario would be them getting all three parts out by the end of 2017, but given that they want to make each installment have enough content to be classified as a "full game", I don't know if that's anywhere near a possibility. Wishful thinking, I know. Lambast me all you want

 

[Flare]

^I know it's be cool for the first one to be released for the 20th anniversary of the game, but now I'm wondering too if it'll be released earlier, like late next year. I wouldn't mind.

 

[Tetsujin]

Late next year will undoubtedly be FFXV. I can't see them releasing XV and VIIR so close to each other.