Moogles exist in FFVII as materia and Zack makes friends with a moogle. They're magical creatures as is the norm in any Final Fantasy.
Moogles exist in FFXIII's universe or did you forget the one Serah travels with that serves as her weapon and was gifted to her by her sister?
So again. They exist in almost every FF that exists.
Wholly irrelevant to my point.
My point is that within the context of a more realistic FFVII, if indeed that is what they're going for (I am not saying that I want that, I am saying I wouldn't be surprised if that is what they do), some of those creatures and elements will be easier to implement,
as is, than others.
Chocobos have been rendered in a realistic looking styles for ages, and is easy to render realistically because guess the fetch what? Both the birds the creature is based on have clear fetching reference points in the real world.
Whether moogles exist in other FF games is totally irrelevant to this point.
The only thing that matters here is if the designers of the FFVII Remake, whom may I remind you are bringing on fetching bug experts etc. to consult on the fauna of the frickin game, decide Caith Sith's original design mesh well with the look and gameplay of the remake or not.
After all, it's one thing to have a giant plush robot around if the only time you see it in motion is in turn based battles and story sequences where it walks out of Cloud to stand around and talk. It's something very different to have that moving around in the shots as you're climbing natural environments, jumping over divides etc. or during dramatic moments that aren't rendered in neon-colors with lego-block characters.
A chocobo being a cross between a chicken and an ostrich is ridiculous despite both being existent. I don't understand how that is sensical and OK but the OTHER mascots of Final Fantasy are just a bridge too far. They're ALL mascots of Final Fantasy. All of them. Final Fantasy VII is a FINAL FANTASY. So it's going to be an FF game and incorporate the tropes of said series. ESPECIALLY if as said by the developers, they want to capture the feel of the original in this remake. Kitase, Nomura, and Nojima are working on it and have NEVER shied away from including those key aspects of the franchise. Look at the previous games, like... I dunno. ALL of the games they worked on? The other FFVII Compilation titles? Everything?
That's because clearly you didn't understand the point of my post.
I was not arguing for them taking this in a realistic direction - I was saying, based on the trailers, I have less trouble imagining a lot of that stuff being radically changed, or cut, than it being retained in a way that is faithful to the original.
The idea that the compilation titles are even remotely close to the original in style however, is something I find to be patently obsurd. But, short of doing a blow by blow breakdown of how just extremely ludicrous that perspective it, which I have neither patience nor time for, let's just settle for "I disagree".
FFXV is not the same as it was done by Tabata. Tabata was the one with the hard on for realism and ensuring the fantasy and realistic aspects mirrored one another. Hence the exclusion of certain summons and things like moogles from FFXV. And guess what? He's fired.
Like what is this, I don't even.
Eh no. FF Versus 13 was were the "A fantasy based on reality" set-up came from. This was a conception of Nomura, the director of FFVII Remake, who has since in interviews stressed over and over again that they're going for a higher level of realism with the remake.
Yes, they have said they want to "capture the spirit of the original". However, what does that even really mean? Especially when you take into account they say they're doing rewrites, that the remake is not in continuity with the previous works, that they might not even start the game with the bombing mission, that they're going for hightened realism, when they're changing the combat system, when the entire aesthetic of the game (which they're on record saying was conceived to look like an anime) has changed, and so on and so on.
Here's the thing - I want a more traditional remake. I have no issue with Caith SIth being in it as is, as long as the game manages to stay tonally consistent with itself, and draws clear distinctions between when it's going for one thing, and when it's going for another (unlike the horribly tone-deaf and horrendously directed trash that is the compilation entries). All I am saying is that I am strapping in and prepping for something else so I don't get disappoined and I can totally see and understand if they're going for the "AAA Christiopher Nolan"-version of FFVII.
I do agree with him though that a view of Crisis Core as lacking in silliness or whimsy is inaccurate.
Hell it might have more than the original.
I don't think CC lacks silliness. It has silliness. I do however vehemently disagree that is has more than the original - or even comes close in nature of what is being portrayed. That's just absurd imo.
For every moment you can mention that is silly in CC, I will gladly find you 5 from the original game.
It's besides the point though. My biggest gripe with CC isn't that it doesn't have silliness, it's that 1.) when it isn't silly it is loaded down with terribly written and directed melodrama, and 2.) when it is silly, it is so poorly timed and tone-deaf that it damages the overall presentation rather than enhance it.
CC IMO is an absolutely atrocious game.
XV still features Carbuncle, tonberries, chocobos -- and plush moogle dolls you can use as decoys in battle. Cait Sith's mount is literally that: a stuffed toy.
All of which have been given more realistic redesigns mind you. The biggest reason I am having trouble envisioning Caith Sith is because it's a fat moogle that's supposed to be constantly lugging around after you in your party.
It's not a one-off encounter, or a funny animal you find in the wild. It's literally a thing that's going to be present constantly in the background of tons of shots that are otherwise going to look down to earth and realistic given the new aesthetic.
If the cat portion hides the moogle away someplace during transit as it were, I could see it working, but as is? In the aesthetic of the trailers we've seen so far? I am just having trouble imaging it that's all. I am also having trouble imagining hell-house, and the bikini clad enemies as well.
It's not limited to Caith Sith at all. It applies to all of FFVII's silly things.
Being "a fantasy based on reality," XV is also not the best point of comparison for VII's remake anyway, what with it being a fantasy based on FFVII.
Which is a fantasy they've said they're trying to portray with more realism. Seems like a valid concern to me.
I also really have to ask how the moogle mount is any goofier than the comedic talking cat riding it? Why would one get the boot, but not the other? If "we don't want goofy" is a concern here, they would have to just remove the character altogether a la Daniel Burke's bizarre obsession.
I think they design for one thing. The biggest problem isn't just that it's goofy, it's that it's big and unwieldly.
As for why one might be tempted to get rid of one but not the other -
Are you fimilar with compound effects?
If I wear a silly hat, that's one thing. If I wear a silly hat and yellow spandex, that's another. If I wear both of those and huge red clown shoes, that's something else entirely again.
It's possible to hold that we're willing to accept the hat, or the shoes, or the yellow spandex on their own without having to marry acceptance to the set as a whole.
Nomura has already said they intend to preserve Cloud's dorky personality from the original FFVII -- so if even he's not so myopic as to want to remove that so they can fully lean into "My Edge Is Too Sharp 4U" nonsense, I don't see them gutting the whimsical aspects of the setting either.
Those two things don't seem connected to me at all.
Firstly, I don't really think Cloud ever really had a dorky personally. I think people have taken that quote, and their fuzzy memories of Cloud way too far.
I take the interview to mean that they don't plan to have him moping a la AC all the time. There's a pretty huge leap from that to "therefore we can assume most if not all the crazy shit from the original will make it in".
Cloud not being mopey is not at all a ringing endorsment of future inclution of all the weird stuff in FFVII unless you work from the presupposition that all serious media only has mopey characters. Since that's not the case, all we can derive from that tidbit is that Cloud is not going to be moping all the time.
