How would YOU do it?

[Arianna]

Definitely I'd consider:

~ Better graphics, cutscenes and game play.
~ Added cutscenes, depending on Yuffie and/or Vincent.
~ Updated music, but same songs.
~ Same storyline, no changes, just fleshed out.
~ More side missions/quests. (Based on the characters?)
~ Materia system as in the original game. [sup]1[/sup]

Somethings I'd consider, but am not sure about:

~ Different levels of gameplay based on player's want of challenge? (I really like this idea.)
~ Perhaps a different battle system (more realistic)? [sup]2[/sup]
~ More mature graphics; Aerith's death scene would have more action (and blood). No sex. Ratings be damned.

[sup]1[/sup] ~ I do not like the materia system per Dirge of Cerberus or Crisis Core. I liked that we had to level our materia! It was a pain in the butt, but it was part of the fun! And Dirge of Cerberus just - was very disappointing!

[sup]2[/sup] ~ I for one thought FFXII's battle system was okay. The only thing that got tedius for me was who would do what - the gambits. If they did something similar for a remake of FFVII I would not be disappointed, but it would be frustrating.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Materia did level up in Crisis Core though...

 

[Arianna]

[quote author=Makoeyes987 link=topic=261.msg7418#msg7418 date=1231724724]
Materia did level up in Crisis Core though...
[/quote]

True. I meant that I liked how it leveled up in the original game: Cure1, Cure2, Regen, and then Cure3. With Crisis Core, Cure, Cura, Curaga, and then Regen were four different materias. I personally didn't like it that way. Sorry I was not clear.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Oh, you want the actual spells to evolve. Okay, that makes sense.

 

[sephirothpaine]

[quote author=OWA-2 link=topic=261.msg6886#msg6886 date=1231526578]
I would make Vincent and Yuffie mandatory characters.

And a lot of Compilation references, like: The ruins of Modeoheim and Banora, Vincent transforming in Chaos during the battle with Hojo(that was mentioned in DoC), references to the old Avalanche(Elfe's), etc.
[/quote]

Completily agree.

I would like to add more detail to the summons and charaters. More side quest with the Chocobos.

 

[Countess Ariadne]

[quote author=Heartway link=topic=261.msg7290#msg7290 date=1231651079]
6. CONTINIUITY.
Make references back to Crisis Core and Before Crisis. Now that they exist, Square needs to at least throw in retrospects to them. And it would be good if they briefly showed characters from future and past games. Like seeing Denzel however briefly on the plate, or maybe catching a glimpse of Shalua walking around somewhere. Most importantly, we should learn the fates of Kunsel and Luxiere...
[/quote]

Apart from a few minor references, such as meeting Kunsel and him asking a short question or something, I'm really against this. I do not want Genesis in my flashback scene. D:

Anyway, one thing I want the remake to make sure they include: Bathrooms. And not just when you're in the ShinRa building and need to climb into the vents either. I loved all of the little things like that in VII.

 

[Kuraudo]

[quote author=Countess Ariadne link=topic=261.msg8015#msg8015 date=1231909296]
[quote author=Heartway link=topic=261.msg7290#msg7290 date=1231651079]
6. CONTINIUITY.
Make references back to Crisis Core and Before Crisis. Now that they exist, Square needs to at least throw in retrospects to them. And it would be good if they briefly showed characters from future and past games. Like seeing Denzel however briefly on the plate, or maybe catching a glimpse of Shalua walking around somewhere. Most importantly, we should learn the fates of Kunsel and Luxiere...
[/quote]

Apart from a few minor references, such as meeting Kunsel and him asking a short question or something, I'm really against this. I do not want Genesis in my flashback scene. D:

Anyway, one thing I want the remake to make sure they include: Bathrooms. And not just when you're in the ShinRa building and need to climb into the vents either. I loved all of the little things like that in VII.
[/quote]

That's what Final Fantasy VII set apart from other games...toilets. I mean I don't believe I've seen a toilet in any other FF game at all. Just goes to show, it's the little things in life that count. In this case, toilets.

 

[Arianna]

[quote author=Makoeyes987 link=topic=261.msg7422#msg7422 date=1231725441]
Oh, you want the actual spells to evolve. Okay, that makes sense.
[/quote]

*nod* I really liked how we had to fight hard to have that happen, even though it was a pain in the ass (I said that before, didn't I?). It just made things more interesting. It also forced you to fight and level up...

[quote author=sephirothpaine link=topic=261.msg8007#msg8007 date=1231908064]I would like to add more detail to the summons and charaters. More side quest with the Chocobos.
[/quote]

I was thinking about this the other night; perhaps side missions could be used to get materia more so than buying them outright (of course, buying should still remain an option!) One thought I had was a round up of the lost chocobos for the farm; some of the chocobos broke free from the pasture and need to be roped back in.

[quote author=Kuraudo link=topic=261.msg8162#msg8162 date=1231958367]That's what Final Fantasy VII set apart from other games...toilets. I mean I don't believe I've seen a toilet in any other FF game at all. Just goes to show, it's the little things in life that count. In this case, toilets.[/quote]

Me and my OCD self, through a playthrough of the game, would have Cloud, Tifa and/or Cid run into a bathroom. I would say to myself, '... and all the characters took a shower, etc., etc.' lol It would be nice to know they cleaned themselves as well as went to the bathroom at least once during the how-ever-many-days they were travelling. (Which, I would elongate that, 'cause according to official sources they traveled the world a few times over in a month?! I just - would like that to become a few months, at least. But, that's me... : )

 

[Countess Ariadne]

I was just thinking about this the other day, but I'd love if they included an Aeris revival as a joke. Like letting someone, through a New Game Plus perhaps, do the whole quest for 99 tissues then going to her house and sleeping in her bed or whatever.

 

[Mormz]

Hectic action rpg battles plz. I'm soo tired of the turn based thing.
And the battles should be all, "wtf is goin on?"

Keep all the messed up translations for lulz.

Not stress so much on the boring stuff. (The whole part where Cloud has
flashbacks to growing up with Tifa is longer than it needs to be.)

And a camera that follows you. Stationary cam's suck ass.

 

[ForceStealer]

I don't want it to be an action RPG, that's not FF7. You can speed up the ATB if you want (as I said in another thread, FFX-2's system was freaking incredible), but on the whole I say don't f with the combat system. Shooters have turned gamers into such impatient people.

 

[Max Payne]

No, people are just tired of being bored to death with FF7's battle system. X-2's was better, but still boring. A lot of people are tired of being uninvolved in the combat systems of RPGs, it's just not working for a lot of people in this day and age.

Adding real time elements to FF7 would be perfect if done right, without turning it into mindless hack and slash.

And no, shooters got nothing to do with it. If anything, blame rpgs like KH, and action games like DMC and Ninja Gaiden.

Oh, and blame AC for making such over the top action scenes and getting people excited about playing an FF7 game where they can do such things.

I personally, have grown out of turn based battles. I can tolerate them, but I'd rather not have to. It seems like a relic from the past that hasn't evolved in the least. No matter how much you speed the battles up, or how many commands you can issue at the same time.

You're still watching more than you are playing.

 

[Makoeyes987]

I gotta agree with Dacon. The bar's been raised. ATB combat is not immersive enough.

There's a reason why Square has stopped using it now.

ATB is old and not engaging enough.

 

[Shademp]

[quote author=Dacon link=topic=261.msg10989#msg10989 date=1232856140]
You're still watching more than you are playing.
[/quote]
This is very true. I only cared for the summon displays and long battle animations in the first playthrough. In fact, it is strange that I love playing FFVII so much when 60-80% of the time I'm not looking at the screen

I do not want a replica of the KH or Crisis Core battle system. Despite the character differentiation being low in the original game, I would be very pissed off if I could only control Cloud for the majority of the game while Tifa and Barret acted like Donald and Goofy in the battle field.
So what I would like is something between KH and Crisis Core, but with some element (have no idea what it could be) that makes it feel like you are training your whole party rather than just Cloud/Sora.

 

[ForceStealer]

But XII's IS still turn based, sure you can run around in circles but it doesn't actually have any affect on what you're doing. I would prefer X-2's to that.

FFX was even completely turn-based and I had a fun time with that too.

But I wouldn't complain if they augmented FF7's system to incorporate real time elements, but by its very nature, you can't control more than one person in and action-oriented system. Sure you can gambit them, but turn based allows for much more elaborate combos.

 

[Max Payne]

XII has turned based elements, but it's even more automated than other FF games. I wouldn't have enjoyed FFXII much were it not for the gambit system, and the hunts/traveling and the environmental exploration.

You can control multiple characters in real time you know. But with a gambit system like FFXII you wouldn't need to, but as long as you could switch characters like FFXII I'd be cool with it.

And gambits have just as much room for combos too. As much as turn based.

 

[Shademp]

Is it also not true that online RPGs are turn based? Never actually played them, but the relative popularity of RPGs such as WoW and/or FFXII create a case for a turn-based FFVII remake.
I am still convinced though that a KH-like system would sell better and be better received by a wider audience, while a turn-based one would please the fans.

Heh, when you mentioned combos ForceStealer I came to think of Chrono Trigger. Maybe we could introduce team-technique attacks to FFVII, maybe even team limit breaks.

 

[Max Payne]

Most MMORPGS are pretty automated. Like, you choose attack, click on a monster, and your avatar keeps attacking until the monster dies. With you breaking actions to heal/cast magic.

There are a few that aren't, Like SUN, HUXLEY, and DCU online.

 

[Ravynne Nevyrmore]

As far as the story and the characters go, I wouldn't change a damn thing, unless they were additive changes.

Leave the Nibelheim flashbacks exactly as they are. Leave Tifa's skirt and boobs how they are. Bouncing? Well, no—her top looks like a sports bra and if she has any sense as a fighter it should be tight as hell to prevent that from happening while she does all those somersaults. I don't care if it's shorts or panties underneath, but if it's panties then they should be practical, not frilly.

DON'T CHANGE THEIR OUTFITS. The tiny tweak Vincent got bothered me enough. Short sleeves? Long sleeves? Fingerless glove? Fully covered fingers? MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MIND, BOY. Besides, when he wore a fingerless glove and woke up with that plain gun it made more sense because he wore the same gloves as a Turk, and probably that same gun. For that matter, they nixed his Turk gloves in DoC and smattered the entire compilation with Turk glove inconsistency, so wtf? NEED CANON GLOVE PLACEMENT PLX.

I do like the idea of forcing Yuffie and Vincent to join you. Having an "early" Yuffie be optional isn't a bad idea, but force the group to stay in Nibelheim for some unrelated reason until they get Vincent. Hell, make it something simple like the path is blocked when they get to the mountains but if they get Vincent then he can shoot something to clear it and they can go. He already joins the team pretty late and he becomes pretty important later in the compilation so I don't think he should be delayed any longer and miss more interactions.

I would keep every little object on every map exactly the same, but render the maps differently. Maybe even make them 3D and have the camera follow Cloud, like someone else suggested.

And none of this three character at a time business, especially when story is an issue. All nine/eight characters should be there and able to chip in whatever they have to say. Actually, I wouldn't mind being able to switch them in an out of battles a la FF10, either.

I would most certainly keep the World Map. I hate these new game maps where there's no World Map to explore. I don't want to have to travel through every last damn mountain pathway to get from one city to the next, or simply pick points from a map that my airship hops to. Bleh. I want to fly there myself and find interesting shit on my own.

But I would implement every new location that has been introduced to the compilation. Healin, Modeoheim, Banora. Kalm and Junon should probably be bigger, too.

Giving them scarves and gloves and pants while in icy areas would be a neat idea, but don't change the outfits entirely. Some backpacks for supplies wouldn't hurt, either.

I like the idea of Aeris saying "This guy are sick" and then correcting herself. xD lulz

New Game +. Every video game should have it.

 

[Shademp]

I personally think that it suits Vincent to not have any visible arm/hand skin. It emphasizes his distance to his human body; I wouldn't be surprised if he dislikes seeing it after all the experiments that were done on him. So I think his recent design should be canon.

Not much would have to be done to make Vincent and Yuffie mandatory characters. Just make it inevitable to pass a certain forest on the way to Junon, and let an event automatically trigger when you enter it. Vincent I can't think of anything else other than the Nibelheim exit being blocked.

An interesting thing before the compilation is that Cloud & Co did not HAVE to know about Lucrecia or the fact that Gast is Aeris's father. I'd like to see the gang actually reacting to Gast's recordings in Icicle.
(Heh, it's so ironic in a way that Sephiroth killed the daughter of a man he had such great respect for; by all likelihood Sephiroth was aware of this)

I'm not sure what to think of a New Game+ feature... If you want to overpower your characters then there are always cheats. Maybe New Game+ could allow the player to complete tasks previously impossible, and thus unlocking both new items and extra features (artwork, theatre mode including the old FFVII CG scenes, tons of other stuff about the original and the production of the remake).
It should not be too hard to pack both the original FFVII and the remake in the same disc. Completing both will somehow reward the gamer.
What I'm going for here is a way to greatly increase the replay value, beyond just finding that item you missed in your last playthrough. Also, expand the Gold Saucer in a way so that players worldwide can display their hi-scores.

Sorry, I let myself go there a little too much.

Change of opinion: I would remove the W-Item glitch trick. While part of the reason I liked FFVII is because it is so easy yet rewarding, the ability to duplicate items is slightly overkill.

 

[Ravynne Nevyrmore]

Change of opinion: I would remove the W-Item glitch trick. While part of the reason I liked FFVII is because it is so easy yet rewarding, the ability to duplicate items is slightly overkill.

And New Game+ would make it kinda moot anyway.

What I mean by New Game+ btw is to have the option to start a new game, after you have completed the game once, with all the levels and equipment of your last play through. I don't see how it hurts anyone since you have to have beaten the game once already to take advantage of it, and it's not forced upon you. But for those who want to play through the story again without being as slowed by gameplay, or just want to beat everything to a pulp for kicks, there it is.

 

[katimus_prime]

The only thing I would add:
Joystick compatibility and a character model viewer like the Shadow Hearts games. I was going to suggest a glossary/scenario synopsis thing like Xenosaga, but FF7's setting really isn't that complicated to warrant such a thing. Definitely a "WATCH THIS CUTSCENE" option, too.

 

[Shademp]

[quote author=Ravynne link=topic=261.msg11673#msg11673 date=1233091106]

Change of opinion: I would remove the W-Item glitch trick. While part of the reason I liked FFVII is because it is so easy yet rewarding, the ability to duplicate items is slightly overkill.

And New Game+ would make it kinda moot anyway.
[/quote]
But the downside is that for people striving for a perfect save file, like me, is that a NG+ feature would make things a lot more tedious. In Chrono Trigger, in order to get 99 of each item you have to play through the game AT LEAST 99 times, due to many items being rare. While most aspects of NG+ could be fun, I would go mad if I had to play through FFVII 99 times just for a perfect savefile.

 

[Ravynne Nevyrmore]

But the downside is that for people striving for a perfect save file, like me, is that a NG+ feature would make things a lot more tedious. In Chrono Trigger, in order to get 99 of each item you have to play through the game AT LEAST 99 times, due to many items being rare. While most aspects of NG+ could be fun, I would go mad if I had to play through FFVII 99 times just for a perfect savefile.

Yeah, well your OCD shouldn't ruin it for the rest of us.

Okay, well it's not like I actually have a problem with W-Item. I liked it.

I like New Game+ better.

 

[Countess Ariadne]

[quote author=katimus_prime link=topic=261.msg11813#msg11813 date=1233113564]
The only thing I would add:
Joystick compatibility and a character model viewer like the Shadow Hearts games. I was going to suggest a glossary/scenario synopsis thing like Xenosaga, but FF7's setting really isn't that complicated to warrant such a thing. Definitely a "WATCH THIS CUTSCENE" option, too.
[/quote]

I like your suggestions! Kingdom Hearts included something quite similar, and it's not very complicated, so I don't see how it would hurt to include it. (Even if it would basically be the Ultimania profiles and such...)