Inside FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Video Series

[Ite]

All good points. I'll point out, though, that in the new-neato-intro movie it shows city construction looking exactly like normal city construction: closed streets, people in vests, and a hydraulic excavator with a hand (is it automated?) Building the pillars and the Plate's foundation I can see happening in 30 years, but the skyscrapers, brick buildings, neighborhoods, on top of that? It just beggars belief that Shinra Sr. was responsible for it all. I wouldn't have minded a retcon saying that Midgar and Shinra's rise to power was several generations coming, because the problems it presents aren't as big head scratchers to me (you're saying that anyone over 30 lived in towns that predate Midgar, but no one can remember their names?). But that would mean contradicting the Ultimania, which they (understandably) don't want to do. Soooo here we are

 

[Makoeyes987]

But what if the Shinra buy out and consolidation of property and towns encompassing Midgar happened even before the Plate was constructed?

When cities get built or incorporated, it's a piecemeal process over time. New York City was once just a tiny trading post until population growth and development absorbed burrough after burrough until it became the metropolis it is today.

In the past, Midgar may have been a consolidated city-state even before it became the technologically advanced Mako City it is now.

I think there's a reason why there are town-like ruins that lie buried beneath Midgar. And I wouldn't be surprised if over time, they literally tried rebuilding the towns that existed beforehand on the upper plate and left the original buildings behind to be buried by progress.

 

[Ite]

But what if the Shinra buy out and consolidation of property and towns encompassing Midgar happened even before the Plate was constructed?

When cities get built or incorporated, it's a piecemeal process over time. New York City was once just a tiny trading post until population growth and development absorbed burrough after burrough until it became the metropolis it is today.

In the past, Midgar may have been a consolidated city-state even before it became the technologically advanced Mako City it is now.

I think there's a reason why there are town-like ruins that lie buried beneath Midgar. And I wouldn't be surprised if over time, they literally tried rebuilding the towns that existed beforehand on the upper plate and left the original buildings behind to be buried by progress.

Right, that makes a lot more sense, but is that what "Midgar was built in 30 years" is meant to suggest? Or is it us being IB students and trying to make sense of it? Because it sounds like what you describe is in direct opposition to what the official word is.

 

[Makoeyes987]

They're referring to the Plate structure city being built. The Midgar we know and see in VII.

But I think Shinra more than likely consolidated their power and control well before then, when they were a powerful weapons manufacturing corporation. They more than likely were established and pushing forward with control, well before the Plate was being constructed.

How else would they even be able to move forward with such an ambitious project anyways? They would have to have owned the property/cities from the start in order to begin building and raising up towns to live in a "floating city."

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

*Square digs heels in, insists that 16 town-sized settlements and the motherfuckin Plate were constructed in the time it takes to build three skyscrapers in an irl city.*

It doesn't take 30 years to build three skyscrapers, though?

 

[Odysseus]

I've always found midgar to kind of be an aberration on FF7's world. No other location in the game even seems to be post industrial revolution besides Junon, Shinra's other town. It's just this huge technological tumor on FF7'S otherwise low tech world. Like something happened in the past that rapidly advanced technology at a rate the rest of the world couldn't match. There are no other cities besides Midgar, after all.

 

[Makoeyes987]

That lost Spiran tech did a lot to jump the civilization forward, huh?

 

[Elisa Maza]

You people really think that 30 years is... too little time to build Midgar?

You've never been to Eastern Asian countries like Japan or China, have you?

A skyscraper was built in the first area I lived in (in the countryside) in two years. A block of flats was given to the public in sixteen months. Two subway lines finished construction in one year. I lived there for four years before moving to a big city and there was a small town there, when there were only fields when I had first arrived there.

By Japanese standards, 30 years is enough to build a nation.

 

[Theozilla]

That is a good point, especially if one compares Japan from the 1950s to the 1980s the explosion in industrialization/urbanization was amazing. I guess for Japanese developers/audiences the suspension of disbelief in regards to rapid urbanization is far different due to their own history.

 

[Ite]

Hmmm.... It might be because I've always lived in well-preserved old cities, or Vancouver (which is in a rainforest) so construction is sluggish at best.

 

[Elisa Maza]

Oh yeah, definitely. The Japanese saw their economic boom when Kitase and co. were young; a game released in the 90s would be created by such people. It's the same in China right now: they build and build and build... Oh, they became the hotspot of pollution in the meantime? Whoops.

Hey, that's Midgar...

FFVII is a VERY eastern game.

 

[Jairus]

Is there a way to tell whether certain scene snippets that were shown are from optional outcomes (like Barret reacting differently depending on how long you set the timer for) rather than predetermined scenes? There are supposed to be a lot of choices in this game and scenes that play out differently depending on those choices. But we've barely seen any information about it.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Where did you hear there would be a lot of those scenes?

 

[Jairus]

Nomura said so himself in an interview quite a while back. He said there were a lot of choices and choices-dependent events and scenes in the game and that that was part of why it needed to be on 2 blurays. For all the possible outcomes, presumably.

Like the original game, Final Fantasy 7 Remake has many dialogues choices to pick for Cloud. For example, there are different dialogue choices to pick when Cloud meets Aerith, just like in the original game. Tetsuya Nomura mentioned they made plenty of different reactions for each character depending on your choices, along with new choices-related events, making the game even bigger.

https://www.dualshockers.com/tetsuya-nomura-details-final-fantasy-7-remake/

There are quite a bit of dialogue options. We are making it so the dialogue changes depending on your response, so the sheer volume of dialogue has increased.

https://www.gematsu.com/2019/06/fin...event-new-events-dialogue-options-and-enemies

The way the montage at the end of the demo went, for example, it seems to imply we don't have a choice as to whether to buy the flower or not. But that contradicts what Nomura said, that there are choices we can make when we meet Aerith, and presumably, buying or not buying the flower is likely one of them just as it was in the OG. Which would mean that the scenes from Chapter 2 onward that show Cloud with the flower on him also happen without it (or in some cases, not at all) if you choose not to buy it. They just haven't shown us those versions, perhaps. Probably to surprise us and add replayability to the game.

 

[pxp]

The way the montage at the end of the demo went, for example, it seems to imply we don't have a choice as to whether to buy the flower or not. But that contradicts what Nomura said, that there are choices we can make when we meet Aerith, and presumably, buying or not buying the flower is likely one of them just as it was in the OG. Which would mean that the scenes from Chapter 2 onward that show Cloud with the flower on him also happen without it (or in some cases, not at all) if you choose not to buy it. They just haven't shown us those versions, perhaps. Probably to surprise us and add replayability to the game.

This has been confirmed by Max Dood.

 

[Elisa Maza]

I have read the leaks, so about choosingvto buy the flower or not is... umm... Yeah, I'll wait.

 

[Jairus]

This has been confirmed by Max Dood.

What's been confirmed? That the scenes display differently to reflect if you buy the flower or not?

 

[pxp]

What's been confirmed? That the scenes display differently to reflect if you buy the flower or not?

Yes

Spoiler: Max Dood on Meeting Aerith/Dialogue Choices

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

You people really think that 30 years is... too little time to build Midgar?

You've never been to Eastern Asian countries like Japan or China, have you?

A skyscraper was built in the first area I lived in (in the countryside) in two years. A block of flats was given to the public in sixteen months. Two subway lines finished construction in one year. I lived there for four years before moving to a big city and there was a small town there, when there were only fields when I had first arrived there.

By Japanese standards, 30 years is enough to build a nation.

See also: Mumbai.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Btw, did anyone else notice that they've seemingly resurrected the original, dummied out appearance of the Honey Bee Inn? The whole lobby appearance that it was originally gonna have?

I wonder if the Shinra Manager will be discovered as a patron there now....

 

[Rose_of_Night]

It doesn't take 30 years to build three skyscrapers, though?

Depends where you live Argentina could perfectly take twice that amount of time

 

[pxp]

^ my sister lived in Beijing for a year in 2001-2002 and she said skyscrapers in whole sectors of the city were raised by the end of that period which didn’t even have a footprint when she first arrived.

 

[Suzaku]

Edit: Here's a better comparison of how Dubai has grown in 30 years:

 

[Cannon_Fodder]

Btw, did anyone else notice that they've seemingly resurrected the original, dummied out appearance of the Honey Bee Inn? The whole lobby appearance that it was originally gonna have?

I wonder if the Shinra Manager will be discovered as a patron there now....

Considering the glow-up he got, the Shinra Manager might be an employee there...

 

[Jairus]

Yes

Spoiler: Max Dood on Meeting Aerith/Dialogue Choices

Good!

Spoiler

So it seems that SE's only been showing us the "with-flower" versions of certain scenes (or versions of scenes that can happen if you have the flower and make certain other choices) since that's what most people will likely do and remember anyway, even though showing only those versions makes it seem like we've got no choice when really, we do.