Remake Interviews: Catch-all Thread

[The Twilight Mexican]

And the response phrasing is perfectly reasonable, to use an analogous metaphor for comparison, say someone was building a house and the builder said in an update that they were currently brushing up on working on the bathroom and could now see what the desired level of quality the house needs to be, one would and should not assume that only the bathroom has been worked on and nothing else, as the foundations and general structures of a house have to be built before brushing up on specific parts of it can occur.

I still insist the phrasing of the response is weird if it's not meant to be read the way it came across to me. A response to "How's the progress?" should, in some way, reflect a notion of the percentage of completion. And that's usually how SE's peeps respond to those questions: with approximations of the completed percentage.

For a few examples:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/kingdom-hearts-iis-tetsuya-nomura-q-and-a/1100-6076646/
https://www.vg247.com/2011/07/13/kingdom-hearts-iii-hints-within-kh-3ds-says-nomura/
https://www.vg247.com/2011/09/12/final-fantasy-xiii-2-90-percent-done-release-date-reveal-at-tgs/
https://www.vg247.com/2011/01/31/final-fantasy-type-0-to-feature-xp-system-is-60-percent-done/
http://www.kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xv-is-60-percent-finished-1686950798
http://gamingtrend.com/2015/08/15/final-fantasy-xv-70-percent-done-according-director/

To return to your analogy of building the house, if I asked you what the progress is and you told me you were brushing up on the bathroom and could now see the level of quality that you'd need to apply throughout the house -- I'd be annoyed because you didn't answer my question. =P

Now the opening Bombing Mission is/was likely the only scene/part of the Remake that is at the current level of quality that was being described/referred to, but it is very unlikely that there aren't other parts of game that have been developed/are being worked on but are presently at a much lower level of quality/development.

(Since I don't feel that I implied the second portion of your sentence, I'm just going to reply to the bolded part.)

How does that not fit with the notion that they are only now finishing that portion of the game? (Which is what I thought we were discussing.)

 

[ChipNoir]

Found this. http://kh13.com/news/tetsuya-nomura-interviewed-by-final-fantasy-dream-at-magic-2017#ixzz4Zp3AcXxG

"No more continuity with the remake" Ehr, what?

...Welp, this might throw a wrench in the Buster Sword theory. Someone get this front page!

 

[Flintlock]

That's certainly interesting. I'd like a bit more verification though. An interview conducted in French and Japanese and subsequently translated to English isn't exactly the best source. One might even say it's

très vague

– not my words, but those of the French translator.

 

[ChipNoir]

That's certainly interesting. I'd like a bit more verification though. An interview conducted in French and Japanese and subsequently translated to English isn't exactly the best source. One might even say it's

très vague

– not my words, but those of the French translator.

True. But in the past, quite a few big bombs have hit french news sites, and many have turned true. I'm inclined to believe it. But yeah, corroboration is needed.

 

[ChipNoir]

http://www.novacrystallis.com/2017/02/final-fantasy-vii-remake-will-retain-essence-original/ Further corroboration, I guess?

 

[Flintlock]

It's not exactly corroboration when it's just recycling the same source, but short of sitting down with Tetsuya Nomura ourselves, there really isn't any way of verifying it anyway. It's a shame that the interviewers didn't follow up on it at the time.

My personal opinion is that this isn't reliable enough to get a story of its own on our front page at the moment, but I tweeted at Finaland and GamersFlag to see if they can add any context and I'll post here again if they reply. In the meantime I'd be happy to defer to our other senior staff if they feel differently to me.

 

[hleV]

If this is to be taken seriously, it seems the Remake will be changed more than I expected. Don't think it's a bad thing still. I do want a new game. I just hope the changes are mostly for the better (e.g. better storytelling/explanations), rather than for the sake of change.

Ignoring compilation? Do it. Don't mind if some things are taken from it, though.

 

[Tashasaurous]

Ignoring compilation? Do it. Don't mind if some things are taken from it, though.

If they do ignore the Compilation, I will most definately ignore the Remake all together and pretend that it doesn't exist. I want the Remake to connect with the Compilation, or at least share qualities of the most important parts from the two prequel games, the sequel film and the sequel game. If ignoring my favorite franchise does happens, then it's definately a complete Reboot.

 

[Octo]

Personally I was thinking it would be amazing if they just remade the original without referencing the Compilation. Everything about the Compilation has been disappointing/shit to me.

However, and I'm taking this whole thing with a pinch of salt, it doesn't bode well either way because it suggests what I and probably a lot of you have been suspecting - SE have no idea what the fuck they are doing.

Seriously it reminds me of this stoner guy I knew at art school. He'd have all these great ideas and then like 2 months later we'd have a group crit and he would have done hardly anything and what he had done was totally different to what he'd been talking about.

 

[Tashasaurous]

Personally I was thinking it would be amazing if they just remade the original without referencing the Compilation. Everything about the Compilation has been disappointing/shit to me.

Well personally for me, the Compilation solved most of crazy thoughts about Final Fantasy VII and it lightened up the astmosphere that I gladly accepted as long as it answered what I've been looking for, because coming up with my own was too heart-breaking, especially in what happened to everyone after meteor and before "500 years later".

Not to mention that I love the Compilation stories. Sure they have faults, but I accept the plus side of them.

However, and I'm taking this whole thing with a pinch of salt, it doesn't bode well either way because it suggests what I and probably a lot of you have been suspecting - SE have no idea what the fuck they are doing.

I think the newer technology might be the fault of that. They had been doing so well in the PS2 era and ectera, the games that we love were made and released a lot quicker and a short period of time. Then when PS3 started out, things had started going down hill.

Now with PS4, it's like they like to just play with the newer technology without even focusing on their work and keeping to the promises. It's like the new tech is nothing but toys. Similiar problem with the newer mobile phones-people want to just play with them even while they're out and about instead of really focusing on daily life and really, mobile phones are for phone calls, messages and emergancies.

Call me old school and a fuddy duddy, but that's what I think.

Anyway, Nomura's spent too much time just "thinking and dreaming" and not really paying much attention for the last couple of years.

Hell, poor Quinton Flynn still hasn't even started recording for either Final Fantasy VII Remake or Kingdom Hearts 3 yet, and I feel sorry for the guy.

While I don't have a twitter account, I found this out earlier today on the KH13 forum.

Seriously it reminds me of this stoner guy I knew at art school. He'd have all these great ideas and then like 2 months later we'd have a group crit and he would have done hardly anything and what he had done was totally different to what he'd been talking about.

I've seen too much of that anywhere I go these days lately where I live. People just...waste their time just talking about plans and never really do much in putting them into reality or even make a move on what they talked about either and instead just brush if off like, "Oh no, let's forget about that and talk about something else".

It's basically "All talk and no show" thing happening in the world lately.

 

[hleV]

Ignoring compilation? Do it. Don't mind if some things are taken from it, though.

If they do ignore the Compilation, I will most definately ignore the Remake all together and pretend that it doesn't exist. I want the Remake to connect with the Compilation, or at least share qualities of the most important parts from the two prequel games, the sequel film and the sequel game. If ignoring my favorite franchise does happens, then it's definately a complete Reboot.

They're already changing things up quite a bit (again, if THIS is to be taken seriously), why can't things in compilation have happened differently, as well? E.g. no Genesis in Nibelheim Mako Reactor, no advanced computers/technology present in CC/BC (I'm not too familiar with other Compilation titles) but not present in FF7*, etc.

*FF7 still has CRT monitors! The technology in the game seems to be close to that of, say, 1997? With more focus on Mako, Jenova experiments, robotics and whatnot, obviously. Yet in CC we have ridiculous VR training rooms, in BC there's some futuristic computers with futuristic software (converting consciousness into a program, really?) that don't really go in hand with what's showcased in OG.

 

[ForceStealer]

Honestly it still sounds to me like it did from the start. they will be using the Compilation, but not be BEHOLDEN to it. And I think that is exactly the right approach. Use/adapt the good bits, but don't be afraid to stray from the dumb bits.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Of course that's what they're going to do. That's what they've done all along, even with the origjnal game itself. Continuity changed from the original game to the Compilation, and then from one Compilation title to another.

They'll showcase some things precisely as they were before, change some things from how they were before, and then be silent on a great many other things.

 

[Shademp]

Of course that's what they're going to do. That's what they've done all along, even with the origjnal game itself. Continuity changed from the original game to the Compilation, and then from one Compilation title to another.

They'll showcase some things precisely as they were before, change some things from how they were before, and then be silent on a great many other things.

As has been demonstrated, Square is no stranger to prioritizing artistic freedom. Redesigning characters, locations and rewriting the manuscript is par the course when Square Enix revisits one of their Final Fantasy universes.

Ergo, while canon and consistency is "a thing" and thus not entirely non-existent, they don't hold the concept to the academic standard that some of us would prefer. For good and for bad.

 

[lithiumkatana17]

How cohesive will (or won't) the remake be with the Compilation? [Discussion moved from interview thread]

For those upset about the Compilation being canon to the Remake, I have some advice:

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

And also, I ask this: What did you honestly expect?

Granted, this news was not the first thing I expected to read this morning, nor was I expecting them to be upfront about it when they haven't even devoted all assets of the company to this project yet, but I can't say that I'm really surprised. The remake is forcing them to pull head from ass and create and coherent story across the board. A great deal of things with the story are going to change; it may bring joy, it may bring fear.

But let us embrace whatever it brings.

 

[Shademp]

But let us embrace whatever it brings.

 

[Flintlock]

Dammit Lith... no word of a lie, I watched the E3 trailer yesterday, got the goosebumps again at the end and thought to myself, "I'm gonna use that line on TLS the next time the opportunity presents itself". Get out of my head!

 

[Flintlock]

My personal opinion is that this isn't reliable enough to get a story of its own on our front page at the moment, but I tweeted at Finaland and GamersFlag to see if they can add any context and I'll post here again if they reply.

Nice of them to answer but it's not much help, unfortunately.

 

[hian]

Without going back through my post history, I hope people remember what I said after the release of the two trailers and the initial interviews. Am I allowed to feel a bit vindicated now? Just a tiny bit. As for people saying or thinking the remake won't contain compilation material, the interview did not state that, and they've already both said that they will include compilation material and shown allutions to it in the trailers. The only thing we can take from this is that the remake is not going to aim for coherency with the compilation, but rather borrow elements from it. Which, again like I and several others have said time and time again, is perfectly reasonable granted the way compilation titles did rewrites on the original narrative.

The only thing unreasonable here is to expect and celebrate the rewrites in the compilation while feeling dejected and angry about the compilation rewrites that will inevitably happen for the remake. Welcome to the world of the people who thought the rewrites of the compilation were dumb. Now you know how we felt.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

At the very least, Cloud was aware Genesis was in the area (he and Tifa fought Genesis Copies outside the reactor). Even if Cloud did know of him being in there, though, it wasn't immediately relevant to the story Cloud was telling in Kalm, and so there's little reason for it to be odd that he not mention it.

It's not like he let us in on everything he did during the seven days Sephiroth was holed up going crazy either. There is such a thing as pacing and impact to consider with the unfolding of a narrative, such that it's entirely plausible for a remake that's entirely in-keeping with the Compilation to still forego this detail.

 

[Ite]

[edit: moved to Hopes for the Remake thrad]

 

[Theozilla]

And the response phrasing is perfectly reasonable, to use an analogous metaphor for comparison, say someone was building a house and the builder said in an update that they were currently brushing up on working on the bathroom and could now see what the desired level of quality the house needs to be, one would and should not assume that only the bathroom has been worked on and nothing else, as the foundations and general structures of a house have to be built before brushing up on specific parts of it can occur.

I still insist the phrasing of the response is weird if it's not meant to be read the way it came across to me. A response to "How's the progress?" should, in some way, reflect a notion of the percentage of completion. And that's usually how SE's peeps respond to those questions: with approximations of the completed percentage.

For a few examples:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/kingdom-hearts-iis-tetsuya-nomura-q-and-a/1100-6076646/
https://www.vg247.com/2011/07/13/kingdom-hearts-iii-hints-within-kh-3ds-says-nomura/
https://www.vg247.com/2011/09/12/final-fantasy-xiii-2-90-percent-done-release-date-reveal-at-tgs/
https://www.vg247.com/2011/01/31/final-fantasy-type-0-to-feature-xp-system-is-60-percent-done/
http://www.kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xv-is-60-percent-finished-1686950798
http://gamingtrend.com/2015/08/15/final-fantasy-xv-70-percent-done-according-director/

To return to your analogy of building the house, if I asked you what the progress is and you told me you were brushing up on the bathroom and could now see the level of quality that you'd need to apply throughout the house -- I'd be annoyed because you didn't answer my question. =P

Right, so shouldn't the fact that Kitase didn't respond to the Famitsu question with an approximation number of the completed percentage (in contrast to all those examples that did give percentage answers), and instead answered in a manner describing what they were currently working on, indicate that Kitase likely wasn't trying to give a clear notion of the percentage of completion?

And as for whether or not you feel that sort of response is really answering the question your trying to get at (be it with Kitase or my house building example), I'd say that's not particularly unexpected for Square Enix to do either. In fact that phenomena/style of answering is pretty common throughout media industry.

Now the opening Bombing Mission is/was likely the only scene/part of the Remake that is at the current level of quality that was being described/referred to, but it is very unlikely that there aren't other parts of game that have been developed/are being worked on but are presently at a much lower level of quality/development.

(Since I don't feel that I implied the second portion of your sentence, I'm just going to reply to the bolded part.)

How does that not fit with the notion that they are only now finishing that portion of the game? (Which is what I thought we were discussing.)

Well if I interpreted you wrong I am sorry. I don't disagree with the notion that they are only now finishing that portion of the game, but I don't agree with the notion that the former portion means that only that part of the game has been worked on/developed, which I have seen many fans interpret the former portion as indicating (which what I was primarily discussing in my original comment).

 

[Tashasaurous]

Wasn't Part 1 of the Remake mainly focusing mostly on Midgar and the other parts focusing on the rest of Gaia in the first place? I'm most likely wrong, but maybe Part 1 will end either just leaving Midgar or just arriving in Kalm or something close along the lines.

Besides, the game itself was only in development for almost two years since the announcement in September back in 2015.

 

[ChipNoir]

Wasn't Part 1 of the Remake mainly focusing mostly on Midgar and the other parts focusing on the rest of Gaia in the first place? I'm most likely wrong, but maybe Part 1 will end either just leaving Midgar or just arriving in Kalm or something close along the lines.

Besides, the game itself was only in development for almost two years since the announcement in September back in 2015.

That info has in no way been disclosed to anyone yet, one way or the other. Its one of those mysteries Nomura talked about, no doubt with a shit-eating grin. I love his work, but as a PR person Nomura sucks.

 

[Tashasaurous]

That info has in no way been disclosed to anyone yet, one way or the other. Its one of those mysteries Nomura talked about, no doubt with a shit-eating grin. I love his work, but as a PR person Nomura sucks.

I did say that was,

Most likely wrong

I never said that I was right about my previous quote.

And I'm like you when it comes to Nomura's works. Love his work, but he's like a massive jigsaw puzzle that you can't solve.