Remake Interviews: Catch-all Thread

[Pixel]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/final-fantasy-7-remake-will-be-multiple-full-sized/1100-6438387/
http://www.novacrystallis.com/2016/04/final-fantasy-xv-detailed-game-informer/

 

[Tetsujin]

Gamespot should suffice as sauce

 

[Tennyo]

Do you still want me to get the actual magazine?

 

[Tetsujin]

Nah

 

[Tennyo]

I see

I know when I'm not wanted

 

[Joe]

Video quotes and discusses segments from the Game Informer issue. Interestingly these guys say a couple of times that each 'episode' will cost the same as a full-priced game, though I'm not seeing where they've got that information. I don't doubt they will be full-priced, but still.

 

[Unit-01]

So it at-least confirms it'll be like "FF7:Remake" and then "FF7:Remake-2".

In the terms of what they are changing, this release makes it sound like they are out to change more than we originally thought, which may not be a good thing.

I trust Square and the directors know what they are doing, but PLEASE don't fuck this game up.

 

[Tennyo]

Probably just going to make everything fit better with the Compilation. Wasn't it also stated we'd get backstories for Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie? Stuff like that.

And all I have to say is we better get some Cissnei. <3

 

[ForceStealer]

I would still really prefer a single game. However, there is the potential for this to be great. It really would allow for an unprecedented expansion of FF7's world. Midgar alone of course, but so many rivers, mountains, and forests without names, without stories, and all of these things to be exponentially expanded. It is also a big risk, not just for us, but for Square. If they make missteps in the first one, how do you convince people to buy the next one? How will things carry between games if they're forced to address gameplay issues between entries?

I don't mind that it's full price for each part if each part is a full game, I'm far more concerned about maintaining quality than price. (Now, fleecing me for each part and THEN complete box set at the end is going to annoy me and I'm going to buy it because I'm a total flunky )

 

[Ite]

I would still really prefer a single game. However, there is the potential for this to be great. It really would allow for an unprecedented expansion of FF7's world. Midgar alone of course, but so many rivers, mountains, and forests without names, without stories, and all of these things to be exponentially expanded. It is also a big risk, not just for us, but for Square. If they make missteps in the first one, how do you convince people to buy the next one? How will things carry between games if they're forced to address gameplay issues between entries?

I don't mind that it's full price for each part if each part is a full game, I'm far more concerned about maintaining quality than price. (Now, fleecing me for each part and THEN complete box set at the end is going to annoy me and I'm going to buy it because I'm a total flunky )

This. All this. quoted fgj

 

[Claymore]

I found those two annoying.

Definitely agree with Forcestealer about the potential for some amazing expansion to the game and its story.

 

[Tashasaurous]

Episode 1-2017/2018: Midgar-Beginning.

Episode 2-2018/2019: Midgar to Gold Saucer.

Episode 3-2019/2020: Gongaga to Cloud giving Sephiroth the Black Materia.

Episode 4-2020/2021: Junon to Midgar Evacuation.

Episode 5-2021/2022: Final Battle Against Sephiroth-Ending.

Considering how this is a huge project in Square's part since FFXV, I'm thinking this is five years of playing FFVII Remake.

 

[Claymore]

The mention of modelling it after XIII points more towards 3 main installment. Though of course, they could easily have side 'expansion packs' beyond that. But the main game itself - looks like 3 so far, though they haven't come right out and said that number yet.

 

[Tashasaurous]

That's why I guess five more than just three. With the advanced technology upgrading an 20 year old PS1 technology, plus doing new story contents, and seeing how expensive said technology and PS4 are, it's bound to be more than just three main games.

Plus, to me, five episodes sounds more plausible.

 

[hian]

So pretty much what I'd been saying all the time since the "episodic" announcement. Do I get a cookie?

 

[Pixel]

I would make a video clarifying it, but theres no point. Retards still misinterpret it and read into it what they want. Then clickbate sites spread the misinformation.

"So they're remaking Crisis core and Dirge of Cerberus? They said they're making full games..."

Its been perfectly clear what they're doing since December.

 

[hian]

^^I know.
It's frustrating. Being the fanatic that I am, I've spent lots of time watching various commentary videos on youtube about the remake, both from small and big youtubers, and it strikes me every time how stupid (pardon my French, and for the lack of a better word) some of these people are.

Half (or more) of them haven't even read the interviews, are still basing most of their commentary on a knee-jerk reaction to the term "episodic" and even more clearly don't even remember a 10th of what they ought to remember about the game they supposedly want to have remade, on top of which most people have even less inkling about how to make educated deductions about this stuff based on earlier interviews and trends within the company.

It's just sad...
Like, people are entitled to their opinions, but seriously though - do people really need to pollute the world with opinions that are completely and utterly uneducated?

 

[Highwind]

10 Questions And Answers About The Final Fantasy VII Remake by Game Informer

We know fans have lots of specific questions about story, combat, materia, airships, exploration, and more. We want to know about those things too, but Square Enix wasn't ready to go into that level of detail. Instead, we posed 10 broader questions to Kitase about the game and his team's approach.

Fans have been asking for a FFVII remake for years. What about the gaming landscape makes now the right time?
The landscape was one thing, but it was more that we’d been working on the XIII series for the last 10 years. My team and I were mainly focused on that project. Final Fantasy VII Remake would be an equivalent – or even greater – project in terms of scale, and so it would have been hard to do both at the same time. After XIII ended, of course XV is currently being developed by [Hajime] Tabata-san’s team, so it presented a time when we can fully place our focus on the Final Fantasy VII Remake.

When the remake was first announced, there was some confusion among fans about its multi-part format. Is comparing it to the Final Fantasy XIII saga fair in that regard? Will each entry have that kind of scope?
It will essentially be a full-scale game for each part of the multi-part series. In XIII, each installment told the story from a different angle. It was kind of like approaching an unknown territory, in a sense. Whereas with Final Fantasy VII Remake, we already have a preexisting story, so it wouldn’t really make sense if that isn’t encompassed in the multi-part series, and it wouldn’t make sense to remake it if we don’t encompass that that entire story.

With regards to the current HD capacity and volume, the idea is that we wouldn’t be able to encompass it all in just one installment. So, if we’re just looking at each of these parts, one part should be on par with the scale of one Final Fantasy XIII game.

Have you decided how many installments there will be?
Yeah, we do have an idea on the project side in terms of how many installments it may consist of, but unfortunately, we can’t share that at the moment. Of course, as we’re creating and developing the scenario and the stories, these are things that move in real time. So, the plan may change along the way. But, that said, we do have a vision for how many installments it will consist of.

The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII added new wrinkles to the story and lore behind the game. How is the team approaching the integration of those new elements into the remake?
It’s not to say that all or some of the characters from the spin-offs or other Compilation works will appear in the remake, but if there are any areas where we can use the settings or the characters, we do want to try to incorporate it in there, so it gives off that sense of nuance and those other stories existing.

So, there isn’t any pressure to include every character and storyline from the Compilation content?
Yes, there may be instances where the characters appear themselves, or are just referenced in dialogue. But, of course, it would be difficult to follow up on everything that happened in this universe. So, maybe some of the characters who weren’t as famous won’t appear or be mentioned. But in terms of the characters and instances that remain in the memories of our fans, we do want to try our best to integrate that in some fashion in the world.

Some fans seem to want a remake that is mainly visual upgrades, with none of the story or gameplay altered. Was that ever considered for the project?
The starting point was – and our executive producer [Shinji] Hashimoto-san has mentioned this – it would even be okay if we just upped the graphics to the quality of Advent Children. But, in terms of game styles and battle systems, it’s been 20 years since the original, and a lot has changed. Trends have changed, and I believed that we needed to revisit and rethink that aspect for the remake.

What drove the decision to move away from the traditional turn-based system toward action-focused combat?
We haven’t completely transitioned into action, but as our director [Tetsuya] Nomura-san says, Final Fantasy (in terms of action games) is best represented by Dissidia in the current landscape. In terms of the Final Fantasy action battles people have experienced themselves, that is most familiar to them these days. In terms of the image of the battle system, that’s where we’re getting the feel from. It won’t be as action-focused as Dissidia, of course, but the the visuals and how the gameplay feels in essence will be drawn from that Dissidia-esque style.

Not many creators have the chance to revisit a previous project like this. For you personally, is there any aspect of FFVII that you’re looking forward to bringing back to life?
That’s a difficult question. There are certain scenes that are ingrained in the memories of our fans – like Cloud dressing a female, or that impactful Aerith scene. At that time, that was the latest technology and the latest graphics, but now it does look a little bit cheap as far as how it looks graphically and how those scenes are staged. So, everyone’s probably wondering how those scenes will be brought back to life in current, realistic graphics and how they will be expressed. And I myself am interested in that, but it’s also a challenge. For all of those scenes that people remember, I’m wondering how we can meet expectations and express them properly in current-gen graphics.

I’m sure there are areas that our fans want to see how we can change, and areas that they don’t want changed. The opinions of our fans are probably split on a lot of those elements, so determining from a development standpoint where we’ll be more true to the original versus where we change is something we hope to grasp through communicating with our fans. Also, while we want to understand their concerns, we also want to get them excited for the story and seeing how it can be revamped and refreshed.

So, even if you’re familiar with the story, there’s still an opportunity to be surprised?
Definitely. We have archived versions of our games, and a lot of times, people buy them and it starts off with nostalgia – but after that, you’re essentially following the story you already know. That experience starts to diminish as you proceed through the game and the interest level starts to decline. If it’s just nostalgia, it’s just a matter of following the story, and there wouldn’t be any surprises. So, in that sense, we want to balance out the areas we would like change versus the areas we don’t in order to have that nostalgia, but also the surprises.

Do you see the larger iconic plot points as an opportunity to surprise fans, or are there things that you and the team consider untouchable?
I, along with Nomura-san and [Kazushige] Nojima-san – who are involved with the remake – were involved with the original Final Fantasy VII. We were the people who created it, so in that sense, we don’t think anything is untouchable. That isn’t to say we’re changing everything!

Of course, within Square Enix and across the globe, there are people who think it’s on this holy scale. That there isn’t anything we can touch or play around with. But we believe we know the balance between what can be changed versus what needs to be protected.

 

[ForceStealer]

The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII added new wrinkles to the story and lore behind the game. How is the team approaching the integration of those new elements into the remake?
It&#8217;s not to say that all or some of the characters from the spin-offs or other Compilation works will appear in the remake, but if there are any areas where we can use the settings or the characters, we do want to try to incorporate it in there, so it gives off that sense of nuance and those other stories existing.

So, there isn&#8217;t any pressure to include every character and storyline from the Compilation content?
Yes, there may be instances where the characters appear themselves, or are just referenced in dialogue. But, of course, it would be difficult to follow up on everything that happened in this universe. So, maybe some of the characters who weren&#8217;t as famous won&#8217;t appear or be mentioned. But in terms of the characters and instances that remain in the memories of our fans, we do want to try our best to integrate that in some fashion in the world.

So back off the ledge, Tasha.

 

[Mayo Master]

I would make a video clarifying it, but theres no point. Retards still misinterpret it and read into it what they want. Then clickbate sites spread the misinformation.

It's just sad...
Like, people are entitled to their opinions, but seriously though - do people really need to pollute the world with opinions that are completely and utterly uneducated?

The internet in a nutshell

 

[Channy]

(Now, fleecing me for each part and THEN complete box set at the end is going to annoy me and I'm going to buy it because I'm a total flunky )

That's not a real word.

 

[Alex Strife]

I kind of like how they do not do that Japanese thing of saying they want to exceed the fan's expectations. Rather, they say they want to meet them.

I get the feeling they are treating the project and the challenge with great respect. And that's good.

 

[Tashasaurous]

The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII added new wrinkles to the story and lore behind the game. How is the team approaching the integration of those new elements into the remake?
It&#8217;s not to say that all or some of the characters from the spin-offs or other Compilation works will appear in the remake, but if there are any areas where we can use the settings or the characters, we do want to try to incorporate it in there, so it gives off that sense of nuance and those other stories existing.

So, there isn&#8217;t any pressure to include every character and storyline from the Compilation content?
Yes, there may be instances where the characters appear themselves, or are just referenced in dialogue. But, of course, it would be difficult to follow up on everything that happened in this universe. So, maybe some of the characters who weren&#8217;t as famous won&#8217;t appear or be mentioned. But in terms of the characters and instances that remain in the memories of our fans, we do want to try our best to integrate that in some fashion in the world.

So back off the ledge, Tasha.

Um, what are you talking about?

Also, it's like what I've been somewhat saying; not every character from the Compilation Titles have to be in the remake. Plus, I can already tell that Angeal will certainly not be mentioned, because only Zack and Genesis were close enough to him. Sephiroth probably forgot in his rampage against humanity.

So pretty much what I'd been saying all the time since the "episodic" announcement. Do I get a cookie?

I think you deserve some turkish delight ice cream and wedding-sized chocolate cake. Too bad I can't give you any of that.

 

[hian]

The starting point was &#8211; and our executive producer [Shinji] Hashimoto-san has mentioned this &#8211; it would even be okay if we just upped the graphics to the quality of Advent Children. But, in terms of game styles and battle systems, it&#8217;s been 20 years since the original, and a lot has changed. Trends have changed, and I believed that we needed to revisit and rethink that aspect for the remake.

This, to a degree, annoys me.

"Trends have changed"? What a pointless statement from a development perspective.
I mean, who're you making this game for? RPG fans? Action adventure fans? Fans of the original game? older fans of the franchise? Newer fans of the franchise?

Fact of the matter though is that FFVII is still the best-selling FF game to date, and had its largest influx of sales during a period when gaming wasn't half as socially acceptable as it is now, and the total gaming population of the world was smaller by a significant degree.

What does that tell us? That "evolving" FF to match the "trends" by catering to people who probably don't have much interest in RPGs to begin with is not getting you ahead, because ultimately, FF will always be a game shouldered largely by fans of classical JRPGs, and they're slowly dropping off your consumer list the more you give them the cold shoulder with your new design philosophies.

What this sounds like to me, is another instance of the VG industry's implosion by increased production costs I.E
"Oh we just have to make this game look like a CG movie! Ooops, that's gonna cost so much we now have to sell more copies than what are core fan-base is capable of shouldering, so let's change stuff to make the game more appealing to the rest of the gaming public (the people who generally just play Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted and the annual sports titles like Fifa)."

Screw you SE FF department. Those people didn't buy your games way back when, and the majority of people who did are not interested in playing GTA in a FF skin.

We haven&#8217;t completely transitioned into action, but as our director [Tetsuya] Nomura-san says, Final Fantasy (in terms of action games) is best represented by Dissidia in the current landscape. In terms of the Final Fantasy action battles people have experienced themselves, that is most familiar to them these days. In terms of the image of the battle system, that&#8217;s where we&#8217;re getting the feel from. It won&#8217;t be as action-focused as Dissidia, of course, but the the visuals and how the gameplay feels in essence will be drawn from that Dissidia-esque style.

Whomever feed that impression to Nomura and Kitase needs to be fired.

Dissidia: FF global sales - 2.24 million
Dissidia 012 : Duodecim FF global sales - 0.88 million

VS.

FFVII : Over 11 million, and that's still not a perfect estimate.

Adding together every FF game with an action battle system and FFVIIAC sales you still don't top that, meaning that the vast majority of FFVII fans (and indeed FF fans) are not most familiar with Dissidia's action battles.
In fact, the people familiar with action based FF battle systems in general are a minority within the total FF consumer base.

FFXIII sold reasonable well - it was on a recent console, sporting relatively high-fidelity realistic graphics, and it also had a command-based battle system with transitional combat happening on a separate screen. A relatively large numbers of fans were fine with this and bought the game - in fact the battle system was one of the things about that game that received the most praise from fans and critics alike.

That being said, to end on a positive note - based on this interview and the previous ones, and the game-play video, I'm getting a strong feeling that the battle-system we're looking at is like the RPG-style set-up for the Dissidia games.

In the previous interviews they said that they wanted people to be able to think strategically, and play stress-free which implies little if any reliance on twitch/combo/timing mechanics.
That and with the comparison to Dissidia, I think we're looking at a set-up where you select a command off of the battle menu, and then have a large part of the actual attack/defend process be automatic.

That would be pretty clever because that would allow you to calmly scroll through spells/items, select targets etc without having to worry about the melee getting out of hand because the characters would be sitting ducks whilst you scroll menus.

I imagine you'd select attack, and then perhaps only have nominal control over movement by selecting a target, and Cloud slashing away automatically. Whilst if you pick defend, he'd evade and block automatically based on context as well.
This way, you could set a character to attack, switch, set another to defend, switch again, scroll through items/magic whilst your characters fight etc.
Perhaps play around with the camera, and just take things in whilst the fight plays out.

This would retain the visual flair of the compilation they care so much about, and the tactical nature of old-school command based battle systems. It would also be a good way to salvage most of the old Materia system, or even adding a skill system on top of it, where advanced attacks (combos, death blows etc.) evasion maneuvers (wall-running, boosts, double jumps etc.) would get added to combat through progression in those areas.

I'd be quite please if that's the direction they're taking it.

Definitely. We have archived versions of our games, and a lot of times, people buy them and it starts off with nostalgia &#8211; but after that, you&#8217;re essentially following the story you already know. That experience starts to diminish as you proceed through the game and the interest level starts to decline. If it&#8217;s just nostalgia, it&#8217;s just a matter of following the story, and there wouldn&#8217;t be any surprises. So, in that sense, we want to balance out the areas we would like change versus the areas we don&#8217;t in order to have that nostalgia, but also the surprises.

I can only speak for myself personally - but the tendency to drop out half-way through a repeat play-through of an old game isn't because I already know the story - it's because despite wanting to experience the story, I have to jump through all the game-play hoops to get at it.
Unlike a movie or book, where the story is constantly unfolding as you progress with no barriers stopping the progression - gaming as format is founded on the very principle that your progress ties together with performance in game-play.

What gets old playing FFVII for the umpteenth time isn't the story - it's all the stuff in-between keeping me from getting to the interesting points of the story I want to see.
Who am I kidding though? I'm still playing FFVII start to finish to this day, pretty much yearly, and I friggin' love the game-play.

I, along with Nomura-san and [Kazushige] Nojima-san &#8211; who are involved with the remake &#8211; were involved with the original Final Fantasy VII. We were the people who created it, so in that sense, we don&#8217;t think anything is untouchable.

Sure. That's a dumb mind-set to have going into a remake though, since when people are asking you left and right for a remake, that's probably what they want, and if you really have all this pent up creativity you feel like using, how about you make a new game instead?

That isn&#8217;t to say we&#8217;re changing everything!

Wrong. What you should have said here is "That isn't to say we're changing all that much".
Now it sounds like you're changing more than you're not changing, which defeats the purpose of a remake to begin with.

Of course, within Square Enix and across the globe, there are people who think it&#8217;s on this holy scale. That there isn&#8217;t anything we can touch or play around with. But we believe we know the balance between what can be changed versus what needs to be protected.

I'm happy they're confident, but belief alone seldom leads to good results.
How about you get together a strong test-panel of dedicated fans from across the world to give you feed-back along the way? That way you'd have a much better factual idea of whether or not you're striking that balance, instead of just a belief based on jack all.

No people, that interview really didn't do it for me.

Also, based on some of the awkward English in there I'm kinda doubtful as to the quality of their translation work. I'd really like to see/hear the original Japanese.

I'll still try to remain hopeful. I think I'll have a pretty good idea how this will turn out by the next trailer, and that's when I'll probably put me cards on the table and set my expectations.

 

[ForceStealer]

The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII added new wrinkles to the story and lore behind the game. How is the team approaching the integration of those new elements into the remake?
It&#8217;s not to say that all or some of the characters from the spin-offs or other Compilation works will appear in the remake, but if there are any areas where we can use the settings or the characters, we do want to try to incorporate it in there, so it gives off that sense of nuance and those other stories existing.

So, there isn&#8217;t any pressure to include every character and storyline from the Compilation content?
Yes, there may be instances where the characters appear themselves, or are just referenced in dialogue. But, of course, it would be difficult to follow up on everything that happened in this universe. So, maybe some of the characters who weren&#8217;t as famous won&#8217;t appear or be mentioned. But in terms of the characters and instances that remain in the memories of our fans, we do want to try our best to integrate that in some fashion in the world.

So back off the ledge, Tasha.

Um, what are you talking about?

...Are you serious? You just spent the better part of a month in the other thread convinced that they're "rebooting" the franchise and wiping away all the Compilation stuff and now they've reiterated that they're explicitly not.