Remake Interviews: Catch-all Thread
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Lex
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Omg that's so weird 0_0, I deleted and saved and it did nothing. HAX
Tashasaurous
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- Sailor Moon, Mini Moon, Hotaru, Cardcaptor Sakura, Meilin, Xion, Kairi, Aqua, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Elena, Misty, May, Dawn, Casey, Fiona, Ellie
I've noticed and had the same problem, but with the Spoiler Tag whenever it's really long and no matter what I tried it kept splitting up.
Was the quote not “This is the year of the Remake”
I am also one of those that interpreted it as music wise for 2018. I took it as Uematsu meaning that 2018 is the year he is doing music he has re-composed for the Remake.
The censoring of the comment gets me and reactions afterwards. The reactions maybe so we don’t get our hopes up but it nags me now I think about it again
pxp
Pro Adventurer
@KiwiPizza Yeh I wasn’t really quoting verbatim, just using quotations for general reference. But to be sure, I’m not sure what it meant exactly either. I don’t think anyone does apart from them.
I’ve a tinfoil hat theory that Uematsu announced his fatigue in order to buy SQE some grace/time from the fans, perhaps because 7R Part 1 was meant to be done by now (or at least closer). That’s not to say his fatigue is an outright lie of course, but maybe it’s being played up for PR purposes.
Anyway, hopefully he’s back on song in 2019, and there are some tiny signs (“wait for 7R’s turn” and the g-bike to FF7R _CLOUD Twitter thing) that something slightly more substantial will drop post-KHIII.
I’ve a tinfoil hat theory that Uematsu announced his fatigue in order to buy SQE some grace/time from the fans, perhaps because 7R Part 1 was meant to be done by now (or at least closer). That’s not to say his fatigue is an outright lie of course, but maybe it’s being played up for PR purposes.
Anyway, hopefully he’s back on song in 2019, and there are some tiny signs (“wait for 7R’s turn” and the g-bike to FF7R _CLOUD Twitter thing) that something slightly more substantial will drop post-KHIII.
In fact I was somewhat doubting what he said. Cue my question ?
I’ve actually got a somewhat “theory” so much as a very ridiculous thought (that is admittedly easy to pick flaws in), regarding Uetmatsus quote and KH3 but will not mention here due to being off topic nor does it require content.
I also enjoy our interactions elsewhere on the internet ?
Lex
Administrator
It's also funny how the original plan to gather all the interviews in order in the original post so we can always easily find them was abandoned like, immediately.
I think about this every now and then and kinda go "I'll go back and fix it/ catalogue it all at some point".
"At some point" 0_0
Regardless, it is useful to have all the interviews in one thread at least. It might already be nearly 50 pages long (depending on your thread view settings) but there might be a way to mark posts as containing useful info and that way filter out the chatter.
hian
Purist
The Japanese twitter users who reported on what Uematsu allegedly said went along the lines of "Actually, the FFVII remake was supposed to have been released this year"
There is no way that phrasing or statement is about anything other than the game. It has nothing to do with his music.
The fact that in the Edamame interview it was referred to the way it was, and the reaction surrounding it, pretty much excludes any other take, since there is absolutely no reason why a statement regarded the BRA BRA event or Uematsu's involvement would instigate such a reaction and demand any kind of secrecy.
After all, the phamplets handed out on the event confirmed Uematsu's involvement.
Just saying - if that report is accurate (and I have little reason to think it isn't since the original twitter user who reported this, a closed user, has been floating accurate news in the Japanese blogosphere before and is a member of the Uematsu fanclub).
It also lines up with a lot of other information that's been passed around low-key in Japan from people in the industry who're involved with SE over the last couple of years.
It's also independently reported by other users as well :
If it had anything to do with Uematu's work on the music, or the BRA BRA concert, I don't see multiple users as getting that wrong.
EDIT :
As I've said before, and I'll say it again -
The most likely explanation for everything remake related is that they greenlit the thing as a means of boosting stock value and hedging their bets on the back of the costly FFXV in a time of uncertainty surrounding the FF brand.
They didn't have the available manpower to do it, and they probably figured they'd have to push it out quick if FFXV didn't make as much money as projected, so they outsourced the entire thing to CC2, content only to have some key figures like Kitase and Nomura oversee the project.
Then FFXV obviously did quite well, and things got more stable.
Then line-up in the Board of Directors at SE changing landing Kitase among others in the top echelons of the company.
Given his passion for the game, and given that he's the producer, he probably took that chance to push for a reconsideration of the project.
No more need to push it out quickly through outsourcing, and instead a need to protect the FF brand by "doing it right", and so the decission was made to look over the project one more time and have Business Div 1 deal with it, introducing changes to the art, bringing Uematsu in etc.
This is where we're at now.
Who knows - given how chummy Uematsu, Kitase, and Nomura have been with Sakaguchi the last two years, I wouldn't be if they they come out swinging on the re-reveal with "the old team back together" kind of spin to it.
There is no way that phrasing or statement is about anything other than the game. It has nothing to do with his music.
The fact that in the Edamame interview it was referred to the way it was, and the reaction surrounding it, pretty much excludes any other take, since there is absolutely no reason why a statement regarded the BRA BRA event or Uematsu's involvement would instigate such a reaction and demand any kind of secrecy.
After all, the phamplets handed out on the event confirmed Uematsu's involvement.
Just saying - if that report is accurate (and I have little reason to think it isn't since the original twitter user who reported this, a closed user, has been floating accurate news in the Japanese blogosphere before and is a member of the Uematsu fanclub).
It also lines up with a lot of other information that's been passed around low-key in Japan from people in the industry who're involved with SE over the last couple of years.
It's also independently reported by other users as well :
If it had anything to do with Uematu's work on the music, or the BRA BRA concert, I don't see multiple users as getting that wrong.
EDIT :
As I've said before, and I'll say it again -
The most likely explanation for everything remake related is that they greenlit the thing as a means of boosting stock value and hedging their bets on the back of the costly FFXV in a time of uncertainty surrounding the FF brand.
They didn't have the available manpower to do it, and they probably figured they'd have to push it out quick if FFXV didn't make as much money as projected, so they outsourced the entire thing to CC2, content only to have some key figures like Kitase and Nomura oversee the project.
Then FFXV obviously did quite well, and things got more stable.
Then line-up in the Board of Directors at SE changing landing Kitase among others in the top echelons of the company.
Given his passion for the game, and given that he's the producer, he probably took that chance to push for a reconsideration of the project.
No more need to push it out quickly through outsourcing, and instead a need to protect the FF brand by "doing it right", and so the decission was made to look over the project one more time and have Business Div 1 deal with it, introducing changes to the art, bringing Uematsu in etc.
This is where we're at now.
Who knows - given how chummy Uematsu, Kitase, and Nomura have been with Sakaguchi the last two years, I wouldn't be if they they come out swinging on the re-reveal with "the old team back together" kind of spin to it.
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@hian
Ahh, I had not seen those translations and I suspect many others hadn’t too. I’d only seen it as Uetmatsu saying that “this is the year of the Remake” which can be taken as his concert lineup, however finding out now that he stated “Actually, the FFVII remake was supposed to have been released this year” is very interesting
The censored bit did confuse me from the interview.
Any Speculation as to delays etc? Why it’s not released this year if it meant to then?
Ahh, I had not seen those translations and I suspect many others hadn’t too. I’d only seen it as Uetmatsu saying that “this is the year of the Remake” which can be taken as his concert lineup, however finding out now that he stated “Actually, the FFVII remake was supposed to have been released this year” is very interesting
The censored bit did confuse me from the interview.
Any Speculation as to delays etc? Why it’s not released this year if it meant to then?
Nandemoyasan
Standing guard
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- Johnny
Wild Speculation Time, but...
...I wonder how insane the fanbase for FF would go, if it is all of a sudden revealed that Hironobu Sakaguchi has been brought on board to oversee the Remake along with Testsuya Nomura?
Last summer he posted a video of himself attempting to play the Chocobo Theme on his facebook page. ...The emphasis on attempting is a big one.
I guess he might have let his musicianship slide in the intervening years of making a career out of video game design. But clearly, he hasn't forgotten that he used to work on Final Fantasy.
You know that Japanese saying "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down?" Western culture sees fame and recognition for accomplishments as a desirable thing (for some reason?), but in Japan, it's generally seen as a tenuous thing, something you don't want to mess around with much (embarrassing your family is seen as a huge no-no, and fame is something that can present a risk of that). All the same, among Final Fantasy fans, he has a lot of notoriety.
He turned 56 last month, too. It's funny how as you age, the differences in people's age to yours tend to make less and less of a difference. I'm 37 and have two grand nieces now. It's only a matter of time before they grow up and I become a Great Granduncle. Maybe this is better served in a different topic, but ... I dunno, it's weird how I don't see the people who created my favorite works of art and entertainment as that different from me anymore.
...I wonder how insane the fanbase for FF would go, if it is all of a sudden revealed that Hironobu Sakaguchi has been brought on board to oversee the Remake along with Testsuya Nomura?
Last summer he posted a video of himself attempting to play the Chocobo Theme on his facebook page. ...The emphasis on attempting is a big one.
I guess he might have let his musicianship slide in the intervening years of making a career out of video game design. But clearly, he hasn't forgotten that he used to work on Final Fantasy.You know that Japanese saying "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down?" Western culture sees fame and recognition for accomplishments as a desirable thing (for some reason?), but in Japan, it's generally seen as a tenuous thing, something you don't want to mess around with much (embarrassing your family is seen as a huge no-no, and fame is something that can present a risk of that). All the same, among Final Fantasy fans, he has a lot of notoriety.
He turned 56 last month, too. It's funny how as you age, the differences in people's age to yours tend to make less and less of a difference. I'm 37 and have two grand nieces now. It's only a matter of time before they grow up and I become a Great Granduncle. Maybe this is better served in a different topic, but ... I dunno, it's weird how I don't see the people who created my favorite works of art and entertainment as that different from me anymore.
pxp
Pro Adventurer
GP on Reddit?
Ite
Save your valediction (she/her)
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- Ite
*interrupts*
AAUAUWOOOOOYYAAAGHYAHYAHYAHYES YE SYE SYE SUWBDJNEKWNEIENXDHISJSJSJDN
hian
Purist
Well, because they swapped to internal development would be the primary reason. If indeed the original idea was to use CC2 to push out an early FFVIIR to recuperate possible losses from FFXV, then most likely a lot of the game's design would have been informed by that decission.
As the game has been brought back into SE, and with Kitase having more clout in the company than before, I'd say they've likely taken this opportunity to change many things and expand the experience.
For all we know, it might not even be episodic anymore. It's impossible to say for sure what the original vision of the game was, but given the type of games CC2 tend to make, a big worry I had early on is that we were looking at a kind of "The Last of Us/Uncharted"-version of FFVII - linear levels with big set-pieces and a bunch of cut-scenes and little else.
Maybe now they're ramping up focus on exploration etc.
Totally conjecture on my part, but just as an example, I can imagine how big of a difference going from a stress release plan for economical purposes to an actual longer and more passionate in-house development plan could pose for the project.
Wait so I’m not a kid anymore and I’m also an adult like all these developers of games I grew up playing...
Seriously though, it is crazy how quickly time flies too. It’s been over 20 years since the original FF7...
GP on Reddit?
Ahh a good detective here, I see. Probably built up some notoriety over there.
And by the way your ideas for the parts and their starts and end. If they do add to the avalanche members like they’ve stated - whether it’s fluff and unecessary filler or actually useful, I could see the parts finishing were you suspected, if they can extend it enough.
Though I think we can all agree that as long as there is a satisfying conclusion to each Part it should be ok.
I think it’s a bit unfair on some of the other “numerous studios” Nomura spoke of as working on the game when you say the CC2 was in charge of the project. That would just be a CC2 game published by SE.
However what with Nomura saying CC2 and numerous other companies, you could look at the outsourced companies overall workload being, for example, 3/4 of the project (obviously we don’t know) where CC2 were doing the majority of the work out of the outsourced Studios hence why the project is now “mostly internal” because once CC2 were off the project SE would no longer be doing that 1/4 but rather 3/5s of the project or something.
Unless of course the numerous other studios interview was mistranslated. I have also seen some posts here mentioned that CC2 are actually still working on it but in a much lower capacity based on a question asked of the CEO or something... whether that is correct or not does anyone know?
I do have an admittedly poor theory as to why it isn’t out this year...
I suspect they originally hoped to get KH3 out first in 2017/2018 and 7:R in 18/19.
However since KH3 effectively lost an entire year due to the switch from Luminous to UE4 they have to wait until KH3 is out for FF7 to release because if it was meant to release this year it’d be too close to the KH3 release date.
“They announced KH3 first so it must release first” could be the attitude they are having.
Feel free to obliterate the above...
Finally Uematsu letting slip that this is the year of the Remake - does this mean he isn’t fully in the loop? I believe it was just a slip of the tongue but he’s said this a couple of times already this year...
Mind if I jump in here?
I’d say yes. I do predict a 2019/2020 release
Ite
Save your valediction (she/her)
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- Ite
Well, unlike a film composer, Uematsu’s work gets handed in pretty early in the process, much like a voice actor. It’s up to the programmers to put his tracks in where the director wants.
Uematsu is also a guy who produced the soundtracks for FFVI, VII, VIII, and IX (14 cds worth) in just over 4 years. 14 CDs worth of music! This was back when getting a commission from Squaresoft meant the game was coming out within two years. He probably finished his work on FF7R before E3 2015. Why should he be any more in the know than us at this point?
cold_spirit
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- Alex T
"... Uematsu was asked in a livestreamed interview if he would be working on the remake of Final Fantasy VII, which was revealed back at E3. 'Not at all,' Uematsu said."
Source: IGN article from 2015
Ite
Save your valediction (she/her)
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- Ite
hian
Purist
That's not really how game development works.
Firstly, every single major Mistwalker title had the entirety of its asset production and scripting done by Microsoft and Nintendo teams respectively, yet they are the primary "crediteers" of the game, because they made up the lead design team.
Nomura is and was the director, Kitase the producer, and they assuredly had their own internal lead design team directing CC2 efforts - but the fact remains that the brunt of asset production, scripting etc. would have happened over at CC2. There are multiple sources that can be references to suggest the level of their involvement.
You wouldn't be talking about "bringing FFVIIR back in-house" in the first place from CC2 if they weren't the primary developers of the game.
You don't speak of bringing a game back in house if the extent of a company's involvement was menial contract work. And you don't, again, refer to menial work done by contractors and outside companies as "out-sourcing".
Out-sourcing in game dev speak specifically refers to the act of having another company do the majority of the leg-work for your game.
Almost every large game project has multiple companies pulling weight. The fact that the only one has been meaningfully mentioned by name suggest the extent that any other company was involved is comporable to regular outsourcing you expect from any other company.
We know that the SE subsidiary Visual Works is one of the companies working on the remake for instance but it was never mentioned much in regards to the remake.
I've seen no such commentary from any verifiable source.
I don't think Uematsu said anywhere "this is the year of the remake". That is a misattribution.
He said "the game was supposed to be out this year", and he's said this twice as far as I know - first during the BRA BRA concerts, and again during the Edamame interview when asked about it.
Saying that would indicate he is in the loop, not out of it. He would know the game's release schedule since he's working on it.
That's not really true. That really depends on the project, and the approach of the director. I am fairly sure that the FFVII intro theme was composed after he was provided the scene. I know that in The Last Story, his production work happened along-side the development, because Sakaguchi would do test-runs of his tracks to see if they fit the scenes.
And even if it were the case that he could have done this for select projects back in the day, we're no longer looking at that kind of development.
Scene direction is a lot more complex these days and requires a lot more attention to sound design to match the scenes, which usually means the composers and sound designers have to work close with the scene directors to get things nailed right.
That's highly unlikely. As far as I know Uematsu was not involved in FFVIIR at all until the game was pulled back in-house, and given that all the tracks used in trailers were rehashes that is a strong indicator that no work had been done on the soundtrack department as of that time.
That being said, people need to remember that Sakaguchi doesn't work alone. He has a production studio with multiple co-workers and subordinates.
The fact that he got sick, or took time off does not necessarily mean much of anything, since there could still be tons of work he could safely leave with his other members.
Also, just as a reminder -
Man, Uematsu's work as of late has been so fetching stellar :
If this is the production values we can expect from the remake, then man, it's going to sound good. This track even has the FFVII opening leitmotif in it, so there's that.
This track around the 0.20 mark brings in the Don Corneo mansion flutes for a moment
Caith Sith redux anyone?
Materia cavern?
Cloud dementia sequence
Sometimes I wonder if he made that entire soundtrack like that just to hint he was doing the remake lol
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Because he’s close to Kitase and the project.
Doesn’t mean he couldn’t have been working on it before this. However the point at which he was involved is unknown.
As I am aware I even mentioned it in my post as an example how multiple companies workload put together would’ve been greater than that done by SE. However my point still stands it’s a bit unfair to say that CC2 we’re doing every bit of work on the game and were “in charge”.
FFXV had a huge number of outsourced companies.
I was discussing this in the context of him stating the above hence why I said the “year of the Remake.” E.g. The year of the Remake releasing as a game - the intended meaning due to the context. I even made a comment earlier in the thread thanking you for the translated tweets as I had only known it as “being the year of the Remake” rather than “the game was supposed to release this year” prior to your aforementioned post on the matter with the tweets
Him being in the loop yeah he would be in the know but I was thinking since he let it slip twice about it supposed to release this year he wasn’t full aware. However I probably just misread your post as being future tense rather than past tense originally due to tiredness. Should really stop browsing the web half tired.
Kain424
Old Man in the Room
I'd forgotten how much I loved Uematsu's work.
hian
Purist
I didn't say that though. I said they would have been doing the majority of it. I specifically acknowledged that there would have been other people involved and even mentioned one of the entities by name (Visual Works).
As for being a charge - the internal design team at SE would have been in charge of the direction of the game. However, you cannot efficiently direct workflow remotely in that fashion, meaning that within the directives provided by SE's lead design team, they would have been running their own gambit production-wise.
It's very important in game development to understand the distinction between production and direction - the former refering to the actual leg work of making assets, scripts and everything else relating to the implementation and execution of design, and the latter refering to the making of designs.
To make an analogy, imagine we're talking about making a chair - the lead design team draws out the rough plan for what kind of chair they want, they make a laundry list of things they want to be defining features of the chair, and then they send it to the craftsmen who then go to work making the chair.
I'll reiterate this from an earlier post - the moment they pulled the remake back in-house they publically annnounced a new project lead for the game.
This means that up until that point the project lead for the game was not in-house at SE, and the only place it's reasonable to assume the previous project lead must have been is CC2.
There's nothing unfair by stating that the brunt of the developmentwas handled by CC2. This is a reasonable conclusion almost any industry person would draw looking at the publically available information on the development of the remake.
SE has been totally clear on development not happening within SE until the change in direction happened.
In interviews the only named company apart from Visual Works (who're a subsidiary of SE in the first place and thus would not be generally considered contractors) is CC2. CC2 themselves characterized what was later shown to be the remake as "their project" on their own site when they first announced they had three projects in the making around the time of the remake's reveal.
You cannot make the game without having some team somewhere doing the brunt of the work. If what you're imagining is that the remake was being handled like a puzzle with tons of contractors doing some work each only for it to be assembled at a later date by gods know who, then stop that ;P
That's not a feasible way of making a game.
You need a home-base somewhere with a central team that can piece things together and have a cohesive work-flow. We know that wasn't SE, and we have no other contenders, hence the only place left to look is at CC2.
FFXV had a huge number of contractors yes, but FFXV was not outsourced. Again, that is not correct use of that term in context of game development.
FFXV had a home-base at the SE's Business Division 2 - that's where both the lead design team, and the brunt of the development team for that game is and was. It's also where the project lead for that game is.
I just have trouble parcing that logic.
Why would letting something slip indicate not being in the loop?
Seems to me he is in the loop, but just doesn't really care. He's a musician, not a business man, or a PM rep.
I think he was just speaking from the liver.
But to say “outsourced the entire thing” was my point - it’s unfair to say a single company, out of multiple, had the entire project outsourced to them. To say they were doing more than the others, since they’ve been explicitly named as one of the companies, is a reasonable thing to say. They’re most likely the most well known company/team/studio working on it or were working on it bar SE themselves and Visual Works since CC2 were actually named
I said I likely read “The FF7 Remake was meant to release this year” post, by yourself, as future tense when I first read it.
So my mind probably registered it as “The Remake is going to release this year”, if he was out of the loop then he may well could’ve said that and Kitase had to stop him and he needed censoring
However since reading it well rested I read it as the proper quotation... though I do wonder when it was meant to release hopefully we aren’t waiting much longer.
Though I do still think that it will be 2019/2020