Yoichi Derpa says no Final Fantasy VII remake until they top the original

[The Twilight Mexican]

I completely agree about that "perfect storm" analogy. What a confluence of factors. The FMVs were new, RPGs in general were barely yet a thing outside Japan, the anime influences on FFVII's aesthetic rode the wave of anime's growing popularity around the world but especially in the West, the badass anti-hero archetype had been very popular over the past decade (already old news in Japan, which is why they were deconstructing the trope -- something a lot of Western players completely missed in analyzing Cloud's personality), and so on and so forth.

Now, unlikely as it is that another RPG will do for RPGs what FFVII did, I can't rule out another game being as pivotal for its genre, for a single console's sales or for gaming in general. It's already been done again on all counts with "Halo," yes?

 

[Novus]

You think XIII beat VII stylistically? Really?

No seriously, I strongly strongly x10^8 disagree with the idea that XIII stylistically beats VII. In fact, the only thing that XIII beats VII on is graphics, and you don't even have that if you include advent children under the banner of VII. And I love XIII, so it's really not about hate for that game.

In terms of fan love/ reaction, no game has topped VII yet. If you look at everything objectively, you can probably say there are a few that were better designed than VII, but none have been so universally liked/ popular. It's their most popular game by a wide margin, even when you place it next to others that did incredibly well (VI, VIII, X etc.). That's the reason this thread exists and still generates discussion. Because SE will forever live in the shadow of VII until they can overcome it by creating something completely new and... "better" isn't the right word, but something that generates the same buzz.

There was an article a long time ago that talked about the launch of FFXII. It might have been Wada or something gave the first fan in line a signed copy of XII, and this fan took the copy of the game and said "please remake FFVII for PS3 thank you". The article mentioned that this dude clearly loved FF, but he had this game in his hand and already didn't care about it due to VII. It's this kind of thing SE want to stop.

This, so much. Sometimes I just watch FF7 youtube videos to soak in the atmosphere. They should just take what they have conceptually for future games, put it all in the top drawer (I would say shredder but that would be a waste). Then build something new from the ground up, new research methods, everything.

 

[ForceStealer]

the badass anti-hero archetype had been very popular over the past decade (already old news in Japan, which is why they were deconstructing the trope -- something a lot of Western players completely missed in analyzing Cloud's personality)

And still do, remarkably.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

I don't think the West gets how actual anti-heroes tick as well as the East does, because for the West, anti-heroes are a deconstruction themselves of the traditional Western hero, so anti-heroes aren't seen as a "normal" hero archetype. As in, in the West, it's not considered an okay thing for anti-heros to not have a problem doing what they do, instead, it's a character flaw that needs to be fixed. So for anti-heroes to be deconstructed in the West, it's like having a good explanation for something that is not commendable.