With news coming out every month now it seems regarding the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, many Final Fantasy fans are wondering what other games Square-Enix could remaster or even better yet, remake. Looking at it from a straight-forward perspective, a Final Fantasy XII HD Remaster seems the most logical next step. While that may be true, it got me to thinking about other games in the series. Unfortunately though, I don’t think a remake of some older games would really work. This article will focus on the much loved, Final Fantasy 7.
5) Voice Acting
A Final Fantasy 7 Remake would no doubt include voice acting. We’ve already been introduced to the potential voice actors for Final Fantasy 7 with the movie Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children and other games in the Final Fantasy 7 universe, like Crisis Core and Dirge Of Cerberus. While I don’t have a particular problem with the voices, many have loved the purity of original Final Fantasy games that were fine without voice acting. Moments like when Cloud would hear voices were mysterious because you didn’t know who it was who was speaking to Cloud. With voice acting, moments like those become less memorable.
4) Recycled Gameplay
The gameplay within a Final Fantasy 7 Remake would be a contentious point. If Square Enix chose to recycle the gameplay from the original PS1 game, the FF7 Remake would be criticised as not innovative enough. The use of upgraded hardware should allow for a more robust version on the gameplay in FF7 including the Materia system, but would the pure FF7 fans like that? What if the battle system was given a complete overhaul? Whichever choice Square Enix makes, there will be those who speak out vocally against them. There always is. Add to that the fact that the FF7 haters will have a field day too voicing their displeasure at Square Enix remaking FF7 over whatever game they prefer. That’s the kind of fanbase we’re talking about here.
3) Side-Quests Might Not Transfer Well
One of the major positive points about Final Fantasy 7 is that it features a lot of side-quests. A Final Fantasy 7 Remake would need to re-imagine these side-quests on new hardware. I find this transfer might be too difficult to pull off if Square Enix try to maintain the purity of the original game. The tower defense side-quest is a good example of this. During the time of FF7, is was simple and could be treated as a distraction, so flaws in the design wouldn’t matter. A remake of the game however would require Square Enix to step up on all the side-quests featured in the game. They would have to make them seem new, fresh and above all fun. I feel like this would be hard to pull off whilst maintaining the identity of FF7.
2) Awkward Scenes
Let’s face it, some scenes are a lot more bearable because the graphics during the PS1 era weren’t that great. Characters with blocky arms? We’ll take that. Characters dressing in drag? We’ll take that. A few scenes in FF7 are tolerable because the graphics during that time meant it was more ‘fantasy’ rather than ‘reality’. With more realistic graphics however, there comes a problem. Does anyone really want to see Cloud dressing up as a female during the quest to save Tifa? In FF7 it was fine, it barely looked like anything. In a remake however, it would be a whole other story. Granted, you could skip going through all that effort, but what was once a charm of the game might just come back to bite it. There are a few scenes/moments in the game like this.
1) Story Alterations
The biggest reason a Final Fantasy 7 Remake wouldn’t work is that Square Enix would most likely shoehorn in story elements it introduced in the latter games that came out during the 10th year celebration of FF7. Story elements introduced in Crisis Core and Dirge Of Cerberus and even in Advent Children will most likely be inserted somewhere in a FF7 Remake because Square Enix would want the games to be more coherent to each other. The problem however, is that most FF7 fans feel that the story elements introduced in these latter projects simply degrade the original story. Could Square Enix simply re-tell the original story? Yes, they could, but will they? For all intents and purposes, it may be better to not have a remake and simply remember the game as it was.
What do you think? Would you buy a Final Fantasy 7 Remake no matter what?
I’d buy it. Sure it would have some problems, but it can’s possibly be as bad as x-2 or XIII. On a slightly different topic, I wish they would do a complete overhul / remake of what was released in North America as FF-III on the SNES (guess it would have been FFVI in Japan. I liked that game so much that I still play it every once in a while.
i truly dont care for 7 at all and think they should remake 12 or 9 because i here that its really popular, i was watching a walkthrough of it and was really getting into it. and 12 and 9 would translate better with the PS3/4 and Vita graphics and controls
12 is dire…. Possibly one of the worst ones ever made, i played it for a couple of days and couldn’t relate to the characters or even believe in them. Utter tosh! The last decent FF was X and that was when Hironobu was still there…. Get rid of the master and you loose the magic.
*Lose
If they do anything else with 7 i think they should do a full console game that would conclude the loose end secret ending at the end of its canon in Dirge of Cerberus. It wouldn’t have to live up to unrealistic expectations for being both new and traditional simultaneously. And honestly I’d like to see where that went. It would be a semi fresh start and having new game mechanics and the other above mentioned problems would be a non issue. I’d love to see the game with an action real-time battle system akin to kh, crisis core, and the tentative versus xiii. My only stipulation would be that, for the love of all things right and good in this world, don’t name it VII-2. It just sounds stupid. A colon with a subtitle does just fine. Anyway, what I’ve said (to me) makes the most sense. You’d still have haters, but you might have less of them.
If Nintendo Could do the ocarina and the wind waker remakes Square Enix don’t have any excuses
This^
your 5 reasons are wrongs!! Don’t you realize FF magic is dead, all FF after the 9 sucks!!!! Remake of FF7,will be the better thing square ever does!!
FFX WAS AWESOME
what a load of hash. this would be quite possible one of the best selling ideas ever. as long as they make it complete to the original ff7 story without all the “new” stuff. and in quote to number 2 of this. i think it would be hilarious to watch cloud dressing up as drag to save tifa from the rapey mayor. just remake it exactly the same just with better graphics.
Remake it… That is all…
I want to see Cloud in Drag. D:
Number 4 seems to say, “They can’t do this because someone will complain.” You’ve never paid attention to a single video game release, have you? Someone is always going to complain. If that was a reason to stop a game’s release, the entire industry would have ceased to exist years ago.
I don’t think anyone is going to critcize a remake for not being “innovative”
Yes, yes I would buy it. The most appealing part of the game was the story line. the reason why it is so fondly remembered is because it felt like you was playing a good film. Having it in a modern 3D setting would just bring that life better than ever. And adaptions would be fine, it wouldn’t BE the original, it would be FF7-Rebuilt, it wouldn’t have to be perfect, just bringing back the story in a 3D world, with essential game play aspects like materia. And you could even incorporate some other elements. More customization or something it wouldn’t be a problem, not to me. Hells no!
Lets not forget this would probably be the first rated M FF game.
if they incorporate the best new ideas in their more recent games (which i haven’t even bothered to play as most die hard square (soft) Enix fans are generally unhappy with the quality of recent FF games) work out the kinks in all of them could work(?) bare in mind people, that Square doesn’t really care what the U.S has to say about their games as most of their games are hits Japan. When you have millions of U.S fans demanding this one remake, while smashing the games that have come out since FF7, which have been successful in Japan, they feel less inclined to give into our demands as they don’t have much reason to. Also bare in mind the Japanese find U.S citizens…well lets just say they felt they had to ‘dumb down’ every final fantasy game they released in the States. Just sayin’. I would wanna see this as much as anyone but…dont think its gonna happen. It would be nice for the upgraded visuals, an updated battle system (loved the original system, but prefer more hands on control) Updated side mission as was mentioned, I kinda have to agree on the voice acting, but i didnt mind the people they used for the voices in Advent Children etc. It added a mysterious element. They could add SO much more into the story. IMO I’m pretty sure that if they did, the amount of time people have been fussing over it, they would sell like hotcakes (at least here in the U.S…and by U.S i also mean canada, where i am living xD..i mean if the games we didnt like we’re hits in Japan…ouuu boy…) If they dont and keep on releasing poorly put together games, they would loose their fan base here, but according to them they really dont care if that happens xD Very unprofessional of them, turning down any form of fan base cant be good for business.
Shit even if they only remade it in Japan I would still buy it. Japanese games are better anyways cause they don’t have to cut out the blood and guts on T rated games.
No offense, but this is one of the worst articles I’ve ever read. None of the 5 points even come close to showing that the game “won’t work”. I agree that some of the points could POSSIBLY be an issue, but overall wouldn’t make the game “not work.” WTF
IT’S ALL CODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WOULD BE EASY AS CRAP!!!!!!!!! THEY JUST DONT WANT TO THAT IS THE MAIN REASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EVERYONE SHOULD WRITE HATE MAIL TO THE COMPANY COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM….. APPARENTLY SQUARE-SOFT/ENIX DOES NOT CARE ANYMORE ABOUT THE TRUE FANS OF THE FRANCHISE…. WE’VE ALL DISCUSSED/RUMORED/ AND PINED AFTER THIS ONLY TO RECIEVE A BIG MIDDLE FINGER FROM SQUARE-ENIX ….. WILL WE EVER SEE A KOREAN BBQ PLATE IN HD?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Who ever wrote this is a moron, i seriously doubt the actual fans of FF 7 would care if there were minor defaults in the game. Me personally would like the improved graphics of the game to minimum level im not talking about full on HD graphics where we can see sweat drops. I have a version of the game i installed a graphics pack into and it runs awesome and looks amazing it enhances the total game play 10 folds. The battle system could use a little work like the time limits are kind of nerfed in the original. I beckon them to make a “revamp” its a bout time. Nuff Said.
This is the dumbest thing I’ve read today!
Personally just remake it for a newer console, keep it the way it is, upgrade some graphics and ship it off. I enjoyed final fantasy 7 when I was a kid and I would love to play it again, but I cannot find it anywhere for the ps1. If square enix desided to remake every FF game and kept the storyline and everything else. it indeed would be awesome to replay those old games, over and over again
You can download the original on PS3
#5: Seriously?
#4: It’s not recycled gameplay, it’s restored gameplay. Restore the old with the technology of the new. Same battle system, revamped graphics, sounds, effects, etc..
#3: All you’re saying is that they will have work to do….duh. That’s part of the remake process. The side quests are the equivalent to an in game arcade game. Tower defense with better graphics and maybe a few advances in mechanics wouldn’t be tough at all.
#2: Now it seems like you’re stretching a bit. Those scene was meant to be comical and awkward.
#1: Valid point. But; easy solution: Don’t plug those story elements in. Simple as that. The other games that branched off of FF7, as well as Advent Children, made themselves coherent with their template which was FF7. The games are coherent now and so there is no need to plug in the extra elements or hints.
Conclusion: A remake would be a fresh and relieving gift to many Final Fantasy fans as long as Square stays within the bounds of the original game elements but adds some much needed overhauls (graphics, music, effects, voice acting, cinematics, etc.). Personally, I think that the Final Fantasy franchise has drifted off of what made it great. A remake might be what they need to introduce new players and old players to what made FF so great. Freedom, non-linear gameplay, and a great love story as well as a great main story.
Fuck this article.
Nah, all they have to do is take all the FF7 spinoff games and make it one game using the same engine with 5 chapters. They only need to remaster the core game, but if they want to make it complete they should include all the FF7 games.
I remember back when i was playing ff7, i was always looking forward to the cinematics. IIRC, the very first one was cloud on a motorbike? That sealed the deal. Awesome cool shit.
So why not now when everything is gonna be close to cinematics?
well, for me the best reason they won’t make a PS1 -final fantasy game is that if they do make ff7 remake tha Fans want them to remake all the others too… got it? and even if they had only remaked ff7 it would be a shame to the other ff ps1 games… etc…
The idiot that wrote this article is truly out of touch with the game and it’s fans. He should kill himself…….slowly. I love FF7 i still have the disc game and i have it downloaded to my ps3. A remake would be awesome and welcomed by millions of fans new and old.
yes yes yes i would buy it. I have been coming on google and look up ff7 remake for at least 7 years now and I am still hoping
I agree that a remake wouldn’t work but not for the reasons above. Pretty badly written, dude. The main reason is nostalgia; the game has become such a legend that nothing could live up to the hype of the original. Same with Chrono Trigger. FFVII has it’s moment in time and imho we should leave it there to preserve what made it so great. It’s like Fry’s dog on Futurama all over again!
Most FF7 fans feel the compilation titles degrade the original story?? sorry have you seen the amount of Genesis cosplay? The massive love that Advent children complete gets? Where is your research for these statements? you can find plenty of criticism for DoC but most say they play it for the story. In fact the shear amount of times I’ve heard die hard fans even say: it would be great for a remake to tie up the continuity. This is a rubbish article
Frankly this whole discussion is a massive waste of time. If there is one game in the history of gaming that DOES NOT need to be re-made it is FF7. It is a game that straddles perfection, the music, the characters, the plot, the sub-plots, the fighting system, the summons (which are STILL awe inspiring), the materia. People really think better graphics and tacky voice acting is somehow going to improve this, as if FFXIII is a better game than those of the PS1 days because it has flashy graphics and voices?? Get a grip. If you can’t appreciate FF7 as it is (and believe me it isn’t dated a minute – and thats coming from somebody that never played the game until 2013) the you do not deserve it. Leave it alone, I can only imagine the type of people that want FF7 remade are the kind of people that think 3D enhances a film. Stop being so shallow. FF7 does not need to be remade.
A fully HD rendered Mrs. Cloud would keep me crackin’ up for quite a while..
XD
Oh my gosh geez fans if you all continue complaint like
this final fantasy 7 remake wont survive that much at
all i thinck you just being bunch of kids that is still in
school look fans just believe this here or some of you
don’t understand Final Fantasy 7 remake is the among
all the Final Fantasy title within the entire through out
the series depths of the global.