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Final Fantasy VII Remake is a multi-part series
- Thread starter PhillipCostigan
- Start date
This is my concern. I'd much rather wait 6 years for one product than wait the same amount of time for all episodes to be complete.
Yeah, I mean if 5 and 6 got remakes with higher resolution graphics why not 7
AuthenticM
Member
If this means we get to play the game earlier, and Square gets to improve the later episodes with fan feedback, AND they get to insert those improvements back into the earlier episodes when they release the whole game on disc, then I'm all for it!
MarmaladeChainsaw
Neo Member
Why is it that 19 years after FF7 came out, Square are unable to recreate the game without breaking it into parts? Why are they (probably) going to cut out the world map? FF7 wasn't some huge game with dozens of towns. They modeled all of those areas for the prerendered backgrounds in the goddamn mid 90s and the game only took 2-3 years to make. With huge games like The Witcher 3 out, shitty devs like Squenix have no excuse.
It's not the wait people are worried about. It's things like if the overworld will still be in the game/how it will work
JayBabay
Member
Man, it's almost terrifying to choose to wait. Knowing them it might be in development limbo and you'll never see it. Take whatever we can get hahaha
Spieler Eins
Member
That's what I was thinking too during the initial announcement, but it was never going to happen. For both the more cartoony tones and the entirely different cinematography through prerendered bgs and fixed camera angles, the original will still be relevant after this releases (edit: not to mention for classic gameplay).
Hopefully RE2make gets it right though.
fvng
Member
You should play FF12 and revise your statement.. and assuming you mean all S-E games, play Nier and delete your post
All the old assets are probably lost now, they would have to draw everything again...
All my nopes
Spehornoob
Member
I'm considering how they'd split up the story. I believe they've said they intend on expanding the Midgar story. So, if I were to venture a guess, I'd say it would go like this:
Episode 1: Expanded Midgar, ending
Episode 2: Kalm until the Forgotten Capital, ending with
Episode 3: From that point until the end.
I think going over three episodes would be a mistake. This isn't a TellTale game where each episode will only be a few hours long. People are going to want the closure, eventually.
Question: How are we treating story spoilers in these threads? Obviously the game is old but it would really be a shame if someone who somehow didn't know some of the major plot beats got spoiled.
Episode 1: Expanded Midgar, ending
when you leave the city.
Episode 2: Kalm until the Forgotten Capital, ending with
the biggest death in video game history
Episode 3: From that point until the end.
I think going over three episodes would be a mistake. This isn't a TellTale game where each episode will only be a few hours long. People are going to want the closure, eventually.
Question: How are we treating story spoilers in these threads? Obviously the game is old but it would really be a shame if someone who somehow didn't know some of the major plot beats got spoiled.
I honestly can't believe people are citing The Witcher 3 as a development sample for FFVII.
I mean is that what you want?
After all this time, after all the waiting, the only thing you want to sit back and say after finally playing it is, "It was as good as Witcher 3."?
Really?
I mean is that what you want?
After all this time, after all the waiting, the only thing you want to sit back and say after finally playing it is, "It was as good as Witcher 3."?
Really?
JayBabay
Member
Imagine going through a similar encounter as the Behemoth and just trying to survive so you can escape, only to come back later to find it skewered on a wood post by Sephiroth. Absolutely perfect example for how you can get the emotion back out of things you already knew would happen.
sir_bumble_bee
Member
Wasn't the Xenosaga games on the PS2 "episodic"? People loved those games
DrROBschiz
Member
I worried that this overly bloated project is going to drop the quality overall and lose what made the first game cohesive and good.
I respect ambition but i hope its being pushed for the right reasons
If the previous attempts taught me anything its that sometimes less is more....
Abstruse Moose
Member
I only worry about the price. I don't want to spend $200 to play through the game. Hopefully it'll be reasonably priced.
Me too, that would be a proper remake and would retain the soul of the original game.
That is what they should have done, it would have been a more reasonable endeavour in terms of development cost and time, and it would have brought the game up to speed with modern standards and graphics and it would still have sold a shitload.
What they're doing right now is building a totally different game that just happens to contain the characters and general storyline of the original, along with all the "press A to awesome!!!11" and flashy graphics that casual gamers desire*
*
Based off of what we've seen and read so far
I'm sure some one can mod a game like that on the PC with enough effort.
Ever since the PS3 tech demo, there have been a section of people who had a 3D vision for FF7 in their heads, and this is incompatible with how the old game was realized
Spehornoob
Member
I worry about that too. But I think that's one of the reasons they're making it episodic. Splitting a big release into smaller releases forces the work to get done, rather than ever expanding the scope and bloat, while still (hopefully) keeping the quality high.
It's definitely a huge project, and it's worrisome, but I think this may be the right decision if they truly want a full Final Fantasy VII experience with AAA production values.
But that's different. Games like that and Shenmue are not remakes, so the long story over multiple installments is more acceptable.
Many people already know the story in this game so cliffhanger endings are sort of dumb.
JayBabay
Member
A lot of the points were valid in that they compared the small size of the team compared to the huge scope of the game. Them pulling that off should not leave an excuse for no world map or lack of any content that the original had. That's the comparison, no one said they wanted the Witcher all over again unless I missed something. Completely different games And I believe the size of the world was the main point people were making.
I agree.
They are completely different games and the last thing anyone would want imo is for the FFVII dev team to get stuck in the "my world is bigger than yours!" mentality.
People have been complaining about how "empty" those huge worlds are for awhile now.
Silver-tongued
Banned
A lot of people would argue The Witcher 3 is better than FFVII, so I sort of fail to see your point.
protonion
Member
A FF7 remake done right cannot be anything else than episodic.
Think about it. FF7 technically has aged badly. Archaic mechanics and the materia system is an unbalanced mess.
Yet whenever we replay it, we stfu and play it to the end. Set-piece after set-piece after set-piece. It's just so captivating with superb pacing. And it never let's go till the last fight. Every single area is packed with small or big scenarios and countless details. When I saw the gameplay trailer I was amazed by how faithful it was to the original to the last detail. I thought if all the game is like this, Midgar only could be 20 hours.
The scene with the train was just a screen and 3 battles iirc. Just translating this to a detailed 3D game could increase the play time 5-fold.
Then the bosses. In psone it was just the model and 3 simple animations. Now they need the work of an expensive action game. In fact I expect the boss number to be cut down.
It's just a massive game. And do not compare with the 80 hours of other rpgs. In those there are many hours of dialogue, wandering, side quests...their stucture is not comparable.
How it should be done imo. (spoilers)
3 parts. The first ends upon exiting Midgar. They should recapture the feeling we had when we found out that the journey was just beginning and the huge Midgar was just a dot on the world map. It should be the shortest (20 hours) so it can be released quickly.
Second part is the linear Sephiroth hunt up to the Weapons awakening. It ends with a bang.
Third part is the rest. It begins with an awesome set-piece and getting the Highwind.
Every next part expands the game that way.
If Square does not fuck it up, the remake could have the same impact to newcomers like the original and on top of that the support of millions of fans.
Think about it. FF7 technically has aged badly. Archaic mechanics and the materia system is an unbalanced mess.
Yet whenever we replay it, we stfu and play it to the end. Set-piece after set-piece after set-piece. It's just so captivating with superb pacing. And it never let's go till the last fight. Every single area is packed with small or big scenarios and countless details. When I saw the gameplay trailer I was amazed by how faithful it was to the original to the last detail. I thought if all the game is like this, Midgar only could be 20 hours.
The scene with the train was just a screen and 3 battles iirc. Just translating this to a detailed 3D game could increase the play time 5-fold.
Then the bosses. In psone it was just the model and 3 simple animations. Now they need the work of an expensive action game. In fact I expect the boss number to be cut down.
It's just a massive game. And do not compare with the 80 hours of other rpgs. In those there are many hours of dialogue, wandering, side quests...their stucture is not comparable.
How it should be done imo. (spoilers)
3 parts. The first ends upon exiting Midgar. They should recapture the feeling we had when we found out that the journey was just beginning and the huge Midgar was just a dot on the world map. It should be the shortest (20 hours) so it can be released quickly.
Second part is the linear Sephiroth hunt up to the Weapons awakening. It ends with a bang.
Third part is the rest. It begins with an awesome set-piece and getting the Highwind.
Every next part expands the game that way.
If Square does not fuck it up, the remake could have the same impact to newcomers like the original and on top of that the support of millions of fans.
Perfect Cha0s
Member
I think that's the thing they're addressing by turning this into a multi-part project, though. By breaking it up, they can keep asset quality and production values high, while still having a very content rich game once it's all said and done.
To some degree, people are underestimating the amount of work necessary to bring FFVII forward in a way that its content is impressive and relevant in the modern AAA space. It seems like a focus for this project is making it as showstopping for today's audiences as the original was for those back in 1997. If they want to do that while still keeping in all the content the original had, it's going to take some major cash, and a lot of time.
Whether they deliver on that vision or not remains to be seen, but to bring FFVII in its entirety up to snuff with the top games of today is a massive undertaking.
As someone who has zero interest in either FF or JRPGs as a whole I had the necessary distance to see what was happening and I just knew that SE would pull a move such as this.
I tried to warn people but no one would listen. No one.
Maybe I should have tried harder...., but I am just one man.
*bites into mince pie*
I AM JUST ONE MAN!
I tried to warn people but no one would listen. No one.
Maybe I should have tried harder...., but I am just one man.
*bites into mince pie*
I AM JUST ONE MAN!
depths20XX
Member
Not really sure why people keep bringing up Witcher or open world games in regard to this. That's neither here nor there.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Because asset creation is much more time-consuming and expensive today than it was twenty years ago. FFVII is just too big of a game. Let's remember this is from the director that had Versus XIII in limbo for years. Add the lengthy development to the rise of Games as a Service models all around the industry and it's easy to see why Square Enix would have liked to make this episodic.
I just don't feel like we played the same game. The mechanics of the original are perfectly fine; I never felt like I was playing an "archaic, unbalanced mess."
Your post reads like really desperate optimism, which I totally don't blame you for. I want to be excited as well!
If you want to believe The Witcher 3 is to gaming now what FVII was to gaming when first released, you're free to but I haven't seen the vocal community support of such a statement.
Silver-tongued
Banned
Are we arguing the objective quality of the games or the hype they generated? Because FFVII wasn't revolutionary in any way when it was released, it was just good marketing and good timing.
Xenosaga was not completed like the original idea the devs wanted because the sales were less they was expecting.
Sola Scriptura
Member
The fact that people on here are believing the lines about this being based solely on game size is absolutely hilarious.
This is the video game industry, folks. Division into episodes ensures a better stream of revenue over a lengthier period of time.
Hello?
This is the video game industry, folks. Division into episodes ensures a better stream of revenue over a lengthier period of time.
Hello?
sir_bumble_bee
Member
True, but SE did insist that there are going to be some changes to the story iirc. This would be the perfect opportunity for them to play with our expectations a bit.
On top of that, dare I say not too many people under the age of 21 have actually played FFVII to the point that they know the whole story front to back?
protonion
Member
Well imo FF9 nailed the exploration. FF7 does not feel that good to control. As for the materia maybe not exactly unbalanced, but the lack of difficulty made playing with the system pointless (except for the weapons of course).
Sumio Mondo
Member
Several? SEVERAL? Are they trolling right now?
BibiMaghoo
Member
No, you don't understand. The corporate line is about size, not money. They are absolutely telling it how it is. I mean how can you think they would lie or mislead customers? Do you not know about honour and shame?
That just means more than two.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Why can't it be a combination of both? Square Enix has had problems completing AAA games on time in the past fifteen years. Episodic releases help developers lighten their schedule.
As long as they are not following the Valve model, natch.
Whatever it was that caused it, it was huge and still is.
My only point is, if FVII turns out to be just another barren open world rpg, the internet will burn.
Well, even without the obvious graphics update, the interactivity of a full 3D game is a lot more complex than a "2D" one like the original FFVII was. Look at the trailers, there is a lot of new moves, a real Level Design, a simple character going into the scene which was simple to do in the original FFVII now need a proper camera and setting with voices. No, it's not "just" the graphical update, the interactivity cost a lot more to do with what they want to do
For me, it's just the proof that we can do less variety in game now than before. It's sad but i wouldn't take it on FFVII itself, it's not its fault if it's what the public want.
Personally, if FFVII was just an update on environment with STILL the same concept of 2D picture and 3D character going on it. I would have find it totally awesome but hey, full 3D, you know the price now.