Final Fantasy VII Remake: Disappointment in the (Re)Making -- CLS Side Quest
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- Опубліковано 13 вер 2024
- For nearly 20 years, Squaresoft -- and later Square Enix -- has toyed around with the idea of remaking Final Fantasy VII. In 2015, their plans were finally confirmed, but nearly three years after that, it seems like their vision has gotten absolutely nowhere. There’s no reason whatsoever to be optimistic about what the much-respected Japanese publisher is doing with one of the industry’s most beloved games. Here’s why.
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The following videos were incorporated into this episode of Side Quest:
• PlayStation Experience...
• Final Fantasy VII - E3...
• PSX Longplay [003] Fin...
• Final Fantasy VII - Pl...
Bibliography/Reading List:
kotaku.com/fin...
rpgamer.com/new...
www.siliconera....
kotaku.com/squ...
kotaku.com/the...
www.eurogamer.n...
kotaku.com/how...
www.eurogamer.n...
gematsu.com/20...
www.gameinforme...
www.rollingsto...
gematsu.com/20...
www.gamespot.c...
www.digitaltre...
This didn't age well, which is awesome. Although the saga isn't done yet, I will admit.
UPDATE: Final Fantasy Rebirth is out and is amazing !!
To be fair to Collin, it’s kinda insane they managed to pull it off so far
@@proggz39 Indeed. It's impressive especially given their recent pedigree (14 aside). But through understanding and management, they managed to get all the right people on board. There's insane employee retention between the games and everyone involved knows how important this project is even if just for reputation and optics. FF7 is Square Enix's crown jewel. And they're doing right by it, thankfully.
Here's hoping Hamaguchi and co. will head 17 or 18 and bring lessons, design choices, and energy from the remake games to that game. Then FF will be doing truly great.
this didnt age well
IN 2 more years, it will be rebranded as Final Fantasy 16, and will be announced for 2022... If Square's history is anything to go by.
haha that only happened once!!! lol
That we are openly aware of.
2022? Lol, if we're lucky.
if this game has had half of the trouble it's known to have, would you trust a dev cycle that was only half of the time Duke Nukem Forever had?
What I'm getting at is maybe we shouldn't see a 2022 "fuck it yolo" release of this game as any sort of stroke of luck. Might as well just stick to the horrible PC port.
this is crazy, all i wanted was better graphics to the original game
And a better translation too. FF plots are a little convoluted at the best of times, so when you throw in a bad translation into the mix it's borderline impossible to follow.
Same...didnt want them to change the battle system but im still looking forward to it
banks thats true...but if they dont listen then ppl dont buy the game.
Hmmm, yeah I'm sorry but I don't want the ATB system. I don't like random encounters. I don't like that every battle takes you to this alternate location where you stand there and stare at your enemy until a bar on the screen says you can move. I was fine with that boring and static form of gameplay in the past but I've outgrown that. Now there's nothing more immersion breaking than staring at your opponent and waiting to move. Mind you, FFX had my favorite battle system but I tried going back to it a few years ago to play the Remaster and I was bored out of my skull.
So say we all!
Aged like milk. Thank christ.
My first Playstation, original console, was a gift from a neighbor who moved away and planning to buy a PS2 upon first release. The first game I bought for it was FF7.
Later, when the PS2 came out, I prepaid, stood in line for half an hour. I was delighted when I found out that FF7 played on the PS2. Later, I did the same with the PS3 (birthday gift from my sweetie); and, behold! FF7 played on it, too. And between the PS3 and my new 37" HDTV/Monitor, the graphics upscaled to a full 720p... Totally Awesome. The graphics were still a bit pixelated; but overall, a definite improvement over the previous two PS platforms.
I later bought FF7 for the PC (Square Unix) and was delighted there was no noticeable difference between the PS and the PC version; an excellent port. Also, the PC version could be 'enhanced' with a number of 'trainers', allowing me to really get into trying out various materia combos. Once I found my 'perfect' character setups, I then got to just wander about and really explore the FF7 world; which made further play on the unhackable PS platforms a lot more fun and a tad easier.
More recently, a neighbor moving out of the rooming house I was living in for a while, sold me his brand new PS4 for $200, along with a few games.
Two things annoyed me about the PS4:
a) the controller is way too sensitive for my 71 yo arthritic hands, and I could not get past the training scenarios in any of the games he gave me.
b) FF7 from the first 3 PS's would not play on it.
So, I resold it with all but one of the games he gave me (customer didn't want it) for $350; netting a clear $150; and made one college student very happy.
Having now seen the reviews of the FF7 Remake, I don't regret the decision.
Though it seems to have awesome graphics and animations; and seems to stick pretty much to the original storyline; the new combat system kinda looks sucky.
So much for Japanese sales hype.
Maybe, some day, when they wake up to the enormous profit they stand to make by sticking more to the original format (though I like that they replaced the FMVs with audio); I'll consider buying, say, a PS5 and the game (assuming they don't get TOO greedy with the pricing).
But, knowing them, they'll probably just tease the f*ck out of us; and then screw it up again.
I'm not putting down the enormous effort and expense they sunk into the PS4 FF7 Remake; but I still think they fell a bit short of honoring the canonical, original game.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake, coming in Fall......
.....of 2178.
Stone Osborne If we're lucky.. Wait! There won't be a we..
All the people that played the original will be dead or in a nusing home.
wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I legitmately think the staff at Square Enix do not even play games. Ff 10/KH 1were the last GREAT games they made. They're only trying to milk their fans for money
checkin in on this now that colin actually loves ff7 remake
Just rewatched your old ni no kuni review from IGN. I'm super curious as to what opinions you have about the upcoming sequel.
Sounds to me that they are targeting PS5 as a Flagship Programme, the fantasy is that it's coming to PS4 ( the delays are too many).
Just upgrade the graphics, keep the materia system to avoid some unwanted and time consuming new version, add side quests and flesh out all the backstory for each party member, and you got it! Add in a revive Aerith optional quest ... and get it done! Why remake what ALREADY works!
"Upgrade the graphics" is a tall order. Going from playstation hardware to PC or modern consoles would require a TON of work. New models, skinning, rigging, animations, modern render techniques, modern physics simulations, modern gameplay abstractions, textures, sounds, etc. There is no easy "upgrade" button. It's like telling someone else to build a better car.
Both companies lost their magic when they merged. Games just haven't had the same magic since.
frobafett FF lost much of its luster after FF12
you mean after FFX
you mean after IX
yeah you're right. i was just saying after X because there's plenty of fans of that game that'd trash on me.
FFXII has a very fine system, very creative too.
Eternal development is becoming a trend with square, but more specifically, it seems to be a trend with Nomura. His last few projects have had decade long development cycles.
I don't know why they're trying to change the game so much. Just make it pretty and release it. That's all any of us really want.
"tweaks to the story" turned out to be total changes
I'm actually seeing an identity crisis with the FFVII remake. Square Enix really didn't know what to do with the project. At first it's a full game. Then it's episodic. Then nothing afterwards. Square Enix needs to do something to make this remake relevant. Or else the fanbase will have their pitchforks, torches and closed wallets ready.
This has been the problem with Square concerning the Final Fantasy series as a whole recently in my opinion. They used to be the trend setters for the RPG genre. Now, after the FFXIII series and FFXV, they seem to be reacting to trends that other games have set and trying to add them to the FF series (real-time combat, less linearity, etc). It feels like they've lost confidence in themselves a little bit.
Right?!?
What happened halfway through FFXV was a total mindblowing trainwreck. The game was almost a 9, then it drops to a 4. Its unprecedented. That game was a total disaster...and it DIDNT HAVE TO BE! It was quite good, and then its just like, everybody on the team got two weeks notice, and they ended it-badly.
This is the big problem when it comes to talk about Square-Enix and their games. So much information out there that either stemmed from rumor or speculation that people actually believe are true because hardly anyone actually looks into where this information is coming from.
Square is overthinking the FFVII remake, all they need to do is give fans a good looking consistent graphic style, add some voice work and they’re done! Square doesn’t need to remake the battles system from scratch or whatever other grand ambitions they have.
Lenny Wright Yeah, they should do what Sony Japan Studio and Bluepoint did with Shadow of the Colossus, and what Activision did with the Crash N. Sane trilogy. Keep the same framework, but just make it look crazy good. That's all they need to do. Wouldn't take much time, and people would still love it. Heck, they would probably love it even more since changing too much of the game can lead to disappointment.
Informative and insightful as always, Col! Something to also consider, from an Art/Design standpoint... FF VII is an absolute Master-Class in Character Design. For me, some of the coolest in video game history. Hoping they preserve those fun proportions and exaggerated features. You can refine those blocky in-game graphics if you must, but please don't water down the overall aesthetic, Square/Enix! ;)
I think Square Enix is just being too ambitious for this title and at this point it will either be cancelled or will be released in an underwhelming state. They could have simply upped the graphics and added voice acting and we would have been fine with that. Perhaps if they did wanna tweak the battles a bit to be more like Final Fantasy X I don't think anyone would have minded that. But this is just shaping up to be a mess, I hope they can pull it together.
I'm not sure you can say the phrase "simply upped the graphics" when that entails recreating one of the largest video game worlds in full 3D.
Gordon Freemason well what I mean by that is redo the graphics but not change the actual way the game plays. I understand it would still be a lot of work. But the foundations in terms of the game design and story would already be there. Basically treat it like the Crash N Sane Trilogy instead of what they're doing now.
Well it will have to be a bigger change than that given that it'll be in full 3D so the camera angles have to change as well. Makes no sense to do the whole thing in modern 3D just to have a fixed top-down camera with separate screens.
I'm fine with them changing it up. It'll make it feel like a new game. I just hope they don't change the core story and characters. I'm fine with them changing the details and adding new things though.
Gordon Freemason - This is exactly how I feel. People keep whining and saying they want the exact same old game but in modern graphics.... What would be the point in that? Absolutely no point at all. I love FF7 but I welcome a full remake as long as the story and characters are intact.
Gordon Freemason none of what makes ff7 great will work with action rpg. Have you tried to summon on ff15? It's garbage!!!
This is the problem with modern Square-Enix: The higher-ups tend to just throw as much money they can as possible at the current projects and just hope for the best. Remember how Tomb Raider 2013 reboot is seen as a disappointment to SE even though the game has sold 3.5 million in it's first month and they were expecting 6-8 million in one month as if it was completely normal for any game to reach that goal. With the insane amount of money SE spent just to keep Final Fantasy XV alive (as well as the marketing for it's release) all these years and with Kingdom Hearts 3 keep being delayed and with few games being released by SE every couple of years these days. It's only amazing how they're not near bankruptcy by this point. If they keep doing this with the Final Fantasy VII Remake, then not even the profits of Dragon Quest can keep their heads afloat from this.
ishaq mohamed im guessing you dont know how a business in run. They don't use their own money, they have investors who give them money and when the game gets released they get their money back and get a percentage of the profit.
to be all in honest when people were asking for square to bring this game over to PS3/4 they were literally asking for a REMASTER not a full blown remake.
I agree with you. I highly doubt that this game will live up to expectations. For me personally, the fact that its an action game rather than turn-based is disappointing.
The rebel in Colin will never allow him to correctly pronounce "Naruto."
To start with, since FFXII there has not been a good combat system by square enix. How can they fail so many times. They could learn from Monolith how todo RPGs
I hate it when companies announce something prematurely. At least have a plan before you try to get hype.
Just hand it over to Bluepoint games ffs
David Tran hell yeah!
David Tran Foreal...
Honestly they’d do that just fine. The only thing that would change would be the graphics. That’s all people ever wanted.
Exactly, nobody was asking them to fuck with the story (or combat system). Especially after what they have done with Advent Children...
“It’s not even the best Final Fantasy”
“I could name lots of other JRPGs that are better”
Edgelord detected......opinion dismissed.
I'm not expecting this game to be out before 2021, either fully, or in episodes.
Two years after you posted this video, I just beat the game and am sorry to say that you are correct. It felt like work to complete the game. The story has been stretched with new boring unnecessary details that dilute and take away from the experience. There is a cheesy ghosts-of-destiny addition that is just a plot convenience. You meet them many times even after one of the characters says "I'm getting tired of this shit". The gradual build-up of Sephiroth' s character is lost. The recreation of the environments is lackluster. There was so much potential in environments like the train graveyard but it ended up to be train props scattered around the path with mist. A linear game that takes 25hrs to beat without the fetch quests. Final Fantasy games used to be about new and fresh. Every screen was beautiful and full of creative ideas. Now it is not the same.
The footage they've shown since that E3 has clearly been an FFXV reskin. You can see it in the way Cloud shimmies between a crevice in the wall, and under the debris, as a Naughty Dog style "loading screen" - Noctis did the same thing in dungeons. I believe it's been taken back to Square Enix in-house development for the purposes of making sure their most expensive, Nomura-esque employees and suits can enjoy a few years of cushy development environments, and reap all the glory from something they were too out of touch or prideful to realize would have such positive buzz, or too preoccupied and incapable of controlling production scope to initiate it.
For what they're doing, episodic would have been the right choice, in my opinion. Give us Midgar in all it's glory, then give us the world tour in it's major stages. In a way that can be paid for, and can be done in a timely fashion without being rushed. However, gamers would not accept this proposition (especially the broad market fans FFVII reached in that era), and pre-emptively snuff out the success of the game before it could even win them over ala Hitman. Instead, I believe we'll be funneled through corridors with some nice window dressing, into a big gree empty field, with a lot of FFXV-style "where is the game" mistakes, in a design archetype that won't give FFVII fans who've been spoiled by open world WRPG's, what they're expecting.
Nor will it please the retro fan who would have just liked a much more modest, Battle Chasers-on-steroids treatment for something that's inherently old school.... rather than spazzing all over the screen in a AAA hit-sponge spectacle fighter with limited controls and a lot of hindrances. Which, conversely, wouldn't please the "muh AAA" gamer who either wasn't alive for Final Fantasy in the first place, or the ones who came to FFVII mostly because of the sheer graphical spectacle and production value it represented at the time.
I'm looking forward to it... but yeah. I don't have faith in Square and believe audiences are an impossible beast to grapple with on top of it.
This is the first I've heard of the remake in awhile. I won't say that I've nearly forgotten it, but it's honestly not at the forefront of my thinking either. Quite a bit of the information you've brought to my attention is rather interesting, and frankly, by this time, I'm more curious and positively looking forward to how the game will turn out. I'm not expecting the exact game with merely updated graphics and voice overs, I am genuinely expecting a game that will have a fair share of original FF7 content and theme, however not necessarily all. And there will be things that will be inserted within the game that would be more appealing to today rather than elements used in the 90's. I wasn't surprised regarding their decision to alter the battle system. With the Final Fantasy series since 12, I would have been surprised had they kept the turn based battle system. That's just one example, but there are assuredly more.
I'm not really expecting this remake to be a historic, blockbusting event that raises the bar so high that none can surpass. At most, I'm expecting a FF7 game that's released with an even balance of old and new. My HOPE is that it IS a game that pays tribute to continuity regarding all the FF7 games that had come before and leaves relative "shout out's" to bring attention to the relevance of future events that will be played out. Although I will admit, I won't be heartbroken if Dirge of Cerberus isn't necessarily represented as an "omen to come", so long as they don't try to go out of their way to DELIBERATELY erase any of the games from being canon. Some games may not be as popular as others, and it's cool if not every game is recognized in some form or another (yes I know Dirge of Cerberus is future tense, but bear with me), so long as they don't deliberately attempt to "erase" them from canon, I'm cool.
But . . . I've got a life to live outside of video games. Sure they're fun, but they're not everything. It will be what it will be, and I'm not exactly a teenager, or some college kid in my early 20's who's whole life is based around the release of a video game, movie, or even television series. It was once (who's wasn't here in the States at some point since the 80's), but I'll be cool even if it doesn't come out. It is what it is, and it's all good either way. I wish everything in life was this easy, lol. Good video, mate. Peace.
Every action JRPG I've played was completely chaotic and I always end up doing the same attack over and over and have no idea what the rest of the team is doing, which in the end makes the game boring.
It was the departure of most of the original developers and the ATLAS crew that killed the company. Before Sakaguchi and Uematsu left, Square had a great mixture of talent -- the company was diverse enough, and the atmosphere open enough that people fell into the roles they were best at, and people trusted Sakaguchi's vision. Kitase and Nomura are examples of people who were custom fit for secondary roles, but should have never been given the spotlight. Taking the long view of the company, The Spirits Within was a small blunder in comparison to the dismantling and restructuring of the company that took place in 2003-2005.
The spinoff games and OVAs for FF7 are, in my view, a good example of what little the original vision of the game is left, with the most atrocious of these being the Sephiroth scene in Last Order. Sephiroth was originally the tragic villain whom Cloud overwhelms through sheer force of will and the rage he felt from his only real friends being presumably murdered by Sephiroth, as well as being used as a lab rat by Shinra and the disappointment and shame he felt in failing to live up to his dream. He had "nothing left to lose" and that scene truly represented the underdog snatching victory from the jaws of defeat; the revelation in the original game that it was Cloud who killed Sephiroth took EVERYONE by surprise.
By changing one detail(Original: Cloud throwing him into it vs LO: Sephiroth throwing himself into the Mako) they ret-conned Sephiroth from a tragic villain into a maniacal mastermind who, I suppose, planned to be dug out and/or cloned/resurrected? Imagine how confusing Star Wars would have been if Emperor Palpatine had overwhelmed Darth Vader and then just haphazardly jumped to his death and you have something resembling what was done to the FF7 lore. You speak about a lack of respect for the material -- Squenix never had that respect.
As far as the financial integrity of Squenix goes, it's worth less today than it was before the merger, so their strategy is most certainly not working.
All of the disturbing signs are on point. This is shaping up to be a giant mess. However, I'd like to take a moment to address one point. It's something that's been bugging me of late. Maybe it's because I'm older (48), maybe it's because we've just reached the maximum amount of whine that I'm capable of dealing with on a daily basis. But I have difficulty empathizing with the mindset that if a game takes longer to develop than the masses feel it should, that this is something to get upset about. What difference does it make? If The Last of Us had been announced two years earlier than it was, would the game have been any less great? Why do people care so much that a game comes soon after it's announced? There are plenty of things to play. Plenty of things to cram into your attention hole. I've taken the approach that, when something that looks interesting is announced, I file it away as something cool to look forward to, and then I go about my merry way. When that something is closer to an actual release date, occasionally I'll get hyped about it. Occasionally, I'll maintain my "wait to see if it's any good" attitude. But at no point do I ever expend an iota of mental anguish over something being delayed or announced "too early." There are actual, meaningful things to worry about in this life. Why let oneself get worked up over a piece of media that you arbitrarily decide should be out when you want it to be out. Enjoy what you have, people. There's plenty of it.
That's very good, I feel! Despite the delays and odd development, I still look forward to FF7 while other stuff holds me over. I'd be going nuts if all I did was pay attention to this game's dev cycle, I'm sure lots of development can go through similar ups and downs too, and I'm not under the impression FF7R can't start picking up once KH3 is released and they can focus more time and resources on getting it rolling.
Because more development time overall means less games and thus less playing for us. You seem to have grown insensitive over video games because of your age. I don't care if FF7 is the best game ever, if a game legitimately takes 20 years to remake due to bad management, my excitement is gonna wither away with the passage of time and make my release day playthrough one big "meh".
Sadly, in its current state, its basically a reskinned FFXV. Same combat style, same camera. To be fair, it is pre alpha footage that has been shown, but, still looks like FFXV with FFVII skins.
Colin, you've talked a lot about how games are as cheap as they've ever been, and how some larger games could easily charge more than 60 dollars in the US. What I've noticed is that most new releases these days, instead of bumping to a higher standard price, focus more on advertising Deluxe Editions with special Day One DLC, especially in the digital market. It's either this tactic, or microtransactions, and we all know which one is far more profitable.
I feel that when we gawk at FF7 remake not being able to come in one package like the original is a definite sign at how unsustainable the 60 dollar price is today. If games cost cheaper than ever, then it is safe to say a copy of FF7 remake does not make as much money as the original game did. This, in combination of higher production budgets, and Squares own mismanagement, it makes perfect sense they split the game into episodes, financially. A Final Fantasy 7 remake cannot reasonably implement lootboxes, no multiplayer component, and DLC options like cosmestics are possible, but limited.
Even Final Fantasy 15 had to squander to make as much money as possible, with a new edition with exclusive DLC releasing only recently, plus several spinoffs based on it.
I am NOT saying the remake should be a 70 or 80 or 100 dollar game, or should have micro transactions, OR that the remake couldn't make a profit at 60. But, it's definitely high risk for the most successful Final Fantasy game ever made. I just want everyone to think about how this game is in many ways a sign of the times in AAA game development, where nothing is a simple one time purchase. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing always, but in this case, it's created a monstrosity out of a beloved game. I'll still play the shit out of it.
5:06 No, no it was not.
Here’s my point, how long is too long for game development? How long must we wait, in a realistic sense?
What if (now hear me out), some companies have found that delaying games is good for business because they know the gullible public will do the PR work for them by caterwauling buzzwords like “polish,” and saying stupid things like “take all the time that you need!”
What if this has set the tone for developers to intentionally delay games for “hype” creation because they know you’ll start typing and telling everyone that the delay must mean it’ll be “the best game ever!”
Someone needs to do a video on game delays and how they hurt the industry as a whole. …and how stupid people can be.
SE should remove Nomura from the project and have Sakaguchi lead the team. Keep it on unreal engine 4 for easier development. Nomura can never finish a project. This is a remake not a brand new game it shouldnt take more than 3 yrs to make. Then on top of it were not even getting the full game its being broken up into episodes.
Nomura isn't really at fault for projects taking so long, but rather constant mismanagement from up top. With Versus XIII, they took staff away to work on XIII and XIV (primarily fixing it after its initial screw up) and dumped him on KH side games in the mean time (all of which were completed fine). Then with KHIII, they announced that it was in development way too early, making it seem like it took a really long time to make despite 5 years being more or less the standard dev period of most large-scale games, even though we're only made aware of them 1-2 years before they're finally done.
What makes you think management will let him finish his games this time around? He is working on two games simultaneously, FF7 and KH3. And it's not as though one or both of them are simple mobile games you can do on the side. They are full fledged ambitious AAA titles. He has enough trouble finishing one game without management kicking him around. How do they expect him to direct two games at once?
If you were a composer you could compose music for one game then more to the other. But a director is a hands on job that requires collaborating with just about everyone else on the team on a daily basis. You don't see a film director directing two movies simultaneously do you? His job has the same duties as a film director. He has to see everything come together and send parts back if they aren't good enough. He decides whether each and every facet of the game is good enough or need to be changed.
Jumping the gun a bit are you? I never asserted absolutely no problems would happen this time around (although, KHIII is slated to be released this year, so this whole problem with juggling productions is going to be a non-issue soon). It's entirely conceivable management will slip up again, especially if they decide to start up FFXVI or some other big project where resources will wind up being shared again.
Just stating that Nomura himself doesn't actually have trouble finishing projects (as proven with his large list of titles), and that the hiccups we do see are byproducts of incompetence from elsewhere, with Nomura getting the brunt of the blame. He simply got screwed over hiatuses and super early announcements, which are beyond a mere director's power. If motherlovin' Ito was behind Versus XIII back in the day, we would've seen the same thing happen to him, because Wada and his suits didn't know what the hell they wanted to do. Matsuno similarly got screwed over when it came to FFXII. Development for that began long before it finally saw release.
Do you know how big FFVII is and then add all the extra content that was released after the original 7? I've replayed the game recently and to modernize it into gaming standards today while staying true to it is a huge undertaking. All the towns, all the scenes being acted out instead of text, etc will make the game massive and much bigger than anything they've ever done before and we all know how incompetent they've started to become.
Ochinpo Is that official? KH3 is basically finished?
Sakaguchi hasn’t worked for Square for many years. I’m not sure if he’d come back to helm this one.
Colin, are you gonna do anything with Ni No Kuni II? A review or thoughts on the major changes in the game?
Square enix spend so much time in development that they don't know what their fans want anymore.
Love ya, Colin M!
Colin so glad to see you doing game reviews and commentary again ign lost its appeal for me when you and Greg left and I missed the reviews on Kindafunny so few reviewers are reliable anymore. Keep doing this! Agree that square has sadly become a bit of a joke in recent years but can’t share your cynicism on the remake I have to believe that this game (my favourite of all time) will receive the care it deserves - eventually! You say you can think of many better JRPG’s in which case can you do an episode running through your all time favourites? Would love to play a JRPG to top FF7 if it exists.
.hack//G.U. is easily in the same tier of quality as FF7, from someone who beat both. That being said, I think it should've been in-house from the very beginning. It doesn't feel right delegating something so important to a different developer; especially as they're making new assets and everything needs to remain true to canon, that degree of separation from the original creators makes me uncomfortable. I would be really interested to see the alternate timeline CC2 FF7 though.
To be fair about production and the split episodes, a standard one layer Blu-Ray disc can only hold 50 GB; dual layer, 100 GB. With all that's going on with this project, with cutscenes, voice acting files, animation, and keeping it high-res, one could see why it would fill a disc fast.
But here's another thing to keep in mind, the original FF7 was tri-disc too, it didn't have an anticipated release because no one really cared too much about it until it came out.
I'm not overly thrilled with the director being on two games at once, because KH3 has been segmented to released this year, already. I imagine once that project is finished, FF7 will be slotted for his next release. Double-directing was a bad move on their end. Switching level designers may have been a huge mistake as well, seeing as they have to redesign what was already done now.
The good old Duke Nukem Forever-effect, only worse.
I'm a bit confused! I thought Square-Enix had said in the past the reason behind them not doing a Final Fantasy 7 remake was because of how big the game it was. They said in the past that it if they did; it would be a multi-disc game, and they didn't think fans would go for it. But you make it sound like they just said it for the remake; making it sound like the game is in trouble before launch. I wish I knew where I saw or heard the quote, but I'm pretty sure about it; as I use to tell people why there was not FF7 coming. Colin I love you, but I think you might want to look into this farther. Thanks for all you do!
I'll be waiting for my Playstation 5 Pro Final Fantasy 7 Limited Edition System by the time it's ready
Well, that made me sad. I agree with everything you said, which is what made me sad.
I have no expectations for this game and it might as well not even exist. All I wanted was updated graphics and that would have been more than enough but that was asking too much.
great to hear from you again Colin
Not that relevant to the video, but on the topic of KH3: the game was only announced in 2013 (yes 5 years is still plenty of development time). Sure 2 came out roughly 13 years ago, and there have been "spinoffs" released since in stead of a numbered sequel, but the game wasn't delayed for these "spinoffs" - it simply didn't exist.
As far as I'm aware the only things that have affected KH3's development are FFXV and the dev team having to change to a new engine. The point is that KH3, unlike the FFVII remake, is actually on the horizon based on the most recent trailer - since the game looks pretty much finished (at least the parts they've shown) and they seem adamant that it's being released this year (as "2018" has appeared at the last of the last few trailers).
This big ramble probably wasn't necessary just to get the point across that KH3 is in better shape than the FFVII remake.
Thank You, it drives me nuts when literally youtubers or comments or whatever act like KH3 is in the exact spot as the FF7R when in fact KH3 is THE next big game that is coming out for SE. KH3 isn't in this hellish bad cycle that people make it out to be and we are getting it this year, it's just very fucking annoying when people act like KH3 and the remake are like the same product with the same problems which they are absolutely not.......
Reaperzone85 - Why does it annoy you so much? It doesn't affect your life in the slightest.
Krytern UK It is because of how often people just assume that KH3 and the remake are in such bad states when KH3 is clearly not. If it wasn't brought up so much then it wouldn't bother me at all, it's like the people that just assume KH3 will get delayed. Those assumptions run rampit and we have no evidence that it could get a delay, just I'm sick and tired of people assuming shit that they can't prove or are just straight wrong about.
Reaperzone85 - And? It is a game. People criticising it, wrong or not, doesn't affect you in the slightest yet it annoys you for absolutely no reason.
Krytern UK Oh so you know everything about me and know what affects me and what doesn't? Fuck you dude, When you constantly hear something over and over again it's bound to effect you in some way because you are just sick of hearing it whatever that may be.....
In Colin We Trust!!! You were right about final fantasy XV I still hope that things turn around Though for VII
I mean I have a feeling the reason that it was brought in house and they are hiring more people was because they decided to switch the engine to the FFXV engine now that they have more experience with it and they have seen how successful they have been w/ scaling it. If that's the case then that would be why they are being tight lipped about it, I mean the FFXV engine team did say recently that FFXV was no longer the only game going to be using the engine (which wasn't the case when it first released).
If it has switched to the FFXV engine and development has switched in house vs outside to a third party that should be a good sign, not a bad one. Even if it takes a little bit longer.
I miss the excitement of finding out what the next mainline Final Fantasy would be like and diving into a brand new world each time. Those new games would also be released in timely fashion. I think it’s been going downhill ever since 13. Sad to see.
The moment they went action RPG it was destined to be disappointment, with so many games nowadays that have that style (including FFs) why do they think world needs action FF7?
lol its easy to break records since its many times more game users on many different platforms around the world, and saying "everywhere I go everyone is happy" is so incorrect it warrants no further replies...
The PS4 Shadow Of Colossus is how a remake should be handled. A complete game with everything that was in the first one along with improved graphics.
Will you be checking out Ni No Kuni 2 Colin? IGN gave it a 7.8,too revenant
In all fairness with KH3, It didn't go into development till it was announced at E3 2013. So its only been about 5 years and they are continuing to state it will be out this year. No one believes it but that's what they are sticking with.
Excellent video Colin. I heard somewhere, can't remember where, that the issue of the director not knowing he was in charge may have been a translation issue, and was overblown. I mean, we can only hope, right? And by "we" I mean people who are waiting for the game. I don't care about this remake at all, but I want it to be good for those who are anticipating. Have a good day!
I remember Colin when he used to make FAQs on gamefaqs. He responded to an email I sent to him about Mega Man 3. Cool guy
The concept of remaking one of my all time favorites has me riding the hype train mindlessly. However, indeed one should temper his/her expectations with all the recent production debacles. They’ve been bleeding money with how they’re producing their big budget titles nowadays, even when some have been critically acclaimed. Final Fantasy XIV’s abysmal launch, Versus 13’s long development cycle, Kingdom Hearts' 3 long development cycle, and now FFVII. They're lucky that they have talented developers under their plate, but even that may end up biting their butts due to the mindless executive decisions they've been making.
What's strange about this is that the Dragon Quest series has not been affected by this. X and XI have been smooth sailing in terms of development and release windows. It's baffling to me how bipolar Square Enix is with their most popular franchises.
Square Enix stripped FF7 from CC2 because they had opened a studio in Montreal Canada to develop this title. Square did not want this game to be develop outside of Japan.
I missed the FFVII hype when it initially released (I was a kid who only had one console at a time so I only had the N64), but I recognize it as the cultural standard by which all JRPGs are judged. Remaking this game was always going to be a tense prospect as there's arguably no bigger or more complex game that gamers wanted to revisit more. The expectations are astronomical.
My expectations died faster than the protagonists daughter in the last of us, square-enix has been disappointing for years
I agree SE shouldn't have tried to reinvent the wheel with this game. I would have been happy to get something like the Crash Bandicoot remake. All of my friends said the same thing when we saw Crash on PS4 a while back. But this is SE. Bizarre decisions are to be expected. As for KH3 i do believe it will come out sooner rather than later. Latest footage seems to be pretty finished.
You missed talking about VGs, didnt you, Colin. Havent seen a proper CLS hisotry video in a while. Love your works.
The difference is that SQUARE ENIX is not SQUARESOFT anymore. The old company only focused on making one game at a time back in 1996 and was much smaller. The entire company was focused on one unified dream project at a time and it showed. They used to pump out a final fantasy title every 2 years. Now they are a giant corporation that has like 10 different game projects going on at once and were lucky to get a final fantasy per console life-span. SQUARESOFT had a singular passion to create the next great Fantasy Fantasy game..........now SQUARE ENIX is all about milking the Final Fantasy brand for all it's worth to maximize profit possibilities. When it comes to making one game, they are so scattered and disorganized. I really hope they can pull together for FF7, I really do. FF7 has and always been the best FF title.
update the graphics, address the issues the game has, add voice acting, new CG cutscenes, add some extras (art gallery, sound test, minigame mode, beastiary), keep the battle system the same just make a few tweaks so grinding is alittle more bearable, and the remake would be just fine
The fact that square moves all new FF games in an arpg direction and outright refuses to implement tactical combat shows that they have no understanding why this series worked in the first place
My favourite one was 8! Anyone with me? No? Just me? Okay......
If they keep an open world design to it unlike their most recent games' linear play, then it would be very big. However, I think they'll edit it to only have the main plot removing side missions...Like him having to dress like a girl to find Tifa, the gold saucer stuff, and possibly other stuff. Their mistake was announcing something without have a outline or plan to execute beforehand. They basically thought of it, but working on it as they go...The "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" idea.
People who are Square Enix fans are like abused spouses who keep going back to their husbands no matter how many times they hurt them. Squaresoft was an amazing company but Square Enix is not Squaresoft. If you were a big gamer in the 90's then you would know that Enix was always a shit company and Square Enix was what was left over after Enix bought Squaresoft. I see so many people in comment sections like this who seem to think that the company that owns the rights to the Final Fantasy now is the same company that created FF7.
I played this particular FF after 8 so I don't quite have the same nostalgia as others do. Moved on from the series after 12 so I won't be losing any sleep over this. Never liked how Square Enix tends to abuse their western devs with terrible practices and deadlines in order to afford their FF team unlimited resources and the end result is mediocre at best.
I’d be hard pressed to say KH3 has had a rough development cycle. It’s taken a while but it’s never been officially delayed.
I hope SquareEnix takes this and many of their previous games as a lesson on staying quiet and keeping things under wraps until they’re confident they can see the end of the tunnel.
I agree it's troubling but for a game that was as big and expansive as ff7 was even with ps2 style graphics it would have been an extremely long development process so we should be thankful that we are getting anything even if we have to wait a few years they want to ensure the quality of each experience like kh2 and 7 are what they are top tier games of history do we want a rushed messed that has so many issues like ff15 did (granted that was over ten years but then it got rushed) I'm just happy that they've listened and answered by making these games I can be patient
I quit gaming after playing ffx loved that game but life was just to busy for me to game.
I literally bought a ps4 after seeing that e3 clip of ff7 remake announcement. Since then I've lost all hope for ff7 remake. Gaming is so different now. It's odd seeing people supporting bad business practices like loot boxes and unfinished games. I'm not saying ff7 remake can't be great ,but with what I've seen since I've started gaming again it looks like it's going to be a dlc money grab with releases over 10 years before a finished product.
We're probably about the same age I would assume and I feel the same way about the current state of gaming. I don't even get excited about anything anymore. It's all the same shit with a different coat of paint. Growing up in the 90's was exciting not only because I was a kid but because everything about games was changing and the changes were huge compared to what they are now. Slightly better looking with 3 or 4 new mechanics.
THIS. Reading this comment was like reading my own experiences and thoughts back to myself hah. Big up Anthony 100% agree man!
Good to see I'm not alone,lol.
Now I take the time to show my kids what's exploitive about loot boxes and how gaming could be if companies remembered how to make a game and charge for the product. I'd pay more than 60$ gladly for a full game on day 1 as is I wait a year and buy on sale now.
Cygnus Floyd 100% agree. Gaming is such a big, mainstream machine now, unlike when we were growing up and it was still becoming what it is today. Those days are over. Back then, gaming companies were still trying to turn people into gamers while making games truly for gamers. Now that gaming is part of our modern culture, the emphasis is mainly on money to keep these giant companies afloat. Nice name by the way, sounds like a mix between The Mars Volta and Pink Floyd
Sterling Archer Games also have a much bigger audience than back then. So there's still more profit to be made just by the sheer volume of gamers nowadays.
I can't help but feel like the episodic decision is because modern devs refuse to use the classic scaled down world map for exploration. The world map staple of JRPG's is not something that ever needed to be scrapped, yet I can't remember the last time I've seen a scaled down world map in a game. It's not a dumb tedious mechanic like cover shooting or regenerating health in FPS's.
I was a bit disappointed when I found out it was an action RPG, but to be honest, I liked 15, which surprised me since I haven't liked a FF game since IX. I'd even deal with it being episodic if they put in more sidequests and things.
I just hope that they keep to the grittier nature of the original game. The rest of the compilation has lightened up FF7, I loved the coarse language, seedy areas, and all of that. Final Fantasy 7, in my opinion, really captured the essence of a great Urban Fantasy setting, better than any other game I think I've played (Unless if Persona 5 is Urban Fantasy). I'll really only be disappointed if they tone down the language or the themes of the game
I will never understand the idea that FF7 is so big that we need 3 episodes?
The map, content, locations, NPCs, dialogue, story, side quests etc. are all much smaller than most AAA modern titles, that are released as one game.
It’s just a bid to make more money from the fans.
ALL I want is the exact same game remade with new graphics. Same battle system EVERYTHING the same. Why can’t we have this???
By the time it comes out, I will be in my old rocking chair yelling "TOLD YOU SO"
Nomura needs to be kicked upstairs and removed from any and all game developement. When he was involved in FF15,his co workers have claimed that they never knew from one day to the other what parts would get cut,or added or completely changed. He even would change the plot and storyline (which he created) whenever he came up with "a better idea". He got pulled from that project both for taking too long to complete it and because he basically drove the FF15 team crazy with his constant changes.
If only one version of Dragon Quest XI comes to the west,which version do you want the most? PS4 or 3DS version?
Or the Switch version?
Ps4
I agree, and it's damned good to hear you talking about gaming again Colin.
I'm gonna stay optimistic about it since they did move to making it in-house instead of outsourcing and they've barely said anything since then, and, for all we know, it may not even be Episodic anymore.
Whatever the case, I'm reserving judgement until I actually play it whenever that may be.
Also, a bit off topic, but I wish they'd announce the DQXI release date already, because folks who played the Japanese release are saying it was better than VIII, which I'm inclined to believe because Yuji Horii knows what he's doing. It's also a Dragon Quest game and I love Dragon Quest games!
SE has dangled that carrot with many teasers in the past, only to lead to side projects and anime. Feels at some point they are actually going to cash in on a remake. Id honestly prefer some sort sequel or tangent of the story rather than force a recreation of a retro masterpiece. SE is trippin
It would be a dream if SquareEnix struck a deal with Konami and Nintendo to include Hideo Kojima and Shigeru Miyamoto to assist with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
I was really annoyed when I first heard that FF7 will not feature turn-based combat. I think in FF10 they had turn-based combat perfected. It was a great system, and something like that would have worked great for 7.
I am a huge fan of 15, and that has given me a little hope that I could like 7 if the combat is similar. The episode thing really pissed me off too at first, but if they do release the content as full scale, high quality games I guess I am down with it. The years are ticking by... we are half way through 2018 already. I hope Square has this under control!
Square-Enix doesnt know how to meet deadlines at all. Its to the point that I dont even want to support them anymore.
9:20 "Final Fantasy 15 was reaching the end of it's development cycle". Yeah right, that game was released halfway through it's development at best. We got half a game with some shiny anime and movie to hide the fact. Literally another whole map full of locations that we just inexplicably can't explore. Because usually FF games have large portions of their worlds that you just don't get to explore. Couple that together with having to pay to see what your main party members were doing during the 5 minutes they left your party... game was probably only 25% finished upon its "release".
Great video. I agree. Despite being a huge fan of the series including 7, I was never one clamoring for a remake. Then when they announced it was going to be an action game where you control one character at a time, and that it would be episodic, I lost most of what little interest I had. But it looks pretty. I may still pick it up when the Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy Collection comes out on Playstation 6. ;)
I am dying for SE to have a massive shuffle around of the top brass as they are running the company into the ground with regards to the FF titles. FF15 has the skeleton of a masterpiece that needed more fleshing out maybe another 2-3 years of dev time but they way they gave Nomura the lead on too many projects lead to nothing getting done so they hand it to Tabata who does a great job with the time and resources he had but he needed more time to make FF15 the masterpiece it almost was, but nope SE forced it out because a 10 year dev cycle looked bad when in reality it had 3 years of dev time from the ground up with Tabata. They then don't learn from their mistakes and instantly hand Nomura arguably the biggest project ever while he currently has one of the other most insecure projects in KH3, the dude is a good developer but damn he has a very creative process that means he needs to expend his energy on one thing not loads of projects did they seriously learn nothing from his dev time on ff15? To make matters worse they dint tell they guy? If I remember correctly he knew about the remake and assumed he would have some small role to play but was unaware he was director till the announcement at E3 when his name was on screen listed as director like wtf great planning guy to not even tell your director "hey your the director" Square have some amazing development talent and story writers in Nomura, Tabata and Ito but their talent is being wasted when they aren't being given enough support or are being made to do too much at one time. With that type of creative talent this should be a golden era of FF that trumps the 6-9 era but it simply is not due to limitations being placed on their talent by poor planning on behalf of the corporate twats at the top. get rid of that bunch of morons and the games will once again become juggernaughts
I have actually forgotten that a remake was happening.
Thinking about it now, it seems like each episode would take at least 1 year to make. So roughly ever 4-6 hours of gameplay would be equilavent to 1 episode. Make that FF7 remake about a whole decade to be completed. (It took me nearly 80hrs to finish the original game - but considering bonus content and side quests for treasure hunting, it might add to the game building)
You were wrong. They are doing a lot for this trilogy. A lot more than just a 1:1 Remake that wouldn’t actually work in one game.
FF7 PS1 is way bigger than FF15 you don't really do that much crazy stuff with FF15, FF7 you go to space in a rocket you go under water in a sub you fight a monster the size of Midgar you fight a whole bunch of dudes on motorcycles you do a RTS style mini game to protect this giant birds egg the final boss has a move that blows up multiple planets. You don't do jack in FF15 compared to FF7
I think, as a huge FFVII fan, that I have to treat it like a different game and not a remake. I realize it's going to be hard, but I clear FFVII once a year and it never fails to get me hooked back in every time, so if this game does finally come out and it doesn't match or even exceed what I already know then I'll be disappointed. That's why I have to treat it like a separate game.
Thank god for these new adds embedded on the videos. Now I dont have to wait 5 seconds, I can just fast forward.
Nomura alone should have people worried. Nomura is the kind of guy you want on a team but you never want directing or having massive control on something. Ever since Nomura has picked up more control over SE media I've found more and more that things feel disjointed and nonsensical and way too high concept.
I hope I'm wrong, but every bit of information that has surfaced concerning the FFVII Remake is making me believe that Square Enix lacks confidence in their game. Not just because the company's struggling with production, but also because they picked the worst time to release a JRPG as a blockbuster flagship title.
Turning this into an action game is just more proof that SquareEnix has forgotten how to make single player games. You can start to see this in FFXII when the battle system was just a dumbed down MMO system, and this same thought process has continued into XIII and XV. Their MMO titles have been the most profitable they've ever released, and in all the attention and focus those titles get as a result, it's sad to see that they've forgotten how to make a good single-player game.