As anticipated, during the last day of this E3 2019 I had the pleasure of a meeting with Yoshinori Kitase, current producer of Final Fantasy VII Remake and director of the original Final Fantasy VII.
The meeting had a dual purpose: to show us the start of the game just before the clash with the Scorpion Guard, but above all to explain the intent and vision of this project called Final Fantasy VII Remake.
Before telling you about what I've seen of the game, I would really like to focus on Kitase's words, because it is clear that many people have not yet understood what this Remake is and what it represents for Square Enix.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is a reimagining of the original work that has now become an icon of video game history. A product that wants to dig deeper into the game world and the characters and to aspire to this result it was necessary to rebuild the game from scratch, in order to give the new generations Final Fantasy VII. This is not a trivial 1: 1 makeover or a remaster.
On the other hand, in addition to Kitase also a large part of the development team that is working on the remake, is the same who worked on the original Final Fantasy VII and it was they in the first place who were not satisfied with a simple graphic improvement. To return, they needed to go beyond the original, telling a deeper story and delivering more modern gameplay. The goal - ambitious in my opinion - is to exceed expectations.
The amount of work and data required to rethink this world is so high as to fill two blurays just for this first episode which, I remember, will cover all the events related to Midgar. We are talking about a quantity of content comparable to that of a main chapter of Final Fantasy. Because in the end this is Final Fantasy VII Remake: a new FF in all respects, although it starts from a base that many of us already know.
Kitase in fact told us that:
"It is an obligatory choice that however allowed us to remake the game without having to sacrifice all those scenes and elements that players have come to love with the original work"
The decision to focus on Midgar for this first title derives from the fact that it is the symbolic city of Final Fantasy VII, as well as the only one within the game so vast and eclectic as to offer various ideas to expand it and offer new content. Midgar will have almost all the Sectors that can be explored, which was not possible in the original, and consequently there will be new secondary missions and above all, new subplots that have never been told, including content that has been cut and never included in the previous chapter.
Although we think of Midgar as a gloomy and dark city, in reality it is perhaps the most varied and rich in colors, thanks to the different sectors that compose it, each with its own peculiarities and identity. No photo realistic approach therefore, but a design that respects and honors the artistic choices of the original game.
Apparently the development of the title is proceeding smoothly and while a part of the team is working diligently to complete the first episode, Work on the second chapter has already begun, which will definitely proceed at a faster speed as the graphics engine is now ready, as are the animations and models of most of the characters.
"We have an internal schedule and planning, but at the moment we prefer to focus on the information from the first game"
says Kitase, even if in contrast with what was reported to Jason Schreirer, a well-known journalist from Kotaku. Possibly there was a misunderstanding between the two (it wouldn't be the first time during an interview with Japanese people) but in my opinion this is really the only point that Square Enix should clarify as soon as possible. As we are now, I think it is really important to establish the cadence and periodicity with which the following chapters will come and to have a picture of the duration of this ambitious project.
Clearly, a lot has changed since the release of Final Fantasy VII. At the time it was not even thought of having to dub a game of this magnitude, there was no motion capture and there was no concept of direction: with this Remake, however, all this is needed. There is therefore the need to make the characters more expressive and rethink the films to propose new shots and greater attention to detail, so as to give players a new level of immersion and entertainment for one of the most loved stories in the world of JRPG. For this alone, you should be able to imagine how much you can stretch a portion of the plot like that of Midgar.
And it is precisely on the details that I would like to dwell on. Kitase then finally showed us the start of the game, with Cloud arriving on the train to Sector 1. In addition to having masterfully transposed that scene with the same emotional impact as the original, if not even greater, the thing I have found it fantastic when Cloud defeats the first two soldiers, his level rises to 7, exactly as in the original. They could easily start it from level 1 and instead to keep faith with that first and very important level up, they decided to leave the original one.
The same can be said in the dialogues. While these have mostly been rewritten to give the characters more personality and give more context to what's going on, some lines have remained the same as Cloud's "Not interested" in the face of Wedge's explanation of why they are attacking Shinra. .
From the point of view of gameplay, we have already talked about it, but the decision to reintroduce the ATB as a tactical pause and to use the various segments to perform actions sincerely manages to give the same feeling of the original fights. One thing that I had not mentioned in the test phase, however, is the question of shortcut, or the ability to map objects or skills to four buttons to use on the fly without having to go through the tactical break. In this way, lovers of pure action can continue to fight without interruption whatsoever.
The other novelty that I did not mention during my hands on is that each character in the game has a secondary mode that is activated by pressing the triangle button: a sort of "stance". In the case of Cloud, for example, we will find the possibility of activating the Punisher, a mode that makes it very slow in its movements and movements, but which in return allows it to acquire an unparalleled strength boost. This mode is particularly useful, perhaps to quickly eliminate enemies or perhaps when they are in the staggering phase and cause them as much damage as possible.
Finally, for those who were wondering, the subjects will return, as we have already seen in the presentation trailer, and as in the original, they can be combined to create your favorite builds and that adapt to your style of play.
I saw the heart, the passion, the respect and the dedication to a project, something that goes far beyond the mere commercial operation that many boast about. If you can't understand why there was the need to cut the project into several episodes, especially in the face of what has been said so far, well then it is you and not Square Enix who are in bad faith. Net of how it will then be distributed in the future and how often, this first chapter of Final Fantasy VII Remake is destined to be something epochal and this first mission to Sector 1 was. Kitase I trust, show me that my trust is well placed.
► Final Fantasy VII Remake is an Action-RPG type game developed and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 10/04/2020
Final Fantasy VII Remake is a game to own at all costs: we decided to evaluate it with a 92%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Final Fantasy VII Remake Review
