With Disney’s current glut of remakes nobody asked for this REMAKE is making me nervous. This is not a REMASTER, in which we get the same game with some graphical improvements and some story line adjustments and clarification, no. This appears to be a rewriting of the story, which can end up being disastrous. Already we can see massive deviation from the old Active Time Battle system, which some might think is great, but the battle system of FFXV proved to be….interesting, if not a little too dramatic and noisy. We will see. However, am I ready to shell out $299.00 for the Collectors Edition? Yes. Yes I am.
World wide release, March 3, 2020.
Snapper's Domain 
This is a remake I think is completely pointless: Square already made this game and I never understood the clamor for a remake.
Square can’t win with this from the perspective of “faithful to the franchise”. I’m not interested in playing it (the original FF VII isn’t among my favorites, so perhaps I’m biased) at all. I already know it’s not going to have the charm that the first iteration did. That trailer was pretty cool, though.
And… all the people who are expecting it to be the first time they played the original FF VII are going to be disappointed. There’s hate for the episodic nature of the game. And there’s the risks that Square just completely dicks the dog in handling this. The fan base is rabid and irrational (present company excluded, of course).
I guess it makes sense from a blatant cash-grab perspective, though.
As a long time fan I can say that I would readily scoop up a remastered version of the game with better graphics and some clarity in the story. As I said in my posts on my life and the FF series, it was over a decade later that I found a document that fully explained what went on between Cloud, Tifa, Aeirth and Sephiroth.
When games are localized you lose some of the clarity, that’s understandable, and this would have been a great opportunity to introduce the game to fans who haven’t enjoyed it yet but maybe don’t feel like playing an older title. Instead we are going to have a massive rewrite of the story which, although I’m sure it will remain true to the heart of the original, could be radically different and, or, as is my main concern, “updated” for modern audiences with certain aspects that are now considered hot button issues with social justice types. THAT I cannot abide by and to me that would ruin the game completely.
Naturally this is mostly speculation on the part of many, as the game isn’t out yet and wont be for close to a year. I will definitely play it, but I hope it doesn’t turn out to be something that puts a sour taste in my mouth about the franchise as a whole. As it is the current political climate has produced Star Wars movies that have ruined then entire franchise for me, even the Original Trilogy because I simply know where it all leads to. That cannot be stricken from my mind long enough to enjoy even the first three films. I hope FF does not follow suit.
I can definitely understand that aspect of your concern. We’ve quit watching series mid-episode because I’ve simply had enough social justice nonsense.
I liked the original game. I liked it enough that I’ve played through it a couple of times (the last play through is right before the final dungeon) and finished it once. It’s a good game — but it’s just not what everyone thinks it is. VIII plays better, IX (my favorite in the series) has better game play more likeable characters and a far more coherent story…
I guess I’m just the lone guy sitting here going… “But why?” I’m sure there’s no way Square can deliver to the level of expectation reached by the hype. I think they’re going to dislike the backlash… and if the game doesn’t sell well, will it ever get finished? It seems crazy to me.
You’ll have to let me know, when it does come out, if it’s any good. That trailer looked pretty awesome — though Square hasn’t ever lacked on the technical ambition.
Oh, it looks like I hadn’t mentioned that FFVIII is getting a remaster for all the major gaming platforms, so, improved graphics and sound. This is actually pretty amazing considering that just a year or so ago SE said they could not create a remaster because someone had deleted all the source code for the game! Maybe they found a copy that had fallen behind a printer or something, I dunno! But, Switch, PS4, Xbox One and Steam will all get a properly remastered VIII by the end of the year!
Oh, that’s nice! I was aware of the lost source code thing. I recently (this winter) replayed that one, and really enjoyed it again. I really liked the mechanics of VIII, and never understood that hate it got (though I know following VII wasn’t going to be easy).
The two biggest issues by VIII were that the “Fantasy” portion of Final Fantasy was pretty much gone. Both 7 and 8 were more cyberpunk/technomancer with fantasy elements. That’s fine for ONE game, but two games in a row and people got kind of irritated. That’s why 9’s big selling point was that it was going back to fantasy and back to “the crystals”, which had been a staple of the FF series up through 6, I think, though in 6 crystals played a role as magicites. Also the HUGE deviation from the system of play made people nervous. No more MP, now its the Draw system. Not only that, but the magick you had drawn and the stock of said spells, affected your attributes, which kind of made you not want to use spells. Also the scaling difficulty of monsters, which were tougher if you engaged them at higher levels, even the “weaker” monsters! It was very foreign to FF players at the time and it weirded them out. In the end it was a really good game for all its faults and issues, which every game has. I will definitely be playing it again when it comes out.
I think it’s a great game, one of the best in the series.
I think a lot of fans get in their own way to enjoyment. Up until recently… every game was a new game, new mechanics, etc. So if they just took each title on its own terms, they could enjoy it more (I think).
I liked the scaling monster thing. To me, it’s irritating when you have to deal with the random battle nonsense all for a one-hit kill and nothing usable (late game) as a reward. Scaling monsters helps (a little) with that. My own style of game play isn’t usually magic-oriented (IX aside, since there were hard and fast roles).
And it’s not like IX was perfect, return to roots aside (I, for one, hated the [random nature of the] Chocobo Hot/Cold game).