Kitase: Final Fantasy VII remake 'unrealistic,' would take too long to develop

This is the video game industry.
Very few things are 100% certain.

The only thing that is certain in the video game community is Duke Nukem: Forever.

And ever.

And ever...

I call total BS, that's a ridiculously stupid excuse. There's no way such a task could take up to 12 years. Complete freaking Bullshit. Just say you don't want to do it SE, quit coming up with these nonsensical excuses...

They said 3-4 times longer than the time it's taken to do FFXIII. That means 10-12 years to remake FFVII. That alone says they won't bother and it won't ever be done.

THat's a shame because a FFVII remake would be the easiest sixty dollars they ever got out of me. See this Square? *holds up sixty dollars to his webcam* If you want this from me and the other millions who have bought and re-bought your remakes and rehashes of FFVII before and after, then make it so. I'll pre-order it now.

@vaultboy

Totally agree. Sure it might take a while to develop, but for the profit, why *wouldn't* they make it? Maybe they don't want to do it because they know it would be the best one they've made since FF8.

I don't know about anyone else, but the fact that they are eve n fielding the question so often lately makes me think that they are testing the waters of interest. I know they know people are interested, but I just feel they want to get some fan reaction before they finally commit to it.

That and/pr they are warning that it won't be the remake that everyone is hoping for. Saying basically that it would take to long to re-do it completely in HD, but a stripped-down version ala 13's town-less, more linear adventure would be more feasible

What about all the money they spent on doing exactly that for Advent Children? Surely SOME of those resources are useful to an FF7 HD project.

I think it wouldn't take more than a year. The big stuff already exists. Story, gameplay, etc. Even the music has been orchestrated already. It's mostly just graphics and maybe fixing that horrible combat system and tweaking the story to make Sephiroth not the lamest weenie villain ever.

I would prefer FFIV or VI remakes. Or Chrono Trigger. Or a Chrono Trigger sequel. There are tons of things I could think of as better uses of time than a FFVII remake.

If they were to RE-Make FF VII they would be printing money!

Not even contemplating remaking FF VII is a bad business decision on Square Enix's part.

I could only imagine not only the millions of copies they would make for this game but the amount of units they would push for Sony's console.

I don't buy it. Making a completely new games include coming up with new ideas and a whole new story, which I believe is a good chunk of the development process. If Square were to remake FFVII, all they need to do with create new models to go along with the story and gaming mechanics (i.e. battle system, spells, etc.).

Actually, if Square weren't spending all their time, money and resources on ports and remakes of their back catalogue, we probably could have seen FF13 ages ago.

I guess Square doesn't wanna make money. The story, plot and characters are already there. Who cares if takes two years to develop they got the FF-XIII engine just do it, everyone wants it.

A FF-VII Remake announcement would be epic.

They could do it in a year.

Any intelligent artist kept all the 3D background models from the original

Substitute in character models from Advent Children

I hate to be "that guy who sides with /them/," but I actually think Kitase's comments are probably more or less on the money.

The problem is that FFVII, FFVIII, and FFIX were built around prerendered backgrounds to keep the textures and polys down. But that won't fly in today game market. We want teh graphics!

So now, if SE wants to remake the game, they're stuck with game design decisions that might not be the most conducive to a fully real-time, high def video game. There /is/ a limit to what systems can handle. As much as I'd like to see Midgar rendered in real time, with high def textures, modern light source and shadow models, and bump and normal mapping, I just don't think anything except /maybe/ the latest DX11 compatible pc build could pull it off.

So they'd have to tweak the game engine and fart around with all of the game's models/textures to make the game even work. And don't tell me they could just use the assets from Advent Children; those graphics would drag your ps3 to a crawl.

Please don't use Cloud's model from Advent Children.

They can keep Tifa the way she is though

Enix were considering buying Squaresoft before Spirits Within; it's failure caused to Enix to delay the merger, but they ultimately went ahead with it. Learn your facts before you run off at the mouth.

enix bought squaresoft? wow, how is that even possible? i always assumed it was the other way around. square must've really taken a dive for enix to be the purchasing company.

Dragon Quest if a bigger franchise than Final Fantasy worldwide. Enix being bigger isn't a surprise.

Cause I want to see Tifa in HD dammit!!

advent children on bluray? problem solved :D

Yeah something similar to this. Do a new translation (more than anything VII needs a new translation), update the pre-rendered backgrounds, the textures and the character models (to a level similar to FFX, let's not go nuts), make all the necessary tweaks to the story and gameplay to fix bugs/inconsistencies and then release it episodically on PSN/Xbox Live.

All I want as a remake of FFVII is re-release to the PSP perhaps with updated character models and maybe just rerender the FMV's to make them smoother. All the prerendered backgrounds are awesome still imo.

Honestly, that wouldn't be so bad. The original graphics weren't exactly the prettiest around so even the blocky FFIV DS graphics would be an improvement, although I'm sure many fans would be upset to not get the HD treatment. IMO, FF7 was a good game but 6 was much better for me. I wonder why that game hasn't at least gotten the DS treatment.

@sly

but we want to interact with her!!! (if you know what i mean ;P)

Seeing how Square has a track record of releases remakes, I think it's safe to say we're going to see one. My guess? 2017, 20 year anniversary of the original.

*releasing

I'd buy my requisite 4 copies if they promised it would be good.

Get off your high horse Kitase. The fans want it, your company owns it, make it HAPPEN ALREADY! You know FF fans are used to waiting.

Taking 3-4 times more resources for a game that already has the characters, plot, all the basics than a game started from scratch (FFXIII)? Someone needs to get fired.

Btw Enix, how long did it took you to do that PS3 Tech Demo?

They're full of shit. To put it bluntly. Or incredibly incompetent.

They have FFXIII and thus the graphics engine already built. It really isn't hard to make new models on an existing engine. I mean, sure takes time, but not that much. Especially since they already updated the look for Advent Children. (Although, I have to admit, I don't care for it that much, a touch too "mature" looking)

Second, they already have the basic framework done for the game and they'd only have to add a little bit and update a little bit here. But all the concept and ideas behind it are done.

It's basically like doing FFX-2 only they wouldn't recycle the resources as much, but it hardly takes more time than developing the first game for a new system.


And again, they made a movie, made side games, they might as well stop with their B.S and either say no to a remake or a yes. Time isn't always going to be on their side and they haven't made a "classic" Final Fantasy since then. Good ones to be sure, but not a classic.

Story-wise, the game has very little, if any work, needed to be done. The whole plot is there, everything was already done. The script may need modifying (to better suit voice acting) but there isn't much there.

It's the entire feel/flow/style of the game that needs all the work. This would be a DRASTIC change from the original. For one, there is all the new graphics resources such as textures and models. They also have to decide whether to keep the original designs intact or make any changes.

Also, from playing the original game very recently, it became aware to me that just remodeling the same exact game is basically impossible. For one, the whole game (minus any time spend in the overworld) was done with pre-rendered backgrounds. They would have to figure out what to add to keep the environments consistent with the old one while giving it the new-gen look.

There were copious amounts of liberties taken with the goofy art style, which kept some of the game cartoony. That feel and charm would be completely gone. For example, take when you first meet Aerith/Aeris. When you leave the church, it is way too small in comparison to how it was when you were in it. They'd have to do a lot of environment redesign to make the game more realistic.

Another example which I've done below this reply: The climb up the wall to the Shinra Building. Would that be easily transferred into new gen? No. They'd have to rethink how to do that in the new engine.

Many of the mini-games would need to be revamped (Motorcycle, Submarine, Snowboarding, Chocobo Racing) to be more engaging and next gen in look and feel.

Many of the cutscenes used recyled animations to convey general emotions. Since FF has become more cinematic in the overall game, they require redirection and "reshooting" in order to fit the new engine, or it would look like hell. Don Corneo can't just recycle the pelive thrust the same way over and over again. They'd need to expand his expression a little.

What about the world map? They could go a more modern FF style and make the overworld basically a massive stage you walk in normally, or make it vague like before, just more aesthetically pleasing. I'm sure the directive and creative team would have a lot of questions on how to handle this.

Then of course you have the issue of voice acting, which makes localization a much longer task.

They probably would also want to add extra content.

There's a lot of creative thinking that goes into remaking something when you are putting it into an essentially new format. It would practically be a new project. 4 years may be pushing it, but 2-3 is not unreasonable I think.

+1 for IX my all time favorite

this

Does VIII really warrant a remake? I think it's a perfectly wonderful game as it is. What would you have 'remade' specifically?

@exemplar
dude, by remake we don't mean change the game up. We just want the graphics to be revamped. Those classics aren't really in anyway broken. But an HD Quistis or Dagger would be awesome.

somehow I doubt remaking a game for want of HD graphics would motivate squeenix to do anything about it, but nonetheless I agree it would be pretty to behold.

I totally agree w/ this post. Both are great, but FFVIII is awesome.

VIII is my favorite after VI. As a matter of fact, I don't even like VII all that much. That being said, would I buy the remake? Absolutely.

FFVIII minus the OCD inducing drawing system. Junctions are great, but the quantities of magics you need to draw throughout the game is ludicrous.

FFVIII had a terrible story (so their kinder garden teacher is the evil witch?) and a boring fighting system. Why enhance your weapons when you can use the guardian forces (summons)? Though the GFs took ages to use!

I love FFVII. But I could survive with a similar cyber/steam punk FF instead of the fab sci-fi they've stuck to the last years.

Basically, I want FFVII+Shadowrun

FFIX is perfect as is, thanks. Without Sakaguchi around, I don't want them touching it.

Agreed. I'm still waiting for FF IX to hit PSN.

i usually wait for a price drop before getting a console, but a PS4 launch with a FF7 remake........guaranteed day one purchase for me, and as i've said above, i don't necessarily even want a remake.