When we first saw that familiar shot craning over Midgar all the way back in 2015 who could have suspected we would have to wait another four years to return? Yet here we are in 2019 with hard details, substantial gameplay and a seemingly solid release date. We needn't wait more than 9 months until we can dust off our Buster Swords as Final Fantasy 7 comes to life once again; reimagined in a whole new engine with a whole new coat of paint. Maybe now the game will be as beautiful as it always was in our hearts.
Square Enix have managed proved all the naysayers (Like myself) wrong about this game. In spite of all of the delays and development issues, Final Fantasy 7 will be remade. It will finally release after all the delays. It won't require 10 years of development like Final Fantasy 15 did. And it will come out episodically. Hey, 3/4 ain't bad. Final Fantasy 7 remake is the reimagining of the beloved 1997 RPG with all the bells and whistles one might expect from a modern day AAA product. Think Resident Evil 2 but cut-up and dished out over a decade.
This was what stole the show of Square Enix's 2019 E3 conference, not Marvel's Avengers. Because whilst the latter sought to feed us a team of weird caricatures navigating through a set of highly scripted cinematics, the Final Fantasy crew saw fit to give the people exactly what they wanted; gameplay. Seems that there is something to be said for 'remake culture' after all, huh.
But I feel the need to stress that 2020's Final Fantasy 7 is not just a remake. It's a remake. Built from the ground up with an all new engine, a whole new combat system and, reportedly, a completely retold story.
What does this mean for the game? Nostalgia, my friend. Nostalgia everywhere. Square have been leaning on their nostalgia hoses ever since the reveal trailer which, as I alluded to, was a shot for shot remake of the original game's opening. The tactic is transparent and a little bit cynical but, oh good lord is it effective. Every Final fantasy fan was chomping at the bit to get their hands on that game. To get that chance to dive back into their favourite JRPG franchise with a brand new entry... that is also a remake.
And this is when the bubble of positivity bursts, I'm afraid. No project is perfect. Compromises will be made. And as I mentioned, despite the 5 year delay we are still looking at a game that will launch episodically.
Now, I am not a decrier of all things episodic. Hitman: 'No Subtitle' followed a similar model when it launched in 2016, offering a new map every couple of months with a steady stream of live content in the meantime to keep you busy. For IOI, the model worked because Hitman was built around the core idea of replayability. Every mission could be tackled countless different ways with multiple runs being very much expected if one wished to master each hit. The gameplay loop was designed around having you complete the same levels over and over again, this meant that players could actually keep busy by mastering the previous levels before the new one came out.
Final Fantasy 7 is not the same as Hitman. For one, Final Fantasy is a story based adventure. Much of what fans loved about the original FF7 was playing through those iconic story beats as we travelled the world of Gaia. Battling on bike-back through the street of Midgar, racing against the clock ontop of a high speed train, that bit when Sephiroth... well, you know. However, this time around Cloud Strife's amazing adventures are limited strictly to the events in Midgar whilst everything else comes later. That means we won't even get to meet Yuffie for goodness sake!
This decision seems to have been made in light of that 'retold story' I touched on earlier. This time we'll be given a tale told in acts and stretched out into one huge epic that spans the length of the globe. Hmm, a huge, globetrotting epic... Oh, they mean like the original only 3 times more expensive.
Okay, it's a bit presumptuous to assume that Square Enix intend to charge full price for every chapter of this game however it is pretty darn suspect that I can still make that assumption because there is no definitive pricing structure. How can Square justify accepting preorders for the game when they're not even offering the full experience or explaining what we can expect from the full experience. Now I'm not going to put on my tinfoil hat and claim that Square is trying to get as many people invested as possible before announcing that the next chapter will be another £60 'standalone', but I will say that I've seen shadier things happen in the world of gaming.
What sucks is that all of this puts a dampener on the game itself, which did look absolutely stunning during the conference. The remolded combat has been shaped around the real time hack and slash combat of ff15 or Kingdom Hearts with a more traditional and tactical ATB mode attached on as an optional feature. It's clear that the team went to great lengths to make a system that would be the best of both worlds between the original and new, and that rings true in so many elements of the game.
The resigned power plant retains the oppressive, labyrinthine feel of the original game whilst throwing more impressive lighting and glistening dusty particles courtesy of their pretty Luminos Engine. Improving upon the solid framework of the original, once again. And the music! Oh, the music. Hearing those glorious eight-bit tunes given a full orchestral renewal was enough to choke this old fan up. Next time I hear Aerith's theme, all bets are off. The waterworks will start.
I want to clap Square Enix on the back and say 'Well done, you did it!', but I just can't. As perfect as the game we saw looks, as much as how everything they've said about the game is one hundred percent the right things to say, It's the things they aren't saying that gets my Spidey Senses tingling. Already, one can mosey onto their online store and see a £260 'collectors edition' of the game up for preorder. Wasted no time in getting that out there I see, but procrastinating as much as possible when it come to providing details on just when the full product will be available.
As a fan of gaming and a consumer of games, I just cannot condone the selling of an unfinished product at full price. My heart longs to visit Midgar again but my brain tells me that we are looking at the seeds of one the most shameless cash grabs in gaming. If Square does charge £60 for each act we could be looking at a £180 game, at least. That's right, They haven't even said how many parts the game will be in!
All of this subterfuge has me talking about money on my blog that is supposed to be about gaming; and I can't speak for everyone but, for me, nothing kills hype quicker than looking at my wallet wondering how I'm going to get gouged next.
We've seen an amazing product. I only hope the business divisions at Square can respect the herculean effort that the team put into the game enough, not to ruin it all with petty nickle and dimming. We'll have to wait and see. God I hate being such a Debbie Downer...
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