Finally, I've run out of all of the smaller announcements that happened at the VGAs and it's become abundantly clear that I need to start working on the bigger ones before those games actually come out. Heck, it's only a month until Final Fantasy 7- oh wait, that game was delayed. Well then, maybe I should do the Cyberpunk blog, that game comes out Apri- oh wait, that game was delayed too. (Do you guys ever get the impression that video game companies sometimes don't know what they're doing?) Regardless, with the 'remake mania' gripping the creative landscape, even with budding rumors of a KoTR remake, (Please god, no.) it only makes sense that we look at the one game that was announced at the outset of this craze. One that has since been pushed back so far it looks like it's leeching of said craze. (Again, these constant delays are giving me a headache...)
I've probably said this thousands of times before, but I have quite the history with Final Fantasy 7. Or, that is, with the original Final Fantasy 7. Whilst many count this title as the very first JRPG that turned them onto the possibilities of roleplaying as a genre, (either FF7 or 'Chrono Trigger') I was already a huge RPG fan when I first heard of the Final Fantasy games, so they did nothing to draw me in. Whatsmore, my very first Final Fantasy game, the first I ever played, was FF13; a game so rough and bumpy that it practically put me off the genre entirely. (I didn't even really like the characters all that much. How is that possible in a JRPG!?) Luckily, I would end up accidentally picking up FF7 when I was binging Square Games for a year (curtsy of me finding, and falling for, Deus Ex) and I finally started to get what it was about JRPGs that is so special. Fast forward to today and I'm currently juggling a playthrough of 'Xenoblade Chronicles 2', waiting to start my playthrough of 'Fire Emblem: The Three houses' and am seriously eyeing by 'Bravely Default 2'. So I think it's fair to say that FF7 successfully converted me.
But my connection to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, despite being a game that is not released yet, is just as strong and that is all because of the director. You see, after I gave up on Final Fantasy 13, the next FF to get my attention was actually FF15, which I discovered during my aforementioned Square Enix binge. There was only small problem, the game had literally been teased for the past 7 years and didn't look like it was coming out anytime soon. Be that as it may, I totally feel in love with the vision of game's director, Tetsuya Nomura, and that obsession gripped me so tightly that I ended up buying and playing Final Fantasy 7 to ease the pain. Obviously, after that Tetsuya was ousted from the project and game was handed to a new director (who actually managed to release it. Imagine that.) but the final game differed so substantially from the original vision that I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if Tetsuya was never let go. (The game would still be being developed.)
In comes the Final Fantasy 7 remake with Tetsuya Nomura in the director's seat again and I feel like we'll finally get to see what the adventures of emo-Noctis would have been like. (Although, in this case I guess we're following emo-Cloud. Who I guess is Vincent Valentine.) Of course, with Tetsuya attached to the team, this project has suffered numerous delays to the point where some, including myself, began assuming this title was shaping up to be nothing more than vaporware, but we're nearly there. A full game release of a Tetsuya Nomura game. Fingers crossed nothing happens before April like it almost certainly will.
Even with the delay, the VGA trailer will likely be the last time for the Final Fantasy 7 remake team to show off their game before release, (excluding the inevitable launch trailer) so there are significant pressures on the team to deliver. That being said, the title has been doing an excellent job showcasing itself around the trade shows and at this point most fans are happy with the similarities and differences that they are seeing. From that perspective, the Final Fantasy 7 remake team already have an impending hit on their hands, and as soon as the game comes to the rightful platform (PC release soon please!) I'll be happy to get my hands on what is shaping up to be an exceptional title.
The trailer is... oh my goodness it's good. I just watched it again for the second time and I still felt those chills up my back as that classic FF7 battle theme started ramping up. This game knows exactly how it wants to play upon nostalgia and where it needs to go it's own way for the good of the narrative, and I'll explain what I mean by that in a second. One thing to note in this trailer was that we got to hear the voices of all the main characters, excluding Yuffie, Red XIII and Vincent as they won't be appearing in this game. (Yes, I'm not including Cait-sith, because the entire concept of that character is undeniably creepy. Why is some weird voyeur following around teenagers through a biological remote controlled robot?) Their voices all fit; Ms. Gainsborough is already suitably adorable, I'm already feeling the playful camaraderie with Tifa, Barret sounds... as stereotypical as he always did in my head and Cloud comes across as the aloof protagonist ready to have his world turned upside down when- ah, no spoilers here.
As this game will only cover the events of the original title that takes place in Midgard (Which isn't even a quarter of the original game's content) there have been some significant changes and I'm liking where they're going so far. Most notable right now is the inclusion of Sephiroth in Midgard. (you even see a brief flash of him in this trailer.) So far I feel like his part will mostly be psychological, it wouldn't make sense for his physical appearance to pop up so soon, and I think that setting him up this early is a great idea from a thematic perspective. It establishes the rivalry off the bat instead of getting told all about it when Cloud visits his 'hometown'. (To be fair, I think the original did have a little dream seqeunce about it in Aerith's house, but this time around they seem to be expanding it into an active plot point.)
I've made note about my concerns regarding Square remaking FF7, especially at the cost of splitting the game into several individual parts, but my JRPG fan just wins out against my trepidation. Even though this is a game I won't be playing at launch due to Sony's annoying exclusivity plan, I'm still pumped to see this release and hear about it's impressions upon a world that has mostly forgotten how good Final Fantasy 7 was. Also, it might help to get a game out with a subtle environmental slant to it given the current state of the world, don't usually like to get too real on this blog but I feel that's worth throwing out there. 2020 seems to be the year of the remake for me and I, for one, am more than eager to lap it all up. (Except for the Disney Live action remakes. Those guys need to cut that out.)
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