An ultimate FFVII

**xxpanzasanchoxx** · 01-03-2011, 11:33 PM

There has been so many spin offs of the game that maybe instead of a remake of the ps version, how revise the storyline incorporating everything involved with the past games using the PS materia and battle system...If there is a console that can make that happen, its the ps3. That would be awesome!

**Pete** · 01-05-2011, 02:37 PM

On one hand, I like this idea since it would be putting FFVII out the way that was truly intended. I used to argue for this a while ago, but I've come to determine something.

While it would be a kind of cool idea, I feel like it would be nothing more than another purely business move by Square. People would shell out God knows how much money for the "complete" FFVII, which would only be several shiny versions of the games that most people and fans have gone out and purchased separately. Plus, you'd run into the same problem that I find with things like Crisis Core. Assuming that you start with CC, you'd play as a bunch of characters that have nothing to do with the real meat of the game, which is the original FFVII. Characters like Genesis and Angeal are never mentioned in VII, so when you're playing the VII section, they'll have absolutely no weight in the story or ultimately the outcome of the game.

It would be a cool and novel idea, but I really think that Square should focus less on milking VII, and more on working on games that have that traditional FF feel, like IV and VI did.

**Petros** · 01-06-2011, 07:13 AM

Much like Pete here, I was hugely in favour of a Final Fantasy VII remake for the PlayStation 3. But the years have gone by and not so much as a whisper for the fans from Square-Enix, I'm not sure why personally, it's a clear cash-cow. Perhaps they're worried about the backlash. In the years that passed my opinion has changed.

I think the time for a remake has come and gone. Maybe 2-3 years ago it would have worked, but it's now 2011. The market has changed, the games themselves have changed and frankly at this point Final Fantasy VII is an outdated game. I don't just mean graphically, that's an easy fix. The gameplay is outdated too. The style of the game is outdated. In a market that is filled with games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption e.t.c. Final Fantasy VII is just too linear and too slow a game to compete. It won't attract many new fans so much as alienate them and attract only the gawking fanboys, which admittedly I am one of and will buy any piece of crap they put out regardless.

Final Fantasy XIII is not a bad game, in fact it's a good game. But it's suffering from franchise fatigue, the same things that made Final Fantasy VII such a hit in 1997 have made Final Fantasy XIII a bit of a critical flop by comparison. The compelling linear story of XIII was not all that different to VII's but frankly in this market it's TOO linear. You could change it up a lot, make it more decision based and more open, change the battle system around. But then we'd get 10 million crying fanboys that it's been changed and "RUIND FOREVA!!"!11one!"

Square-Enix's golden series like so many of the early Playstation years can't seem to compete with just good visuals anymore.

Let's look at the PS1 classics; Final Fantasy VII-IX, Tomb Raider I-III, Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo. Where are these classics in the modern era: Final Fantasy is crashing, Tomb Raider is struggling to get itself working again, Crash is gone, Gran Turismo 5 was a delayed critical flop that offered nothing new.

Nintendo have stayed afloat for so long with Mario, Zelda, Metroid e.t.c. by offering new gameplay styles as opposed to new visuals. Has Mario or Zelda really changed all that much in 25 years, nope. But the gameplay has changed dramatically. And sadly Final Fantasy VII can't change it's gameplay dramatically without being so far removed from Final Fantasy that the gamers who wanted the game in the first place don't want it any more. And it's not like this is the reboot of a franchise, this is a remake of an already made product that many people consider perfect (though even I don't consider it perfect I do consider it the finest game ever made).

To sum up, 2-3 years ago, a Final Fantasy VII remake for the PS3 would have been an incredible success thanks to a huge graphical update, some minor gameplay tweeks and a little bit of story additions to perhaps give some more quests to do. Sadly that's not enough any more, and that makes me a sad Petros because frankly, it's the realisation of the end of a dream for me.

**xxpanzasanchoxx** · 01-07-2011, 10:40 PM

I aggree that games like Mario offered different types of gameplay through the recent years, but so has final fantasy. When you think final fantasy, you dont think about a specific figure where like Mario, its just him. Final Fantasy offered many different types of gameplay, there werre fighting games like erghiez and dissidia(though the latter is the better mention), there were strategy based games like final fantasy tactics, and even advance was good. There was a pretty lousy shooter in the cerberus game but they tried. My point is, Mario had many failing spinoffs as well, but one game that was certainly not a flop was the new super mario bros for the Wii. They took a combination of 3 or 4 old mario games and made an awesome game out of it. I think there is always time for a remake of final fantasy 7. It might sound a bit cliche, but for it to be successful, it just has to be done right. And I'm pretty sure it can be done right.

**Petros** · 01-09-2011, 05:49 AM

Not really the point I was trying to make. There's a BIG difference in what people expect in an RPG and what people expect in a Mario game. The expectations are much lower. No-one expects more than what Mario has offered, good platform fun. Final Fantasy on the other hand, is an RPG, and with the market having exploded with newer RPGs like Mass Effect, even if they are Western RPGs, the market has changed and Final Fantasy VII is an outdated game.

Now don't get me wrong, if it were up to me and I had magical powers, I would remake Final Fantasy VII, hell I'd remake the first ten games, just because I can. But we all know that if they changed too much about VII people would moan and bitch about it and if they changed nothing, people again would moan and bitch about it. I love Final Fantasy VII, I do, it is my favourite game of all time. And I'll be first in line if they do remake it. But I don't think it should happen because the only reason they'd do it is for the money and at the same time compromise the already fragile integrity of a game that many people consider to be overrated (mostly because they're jealous their favourite game had it's attention stolen and because of all the annoying gawking fanboys and fangirls).

**Pete** · 01-10-2011, 07:54 AM

I think Petros makes a lot of good points here. Mostly that the FF series has essentially shot it's load, and can't offer anything really new or groundbreaking without completely changing what it is.

The difference between FF and Mario is that yes, while you're always fighting Bowser, you're fighting him in totally new and unique ways, on different worlds, with different means of getting from point A to point B. People would get sick and tired if every Mario was the same exact game, with no new levels or powerups, or enemies. There's no real story to Mario, since all you're doing is fighting Bowser and rescuing the princess.

With FF, you're expecting to be immersed in a world with new and exciting characters, and a rich fulfilling story. When you play FFVII now, you're playing it mostly for nostalgia or for the story of it. It's not offering anything new. The prequels and all of that jazz are just like glitter. Sure they're pretty and shiney, but they don't offer anything new to the actual story of FFVII. They don't make me want to replay it. I feel like even if they were to update it and remake it, you'd still have a beginning and ending that don't make sense when compared to the actual meat of the game.

There's no fathomable way that you could make it into one continuous game, since you'd play through CC for X amount of hours, meet all of these characters, who all die... JUST to justify a single scene that was already taken care of enough through dialogue and a cutscene later in the game. Could you imagine if it were a compilation made for the PS1. It'd be maybe 6 discs, with 2-4 being the original game, and a big red X on disc 1 saying "This has no bearing on discs 2 or 3, but explains a little detail on disc 4."

Why not make a separate game where Cid flies a plane, or maybe something fleshing out Corel for Barret, or maybe a sweatshop sim where you make Cait Sith?

**Petros** · 01-10-2011, 04:08 PM

Dare I say it Pete, but I think what Final Fantasy needs is a reboot. It needs to rest for a few years, maybe even skip a major console generation, though that would be pushing it, and then come back with a vengeance.

I mean look at what happened with Star Trek, it suffered from 18 years of being on the air... and Voyager... despite it's best efforts the series was rehashing old stories or telling ones that weren't as good as the ones that had come before it. Star Trek just needed a rest, like Final Fantasy it was suffering from Franchise Fatigue, too much - too long. Now it's back and more popular than ever before, sure the new movie had it's critics but most fans and people new to the franchise loved it. This is what Final Fantasy needs, in fact I think that's why people are clamouring for a VII remake, because it reinvigorated the franchise. VII was like a reboot. Here we are though, Final Fantasy isn't doing so great. It's not dead yet, but it's not doing good. VII was a great game but it's not the solution to the greater problem of franchise fatigue. When a human being is fatigue, they rest and come back invigorated and fresh. This is what Final Fantasy needs to do.