Why Final Fantasy VII Doesn’t Need a Remake

It seems that no matter how much time passes, the idea that Square Enix need to remake Final Fantasy VII persists. Ever since they showed that infamous PlayStation 3 Tech Demo at E3 in 2005, Square have had to deal with constant fan demand for a remake of one of history’s most beloved RPG’s. There’s just one problem: Final Fantasy VII doesn’t need a remake, and this is why.

[Godmars290]

Because the Square being asked to do it are talentless, exploitative hacks?

And no, I don't know how to fix the series much less the company that makes it.

[zerocrossing]

Could you even imagine what a FFVII remake would look like if developed by the Squenix of today?... *shudders*

[Godmars290]

Meh, might have been too harsh in calling them hacks, really consider them, the dev teams, to be overwhelmed with the demands of HD then again making an a single-system title multiplatform midway through its production, but the way and the lengths management went to cover their tracks, issues promoting the PS3 version as the 360 one, that and more drags the company as a whole down to hack level.

[iamtehpwn]

Let's get one thing straight:

Square Enix is not talentless at all, Toriyama is just a really bad game designer for the main series. The Company itself still has LOTS of great talent...Unfortunately they're being lead by a guy who doesn't know what he's doing. He's not terrible, a lot of these he's come up were fun and original ideas like Dress Spheres and Catching monsters in XIII-2, but these aren't ideas that should be in mainstream FF titles.

Nomura, Tabata and Ito are all still at square, very talented, should be leading the series, not Toriyama.

[Godmars290]

That kind of blind loyalty needs to stop. Nomura and the others may still be at Square, but throughout this gen its meant little to nothing. Some are still holding out hope for Versus, but its two years shy of being another Duke Nukem. Could become a worse example for being in production hell for not changing hands.

And really; what's the point of noting things which are not a part of FF, not actually good things, as if they were?

[NukaCola]

One thing I miss of older games is static camera design. If the remastered the game, I wouldn't change the camera at all. I love the angles of FF and Resident Evil games on PS1. I do not want TPS controls at all, but this is just a nostalgic feature we don't see often. In most recent years, God of War still does camera work the best IMO.

[wishingW3L]

in its current state FF7 is literally unplayable to newcomers and to those that don't have their nostalgia goggles anymore. The game aged really bad....

[Lord_Sloth]

I don't care about a remake, I just want them to finish the Genesis saga.

[hellkitten]

Until I changed my PC 2 years ago I still had the FFVII PC version on my desktop so yeah I would agree that it's still quite playable today except that the graphics have aged a lot. Nonetheless I would prefer that Squenix leave it alone. I'm scared they might ruin it if they do a "remale." A graphical update (updating graphics but leaving the old school gameplay alone) would be okay.

[SugarSoSweet]

it's too risky

[pandehz]

FF7 needs and deserves a retelling not exactly a remake.

Its storyline is easily one of my fav out there in all games that I know of. At the age of 22 I felt like a kid when playing crisis core on psp.

FF7 story should be told properly and with proper graphics and presentation of the world, characters, music etc.

FF7 the original is something ppl cant digest today. It may be great but its too dated in tech. This story needs to be told.

Also if they do decide to retell not remake then I hope they do a proper full retelling from FF7: Crisis Core to FF7 to Advent Rising and finish. One epic game or 3 part whichever way works but this time in one continuous go and all planned together and handled together.

Though I would prefer new gameplay styles, FF7 entire plot from zack to Sephiroth 2 hit me hard. The only thing great about it was the story and characters and of course the music. The combat is very forgettable so yes new combat maybe like the actual style of how they would fight in real time. We've seen it in vids etc why not actually play it as it has always been known?

If they decide to remake it with old combat style only the old school fans will buy. It will miss out on the large consumer base that need to hear this story. As a storyteller myself I would love to get my story spread out to everyone. Reason why the Harry Potter books did so dam well.

So keep the story intact, the charcters intact, the setting intact, change the tech, update the sound quality , keep the music, add more atmosphere and definitely maybe some new mechanics in world design/travel systems and combat.

To me FF7 story needs a proper LOTR treatment. It deserves one. Many dont know about final fantasy. Few million know and thats about it. In my opinion more should know about it. My younger bro doesnt know but he saw the sephiroth fight from crisis core and it blew him away. I would love to see it treated as the new leader in rpgs once again.

Would also love to see real wind system affecting all that pretty hair on the characters :D

[squallcloud9]

I didn't bother reading this opinion piece but I'm going to comment anyway because I disagree. I think the reason we wanted a remake is because we imagined what a final fantasy would look if the characters looked like they were suppose to. Half of final fantasy existed in our minds because they were so badly animated and there was no voice overs. We used our imaginations when we played and when we wished for better hardware. A final fantasy 7 remake is not just a visual upgrade, it is the game they would have made if they had the tools of today.

[pandehz]

Yep exactly what I was trying to explain above. It needs a better representation.

[Chrono]

Although a remake would be good, I'd rather get a new game.

[JeepGamer]

I think they're better off not remaking it.

Wouldn't want to shatter the illusions people have about that actually being a good game by modernizing it. The fresh look at that crap game would shatter so many delusions.

[Enigma_2099]

I think Cloud and Sepiroth disagreed with you.

[ShugaCane]

If done properly, this could really be interesting to give another perspective to one of the most influencial RPGs of all time. But I'm having trust issues about SE. Just give us Versus already.

[CLOUD1983]

"The only thing that I feel could be improved upon with a remake is, of course, its graphics – but is it really worth spending so much time, effort and resources into remaking a game solely for the much time, effort and resources into remaking a game solely for the sake of making it a little prettier?"

Do he really ask for an answer when the answer is so obvious? ~.~

YES!, YES!! & YES!!!

It's more than worthing because we r not talking for any game here but for the KING of JRPGs which have sell more than 10.000.000 copies w/o even count PSN sales which btw was a lot as FFVII was the No1downloadable game for months & months, so isnt it obvious enough that this is a safe investment SE could do as it have the potential to sell astronomical numbers & become the best selling game of all time for them?

[gamernova]

Who said anything about needing? A lot of fans want it. End of story. Honestly I would be fine with the exact game with completely overhauled graphics. Just give me the game with next gen graphics and I am golden.