Final Fantasy VII Remake Dev Describes Challenges Caused by the Game’s Action Makeover

After years of rumors and pleading from fans, Square Enix finally announced Final Fantasy VII Remake at E3 2015, but since then additional information has been somewhat scarce. FF7 Remake producer Yoshinori Kitase insists the project is progressing “smoothly,” but development clearly isn’t moving at a particularly fast pace. Why are things coming along so slowly?

[Nyxus]

I wish they'd just keep it turn-based honestly.

[kalkano]

This move lead me to boycott the entire series, and all products related to it, including things like music of the old games. I believe the action reveal was December of 2015...? So, 3 years and counting...

[Ricegum]

Lol

[bluefox755]

I guess you showed them, lol. I mean, I wanted it turn base too, but just because it's not what I wanted doesn't mean it won't be good. We'll see I guess.

[pietro1212]

So dang petty.. how about giving it a chance?

[nommers]

“Including things like music of the old games”.

You must really hate music

[Omnislashver36]

Super glad they moved to ARPG.

You still take turns with characters and Dissidia/KH shows there's just as much strategy in ARPG systems, in some cases, more. Luckily the battle planner for both is on FFVIIR.

[pietro1212]

But there isn't much strategy in those games though. Sure, the combat is fun and it looks like, but there's no depth to them (especially KH2 even on proud mode)

[Elda]

Agreed.

[Omnislashver36]

Dissidia/KH have tons of strategy. BBS shows debuffs are just as useful if not more in an ARPG system. KH1 was incredibly balanced. KH2.8 is as well, but KH2 was mostly flash-bang mechanics(honestly tweaking the difficulty would help out immensely. If every mode was one more difficulty higher they'd be just about right.) Dissidia shows how useful Limits are in an ARPG system as well.

KH3 is looking to be the best of all of these games and I expect FFVIIR to be no different.

[InKnight7s]

Maybe TB system is great nostlagia service and very geeky and favourable for classic RPG fans. However, sales speak, FFXV sold beyond 8 million, comparing to Persona 5 which easily can be listed as one of best RPG ever created along with FFVI, VII, IX. However, persona 5 reached 3 million (not bad but not equal to 8).

[Nyxus]

Well Pokemon is turn based and it's the best selling RPG series there is. Final Fantasy just happens to be a bigger name than Persona.

[Omnislashver36]

Yeah but is Pokemon the most full-featured?

Even back on Red and Blue we had far superior JRPGs with far more intricate battles. Pokemon won because it had 150 marketable characters, two versions to get collectors fever going, and a tie-in anime for the kids crowd.

It just so happens that none of that works for Final Fantasy and there are huge camps that want ARPG and conversely ATB.

I'm definitely of the camp appreciating the ARPG glow-up personally.

[Nyxus]

@ Omnishlash: I was responding to the argument about sales. But anyway, I was just giving my opinion, if other people prefer ARPG that's fine of course.

[Omnislashver36]

Yes, and I gave you a response directly explaining why they had those sales.

[FalconofLucis98]

@inknight FFX was awesome too, one of the Golden Age FFs.

[indysurfn]

Sales? Your talking Sales? Even when there was only 60 million systems FFVII sold 20 + million copies. Many other sold in the millions. ARPG's have not sold anywhere near TB rpg's.

[Omnislashver36]

indysurfrn

And ARPGS haven't been built with this many features before, much less back in the PS1-era.

Countless features like having multiple battle styles, magic menus, multiple playable characters, large enough environments for this to work correctly, etc weren't exactly possible back then like they are now- so ARPGs couldn't compete like they can now.

We're at a point where they CAN finally compete from many standpoints, having similar options with special moves, multiple playable characters, large enough environments(FFVII had a dedicated battle screen which was extremely small by comparison, that also ran at 15fps- there's no way they could keep those graphics and have an ARPG-sized battle space at that time- It's just technically impossible.), good enough AI, incorporating all materia, special skills, limits, etc into the system.

So of course ATB won at a time when ARPG couldn't technically compete. It's 2019, we can incorporate most features from ATB into ARPG at this time.

Nothing against you being an ATB fan, but to act like Pokemon or previous ATB games have the merit of sales ONLY because it was tradtional is ridiculous. They were more technically feasible, so of course they won at that time.

Also, FFVII sold 11 million as of 2015, not 20 million.

[NapalmSanctuary]

Comparing Final Fantasy to Persona, sales wise, is just daft. The idea that Any new Final Fantasy wouldn't sell millions upon millions, even with a TB or ATB combat system, is the finalest of fantasies, as Jim Sterling put it.

[-Foxtrot]

Lost Odyssey last gen proved you can still have turn based.

Square Enix changing this classic RPG into an action RPG is ridiculous

Hell even the Resident Evil 2 remake coming out by Capcom proved you can still remake and modernise something while still keeping true to the original.

FF15 just wasn't that good with how they did it, it worked for Kingdom Hearts but the switch in FF15 was only good when you turned on wait mode.

[Omnislashver36]

FFXV isn't entirely comparable to FFVIIR though.

-FFXV didn't have magic menus, an FF staple, and FFVIIR has them. Even Kingdom Hearts has magic menus.
-FFXV was built on the far inferior and still vastly unintuitive/undeveloped Luminous Engine. FFVIIR is built on Unreal Engine 4, so it's better to compare it to Kingdom Hearts III which is feature-filled whereas FFXV was barebones.
-FFXV was rushed. Restarting in 2013 we saw that the story of Stella vs Noctis was still supposed to be in the game. But they replaced Stella with Luna so they would skip all of those battles. In fact, they skipped all of the plot and went directly to the end of the game. Enemies didn't even talk to each other in FFXV- The Emporer never talked to Ardyn, Ardyn to Aranea, Aranea to Stella, or Stella to Ravus. Think about this seriously... this is wildly conspicuous for a Final Fantasy. The fact they were all singular instances and had next to no communication shows they rushed the game directly to the end after restarting it.

So Stella being replaced with Luna was a planned move so people wouldn't expect any of that plot when releasing. Whether Stella was supposed to be a rival, boss fight, or playable character, by replacing her with Luna they were able to skip all of that plot.

FFvXIII was originally supposed to have far more features and magic menus as well, but they didn't make it into the final game. The only culprit at hand for ALREADY having more features and plot planned and shown off, but cutting it has to be the engine it was running on.

So since FFVIIR has switched engines, these are largely non-issues now. We've already seen the progress they've made with a better engine with KHIII, which easily has the most advanced ARPG system in history. FFXV was incredibly barebones by comparison.

[SegaSaturn669]

I don't care at all so long as I get a real erection during Don Corneo's mansion. I hope they research a real filthy danish whorehouse to get that part absolutely perfect.

[Godmars290]

That's been long dead.

[Nyxus]

Persona, Dragon Quest, Pokemon,...

[Godmars290]

As far as FF is concerened, turn base is dead. For whatever reason, they've been trying to make gameplay more "dynamic" since FF7 while never looking at or further developing examples like Chrono Trigger or Valkyrie Profile.

[Horseygamer]

wouldn't work in today's gaming environment unfortunately, ive played the original on PS1 and love the active time base, need pepping up for modern gaming as long as it doesn't destroy the original mechanics of the game

[Pedantic91]

Going the action route can work just as well as turn-based. And with Nomura and the KH battle plannner Takahashi at the helm things are gonna be pretty flashy but good. I believe Nomura will add combat ideas/design originally set for FFVSXIII into FF7RE.

And it's not like the original is gone, it's still there.

[rainslacker]

I'll reserve judgement until I see what they did with whatever system they come up with. The brief game play showing so far was way too early in development to really make a decision.

I'm not opposed to ARPG though. I'm fine with turn based, and actually love them, but it's a remake, not a remaster, so I think seeing if they can deliver the same experience in a new way is OK. If it turns out bad, I'll criticize then.

[Elda]

Can't wait to play the game!

[porkChop]

I would have preferred turn-based tbh, but I'm fine as long as the game is good and there's still some strategy involved. I know it isn't going to be 1:1, but it could still be great.

[Blu3_Berry]

Sounds like this won't release for another 5 years. Seriously they announced this way too early.

[ninsigma]

They definitely announced too early, but in case you didn't know, this interview was from a year ago and only just translated now. So a lot may have changed since then.

[CrimsonWing69]

I don’t want to hear about the challenges. Nobody asked you to make it real-time and quite frankly I’m tired of how FF games just have to get away from turn-based combat. It’s fun to plan moves out for each character.

So I’m glad you guys are struggling due to the “action makeover”. Maybe you’ll learn to just make another turn based game, oh wait, Square-Enix, that’ll never happen.

[Weeblordbad]

You sound like a balanced reasonable fellow. "How dare they make something else, everyone knows I know best and the market definitely didn't move on."

Get over yourself plz, you're not special.

[CrimsonWing69]

Aw you’re so right, my apologies. I don’t know what got into me. I appreciate the feedback.

[pietro1212]

Damn, dude chill. Square has realised five titles with turn based gameplay within the last ten years.
There has only been one mainstream FF that featured a real time system. Other than the 15 and the mmos every numbered entry feature some variation of the atb or ctb battle systems.
I prefer turn based, but I do want to see what Square can do. Hopefully they don't run into the same issues that FFvsXIII (XV) which they shouldn't with the unreal engine.

[rainslacker]

People asked for a remake. No one specified what the remake should be. Even if they did, you could probably find people saying they want different things, because the people wanting one, are not one unified voice. It's not even a consensus voice, but disparate groups all saying different things.

There is no way Square could have remade this game to the satisfaction of everyone. It would be an impossible task.

So, if they are changing it to an action based game play, then yeah, knowing the challenges of taking an existing system, and making it into a new system with the same base elements like the Materia system, seems like something that would be interesting to some people.

[Weeblordbad]

You're just another little A hole who thinks they know better. Self absorbed, self righteous and maybe just a hint of autism, which explains how cringey and sad you are.

Remember when you walk away your "friends" aren't laughing with you, it's at you. No one cares about someone being over dramatic over turn based combat. So why don't you go plan your next move to delete your account, you can do it in turns.

[CrimsonWing69]

You're so absolutely 100% correct. I am another self absorbed A hole with a hint of autism. I am truly sorry for having upset or even offended you by my response. Sometimes you just get so passionate behind something you read that you just speak your mind without any consideration for others' feelings.

I will keep what you said about walking away and my "friends" aren't laughing with me but at me to heart. You're right about the being over dramatic about the turn-based combat. Again, I am very sorry for my comment to have evoked such an emotional response from you. I promise to take what you have said to heart and apply it when making further comments on here.

Thank you and again, I am so very sorry.

[PhoenixUp]

I can’t wait to experience this

[Cikatriz_ESP]

The obvious solution seems to be not to fuck with it.

[NeedleEye]

Just because it isn't turn-based doesn't mean that it will be automatically bad. I'm cautiously optimistic for some sort of hybrid system. Just watch how it actually works when they actually showcase it properly. It's just too early to throw tantrums at this point.

[rainslacker]

I see some people saying they don't want turn based, are the same people who will praise action games all the time.

Seems the only issue is that the turn based is being applied to FFVII, not that they are against turn based, and that's more nostalgia talking, than any reasonable outlook on what might be good or bad for the game itself.

[Muigi]

I really hope they’re paying attention to Capcom. Look at the care and detail they put into the remake of RE2; one of their best games ever. If Square-Enix messes this up Final Fantasy as whole is probably dead.

[pietro1212]

I feel like they have a lot riding for them after the whole Final Fantasy vs. XIII/ XV fiasco. Plus this is also the remake to FFVII, there's so much riding on that fact.

[nommers]

Keeping it turn based would cut down on the development time substantially and at the very least if would have a 1 to 1 sense of universal control. By that I mean frame rate would be much easier to take into account. Attack patterns would make more sense from enemies and yourself too.

[Nacho_Z]

Yeah I bet they'll come to regret not making it turn based if they aren't already. It was a headache they've made for themselves unnecessarily.

[ninsigma]

God I can't wait for this. Looks amazing so far and they're clearly working hard on it. Plus, once kh3 is released all focus will be on 7.

[Findingcrybabies]

they're still making this? lol. Seems like years and years ago I was hyped for this. Not so much anymore.

[Artemidorus]

Well I'm going with what has been discussed they will provide this game on a next gen console.

It also means more delays to update the graphics.

[lellkay]

Love FF7 and am hyped for this, but the combat worries me. If it plays like FF15 i'm honestly not interested.

[FallenAngel1984]

I’m still curious how they’ll implement ATB with the real time action focused party based gameplay

[RyanShutup]

yeahhh no one asked for that.

[mixelon]

Has anyone made a game where the combat can be switched between either turn based or ARPG?

I mean, it’d be strange and a lot of work but it’d make a lot of people happy and would be great from a usability perspective. A lot of older players prefer turn based, slower tactical play. There are groups of more casual players who’d fall on either side of the ARPG/Turn based issue.

Seems the only way you can maximise the audience is by catering to both groups?

[kevnb]

I still cant understand why they think they need to ruin the gameplay in the most loved game in the series. It just needs better graphics and better movement controls, and maybe a few quality of life improvements. I mean is the game even final fantasy 7 if they make it an action game?

[Marioraider18]

No turn base = No buy

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Turn based ver plz but seriously I'm excited