Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a gargantuan undertaking for Square Enix, not only because of the intimidating task of remaking one of the most beloved games of all time, but also because of how much time and resources they’re putting into it, what with the upcoming release only being the first of many instalments in the remake, one that only covers the first five or so hours of the original game.
What’s exciting, though, that Square Enix are taking this opportunity to expand upon the original in monumental ways, having promised that Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be a full-length FF title in spite of how little story from the original it covers. Clearly, it’s going to differ from the original in many, many ways- but just how much?
Speaking to Metro, Final Fantasy 7 Remake producer Yoshinori Kitase spoke about this, explaining that the larger, most important story beats will actually be quite consistent with the original game’s plot, but that a lot will be added in to flesh out other arcs and most of the characters.
“The story itself up until the escape from Midgar really does stick quite closely to the original Final Fantasy 7 storyline,” said Kitase. “Where the additions and extras have been added in is with this extra level of reality and the depth to how the characters are shown.
“There’s a lot more picking up on those characters and showing the drama between them. Cloud, Sephiroth, Aerith, Tifa, and all of these guys and really fleshing out their stories and how they are portrayed.
“The other problem of the new content is saying some of the sub characters you really been given more of a role – more personality. You see lots of extra story sections and background details.”
Kitase also says Square Enix have ensure that the first part of the remake is going to be a self-sufficient game that can function as a standalone story, and doesn’t feel incomplete, or like a smaller part of something much bigger in scope.
“The other thing of course is to stand as the story as a standalone story, just the end of Migar works as a single game,” he said. “We’ve actually had a number of changes in the rearrangements of the game to give it a really big climactic feel to the end, obviously, that the balancing of the placing of the boss fights and the character growth and everything has been tweaked, adapted to work with that rhythm and big climax at the end.
“So even though it’s a story people may know, you still feel really new and fresh and unique to people who played the originals.”
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is out for the PS4 on April 10, and a demo of the game is out now. Apparently, development on its sequel will begin immediately after its launch.
