With news coming out every month now it seems regarding the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, many Final Fantasy fans are wondering what other games Square-Enix could remaster or even better yet, remake. Looking at it from a straight-forward perspective, a Final Fantasy XII HD Remaster seems the most logical next step. While that may be true, it got me to thinking about other games in the series. Unfortunately though, I don’t think a remake of some older games would really work. This article will focus on the much loved, Final Fantasy 7.
5) Voice Acting
A Final Fantasy 7 Remake would no doubt include voice acting. We’ve already been introduced to the potential voice actors for Final Fantasy 7 with the movie Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children and other games in the Final Fantasy 7 universe, like Crisis Core and Dirge Of Cerberus. While I don’t have a particular problem with the voices, many have loved the purity of original Final Fantasy games that were fine without voice acting. Moments like when Cloud would hear voices were mysterious because you didn’t know who it was who was speaking to Cloud. With voice acting, moments like those become less memorable.
4) Recycled Gameplay
The gameplay within a Final Fantasy 7 Remake would be a contentious point. If Square Enix chose to recycle the gameplay from the original PS1 game, the FF7 Remake would be criticised as not innovative enough. The use of upgraded hardware should allow for a more robust version on the gameplay in FF7 including the Materia system, but would the pure FF7 fans like that? What if the battle system was given a complete overhaul? Whichever choice Square Enix makes, there will be those who speak out vocally against them. There always is. Add to that the fact that the FF7 haters will have a field day too voicing their displeasure at Square Enix remaking FF7 over whatever game they prefer. That’s the kind of fanbase we’re talking about here.
3) Side-Quests Might Not Transfer Well
One of the major positive points about Final Fantasy 7 is that it features a lot of side-quests. A Final Fantasy 7 Remake would need to re-imagine these side-quests on new hardware. I find this transfer might be too difficult to pull off if Square Enix try to maintain the purity of the original game. The tower defense side-quest is a good example of this. During the time of FF7, is was simple and could be treated as a distraction, so flaws in the design wouldn’t matter. A remake of the game however would require Square Enix to step up on all the side-quests featured in the game. They would have to make them seem new, fresh and above all fun. I feel like this would be hard to pull off whilst maintaining the identity of FF7.
2) Awkward Scenes
Let’s face it, some scenes are a lot more bearable because the graphics during the PS1 era weren’t that great. Characters with blocky arms? We’ll take that. Characters dressing in drag? We’ll take that. A few scenes in FF7 are tolerable because the graphics during that time meant it was more ‘fantasy’ rather than ‘reality’. With more realistic graphics however, there comes a problem. Does anyone really want to see Cloud dressing up as a female during the quest to save Tifa? In FF7 it was fine, it barely looked like anything. In a remake however, it would be a whole other story. Granted, you could skip going through all that effort, but what was once a charm of the game might just come back to bite it. There are a few scenes/moments in the game like this.
1) Story Alterations
The biggest reason a Final Fantasy 7 Remake wouldn’t work is that Square Enix would most likely shoehorn in story elements it introduced in the latter games that came out during the 10th year celebration of FF7. Story elements introduced in Crisis Core and Dirge Of Cerberus and even in Advent Children will most likely be inserted somewhere in a FF7 Remake because Square Enix would want the games to be more coherent to each other. The problem however, is that most FF7 fans feel that the story elements introduced in these latter projects simply degrade the original story. Could Square Enix simply re-tell the original story? Yes, they could, but will they? For all intents and purposes, it may be better to not have a remake and simply remember the game as it was.
What do you think? Would you buy a Final Fantasy 7 Remake no matter what?