What if FF7 had been a 16-bit game?

[Pike]

Do you think it would have been as popular as it is? Do you think certain scenes *cough* Aeris dying *cough* would have been as memorable?

I think the default answer is to say "yes", but sometimes I wonder.

[Jinx]

I think it still would have been popular, and it would still have had a cult following.

But I don't think it would have been AS popular. A part of the reason for its extreme popularity is its place as the first PSX Final Fantasy, and the first in that generation of gaming. For the time, the graphics were awesome, and even now the game is MASSIVE. The sheer magnitude of the game is really quite astounding. For a lot of the gamers who have been fans since it came out or within the 5 years following its release, it has to do with its reputation there. It was popular because it was so groundbreaking, and nothing like it had been seen before.

[VeloZer0]

I personally think that kick ass action sequences benefit more from FMV that touching emotional moments. Stuff like Diamond Weapon attacking Midgar would be much harder to capture with the 16 bit tools available, but Celes's 'Leap of Faith' proves to me that 16 bit graphics can still deliver powerful emotional scenes.

[ShinGundam]

It means a lot of prerendered based games won't even exist.

[Xuna]

I still think it's still be popular. After all the events in this game are quite different than the previous. It'll probably attract majority's attention. Especially,because one protagonist dies. But, not as popular right now though, since it's 16-bit. It would be hard to make it as awesome as it is today like VeloZer0 said. The fact that it isn't 16-bit means, ... it doesn't belong to that area.

And I agree with ShinGundam. :)
Prerendered games wouldn't exist, if so that happens. XD

[Sephex]

If FFVII would have been 16-bit I am going to assume that it would have been in the place of FFVI as the last SNES title. Then FFVI would have been in the place of FFVII as the first PlayStation title.

Naturally, all fans of both games would be on opposite sides of the "which is better" VI/VII debate in this alternate universe.

[Mercen-X]

Maybe if people stop pissing about VII being remade to feature X-XIII-style graphics and asked them to remake it as a 16-bit instead, *shriek of awe* they may actually do it!!

[Tranquil]

I'd really love to see the game remade with SNES-style graphics.

[Bolivar]

It couldn't have been the same game. The intro sequence shows space, then Aeris' face, then her walking down an alley that opens to a street, a district, and an entire city with mako reactors surging. There's no way to portray that with the "stage" angle that all 2D FF's share. It wouldn't have all of the artistic techniques like camera usage, proportionality differences, actor placement, etc.

One of FFVII's biggest innovations was the seamless transition from cutscene to gameplay. That's something that had never happened in gaming before, and developers today on HD consoles are still struggling to integrate it. The game wouldn't have had as big of an impact, for sure, but it also wouldn't have had so many of the classic scenes, told the way they were, that made the game a masterpiece.

[Mercen-X]

Have you played Final Fantasy on PlayStation? Have you played Final Fantasy II, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV, V, VI on PlayStation?

If VII were remade as a 16-bit, they could still include the original FMVs. It wouldn't be anymore disorienting than when they replaced the polygons with awesomely realistic videos...

OMFG! Square could assemble a 16-bit version of the Planet to explore with 16-bit characters and *exhalation of joygasm* make FMV's featuring the Technical Demo graphics.

[Mercen-X]

FF7 If Ten Years Earlier - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_XL89b14yM&feature=related)