FFVII Episode 1

[Crop]

Anyone who thought this was going to be a nice full game that you pay 50 quid for and enjoy forever needs to check themselves foo'.

This is Square-Enix with their biggest cash cow ever, they're going to be milking it dry anyway they can (Wutai as DLC anyone?), while I'm pumped for the remake, I'm more concerned with how they actually release the game.

[Fox]

You know, I think they're doing this to avert the FFXV-like development period. Because waiting ten years while being fed little increments of the game along the way is easier?

I wish they'd just gone all out and said "It'll be early access! You'll get an 'episode' at a time until it's done until the full release!"

[Psychotic]

It wouldn't surprise me if this game takes them 10 years to make anyway.

[fat_moogle]

I'm confused by the part that says each part will contain unique experiences. As in gameplay changes? I can live with it being multi part but they need to clear it up more.

[Spawn of Sephiroth]

I just hope we arent arent stuck downing this over the psn. My net is slow and i dont feel like spending two days just downloading each part. This is a terrible idea....

[Fox]

I do love how they try to plead poverty. "It's impossible to do unless we do it this way!"

What that actually means is - this is the only way the brass were willing to bankroll it, which is not quite the same thing. Which I can sympathise with to an extent, but lest we forget this is Square Enix. They're not exactly strapped for cash. So they could have done it as one big title, sacrificing a few $$$ for the better PR. But that's a hard sell to the person who has to worry about 12 months forecasts.

I just hope there's nothing gimmicky about it and it is literally just a case of releasing the full, connected game in chunks. If at the end of development, whenever that is, I can sit down and play Final Fantasy VII from start to finish as a full RPG, I'll be content enough. I can live with a bit of a stop/start road to get to that point.

[fat_moogle]

Wasn't that Minecraft Story Mode released on disc with the first episode available and the rest available to download when they're ready? Maybe Square Enix will do something similar to this. I can't see a title THIS big just being limited to digital only before a disc based release further down the line, like Life is Strange.

[Fox]

Wasn't that Minecraft Story Mode released on disc with the first episode available and the rest available to download when they're ready? Maybe Square Enix will do something similar to this. I can't see a title THIS big just being limited to digital only before a disc based release further down the line, like Life is Strange.

With Final Fantasy VII I imagine they'll do it all. Disc episode 1 + downloads, possibly disc versions of all episodes, then a full 'FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE - COMPLETE' disc at the end of it all.

[Skyblade]

I'm confused by the part that says each part will contain unique experiences. As in gameplay changes? I can live with it being multi part but they need to clear it up more.

This is the really worrying aspect to me as well. It does remind me of the FFXIII trilogy. Each game is going to be entirely different from each other, rather than a cohesive whole.

[fat_moogle]

I'm confused by the part that says each part will contain unique experiences. As in gameplay changes? I can live with it being multi part but they need to clear it up more.

This is the really worrying aspect to me as well. It does remind me of the FFXIII trilogy. Each game is going to be entirely different from each other, rather than a cohesive whole.

Someone put a comment on Facebook about the meteor fall in FFVII. Like it was supposed to be hitting in three days or something, but if you waited for 3 actual days, it didn't fall. Obviously because there was no time limit factored in to the game mechanics. But what if, like you say, it was spread across three releases and the -Episode 3- Final Fantasy VII: Meteorfall (WILL THERE BE SUBTITLES?) was based on something similar to Lightning Returns countdown. I haven't played LR myself so I don't have a full understanding, but of you don't finish it in time you get an alternate ending?

[charliepanayi]

I'm confused by the part that says each part will contain unique experiences. As in gameplay changes? I can live with it being multi part but they need to clear it up more.

This is the really worrying aspect to me as well. It does remind me of the FFXIII trilogy. Each game is going to be entirely different from each other, rather than a cohesive whole.

Pretty sure it's one game split into parts.

[Wolf Kanno]

You know, I think they're doing this to avert the FFXV-like development period. Because waiting ten years while being fed little increments of the game along the way is easier?

This is my take on it. Especially after finding this article detailing SE trying to fix their internal development issues they stumbled upon in the PS2/3 era. It explains in full the issues that plagued FFXIII and XIV 1.0 and some of other glaring issues like how the FFVII PS3 Tech demo took six months to develop and millions of dollars for a 30 second video utilizing pre-scripted scenarios and characters. I can't believe no one over there saw this as a problem until later.

Its not so much that the game is the most massive thing they ever made, it has more to do with ballooning costs for development in the HD age, in a gaming culture and franchise that banks on high end visual designs. If SE made the game using the engine and aesthetic style of Crisis Core, they could probably make the game completely for one disc and in relative (for them) short development time. The issue is that the fans and developers want something with Advent Children and the PS3 Tech Demo's visual detail, so they'll have to piece meal the development cycle to avoid the problems that have hounded the last four numbered FFs.

[Skyblade]

You know, I think they're doing this to avert the FFXV-like development period. Because waiting ten years while being fed little increments of the game along the way is easier?

This is my take on it. Especially after finding this article detailing SE trying to fix their internal development issues they stumbled upon in the PS2/3 era. It explains in full the issues that plagued FFXIII and XIV 1.0 and some of other glaring issues like how the FFVII PS3 Tech demo took six months to develop and millions of dollars for a 30 second video utilizing pre-scripted scenarios and characters. I can't believe no one over there saw this as a problem until later.

Its not so much that the game is the most massive thing they ever made, it has more to do with ballooning costs for development in the HD age, in a gaming culture and franchise that banks on high end visual designs. If SE made the game using the engine and aesthetic style of Crisis Core, they could probably make the game completely for one disc and in relative (for them) short development time. The issue is that the fans and developers want something with Advent Children and the PS3 Tech Demo's visual detail, so they'll have to piece meal the development cycle to avoid the problems that have hounded the last four numbered FFs.

Or they could step away from photo-realism, and choose a visual aesthetic that more closely matches the original game. Personally, I'd be fine with Kingdom Hearts style graphics for this game.

[Wolf Kanno]

Well the majority of fans and the development team wanted the high end graphics, so that is what we're getting.

[Mirage]

If the game takes too much space, they can just release it as a multidisc game instead of episodes that together add up to much more than a normal game. Sounds like a bad excuse at worst, but we'll have to wait and see.

Switching discs wouldn't be necessary if they make one install disc and another to keep in the console while you played. If they can't fit the game within 100 GB, the dev team is the problem, not the storage medium.