If only 3 more locations could be expanded with the detail of Midgar......

[JJ Strife]

One of the main issues with Remake and the games that will follow, is that they can't possibly expand every location with the size and detail that they did Midgar. I wish they could, but the reality is that it would take like 6 games and 20 years to finish the whole thing, so they're probably not going to.

So if you had to pick just 3 locations that would get that same treatment as Midgar (and all the others are just left as brief as they are in the original), what would those locations be? And why? (to clarify, I obviously don't mean everything expanded to be the same size of Midgar. I mean expanded by the same relative amount. So a 2 hour segment becomes like 8 hours or 10 hours perhaps)

My 3 picks are:

Junon - the general concept of a city based around a massive cannon was always peek fantasy silliness, so I love that. I think it's also important for the story that they indicate that Shinra does have this global influence, that the story implies they do. So Junon being this powerful center of the Shinra military arm should add a lot to that feeling. It's also a place we visit repeatedly in the story, so it makes sense they'll flesh it out quite a bit (as opposed to somewhere like Kalm that we only visit once in the entire story).

Cosmo Canyon - of all the kind of 'homely' places on the world map, this is surely the best. Cosmo Canyon makes sense to put focus on because it becomes the kind of spiritual home of the party, and was supposedly where Avalanche was originally started. It's also presented as being a sort of town that has a sizeable population, so there's plenty of room to expand. I think I mostly just loved the design and vibe of the place though. Like a kind of hippie Mecca type place.

Wutai - Wutai is essentially supposed be an entire country in the lore of FF7. It's not just that one town, it's the entire western continent. This needs to be expanded just so it actually makes sense within the story, because you would need a much bigger society if they were to legitimately challenge Shinra in a war. I would hope there are smaller villages and forts added to the western continent too, to help create this sense that they're a potential global power like Shinra. It also happens to be a pretty and interesting location.

Runner up: Gold Saucer. This would be great too, and I hope they still make it a spectacle. But I was never that fussed about the kind of meaningless detached mini-games. I always prefer the ones that are intertwined into the story, so I hope they don't make it too much of a focus.

[Lord Golbez]

Villa Cloud - They should make a whole game out of decorating the house, having neighbors come over, etc.


Okay, that was the joke answer. My real answer is probably the same as yours. I could maybe swap out one for Icicle Inn though. Not that the town itself should necessarily be greatly expanded in scale, but it could serve as a hub for the whole ice continent area and expand upon that. It's already a pretty big stretch of the original game and a significant part of it, so I think it makes sense to devote a lot to this section.

[JJ Strife]

Yeah Icicle Inn was one of my other thoughts too, especially because it's kinda the only "town" on the northern continent.

I love those locations that are very calm and welcoming. Especially when they deliberately places them in an otherwise hostile environment, so it feels like a temporary safe haven. Kalm, Cosmo Canyon and Icicle Inn all have that kind of attraction.

[Psychotic]

Okay, that was the joke answer.

Well it shouldn't be. I'm all in!

I think more could be done with Gongaga and making it a real Chernobyl style disaster.

[Mr Gashtacular]

It's actually a pretty tough question.... the size difference between Midgar (including, crucially, unseen Midgar) in the OG is massive.

All the other towns are small, and there are no other cities.

I think the problem with expanding them with detail is not using too much overt filler.


Having said that, Cosmo Canyon (for it's natural beauty) and Wutai (because it SHOULD be bigger, and has been mentioned several times already in remake) for sure. For a third it's tricky, because it feels like most others are more like villages. I think a North Corel COULD be interesting, but it might just turn out looking almost exactly like the midgar slums. I always liked Mideel, and it might be nice to the before and after of this town in remake scale.

[JJ Strife]

Corel looked like a really interesting location in the flashbacks before it was destroyed. Not so much afterwards though!

[Psychotic]

It's actually a pretty tough question.... the size difference between Midgar (including, crucially, unseen Midgar) in the OG is massive.

All the other towns are small, and there are no other cities.

Isn't Junon a city? I do find it a little bit boring though, like a mini Midgar, with its poor lower district impacted by pollution and its upper class up top.

[JJ Strife]

Yeah I think Junon is supposed to be implied to be a small city:

It has 7 different levels of those long streets, where we only walk along 1 of them which seems fairly big itself. Then when you take into account all of the inside parts, and the fact that it goes underwater to the submarine area too, I definitely think it's city-sized, even though it's kinda more of an army base really. There's also that small town area below at the entrance.

[Mr Gashtacular]

yea, i guess it does class as a city but it doesnt really hold much interest to me. its another shinra-built city so as far as im concerned it will be a mini-midgar. i wouldn't particularly want it expanded.

[JJ Strife]

I think it could be interesting because it's quite different from the parts of Midgar we see. 90% of our time in Midgar is below the plate or in the shinra buildings (HQ/reactors). We spend almost no time above the plate in the wealthier parts. Whereas Junon is mostly those wealthier parts, or 'middle class'. It's only the small town at the bottom which is implied to be poor.

[Mercen-X]

Shinra basically controls the world. Of course the bigger explorable cities in the game will be under Shinra's influence. That's inescapable. The two other places in the game that already have their own significant size are the Glacier and the Crater. Oh and GS of course.

Aside from those and Junon (and I guess CC), places I'd like expansion for might include: Nibelheim (just because it is so crucial to Cloud's story), Wutai (because it feel ultimately different), and possbily TotA ('cause it needs to feel like a labyrinth you can actually get lost in)

[JJ Strife]

possbily TotA ('cause it needs to feel like a labyrinth you can actually get lost in)

Interesting choice of words....

[Mr Gashtacular]

I think it could be interesting because it's quite different from the parts of Midgar we see. 90% of our time in Midgar is below the plate or in the shinra buildings (HQ/reactors). We spend almost no time above the plate in the wealthier parts. Whereas Junon is mostly those wealthier parts, or 'middle class'. It's only the small town at the bottom which is implied to be poor.

i cant really see those giant towering apartment blocks with tiny rooms as being middle class. junon might be a city but it strikes me as heavily industrial/working class. a different kind perhaps than those below the city, but poor nonetheless.

[Lord Golbez]

I don't think Upper Junon is supposed to be exclusively wealthy. It's a military base, which means it's probably largely quartering rank and file Shinra troops. The fact that it appears wealthy is probably because they put a lot of money into military development, not so much that the soldiers are wealthy.

[JJ Strife]

Yeah it's probably not actually wealthy. But I just meant in the same way Jessie's parents live in the "wealthy part", even though they're probably not really wealthy either. It's more about it being a different kind of environment. Given that Shinra basically control all of that, it's probably not really based on individual wealth at all. It's just based on how useful they find the different sections of their workforce.