Remake on hold until series improves

[Trumpet Thief]

I'm no businessman, but I would gladly buy a new-age Final Fantasy with beautiful Sprite graphics, or 'toned down' 3D graphics, as long as the story/mechanics captured the magic present in some of the older (and not so older) games.

I didn't mind Final Fantasy XIII all that much, but it was (in my mind) the weakest of the games from VI forward. The graphics were indeed very beautiful, but for the nostalgic in me, I'd like to believe that many people would enjoy playing an FF game with simple graphics, so long as it captured the magic and ridiculousness of some of the previous installments.

[Alpha2099]

Can I just say I feel awesome for being quoted twice in one post.

[ShinGundam]

I'm no businessman, but I would gladly buy a new-age Final Fantasy with beautiful Sprite graphics, or 'toned down' 3D graphics, as long as the story/mechanics captured the magic present in some of the older (and not so older) games.

I didn't mind Final Fantasy XIII all that much, but it was (in my mind) the weakest of the games from VI forward. The graphics were indeed very beautiful, but for the nostalgic in me, I'd like to believe that many people would enjoy playing an FF game with simple graphics, so long as it captured the magic and ridiculousness of some of the previous installments.

Sorry, Keep that away from me. I understand people got a soft spot for NES/SNES/PSX/PS2 but i refuse more pandering than what we have now (remakes,ports,sequels,fan-services). This only serve one thing which is a lot of releases in market but very little new content or fewer chances of creating de-facto form of FF or JRPG.

The other point is i don't want simpler graphics too (This is what KH and BDFF for). I want less flat/non-detailed textures or environment design in my 3D FF. Making simpler graphics doesn't translate into a "smarter" world design or scaling.

[Trumpet Thief]

I'm no businessman, but I would gladly buy a new-age Final Fantasy with beautiful Sprite graphics, or 'toned down' 3D graphics, as long as the story/mechanics captured the magic present in some of the older (and not so older) games.

I didn't mind Final Fantasy XIII all that much, but it was (in my mind) the weakest of the games from VI forward. The graphics were indeed very beautiful, but for the nostalgic in me, I'd like to believe that many people would enjoy playing an FF game with simple graphics, so long as it captured the magic and ridiculousness of some of the previous installments.

Sorry, Keep that away from me. I understand people got a soft spot for NES/SNES/PSX/PS2 but i refuse more pandering than what we have now (remakes,ports,sequels,fan-services). This only serve one thing which is a lot of releases in market but very little new content or fewer chances of creating de-facto form of FF or JRPG.

The other point is i don't want simpler graphics too (This is what KH and BDFF for). I want less flat/non-detailed textures or environment design in my 3D FF. Making simpler graphics doesn't translate into a "smarter" world design or scaling.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want a new Final Fantasy done in traditional style for the sake of pandering and/or appealing to the nostalgic crowd. I want a 'toned down' graphic style for the sake of proper implementation of things that we took for granted back in the day.

Now, I haven't Final Fantasy XIII-2, but for XIII, I remember explicitly reading that things like towns had to be exempt due to the huge amount of time and effort it would take to render them properly. This would not be a burden if every generation, and Square in particular, had to push the envelope of 'next generation graffix!!11' every couple of years.

I'm actually a very big fan of good graphics, but the argument can be made that they aren't worth it in exchange for some of the things that were let up in some of the newer installments. I don't want a quick cash-in of 'old school' appeal with no substance. I want something with the same charm, effort, and reinvention that other titles in the series have had.

If they can pull off an amazing game with amazing graphics that continues to reinvent the formula while keeping some of the key characteristics that make a Final Fantasy game a Final Fantasy game, then I'll be more than for it, but on a personal level, I haven't felt satisfied for the past 5/6 years.

I do agree with you on the simpler graphics and 'ports/remakes' argument, so my apologies for not making my point clear.

[DMKA]

More like "We've got a troutload of unfinished projects that are probably going to bankrupt us; we can't think about an FFVII remake until we've made money back off those."

[ShinGundam]

Now, I haven't Final Fantasy XIII-2, but for XIII, I remember explicitly reading that things like towns had to be exempt due to the huge amount of time and effort it would take to render them properly. This would not be a burden if every generation, and Square in particular, had to push the envelope of 'next generation graffix!!11' every couple of years.

Hard to tell to be honest with you, while i do agree a simpler looking city might help a lot but i don't think it is the whole story here. I have been actively playing modern JRPGs in general what i think is the real problem here is importance of city/town in a traditional sense has been dropped a lot just like what happened to the Overworld. Today, I expect a town to function like a guild to take multiple quests or town is simply menu " Shop, Inn, blacksmith,etc" or point and click town map.

[silentenigma]

Can't wait till SE outsources to Mistwalker. That's about the only way they'd sell me on FF anymore, let alone reach Wada's 'goal'.

Seriously, I'll be skeptical of any FFVII remake that doesn't somehow involve Sakaguchi near the driver's seat. He seems to be the most likely person to keep Nojima and Kitase from screwing everything up.

[ShinGundam]

Can't wait till SE outsources to Mistwalker. That's about the only way they'd sell me on FF anymore, let alone reach Wada's 'goal'.

Seriously, I'll be skeptical of any FFVII remake that doesn't somehow involve Sakaguchi near the driver's seat. He seems to be the most likely person to keep Nojima and Kitase from screwing everything up.

Why would SE need to hire Mistwalker if they can't make a game themselves?
Mistwalker isn't a software developer consists of programmers, designers, directors, art teams, etc, they are just 6 people plan a project while Artoon or freeplus do the whole home work, so what is the point from hiring them?

[Karifean]

Sakaguchi is part of Mistwalker. That's reason enough.

[ShinGundam]

Sakaguchi is part of Mistwalker. That's reason enough.

For me, that isn't enough.

[Jiro]

Sakaguchi doesn't want to talk about FF anymore, I hardly think he would want to work on one.

[Wolf Kanno]

He still talks about it actually. Hell he's drinking buddies with Kitase and even in a joking matter told him stuff he wished they would stop doing in the series. He also told Tokita (FFIVDS/The After Years) to stop making so many remakes.

I still think he thinks of the series as his baby, though he is probably trying to move away from the series. The Last Story is gameplay wise, very different from anything he's personally worked on in the past. Hell he still gives Squenix advice like telling them they should start moving FF to the X-Box as well, though this may have more to do with Microsoft owning him back then and his not so subtle loathing of Sony.

[Spooniest]

Ah, the Final Fantasy 7 remake.

They have to do it, in the end, for one simple, unadulterated reason:

WE WON'T SHUT UP ABOUT IT.

The first law of media is to give the people what they want.

Wada's assertion that "we have to make a game that surpasses it" first is BS, and I'll tell you why.

It isn't that he wants to make a game that surpasses it from a technological standpoint; that's Final Fantasy 8. Final Fantasy 8 is technologically superior to Final Fantasy 7 in every way. Hell, Final Fantasy Tactics even managed to do a few things better, technically speaking (Hi-res battle backgrounds, for instance).

It isn't that he wants to make a game that sells better, because if you think about it, they've kind of done it already. Final Fantasy 7 has sold more than any other game in the main series over the last 15 years. Look at the "opening weekend" figures, though. Final Fantasy 7, according to Wikipedia, sold 2.3 million copies in its first three days of release. Final Fantasy 8 sold 2.5 million, I'm guessing largely on the strength of people's anticipation from 7. So that's another motivation down.

It's the perception of Final Fantasy VII that they want to top. The reputation. The idea. This is where things become hairy. Have you ever tried to evaluate an idea?

Evaluation of technical specifications or sales figures is easy, it's just simple math. But to try to nail down the idea of Final Fantasy 7 is something else.

Wada is, quite frankly, a suit. He makes speeches to shareholders and tries to manage a huge multimillion dollar corporation. He isn't an artist. He relies on artists to make evaluations of this nature, and right now, if SE is going to do a remake, they need the expertise (at least) of the artists responsible for constructing it in the first place.

But in order for that to happen, SE has to say (in public!), "we need these artists to return in order to explain to us why the hell these people (us, the fans) are so goddamn crazy about this game." They have to publicly declare that they are not Final Fantasy 7. The artists who made Final Fantasy 7 are Final Fantasy 7.

This isn't an easy thing for a huge corporation to have to do, even in the west, but can you imagine how it is in the east? This would involve SE losing a lot of "face."

But I remain firmly convinced that they will have to swallow their pride, bite the bullet, and get the people they need to do the remake that

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WE WILL NOT SHUT UP ABOUT.

I just hope I'm still alive when it happens, cuz hey...killin' some monsters. Good times.

[ShinGundam]

Artist who? you mean Yusuke Naora?

[Jiro]

I believe he means the original development team in general.