5 Feb, 2010
Developer says conventional towns in particular are difficult to render in high-def, part of the reason FFXIII is more linear than most.
No, Square Enix isn’t working on a Final Fantasy VII remake right now. They apparently have their reasons for ignoring a potential mountain of cash though, starting with this one — it would be hard to make.
In a recent interview with Ultimania magazine (via Lost Gamer), producer Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama noted that part of the reason Final Fantasy XIII lacks towns is that they are difficult to design for high-definition graphics.
“It is a result of considering HD graphics will be the mainstream. Considering the amount of work to make graphics that deserve HD, it is hard to make towns in the conventional style,” Toriyama said.
“In the limited period of development time, to convey the the great story that deserves the name of Final Fantasy, and to convey the battles that entertain players enough, we condensed each element.”
Kitase added that this same problem applies to any potential Final Fantasy VII remake, “It is very hard to make games on PlayStation 3 in the same style as the games in that era had. Making graphics will take enormous time.”
Rumors of a Final Fantasy VII remake started with the famous tech demo, which was created to show what was possible on the PS3 before it launched. Square Enix has denied such rumors on numerous occasions, but they persist to this day.
At the moment, Square Enix is preparing for the release of Final Fantasy XIII, with FFXIV to follow sometime soon. Once those games are out of the gate, maybe we can start thinking about an FFVII remake. I’m almost certain that even after numerous delays, and shaky rumors, there’s still a lot of us fangirls left who will be shaking and crying should this ever happen.
Source: 1up.com
Picture: Final-Fantasy.it
I have mixed feelings about an FF7 remake. It would be cool to see updated graphics, but then saying that makes me feel like I’m betraying the era that started my gaming obsession.
Ah, at least we have Advent Children. :)
I don’t think that they should bother with a Final Fantasy VII remake. They’ve milked the series to death, and I think they should concentrate on making sure their existing projects are great (like Nier) as well as working on new projects. Final Fantasy VII is fine as it is; I know that I can fire it up any time and enjoy the hell out of it.
I have to applaud SE for admitting that making big towns is hard (I doubt anyone else could do it, either) and for using that difficulty to their advantage by making a whole new and different style of storytelling and adventure.
Personally, I would love to see a remake of Final Fantasy VII, its one of my favorites, and I think a classic like that needs a graphics update. Though, I wouldn’t change any game play or story line, except maybe add some new moves and items. Maybe one day we can hope for an FFVII remake, but until rendering 3D hi-def meshes becomes more efficient, I doubt we’ll see one any time soon.