FF7 remake's latest staff interviews (contains some info on multi-release plan)

From the actual translated interviews it sounds more like FFVII needs to be divided into multiple parts so that we aren't waiting forever to get something.

Multiple parts is clearly towards "Part 1 you play through Midgar" "Part 2 you play through the Gold Saucer", etc.

Pretty clear when they make a statement on attention to detail on 8th Street applying to everywhere in the game and they need as much time as possible to apply said details to each area of the game and doing so in one full blown release would just take way too long for them.

It's not going to be Game 1 = Final Fantasy VII, Game 2 = Advent Children, and so on.

No it's not clearly implying that at all, your guess is as good as mine.
But the wording in the op says 'several titles ' and SE PR 'each entry' which both imply larger scope than just a few hours worth of content.
Even if each entry offers a game's worth of content, we will still be seeing the first release within a reasonable time period, rather than waiting for the whole thing to come out - so it would still be serving the purpose of getting it out sooner rather than later.

And I never said that, actually I'm pretty sure AC has nothing to do with the remake.
 
LOL you guys. At first you all be like "hell no get outta there with dat shit" and now you're all like "oh it's ok i guess". thisisneogaf.gif
 
Well, to me this sounds exactly like someone had said in the other thread, as in "more detailed cities to make up for the fact there's no overworld or there will be some connection but it'll be very streamlined". The only way to know is wait for episode 1, assuming it doesn't end with them leaving Midgar.
 
How would this work? How could we potentially get 3 fully realised FF7 games?
Split FFVII plot into three major arcs (wherever is appropriate), each with a relatively self contained ending.
For each part you embellish the plot, make everything more detailed, make characters more fleshed out, let us see more of AVELANCHE, more of the Turks (hell, give us some side missions where can play as these groups)
Make the towns and world map fully realised areas, all offering side content, secret content etc
Make Yuffie and Vincent non optional
Give us more scenes showing individual character development (such as Cid and his rocket)
Give us playable Zack sections

They could easily make the game span multiple titles if they wanted to. Nomura says the remake will be 'denser' than the original, in terms of content, and this is the kinda stuff they might be considering.
 
Now that I've calmed down (and exhausted) after a heavy workout, I'm looking forward to how they handle this multi-release plan. Hey, at least it's confirmed there are character switching, and cross-dressing section is still in. That makes it day 1 regardless of what.
 
LOL you guys. At first you all be like "hell no get outta there with dat shit" and now you're all like "oh it's ok i guess". thisisneogaf.gif

Indeed. As great as it can be in this grand age of gaming, there are times when I go "..really?" and this is one of those times.

I see nothing but excuses in the bullet points and interview snippet. Square Enix will forever Square Enix.
 
Sounds more positive than expected. Only wondering about backtracking and how they're going to split the game.

Being saying for 10 years that the volume of VII is too large for SE. We've seen significant reduction in purposeful content in JRPGs over the last two gens as compared to the PS1 days where even small devs can afford to make games that felt epic and were long.

This was especially true during last gen when devs started making games that relied on repetitive fetch quests and backtracking instead of making more areas and good sidequests.

Even XII and XIII's stories felt short when compared to the past FFs. XII was a long game but the story wasn't. The many areas was probably due to the long development time that they had but it was lacking in sidequests thay provided additional story to the world and characters. XIII's story felt like it would have been a disc 1 of VII to X.
 

Q
I got it. And I heard it’ll be multiple parts.

Kitase-san
Yes. The reason why we haven’t gave a go for VII remake is that it’s extremely hard to remake FFVII with the current technology, and to be honest, we hesitated. Remaking FFVII in HD without losing the original’s “density” requires more than one part.
Nomura-san
If we were to put it in one part, then we have to cut many parts and deliver it as a digest. Nobody wants that kind of game. Plus, users can explore many places in Midgar where they couldn’t in the original game. Once we decided to remake VII, we will develop those details and more. Of course we have to cut some parts from the original, but users can expect the VII world that only VII Remake can deliver. We estimate that, with the quality of those details, the volume of the game will be larger than the original after all. You may worry about the schedule, and we want to provide the game as soon as possible. Making it multiple parts is the line we drew to deliver the game.

Well they did say that it would take lots of years to remake the game (which was and is still huge) when they showed the techdemo.
 
Did anyone expect them to come out and say

"We are going with episodes because we feel we will get more money out if the players this way"

Of course they are going to pay lipservice like this to "justify" while give teasers to said fanbase even more to justify making them buy all episodes
 
I'm still very anxious about how this is gonna turn out but......

Split FFVII plot into three major arcs (wherever is appropriate), each with a relatively self contained ending.
For each part you embellish the plot, make everything more detailed, make characters more fleshed out, let us see more of AVELANCHE, more of the Turks (hell, give us some side missions where can play as these groups)
Make the towns and world map fully realised areas, all offering side content, secret content etc
Make Yuffie and Vincent non optional
Give us more scenes showing individual character development (such as Cid and his rocket)
Give us playable Zack sections

They could easily make the game span multiple titles if they wanted to. Nomura says the remake will be 'denser' than the original, in terms of content, and this is the kinda stuff they might be considering.

Brother, I like your attitude.
 
Honestly pretty reasonable explanation, I'm glad they aren't cutting things out which seems to be a thing these days with older franchises coming back.
 
personally it's a huge letdown and I've lost my interest in the game(s). I can't help but feel that an episodic format will force changes upon the game that will turn it into something that doesn't appeal to me. I'd rather wait five more years for a complete singular experience. honestly I feel a bit like they fooled me with this new information surfacing so long after the initial announcement.
 
Nomura and Kitase make it sound like they would've refused to do it unless they could do it in parts. I guess I can see the perspective if they're really going all out.

I'm hoping for one epic trilogy.
 
Split FFVII plot into three major arcs (wherever is appropriate), each with a relatively self contained ending.
For each part you embellish the plot, make everything more detailed, make characters more fleshed out, let us see more of AVELANCHE, more of the Turks (hell, give us some side missions where can play as these groups)
Make the towns and world map fully realised areas, all offering side content, secret content etc
Make Yuffie and Vincent non optional
Give us more scenes showing individual character development (such as Cid and his rocket)
Give us playable Zack sections

They could easily make the game span multiple titles if they wanted to. Nomura says the remake will be 'denser' than the original, in terms of content, and this is the kinda stuff they might be considering.

Yep nailed it
 
If they can pad it out and not cut corners I am happy with that.
I reckon they will definitely utilize more set pieces to make it feel a lot more streamlined.

Let's take the Midgar Zolom encounter for example. In the original, storywise this is hardly touched on, with an optional battle and subsequently a screen where it is skewered just before the Mithril Caves.

I imagine in an attempt to bring this in line with contemporary gameplay dramatisations we see in recent games, I can see something similar to the Behemoth section of the FF15 demo if anyone played it. A full on set piece, creating atmosphere with interactive story/gameplay elements.

If they incorporate this level of programming into the world then I'm more than happy if this is released in installments.
 
Hah, my first thought after seeing the gameplay trailer was "wait, will this be an episodic game?"

Because they showed nothing outside of Midgar or even the beginning. Usually it's a little slice of everything to hype up the cool looking stuff.
Sure, this could be done on purpose, but it now makes sense how a full remake could be financially viable (which they said was NOT the case before this was announced): Just split it into as many games as you need to.
 
I kinda feel itll be every 18 months from 2017 and itll be the storyline of each disc.



They are not that comparable at all...

Which FF remake was as ambitious as this?

There is a difference between games made with pixel art than 3D games with one generation leap in technology.

None of their previous remakes were on this level. Not a one. Their biggest ones were what? FFIII/IV for the DS?

They've turned pixel art into 3D with previous efforts. FF7 might be a bigger game in scope and size but it's still a finite system with clear borders. Yet a full team of programmers, designers and artists can't make a complete product in a reasonable amount of time? Clearly not, we have XV to prove it. But we also have other producers making much more advanced and demanding projects with many less people involved, in an acceptable timeframe and adequate budget.

If we could all collectively remove the freaking nostalgia goggles and see this for the unacceptable cash grab of thirsty, begging and willing fans that it is, we would be demanding a lot more competence and professionalism from SQE. Except we don't and they keep getting free passes, hence the current state of the company, the way they treat their customers and the lack of soul, charisma and creativity too many of their projects have shown in recent years.
 
I feel like this is a terrible idea. Has there ever been an episodic game that hasn't trailed off in sales as it went along? I just can't imagine a situation in which this makes them more money than if they make it one game and ride the hype train into 10+ million sales.
 
I really hope there will be a world map like in the original, but with the episodic nature of the game I am afraid it will be more like FFX.
 
As a rough example.

Episode I: Midgar to Junon. You would only be able explore one continent. Just like the original game.

Episode II: Costa Del Sol to Rocket Town. Another continent is added to explore. Just like the original game.

Episode III: Wutai - Nothern Crater. The rest of the map opens up and you'd finally be able to explore everywhere with Highwind. Just like the original game.
0e3.png



hope will be that, only think that midgar to junon is very small compared to the other episodes
 
I would be really surprised if this Remake even has a world map like the original tbh. In fact I'm like 99% sure it won't because it doesn't work in this style.
 
I'm guessing by the time the last volume is out you'll be able to go anywhere/do anything since they'll have all the assets made. Or does that not make sense. This is so confusing lol. I kind of wouldn't mind a ninokuni style overworld if it means we get everything at once but even then just all the locations and everything if it were done at the same level of detail as just the extremely tiny part of midgar we saw....pretty crazy.
 
So they're claiming FFVII is too dense for a single release, while also talking about all of the additional content they're adding? I'm not saying exploring more of Midgar won't be cool, but they're clearing padding this out to make more money. Why is it so hard just to remake exactly how it was originally? There's a few areas of Midgar to re-create, they don't need an entire city.

This is still terrible news.
 
Maybe I'm completely wromg but why does everyone think there would not be an overworld? Wasnt the whole overworld all on disc3 on the original? I know its not the same but what i mean is that i think it's doable.
 
If they let reach Ep1 locations any time in Ep2 and the same with Ep3 Ep4... and each episode is more like an expansion. I'm ok with it.

What I don't want is a linear Episodic game...

Also maybe they should limit the max lvl you can get in each episode... if not everyone will get to lvl 100 waiting episode 2 and the game will be swallow
 
If they let reach Ep1 locations any time in Ep2 and the same with Ep3 Ep4... and each episode is more like an expansion. I'm ok with it.

What I don't want is a linear Episodic game...

Also maybe they should limit the max lvl you can get in each episode... if not everyone will get to lvl 100 waiting episode 2 and the game will be swallow

pretty hard to grind to lvl 100 with monsters level 20

but i dont doubt hardcore fans
 
These clarifications are making the kneejerk reaction even more interesting to read through this morning.

Check out the other thread, it's like twilight zone right now.
People have latched onto the word 'episodic' and ran with it, when SE never used that word, nor are people really paying attention to what SE are actually saying. But oh well.
 
This is fine only if:
1. It isn't more than 3-4 parts.
2. Each part isn't over 20$ in cost.

This is the only reasonable way to make this decision worthwhile and the fans happy. Any more parts or a substantially bigger cost per episode means the game, however good, is burying itself simply because of fan expectations.
 
Maybe I'm completely wromg but why does everyone think there would not be an overworld? Wasnt the whole overworld all on disc3 on the original? I know its not the same but what i mean is that i think it's doable.

Of course it is doable.
But this is evil cash crabbing SE who are going to release 5693 episodes with no exploration, on rails progression and 2 hours worth of dumbed down content every 28 years.
 
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