Nomura talks Final Fantasy VII Remake in Dengeki PlayStation

XIII-2 and LR are not 50 hour games lol.
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[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/50VpkR6.png[/IMG]

I wasn't talking about the number when you rush through the main story strictly. All 3 games are different, but the "Main + Extra" values in that image are pretty accurate numbers for the way most people play RPGs and from my experience, namely going through the main story and do a few sidequests here and there along the way (LR actually was ~80h for me because I enjoyed it so much). The average of those values for all 3 games is ~50h. Now maybe ~35-40 for the main story for each episode of FFVIIR would be realistic, plus another 10-15 for side content, I'd say.
 
This looks so good. Really atmospheric and immersive.

1449569167-ff7r-midgar.gif
 
Man something about Kitase makes me kinda sad these days. He just seems so robotic and without passion, like any sense of excitement has long been removed from him. It's hard to remember he was the man behind some of (most of) Square's best titles ever.

I know what you mean - I believe he contributed more than the Gooch to the FFs I love best (e.g., VI). But post-X, where did his challenger's spirit go?

Perhaps VII R will reignite it...
 
Man something about Kitase makes me kinda sad these days. He just seems so robotic and without passion, like any sense of excitement has long been removed from him. It's hard to remember he was the man behind some of (most of) Square's best titles ever.
Yeah, I felt the same watching him in interviews during FFXIII-2 and LR, but judging from the last few interviews and messages about FFVIIR I honestly think he's filled with hunger and excitement again working on a project of such pedigree and with this kind of expectations. Everything has to be reevaluated, streamlined or fleshed-out, rewritten, reimagined... it's basically like making a new AAA FF or, well, several of them. However, now hopefully without all the managerial and technical problems they had during the nightmarish PS3/X360-era over at SE.

He once called a possible FFVII remake his "life's work" in early 2014 (when it already was in development, btw, because according to Nomura they started developement over a year before the infamous FFVII PS4 port troll announcement in late 2014, which matches the time that Verendus started teasing it on GAF for the first time):
But there's another major barrier to the project being greenlit: Kitase's personal motivation to create it.

"Even if I casually say I would like to do that, because it would be a huge project I would have to motivate myself to the level that I really am prepared to take on this huge responsibility," he said.

"I don't know if those three things will happen simultaneously. It has to tick lots of very big boxes. I won't rule out the possibility, but it would take a lot to make it happen.

"But should I ever take it on, it would have to be the biggest project I've done. My life work. So I would have to be as highly motivated as that to end up with something I'm very happy with. It's a huge thing for me."​

---

I know what you mean - I believe he contributed more than the Gooch to the FFs I love best (e.g., VI). But post-X, where did his challenger's spirit go?

Perhaps VII R will reignite it...
Funny thing is, in the recent Sakaguchi x Tabata interview, Gooch told the story of how he pissed off Kitase during the FFXIII-era when they had dinners and he tried to motivate Kitase to be ambitious and bold again because it seemed he kinda had given up and became complacent (is this the right English word?).
--”Sakaguchi-san, did you ever share your opinions on any of the previous numbered Final Fantasy titles?”

Sakaguchi: I did. I spoke to Matsuno when he was working on FFXII, and both Kitase and Toriyama (Motomu Toriyama. Worked on FFVII and FFX, Director for the FFXIII series) visited me at my home in Hawaii as part of a holiday trip. We had an intense discussion in a yakiniku restaurant. I’m pretty blunt with my opinions, but Kitase doesn't flinch either, so he was probably shaking his head at the old guy asking for the impossible again. (laughs)

Tabata: Kitase-san is a tough debater. I was witness to a heated exchange, where Sakaguchi-san was pointing out that Kitase-san knew in his heart what he should be doing, yet not doing it, while Kitase-san’s argument was that some efforts are simply not realistic.

Sakaguchi: I recall saying something along the lines of “Nothing is impossible, you're just not trying, break the box and think outside it!“ (laughs)
 
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[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/50VpkR6.png[/IMG]

I wasn't talking about the number when you rush through the main story strictly. All 3 games are different, but the "Main + Extra" values in that image are pretty accurate numbers for the way most people play RPGs and from my experience, namely going through the main story and do a few sidequests here and there along the way (LR actually was ~80h for me because I enjoyed it so much). The average of those values for all 3 games is ~50h. Now maybe ~35-40 for the main story for each episode of FFVIIR would be realistic, plus another 10-15 for side content, I'd say.

Seconding this. I find that site to be fairly accurate. FFXIII, especially, is a clear 50 hour game even with minimal side stuff.

There's nothing I can find about the games being 25 hours, or anything close to that. Everything I can find on it emphasizes that each title would be a complete, full length game.
 
I know what you mean - I believe he contributed more than the Gooch to the FFs I love best (e.g., VI). But post-X, where did his challenger's spirit go?

Perhaps VII R will reignite it...
Funny thing is, in the recent Sakaguchi x Tabata interview, Gooch told the story of how he pissed off Kitase during the FFXIII-era when they had dinners and he tried to motivate Kitase to be ambitious and bold again because it seemed he kinda had given up and became complacent (is this the right English word?).
--”Sakaguchi-san, did you ever share your opinions on any of the previous numbered Final Fantasy titles?”

Sakaguchi: I did. I spoke to Matsuno when he was working on FFXII, and both Kitase and Toriyama (Motomu Toriyama. Worked on FFVII and FFX, Director for the FFXIII series) visited me at my home in Hawaii as part of a holiday trip. We had an intense discussion in a yakiniku restaurant. I’m pretty blunt with my opinions, but Kitase doesn't flinch either, so he was probably shaking his head at the old guy asking for the impossible again. (laughs)

Tabata: Kitase-san is a tough debater. I was witness to a heated exchange, where Sakaguchi-san was pointing out that Kitase-san knew in his heart what he should be doing, yet not doing it, while Kitase-san’s argument was that some efforts are simply not realistic.

Sakaguchi: I recall saying something along the lines of “Nothing is impossible, you're just not trying, break the box and think outside it!“ (laughs)
 
Added the full interview:

--Finally, please tell us more about the [FFVII REMAKE] that has caught the world's attention.

Nomura: If it had past materials like [KH], the basics would have been easy to understand, and the staff can understand the hurdles we've had to overcome, but at any rate, the battles in [FFVII] have greatly changed from the original, since they're something with more action in them. The next time I release information about [FFVII REMAKE], I think that I'll definitely have to explain the specifics of what the battle system has become to the players. I think right now that nobody is really able to imagine a concrete battle, so I'm in the middle of coming up with steps that I can show and explain to people, “It's this kind of battle.”

--Sounds like you're breaking your backs over remaking what was originally a command-based battle system into an action style battle system.

Nomura: We've heard a lot of [FFVII] fans also say that they want to play the game with the original ATB style, but for the remake we're proceeding toward an action-heavy style. Of course, we've added systems that future fans will be able to enjoy, so people who are bad at action-style battles, please don't worry. For those who excel at action-style battles, we're working to make this a system that's different than what you've used before and can still enjoy. Recently, we checked the Guard Scorpion at the beginning of the game, and I think you'll be satisfied with the realism you'll feel there.

--2017 is also the 20th anniversary of [FFVII].

Nomura: Like with the 15th anniversary of [KH], I'm thinking I'd like to plan something or other. It's just that, since we've been keeping busy with productions, including the game [WOFF] that I showcased today, I don't think I will be able to share any new news until after things calm down.
 
I know what you mean - I believe he contributed more than the Gooch to the FFs I love best (e.g., VI). But post-X, where did his challenger's spirit go?

Perhaps VII R will reignite it...

because he was put as a producer. His awesomeness resides in his direction: FF6, FF7, FF8

and of course, at this stage of his career, he's entitled to take backseat and relax if he wants to.
 
Added the full interview:

XV is supposed to be a system that works for action fans and turn based fans (all the time based prompts, real time interaction, but built around slower switching between hold to defend and hold to attack with warp outs to break up the action (and of course wait mode).

But there's almost never any discussion about the ways it works or doesn't from this hybrid perspective, it's mostly bitching and moaning that it's not as precise as Souls or DMC or, alternatively, that's it not just ATB.

If they go the same direction with VII R I predict a similar cacophony. Lots of old school turn based fans tend not to like interesting hybrid systems (like XII's or paradigm shifting), and if you get too close to real action people start assessing it by character action criteria.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but I tend to love these weird hybrids SE comes up with, so I'm looking forward to however VII R turns out as well.
 
Thank god they're not going for a half-baked hybrid action system (or so it seems) to please old fans.
Make that shit DMC tbh

"People who are bad at action need not worry..."

"For action fans we're working to make a system different from what you've experienced before..."

Sounds like another hybrid system. And I really don't think it's going to play as fast as DMC, even if it's full action.
 
They can make good hybrid systems. Lightning Returns was fast and responsive, while still having a more calculated and strategic aspect with schemata switching and managing ATB costs. The movement in battle was really slow, thus encouraging use of abilities (evade etc.) rather than worrying about moving out of attacks, or movement in general. It was a good hybrid system.

There was also a well executed mix of action and turn based gameplay in the game Transistor. So there are certainly ways of doing it well.

Let's see what we get here.
 
They can make good hybrid systems. Lightning Returns was fast and responsive, while still having a more calculated and strategic aspect with schemata switching and managing ATB costs. The movement in battle was really slow, thus encouraging use of abilities (evade etc.) rather than worrying about moving out of attacks, or movement in general. It was a good hybrid system.

There was also a well executed mix of action and turn based gameplay in the game Transistor. So there are certainly ways of doing it well.

Let's see what we get here.
Word.
 
Nomura: We've heard a lot of [FFVII] fans also say that they want to play the game with the original ATB style, but for the remake we're proceeding toward an action-heavy style.

Really not sure why Nomura had tried to make a point of the combat being something traditional fans would enjoy. Sounds like my skepticism was justified.

Probably will be passing on this game.
 
All I really want to know is how they plan on doing the world (semi-open, open, linear?) and how they plan on segmenting each part.

Really hope it isn't anything more than 3 games.

looks like ffversus13
That's because it is
*cue twilight zone theme*
 
Really not sure why Nomura had tried to make a point of the combat being something traditional fans would enjoy. Sounds like my skepticism was justified.

Probably will be passing on this game.

really dont understand this comment he also say
For those who excel at action-style battles, we’re working to make this a system that’s different than what you’ve used before and can still enjoy

hes literally stating that the combat is something that while has more action in it, people really havent quite grasped how it plays, thats why theres this whole comment on him saying he'll need to go more in depth with it later and the whole

“It's this kind of battle.”

at least thats what it seems to me
 
hes literally stating that the combat is something that while has more action in it, people really havent quite grasped how it plays, thats why theres this whole comment on him saying he'll need to go more in depth with it later and the whole

I will still of course look at his (promised) upcoming detailed info in regards to the combat system and see if it's something I may still like, but that it's heavy action is already starting it on the huge minus side for me.
 
You could probably beat the original 10 times before the remake comes out.

Play the original.

Yup. Play it. You probably already know if turn based and OG polygons are your thing or not, but I played the game for the first time ever in 2012 and was very, very impressed. It's a really solid entry in the series. And that's coming from someone who doesn't have any of the "FF7 is the best game ever made" nostalgia because 8 was my first.
 
Yup. Play it. You probably already know if turn based and OG polygons are your thing or not, but I played the game for the first time ever in 2012 and was very, very impressed. It's a really solid entry in the series. And that's coming from someone who doesn't have any of the "FF7 is the best game ever made" nostalgia because 8 was my first.

It's honestly even more impressive when you find out that the game is basically held together with duct tape.
 
*sigh*


I am happy about VII Remake,
though I would have preferred a VI or a VIII remake tbh
, I still can't get excited about Nomura being on the helm of this project. And before you start, no, its not because of Versus development cycle I know that it isn't entirely his fault. However, I don't like how he runs his projects and the weird decisions he comes up with all the time.

I mean, he split VII into PARTS that each will cost me 60$. I don't like this idea, people can defend his decision by saying "its because the VII universe is too big to be in one game" its bullshit, it fit before in the PS1 era so why couldn't it fit now? I don't believe they even have enough content to fill each part with (that is equivalent to each XIII game btw), its obviously them being greedy and wanting to milk this game as much as possible.

Also, the battle system, yes as a person who likes actions games I was very happy to see the game going action instead of ATB. However, I also don't like how he is trying to make this into a weird hybrid ( I don't like it in XV and I don't want to see it in VII R) and I also don't want to see KH gameplay in VII R.

So yeah, its very hard for me to get excited q_q
 
In what way?

The game is...well, I hesitate to use the word "poorly" since it's not THAT bad (the game still runs after all lol) but for lack of a better term, it is poorly programmed. I won't even go into the numerous bugs/glitches since those are already well-documented (Blind, Magic Defense, etc). Then there's the translation of course, and also the fact that changing the button config doesn't actually work in two areas.

This isn't a knock on the game at all, believe me. It's more of a "wow it's great despite all the flaws."
 
*sigh*


I am happy about VII Remake,
though I would have preferred a VI or a VIII remake tbh
, I still can't get excited about Nomura being on the helm of this project. And before you start, no, its not because of Versus development cycle I know that it isn't entirely his fault. However, I don't like how he runs his projects and the weird decisions he comes up with all the time.

I mean, he split VII into PARTS that each will cost me 60$. I don't like this idea, people can defend his decision by saying "its because the VII universe is too big to be in one game" its bullshit, it fit before in the PS1 era so why couldn't it fit now? I don't believe they even have enough content to fill each part with (that is equivalent to each XIII game btw), its obviously them being greedy and wanting to milk this game as much as possible.

Also, the battle system, yes as a person who likes actions games I was very happy to see the game going action instead of ATB. However, I also don't like how he is trying to make this into a weird hybrid ( I don't like it in XV and I don't want to see it in VII R) and I also don't want to see KH gameplay in VII R.

So yeah, its very hard for me to get excited q_q

Uncharted 4 is one of the biggest-budget games ever, took years to be made, and has a ridiculous number of massive, detailed assets.

If that game was made in the PS1 era it'd have taken nowhere near the same amount of budget and manpower.

Development has changed.
 
The game is...well, I hesitate to use the word "poorly" since it's not THAT bad (the game still runs after all lol) but for lack of a better term, it is poorly programmed. I won't even go into the numerous bugs/glitches since those are already well-documented (Blind, Magic Defense, etc). Then there's the translation of course, and also the fact that changing the button config doesn't actually work in two areas.

This isn't a knock on the game at all, believe me. It's more of a "wow it's great despite all the flaws."
The craziest part is that it was made in only 1 year on a completely new console and technology. Highly recommending this interview translated on Shmuplations, btw:
http://shmuplations.com/ff7/

Kanzaki: There were a lot of worries at the start of the development though.

Narita: Yeah, in a certain sense, FF7 is something of a minor miracle. I mean, we only had a year to do everything.

Fujii: It’s the shortest development we’ve had so far.

Narita: Yeah, that it was. And normally you’d start developing your game after you’d learned the new hardware. But we had to learn the hardware and create the game all in the same year. I really couldn’t believe it when I saw the finished product of FF7. It’s amazing that so many people were involved, and that we completed it in so short a time.

Fujii: Time is always the one thing you’re in short supply of. We had to do the battle system after all the field stuff was done, so practically speaking we only had half a year for that. The last dungeon was a real slap-bang, rushed affair.​
 
Uncharted 4 is one of the biggest-budget games ever, took years to be made, and has a ridiculous number of massive, detailed assets.

If that game was made in the PS1 era it'd have taken nowhere near the same amount of budget and manpower.

Development has changed.

Uhh .. So? Uncharted is still ONE game. If XV and all of its scale can fit in one game then why VII couldn't? I really don't get this argument about how "development has changed" when we see huge games like Witcher III or GTA easily fitting in one game without unnecessary parts like the whole headache the XIII trilogy was. I honestly don't even think VII universe is even that big (excluding the spin offs), someone is projecting his "World of Versus Epic" in this project and I honestly don't like it. I would rather wait 5 - 6 years to get the entire game than wait 2 years between each part q_q
 
One year for og 7 am I reading that right!? Man can game development go back to those times? I mean 1 year is unrealistic but damn the fact they got it done and made what's arguably one of the greatest games(Viii is better) says alot
 
Squaresofts output in the 90s was just insane. They kept pushing out quality title after quality title.
 
One year for og 7 am I reading that right!? Man can game development go back to those times? I mean 1 year is unrealistic but damn the fact they got it done and made what's arguably one of the greatest games(Viii is better) says alot

A game as buggy as FF7 currently is would get torn apart if it were released now.
 
And they said it will take 100 hours to see everything in Star Ocean 5: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/05/star-ocean-5-preview-changes-western-rpg/#p3

This is hilarious because the game is so repetitive you only have to play it for 30 minutes to see everything you're going to see.

One year for og 7 am I reading that right!? Man can game development go back to those times? I mean 1 year is unrealistic but damn the fact they got it done and made what's arguably one of the greatest games(Viii is better) says alot

To be fair, VII was ugly and buggy even back in the day. Its art design, story, direction, music, villain, and midgame plot twist really saved the day.
 
VII in its day doesn't even come close to the bugs we get sometimes in todays climate.

It's not a very good comparison, apples and oranges and all that.
 
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