Five Reasons Why a Final Fantasy VII Remake or Sequel WILL Happen

Back in May of 2005, Square Enix did something that perhaps they regret. The PlayStation 3 had yet to be released, but we were getting plenty of trailers to remind us how amazing it was going to be. Some developers went out of their way to produce tech demos that weren’t necessarily games, but just examples of how powerful the PS3 was. Square Enix got a piece of this action and made one depicting a next-gen Final Fantasy VII. This demo turned out to be the greatest thing ever produced by mankind next to sex.

As soon as this video went up, fanboys, myself included, rejoiced at the mere thought of Final Fantasy VII on PS3. However, Square Enix was really quick to remind people that this was just a tech demo and not an announcement. But it was too late — they had put the idea in our heads, and now we wanted (and still want) a remake!

Above: You know the one

To say a FFVII remake would be highly anticipated is a gross understatement. Square Enix, though, has been good about killing any rumors when they start, most notably in an interview with OXM. In this interview FFXIII producer Yoshinori Kitase said: “[…] if we were to take one of the past Final Fantasy titles and make a sequel to it, I think that would be a lot more challenging because when they were on PlayStation and PlayStation 2 their actual game volume was a lot bigger, kind of.

“Graphically they weren’t as advanced as they are now, but there were lots of towns and worlds and cities and whatever. So if we were to recreate the same kind of game – sequel or not – with the same volume, but give it a much higher level of graphical quality, it would us take three times, four times, even ten times longer to make such a game. So making a sequel for an old game would be a lot more challenging.”

Seems as final as you could get, that. Fortunately for all of us, it’s bollocks; here are a few reasons why.

5. They’ve been preparing for it this entire time

What if I told you every Final Fantasy from the moment that tech demo came out til now was part a huge experiment? Hear me out.

Remaking FFVII has been a plan of Square’s for sometime since they released that tech demo (at least). There is a possibility that it can be traced back to FFX, but I’ll explain that later. While Square was truthful about that demo not being a trailer, it did serve another purpose other than showing off the PS3’s amazing graphics. It was a marketing ploy to A) test the waters to see if there was enough interest in the remake, and B) to get people talking about Final Fantasy VII again. As I mentioned earlier, it worked. People have been talking about a remake to this day.

So that begs the question: If the interest was there, why hasn’t it been made yet? The answer is that Square is playing it smart, and taking care to make it great. They need this game to be epic and are thus preparing the Hades out of it. Everything about this one –whether it’s a remake or another FFVII sequel — has to be perfect, from the visuals to the combat system. Square needed a way to prepare, so they did through every game they’ve released. Well, with the exception of the Final Fantasy MMOs and that one FFXII sequel on the DS.

A lot of the plan for another FFVII title can actually be seen in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. That movie shows off a lot of what Square wants. With its mind-blowing visuals and epic combat, it reintroduced the characters of FFVII and  breathed new life into that universe. After Advent Children‘s, the focus then seemed to make fights in Final Fantasy games look and feel less turn-based and more like a scene from the movie. It made sense to me, as the usual combat systems seemed pretty slow in comparison. If you look at the combat from FFXII to FFXIII-2, you can see what I mean. There’s no better example than the Final Fantasy XIII-2’s opening scene:

We’ve also had a multitude of games either remind us of FFVII, or simply give those characters cameos; Kingdom Hearts and Dissidia are major examples. They also released Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, both a spin-off and a prequel to FFVII, respectively. These games, while making Square Enix tons of cash, are doing what the demo did, which was to keep FFVII fresh in our heads. Why else do this unless something is on the horizon?

4. Square Enix doesn’t want vaporware on their hands

Our very own Joe Garcia wrote an interesting column awhile back about games that may as well be vaporware — games that studios announce, only to disappear into nothing. Examples that Joe cites include Metal Gear Rising and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. When studios or publishers announce a game, they should probably do so when they’ll be able to release it within a calendar year. That way it’s long enough for us to get excited, but not so long that we get annoyed by the wait.

This guy is just as upset as you are about being Vaporware.

A game being labeled vaporware can be a major blow to the credibility to it and the studio. Also, the more time we have to think about a game, the higher our expectations will be. That’s why Square hasn’t announced a release date, instead doing their best to deny the possibility of this game. No one can call a game vaporware if it hasn’t been announced, after all.

In many ways, they’re everyone a favor. We don’t get our hopes up and get annoyed, and they have all the time they need to make it good. It’s actually a really smart move on their part.

Readers Comments (19)

  1. Good article. I will forever kick myself for passing up on Playstation and RPGs back in the day. I saw the commercial for VII and when I tried the demo at Walmart it was nothing like it. Chibi characters and turn-based battles. To top it off, my mom was in a hurry so I couldn’t stay to finish the demo. I wrote off all RPGs as being “stupid turn-based games with little characters on them”. I was a big Nintendo dork at the time and didn’t know any friends with a Playstation.

    It wasn’t till years later when I played Super Mario RPG that I saw RPGs could be different. Even later I played the demo to Skies of Arcadia on the ODCM demo and thus was born my new love for the best genre of games out there. Never looked back since then and have loved every JRPG I’ve played (except Silver…my God, Silver is the worst game in history).

    I said all that to say that I passed up on VII, XIII and IX. It wasn’t till X and my PS2 that I experienced FF and I kicked myself for passing it up so long. I later did the same with the Metal Gear series with MG4 on PS3 but that’s another story.

    • Malcolm Spinedi February 17, 2012 @ 01:23

      You ever think about getting it on PSN? I believe its only 9.99

      • I played the PS1 rom on my PSP with CFW back in the day. I got like 20 hours in and my save corrupted, I believe. I got it off PSN years later and got like 8 hours into it and just couldn’t do it. The game looks horrible blown up on a big screen yet gorgeous on the PSP. I think if they went the halfway route and made the game a Vita exclusive that would be the best of many worlds. It would cause Vita sales to skyrocket, they would only need to render the game in half the resolution of a console port, fans could have several different control schemes available for hardcores and casuals and perhaps even some nice features like recognizing your Crisis Core save data and doing something special with that.

        Throw in some trophies and 3G leaderboards on a FFX-type boss arena and you’ve got a sure-fire seller right there.

  2. great article. youve given me hope my friend.

  3. speaking as a fan, the game would be terrible. You know very well that it isn’t just like a PS2 upgraded game (in which they just add a few more polygons and update lighting) they would have to recreate the whole game from scratch.
    In doing so, they can change whatever they want. Change the fighting system, ax the materia, lock away summons as DLC or one time use codes. ditto with side missions. Can’t access half the game without a code or paying another 10 bucks.

    so if you want a re-skined ff13/13-2 with FF7 characters, then you don’t appreciate FF7 for what it is.

    Don’t say they WILL NOT Change anything, the industry has changed, the focus isn’t on the hardcore anymore, they will change anything they want (it’s THEIR game) to go for the casual gamer. even if that means dumbing down the gameplay so your 4 year old sister can play it. By saying you want a remake, you’re saying destroy my childhood.I HOPE THEY NEVER MAKE IT

    • Lol NOSTALGIA ALERT! XD

      They have the long-time FFVII fans as well as the casual gamer to impress. Whatever they change it won’t be beyond recognition. These people at Square are cunning, you watch them bypass even the most cynical gamer’s expectations.

  4. Excellent article, the closing sentence seriously gave me chills.

    While Square-Enix hasn’t been on top of things lately, I’m almost certain they will never mess up FF7. If they sequel it, they’ll do it right. They’re not stupid enough to ruin the game with microtransactions, and if they do include them, it’ll be for extra content, not what should be regular content; the latter is a rookie mistake that flash game developers make.

    I think you’re right about the sequel, and I’d love to see it. Perhaps an early PS4 title, wouldn’t that sell the system like hot cakes?

    • voice of reason February 17, 2012 @ 18:40

      What are you talking about? just because it’s FF7 or a sequel doesn’t make it good. look at dragon age 2, way different from the first, the fans of the first hated the second, and this is Bioware. it’s THEIR property and they can do what they see fit. look at mario, he’s done typing games and teaching history games. they can do whatever they want, regardless of what the fans want.

  5. Crisis was “decent” but Cerberus and Advent Children were complete garbage. I’d rather see a remake of FFVII than another pointless and below average sequel or prequel. =/

  6. This honestly sounds less like a list of reasons Square could be making a Final Fantasy VII remake undercover and more like a list of blindly wishful thinking.

    You’ve denounced every reason that this is confirmed to NOT be happening and gone to extreme lengths to justify your reasoning.

    If through some chance you’re actually right, well then awesome. You get what you’ve always wanted and I don’t resent that in any way.

    However, I belive that, realistically, Square Enix meant what they said and don’t plan on developing a remake to VII. It sounds to me as if the tech they’ve developed at their in house studios doesn’t support the kind of game FF VII was, they could likely develop a sequel, I won’t argue that. However, the only way I see FF VII coming to PS3 is if Square Enix falls so far deep in the crap that they need a saving grace, as was the case with the first Final Fantasy, in which case it’d be a last minute ditch effort with far less of the care and effort than you’ve been dreaming of.

    At the latest, the PS4 will launch in 2014. So AT MOST Square Enix has two years to disappoint or please you;. I’ll come back here then. 🙂

  7. everytime i see something like this it sends chills down my spine
    and now im about to play crisis core and ff7 again
    i hope they do actually make it

  8. They already said “no” lot of times. They said was going to tike like..10 years to “rebuild” the FF7 world in HD, get over it guys…

  9. genesis or new character will be new enemy..but dont forget sephoroth….he is the ereall things…probably he is the real boss…he is or not..butin the nd cloud main enemies will be sephiroth…who could gues..ffvii-3?

  10. I have come to accept that FFVII is more likely over. It was once stated that something was planned for the 20th anniversary of the title but that won’t be until 2017. Square Enix may not exist by then if they don’t get their act together.

    I must say that your Reason #1 is flimsy at best. “G is out there, and plotting something.” He really isn’t. Crisis Core shows that Deepground is taking Genesis to be used as the base cell model for the Deepground members. Their powers and abilities are based off of genetic manipulation. However, at this point, Genesis has seen the Goddess, Minerva and been rejected by her. This would normally cause anger and agony but Genesis has figured out what the Gift of the Goddess is and accepts it. Genesis asks Zack if it tastes good. Zack says yeah. Genesis asks “the gift of the goddess?” and Zack thinks it’s the apple. Genesis shakes his head. Meaning there is another “gift”. To further show Genesis’ redemption, his part in FFVIICC ends with the final act of LOVELESS which is “To spare the sands, the seas, the skies/ I offer thee this silent sacrifice.” Genesis is ready to go quietly into that goodnight.

    In Dirge of Cerberus, G merely states that there is still work to be done. This game came out before Crisis Core so we really don’t know the meaning, until now. Genesis has changed, whether or not it is to be accepted by Minerva, that I can’t say. However, if we bring all factors of the game, We also no include GACKT portraying G. There are two original songs created by GACKT for this title (both performed dressed as G). REDEMPTION and LONGING. You can’t get more inspired than that. “Feel as though you are reborn now” (Redemption) and “Atone for all your sins and be reborn” (Longing) demonstrates G has changed.

    Genesis cannot be an antagonist anymore. At least if Square Enix makes a game that takes place after Dirge of Cerberus.

    I’m sorry to say but I will dismiss your #1 Reason. This doesn’t mean I am against a sequel. However, I am against a remake. The game is going to lose the allure it had. The classic polygonal look is something that makes us smile and remember good times. To remake that game with enhanced visuals and does nothing to help people understand the story better is a game that should not be made. The point of telling a story is to get it across to an audience and that has been done. I know you will say “it’s a business thing” and it is unfortunate that this is a reality faced.

    I have suggested to others on Square Enix Members in the past, a prequel depicting the story of JENOVA’s origins might be a good place to continue the story. We don’t know much as to where JENOVA is from or how JENOVA was even sealed. This may be the one missing piece of the story we need to see.

    I think perhaps Square Enix will face a brighter future by focusing their talent elsewhere.

  11. Sequel? Wat.

    Advent Children and Dirge of Cerebus are sequels, and are already out.

    Silly article.

  12. Honestly I wouldn’t mind seeing a remake but you know they will add a bunch of retarded content and completely rape the game from what it was originally. SE is horrible at that, they think they know what they’re doing but apparently their market research is for shit. Look at Final Fantasy 14… You would think that they learned from the mistakes they made in FFXI, but they didn’t. They made the old ones and then added even more. But the one thing you can count of from SE is great updates to MMO’s, everyone is generally happy with them. As long as they just updated the graphics, made the mini-games a little more fun, and added some extra CG scenes the game would be great. But we all know that’s not all they would change, I garuntee they would change the battle system to the point where it’s un-recognizable.

  13. I’m pretty much new to this conversation, but let’s face it, Final Fantasy VII remake(how beautiful that would be) won’t happen what-so-ever. A new sequel set after Dirge of Cerberus is more likely the suitable candidate for the company, the age of PS3 will be long gone after the end of 2014. I have a feeling that they’ll work on the Compilation after the release of Final Fantasy XV(retitle of Versus XIII) and Kingdom Hearts 3(hopefully next year in 2015). Besides, I’m more keen on Genesis’s new role, Cloud’s new heroic role and the roles of his friends, Rufus Shinra and the Turks.

Comments are closed.