Fans couldn’t believe it when Final Fantasy VII Remake was announced years ago. The original RPG from the PS1 remains one of the most classic titles in video game history. The story, the characters, and the visuals helped the title ascend beyond being “another RPG” and took its place in pop culture history. While it took many years to come out to PS4, then get a port to the PS5 and PC, the remake was everything fans could’ve hoped for and more. But the twist was that the remake wasn’t 100% faithful to the original game. There were plenty of changes within.
The obvious one is that the first game in the remake line only dealt with the story within Midgar. In the original game, that was only a few hours of content. But the team made it feel like an entire RPG experience. There were also changes in the battle system which helped it feel like a more modern RPG. The visuals were also overhauled. But, the new elements to the story really threw fans off as it changed things from how they happened, and now the future is in question.
In an interview with VG247, director Yoshinori Kitase, who was the lead on the original PS1 title and helped with the remake as a producer, noted that for him, it was important to make the game familiar yet different. Why? Because he didn’t want to bank solely on nostalgia:
“We approached the FF7 Remake project with the aim to make it something that could be enjoyed by both fans of the original game and people who did not know it.
I have also had experiences where a game that I loved and had a lot of fun with in the past was remade, and I bought it and played it out of the overwhelming nostalgia. It is enjoyable for a while, but the fun from that nostalgia only really lasts through the first sections. I realised this halfway through and didn’t carry on playing.
Because of this, I decided that Final Fantasy 7 Remake would not just appeal to nostalgia, but would include a new story as well to feel both nostalgic and fresh at the same time.”
He notes that because of this choice, the team can build anticipation and hype for the next games in the remake line, which continues with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, as now fans will wonder what may happen next. Will they continue to break off from the original story? Or will they “course correct” in unique ways? We’ll have to wait for it to release to find out.
