Educate Me: Is there a new FFVII?

[tacticslion]

So I'm exhausted, and ignorant, when I came across two or three different things leading me to suspect that FFVII might be in the process of an update/remake?

(Two tweets (https://twitter.com/thespoonyone), a few screenshots <humorous gif time (http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--AU2Y2swL--/d8clcicfihuoevs91l6z.gif)! Probably out of context?>, and checking the wikipedia page which gives me a helpful, "maybe, we dunno" so...)

Anyway, I'm curious if this is accurate or just some sort of weird combination internet prank. I'm not online or up-to-date enough right now to know for sure.

If so, what prompted the idea to do so?

If not... does the tweeting/images have anything to prompt it?

While we're on the topic: is there anything happening with the Final Fantasy franchise at present?

Why yes, I realize that my current ignorance is showing. Thanks! :D

((Also: infants take up time, yo. Like, a lot! :knowledge:))

[Kyanbu The Legend]

it's not a remake nor an update. Just the PC version being ported to the PS4.

As for what's happening in the FF franchise. FFXV is coming out soon and so far it's looking visually impressive. Gameplay looks to be similar to KH.

[MuMu]

Also the XIII trilogy is being ported to PC, wheter that is good or mediocre news is up to you.

[Azisien]

The Final Fantasy franchise is continuing to not be what it used to be, and instead is something else which doesn't seem quite as good. But then, we are also not 11 years old anymore.

[Ryong]

Also they're making a final fantasy news hub app thing for iOS which may not seen like it's important at all, but it'll come with the FFVIII card game and you'll be able to play against other people.

[Solid Snake]

I think it's hysterical Square-Enix is charging more money for the crappy port with the crappy music, when you can get the PS1 version of FFVII for PS3 or Vita, complete with actual good music.

...Unless they did something to change the Steam version's access to the decent musical tracks.

[Ryong]

I suspect it probably got fixed.

Hey, at least you don't have a button that instantly closes the entire game or decide to sell the DS version of FF4 instead of the PSP version that uses sprites but also includes an interlude and After Years.

[MuMu]

FFXIII closing instantly without any prompts when you press Esc was hilarious. Took them an awful lot of time to put a "Do you want to exit the game?" prompt in too.

I can only hope XIII-2 and Lightning Returns ports bring me as much joy.

[Ryong]

Do you want to get caught playing FFXIII? I sure as hell don't.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

I think it's hysterical Square-Enix is charging more money for the crappy port with the crappy music, when you can get the PS1 version of FFVII for PS3 or Vita, complete with actual good music.

...Unless they did something to change the Steam version's access to the decent musical tracks.

Yes, the steam version was patched up. It now plays the original game's sound track. Making the PC version about on pars with the psn version (slightly better if you count the smoother graphics). The PS4 version is still a rip off though since the Steam version is cheaper and the PSN version is even cheaper then the Steam Version.

[Nique]

Bumping cause I wanna talk about this.


So, for years now there's been this back and forth discussion about the merits or lack thereof of Square producing remakes of it's glory-day games. I guess a lot of companies do this but since Square is one of the most egregious offenders the conversation circles around them.

It seems to me, though I could be wrong, that Square maintains interest in it's NEW IP by reminding everyone of how great they used to be, which is kind of a problem? Like, if they keep shoving FF7 in our faces, are we supposed to be really interested in FF15, for example? All the 1-6 remakes/ ports and expanding of their more recent popular titles like 7 and 13 or w/e are overshadowing new projects.

But also, are the new projects any good? Is the younger gaming demo-graph going to find FF15 enjoyable? It seems like a lot of these games suck, so maybe the remakes are all that's left. I don't know. I don't feel like I'm being unreasonable or overly fanboyish for wanting to play 6, or 7 or another Final Fantasy title with current gen graphics and mechanics. Is there no merit in that?

But then again, all we're getting is these ports or graphically unimpressive remakes, which is upsetting. Like, yeah I want to go back to Midgar - I just want to feel like it's a new experience.

[Krylo]

I don't think there is real merit to it, no. Not as remakes, anyway.

The sprite games were designed with sprites in mind and work within those limitations very very well. They don't really need updated graphics, and, were they to receive them (rather than just being thrown on a disk anthologies style), I feel like it would feel awkward, counter to both the dialogue and gameplay, without also featuring heavy revisions to both of those things.

The same reason I didn't see the merit in FFX done in in sprites.

JRPGs are basically interactive storybooks. They exist to tell a story, and transferring from sprites to 3D models is kind of like transferring a movie from silent black and white to full sound and color, and vice versa.

You might get something interesting but it's going to be intrinsically different than the original, and trying to fight that, trying to make it as similar as possible, is only going to result in a failure to fully utilize the strengths or compensate for the weaknesses of either medium.

Transferring FF6 to modern graphics would likely require the removal of an open world (or for it to somehow be shrunk down to something the size of Skyrim or Dragon's Dogma at the largest--both very big worlds, but neither game even pretended they covered a full globe), and you'd need a full rewrite of all the dialogue because the dialogue in the original was written with the more lighthearted and exaggerated expressiveness of the sprites in mind, not fully animated human faces.

And, of course, removing the lighthearted feeling of sprite expressiveness would also result in a much darker feeling game all around. FF6 did not tell a happy story. And it's my observation that the 'dark' and 'emo' feel of newer Final Fantasy games is part of what people think isn't very good in them.

We could more or less ignore Terra's paralyzing fear of her own power, Celes's belief she was the only person left alive and eventual suicide attempt, Locke's grief over his lost love, etc. etc. thanks to the fact that when these things came up it involved a heavily exagerrated surprised sprite. We could laugh at Kefka looking like a clown and making awful puns about wait staff seconds after he murdered an entire city, and at Cyan's silly accent because we were intrinsically removed from the weight of the loss of Cyan's entire family due to graphical restraints.

FF6 is one of the best Final Fantasy games, but I doubt that it would be as much loved if we were actually experiencing the pathos of the characters in the same way we experience that of the cast of FF8 or 7, or 13.

I mean, shit, everyone hates Hope for being a little pissy about his mom dying. Kid didn't even cry but he's an obnoxious emo piece of shit. But I bet if he had delivered those lines as a 16bit sprite with folded arms looking to the side people wouldn't give him nearly the hassle.

And the same really goes for most modern FF protagonists. Is Squall really any more broody than Shadow?

A re-imagining could work for most of these, but I don't really trust Square, currently, to do a good job with re-imagining any of their old IPs considering what every piece of FFVII media has done to Cloud's characterization compared to the original game.

[Raem]

A re-imagining could work for most of these, but I don't really trust Square, currently, to do a good job with re-imagining any of their old IPs considering what every piece of FFVII media has done to Cloud's characterization compared to the original game.

1000x this. To me, cloud is a dopey guy who says "Alright. Lets mosey!" not the brooding delivery-boy half-cape thing that I saw in the movie. I think they really need to just move on from the gackt inspired craziness that sort of spawned from the success of ff7 which has done nothing but sour the game retroactively for me.

Humanimals aside, ff9 was a great return to formula for the series, probably my favorite FF game (apart from tactics). But I feel like it wasn't very well received when it was released? I don't really remember.