Final Fantasy VII HD Remake…Oh Fooled You. Or Maybe Not.

Final Fantasy VII. For most players of the Final Fantasy franchise, the series seventh installment is universally acclaimed as being one of the best if not THE best. For me, it was the first game in the series I had ever played and also one of the last. When trying to play future installments, I just couldn’t get into them like I did with Final Fantasy VII.

So naturally, when I heard rumors a long time ago about an HD remake that Square was working on, I didn’t care what system it was on because I was going to buy that system just for Final Fantasy VII. At E3 in 2005 it looked like we were all going to get our wish.

And then comes the wool over the eyes

At the Electronics Entertainment Expo in 2005, SONY was announcing the Playstation 3 and with it they were showing off a slew of game footage and tech demos. That’s when the video started that got us excited yet pissed off all in the span of a two minutes. It was a video showing off the intro cinema to Final Fantasy VII however, it wasn’t a cinematic. The video was running in real-time with an in-game graphics engine.

Oh happy day! PS3 was getting the remake! But alas, at the videos’ title screen it stated that this was a tech demo meant to showcase the power of the PS3’s graphical capabilities. So did this mean that they were indeed working on a remake and using the demo to showcase it or what is only created for the purpose of being a tech demo?

Since the 2005 Tech demo, former CEO Yoichi Wada said that the game wouldn’t be remade until a fresh entry in the franchise surpasses it (Final Fantasy VII) in quality.

So basically you are telling us that you won’t remake the greatest game in your franchise until another one is better? Really? Am I the only one who has an issue with this logic? It was also said that the amount of work and effort that would have to go into the remake would equal or surpass that of the current installments in the franchise. So what you don’t want to put that kind of effort into a game THAT WOULD SELL BETTER than your current installments?

This was the response of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase when asked about a remake:

If you simply ask me I personally would like to do that, yes I would. Definitely. There’s no lie about it. But you must believe me when I say it would take a lot to happen.

The biggest issues with this is, of course, staff and availability. But also Kitase explains that he simply isn’t motivated enough to take on such a monumental task. The commitment involved to make it up to the expectations of the fans is just too much I suppose.

Make up your mind

Since rumors first started back in 2003 when Square announced Final Fantasy: Advent Children, the idea of a remake to Final Fantasy VII has been both flat out denied and given some merit. So we don’t know who to believe. I would still like to hold out hope but if they are going to stick to their guns on the “not until another game surpasses it” statement, I think that it won’t happen for quite some time.

I think that this is a shame because a remake would bring back a lot of people that have fallen out of love with the Final Fantasy franchise lately. It just seems that Square is either missing or has already missed a golden opportunity here. At this point a lot of us just do not give a crap anymore and will keep playing Skyrim until our fingers bleed. If you have any thoughts on a remake to Final Fantasy VII, leave your comments below.