Changes we might see in the Final Fantasy VII remake - Prologue

Finally, the very reason I started this blog. No I am not using internet explorer by the way. It just took long to pick the right platform for this discussion.

Just a quick recap. If you have been living under a rock for the past four months: Final Fantasy VII is finally officially totally being remade for PS4 (and probably for every single gaming platform later, but it is a timed exclusive for the time being).

Why is this such a big news? Well in case you have been living under a rock for the past eighteen years: Final Fantasy VII is one of the top competitors for the title of best videogame of all time. Wikipedia actually has a ranking of video games based on how many best videogame ever lists they topped. On that list, FFVII is number 3 with Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Chrono Trigger as first and secon respectively. GTA V and all the Call of Duty titles are veeery far away.

Anyway, it is a pretty awesome game. Some say it is overrated. It is actually true. Both VI and IX have an overall better soundtrack, it has the second worst romance of the series, there isn't much difference between the otherwise diverse characters in terms of combat, and I have other similar small gripes with it. The game is by no means perfect, despite what other Final Fantasy VII fans would have you believe. But it is also not utter garbage, as most Final Fantasy VI (III for those from the US) fans claim.

I could go on for ages about the pros and cons of Final Fantasy VII but that is not the purpose of this series of articles. Short answer is, I think VII really is the best entry in the series. But like every other time the same rules apply. This is not the gospel. This is just my oppinion. To tell the truth, neither installment is objectively better than the other, even if parts of it are. Let me explain. I hundred percent believe that the gameplay is much more diverse than in every other entry in the series. Maybe not XIV, but even there it is a close call. You see in VII you can travel by foot, chocobo, buggy, a downed airplane or an airship. You can play basketball, a weird claw game, a robot fighting game or adventure game starring a moogle. At different points of the story you can take part in excavations, ride around with a motorcycle and killing enemies while mounted, chase down enemies in a submarine and......alright this is getting way too long. Bottom line is, it had so many side activities that the GTA series looks linear in comparison. In this regard it is objectively better than the other entries. But it is subjective how important this is for you. Maybe you only care about combat, and frankly VI had a lot more satisfying combat. Especially with Sabin in it.

But regardless of how far you rank it the fact remains that Final Fantasy VII was an immensly popular game at its relies, way ahead of its time, that defined how the western world looked at JRPGs.

And now it is being remade. Not converted into HD, but remade. Director Tetsuysa Nomura already revealed that we can expect dramatic changes, at the very least in terms of combat. The fandom is divided about wether this is a good thing. The trailer said it best: „The renuion at hand may bring joy, it may bring fear, but let us embrace whatever it brings.” Most fans regard FF VII as a precious jewel and think of even the smallest change as blasphemy. This is one of the many reasons why people didn't think Square Enix would actually do a remake despite it being rumored ever since the PS2 was released. Now I have my favorite moments and if those change I will be very mad. But a lot of things won't be the same. And that is for the best.

I am a translator and interpreter by profession and one of the most important things we are taught is that our goal is not to translate the text given to us, but the meaing, the intention. We need the translation to have the same effect as the original.

And that is the objective of this remake as well. The original game had cutting edge graphics, a diverse gamemplay, a hidden influence system and it was the first example of cloud based gaming(ba dum tss). The remake won't be the revolutionary gamechanger the original was by simply copying all this and making it shinier. There will be a lot of change. Let us see what these will be.