Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Pt. 2 Rebirth

[Iron Maw]

『FFVII リメイク』のバトルにはお馴染みのリミットブレイクも搭載。分作にした経緯にも迫る
http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/001/173/1173362/

『ファイナルファンタジーVII リメイク』北瀬佳範氏＆野村哲也氏に訊く分作の意図――バトルはATBありのアクションに!?【PSX20 15】
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201512/07094721.html

Interviews, the quick and dirty translation from NeoGAF (expect full translation at the usual sources in a few hours):

Quick stuff from interviews

-they made multi-release since they would have to cut stuff out if they made it in one game. The detail of the game will be so dense, and you will be able to go to various locations within Midgar that you couldn't go before.
-there will be some stuff that has to be cut, but there will be lots of stuff added. overall volume will be big
-They are working with various companies outside, including CC2
-The battle system is real-time, action feel. The degree of action will be "Dissidia > Kingdom Hearts> FF7 remake" It will be more tactical.
-Although it's action style, it has ATB as well.
-You can control other party members, but you can keep control one if you want
-3 party members at a time like the original

EDIT: more

Nomura: VII in one work would turn into a digest. We judged that the remake must be full volume, so we decided to make [VII] multi-part.

Nomura: A subtitle for the VII remake would give the impression of a spin-off or sequel, so they avoided using one.

Nomura: If we make the characters reall, they'll look like real people and no one will recognize them, so we're aiming to balance.

Nomura: Advent Children models are too old, so they've been refining the graphics and balancing reality and deformation.

Aside from the CG shown at the beginning of the trailer, everything is in real-time. You can alter the camera angle during the train scene.

Cloud's appearance has to partially to do with the lighting and his pale skin. Nojima had said Cloud's sickly appearance is brilliant.

Cross-dressing scene will be included. Nomura has yet to work on the design, however.

NMR: VIIR is completely different from Crisis Core's battle system. Not as actiony as Dissidia Arcade or KH but closer to that style.

NMR: VIIR has ATB, but it's not the type where you wait for the gauge to fill up and then attack. It is connected with the action system.

NMR: 3-member parties, all interchangeable and playable. You don't have to change characters if you don't want.

NMR: The battle speed they're aiming for is Dissidia Arcade's. The battles we saw in the trailer are kind of like a standard to aim for.

Nomura went over the trailer so many times and doubted if it'd be all right to show, but the reaction he received has relieved him.

[SilverSyko]

I'm not concerned with the game being split among multiple episodes, it was already kind of done with the multiple disks in the PS1 version anyway, so just like that I could see the first of the Remake series ending with Aerith's death scene and such and the form of Jenova you fight there.

This also means they can really add a whole lot more content to each episode separately. So yeah it sounds like a pretty ambitious project.

[Psyco Diver]

Originally Posted by Going Seafoam

They can't be this desperate to milk this franchise.

Oh don't underestimate the the strength greed, look how much they milked FF7 already (luckly most of the content was decent)

[Iron Maw]

Originally Posted by Psyco Diver

Oh don't underestimate the the strength greed, look how much they milked FF7 already (luckly most of the content was decent)

Newsflash. Every company milks.

EVERY. COMPANY.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

I'm not concerned with the game being split among multiple episodes, it was already kind of done with the multiple disks in the PS1 version anyway, so just like that I could see the first of the Remake series ending with Aerith's death scene and such and the form of Jenova you fight there.

This also means they can really add a whole lot more content to each episode separately. So yeah it sounds like a pretty ambitious project.

This isn't like the original game, like at all. You bought the original game....you bought the game. You didn't go the the counter, buy disc 1, then buy disc 2, and then disc 3 in separate purchases.

There are reasons for doing this and rationality, but it is not remotely the same as what happened with the original game.

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

Newsflash. Every company milks.

EVERY. COMPANY.

Which sounds great for an impact quote, but in reality isn't that simple. All companies do not milk to remotely the same degree and some are very much more greedy than others. There are differences of degree.

Yeah, that makes it more complicated and requires debate. But oh well, that's reality.

[Iron Maw]

Another version

- About the details of splitting the game into episodes, please tell us more.

Kitase: From the beginning, we have considered it impossible to remake FF7 into one single game.Althought it's impossible to tell you the details about the splitting at the moment, please wait for our further announcement.

Nomura: If we tried to stuff the whole game into one release, some part of the game would have to appear as digests. We'd have to remove some contents from the game, and it would be difficult to add more to the game. Considering that a full remake of the original game must be achived, we have decided to split the game into episodes.

Kitase: Taking the No.8 street shown in the video this time, even just this is already highly dense. If we are to remake the content of the original version at that quality, it would have been impossible to do with a single release.

Splitting the original version into episode with nothing dropped, as well as adding complements, and remaking the game the game in its full volume is what we are thinking.

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Which sounds great for an impact quote, but in reality isn't that simple. All companies do not milk to remotely the same degree and some are very much more greedy than others. There are differences of degree.

Yeah, that makes it more complicated and requires debate. But oh well, that's reality.

Yes, but in a the end milking is milking. There no company that owns even a modestly sized franchise that doesn't do it. Profit afterall is the reason most industries run. I don't see any real point singling out any one entity about this.

[Se7enSword]

@tokyofog for translating some of the parts of the interview.

Nomura: VII in one work would turn into a digest. We judged that the remake must be full volume, so we decided to make [VII] multi-part.

Nomura: A subtitle for the VII remake would give the impression of a spin-off or sequel, so they avoided using one.

Nomura: If we make the characters reall, they'll look like real people and no one will recognize them, so we're aiming to balance.

Nomura: Advent Children models are too old, so they've been refining the graphics and balancing reality and deformation.

Aside from the CG shown at the beginning of the trailer, everything is in real-time. You can alter the camera angle during the train scene.

Cloud's appearance has to partially to do with the lighting and his pale skin. Nojima had said Cloud's sickly appearance is brilliant.

Cross-dressing scene will be included. Nomura has yet to work on the design, however.

Nomura: VIIR is completely different from Crisis Core's battle system. Not as actiony as Dissidia Arcade or KH but closer to that style.

Nomura: VIIR has ATB, but it's not the type where you wait for the gauge to fill up and then attack. It is connected with the action system.

Nomura: 3-member parties, all interchangeable and playable. You don't have to change characters if you don't want.

Nomura: The battle speed they're aiming for is Dissidia Arcade's. The battles we saw in the trailer are kind of like a standard to aim for.

Nomura went over the trailer so many times and doubted if it'd be all right to show, but the reaction he received has relieved him.

Nomura can't go into details about the battle system, but he said it's important to note that the ATB gauge turns red. Something significant.

Credit to tokyofog for translating.

[SilverSyko]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

This isn't like the original game, like at all. You bought the original game....you bought the game. You didn't go the the counter, buy disc 1, then buy disc 2, and then disc 3 in separate purchases.

There are reasons for doing this and rationality, but it is not remotely the same as what happened with the original game.

That is not what I meant. I was making the comparison of how each disc of the original PS1 version was also like an "episode" in a way, so it makes sense to split the remake up in an episode-like fashion as well.

[shmaster]

I don't know why are people complaining.
Splitting the game is a great move here.
It makes developing an AAA game more financially viable, thus less behind the scene fiasco that delay or reduce the quality of the game. Really, whenever I purchase a data/material book and see the game actually has contents that were cut or compromised because of financial reason or software limitation problem, I became outraged. Who cares about milking, as long as they stuff everything in. Please, making dropping off contents a things of the past.

By splitting the game in bits it also means we don't have to wait for eons for a game to come out. I already had enough waiting whenever a new KH was announced. I don't want another game that's going to take forever.

Thank you Kitase, thank you. I cannot believe I am saying this to you when the only person in Square that I hate more than you is Toriyama.

[Sacredus]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

That is not what I meant. I was making the comparison of how each disc of the original PS1 version was also like an "episode" in a way, so it makes sense to split the remake up in an episode-like fashion as well.

I don't remember paying full price for each CD... It's just... My hype is dead. I will buy it, but when full game will be out (all episodes for max 40€).

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by shmaster

I don't know why are people complaining.
Splitting the game is a great move here.
It makes developing an AAA game more financially viable, thus less behind the scene fiasco that delay or reduce the quality of the game. Really, whenever I purchase a data/material book and see the game actually has contents that were cut or compromised because of financial reason or software limitation problem, I became outraged. Who cares about milking, as long as they stuff everything in. Please, making dropping off contents a things of the past.

By splitting the game in bits it also means we don't have to wait for eons for a game to come out. I already had enough waiting whenever a new KH was announced. I don't want another game that's going to take forever.

Thank you Kitase, thank you. I cannot believe I am saying this to you when the only person in Square that I hate more than you is Toriyama.

Yes you do. You know why people aren't happy. You just have a different perspective, that doesn't make you unable to see a different point of view.

After all it'd be easy to say "I don't get why you are upset about a few small things cut from a game." For you that matters, makes enough sense.

And personally, I don't see it that way on the waiting thing. We still have to wait eons. We don't know when part 1 comes out, we don't know when this will be done. And until the last episode/part/whatever comes out, FF7 Remake is not out. A chunk of it is out.

It is a potentially worrying move. If we start seeing other games cutting themselves into bits and selling those as full priced games.

In the end, let them do what they have to do. I get it, they want/need money. But, I'll stick with the plan of waiting until this is done and then buying FF7. There's always enough games coming out that I don't need to buy bits and pieces of a game.

[Iron Maw]

A bit more stuff from the interview.

some stuff I didn't put in my first summary

-Character model is supervised by Visual Work's director.
-They don't want to go with 100% realism for the characters since it might make it hard to recognize certain characters. So they are going as real as possible, while keeping the character's personality.
-Advent Children model data is over 10 years old so they can't really use it.
-Everything from the trailer (excluding the stuff that was shown from E3 reveal) was real-time. The end scene where Cloud gets off the train, it transitions directly to the gameplay.
-Cloud looking sick is partly due to the lighting. Nojima likes that Cloud looks very sick.
-Cross-dressing is obviously in the game, but Nomura didn't design it yet.
-All the party member's design is renewed like Barret.
-At first they thought of going with AC design of Barret, but decided not to.
-ATB and Limit gauge is there but they are different from the original. ATB turning red is something important.
-Battle tempo will be similar to Dissidia. Battle is done by people who has experience in both Dissidia and Kingdom Hearts. .

Originally Posted by Sacredus

I don't remember paying full price for each CD... It's just... My hype is dead. I will buy it, but when full game will be out (all episodes for max 40€).

Correct because wasn't a HD game with a completely realized and detail 3D world. The faithful remake we want is going cost tons of money and more importantly take an almost near decade to make in the current game development climate in Japan as it stands with traditional development methods. Which why SE has been hesitating to do this at all. Worst, if they want to get out it out in reasonable timeframe then you going be looking at tons of content cut. With that alternate this much better and more sensible method as long the parts substantial enough (25-30) and the pricing is asinine. If the interviews are anything to go by their definitely adding more content to original. I think pretty sensible they are going with this method. Plus if you want buy it all at once you can just wait until all the parts are release.

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Yes you do. You know why people aren't happy. You just have a different perspective, that doesn't make you unable to see a different point of view.

After all it'd be easy to say "I don't get why you are upset about a few small things cut from a game." For you that matters, makes enough sense.

And personally, I don't see it that way on the waiting thing. We still have to wait eons. We don't know when part 1 comes out, we don't know when this will be done. And until the last episode/part/whatever comes out, FF7 Remake is not out. A chunk of it is out.

It is a potentially worrying move. If we start seeing other games cutting themselves into bits and selling those as full priced games.

In the end, let them do what they have to do. I get it, they want/need money. But, I'll stick with the plan of waiting until this is done and then buying FF7. There's always enough games coming out that I don't need to buy bits and pieces of a game.

This game isn't coming out like a $1 app with 5 minutes of content. The whole reason this being done is because they don't want to cut stuff ( atleats reduce the amount of things that would be cut). It would be much simpler for SE to screw that and give an abridged version of the game in a single package.

[Se7enSword]

Yeah. I'm glad they're going with this approach and it seems to me that they've considered it very heavily and want the best result too.

The outcry against this method is quite premature. I'm pretty sure most people are aware that Square can't throw money around and add that they're working with more than one external developer, i'm just excited at the potential of the remake.

Also, they will be adding more content as well. Hopefully the 8 page interview puts any doubts to rest.

[Gundamx]

This game should be really huge.
They stop making full city because it become a a lot more expensive and harder to make them the better graphic you have.
(Just look at FFXIII)

Yet, they plan to add many cities with hug world instead of just straight line...

[Sacredus]

I already see this "more content". It will be DLC. Costumes, characters and maybe some levels.

@Iron Maw
You really believe that they do this because game is too big? Really? They do this just because they want to milk more money from it.

And no, I don't have any reason to believe what they say. If they show me good game (FFXV please don't suck), or good port (at least port FF6 to PC from GBA... PLEASE NOT LET IT BE THAT MOBILE BLASPHEMY! - and we all know it will be that mobile port) then I might give them chance.

Edit:
And yes, I'm really mad about this.

[KleenexGhost]

Yeah, I need to see more before I say fair enough.

[FRS]

The decision to split the game is a bit weird to me.

[Iron Maw]

Originally Posted by Sacredus

I already see this "more content". It will be DLC. Costumes, characters and maybe some levels.

@Iron Maw
You really believe that they do this because game is too big? Really? They do this just because they want to milk more money from it.

Yes? They said the same thing themselves, 5 years ago.

Originally Posted by Kitase

"I still think it's going to be a very challenging task," Kitase told Joystiq. "I can tell you personally I would love to do it. But before I decide to do anything of that kind, I would have to bring my dedication and motivation levels to the maximal high. It's not the kind of project I can start casually working on, it's a really serious project. It would be nice if I got the opportunity to do that in the future, but at the moment no plans."

To express just how serious the project is, Kitase compared the timeline to how long the entire trilogy of FF13 games took to produce. "We already took nearly ten years to make the trilogy of Final Fantasy 13 games, ending with Lightning Returns. I think that a high-definition FF7 would be definitely comparable to that scale, an even bigger project maybe," he said. "It would probably take a lot longer than ten years, even if we ever do it. So that's what I am saying, I would have to have a complete and utter dedication to the project."

http://www.shacknews.com/article/831...n-ff13-trilogy

They have been consistent about this message and anyone who's played FFVII should know how big the at game is or is being willfully ignorant. You not getup make that overnight.

[Rising Dragon]

Originally Posted by FRS

The decision to split the game is a bit weird to me.

It's a matter of game size. FFVII in its heyday was already a massive game, requiring three discs for the full content. You have the overworld, you have large towns requiring multiple screens to convey, you have battle maps, you have tons of character models to create, both in and out of battles, you have all those FMV sequences. All the dialogue, all of the scripting, all of it piles up.

The fact of the matter is, comparatively speaking FFVII is still ridiculously simple compared to the standards of games today. If you want the full FFVII content remastered and upgraded, you need all of that... except now with full-size models, ALL maps and regions rendered in 3D instead of drawn images with polygons laid over them, way better animations and particle effects, and of course, voice acting for at minimum TWO languages, as after FFVII Squenix policy is to work on English localization at the same time as the game's development. They've got a massive, massive amount of work on their hands, and it's all adding up--there's a massive amount of data for this game.

So the only choice is to gut it and sell it in one go, which will infuriate fans, or divide it up into episodes so that they can get the full story out there bit by bit, using the profits generated to help fund the next installment in the remake. VAs are expensive, after all.

[Von Himmel]

Considering how SE tends to focus on unimportant things and graphics if we look at FFXV trends, I'm up for multi part games as long as they can adapt fully the whole FF7 story without compromising and cutting it. I seriously don't mind buying separate part with full price like .hack because there's a really high chance that the time between each part will be veery long so it doesn't make sense that I can't save money over time to buy three separate game. something something money value decrease over time etc

The only thing I'm concerned about is that I'm getting older and that I probably won't have much time to play when the game reaches its end part