Final Fantasy VII Remake

[DieH@rd]

need a story refresh I think. Totally forgot that

At the start of the game he is very fucked up. His own memories are repressed and he remembers the life Zack had as though he experienced it.

Even though I did not expect the visual change they have implemented here, I am totally supporting it [and it is a great sign of the care this remake is getting from the team].

 

[Rodéric]

UE4 instead of their own effort ?
Interesting, I'd bet it's because of the tools/integration, also rather clean code base.

 

[London Geezer]

I'm really still surprised by that. They had their own - very pretty - engine but ended up using me something that will cut what, 5% of their revenues? Can't remember what the UE licensing fee is. Weird.

 

[L. Scofield]

They could port stuff from Luminous to UE4 if needed.

 

[London Geezer]

And still pay Epic for the engine. Weren't SquareEnix short of cash?

 

[L. Scofield]

Funding FFXV hasn't been exactly cheap.

 

[London Geezer]

That's my point!

 

[DieH@rd]

And still pay Epic for the engine. Weren't SquareEnix short of cash?

What will cost them more? Well supported and easy to use UE4 or waiting for Tabata to finalize open-world focused FF15 engine [that they cannot easily give to partners who are needed to make FF7R a reality]?

 

[Akumajou]

What will cost them more? Well supported and easy to use UE4 or waiting for Tabata to finalize open-world focused FF15 engine [that they cannot easily give to partners who are needed to make FF7R a reality]?

Unreal Engine licensing is an aggressive business contract, it's very obvious that Square Enix can make their own in-house 3d engines.

Add to the conspiracy that "Final Fantasy VII" and "remake" even if it's a timed exclusive on PlayStation 4, basically equals $$$!!

From a certain perspective it doesn't make sense to go for UE as Square Enix can simply_wait until "Luminous" or whatever is completed and the next FFXV game is released.

Specially considering that PS4 was touted and marketed to death as being "easier to dev for" which is true but it's also a cliche because a current gen 3d engine still takes an average of two to three years and considering that evaluation/prototype PS4/Xbone hardware had to have been available much earlier or comparable PC-dev kits.

This is a fan-pleaser to cash in...no doubt it will be good and ugh...although I loathe "episodic" I'm betting that like the multiple CD-Roms, you are basically in a virtual CD-Rom disc episode which may be broken down further...perhaps if each disc-episode (I'm not saying it's all discs as much as DLG) and you got a "sure thing profit"

I don't buy the hype that UE is better or "easier", it helps Epic even if they gave away a free license due to free hype...it's probably more important to wonder how sales would be and what the sales targets are...

Timed PS4 then Xbone then PCs means that episodes will have waves of sales across platforms (possible NX later?)

It's all business...it will be pretty and good/great but if in house it's obvious it would be technologically superior and more profitable.

Namco Bandai is already making a Teen game... I'm not anti-Unreal Engine but it's obvious these companies can make their own engines plus current consoles are already blatantly "easier to dev for" (using the..marketing)

As for Frostbite 2 while it's true it was made for Battlefield 3 didn't Need for Speed use it last gen? That means if the last gen lasted a couple more years that EA would have transitioned some games over to Frostbite...

That said Frostbite went to version 3 and version 3.5 with Battefront right? Current gen consoles are now two years old which means next year's E3-16 will have a bigger lineup and more mature dev tools.

Crisis Core, Dissidia, and other elements is probably what's really delayed Square Enix more than their in-house 3d engines because getting those gameplay mechanics to work, specially when they have some internal target vision to work.

 

[Phil]

It's funny, over the years of gaming, I think I still hold Final Fantasy VII has the greatest game dear. It was just amazing. I remember when I bought the game (due to the reviews, but absolutely ignorant to what RPGs were, much less turn based), I was quickly baffled, disgusted and perplexed by the odd turn based encounters and fighting system. Somehow though, I continued playing and soon was en-captured in what I still think is probably one of the best fantasy stories in any game. It's so detailed, so complex, yet was so fulfilling playing it.

One of the biggest shock moments was the part when you tackle the Shinra building and it genuinely felt like the end of a great game, only to then be confronted of even bigger evils, among Jenova and Sephiroth. Then the game world and realizing how huge this game must be, still being on the first of 3 discs. What I think has also been largely unsurpassed by any other game after is the sense that Sephiroth is the ultimate evil, one you didn't even dream of encountering due to his godlike status. The game was truly a masterpiece.

Don't get me wrong; I really enjoyed FFVIII and FFIX, but they just fell that tiny bit short of the overall tension that I felt when playing VII.

Which brings me to this remake. The game had so much charm, I'm not sure any remake with modern graphics could ever capture that. First of all, the game is so incredibly detailed with dialog ranging in hours and hours and hours of text, that it's probably close to an impossibility to voice-act them and every single response choice you choose. Although I must say playing Witcher 3, I'm already quite amazed with the amount of dialog in it. But how about the world-map? If you set the bar that high with 3d graphics like they have done already in Midgar, how are they going to hope to animate every single destination there is in the game? And the world map without it looking too far off what we expect of it? The underworld vistas? The exploring?

As much as I would like to replay a new vision of this game, I'm just skeptical it could ever get close to how powerful of an experience the original was.

 

[L. Scofield]

This is the reason why it doesn't use Luminous:

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/12/07/final-fantasy-vii-remake-being-outsourced-to-cyberconnect-2/

 

[TEEDA]

It's funny, over the years of gaming, I think I still hold Final Fantasy VII has the greatest game dear. It was just amazing. I remember when I bought the game (due to the reviews, but absolutely ignorant to what RPGs were, much less turn based), I was quickly baffled, disgusted and perplexed by the odd turn based encounters and fighting system. Somehow though, I continued playing and soon was en-captured in what I still think is probably one of the best fantasy stories in any game. It's so detailed, so complex, yet was so fulfilling playing it.

One of the biggest shock moments was the part when you tackle the Shinra building and it genuinely felt like the end of a great game, only to then be confronted of even bigger evils, among Jenova and Sephiroth. Then the game world and realizing how huge this game must be, still being on the first of 3 discs. What I think has also been largely unsurpassed by any other game after is the sense that Sephiroth is the ultimate evil, one you didn't even dream of encountering due to his godlike status. The game was truly a masterpiece.

Don't get me wrong; I really enjoyed FFVIII and FFIX, but they just fell that tiny bit short of the overall tension that I felt when playing VII.

Which brings me to this remake. The game had so much charm, I'm not sure any remake with modern graphics could ever capture that. First of all, the game is so incredibly detailed with dialog ranging in hours and hours and hours of text, that it's probably close to an impossibility to voice-act them and every single response choice you choose. Although I must say playing Witcher 3, I'm already quite amazed with the amount of dialog in it. But how about the world-map? If you set the bar that high with 3d graphics like they have done already in Midgar, how are they going to hope to animate every single destination there is in the game? And the world map without it looking too far off what we expect of it? The underworld vistas? The exploring?

As much as I would like to replay a new vision of this game, I'm just skeptical it could ever get close to how powerful of an experience the original was.

Same for me. It's just my favorite game of all time. With some close to it like MGS1 and Zone Of The Enders 2.
FFVII has a great plot, well developped and attaching characters with deep and interesting background. lots of twists and wtf epic moments. Good gameplay system and mechanic. And the world is so vast and so many thigns to explore and to do.
The chocobo farming, chocobo racing, snowbarding gamelaply section, the little strategy game ( fort condor rts),
Mix of dark, humour, serious, and the post apocalyptic universe and design really stood out at the time and still is today.
It's probably one or the msot adored FF in the series. to lots of veterans who played I to VI before and newcomers who discovered RPG with it.
It's a franchise of its own, having had its own compilation of games.
And I' m really glad we are getting this remake right now. ANd I will still play the original in the many years to come. This game won't leave my Vita or PS3 HDD lol.

 

[Nesh]

Same for me. It's just my favorite game of all time. With some close to it like MGS1 and Zone Of The Enders 2.
FFVII has a great plot, well developped and attaching characters with deep and interesting background. lots of twists and wtf epic moments. Good gameplay system and mechanic. And the world is so vast and so many thigns to explore and to do.
The chocobo farming, chocobo racing, snowbarding gamelaply section, the little strategy game ( fort condor rts),
Mix of dark, humour, serious, and the post apocalyptic universe and design really stood out at the time and still is today.
It's probably one or the msot adored FF in the series. to lots of veterans who played I to VI before and newcomers who discovered RPG with it.
It's a franchise of its own, having had its own compilation of games.
And I' m really glad we are getting this remake right now. ANd I will still play the original in the many years to come. This game won't leave my Vita or PS3 HDD lol.

Heh. We share so many similar impressions. It was an extremely dense game and it got all the main elements perfect for its time!
It was for many gamers what the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was in the cinemas.
We wanted the remake because we saw how great the game was and how great it could have been if the devs were not limited by technology.
The soundtrack was amazing but limited by midi sounds
The characters were amazing but limited to the superdeformed and low poly models
The backgrounds were superb only to be limited by prerendered images that scrolled on screen
There are so many things we could mention that were conceived perfectly that were impossible to execute with PS1 hardware as they were intended.
Our minds filled in the blanks and its because of our imagination in conjunction with how great the game was that we knew this could have been even more special if upgraded. Such a missed opportunity that no other game could mimic or was able to mimic ever

This is the only chance for us to experience an RPG that is massive, epic, touching, dense and beautiful. We havent had such a wonderful fulfilling experience probably since the PS1 days. If this doesnt work, I dont know what will considering the huge budgets required today to make a game that satisfies our audiovisual expectations into a disk and meet deadlines. Back in the day, more content and variety in terms of gameplay was crammed into a title since graphics hit the wall faster and our expectations were more forgiving. Final Fantasy 7 needs to be perfect today in order to keep us satisfied. Imperfections in visuals and gameplay were more acceptable back then. Yet the devs effort to compensate through art, atmosphere and fun factor in the 32 bit era (and a little bit in the 128 bit era) often produced the most enjoyable gaming moments in gaming history.

This is the reason why I also hold MGS1, FF7 and ZOE2 as some of my favorite gaming experiences ever

 

[tuna]

This is the reason why it doesn't use Luminous:

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/12/07/final-fantasy-vii-remake-being-outsourced-to-cyberconnect-2/

If you follow through to the actual original article it just states that "CyberConnect 2 will be among others assisting the development of Final Fantasy VII Remake." Of course, it is probably easier to collaborate when using UE4.

 

[vspectra]

VII-R producer pretty much said they relied on and praise UE4 tech support. Luminous tech support are all dedicated to XV right now.

“Working with the team at Epic and having their support throughout this process was invaluable and we’re excited to bring the product of that collaboration to long-time fans and newcomers to the series.”

http://www.novacrystallis.com/2015/12/final-fantasy-vii-remake-is-being-built-on-unreal-engine-4/

 

[vspectra]

Same problem KH3 team had, seems they needed engine dev support, and UE4 had that while Luminous devs were still building the engine and helping XV development.

"There was nothing wrong with the Luminous engine at all," Yasue countered. "We decided that Unreal 4 was right for us. There was a huge network of people actually using it, we were communicating with the Japanese people at Epic a lot - it was like a complete product.

"It was easy to shift to, but at the same time though, there was a lot of stuff specific to Kingdom Hearts that we couldn't really do on Unreal 4 at first. So we had a lot of co-operation from Epic - they did a lot - at the same time we were doing a lot of customisation of the engine as well, to suit our needs."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-with-switch-from-luminous-to-unreal-engine-4

 

[bgroovy]

If you follow through to the actual original article it just states that "CyberConnect 2 will be among others assisting the development of Final Fantasy VII Remake." Of course, it is probably easier to collaborate when using UE4.

Exactly. If they need to work heavily with external partners using a well known engine they are experienced with is a boon.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

For someone who hasn't played the original on PS, do you guys think I can enjoy the emulated version on the ps4? I mean, I can say that MGS1 is enjoyable still but working around that camera and controls does make it painfull now. How does FFVII compare?

EDIT: Cos I really have my eye on ROgue Galaxy, smething I never got to play on my ps2 and FFVII is like considered the God Game but those screens don't look tempting at all.

 

[London Geezer]

It's a great game and mostly really a 2D one at that so things hold up a little better than fully 3D ps1 games which now look really, really rough.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

My thoughts:

1 - Final Fantasy VII is now so old that the original game only holds meaning mostly to 35-45 year-olds who may now be too busy/distracted to play games.
IMO this game should've been released for the PS3, instead of two shoehorned sequels of Final Fantasy XIII and 3 remasters of Final Fantasy X/X-2. This might be a case of too little, too late, Duke Nukem Forever style. Everyone wanted a FF7 remake back in 2005/2006 when Sony actually teased it for the PS3 with a working demo. 10 years later and a good part of the people who craved the game are now too busy putting their kids to bed at night and doing the rest of their daily neuron burning watching masterchef or some equally lobotomizing TV crap.

2 - One would've thought this project would be too important to outsource. It wasn't, and Square-Enix outsourced it. Almost all stories I've heard about games coming out really, really bad were because of mismanaged outsourcing. I guess it's always a risk.

3 - UE4 to me means it'll eventually become multiplatform for Xbone and PC. And when it comes to PC, performance will somehow be crap on AMD hardware because Tim Sweeney hates people who buy graphics cards with a good price/performance ratio in mind.

4 - Episodic to me means they might just sell fewer content to the consumer for standard price (e.g. 2015's Battlefront) or episodes will be full of unnecessary fillers (e.g. The Hobbit and latest Hunger Games movies). Either way, it would be cash-grab at the expense of value.

5 - The graphics on videos and screenshots don't look very good at all.