Introduction
The launch of 1997’s Ultimate Fantasy VII on PlayStation signaled a seismic shift within the online game panorama. The transition from pixel artwork to totally animated pc graphics was a large sufficient leap forward, however the fantastic thing about this basic title was far more than pores and skin deep. That includes a stellar forged of beloved characters, a rock-solid fight system, and a narrative with the potential to instill feelings starting from awe and pleasure to grief and anger, the legacy of Ultimate Fantasy VII is well-established within the RPG style and the video games business as a complete.
Within the many years since, expertise has developed, as have developments. What was as soon as the top of expertise and visible constancy now appears to be like dated, and the attitudes of recent players look extra in the direction of motion than the normal RPG fight featured within the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII. However the love for Ultimate Fantasy VII, its world, its message, and its characters by no means light. And followers started clamoring for a contemporary tackle the basic.
That prevalent fan request was lastly met in 2020 with Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, the primary of three components reimagining the occasions of Ultimate Fantasy VII with trendy visuals and gameplay. The essential acclaim and robust fan reception confirmed that Sq. Enix wasn’t taking the duty of remaking its beloved RPG flippantly. With the second half, Ultimate Fantasy VII Rebirth, on the horizon, we flew to Tokyo, Japan, to fulfill with Sq. Enix, get our arms on the sport, see unique gameplay, and discuss to core members of the event staff about why this second entry is upping the ante in practically each manner.
Warning: This text contains spoilers for the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII and Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake.
Remaking FF7
The Prelude
The bottom beneath Sq. Enix’s Tetsuya Nomura’s toes trembled. In his time since serving as a personality designer and visible director on Ultimate Fantasy VII, his legend has grown considerably. Along with engaged on practically each acclaimed Ultimate Fantasy sport since, Nomura additionally helped create the Kingdom Hearts collection and has turn into a figurehead and luminary throughout the stacked ranks of Sq. Enix’s steady of builders. However this 2015 journey to Los Angeles, California, was completely different.
PlayStation’s E3 2015 livestream had simply revealed a teaser trailer that includes the long-lasting Ultimate Fantasy VII protagonist, Cloud Strife, strolling via Midgar in superb, trendy, HD graphics. The dream of so many followers – a contemporary remake of the basic RPG – was lastly realized. The followers weren’t the one ones feeling the burden of the second, although, and it was not simply the bottom that was shaking; it was Nomura’s total physique.
“There have been no employees members round, so I used to be type of simply off to the aspect, standing there alone,” Nomura says. “After I heard the cheers from the gang and the eagerness, I turned overwhelmed, and I began shivering. I used to be strolling like a fawn, simply overwhelmed by the depth of the gang. I believed, ‘This has turn into such a giant deal,’ and I needed to cry.”
The highway to this second was lengthy and arduous however one thing Nomura had dreamt of for years. Working as a staff of 1, Nomura had spent a part of the 2000s imagining what a contemporary remake of Ultimate Fantasy VII might appear like. Sadly, not a lot progress was made since the remainder of the staff members have been tied up with different tasks.
Round that point, followers began clamoring for a modernized remake of Ultimate Fantasy VII, and the builders started listening to about it from media members. Yoshinori Kitase, who has labored at Sq. Enix since 1990, serving as director on beloved video games like Ultimate Fantasy VI, Chrono Set off, the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII, and Ultimate Fantasy X, was inundated with questions throughout a collection of 2009 interviews.
“We have been on the U.S. media tour for Ultimate Fantasy XIII, and we took on a bunch of interviews, and we received a ton of questions from reporters asking, ‘When are we going to make a Ultimate Fantasy VII remake?’” Kitase remembers. “Simply listening to that so many instances, I did suppose that we might do it someday, that’s for sure.”
Kitase returned to Tokyo and approached Nomura about making it a actuality. As two of the creators of the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII, they seen the writing on the wall; fan and media demand was at a fever pitch, and Sq. Enix was starting to embrace the thought of recent remakes for traditional video games greater than ever earlier than. They knew they needed to act.
“Inside Sq. Enix, progressively, remakes have been being made, and these concepts for remakes have been arising in different departments,” Nomura says. “If we weren’t going to do Ultimate Fantasy VII, others have been going to do it, so we needed to stand up and do it! We had the sense that we needed to guard Ultimate Fantasy VII and should be those taking this on or another person goes to do it. I believed it could be a bit troublesome if different groups with out us took on the undertaking.”
Nomura and Kitase are a pair of legends throughout the Ultimate Fantasy and Sq. Enix fandom, however they wanted assist to make it a actuality. To create the staff, the duo tapped into Sq. Enix Artistic Enterprise Unit I, the group traditionally liable for lots of the most beloved Ultimate Fantasy titles. Kazushige Nojima, who joined Sq. Enix in 1994, engaged on video games like Ultimate Fantasy VII, VIII, and X, in addition to the Kingdom Hearts collection, and Motomu Toriyama, who joined Sq. Enix in 1995 and labored on the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII along with Ultimate Fantasy X, XIII, and extra, signed on to co-write the remake.
“I had all the time hoped to be part of the title if and when a remake was to be made,” Toriyama says. “I used to be very joyful when listening to the information [that we were making one].”
However the growth staff behind this undertaking couldn’t simply be members of the unique dev staff; most had left the corporate or have been engaged on different tasks. “I’d say nearly all of the dev employees and manufacturing members are those that have been gamers of the unique, not creators,” Toriyama says.
Two of these builders who began as followers of the Ultimate Fantasy collection earlier than becoming a member of Sq. Enix are Naoki Hamaguchi and Teruki Endo. Hamaguchi joined Sq. Enix in 2003, engaged on titles like Ultimate Fantasy XII and the XIII trilogy. After serving as undertaking supervisor on the cell title Mobius Ultimate Fantasy, he joined the Remake staff as a co-director. Endo received his begin within the late 2000s at Capcom, working totally on the Monster Hunter collection, however when he heard a couple of remake for Ultimate Fantasy VII, as a fan of the unique, he couldn’t resist becoming a member of the staff as battle director.
“I used to be working for an additional gaming firm once I heard they have been in search of members to be concerned on the battle aspect of making this sport and felt like this was an amazing alternative by which I might make the most of the abilities that I had gained so far working within the business,” Endo remembers.
With the core staff assembled, Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake was underway.
Making of Remake
Remaking a Basic
When a sport is as beloved as Ultimate Fantasy VII, modernizing it with out alienating followers of the unique generally is a difficult proposition; should you preserve issues too near the unique, you then don’t sustain with the most recent developments, squandering the chance to create one thing distinct. Conversely, should you push issues too distant from the supply materials, you threat alienating those that made Ultimate Fantasy VII so well-known within the first place.
Based on Toriyama, the members of the staff who skilled VII as followers, like Hamaguchi and Endo, are extra protecting of the supply materials than those that labored on the unique title. Kitase apprehensive these youthful employees members can be too loyal to the unique title, however his issues eased as soon as the staff began working. “This concern was all for naught as a result of this was clearly not true,” Kitase says. “We have been capable of work collectively very effectively and understand all of our visions and a sport that may be accepted and loved by up to date customers, in order that was fantastic.”
The staff labored collectively to stability the outdated with the brand new, to create one thing that definitively retells the story of Ultimate Fantasy VII with trendy conventions whereas not going too far in both path. “For me, it actually comes all the way down to contemplating what it was that the gamers loved and beloved within the unique title,” Endo says. “In fact, we count on a variance in every participant’s depth and span of what they get pleasure from and the issues that they love, however on the finish of the day, I do should belief my very own instincts and ideas on what I beloved and loved taking part in the sport.”
For Endo’s half – the battle system – he opted to mix motion with the extra conventional Lively Time Battle (ATB) mechanics from the unique sport, by which characters can act as soon as a meter fills. The consequence appeals to each new and longtime gamers. “Seeing that the Ultimate Fantasy collection has a robust concentrate on its characters, I consider the motion enhances this and lets the gamers be additional immersed into the characters as they play,” Endo says. “Together with the strategic battles that I consider are key to Ultimate Fantasy VII, I needed to see how finest I might combine these two components of the command and strategy-based battle with the motion that enables for that on the spot immersion.”
Although Endo needed to introduce motion, his want to stability it with the normal ATB components struck a chord with Nomura. “I do have this concept of how Ultimate Fantasy battles must be and will really feel,” Nomura says. “We wish to nonetheless preserve this technique component, by which the participant will think about the fundamental weaknesses of enemies throughout battle whereas utilizing these motion strikes and being engaged, intact. That was all the time my core perception in how we should always strategy Ultimate Fantasy battles. […] I believed this was actually important to this sport; I didn’t need it to be a sport the place it’s a reflex-type motion or reflex-based battle; we needed to mix all of those components.”
The battle system of Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake garnered acclaim, however it’s not the one piece of the title that modified. The visible leap ahead is instantly recognizable, and the story acquired quite a few upgrades. As a substitute of retelling all the Ultimate Fantasy VII arc in a single sport, Sq. Enix opted to launch the remake within the type of three video games. The primary title, Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, retold the celebration’s preliminary push via Midgar – a piece of the unique that takes about 6 hours to finish – throughout a 30 to 40-hour title.
This determination got here from Nomura, who recognized early on that totally capturing the occasions of Ultimate Fantasy VII in a contemporary manner and with sufficient depth to do the story justice wouldn’t be potential in its unique one-game kind, to not point out the drastically completely different format the sport takes following the celebration’s emergence from Midgar. “To recreate the world of Ultimate Fantasy VII because it was within the unique at this time in its full quantity, the one manner for us to appreciate this was to divide the titles or else it merely was not potential,” Nomura says. “We needed to divide it, or we are able to’t do it proper.”
Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake’s prolonged keep in Midgar totally fleshed out characters beforehand relegated to minor roles like Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie and additional developed the personalities and relationships of the primary characters like Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Aerith. “When the remake undertaking was first determined, at that time, we had already felt that if we’re going to tackle this collection, it’s crucial that we depict the characters a lot deeper,” Nomura says.
Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake was launched on PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020, incomes an 87 out of 100 on evaluations aggregator Metacritic, together with an 8.75 out of 10 from Sport Informer. And now, with the standard bar set excessive and fan expectations even increased, that very same staff units out to push the well-known story ahead as Cloud and his mates step exterior of Midgar and enterprise into a large world filled with journey and intrigue within the second act of the Remake collection, Ultimate Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Rebirth’s Modifications
Breaking Out
Following the occasions of Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, and Crimson XIII have escaped from the restrictive confines of Midgar. This precisely displays the development of the story and format within the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII, because the celebration emerges from Midgar’s shut quarters and linearity and into an open and explorable world map.
The longtime Ultimate Fantasy builders have had this in thoughts ever since Ultimate Fantasy X modified how adventures on the earth progress. “We began off expressing this world which you can enterprise via with a world map; that was the way it was beginning with Ultimate Fantasy I,” Kitase, who serves as producer on Rebirth, says. “However beginning with Ultimate Fantasy X, after we entered into this real-time 3D world, that is when the world map growth ceased or halted to some extent. With X, it was the model the place a participant selected a degree or an space they want to go to and traveled there. In that sense, the sensation was that, because it’s real-time 3D, it’s not fairly potential to create this full world map anymore.”
Whereas Ultimate Fantasy XV did transfer nearer to the unique world map imaginative and prescient when it was launched in 2016, Kitase assumed that Hamaguchi, serving as co-director on Rebirth, would wish to proceed with that conference of different current Ultimate Fantasy titles. Nevertheless, they each felt it could be a disservice to the unique to not embrace an interconnected world map for gamers to discover, notably as soon as the journey opens up a lot within the portion depicted in Rebirth.
The staff members, together with inventive director Nomura, have been joyful to listen to the world map was again, permitting gamers to freely discover the huge, open wilds within the unique sport. “Ever for the reason that world map disappeared, I actually had this bizarre feeling, and I all the time thought it was unusual and not using a world map,” Nomura says. “I believed which you can’t actually have an RPG and not using a world map, and particularly for Ultimate Fantasy VII, to totally expertise this world, we will need to have a world map; we are able to’t be with out it.”
The ensuing journey in Ultimate Fantasy VII Rebirth is a vastly completely different expertise that options huge, explorable areas and pushes gamers towards aspect content material. “Seeing that Remake is ready on the earth of Midgar, by which the participant can discover inside that space, we leaned closely on story components and have been centered on a extra narrative-driven sport for Remake,” Hamaguchi says. “Now that we’re getting into into the skin world and going ahead in that path, I’ve this want to depict extra of that feeling of exploration, and I very a lot really feel that this was capable of be completed for Rebirth.”
The openness of exploration is refreshing after the usually corridor-like construction of Remake. Based on Hamaguchi, gamers ought to look forward to finding a ton of aspect content material. The truth is, he estimates that roughly 80 p.c of the sport’s exploration-based content material is aspect content material, whereas the mainline story makes up the remaining 20 p.c. If that makes you are concerned that Rebirth lacks story content material, Hamaguchi says you may loosen up; even merely specializing in the primary storyline, he estimates it’s going to give gamers round 40 hours of gameplay. In the meantime, should you sort out an honest quantity of the aspect content material, gamers can count on to spend round 60 hours in Rebirth, whereas essentially the most devoted sidequesters can stay up for upwards of 100 hours of content material.
But it surely’s not content material bloat to inflate these playtime hours. After I ask Hamaguchi for his favourite RPG exterior of the Ultimate Fantasy collection, with out hesitation, he names The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Crimson’s 2015 masterpiece that many think about one of many best video games of all time. That title is understood for its significant aspect content material, which is so robust that its storylines typically even match these of the primary story.
“Relating to titles like The Witcher 3, which has that open-world role-playing sort component, we did some intensive analysis into a lot of these titles and checked out it as a baseline by which Rebirth must be a kind of title that may stand alongside it and have the kind of content material that may be satisfying to its gamers,” Toriyama says.
Those that performed Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake will acknowledge one of many outstanding sidequest givers: Chadley. The younger researcher as soon as once more needs your assist studying about Materia, and he’ll reward you with extra summons. As you progress via the world, he asks you to look into sure happenings via occasions known as World Intel. Throughout my hands-on session, Chadley requested me to search out and defeat sure enemy varieties as I journey via the sprawling open panorama. With every drawn-out battle, I obtain aspect goals to finish that may assist additional Chadley’s analysis.
The rewards sound value it, however from all the pieces I hear from the builders, the story stands out as the driving drive behind pushing gamers to sidequests. To make aspect content material extra significant, Sq. Enix expanded the affinity system. This under-the-hood mechanic takes your actions in the direction of a personality and interprets them into how sure scenes play out. Ultimate Fantasy VII Rebirth’s aspect content material is a essential driver for this mechanic. All sides quest brings in a secondary protagonist from the celebration. Finishing a aspect quest improves Cloud’s affinity with the given character.
I witnessed this firsthand in an unique hands-off demo as Cloud and his celebration journey to the Crowʼs Nest, a city that wasn’t within the unique sport. This sister city to Underneath Junon options simply as many anti-Shinra residents, so as soon as they discover out Cloud and his mates are in Avalanche, they welcome them with open arms. In my demo, because the celebration returns to the city, the Crowʼs Nest’s residents greet them with cheers. It’s because the staff simply accomplished a aspect mission the place they retrieved an merchandise for an additional resident. After taking a stroll across the space, Cloud talks to an individual who informs him of a mercenary working out of a close-by lighthouse. In fact, Cloud decides to research.
Exploration
On the Street Once more
Within the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII, the mountains round Junon stop you from passing, however Cloud is way nimbler in Rebirth and might climb up and down ledges to succeed in the specified areas. As well as, gamers can even name Chocobos to experience and ease traversal. As you journey via the varied areas, you encounter completely different Chocobo varieties, every with distinct skills. One class can fly, whereas one other can use jet propulsion to hover over water. The Chocobos on this space are generally known as Mountain Chocobos and might scale particular partitions to succeed in excessive ledges or descend quickly.
On the way in which to the merc, I get a way of the battle kinds of the 2 new celebration members. Crimson XIII is agile and fast and makes use of the guard mechanic to fill a meter for his new Vengeance Mode, which will increase his velocity and assault energy. In the meantime, Cait Sith brings essentially the most distinctive fight model but to the Remake collection, together with strikes that play off the luck mechanic from the unique sport. Cait Sith can battle individually or summon a Moogle to experience round on. When on the Moogle, Cait Sith has a completely separate moveset than when he’s solo, akin to a Moogle Mine assault, the place bombs unfold throughout the battlefield. He can even dismount and use his solo strikes, whereas Moogle will proceed attacking as managed by A.I. Moogle has a separate HP meter, and if he takes an excessive amount of injury, he’ll vanish till Cait Sith summons him once more.
After reaching the lighthouse, gamers meet Kyrie, a personality initially showing within the Ultimate Fantasy VII novel The Children Are Alright: A Turks Facet Story, however who has since appeared in Remake. In Rebirth, she’s attempting to get her new mercenary enterprise off the bottom, however she isn’t essentially the most well-equipped for the job, so she pops up around the globe, and it’s as much as you to help her.
After questioning why no clients have come to obtain her companies, the celebration realizes that the theme track she’s been taking part in attracts enemies, which has scared off any potential shoppers. On this case, it’s a collection of Flans adopted by extra highly effective White Mousses. Hamaguchi, who’s taking part in the demo for me, takes the chance to name Titan, considered one of Rebirth’s summons. The hulking creature joins the celebration in battle, tearing via the White Mousses and serving to full the mission.
Crimson XIII is the secondary protagonist for this mission, and due to his animal-like look, Kyrie needs to make him her pet. Clearly, he shoots her down, and as she runs off to her subsequent publish, Crimson XIII appears to be like at Cloud and remarks, “I wouldn’t want her on my worst enemy.”
Cloud and Crimson XIII’s affinity will increase for finishing this mission, doubtlessly affecting story beats and aspect content material. “We needed to present gamers the liberty of alternative in deciding whether or not they needed to dedicate themselves solely to the primary storyline and, like, no aspect quests in any respect,” Hamaguchi says. “Or there may be individuals who wish to delve into the aspect content material and go actually in-depth into the character relationships and perceive the story deeper, or simply the stability of these two. We needed to present that freedom.”
One other manner you may enhance affinity is by utilizing a Synergy Potential between two characters for the primary time. These two-character assaults use a Synergy Gauge that costs while you use ATB for a personality. Every potential character pairing has a Synergy Potential with a customized animation and impact. For instance, pairing Cloud and Cait Sith leads to one of many zaniest assaults the place the Moogle grabs Cloud’s Buster Sword whereas Cloud rides on its again. I beloved seeing what every mixture resulted in and these extra strikes add additional layers of nuance to an already-stellar system. However most significantly, the notion of Synergy Skills performs right into a central theme of Rebirth, which is the deepening of the relationships between the celebration members.
Sephiroth
The One-Winged Angel Returns
But it surely’s not simply the celebration members whose backstories and relationships are explored additional. Sephiroth, the primary antagonist, additionally has a extra important position this time. “Remake covers your encounter with Sephiroth, and now inside Rebirth, we needed to make Sephiroth into this very clear antagonist and goal for the characters to go and pursue all through their journey in Rebirth,” Kitase says. “Throughout the unique sport, Sephiroth shouldn’t be seen very a lot throughout the world map, however on this title, we put this component ahead.”
Throughout a hands-on sequence, I performed via an prolonged model of the flashback, which options Cloud and Sephiroth teaming as much as discover Mt. Nibel and discover the mako reactor. At this level within the story, Sephiroth remains to be a heroic determine, and Cloud is a naïve and inexperienced Soldier, so the 2 are teaming as much as full this mission. In the meantime, a younger Tifa serves as a information however not a celebration member. Sephiroth is a robust drive, slashing via enemies and dealing great injury with the Masamune. He’s not fairly as overpowered as he was within the unique sport’s corresponding flashback, however he’s a blast to play. Regardless that Sephiroth’s solely playable in a tiny a part of the sport, they invested in growing his gameplay, even giving him a Synergy Potential with Cloud.
“When growing Sephiroth as a personality who gamers are capable of management in a restricted space, we’re nonetheless contemplating that you just’re capable of play as this very iconic character,” Endo says. “Taking this into thoughts, I actually took care into offering the form of sources and value as equal to these of different playable characters into growing Sephiroth in a battle sense.”
The staff had to make use of warning when approaching its dealing with of Sephiroth. In spite of everything, he’s considered one of gaming’s most iconic and influential antagonists, so naturally, followers will likely be sensitive about any substantial adjustments. “We felt it was essential to have this very clear depiction of how he got here to be the individual that he’s now in Rebirth,” Hamaguchi says. “At the same time as a developer creating this sport, seeing Sephiroth uncover the reality and fall additional and additional into darkness – like falling from grace – and depicting this in his expressions and actions, I might actually really feel unhealthy for him. All through the course of Rebirth, I consider gamers is not going to solely develop to narrate to and perceive Cloud, but in addition Sephiroth via this sport far more.”
Seeing Sephiroth’s rise to prominence as a extra highly effective adversary to Cloud and the remainder of the celebration will doubtless result in a extra impactful depiction of the occasions the place Rebirth’s story involves an in depth: the occasions on the Forgotten Capital.
The Iconic Scene
Reborn Solely to Die?
Ultimate Fantasy VII Rebirth might function aspect content material and minigames galore, however the primary story will undoubtedly go away its mark. Since Rebirth brings the story as much as the purpose the place the celebration reaches the Forgotten Capital, gamers might want to reckon with Aerith’s story arc after taking part in a sport constructed round deepening the connections between the celebration members. After I requested the event staff about this scene, the beforehand jovial temper dropped right into a somber state. Whereas the staff is tight-lipped about how the occasions will play out, it insists it has achieved one thing that may shock even the gamers who’ve performed via the scene in query a number of instances.
“Starting with the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII, after we had began engaged on it, it was already determined from the get-go that ‘life’ can be the central theme surrounding Ultimate Fantasy VII,” Nomura says. “I knew that we needed to depict life and loss of life inside this title. Previous to Ultimate Fantasy VII, there have been different titles the place characters have skilled tragedy, however a lot of them have come again or been revived ultimately. However I consider that loss is one thing that occurs unexpectedly, and it’s not one thing so dramatic or drawn out, however is one thing by which an individual that you’ve simply conversed with is out of the blue gone and by no means to come back again. I consider that the one who dies shouldn’t return on this title, and that’s what we did with the unique.”
These conversant in the scene know all too effectively the emotional influence the occasions might have with deepened relationships and a lot better technological capabilities to specific the total scope of the occasions. The way in which the builders tease the way it performs out, I can’t assist however be curious and speculate about the way it may differ from the unique. In spite of everything, the Whispers that helped management the destiny of Remake are gone; perhaps issues can play out in another way this time. Or maybe I’m simply setting myself as much as be damage once more.
Very like the characters within the Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake collection, who’re not ruled by predetermined destiny, the builders discuss as if the chances in Ultimate Fantasy VII Rebirth are countless. And after what Sq. Enix completed via Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake and the way the staff explains its strategy to Ultimate Fantasy VII Rebirth, I’m inclined to consider them.
This text initially appeared in Concern 362 of Sport Informer
