Still waiting for that remake of Final Fantasy VII?

Unfortunately you may be waiting for a long time more.

According to a recent interview commemorating the 15th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, the Japanese magazine Famitsu caught up with Tetsuya Nomura, one of the big names of Square-Enix today, and the designer of all the main characters in Final Fantasy VII.

When asked about the possibility of a remake of Final Fantasy VII, Nomura commented that a Final Fantasy VII remake would appease the fans, acknowledging the large fan outcry, However, right now, Nomura feels that working on new titles, (which are a higher priority at the moment to be), must come first. Nomura added he wants the new Final Fantasy games to constantly surpass the older classic Final Fantasy titles, one of which is the long awaited Final Fantasy Versus XIII, is one of the games Nomura has been working on (and promises an update very soon) for the past several years.

In the interview he made references to many cool new background tidbits that were planned to be included in the original game. One of which was that originally in the game Yuffie, the materia stealing ninja, was to be first portrayed on wanted posters. Each poster that would be found would have a different face, then finally at the end when you finally encounter her, the “Yuffie” that joined your party would be based on the last poster you saw. A very cool little idea that would help personalize the game for some, but given the time of the games release and the limited technology back then, I could see why they cut it out.

Other interesting notes he made was that Aerith’s death was decided on at the very beginning of development (contrary to what fans seem to speculate), but since Final Fantasy VII still needed a strong female lead Nomura created Tifa to fill that role, and later would become a big plot point and love interest to the main character Cloud. Another big surprise for many is that Aerith and Sephiroth were originally planned to be brother and sister, and although the plan was later scrapped, he noted that the similar hair styles were made to display that.

Although, for the time being the official word that a true Final Fantasy VII remake has been put on the back burner for now, fans have plenty to look forward to. From the HD remake of Final Fantasy X for the PSVITA, to Final Fantasy Versus XIII and the rumored Final Fantasy XIII-3, fans have plenty to play in the mean time.