The PlayStation 4 Final Fantasy VII Remake – What we know so far

At E3 2015 Sony and Square Enix seemingly stole the show by announcing that the beloved cult classic, Final Fantasy VII, is getting a PS4 remake. Within moments of its announcement, the internet went ablaze.

But first, check out the trailer that caused all this fuss:

The dreams and wishes of countless fans had finally been realized, but now, it seems we have more questions than answers. But for those who care to look, we may already have a lot of the answers.

The new Final Fantasy VII will be a REMAKE not a Remaster. 

One of the first bits of info that we know, is that the new PS4 edition will be a Remake, not a remaster. Meaning that there will be changes. Following its announcement, IGN spoke with the game’s executive producer Shinji Hashimoto who revealed that the game will be more than just a HD remaster, but it will be a full blown remake, citing that they’re “putting in a lot of careful thought to meet” the expectations of fans.

Speaking with Dengeki, director Tetsuya Nomura revealed quite a few intriguing snippets that help clear up what fans should expect.

“I can’t share too much for now, but it won’t be a simple remake. If we were to simply just make the graphics look pretty for the new generation consoles, I don’t think it could surpass the original version. If that’s what you wanted, I think it’d be enough to just play the original International version on PlayStation 4, and it would be satisfying enough.”

“We’ve yet to show any screenshots from the game, but it has vastly evolved, so please look forward to it, Again, this time, since the story is being handled by Nojima, that also means that there will be more work added to it, so please look forward to that as well.”

When will this game be released?

With the understanding that the game’s production has already been underway for several years, fans only need to look at the initial report that this game was aiming for a release on the 20th anniversary of it the original; meaning simply, they’re currently aiming for spring/summer 2017.

Final Fantasy VII Remake has been in the works for a while.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Director Tetsuya Nomura revealed that the game has been in production already for at least a couple of years.

“When we announced the HD port, the PC port on the PS4, we weren’t sure when we wanted to announce the remake. The production was underway then, so there’s no real connection between the timing of the two FF7s coming to PS4. We’ve announced several different titles coming to the PlayStation 4 like World of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts 3.”

According to Nomura, the decision to proceed with the announcement was made in part as part of an effort to help boost sales of the PlayStation 4 in Japan, being that Sony is producing the game, it would make sense to do it now seeing that Japan’s console market is at an all-time low.

“There’s more and more titles being introduced for the platform, and we’re hoping that announcing the remake of Final Fantasy VII, it’ll give a boost to people wanting to buy this current generation of console,” Nomura said.

“If we announced the remake after all those titles have been sold, it wouldn’t have created such an impact, so that’s why we decided on this timing. We wanted to reassure players that PlayStation 4 is coming out with great titles including Final Fantasy VII. That’s why we decided to announce the remake.”

The Remake was partly motivated by the age of the developers.

In an interview with 4gamer (translated by siliconera) Director Tetsuya Nomura talked about how the remake came about and the reasons why they decided to make it.

“Actually, we’ve had plans for a remake on several occasions. Up until now, it’s been a cycle of having plans come and go, but this time, we’ve finally decided ‘let’s do it’.”

“And there’s one more thing, we’re hitting that age.”

“Of all the staff that worked on the original Final Fantasy VII, and those who are working on the remake, I’m the youngest one. I’m 45 years old now. If we continued on without doing a remake, [Yoshinori] Kitase and [Kazushige] Nojima are well older than me… so, yeah,” he said, laughing.

“With this timing and opportunity in mind, we decided to just got for it.”

Will the Final Fantasy VII Remake hit the Xbox?

Short answer; Don’t hold your breath. What most Xbox fans seem to forget, this game was made for Sony, on Sony’s dime, and its rights are still owned by Sony. So the recent rumors that this game will later become multi-platform are just rumors that are based on the wishes of fans who don’t understand how exclusive contracts work. So what about the comment made from the Sony exec when he said “You can play it first on the PS4,” because that seems to allude to a multi-plat release right? Most likely, it was referencing that it will play out just like it did 20 years ago. With Final Fantasy VII first coming to the PlayStation, then being released afterwards on the PC. Final Fantasy VII was never a timed exclusive, so its highly unlikely that it wont become one now, especially since like before, Sony is producing the game.

Will Cloud still cross-dress in the Remake?

In an interview with Eurogamer, director Tetsuya Nomura indicated that some of the sillier parts of the game wouldn’t be scrubbed out, but when asked specifically about the infamous “cross-dressing scene” he replied simply: “Please look forward to it.”

What changes will fans see to the Final Fantasy VII Remake?

Now this seems to be the biggest question among fans. The game’s director has already revealed that the game will have plenty of additions. From story to gameplay changes, the Final Fantasy VII Remake will indeed be a complete overhaul.

But what is likely to occur is the story will have some big changes. Now before anyone freaks out, its likely to have its continuity fixed letting it line up properly with the other installments in this series such as Crisis Core, Advent Children, and Dirge of Cerberus. 

My prediction is that it will see the inclusion to references to Genesis Rhapsodos, the primary antagonist of Crisis Core, and who was freed from his Lifestream prison at the end of Dirge of Cerberus, potentially allowing them to make a sequel set after all of these games.

However, fans shouldnt expect this game to carry the same battle-system. For those who havent kept track, the director of this game has been working on both Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 for the last several years, so its not likely, but highly probable that the Final Fantasy VII Remake will use the same battle system as Final Fantasy XV.

You can check out an overview of the latest update of Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae here:

Will the game’s official title be Final Fantasy VII Remake?

Firstly, it wont be Final Fantasy VII Remake. Executive producer Shinji Hashimoto told IGN that”Essentially we put that there to say ‘yes, this is a remake,’ but that it would be given a more formal title later this year at the PlayStation Experience, this winter, which last year it held in Las Vegas in December.

When will we know more?

In the above mentioned interview with Dengeki, director Tetsuya Nomura revealed;

“We plan on delivering more information around sometime this winter. At the very least, I believe that we will announce the official title, but we’re currently thinking about how much other information we’ll reveal, too.”

“I understand that many of you are waiting with great expectations, but we were finally able to announce it. It will be a little while longer until we can reveal more information, but we’re working hard to be able to meet your expectations. Please look forward to the next announcements”

Well there you have it. Obviously we will be hearing more and more about this game as time goes on, and Square Enix has already opened the official website for the game, which you can see it here, and you can already pre-order on Amazon, more should be known about the game this upcoming winter.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is currently in development coming soon to the Sony PlayStation 4.