Any Final Fantasy 7 remake "might delete things, add elements"

By Fred Dutton Published 28 November, 2011

Kitase not interested in a straight "repeat".

If Square Enix was to remake RPG classic Final Fantasy 7 it might not be able to resist the temptation to make significant changes to the original game, according to veteran franchise producer Yoshinori Kitase.

Speaking in an interview with OXM, Kitase explained that it wouldn't be very interesting to just do a straight remake.

"If I may speak as a game creator, if we were to produce a remake of 7, for example, I would be really tempted to delete things and add new elements, new systems or whatever because if we were to make exactly the same thing now, it'd be like a repeat," he said.

"It'd be an issue of repetition and not as much fun to make such a game. So I'd be really interested in rearranging games or reshaping games into something slightly different even though it's supposed to be the same game."

However, he conceded that such an approach might not be too popular with certain sections of the franchise's fanbase.

"If we did that, the fans might be disappointed or [say] 'this is not what I was expecting' so in that sense maybe some might say that it's better to let memory be memory.

"When we play the games we made years ago, sometimes we think 'oh, that is not really cool' or 'that probably should have been a bit better than that' and that sort of thing," he continued.

"But on the other hand, those slightly negative features and bits, for some of the really enthusiastic fans of these titles, that gives the game extra flavour or personality or whatever. So maybe they would rather we didn't do anything about it and we just leave it in as it is. It's very difficult to decide what we should we keep in and what we should take out."

Square hasn't confirmed any plans for a fresh take on the 1997 PS1 classic. However, a new version of Final Fantasy 10 is in the works for PlayStation 3 and Vita.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (50) Latest comment 6 months ago

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  • cheeky-sod #1 6 months ago

    Wtf.. i hope they didnt change remake of ffx.

  • Rajin #2 6 months ago

    Yes make squish the entire game into a corrider.....(alright now that's said we no longer need any ''corridor'' comments)

    But seriously, if they change the game from turn-based to real-time some fans are going to be angry(in FF case there're always some who're angry)

    For a FF remake i always wanted a different take on the combat, real-time with materia like the Advent Children movie could work.

  • Daryoon #3 6 months ago

    So effectively what they did with FF4 on the DS, which turned out better than the original.

  • Silent-Hal #4 6 months ago

    No, keep it exactly the same. The fans love their awful, dated 90s JRPGs don'cha know.

  • Chufty #5 6 months ago

    Some fans would indeed get enraged and make long internet posts about how the W-Item bug shouldn't have been fixed and that Cloud shouldn't have been given a voice actor.

    But people will whine at anything; it shouldn't stop you making a game.

    FF7 is still an incredible game to those of us who loved it, and we don't need a remake because we can always go back and play it. Some parts of it might not stand up today though, and to introduce it to a new audience may require some tweaking.

    That's no bad thing.

  • miiiguel #6 6 months ago

    I suppose it'd be very boring to do the same stuff allover again. The champions of yesterday games should lighten up.
    Take Halo CE for instance, loved the terminals, skulls and the ramped up difficulty.

  • ED209 #7 6 months ago

    Well you know what, i would welcome any changes, for the better. If I wanted to play the exact original i'd dig out my ps and utterly destroy my rose tinted glasses. (although i think its probably not aged as much as no 8 due to the small characters. and they way they changed depending on setting/in game/fmv - there was about 5 different versions of cloud in the one game - and tifa had 10 bra sizes! - absurdd to ggginormous ... not that i noticed such childish tittilation ... who's tifa?)

  • Kode #8 6 months ago

    Square's Marketing Strategy: Occasionally talk about a FF7 remake.

  • Reaver_v1 #9 6 months ago

    How about you start making orignal RPG's that are actual good again, instead of just resting on your past glories?

  • TonyB #10 6 months ago

    Aeris may or may not die!

  • TeaFiend #11 6 months ago

    I think the fans want sword boy with big hair and some deep rooted daddy issues to save the world. So any FF game from the last decade.

  • Cobalt_Jackal #12 6 months ago



    Not happy/bored with destroying Star Wars Jorge's evil soul has entered and took over Yoshinori Kitase in a attempt to ruin one of Video gamings greatest/most iconic games.
    Edited by Cobalt_Jackal at 28/11/11 @ 18:16

  • miiiguel #13 6 months ago

    I've played (and own) all Square's RPGs this gen, and all of them are clearly above average games, and some even quite interesting and new - like The Last Remnant (albeit with a few technical problems). This whining about the good old days are mostly viral, I don't think most of who spread the hate actually played them games.
    Edited by miiiguel at 28/11/11 @ 18:18

  • retr0gamer #14 6 months ago

    FFVII would need an extensive remake. The battle system is far too simple, adding a bit of strategy or customisation to it would not be a bad thing because as it stands it's the most uninteresting battle system in the entire series. The plot needs extensive work, it's an unfinished mess with lots of cliche and evangelion wannabe symbolism that is a joke, and a new translation would be nice. They could make a really fantastic game out of it.

    However I don't trust the current Square Enix. Nomura would get his claws in it and emo it up and they will try to fit in the frankly god awful storylines to the FF compilation games and the disgraceful Advent Children film.

    Let it rest Square, let it rest. You'll only ruin it by making changes or shatter peoples rose tinted glasses if you just tart it up.

  • Red-Moose #15 6 months ago

    Could work - alternate timeline from e.g., when Aeris kicks the bucket, OMG WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE IF STAYED ALIVE

    I'll you what it would be like: not having to use someone completely shit as a healer for a period of time.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #16 6 months ago

    Well for those who still want to play it in its original form there is still the PSN release, isn't there?

    Personally I don't think a remake is necessary. I haven't played FF7 because I never had a PSX but if I wanted to I'd go for the original version. The reasons why I think that some remakes are a good idea are are usually of technical nature (most of the time because I'm too lazy to hook up the original console). Personally I think that the DS remakes of FF3 and 4 were fantastic but I would have been just as happy with the original games. So if FF7 was indeed to be remade then I guess a few changes cannot hurt as the original is still available on the PS3 after all.

  • retr0gamer #17 6 months ago

    Thought the DS remake of FF3 was a complete disaster. It was too true to the dated original except with load times for the battles that totally killed the pace of the game. FF4 was pretty damn good. There's so many rereleases of FF4 that I've played it countless times so all the changes they made to the battle system were a welcome twist and I found the battles far more strategic than the original.

  • Markusdragon #18 6 months ago

    I miss hand-drawn backgrounds.

  • inutaihanyou #19 6 months ago

    I would like a remake in line with the advent children and crisis corecontinuity. It would make sense as they've already retconned a things from the original game by expanding the universe so what is the problem?

  • Thunderbolt #20 6 months ago

    Keep it in 4 discs!

  • sfp_noodle #21 6 months ago

    I'd take an updated combat system that eliminates the Active Time Battle system of old, it doesn't stand up to today's standards. Also, I thought that the guy that did the voice for Cloud in Advent Children did a pretty good job, in fact, most of the cast did a good job. They can't simply re-make the game and just change the graphics to make it look prettier, it needs a whole revamp. Fanboys will always bitch about something, but I'd encourage forward thinking as long as they don't completely destroy it in the same way as FF13.

    Finally, we all know this is going to be re-made once next gen consoles hit. I wouldn't be surprised if they have it planned as a 15th anniversary release.

  • WeakOrbit #22 6 months ago

    I'll always remember Links Awakening as my first RPG but 7 blew me away back then. Leaving Midgar to see the world that was open for exploration. Discussions about how to beat Demon Wall, bumping into emerald weapon and getting slaughtered after leaving the submarine.

    It'd be interesting to see the changes made but it would be hard to have the same reaction to a game thats nearly 15 years old still I hope this goes ahead as its still one of my favorite RPG's and has one of the best RPG plots I've encountered.

  • Seoh #23 6 months ago

    I hope they'd use a more modern approach to saving the game like in xenoblade.

  • a8a #24 6 months ago

    I wouldn't mind some changes, as long as they stuck to a few basic rules:

    1) Keep the feel of the game the same. Square have got a bit ultra-serious since FF7, but diversions like Cloud's cross-dressing adventures and Don Corneo were essential parts of the fun. The ability to switch effortlessly between light-hearted high jinks and heart-wrenching exposition was one of the things that made it great.

    2) If in doubt, add elements to the game but don't take them away. More materia, more uber-bosses, more content generally - I'd love to get stuck into all that. Maybe even another super-secret playable character or two. Adding stuff isn't likely to annoy the fanbase, mostly just taking away.

    3) Exception to 2: please don't fill a FF7 remake with crap that references the extended universe built around it 10 years later. It's not that extended universes are bad, its just that the FF7 one in particular (and Crisis Core even more particularly) is full of retcons that makes the original story worse, if you choose to view it through the lens of having seen the surrounding material. Very similar to how the Star Wars prequels change the essence of the original movies. (This personal bugbear stems from the fact that if you take Crisis Core's story at face value, there were very important characters all over FF7s world, closely linked with everything going on, who just hid behind the curtains every time Cloud came around the corner - and were never mentioned by anyone!)

    4) Can you let Tetsuya Nomura direct it please?

  • Grayvern #25 6 months ago

    A better translation would be nice. From what Iv'e read there aren't story beat changing errors but stuff that messes up the back story in some cases.
    Edited by Grayvern at 28/11/11 @ 19:40

  • menage #26 6 months ago

    Oh sod off, you know the only FFVII remake we'll ever see is on a handheld system where cost would be toned down a lot. If we ever see one at all.

  • MattEdWithCheese #27 6 months ago

    In other news, Kitase may have confirmed a Type-0 Localisation!!

  • inutaihanyou #28 6 months ago

    @a8a Didn't nomura ruin KH with all the convoluted sidestories and extra material? No thanks.

    The fact that SE even put together the Extended universe makes it almost a certainty that they'll have to put it in line with the rest of the expanded universe.

    If FF7 has to be changed to make it flow better i have to say i'm all for it, because unlike the extended KH universe(which is basically just filler until KH3 comes out once Nomura stops fucking around with Versus 13), i really would like to see how the Final Fantasy 7 universe continued to expand from Crisis core and Advent children.
    Edited by inutaihanyou at 28/11/11 @ 20:07

  • Rens11 #29 6 months ago

    @Thunderbolt

    Final fantasy 7 was 3 discs :p

  • JohnnyIsTruant #30 6 months ago

    One thing I've always hoped they'd do if they made this is to replace the world map with a giant Dragon Quest VIII style world to explore, it'd ramp the epic factor up a hella load

  • King_Edward #31 6 months ago

    "We're doing it, but we're fucking it!"

  • LEONOFDEATH #32 6 months ago

    No, If they remake it exactly the same, But just make it look up to date, It will sell.

    :/

  • Lemming81 #33 6 months ago

    Kitase not interested in straight "making money".

    Fixed.
    Edited by Lemming81 at 28/11/11 @ 21:45

  • Velios #34 6 months ago

    Just make it so that you can bring Aerith back to life somehow and i'm in :)

  • Sephija #35 6 months ago

    FFVII is my favourite game of all time and at first the idea of a remake appealed to me but after thinking about it I decided i'd rather it didn't happen. In my opinion whatever they do it can't be better than original and can only be worse, adding things like voiceovers will take away people's imagination of how characters sounded or spoke and again take away from the original experience of playing FFVII.

  • funkateer #36 6 months ago

    "Kitase not interested in a straight "repeat"."

    You're right, Kitase. Whatever you do with FF7, people will just complain because it won't be what they remember.
    Just focus on bringing us something fresh, imaginative and beautiful for FFXV

  • alcides #37 6 months ago

    Some memorable areas of FF7 were really short, like the one where they're in a glowing green cave, and they meet Elena of the Turks for the first time, right before Yuffie / the tower defence game / Junon.

    It's beautiful. You'd have to either make is as small or make it really stunning, but a topdown view simply would not work with FF13 quality graphics. I would expect a truly cinematic experience such as the one offered in Advent Children, all the while retaining the "honey bee" atmosphere of Don Corneo's sector.

    FF7 is a game where you can go talk to people taking a piss or a shit, where sexual intercourse is implied between TIfa and Cloud, where a male hero dresses up as a prostitute and gets caught up in gay orgy in a jacuzzi.

    I want a FF7 remake, but not without the crazy chocobo invocation or the golden saucer...

    I think part of the challeng with FF13 was introducing some real fantasy elements while not making it look cheap like the kind of cheesy whiff one gets frome a live action japanese TV show, because the characters felt so realistic compared to the world they are exploring.
    Edited by alcides at 28/11/11 @ 22:34

  • alcides #38 6 months ago

    Thunderbolt #21 4 hours ago

    Keep it in 4 discs

    they will on 360

  • Gojiratron #39 6 months ago

    After the quality of some of the remakes this year (Tactics Ogre, Ocarina 3D, P3P), I'm more inclined towards this actually being a good thing.
    Edited by Gojiratron at 28/11/11 @ 23:38

  • Widge #40 6 months ago

    They do have to address some things... like cutting out that BOBBINS cpr scene.

  • Collymilad #41 6 months ago

    I hope they wouldn't change too much.

    On another note, please either do this or stop ****ing talking about it. A remake would sell at LEAST a few million so just do it ffs :p Thanks.

  • Okamiwolf #42 6 months ago

    Let me guess - the new Square will turn all the men into metrosexuals (permanently crossdessing Cloud), fill the plot with endless annoying melodramatic chattering teenagers, add random American pop songs to the soundtrack, and have all the battles consist of people flying through the air and/or hovering while they exchange sword blows.
    Edited by Okamiwolf at 29/11/11 @ 01:34

  • sevenforce #43 6 months ago

    Final Fantasy 7 HD EX+ Alpha- No Shiro is all well and good but can we have a new Vagrant Story or a new Brave Fencer Musashi instead (or even a remake, I lent out my copy of Musashi years ago and never saw it again :cry: )

    Oh and a new Bushido Blade and a new Einhander as well while you're at it.
    Edited by sevenforce at 29/11/11 @ 02:35

  • anti-Shinra #44 6 months ago

    In Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes all they changed was a couple of accents and made Snake do a back flip in one scene and the fans STILL hit the roof, despite all the positive improvements (graphics, FPS shooting).

  • dagas #45 6 months ago

    I just want a graphical update, that's all. Don't mess with perfection. They can add things as long as there are options to disable those new things and a new dungeon like the remakes of other FF-games would be fine, but not deleting anything and not changing the story or the gameplay.

  • Scimarad #46 6 months ago

    Right now I really don't trust them to do a remake...

  • Zackv4861 #47 6 months ago

    I'm not so fussed about changes in many ways. Think about what they could do with the Gold Saucer now?? That alone gets me excited all the new mini games. They also release the same game for FF3 and FF4 and they were great. Also if you don't want the remake you don't have to play the game so it's a win win really.
    Edited by Zackv4861 at 29/11/11 @ 08:36

  • Indy #48 6 months ago

    Well yeah, they should definitely kill the Materia system. It was bollocks.

    /sarcasm

  • silversun #49 6 months ago

    With a remake i think they should upgrade the look kinda like that ps3 tech demo showed off, maybe add voice acting and keep game play like the origonal and not add anything.
    Then they should make a new game/or chapter added to it called crisis core 2 which could have new gameplay, they could make it to play from start kind like how 4 swords zelda game had the choice or another example persona 3 fes.

    Most important is they dont edit out miss cloud
    Edited by silversun at 29/11/11 @ 09:31

  • Softie2k #50 6 months ago

    They'll absolutely ruin the game, I am sure of it. Advent Children was an abomination that should have been killed at birth and made a laughing stock out of FFVII's story.