FFVII remake "unrealistic to happen"

By Robert Purchese Published 22 February, 2010

It would take too long, says Kitase.

Yoshinori Kitase has built us up and now he is letting us down, explaining that remaking Final Fantasy VII to today's standards would simply take too long.

"If it were possible that we had all the right facilities and the right environment to be able to make and prepare a Final Fantasy VII remake within a year, we'd very much like a go at it," Kitase told Tech Digest.

"But even Final Fantasy XIII has taken over three and a half years to create. If we were to recreate Final Fantasy VII with the same level of graphical detail as you see in Final Fantasy XIII, we'd imagine that that would take as much as three or four times longer than the three-and-a-half-years it has taken to put this Final Fantasy together! So it's looking pretty unrealistic to happen!"

Last week Kitase told a different reporter that he would be "really interested" to see a remake of Final Fantasy VII on today's technology, which offered the internet a big shiny straw onto which it inevitably latched.

Final Fantasy XIII, Kitase's latest project, will be released on PS3 and Xbox 360 here in Europe on 9th March.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (46) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • CosmicFuzz #1 2 years ago

    Why on Earth would it take 14 years to remake Final Fantasy VII?

  • siro #2 2 years ago

    Maybe 13 has only 1/4 of the content of FF7 or so?:)

  • menage #3 2 years ago

    BS

    They would sell 3 million copy's in japan alone, but obviosly they don't want the money. Just feeding the fan base with hope to squash it again so they buy other side stuff.

  • the_dudefather #4 2 years ago

    I would rather they use they money to make something new

    plus they would use the current 'emo, mobile phone' version of Cloud

  • The_Inquisitor #5 2 years ago

    I'm glad, I don't want them to remake it.
    FFVII is a classic so I can't understand why anyone would want to replace it with a version with better graphics and voice acting that would probably end up not doing the original justice anyway.

  • glottis0 #6 2 years ago

    Isn't this about the 4th news story about this completely non-news item? Does even the most devoted FF fan care about every word of conjecture uttered by Kitase?

    Please, just skip this - at most, tell us when production starts or stops on an important title.

    Up next, Ken Levine has a dream about a Bioshock 3 character, and Fumito Ueda said to his friend that it would be nice to make a game for PS4 in the future maybe.

  • DFawkes #7 2 years ago

    I'd have thought they'd have the source files for the 3D backdrops they built to render as 2D in the first place. Get those source files and do them in HD instead. Repeat for whole game, ask a couple of the massive FFVII fanbase to do HD character models (do it as a competition, it'll still happen) and release as a download for £14.99. It'll still sell, I think.

  • Toothball #8 2 years ago

    It would be nice if all those clamouring for an FF7 remake would get over it and move on. They've probably played it hundreds of times already. There are loads of different games out there to play, why bother playing the same one over and over?

  • Widge #9 2 years ago

    The detail level on those original 3D source files ain't so hot anymore, bog standard in game engine stuff nowadays looks much better. People would be expecting something around the detail level of the tech demo, and that is where the work would be. Anything less and forum outrage etc.

  • andywilkie35 #10 2 years ago

    Let me get this straight. They said the other day they'd "love to do it", then now they say they can't? And considering they've been doing this song and dance for years, this is still considered news?

  • TeaFiend #11 2 years ago

    And who says the Japanese are not willing to try new things?

  • GreyBeard #12 2 years ago

    FFVII would be extremely expensive to remake because there's a ridiculously huge amount of content in it. Re-making all that to the technical and artistic standards of FFXIII would take forever.

    Just think about all the arcade mini-games that you can play at the Golden Saucer, that represents a huge amount of work by itself as there's no-way Square would dare to do them as scrappily (few textures, loads of gouraud shaded polys) today.

    They couldn't even get cut easily as most of them are used elsewhere as part of the story (so they'd need to look the same as the main game).

    Compare FFVII to FFVIII, all that stuff is gone, replaced by the triple triad card-game.

  • Widge #13 2 years ago

    Look at Crisis Core for an example. Lots of dev time, maxed out the UMD size, nowhere near "this gen" levels of detail and that only managed to cram in a small portion of the FF7 world into it.

  • Zidargh #14 2 years ago

    Kitase epitomises the term 'cock tease'.

  • alimokrane #15 2 years ago

    People need to get some persepective here. True, 14 years is pushing it but that's a figure of speech. Why do u think towns were dumped in FF 13 ?? why did they cut so much out of it ? They simply didnt have the time. FF7 is a HUGE game. Recreating it will no doubt take at least twice the time it took FF13!

  • Cid #16 2 years ago

    FFVII remake aside, a game that's similar in style to the older Final Fantasies is what people want from this series, so by making this statement he's basically saying they can't make the game we want because it would be too difficult and time-consuming. If producing these high quality visuals is having a negative impact on other areas of the game then I'd rather they not bother.

  • menage #17 2 years ago

    @Greybeard

    I thought the triple triad game kicked ass.

    The FFVII minigames were crap, wouldn't miss em.

  • Machetazo #18 2 years ago

    /joins the "tired of hearing about FFVII remake, if they're not interested" group. No more of these articles for me.

    @menage: Triple Triad/Tetra Master, which do you prefer? I was disappointed when I found that TM didn't feature rules per-region, or migrating rules. I thought that was a brilliant thing in VIII for TT. :)
    Edited by 1 at 22/02/10 @ 10:05

  • ant72 #19 2 years ago

    Hang on. How long did development of that "realtime" FFVII demo on PS3 take? Was that a waste of time?

    Yes, so it would seem.

  • Widge #20 2 years ago

    I dunno, they could do wonders with Gold Saucer if they made it online. Imagine a really spruced up snowboarding game where you can 4 or more players pelting it down the slopes!

  • Mooglepies #21 2 years ago

    It would take them a crazy amount of time and effort to create something that, creatively, is just something they've done before. I don't imagine that I'd relish the prospect of redoing something that massive all over again if I'm honest.

    It'll probably be their last resort if their company is somehow ever in financial difficulty.

  • Stuz359 #22 2 years ago

    It is unrealistic to do. In the future, the graphical capability of Consoles and PCs may be a stumbling block. The sheer amount of time it takes to create art assets to the requisite quality is immense and to do it for a remake simply would not make sense.

  • Widge #23 2 years ago

    I reckon media constraints would hit this one, at least for download and DVD. The thing would be massive, you couldn't just split it between discs like the older FF7 as the towns wouldn't be 2D rendered screens anymore but huge wadges of assets that would need to be available for backtracking at any point in the game.

  • retr0gamer #24 2 years ago

    People need to take off the rose tinted specs. FFVII isn't the best game ever, it's not even close to the best JRPG ever. It's story is also ridiculous, unfinished and incoherent. Sephiroth is a terrible antagonist who's reasons for becoming the bad guy are weak at best and only has excellent character design going for him.

    Stop hoping for a sequel to a game that will only disappoint you (it won't be terrible, for all it's many flaws FFVII is still alot of fun) and play something from the Shin Megami Tensei series which is far better than final fantasy.

  • OnlyMe #25 2 years ago

    I bet you wouldn't say the same if it wasn't early 3D graphics, and was released on the SNES. That's what I get the feeling of when people attack VII - because VI apparently is so much better. Rose-tinted specs can be terribly selective it seems.
    Edited by 1 at 22/02/10 @ 12:55

  • M_of_the_sys #26 2 years ago

    Stop hoping for a sequel to a game that will only disappoint you (it won't be terrible, for all it's many flaws FFVII is still alot of fun) and play something from the Shin Megami Tensei series which is far better than final fantasy.

    Opinion stated as fact alert.
    Edited by 1 at 22/02/10 @ 14:46

  • FooAtari #27 2 years ago

    If you want to play FFVII, play FFVII, why do you need a remake to do it... A great game should stand the test of time and be just as playable now as it was in 1997 (think that's when it was released...)

  • aine #28 2 years ago

    @glottis0
    I'd say this is pretty damned important. Forget the FFVII remake specifically; the news here is that one of the biggest game companies in the world can no longer afford to make something on the scale of a game they made 13 years ago, even when that something is a remake of their most popular title (presumably requiring less work than an entirely new game) and pretty much a guaranteed success. Which is kinda sad. In a couple more generations time, will we be seeing games that take place entirely on one single, fantastic-looking screen?

  • Widge #29 2 years ago

    Surely it is much easier to make a game on the scale of FF7 when the limits you are pushing are 2D static screens, a 6 texture world map and a basic 3D battle engine, than it is on a full bells and whistles FF13 scale? It sounds like you just expect them to quickly slap it out, just convert it, surely there is some "convert to HD platform" button or something. It would require a huge amount of work.

  • Daryoon #30 2 years ago

    It wouldn't be a problem if people weren't so desperate for it to be Advent Children quality. Remakes of I-VI don't improve the graphics vastly, but that's not a big deal is it? I'd rather see a remake with more content and a better translation than one that just replaces the old graphics with fancy HD stuff.

  • Lemming81 #31 2 years ago

    So, Square-Enix...

    If you are actually telling the truth about this, does that mean you are saying your world design, artwork, characters and plots take little to no time at all to develop (as FFVII already has all these), but making things look pretty takes 14 years? I hope you're lying for your sake!

  • Widge #32 2 years ago

    Yeah, if I was after a "quick" fix up, I'd want the backdrops re-done in loving HD 2D detail, get the character models fully detailed and get the battle screens modelled up to scratch. No need to render all the world locations in intricate 3D.

    Although, once again, you'd probably want the cutscenes done in Advent Children standard CG too. Its certainly that barrier of rendering the world in 3D that keeps them from doing this.

  • davisorle #33 2 years ago

    I still remember how everyone was waiting on a PS3 and a FFVII remake promised by Sony in their trailers. Its honestly amusing. And that video was done like 3 years or so before the release of the console or more? I fail to remember that. Anyhow, it is too bad cause I know i'd buy it too I just always knew it was a bunch of bullshit.

  • Cyclone #34 2 years ago

    I recently read on joystiq that I read that part of the reason FF XIII took 3 and a half years to make was because the fact that development was started with the PS2 as the target platform. The switch to PS3 cost them a 'year and a half' according to Kitase.

    [link url=http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/31/ffxii i-development-started-on-ps2-delayed-launch-by-a-year-and?ic id=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_joystiq
    ]http://ww w.joystiq.com/2010/01/31/ffxiii...[/link]

    There's nothing to suggest that once the FF team are more used to programming on the PS3 they could not remake the game in a much shorter space of time. Also, given that most analysts seem to predict that the next gen consoles will take a similar approach to the Wii ( i.e. being upgraded versions of the current gen consoles) to cut down on production and game development costs, there's nothing to stop them remaking the game on the PS4 or Xbox3. Let's also not forget that |Kitase seems to give a different reply to the question of a FFVII remake depending on what day of the week it is.

  • M_of_the_sys #35 2 years ago

    Didn't they previously say they wouldn't do it because the original FFVII team were all on different projects?

  • jimboton #36 2 years ago

    If we were to recreate Final Fantasy VII with the same level of graphical detail as you see in Final Fantasy XIII, we'd imagine that that would take as much as three or four times longer than the three-and-a-half-years it has taken to put this Final Fantasy together

    is it just me or is he actually acknowledging their games from 14 years ago were '3 or 4 times' the game FFXIII is?

  • mushroomyakuza #37 2 years ago

    Next week, another producer will no doubt say how "exciting" the idea is, and the whole thing will be back on again.

    Square are unbelievable. Get your bloody act together.

  • Xeopuppy #38 2 years ago

    Surely it wouldn't take as long as Final Fantasy XIII to make, they already have the story and characters they can take the character models fron Advent Children to bring them up to date...

    I (and I suspect quite a lot of others) would buy a PS3 just to play it...

  • Loghorn #39 2 years ago

    @Graybeard:

    Totally agree with you. It would definitely take a lot of time, money, & about 400-500 people for them to pull this off, & it would be a risky move. The only company I see of who could give them the necessary money without taking the risk of being bankrupt is Microsoft, but I can't see them do it. Remember that they nearly went bankrupt off of "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" debacle after spending most of that money on graphics. As a matter of fact, they would've been bankrupt had Sony not given them whatever money they needed.

  • retr0gamer #40 2 years ago

    Does anyone really want the same idiots that gave us the god awful Advent Children to do a remake?

  • Softie2k #41 2 years ago

    Thank God someone else thinks Advent Children was awful...

    I loved FFVII dearly and have enjoyed pretty much all the Final Fantasy's, but they've progressively got worse and worse. FFX was awful comparatively.

    Have I changed? Or has Final Fantasy simple become more and more emo?

  • Lionheart #42 2 years ago

    The one game I'd become a PS3 FB for :) I'm a sell out
    Edited by 1 at 23/02/10 @ 09:15

  • mushroomyakuza #43 2 years ago

    Yes, advent children was attrocious.

  • seanthejackal #44 2 years ago

    @Softie2k too blue and too emo

  • solidmgsnake #45 2 years ago

    OKay they dont need to make it the same as FF13 graphically. Just any enchancment - even just a little would be nice! we'll all love it im sure!

  • Floura #46 2 years ago

    Why do people even want a remake? It is just sad.
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/11 @ 22:59