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Final Fantasy VII Remake shifts to internal dev under Mobius project leader

Naoki Hamaguchi is also the tech director of FFXIII series and one of the programmers in FFXII IIRC. He is not some complete new guy to the series. He is likely in charge of technical decisions in the project though, not so much about game design.

Yeah, this is how I interpreted... Seems like they moved that stuff in-house, but no mention of how CC2 or any other outsourced company's roles are affected. Hopefully we get some clarification on that soon. It feels like too often all of the confusion surrounding this game occurs because SE's statements surrounding it are often so vague and enigmatic.
 

Jinaar

Member
Please though, for this game that will release in the next decade, have a 10 second clip at E3 2017 so gamers can stand up from their seats in utter amazement and awe, tears streaming down their faces, all leading up to that positive deluge of youtube reaction and what you may have missed clips that everyone loves to watch and speculate from.

Nothing truly makes me happier from an E3.
 
I think they are making a mistake making this such a big production. I would really have loved to see redone prerendered backgrounds, new music arrangements, the translation cleaned up, and higher res models. Oh and better framerate. Pretty sure this game is going to be a big open world nothingthon where you can wander between Kalm and Rocket Town and collect rocks for Dino.

edit: OMG someone just posted the same thing

I think this is spot on

Every time you adjust that slider towards remake and away from remaster, you're increasing the risk of erasing some of the nostalgia and excitement people had for what may have been their favorite game.

Youre rolling the dice by trying to modernize something that maybe people would have just rather they updated with nicer assets, res bump etc.
 

Narroo

Member
Yet SE games still make money. FFXV contributed a large part to their growth. Hitman underperformed. Simple as that.

Yeah, and how long did FFXV take to make? I'm having a hard time believing that it was profitable enough to be worth the time and effort. They can play with accounting sheets all they want, but that doesn't mean there aren't issues. Besides, what about all their other games?
 
So the three game announcements from Sony's E3 that people hailed as the second coming. One runs like shit on it's platform of release and the other two aren't dropping any time soon.

Don't fall for the hype, people.

When is this bullshit narrative gonna end?

None of that changes how much fun that E3 was at the time. There was a jokingly 'holy trinity' created by online communities like NeoGAF that actually fucking happened in practically a 1-2-3 punch. It was a blast to see happen live.

All three of those games will see releases. TLG still became many people's 2016 GotY and there is still a lot of excitement for Shenmue 3 & VII:R, despite this news. VII:R is and will continue to be a huge deal. Shen3 is something that many fans had just given up on & I imagine the thrill of getting it in almost any capacity sans mobile-only is cause for some shred of happiness.
Anytime I see a "LOL how stupid do people that got hyped at E3 '15 feel now?" type posts it just makes me think of salty MS or Nintendo console warriors that didn't allow themselves to find enjoyment in that moment.
 

SDCowboy

Member
I think this is spot on

Every time you adjust that slider towards remake and away from remaster, you're increasing the risk of erasing some of the nostalgia and excitement people had for what may have been their favorite game.

Youre rolling the dice by trying to modernize something that maybe people would have just rather they updated with nicer assets, res bump etc.

Yeah trying to turn a game from '97 to a modern day game never made sense to me.

The remake should have just been the base/original game plus:
16:9 HD
cleaned up/remade pre-rendered backgrounds
better character models
voice acting

Done.
 

red731

Member
GrUhLU9q3nyRG.gif
 
Yeah trying to turn a game from '97 to a modern day game never made sense to me.

The remake should have just been the base game plus:
16:9 HD
cleaned up/remade pre-rendered backgrounds
better character models (within the same engine)
voice acting

Done.

People have long clamored for a Final Fantasy VII Remake. I'm pretty sure the top brass at S-E thought, "We're on the outs with our fans right now, but if we announce this as a huge project we'll be able to get back in their good graces." And indeed, at the time their announcement garnered a huge amount of goodwill. Unfortunately they weren't able to follow through with a sane development process, and so we ended up with the current mess.
 

FinalAres

Member
Yeah, and how long did FFXV take to make? I'm having a hard time believing that it was profitable enough to be worth the time and effort. They can play with accounting sheets all they want, but that doesn't mean there aren't issues. Besides, what about all their other games?
It took 3 and a half years to make.

FFXV is a completely different game to Versus XIII. With similarities purely used for marketing reasons.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Big budget FF games that have been through development hell....

FFXII.... 5+ years in dev? and director changed
FFXIII... patchwork vision talked about in the post-mortem.
FFversusXIII - cancelled.
FFXIV - remade.
FFXV - unfinished.
FFVIIR - probably the case............

I don't envy the person who'll be helming XVI.
 

DNAbro

Member
I honestly wouldn't want just a really nicely touched up remaster of FF7. I want the full remake. I totally expected that it would have development troubles though. Didn't think we would see it until years later.



Also I'm only worried about KH3 if it doesn't show up at this E3 or doesn't have a "2018" release date at the end of a trailer.
 

SDCowboy

Member
People have long clamored for a Final Fantasy VII Remake. I'm pretty sure the top brass at S-E thought, "We're on the outs with our fans right now, but if we announce this as a huge project we'll be able to get back in their good graces." And indeed, at the time their announcement garnered a huge amount of goodwill. Unfortunately they weren't able to follow through with a sane development process, and so we ended up with the current mess.

But a remake doesn't have to completely change what the game was to make it a modern day game. The Crash Bandicoot remakes are a perfect example of how a remake of an old game should be.

The FF7 remake never should have been a total overhaul into a completely modern game. It should have been the original game, heavily remastered with new sprites and backgrounds, plus added voice acting.
 
Yeah trying to turn a game from '97 to a modern day game never made sense to me.

The remake should have just been the base/original game plus:
16:9 HD
cleaned up/remade pre-rendered backgrounds
better character models (within the same engine)
voice acting

Done.

Have you seen fan attempts to take the core game of VII and simply insert more detailed models? It looks bad.
Now, obviously S-E has better resources and stronger talent, but I for one appreciate the "if you are going to do it, do it BIG" approach. It's ballsy, because they know whatever decisions they make will be divisive. I mean, it already started the moment they showed the concept gameplay @ PSX '15.

VII is a classic that represents a very special time and place within this industry. That can't be recaptured.
I actually want Remake to be more of its own thing; a strange mix of familiarity and newness. I never wanted it at the expense of an original mainline FF, but as one of the internet's favorite GIFs says- "Why not both?" ;)
 
Big budget FF games that have been through development hell....

FFXII.... 5+ years in dev? and director changed
FFXIII... patchwork vision talked about in the post-mortem.
FFversusXIII - cancelled.
FFXIV - remade.
FFXV - unfinished.
FFVIIR - probably the case............

I don't envy the person who'll be helming XVI.

You would think that out of all JP devs, Square would be the most capable of handling HD projects. It's really sad. At least Dragon Quest is looking pretty hot.
 
Also I'm only worried about KH3 if it doesn't show up at this E3 or doesn't have a "2018" release date at the end of a trailer.

If KH3 isn't at E3 then I'm officially made at SE. I accepted that things have been quiet due to 2.8 and 1.5+2.5, and they did share a screenshot in like February, but they really should show something with at least a target year.
 

13ruce

Banned
Nomura should take a backseat and become a art designer for Square that's what he does best.

Managing HD projects just does not go well with him i have been on his side because he made one of my favorite franchises ever KH.

But now seeing him mismanage multiple franchises jist frustrates me. Honestly both him and Square are to blame but defending Nomura now is just dumb the guy indeed is doing things very slowly, and with hd development you can't afford that really.

KH 3 was announced in like 2013 finally for gods sake.... Whatever other company waits nearly 10 years to make the next multi million dollar seller mainline game for console. Yes that's Square Enix for you. How they accepted the whole versus situation is beyond me tbh.

Anyway we still had miracles like Nier Automata luckily and FFXV was not bad it was great actually for what it's gone through.
Now lets hope KH3 comes out next year.....finally and that FFVII's Remake will be good and be done before 2025 lol.
 
Have you seen fan attempts to take the core game of VII and simply insert more detailed models? It looks bad.
Now, obviously S-E has better resources and stronger talent, but I for one appreciate the "if you are going to do it, do it BIG" approach. It's ballsy, because they know whatever decisions they make will be divisive. I mean, it already started the moment they showed the concept gameplay @ PSX '15.

VII is a classic that represents a very special time and place within this industry. That can't be recaptured.
I actually want Remake to be more of its own thing; a strange mix of familiarity and newness. I never wanted it at the expense of an original mainline FF, but as one of the internet's favorite GIFs says- "Why not both?" ;)

I think if you played ff7 crisis core, you got your wish. I would be fine with them scaling that idea up and forward, and then playing around with the story / pass through in whichever way they wish.

However, it just sounds like they are having panic attacks internally over the remake rather than actually building it logically and with purpose. Of course, I could be wrong.
 

liquidtmd

Banned
Yeah trying to turn a game from '97 to a modern day game never made sense to me.

The remake should have just been the base/original game plus:
16:9 HD
cleaned up/remade pre-rendered backgrounds
better character models
voice acting

Done.

I'm with you, hell not even voice acting just some new missions and story add ons.

Something like Resident Evil 2 Remake makes sense as a project, but FFVII is simply too many things to too many people. It's going to be 2020 before this comes out and I would have preferred all these resources going into a FFXVI in a new world / setting
 
Yeah trying to turn a game from '97 to a modern day game never made sense to me.

The remake should have just been the base/original game plus:
16:9 HD
cleaned up/remade pre-rendered backgrounds
better character models
voice acting

Done.

I totally acknowledge what they're trying to do is a very difficult task. Making a turn based RPG in 2017 is a tough call. But I still think I'd prefer knowing what I was getting versus whatever new thing they're going to do and maybe screw up? Idk

I could be completely wrong but my expectations are very low for this either way.
 

Garlador

Member
It took 3 and a half years to make.

FFXV is a completely different game to Versus XIII. With similarities purely used for marketing reasons.

It's a different game because they wasted most of the decade on Versus XIII and failing to get it off the ground.

It's more than just "similarities". It's the same lead character, Noctis, most of the same supporting cast, most of the same characters, locations, and even lore as initially planned.

XV is literally built out of the skeleton of Versus XIII. It may have different flesh, but the framework is still rigidly Versus XIII. It wasn't marketing reasons; it was sheer necessity to salvage nearly a decade of work without tossing it out and starting from scratch.



... Which brings me to something that's blowing my mind. The last mainline Final Fantasy game that didn't go through development hell was Final Fantasy X, back in 2001, a whopping 16 YEARS ago.

Every major Final Fantasy project since then has been mired in problems, development issues, and major setbacks. FFXII's had to quit half-way through production and the staff are quite open about what a nightmare developing it was. Final Fantasy XIII was horrendously managed and they admitted over 80% of what they developed was tossed out and all those banal sequels were made just to reuse all those wasted assets. Final Fantasy XIV was a legendary disaster that required a full-on redo from the ground up. FFXV was mired in development hell as Versus XIII and finally got momentum when they switched up directors, but for all its good qualities it's also clearly undercooked and lacks focus and clear direction, despite someone doing something with Noctis for a decade. There's a reason there's currently a survey on the menu of the game asking players what they should do, because they don't have anyone there with any strong leadership skills to blaze a path forward.

And now this.

Square Enix doesn't know how to manage their development and has so few people in charge capable of spearheading a game with razor-sharp focus and development cohesion.

It reminds me of an old interview I read on Final Fantasy IX, where they talked about how it was difficult and how they had three or more branches of Squaresoft working on the game at once, communicating mostly between the Japanese and Hawaiian branch of the teams, and as a result they had to create the "bible" of FFIX to get everyone on the same page. Before a single programmer or CG artist started on the game proper, they had to ensure the story worked, the characters all had proper character arcs, the pacing was right, the world was cohesive, and everything lined up, because they simply couldn't scramble about in the dark, throw stuff at the walls to see what sticks as they went along, or rely on lengthy surveys from players for direction. They had to figure it out in advance, and once that happened, they were able to smoothly develop the game on-time and on-budget because there was no last-minute changes, no sudden shifts, no post-launch story patches.

Square Enix needs someone with disciple and vision to do these games, because the current crop of developers mostly don't have this and we're now at a point where the majority of their mainline games this past decade are being finished by people who step in to complete the job the initial developer or director couldn't.
 
Square is such a mess. I miss the ol' days when they kept putting out quality games on a regular watch. I know game development has changed, but still.
 

SDCowboy

Member
I'm with you, hell not even voice acting just some new missions and story add ons.

Something like Resident Evil 2 Remake makes sense as a project, but FFVII is simply too many things to too many people. It's going to be 2020 before this comes out and I would have preferred all these resources going into a FFXVI in a new world / setting
IMO, it would have to have voice acting. FF7 had a ludicrous amount of reading. lol
 
I'm with you, hell not even voice acting just some new missions and story add ons.

Something like Resident Evil 2 Remake makes sense as a project, but FFVII is simply too many things to too many people. It's going to be 2020 before this comes out and I would have preferred all these resources going into a FFXVI in a new world / setting

IMO you should be more frustrated in talented man hours going to 'finishing' an already released FFXV than development of VII:R... that is if we are assuming BD2 would naturally be the XVI dev team.

The last time BD1, who is working VII:R, did a mainline FF (XIII) the vocal fan base apparently despised it. :/
 

Fou-Lu

Member
A teaser with a flowing, animated Amano character staged with a jawdroppingly whimsical setting. A new logo. Absolutely no time frame for release. The painful hype begins anew. ;)

I wouldn't be remotely surprised, but I wouldn't even be mad. I'd love a new FF to speculate over.
 
This is for the better. They were going to have 3 separate external studios, each one doing a different part. That is not a recipe for success. At least now it's going to have continuity.
 
Internal development by the Mobius guy and after FFXV doesn't seem too promising.
I'd still like to see it turn out well and I'd rather they take their time instead of rushing it out like FFXV which is still not finished. Would be nice if they didn't announce it like 5 years before it's due

Hope they change the way they work after seeing Nier's critical and commercial success with what's likely a minuscule budget and a fraction of the dev time. A focus on great gameplay and story instead of visuals helped it out quite a bit.
 
I can't wait until E3, where they end up turning this thing into FFXVI.

"Final Fantasy VII: Remake"

*Glass shatters*

"FINAL FANTASY XVI: TIFA'S ORTHOPEDIC ADVENTURES" (now in development)
 

Scrawnton

Member
Big budget FF games that have been through development hell....

FFXII.... 5+ years in dev? and director changed
FFXIII... patchwork vision talked about in the post-mortem.
FFversusXIII - cancelled.
FFXIV - remade.
FFXV - unfinished.
FFVIIR - probably the case............

I don't envy the person who'll be helming XVI.

So what you're saying is that after Sakaguchi left the company turned to trash?
 

120v

Member
baseless speculation/optimism on my part, but i think the main impasse with this game is planning out how each scenario will be divided into "episodes", and how each will interact with each other (for example, once you obtain the Highwind can you easily go back a location from a prior episode, and how will in game decisions/progress "carry over")

i think that's the stuff they're trying to iron out, which is preferable to just releasing 'episode 1' within a reasonable time frame and worrying about the rest later, in which case it really would be a clusterfuck that wouldn't see completion until 2030 or whatever
 

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
So what you're saying is that after Sakaguchi left the company turned to trash?

More like the scale of FF development eventually became too much for the company to handle, starting with FFXII. They managed to eventually make a great game but from then on they faced the same design challenges only with the added burden of HD development. They still haven't got to grips with it.
 

Boke1879

Member
Yeah, and how long did FFXV take to make? I'm having a hard time believing that it was profitable enough to be worth the time and effort. They can play with accounting sheets all they want, but that doesn't mean there aren't issues. Besides, what about all their other games?

But it was profitable. It contributed to SE in their earning reports. It was the biggest reason for it.

It took like what? 3 years for FFXV to be released? Stop thinking about Versus. That game never really entered full production.

Also I'm not really sure how "bad" this news is. It seems they are taking steps to ensure quality and timeliness. It seems like they are putting someone in a position to help meet deadlines etc.

Look at the new Dragon Quest game. No major roadblocks and it seems to be moving along fine.

SE needs to do something about Nomura. This is the 3rd game under his belt that's going to experience a long dev time or have some sort of "issue".

Say what you want about Tabata. He released a game in a timely manner. SE needs to do something about Nomura. They don't need to be putting him in charge of large projects.
 

Masagiwa

Member
What would people think if Square announced that after the first game is released, they will treat it as a service and keep adding content every 3-4 months adding to the story, sidquests, etc. Riot or good idea?
 
So what you're saying is that after Sakaguchi left the company turned to trash?

Sakaguchi 'left' (forced resignation?).
Kitase decided he didn't want to direct any more.
Wada took over.
Japanese game development in general took a hit in the 7th gen.

The dominos fell hard for Square.
 
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