10 reasons to expect a Final Fantasy VII remake

10. 1up.com interview and Shinji Hashimoto’s “shocking” comment

From http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168827:

1UP: Last week, Final Fantasy Versus XIII director Tetsuya Nomura said that he’s hard at work adding new scenes to the FFVII: Advent Children Complete Blu-ray release. Can you give us any update on that project?

SH: You can look forward to the upcoming invite-only fan event DKS3713 [taking place in Tokyo on August 2 and 3], where we’ll have a major announcement that will shock the fans in attendance.

A major FFVII announcement that will “shock the fans in attendance?”  Unless they’re announcing “Dance Dance Revolution: Final Fantasy mix” or something equally lame, you can bet this will be good.  After all, fans can only take so many spin-offs…

9. To compensate for FFXIII going to XBox 360

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WZiOS5DMMc

Many a blog entry has been written about the FFXIII for XBox 360 announcement; some has been terrifyingly idiotic (see here: http://kotaku.com/5026918/this-guy-needs-a-heaping-helping-of-get-a-grip) while others have been even-handed and logical.  Overwhelming evidence points towards this being solely a monitary decision – after all, the installed base of the 360 is impressive in North America, and Square-Enix could stand to make quite a bit of money off 360 versions of their flagship product.  Though Sony diehards are understandably disappointed, it’s important to remember that more money in Square’s hands can only be good for fans of the series.

Anyway, it’s reasonable to assume that another Sony-fan-pleasing announcement is in place to counteract the fallout from E3.  PS3-exclusive FFVII remake…?

8. Compilation of FFVII and the 20-year mark

From http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2006/1287.html (dated 24 May 2006):

As previously reported, Fabula Nova Crystallis is indeed planned as the company’s second major polymorphic content franchise after the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII… While Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for PlayStation Portable was generally believed the be the final installment of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Wada thinks the Final Fantasy VII franchise will be alive for two decades, meaning ten more years.

Assuming this was intended as an estimated timeframe – not a firm deadline – there’s good reason to believe that more FFVII content is imminent.  (Please not another spinoff, please not another spinoff…)

7. Square could use the money

Games are expensive to product, especially high-profile ones like the FF series.  Square-Enix (who employees almost 3,000 people) has had some up-and-down years money-wise, and it’s no secret that FFXIII is doomed to go wayyy over budget.  Hours of CG movies, four-CD sountracks, and constantly pushing the limits of console technology don’t come cheap.  What better way to make some quick money then by remaking your best-selling game of all time?  Think about it: an FFVII remake would require new graphics, remixed music (but the really tricky part – the original composition – is already done), new voice-acting, new CG scenes (and most of the 3D modeling is already done, thank you Advent Children), and a minimum of design work to make sure that the old gameplay elements work well in this new system.  Remaking FFVII is markedly cheaper than producing a new game from scratch, and FFVII’s unbelievable sales record almost guarantees a massive return.

6. They remade and/or re-released 1-6, so why stop now?

Why on earth would Square remake/re-release the first 6 FF games and then stop at their crown jewel?  It just doesn’t make sense.  Contrary to public opinion, Square is actually one of the best video game companies for re-releases (how many other companies have re-released that many titles?) – it’s just taken them awhile to get around to the one most gamers REALLY want to see.

5. They’ve already announced it…kinda

From July 2002 and quoting an official Square-Enix press conference (referenced at http://www.cdrom-guide.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147017):

After a lengthy silence, Square has revealed its development plans during a management press conference that featured a number of significant announcements. Foremost among the announcements was the company’s confirmation of 23 games currently under development, eleven of which are remakes. Among these remakes are every game in the Final Fantasy series to this date, and some of the plans for these titles come as a bit of a surprise.

It seems that each successive trilogy is being remade for a separate system. The Playstation installments in the series, namely Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy IX, only recently released, are all being redone for the Playstation2. Square confirmed Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III will appear on the Wonderswan Color, where Final Fantasy I was recently released to resounding success. The three titles that appeared on the Super Nintendo (Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI), will be remade for handhelds. The question is, which handheld system will see the games? Hironobu Sakaguchi, director of the Final Fantasy series and Square’s Vice President, has admitted it would likely be impossible to do the games for the Wonderswan, and stated he would prefer to see them on the Game Boy Advance, if possible. As relations between Square and Nintendo have been somewhat strained in recent years, this is the first official announcement of interest in developing for Nintendo since Square jumped ship for the Playstation. It looks, however, as though Square is willing to put their differences aside; Square CEO Hisashi Suzuki said that “We are doing whatever effort is needed, in order to release the games on it.”

Everything in this statement (and the rest of the article, all of it is worth reading!) has come true so far…except the 7, 8, 9 remake.  But this was certainly planned at one point – and since FF6 was released for GameBoy Advance last February (June in Europe), it’s obvious which game would be next in line.

4. Advent Children

A movie like “Advent Children” isn’t cheap to make.  I don’t have specific budget numbers for AC, but Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within had a budget of over $130 million dollars.  Even with a conservative estimate that AC’s was only half this, you’d have to sell an awful lot of DVDs to recoup those kind of development costs.  Square learned from FF:TSW that 3D moviemaking is an expensive venture – so why repeat it with AC?

Here’s one explanation.

Square knew they would need the same 3D character models (CG) for at least two games – Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core.  So why not take those same models, which you’re going to have to create anyway, and use them to make a direct-to-DVD movie?  This would allow them to use stuff they already had to produce in another media form, thus bringing in some cash without having to create a whole bunch of new 3D work.

But Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core were never meant to be bestsellers of the likes of the core FF series.  After all, Crisis Core was released for PSP – which a lot of die-hard FF fans don’t own – and DoC wasn’t an RPG.  So is there another project that Square is saving all that expensive 3D design work for?  Can you say “FFVII remake”…?

3. The fans want it

Final Fantasy has the most loyal (read: rabid) fanbase of any video game franchise in history.  Yes, people love Halo and Super Mario Brothers and Pokemon, but only Final Fantasy has managed to retain fans despite the fact that every game has unique characters, unique gameplay, and completely different storylines.  The name “Final Fantasy” carries tremendous weight among fans and Square knows this.

So why not please all the people begging for an FFVII remake?  I’m not sure what the current count is on the FF7 Remake Petition, but the mere fact that such a petition exists at all is witness to the game’s power.

Square isn’t stupid.  They know there’s a lot of money to be made in pleasing fans.  I wager they’ve only been waiting for the right moment.  How’s DKS3713 sound?

2. Two more obscure and equally tantalizing quotes:

(Thanks to Wikipedia for helping me track these down!)

From the August 2007 Final Fantasy VII: 10th Anniversary Gallery in Tokyo, we get the following (from http://kotaku.com/gaming/regarding-ffvii/kaz-hirai-says-the-best-is-yet-to-come-295395.php):

To celebrate ten years of Final Fantasy VII and stir longings for a FFVII remake, Square Enix held a Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Gallery in Tokyo. The exhibition is on display until September 2nd in the Spiral Garden and features original art and illustrations for Final Fantasy VII and its spin-offs. Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai was also in appearance and wrote an English note on the message board (above), which reads:

Congratulations on 10 fantastic years! The best is yet to come.

And from Hajime Tabata, the director of Crisis Core (in an interview with 1UP – http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/2767.html):

1UP: Does Crisis Core mark the finale for the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series?

Hajime Tabata: No, it does not. The Compilation’s finale will take some other form.

I don’t know about you, but for me the only legitimate way to end an FFVII compilation is right back where you started: FFVII itself.  “The best is yet to come!”

1. Because it’s about damn time.

Let’s face it: FF7 fans have waited long enough.  It’s been 11 long years since we first stood in line to buy FF7.  We’re sick of enduring rumor after rumor after rumor.  We don’t want another mediocre spin-off.

There’s a lot of evidence pointing towards an FF7 remake – and although Square can’t start on it right away because their development teams are still plowing through FFXIII, why not at least announce it?  Then follow it up with an announcement that you’re sticking a playable demo on the FFXIII disc – a million people would buy XIII just for that.

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Got any other reasons to add to the list?  Let me know!

(Note: I realize that most of this information points only at an FFVII remake, not at the announcement of an FFVII remake at DKS3713 like most of us would like.  Oh well.  :)  Let’s just hope that’s as good a time as any for making a “shocking” formal FF7 remake announcement…)