Square Enix Staff Discusses Versus XIII and FFVII Remake

Our latest update on things that begin with "Final Fantasy" comes from Korean game site Gameshot by way of Japanese Square Enix fan site FF Reunion.

To commemorate the launch of Final Fantasy XIII in Korea, Square Enix held a roundtable interview session with FFXIII director Motomu Toriyama, FFXIII producer Yoshinori Kitase, and Square Enix chief Twitter person Shinji Hashimoto on the 28th. FF Reunion translated just a couple of pertinent bits and pieces from the Korean language transcript that was posted at Gameshot.

[MightyMark427]

damn, that sucks. I still hope for a remake though!

[Eamon]

yeah me too. I think S-E should simply dedicate a compelete development period (like they do for the FF games) to the remake.

I doubt it would take 30 years to remake. And think about the profit they could make. Even though it's a remake, it would literally be the highest selling Final Fantasy title or maybe even the highest selling PS3 title.

[Danteh]

Yeah I've been told from trusted sources that it will be exclusive for the PlayStation 7, so excited!

[TotalPS3Fanboy]

And Oblivion is a way bigger game with even more side quests and explorations to do than FF7.

[Shadow Flare]

OK, Square Enix is officially my most hated company now. I can't believe the absolute BS that comes out of them. There is absolutely NO way an FF7 remake would take 30 years to develop. No game takes 30 years to develop. I don't think the entire games industry has existed for that long. Absolute BS. They already have the story, characters, locations, everything. All they need to do is upgrade the graphics, add voices, trophies, and adjust a few things like adding more side quests or online segments in the gold saucer. Thats it. That does not take thirty years.

If the reason for taking thirty years is their sheer laziness, then i fully agree. Fully agree. If i had thirty years, i could probably learn how to program and do a half decent effort of a remake myself. Its how SE treat their fans with such little respect. They treat them like they have an IQ of 40. Remember when they sent out screenshots of FF13, and the ps3 and 360 versions were the same, just with the buttons changed? And when they got caught, they came out with some lame excuse like "oh we didn't mean to send those out". They obviously did, because they created them and sent them to kotaku. Such disrespect. And to say that FF7 remake would take 30 years is beyond belief. They actually expect people to believe that? Ever since you guys became Square-Enix, you've become nothing special. Absolutley mediocre. I haven't bought a final fantasy game for 10 years. There was a small glimmer that i might have bought versus 13, but forget it. You guys are useless. And i hope you never make an FF7 remake, because you will absolutely ruin it. You'll put freakin leona lewis in it or some other garbage pop music, you'll ruin the battle system, you guy sare useless.

/rant over

[gaffyh]

Does Square actually believe their own BS now? No way in hell would it tale 30 years for a FF7 remake. It would take 5 years maximum, and it shouldn't even take that long as the story and gameplay is already complete. Just needs a revamp.

[Milamber]

Haha, Squeenix could set up a space agency and put men on mars quicker than that.

[hay]

Translation:
"We can't make FF7 remake, no... It requires a lot of work, yeah... FF7 wasn't made almost completely of never-ending corridors, no... It'd require some actual work from us, yeah... It's isn't rehashing that gives quick buck, no... The remake would have to actually be good, yeah, we can't do that, no... yeah..."

[Gamer_Z]

Well said Shadow Flare I don’t think I could have said it better myself. At the rate Square Enix is going ill be surprised if they finish FF Versus before they go bankrupt from all the people not buying their garbage that they call games.

[Noctis Aftermath]

That answer is full of shit, they had to cut out content and that cut out content was enough to make another game, also they had to build a completely new engine for HD consoles after throwing away 1 and a half years of work they had already done on the PS2, they could easily make a game similar to how they made FF before X.

They say this just so that they have to do less work, square enix have been nothing but disappointments and liars this generation, i don't even own a single game of theirs from this generation.

As they are now i wouldn't want them to touch FFVII, they would just turn it into a linear boring ass PoS game and tarnish its name.

[miyakoS]

Dude before you guys start shit talking, put yourselves in Square Enix's shoes being asked about an FFVII remake all the time. It's obvious they're tired of the question so they make an exaggeration to shut you guys up, duh?

[SaiyanFury]

Shadowflare is exactly right. Good call, dude!

BS Square-ENIX, BS on you, sirs. The reason that Final Fantasy XIII took so long (4 years) to make is because you decided it was necessary to make an Xbox 360 version and delay the almost completed PS3 version so it's launch coincided with the delayed 360 version. To say that a remake of FF7 would take 30 years is absolute bullcrap. You people have lost the integrity of a well respected developer and become a shilling, bottom-line focused corporation. And what's so damned surprising is you keep putting out crap after crap after crap. Your constituents, ie: your gamerbase TELLS YOU WHAT THEY WANT EVERYDAY! You, like the US government, ignore your constituency and keep giving them what they DON'T want, which is why they don't buy your games. I am one of the longtime SquareSoft fans that did NOT buy FF13 because you whored the game out to the west. I'm considering Nier, but I'm still really skittish about it due to the checkered history of S-E this gen. If anyone can recommend it with good reasons, I'd appreciate it. :)

[Ocelot525]

worst argument evar

back in the PS1 days developers were forced to code in assembler and C, now they code in the object oriented language c++ which seriously reduces the overhead for large programs + all the software libraries they can use now

example:
i need 1 week to develop a digital organizer in assembler code(3 weeks to exterminate all the bugs)
i can make it in 6 hours in the object oriented java or vb.net without bugs

EDIT:
not to mention they have the opengl api now for graphics

[Shang-Long]

It'll take 30 years if they followed the development path of FF13....

Yea how about you they don't follow that path, that game (ff13) didn't come out that great, as I recall

[Heisenberg]

Who told square we wanted them to follow the FFXIII development path? Crystal Tools and FFXIII suck my nads pretty hard.

SE, how about you just give up making games all together, and sell the FF series to a developer that can salvage it's once good name. Making good games is clearly too darn hard for you guys.

[SaiyanFury]

The funny thing is that a few of the main guys that worked on Final Fantasies 7, 8, and 9 worked on FF13. It's amazing the game turned out as bad as it did. I figure S-E, after the decision to make a version for the 360, told them to make it as compatible with the 360 as possible. Dealing with medium limitations of DVD9, they stripped out most of the things planned for the PS3 version. Towns, NPCs and such became the fodder for want of pandering to the potential gamers on the 360. Essentially gamers were left with a gutted JRPG and only action-oriented features were left. I have yet to actually play the game, but from multiple testimonies from friends and from what I've read online, FF13 isn't worth my time as a true JRPG. I followed it closely for the 4 year development cycle (4 years my arse), and ultimately became disenfranchised with it. I may look at it at some time in the future when it's come down in price, but I refuse to pay the full price of admission for a stripped JRPG.

[sikbeta]

"30yrs to Develop" = EXCUSES....

[jjohan35]

Square go down the hole...

[blu_yu_away]

Like this?

[xJxdOggyStYLe]

so to make a game from scratch its a few years..to do a remake its 30 years LOL what a stupid statement.

[oli]

get started square!! the earlier u start the earlier u finish! i wanna be alive if this happens!!!

[FanboysWillHateMe]

emphasize that it would take a long time. Of course he doesn't literally mean 30 years. geesh, c'mon guys.

anyways, the more i think about it, the less reasonable it sounds to do a remake. first of all, you have to have the FFVII development staff working on this, and right now a lot of them are focused on different projects. That, and you have to consider what they want to do as well. Maybe they want to try out different things, instead of remaking something they did more than a decade ago?

[CimmerianDrake]

We don't have to consider that. And there is a simple reason. Money. If, as is always heard when an exclusive goes multiplat by all the defenders, SE is a business... then they are in it for the money. If they want money, and they do, then an FFVII remake would bring them more money than all of their current offerings combined. An FFVII remake is a license to print money. I may detest the game, but I am not oblivious to its following. SE are just being lazy, pure and simple. They have always been notorious for doing what they want, and thinking they know better than the fans who tell them what they want in their games.

[mastiffchild]

Yeah, CD, thing is, while I'm dead set against weighing developers down with remakes when they can't seem to get any new games right it's without doubt that a FF7 remake is the biggest money spinner on the cards for SE. As the people who actually pay their wages n this industry it often amazes me that publishers and developers seem only to do what suits them rather than listening to the gamers wishes even when it seems a sure-fire money spinner like this. I worry a great deal about the wisdom(from a gamers pov)of pushing developers into being this lazy creatively and think we could get a lot more rehashes than we ever bargained for once they see the money rolling in from a possible FF7 remake but that's another argument entirely.

My problems with SE, however, go deeper than this and I think they need to stop spouting BS all the time. If they're to make Versus multiplat after all this time I'll be confused as all hell. Why didn't they just get all the bad press and fan reaction out of the way when FF13 itself went multi? All waiting longer achieves is alienating EVEN more of their former fans in a generation where their word has been proven to mean absolutely nothing. As a result no one was ever going to swallow a FF7 remake taking even close to the length of dev that FF13 did let alone thirty years! Thn there's the daft westernisation of their games which seems to ignore the plain fact that the best games coming out of Japan this generation have been those that NEVER once thought about something so silly.

Was Bayonetta westernised in any way? No. Did it suffer as a result? No. to me they risk losong the very things that make Japanese games special, unique and exciting by aping what western developers do and also seem to forget that the majority of western devs go badly wrong using western themes and mechanics let alone Japanese devs to whom these things are way more alien. would Persona3 and 4 have been improved by having a more western feel? Don't be daft. Did anyone feel that TLR was a masterpiece because of it's supposed western leanings and stylings?

No, SE need to cut the crap and start treating their fans with a little more honesty. Noone would mind Versus being a multi, and wouldn't have cared FF13 was had they said so from the start. No, it's when they make people feel like they've been led along the garden path, cajoled into buying a certain system by their proclamations of exclusivity or just the BS of timed exclusives pretending to be real exclusives along with Wada's other misguided BS that winds people up. I just think fewer politics and more transparency would remove a lot of the flak they get these days-and as for the BS around the screenshots of the 360 version of FF13? Who were they trying to fool?

Seriously, a little truth would help a great deal.

[Marceles]

with Square Enix's track record, 30 years sounds real accurate compared to how great Squaresoft developed games

[Ocelot525]

the empire state building was built in 2 years

[manna]

lmao best reply ever bubble for you...but they did say 10 times longer to develop than ff13 so he was jst giving an estimate as to how much work they 'would' have to do, though its still giving silly excuses cos their lazy, i mean i was an ff addict in my younger days, used to play all of em without ever getting bored, but ff13, even lookin at the bluray pack gives me fits of rage...would've broken it a long time ago if it wasnt my brothers own...i enjoy playin it for an hour maybe a week but thts abt it....very soon they'll go down the route of 3Drealms...awesome devs to bankruptcy in one sweet motion, currently their in the middle but only bcos of the ds games tht sell in quantity but not bcos of quality

[Heisenberg]

SE must think we're stupid, if they think we'll believe that crap. A FFVII remake would be a dream come true, but SE doesn't have the chops to pull it off... It's too bad, cause if a developer with balls took on a FFVII remake, it could be a masterpiece.

It's probably for the best though, SE would turn FFVII into a big long corridor with ultra flamboyant voice acting. I can see Barret now "That's just what real HEROES like me DO!"

[AAACE5]

I wouldn't totally rule it out, but as for right now, probably the closest we will get to a FFVII remake is the FFVII Advent children movie or Crisis core!

I can't help but think with the more FF games they make, the less likely a remake is. In numbered titles, they have almost doubled the number of games released. It kinda seems like they really don't have interest in remaking the game.

If there is a game coming, I get a strong feeling it will be announced at this years E3. And will probably be the shocker of the show!

[DarkSpawnClone]

square enix isn't even half the dev they use to be sure its sad but we just have to move on.im sure new rpgs will come out that will replace the old,thats just how life works out with the old in with the new as they say

[Neonvapor]

a complete rumor and no evidence or anything to back it up but Sony and SE are saving that gem for a PS4 launch title. Go ahead and shoot it down and disagree, but damn, how freakin' awesome would that be? And what a way to launch a system? I hope that comes true with every fiber of my being.

[Heisenberg]

Are you sure you didn't just make that up as you were typing it? Shhh Neonvapor.. It's ok, the jig is up now.

FFVII Remake as a launch title, that'll be the day. And that day will apparently be 30 years from now...

[FACTUAL evidence]

LMAO SE you're so very funny! Give me 30 years, I could make all the games you released this gen AAA. Go Kill yourselves SE.

[TVippy]

Just to say thanks for your comment, man. =)))

[Pika-pie]

They should hire western developers. We can churn out games of the same/better quality in a fraction of the time it takes SqEnix... Jeeez they are really really slow.

Seriously, thank god for western developers otherwise we would never have any games to play

[Mo0eY]

Everyone knows that in 30 years, Sony will lose the rights to FF7. They're just waiting for that to expire so they can multiplatform and milk the game to death.

Thanks a lot, Microsoft.

[mookins]

Amen ShadowFlare, amen.

[PirateThom]

No, no it wouldn't take 30 years, a lot of work, but not 30 years. Just admit, it would be too much hard work, because you'd actually have to make a game without a big corridor, and leave it at that.

[Cartesian3D]

(Im MBA student .. but dont take this comment too serious :P )

becoming BIG make you stupid.. compare Square enix with noughty dog or Epic games..

SE with more than 2000 people cant make a efficient code for PS3 or EVEN 360.. they are not FAST in decision making,responding...

just look at what ND guys said : " just make it awesome DONT ASK FOR PERMISSION " thats their slogan.. and thats why they can make a most beautiful console game and a company like EA or SE cant..and they are FAST but SE is slow and retarded..

[hay]

Well, at least they make some money...

It'd be made much faster. They just have to re-made the game. Re-make the music, re-do the visuals, they have the story, concepts, pretty much everything.

It's just an excuse or they're just saying it to make some ground before announcement. Either way, they're doing it wrong... 30 years? Please...

[Reibooi]

They are not really coming up with excuses on this. It's a FACT that Final Fantasy XIII took that long to make and it's also a FACT that Final Fantasy VII was a much bigger game then XIII was. Put two and two together and it will take awhile to do.

It wouldn't take 30 years. That's the problem with all these things is that everyone translates what he says differently and thus we get a different answer every time he is asked. His point is with the exact same conditions as Final Fantasy XIII it would take longer to do a VII game at that level because VII was a bigger game. However if they could put a bigger team together it would go much faster and that's what he has said countless times.

[Millah]

And you realize a lot of the time spent on developing FF13 was creating the game design concept, creating the story and writing the script, doing all concept art, developing the characters, balancing the gameplay and tuning the battle system, coding the engine, etc.

And you realize they don't have to do any of these things to simply remake FF7, which already has all these foundations laid down. If they were going to make a true remake that stayed true to the original, they shouldn't have to touch these things. They could tighten up the spots that are rough around the edges, maybe improve the script and the localization, and have to do all new art and graphics, but that shouldn't take nearly as long as starting from a blank slate. They already have the graphics engine from FF13, and they have the entire blueprint for FF7s game design already finished.

Square is just coming up with as many excuses as they can to make it seem more challenging than it is. I've never heard a developer complain so much about potential "challenges" in developing a video game. Other developers instead try to overcome those challenges and make their games stronger from it, and instead Square complains and makes excuses. How times have changed.

[wicko]

FFXIII took extra long to make because they originally used the PS2 engine they made. Then they had to write a brand new engine for the PS3. And then they had to port it to 360 because MS threw money at them (and it took them 2 years, no less). Now they have an engine, they have the story, the game design.. a solid chunk of work for them is already done. If they think it will take them 10 times longer then there is something seriously wrong with their time management. Either that or they are just setting their sights way too high.

[Reibooi]

If Sqaure didn't redo alot of the stuff VII did it would be a crap remake.

Script for example NEEDS to be redone. Go back and play the original VII it is FULL of messed up lines and engrish. They NEED to redo that script.

They would have to redo concept art because the game would be going to a new engine and the concepts would need to be updated to reflect that otherwise they would not look as good. I could go on and on.

The fact of the matter is the stuff they WOULD have to do coupled with the fact that VII was a much bigger game means they would end up taking more time doing it. Not much. But more nonetheless. They have no reason to lie. They know it's gonna make a metric crapton of money so they are saying what they believe and seeing as they make the games you we don't I tend to believe what they say.

As for "never heard a developer complain so much about potential "challenges" in developing a video game" Take a look at Valve. They spew that crap on EVERY game they make as for why it's not going to PS3. SE is saying this about 1 game. The FFVII remake. It's not like they are saying everything is impossible.

[Millah]

Fixing a script that is rougly translated doesn't take NEARLY as long as imagining the entire script from the beginning. They could hire a SINGLE person to relocalize the script, thats simple shit.

And like I said, they would have to redo some concept art and things like that. But once again, since they have something to base it off of, the artist simply has to take an existing design and translate it to modern graphics. That takes nowhere near the same amount of time as imagining all the original artwork to begin with. Again, that is trivial stuff.

The meat and bones is doing the coding and creating the entire game design and all the concepts. All of that is completed. For them to change those kinds of things, it would no longer be a remake. Rather, it would be "take two" on the FF7 universe. Same story, same setting, different game design. Thats not a remake anymore.

With this quote, Square is basically admitting themselves that FF7 is a much more vast and deeper game than FF13. Don't you see something wrong with that? They complained about FF13, saying it was impossible to make towns in HD, or that its too difficult to translate a JRPG into HD, etc. This isn't the first time Squares complained recently.

[hay]

@Reibooi: Yeah, the keyword is redo. Not make from scratch. Think of everything from point 0. Create everything from nothing or bunch of ideas.

R E D O.

[jetlian]

reasons it could take long. Like reibooi said its a bigger game. one thing most fans hated about 13 was a lack of towns,7 has plenty. they would have to remake all that. Also even though they have an engine the old game may not be good with the changes.

Most people know goldeneye isn't as good as new age shooters because of the single analog. towns that work in prerendered backgrounds may need to be remapped for full 3d. Also would they keep the old fighting or the newer ones.

milliah it took 4 years for 7 and 4 for 13. All that tells me is they don't feel its profitable to spend more than 4 years. And to add all those towns and mini games need more time than they have. Also FF don't sell like the old ones. they sell less and cost more.

[Millah]

FF games don't sell well anymore? Thats all the more reason for them to remake their HIGHEST SELLING version of FF ever. Even though that's not true, seeing as FF12 sold very well and FF13 was a success as well. Maybe the slightly lower than normal sales have to do with the lower quality as well? If you abandon your core fanbase, then who do you expect to purchase your games?

And thats all the more reason to remake FF7, something thats clearly in high demand and something that would clearly be a smash hit. Square is missing out on a HUGE cash cow for them, simply because they see a few challenges in making it. Thats just downright pathetic. I don't care what you say.

I honestly think what the real issue is that Square is afraid of screwing it up. They would have to make the game perfect, otherwise they risk tarnishing the FF7 image and brand. I just don't think Square is capable of pulling it off anymore, and they know it. I wouldn't even want a remake unless Sakaguchi, Uematsu, and the entire original team were involved.

[Pink_Uni]

ok so kitase is definitely implying that it would take 30-40 years

but thats total BS

the entire design part of it is already done and they can just reuse the ff13 engine

it would probably take them like 2 years to actually do it, it really isn't that big of a game

they just dont want to do it, so they're just making up all this BS about it to make it seem greater then it actually is

[jack_burt0n]

@thom

bubs+ lmfao

[Christopher]

Two years, tops. And they'd only have to use technical staff (artists, coders, etc.) since all of the design/direction/writing is already done. If they redo the CGI, then they can easily outsource a graphical update outside of the company.

They'd likely only have to spend one to two million dollars to update the game itself and would easily see multi-million sales in Japan alone. The problem is, IMHO, they're too full of themselves and will push all the other FF BS they can down people's throats until they don't want it anymore... and then they'll remake the games people want with updated graphics once people stop buying their crap.

[SpoonyRedMage]

Umm, I don't mean to sound dickish, but you clearly have no idea about the costs of video games.

The FFIV remake on the DS cost around 2 million, and FFVII remake would cost at least 20 million(which isn't that bad) but could end up cost a lot, lot more.

[Christopher]

Not to sound rude, but you're not very bright if you think it would cost 20 million to update the game to 720p and some enhanced graphics. That's the cost associated with a brand new game in development, including writing, design, art direction, engine development, etc. Not a AAA title by today's standards, but most games put out today have similar costs in development.

Also, the FFIV remake included redoing a lot of the game itself (aka unnecessary edits) and included the costs on Publishing/Marketing the game.

God of War Collection was done in about a year and cost about $1 million to do, using an outside company to do the updates. That was two games, about one year, very low costs involved. Understandably FFVII is a larger leap in design, but SE already has the core artwork that's been done in the various games/media using the same characters laid out in them. Would be a lot of graphical updating, but not at all impossible in two years with proper management.

[Optical_Matrix]

You say all of this about how it would cost a lot etc and be too much. So then why, when I play Star Ocean: The Last Hope, White Knight Chronicles and other console JRPG's from this gen, am I treated to more expansive maps and towns, which FFXIII lacked?
The game is amazing no doubt, I'm still playing it after end game, trying to platinum it. But Square Enix's excuses are full of sh*t.

You guys need to realise why FFXIII cost so much and took so long to make. They had to build a next gen engine from the ground up. Do you know how expensive and time consuming that is. Look at how long Killzone 2 took to make, and compare that to the turn around time of KZ3. Killzone 2 wont take nearly as long to make and wont cost as much because the engine is there.
Square Enix have the engine, all they need to do is work with it an produce a remake of FFVII. If Tri-Ace can make a game with towns and non linear environments then Square Enix's main team damn well can. They just need to stop spreading their profits and resources so thin on mobile phone games, publishing sh*tty western properties and FF1/II ports, and bring us some top quality games.

It's not a case of can they or can't they. They can. But they're too lazy as it won't be as quick as making a quick DS port in a year and bagging 2.5 million easy sales and profit. So disgusting.

[Danrax]

Interesting

[MxShade]

Wow, that's a huge estimate for a simple game remake. You wouldn't think it'd be that hard to take a game that's already made and remake it.

[snakebite36]

I wonder how a 3D dot game heroes version of FF7 would be.

[Noami]

style like ff13...idk.. prob would be end up better making it fo ds ..and i mean fallout is big..dint take them 30year to develop... i think they are just making up excuses.

[Leupac]

I dunno, I really hope they just leave the remakes alone and work on original titles.

[saint_john_paul_ii]

keep making excuses square. We all know games like this dont take 30 yrs to develop.

just say you guys are too lazy to do such a thing.

[vhero]

Dunno about Lazy but there development teams are a lot smaller than they used to be.

[tunaks1]

leave FF7 in its original state.
Its much more authentic that way

[abc1233]

it would take nowhere near as long as 30 years. Sure, you may actually have to have towns this time and not make it as horribly linear as FF13, but the number of sales will almost certainly make up for the development costs and the time and effort. There will probably be a remake at some point.

Besides, even if the scale is much larger than FF13, a lot of the work in terms of story and character designs hve already been done, so I have no idea how Wada plucked that number out of his ass.

[Gamester101]

Woah...they'd best get started then ;D

[Slient Knight 9]

maybe square are messing with us with all this bull shit, but then again.

[TheColbertinator]

Fine.Just remake it for PSP then.If your gonna do it,do it.Stop screwing around Square Enix

[Davoh]

I don't think it would take 30 years that's a bit excessive.

[tigertron]

30 years for Square-Enix, yeah. For any other developer, about 3.

[StylizedPlayer]

Then for Valve about 50

[GigaGaia]

The only thing that needs to be done is to redo all the visuals. You already have all the story and script written.

[SpoonyRedMage]

Maybe for Kitase or Nomura's teams but Kawazu could have it done within a year, of course Cloud would then level up depending on how often you talk to Cait Sith...:P

Yer... don't expect a console remake any time soon. The only real possibilities are a portable remake and even that's doubtful.

I'd rather see a IX remake anyway.

[Sigh]

I'm surprised. They have no interest, yet $E wants money. Logic is nothing to them I guess.

[R_aVe_N]

All i want is updated graphics honestly I don't want gameplay to change at all. Considering they have done a movies using those graphics! Kind of merge Crisis Core story and the movie story into Final Fantasy 7 would be pimp so you can play the entire thing through to the end.

[Cyb3r]

God I would hate it if they made a FF7 Remake on a hand held console

[Whitey2k]

come on ENIX!! theres about a trillion people in this world that would like a remake and ur we all know u need the money and time but dont cant use people think that if u did do a remake for the ps3 not only it will boosts alot of console sales but u end up boosting your profits just as much as it did on the ps1

[BABY-JEDI]

Boost their now ragged pathetic reputation. Now that's something worth boosting. ( big hufffy sound now with crossed arms motion) LoL Im still so p*ssed off I cannot beleive it.

[madmonkey0]

so, does that prove games are worse now than they used to be? if they cant ever remake one thier old ones in a reasonable amount of time.

or is it the fact the SE havnt made a good main console game in almost 10 years.

[Cyb3r]

It seems to me that SquareEnix is just making up excuses not to start development on a FF7 remake. I remember the Tech Demo on 2005. If they started development on it back then it would probably be released by now. They really shot themselves in the foot showing that tech demo

[BABY-JEDI]

This verifies that Square ( of old ) had more quality & ambition than the sh*t you are now producing. Technology has now also moved on & obviously your excuses have become more technologically advanced. What a bunch of p*icks your management have become. Ps sorry to offend anyone but FF7 will NOT take this amount of time.

[majdees]

Why most of you want to ruin the classic we love?? I just don't get it. A remake would definitely destroy FF VII as we know it, especially with how bad Square is right now. I don't want it to even be touched, go play it on PS 1 or download it from the PS store. Damn gamers this generation, they don't have respect for anything.

[COINTELPRO]

Get off my lawn!!

[Meryl]

wait last time they said 10 years, lol SE you really are full of yourself, FF7 remake would take squaresoft 5 yrs max on ps3, no wait since they have an engie it should take half that time...
if you are sick of all SE's BS click on agree, also I wanna know if they are gimping ff versus now tat they realised that HD towns+overworld magically == 30yrs dev time

[Bodyboarder_VGamer]

I really want to play the remake of FFIV but on handheld and on DS? Hell no!
The same with FFVII on PsP or whatever. A 40 hours rpg on tiny screen is too much.

Anyway after reading this I'm losing faith in FFvsXIII... It seems like Square's not even trying to make awesome games anymore because it's too hard. =(

[Kamikaze135]

Not SE, but the people they're fooling into believing this. The FF series as an entirety hasn't even been around for 30 years. It wouldn't take more than 6-7 years...and that's IF they try to add things into the game like additional monsters, updated battle system, new areas, expanded story, etc. A copy and paste remake, which would only consist of upgrade visuals, voice acting, and porting it over to other HD consoles, should not take more than 4-5 years with a big enough team, which SE can afford. Especially since they have smaller teams dishing out crap games for a quick cash in.

Anyway, as much as I love FFVII, they need to move on and work on the next "cult classic". Maybe it'll be Versus XIII or even FFXV. I just don't feel like sitting through a game I've played to death already another time, lol. Maybe if they do decide to remake it, they'll ruin it somehow by trying to implement an idea the fans won't like, like a new battle system, new characters, revealing stupid things about current characters to make them less "cool", etc.

[mirroredderorrim]

Square is dead. Enix is Dead. What lies before us now, is just a shell, a name, combined to make money.

Screw an FFVII remake or any remake for that matter. They wouldn't do it right anyway, not by *our* standards, and certainly not by SquareSoft standards.

[AriesFury]

Agreed. They sold their reputation and standard to the point where other companies in my opinion have take their lead.

[Voyevoda]

The game is only (almost) 13 years old. You can wait some more. It DOESN'T need to be remade.

[Milamber]

Cloud Strife dressed as a girl in HD will look ridiculous!

[MaideninBlack]

Remember Lightning in FFXIII?

[My_Outer_Heaven]

What a load of BS!

For god sake the story is already there..

and the game mechanics are there in FF7 and XIII
just add the two together..
Remake all the game sprites from FF7 in HD quality..

And release the game world wide.
Job done you lazy mother f...ssss!

[Demons Souls]

No wonder all of the games by Square-Enix sucks. They could use at about 10 more years just to try to get them on par with other games.

[My_Outer_Heaven]

I made a game using game maker in less than a month.

I even drawed all the sprites...

So 30 years is fuckin BS!

[sarshelyam]

FFVII, though not my favorite, had about 10 times the substance and gameplay of FFXIII. But if we consider that they MAY have started this years ago, well...we could have shaved it down to 20 years. Nice!!

[pinkyxyz]

Theres no way in hell, oblivion, fallout 3, white knight chronicles(yeah i said it)with world just as large if not bigger can do it, then why can't you, Im telling you guys, something smells really fishy about these interviews. Like there trying to make it seem like its impossible then BAMM!!!!! remake announcement for you all lol

[ULTIMATE_REVENGE]

Why do you guys want a remake anyway? it actually sounds absurd to remake a game you already made.

[My_Outer_Heaven]

1. Its never been done before for a Final Fantasy game.

2. FF7 is the best of the bunch.

3. It doenst have to be completely the same.

4. It could have twice the ammount of items and spells n stuff.

5. It would look awesome in HD.

6. Why not?

7. It would sell!

8. I want it!

9. FF7 with FFXIII graphics would be cool.

10. I reckon FF8 should be remade too.

[Shane Kim]

It's a damn lie. Simple as that. SE are lazy end of story.

[Godmars290]

Not talented enough. Not talented enough to admit they can't even crap out a hack-job attempt at that.

[Dark_king]

first thing what the hell they mean by " and remaking it in a similar style to that of Final Fantasy XIII. "Please tell me people don't actually want or like that battle system.It has to be the worst battle system I have every played with.It was a step backwards from FF10's battle system that let you change members during a battle.Well maybe they ment graphics those we pretty good I wouldn't mind a remake of 7 to look like 13 only better.But graphics is the only thing 13 did decent.their was less to it then 6,7,8,9.the stats were a joke you only have STR,MP,HP nothing else.the status effects were crap I have always wanted a FF7 remake but not now after finishing 13 Ill wait for SquareEnix to go out of business and hope however picks up the IP will do it justice because I don't think SquareEnix can.

[Drithe]

If it would take a long time to make FF7, it SCARES me to think how long it would take to make a FF6. Now that was a long game.

End of Line.

[jaosobno]

SE is, as expected of them lately, full of shit. No wonder FF13 sucked so bad, it lacks 27 years of development (since it obviously takes 30 years to make a decent game).

RIP square enix, we loved you while you were alive. Who the hell are these people running the company now, I honestly don't know.

[ScubaSteve1]

yet square enix said they were to lazy to create towns and stuff

[Godmars290]

I'll still buy tiles they make if I like the general concept and what I hear from other sources, but anything direct out of S/E's mouth has lost any possible value to me.

Fu*k, why can't they just take the FFX engine, upgrade that to HD, then put it put on PSN?

Why did they even bother blocking/stopping that fan-based attempt to remake the thing?

[Spydr07]

Square fell off when Mistwalker was formed. The whole was truly greater than the sum of its parts.

[C L O U D]

Guys face it, They don't want to do a remake of FFVII

I really do like FFVII but you guys (fans) just need to move on.

FFVII can always be downloaded of the Playstation Store!

[ZoidsRaven]

Wow. Those are some lazy sons of b!tches.

[Neoicelord]

How long did it take Mistwalker to make Lost Odyssey? and the whole game is HD. i am sorry Square but you really do suck these days... Lost Odyssey>Final Fantasy XIII any day

[wissam]

I am not holding my breath. it will take 10 year to make. to release it on the next xbox exclusively.

[darthdevidem01]

I want a FF6 Remake not a FF7 one

[Greek God]

30 yrs huh..? FUCK ME! No way in bloddy Hell
its they only ruin it Squaresoft is no longer forget them... there last game which was Squaresoft standard was FF X
I played FFXIII sure i liked it but come on it don't deserves the name !! FF !! All key elements from past games are missing... -.- (IMO)

[BABY-JEDI]

Click + for remake or - for none. Remember Squre was a leading force in the industry (including movies) they have advanced tech but also a massive library of materials/models/animations/pr ogrames/ect. All I hear is a buisness man NOT wanting to invest time & money into a product. Someone who really isn't interested in YOU the consumer! Think about it then make your choice 30yrs is a long time LoL

[Evil_Ghosty]

I knew that FFVII E3 ps3 tech demo would come back to bite SE in the ass.

[DigitalAnalog]

After all, the original FFVII took about 10 years to make (LOL). According to their laziness.

Final Fantasy versus XIII multi-plat confirmed.

-End statement

[saimcheeda]

Quality?

[DigitalRaptor]

If Versus XIII is as bad as XIII, I will die...

[biggame901]

30 years? Seriously, SE, you are just becoming an even bigger joke than you previously were. Are you really that lazy and incompetent that it would take you that long to do a remake? SE, you are essentially dead to me.

It's still unfathomable that the great Squaresoft is gone, and has been replaced with these lazy, incompetent, lying morons.

[Hotel_Moscow]

dam so it will take more time to make ff7 than it did to make the hoover dam

[Gamer_Z]

that just shows how behind the times they are, 30 years back!

[Ingram]

It's getting to the point where I'm not sure anymore if I want Squeenix to do THE remake.

They teased us at the beginning of this gen, yet they kept offering androginous emos dressed as clowns, mediocrity, broken dates, lies, unjustified pride...

Oh, and FFXIII was sh**, for real.After all that time.

There's something really wrong with Squeenix since a long time, for all I care they can burn in hell, in H E L L, I say.

Edit@gamer z: You read my mind dude xD

[Tripl3seis]

U noe to me this is amazing I remember wen I played my first final fantasy game on the ps1 I was like wow who made this game then I read squaresoft I was like this guys are awesome how the hell did they make this game? They had passion,dedication, and also humble that's how awesome the old square was now the this company that I use to love is just gone no spirit no dedication for their games and no love for us the fans that are requesting a remake of the best final fantasy game ever made (imo) idk wtf is going on wit this band of dumb asses but I'm hoping that square enix burns to the ground goes out of business and give the ip to sony or level 5 or to nomura once he leaves and forms his own company damn I miss the old square they were awesome :(

[Spydr07]

OMG! Where did the sentences and paragraphs go? That's both a run-on sentence and paragraph.

[OutgoingSquall]

Sry to break it to you but the money is more important to them then there fans they don't care if they upset people they said the cut enough content ff13 to make another game just wow when I heard that statement.

[Ninjews]

If that was the case they would of already released the remake.

[noxeven]

SE is so lazy, Fine don't make a remake of 7; Its not like you showed a demo of what ff7 could look like on the ps3 oh wait you did that long ago, http://www.youtube.com/watc... its not any of us forgot about it oh no, I mean are you saying you did a small tech demo and scrapped all those polys wow you are truly lazy. Man its so much effort do do some conversions. I know its a cinema but i mean seriously model updates don't take that long. But hey you know what don;t make a 7 remake that's fine how about you make a 6 remake instead that will probably take you 60 years

[Ingram]

I used to think when I was a child that a nice Dragon Ball RPG(the pc engine one does not count) would be tops, shame was, Bandai had the license rights, and since super nintendo's butouden 2 there hasnt been a decent game,(no, actually, I find the recent budokai series lackluster and simplistic, I want a JRPG)

Is obvious someone at S.E. is keeping FFVII as an ace in the sleeve, well, that someone has to realize, that in the future, when the ace is used, the audience might not be there then, given the frivolous and pathetic recent attempts for games the gave us.

[Tone]

All they would really need to do is keep everything exactly the same, like the camera angles, gameplay etc.. buy just update the graphics and sound to modern standards. Job done and watch the cash flood in!

[Whitey2k]

agreed!! they could of atleast of started it from when they 1st showed the tech demo

[Jeff-Ryan]

their development strategy. FF13 took 2-3 years? Too slow.

[Son_Lee]

30 to 40 years? No, that's how long Versus XIII is taking. It would barely take 2 years to do a FFVII remake. Why? All the pieces are there, all you have to do is UPDATE THE FREAKIN GRAPHICS!!!!!

[Brewski007]

They make it harder and harder not to hate them with each tid-bit of news I read.

[Odin777]

Why does it need to be remade? I can still play Final Fantasy VII to this day. Sure it would be cool, but I'd prefer they put that effort into something new...or they could remake it with slightly updated graphics and remastered music. It doesn't need to look like FFXIII or anything.

[Knightofelemia]

Advent Children did not take that long with its CG and if they were to remake FF7 to match FF13 it would take the same amount of time. I think its a trump card Square is holding onto if FFVS13 turns out to be a flop. That way if they release a remake FF7 they will recoup their losses 5 times over with the people wanting a remake.

[dizzleK]

all hail atlus and shin megami, the new rpg kings!

stick a fork in square, they're done.

[resetme]

maybe they have lost all data and back up in the last gojira attack

[anonymouse111335]

It would take a few years, but I doubt 30-40. It probably wouldn't be as costly to make as XIII either since they already have the story and concept art etc, though the world in FF7 is huge so it would take a long time, probably longer than XIII but not over 10, maybe 4 years, that's a lot of 3D modeling to do.

[Swiftfox]

In fairness the game would take a great deal of time and effort to be remade. Sure the story is already there but they would still have to go through the production like they would a completely new game.

The characters would need to be re-designed all of them including the extras. They would need to redesign the world map for the new engine, the monsters, the area's of play, the effects, the sounds. It would have to be built again from the ground up to accomidate for the advances in tech and tools.

30 years? Not really. I think they were just describing based on how much work went into the first one with that level of technology and trying to re-created that with today's would take a great deal of time, effort, and money.

Realisticly though, the odds of screwing up a re-make of one of the greatest RPG's of all time is about 99.9%. I pray that they don't do a remake of this game. Ever. There is next to no possible way they could not screw it up.

[Ninjews]

They already have the redesigns, they're in the movie.

[MadBoJangles]

Well, I think too many people are taking the translation too literally.

He didn't actually say it would take 40 years, he just generalised by saying it would take "10 times as long." People do this kind of flippant exaggeration all the time, which is more likely to happen if they are asked the same question in practically EVERY interview session they hold.

Will laugh my ass off if they have actually been working on it since that original tech demo and have a BIG announcement at either E3 or TGS.

[abc1233]

could this be why sony announced KZ3, LBP2, etc. before E3? This sort of announcement would certainly be so large that it would crush all the pre-E3 announcements.

[PSK22]

To be honest, maybe they should just remastered the game and put it on the PS3. I don't think they should remake such an epic game. Since Square soft is gone and its now this so call Square Enix, I'm afraid of what they would do to the game. I just miss the 90s Square. Xenogears, Final Fantasy 7,8,9 and the chrono series were the main reason I liked RPG games. Nowadays, I'm just losing interest in RPGs, Final Fantasy 13 was good but not as good as the old ones.

[abc1233]

maybe SE are waiting for the next sony console to be released? since FF7 is such a huge game, it would probably take 6-7 years and if they started now, they may find that by the time they are nearing the end, a new playstation console is announced which could potentially undermine the scale of the project as well as the sales. We don't know how awesome the PS4 will be and surely if SE start development on a more powerful console, it will mean better quality and we will ultimately benefit. We've been waiting 13 years for a remake, why can't we wait a few more?

[Hotel_Moscow]

yes they should make a game based off of something they dont know

[Kingdom Come]

I don't think a remake is required, with Final Fantasy XIII turning out the way it did, I dont want to see Final Fantasy VII's name tainted.

[kraze07]

Why would they remake FFVII and take away the world map and make it linear? All they would need to do is give FF7 the visuals of FF13 and it's a done deal.

[nickjkl]

i think you forgot how final fantasy 7 had a almost constantly changing landscape right

[SephireX]

There's no way it would take 30 years to make. If they didn't make many adjustments to the battle system, did a complete graphics overhaul, added voice-acting and put the world map in full 3D, we're talking a month's work. Jk

They should be able to do it within four years. It would definitely be a Playstation exclusive. FFVII is everything Playstation!

[kraze07]

Not saying I disagree with your comment, but FF7 was also released on the PC. If a remake is ever made should it also be released on the PC?

[Thoreau]

supporting the 360 and dissing the ps3(not working out to well is it) to that weak sauce of a game called ff13. wada is not the master mind he thinks he is. i don't want games that cater to an western audience appeal. i want games that appeal to the genre they are being developed for...

[capn_crunch]

What I'd like to see, instead of a remake is SQEENIX bringing back the best parts of FFVII, namely the Weapons (The boss monsters, not blades), Materia, Chocobo Racing and Breeding, and the limit breaks. And OF COURSE, the open world map.

That's all I care about, I already know the story of VII, give us something new.

Oh yeah, and Cid :)

[pinkyxyz]

so just shut up and give me the license to crystal tools lol

[TheOrion]

Square Enix is going by the script they re-use, in a few months it will be we want to get on board a remake project and were looking into it. Get the fans excited then have a bitter taste in their mouth when a spin off game is announced again.

Then, we don't have plans for a FF7 remake and repeat.

[Theonetheonly]

How are they? and would anyone reccommend a good one to ge started on. :)

[ravenl0rd]

Final Fantasy 6. No question.

[Ingram]

VII and VI (III in the U.S.) I would say, then maybe IX and VIII.Then try some X and XII and don't forget to play final fantasy tactics for PS1 and/or PSP & Game boy advance, all of them different games with very similar strategy system and complementary story , still available on ebay probably.

Avoid at all costs Final Fantasy X-2 :D

edit: avoid XIII too, goes without saying

[darthdevidem01]

Start with FFXIII, everyone who is new to FF & who is starting with it loves it for some reason.

[Pug]

Is there an email address or something to where I can e-mail my disgust at SquareEnix and the general direction there taking FF i.e. down the toilet. I'm playing through FFXIII at the moment and it’s pretty distressing.

[STRAIGHTASL]

I rather take FF 7: the return of Genesis. how can everyone overlooked that!? SE wasted my time!

[ravenl0rd]

In the FFXIII mold, FFVII might take 30 years. XIII had no overworld map, and the rendering of the entirety of VII without an overworld map would take a ridiculous amount of time. Never mind that I would want a classic overworld, Square Enix may be talking about a total remake in the vein of XIII which would take a long time.