Fans Will Help Decide Which FF Game Gets A Remaster/Remake Next
The most hype moment of E3 of the last decade for me is easily the Final Fantasy 7 Remake reveal. I mean Square Enix trolled fans at a previous PlayStation Experience keynote when they teased everyone with a FF7 remake before they Omnislashed our hearts and revealed it to be just a PS4 port of the classic steampunk JRPG. Thus, that FF7 Remake reveal was vindication and also some crazy fan fulfillment as there was a large camp that doubted the game would ever get a proper HD remake. With Final Fantasy XII‘s remaster coming out soon, the game’s director, Takashi Katano, talked with IBTimes about future remake/remaster plans for the series.
“We really have to hear their voices on that, if they want to see a remake or a remaster of a certain game then that’s more likely to be the one we go for,” he tells IBTimes UK. “I’ve personally been working at Square Enix for 20 years now and I’ve got a lot of memories from that time. I think the way that we look at it is not the game that [we] would like to remake it’s really down to what the players, the fans, want to see.”
It’s a lofty statement, but of course, there are other realities that the company will have to overcome if they go down the path of more remakes in the future. One issue is that the older FF titles have key staff members like Hinorobou Sakaguchi who left the company. While the company would not get the ire of Konami remaking an older Metal Gear Solid game without Hideo Kojima, those key ex-Square staff members were crucial to the development of those FF games. Besides that, like the upcoming FF7 remake, they would have to rely on other studios to help develop said remakes as resources can only stretch so far.
The IBTimes article also features Katano noting they would likely have to remake games prior to PS2 era as opposed to remastering them. He also notes the choice between remake or remaster would be up to fans, but really, what’s left in the series for an HD remaster that hasn’t had a recent HD port? While there are certainly fans for an FF13 HD compilation (not me — FF 13-2’s Moogle can GTFO), I feel a remake of an older FF game would have far more impact.
Of course, I’m in the camp that is optimistic about the FF7 remake, but I also understand that many fans are worried that some of FF7’s charm will be lost in transition. When you use realistic models to depict characters, scenes like Cloud’s infamous cross-dressing will carry a different tone. I don’t envy the team behind any future FF remake as they’ll be faulted for either sticking too close to the original or diverging too far.
While I would love an HD remake of that FF 6 opera scene, I’m far more interested in a new Final Fantasy that gets back to the heart of the series.