Julius

New Digital Foundry video on the footage we saw at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase: Might as well also throw that footage in here while I'm here too:

I mean, we've known that since Remake released It's a tricky one for me, and I don't have the nostalgia some have for VII seeing as I only played it for the first time 5 years ago (it's already been that long?!), but a remake of something of the scale of the original Final Fantasy VII just isn't feasible in one game with today's audience expectations for AAA titles, so splitting the title up makes sense. Once you do that it's still a case of paring the game back compared to the original for a modern day effort, and I think you end up with 4-5 titles off the back of that if being faithful was the route they went, meaning the remake naturally needs to make the experience more linear anyways for story structure and flow, but also just for the scale to be suitable. That means needing to build out characters more, adding more to do, and so on, so very quickly the game just can't be a traditional remake. I think another aspect to think about too is that the original VII kind of saves going off the rails for its final third (where, personally, I think it becomes a bit weaker than the preceding two thirds of the game, but that's besides the point) whereas everything else I've seen in terms of Compilation stuff - I've watched Advent Children, seen quite a few cutscene and gameplay snippets of Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus - and I think it's that final third of the original game going off the rails which set the tone going forwards. That Remake ended up falling in line with that isn't all that surprising to me? It's ending absolutely caught me off guard a bit, and I wasn't a fan immediately at the time, but it grew on me as I took more time to think about it. If there's any problem I have with the Remake project, it's that Ever Crisis didn't release before Remake. I played original VII prior to release and I was caught out by the sudden mania towards the end of the game, which was certainly hinted at, but they went nuts with it and that's what caught me out; how many went into Remake completely unaware that it wasn't just a more fleshed out remake? Anyways, I think the move they made was bold, which deserves credit, and at least they clearly have a plan for it. In an age of crossovers and multiverses, heavy nostalgia plays, especially with a fanbase as devout as Final Fantasy's and VII's specifically, I don't think it's all that surprising that VII's Remake project looks to be the first in the gaming space to really attempt something of that scale and with the history and characters to try it. Going in a different direction to the original means that while they can revisit similar beats, they're not beholden to them, and with that expectation set now, they have more flexibility to tell their story and can capitalise on new ideas too. I think some will make an argument that the original game will always be there, but I'd argue that this simply isn't a faithful retelling of VII's story. They've changed enough to where we don't know exactly what's going to happen, the original is now more of a reference for structure and the main beats (or has been so far) and they are now basically doing a post-mortem and subversion on their own work from 25 years ago. I think that in and of itself is pretty fascinating (though fascination =/= actually pulling that off successfully). Kazushige Nojima is cited as the lead writer for Remake, mainly because he's frequently credited first and is the one seen writing supplementary material for Remake outside of the game. Don't forget that Nomura didn't know that he was directing the game until the announcement trailer was shown internally, and there are four writers and two other directors alongside him, as well as Kitase to report to, so I don't think one person can be held accountable; if anything, I think it just goes back to wanting (and having) to try new things with current technical limitations meaning a true remake of the original game with AAA production values isn't feasible. No doubt he had some level of signoff as one of the directors and would have been heavily involved in figuring this thing out, and I do think he set the tone for what the project ended up being with his previous work on Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children, but heading in that direction and having that tone wasn't strictly his decision. EDIT: to add and just to make it clear, I don't think Remake is flawless, and I don't want to seem like I'm blindly defending it; I enjoyed it a lot, but if you didn't, I can understand the frustration. This post is more me trying to say that I can see why they went the direction they went in, not that that's necessarily the right or best direction to have gone in.

Trigun is getting a sequel series next year: Trigun Stampede!

Yeah, I genuinely thought that Remake was going to get announced either tonight at VII's 25th Anniversary Celebration stream or at Xbox's Showcase on Sunday. My line of thinking was always that it came out on PS4 with a year of exclusivity, Intergrade last year basically got them to re-up with PlayStation for another year of console exclusivity, and then this year after the Intergrade exclusivity was over - and after being paid twice by PlayStation for exclusivity - that they'd cash out this month with Xbox and bring it to Game Pass ASAP, similar to how they got exclusivity on PC with the Epic Games Store but have now announced a Steam release. But I guess not hate to be the one to suggest it, but at this point I think there's been a lot of shady backdoor dealing here by PlayStation with the above not happening. Now I'm of the opinion that I don't think Xbox are getting it until Rebirth is out at best, or at worst just not getting it at all/until the entire Remake project is completed.

Looks at the rest of the people in positions of power in America Well, they're nothing if not consistent I guess

Yeah, I know. It's probably a good enough reason to not go with it. Thing is, if it were titled in a normal way (i.e. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - Reunion), I think Final Fantasy VII Reunion would be completely fine. It's just the fact that it's Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion (I seriously can't believe they kept the titling scheme the same ) that means searching for "Final Fantasy VII Reunion" is going to have a whole lot of crossover (you know...in case it didn't already) that potential muddies the water a bit for branding. I mean it is Square Enix, so goodness knows. Be a shame though, Reunion would be a perfect title in the context of the story. Remade, Reunite, Revenge, Rewind, Retold, Return, Requiem, Retread, Re:Mix 1.5 + 2.5 + 3, Re:Minder That This Is FF Not KH, Re-Remake, Re:Verse, Revengeance...so many possible titles to go with if they stick with the trend of these first two games in the trilogy. Or they don't and they just call it something boring like Finale instead

It's definitely odd that they decide to release spin-offs on Switch first, but I think it's just a side effect of the Switch doing so well in Japan when more traditional consoles aren't, so anything that can run on it is thrown it's way by publishers over there Persona 5 came out on PS3 too, so while I'm sure it'd take some work, I think it could very feasibly run on the Switch. And if you want to believe recent internet chatter, it's coming. Whereas VII Remake would risk burning your house down just being in the same room as a Switch, let alone trying to run on the thing

Just looked it up to confirm and I stand corrected, that's my bad! my understanding of the game was mostly based off what I'd heard and seen clips of, so think I misunderstood their explanation of the Pawn system. On the upside though, that means I can go play it solo, as I'd been steering clear of it for so long thinking it was multiplayer! Well, fingers crossed for multiplayer for II then think it'd be a smart move for Capcom considering how well Monster Hunter has done in recent years, and it'd be like a semi-realisation of Deep Down, so...hopefully? Maybe? Please?! RE Engine confirmed too, so either way, at least it will look good

The first game heavily utilised multiplayer features where you could play online with friends or their avatars could be "pawns" and fight alongside you when they weren't online, so I'd wager it's a safe bet that II will have similar features That being said, you've planted a seed of doubt in my mind now, so...

There are some more details sneaked into the updates given on the Final Fantasy VII Remake Twitter, namely that there are already some working on the game following rebirth (i.e. the untitled game to end the trilogy): Honestly, the turnaround on this game - whether it makes next Winter or not, but let's hope it does - is going to be insane. Kitase mentions change in structure being key to this, but still, even targeting Winter 2023 would mean we potentially see a sequel to Remake in just 3.5 years (I imagine they already had some working on it to some extent beforehand, mind), which considering the impact COVID has evidently had on everyone in the gaming industry, delaying many projects by 12 months or more, is crazy. I imagine having the game be based on another game certainly helps, but still, it'll be one heck of a feat if they get this out door by the end of next year or by the middle of 2024 in my eyes. The Remake project pipeline and everything they've got going on around it is insane, too. I mean, we got VII Remake in 2020, Intergrade/Episode Intermission last year, Crisis Core remaster this year, potentially Rebirth next year. We could get an Intergrade sort of deal in 2024, another remaster (Dirge of Cerberus maybe?) in 2025, and possibly Ever Crisis done and dusted and ported to consoles (please!) before the final game in 2026 or 2027? Oh lord, that'd be 7 years of Final Fantasy VII, wouldn't it? Also...the last game is totally going to be called Reunion, right? Same, think I'll be saving it for next summer to be fresh on it going into Rebirth I might need to replay OG VII again too I think!

NO WAY I MISSED THIS COMPLETELY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Finally a multiplayer game from Capcom I can play with my friends that they'll probably love! glances back at Monster Hunter World

Holy crap We're touches all the wood getting this and XVI within six months of each other

Square Enix just won Not-E3 in less than 15 minutes They surpassed all of my hopes! Well, unless you're on Xbox, sorry guys

Let's freakin' mosey! This does look like the Promised Land Seems to be a similar deal to the first game in that it will be a PS5 exclusive at launch. No details beyond that, though I imagine it'll be a similar deal to what we've seen with Remake, coming to PC after some time has passed. We'll wait and see about elsewhere I guess? In addition, the Remake project has also now been confirmed by Kitase to be a trilogy.

Time to see why everyone likes Zack more than Cloud!

< 1 minute until the 10 minute long Final Fastest VII 25th anniversary stream starts: Time to create a quick summoning circle! Cool countdown to get us going. Don't know where expectations should be, but maybe Remake on Xbox, maybe an update on Ever Crisis or something cool like Crisis Core or Dirge of Cerberus being ported (please!), probably a First Soldier event reminder or something... ...and maybe a 5 second tease for Part II? See you in 10 to be crushed by disappointment

Easy Allies have completed their search for a community manager: (if you want to save a click, it's going to be Gabby Montoute, who has appeared here and there as a guest, mostly on things Isla has worked on) Long needed, hopefully it has the impact they're hoping for

A fair bit of new content inbound:

More than 25 million Switch units sold in Japan now: Crazy stuff!

Been a while since there's been something to post here, but now there's something: there are three animated films now in the works! Lauren Montgomery has also been confirmed to be directing the previously announced first film in the pipeline. I'm sure we're going to be waiting a while before we see anything, so I'm just going to be here excitedly waiting until something happens

To give some context, I don't think it was posted on the Nintendo board initially as, if I'm remembering correctly, it was generically slated as coming to "PC and consoles" when first revealed in all of DotEmu's descriptions and press release for the game, but no specific mention of the Switch (supported by the mention earlier in this thread by @MindFreak that it should be coming to Switch based on DotEmu's past work). I don't think a Switch version was properly confirmed until the Indie World Presentation a month later? But oh well, it's been moved now I'll be waiting to play the Cowabunga Collection before I think about diving into this, but for those that are diving in, seems like a mid-year Christmas for you, so:

Two things I completely forgot to mention in my last post: Really glad you enjoyed it @Hero-of-Time, thought you would! On your last point...

Tom Henderson is reporting that PlayStation are working on a PS5 Pro-styled controller:

Watched Part V of Obi-Wan Kenobi this morning, and again just, and all I've got to say is: this is more like it. There's no question in my mind that this is by far the strongest episode of the show so far. Just one more episode to go. Nervous? Of course. Excited? Very much so oh man, why do I feel like this show could end on the binary sunset...