I don’t think so. The original is out of print, as far as I know, and if it’s selling it’s only via eBay and used game stores. I agree that they’ll remake it for the PS3, but it’ll be pretty much the same as the old one with all the problems fixed and probably a slew of new material as well, probably hooking up with at least some of the other games in the Compilation.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they redo the Nibelheim incident to coincide with Last Order, too.
I think they should augment the story instead of changing it. By that I mean not change anything, but add some cut scenes to further develop characters and explain some of the trickier aspects of the plot.
Well… Last Order in particular is a half-hour anime “re-telling” of the events of Nibelheim. It keeps the general gist, but changes quite a few details. That’s the only thing I think they might genuinely change, because I’m unsure whether Last Order or the original FF7 is now canon.
Regardless, the game is still out there, generating interest on the series, and if necessary, Square could produce more copies, which would be easier (but not necessarily better) than making a modern version.
BTW, Cid, I haven’t seen Last Order yet; what are the differences to the original sequence that you mention?
Ninja Edit: I just thought of something: in the original game, Yuffie and Vincent are OPTIONAL characters. Would they still be so in an update? I don’t think so; they’re too big a part of the mythos now. There will likely be sequences where they will join the party permanently.
Speaking of Yuffie: in the game, Yuffie (disguised as a reporter) helps Tifa escape after she’s captured by Shinra. If you never pick her up, does she still show up there, or does Cait Sith save Tifa by itself?
Speaking of Cait, I REALLY hope that, in a remake, the parts where it (and Red XIII) fool people just by wearing clothes are NOT included. Groan
Square is not going to produce more copies of a 1997 game, I’m afraid. PSX games have all been out of commission for years. They might make money off of it, but it’d be a bad business decision all the same.
I haven’t seen Last Order either; you can go on Wikipedia to see the whole deal.
That’s a good question… perhaps they wouldn’t be optional in a remake. And no, she doesn’t show up in Junon if she’s not in your party.
Last Order doesn’t change or alter the events in any significant way. Nothing was actually “changed”, but more like expanded a bit. The story switches back and forth between the events in Nibelheim told from a neutral perspective and small segments of Tseng sitting in his office reading reports on Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud, which are really there to avoid putting a sign that says “A few hours later…” since he doesn’t really say anything significant.
The things I could notice are as follows:
[ul]
[li]Instead of Zack attacking Sephiroth from the back and getting whooped in one blow, they have a short duel in Jenova’s chamber with lots of sfx and jumping (less ridiculous than AC’s jumping at least), after which Zack still gets whooped.
[/li][li]Cloud’s appearance before Tifa (When she’s lying there in the after getting stabbed) looks a bit more romantic, in a knight-in-shiny-armor sort of way. Or maybe that’s just because it’s now shown from her perspective, at least you see the look of concern and anger in Cloud’s face.
[/li][li]Cloud overpowers and “kills” Sephiroth instead of just throwing him off. He actually fights and wins, and his sudden power-up is much more evident. That’s probably the biggest difference.
[/li][li]Hojo shows an interest in Cloud as they are picking him up. Says something along the lines of “But this one… who would have thought…”
[/li][li]Later, there’s a whole scene dedicated to Zack beating the tar out of regular Shinra grunts while carrying around the unconscious Cloud.
[/li][li]Tseng ends his musings in way that suggests he really would rather let them leave if he could, but it’s his job so he joins the rest of the game’s Turks and a bunch of cameos from Before Crisis and boards an helicopter to their assumed location.
[/li][li]It ends more or less like the game, with a weakened Zack fighting in the hills near Midgar, Cloud waking up, the screen going black and a single shot being heard in the back. Pretty good effect.
[/li][/ul]
That’s about it really. There’s nothing that conflicts with the game in any visible way.
Methinks (or at least mewonders) that it just might be that they’d originally wanted to depict it that way, but the limitations of the PSX prevented them.
I think so as well.
Has there ever been a remake of an RPG? I don’t mean a port to a different system with minor retouching. I’m talking about starting from scratch on a next-gen console with a fat budget and nothing but the original “screenplay” in hand. There are plenty of movie remakes, and I suppose it’ll eventually happen with an RPG…just a matter of time.
I don’t know why there hasn’t been a single remake. An announced FFVII remake for the ps3 or 360 would create so much hype they’d hardly need to advertise. You’d think profit potential would be astronomical compared to other projects on the table. “Let’s delay FFXIV and redo FFVII after we finish XIII.” Would seem like a no-brainer to me. What might be some reasons NOT to do it?
- Recreating FFVII could be viewed as a last resort move reserved for difficult financial times
- Their best resources would be better served creating new content for future franchises
- It is more profitable creating spinoff products like they are currently doing than reserving a large percentage of their expense budget for a full-fledged remake
That’s about all I can come up with. It seems like a win/win proposition.
Anyhow, if they were to remake FFVII, I would like to see a job system in place (characters limited to types of materia), at least four characters on the battle screen, non-random encounters, and increased difficulty. New content / improved story - sure, why not. Just don’t omit anything.
As far as remakes go, I would prefer to see FFVI remade over anything else, followed by Xenogears.
I think Wild ARMs Alter Code: F is what you’re looking for? I’m not sure, I’m a bit confused by what you’re asking about.
Or Chrono Trigger 
(edit:dang, I oversaw the 4 chars on screen request)
I’m not sure if resources would be better used on new materiel. Squares new materiel since ff7 has mostly been revamps of their old stuff.
Well, yes, that’s the point. By “new material” we mean stuff that isn’t revamps of old stuff.
Wild ARMs: ACF is a total remake of Wild ARMs, and from what I can see FF3 DS is a total remake of FF3. Chrono Trigger is not; it just has some extra FMVs tacked on. FF1/2 GBA could arguably be called a total remake as well.
Wild Arms isn’t an exact remake- it follows the original story pretty closely (except for certain bits, like allowing more of the characters to be playable.) It even uses the same World Map, tough for some reason, it’s [i]inverted /iThey DID change the dungeons and combat/noncombat systems, and added a lot of new stuff (like the puzzle boxes.) More importantly it FINALLY had decent graphics! I would call it an improvement over the original IF it didn’t have so many optional things to do, it was tiring to try to find and do everything. This is how I see them remaking FF7, btw.
And Locke, from a business point of view, it is ALWAYS preferable to produce more of the same stuff than to risk making new stuff- it’s easier and costs less. However, the public tires of the same sooner or later, so any company with a brain tries to come up with new products at the same time as it exploits the old, trying to find the “next big thing.”
About Last Order: after checking it out in Wikipedia, I’d say that yes, most of the changes are minor and may even be an improvement over the original, except for two things:
-The fact the Lifestream current is now located in Jenova’s chamber. Why?
-The fact that Tifa and Cloud spoke during their Nibelheim encounter. BIG plot hole.
One other thing: LO seems to hint that Sephiroth jumped into the Lifestream on purpose, instead of being knocked in by Cloud. While this is a major change (since it sort of takes away Cloud’s victory over Seph) it makes a lot more sense than a failed SOLDIER wannabe being able to beat the Supersoldier on his own. And fits in with Seph claiming he absorbed knowldge and power from the Lifestream before ending up at the Northern Crater.
Who cares? Anyway, the chamber in the game was glowing as well, are you sure there wasn’t any mako in there?
Why?
I suggest you watch it to draw your own conclusions out of that scene. Cloud wounded Sephiroth and forced him to retreat, and he was even less damaged from the fight with Zack than in the game. He didn’t just hop into the stream because it was quicker than taking a bus, Cloud was very capable and eager to kill him right there.
Of course WA isn’t an exact remake - that’s the whole point. It’s what’s called an “enhanced remake”, which is what FF3 is and what FF7 doubtless would be.
My bad, I didn’t mean that the PSX CT was a remake like what he was asking for. I meant that the original was a game that more or less fufilled Locke’s requests, so he could do worse than play CT.
I thought that it was lifestream in both the game and Last Order. After all, Mako is lifestream.
Cid brought up a good point. I’m talking about just about as big a revamp as FF3 from NES to DS when I say “New Hotness” (or at least as much as possible with existing technologies, the jump wouldn’t be as big for 10 years as opposed to FF3’s 20 years) . And “Old and Busted”, the changes wouldn’t be much bigger than with Chrono Trigger from SNES to PSX with the exception of graphics which Square AND Sony would undoubtedly want to change, because let’s face it, graphics are the biggest marketing point for games.
The game makes it clear that Sephiroth walked out of the Jenova chamber, then was dropped into the Reactor, which is why everyone believed he was dead. I don’t see why Jenova’s tank would be built RIGHT ABOVE the dangerous reactor core. Of course, maybe it was part of Hojo’s crazy experiments.
As for Cloud and Tifa, I don’t remember them talking at all. Wouldn’t she had recognized his voice? Remember, she doesn’t remember him being in Nibelheim during the massacre, that’s an important plot point.
I suggest you watch it to draw your own conclusions out of that scene. Cloud wounded Sephiroth and forced him to retreat, and he was even less damaged from the fight with Zack than in the game. He didn’t just hop into the stream because it was quicker than taking a bus, Cloud was very capable and eager to kill him right there.
But that still leaves the original problem: SOLDIER-reject Cloud Stryfe beating Super-SOLDIER Sephiroth on his own. The game makes it clear that it was a one of those “moments of supreme anguish giving you the strenght to win” that you see in Anime all the time. Even so, it was absurd- the wounded Cloud lifting Sephiroth by his own sword - Uh, Seph? You can LET GO of the sword, you know- it’s a miracle he didn’t just cut his hands off. I guess what LO is trying to say is that Cloud had some hidden reserves of power, but that sounds to me like pandering to the character’s popularity. Oh, well. I will watch it when I get the chance, then tell you what I think.
I think Seph was probably just too shocked to respond to what was happening. That and he wasn’t in the most rational of moods at the time, if you recall - he’d just burnt up an entire town.
As for Cloud’s voice, don’t forget that Tifa hadn’t seen him since he was a child, and as we later learn, she was never that good of a friend to him anyway. His voice was almost certainly different by that point.