When Remaining Fantasy VII launched on PlayStation in 1997, it revolutionized the RPG style and gaming as an entire. The transition from pixel artwork to totally animated laptop graphics was an enormous sufficient leap forward, however the great thing about this basic title was rather more than pores and skin deep. Remaining Fantasy VII options an unbelievable forged of characters, an impressive battle system, and a narrative that evokes pleasure, awe, anger, and grief. Remaining Fantasy VII is well-established as one of the iconic and beloved video video games of all time, however for Sq. Enix, the legacy is considerably extra vital.
For the crew behind the Remaining Fantasy franchise, Remaining Fantasy VII was the entry that made the builders notice they wanted to adapt to the occasions. “Even throughout the mainline Remaining Fantasy titles as a collection, we are able to contemplate Remaining Fantasy VII to be this kind of midpoint title that is in the course of all of it,” Tetsuya Nomura, who was a personality designer and visible director on Remaining Fantasy VII, says. “As much as Remaining Fantasy VI, it was created in a sure method, after which from VIII, there was a model new method of approaching growth, whereas VII kind of sits between these two titles as a kind of mixed-element title.”
The best way Nomura and the crew describe it, the event of Remaining Fantasy VII sounds chaotic, generally in a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants method. “[Final Fantasy] VI included a variety of components that every division on their very own, simply on a whim, wished to incorporate, so they only included it, whereas VIII is rather more calculated and strategized,” Nomura says. “VII is a mixture of that, the place it is each calculated and sort of an at-a-whim kind of growth. If we made video games like this the way in which we did once we have been creating the unique VII, we’d be in a variety of hassle proper now. Instances have actually modified. Past VII is the purpose the place I would say occasions have modified. It is the final of the titles the place we have been capable of do issues that method.”
Nomura recollects coming into the workplace, generally not figuring out what to anticipate. “There have been scripts after which out of the blue issues that aren’t even within the script that the character is now saying within the sport that we have by no means even heard of,” he says. “Some departments simply wished to incorporate the character saying this stuff. It was that sort of world then.”
Fortunately, director Yoshinori Kitase labored intently with author Kazushige Nojima to make sure every little thing made sense within the story, even with the myriad modifications applied by the sometimes-disparate departments. “There have been groups engaged on every character and the issues that they are saying within the storyline, however then general, Nojima-san was the ultimate reviewer,” Kitase says. “That is bringing the entire storyline collectively. That apply was carried on for future titles to have that cohesion. However apart from that, it was kind of an ‘something goes’ kind of world then.”
After an extended growth cycle of generally being stunned by their very own sport, the members of Sq. Enix knew it needed to make a change. “After we had completed engaged on VII, we thought to ourselves, ‘We will not go on making video games on this method,'” Nomura recollects.
Starting with Remaining Fantasy VIII, the crew moved towards that extra calculated growth Nomura and the crew determined it wanted. Not may separate departments sneak in content material they wished to see with out first getting approval from the broader group. The crew continued utilizing the method Kitase and Nojima applied in Remaining Fantasy VII’s growth to make sure narrative and thematic cohesiveness. Sq. Enix even carried ahead the method it used to create Remaining Fantasy VII’s minigames, the place particular person growth crew members are assigned to particular minigames as “representatives” to work with an engineer to implement the minigame.
Even Naoki Hamaguchi, who joined Sq. Enix in 2003, notices the distinction between how Remaining Fantasy growth has labored throughout his time on the firm in distinction to what Kitase and Nomura describe. “These days, we now have localized voice test and stuff like that,” Hamaguchi says. “You may’t simply get away with doing these issues immediately.”
However even past the way in which the sport affected growth, Remaining Fantasy VII has rather a lot to say. Its story’s themes regarding company greed, environmentalism, and psychological well being are all maybe extra related immediately than in 1997. Although the builders did not deliberately reference particular real-world social points, they acknowledge how related these themes are immediately.
“In Remaining Fantasy VII, we have been capable of depict a majority of these points, just like the cycle of life, by means of the idea of Lifestream,” Remaining Fantasy VII director Yoshinori Kitase says. “If we have been to depict it precisely as we expertise it in the actual world, it could not be very attention-grabbing. With Nojima-san’s concepts, we have been capable of have this centered on Lifestream and the planet throughout the worldview of Remaining Fantasy VII. On this method, I consider the sport and its themes stay related and face up to the take a look at of time.”
Although he feels the themes of Remaining Fantasy VII are nonetheless vital immediately, he does have some regrets relating to the crew’s strategy to these points in 1997. “Contemplating the way in which to depict social issues, social points, and cultural depictions, in some methods, I’m a bit embarrassed by the unique title,” Kitase says. “In its expression, in some methods, it was very younger and naive in itself. That may be a studying for us, however on the similar time, I do consider that maybe that is likely one of the explanation why it was so broadly accepted. It isn’t good, and it is sort of uneven and jagged in its younger and naive nature of its depiction. In fact, after [more than] 25 years, there’s a variety of private studying, modifications, and development. However wanting again on it, some elements of it, I’m a bit embarrassed.”
However from the angle of Motomu Toriyama, who was an occasion planner on Remaining Fantasy VII, the crew did every little thing it may in its strategy to the unique sport, and subsequently, he does not have any regrets. “At any given period or time, we all the time try to place our greatest foot ahead, and we had utilized the most effective sport specs at any given time, whether or not it needed to be the unique or immediately,” he says. “So, even with the unique Remaining Fantasy VII title, there have been no regrets or emotions that there was extra that we wished to do or one thing I had regretted not doing; we really put in our greatest efforts.”
Introduced in 2015, Remaining Fantasy VII is now the topic of a trilogy of remakes. The primary entry, Remaining Fantasy VII Remake, launched in 2020 to crucial acclaim. The subsequent entry, Remaining Fantasy VII Rebirth, the quilt star of Sport Informer‘s most up-to-date difficulty, arrives on PlayStation 5 on February 29. Head to our unique protection hub by means of the banner beneath for extra on Rebirth.