There is very little left for Final Fantasy VII Remake to reach our hands, so these days will be the most difficult to overcome. For now, to open your mouth you can read our impressions after playing the first hours of the game. For his part, the director of the game, Tetsuya Nomura, has granted a couple of interviews with Famitsu Y 4Gamer, both in Japanese. Since Dulashockers They have been in charge of bringing the text into English to make it easier for us to tell you what the good of Nomura has said.
In those interviews he talked about everything, from the new main theme of the soundtrack, to the gameplay, the design of the characters, the amount of content that will be in the game … In general, Nomura tells us everything we need to know to keep the hype for a most expected title.
«Hollow has a male singer and is rock-themed to reflect Cloud's feelings. The song is supposed to evoke the rain, and I wanted to avoid changes in the meaning of the song depending on the language, so we only recorded an English version. The lyrics were written by Nobuo Uematsu and Kazushige Nojima, who was very interested. When Nojima wrote the lyrics in Japanese, he titled the song "Empty Sky," and when he translated the lyrics, the official title became "Hollow.", says Nomura.
Nomura was encouraged to talk about one of the most controversial topics of the Remake, the redesign of the characters. Obviously we have to adapt them to the present and the new technologies allow us to provide nuances that were previously omitted.
“The amount of realism added to Barret's design compared to its original design served as a guide to how much realism to add to remake the designs of the other characters. As for Red XIII, its original design surprisingly already seemed quite realistic, so we simply recreated it in more detail, and it didn't change much. In the past, however, he equipped a hair ornament as a weapon, but this time, we changed it to be his collar and thus be more visible. The three members of the Turks were redesigned by Roberto Ferrari
Continuing with the characters, Nomura commented on Roche's design, which was run by his partner Roberto Ferrari. “I didn't give any particular instruction for Roche's design, and Ferrari had already made the first version, so we only changed it a bit before finalizing it. His first design was a bit too sharp and serious compared to his carefree personality. There are many other new characters besides Roche, but most appear in the secondary stories rather than the main one ».
About the characters, Nomura falls apart in compliments with Barret, whom he considers his favorite character. «Barret is someone so strong that he decided to replace his lost arm with a weapon. The extreme tone in the dubbing that Masahiro Kobayashi made fits perfectly. He immersed himself in the character, without the need for directions, and most of the phrases were recorded in one shot. Barret is really charismatic and interesting in the Remake. I usually like older characters like him, and he is my favorite ».
Speaking of characters, Nomura gave more details about Cloud, the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII Remake and how they can more authentically reflect their way of being in the remake, with all the funny and weird situations that happen to them.
«Cloud in Final Fantasy VII Remake is very rare. There are many times when he tries to act calmly but fails or acts strangely. He gets nervous where most people would not. This might surprise you, since Cloud in Advent Children was a bit cool. But that's because it was a post-FFVII Cloud, besides we were limited, so we focused on emphasizing its cool side. Nevertheless, In the original game, Cloud had many funny or pathetic moments, and this is what we are looking for with the Remake. I asked Takahiro Sakurai, who plays Cloud, to reflect that in his performance. I hope you enjoy".
Now it's time to talk about more technical aspects of the game. The first, its graphics. «It is close to a photorealistic style, but it is also different
One of the keys to Remake is the new battle system. Obviously, shifts were not the solution, but moving to a total mode of action did not match the style of the game. To find an intermediate point, those of Nomura pulled a lot of trial and error.
«I have already mentioned this in the past, but since development began, we have redesigned the battle system many times. Real time and ATB are intrinsically opposed, so the merger of both required a lot of trial and error. I cannot thank enough the personnel that persevered and shaped the battle system in what it is now, overcoming this challenge and managing to find the right balance ».
As you have seen in the demo, there is much talk during the fighting, where the characters suggest attack points and interact with each other. This decision also has its reason for being. «We focus a lot on the atmosphere of the game and immersion during battles. Perhaps we exceed our dialogues during battles (laughs). Recording everything was quite difficult. In the period of maximum activity we had up to 9 recording sessions per week, divided between two or three different studios. It may be the game with the most voice lines I've worked on. Usually, In more than 20 years of game development, Final Fantasy VII Remake was probably the most exhausting project I worked on (laughs) »
Finally, Nomura gives details about the content present in Final Fantasy VII Remake and that will surely please fans. «I know that many are worried since the Remake project is divided into several games, and the first game only features Midgar. Do not worry. It is a very dense game, and does not end after a few hours as the part of Midgar in the original. There are many novelties in the main story. Like a scene where you end up visiting Jessie's parents, having dinner. Each Avalanche member is much more detailed compared to the original game, with new events to boot. By the time players leave Midgar, I'm sure they will be satisfied«.
«We made the secondary content as big as the main story. At first, the development team prepared even more content, but we would not have been able to do everything without cutting efforts, so we prioritized quality. Otherwise we could not finish the game. Despite that, the game is quite large, there are many places you can visit, and you can even move using vehicles at some points«.
To conclude, Nomura says goodbye by sending a message to fans who are looking forward to the game:
«The Remake will be launched soon, but It's not like I'm replacing the original FFVII. The original game is the source of everything, and thanks to him, we were able to make a new and unique experience. Fans of the original game will have a new and different experience compared to when they played the original. And I hope that those who discover everything with the Remake will enjoy it too. This is the first part of Remake, but It's still a complete game, and you'll be satisfied after playing it. Once you try the game, it will definitely cost you to quit. Please, look forward to it ».
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