Square Enix published an interview With Final Fantasy 7 remake Intergrade Co-director Motomu Toriyama on Wednesday detailing one of the franchise’s most popular scenes – the one on Wall Market. In the interview, Toriyama talks about the process that went into the scene – and it’s good read.
In the original scene in Final Fantasy 7, Cloud h as to put on a dress and pretend to be a girl to get into Don Corneo’s mansion and help Tifa. As Polygon reviewer Carolyn Petit wrote of the remake, “The original game suggested that Cloud’s need to dress up as a woman should be discussed in shameful whispers,” noting that “the way it is ‘Male’ men at the local gym mocked, “Having a female wig that Cloud has to win doesn’t age very well.”
To the Final Fantasy 7 remake intergrade, Square Enix changed the scene, adding an elaborate dance number that ended with an elaborate, glamorous makeover for Cloud – a scene that removed any negative connotation related to Cloud’s cross-dressing.
“A joke that doesn’t feel becomes a sincere and fun moment of growth and expression in the remake, which is quite a tone shift from the original game,” wrote Petit. “A tremendously welcome one.”
In the interview on Wednesday, Toriyama spoke about why Square Enix decided to change the scene and went into the design process. Here are some excerpts:
It’s a very different approach to the original game. Why did you make this decision?
Given the celebrity of cross-dressing in the original FINAL FANTASY VII, we knew people would have high expectations for the remake. We knew we had to do it in such a way that both met these expectations but took modern sensibilities into account.
Fans today, for example, expect stories and dialogues in games to go beyond stereotypical gender representations. We tried to convey a positive and supportive message to Cloud during his cross-dressing scene through Andreas’ lines and the texts on the accompanying track Stand Up.
So how did you get into doing the Honeybee Inn show?
First we determined the overall structure of the scene, consisting of the opening show, the three stages of the dance-off and finally the final scene. In addition, we made a general overview for each part and how long they would take.
Then we started working on the music. After that was done, we started working on the graphics and more specific details. Finally we started working on the choreography. We gave the choreography team a general overview of what we were looking for, and the dance show took shape from there.
The whole scene took a long time, from the initial idea to composing the music, motion capture, and tweaking the music and movements to make them fit together. I was incredibly nervous until everything finally came together!
You can Read the full interview on the Square Enix website.
