‘Final Fantasy VII’ Remake: Is It A Good Thing Or A Bad Thing?

Ever since that infamous tech demo that appeared to show a Final Fantasy VII remake, fans have been clamoring for a remake of the classic entry in the long-running RPG series. It almost seemed like a license to print money, an obvious business decision for the company.

My question is, do we really want a Final Fantasy VII remake? Sure, it’d be great to see classic scenes more fleshed out (and with much more gorgeous graphics), but how many changes can we can expect? How would said changes impact the game overall?

As Kotaku revealed, we can certainly expect quite a few changes.

“I can’t get go into details,” Square Enix’s Nomura said in an interview, transcribed by Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft, “but this is not a simple remake. Let’s say for argument’s sake that we only pretty up the graphics for current gen hardware, I don’t think that would surpass the original version.”

HD remakes are a dime a dozen these days, so it does make sense to do something different — make some changes — especially when we’re talking about Final Fantasy VII, a game that has a very vocal, dedicated fanbase. That’s a double-edged sword, however.

If Square Enix opts to make too many changes, it could change the game for the worse in the eyes of series fans. On the other side of that coin, those “bad” changes could make detractors like the game more than they originally did.

“The original version is a game that came out in 1997, and if you look at it today, you can feel how dated the graphics and the game system are,” Nomura told Famitsu. “However, that’s also part of Final Fantasy VII.”

Regardless of the changes Square Enix makes, it’s certainly going to be welcomed — and an interesting look into how full-on remakes are accepted in this new generation of consoles.

Judging by the exciting Final Fantasy VI E3 2015 trailer, shown below, it appears that there will be some changes to the story, although seemingly minor, based on our limited look. How far those changes go is something we’ll have just have to wait and see for ourselves.

Throw in your opinion, readers. Would you rather they make more drastic changes to the game, or keep it (mostly) the same as the original?

[Image credit: Square Enix]