Final Fantasy VII Remake Dev Cites Action As Biggest Challenge

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Back in the Summer of 2015, Square Enix decided to confirm some of the most anticipated gaming rumours going. Specifically, that a Final Fantasy VII remake was in development. Following the announcement, however, the news dried up pretty quickly. In fact, over 3 and a half years later and we still know very little about the current state of development.

It led to multiple (but undetailed) confirmations from Square Enix that the game was still being developed. The remake’s director even went as far as to confirm that in terms of announcements, they made a mistake announcing it far too early in development.

In a report via WCCFTech, however, we are at least given a reason why it might be taking so long and it’s actually for a one that makes sense. Square Enix team planner Shinichiro Biwa has confirmed that the biggest challenge is turning the game into a full-blown action RPG.

Turn Based Combat

Anyone who played Final Fantasy VII will know that the combat system was designed based on a turn-based system. Since Final Fantasy X-2, however, the series has looked to turn away from that style. Square Enix pretty much abandoned it completely in Final Fantasy XV in favour of a more combat/live-action driven sequence.

It seems, however, that turning a game that was so essentially based on this combat method (which was very straight forward) into one that will allow fighting in many game areas clearly not originally designed for ‘open-world’ combat is clearly a problem. Think about it, how many boss fights in FF7 were set in rather close quarters (environmentally). The short answer is a lot.

As such, with this news, I do at least understand the difficulty. I’ll even admit that I had never considered this problem before. As such, I’m at least willing to give the team a 5-minute break. Well, at least before I go back to demanding this games release!

When Is It Out?

Some reports indicate that all of the assets were finalised in mid-2018. As such, it has led to some theories that the remake may release this year. I will, however, keep this very simple. If you agree to provide me with a hat, I will eat it if the Final Fantasy VII remake releases in 2019.

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!