Tempting as it is for me to transform into some kind of hard-lined traditionalist demanding stuff like a turn-based battle system, I understand that now, almost 20 years on, that sort of thing is getting to be old hat. As someone who grew up on console RPGs in the 80s and 90s, that sort of thing was with me for over a decade, so I'll think nothing of it. People who grew up with later games had a lot more to choose from with much more robust, and not necessarily turn-based combat in their experience. If the FFVII remake was a by the numbers recreation of the original just with better graphics, that old battle system would be a kick in the teeth for many.
However, this new announcement that the remake will be a series, ie. episodic instead of one complete game, is something else entirely. This does feel like Square-Enix is taking the piss here a bit, going for a wee bit of a money grab. How many parts is this going to be and how much will it cost? These are questions that have yet to be answered, and makes me wonder if it'll wind up being much more expensive than a regular game in the long term.
Episodic content is a lot easier to swallow when it was designed as such from the onset. Telltale Games' various series are a good example of this. We know that this is how they do things, so people are far more ready to accept this business model from them. With the FFVII remake, though, we also know full well that the original was a single game, and it's going to get a lot of people questioning why it's being chopped into separately released chapters now instead. I'm sure PR folks will try to spin it, but the move sure seems slimy.
I can't help but wonder if they're doing this to rush it out the door faster and cash in on hype. Sure, they could do it all in one self-contained game, but that would take longer to release, and as I suggested already, it could wind up selling for less since it would be a single title at what would probably be a fairly traditional price point, say $50-$60. Now, since they're going episodic, they can belt out chapter one all that much quicker and worry about the rest of the development later. This is the company that decided to milk Final Fantasy XIII, giving us not one but three games with Lightning in it, so fear of similar shenanigans filtering into an episodic Final Fantasy V remake aren't completely unwarranted.
Just a cursory jaunt around the internet shows that this is causing quite a bit of heated discussion. Will folks be okay with this and buy the remake in droves, or will the switch to making FFVII a series put people off and negatively impact sales. Only time will tell, but in the meantime it is interesting to see this development split the community so much. There could be potential for this to be a good thing with staggered content that gets really fleshed out with side quests and the like, but this is Square-Enix after all, so a healthy dose of cynicism is a must.
If you haven't seen it already, here's the trailer for the remake.
If you haven't seen it already, here's the trailer for the remake.
