The Sony press conference at this year’s E3 expo in Los Angeles was one huge gift to veteran gamers. There was the long-awaited confirmation that The Last Guardian is still in development; there was news of the Shenmue 3 kickstarter; and, to the raucous delight of the audience, there was the announcement of Final Fantasy VII Remake, a modernised version of the classic PlayStation role-playing game. The internet blew up.
Many writers have attempted to explain the lasting appeal of this hugely successful 1997 release, but few have managed it conclusively. Set in a dark industrialised world, where eco warriors face a mega-corp looking to suck all the resources from the planet, the game is crammed with flawed, interesting characters, quirky charm (including cross-dressing in order to sneak into a pimp’s mansion) and truly epic narrative scale. 18 years, three spin-off games, a handful of novellas and an animated sequel later, and the adventure is still considered a masterpiece of its genre.
So what about that teasing E3 trailer? What does it tell us about the forthcoming remake? We’ve gone through the video frame by frame, and here’s what we think Square Enix is telling us.
Long ago, we looked upon a foreboding sky ...
The significance of the narrator describing events in the past tense is amplified by what’s going on in the opening few scenes. It’s abundantly clear that his words about a star burning eternally in our hearts have a meta meaning, addressed to those that have been calling for years to have a remake and acknowledging that this project cannot be undertaken lightly.
The contextual meaning of this narration is more important though: the opening 23 seconds aren’t set during Final Fantasy VII’s time period. In fact, they may well be placed long after the events of the sequel, Advent Children. Could this be a hint that the new FFVII will contain extra content? Why else would Square Enix dedicate such a large portion of the trailer to a scene that isn’t in the original game? After all, the publisher needs to give long-time fans a reason to play through the story again – it’s a story we’ve been familiar with for 18 years.
The memory of the Star that threatened all burns eternal in our hearts ...
South Edge is not a location in Final Fantasy VII. Edge was built on the outskirts of a ruined Midgar to house the thousands of refugees, after the events of the game’s finale rendered the city uninhabitable. Advent Children was set two years after the events of the game, and Edge was only half finished (and largely destroyed again during the events of the film). Take another look.
The overcrowded tube station and the several large skyscrapers give the impression of a city that has been established for some time. It also looks to have now engulfed the original architecture of Midgar, a theory justified by some familiar looking spired roofs and large industrial piping.
There’s also a subtle nod here to an advertisement for the play Loveless found in the original game – look in the bottom right as the camera pans along the road, and you can see a new ad for something called Valentina. Despite the similarity to a key character’s last name we perhaps shouldn’t read too much into this, but it’s an intriguing little feature, regardless.
In its wake came an age of silence...
After a long cut to black, we get this sequence which shows a distinctly less clean, less modern city. Those familiar with the original game will recognise the freight train right at the beginning, which is identical to the one that first takes our protagonist Cloud into Midgar; fans will also recognise this as the Sector 6 park. Altogether, the red brick walls, the prominent telephone wiring, and the smoggy air paint is a far less advanced picture than what we’ve seen so far. So it looks like this is the city of Final Fantasy VII, whereas the early sequences may come much later in the timeframe.
The dying flower at the close of the scene perhaps symbolises the planet’s ecological devastation, one of the principle themes of the original title – this lets us know we’re truly in remake territory now. Also, notice that those kids are play-fighting with replica versions of Cloud’s iconic buster sword. A neat touch.
Yet with each fond remembrance we knew those encountered were not forgotten...
Next we see more shots of Midgar in all its industrial-looking glory, with a close up of some reimagined grunts from the evil ShinRa corporation and a helicopter flying overhead. We’re not sure there’s much of importance here until the flowers come into shot, but do let us know in the comments section below if you’ve spotted something else.
The flowers, the puddle, and the angel statue in the reflection are all clear nods to Aeris/Aerith and the events of Advent Children. Those who have seen the film will appreciate the significance of the black feather, a symbol of Sephiroth, the main antagonist.
The reunion at hand may bring joy, it may bring fear, but let us embrace whatever it brings...
Again there are some nice nods to the original FFVII here, with the train that circles the circular plates that lift the upper echelons of Midgar’s society above the lower class slums. Most of this scene is designed to inspire nostalgia, which peaks when we see Barrett’s machine-gun arm and some gravity-defying spiky blonde hair.
Again there’s not really a lot else to analyse here, other than what appears to be a sick old man on the ground, who may or may not be the same character from the original, immortalised by the memorably bad translation “this guy are sick”.
They are coming back. At last, the promise has been made.
The most important aspect of the whole trailer comes right at the end with the word “remake”. Director Tetsuya Nomura, the character artist of the original FFVII, has stated that this won’t simply be the original game with upgraded textures, otherwise there would be no reason for him to be involved. The intention, it seems, is to make a game that is better than the original, an exciting if potentially hubristic endeavour. Final Fantasy VII was, to put it mildly, huge, spanning three CD-roms – and even then, graphical detail often had to be compromised in order to cram as much content as possible onto those discs.
It is perhaps unlikely that every scene from the original game will be found in the remake. What Square Enix absolutely cannot afford is to have another Final Fantasy XV on its hands – that project started out as a spin-off from Final Fantasy XIII, but grew in scope and ambition, and has taken close to 10 years to complete. Considering it’s the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII in two years’ time, Square Enix must not let the opportunity pass to have its remake ready.
So here’s the theory. The first 20 seconds of this trailer signify what the framework for the game will be: a reunion of some sorts between certain characters from the original, but one held far into the future – perhaps 20 years, if they’re particularly romantic about it. This would allow Nomura-san to tell the story of FFVII in a series of flashbacks, allowing the development team to include or edit out practically any element without changing the original narrative.
The later tie-in, Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, left the door to more story open with a “to be continued” message. In this case, could we get more than just a remake?
