Square Enix is trolling us. In fact, I think the company is the industry’s master troll. I know that title’s ownership has been up for debate. Especially considering Atlus’ past game promotions for Persona 5 and that whole Growlanser IV/Gungnir thing. But Atlus was just having some fun, and what Square Enix is up to is downright malicious. I’m talking, of course, about the Final Fantasy VII remake.
Oh, the Final Fantasy VII remake. It’s been the JRPG fan’s holy grail since May 16, 2005, when Square Enix first showed the Final Fantasy VII tech demo when promoting the PS3. It was a magical time, and so much seemed possible nine years ago. There was teasing, taunting, and talk about what a feat it would be to bring remake what many consider to be the biggest Final Fantasy .
Except it is now nine years later, and people won’t shut up about it. Largely, because it keeps coming up and Square Enix won’t shut up about it. Instead, there’s more teasing. More talk about what could be and what would need to happen for the Final Fantasy VII remake to happen. Eurogamer asked Yoshinori Kitase to finally say, once and for all, if the notion was dead. It was a perfect opportunity to just end all of this.
Except Kitase didn’t. He did what Square Enix has been doing for the last nine years, whenever someone asked about the Final Fantasy VII remake. He claimed there were staff, time, budget and motivation issues.
Which is, excuse my language, utter crap.
Square Enix just likes to troll us and yank our chain.
I mean, let’s look at the time issue. If Square Enix had started work on the Final Fantasy VII remake back in May 2005, when the tech demo was released, the game would easily have been released by now. There’s been plenty of time to make a capable remake.
Even staff and budget issues could have been negated. If Square Enix had spent less time trying to force Final Fantasy XIII on fans, and perhaps completely axed the Mini Ninjas series as a whole, they would have had enough people to work on a Final Fantasy VII remake, and perhaps even enough money as well. Or hey, they could have not put money towards Front Mission Evolved, MindJack, and Heroes of Ruin . I think the gaming world could have gotten by without those games.
And as for motivation, money alone should do it. The Final Fantasy VII remake would sell. Even if the final product itself wasn’t up to par, and was more like Final Fantasy XIII than those legendary Final Fantasy games of yore, a Final Fantasy VII remake would pretty much print money. Given the company’s financial situation, that should have made it seem pretty darn appealing.
But no, apparently, making one good investment years ago wasn’t enough. Instead, Square Enix decided to play shadow games. “Well, a Final Fantasy VII remake would take a lot of effort.” “We can’t confirm or deny anything.” “Wouldn’t you guys like to see Lightning in another game, instead of living in the past with Cloud?”
Enough already. Let’s all make a pact. Square Enix obviously doesn’t know what we, the Final Fantasy loving public, want anymore. The company isn’t going to be straight with us, so let’s all agree to stop talking about the Final Fantasy VII remake. It isn’t worth the aggravation. Let’s just all go play Bravely Default again, instead.