FFVIIR Will be multi-part series.

[stroopwafel]

I do hope Squeenix will stay true to its word that every episode will be a self-contained game. I mean if the first episode is like the entire 'Midgar chapter' of the original game with those insanely good graphics and more locations to visit and all kinds of extras shoved in and lasting 30-40 hours I'm totally down with the game being episodic. All episodes combined(preferably not more than 3) could be a complete re-imagining of FF7 and as awesome and revolutionary as the game was in 1997. Episode 1 of FF7 already sounds better than anything Squeenix put out in like the last 17 years or so.

And think of Squeenix what you will, their games have never been lacking in content so I would still like to give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Auron225]

Only one image seems appropriate here

Ahh the days of Square. It's clear though that Square-Enix would prefer if the text was "Please pay us all over again, to play Disc 2".

 

[rcs619]

Maybe they'll just break it up in a way that mimics the original?

Disc 1-Escaping Midgar
Disc 2-Getting the airship
Disc 3-Saving the world

Follow that same layout with episodes, and expand on the content within, charge $20 an episode, *boom* as close as you get to making everyone happy.

It really is kind of bizarre to see modern game studios so incapable of putting out long games any more. I mean, I get why, with how drawn-out and bloated the development process for even a mid-tier AAA game has become, but still. I'm really thankful that I got to grow up in the PS1/PS2 era of RPG's, because I don't think we'll ever see games of those lengths (or quality, in my admittedly biased opinion) being released in those numbers ever again.

Just goes to show that not all technological development in gaming is a pure net-positive. Yeah, the visuals are amazing, and having everything voice acted is nice... but it does come at a price in terms of the amount of content they can cram onto a disk without it taking 10 years and umpteen million dollars to do so.

I just hope Square doesn't screw this up. I'm an oldschool fan, and I'd love for them to actually put out *one* good game this decade. Also I'm still more than a little buttmad about how they completely destroyed both the Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean franchises D: I'd really love for them to come back with a strong remake of FFVII and redeem themselves some.

 

[Jandau]

This isn't inherently bad. Splitting the game up into 2-3 parts isn't a bad thing if those parts are worthwhile. If they are filled with ample amounts of good, solid content that expands on the original game, then that's perfectly fine. However, recent trends in AAA gaming are making people cautious when it comes to this kind of announcement. Three great games that serve as an expanded reimagining of a beloved classic will be marketed the same way as a shameless cash grab trying to charge you 3 times for one game.

It comes down to how much do you trust Squeenix...

 

[RejjeN]

Well... As long as they don't remove the Overworld.............

I'm not very hopeful...

 

[RJ 17]

I think it's less "We dont have the disc space for this game" issue and more of a "We dont have the money to finish all of this game at once" issue.

And that'd be perfectly fine and understandable...were it not for the fact the Squeenix is one of the biggest game companies in the industry with more than enough funds to tackle such an ambitious project as this.

Regardless: we can only go by what Squeenix has actually said about the issue. And as I've mentioned: they've chosen to go with the SCII defense of having too much content in mind to be able to get it all into a single game.

What, just because Square is a huge AAA publisher means they can afford to throw unlimited money at a single project?

I don't recall ever saying they had to throw "unlimited money" at a single project, however they surely have the funds to do the three simple things that people are wanting from this game:

1: Update the visuals of the cutscenes.
2: Update the visuals of the overworld.
3: Update the visuals of the battles.

That's all anyone asked for with this game, and instead we're going to be getting enough fluff to "justify" multiple games.

Cut out the fluff and you reduce the budget, reduce the budget and - going by your argument - they should be able to get the game out in a single installment. Coincidentally: cutting out the fluff will also save game space, which itself reduces the need for multiple installments.

As I said before: it's the SCII Defense all over again.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Need more details. I am not a huge fan of episodic content for games like this but it all depends on how they handle it. Lets just hope that it is a bit more regular than half lifes episodic content.

I expect we will see the first episode in 2017 then and the last one about 5 years later. Start on the 20th anniversary and finish on its 25th.

 

[RJ 17]

Snip.

FF7 wasn't a particularly long game. By today's standards it would be about average for an RPG, depending on how much grinding you decided to do. But that's grinding, not plot-progressing content.

SE has confirmed that they intend to add a lot more to this game, allowing players to "explore areas of Midgar that they've never seen before" for example. That's the fluff that I'm talking about.

Again: I'll cite The Witcher 3 as a counter argument. That game is absolutely massive and graphically beautiful. It also happens to have complete voice acting. Did they break the game into separate installments? Did they complain about their budget? I'd have to imagine that Squeenix can muster a larger budget than CD Projekt Red.

Hell, look at BioWare and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Another beautiful game, full voice acting, and that game is over well 100 hours if you want to do every possible thing.

The point being that I still don't buy your budget excuse, unless Squeenix really doesn't give a damn about this project at all and as such specifically limited the budget because of that. Beyond all this, however, there's still the fact that going by what they specifically said: it's due to the amount of content they want to add, not budget limitations.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Only one image seems appropriate here

Took the words right out of my mouth... er, the thought right out of my head. Wait. How are you doing that?! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

*ahem* Frankly, I'm not surprised. The backgrounds in the latest trailer, and I understand that this is very early-on game footage, look pretty hum-drum compared to the actual character models. I know that's not terribly surprising, but it gave me the impression that this game will be way too huge for them to finish in one go.

Enter the image posted above by CaptainMarvelous. Final Fantasy VII is already split up into several acts, much like any game with an involved plot. Each time you changed discs back on the PSOne, a Final Fantasy title had usually wrapped up some kind of major plot point, or was about to start into a new one. It isn't completely unthinkable that they might go this route, but I have to admit, I'm not a fan of episodic gaming. I loved Life is Strange, another SE title, but waiting around so long for episode 4 made me lose the momentum and emotional build-up I had for the story. That's the only danger of going this route - sure it's a lot like changing discs, but once you got to that point on the PSOne, you could keep going, where now players will have to wait. And with season passes, for they will surely offer one so players can outright buy the game before Square actually puts it all out there, they'll have all the money right away.

Now whether or not this NEEDS to be the case with today's technology, even IF we're talking about a game as expansive as FFVII, that is another matter entirely. I'm not especially familiar with today's home console technology, and maybe releasing it episodically really IS the only way they can manage it. Or maybe they want to rake in that sweet Season Pass money, all the while keeping us waiting while they use the profits for other projects. Resident Evil Revelations 2 got the content out in a pretty timely manner. Life is Strange kept me waiting... and waiting... and we never really KNEW when the next episode would come out for what system. Life is Strange kind of soured me on the whole 'episodic release' thing.

I never really wanted a remake of FFVII to begin with, so I don't really have a dog in this fight, but it's starting to sound stranger and stranger every time I read more about it. Remember, this is the company that charged full price for Final Fantasy Type 0 - a game that neither needed to be full price nor an Xbox One/Playstation 4 exclusive, and even had cut content compared to it's PSP version.

 

[F-I-D-O]

Don't mind it too much. If they want to release it episodically to get it into fans hands as quick as possible while maintaining a high level of quality, fine. I think they want to avoid a FF13 Vs. problem where they announced it, and then years went by with no news or updates.
My issue is that for most episodic games where there's 4-6 months max between releases, that turnaround is a little tight for a game of FF7's size and apparent quality.
FF7 2016/17/18 seems more likely, but comes with a much higher cost.
I'll wait for pricing plans to be announced beforehand. Keep in mind this same company is testing episodic releases with the new Hitman, so they might wait for responses to that.