When Closing Fantasy VII launched on PlayStation in 1997, it revolutionized the RPG style and gaming as a complete. The transition from pixel artwork to totally animated pc graphics was a large sufficient leap forward, however the great thing about this traditional title was rather more than pores and skin deep. Closing Fantasy VII options an unimaginable solid of characters, an excellent battle system, and a narrative that evokes pleasure, awe, anger, and grief. Closing Fantasy VII is well-established as probably the most iconic and beloved video video games of all time, however for Sq. Enix, the legacy is considerably extra essential.
For the workforce behind the Closing Fantasy franchise, Closing Fantasy VII was the entry that made the builders understand they wanted to adapt to the instances. “Even inside the mainline Closing Fantasy titles as a collection, we are able to take into account Closing Fantasy VII to be this type of midpoint title that is in the midst of all of it,” Tetsuya Nomura, who was a personality designer and visible director on Closing Fantasy VII, says. “As much as Closing Fantasy VI, it was created in a sure method, after which from VIII, there was a model new method of approaching improvement, whereas VII type of sits between these two titles as a type of mixed-element title.”
The way in which Nomura and the workforce describe it, the event of Closing Fantasy VII sounds chaotic, generally in a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants method. “[Final Fantasy] VI included lots of components that every division on their very own, simply on a whim, wished to incorporate, so they simply included it, whereas VIII is rather more calculated and strategized,” Nomura says. “VII is a mixture of that, the place it is each calculated and type of an at-a-whim kind of improvement. If we made video games like this the way in which we did after we have been creating the unique VII, we might be in lots of hassle proper now. Occasions have actually modified. Past VII is the purpose the place I might say instances have modified. It is the final of the titles the place we have been in a position to do issues that method.”
Nomura recollects coming into the workplace, generally not figuring out what to anticipate. “There have been scripts after which abruptly issues that aren’t even within the script that the character is now saying within the sport that we have by no means even heard of,” he says. “Some departments simply wished to incorporate the character saying these items. It was that type of world then.”
Fortunately, director Yoshinori Kitase labored intently with author Kazushige Nojima to make sure every little thing made sense within the story, even with the myriad modifications carried out by the sometimes-disparate departments. “There have been groups engaged on every character and the issues that they are saying within the storyline, however then general, Nojima-san was the ultimate reviewer,” Kitase says. “That is bringing the entire storyline collectively. That follow was carried on for future titles to have that cohesion. However in addition to that, it was type of an ‘something goes’ kind of world then.”
After an extended improvement cycle of generally being stunned by their very own sport, the members of Sq. Enix knew it needed to make a change. “After we had completed engaged on VII, we thought to ourselves, ‘We won’t go on making video games on this method,'” Nomura recollects.
Starting with Closing Fantasy VIII, the workforce moved towards that extra calculated improvement Nomura and the workforce determined it wanted. Now not might separate departments sneak in content material they wished to see with out first getting approval from the broader group. The workforce continued utilizing the approach Kitase and Nojima carried out in Closing Fantasy VII’s improvement to make sure narrative and thematic cohesiveness. Sq. Enix even carried ahead the method it used to create Closing Fantasy VII’s minigames, the place particular person improvement workforce members are assigned to particular minigames as “representatives” to work with an engineer to implement the minigame.
Even Naoki Hamaguchi, who joined Sq. Enix in 2003, notices the distinction between how Closing Fantasy improvement has labored throughout his time on the firm in distinction to what Kitase and Nomura describe. “These days, we’ve got localized voice verify and stuff like that,” Hamaguchi says. “You’ll be able to’t simply get away with doing these issues at the moment.”
However even past the way in which the sport affected improvement, Closing Fantasy VII has lots to say. Its story’s themes regarding company greed, environmentalism, and psychological well being are all maybe extra related at the moment than in 1997. Although the builders did not deliberately reference particular real-world social points, they acknowledge how related these themes are at the moment.
“In Closing Fantasy VII, we have been in a position to depict these kind of points, just like the cycle of life, by way of the idea of Lifestream,” Closing Fantasy VII director Yoshinori Kitase says. “If we have been to depict it precisely as we expertise it in the true world, it could not be very fascinating. With Nojima-san’s concepts, we have been in a position to have this centered on Lifestream and the planet inside the worldview of Closing Fantasy VII. On this method, I imagine the sport and its themes stay related and face up to the check of time.”
Although he feels the themes of Closing Fantasy VII are nonetheless essential at the moment, he does have some regrets relating to the workforce’s method to these points in 1997. “Contemplating the way in which to depict social issues, social points, and cultural depictions, in some methods, I’m a bit embarrassed by the unique title,” Kitase says. “In its expression, in some methods, it was very younger and naive in itself. That could be a studying for us, however on the similar time, I do imagine that maybe that is without doubt one of the the reason why it was so extensively accepted. It isn’t excellent, and it is type of uneven and jagged in its younger and naive nature of its depiction. After all, after [more than] 25 years, there’s lots of private studying, modifications, and progress. However trying again on it, some elements of it, I’m a bit embarrassed.”
However from the attitude of Motomu Toriyama, who was an occasion planner on Closing Fantasy VII, the workforce did every little thing it might in its method to the unique sport, and subsequently, he does not have any regrets. “At any given period or time, we all the time attempt to place our greatest foot ahead, and we had utilized the most effective sport specs at any given time, whether or not it needed to be the unique or at the moment,” he says. “So, even with the unique Closing Fantasy VII title, there have been no regrets or emotions that there was extra that we wished to do or one thing I had regretted not doing; we actually put in our greatest efforts.”
Introduced in 2015, Closing Fantasy VII is now the topic of a trilogy of remakes. The primary entry, Closing Fantasy VII Remake, launched in 2020 to crucial acclaim. The following entry, Closing Fantasy VII Rebirth, the quilt star of Sport Informer‘s most up-to-date situation, arrives on PlayStation 5 on February 29. Head to our unique protection hub by way of the banner under for extra on Rebirth.