Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake was recently released on the official Final Fantasy YouTube channel. It is a 22 minute mini documentary that chronicles the creation of this long-awaited game.
It features numerous members of the creative team behind Final Fantasy VII Remake, and appears to be the first in a series of mini documentaries that will be produced about this upcoming title.
This installment is called Episode 1: Introduction, and it can be viewed in the player below.
The video is entirely in Japanese but English subtitles are available. You have to activate closed captions on the video to get the subtitles, though. Just click on the CC button at the bottom of the YouTube player.
The documentary starts off with game producer Yoshinori Kitase, who also worked on the original Final Fantasy VII, talking about how the idea for the remake first came about.
“The reason we decided to return to Final Fantasy VII and begin the Remake project goes back to 2012, when we held the Final Fantasy 25th anniversary exhibition,” Kitase explains. “So, it was a good time to consider the future of Final Fantasy. I thought about what Final Fantasy games I could make in the time I have left and decided to start on a remake of Final Fantasy VII that had always been in the back of my mind.”
He goes on to say that the first person he spoke to about the remake was the producer of the original game, Shinji Hashimoto along with original character designer Tetsuya Nomura.
“I recall they both had an, ‘are you serious?’ reaction,” Kitase said, laughing.
The documentary also focuses on the city of Midgar, and how they fleshed this opening area of the original out into a full game. The creative minds behind the remake talk at length about how players are going to be able to explore so much more of the massive city, and how they added more realistic elements to make it seem more real.
They also go in depth on the battle mechanics and how they were able to mix the original ATB-style combat system with a more modern live action style of fighting, like something out of Final Fantasy XV or Kingdom Hearts.
The music is touched on quite a bit. Final Fantasy VII has one of the most iconic video game scores of all time, and the creative team talks at length about how they updated the score for the new game in a way that should please fans of the franchise both old and new.
Final Fantasy VII Remake will release on April 10, 2020 on the PlayStation 4.
