By Craig Pearson on August 14th, 2012 at 10:39 pm.
It already happened once, but that didn’t stop Square Enix from doing it again and releasing Final Fantasy VII on the PC. Unlike the majority off re-releases, there’s not even a hint of HD about this return to the most beloved game JRPG of the PlayStation 1 generation. So what gives?
The update are more about groundwork so it can be played on modern systems. So while you can download it and play it on your quad-core Intel beasts, it still has the midi music and plasticy looking characters. There is cloud saving and achievements, but there’s also grainy FMV. The game is absolutely the same one from the 90s, although this version has an in-built cheat that allows you to boost your stats to maximum, to allow you to carry on with your adventure. Does that mean we were harder, and more willing to accept potential defeat all those years ago?
I love how confused the guy in this trailer sounds when he says “Pegi 12″.
If you have 8 pounds to spare, and the requisite 12 billion years to complete a mufti-charactered nostalgiac romp from the console era, it’s available now.
14/08/2012 at 22:45 Slinkyboy says:
Screw this… I just can’t understand why SquareEnix didn’t upgrade the damn game but instead giving us a game with no-updates that anyone can play on an emu!? If it’s over the money… Forgot the fucking money ><
14/08/2012 at 23:05 Stromko says:
I wouldn’t be surprised if a bit from now, someone looks through the code and finds hacked-apart 3rd party emulators. It’s happened before with other companies re-releasing their older games.
14/08/2012 at 23:22 Tridae says:
We should just all band together and make one giant Cryengine3 mod recreating FF7 frame by frame. Purely cosmetic upgrades, leave the mechanics as they were. After seeing Bioshock remade in the Cryengine3 this sounds like it could be pretty amazing. Legal issues aside – I’d pay a hell of a lot for a Cryengine3 FF7
14/08/2012 at 23:30 JarinArenos says:
There were already model-update hacks in the old version. I bet we’ll see something similar soon enough now that we have an updated copy.
14/08/2012 at 23:37 Tridae says:
I know about those, I meant a TOTAL remake, 3d environments and all – same camera angles but with tiny bits of motion as you walk around to give life, little breathing dioramas . . . . hmm, I should probably start a forum thread somewhere. To the internets!
15/08/2012 at 02:58 a71236aszaa says:
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15/08/2012 at 10:03 beforan says:
The new version is I gather just an engine rewrite – the old data files are still there (weird LGP archives) and therefore the original model replacements (which changed files in the character LGPs) will still work, I think? Not tried it yet mind. It does make the old HiRes mod unnecessary though. Also it is the PC version’s data, which offers minor improvement over emulating the PSX Version due to better English localisation, and err…mouth textures?
Also regarding the music still being rubbish MIDI – actually it’s almost all Ogg Vorbis now, stored in %programfiles(x86)%\Square-Enix\FINAL FANTAS VII\Data\music_ogg
I assume one could re-encode the official soundtrack (which uses the Playstation sound) as Ogg Vorbis and drop it in with the right filenames… might be fun to try at least.
Really though, I’m just hoping the engine rewrite means we can see the PSX FFs appear on iOS, Android, etc… similar to how the SNES engine rewrite enabled almost all the games of that era to appear on GBA/PSP etc…
14/08/2012 at 23:43 HeinGT says:
you do realize that they released FF7 on the PC a long time ago right? no emu-hack required. they can just re-use the old code from the PC.
15/08/2012 at 00:03 Ruffian says:
Exactly what Hein said. I still have my copy from the last pc release and it works just fine. I don’t understand the rerelease, tbh. They should’ve at least converted it to HD or something at the very least. What I’ve really been waiting for though, forever, is pretty much what Tridae suggested, a damned graphical overhaul for goodness sake! I mean isn’t it considered one of the best jrpgs of all time? I know it is THE best in my book, but I know I’m also extremely biased as it was my first big rpg, so I could be completely off base in that assumption, I suppose.
15/08/2012 at 01:18 sassy says:
Asking them to do it HD is a big ask. It would mean every single area would have to be redone and that is a lot of images to redo.
Really I would be happy if they had of just hired someone to cleanup the translation, not retranslate but fix all the awkward dialogue.
15/08/2012 at 10:08 beforan says:
This version does use the original PC version’s data, just the engine is rewritten to better support modern hardware and, probably, to be more hardware portable. The original PC engine was, for example, optimised for Voodoo 3D cards – this release uses DirectX.
Regarding HD I don’t think they have the assets in any better form anymore – from what I hear even when they first handed it over to Eidos for the original PC port they only handed over the PSX assets, not raw files.
Sure, they could probably grab character polys from Crisis Core or Dirge of Cerberus or anything, but re-making all the backgrounds to be either in 3D or even just pre-rendered at a higher res? That’s quite a lot of work.
15/08/2012 at 06:13 Vagrant says:
Apparently you haven’t been following Squaresoft for the past, oh, 15 years maybe. Re-releasing old games is their primary business model. I think I’ve bought FF4 at least four times for different platforms in the past 10 years. Damn them! They know my weak point.
15/08/2012 at 09:43 Rivalus says:
Really?! Only 4 times? I wonder how many already broke your record ;)
16/08/2012 at 02:26 MasterDex says:
Squaresoft? I think you mean Square-Enix. Squaresoft is a name that shouldn’t be tarnished with the actions of Square-Enix.
15/08/2012 at 08:54 Tuimic says:
How is this any different to what someone like GoG do? FF7 is an old PC game already and now it’s been made easily playable with no requirements from the player other than pay, download and play. It’s just the same thing as what GoG do. Heck it’s even in around the same price range.
So do you dislike GoG for doing the same thing?
15/08/2012 at 09:22 Revisor says:
GOG’s games are DRM free, unlike this shameless money grab.
15/08/2012 at 09:29 Tuimic says:
*EDIT* I see now it comes with SecuRom.
15/08/2012 at 13:05 The Random One says:
I really wanted to buy this, since I’ve never actually played it, but I won’t brave Securom for it. Gog damn it, Square.
(A pun and a Homestuck reference in one! Today I win the internet.)
Obviously I’m not part of the drooling fanboy demographic they were gunning for.
15/08/2012 at 15:07 Leandro says:
It’s amazing they’re putting DRM on a 15 years old game that has been emulated to hell (I first emulated this literally 10 years ago, today it’ll run on cellphones) and has even been already released before in easily crackeable form. They’re not even trying to make this purchase any worth it!
Not that surprising though, Square has sucked for a good while now.
15/08/2012 at 09:11 Kein says:
From Kotaku:
At a Square Enix meeting today in Tokyo, honcho Yoichi Wada was asked about, wait for it, the possibility of a FFVII remake. He replied that even within Square Enix there been several discussions about a FFVII remake and that the developers who worked on the game are happy that it still remains so popular.
Continuing, Wada said that Final Fantasy brand management is “difficult”, and that Square Enix feels as though it has not made a Final Fantasy that surpasses FFVII. Thus, Wada added, if Square Enix remade Final Fantasy VII at this point in time, it would mean that Final Fantasy is finished. The reason is that Square Enix would be making—remaking, rather—a Final Fantasy that is better than the original FFVII. So, I guess, by not doing a FFVII remake, Square Enix is pushing itself to produce a game that’s greater than FFVII.
15/08/2012 at 12:02 Ringwraith says:
“Upgrading” the game would require starting from scratch, as there are literally no art assets they can reuse, the only thing they have already done is the plot and script, and even then, a ‘remake’ would probably have voice acting expected of it and so on.
It would not be cheap at all to ‘remake’ the game, unlike say FFX where they can simply upscale the resolution and redo the textures and leave everything as-is.
14/08/2012 at 22:45 WoundedBum says:
I recently completed this for the first time on PS3, after having started it many years ago. I had an absolute blast and I refuse to feel bad about it. Nuh uh. If this version ends up moddable, then down the line, I may get it.
14/08/2012 at 22:49 battles_atlas says:
No one can be bothered to bring Red Dead Redemption to PC but this is considered worthwhile? Has the gaming industry decided it has too much money already?
14/08/2012 at 22:56 SirKicksalot says:
RDR’s code is a fucking nightmare and it’s not worth the effort to port it. That game is held together by duct tape.
14/08/2012 at 23:15 TheIronSky says:
Regardless, that’s an incredible game and it deserves a port. I’d pay another $60 just to have it on PC. It’s up there on my list of “hallowed polygons and favorite games.”
14/08/2012 at 23:16 Robert says:
/Shoo,
Away with why I can’t get what I want, this is the internet, sir!
15/08/2012 at 05:31 baby snot says:
Red Dead Redemption is a boring grind. I hated John Marston and his gravelly manly man voice. The other characters were almost as dull as him. Just about all the exposition happens on horseback or while driving carts so the voice actors shout most of their plot dialogue and that gets annoying really quick (especially John Marsten. Did I mention how much I loathed him?).
It’s a pity Rockstar didn’t hire someone to write a Spaghetti Western for the game. That could have been something special.
15/08/2012 at 06:38 Squirrelfanatic says:
Give it some more time, say, about 15 years in total. Then have another look for a port.
15/08/2012 at 09:49 Rivalus says:
I second this
14/08/2012 at 22:52 Discopanda says:
I also love the Pegi 12 guy.
14/08/2012 at 23:42 The Greatness says:
Pegi 12?
15/08/2012 at 00:27 SkittleDiddler says:
I prefer the Pegi 13 guy, but to each his own.
15/08/2012 at 01:05 RvLeshrac says:
You’re all clearly paedophiles.
15/08/2012 at 02:43 NightShift says:
“Sir, I want you to look at this document.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about the progression of the Pegi robotic spy system project.”
“Ah that. How is the status of Pegi 18?”
“It has invaded the terriorist country of Battlefield 3. The sun glare is becoming a nuclear threat.”
“And Pegi 16?”
“The brown wasteland of Call of duty.”
“What about our enhanced and latest spy, Pegi…”
“Pegi 13. It has invaded every other country there is. Except for-”
“Ah good. Dismissed”
“Sir? There is a problem.”
“What is it?”
“We have an unauthorized spy in the retro Final Fantasy port.”
“Which model?”
“… Pegi 12.”
“… *Confused* Pegi 12?”
“Pegi 12.”
16/08/2012 at 02:30 MasterDex says:
That wasn’t funny. But damn, did I titter like a schoolgirl!
14/08/2012 at 22:53 Yachmenev says:
So is this the 15 year old multi million seller that they had to pull from their store recently, because not only did they decide it should have DRM, but the DRM couldn´t actually be activated?
14/08/2012 at 22:56 WoundedBum says:
It wasn’t really the DRM, the game was released early so it was failing the release date check. So, it was whoever put it up early really.
14/08/2012 at 23:01 The Random One says:
How bad is the DRM? I may be the only person in the world who hasn’t played it and I’d rather pay than waste time setting up a emulator.
14/08/2012 at 23:07 wisnoskij says:
You do not need an emulator, FF7 was always on the PC and is not old enough to not work. I played it on XP with no problems 5 years ago.
15/08/2012 at 07:34 coldvvvave says:
Am I the only one who had a CTD on Chocobo Race?
15/08/2012 at 11:19 InternetBatman says:
That’s a known issue that happens for most people. There are fixes for it online.
16/08/2012 at 05:53 jrodman says:
Am I the only one who found chocobo racing amazingly tedious and annoying?
15/08/2012 at 09:49 Zelius says:
That’s not exactly true. You’re definitely going to have problems getting it to run on Windows 7. Setting it up would take about the same amount of effort as setting up an emulator, especially if you also want console-quality music. I’d go with the emulator.
16/08/2012 at 02:31 MasterDex says:
The DRM is Securom, that’s all you need to know.
14/08/2012 at 23:04 Crescend says:
Hmm so tempting, I’m one of those hapless ones to have played FF13 as my first final fantasy game and I found it dreadful. The question is, is FF7 worth playing over a decade late if there is no nostalgia value involved?
14/08/2012 at 23:17 Tridae says:
Jump in with FF8, as far as I know there’s a PC version of that. I personally also enjoyed FFX a lot and you can easily get that working on pc with a PS2 Emulator.
MY personal rankings go like so:
FFX (the most emotionally investing, partially because they actually talk after so many text only adventures, also the vibe is just amazing)
FF8 (I recall being really taken by the love story here but I could be wrong, combat was good though)
FF7 (putting it lower just to be fair since I haven’t played it in ages, trying to avoid nostalgia goggles)
FF9 (a tad more cartoony but it worked in a good way, like how different the world was to all the others)
Haven’t played further than FFX so cant comment.
FF7 does have a great storyline and if you’re into the whole completionist thing then it’s a crazy addictive game to get/do everything. . . maybe I’ll go pick it up again.
15/08/2012 at 00:54 Ken Griffey III says:
Have you played VI? If not you really should. I just played it again recently and it still holds up pretty well.
15/08/2012 at 04:39 The Random One says:
FFVIII is the only non-SNES FF I’ve played. The love story was incredibly creepy. Putting a bunch of emo kids who spend their days pining for an albino girl in a room and having their create the saddest love story wouldn’t be as creepy as FFVIII’s love story.
EDIT: To clarify, I didn’t think it was a bad game. If you’re willing to accept the tropes of the genre, mechanically and narratively, it’s a pretty solid romp – and FF is, as far as I know, the only franchise that does modern fantasy as a world with both modern technology and magic, as opposed to just the real world only with SEKRIT MAGGICKS – and I’m a huge sucker for that setting. It’s just that the love story is so creepy that thinking of it as the high point of the plot makes me legitimately uneasy.
15/08/2012 at 08:44 Milky1985 says:
While i loved 8 and its porbably my favorite, i wouls say avoid the PC version like it has rabies.
They made the insane decision to midi the music, completely changing it and changing the tone of epic moments like the attack on dollet during the SeeD test .
They did some good work on upgrading the textures if i rememebr correctly, but the early games had great music and the midi versions were just awful.
15/08/2012 at 15:33 Leandro says:
FFVIII, I loved it, and I played it years after release. I remember being struck by how good the graphics were compared to FFVII, and the game world feels very cool. I also recommend it! Second best music in the series, too.
FFVI is my favorite. Very easy to set up on emulator in any platform, and spot-on classic RPG gameplay, it’s the ultimate 16-bit RPG to me with Phantasy Star IV. It also has a great Steampunk vibe, beautiful 2D graphics and the best music in the series!
14/08/2012 at 23:17 Zwa says:
Have you played any other JRPGs from that era? The answer to this question is really dependant on how much you like the game mechanics of the genre from this time period. It should still be a fairly solid game if you can get over the dated graphics.
This is from someone who has always thought FF7 got too much praise.
14/08/2012 at 23:30 Crescend says:
Golden Sun is one of my favourite games, so I’m well acquaintanced with JRPG’s and turn-based combat. I think I might give this a shot, 10€ is pretty cheap after all. Getting past the graphics shouldn’t be too hard, I enjoy both minecraft and nethack ;D
14/08/2012 at 23:20 Robert says:
Quite hard to judge.
I believe the consensus is that FF13 is the worst of the lot. And for many FF7 is the best. (though I disagree)
Personally I could not go past a third of FF13, and I think I did well over 2/3rd of FF7. I had more fun with the NES/SNES ones, and had more fun with the ones released on NDS as well. (the numbering below 7 is quite confusing, so I refrain from that).
17/08/2012 at 20:39 Ragnar says:
FF games are like beers, everyone has their own tastes. I loved FF 1 back in the day, and loved FF 10 as the next game I finished.
I found FF 7 slow and a little boring, got through the Golden Saucer part and then got stuck as I couldn’t figure out where I was supposed to go next, and kinda left it at that. I should probably pick it up again some day and try to finish it.
I was bored to tears by FF 12. It had a decent story, but it was so long and drawn out that it managed to lose me, and the gameplay was terrible. The 2-hours-between-save-points dungeon at the end was pretty wretched.
I loved FF 13. I thought the gameplay was the most interesting and exciting of all the FF games, I loved the save points every 20-30 min, and loved that you respawned right before your last combat on death, such that it didn’t waste any of my time. I felt like I blazed through the game, and didn’t even notice the 50 hours go by.
14/08/2012 at 23:27 Flint says:
FF9 > everything else in the series. Give FF9 a go.
14/08/2012 at 23:52 Kaira- says:
FFIX and FFVI, that should read.
15/08/2012 at 02:31 iniudan says:
Agree that the game mechanic from FF IX is one of the best, along FF V.
But my favorite is still FF VI, the best villain (but Gilgamesh and Golbez are very close contender), good atmosphere and one of my favorite midi soundtrack (the march during the intro generic and Kefka final confrontation Dancing Mad music are at the top of my list)
Dancing Mad (in it full 17min glory): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbXVNKtmWnc
15/08/2012 at 23:06 Fiatil says:
Flint is a very smart person. By far the best protagonist of the series too, especially the PSX era ones. The graphics also hold up surprisingly well; partly because of the art style, and partly because the CGI sequences look much better than 7 and 8.
14/08/2012 at 23:38 Obc says:
IF, a big IF, you like JRPG FF7/8/9/X/3 or 6 are amazing games. each is different and thus everyone has a different favourite one, though mostly its the first one of these they played.
FF13 was dreck, pure trash, a bad game, not just a bad jrpg or FF title but bad game in general so don’t let your impression of the FF Franchise be tainted by it.
start with FF3 (or 6 as its called in some countries) or FF9. FF7 looks a bit outdated, while 3 is 2d so it doesnt matter and 9′s art design makes the graphic still hold up. 8′s combat mechanics can be a bit too weird/complicated for someone’s first jrpg (GF, sucking spells, not leveling…).
and if you found any of the above titles to be entertaining also then also try out chrono trigger or chrono cross. (Chrono Cross is my fav JRPG title, best music, amazing fight system, gorgeous art design).
so yeah, i’d recommend everyone to buy the game who havent played the game yet. BUT if you have really absolutly no clue about jrpgs in general: try the game (or any other title) on an emulator first. the genre can be at times very dated and is in a lot of ways completely different to the games we have now (even squeenix can’t make games like this anymore). If you like it buy it. (and why should you not like it, the game is beloved for a damn good reason).
on the other hand: the game only costs 8 bucks so just delve right…wait i bet one could buy the original plus a playstation for 8 bucks xD (plus MGS1)
15/08/2012 at 00:12 Baines says:
Mind, if you like Chrono Trigger then you might also loathe Chrono Cross. Cross had a very split audience response, and probably would have been better received if it had had no connection at all to Trigger.
Wasn’t America the only/main country to see the SNES Final Fantasy games renumbered? America missed the latter two NES games, and then missed the second SNES game. To not confuse gamers in an era where import news was not considered common, FF4 was renamed FF2 and FF6 was renamed FF3. (Specifically, I think America got a modified/censored version of FF4 Easy, itself an “easier” version of the game that removed a bunch of items and attacks in an attempt to simplify the game.) Of course, the renumbering led to a lot of confusion when people became more aware that the rest of the world sometimes got different games, and different versions of the same games.
15/08/2012 at 08:48 Milky1985 says:
I’m going to blow peopels minds here:
I enjoyed Final Fantasy 13
i could see that it was linear but the story was dragging em through, and the linearity actually makes sense and oddly links in with the story and themes.
But i can see why peopel didn’t liek it, took a while to get started, even i avoided battles at the start (unusual for me) because i realised i wasn’t getting any xp for the early battles (again the reasons for this make sense in the story, but not in any form of game design as it was a bad idea)
I did like the battel system that people said was just press x, in some battles it was but if you were not set up right other battles would kick your ass down to chinatown, you really had to use the switch to keep yourself alive
17/08/2012 at 20:54 Ragnar says:
I too really liked FF 13. It’s actually my favorite, because I found the gameplay to be very fun, and it didn’t waste my time.
Yeah, it’s linear, but so what? All the FF games are linear. You wouldn’t be able to tell a story otherwise. The only difference with 13 is that it doesn’t try to hide the fact by saying “Ok, spend half an hour finding the next dungeon you’re supposed to go to.”
It lacks towns, but I didn’t miss running around and talking to worthless NPCs.
It lacks mini-games, but all of them were rubbish except for Blitzball.
On the other hand, it has save points every 20-30 minutes! Yay for not wasting my time, and letting me get in some progress with only half an hour to game!
If you die, you respawn right before the fight started! This once again doesn’t waste your time (if you die on a boss, you don’t have to fight through all the trash) and lets you have difficult fights that actually force you to change up your classes / specific equipment. I’ve died more times in FF 13 than in any other FF game, and have enjoyed it more while being frustrated less.
The combat system starts out very simple, then gets more and more advanced until you go from x-button-clicking peon to strategy assigning general. It rewards you for being fast and efficient, which just serves to make it more exciting.
15/08/2012 at 02:37 Synesthesia says:
why is nobody mentioning tactics? Go play FF tactics. Right. Now.
15/08/2012 at 02:43 TCM says:
Man Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is totally better than FFT.
I am not saying it’s deeper, or anything, it’s just more enjoyable IMO. I also prefer its plot structure.
16/08/2012 at 02:39 MasterDex says:
War of the Lions edition – I love, LOVE, what they did with that script.
15/08/2012 at 02:46 TCM says:
I would not say FF7 is worth playing, but I admittedly have an irrational hatred of the game for disappointing me. It deserves credit for bringing the RPG into the mainstream on western consoles, and for having a storyline that tried to have more emotional investment from the player, plus some genuinely awesome music.
(I would argue the storyline is overrated and uses cheap methods of emotional manipulation as opposed to good storytelling, but that’s neither here nor there.)
As far as JRPGs go, you have better options. FF6 and FF9 are standouts, and if you want something a bit more modern and refined, Shin Megami Tensei is around (Pick one. Persona 3 or 4, Devil Survivor, Nocturne, doesn’t matter). Or, if you’d prefer games that try to push the JRPG as a genre out of the rut it’s stuck in, Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Resonance of Fate are good choices.
15/08/2012 at 07:55 Oglop says:
It was the first mainstream RPG to realy hit a big audience. I agree with you though, the story is ridiculous. I liked the game when it first came out but I never understod why the party followed sephiros around. There is an excellent part of the game where the main guy is in a wheel chair and you don´t have to listen to all his whining.
15/08/2012 at 09:00 fyro11 says:
So er, how many of them are on PC? :P
And that right there, is what I don’t understand. Japanese publishers/developers are missing out on such a lucrative market, and for so long. PC gamers love an emotionally investing experience as much as consolites, if not more. Namco Bandai, Atlus and the rest of you guys, get a clue.
15/08/2012 at 18:34 TCM says:
It has to do with the market of their native nation.
From what I understand (which is, admittedly, based not on research but anecdotess I’ve picked up from a number of places), cell phones — not smart phones like the iPhone mind you, CELL PHONES, the old school ones — are viewed as a bigger game market than the PC, which is basically reserved for the Japanese Visual Novel and Indie scene.
15/08/2012 at 12:14 jalf says:
Ah, the only FF game I’ve played was 7, and yeah, I’d say “dreadful” describes the experience fairly well.
I can’t remember having such a miserable time with any other game, ever.
I somehow managed to plow on allll the way to the end boss. I came close to defeating him, and could probably have done it in my second attempt, but after he killed me, and I spawned back at the last checkpoint, a thought struck me: “why have I wasted so much time on this?”, and I uninstalled it.
Haven’t looked back.
16/08/2012 at 02:40 MasterDex says:
Shame.
14/08/2012 at 23:04 Shooop says:
Why did they do this? Simple.
Slap the name Final Fantasy VII on anything and you’ll have legions of drooling animu fans throwing money soaked in their drool at it.
15/08/2012 at 00:28 CrookedLittleVein says:
Yeah, the drooling, subhuman dum-dums. Not like us superior folk, eh? Eh?
/satire
Suddenly, I could really go for some sweets.
OT: Hmm, I’ve still got my copy for the Playstation AND a Playstation to play it on. I think I’ll wait to see what them moddly types get up to before I hand over my round pieces of metal.
14/08/2012 at 23:05 Yazoo says:
Pre-ordered it.
Didn’t recieve codes for install and I can’t even download it from their boutique.
Fucking awesome Square Enix, keep screwing your customers !
14/08/2012 at 23:07 Demiath says:
Well, “not even a hint of HD” is slightly misleading given the PCs obvious support for higher resolutions. These could of course be tweaked into existence for the old port as well, but “tweaked” is the operative term there and modding of the previous PC version is pretty much the opposite of user-friendliness and stability. High resolutions alone make a big difference, at least in the combat scenarios, and judging by Squeenix’s anguished statements regarding this topic during the past few years that’s just about all the FF7 HD goodness that any platform is likely to get in the forseeable future…
15/08/2012 at 00:14 Wedge says:
Most of the game is 256 color low-res pre-rendered backgrounds. So really… resolution isn’t helping shit. Just re-rendering the original files in full color and a modern resolution would be great, but doubtless they never archived that material properly.
14/08/2012 at 23:11 Koozer says:
That trailer was hilarious. Modern super-serious voice-over guy with cheesy MIDI and 90s JRPG character models. I’d be interested if this was an actual update, having never played it, but they could’ve at least used the high quality music that the Playstation supposedly had. :/
14/08/2012 at 23:43 Mollusc Infestation says:
The music in the trailer is actually the playstation versions. It hasn’t aged especially gracefully, but it’s definitely better than the MIDI from the original PC release. I’m not sure which version is actually used in the game though.
15/08/2012 at 04:43 lyons says:
sadly the midi version is used in the re-release, but thankfully there is already a mod that fix this ;)
14/08/2012 at 23:14 Daichin says:
So there is absolutely no reason for me to buy this over the version I have on my PSP then?
Okay.
14/08/2012 at 23:18 Voltir says:
One one side, it’s FFVII, a lot of memories, etc. On the other, I’ve got FFVII PC, box, which cost me around 40 euro (back then). I would be happy to get a patch from Square, but I know patches takes money to make and SE prefers to sell whole game again with DRM ;)
For now, no thanks SE.
14/08/2012 at 23:20 Andy_Panthro says:
I have the PC version on my shelf (and FF8), and a version on my PSP. Don’t think I need this version too.
Of course emulating the PS1 version was the best solution, because it allowed you to save anywhere.
14/08/2012 at 23:27 AmateurScience says:
It still uses the midi musical monstrosity from the original Eidos port. Sadness.
14/08/2012 at 23:33 Andy_Panthro says:
The music is so fondly remembered, there are endless remixes of it. Some of which are actually rather good. OCRemix even did a whole album of FF7 music (Voices of the Lifestream), all of which is free to download/torrent.
http://ocremix.org/game/7/final-fantasy-vii-ps1
15/08/2012 at 00:33 CrookedLittleVein says:
This . . . is actually rather good. Thank you :)
15/08/2012 at 09:06 AmateurScience says:
I concur, tis very good. Now all I need to do is hack the game to play them instead of the midi!
14/08/2012 at 23:31 hlm2 says:
The title is a 2000ad reference…..I love you Craig :D
14/08/2012 at 23:40 Flukie says:
Bought it… but reading the forums saying it still has midi tracks and no 360 controller support has instantly made me regret it, might replay on my vita when it comes out instead.
15/08/2012 at 00:44 deke913 says:
Currently playing it with a 360 controller with no problems so far.
15/08/2012 at 09:58 Zelius says:
Is it supported natively, or are you using a third-party app? If it’s the latter, that’s just bad design. Especially in a game that was originally meant to be played with a controller.
14/08/2012 at 23:44 Swabbleflange says:
Square are in such an odd position with VII. Fans clamour for a remake, but to remake the game with modern sensibilities in mind would mean having to completely rework it, incurring the wrath of purists. If they merely update the visuals they end up with a very pretty but resolutely archaic game featuring many elements that have (thankfully) been discarded by JRPG developers in the meantime. Re-releasing the original and making it hassle-free, GOG-style*, is about the best option available to them.
*by that I mean, you click it and it runs, notwithstanding anyone’s aversion to DRM.
14/08/2012 at 23:49 Lucas Says says:
Here to say that’s the most fantastic title, ever. Good work.
15/08/2012 at 00:02 dirtrobot says:
More like FF$ amIrite?
15/08/2012 at 00:16 Freud says:
I really liked this game back when I played it ages ago. I doubt I would like it as much these days (too melodramatic and too grindy) but for someone who hasn’t played a lot of the genre I would recommend it.
What they really should do is reboot FF3 or Chrono Trigger with new and shiny graphics. That would be something.
15/08/2012 at 09:16 AmateurScience says:
They did redo FF3 as a DS game a couple of years back, but it was FF3 the actual third game, not FF3 which is actually FF6 which I imagine is probably what your talking about. As for chrono trigger, no dice.
The thing about FF6 and Chrono Trigger is that they’ve aged a hell of a lot better than FF7 because they’re 2D pixel art rather than early PSX 3D models, so we’re even less likely to get a full bells and whistles remake. As for later ones, by the time we got to FF8 Square had worked out how to do people in 3D without resorting to super-deformedness that we had in 7.
It’s the only one that would benefit from what I would like to call a gentle graphical massage, maybe the addition of some nice extras like a bestiary/codex type thing.
15/08/2012 at 00:29 Drake Sigar says:
I played my old copy as recently as three months ago on Windows 7, it didn’t require much tweaking.
15/08/2012 at 00:32 SkittleDiddler says:
W-e-e-a-b-o-s are the tits. Someone else’s tits, anyway.
WTF, RPS? You automatically delete comments that contain the word w-e-e-a-b-o? Lame.
15/08/2012 at 00:35 CrookedLittleVein says:
It’s almost like they don’t want people to start pointless arguments in the comments, the bastards.
15/08/2012 at 01:07 RvLeshrac says:
The only flaw in this policy is that they don’t send someone to your house to kick you in the face when you say it.
15/08/2012 at 02:30 SkittleDiddler says:
I won’t deny, I love that word because of the emotions it strikes up in people who should know better then to react to it.
Anyway, the original post was in reply to another one, but somehow got added as a separate entry. Now I not only look trollish but scatterbrained as well.
15/08/2012 at 02:29 TCM says:
Can’t have a JRPG article without a good helping of xenophobia, and…I dunno what you call people who actually like products from countries that have a different visual and cultural ethos towards entertainment, and are capable of appreciating both western and eastern styles, but a phobia of those people.
15/08/2012 at 02:34 SkittleDiddler says:
Taking it a bit personally there aren’t you? I’m admittedly obsessed with Japanese culture, but I wouldn’t classify myself as a w—-o. There are different levels of obsession, you know.
Hell, if you consider yourself one, be proud of it and get on with your life.
15/08/2012 at 02:41 TCM says:
The problem is the connotations of the term — it’s dismissive at best, and insulting towards a large number of people at worst.
Also, it is _incredibly old_ in terms of internet culture, and the fact it is still around at all is mystifying.
15/08/2012 at 05:15 SkittleDiddler says:
Practically every word in the dictionary can have a negative connotation to it. “Furry” is (was) generally accepted as a term used to describe…uh, Furries, but a lot of people use it in a negative context. It’s the same with w—-o. In fact, my first exposure to that word was from a bunch of LARPers down at my local game store who wear the term with honor.
Come on man, step out of the oshiire! Be a w—-o with pride!!!
15/08/2012 at 00:48 deadly.by.design says:
On a related note, Square all but admitted that they haven’t made any games of this caliber since 1997. I can’t find the link, but it was in the initial announcement of this re-release.
Oh, here it is: “According to Andrisang, CEO Yoichi Wada explained during the company’s annual shareholder meeting that it would not remake the legendary RPG until it makes a brand new Final Fantasy game that “exceeds the quality” of Final Fantasy VII.”
I’d tend to agree, really. (tho I’m more partial to FFVI & FFT)
15/08/2012 at 00:52 Dark Acre Jack says:
Releasing this for free would have gone a long way to apologize for all the other garbage they’ve made since.
15/08/2012 at 00:53 oWn4g3 says:
I loved FFVII and I would instantly buy it if it was using Steam and the Steam Cloud to store savegames and not some SE launcher stuff. Guess I will just wait patiently for a Steam release later on.
15/08/2012 at 01:11 emertonom says:
It’s particularly baffling that they didn’t do anything about the music, because they’ve had big concerts with full orchestras playing the same music, so it’s not like it’d even be difficult to pull that in instead. HD graphics would require someone to actually make the graphics, but the music’s just lying around waiting to be used.
15/08/2012 at 01:25 Dr. Shenanigans says:
“a mufti-charactered nostalgiac romp” was this one done on purpose?
15/08/2012 at 02:01 StingingVelvet says:
Nothing encourages me to spend money more than releasing an inferior version of not only the pirated PC game, due to shitty DRM, but also the emulated console version.
15/08/2012 at 02:16 Moraven says:
Now only if they let their fans complete the Chrono Trigger remake…
http://www.opcoder.com/projects/chrono/
I don’t see why, let them use the IP. Take a 70% cut or something.
15/08/2012 at 04:11 Eclipse says:
midi music? really?
15/08/2012 at 09:21 jrodman says:
No, FF7 for whatever reason just had terrible samples. One of the strings is even looped incorrectly.
I think they basically blew all the memory budget (there wasn’t that much, mind you) on textures and graphics.
16/08/2012 at 05:56 jrodman says:
Oh, sorry, everyone else appears to be correct, I just recognize the original playstation music in the trailer.
15/08/2012 at 07:32 Kismet says:
*Waits for a GOG.com DRM-free release*
15/08/2012 at 07:39 starmade says:
Square, you traded your pants in for a skirt. In the words of the late Fargo, “nuff said”.
15/08/2012 at 07:41 tomeoftom says:
I’m just here to salute that brilliant headline pun.
15/08/2012 at 14:09 Tom Walker says:
It actually says that on Square’s official page about the game. I initially assumed they meant Cloud the character before realising the remote datacentre meaning was much more likely.
15/08/2012 at 08:06 Matt says:
So when’s the Vagrant Story re-release?
15/08/2012 at 09:19 AmateurScience says:
It’s not just me! I loved Vagrant Story. Lots.
Apparently it’s about to come out on PSVita/PS3, but that is of no use to me whatsoever. Guess it’s back PCPSX.
15/08/2012 at 16:05 Dan Lowe says:
Have you played Parasite Eve (the first one)? Same battle system, while maybe not so good of a presentation (and not pseudo-open world like Vagrant Story). And I should also recommend FFXII, because most everyone else fails to mention it. It was my favorite Final Fantasy game, had a system/art style similar to Vagrant Story and was the most gamey of the series (insofar as there was more action and more to do in between — as much as VII even).
It’s rumored that the director from XII (as well as VI and IX), Hiroyuki Ito (as well as the game designer for Tactics) will be directing FFXV, so I’m looking forward to that, because as hard as I’ve tried to do XI/XIII/XIV/XIII-2, they’re just not giving me the same fun vibes that XII and prior did.
Edit: Apparently he’s credited with the ideas for the Active Time Battle (ATB) system, Ability Points (AP) system, Job Change system, Esper Magicite system, Materia system, Junction system, Triple Triad card game, Active Time Event (ATE) system, Active Dimension Battle (ADB) system, License Board and Gambits.
15/08/2012 at 08:16 Namey says:
I really don’t understand how Square-Enix has handled this particular game over the years.
At the height of it’s popularity this game had a massive and passionate fanbase pretty much begging for a proper remake for pretty much a decade. And when the said fanbase finally has grown up and mostly moved on with their lives, 15 years later we get… a second PC version with pretty much no changes? It’s just seems like they’ve been sitting on a game that would print money if remade, but instead they’ve been busy releasing various mediocre spin-offs to it over the years.
And it’s not like they wouldn’t have the resources. If they had the money and the manpower to develop things like Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core (that one was pretty good, admittedly), couldn’t they have redirected those resources in to developing a proper remake for PS2, PSP or PS3 instead?
15/08/2012 at 08:26 Roshin says:
I played this on the PS1 back in the day and it was good, but not THAT good. Quintessential Final Fantasy experience, my butt.
15/08/2012 at 09:13 jezcentral says:
Ugh, and I suppose I would also have to play a least a couple of games from FF1-6 first, to fully appreciate the subverting of my expectations that happens near the end of this one. (You know, to get into the spirit of the thing).
15/08/2012 at 09:19 Namey says:
Not really? If you’re familiar enough with fantasy rpg’s or jrpg’s, you’re more or less good to go.
15/08/2012 at 10:41 drewski says:
I think I got about halfway through the second disc before giving up because I didn’t care.
15/08/2012 at 11:28 Saleck says:
This game is OK but Panzer Dragoon Saga is way better
15/08/2012 at 14:17 Tom Walker says:
For all those complaining that someone should just make the 1998 version have better graphics, that has already happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e18Ay2kJE4
There’s a link to the install instructions in the uploader’s comments.
15/08/2012 at 15:56 Diogo Ribeiro says:
Press X to Aeris.
15/08/2012 at 16:26 Ultra-Humanite says:
I should’ve expected a pathetic trail of tears here in the comments.
15/08/2012 at 16:27 MrDowntempo says:
This is one of the “legendary games” I never got to play since I didn’t own a PS and was waiting for something like this. Such a bummer about not getting remixed though. Does it at least support modern resolutions like 1080p? Does anyone know if driver side AA works at least?
15/08/2012 at 23:29 Silluete says:
Someone,somebody please make petition for FFIX to release in pc >.< i'am dying to play it again but ps1 already broken beyong repair -_-'
16/08/2012 at 09:23 Phantoon says:
“cloud saving”
Who is in charge here? Can they fire you? That pun was beyond terrible.