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emaking a game with a cult
following is a tricky undertaking.
Remaking the one that
popularised RPGs outside Japan
and is still held up as one of the
greatest games of all time? That
takes bravery, confidence – and
much more, as Yoshinori
Kitase and Naoki Hamaguchi explain.OPM: So, Final Fantasy VII Remake. It’s happening.
There’ve been spin-off games, the movie, and
rereleases of the original game, but what made
the team decide to do a full-on remake?
Yoshinori Kitase: I mean, it’s been a very long time,
actually. We kept getting a lot of requests from
people asking for a Final Fantasy VII Remake,
asking us when it’s going to come out. Of
course, we didn’t really have the schedule
open and to find the right time to be able
to start this project within the company,
so it took a while before we could get the
actual idea off the ground.
And then it’s been 23 years since the original, like
you said, and even though that amount of time has
passed characters like Cloud and Sephiroth are still
very well-known among even the younger generation
of fans and they’re popular characters. But I think
there’s a lot of people now who may know those
characters but not know the origin story of them,
where they originally came from. And I always felt
that when it comes to when they want to learnNaoki Hamaguchi (L) and
Yoshinori Kitase (R).MIDGAR
TA LK
RADIO
Turning FFVII’s Midgar into a game in
its own right was an challenge. We talk
with producer Yoshinori Kitase and
co-director Naoki Hamaguchi about
how it all came together