I’ve had awesome track record with blog posts.

So let’s all calm down, and do something fun that wont indirectly incite factions of people wishing to destroy each other.

I mean what painful ludicrous and polarizing arguments and anger could be possibly be unleashed by talking about a game like Final Fantasy VII?

Right?

Right??

 
I’ve wanted to do a post like this for a while. Waiting for the stars to align in terms of certain events, and perhaps my own personal psyche and experience? I've been a bit inspired to finally post this due to the recent fan english release of Policenauts. Regardless, I believe it might be a good time to have a bit of a brain dump. Just an attempt to try and dump all my thoughts and ramblings out on a certain subject.

 
I believe the terminology of having a “brain dump” deserves it’s own logo…

For those interested in the Final Fantasy VII modding scene. Check Qhimm. 

Final Fantasy VII is a game that fascinates me. There are only a handful of games so polarizing in internet social circles as Final Fantasy VII. The conflict between the two opposite ends of the internet spectrum; sometime override my personal interest in the game.

But while this little blog post is about the games future and evolution, it IS required (just for a moment) to look at the games past.

Stupid logical conundrums.

 
My personal opinions of Final Fantasy VII are, what I consider: practical.

It’s a great game, not THE BEST of the series (I find comparing certain titles directly amongst a 20 year old history…a bit….dumb, even with common elements among each title of the series.) I don’t consider one title in the franchise to be the best-of-the-best. I do see it as a game that helped the Playstation library, at the time considerably. I do find it the game showed that RPG’s in general were a commercially viable risk on a console, and we should be appreciative over what it accomplished.

And that’s about it. Let’s move on. (I scratched the surface with that. I would love to talk about the game ad-nauseum, more specifically how the game changed how JRPG's mechanically over time for better or worse.)

The popularity of the game was understandable. At this time however, something absolutely fantastic happened.

It only took us almost a decade to figure it out.

Eidos was tasked with releasing a PC port of the game, and boy was it terrible.

I remember years ago trying to get it to…function…on a friends machine. Grimacing as I heard Uematsu’s original score downgraded. The video during the cutscense were more compressed for some reason or another. It was all sorts of bad. My friend looks at me, wondering why the heck I was suggesting this game to him, as the cutscene of the reactor exploded…upside-down…

I didn’t give it a second thought after that. Final Fantasy VIII had a PC port as well, and it was even worse received that the first Final Fantasy PC port effort. Square did not allow Eidos to give Final Fantasy IX a PC port treatment.

Years pass, and Square changes. My opinions on Square have become more volatile in nature over the years. It’s difficult because I was, and still am, very much so a fan. But recently I can’t avoid what they have obviously become. I view them as monolithic in nature, and from a public relations standpoint, act like spoiled uninformed children. My impression is that there are high levels of their corporate structure, living ten years in the past, while at the same time expecting the gaming world to revolve around them.

Its arrogance, but more importantly a serious case of being completely out of tough with their audience, at least concerning their western audience.  
It’s understandable. 
Overtime the company has become increasing bloated and rightfully successful. With constant success and expansion the likelihood of a bubble situation makes sense. Concerning their games, their track record has become increasingly…varied…With excellent games juxtaposed with moments of more awkward mediocrity. Success comes with a price, and that price can come into play when following thorough with success.

 
I’m talking about The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

The last few years Final Fantasy VII has gotten a strong resurgence. Years ago I remember Square considering a re-release of their Playstation titles for the PS2. Ports specifically. (They were port happy back then.) I think people forget that the clamor for a Final Fantasy VII remake, or a re-release of some form, is not necessarily something new. This has been a pipedream for many fans going back for multiple years.

Instead we got the Compilation, or as I affectionately call it: “Everything but a remake.”

The two prequels (Before Crisis / Crisis Core) and Final Fantasy VII’s subsequent sequels (Advent Children / Dirge of Cerberus.) have understandably been met with mixed reactions. It also, with the combination of an E3 technical demo, raised our collective basic expectations as fans. Why wouldn’t it?

Square’s PR claims regarding the reasons to not do a remake have been difficult to swallow, especially from a company more than eager to milk it’s franchises for all their worth. I found debate on online forums and from game commentators more enlightening than: “were too busy doing stuff.” Basic logistical problems regarding adapting gameplay mechanics have been brought up. Looking at Square’s track record, the fact that they have suggested that if a project of this magnitude would be undertaken, (Final Fantasy VII remake.) the possibility of something more than just a graphical overhaul being done is quite high.

As you can imagine: While Square struggles to make its yearly Final Fantasy spinoff quota, and struggles even worse regarding releasing main entries into the series, the possibility of a remake in our immediate future looks a bit bleak.

On second thoughts, perhaps the “too busy doing stuff” is legit?

Final Fantasy XII I believe still holds the Guinness world record holding of longest time a game took to be released. (2001-2006) For those of you who are wondering, yes, I do believe XIII   is expected to beat that record.  
That, or they have terrible management somewhere in that bloated company. Regardless, I'm getting off base into more reiterating speculation.

Remember that crappy PC port I was talking about?

At first it was simple: A few minor character swaps, change a few weapons, and some necessary basic software upgrades.

Watching the modding scene of Final Fantasy VII has been over the last few years: Deeply entertaining.

Modding is nothing new. But it’s a rare situation where a Japanese game can get fair modding treatment, as from what you can imagine is an amazingly talented community.

Character replacement is still going strong, and it has developed quite a bit. At first it was a simple swap of large battle characters for their SD field brethren. Now we have custom models, featuring a game that now has custom resolutions. 

Done.

In fact, one of my favorite gaming soundtracks this year was done by a fan named Final FanTim. For Final Fantasy VII specifically he re-mastered every track in the soundtrack with high quality instrument samples. The end result is something simply glorious, that’s will give even a novice fan something to smile about.

This ingenuity is not uncommon among fans of Square. In fact no matter how phenomenally large, bloated and awkward Square becomes, their fan base seems to always go the extra step.  

So much so, that they have done more to the Chrono Trigger franchise that Square has done in the past decade.

Square didn’t like that.

 
A lot of people have strong opinions regarding the amount of fan service projects Square has shut down, for a game that until recently had been out of print for years. Legal conundrums aside, the legality of the Final Fantasy VII mods are devoid of any headaches. Although, as you can imagine, the amount of people who perhaps own a copy of Final Fantasy VII PC versus the amount that have torrented it is questionable. It’s not a very difficult, or controversial statement, to think that the ratio is not in Square’s favor.

 
For those of you who are wondering why bring up Final Fantasy VII modding now: Or why the hell have I decided to write down a bunch of stuff that you already probably know, the reasons are as follow: There is still a considerable amount of people who have no idea that such a scene exists, and, perhaps more importantly the big next thing that is on the horizon.

I recently went on a trip and took Final Fantasy VII on my PSP with me. I was blown away at how well Final Fantasy VII worked as a portable game, but slowly began to get bummed out. Why you might ask? Well, for one, because of this:

Not as much as you are.

 
Well guess what’s currently being done about that?
 
As of writing a retranslation has begun from what I can tell. Text editors for the game have been created.

No matter how, or when an official update to Final Fantasy VII will be like if it is ever released, fans might be able to make their definite version in the near future. One can argue that they can already.

I remember an interview with Gabe Newell from Valve talking about the possibility of fans making a mod of a remake of the original Halflife. He simply agreed that of course it would eventually happen.

While everyone jumps up and down screaming for a remake, clinging to all matter of information released by Square. Or, for those whole simply wish to see any form of update of any kind to one of the most pinnacle games of all time. Take the time to remember during these times of upset and disappointment regarding Square’s bizarre suggestions and announcements, that fans might have your complaints covered.