This week, Square Enix revealed new footage of Final Fantasy 7 Remake for the first time in three-and-a-half years – and quite a lot about the game has changed.
Back in December 2015, Square Enix released a Final Fantasy 7 Remake trailer at Sony’s PlayStation Experience event, showing off cutscenes, character models, environments and a brief glimpse of combat.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake then went dark – until this week, when during Sony’s State of Play broadcast we saw a new trailer showing off how Final Fantasy 7 Remake currently looks.
YouTuber Cycu1 has compared the 2015 trailer with this week’s trailer to show just how much has changed. We see updated and improved models for Cloud, who looks a lot healthier now, and Barret, whose face and chest looks a lot more detailed now, as well as Avalanche members Biggs and Jessie, the latter of whom sports a new hairstyle.
The video also compares the combat system, which has undergone a significant overhaul. The 2015 trailer showed a system with a menu for various options on the bottom left hand corner of the screen, and party members on the bottom right hand corner.
The 2019 video shows the bottom left-hand corner of the screen now links actions to buttons on the PlayStation controller. For example, Triangle triggers Barret’s Backblast, Square is reserved for a basic Attack, and Circle opens the Command menu.
Later in the 2019 video we see you’re able to switch between party members, in this case Cloud, Barret and Tifa, with the left and right triggers. We also see L1 opens up a Shortcut menu.
It comes as no surprise to see Final Fantasy 7 Remake overhauled somewhat – and not just because it’s suffered a long development. Back in May 2017, Square Enix moved development from external developer CyberConnect2 to its in-house team – two years after the game was announced with fanfare during Sony’s E3 2015 PlayStation press conference.
The decision to take development away from CyberConnect2 was a “sensitive subject”, Square Enix’s Naoki Hamaguchi explained at the time.
“I’ve taken over the development side of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake,” Hamaguchi said. “Up until now, development has progressed by receiving external collaboration, but from here on out, with production and quality in mind, we’re shifting to our in-house organisation.
“This company decision was made wanting to control quality as well as keeping the schedule stable.”
Now, in 2019, we’re starting to see the result of this decision. Expect more in June.