Final Fantasy VII remake finally looks like a video game—and it’s a pretty one

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  • It’s back! Again!
  • Depending on where you freeze-frame the trailer, you’ll see different versions of the characters’ renders. We think this shot, with some slight fuzziness and smoothed-over details, is most representative of the mid-action character renders. And that’s pretty great.
  • Other real-time scenes include a bit more fidelity, so we can’t be sure whether they’re real-time or not.
  • Barrett barks orders.
  • Aerith says hello to Cloud.
  • Real-time combat in today’s trailer always includes two immediate action buttons and a hidden menu.
  • Aerith stands guard while Cloud does damage.
  • Weak points, maximum damage.
  • This is the least-blurry shot of Sephiroth in today’s trailer. That is still at least 300% sharper than his original PS1 cut-scene render.
  • Even without the attached dialogue, you can tell that Cloud is being a jerk here.

Sony’s latest promotional video for future PlayStation games (dubbed “State of Play”) concluded with a surprise peek at a long-awaited game: Final Fantasy VII Remake. In bad news, the Thursday trailer was clearly limited by publisher Square Enix’s intent to save a bigger reveal for “June,” possibly timed for the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo.

But in good news, the project, announced nearly four years ago, finally looks like an honest-to-goodness video game. At last, we can begin guessing what its final version might possibly look and play like.

The most apparent thing from the trailer, embedded below, is an active battle system that looks largely similar to that found in Final Fantasy XV and the wider Kingdom Hearts series. (We got a tease of this in a late-2015 trailer.) A low-angled camera sits behind whichever character is being controlled, and each fighter gets two immediate action buttons, along with a shortcut to a larger menu. (That menu wasn’t toggled in today’s one-minute video.)

Additionally, the high level of detail given to familiar characters like Cloud, Aerith, and Barrett seems to be maintained outside of cinematic, conversational sequences, as made evident by a few freeze-frame moments when the characters have a slight reduction in detail and increase in fuzziness. If this is indeed how the in-game, real-time rendering turns out, we’re in for one heck of a production, at least on a visual scale. But major characters like Sephiroth only get the briefest of teases, while others (particularly Tifa) do not appear to be visible.

No, there’s no release date yet attached to this game, which is still slated to be a PlayStation console exclusive whenever it comes out. And Square Enix has yet to clarify its plans for an “episodic” FFVII Remake release schedule, as was originally teased in 2015.

Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer.

Listing image by Square Enix

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1502777