GameSpot's The Lobby: Should Final Fantasy 7 launch in episodes?

[MUSIC] Remastered but as a remake, over the weekend at Playstation Experience we saw some more of that remake. Alex [UNKNOWN], Anthony Carboni, Peter Brand. Who's excited for Final Fantasy? I'm gonna defer to the Final Fantasy scholar here, and let her- There's another one [UNKNOWN]. Are you a Final Fantasy scholar as well? I would say so. I don't Agree, but. I don't know you the way I know Alexa. [LAUGH] And trailers looked cool. We saw a bunch of Midgard for a reason it seems. That's like the first 20 minutes of the game. Mm, and the first downloadable chapter of Final Fantasy Yeah! What's up, episodic content? So, subsequently, I guess, Square put out a press release, I think it was on Sunday, saying that-- Multi-part-- Yeah, the story will be told across a multi-part series, with each entry providing its own unique experience. As Final Fantasy fans, does that ring alarm bells, or does that sound fine? So, I go both ways. So I am not, as Anthony is not, the biggest fan of Final Fantasy 7. Okay. It's a fine game. It's not the best one. No. But. No. And considering [LAUGH] they've put out the game and then they made the prequel, the sequel, the CGI movie, the spinoff [UNKNOWN] game. That world has been beaten into the ground and they've just, it's all sort of dried up to me. But the fact that we're gonna get Final Fantasy VII in a different way, in a different format Mm-hm. piques my interest. Yes, cool. I'd like to see, if you can make this a fresh experience, yeah, I'll play it. Also, I'm a Final Fantasy nerd so I will. However, my worry with the episodic thing is Is it going to be something like what Telltale does, in which each episode or part is self-contained? Because what happens if say, the first episode is all Midgar, and the second episode is pull in your random whatever, Cosmo Canyon or something? If you want to go back and compete the quests that you didn't or do things that you didn't in Midgard Episode one, can you go back to previous content? Is it going to pile on top of each other? Or will they be self contained experiences? Because part of what makes Final Fantasy so appealing is that you have these vast worlds that you can go back and do whatever side quests when you want it and a lot of people, I know we were talking about this earlier After you do the story, you spend the next 20 hours grinding, and cleaning up everything else that you didn't do in the game. Yeah. Can we do that here? We don't know. I've played maybe, I think, the first, like, three or four hours of Final Fantasy Seven. Only recently, as well, this year. So I'm not a scholar when it comes to this. Mm-hm. Peter, is it the type of game, as well, that you can sort of. You can drift forward into areas that you maybe shouldn't? Early or does the story pretty much sort of like unlock stuff? It's pretty linear. There's a lot of side content that people love. Even optional stuff like getting Vincent or Yufi, for example. Chocobo breeding. Chocobo breeding. Oh yeah. Get that gold Chocobo. Golden Saucer. [LAUGH] Look, you know, I think the fact that this is happening at all is kind of a boon for people who. Appreciate this game and while I would love to have it faithfully recreated like massive new version of Final Fantasy VII, I'm not kidding myself there's no way Square Enix is going to do that faithfully and 100%. But if I can get really well composed vignettes that take me back to the game that I really love and showcase it in a new way and let me interact in that world, I'll be really happy. Now the fact that they're charging a full price per episode Well, we don't know that yet. Okay, well the fact that it sounds like they might be doing that, anyway, is, you know, that's concerning. If it's something like a Tale Tale game, wow. Like who can complain at that point. But when you say vignettes' that sort of that you know, raises alarm, rings alarm bells in my head because I can't tell the difference looking at the two of them side by side [LAUGH] That could mean that it's not the entire game then. Yeah. That could mean that this is just like a three hour segment. Oh, you remember this cool part of Final Fantasy VII? See, here's the thing that most people never talk about FInal Fantasy VII and how it relates to today, right? So many games in the series are It was so far out of the realm of possibility. And I'm not saying that materia's a thing or that chocobos are real. But I know, I know. But he's also not saying chocobos aren't real. Right, no, no, no, [UNKNOWN] you can't [UNKNOWN] there. We're not drawing a conclusion on chocobos. That's my favorite Pokemon. [LAUGH] This game really, at its heart, is about corporations running amok. It is about exploiting the environment. It is about rebels taking on forces that are insurmountable to the common man, and doing so in a way that's destructive, but also revolutionary. And I think that those themes are really powerful, and you don't need the stuff like [UNKNOWN] to do that. And frankly- But that is one of the high points of the thing though. Look, I love Final Fantasy VII. It is my favorite game alongside Tactics. But at the same time, we still have the original. And we can even play it on Playstation 4 right now. So if people love it as much as they say they do, put your money where your mouth is and play it. But if we're honest with ourselves, we cannot expect Square to take a game That featured pre-rendered backgrounds and create a fully fleshed out world around it one-to-one for the price of one game. That's totally it. They've said they're not doing that. Yeah, they said they're going to try to keep as much of the content in it as possible. They're going to be cutting some stuff but they're also going to be adding some stuff. So I get this feeling that they want these episodes to be longer than just a few hours. I'm thinking they're thinking You know, maybe these are 20 hours apiece. Maybe these are things that are worth buying because it's the length of an average game. And I have to say, as somebody--as a person sitting on the couch who's not a fan of Final Fantasy VII, who, like, I get it, it is the game that built the Playstation, I understand why it has such a huge place in so many people's hearts, I never liked the game. But watching this, The way they're doing it, the way they're doing it with the Kingdom Hearts slash Final Fantasy 15 combat. The way they're kind of making it new, and making it a more accessible game in a way that doesn't seem to be taking away from From the aesthetic and the things that the fans love. I may like this version of Final Fantasy Seven. [LAUGH] This may wind up being a net positive. Right? Cuz everybody who loves Final Fantasy Seven gets what they want. And I get a Final Fantasy Seven, and you get a Final Fantasy Seven. That maybe you make it past the first few hours. Right. You know. Maybe we all wind up liking it a lot more and it kind of takes this dried up world that you're talking about and makes it new again. That's right. Super dry, super dry. It's like the thankless job in development trying to make this game because some people are going to want to. To evolve. Some people are going to want it to be as true to form as possible. Right. Some people would be happy with the new graphics. Some people want just an up-rez version. The purist remastering you could possibly think of. Do you think that, you guys have expressed sort of a bit more, you guys are okay with this changing it up a bit in terms of gameplay, in terms of how it's released, all that sort of stuff. Do you think the general Final Fantasy [UNKNOWN] 20 years later It's gonna be as accepting of those changes? Yes and no. I know there are a lot of people that are, or will be angry that this is that. It's episodic. It's not--they're not getting Final Fantasy VII remade, the game. They're getting something in pieces, and I have been on the internet, and I have seen the sad. Don't go on the Internet. I know right. That is literally where all the sad is. I mean, and there are people out there that also love Final Fantasy, but won't play seven, the original, because they think it looks bad and they don't wanna waste their time with it. I think that the people that love the game for what it is will play this and be like, I'm getting something I love, like Peter said, again in a new way. Yeah, but I can also can definitely see people being outraged about it. Personally as someone who's like a big fan od the series, again not a fan of the seven, I really like it. I like, give me Final Fantasy anything, that fricking, like the the chivy Final Fantasy game, World of Final Fantasy's coming out next year and it looks like a kids game. I'm gonna play it because it's Final Fantasy. [LAUGH] And I'm a nerd and it has its name on it and I have to get it. Yeah. You know I can see this both earning a lot of love. that kind of losing a lot. Yeah, well you guys have had your say now it's up to the internet. [LAUGH] Let us know what you think, final fantasy seven, remaster, remake, remake. Not remaster. Remade, remake. Remake. Remake. You got it. One of those is right. Final Fantasy VI remake! [LAUGH] Don't tease me! Don't tease me! [INAUDIBLE] disappointed. Put your thoughts in the comment box below! [MUSIC]