When Last Fantasy VII launched on PlayStation in 1997, it revolutionized the RPG style and gaming as a complete. The transition from pixel artwork to totally animated pc graphics was an enormous sufficient leap forward, however the fantastic thing about this basic title was way more than pores and skin deep. Last Fantasy VII options an unbelievable forged of characters, an impressive battle system, and a narrative that evokes pleasure, awe, anger, and grief. Last Fantasy VII is well-established as one of the crucial iconic and beloved video video games of all time, however for Sq. Enix, the legacy is considerably extra necessary.
For the staff behind the Last Fantasy franchise, Last Fantasy VII was the entry that made the builders notice they wanted to adapt to the occasions. “Even inside the mainline Last Fantasy titles as a collection, we are able to contemplate Last Fantasy VII to be this type of midpoint title that is in the course of all of it,” Tetsuya Nomura, who was a personality designer and visible director on Last Fantasy VII, says. “As much as Last Fantasy VI, it was created in a sure method, after which from VIII, there was a model new method of approaching improvement, whereas VII type of sits between these two titles as a type of mixed-element title.”
![Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII](https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2023/12/18/efe8c9ee/barret.jpg)
The way in which Nomura and the staff describe it, the event of Last Fantasy VII sounds chaotic, generally in a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants method. “[Final Fantasy] VI included numerous parts that every division on their very own, simply on a whim, wished to incorporate, so they simply included it, whereas VIII is way more calculated and strategized,” Nomura says. “VII is a mixture of that, the place it is each calculated and sort of an at-a-whim sort of improvement. If we made video games like this the best way we did once we had been creating the unique VII, we might be in numerous bother proper now. Instances have actually modified. Past VII is the purpose the place I would say occasions have modified. It is the final of the titles the place we had been capable of do issues that method.”
Nomura recollects coming into the workplace, generally not understanding what to anticipate. “There have been scripts after which instantly issues that aren’t even within the script that the character is now saying within the recreation that we have by no means even heard of,” he says. “Some departments simply wished to incorporate the character saying these items. It was that sort of world then.”
![Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII](https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2023/12/18/a3a3d5df/cloudff7.jpg)
Fortunately, director Yoshinori Kitase labored carefully with author Kazushige Nojima to make sure all the pieces made sense within the story, even with the myriad adjustments applied by the sometimes-disparate departments. “There have been groups engaged on every character and the issues that they are saying within the storyline, however then general, Nojima-san was the ultimate reviewer,” Kitase says. “That is bringing the entire storyline collectively. That apply was carried on for future titles to have that cohesion. However moreover that, it was type of an ‘something goes’ sort of world then.”
After an extended improvement cycle of generally being shocked by their very own recreation, the members of Sq. Enix knew it needed to make a change. “After we had completed engaged on VII, we thought to ourselves, ‘We won’t go on making video games on this method,'” Nomura recollects.
Starting with Last Fantasy VIII, the staff moved towards that extra calculated improvement Nomura and the staff determined it wanted. Now not might separate departments sneak in content material they wished to see with out first getting approval from the broader group. The staff continued utilizing the approach Kitase and Nojima applied in Last Fantasy VII’s improvement to make sure narrative and thematic cohesiveness. Sq. Enix even carried ahead the method it used to create Last Fantasy VII’s minigames, the place particular person improvement staff members are assigned to particular minigames as “representatives” to work with an engineer to implement the minigame.
![Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII](https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2023/12/18/3edc21d7/mako.jpg)
Even Naoki Hamaguchi, who joined Sq. Enix in 2003, notices the distinction between how Last Fantasy improvement has labored throughout his time on the firm in distinction to what Kitase and Nomura describe. “These days, now we have localized voice verify and stuff like that,” Hamaguchi says. “You may’t simply get away with doing these issues right this moment.”
However even past the best way the sport affected improvement, Last Fantasy VII has lots to say. Its story’s themes regarding company greed, environmentalism, and psychological well being are all maybe extra related right this moment than in 1997. Although the builders did not deliberately reference particular real-world social points, they acknowledge how related these themes are right this moment.
“In Last Fantasy VII, we had been capable of depict most of these points, just like the cycle of life, by the idea of Lifestream,” Last Fantasy VII director Yoshinori Kitase says. “If we had been to depict it precisely as we expertise it in the actual world, it might not be very attention-grabbing. With Nojima-san’s concepts, we had been capable of have this centered on Lifestream and the planet inside the worldview of Last Fantasy VII. On this method, I imagine the sport and its themes stay related and stand up to the check of time.”
![Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII](https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2023/12/18/68f3c885/tifa1.jpg)
Although he feels the themes of Last Fantasy VII are nonetheless necessary right this moment, he does have some regrets concerning the staff’s method to these points in 1997. “Contemplating the best way to depict social issues, social points, and cultural depictions, in some methods, I’m a bit embarrassed by the unique title,” Kitase says. “In its expression, in some methods, it was very younger and naive in itself. That could be a studying for us, however on the identical time, I do imagine that maybe that is likely one of the the reason why it was so broadly accepted. It is not excellent, and it is sort of uneven and jagged in its younger and naive nature of its depiction. After all, after [more than] 25 years, there may be numerous private studying, adjustments, and progress. However trying again on it, some elements of it, I’m a bit embarrassed.”
However from the attitude of Motomu Toriyama, who was an occasion planner on Last Fantasy VII, the staff did all the pieces it might in its method to the unique recreation, and due to this fact, he would not have any regrets. “At any given period or time, we at all times try to place our greatest foot ahead, and we had utilized the very best recreation specs at any given time, whether or not it needed to be the unique or right this moment,” he says. “So, even with the unique Last Fantasy VII title, there have been no regrets or emotions that there was extra that we wished to do or one thing I had regretted not doing; we actually put in our greatest efforts.”
Introduced in 2015, Last Fantasy VII is now the topic of a trilogy of remakes. The primary entry, Last Fantasy VII Remake, launched in 2020 to crucial acclaim. The subsequent entry, Last Fantasy VII Rebirth, the duvet star of Sport Informer’s most up-to-date situation, arrives on PlayStation 5 on February 29. Head to our unique protection hub by the banner beneath for extra on Rebirth.