Don’t Trust Square Enix with Final Fantasy VII’s Remake

Jan 17, 2018

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As I type this now, I’m listening to Valley of the Fallen Star – The Cosmo Canyon theme from Final Fantasy VII. Composer Nobou Uematsa‘s original arrangement is my favourite piece of music from a game I love. One of my favourite tracks from a videogame, in fact. Valley is perfect not only for what it is – an enchanting, earthy concerto that spurs and soothes in equal measure – but for what it evokes. In contrast to Midgar’s ominous synths or the Gold Saucer’s carnivalesque cheer, Valley‘s woodwinds score a moment of somber reflection in an otherwise breathless journey. Cosmo Canyon is the first point in the story where the true stakes of VII’s conflict reveal themselves. Where the scrappy, resistance ideals of Avalanche take on a celestial significance. It’s the history to Midgar’s post-modernity; its pounding drums an anthem for our heroes’ makeshift opposition to Shinra’s imperialism. If the song has slipped from memory, or if you just haven’t heard it for a while, I’d invite you to listen with me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiJVNzQDdCY

Orchestral Flourishes

There is another arrangement of Valley of the Fallen Star – The Final Fantasy Distant Worlds version. Performed as part of a live show by a symphony orchestra to huge audiences, the Distant Worlds compositions were part of Square Enix‘s efforts last year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfNOfMFtZBw

Trading midi for magnificence, this iteration of Valley is a glorious, extravagant tribute to VII‘s legend. Where once each note was composed with hope for what the game would become, now it is bellowed out to an auditorium of nostalgic fans, in the full knowledge of what Final Fantasy VII became. The grandiose swells that herald the song’s climax are divorced from their origin in VII‘s fiction, and bound, instead, to its cultural mythology. As individuals, we have our personal memories of what VII meant to us. As a culture, we have raised it to a pedestal that transcends isolated nostalgia to videogame godhood. Thinking of the way our nostalgia feeds VII‘s swollen folklore, It’s hard not to think of it’s villain; leeching the lifestream to gain the power of a deity. It’s this Final Fantasy VII that Square Enix is marketing. We’re not going to get a remake of Final Fantasy VII – the game; we’re going to get a remake of Final Fantasy VII – the brand.

If it Sells, it’s Art

Just for fun, here’s a (by no means comprehensive) list of products that Square Enix have used to drain every last drop out of the magical healing potion of VII‘s license.

Monopoly. Nothing quite captures the spirit of a quest to end the capitalist tyrants slowly draining the planet’s life-force than game about tax collecting, does it? The worst part is, I’m probably going to buy eight of them, just so I can stack all the tiny Cait Sith’s on top of each other and throw Barret at them.

Golden Tickets

On one hand, it’s wonderful that a game can have such an enduring effect. That it can mean so much to so many. That its name is still synonymous with JRPG’s, beloved characters, and moving storytelling. On the other, I’m worried that its success means we’re never going to see another game like it again. I’d love to be proved wrong, but Square Enix’s marketing practices in recent years suggest viewing creativity and innovation as a means to an end. At the time, Final Fantasy XV‘s unfinished narrative seemed forgivable given a troubled development process. A half dozen DLC’s later, and it’s hard not to see it as being left deliberately vague to be completed piecemeal with paid expansions. As long as Square Enix chase after the success of the original, and not its spirit – for as long as they put the Chocobo before the cart – I can’t see another truly great game in this series. Thankfully, we never needed a remake to begin with. We already have the perfect version of Final Fantasy VII, in all its deformed, blocky glory.

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Nic Reuben

Nic Reuben likes to pause games every five minutes to ponder the thematic implications of explosive barrel placement. When he’s not having an existential crisis over CAPTCHA verifications that ask him to prove he’s not a robot, he’s reading sci-fi and fantasy short stories, watching cartoons, and mourning the writing standards in Game of Thrones.

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Comments

One response to “Don’t Trust Square Enix with Final Fantasy VII’s Remake”

jhan2294

January 18, 2018

Yeah, I completely agree here.

For me personally, it’s the PS4 Remake of Shadow of the Colossus that’s bugging me. Now, I will admit I’m a bit biased here, as Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favorite video games, and maybe I’m just being snooty or unnecessarily old-fashioned, but it really irks me when I hear that many video game players will only now play it because it doesn’t look like a broken PS2 game. “Oh wow, look at the awesome graphics!”

But what really grinds my gears is when they announce there’s “improvements” or “modernizing” of the game’s actual play, controls, button layout, and game feel. Worse than gratuitously updating the audio/visuals, “updating” the gameplay is tampering with magic of the medium. To me, making Shadow of the Colossus play “better” is similar to someone deciding to cut an hour off the run time of 2001: A Space Odyssey, just because it’s “boring.”

And it’s marketed as such, as many remakes are, as the “Definitive” version. And how could they not market it as such, how else are we going to get players to purchase a game they already own? Tell everyone this is the best way to play! Yay, more money!

Wait, video games are art? Nah, just products to sell. You’re right, with the remake of FFVII and Shadow of the Colossus, we aren’t getting a re-release of the game, but a re-release of an icon, the way WE want it. Or so we’re told. But the sad truth is, it’s the video game community that completely buys in, accepts, and reinforces these practices that not only celebrate corporations squeezing the magic out of individual games, but remind us that video games can not be appreciated as art. We must fetishize the art to become geek pop-culture, and in turn make something profitable.

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