As Square Enix gears up to release the second chapter of its FFVII Remake trilogy, the game’s creators reflect on making the original – and remaking a classic
There are few fictional locales as iconic as Final Fantasy VII’s Midgar. Originally envisioned as a rain soaked New York-esque metropolis, the final sprawling cityscape kept the Big Apple’s detective noir grit – but imbued it with a quietly ominous steampunk flavour. Boot up the PS1 original today, and its blurry pre-rendered backgrounds still conjure up a startling sense of place – Midgar’s billowing chimneys and dusty streets blending seamlessly with skyscrapers that could preside in modern-day Tokyo.
Drawing visual comparisons to Blade Runner and the character-led melodrama of Star Wars, this PlayStation 1 role-playing game has attained an almost mythological status – a pioneering playable parable about climate change destined to be retold time and time again. It was to fans’ delight, then, when 23 years after the release of the low-poly original, 2020’s Remake saw Final Fantasy VII reborn in high definition.
Continue reading…
As Square Enix gears up to release the second chapter of its FFVII Remake trilogy, the game’s creators reflect on making the original – and remaking a classic
There are few fictional locales as iconic as Final Fantasy VII’s Midgar. Originally envisioned as a rain soaked New York-esque metropolis, the final sprawling cityscape kept the Big Apple’s detective noir grit – but imbued it with a quietly ominous steampunk flavour. Boot up the PS1 original today, and its blurry pre-rendered backgrounds still conjure up a startling sense of place – Midgar’s billowing chimneys and dusty streets blending seamlessly with skyscrapers that could preside in modern-day Tokyo.
Drawing visual comparisons to Blade Runner and the character-led melodrama of Star Wars, this PlayStation 1 role-playing game has attained an almost mythological status – a pioneering playable parable about climate change destined to be retold time and time again. It was to fans’ delight, then, when 23 years after the release of the low-poly original, 2020’s Remake saw Final Fantasy VII reborn in high definition. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian