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When Ultimate Fantasy VII launched on PlayStation in 1997, it revolutionized the RPG style and gaming as an entire. The transition from pixel artwork to completely animated laptop graphics was a large sufficient leap forward, however the fantastic thing about this traditional title was way more than pores and skin deep. Ultimate Fantasy VII options an unimaginable solid of characters, an excellent battle system, and a narrative that evokes pleasure, awe, anger, and grief. Ultimate Fantasy VII is well-established as one of the vital iconic and beloved video video games of all time, however for Sq. Enix, the legacy is considerably extra vital.
For the crew behind the Ultimate Fantasy franchise, Ultimate Fantasy VII was the entry that made the builders understand they wanted to adapt to the occasions. “Even throughout the mainline Ultimate Fantasy titles as a collection, we are able to contemplate Ultimate Fantasy VII to be this form of midpoint title that is in the course of all of it,” Tetsuya Nomura, who was a personality designer and visible director on Ultimate Fantasy VII, says. “As much as Ultimate Fantasy VI, it was created in a sure method, after which from VIII, there was a model new method of approaching growth, whereas VII form of sits between these two titles as a form of mixed-element title.”
The way in which Nomura and the crew describe it, the event of Ultimate Fantasy VII sounds chaotic, generally in a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants method. “[Final Fantasy] VI included a whole lot of components that every division on their very own, simply on a whim, needed 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 type of an at-a-whim sort of growth. If we made video games like this the way in which we did once we have been creating the unique VII, we might be in a whole lot of bother proper now. Instances have actually modified. Past VII is the purpose the place I might say occasions have modified. It is the final of the titles the place we have been capable of do issues that method.”
Nomura recollects coming into the workplace, generally not figuring out what to anticipate. “There have been scripts after which all of a sudden 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 needed to incorporate the character saying this stuff. It was that type of world then.”
Fortunately, director Yoshinori Kitase labored carefully with author Kazushige Nojima to make sure every little thing 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 total, Nojima-san was the ultimate reviewer,” Kitase says. “That is bringing the entire storyline collectively. That follow was carried on for future titles to have that cohesion. However apart from that, it was form of an ‘something goes’ sort of world then.”
After a protracted growth cycle of generally being stunned 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 Ultimate Fantasy VIII, the crew moved towards that extra calculated growth Nomura and the crew determined it wanted. Not may separate departments sneak in content material they needed to see with out first getting approval from the broader group. The crew continued utilizing the method Kitase and Nojima applied in Ultimate Fantasy VII’s growth to make sure narrative and thematic cohesiveness. Sq. Enix even carried ahead the method it used to create Ultimate Fantasy VII’s minigames, the place particular person growth crew members are assigned to particular minigames as “representatives” to work with an engineer to implement the minigame.
Even Naoki Hamaguchi, who joined Sq. Enix in 2003, notices the distinction between how Ultimate Fantasy growth has labored throughout his time on the firm in distinction to what Kitase and Nomura describe. “These days, we’ve got localized voice verify and stuff like that,” Hamaguchi says. “You’ll be able to’t simply get away with doing these issues at the moment.”
However even past the way in which the sport affected growth, Ultimate Fantasy VII has quite a bit to say. Its story’s themes regarding company greed, environmentalism, and psychological well being are all maybe extra related at the moment than in 1997. Although the builders did not deliberately reference particular real-world social points, they acknowledge how related these themes are at the moment.
“In Ultimate Fantasy VII, we have been capable of depict all these points, just like the cycle of life, by means of the idea of Lifestream,” Ultimate Fantasy VII director Yoshinori Kitase says. “If we have been to depict it precisely as we expertise it in the true world, it might not be very fascinating. With Nojima-san’s concepts, we have been capable of have this centered on Lifestream and the planet throughout the worldview of Ultimate Fantasy VII. On this method, I consider the sport and its themes stay related and stand up to the take a look at of time.”
Although he feels the themes of Ultimate Fantasy VII are nonetheless vital at the moment, he does have some regrets concerning the crew’s method to these points in 1997. “Contemplating the way in which 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 may be a studying for us, however on the similar time, I do consider that maybe that is without doubt one of the explanation why it was so broadly accepted. It isn’t good, and it is type of uneven and jagged in its younger and naive nature of its depiction. After all, after [more than] 25 years, there’s a whole lot of private studying, adjustments, and development. However wanting again on it, some components of it, I’m a bit embarrassed.”
However from the attitude of Motomu Toriyama, who was an occasion planner on Ultimate Fantasy VII, the crew did every little thing it may in its method to the unique recreation, and subsequently, 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 perfect recreation specs at any given time, whether or not it needed to be the unique or at the moment,” he says. “So, even with the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII title, there have been no regrets or emotions that there was extra that we needed to do or one thing I had regretted not doing; we really put in our greatest efforts.”
Introduced in 2015, Ultimate Fantasy VII is now the topic of a trilogy of remakes. The primary entry, Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, launched in 2020 to crucial acclaim. The subsequent entry, Ultimate 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 means of the banner beneath for extra on Rebirth.
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