About Final Fantasy VII Remake Criticisms

I have a lot of feelings about FFVIIR, some of which are even conflicting. It took me some time to really come to grips with the game and what it did. It took me a while to even settle on a framework in which to appraise it.

As part of that process, I went looking for interesting opinions around the net. Unfortunately, I only found a few insightful perspectives. I regard the game very positively overall (although I admit I am fearful of what context part 2 will provide...more on that some other time) and so I was hoping to find some strong negative opinions to consider. While I think some of the criticisms leveled at the game are meaningful, these are almost all issues that don't critically damage the heart of the game...I'm talking about the sort of technical complaints that even the best games can have and are often easy targets for improvement in sequels. As for truly substantial criticisms, I haven't found anything moving yet. 

Here are some of the negative sentiments I've run into so far and some thoughts:

1) It's Kingdom Hearts now.

I think this is mostly a rhetorical criticism, but insofar as it is meant to be meaningful, I don't know what it's getting at. The combat is fundamentally different. Fighting a massive end boss is hardly unique to Kingdom Hearts.

I'll grant that the ending makes it tempting to assume the sequel could share more in common with Kingdom Hearts than Final Fantasy fans would like, though. We'll have to wait and see on that. As for part 1, though? No, it's not like Kingdom Hearts.

2) FFVII doesnt need a remake / Shouldn't be remade

I can agree with forms of this complaint. FFVII definitely doesn't need a remake. Does anything? As for should it be remade...I guess that's completely dependent on the outcome.

Just about everyone agrees that Resident Evil(2002) was worth being made, even if someone might prefer the original. It's the go-to example for a "good remake." Then there are remakes like The Thing(1982) which are very different from their progenitor, but are still very good. So, it seems clear remaking something can be worthwhile.

Telling and retelling stories (with variable degrees of change) seems to be a natural human impulse, something we've been doing since as far back as we can see into history. It is as a persitent a part of the human condition as it is to produce art at all. Imitation and creativity go hand in hand for humanity. Because of these things, it would be unreasonable to take a hard stance against any and all "remake" projects.

And yet, I would rather not see any remake that produces somthing worse than it's inspiration! Especially if it amounts to something terrible masquerading as something else I really care about.

But all these thoughts aside, this isn't as much a critique of the game in question as it is about how art and authors should be treated. 

3) The ending is confusing

On the contrary, the ending is pretty explicit and easy to understand. It leaves us in suspense, holding onto some unanswered questions as we wait for part 2, but that isn't the same thing.

Some things are unanswered.

Some things are implied.

Some things are completely clear. 

However (and it's a big however,) I think this criticism is legitimate if you haven't played the original FFVII. Remake's story is strictly designed for people who have played the original at minimum and so I imagine the significance of certain characters or events might be strange without that context.

FFVIIR is absolutely, 100%, not for you if you haven't played the original and are not at least a little familiar with the events of the various Compilation of FFVII titles. I'm sure you can enjoy it on some level, like jumping into the middle of a years long tv series or comic book, but the story is not catered to a newcomer even a little bit.

As stated before, I've seen other criticisms, but they are either trivial, technical, or otherwise utterly subjective.

If you love FFVII and haven't played the remake, I think you owe it to yourself go take the ride. At the bare minimum I think it may leave you with different feelings than you expect a remake would.

80 / 20

You don't always have to reach the moon just to find success.

Panzer Dragoon: Remake appears to be off to a strong start. According to publisher Forever Entertainment, revenue earned during the first weekend following launch more than doubled the cost of development.

There is something to be said for small and medium scale projects. Not everything needs to be a  decamillion, 3-5 year effort for it to be worthwhile. It's nice to see some big names putting their effort into smaller scale projects alongside their big ones, like Square Enix's Trials of Mana.

The character art in this is just fantastic. I'm very glad they continued pursuing these projects despite the mixed response to the previous Mana remake.

Faxanadu (NES, 1987)

Open for full size.

CRT ver.

Raw ver.

Anti-Persuassion

Persuasion is a popular topic these days. I suppose it has been for a long time; it's an important topic and you can learn a lot reading up on the subject. Convincing people to come around to your side on things can be very beneficial, as I'm sure you can imagine.

However, not much is said about defense against persuasion. I'm sure one exists, but I can't think of single book extolling the virtues of stubbornness. A cursory search on the Amazon Kindle store doesn't yield anything meaningful, either. (If you find one, let me know; sounds like a good book.)

In fact, it seems to me that stubbornness is almost always framed as something to be overcome. But, I suggest you reconsider the utility of being relentlessly stubborn, even in the face of highly persuasive arguments.

Now, you've got to be reasonable when you read this. I'm about to tell you what's great about being stubborn, something you've maybe never heard before. This could be the first time. But, I'm not saying you should never be persuaded by others or that you should ignore good arguments for other points of view. You've got to exercise some wisdom, here. There is a time and place for all things.

That being said, is it possible there is something useful about stubbornness, about a refusal to change your point of view? Well, you need only consider the following facts and I think you'll find that what I'm saying has to be true.

1. Persuasive arguments can lead open minded people to adopt new points of view.
2. It's possible to make persuasive arguments in favor of objectively bad ideas.
3. It's possible that you lack the information, experience, or wherewithal to mount a convincing or even rational counterargument, even if such an argument does exist.

We certainly agree that we live in a world where all of these facts are true. Therefore, your only hope in defending yourself against the consequences of adopting a bad set of ideas you can't argue against is to resolutely refuse to change your outlook on things.

Now, when and where you choose to deploy stubbornness and openness is going be a matter of wisdom and of good systems of thinking. Things just aren't so cut and dry in the real world. But for now, I just want you to consider how a deep rooted refusal to budge can be an important defensive tactic for people. The wisdom of the ancients might look like foolishness to a later generation, only for a long-ago-foreseen disaster to strike and remind humanity why people did things the way they used to. This is why the idea of principles exist, wise axioms and heuristics used to guide your behavior through murky circumstances.

You've no doubt seen this illustrated in fantasy without thinking about it these terms. Just imagine a scene where the villain has the hero on the ropes. It looks like the good guy will soon be overpowered. What's worse, the villain mocks our hero and disparages his weakness. But, despite his injuries and his failures up until now, the hero rises up again and refuses to believe in the villain's lies. We all know what happens next.

So, in short, keep an open mind as you go about your days. But, don't forget to keep a heavy shield around for when things start looking risky.

The Best Power Is The Power You Missed

Gaining power is a typical feature in games.

 Collecting more powerful equipment and learning utilitarian new techniques are obvious examples, but this concept shows up in many forms. Less obvious examples are additional inventory space or access to new areas. I have no doubt you can come up with many other examples.

I think we can all agree it feels great to pick up that rocket launcher a few moments before facing the next boss enemy. What could be better?

Yes, please.

But, wouldn't you also say finding that rocket launcher would have felt just a little bit sweeter if you could have missed it...but didn't?

I think a lot of players would agree. Maybe even most players, if I had to guess. But, a few of you might be wondering "What difference would that make?"

The reason it feels so much better to gain power you could have missed is the relativity involved. If your game is feeding you a steady and constant stream of increased power and it consistently follows this up with a challenge that's just a bit tougher than the last thing you had to face...what's the difference? You got stronger and the enemy got stronger, so aside from the aesthetics...aren't you right where you left off?

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a great game, but players were disappointed that monsters everywhere in the game would scale in power along with the player character's level. 

Now, this approach isn't completely worthless of course. There's a lot to be said for aesthetics (I should know, I'm an artist.) And, of course, there are a lot of creative ways to challenge and reward the player. But, if you can gain optional power, power you could have missed, power others did miss, now you're growing on a curve...maybe a different curve than your enemies, even. We are talking exponential growth. Maybe your enemies can't even keep up.

Now that's real success and real success feels good.

Still Looking Great.

It's difficult to shake the feeling of disbelief that I am once again playing Final Fantasy VII for the first time.

Of course, I'm talking about the very literally titled Final Fantasy VII Remake. I was just a twelve year old boy when the original came out, fascinated with artwork and video games, and you can imagine what an impact these fantastic characters made on me at the time.

I must've drawn Cloud Strife hundreds of times.

Square has done such a great job of preserving the appeal of those classic designs and adapting them to a more realistic look. The material detail and subtleties of texture and proportion have not done away with the iconic colors, shapes, and features that helped make the cast of FFVII so beloved. Often these fundamental elements of character design are consumed by such things and lost in the stylistic transition.

Even the eyes, which can be so easily made into abstract shapes in less realistic styles, have been carefully handled in the new artwork.

It's been a great experience falling in love with these characters all over again. Even now, it's hard to resist the urge to do a little fan art. 

There was a lot more time for that kind of appreciation back then.

Shadows and Gesture

As I watched my children playing outside in today's nice, springtime weather, I noticed my shadow laid out on the ground  in front of me. My mind wandering as it does, I began studying the contours of this naturally occurring silhouette and something about it struck me as interesting.

When drawing, artists resort to making an average of features in order to make simple, clear statements on their percieved rythm in forms. This is what we call gesture (which I hypothesize is ultimately the whole of drawing, that is, progressively smaller applications of gesture.) Surprisingly, I observed typical gestures of form in my shadow that I normally observe in drawings. Something about the slightly diffuse penumbra, the blurring of subtle disruptions in the contour of my shape had recreated the same types of lines I've witnessed in many man made artworks.

It occurred to me that this could be a great way to study rythm in form. In a sense it should be no surprise, as artists have long done something similar in drawing silhouettes to test the effectiveness of their drawn shapes. But to my knowledge, I don't know of anyone who has studied cast shadows of subjects in order to produce reference for averaged rythms of form.

By adjusting the size and sharpness of the cast shadow, it may be possible to obtain naturally produced averages in shape in order to better inform your drawings.