2D Remake

[DarkClaymore]

Despite the fact that graphics is the last thing I look at when I play a RPG, in this game I actually payed much attention to it.

Probably because it is the 3D game with the worst graphics I ever saw.
It is awful even for PS1 IMO.
During battles the characters looked fine, even more than fine.
But on the maps, they were.. well... awful. It took me something like 30 hours of gameplay to somehow get used to it , but I still hate it.

It is the only RPG I ever played in which the graphics ruined quite much of my enjoyment. I even know someone who stopped playing the game after something like 1 hour or less because of the graphics.

I even prefer the graphics of the original NES FFI over the lego-like graphics of FFVII.
So what I was thinking about is: wouldn't it be nice to have a 2D graphics when you play on the maps?
As for the battle graphics, I don't mind either 2D or 3D like in the original game. The idea came to my mind simply because improving 3D graphics is probably annoying, while it seems as making 2D graphics isn't as much trouble (considering the number of the 2D FF remakes SE making).

 

[Dionysos]

Not for me, no.

The trouble is only with the characters, which are a bit blocky. Other than that the maps themselves are fantastic and brilliantly designed. I felt they were really amazing to look at and actually prefer the graphics of these maps than the fully produced 3d graphic versions in the spin-offs.

I allowed myself to put up with the graphics of the characters and grew fond of them in a way. It allowed them to get away with stuff they might not have got away with if the graphics were different, such as some of the Don Corneo / Honeybee Manor / Mukki bits.

Some of the scenes looked funny like that too, but I enjoyed that. Would Barret punching Biggs into the screen look as good if it was either in 2d, or in good graphics? Probaby not, at least not for me..

That play scene in the Gold Saucer with the dragon and the king, with everyone twirling like a ballerina onto the stage would be hard to do in 2d and would probably not be done in good 3d graphics, so I'm glad they used that gaphical style for this game.

 

[DarkClaymore]

Not for me, no.

The trouble is only with the characters, which are a bit blocky. Other than that the maps themselves are fantastic and brilliantly designed. I felt they were really amazing to look at and actually prefer the graphics of these maps than the fully produced 3d graphic versions in the spin-offs.

I allowed myself to put up with the graphics of the characters and grew fond of them in a way. It allowed them to get away with stuff they might not have got away with if the graphics were different, such as some of the Don Corneo / Honeybee Manor / Mukki bits.

Some of the scenes looked funny like that too, but I enjoyed that. Would Barret punching Biggs into the screen look as good if it was either in 2d, or in good graphics? Probaby not, at least not for me..

That play scene in the Gold Saucer with the dragon and the king, with everyone twirling like a ballerina onto the stage would be hard to do in 2d and would probably not be done in good 3d graphics, so I'm glad they used that gaphical style for this game.

Oh, right. I forgot that I actually liked the maps in the game.
Though, I don't really care about the funny cut-scene things .
It took me something like 5 minutes to actually recall which parts you are talking about.

I admit, the game had a few funny moments thanks to the graphics (my favorite is Tifa Vs Scarlet, or however you write her name), but I still don't like the graphics as a whole.
When I just started playing and saw the graphics, I thought someone making fun of me or something...

 

[fox95871]

Let me guess, you love Advent Children. I'm not going to waste precious caffeine writing a huge thing on why the art style in Final Fantasy VII is a million times better than in Advent Children, but suffice it to say, Final Fantasy VII was Final Fantasy VII. Meaning, Cloud was Cloud, Midgar was Midgar, etc., and that had hugely to do with the art style. When Neo square came along and completely changed all that, they changed the soul of the game.

 

[DarkClaymore]

Let me guess, you love Advent Children. I not going too waste precious caffeine writing a huge thing on why the art style of Final Fantasy VII's a million times better than Advent Children, but suffice it to say, Final Fantasy VII was Final Fantasy VII. Meaning, Cloud was Cloud, Midgar was Midgar, etc., and that had hugely to do with the art style. When Neo square came along and completely changed all that, they changed the soul of the game.

Lets say I don't hate AC. I do, though, hate a few things they changed in AC (like Tifa! why did they change her?!).

First time I watched AC was before playing FFVII. Aside of great graphics and action, it wasn't really anything good (I didn't really get most of the plot). After playing FFVII and then rewatching AC, I found it much better than before. Still, not something epic or amazing.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Let me guess, you love Advent Children. I'm not going to waste precious caffeine writing a huge thing on why the art style in Final Fantasy VII is a million times better than in Advent Children.

But is far inferior to the likes of FFVIII, FFIX, FFX etc

I wouldn't mind a 2D remake, as long as the graphics are at least half decent I'm not fussed as long as it's a good game, personally, whilst I didn't really like the Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II remakes it was visually extremely pleasant. I'd like to have a Tactics A2 style of design, not 2D but not fully 3D either D;

The only reason I'd prefer 3D graphics for FFVII is to include full on voice acting and so that it'd be longer D;

 

[Vladislak]

I think FFVII is fine as it is. It's a good game and the graphics never bothered me, they could have made them all stick figures and I'd be fine with playing it. I play it for the plot anyway so why bother getting all stressed out about the graphics.

Heck, I loved the SNES game Radical Dreamers (the Japanese only precursor to Chrono Cross), and that game was text based. It was just text on background images, sometimes not even that; sometimes it was just a black screen with white text. I was just as satisfied with reading that the decision I made pwned a baddie as I am seeing it in other games.

 

[HighwindPilot]

Wait...

@ DC: You say that the in-battle graphics are better than fine. You even admit to liking all the pre-rendered backgrounds and game maps. The FMVs are nice, and they were brilliant for the time of their release, there's no denying that.

So that leaves what? The Character models. But how does this one category of all things mentioned equate to you not liking the graphics "as a whole"?

**Keep in mind, all the rest of this is regarding the character models alone, since those are the only real graphics in question here, I think.

In any case, it is understandable why some may not like the character models. Personally, I don't think they were that bad. Their "stature" or "shape" actually fit to their environments, if that makes sense. Making them full-figured characters like those of FFVIII would mean rescaling the entire world as a whole, so I can understand why they were made the size they were.

The next step, would've been to mold them as done in IX, where they kept that same statured but with refinements that made them less blocky. However, given all that was put into this game and the circumstances, I understand why they hadn't quite done that yet in their first Playstation installment. So I didn't really have a problem with that.

I think the only thing that kind of set them back were the arms. They were the only things that were notably disproportionate in the sense that it looked like "Block - Stick Connector - Block" or "O=O". But I really don't think it's such an issue.

Overall, the graphics were fine for me. From what I'd seen though, the PC version improved on them a fair deal. Additionally, there's an old CHinese Nintendo Famicon version that made them just like the SNES models.

 

[fox95871]

Amazing, some people here actually understand why Final fantasy 7 looked so much better! I remember when I first played 8, I was like "Oh! So that's why they made them look like they did in 7." The answer is, impressionism over realism. You can make everything proportionally accurate and think, this is going to be great! But when you actually see it, what do you get? A bunch of praying mantises running around. Squall and everyone gave that impression, despite the human accuracy, because proportionally accurate human characters don't look good in that kind of environment. Picture Dragon Warrior 1 with the same lanky looking characters. Not that Cloud would have looked better with the squared off look of that game, but stick figures don't work either. That's why I always thought 7 had the perfect mix of the two. So much caffeine spent writing this... I hope you enjoyed it!

 

[HighwindPilot]

Actually, the post above reminds me of something I was going to bring up in my own. To say FF7's graphics were "far off" from its "successor" is an exaggeration.

Sure, the character models in FF8 were structured "full figured", but in doing so, they were left with their own set of problems. For one, the characters were often left very "twiggy" throughout most of the game. Additionally, it didn't take a magnifying glass to see how rigid and choppy the cropping of the characters was. And as a result of attempting the added details to the face, you wound up with kind of a blurred mess throughout most shots in the game. It had its finer points, sometimes in particular instances vs others, but I wouldn't say it was some kind of drastic difference. It, like FF VII, was a work in progress on steps of improvement.

That being said, in no way am I saying that FF7's graphics are superior to any installment following it (nor am I going to hold that thought against it), but I do think there are things to appreciate about what they attempted with the character models.

A lot of it comes down to perspective and opinion anyway.