Why I fear the remake of Final Fantasy 7.

[DoNotMessUpFF7Remake]

When I first heard of this remake I was at a loss for words. Just how I'm sure all of you on here felt, I couldn't believe it. However the next day, reality began to set in and a sharp pain hit me with the reminder that Square Enix is a business, and is fully aware that the majority of people purchasing this game are going to have not played it before, and the re-make of the game will be tailored directly to the new generation of gamers.

However, it goes deeper than this. There is a reason I made an account on this forum to follow the progress of one single game. The fact I am 26, and remembered a game from 1997, speaks volumes. In short, this game is magic. Magic in the sense that when growing up it introduced me and the current generation of "old" gamers to a plethora of emotions. This goes beyond the iconic scene of Aeris dying. Although it filled gamers world wide with depression and sadness. Final Fantasy 7 covered every emotion in between. I will outline some points below in which I fear will be removed from the remake that are essential for the remake die hard fans are/have been waiting for.

Point 1 - Intro

Right off the bat, when you are destroying the reactor in Midgar at the beginning of the game, the first thoughts a young person typical thinks is good vs evil. However, the older I got, the more I realized that there was no way to sugar coat this. Avalanche was a group of terrorists that accepted innocent deaths are collateral damage. That is right. Tifa, Barret, and everyone involved are responsible for many innocent workers and neighboring civilians deaths. This immediate premise instantly tells you that this game is DARK.

However, here is the problem. I believe that in the re-make due to the amount of terrorism in the world, Avalanche will be portrayed as a team in which everything they do will be strictly in self-defense, and the iconic reactor scene will be turned into a Star Wars equivalent of the "Hon Solo Shot First" film edit. This can't happen as this very GREY aspect of the game is framework to the entire character development. There is a gossiping woman outside of final heaven bar in which tells the player that many innocent workers and civilians died because of Avalanche's attacks. This can not be changed, there is a reason I remember this after all of these years. Shock Value.

Point 2 - The Little Things.

There are little things in this game that I remember as defining the reason why I am emotionally attached to this game. For example the scene when Aeris mother comes off the train and collapses in the middle of the street. Another is the scene where Aeris "non-blood" related mother Elmyra waits for her husband to come home from war after seeing all the couples re-united. I remember feeling a new level of sadness I had never felt at that age after seeing the train attendant shake his head to Elmyra that there was nobody left on the train while a haunting train whistle is heard in the background.

Point 3 - The Character of Cait Sith and CID

a) Cait Sith was more than just a fat mog and a cat. I hear people saying all of the time that Cait Sith was a useless character. In reality, the character of Cait Sith was to allow a different perspective into the group by effectively adding a member of the Turks into your party. Cait Sith was responsibly for saying some very important dialog that I get the feeling will be looked over in the re-make due to treating him like a "Quina" type character, no offense to s/he". One of Cait Siths most memorable and story driven quotes when he says "How many people do you think died when you attacked the Shinra reactor, your actions aren't selfless". Cait Sith was a character almost acting as a nagging conscience to the group. Since the game will probably have the group being more "heroic and cliche", I believe his character will be downplayed to simply a dorky mog making a fool of himself the whole game.

b) CID, to say the least, was not very politically correct. The world has changed a lot since 1997, and society has become very very very...very liberal. For some reason, a wife beating, verbally and emotionally abusive man housing a woman in Stockholm syndrome is not going to fly with the feminist groups of today. Square realizes this, and I'm sure his character will be changed most likely only adding the "tea" line for the memories.

Point 4 - Community

The community appears to be focused on the wrong things. I am not speaking for everyone of course, but the majority of the things I hear regarding the remake revolve around the battle system, and Aeris. While these both are very important parts. Subtleties that made the game amazing, need to be kept and focused on. I believe petitions to square need to be made as heavy as the demand to start the development of the game, equal to keeping what made this game great, the same.

Point 5 - Scene with Dyne and the Golden Saucer, with all the shootings happening recently, I really really have the sinking feeling that this will be removed from the remake. There is also a character developing scene where upon reuniting with Barret in the Golden Saucer prison, he shoots a thug that was hiding behind a couch, that made no violent advance on the party. Barret simply kills him out of anger, or felt his party was threatened. The reason isn't told. However, moments later after Dyne commits suicide, Barret states that he doesn't deserve to hold Marlenne, and that his hands aren't any cleaner than the murderer Dyne. I wouldn't be surprised if the story of Dyne in the remake is kept strictly via character conversation and the entire portion of the story is not included due to the violent, suicidal, and depiction of Barrets "Anti-Hero" persona.

I could go on, but I won't. You all get the point. There are things I fear will be removed from the game, that are crucial to making Final Fantasy 7 the game we all love. While so many people are focused on making the battle system turn based, and if there is an ALT path to Aeris living or dying. The moments in between I feel will be lost, distorted, and rushed through and missed. If there is anything we as a community can do to bring these points up to Square. I'd be all for it. I better be wrong about all of this....but I just have this sinking sinking feeling..

 

[Razberry Knight]

the tiny subtleties would obviously not feel the same or be altered. I fully embrace that there might be my favorite subtle scene will be latered or not have the same impact.

 

[Shaissa]

I already accepted there will be changes to the remake, I don't think they will change too much of the actual story.
First the Intro will stay the same, that is essential to the whole story, I don't think they would change this at all....

Second the little things. I think some of these will have minor changes, but thinks like Elmyra story I believe will stay in place.

The Third with Cait Sith and Cid.. I think your fear of Cait Sith and Cid are unfounded, they will still be the same. I mean Cid was bleeped out most of the time anyways with Barret so I don't see anything wrong with it and I highly doubt they will change it.

Fourth Community... Now I don't get this point. I mean the community is the reason why FFVII is even getting a remake... I mean I know there will be fans that hate this game no matters what...cause there will be a very minor change that they hate and will complain about...but I feel that most will at least be welcoming to the new changes.

Point five.. They might take away Barret killing the guy behind the couch, but overall that did nothing to the story. I think Dyne will still be a major part to the story and they won't change that.

I think overall I will like the remake, and like someone on this forum keeps saying... "If you don't like it, then there is always the original!"

 

[GothicSyn]

It took me a long while to figure my feelings on this game, I mean it's Final Fantasy VII for chirst sakes, I have memories with the game so far as to say that been able to hide in this world made mine a lot less difficult to live in at the time.

However I have finally come the realisation that I need to treat it as a different game yes it's a remake of FF7 BUT with changes in place we already know a lot of the story will remain in place this has been stated but there are to be extra pieces added and likely pieces been taken away, the main story for the most has to remain intact or the very fans they want to make happy will revolt in droves against it, the story is what made FF7 special for the most part been so engaging.

The battle system ... we will see what they do, it will be "updated" but likely no longer turn based, this bugged me at first but it's the way of games now so was one of those changes we will have to adapt to. Should it be turned based? For me to some form yes as that was also part of FF7 as well. But to attract a new "modern" audience then those changes will inevitably be made.

I don't think we should write it off as a failure, before we've had chance to see more. I do think a lot of your fears are simply that and you're over analysing it if there was any truth to video games been censored due to current events the Rockstar are up the creak cos they will NEVER get another GTA game out EVER! CoD over glorifies such things to extremes so the real world events will likely not alter key events within FF7 or its remakes.

 

[Dionysos]

We’re on the same page on a lot of the concerns which you talk about here. I don’t know for sure whether they will include these moments or not. I sure hope that they do and I’m not aware of any comments that they will tone this down to any significant extent, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.

I think, however, that there may be a stronger reaction to these themes today than there had been in 1997. This is partly because the lego-block graphics of FFVII did much to distance fantasy from reality in any player who only casually glanced at the game, whereas scenes with the top-range graphics of today will inevitably portray an event more realistically and might affect even more people.

Also, we have to remember that a lot of people have not played the original, and others may not have played it in a number of years. People know about Cloud and Sephiroth (this part of the game is common popular culture), but people may have forgotten that AVALANCHE were terrorists, that Cloud was possibly molested in a bath by a gang of homosexual bodybuilders (this part I can understand them removing, actually, although I did like the character Mukki), that Barret shot first (I like that analogy you used!), that Cid is quite the asshole (but not unredeemable), and so on. A lot of people forget or do not know about this stuff, and if it is whitewashed into a simplistic good vs evil plot then that would be an unfortunate waste of the original source material.

We also need to consider how our world has changed since the original FFVII. After all, the original FFVII came out nearly 20 years ago in a pre-9/11 world. Terrorism has always existed, but its scale was different and it wasn’t something you might think about so frequently (the media has a hand in this, yes, but let us not forget the scale of the attacks in the past 15 years). In the years following 9/11 things were crazy and people were scared, and people were paranoid. Now we have Islamic State presenting itself as one of the biggest problems our world has faced in recent history (if not all history, potentially, if they aren’t soon stopped). Terrorism is a much more serious theme now than it was in 1997. It’s a more global problem now.

How would people react if they realised that they were controlling characters who were essentially terrorists, and that their actions killed innocent people and Shinra employees (many of whom were not cackling, evil geniuses, but were just normal people working for the company which had a monopoly on the planet – Shinra was most probably the biggest employer on the planet)?

That said, I still think that the terrorism themes are critical to the story of FFVII, even if they may cause some controversy when people are reminded about them again. AVALANCHE learn and develop as a group during the course of the game. Their anger at Shinra and getting revenge moves aside as they focus on saving the planet and all of its inhabitants from Jenova and Sephiroth (Barret retains a lot of his anger, I think, but he calms down at least a bit). AVALANCHE stop setting bombs and risking collateral damage and focus on dealing with the particular individuals (and entities) who are at the root of the problems which FFVII faces. They start behaving differently as they learn more about the threat that they face (about Sephiroth, the Jenova program, the Shinra committee, etc), and through education they become less like radicals, and more like heroes with a genuine concern for the population of the planet and the safety of the planet. That’s my interpretation of it anyway, and it is perhaps important to show this in the remade game too in the context of combating radicalism through education and the search for truth.

This part is also relevant with Sephiroth himself, who radicalises himself by locking himself in a library and finds himself reading out-dated and misinformed scholarship about his origins. This turns Sephiroth into a mad radical, and the rest is history. This sort of theme is very relevant to the world we live in today.

Another major difference with today’s world is internet culture and the effect that this has on spreading ideas. There are a lot of what some would call social justice warriors. Identity politics is a big thing right now. I can imagine that certain youtubers and twitter-users may criticise the intentions of the FFVII creators if they see certain moments in high definition. Barret goes crazy and shoots a guy? That must be because he’s the only black guy in the party. Naughty Square-Enix. Cid is a misogynist and we are not allowed to depict undesirable traits in fictional characters anymore without making an explicit villain out of them. Naughty Square-Enix. The only party member to permanently die is a sweet, innocent female, reinforcing the patriarchy. Naughty Square-Enix. The internet might have some fun, or it might suffer a painful headache. Hopefully the discussions will be civil.

Advent Children and some of the other FFVII Compilation entries essentially avoided the type of themes which you describe. They were more simplistic Good vs Evil stories (mainly translated into Cloud vs Sephiroth, Vincent vs Hojo, or Zack vs Genesis duels). The original game was quite a bit more complicated than that. When the compilation removed Shinra and Midgar as a threat it removed a lot of the human element from the struggle.

I guess some changes are inevitable. In some ways it might seem as if things have not changed in our world, but things have. Some people think differently now and content might change to reflect some of this. Hopefully not too much though.

 

[Razberry Knight]

IN regards to Avalanche in regards to recent Terrorism: We still have Call of Duty, we still have games that are about war. I don't think they'll remove these events at all. I know its a sensitive subject, but its not impossible to water down without feeling like its being censored. Vincent vs Hojo was not even close to what Dirge of Cerberus was. The introduction basically showed us that people were getting killed. And you get ranked better by protecting/saving the people. In Dirge of Cerberus, they made each life matter though the stage. That game was very We've seen mass killings in FF before, the only thing is they always managed to make us focus on something else.

Most of what you mentioned are critical to the story. Another note that the feminist points: At this time, Shera and Cid aren't even married. So it will be interesting to see where it goes. He's verbally abusive, but not because she's a woman, and she is there to punish herself. Shera isn't enabling him, He's enabling her.


I think one of the things are just too critical for FF7 to remove completely. I'm fully aware the scenes you mentioned (except for Aerith and her mother) have the potential to be altered, but since we never seen these scenes in CGI. Most people are worried about the quirky things that only could've been pulled off by those clunky polygons i am hoping for all of them to be altered completely.

 

[Dionysos]

IN regards to Avalanche in regards to recent Terrorism: We still have Call of Duty, we still have games that are about war. I don't think they'll remove these events at all. I know its a sensitive subject, but its not impossible to water down without feeling like its being censored.

This is true, and I guess this was my point. Remember the reaction to the ‘No Russian’ scene in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? In that mission you end up shooting innocent civilians in an airport. It caused a lot of controversy and they had to include the option to skip the scene.

I don’t think they can really do this with FFVII because the AVALANCHE terrorist acts are such an important aspect of the beginning of the game’s story. To change this will mean altering the meaning of the plot entirely, and the motivations of half of the party. I do wonder, however, whether there will be a stronger reaction to the terrorism this time than there was in 1997. Maybe they might make it so that NPCs don't talk about the people who were killed, or the news does not report on the incidents like they did in the original... But that would be whitewashing it a bit too neatly. I think the player needs to see that AVALANCHE were destructive radicals, even if their goals (to save the planet and get rid of Shinra) were admirable.

Vincent vs Hojo was not even close to what Dirge of Cerberus was. The introduction basically showed us that people were getting killed. And you get ranked better by protecting/saving the people. In Dirge of Cerberus, they made each life matter though the stage. That game was very We've seen mass killings in FF before, the only thing is they always managed to make us focus on something else.

I didn’t mean to say that Vincent vs Hojo was the entirety of the game. Only that if you were to trim off that fat that was the main part of the story (with the addition of the Deep Ground Soldiers too, even if most of them seemed to exist only to provide the player with boss battles), and where Vincent himself was concerned his most personal fight was with Hojo (or the uploaded consciousness of Hojo). That's only my interpretation of course, and it has been a while since I played the game.

Another note that the feminist points: At this time, Shera and Cid aren't even married. So it will be interesting to see where it goes. He's verbally abusive, but not because she's a woman, and she is there to punish herself. Shera isn't enabling him, He's enabling her.

I agree. I was just presupposing certain possible reactions from other people. Because internet, etc. Also, Cid’s behaviour is not so much because he is misogynistic but because he blames Shera for spoiling his dream to go to space, and she feels guilty for making him stop the launch. As he realises towards the end of the game that Shera had actually saved his life then he appreciates her and they apparently fall in love. I guess I was just saying that some people may not see it this way, and when people are reminded about (or approach for the first time) Cid and Shera's relationship, they might get a different impression and be offended.

Again, like the terrorism thing, I think the game should keep this. If we remove all moments like this then we'll have a very dull good vs evil game, and the original FFVII was more complicated than that.

 

[Shu]

Let's do an analytical break down of the things that could be altered due to Ratings. Though for now this game remains Teen, Final Fantasy VII would be a mature game today if redone correctly even if there was a lack of blood.


1) Swearing
2) Bombing Reactors
3) Aerith's Death Scene
4) Multiple deaths in the game that had nothing to do with main characters.
5) All the blood in shinra's building after Sephiroth went on a rampage or Jenova's body he acquired.

Similar to how movie ratings affect audience privileges, I could definitely see them sugar coating quite a bit of these themes to sell the game to a wider audience. Unfortunately businesses and especially SE, try to enhance marketing schemes, so numbers do make a difference. I think since it's already a "FF7" remake that there will be a huge number of sells, so maybe they will keep a lot of these themes in there. Most people will buy a next gen console just for this game, since we've been awaiting it almost 20 years later.

Now you want my personal opinion? This game and Xenogears were probably the most "adult" themed JRPGs I played. There is a reason I have Fei Wong in one of my signatures. Though for FFVII specifically to sugar coat would definitely be a causality. To appease ESRB they would have to seriously consider making an FFVII Version 2 in order get into the Teen category.

Though for now it stands, it's a teen game, so we shouldn't have to worry much yet.

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/Synopsis.aspx?Certificate=2726&Title=Final+Fantasy+VII

 

[Chocobro]

I had to register for this forum just to chime in, the OP makes a very interesting point with the things he believes will be cut out. I believe he is correct because in order for those things to be added in, the game would have be rated mature. I personally do not think this game is going to be rated mature, they would lose audience, and parents would not buy the system bundle which most likely will be made for this game due to it being too adult. I never thought of it this way but unfortunately I think he will be right. It would really suck to see the story made less intense than it is. What is funny is that I forgot about a lot of the points he had made, I totally forgot about barret just shooting the guy behind the couch, now that I am a bit older since I played it and re-watched the scene online it does make him look like a maniac, but I guess that is what type of character he was supposed to be. But I totally agree. Keep all this in the game, no matter how dark it is.

 

[Shaissa]

Well, I can say for 100% sure now that the bombing of the reactor is going to happen! if you watch the new footage you can clearly see that is going to happen still. So that being said I am sure that everything else major to the plot of the original is going to happen still, and I wouldn't worry too much about anything missing from the story, in fact I would like to see what they add to the story!

 

[Dionysos]

Well, I can say for 100% sure now that the bombing of the reactor is going to happen! if you watch the new footage you can clearly see that is going to happen still. So that being said I am sure that everything else major to the plot of the original is going to happen still, and I wouldn't worry too much about anything missing from the story, in fact I would like to see what they add to the story!

Indeed.

While we don't see exactly how the bombing itself will go down in this game (and how many people they kill or injure) it is very promising that it seems that they are still doing it. They don't seem to be missing anything out so far.

Cloud in a dress scene next, please!

 

[DoNotMessUpFF7Remake]

This new trailer has made me feel better a bit judging by how much wedge and the others look like how they should. However, as the previous poster mentioned we are still completely unsure as to the details. We will all have to wait for that. I'm pretty sure blade wasn't in this mission though. Ha. I'm not sure how I'm feeling about those shades. The combat looks like a fair compromise of the new and old that will still attract the current generation while only slightly angering the people who wanted a menu based/turn based system. Did anyone else notice how they wanted the show off the reflections on the sword as he was walking down the streets of Midgar in the trailer?

 

[Unknown King]

will barret swear? will he be effing and blinding like a sailor? because a lot of us read those symbols as censorship of certain curse words. how are they going to navigate that? they already had censorship for his narrative in the original but that was subtle and complimented the script. most people read those combinations of symbols as their particular ideas of what swear it was, it was a clever way to deal with that. I suppose they could bleep his words but that would seem a bit heavy handed and clumsy to the overall presentation.

 

[DoNotMessUpFF7Remake]

Another good point above, we now know that this game will have voice acting. Obviously there isn't going to be a loud censor noise during the dialog so Barrets language will be changed as no way a non-mature rated game will contain the language that Barret AND Cid say. Granted the language wasn't in the PS1 version either but the fact it was text based let us read the "wingdings" as curses anyway. I decided to play FF7 again, and it reminded me how wonderful this game was. The atmosphere is unreal. This was back when developers did exactly what they wanted to do with a smaller team and the art was more "selfish" without compromise...Walking on the rooftops with Aeris on top of rotting houses in the slums beneath a facility designed to kill the planets resources for the sake of the benefit of a few people on top at shinra. All of that with the most beautiful music playing in the background. I wonder now if this is even possible to recreate.

 

[Shu]

I think some of this is unfounded though. I mean yes, the swearing could be reduced, but does that really cut down on the game's story line?

The game will also be episodic, so I believe they may add more than take away from the story line. Lot's of fears are trying to control content pushed through these volumes, but I don't think we have much to worry about unless they choose to release volume II in 2026.

Let's just be thankful they are doing a remake. Although I'm not complacent, I have yet to see them take out the serious portions of the game due to ratings.

 

[iSmiff]

Cloud in a dress scene next, please!

This has been semi-ambiguously-confirmed by devs that it is staying. http://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-7-remake-cloud-will-crossdress-e3-2015/

 

[DoNotMessUpFF7Remake]

While they may be unfounded for now, the points I and others bring up are mere worries more than complaining. I am VERY thankful they are doing this remake. I am already buying this game whether or not it is bad or not. It is just whenever something is remade so many years later, the results are very questionable. I mean look at the recent Jem and the Holograms movie....Remember when in kingdom hearts and Cid lost his cigarette and had a tooth pick instead? They blamed the fact that ratings forced them to do it. Cid losing his smoking habit, Barret and Cid losing the bad language, and other things of this type may very well be removed of the game is not pushed to mature. Also recent Final Fantasy games with the current rating systems lack all the things mentioned. There is no major swearing, no one impaled with swords in cut scenes, so on so forth. It is a different world now. If Square is smart they should pay very close attention to why this game is so popular. It isn't just seph and aeris..it is ALL things in between..

 

[The Welsh Paddy]

Remember when in kingdom hearts and Cid lost his cigarette and had a tooth pick instead? They blamed the fact that ratings forced them to do it.

There was a similar issue with the Constantine TV series. In the comics, he was a huge chain smoker. It was pretty iconic to his character, but then that was changed for the TV series because it was deemed too inappropriate. I wouldn't be surprised if Cid doesn't smoke in the remake, and I wouldn't be surprised if the foul language is toned down a lot if not removed all together.

As for the opening bombing mission, I can imagine that being altered to make AVALANCHE seem less like terrorists. Like maybe having them get civilians and any innocent employees to evacuate or something.

In any case, when I eventually play this, I'm not expecting this to be the same as the original. And I mean in terms of tone and the themes portrayed. I'm not doubting this could potentially be an amazing game, but I'm certainly expecting it to be a lot different. I also don't blame the developer in the slightest for not wanting to just make the exact same game all over again.

 

[Shu]

There was a similar issue with the Constantine TV series. In the comics, he was a huge chain smoker. It was pretty iconic to his character, but then that was changed for the TV series because it was deemed too inappropriate. I wouldn't be surprised if Cid doesn't smoke in the remake, and I wouldn't be surprised if the foul language is toned down a lot if not removed all together.

As for the opening bombing mission, I can imagine that being altered to make AVALANCHE seem less like terrorists. Like maybe having them get civilians and any innocent employees to evacuate or something.

In any case, when I eventually play this, I'm not expecting this to be the same as the original. And I mean in terms of tone and the themes portrayed. I'm not doubting this could potentially be an amazing game, but I'm certainly expecting it to be a lot different. I also don't blame the developer in the slightest for not wanting to just make the exact same game all over again.

You are comparing TV to Games though. These are driven by separate ratings systems.

Let's just analyze this:

* TV - Kids have access to more due to the channels are readily available, unless of course their parents put a lock on what channels they can watch. So in a sense, they will only lock it by TV RATINGS! The TV ratings are harsher compared to this.

http://www.tvguidelines.org/ratings.htm

* Games - These have to be bought with money. Unless a child steals money or begs, they have to go to an online market place or a store. If you are not of the age, you can not buy it, so it's easier regulated.

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.aspx#rating_categories

So let me keep going here.

GAME RATINGS ONLY:

By all definitions they can keep the swearing, since Teen was the original rating of FFVII.

TEEN
Content is generally suitable for ages 13 and up. May contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling and/or infrequent use of strong language.

MATURE
Content is generally suitable for ages 17 and up. May contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual con
tent and/or strong language.

 

[Dionysos]

will barret swear? will he be effing and blinding like a sailor? because a lot of us read those symbols as censorship of certain curse words. how are they going to navigate that? they already had censorship for his narrative in the original but that was subtle and complimented the script. most people read those combinations of symbols as their particular ideas of what swear it was, it was a clever way to deal with that. I suppose they could bleep his words but that would seem a bit heavy handed and clumsy to the overall presentation.

I hope they still include swearing. They might be able to squeeze a bit in and keep it a Teen game, but for Barret and Cid swearing a lot (maybe too much) was quite a prominent part of their personalities. I don't know much about how they judge game ratings (other than descriptive lists such as posted in this thread), but judging from that and considering that since Barret and Cid swear quite aggressively (we can imagine, interpreting the Wingdings and symbols as we may) it might push it beyond Teen into Mature, perhaps. It depends on how Square-Enix do it and what they are willing to sacrifice.

I mean.... They could get around it by inventing new swear words for the FFVII universe. But really, unless Square-Enix become fast geniuses these insults and swear/curse words will inevitably suck... "It's cuz of that mognutted 'pizza' that people underneath are sufferin'!"... Etc... Err.

-

As for violence, etc, I should wish that they remain bold with what they include (as they did in the original). For the most part with the original they could get away with more scenes of violence in a game where the graphical models of the characters looked like shaped blobs of plasticine, or little bundles of painted sausages tied together in human shapes.

However, not all violent scenes were restricted to the Lego-block models. There were some very violent cgi moments (Aerith's death is the main one that springs to mind, although they shied away from depicting blood in this one). Let us not forget the painted backdrops too.


Take the slaying of the Midgar Zolom by Sephiroth (well... in a way), for example. This moment is quite often overlooked, but it is, for me, one of the most unsettling moments of the game. Here we have this immense serpent which (at the moment when the party meet it) will wipe the party out if encountered. That this ginormous snake appears on the world map (a rarity for a monster in an FF game - in fact I can't think of any other example, aside from super-bosses) adds to the fear of the player. When players attempt to cross that marsh without the aid of a chocobo, there is little chance of escaping the creature as its swampy silhouette speeds towards the player. Crossing that place unprepared can be frightening...

And then you finally cross that swamp and encounter this:

This immense supernatural serpent which had been chasing you is nothing to Sephiroth. It has been impaled on a tree trunk as if it was no more effort to him than killing a worm with a twig. The image above is quite bloody, but again it can be forgiven because of the tools used in representing this scene. If we imagine this in high quality graphics, might it not be far off scenes from God of War, for example?

I'm all in favour of these scenes, and it may not affect the ratings so much, but if it does then I would much rather they placed a mature rating on this game and included the darker aspects of it. From a business point of view this is less likely, so we may see some toning down. but hopefully they can be clever and subtle about this and include as much as they can get away with.

I'm sure they'll find some kind of compromise either way.