A new clarification about the episodic nature of the Final Fantasy VII remake should make fans of Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, Barret, Yuffie and the rest of the gang very happy.
Square Enix explained that the episodes aren't really what we expect: they aren't tiny chapters of games that only offer up about an hour or two of gameplay. Each episode will actually run about the size of a full game.
In May's issue of Game Informer, the publisher attempted to explain what it meant when it referred to the remake being made into episodes.
"It will essentially be a full-scale game for each part of the multi-part series," producer Yoshinori Kitase said. "In XIII, each installment told the story from a different angle. It was kind of like approaching an unknown territory in a sense. Whereas with Final Fantasy VII Remake, we already have a preexisting story, so it wouldn't really make sense if that isn't encompassed in a multi-part series. So if we're just looking at each of these parts, one part should be on par with the scale of one Final Fantasy XIII game."
It seems that the use of the word "episodes" denotes different parts of the series, at least according to this explanation. Considering that Final Fantasy XIII offered up 40 to 70 hours of gameplay, players should find themselves relieved at this news and know that each "episode" will give them their money's worth.
This does not reveal how many "episodes" Square Enix has planned, though, for the remake, nor does it give any details about what each might cost: will the company charge the price of a full-length game for individual parts, which is generally around $60? It's kind of odd that the company feels the need to split the game up, but perhaps it's necessary to update such a lengthy tale so that it looks and operates well with modern specifications. Although it seems dated today, when Final Fantasy VII arrived in 1997, it was well ahead of its time.
Square Enix also has not yet set a release date for the Final Fantasy VII remake, probably because the company plans on focusing most of its marketing on Final Fantasy XV, which arrives on Sept. 30.
