Final Fantasy VII Remake’s director Tetsuya Nomura confirmed that the game’s story missions and side missions would be of equal quality. The upcoming game, which will be released in multiple episodes, follows Cloud Strife and his allies as they travel through Midgar and challenge a corrupt corporation known as Shinra. Although the game’s plot soon becomes far more complex, the first installment in this remake of Final Fantasy VII only covers the events of the game until the protagonists leave Midgar.
Players were able to finally experience the beginning of the first episode earlier this week when Square Enix released an extremely well-received demo. Not only was the demo the culmination of the five-year wait since the remake was announced, but it also gave critical insight into the game’s scale. Because the events covered in the remake only account for a handful of hours in the original game, some fans have expressed concern about the game’s length. However, the amount of content in the demo – which covers a relatively small segment of the game’s opening – soon made clear that Nomura’s team is bringing exciting new content that matches the atmosphere of the original classic.
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In his interview with Famitsu, translated by IGN Japan, Nomura assured players that this level of quality would be maintained throughout the entire game. “The sub-quests,” he said, “have been made in exactly the same way as the main story quests.” He went on to state that his team originally had many more ideas for side quests but chose to sacrifice some of them to maintain the quality of the others. This dedication to quality over quantity is reflective of an ongoing trend in large-scale games such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Breath of the Wild, and Metro Exodus. These games have been hailed for the way their side quests are woven organically into the game’s story, as opposed to being a series of inconsequential fetch quests, a practice that significantly contributes to a game’s immersive qualities.
Some online translations of the interview seem to suggest Nomura is describing the side quests as being as long as the main story, which is not the case. Instead, he means both the original and fresh side quests will be particularly qualitative. Because the finished installment is said to span two Blu-ray discs and be the length of a full game, the inclusion of new side quests was virtually inevitable. In this interview, Nomura is seeking to set players’ minds at ease, assuring them that although the game will not be a carbon copy of the original with improved graphics, his team is taking particular care to ensure that the new content matches the overall quality of the original game and its story.
This news comes to us roughly one month before the release of the game, at which time players will be able to see this new content for themselves. This will likely only be a concern for the game’s first episode as the original game, and its spinoffs, provide no shortage of content once the protagonists leave Midgar. In the meantime, if the demo and this interview are any indications, longtime fans of the original have no reason to worry. Final Fantasy VII Remake releases on PS4 on April 10, 2020.
Source: IGN
