Final Fantasy 7 Remake‘s director, Tetsuya Nomura, recently spoke with Famitsu magazine about the game and some aspects of it that were adapted for modern sensibilities. Gematsu translated key points of the interview.
As those familiar with the game would probably guess, the Honeybee Inn cross-dressing sequence was near the top of the list. FF7 Remake will include the Honeybee Inn, though certain aspects of it have been changed.
“We’ve made it more modern. If we made the facility like we did in the original game, the physical unease would be staggering, so that was no good…” Nomura said.
Nomura didn’t give any hints about what exactly was changed or how.
Tifa Lockheart’s character design was another topic of discussion. Her design in the original FF7 is somewhat infamous for its over-exaggerated proportions, proportions which essentially overshadowed other aspects of her physical depiction.
Not so with FF7 Remake. One of Tifa’s features the team wanted to emphasize is her body type. Nomura said they gave her defined abs to help emphasize her athletic nature, and that emphasis helped make it easier to keep her signature outfit as well.
The Square Enix ethics department (and this is the first mention we’ve had that one even exists) also recommended her chest be tightened some, so as to not create “unnatural” situations during combat, hence the inclusion of a new undergarment to prevent problems during action sequences.
Tifa is also meant to be a deliberate foil for Aerith, with the former representing Eastern style and design, while the latter represents Western style.
The interview shifted gears and covered a few things longtime fans can expect that will help keep the game feeling fresh no matter how many times they’ve played the original. The May trailer showed mysterious black wisps circling Aeirth and Cloud, and Nomura named these entities the Watchmen of Fate; apparently, these beings will appear before the party no matter where they are.
New dialogue options and branching dialogue paths have been added to help give more weight to player choice. Whether these affect elements of the story isn’t clear, but Nomura did say the team added several new scenarios to the game — hence the fact it takes up two Blu-Ray discs.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is set for a March 3, 2020 release. Those who didn’t get a chance to experience the E3 demo of the game can check out our hands-on impressions to get an idea of what the game will offer.
For more on Final Fantasy 7 Remake, see what Square needs to do to modernize the game’s characters.
