Dear Square Enix, Please Don't Change The Combat In The Final Fantasy 7 Remake

I am very excited about the Final Fantasy 7 remake that was announced at this year's E3. FF7 is still one of my all-time favorite games, and of all the titles in the Final Fantasy series, I feel it is the one most in need of a remake. For years now, people have debated the merits of such an undertaking, but I tend to look at it this way: Final Fantasy 7 is the one game in the series that suffered the most from its place in time and a loving remake will go a long way toward correcting that.

Side-by-side comparison of the PSone and PC versions.

What do I mean by that? Well, Final Fantasy 1-6 had sprite based graphics that, I feel, still hold up today. The pixelated art style of the 8- and 16-bit console entries gave the early games in the series a classic and unifying look that tied them all together and, let's face it, great pixel art never truly goes out of style. Final Fantasy 7, however, was released relatively early in the Playstation's life cycle and was the first game in the series to feature polygonal graphics. Though it looked pretty great when it was released in 1997, I think the general consensus is that FF7 really doesn't look so hot today. And it makes sense. It always takes time for developers to get a handle on newer console hardware capabilities, and since the original Playstation represented an evolutionary step away from sprite based graphics, it's not hard to understand why FF7 looks the way it does and why later Final Fantasy entries for the original Playstation look so much better. And besides, Final Fantasy 7 had a strong plot, fantastic music, a great cast of playable characters, and one of the most memorable final boss encounters in all of video games. It deserves a remake, and I'll listen to no more debate on the subject!

The real crux of this post, however, has to do with some recent comments that were made by Tetsuya Nomura, the director of the Final Fantasy 7 remake. In an interview with Official Playstation Magazine he talked about "dramatic changes" that he plans to make to the battle system. He is quoted as saying:

"And of course, that being said we want to clarify: We’re not going to be changing it into a shooter or something like that. We are going to be bringing dramatic changes, but we want to make sure it’s still recognizable."

This is a BAD idea and I do not trust the brains at SQUARE ENIX who think such a move will be good for Final Fantasy 7. Now look, I understand that, to some, turn-based RPG combat may seem played out. The thing is, IT'S NOT. There may be newer and "fresher" ways to handle combat in an RPG, but the classic turn-based style of FF7 is just that, classic. SQUARE ENIX has experimented with more contemporary ways of handling combat in its more recent Final Fantasy games and the results have been middling at best. Think of FF13 and how it obscures its battle scenes with an almost absurd amount of menus, numbers, and text, or Final Fantasy Crisis Core and how it gives the illusion of free movement during combat, only to have it be ultimately revealed as little more than cosmetic. I'm not calling either of those games BAD, mind you, I'm just pointing out the fact that SQUARE ENIX's attempts to tweak traditional turn-based RPG combat haven't done much to improve the genre. With this in mind, I believe that any attempts to "improve" the brilliant FF7 by overhauling the battle system will likely serve to alienate longtime fans and will probably do little to intrigue new ones. You want to tweak it a little and add combo attacks or something? Okay...maybe...but the phrase "dramatic changes" has me worried.

I'll close it out this way: turn-based RPG combat IS NOT DEAD! The Pokémon series still has it, and it's one of the most enduringly popular RPG series in history. Even SQUARE ENIX's recent Bravely Default featured traditional RPG combat, and that game was a commercial and critical smash! Don't do it, SQUARE ENIX. No one wants this!

Greatest Games of All Time: Phantasy Star I - IV

I'd like to start things off with a recurring feature I'm going to call 'Greatest Games of All Time'. In this feature I'm going to profile some of the most excellent console games ever released! Exciting, right? So without any further ado I present to you my very first entry; the venerable Phantasy Star series.

Phantasy Star 1

The original Phantasy Star was a pioneer in the RPG genre. Released in 1988 for the 8-bit Sega Master System, the game follows the exploits of the (female) protagonist Alis as she sets out to avenge the death of her older brother at the hands of the tyrant Lassic. Set in a futuristic fantasy world where magic and technology coexist, the player must guide Alis as she gathers her comrades and makes her way across the three planets of the Algol Star System before the final showdown with Lassic. Hands down one of the best games to be released for the underrated Master System, it holds up surprisingly well even today. Highlights included: a colorful cast of characters (one of whom was a talking cat!), gorgeous 8-bit graphics and music, pseudo 3-D dungeons, a lengthy and challenging quest, and a satisfying story. Fans of the 8-bit era (and RPG fans in particular) should find a way to play this game if they haven't already, for it is a true classic!

Phantasy Star 2

The first sequel appeared two years later and was aptly titled Phantasy Star 2. Although it was released for the 16-bit Sega Genesis system, it came out early in that system's life cycle and thus it shows relatively subtle upgrades in the graphics and music department. This is not meant as an indictment against the designers, but rather a tip of the cap to the folks who worked on the original game. This installment, set 1000 years after the events of the original game, follows the adventures of Rolf, a government agent. He is accompanied in his quest by seven additional player characters. Each of these additional characters has their own unique set of special skills and abilities, and players must swap them in and out of the four member active party as the situation merits. The doctor, for example, has loads of healing spells, the thief can steal valuable goods from the shops, and the hunter can handle heavy guns with ease. The game departs from its predecessor by dropping the faux 3-D dungeons, but more than makes up for it in sheer length (nearly twice the size of the original), an enduring storyline, and, in my humble opinion, the finest soundtrack of the series.

The third game in the series was similar to its predecessors in terms of gameplay, but it showed a radical departure in terms of presentation. Rather than taking place in a hybrid sci-fi/fantasy world, the setting for this installment had more of a traditional medieval vibe. Diligent play revealed a connection to the series' overall story arc, but it is not set in the Algol System and in many ways it feels a lot less like a Phantasy Star game than any other in the series. Though it may be the black sheep of the family, PS 3 featured an interesting mechanic that allowed the story to span several 'generations'. About a third of the way through the game, the player is asked to choose whom the protagonist will marry. After choosing, the journey continues on with the player now taking control of the son of the original hero, his stats, skills, and appearance being affected by the player's choice of bride. This mechanic crops up one again toward the end of the game, making the character that confronts the final boss the grandson of the original hero. Cool, right?

Phantasy Star 3

At last we have Phantasy Star 4, the final (as of this writing) numbered game to appear in the series. Turning up on American shores in 1995, this game truly brought all of the best features of the series together for one last victory lap. Returning once again to the Algol System and the series' futuristic sci-fi/fantasy roots, the story plays out in richer detail thanks to the newly introduced cutscenes.

References to the earlier games abound in every aspect of this fan favorite, but the game continues to innovate by adding side quests and combo attacks. This installment does an incredible job of capping off not only an amazing series, but the 16-bit era as well.

It should be noted that there have been other, more recent console games to bear the Phantasy Star name. Phantasy Star Online, released for the Sega Saturn in 2000, was one of the first console MMORPGs and was itself given several sequels across multiple platforms. Fine games they may be, they differ from the original series in many key ways. The storyline of the Online series has little to do with the original, for example, and combat is more action oriented as opposed to turn based.

Finally, I'd like to give you some context and recommendations should you decide to give one (or two, or three) of these games a try. The first thing to know is that they are relatively easy to come by. All four games are available through Wii Virtual Console as well as on 'Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection' available for PS3 and XBOX360. Parts 2, 3, and 4 are available on 'Sega Genesis Collection' for PSP. If you are a fan of 8-bit gaming, you really owe it to yourself to play the original Phantasy Star. It's really quite good. If you were only going to play one of the games from the 16-bit era, I'd have to suggest you go with the fourth game for its overall quality and polish, though the second game is quite a jewel of its era. The third game in the series is solid as RPGs go, but its loose connection to the larger series makes it ultimately skipable. Also keep in mind that all of these games are grindfests. Each one is a good-old-fashioned-random-battle-turn-based-money-hoarding-level-gaining-old-school-RPG, thank you very much! The genre has evolved quite a bit since the 16-bit era and these games do show their age in regard to some of the design elements and gameplay mechanics. Still, for fans of the old school aesthetic, and RPG fans in particular, the Phantasy Star series is one for the ages.