Last December 6, fans of Final Fantasy were teased when Square Enix announced in a press release that the remake will play across a multi-part series, with each entry having its own unique experience. According to Gamespot, CyberConnect 2, a studio known for Naruto fighting games and Asura's wrath, among other games, is said to be assisting the remake. Speculations have surfaced since then about its release schedule, the cost, or how often each part will come out.
Following the announcement, Square Enix posted on their blog last Thursday that the remake will indeed have an episodic format.
Yoshinori Kitase, director of the 1999 original Final Fantasy PlayStation release, shared that the development team took the opportunity to go beyond the original story, and make the fans experience it in ways everyone has dreamt of.
It was not only a strategy but a necessity, as trying to include the original into just one release will not give good results, and the team does not want to shortchange the FF fans.
Kitase explains, "We would have to cut various parts and create a condensed version of Final Fantasy 7. We knew none of you would have wanted that ... I hope that by explaining a little more about our design decisions that you can appreciate the size of this project and what we have planned for this remake. Going beyond the scale and depth of the world, narrative and gameplay from the original to deliver something that feels familiar yet new. As I said before, we like delivering surprises."
This revelation has earned different reactions from gamers. A lot of people are saying that this is Square Enix' new money grabbing scheme, while many loyal Final Fantasy fans are standing by the team's decision. Others declared that they are too lazy to wait for each installment, and will just wait for all the episodes to be released before purchasing the game.