Final Fantasy 7 Remake Writer Explains Why Dialogue Has Been Rewritten

03/29/2020 10:58 am EDT

The release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, the highly anticipated upgrade to the iconic original, is nearly upon us. While we've known for some time that the first entry will focus entirely on the Midgar storyline, it's since been made clear just how much has changed in the new version, with new characters, new locations, and so on. In fact, as it turns out, a large portion of the dialogue has seemingly been changed as well, and for good reason.

"When Square Enix told me we were doing Remake, I first asked how much we could alter the dialogue," writer Kazushige Nojima says in a recent behind-the-scenes video. "Because the dialogue in the original game was designed to be read by the player. It was not voiced. I said that if dialogue was going to be performed by actors then I would like to change it. I wanted to change it all! Because we now have these super realistic characters and performance, I have gone back and written in all the bits that were omitted because we didn't feel we needed to go into that depth with the original's simpler characters."

You can check out the full video below:

The game's co-director, Motomu Toriyama, notes immediately afterward that the developer is keeping all of the iconic moments from the original script, but that because of the nature of the original (fully text-based script, little camera work, no voices) there needed to be updates. Otherwise, it would come across as incredibly "explanatory" compared to the performances one might see in other modern video games.

What do you think of what we've seen of Final Fantasy VII Remake so far? Are you excited to check it out when it releases next month? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

Here's how Square Enix describes Final Fantasy VII Remake on its official website:

"The world has fallen under the control of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a shadowy corporation controlling the planet's very life force as mako energy.

"In the sprawling city of Midgar, an anti-Shinra organization calling themselves Avalanche have stepped up their resistance. Cloud Strife, a former member of Shinra's elite SOLDIER unit now turned mercenary, lends his aid to the group, unaware of the epic consequences that await him.

"The story of this first, standalone game in the FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE project covers up to the party's escape from Midgar, and goes deeper into the events occurring in Midgar than the original FINAL FANTASY VII."

Final Fantasy VII Remake is currently scheduled to launch on April 10th for PlayStation 4. Retail copies of the game could potentially be delayed thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, however. It's currently unclear exactly how many games the Final Fantasy VII Remake will be comprised of, as it's known that it will be releasing in distinct chunks. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the title right here.

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