Since its announcement, the choice to make Final Fantasy VII Remake an "episodic" game has been a controversial one. Call me crazy but I could see this being a great thing, that makes the remake even more of an event.
For the sake of conversation here, let's assume the remake is able to thread the same needle as RE2 Remake, and is able to please new and old fans alike.
If FF7 was being delivered all at once, you'd have all these people who have waited years for it just blowing thru it over a week, and moving on. A very different experience than what us old people experienced in 1997, where FF7 seemed to hover over the gaming landscape for the better part of a year.
Releasing it in parts, in my opinion, may have the unforeseen side effect of making people savor it all the more (again assuming its good). Sort of like seasons of a big TV show. You end up watching each season multiple times, as you prepare to dive back in for the new season. I could see people getting ready for FF7 ep2, by revisiting the first installment, and so on until we reach the final chapter. At each stop, people more closely dissecting the section that was just released. Longer periods where people are only able to discuss Midgar, or the temple of the anicents/the plot twist, or Cloud's mental breakdown thru the end of the game. Letting the narrative breathe. Speculating on how they'll handle upcoming events.
Now granted there's a lot of other issues at play here. Cost of each portion. The value proposition of how much content is in each one. But so many of us have wanted this remake for so long. I'm down with the episodic approach if it means that the communal experience of living in FF7s world, and discussing it with friends, is prolonged over years, as opposed to something that everyone blitzes thru over a frenzied couple of weeks and puts in the rear view mirror.
For the sake of conversation here, let's assume the remake is able to thread the same needle as RE2 Remake, and is able to please new and old fans alike.
If FF7 was being delivered all at once, you'd have all these people who have waited years for it just blowing thru it over a week, and moving on. A very different experience than what us old people experienced in 1997, where FF7 seemed to hover over the gaming landscape for the better part of a year.
Releasing it in parts, in my opinion, may have the unforeseen side effect of making people savor it all the more (again assuming its good). Sort of like seasons of a big TV show. You end up watching each season multiple times, as you prepare to dive back in for the new season. I could see people getting ready for FF7 ep2, by revisiting the first installment, and so on until we reach the final chapter. At each stop, people more closely dissecting the section that was just released. Longer periods where people are only able to discuss Midgar, or the temple of the anicents/the plot twist, or Cloud's mental breakdown thru the end of the game. Letting the narrative breathe. Speculating on how they'll handle upcoming events.
Now granted there's a lot of other issues at play here. Cost of each portion. The value proposition of how much content is in each one. But so many of us have wanted this remake for so long. I'm down with the episodic approach if it means that the communal experience of living in FF7s world, and discussing it with friends, is prolonged over years, as opposed to something that everyone blitzes thru over a frenzied couple of weeks and puts in the rear view mirror.
