A new interview with Square Enix’s Tetsuya Nomura reveals some tantalizing new details about Final Fantasy VII Remake, including switching between characters in battle and some insights into how the revamped materia system will work in the game.
Speaking with Japan’s leading game magazine, Famitsu (via Gematsu), Nomura provided more detail and context about the Final Fantasy VII Remake screenshots revealed at the MAGIC 2017 conference last month. Some early glimpses of this interview made the rounds earlier this week, the general takeaways being that FF7R’s combat will probably look and play a lot more like FFXV’s than the PS1 original.
READ: 'Final Fantasy VII Remake' Combat System Looking More Like 'FFXV' Than The Original
Speaking about the Guard Scorpion battle that caps off the first Mako Reactor bombing raid in the game, Nomura mentioned certain aspects of the battle map mean “you’ll fight while switching between Cloud and Barret. For example, when there’s an enemy in a position that can’t be reached by Cloud’s sword, it’s more effective to switch to Barret.”
Up until now, it wasn’t clear if you’d be able to control anyone other than Cloud in FF7R, so this is great news for those hoping the new game will retain the customizability and the sense of “a party for every scenario” the original had. As much as we loved FFXV’s combat system and warping around all over the place as Noct, we found ourselves wanting to play as Ignis more than once. Not just because he’s the best Chocobro (though he totally is), but because there are certain situations where it would be helpful to more directly control the character doling out healing and buffs.
Of course, a major part of what made the original Final Fantasy VII feel open to various kinds of playstyles was the materia system. Nomura talked about this more with Famitsu as well, though he was pretty cagey with the hard details. Asked about what the materia command on the on-screen combat menu, he responded, “Regarding Materia, what I can say is that it’s something like a skill. Different from magic, you can use it when you’ve set a Materia that has an effect that can be used in battle.”
Honestly, we’re not quite sure what this means. Perhaps it opens up a submenu, where you can access equipped materia skills like Steal, Capture or 2x-Cut without them cluttering up the UI all the time, since there’s not a dedicated bar at the bottom of the screen for commands. Maybe there won’t be as many of these kinds of commands in Remake, and more of the materia skills will be passive / automated, like the Ascension Tree in FFXV. On the other hand, “an effect that can be used in battle” makes it sounds like materia could just apply to turning buffs on and off (like Haste or Regen), but that may be reading too much into a deliberately vague, translated statement.
If you want to read more, Gematsu has a fuller rundown of the interview, which also features some new info about Kingdom Hearts 3.
While it does seem a little silly how closely fans and journalists have scrutinized these two screenshots from MAGIC 2017, it’s a reminder of the deep, enduring attachment so many people have to FFVII. It also reminds us just how high the stakes are for Square Enix in getting Remake right. No pressure, guys!
There’s no firm release date at present for Final Fantasy VII Remake, but we see it all the time in our dreams.
