“Realism” in certain gaming genres isn’t really something that we think about, especially when those genres are “fantasy” and “sci-fi.” After all, the point of those genres is to “imagine what could happen” if certain things were to take place. You know, like having ships that can take you across the stars, or being able to use items that can summon mighty creatures or cast powerful magics. That kind of thing. The Final Fantasy VII Remake, created by Square Enix, was done to help “modernize” the beloved PS1 title, while also “refining” certain things that needed changing due to both technologies and sensibilities.
When director Naoki Hamaguchi was asked in an interview about what changes the game was going to have that they didn’t go through with, a surprise was revealed: Cloud’s legendary Buster Sword!
“While making Remake, there was this aspect of the weight and how Cloud swings it around with one hand that sort of felt like it would weaken the sense of realism, you know? So at the time, when we were making Remake, there was some discussion about whether we should give Cloud a more realistic version of the Buster Sword. But it was just too iconic, and if we’d made it just a regular old sword, players wouldn’t accept it. But in the end we stayed faithful to the OG, and a whole new generation of people fell in love with it, so I think it was the right call.”
It was definitely the right call, for while “adding in” or “adjusting things” is fair, removing something like the Buster Sword due to “realism” would’ve caused a heavy backlash.
Final Fantasy VII Remake will soon drop on the Nintendo Switch 2 in January, if you haven’t gotten it yet.
Source: YouTube
