Final Fantasy VII Remake will introduce some ‘dramatic’ changes to cult RPG

Resurrecting a beloved near 20-year old game poses a major problem – how to keep it faithful enough to please fans but fresh enough for the modern market.

That’s one of the challenges faced by the developers of the Final Fantasy VII remake, and not for the first time players have been warned to expect significant changes.

GamesRader reports that game director Tetsuya Nomura has said there will be dramatic changes” to the game’s combat, adding: "And of course, that being said we want to clarify: We’re not going to be changing it into a shooter or something like that. We are going to be bringing dramatic changes, but we want to make sure it’s still recognisable."

Nomura also said the team is looking to 2005 animated film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children – which he directed – for visual inspiration, although he noted that [the team] don’t intend on utilising the 3D models of Advent Children as is because, well, it’s a different technology”.

The FFVII Remake was revealed at E3 2015 last month.

Nomura has previously said that: The HD PC version [of FFVII] is coming to PS4 already [and] we don’t need two of the same thing. We want to take a different approach. If we actually just upgraded the visuals, there’d be no need for me to direct it. Things will change.”

Nomura has also confessed that he only found out he was the game’s director when he saw his name on the game’s credits in an internal company presentation.