Square-Enix are now preparing to release their follow-up to Final Fantasy XIII, with an immediate XIII-2 sequel, and it is a game that is looking to correct the mistakes that XIII made and once again put a smile back on the fans of faces after a disappointing 2011. Final Fantasy XIII was heavily criticized for its linearity, and although FFXIIX-2 will introduce the controversial element of DLC to a Final Fantasy game for the first time, early reviews coming out of Japan suggest that it is a game well worth waiting for when it hits the US and Europe towards the end of next month and early February.

With the ongoing question mark regarding Final Fantasy Versus XIII aside, the upcoming remake of a much-loved classic in Final Fantasy X should give fans an indication that the company are trying to return back in favor with fans, and although it may not be the infamous Final Fantasy VII remake that ‘everyone’ wants, it is still a great prospect to look forward to since FFX remains one of the best games in the history of the franchise in many gamers eyes.

We have recently heard that Square-Enix has issued a statement, once again confirming that the re-release of Final Fantasy X will be a proper ‘remake’ and not a HD remaster of any sort that we often see with many games today. Development is thought to still be at a very early stage, but the thought of Square-Enix remaking this from scratch and putting real effort into the game will be met with delight by fans who are hanging on to hope that better things will follow FFX.

Considering the fact that the company are remaking Final Fantasy X and not just giving this a HD remake shows that the company still have what it takes to deliver a quality game, and who’s to say that they won’t go on and remake Final Fantasy VII, FFVIII and FFIX in the future. Those games are obviously the cream of the crop as far as every Final Fantasy fan is concerned and it would be easy money if they did choose to remake them. The possibilities are endless as well if they do go down this route – it will be interesting to see if they add any new content to Final Fantasy X, or just build the game up on PS3 and Vita using the same content from the PS2 game.

How excited are you for the future of Final Fantasy after hearing that FFX will be a true remake? Do you think it is possible that we will finally see remakes of FFVII and other classic titles in the franchise?

This demo looks to have been created from scratch though, using the Unreal Engine 3 – and it looks pretty good as well for a fan project. Just like Square’s tech demo released at E3 2005, this version also shows the opening sequence of the game when Cloud gets off the train at the Mako reactor, only this time it is playable, as reported from VG247.

Just how long this playable demo will be up for download remains to be seen though, as Square-Enix may decide that they do not like the copyrighted material in the game and as a result may decide to pull the plug. Seeing the enormous length that the developer has gone to though, hopefully common sense will prevail and Square-Enix will allow fans to get a taste of this as it really deserves at least a try out.

Who knows, the very existance of this new playable Final Fantasy VII remake may put even further pressure on Square-Enix to officially remake the game since it remains one of the most requested items in the legacy of Final Fantasy, especially after some below-par game releases such as Final Fantasy XIII.

If you’re interested in giving this a go, you can download the demo from the official website here. There’s also some preview screenshots and a section showing how the demo was created from scratch – pretty impressive again considering the guy has done this just for the fans. If you don’t intend to play it, you can just watch the video below so you get an idea of the quality of the remake.

For those of you that have played the 1997 original, how does this playable build make you feel? Does it do justice to the original or not?

At the moment, a Final Fantasy VII remake has yet to be given the green light by Square-Enix, but considering that the company are now remaking another classic in Final Fantasy X for the PS3 and PS Vita, it still remains an open possibility much to the delight of Final Fantasy veterans.

Speaking of veterans, Yoshinori Kitase, producer for many Final Fantasy games including the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII-2 has spoken a in a recent interview and revealed that if the company were to finally remake the game, they may have to delete certain aspects of the game, whilst also adding new elements at the same time.

He is a portion of his interview with OXM, as reported from Eurogamer:

“If I may speak as a game creator, if we were to produce a remake of 7, for example, I would be really tempted to delete things and add new elements, new systems or whatever because if we were to make exactly the same thing now, it’d be like a repeat. It’d be an issue of repetition and not as much fun to make such a game. So I’d be really interested in rearranging games or reshaping games into something slightly different even though it’s supposed to be the same game.”

He then went on to make the very important point that changing elements of the original game may not go down too well with hardcore Final Fantasy fans, who would prefer the game to be remade 100% with nothing changed from the original. Having said that, the idea of Square-Enix taking the time to add new content could change the whole complexity of the game, just with the addition of one town and new townspeople for example.

Other possibilities they could explore though without affecting the main storyline of the game, would be to give the main characters actual voice actors this time around, and of course character models with mouths. Square-Enix could add content to the game by way of mini-games and side quests, again these factors wouldn’t affect the overall balance of the game, and it is something that Square-Enix could definitely work on.

What are your thoughts on the comments from Kitase. Would you support the idea of deleting content in favor of adding new material to FF7, or is the game best left untouched?

As reported from TheSilentChief, interest in a FF7 remake has gathered speed ever since Square-Enix released the game as a PS1 classic on the Playstation network store.

While most would jump at any talk on a remake for the PS3, TheSilentChief has other ideas. They explain that the game would take far too long to develop, while they also fear that a new development team for the game would make too many changes to the core elements of the game, including that battle system within FF7 that we all loved dearly.

Finally, the last reason and probably the most significant of all, is that they think the game should not be touched at all, because it is simply a ‘masterpiece’. I have to say that I agree with them on that front. While towns and characters in HD would be amazing, I fear that too many changes will just spoil the game and risk ruining the legacy.

Do you agree with this or not? Let us know your opinions on a remake.

As reported from VG247, Wada was speaking at the recent launch party for Final Fantasy XIII when he revealed the news that everyone wanted to hear.

He explained: “We’re going to explore the possibility – whether or not we’re going to do it, if we’re going to do it, and the platform.”

Never have we seen the words ‘explore’ from a Square exec yet. We have seen ‘interested’, but not ‘explore’. This is surely great news for FF7 fans all over the world.

The bad news? It might be coming to platforms other than the Playstation 3. Let us know your thoughts on this.

It doesnt get any better for fans hoping of a remake either, as according to this report from Eurogamer, Kitase believes that it could take 3 or 4 times the amount spent on Final Fantasy XIII (3.5 years) to make the remake.

The key portion of his interview reads: ”If we were to recreate Final Fantasy VII with the same level of graphical detail as you see in Final Fantasy XIII, we’d imagine that that would take as much as three or four times longer than the three-and-a-half-years it has taken to put this Final Fantasy together!”

That works out around 10-14 years! Quite a bombshell there from Kitase we reckon. What do you make of his ‘latest’ comments? Seems to us that he has something different to say every week.

As reported from VG247, producer Yoshinori Kitase has spoken in a recent interview about how he would be ‘really interested’ in seeing a more ‘complete form of Final Fantasy VII’.

Of course, we all know that he is hinting about the remake, what else could he be talking about? He continued: “I’d be interested to see that and to make that, it would be a great experience.”

He also said that he doesnt get bored of the endless questions surrounding a possible remake, even saying that he’ll stop his thoughts about a remake, as soon as people stop asking questions about it.

Basically, the remake is back on then folks! Let us know what you think about it.