months after arrival final fantasy 7 apocalypseIn the final chapter of the remake trilogy, Teruki Endo continues to ponder one of the core questions of the film’s opening Combat system: What is the right balance between real-time and turn-based mechanics?
In an interview published by Edge magazine, the combat director explained that the issue came up again during Edge’s development. Each episode of the trilogy. “Every time I make a sequel, I always face this dilemma. If the game becomes too complex, that’s a problem. But if we don’t introduce completely new elements, or limit ourselves to minimal changes, we risk not meeting players’ expectations and not being able to give them something fresh when they come back to play.”
Rethink the system
For Endo, the solution is Rethink every element of the game every timerather than simply intervening in existing systems. “I always try to think about the purpose, meaning, and role of each element from the ground up, and then reconstruct it in a new game,” he explains.
In the case of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, this approach also comes with a desire to restore the special atmosphere Endo associated with the originals. The designer recalled the “festive atmosphere” he’s felt since the first game, explaining his growing desire to “explore how to add bolder and more interesting elements to the game.”
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Examples cited include FITS systema job system that allows you to modify the abilities of your team members, thereby changing the way you face combat. However, these mechanics are part of a customization system that continues to place materials at the center of the experience.
“Our approach has always been to put Materia at the center of customization,” Endo explains. “With the FITS system, one might have worried that players’ freedom to define each character’s strengths through Materia would be limited. Instead, we consciously sought to ensure that FITS would allow them to further refine and specialize the direction in which they were building based on Materia.”
only The relationship between actions and turns However, over the course of the development of three games, it kept changing. Both Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Reborn include Classic Mode, designed for players who prefer to focus on command selection while letting their character automatically manage the most dynamic parts of combat.
However, Endo admits that despite years of work, there is still no clear answer to this question. “Across all three games, we continued to refine this balance through trial and error,” he said. “The hard thing is, I haven’t decided what is the clear and right answer for me.”
However, the lack of what is considered a clear solution is not necessarily seen as a limitation. According to Endo, this may be one of the reasons why he was able to do this Working on the trilogy for so long without losing interest: “I think that’s probably one of the reasons I’ve been able to continue developing these games across all three chapters without getting bored.”