Since the dust of E3 has now settled it’s a good time to discuss one of the bigger announcements of the show, the announcement of the remake of Final Fantasy VII. Now Final Fantasy’s history goes back to the original NES, and there have been many an entry in the series since then. In fact Final Fantasy XV is set to release some time this year. So why choose 7? There are better games in the franchise, VI in particular is considered by some to be the “best” Final Fantasy, but there are a few reasons for the excitement.
The First of Its Kind
Final Fantasy VII was the first 3D Final Fantasy game created. Previous games in the series, which had been on the Nintendo and Super Nintendo, only used little 2D 8-bit and 16-bit sprites that had very little in the way of animation. Characters in battle scenes would move forward a bit, wave their little pixilated arm, and then move back. With FFVII the characters still just kind of moved forward a bit to preform a given attack, but this time there was a full animation for whatever action the character preformed. This was possible because all of the characters and environments where fully rendered in 3D.
The Animation
Thanks to the 3D the game designers were able to take the animation and cinematic expression to a level never before seen in a video game. The opening scene in the game is a shot of some stars that cuts to a young flower girl. It then pans out to a giant industrial looking city, and then pushes back in to a train running through the aforementioned city. It pulls into a station and a blonde spikey haired kid jumps out of one of the doors, and BOOM! you’re now playing the game. Today something like this is commonplace, but in 1997 this was some mind-blowing graphics.
Of course this wasn’t the only epic cut scene in the 100+ hour game. Animations like Knights of the Round, Chocobo races, explosions all took you on a ride like never before.
It Came On Three Discs!
First everyone was shocked at the time that this game wasn’t coming out for the Nintendo, but Nintendo had decided at the time to stick with cartridge based games, while their new rival Sony had decided on the cheaper and easier to produce CDs for it’s Playstation. It was an easy call for Squaresoft. With the size and scope of the game it had to be on CDs. At the time there were several games that spanned 2 discs, but FFVII was one of the first to be 3. There was just so much there and it took players months to not just beat the game because you never really beat Final Fantasy 7 unless you defeated the Emerald and Ruby weapons, two of the hardest boss fights in gaming history.
So while people would love to see modern remakes of Final Fantasy 6, or 9, or 4, seven has a special place in peoples hearts, and for good reason. The nostalgia and excitement are palpable, and if you don’t believe me watch this reaction video on YouTube and you’ll get an idea of how excited people are for this game to come out.
Related Slideshow: The Best Virtual Reality Gadgets and Games
Big names are now making VR a viable and desirable “new” technology. Google, Facebook, HTC, and Samsung are all in the game and the results make the 75-year-old View Master look like a child’s…well you get the idea.
In fact the View Master has gotten a serious upgrade thanks to Google and it’s Google Cardboard project. The new View Master is now a fully immersive experience with 360-degree worlds, photosphere, and interactive “field-trips.” The $30 plastic viewer requires a smartphone to function, and can be replaced with a standard cardboard setup since most of the work is done inside the app, but the View Master is a much more durable version and will come with the classic reels. These reels, however are no longer inserted into the top of the device, but laid on a table and viewed through the smartphone app triggering the experience.
Of course since the View Master is just a sturdier version of the standard Google Cardboard so it can be used for the variety of apps now available for the platform. Some of the best apps include Orbulus, VR Cosmic Rollercoaster, and Village. The View Master will be available in October, and will eventually support both Android and iOS.
Similar to the Google Cardboard, Samsung has developed it’s own VR headset designed to use the Galaxy Note 4 as the display. The Gear VR is actually a very good-looking full-on headset that only cost $200. The drawback, and it is a very big very expensive drawback, is that it requires the $700 Galaxy Note 4 in order to function. Another drawback is the limited software. It can of course use all the VR apps and features available for Google Cardboard, but those are still very limited both in visual quality and variety. If you already have a Note 4 and $200 to blow this could certainly be a fun toy, but at this point I would probably just go for the View Master or straight cardboard box.
Like Samsung HTC is best known for it’s outstanding smartphones, particularly the outstanding One series. They were also the first to develop an Android phone so you would think they would be content with the Cardboard project or something similar to the Gear VR. This is not the case; HTC, with the help of Valve, has developed the HTC Vive a high end VR headset aimed at PC gamers. Basically HTC is handling the manufacturing of the device while Valve/Steam handle the software. With a Fall 2015 release date the Vive is the first of the big VR headsets to launch, and could set the stage for the others.
Project Morpheus is Sony’s go at VR technology. This headset will connect directly to the Playstation 4 and provide a similar experience to the HTC Vive but in a console/living room setting as opposed to Vive’s PC/desk setting. Demos of the Morpheus have people on a luge, swimming with sharks, and robbing banks. If successful this could breathe new life into Sony’s lackluster attempt to copy the Nintendo Wii; the Playstation Move. Some of the issues gamers may have here are with the headset being wired to the PS4 and the potential amount of movement required of some games. Now movement and wires aren’t by themselves a bad thing, but pair them with a living room full of furniture, maybe a child/dog or two, and what amounts to a blindfold strapped to your head and you can see the potential for issues.
The device that re-started it all; Oculus Rift was a project that began back in 2012 with Oculus VR founders Palmer Luckey and Brendan Iribe. Palmer envisioned a lightweight head mounted display (HMD) that was both functional and inexpensive. The first prototype was little more than a couple of LCD panels duct taped to the head and running Doom 3. In August of 2012 the company began its Kickstarter campaign that introduced the first “dev-kit” for $300 allowing many the chance to develop for this new and exciting platform. In 2014 Facebook bought Oculus VR for $2.2 billion. The Oculus Rift is set to launch sometime next year and will likely have a price tag of around two or three hundred dollars.
The development of this next generation of VR looks like a promising one. Not only are these devices being developed for gaming and looking at pictures, but virtual tourism, medical uses, and virtual art shows are just the tip of the iceberg. Companies are developing VR arcades that merge real world environments and virtual ones to create even more realistic experiences.
As exciting as all this sounds it is all still in it’s…we’ll say…toddler stage. Things are looking good, but we won’t know how good for another two to three years at the least. If you want to try VR out for yourself Google Cardboard is your best bet currently as most of the more advanced options don’t launch until later this year or next. You can find a list of Cardboard sellers here, and perhaps I’ll see you in a virtual space down the road.
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