Square Enix reveals that the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Remake will feature full voice acting to compliment its already major graphical and gameplay overhaul.
Fans of the hotly anticipated title have had a lot of questions for Square Enix, and given the scope of the game the developer is currently attempting to recreate, it’s understandable that not all of them have been answered yet. An important query had some light shed on it today, however, as director Tetsuya Nomura and producer Yoshinori Kitase confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be fully voiced. Nomura stated:
“Basically, it will be fully voiced. We still haven’t decided the voices of the characters that weren’t in Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children.”
Nomura’s quote, taken from an interview with Dengeki PlayStation and translated by Gematsu, seems to imply that the characters that did receive full voice overs in Advent Children will see the same voice actors reprise their roles for the video game, although that hasn’t been confirmed yet. That Nomura and company haven’t found the voices for every character yet makes sense, however, given that the team behind Final Fantasy 7 Remake wants to expand on side characters like Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge.
Of course, fans want to see some classic Final Fantasy 7 scenes with voice acting more than others, and Kitase took the time to assuage any fears that the development team was going to gloss over some of the more iconic moments within the game. When asked about the dating events being voiced, Kitase responded:
Some of those “original elements” seem to include the infamous cross-dressing scene in the Honey Bee Inn, which Nomura referenced after Kitase’s comment. That’s good news for fans, then, who might have been concerned Final Fantasy 7 Remake might lose some of its predecessors humor alongside the plot and gameplay changes coming to Square Enix’s revisit to Midgar and beyond.
“It would be impossible not to. However, since it’s different from that time and social situation, we need [to] implement the reproduction of the original elements carefully.”
Those following the remake closely know that some changes have been better received than others. While the voice acting will likely be a unanimously welcome addition to a game that simply didn’t have the capability to include it in its first iteration, fans have been less sure about the decision to make Final Fantasy 7 Remake an episodic game. Even the PSX 2015 trailer that set the internet off into nostalgia-induced fits of elation brought some concern with it, as it showcased what some believe to be the wrong direction for Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s combat.
Still, the hype is going strong for what has to be considered one of the most exciting upcoming PS4 exclusives, albeit one without even a vague release date at this time. Was the inclusion of fully voiced characters something that surprised you, or did you expect it given the way RPGs are currently produced? Are you excited to finally find out what some of your favorite Final Fantasy 7 characters sound like after all these years? Let us know in the comments below.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is an upcoming PS4 exclusive that currently has no release date.
Source: Gematsu (via GameSpot)
