Square Enix has dedicated itself to designing its own resources for each of the scenarios, which includes backgrounds, music and more.
In times of coronavirus, the download speed on PlayStation 4 has slowed, since the Japanese company has worked with the authorities to ensure the stability of Internet connections. That may be a problem for those who download Final Fantasy VII Remake in its entirety, which has a weight of 100 GB. However, Square Enix justifies its decision in the mouth of Naoki Hamaguchi, co-director of the video game. According to the creative, this is because they have used unique resources for each ingame zone.
He has stated it in an interview with US Gamer, where he has assured that they have not reused resources to save memory or cut development time. "Instead of considering reusing standard resources for each location, such as the suburbs or Shinra headquarters, we decided to build each of the scenarios using unique resources to achieve the desired quality in Final Fantasy VII Remake," explains Hamaguchi.
Based on their words, they built unique resources for both sets, objects, background music, or NPCs. The objective? Make Midgar come alive and feel diverse in all its locations. That caused the file size to get bigger and bigger. "We designed resources such as the backgrounds (the background music) and the characters in each location, which allowed us a unique playable experience in all areas, even from a game design perspective," concludes Hamaguchi.
Respect for the original, an important issue
In the same interview, the co-director commented that when they approached the project they preferred to respect the essence of the original. For this, they chose to expand the known history instead of making changes that modified the spirit of the work. As it is a cult video game, he admits that he thought a lot about how things had to be done to live up to the highest expectations.
Final Fantasy VII Remake will be released on April 10 on PlayStation 4. The exclusive on the Sony machine lasts for a full year.