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One of the hottest topics in the RPG world recently has been the rumors of a potential remake of Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation 3. Starting back with the tech demo unveiled at E3 2005 and continuing on to this year's convention, the prospect sparks avid interest and debate alike. The hype reached the point where Square repeatedly made official denials about the existence of a newer, spiffier FFVII, but there's still plenty of enthusiasm both for and against.
Of course, this really is nothing new to the market. Almost all the NES and SNES Final Fantasy titles were ported onto the PlayStation after all. More recently, all six have or soon will be released on the GBA or DS. And let's not forget classics like Lunar, Tales of Phantasia, and others which have been remade for more modern platforms. In fact, the topic of remade games is almost as rehashed as some of the games in question. Up until the past few years though, there was merely a trickle of these titles. Now it's more like a flood of new-old games pouring down on the gaming market, usually with revamped graphics, additions to the story, new gameplay modes, and various other bells and whistles that nearly turn them into whole new games.
The question I feel I have to ask now is simply this: why? Do we really need to reproduce the same titles repeatedly? I think it's because developers have realized the potential in just how marketable fanboyism is. RPGamers all have their favorite titles, and many will tell you they've played certain ones over and again just from sheer love of the game. And let's face it, the standard RPG tends to have less replay value than other genres just by design, so that says a great deal. And now, software companies have discovered they can turn that fanaticism into a tidy profit. Many diehard fans will buy just about anything from a franchise they love, and that means big bucks to the company that re-sells to them. All they need to do is put Cloud or Sephiroth on the cover, and they might as well be printing cold hard cash.
The thing that really bothers me about this is that all the money and effort that's gone into re-doing an older game could have been spent on a totally new creative imagining. We fell in love with many of these "classic" games because they were revolutionary in their day. Let's keep the revolution going! Keep inventing new, fresh, exciting titles, not performing software necromancy because some oldtimer gamers will drool at the thought of seeing their beloved characters in a new light.
And in truth, I am one of those oldtimers. I've been playing RPGs since Adventure on my 2600, and I freely call myself an undying fan of the genre. But to me, titles like Lunar or Final Fantasy are like works of art. Yes, even masterpieces. If someone were to take the Mona Lisa, re-paint it in brighter colors, fix her smile, and throw in a few DaVinci easter eggs in the background, it might technically be a better experience. But it would no longer be the Mona Lisa. To me, updating a classic doesn't mean an improvement; but merely makes it something other than what it used to be. In other words: if it isn't broke, please don't try to fix it.
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