‘Final Fantasy VII: Remake’ Release Date, Latest News & Update: Reimagining Ranks Second on Latest Famitsu Charts

“Final Fantasy VII: Remake” ranked second in the latest Famitsu charts, trailing behind “Kingdom Hearts 3” by 151 votes, GamingBolt reported. The result isn’t surprising given that “Kingdom Hearts 3” is going to be released on Jan. 29.

After the title hits the market, it’s expected that “Final Fantasy VII: Remake” will dominate the Famitsu rankings in the coming months. The reimagining will remain true to the original game’s plotline, although Square Enix has also made significant changes.

The most controversial of which is the decision to alter the game’s battle mechanics. Game director Tetsuya Nomura said that they wanted to incorporate a real-time battle playstyle for “Final Fantasy VII: Remake” to keep players immersed.

“The original version had random encounters, and such parts were in the realm of imagination, but since this title is seamless and you see the path that you're infiltrating, I decided it was necessary for the sake of realism,” Nomura explained. This was met with mix reviews by the franchise’s hardcore following. On one hand, people were simply happy that “Final Fantasy VII: Remake” is happening given how long they’ve waited.

On the other, people are claiming that the decision is a huge misstep by Square Enix and they should keep the classic ATB (Action Time Battle) playstyle that popularized the original title. Judging by the latest Famitsu charts, it seems that the former group holds sway on this narrative. The gaming studio also announced that they are releasing “Final Fantasy VII: Remake” episodically, TechRadar reported.

Series producer Yoshinori Kitase explained that the reason for this is the sheer size of the game. “If we were to try to fit everything from the original into one remake installment, we would have to cut various parts and create a condensed version of Final Fantasy 7. We knew none of you would have wanted that,” Kitase said. While this isn’t an outright confirmation, it does suggest that “Final Fantasy VII: Remake” will have a massive map.

Since “Kingdom Hearts 3” has been given a huge verticality, it’s safe to assume that the reimagining will get a similar treatment. After all, Midgar has loads of skyscrapers that Cloud could scale as players go through various missions in “Final Fantasy VII: Remake.” As for the release date of the title, nothing has been announced just yet. The optimists are hoping that it could drop in late 2019, while the realists are speculating it could be far away as 2023.