Easier progression for those with less time to play.
With FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE available now on the Nintendo Switch 2, along with a demo, Director Naoki Hamaguchi, recently sat down with Nintendo for an interview. During the interview, Hamaguchi-san discussed the game’s combat gameplay at length and the decision of why streamlined progression mechanics were included. His full comments can be seen here:
Naoki Hamaguchi: The approach that we took to the battles and the more action-style gameplay for the remake series was to increase the immersion, really making players feel like they’re there in that world. To do that, we introduced more of this real-time, immediate visceral feedback from action-style gameplay. We felt that would be an integral part. There are a lot of players that respond to that really well and it’s a really core part of the game for them.
At the same time, we’re also aware that there are lots of people who played and loved the original FINAL FANTASY VII. They might want to play the remake but aren’t necessarily familiar with or confident playing action games. That’s why we introduced Classic Mode, which feels like a real-time action game but uses menu-based inputs, for those types of players. This is to really appeal to both those audiences who are both looking for an action game experience and people who don’t particularly want that but love FINAL FANTASY VII.
There were two schools of thought behind including these new streamlined progression mechanics. One of them is tied to the fact that we announced the whole of the remake trilogy is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, and all these games are going to be released in order. They’re also RPGs, which usually take quite a while to get through when playing them normally. There are people who want to experience the whole remake trilogy, but if they’re going to play through all of them normally, that’s a lot of hours of gameplay to commit to. We want people to be able to enjoy and play all of them, so these features are a way of allowing people to get through that a bit quicker if they’re a bit put off by the playtime involved.
The second thing – and this is perhaps a very personal reason – is that, as a game creator, I’m incredibly busy. I love games and I want to try out all kinds of different games, so I deliberately make time to play them, but when I do, I often find myself thinking, “Well, I’m enjoying this game and I’d really like to complete it, but I don’t have the time required to do that”. If there was a feature where I could progress a little bit quicker or didn’t have to worry about grinding, I’d get further and might be able to complete the game. I imagine there are lots of people out there who might be pressed for time like I am who are looking for these kinds of features. That’s a big part of why I decided to put these in there.
About FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE:
Experience a modern reimagining of one of the most iconic games of all time on Nintendo Switch 2. Set in Midgar, players will immerse themselves in a standalone gaming experience designed for RPG players that crave unforgettable characters, a powerful story, and a strategic battle system that merges real-time action with command-based combat. Including FF7R EPISODE INTERmission, an additional story arc happening during the events of the game, players can fight for the future of the planet when FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE comes to Nintendo Switch 2.
Source: Nintendo
