We now know why Square Enix decided to cut Final Fantasy VII Remake into parts.
On the Square Enix Blog, producer Yoshinori Kitase explained that in order to add new content without cutting anything out from the original, Final Fantasy VII Remake had to be separated into multiple parts.
"The other option was to include the entire scope of the original game in a single release. But in order to make that work as a modern game, we wouldn't be able to go for the highest visual quality and we'd also have to cut back on areas and scenes from the original," Kitase explained. "Essentially, to make a single release viable the resulting game would have ended up being a digest of the original story, and we didn't think fans would be pleased with that."
Kitase also explained why they decided to add new content to the first episode of the remake, which takes place in Midgar.
"In the original game there were a lot of breaks in the game, where the screen went black, and then the game continues in a different location," Kitase stated. "In other words, there were a lot of parts in between sections of Midgar that were implied, but never seen. That was something that we wanted to address with remake - to fill in those gaps, show how the different parts of the city are connected, and mate it a continuous experience."
While Final Fantasy VII Remake is still set to release in April, physical copies of the game may take a while to get to gamers. Square Enix has recently stated on Twitter that physical copies of Final Fantasy VII Remake may be delayed in Europe, Australia and the Americas due to COVID-19. The digital version of the game will not affected by the virus.
Final Fantasy VII Remake will release for the PlayStation 4 on April 10th. The game will come to other platforms a year later.
