Almost 27 years after the unique sport’s launch, Final Fantasy 7 superfan Jamie Colliver has completed his magnum opus: A shot-for-shot remake of the unique PlayStation 1 sport, created solely through LittleBigPlanet 2. Colliver’s remake reimagines the unique sport as a platformer, with each scene, each location, each line of dialogue, and each tune from the sport’s OST painstakingly carried out right into a LittleBigPlanet 2 degree.
After three-and-a-half years of labor (which he diligently documented through his YouTube channel), Colliver’s creation is lastly full, and could be seen through a 141-video YouTube playlist showcasing a complete playthrough of the sport. Colliver–who says the unique Final Fantasy 7 is his all-time favourite video game–is happy with the work he is achieved, and gave GameSpot a behind-the-scenes have a look at what it takes to construct a 27-year-old sport through a 13-year-old puzzle-platformer.
“It began with experimenting with the creation instruments in LittleBigPlanet 2,” Colliver advised Gamespot. “To me, Final Fantasy VII represents the head of any type of media. I imagine it options the strongest set of essential characters in any online game. For me, Final Fantasy VII isn’t just a superb sport however a timeless narrative that continues to resonate on a private degree as I get older.”
Given the plethora of build-whatever-you-want video games which might be presently obtainable (like Minecraft, Roblox, and even The Sims 4), we wished to know what motivated Colliver to make use of 2011’s LittleBigPlanet 2 because the framework for his extremely detailed reimagining of Final Fantasy 7.
“LittleBigPlanet 2’s platforming mechanics allowed me to introduce new gameplay parts not current within the authentic Final Fantasy 7,” Colliver defined. “As an example, you may want a grappling hook to succeed in sure areas or scuba gear for underwater battles. The three-layer design provides the world an intimate, stage efficiency vibe, and the shift in visible type provides a singular allure to the characters and environments. The polygonal visible type of Final Fantasy enhances LBP’s craft-based aesthetic properly. Moreover, the unique sport’s concentrate on written dialogue mirrors LittleBigPlanet’s storytelling methodology, utilizing expressions and environmental cues to advance the narrative.”
Talking of written dialogue, Colliver’s little huge undertaking additionally consists of all 140,000 traces of dialogue from the unique Final Fantasy 7. He says it takes about 30 hours to finish his model of Final Fantasy 7, which is near the 35 hours it takes to finish the unique sport. Colliver says he spent the same period of time every week engaged on the undertaking throughout its three-and-a-half-year improvement. The sport’s soundtrack was recreated through LittleBigPlanet’s Music Sequencer, which permits customers to create music utilizing quite a lot of devices and alter pitch and tempo as they see match.
However clearly, a undertaking this measurement was no small activity, and Colliver confronted a number of roadblocks whereas the sport was in improvement.
“Wutai was significantly difficult resulting from its huge measurement, quite a few cutscenes, and hidden paths, making it a nightmare to plan,” Colliver stated. “Constructing greater areas just like the Nice Glacier and the Northern Crater additionally proved troublesome, as they’ve a number of branching paths and are huge, so [they] needed to be tailored additional than smaller areas like Kalm or Below Junon. Moreover, the undertaking’s scope, particularly the intensive textual content conversations and NPCs populating the sport world was a headache, taking perpetually to incorporate. Numerous espresso helped preserve me centered.”
However it all got here collectively in the long run, and Colliver says he is “particularly proud” of the Sector 7 pillar part of the sport.
“It was one in all my favorite components of the unique sport, and I wished to seize the brutality, wrestle, and despair in my model by displaying the complete collapse of the pillar onto the residents of Sector 7,” he advised GameSpot. “One other spotlight is the burning of Nibelheim, the place I aimed to convey the depth of Sephiroth’s breakdown. I spent hours perfecting the notorious scene within the flames. Moreover, recreating Aerith’s iconic dying scene, placing my very own spin on Cosmo Canyon, and finalizing my character designs had been additionally proud moments for me.”
Now that the undertaking’s full, Colliver says he is contemplating including some content material (primarily new bosses) from Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to the sport as an additional deal with. However his essential objective for the time being is getting the phrase out in regards to the completion of his undertaking. There’s even a Change.org petition making the rounds, urging Final Fantasy and LittleBigPlanet followers to signal their names within the hopes that Sq. Enix may embody part of Colliver’s remake within the upcoming third chapter of the Final Fantasy 7 remake.
“Because the LBP servers are down completely, the one option to view my undertaking is on my YouTube channel,” Colliver defined. “In order to make it playable to the general public, I had the thought of making my petition to ask Sq. Enix to incorporate my creation as a playable mini-game in Half 3 of the FF7 remake trilogy.”
However no matter whether or not Sq. Enix acknowledges Colliver’s undertaking, one of many extra rewarding components of ending his creation has been the suggestions he is gotten from voice actors concerned within the franchise.
“I have been fortunate to obtain good reward and suggestions on my undertaking from the voice actors of Barret, Cait Sith, Tseng, Elena and Impolite of the Turks, Palmer, Professor Hojo, Elmyra, and Roche and Kotch from the remake trilogy to this point. This has been actually particular to me, so having my undertaking featured within the sport alongside them and the opposite characters can be the cherry on the cake.”
Colliver’s undertaking could be seen in its entirety through his YouTube channel.