Why is so important a remake of Final Fantasy VII?

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

Christian973 said:

oniyide said:

this sounds like another "i hate that FF7 was so popular" thread. FF7 is more influential and more successful than 6 was, fact. Deal with it. How much RPGs were released post 6 on SNES in the US??? Now how much was released post 7 in the US??? I lost count. 

Excuse me but 7 is a copy of 6 with new characters and villain.

Note, I kind of agree with you.  But at the same time, I still contend that FFVII wasn't just a carbon copy of VI.  Many of the characters are different (for the worst in my opinion) and the entire style of FFVII changed Final Fantasy from being a 'Fantasy' game to a Punk/Post Apocalyptic series.  And these are actually the two things people are attracted to most in FFVII.

Yes, there was little change to the actual battle engine from previous titles.  And yes, Materia is just an upgraded form of Espers in FFVI (with a healthy blend of Runes from Suikoden in my opinion, but that's a whole new can of worms).  But it isn't just a copy of FFVI.  If that was the case, I'd have liked FFVII more.  But there's no equivilant characters for Celes, Locke, Sabin or Edgar.  And the style is definitely not Fantasy/Steampunk.