I think next-gen open world games will easily hit the 200GB+ size mark.

I like it, but this is one thing which is going to be strange for me. Same if we get remakes of FFVIII and IX, I just can't imagine Deling City and Treno during the day. Or Balamb at night....oh wait, I just imagined it, I think I'd like that.

We know upper Midgar got sunlight because it shines down onto Aeris' garden through a gap in the plate. But it will still seem a little strange seeing a daytime Midgar, obviously it was going to happen now that we are getting a massively expanded city that encompasses a whole game, but there was something fitting about only really seeing it at night. Final Fantasy often carefully set the time of day and weather to help convey a certain tone or feeling. I'm not saying it'll be worse like this, ultimately I might like it more, I'll have to wait and see.

Heh, I can see it now.. Going by these fears some people have.

+ Excellent combat
+ Amazing OST
- Game is too massive
- Too much story for a Final Fantasy game.
IGN = 5/10

I mean, if the shoe fits....

I honestly hope they dont just willy nilly change around story elements.
I was so damn worried about the combat stuff, at first.

Think fans just want a modern looking FF7, not a changed one.
This is the #1 thing that p***es off people that read beloved book series, and then go watch movies of them.

I'm still worried about the combat, FF7 combat is simple but works and it hasn't aged badly with time, I know SquEnix for some reason hate their traditional ATB combat but they seem to be embarrassed by it. The gameplay that made their game a success, you can tell the greatest story ever, look great but if the gameplay is shite no one will know as they won't enjoy playing it.

I feared their dislike of traditional ATB would make them create an FF7 game like FF15/KH button mashing when we should be getting FF7, an FF7 that looks like what we are seeing but plays like FF7.

Thing is, that's the point, fans. Fans do want that but will that sell it to kids? who are now 14-19, who played FF7 and thought "But it looks crap and is so slow." so never played it? The modern generation of fast paced action games.

I've been reassured by people about the combat, still think it's looks stupid and they could have saved themselves so much by just making it FF7 gameplay but the story, splitting up the game? I'm not convinced by any of that yet.

/rant over

Hmm, I hope the contrast between upper and lower Midgar will be plausible. Besides that, this gives room for a deeper story on life in Midgar itself.

That is a gross (and probably intentional) miss characterisation.

Games with silly side quests that offer no impact (especially fetch quests) are a negative.  Same with collect-a-thon aspects in gaming that have no impact.  Size isn't a problem, artificially forcing a game to be longer/bigger than it actually is would be a problem.    

Too much story can be a problem.  Constantly having gameplay (actually controlling the Cloud) severed every 2 minutes to watch/listen would be a bad thing.  Girlfriend Review of KH3 is a great explanation of how too much story can be a negative.  

If we want to be silly, I can follow suit:

-Artificially big

-Forced and unnecessary story elements

-Greedy episode releases

+Cloud

12/10!!!!  Best game ever, because reasons.

The current gaming crowd doesn’t enjoy turn based battle system as much as those who experienced the 90s.

Sales of such games is enough evidence (bar very few exceptions).

Square-Enix doesn’t want to cater only to the fans of the original, those still enjoy the original and they have access to it already. They want to cater to a much wider audience. The current gaming crowd, as a whole, prefers more action oriented gameplay over slower paced and (dare I say) archaic battle systems like those found in most turn-based JRPGs.

Myself included, to be honest. I still enjoy the classics and gems from that era of Squaresoft, but replaying them today feels slow and dated. That being said, something like the battle system from Final Fantasy X-2 is fast paced and a variation of it could have felt good if modernized properly. But I think what they are going for for the remake of VII will end up more fun and engaging.

To the naysayers who are seemingly stuck in the past, I say why not wait until you try it before complaining they changed it?