Final Fantasy 7 Remake Release Date: FF7 Remake for PS4 Confirmed to Feature 'Dramatic' Combat Improvements

Aug 02, 2015 02:24 AM EDT

The much-awaited Final Fantasy 7 Remake (FF VII or simply "FF7"­) can be expected to get "dramatic changes," game director Tetsuya Nomura of Square Enix revealed in an interview.

However, fans of the game's current Active Time Battle System should not be disappointed by this news. Nomura also mentioned that the improvements will not render the FF7 Remake completely unrecognizable.

Director Tetsuya Nomura said Final Fantasy 7 Remake Will Have 'Dramatic Changes

Game developer and publisher Square Enix surprised audiences in June during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2015 event when it announced that it was working on a Final Fantasy 7 Remake. For those unfamiliar with gaming parlance, this is actually a "remake" in contrast to a "remaster." That means that aside from updates in the graphics department, the game will also receive new mechanics and features.

The game director disclosed, in a recent interview with the Official PlayStation Magazine (OPM) UK, some details about the upcoming video game. Nomura told OPM, via GamesRadar, that they are "...bringing dramatic changes to the Final Fantasy VII Remake so we're hoping that you'll look forward to additional information that we'll be able to release when the time comes."

While that may sound like a major overhaul of the original Active Time Battle System, he further went on and said, "We want to clarify: We're not going to be changing it into a shooter or something like that. We are going to be bringing dramatic changes, but we want to make sure it's still recognizable."

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Release Date

Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 Remake is one of the long anticipated games on Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4). For those who are holding their breath until its arrival, it may not be a smart thing to do as some reports claim that the FF7 Remake will come sometime next year.

A new advertisement that appeared on EDGE, a popular video games-centric magazine in Europe, indicated that a handful of games including Nomura's upcoming creation will hit digital and physical stores on 2016.

The accuracy of this ad, however, is somewhat questionable. For example, No Man's Sky has been confirmed to come this year but the EDGE ad lists it as TBA or "to be announced." As such, it's possible that the ad was just posted to showcase the broad range of games that the PS4 is set to receive and the dates printed are not necessarily precise.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake was unveiled during Sony's E3 own press conference where it was also verified that it will launch first on the company's own PS4 platform. Later this year, we can expect to hear more about the FF7 Remake, including its official title. According to a translation made by Twitter user "@Andriasang" of a Dengeki Online session held with Nomura, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake's actual name will be announced this winter. That will most likely happen during the Jump Festa event, an annual anime and video game exposition in Japan.