Abstract | With the HD remake of Final Fantasy VII (FFVII) now several years in development, this paper discusses how and why its developers appear to have somewhat radically departed from the original source material. The original FFVII (1997) is a title that an important stage in the evolution of console games design from 2D to 3D environments, with its pre-rendered backgrounds, fixed camera angles, and polygonal character models. A comparison of this aesthetic with the trailer for the HD remake of the title points us towards interesting insights into the development of 3D worlds in console gaming, particularly in regard to achieving an anime-realism, and the ever-collapsing division between live-action cinema and animated media that has gained momentum since. |
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