The Final Fantasy series has long been a very family friendly franchise, especially considering that the games have been releasing since the vast majority of players were children. As a result, titles like Final Fantasy 7 Remake have long been cautious to either tone down the violence throughout Square Enix’s expertly crafted combat systems that keep some of the more mature aspects up to the imagination.
However, now that the series is over 30 years old with 15 mainline titles and even more spin-offs, sequels, and cameos under its belt, Final Fantasy 7 Remake may want to start making a different move towards innovation. When it comes to this new direction for the series, Final Fantasy 16 may already be the start of a new trend, but this doesn’t mean it should be retroactively implemented in more titles.
Current speculation, along with a few leaks, suggests that Final Fantasy 16 will be M-Rated, thanks in part to more mature themes as well as a willingness to show blood. Fans of this news have responded positively to the idea of a more brutal and bloody addition to the Final Fantasy series that is finally aging with its fanbase after three decades of success. This hasn’t been the case for every player, but the vast majority of those responding to this speculation seem to be on board for more realistic violence in the next installment of the Square Enix’s flagship franchise.
The initial Final Fantasy 16 trailer is all that most fans needed in order to come to this conclusion that the next game will be going for a more mature experience. However, if Square Enix is already dipping its toes into M-Rated titles with this latest release, then the developer may want to consider implementing that same mentality into an ongoing title. Specifically, leaning away from the family friendly attitude could allow Final Fantasy 7 Remake to grow as it continues to release the rest of the titles extended parts.
Something that feels strange during certain moments in the new remake, specifically in certain story events that pit the players against Shinra Troopers, is the severe lack of death. One moment that stands out among the others is with one of Final Fantasy 7 Remake‘s newest characters, Johnny, where Cloud actively suggests killing him to Tifa to keep AVALANCHE safe. Tifa eventually talks Cloud down, but the scene is immediately followed by claiming that the Shinra Troopers that the player just beat in a fight are only knocked out and will wake up soon.
For some players, this whole encounter is somewhat cheapened by claiming that these soldiers that Cloud hit with full strength with a one-ton slab of steel are only knocked out. It feels like a lie that is a lot for players to swallow, after already requiring the player to suspend their disbelief enough to imagine that Cloud’s Buster Sword is a feasible weapon in the first place. With how much Final Fantasy 7 Remake leans on making players understand the consequences for in-game actions like blowing up the Mako Reactor, there really is no reason to shy away from more mature concepts.
As mentioned before, the series is now over three decades old and the original Final Fantasy 7 is now over 23 years old itself. This means that a huge amount of fans that are familiar with the original game, and especially those with memories from playing the game when it released in 1997, are all well above 18. So, if the fear is that by making Final Fantasy 7 Remake mature would cause the game to lose a part of its potential market, there is still a massive demographic that an M-Rating wouldn’t alienate or turn away.
This doesn’t have to mean that scenarios like Madam M’s massage needs to go into more detail of the more adult implications of the scene, but instead simply allow the violence to show through the combat. If the new remake is going to spend so much time focusing on the mayhem and death caused by destroying each Mako Reactor, then the same should apply to fighting off wave after wave of Shinra Trooper. Implementing some maturity could go a long way to addressing Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 feeling too similar to the first part, as well as making some later scenes carry considerably more weight.
What could easily be one of the most anticipated scenes in future episodes is how Final Fantasy 7 Remake handles Aerith’s death at the hands of Sephiroth. This is quite possibly the most iconic scene in the entire Final Fantasy series, and is easily one of the most well-recognized moments from the gaming industry as a whole. However, even in the original title’s release, the T-Rating has turned this into one of the most hotly debated sequences among fans of the series, thanks to a detail that kept the maturity in check.
The start of this debate can be tracked down to the way that Sephiroth dispatches Aerith by stabbing her through the back, but his weapon has no blood on it. One schoolyard theory that continues to persist is that the reason for the lack of blood is because when Sephiroth stabs Aerith, he attacks so quickly and with such force that there isn’t time for blood to pool on the blade as it passes through. While there is tons of evidence to prove that the speed isn’t the cause, like the fact that Aerith’s entire body falls forward before he removes the weapon, some fans still believe that the scene proves how powerful Sephiroth is.
Leaning in on the brutality of this moment with a more mature depiction of Aerith’s death to show blood could finally settle this debate that some people claim proves how powerful Sephiroth is. Not even mentioning everything wrong with the theory, like the fact that it isn’t even actually Sephiroth that does the deed, this one simple change can be a definitive answer. Additionally, an M-Rated death for Aerith could be exactly what Final Fantasy 7 Remake needs to make sure that this major death not only sticks, but also hits harder than any of the ones that proceed it.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is available now on PS4.
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