Next up in this 🧵: another rare interview from V Jump's special February 15, 1997 issue—this time with Yoshinori Kitase. FFVII's director speaks about his cinema-like responsibilities and comments on the the game's noteworthy story. (Scans courtesy of @duskyLimestone 🙏)
Kitase says that the increased capacity of CD-ROMs allowed for more realistic imaginary worlds than ever before. You didn't have to craftily manipulate and recycle a limited pool of assets, which translated to much more variety in locations and NPC models.
The shift to 3D graphics also liberated the team from limitations imposed by 2D worlds. You could now model a town in 3D space and arrange it as you saw fit instead of having to entirely redraw things if you decided the layout wasn't satisfactory.
FFVII allowed Kitase to create a visual-heavy production that resembled the ideal in his head. But imitating movies and simply tracing cinematic techniques wasn't enough. He had to be bold and take the game in a brave new direction.
The conventional "grammar of games" involved moving characters to locations, fighting a routine boss battle, returning to uneventful field maps, and occasionally seeing some flashy events. Kitase strove to break this reassuring yet very contrived-feeling pattern.
Kitase says FFVII's freshness came from how it broke the mold with its flowing visuals and story, making it feel much less contrived than previous RPGs. Where the norm was to have a few standout scenes at the beginning, middle, and end, FFVII included upwards of 40 all throughout
The materia system was a new take on FF's classic them of mixing and matching abilities to strategize against enemies. With items, the staff was worried there would be too many for players to find favorites, but they stuck with the amount for the sake of varied strategy.
Kitase says FFVII's story is set up as a three-act structure centered around Cloud's inner struggle. Each part corresponds to some leg of his personal journey, unlike in previous games, where the story would be divided into two worlds (e.g., World of Balance and World of Ruin).
Kitase says the first part of FFVII's story is made to feel like a conventional FF plot, with a black and white battle against evil. But then Aerith dies, and the story takes a turn for the enigmatic. [1/2]
Zack is introduced, and after retracing Cloud's past and addressing his trauma to some degree, the third act begins—a grand spectacle of Hollywood proportions. Kitase believed FFVII presented one path for the future direction of the video game medium. [2/2]
Stay tuned for the interview with Nomura coming up next (though it will likely be interrupted by the FFXVI coverage this week)
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