Final Fantasy VII Remake had a new look on the characters that everyone loved in the original. They had more personality, expressions shown clearly, and Cloud was looking more human now. In the original, the fans would have to imagine how each in-game scene would look like with better visuals, which is why this remake was born in the first place. Everyone wanted to know how they would look like and the expressions they would make in the game with those special scenes close to their hearts.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Scenario Writer Kazushige Nojima talked with game publication IGN to reveal how the team added more depth to these beloved characters.
Nojima revealed that he actually did not need to a lot of new stuff to flesh out the personalities of the characters. He already had personalities imagined when the original development team was creating the original version. The only thing he needed to do was write scenarios based on those memories he remembered. These personalities were not fully portrayed back then due to the limits of the technology.
The scenario writer confessed that he did not remember everything, so he added parts that he newly created this time around as well.
Nojima continued:
By adding new expressive elements such as voiceovers, action movements, and facial expressions, each with their own additional layers of passion and interpretation of the members who handled them, we were able to ultimately create these Remake characters.
I also heavily referenced the expanded Compilation titles, which portrayed these characters with more realistic CG (for the time) and with VO.
Nojima noted that Aerith was a particularly challenging character to recreate. She was a highly revered character by the fans due to her story in the original story. In order to get her remake version, he conveyed a more down-to-earth side of her in this game, which was not shown before in the original.
Actually some fans noticed that this Aerith was different. Now we know why.
New hardware and technology definitely from the PlayStation 4 made this all possible and now the fans finally got the remake (a part of it anyways) they always wanted. Now to wait for the rest of the story to get remade by the development team.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is now available exclusively on PlayStation 4.
Interview source: IGN