By now we all know Square-Enix is remaking Final Fantasy VII. Between it’s initial showcasing during E3’s Sony Press Conference and the Square-Enix Press Conference the next day, we had ample opportunities to see the announcement trailer. But what do we actually know about the game besides the simple fact that it’s happening?

Well on the surface, not a lot. Though if we take a closer look at the trailer, the orignal Final Fantasy VII and Square-Enix’s recent projects, there’s actually a lot we can discern and see for ourselves. So who cares if Square-Enix won’t release more info until this Winter most likely. Here is everything we know about the upcoming remake of Final Fantasy VII.

What This Means For Square-Enix – Connections To Final Fantasy XV:

As I just said, according to the Press Conference today, it seems like Square won’t release more info until this Winter, which means that this game is most likely INCREDIBLY young in development. This past Winter we learned about a PS4 port for the original PS4 game, which pissed a lot of people off. So was this full remake a reaction to that annoyance? Or could that announcement have been a red herring to throw us off the trail of something larger? In truth, this remake was actually in production before the PS4 Port was announced and this was all just fun unintended timing since they weren’t sure WHEN they wanted to announce the remake; but everything came together nicely in the end. Though all honesty, it doesn’t matter when this remake ‘started’ development because there is one rule of Square-Enix that has been given since day one.

Fans have been asking for a Final Fantasy VII Remake for years – mostly since we were teased with the infamous PS2 Test Footage – but why wait this long? Well since the beginning Square has famously said that they would refuse to make a Final Fantasy VII Remake until they had a game that was better than it. Sure they’ve had a lot of great titles, but nothing as widely accepted as spectacular. So if Square it making it now, that must mean they’ve had their hit; but which?

The answer is actually a game that is still waiting to be released: Final Fantasy XV. This might be premature on Square’s part, but considering everything we know and have seen about Final Fantasy XV thus far, it truly looks like the spectacular game Square Enix has been waiting for. It’s vehicles to travel the massive open-world, larger than life summons and fluid battle mechanics seem to push all notions of ‘video games’ to the limit. If a Final Fantasy VII remake was ever to be made, Final Fantasy XV possess everything that a Final Fantasy VII Remake would need.

Graphic Upgrade Examples – The Scale & Power Of What’s To Come

Final Fantasy VII is being remade! That’s obviously fantastic, but do you even remember everything about Final Fantasy VII. Sure we all know the story, but think about the game elements. What starts in the massive multi-leveled Midgar expands even greater as we leave it. Massive snakes, chocobo breeding, ancient temples, numerous continents, airships to control and submarines to dive with are just a few of the numerous game mechanics that made the original Final Fantasy VII push the PlayStation to its limits. It was so large that the game had to be divided among 3 Discs. Sure times have changed and game consoles have been able to handle more, but the PlayStation 4 isn’t just going to handle Final Fantasy VII but rather a completely updated remade version.

It’s not just better graphics, but rather an entire redesign that’ll go into this game. As I was saying before, this is why Final Fantasy XV is so instrumental in the Final Fantasy VII remake. It’s sprawling world and vehicle travel are all things that would transfer well to what a Final Fantasy VII remake would need. This trailer doesn’t show us any actual gameplay, but it does give us some amazingly familiar images with which to start a comparison base.

From the highways – upon which we’ll have a motorcycle chase – to the Mako Reactor itself, this teaser shows off a ridiculous level of improvement. Though the greatest of which is what the base level MP’s look like. They look as though they’ve been taken out of a Metal Gear/Deus Ex game and yet still have identifiable characteristics of the original first level enemies. If this is what they look like, then imagine The Guard Scorpion, Jenova, Lost Number, Emerald/Ruby Weapon and all the other incredible and awe-inspiring bosses will look like when all is said and done. When you actually take the time to sit down and look at ALL the things that are going to get redone, then you truly begin to realize why fans have been waiting almost a decade for this; but how much longer must we wait?

Potential Release Date & Timed Exclusive:

As we learned at the end of the trailer, this game will be released FIRST on PS4, meaning that much like Rise Of The Tomb Raider for Xbox One, Final Fantasy VII will be released initially for PS4 and then become available later for Xbox One – and possibly others. Though the question remains, WHEN will we get the Final Fantasy VII Remake? Worst case scenario, it’ll take the Final Fantasy XV route and take about over 7 years; but I wouldn’t bet on that.

In all honesty, it’ll most likely be much sooner. Final Fantasy VII’s 20^th anniversary is coming up on January 31^st, 2017. So it’s safe to assume that we’ll see this game release sometime in 2017. Additionally, considering Final Fantasy XV is due out in 2016 and Kingdom Hearts 3 still has a lot of work to be done, I certainly wouldn’t expect this game any sooner than 2017. So for now, I completely see 2017 as the Year of Final Fantasy VII Celebrations culminating in the game release Holiday of 2017, which would make sense considering how much will have to go into this new game.

Deeper Stories, DL & Reimagining A Classic – Welcome To The Modern Age:

Final Fantasy VII wasn’t the only remake announced recently as Insomniac Games also announced a remake of their early 2000 hit Ratchet & Clank. Why is this important you ask? Simple, because a true Remake now adays isn’t just about fancying up the graphics. Ratchet & Clank will remain largely similar to its initial story, but will feature tons of new story and gameplay elements to best take advantage of its leap from the PS2 days to the PS4 – and we can expect the same from Final Fantasy VII’s remake.

Considering Final Fantasy VII is already getting a PS4 Port in the near future, it’d be pointless for Square-Enix to release two versions of the same game – where the only thing that differs is style. This means that the Final Fantasy VII Remake we get will have a ton of new features added to it, while also keeping everything we loved. Just look at the announcement trailer, which featured not only a gravely vice-over, but also spoke about ‘before times’ and a star in the sky. These could all point to the beginning of Mako use as well as Jenova’s descent to Earth and plenty of other things not explored by the initial game. Similarly, the intro music used for the trailer wasn’t from Final Fantasy VII itself, but rather from its Sequel film Advent Children.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake will most certainly explore much more story and character depths than the original game and could potentially hold even more when we consider DLC. Every Final Fantasy game – and most video games in general – feature DLC stories now. Considering the musical choice, we could hypothetically see a video game version of Advent Children as one of the DLC. Additionally, the famous Ruby and Emerald Weapons – originally only exclusive to the America Release of the game could as well serve as DLC for this game.

There is a lot of work for Square-Enix to do, but they wouldn’t have taken this on if they felt they couldn’t do it justice. With all the new technologies of the day and most of the original Final Fantasy VII team returning, this Final Fantasy VII Remake is sure to comprise the best of the past, present and future of gaming. It’s not about bringing back a groundbreaking game, but reviving that game to be just as groundbreaking today as it was almost 20 years ago.

It’ll be a while before we start learning more, so stay tuned here for the latest news and what it means.