Topic: Will FF7 be possible on DS?

[Urkel]

I know this is kind of a tired subject that's been discussed before with the GBA, but it just doesn't seem too farfetched now that the DS cards can hold a pretty reasonable amount of data.

I seem to recall reading that FF7 "only" took up about 900 something megabytes, with the rest of the data being redundant general stuff that needed to be on all 3 discs. Since that wouldn't be an issue with the DS card format, you wouldn't need any more than the 900+ megabytes of unique data.

The DS cards as they are hold quite a bit more than GBA, and are supposed to be cheaper to make. RE2 on the N64 proved that where there's a will there's a way, albeit with extra grainy video. The way I figure it, they wouldn't have to compromise video quality for FF7 with a DS port if the cards get to be around a Gig. So... the real question I have is: how long until the DS gets gigabyte sized cards (if ever)?

I know there are other issues too, like the characters might be too small and hard to see on a portable screen. One solution to that might be to include a "zoom" option, where it would enlarge the view a bit. They could make the menus touch screen accessible, add a side quest or two, throw in some touch screen mini-games, etc... but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

So could this really be feasible, or is it still a pipe dream?

[KDR_11k]

No idea when the carts will get that big but since the DS has a lwer res than the PS1 you might be able to free up a few hundred MBs by reducing the fullscreen materials in size.

[TMW]

As cool as it would be to have a portable FF7, and as feasible as it may or may not be...I really don't see this happening.  I'm sure Sony fought tooth and nail to keep SE solely on their side, and I would bet money that they would do anything to keep a bestselling game like FF7 from going to the competition.  

Er...how much stake does Sony have in SE's console decisions, anyways?

Still...if those facts are correct, I don't see why they couldn't do it.  Or, go the CT route and turn the FMV's into animated sequences.  That'd free up alot of space.  

[MysticGohan24]

Well, Sony's stake at one time was like 17% but when Enix and Square merged, it went down to 6 / 7%  So sony can't dictate anything.

So it's actually up to SE, if something like that where to happen.

[Savior]

Meh FF7s overated anyways... Square is turning it into a movie franchise...

Id rather have Chrono Trigger/Chross

[kirby_killer_dedede]

Chrono Cross is being deeply considered for the DS, I remember hearing somewhere.

[MysticGohan24]

Ack! I rather have what I'd like to call a "True Sequel" to CT, CC was disappointing and had more plot holes than swiss cheese.

a Remake of CT would be nice, kinda like CT:R, I hope those guys are doing well. I'm saddened squarenix killed it.

[MaleficentOgre]

I don't want it.  I'm sick of FF.  Give me slime any day.  FF is done. they're cooking it too much. Possible yes. wanted no.

[Urkel]

Quote
Originally posted by: TMW
As cool as it would be to have a portable FF7, and as feasible as it may or may not be...I really don't see this happening.  I'm sure Sony fought tooth and nail to keep SE solely on their side, and I would bet money that they would do anything to keep a bestselling game like FF7 from going to the competition.

I'm completely confused by why FF7 hasn't been announced yet on PSP. When the PSP was first made official, I just assumed FF7 on PSP was a given. There are millions of FF fanboys that would buy PSPs just for this game. I'm sure Sony knows that. Even if Square isn't too gung ho about PSP right now, you'd think Sony would've offered a money sombrero to make it happen.

[ruby_onix]

Quote
I'm completely confused by why FF7 hasn't been announced yet on PSP.

It's because Square's current plan is to milk Final Fantasy VII 26 times over (FF7:AC, FF7:BC, FF7:CC, FF7:DC... you get the idea), and two of those are already set for the PSP.

If they milked it a 27th time by making a port/remake, people might think they were going a little overboard...

[Nephilim]

It would be possable
You can buy a 2gig DS card from the shops now
Give tech a few years, and cheapness of the carts of the ds will allow for huge games

[kirby_killer_dedede]

hmmm...does a bigger card allow for better graphics?  or does that depend more on the screen/processor of the DS itself?  i know it depends more on the processor, but would there be even a small difference?

[Rancid Planet]

What about FF VIII? (Someone hurls brick at Rancid Planet's head)

OW!...I feel....woozy....(passes out)

[PaLaDiN]

(Whistles innocently and walks away)

[Switchblade Cross]

Quote
Originally posted by: kirby_killer_dedede
hmmm...does a bigger card allow for better graphics?  or does that depend more on the screen/processor of the DS itself?  i know it depends more on the processor, but would there be even a small difference?

Graphics are determined by the power of the console.  Such as Processor Power and RAM.  The only thing that storage size (cartridge or CD) will determin is how much information is stored in regards to the game.

Example:  If, hypothetically, the card size of the DS were smaller than cart size of the N64, Nintendo still could have put Mario 64 on DS, they just would have had to cut out some levels and stuff.  In this case, the graphics could still be better on the DS, simply because of the systems power.

But, then again you could go  into issues such as having more storage room fortextures and such would improve the visuals.  To understand this you prettymuch need a grasp of how computers work.

[oohhboy]

To the very hot place with those games. Give me Front Mission. No silly wait for some bar to fill up, no more just more powerful spells with more GFX and higher damage. None of that poorly excuted positional system found in CT.

Square really needs freshing up and to think people say Nintendo has gone stale.

Like Halo has given me Red Vs Blue, FF has given me 8-bit theater.

[KDR_11k]

All I'll say about media size is: PS2 games come on DVDs, Doom 3 comes on 3 CDs.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Some PS2 games are on blue backed discs which are  CDs which are 800MB(i think)  the only problem of FF7 on the DS is that the DS "game card" is 1Gb(Gigabit) which is really 128MB and if there would be a 2Gb game card as a poster said on this thread that would only end up with 256MB so FF7 wont fit unless if there are really good compression tools that would knock the game down from 900MB to 128 or 256MB(assuming if those game cards exist) or just basically knock the cinematics down dramatically.

[Truthliesn1seyes]

How hard can it be for Nintendo to provide companies with bigger discs.  I remember readin that 1 Gb was the smallest.  I'm sure its possible for a bigger discs than 256 mb, it aint like its something out of this world lol.

[xyber_hitman]

I think it's going to be poissible to hold more on those cards.  You think houw easily they can fit 40 gigs of info on an ipod you think they can do it on these little carts.

[ruby_onix]

Random info.

FF7 was originally made on 3 PSX CDs.

The actual "game" portion of FF7 was 185 megabytes, with 998 megabytes of FMV (I just checked the PC version). That's less than two CDs worth of data, but the "game" would have to be doubled to be stored on two disks, which just barely pushed it over the 2-CD mark, so they made it a 3-CD game.

The FMV is completely uncompressed. The "game" contains stacks and stacks of uncompressed images for all the pretty prerendered backgrounds. MIDI audio and all that space-intensive "mature storyline" which wasn't possible in games like FF6 [/sarcasm] make up the rest of the "game" portion.

Angel Studios looked at FF7, looked at Nintendo's latest 512-megabit (64 megabyte) cartrige, looked at Factor 5's compression programs, and decided that FF7 could fit on an N64 cart. They asked Square if they could do it, but Square refused, either because they had been talking a lot of trash about how inferior the N64 was and didn't want to turn back, or because they had great respect for FF7 and didn't want to milk it with a port, or because they knew that Sony would never let them get away with it.

So Angel Studios went to Capcom and got permission to do RE2-64 instead. They succeded quite nicely, except that the voice acting in RE2-64 didn't sound quite right when compressed as much as it was (there's no voice acting in FF7).

With twice the size (one gigabit) being available for DS games right now, and four times the size (two gigabits) likely being available sometime next year, and even more effective compression technology, I would say that there's no question that FF7 could be done on the DS, and done even better than RE2-64 was.

The DS doesn't quite have as much resolution as a TV is capable of, but FF7 was pretty low-res. It might take a hit on the resolution, or some cropping for the semi-widescreen (both of which would result in smaller sizes, which would mean less severe compression would be required), but I don't think it would be major.

Of course, I don't think that Square would ever allow it (at least, not on a handheld of this generation, unless it's the PSP), because it would make people think that FF7 was less impressive than they wanted everyone to think it was.

Y'know, I'd actually prefer it if they made a 2D remake of FF7, in the style of something more like FF6 (but improved, of course). Lots of people are saying they want FF7 to get the RE Remake treatment on a modern console, but I'd actually prefer a 2D remake on something like the DS.  

[couchmonkey]

I'd be all for this, but I think Square Enix plans to go the easy route and port all the older games first.  I'm pretty sure FFIII has been announced for the DS, it makes sense that they'll follow up with 4 through 6 before trying VII.  And from Square Enix's perspective, that makes a lot of sense: why port a game like Final Fantasy VII which will require most or all of the DS' resources, when the SNES games could probably simply be emulated?
That's still okay with me, although I think Square Enix is getting a bit greedy.  I wish more developers would give us compliations instead of reselling individual games at full price.

[Urkel]

Quote
Originally posted by: ruby_onix
Of course, I don't think that Square would ever allow it (at least, not on a handheld of this generation, unless it's the PSP), because it would make people think that FF7 was less impressive than they wanted everyone to think it was.

Interesting theory.

Of course, I'm not deluding myself into thinking this is something that would probably happen. I'm sure the PSP would be the top choice if Squenix ever decides to port FF7.

But you never know. If the DS ends up with a decisive victory over the PSP, Nintendo might be able to convince SquareEnix to allow this.

[Draygaia]

I rather have FFIX istead.

[Bloodworth]

I thought Square-Enix was still of the opinion that they're not sure where the PSP's heading.  Despite common belief, they're not Sony followers so much as they just go with whoever the market leader is and they really like making those movie clips.  The rumors are pointing to Square-Enix being the first ones to bring online games to DS, so there's an interesting road ahead.