Final Fantasy 7 UI vs. remake UI: the goods in remaking a classic

FF7 remake is an interest to looking into, because it’s Square, a Japanese game developer attempted at creating a sci fi game. Sci fi as a genre has always been good at telling stories about human conflicts and the struggle for resources. It’s amazing how on point the story of the game is.

FF7 definitely raises the bar for what a remake can be by applying the latest and the greatest of technology, cinematography, and design parodies to reimagine a classic game. It’s hard to compare the UI of the two games side by side, as the series has long went from a turn-based RPG to a action RPG. Still, I would like explore aspects of the UI changes that are exciting.

The familiar formula: The advantage of doing a remake is that there is a library of visual references to borrow from. The original logo has a simple yet striking appearance, itself stands the test of time. The remake logo keeps the spirit of the original logo and make it looking 3D. It’s fitting, since the game went from a 2D game to a 3D game.

Improved layouts: I like the improvements made to the main menu. With wider screens, modern games has wider horizontal space to work with, and the remake gets those space to good use. Similar to Tales of Vesperia, the remake goes with a vertical layout for character portraits and stats. The remake showcases nice renders of the 3D characters. The use of vertical titles, like “Main Menu” in the screenshot, is a nice touch.

In defense of the original design, I do think sometimes modern UI sacrifices some readability of the texts for the styling and I wish the text are overall bigger.

Visual motifs that kept from the original design: in the original game, materia were visualized as vibrant jewel-like spheres there are embedded weapons and accessories. The remake kept the design and it’s a welcoming decision for the fans.

It’s especially in the comparison above we can see, in modern UI design, the goal is not to fill the screen, but to achieve a balance of information and overall aesthetics of the screen. The use of character art in the background is both visually pleasing and help contextualize the screens.

Different choices: The save file screen looks distinctly apart in two versions. I personally enjoy the repeated use of character profiles in different screens. The remake version doesn’t allow you to switch in and out teammates as they join and leave the team automatically depends on where in the story. One can also argue that it’s the save file screen and it doesn’t need to demand as much attention.

Classic SFX: Sometimes it’s easy to miss that the iconic SFXs are also what makes an UI memorable. In my personal opinion, the UI in the remake is primarily there in support of the great graphics in the game. I do think the SFXs in the remake are not as present as in the original, as they are harder to notice.

This concludes some of my thoughts on the two versions of the game. Until next time!