Square Enix revealed earlier this week that the launch delay of the Final Fantasy VII remake is due to their special and respectful treatment of characters that the fans love.
It's likely that Sqaure Enix is under a whole lot of pressure from the fans to respect the source material even if it means delaying the release. With that, Square also revealed that they will release the remake as episodes, similar to the episodic style popularized by Tellltale Games.
Christian Today reported that game producer Yoshinori Kitase said that the remake is big enough to have multiple parts. "The biggest reason why we haven't done a remake until now is because it's a massive undertaking to reconstruct FINAL FANTASY VII from the ground up with the current technology. Producing a proper HD remake of FINAL FANTASY VII that maintains the same feeling of density of the original would result in a volume of content that couldn't possibly fit into one installment," Kitase stated.
It is also said that the remake will feature not just fleshed out characterization and storytelling but also full voice acting. The voice actors may be different from the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children animated feature film. According to Crossmap, the game will have a graphical upgrade and every episode will offer unique gameplay elements to the player.
Polygon also noted that the game will look and play a little bit differently as what's seen during the PlayStation Experience 2015 footage. The report added that there are indications that the game will have some elements similar to open world or sandbox games. Kitase did not confirm or deny this but he said that character actions will have an effect on the environment.
Final Fantasy VII remake for the PlayStation 4 will most likely launch in 2017 but Square Enix is not closing the door on a 2018 launch window.
