Final Fantasy VII Remake was released in April of last year, but it continues to generate news and news, such as the launch of the Intergrade version. In addition, the game gained more behind-the-scenes details, including a curious revelation that the character Cloud would initially dance a pole dance in the scene at the HoneyBee Inn.
The detail was revealed by Motomu Toriyama, co-director of the game, in an interview released this Wednesday (23) by Square Enix’s official website. He talked a lot about one of the most memorable scenes of the production and how it was conducted.
Toriyama explained that to choreograph the dance scene a team of professional dancers who specialize in burlesque dancing was hired. He said that the excerpt went through several changes and corrections until reaching the final version.
“Initially, for example, there was a pole dancing scene included, which meant that filming started in an elaborate set. We decided to remove this part due to the impact on the (indicative) classification”, he said.
Idea and execution
The co-director said the idea of making Cloud dance came when the producers were thinking about how to adapt the passage in which the character dresses up as a woman in the original game. In conversations, they decided the moment should be more extravagant and so did the dance.
“Given how famous the character dressed as a woman in Final Fantasy VII was, we knew people would have high expectations for the remake. We knew we had to do this in a way that lived up to the expectations of both (public and Square Enix), but that took modern sensibilities into account.”
Toriyama detailed that the entire show was structured in different parts, so that the duration, lines and movements of each part were individually thought out. Then there was a lot of work on music, visuals and lastly on choreography. He confessed that the process took a long time, as the fit between all the details needed to be perfect.
Gameplay and changes from the original
Regarding the gameplay at the iconic moment, he said it was integrated because the whole game has mini game moments and challenges, so it all made a lot of sense with the overall proposal.
“This scene is a key example of something that has changed drastically from Final Fantasy VII. I was a little worried about what fans of the original game would think, but the whole scene got a much more enthusiastic reception than I could have expected, so I was quite relieved,” he revealed.
Lastly, he joked that it would be fun to add other dance snippets in the sequel and that characters like Tifa, Aerith and even Red XIII could show their steps.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is available for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in the Intergrade version. So, what did you think of the scene at HoneyBee Inn? Leave your opinion in the comments section below!
