It seems doubtful that Square Enix will announce a remake at this year's E3 Convention, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. Truthfully, I don't think there's any other game in the series, or in Square Enix's entire back catalog of games, that's in more dire need of a remake than Final Fantasy VII. People talking about remakes of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI need to seriously snap out of it.

I love Final Fantasy VII. It was one of the games that got me into RPGs as a kid (I was too young to experience II and III first-hand) and it blew me away when I first played it. Still does, actually. The sentimental value I have for that game is unparalleled. However, as much as I hate to admit it, it's also a very, very flawed game. For starters, the game mechanics are completely broken. I was playing the game the other month when it dawned on me.

Here's just a list from the top of my head:

• Gravity is completely broken. You can hit enemies that are resistant to the Gravity element for 9,999 damage with the lowest level Gravity spell.
• Enemy Skill materia is way overpowered. With the right Enemy Skills, you don't even need to use any offensive magic materia. Enemy Skills gives you a large spell pool in just one materia slot.
• Too many unbalancing abilities, e.g. Omnislash, Knights of the Round, Highwind, 2x/4x Cut. The Weapons were obviously just added to the game so you had anywhere to use these abilities.

Stuff like that makes an already frustratingly easy game even less challening. Of course, a lot of that is understandable: the game was released way the fuck back in 1997 and Square was just learning how to develop RPGs for the next generation of consoles. They had to make a quantum leap, but didn't exactly know how. As a result, a lot of Final Fantasy VII is the result of developmental trial-and-error, and it shows (and yes, I believe going from 2D to 3D qualifies as a quantum leap). Then there's that painful english translation. Mistranslating the names of main characters should not be acceptable (Aeris who?).

I still think VII has the most compelling story and strongest cast of characters out of any game in the series, and it's obviously on the strength of its story elements it has attained its large fanbase. And that fanbase wants an updated version of the game they love. So just remake the fucking game already. It's not all that complicated: just overhaul the game mechanics, make some acceptably pretty seventh-generation graphics, have Kazushige Nojima write some decent dialog, promote the shit out of it, and there you have it, the best-selling game in Square and Enix's combined history.

I kid you not.