🐱 Final Fantasy 7 Remake Developer Says The Last Of Us Part 2 Is A Benchmark For Video Game Diversity

https://www.thegamer.com/final-fantasy-7-remake-the-last-of-us-part-2-video-game-diversity/

Co-director Motomu Toriyama breaks down the influence of Naughty Dog's masterpiece.
Speaking with TheGamer, Final Fantasy 7 Remake co-director Motomu Toriyama has expanded upon the LGBTQ+ nature of the JRPG remake, as well as highlighting how Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part 2 set a new benchmark for diversity in the gaming medium.

While it was a rather harrowing experience, The Last of Us Part 2 broke a number of boundaries with a lesbian heroine, bisexual romance and a transgender character all featuring prominently throughout the unfolding narrative. It was a bold step forward in a number of ways, and it appears this influence has made its way over to the creators of Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

“The Last of Us Part 2 really delivered on its consideration for diversity,” Toriyama-san tells us. “Right down to the UI, and I would imagine that the cost of debugging on that game was massive. However, having achieved that makes it a great game that sets a benchmark for the industry.”

It’s rare to see such a large Japanese studio talk so honestly about the important of queer representation, with Toriyama-san expanding further on the idea and how the team wanted to not only update Final Fantasy 7 Remake to take advantage of new technology, but to also respect and embrace the world we live in today. .

“I think that expressing diversity with LGBTQ+ inclusion is an important issue for everyone involved in making content, not just people making games,” Toriyama-san explains. “In Final Fantasy 7 Remake, we rebuilt the original game using the latest technology, but we felt that it should not stop at the technical side and we needed to update the story content being shown in line with modern sensibilities.”

You only need to glance at Honey Bee Inn to see how Final Fantasy 7 Remake is more than a little queer-coded, and it seems this was a deliberate act on the part of Toriyama-san and company. Time will tell whether the coming sequels will expand upon these ideas, but it seems that Square Enix is approaching its storytelling with the right attitude, which is one that isn’t afraid to explore diverse themes while building upon the original narrative.

Our full interview with Yoshinori Kitase, Motomu Toriyama, and Naoki Hamaguchi will be coming soon, so keep an eye out for that alongside a number of other fascinating tidbits on Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the future of the ambitious reimagining.

 

[Standardized Profile]

Unless if this mean that Tifa and Aeris will fuck each other silly, I am not ok.

You're not thinking queer enough. Red XIII will fuck Aeris silly.

 

[Grey Donovan]

Ghost of Tsushima is one thing (praised by the Yakuza devs), but it’s interesting seeing more Western games get put on a pedestal by Japanese devs.

Too bad their main takeaway from a game like TLOU2 are things that had nothing to do with the core gameplay and narrative. Toriyama isn’t looking much better than the salt mines that are still giving the game free estate.

 

[Duke Nukem]

"I won't play this game unless there's a bazillion gays and lesbians in it!"

These people are worse than 12 year old cawadoody addicts who refuse to play anything else.

To be fair it's kinda silly to get angry over a sex scene in a video game but it does seem a little bit shoehorned in.

Can't we just go back to conservatards whining about Doom or something?

 

[Goyslop Muncher]

"I won't play this game unless there's a bazillion gays and lesbians in it!"

These people are worse than 12 year old cawadoody addicts who refuse to play anything else.

To be fair it's kinda silly to get angry over a sex scene in a video game but it does seem a little bit shoehorned in.

Can't we just go back to conservatards whining about Doom or something?

I would gladly go back to people saying videogames are the devil. But maybe they were right, look at where they are

 

[Troonos]

Maybe a benchmark for what to avoid in games development.

 

[Screw Danlon]

Oh, so a faggot who somehow ruined one of the most memorable games ever because he had to be a faggot and not actually remake the game he was supposed to remake,

Remaking FF7 is the worst thing you can do. That game was weaker than the game before and after it, and the only reason people love it is that they were 13 when it came out and didn‘t know any better.

FF7R is great for the same reason X-2 is - Square’s naked contempt for their fans.

 

[I (Don't) Have A Gun]

Final Fantasy had plenty of diversity and representation

 

[CatParty]

Isn’t this game the one with the tranny brutalizing a girl repeatedly smashing her head?

 

[Dysnomia]

I remember the gay jokes spawned from the original when Barret dons that sailor suit and Cloud crossdresses to save Tifa and Aeris. Let's make them a reality. Forget the heroines. Cloudia needs Sailor Barret's magical big black girldick instead. Let's reimagine the whole story around that.

 

[PantySniffer69]

Dude looks like he keeps the used panties vending machine market afloat all on his own.

Easy now...

 

[Grey Donovan]

Isn’t this game the one with the tranny brutalizing a girl repeatedly smashing her head?

Abby isn’t the trans character; in fact, it’s possible to play through the game and never know who it is.

 

[CatParty]

Abby isn’t the trans character; in fact, it’s possible to play through the game and never know who it is.

I just remember nol having a gif of it on the front page for a while and it was so silly

 

[SBG]

Ghost of Tsushima is one thing (praised by the Yakuza devs), but it’s interesting seeing more Western games get put on a pedestal by Japanese devs.

Think it’s been happening for a while since some western games are just fun. It’s the same with Marvel being popular the world over. The Japanese are just looking at what seems to be popular to see what appeals to people, but with this Last Of Us praise seems more to do with debugging than diversity. Never played it, but a lot of these AAA games look like they’d be nightmares to debug.

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

Abby isn’t the trans character; in fact, it’s possible to play through the game and never know who it is.

They try to say Abby isn't trans, but Abby is fuckin' trans. Them linebacker shoulders don't lie. (I assume she was going to be trans and they took that part out last minute due to the backlash they were receiving)

 

[Radical Cadre]

Isn’t this game the one with the tranny brutalizing a girl repeatedly smashing her head?

Yeah that's the one. Never forget:

It's also the one where the director self-inserts and bangs the aforementioned tranny.

Spoiler: Bonus!

 

[Dysnomia]

Remaking FF7 is the worst thing you can do. That game was weaker than the game before and after it, and the only reason people love it is that they were 13 when it came out and didn‘t know any better.

FF7R is great for the same reason X-2 is - Square’s naked contempt for their fans.

FF7 is one of the few FF games I liked. Because I was into other series and pretty much ignored it's whole run up til then for Phantasy Star and Shining Force and various others. I did it backwards. RPGs on Genesis and platformers on SNES. FF7 was my first PSX game actually. But I guess the nostalgia factor is pretty big amongst fans. I just don't feel it needed a remake at all. It's just a money grab and you are gonna be paying for Gold Saucer tokens, Yuffie and Vincent. Not looking forward to how they go forward with this one.

Final Fantasy had plenty of diversity and representation

Pretty boy hero gets into a hot tub with a bunch of brawny gay men. Come on people! That's representation!

And don't forget the Men's Hall. A big tent in Wall Market full of trannies and gays working out and getting sweaty. All lead by a MA'AM named Beautiful Bro. Well you could argue that he's really a drag queen because he uses "bro" in his name. But in the current year that matters not. Pronouns are switched out like different hats and we can't simply assume gender.

As I recall Dio was gay too.

What was the name of that weird lady in the frilly sweet lolita garb at the chocobo track? Other NPCs call her weird. When I first played I thought she was a drag queen.

 

[The handsome tard]

As someone who is a proud hater of FF7, this feels like them just proving why I hate that entry and the Square Enix that followed from it.

Complimenting TLOU part 2? Oof...didnt think even the FF7 crowd would go that low.

 

[Uranus Pink]

You're not thinking queer enough. Red XIII will fuck Aeris silly.

Red XIII have been fucking all of the FF7 ladies ever since his first appearance back in mid 90ies. What you be implying would be to make it canon instead of the current non canon rule34 status.

 

[Soycast Guy]

This is coming from the guy who made the FFXIII trilogy. Anything he says should be automatically disregarded.

 

[The Littlest Shitlord]

@CatParty should have posted this in Games so I could use my Horrifying rating that Dear Leader has passive-aggressively taken from this forum. The notion of a prominent employee of the game developer that has made my all-time favorite games praising a notorious turd like TLOU2 is sickening in a way that mere words cannot describe.