The Final Fantasy VII Remake might have a less cringe-worthy version of the infamous ‘Cloud in a dress’ section than the original game based on the latest trailer from Square-Enix.
Earlier today, January 31, the publisher of the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake, Square-Enix, released two new videos meant to feature the music of the long-awaited game. The first video is a behind the scenes featurette about scoring the game featuring veteran composer Nobu Uematsu and his team, which while entertaining, is not necessarily what fans are hoping for. The other, more newsworthy video is a cinematic trailer meant to show off new footage and the theme song for Final Fantasy VII: Remake.
Several of the new scenes shown in the cinematic trailer come from the infamous ‘Honeybee Inn’ segment of the Final Fantasy VII. In this sequence, Cloud dresses as a woman to rescue Tifa from a sexual predator and slumlord named Don Corneo operating out of a hotel in the Midgar slums. In the original game, the entire section is played as a joke at the expense of Cloud for wearing a dress, making it a clear example of the type of transphobia that was more common in the 1990s and still persists to this day. Based on the clips from this new trailer it seems the sequence has undergone much needed a rewrite in the remake. Lines like, ”True beauty is an expression of the heart. A thing without shame, to which notions of gender don’t apply.” is definitely an improvement over the tone of the original sequence. Fans still lack essential context for the new version of the sequence, so it may yet turn out to be a rough spot, but at least there’s reason to hope it will be respectful.
The trailer also features several members of the Shinra C-suite executives such as Scarlet and Heidegger, who inform the environmentalist theme of Final Fantasy VII by way of antagonism. While the game’s main villain Sephiroth is a more personal and looming threat, things are more ‘just business’ for the Shinra executives as they wreck the environment.
The trailer also features feline party member Red XIII, the last of the party recruited in Midgar. There also appear to be new characters in the trailer that seem to be added to flesh out the rank and file enemies in the game.
Check out that behind the scenes video. Composers go criminally unknown in the games industry.