As E3 2021 looms, thoughts can't help but turn back to reveals of past events - events where thousands of journalists, streamers, influencers, developers and fans crammed into theatres to see what was next for Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo and more, and drink in those games' debut trailers. Cheering? You betcha. And today, I've found myself reminiscing about one conference, one game, and one trailer in particular.
Four years before Xbox took everyone's breath away by bringing Keanu Reeves on stage to talk about CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077, PlayStation held a conference absolutely packed with jaw-on-the-floor moments. As I recalled in a previous article, seeing the likes of The Last Guardian and Shenmue III shown off was incredible - people were in actual tears. But there's no doubt what was the star of PlayStation's show at E3 2015.
It was this. Go on, reminisce with us. Drink it in. This is how Final Fantasy VII Remake was introduced to the world...
We thought we were ready, but we so weren't. With several teases of a remake of Square's absolutely seminal role-player of 1997 - the second-biggest selling game on the original PlayStation - having rippled out of various message boards and social media posts in the months leading up to E3 2015, we were quietly anticipating something. But when it came? All the emotions, honestly.
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There are so many tells in the first minute. The slide in the playground. The city which is so obviously Midgar. The swords the kids are using to play-fight. The flower, for goodness sake. Obviously, obviously this was it, the remake - even before you took a moment to appreciate that Final Fantasy VII's director, Yoshinori Kitase, has his name up on the screen. So too one of the main writers on the 1997 game, Kazushige Nojima. But, truthfully? It's the Buster Sword that did it, that tipped fans old and new alike over the edge, into rapture. A minute and 25 seconds, that blade, and that musical refrain. Lost it.
Don't remember just how much some people lost it? Please, enjoy this GameTrailers video, from the 1.55 mark onwards... Everybody, please, settle down.
"You maniacs, what are you doing? E3, what are you doing?" I love how they think it's a movie, surely it's a movie, and then the penny drops. I don't know, has any E3 reveal had a reaction like this one did, in the years since? Will anything at 2021's all-digital event rival the excitement this trailer sparked? With leaks abundant, probably not - but hey, fingers crossed, right? I'm not sure how Square Enix and Sony kept a lid on the Remake debut of 2015 - but if they could pull it off again, perhaps for the second chapter of the game, well... all the emotions again, I expect.
Featured Image Credit: Square EnixTopics: E3, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Final Fantasy 7, PlayStation, Square Enix