A strange new effect previously thought to be a visual update celebrating the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth turned out to be an unfortunate and potentially costly accident for one Twitter user. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the continuation of the critically acclaimed Final Fantasy VII Remake and was revealed at Square Enix's Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary event. Despite Rebirth's release being still over a year away, production on Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 is already in progress.
Revered amongst JRPG fans, 1997's Final Fantasy VII is argued by many to be the definitive Final Fantasy. Surprisingly, for a title so beloved, it took 23 years for it to see an HD remake. In 2005, Square-Enix featured a graphically updated recreation of Final Fantasy VII's famous opening as a Playstation 3 tech demo at Sony's E3 conference. Square had expressed that the tech demo was for promotional use only and that the company had no intention of remaking the game. This somewhat out-of-touch inaction on Square's part resulted in years of demands from FFVII's passionate fanbase until, at last, the Final Fantasy VII Remake officially premiered at Sony’s 2015 E3 show. To the delight of its dedicated fanbase, the Final Fantasy VII Remake improved upon its predecessor in many ways, its crowning achievement being the upgraded visuals fans had wanted for decades.
Freelance Final Fantasy VII historian M. J. Gallagher (FFVII books) recently tweeted a short video of what he believed was another visual upgrade to the Final Fantasy VII Remake menu screen. Framing the iconic Buster Sword of Final Fantasy VII hero Cloud Strife was a large red pulsing ring that beautifully complimented the foggy atmosphere of the main menu. In his excitement, Gallagher posted a video of the stellar effect on Twitter, believing that the effect in question was to celebrate the latest announcement of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. However, initial responders to his tweet expressing confusion as to why the effect didn't appear for them prompted Gallagher to investigate further. He later retweeted his unfortunate discovery that the ring was the result of his toddler throwing a toy at the TV screen; the resulting damage caused the otherwise convincing effect.
This was a regrettable and likely expensive setback, but it did make for an interesting effect, if nothing else. Like many of FFVII's more dedicated fans, Gallagher has enjoyed creating fan work based on the game. However, Gallagher has taken his passion for the series to another level by publishing in-depth textbooks that explore the mythology that inspired Final Fantasy VII’s impressive lore. He currently has released Norse Myths That Inspired Final Fantasy VII detailing the inspirations of Norse mythology in FFVII, with a Greek edition newly funded on Kickstarter.
If Final Fantasy VII's Shin-Ra Corporation has taught fans anything, it's that accidents happen in Midgar. While the Final Fantasy VII Remake visuals are impressive, this recent occurrence may cause fans to approach new visual effects with a bit more scrutiny in the future. Maybe Square will end up including this effect upon Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's release because, with all due respect to Gallagher's TV, it was a neat effect.
Sources: M. J. Gallagher (FVII Books)/Twitter