Ethics department and intense action scenes among reasons for change.

The Final Fantasy VII remake is promising a slew of gameplay changes and other evolutions to better fit with modern gamers’ tastes and expectations, but more than anything else, it’s the graphical enhancements that have people excited.

▼ The remake’s in-game graphics look even better than the 1997 original’s pre-rendered CD case cover art (top left).

However, Final Fantasy VII Remake also has at least one visual diminishment, at least in terms of size. Playable character Tifa has long been famous not just for her powerful martial arts techniques and cheerful personality, but also her prodigious bust. However, in the first Remake preview video in which Tifa is shown, she appears to be much more pectorally petite than she was in the original Final Fantasy VII.

▼ Original Tifa

In the most recent issue of Japanese video game magazine Famitsu, Final Fantasy VII Remake director/character designer Tetsuya Nomura, who also served as character designer for the original Final Fantasy VII, confirmed that there has indeed been a change to the way Tifa’s breasts are portrayed, and explained why.

“I wanted Tifa [in Remake] to have well-defined abdominal muscles, so she has an athletic build. There were also instructions from our in-company ethics department, making it necessary to constrict her chest in order to not look unnatural during intense action scenes. That’s why she has a black undershirt and a more form-fitting tank top [in Remake].”

Nomura’s somewhat vague wording leaves room for interpretation as to whether Tifa’s chest is being “constricted” simply in the sense of being held firmly in place, or whether the term is meant to describe an actual compressing/compacting of her bust. In any case, Tifa isn’t the only character whose appearance has changed for Remake. As video game visuals become more photo-realistic, the more stylistic proportions of earlier-era titles can look unnatural when rendered in a current-gen environment. The spikes of Final Fantasy VII protagonist Cloud’s hair, for example, aren’t as towering (as a percentage of his body height) as they were in the original, nor is macho Barret’s physique quite the square block of muscular meat it once was.

And hey, if you’re really missing original Tifa’s noticeably bigger breasts, you can take heart in the fact that Final Fantasy VII Remake is confirmed as a multi-game release, and so there’s always the chance developer Square Enix will do what they did for the Final Fantasy XIII franchise and pump up Tifa’s cup size for one of the sequels…or perhaps that they’ll compensate by giving her curvier hips.

Source: Game Yorodorisabukaramidori Park via Otakomu
Images: YouTube/PlayStation
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