These arguments can just go in circles forever, but basically, all the arguments in this thread will certainly boil down to a few points:
- Argument: Those who don't follow closely who love FF7 nevertheless could get to the end of the game thinking the rest is still there and be disappointed (True)
- Counter-argument: This is still a 'full size game' according to SE, so they will get their money's worth anyway (True, if SE is being truly representative of the game)
Both points are totally valid and true.
The comparisons to The Last of Us are dumb though, right? TLOU was envisioned as a complete story and then they decided to expand it, and part 2 as the name is most likely chosen to be evocative of a
certain type of sequel. (I wouldn't be surprised if TLOU2 has the 'Godfather structure', and I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Same for the brain-dead "how dare Fellowship of the Ring not be labeled as part one" take. Silly. Tolkein wrote and conceived the story in that form, and that's the key - this story was originally conceived as a whole.
But to stick with Tolkien, what this is more like is how they split the Hobbit into two and then three films. It's more like that, in terms of how you break a narrative up and try to turn one three-act structure into three sets of stand-alone structure. This is where The Hobbit fell flat, and why The Lord of the Rings worked in this sense: LOTR was conceived as three different three-act stories that just happened to be linked; the Hobbit was conceived as one and then broken up and forced to conform to that structure. With FF7, hopefully it goes better than that did for the Hobbit.
But the point is, if you blind-buy a game called 'Final Fantasy VII Remake', you'd expect it to have the same narrative content as the original game, right? This is what makes this situation different: 'Final Fantasy VII' has a meaning to people in terms of what it is and what it represents. Even if a sequel was planned, nobody knew what The Last of Us was when it released, so nobody had an expectation for where that story would begin, go or end.
The relation to the existing product carries heavy context with it, and acknowledging that doesn't disservice or underplay all the additions being made to make this into a 'full game'. That is the point people are making, and I'm really confused as to if the people who don't seem to get this by screaming "it's a complete new game!!" are being facetious or really, truly don't understand that.
In the end, SE isn't putting a designation on this for obvious reasons - a part one or chapter one on the box could deter some people who might choose to wait for a 'complete package'. It's about the money, and full size game or not, they want to shift as many copies of this as possible and they'll worry about selling the sequel in a couple of years. They're a company, and a company is going to service the bottom line, which is fair enough -- but I think the fans who can't at least acknowledge why this name might mean the game shocks or disappoints some are absolutely nuts. SE clearly were aware of this, too, because they were very careful to get right out in front of this - within ten minutes of introducing the game to the world, Kitase laid out exact parameters of where it would start and end. That, as an act, is telling that
they know. But they also know that putting it on the box could push some sales away. So here we are.