'Final Fantasy 7 Remake' on its way, but what do we actually know?

The "Final Fantasy 7 Remake" is quite possibly the most anticipated video game in the world today. The adventures of Cloud, Tifa, Aeris and the rest of the Avalanche crew are renowned as quite possibly the best RPG of all time. Fans have clamored for a remake of the 1997 PS1 classic, and their dreams came true in 2015 when the remake was announced to finally happen.

It has been almost three years since the remake was announced, but what exactly do we know?

A lot of information has been kept under wraps, but we can reveal some things that have been released. We can also read into some ideas about the remake from the information we know as well.

Battle system - no longer turn based

One of the bigger changes in the remake is the battle system change. Gone is the turn-based battle system of the original game. Seen as outdated, it has been replaced by a more action orientated battle system like you see in the "Kingdom Hearts" games.

You control Cloud, or anyone else in your party at the time, as you fight the enemies on screen. From this, we can imagine that random battles are also gone.

Enemies will already be pre-loaded upon entering an area. They could be standing around waiting for you to come within range or 'appear,' like in "Kingdom Hearts," when you cross a certain part of the map.

If random encounters are indeed gone, we can also say that entire area of the game will be changed. The narrow corridors of the original game would not be the best environment for action based battles. We imagine the locations will be mostly the same changed, but the areas themselves will be reimagined.

It won't just be hacking and slashing, though. Claims are that weapon equipment and materia management for the characters are also very important. We imagine that weapons could have different effects rather than straight upgrades to strength, again like the way "Kingdom Hearts" weapons work.

Materia, on the other hand, is still a mystery. We know there is magic, summons and even limit breaks implemented in the game. But we still aren't sure how materia will be used. Could it be like the original, where different weapons let you equip more or less materia? Could materia be dependant on character, with Aeris being able to use more materia than the more brawn orientated Barret? Could how many materia you are able to equip be tied to level or story progression?

Story - how much changes, how much stays the same

What a lot of fans are especially determined to know more about is the story. Whether the story will go through wholesale changes or not is still unknown. One of the bigger reasons why the game has been able to progress so quickly is the story is already finished.

There has been news released stating that there will be new story added to the remake. Where this story will be added is as of yet unknown. One of the more difficult aspects of working on remakes is knowing what things to change and what things to add. This will never be so true than when it comes to the much-loved story of the original.

What we know as well is the game will be released in episodic form. This is due to Square-Enix being unable to fit everything they would like into one game. Instead of cutting things from the remake, they instead made the game into episodes to be able to fit everything they want in.

We believe it will be three separate episodes, bringing familiarity to the three-disc origin of the original game.

However, a leak has revealed the possibility of changes to where each episode ends. Without spoiling a 21-year-old game, the first disc of the original ends on a highly emotional moment. It is a moment that has resonated over the years, being many gamers most powerful and impactful moment.

However, the leak has said that the first episode of the remake will end when the party acquires the Tiny Bronco boat. This will be a few hours short of finishing the first disc of the original. We can assume the episode will end there to try and balance the length.

On the original, the third disc was the last dungeon and a multitude of side quests and optional bosses. If you paid full price for that, you might wind up a tad disappointed.

If I had to guess, the second episode could end before the team head to the Underwater Reactor. This is right at another pivotal moment in the story and would be an ideal place to end an episode with lots of excitement still ahead.

The claim from Square-Enix is that each episode of the game will be the scale of "Final Fantasy XIII." This would make each episode 30-40 hours long. This is a bold claim to make, especially when you consider that is the same length of the original "Final Fantasy 7".

We know each episode will have full voice acting, with the idea that the voice actors from "Final Fantasy: Advent Children" will be brought back to record their characters voices. Aside from that, we are unknown if the remake will incorporate the extended universe of "Final Fantasy 7" that has been built over the years.

We are aware the character designs while being updated, will resemble the original character designs from "Final Fantasy 7".

The first episode of "Final Fantasy 7 Remake" is said to be released in early 2019. However, the leak also suggests that the first episode may be released towards the end of 2018. Regardless of when the game is released, a lot of eyes are going to be on this remake over the coming months.