Ben Nicholas is an artist and concept designer formerly with 343 Industries who worked on Halo Wars 2. He’s also a huge fan of Final Fantasy VII, which is why he decided to embark on a project to re-imagine the game’s various interiors, beginning with pharmacy nestled deep inside the Wall Market strip of the Midgar slums.
The above picture is Nicholas’ rendition while the below is how it appears in the HD remake of the game on PS4.
Blurrier than you remember, right?
The pharmacy serves no other purpose in the game then to allow the player the option to exchange a coupon from the diner next door for digestive medicine that can then be given to someone else who’s not feeling well. It was one in a long list of small but important details that made the Midgar slums feel so lifelike and fully realized. Nicholas’ version of the store plays into this by highlighting every little object with its own little hint of light and color.
Nicholas’ charmingly little homage is just another reminder of how great it would be to see Square Enix re-discover the pixel-perfect isometric aesthetic so many people originally fell in love with. You can see more of his concept art here.