Someone has created a mod for the original Final Fantasy VII that adds full voice acting to Square Enix’s megapopular ‘97 RPG.
The FFVII voice mod, called Echo-S 7, was created by Tsunamods, a team of modders who specialize in re-textures and 3D model upscales for the Final Fantasy series. According to Tsunamods, the Echo-S 7 mod was created by having voice actors from the YouTube channel Studio Stills perform its voice lines and character barks. Be sure to check that your headphones are securely jacked in to your laptop before playing because these low-poly eco-terrorists (affectionate) swear quite a bit. Echo-S 7 releases today (how lucky).
“The script used in this mod is in fact the original Japanese script that has been retranslated correctly, compared to the original poor one that we got,” Tsunamods wrote in the video’s description box. “Although granted, we have tweaked it to sound more human because text boxes can read very differently compared to when spoken out loud.”
For example, instead of having Tifa repeat the line “Shake it off. Let’s try again” an infinite number of times while she, Cloud, and Barrett have to press a button simultaneously in the opening reactor sequence, Tifa will gradually get more frustrated if players fail the infamous minigame.
“It seems we may have added too much swearing in the trailer specifically,” Tsunamods wrote on YouTube. “The mod doesn’t actually contain that much at all, it just happened to be in areas/features we wanted to show off. So we may have falsely represented ourselves a little there.”
Echo-S 7’s voice acting is pretty fantastic. However, I’m biased because its vocal performances sound like a playable version of Team Four Star’s Final Fantasy Machinabridged YouTube series. Before Echo-S 7, Tsunamods made a quality-of-life mod for FFVII called Cosmo Memory which replaced the game’s sound effects and added ambient field sounds and battle sounds, among other features. Tsunamods documented their process of working on the Echo-S 7 on their Twitch channel.
Suppose you’re a part of the silent majority of the Final Fantasy faithful who believe Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy IX deserve some voice mod treatment alongside Square Enix’s poster boy, FFVII. In that case, you’re in luck because Tsunamods is working on voice mods for those titles as well, and say in a comment to Kotaku not to fear that those “will also take 7 years.”
“I promise you, this shit took us years to do. And we aren’t paid either,” Tsunamods wrote. “We would not waste all that time with the intention of ruining the very game we love and spend years working on.”