 Remaking a game as beloved as Final Fantasy VII was never going to be easy. Change too much, and fans are going to be upset. Change too little, and why even bother remaking the game in the first place? Understandably, stylistic and story choices made by the team at Square Enix have drawn the ire of fans. While we'd love to talk about some big changes to series canon and how Final Fantasy VII remake ends, we don't want to delve too far into spoiler territory. So instead, let's talk about character design. Some particularly vocal fans have been frustrated by the appearance of Tifa Lockhart, who has been reimagined as an athletic brawler in sportswear. Rumour has it that Square Enix's shadowy ethics department cooked up a conspiracy to change Tifa. These rumours actually are true, sort of. There is an ulterior motive behind Tifa's costume change, although not the one that people might expect. The original Final Fantasy VII is very much a product of its time, with big, chunky, adorably cartoonish characters that inhabit a vaguely steampunk world. Tifa Lockhart is designed to fit perfectly into this aesthetic. She wears a simple white top, a pair of braces, or suspenders if you prefer, and a leather skirt. Her costume would look odd on a real person, but in the confines of this fantasy setting, it fits the game's art style. In Remaking Final Fantasy VII, the team at Square Enix elected to make the world of Midgar fit with the art style that's appeared in more recent games in the series. Better graphics means more realistic character models, and that means losing some of the original Final Fantasy VII's quirky art style. Transforming Tifa from a cartoon character to a more realistic human meant coming up with a grounded explanation for her clothing. Real world equipment was used for reference. For example, Tifa's new braces were inspired by military gear, and she wears biker gloves. As Tifa punches her way through fights, it made sense to reflect this in her design. Thus, she was reimagined as an athlete, wearing gym gear to provide extra comfort while training. It's a decision that makes sense in the context of the story, even if the idea of trying to ground Final Fantasy in reality feels a bit counterproductive. Said game director Tetsuya Nomura, first of all, we wanted to give Tifa a six-pack, so we made her more of an athletic style. Then there were also instructions from the internal ethics department, and it was necessary to support the chest area so that it did not become unnatural, even in moments of intense action. We gave her a sporty and fitness-conscious look with a very simple top half with black underwear and a body fitting tank top. While redesigning Tifa, the art team also had to contend with the mysterious Square Enix ethics department. Representatives from this department worked closely with the team to make sure that Tifa's new character design wasn't too revealing. The name of this department sounds a little odd, and as such, it's hard to entirely understand what it does. According to a spokesperson for the company, in the Square Enix Japan studios, the ethics department is actually a group within the company that evaluates game content to make sure it is aligned with the anticipated age rating standards across the globe. CERO, ESRB, PEGI, etc. Essentially, the ethics department has the job of making sure that a game will receive the age rating that Square Enix is hoping for. The goal was to make Final Fantasy VII Remake appropriate for teenage audiences. While the American ESRB and European PEGI ratings boards were never going to cause Square Enix too much trouble, Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organization, or CERO, is a different matter entirely. The board is notoriously strict when it comes to representations of romance in gaming. In addition to keeping track of all violence and swearing in games, CERO also keeps detailed notes on every time game characters, quote, embrace, and kiss. This isn't to say that too many hugs will afford a game a higher rating, it's simply worth noting that CERO is paying particularly close attention to this type of content. Masahiro Sakurai has run afoul of CERO while working on the Super Smash Bros. series. According to the creator, the first thing CERO representatives will ask is to see all female character models upside down, so that they can check to make sure that it's not even possible to accidentally see a quick flash of underpants. The Smash team put one character, Palutena, in a pair of shorts underneath her dress to prevent any wardrobe malfunctions, but even so, they had to revise her design multiple times to appease CERO's strict standards on female dress in an all-ages game. According to Masahiro, they were being ridiculous and frankly quite juvenile. If you're more worried about something trivial like whether you can see some cloth than whether a game includes firearms, you clearly ought to get your priorities in order. It was under this climate that Square Enix established their ethics department, and with these incredibly strict rules in mind, they redesigned Tifa. This paid off, as the game ultimately received a CERO C rating, meaning that it's suitable for those aged 15 and above. And the moral of the story? Perhaps it's that you can't please everyone. Square Enix had to juggle the demands of fans all over the world, the needs of new players coming to the remake fresh, and a strict ratings board that refused to let original costumes pass by without censorship. Frankly, it's amazing that Final Fantasy VII remake is as good as it is.