Yeah, but we already have an engine that works; why discard it (even in part) for another one? By the time I'd totally learnt my way around Crystal, I could've spent the same amount of time to pretty much finish off my own engine. It doesn't contain much platform specific code, either; if I had a Linux box, I could probably port the engine to Linux in a matter of hours. The only external libraries the Remake engine uses are OpenGL for graphics, and FMOD for sound, both of which are very cross-platform. Internally, it uses Borland's RTL for most stuff, which is directly available on Linux; and Free Pascal have an equivalent set of code, the FCL, for most other platforms worth considering.
If we were starting the project *now* then an existing engine would be worth considering; but I'm still not convinced we'd want to use one. The point about the Remake engine is that the majority of the hard code is stuff that's very FF7 specific, so using an existing engine isn't going to help you; you might as well code your own for exactly the needs you have. Especially given the learning factor: learning how to use an existing engine takes time. If most of the things you need to do aren't going to be solved by it, then you're gaining very little benefit from it.
In addition, of course, Crystal is in C++, which is an immediate negative point from my point of view; I can code in C++, but I prefer not to given a choice.
'sides, like I said, the problems facing us at the moment aren't really to do with the engine. Of course, I'm in no position to criticise wrt lack of time; my finals at university start next month, so I can't work on the project either. But the programming side of it is not really an issue at the moment.
