Final Fantasy VII Revelation and Beyond: An Interview with Director Naoki Hamaguchi
What do you feel was the biggest problem with Remake and/or Rebirth and how do you fix that problem with Revelation?
Naoki Hamaguchi: So just to clarify, there weren't really “problems” with Remake or Rebirth, but we are definitely scaling things up from Rebirth and Remake [for Revelation]. For Remake, it was more story-driven than anything else, similar to previous Final Fantasy titles. With Rebirth, it was a story-focus-meets-open-world kind of framework. That's what we were going for with Rebirth.
But with Rebirth there have been comments that there was possibly too much to do in the open world—that with the scale of this world, we didn't need to fill it with content and things to do. So for [Revelation], the scale is still very large and there's still lots of things to do, but we have made it easier to play.
Based on what you've heard from fans, what is the most hated mini-game across Remake and Rebirth?
Hamaguchi: There are a lot of mini-games—and many different styles of mini-games—and I think every player has their own personal preference. It's an RPG, so the characters are moving around the environment in a really specific way—they're not walking around in action-combaty ways.
For example, there was the Moogle House mini-game. But people who wanted to focus on the action, didn't really want to step away from the action elements and do that.
However, for people who are interested, the Moogle Houses are returning for Revelation. But, as for the Moogles, they have since quit their jobs as Moogle merchants and they're now trying their hand at being on stage—making a little idol group.
Anyway, since a lot of people didn't really like that Moogle mini-game, that was definitely one thing we wanted to change and so we've made it more accessible—and hopefully more people like the Moogles!
Despite Rebirth's popularity, only 2.6% of PS5 players have the platinum trophy. As one of the players who has it, I know exactly why this is: the final three VR boss gauntlets that require you to not only play perfectly for nearly 30 minutes but also get very lucky to beat them. Why did you make this so time consuming and unforgiving (especially compared to Remake and INTERmission)? Have you eased up on this for Revelation?
Hamaguchi: For Rebirth's platinum trophy—well, for Rebirth in general—there's so much to do. There's so much content. We wanted to make people go through all this content and perfect it. It's kind of by design that that would make it difficult.
So I don't want to call it a mistake in judgment or anything but we also didn't expect so many people to want the platinum trophy. I think that was what we underestimated here. Battle director Teruki Endo also saw [the fan reaction] and was like, “Oh, no! I feel bad—I have regrets.”
In comparison, for Revelation, the platinum trophy will be easier to get. In terms of how difficult it will be, we're expecting twenty percent of players or maybe even more than that to be able to obtain it.
We have a lot of interesting stuff for [the brutal and legendary VR Combat Simulator] battles as well. For example, obviously there are three person battles, but in each set of fights you'll only be able to use each character once—so it'll be interesting to see how people go about that. It's not just about the amount of battles that there are but the battles themselves that are going to be enjoyable. I think that's one thing that we've learned from Rebirth: to make the battles themselves enjoyable rather than just challenging.
The Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy has always seemed to be about fighting fate—fighting back against the story of the original Final Fantasy VII—as much as fighting Sephiroth. How did this idea come about and how has it evolved over the course of making the three games?
Hamaguchi: The fan base is really entrenched in this series. And so we had to be very careful about how we approached the story. We knew we had to be very respectful of the original version, which is so beloved by so many people. That's the basis where we started from.
So there is an element of fighting against what was already perceived, but the core is still there that would make people who are fans of the original see, "Oh, this is the same story. The same beats are happening here."
I think with all of these games, it's about allowing the players to imagine what's going to happen next. There are subtle changes that are happening like with Zack and all those other elements. It's always about getting fans to imagine what's coming next.
Were there ever any serious discussions about having Aerith live beyond Rebirth—or was the plan always to have Cloud and the others lose to fate?
Hamaguchi:Of course, there are many ways to look at the ending of Rebirth, and I think that is up to every fan [which way they look at it], so I'm not going to speak on the truth of what actually happens.
For Revelation—for all of the titles—the story was decided long ago that we haven't decided to change anything really. However, for that one specific scene, we decided to take a different track from the original by providing different camera angles, different approaches, different ways the characters saw that scene—and allow fans to draw their own conclusions about it.
Zack's story always felt complete to me with Crisis Core. It's the story of a man who dreamed of becoming a hero, becomes disillusioned with heroes over his adventure, but actually becomes one in death by saving Cloud. What is the theme or message you want to convey to players through Zack's new story in the Remake trilogy?
Hamaguchi: There are two reasons really that we're adding more Zack and fleshing him out more. Zack obviously appeared in the original but he wasn't really fleshed out as a character. But in the Remake series, he's integral to who Cloud is as a character—as a person—and so we knew that people who didn't play Crisis Core needed to understand who Zack was in order to fully understand who Cloud is. Because of this, we knew he needed a bigger role—to have an important role—in the games.
His other role in the Remake series is to help players understand where the original and the Remake series diverge. He kind of shepherds the players understanding of that concept—of how things are changing. We knew that we needed someone to instruct players about how things are changing and so we did that through gameplay elements with Zack.
How did the decision to include elements from Dirge of Cerberus come about and will these continue throughout Revelation as well?
Hamaguchi: We wanted to incorporate not just Dirge of Cerberus, but all of the [Compilation of Final Fantasy VII] titles really. We started that with Yuffie and the Deep Ground Soldiers [in Episode INTERmission].
In all three titles, we really tried to incorporate as much as possible. But with Revelation specifically, we definitely added connections to Advent Children, Before Crisis, Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus—all the parts of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. This was something we definitely wanted to include in Revelation, and I think it's going to be interesting for players to experience this.
If you wanted to do a fourth Remake game, you could easily cover the events of Advent Children and/or Dirge of Cerberus. And then there's the fact that Dirge of Cerberus ends on a cliffhanger (that we've been waiting 20 years to be resolved) if you wanted to do a fifth. What are your thoughts on the future for the Final Fantasy VII remakes? Do you feel that it can continue on or do you feel that it should just kind of stop with the conclusion of this game?
Hamaguchi: At this time, Revelation is the conclusion of the series—and there's a reason for that.
At the moment we don't really have plans for the future of Final Fantasy VII necessarily, but we're not leaving anything on the table for this final installment. We don't want any of the developers thinking, like, "Oh, I wish I would've done that," and then, "Oh, shoot, should've done that too," and save it for the next title or anything like that. We want to do it all here and now.
With that in mind, maybe after the game comes out, depending on fan reaction, maybe there will be something, but at the moment we're really aiming to just complete the series with a satisfying ending that fans will love.
A Vincent DLC and a Sephiroth DLC have been announced for Revelation. If Revelation ends so conclusively, do neither of these DLC take place after the main story?
Hamaguchi: So for the DLCs, it's not necessarily going to replace any part of the original story or the ending of Revelation. The DLCs are like Episode INTERmission—how we dove deeper into Yuffie and her character. That DLC shows a portion of the story that you don't see in the original game or in the remake series, but you get to learn more about the characters.
So there's obviously been a lot of fan theories with the Final Fantasy Remake trilogy. My favorite fan theory surrounds Sephiroth at the Edge of Creation. Because he uses “Ore” instead of “Watashi” as his personal pronoun, there are people who are certain that this means that Sephiroth at the Edge of Creation and normal Sephiroth are different characters. Was this an intentional thing, the difference in pronouns? Or was this an accident that has kind of spun off into something uncontrolled?
Hamaguchi: To be perfectly honest, I don't think I should discuss that here. However, in Revelation, we're definitely going to dive deeper into who Sephiroth is and about his character. We want you to kind of feel it out and see what's going on with him. I think you'll be able to figure it out.
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