The Computer Entertainment Developers Conference (CEDEC) conducted an interview with key figures from the Final Fantasy VII Remake development. CEDEC hosted the event online for free, and Twitter users aitaikimochi documented some highlights. In the interview, the developers discussed the game story of the game and even talked about the approach to Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Co-director Naoki Hamaguchi and producer Yoshinori Kitase first discussed how the project started. They revealed that brand manager and series producer, Shinji Hashimoto, has started talks. Hashimoto told Kitase that he always wanted to make a game like the CGI movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Hamaguchi discussed the team organization between developers, management and other staff. It is noteworthy that Hamaguchi revealed that some third-party businesses created assets in the game, after which he supervised, despite joining the project during development.
Hamaguchi also stressed the importance of making Final Fantasy VII Remake story-driven. He expanded that the game did not need an open world, as long as the story was strong. On this subject, Hamaguchi said that director Tetsuya Nomura is very particular about the portrayal of the characters of the play and voice acting. During the design of the story, Kitase satisfactorily emphasized the importance of undermining the expectations of the players. Since the remake did not follow the exact structure of the original game, Kitase’s goal was to deceive players in a positive way.
As for the development of the sequel, Hamaguchi revealed that there was an interesting change among the internal team. Although the staff of the remake were fans of the original game, the team on the sequel enjoyed the remake and wanted them to be specifically part of the upcoming title. Hamaguchi also elaborated that his goal on the sequel is to allow players to experience what the world outside of Midgar feels like. Kitase also said that the upcoming title will surprise players in the same subversive way.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is now available on the PlayStation 4, and Part 2 is currently being developed. Recently, we discovered that Square Enix had some interesting phrases under copyright in 2021, which made some fans wonder about prequel remakes.