Celebrating the upcoming release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2, director Naoki Hamaguchi has revealed that the third entry in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy won’t bring in any major changes to the story from the original. In an interview with Comicbook, Hamaguchi referred to the original Final Fantasy 7‘s story as “one of the aspects of development we were most sensitive about.”
To achieve this, Hamaguchi spoke about having trust in the writer of the game, Kazushige Nojima. However, while there won’t be major changes to the story, he noted that the increased visual fidelity in the remake trilogy has led the studio to rearrange some of the story’s events, since they would “feel implausible” otherwise.
“When it comes to the overarching story, I place my trust in what Kazushige Nojima writes and have no intention of altering that based on my judgment,” he said. “However, with the significant increase in visual fidelity in these remakes, arranging events and the passage of time exactly as they were in the original game can sometimes result in scenes that feel implausible.
“When changes in time or dates don’t feel convincing, it also breaks the player’s emotional engagement.”
To help with this potential issue, Hamaguchi explained that the development team would have discussions to decide whether any given story beat would need more groundwork in order to hit the same emotional beats as the original Final Fantasy 7.
“It wasn’t so much a matter of adding or changing the story, but rather adjusting things in a way that ensured that the player’s emotional pacing aligned with the flow of time,” Hamaguchi explained. “That process required revisiting scenes again and again, and honestly, it was one of the aspects of development we were most sensitive about.”
While Square Enix has been largely quiet about Final Fantasy Remake Part 3, aside from confirmation that development has been progressing smoothly, Hamaguchi revealed in the same interview that the team has begun preparations to officially unveil the game.
“I’m unable to share concrete details at this time. What I can say is that development itself is proceeding on time and on schedule. We believe it’ll become a title we can deliver with confidence as the culmination of the trilogy,” he said. “We know many fans are eagerly waiting, and preparations toward the announcement are steadily underway. Please look forward to it just a little longer.”
This year saw the release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade on Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2, and June 3rd will see the second entry come to those platforms as well. In the meantime, a demo has been released on Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2, giving players a taste of what they can expect from the massive second entry of the trilogy. In the meantime, check out our review of the Nintendo Switch 2 release, which we gave a score of 9 out of 10. Our only complaint was the fact that its frame rate is locked to 30 FPS.
