“Well, at this time it’s best not to say whether Cissnei will appear or not, but there is one thing I can tell you,” replied Hamaguchi. “This Final Fantasy 7 Remake series is not simply a recreation of the original work, but rather, our goal is to create a single, new Final Fantasy 7 that incorporates the settings and concepts of all the previous spin-off titles, such as Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core. Therefore, the appearance of Cissnei and the inclusion of Dirge of Cerberus Soldiers in the DLC, all have that meaning.”

“So, since that concept will of course carry over into Revelation as well, not limited to Cissnei, for the last entry, there will be characters that have appeared in the various FF7 compilation games that I think will be there, and each of these characters has a large and dedicated fanbase, so we want to create a work that can satisfy the feelings of those people.”

He went on to talk about how Cissnei has a lot of fans. “Whenever I talk to the media or fans, they very often ask me if Cissnei will appear or say they like Cissnei,” he laughed.

Fans of the original Final Fantasy 7 and its spin-offs shouldn’t find this too surprising, since we’ve seen many references to these spin-offs and even cross-media stories like novels throughout the trilogy so far. Final Fantasy 7 Remake, for instance, featured an appearance of Leslie Kyle during its Wall Market sections. This character made his first appearance in Final Fantasy VII The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story – a story published in Japan back in 2011. The same game also features the main antagonists of Dirge of Cerberus – Weiss and Nero – as VR missions in its Episode INTERmission DLC, which eventually got included with the base game as Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth saw similar inclusions. Along with the appearance of Cissnei, the title also included smaller references to other stories in the same universe, such as Tifa having a cat.

Earlier this month, Hamaguchi also spoke about how he had played through Final Fantasy 7 Revelation around 40 times, and how a certain emotional scene always ended up leaving him in tears.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2, and will be coming out in Spring 2027. For more details about why Square Enix decided to call the third entry in the trilogy Revelation, take a look at what Hamaguchi had to say about potentially calling it Resolve.

The games in the Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 – a metaseries of sequels, prequels, and accompanying films connected directly to the original classic – never caught on as much as the original game itself did. That is, of course, down to the quality of those games, none of which (with the exception of PSP’s Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7) managed to impress audiences.

However, one of those titles might possibly be getting a new lease of life- at least if a newly filed trademark by Square Enix is anything to go by. The trademark in question is for Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7, filed earlier in January.

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7 was a third person shooter that launched on the PS2 all the way back in 2006. Featuring the Turk Vincent Valentine as its primary playable protagonist, Dirge of Cerberus was set three years after the events of the original game. It released to mixed reception at best, and brutal criticisms at worst, with things such as its combat, AI, and encounters drawing criticism, and even the story and characters receiving mixed responses.

A little more than a year ago, Final Fantasy 7 Remake director Tetsuya Nomura said though Square Enix’s complete focus was on the upcoming game, they had been considering releasing accompanying games as well. Given the massive undertaking that is the multi-part remake, it might not be too much of a stretch to think that Square Enix might want to update, modernize, and improve other parts of that larger story as well.

That said, it’s also worth noting that just because Square Enix have filed a trademark doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to do something with it. Companies file trademarks to protect their properties all the time, and plenty of those end up amounting to a fat load of nothing- so keep your expectations tempered.

Either way, there’s plenty to look forward to as it is. Final Fantasy 7 Remake has officially wrapped up development and is out for the PS4 in just a little over a month, on April 10, and a demo of the game is out now. Meanwhile, development on its sequel is likely going to begin soon as well.

It’s almost strange to think that Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts 3 will be releasing in January 2019. However, it’s somewhat stranger that we haven’t had any concrete updates about the Final Fantasy 7 Remake in a while. Kingdom Hearts 3 director Tetsuya Nomura, who’s also directing the remake, did offer some interesting tidbits on the game’s development.

As per Famitsu, Nomura was at a closed event for The World Ends with You: Final Remix on October 30th and answered a number of questions from fans. One question simply stated, “I want to play Before Crisis: Final Fantasy 7 again!” Nomura laughed and responded in turn, “Not everyone may know this, but I’m remaking Final Fantasy 7…”

He then added, “Right now I’m concentrating on Kingdom Hearts 3, but when that’s finished, [Final Fantasy] 7 will be where I head next. I’m thinking about ideas regarding the remake’s release — I even spoke to producer Kitase about it today. All of us old-timers are considering various developments in regards to what accompanies the remake. Like if we can manage to do something about the Compilation [of Final Fantasy 7] titles too. But for the time being, please wait for 7’s turn to come.”

The Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 is actually a thing and consists of video games, movies, and even anime set in the series’ universe. Whether that means Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 for the PSP or Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7 are actually made available for the current generation remains to be seen. On the bright side, unlike Final Fantasy 15, many of these properties aren’t necessary to enjoy the story in Final Fantasy 7.

While there’s no release date for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Kingdom Hearts 3 will be out for Xbox One and PS4 on January 25th 2019.