Recreating a Video Game Classic with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's Naoki Hamaguchi, Yoshinori Kitase, & Teruki Endo

Taking on one of the most beloved entries in the Final Fantasy franchise was never going to be an easy task. Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII was originally released in January 1997 to high demand, selling over two million copies within three days in Japan and over a quarter million copies in North America when it debuted in September. Its characters and the first disc's shocking ending are iconic within the video game landscape.

I first played Final Fantasy VII in 1999; I had wanted to rent it from my local Hollywood video, but my dad thought the idea of renting a multi-disc game was a poor choice of my time. I'd later make a friend in middle school who owned a copy, and there's not much I remember more about the seventh grade than spending late nights playing Final Fantasy VII on the weekends. It was a formative, turn-based RPG for my generation and entirely responsible for introducing many millennials to the Final Fantasy franchise.

Nearly thirty years later, how does a team recreate that for a brand-new generation and nostalgic fans? In an hour-long interview, we spoke with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi, Final Fantasy VII director and Rebirth producer Yoshinori Kitase, and Rebirth's battle director Teruki Endo about changes in character leveling systems, plans to expand player freedom in the third installment, the secrets of Stamp the Shinra dog, and that controversial ending.

Disclaimer: The interview below contains some spoilers for Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

What balancing challenges did you face when expanding the world and playable characters from Remake to Rebirth?

Teruki ENDO: So firstly, one major difference is that the number of characters significantly increases within the two titles. So, balance adjustments were necessary. With Rebirth, a new system was added: the Synergy Ability and the Synergy Skills in terms of battle. This had to be done considering the existing attributes of the characters and then readjusting based on those to create these abilities and skills.

What was the impetus for automating the weapon skill system as opposed to how it was used in Remake?

Teruki ENDO: Looking into Remake, the growth mechanics were fewer in terms of the player choosing the passive skill for the characters and such. But then in Rebirth, this was increased to including the Synergy mechanic, as we touched on, as well as the affinity between the characters impacting their abilities and skills and as part of the overall growth mechanics.

So, all of these were added as new growth mechanics for Rebirth. The underlying mindset in consolidating these systems is [when I] considered adding all of these individual systems to the title. I thought this would require the players to be more mindful and take time and care to look into each of them. And when thinking of that, I thought the best way would be to consolidate these into one skill tree where all of these new changes can be observed through this skill tree.

I'm so happy that you're asking me this. It's a pretty niche question.

Oh, thank you! I have a question for Kitase-san as well. With reports that the Remake game sales underperformed, are there plans to change the console exclusivity window for the next installment of Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy?

Yoshinori KITASE: Regarding the strategy of the [console] release, there's sort of nothing we can comment on regarding that. But overall, we are looking forward to more players enjoying and playing this title. So we wish for that to happen.

In the May version of the Inside Square Enix video, Endo-san stated he wanted to give the player even more freedom in the third installment. Can you share some of the ideas the staff are implementing to do this?

Teruki ENDO: While I'm unable to comment on granular details of that right at this moment, I believe that instead of the developers or the creators dictating how the players should play along a pre-planned path, so to speak, it's better to allow more freedom and the user's choice to be able to play in their own way that they wish to.

While naturally, there are challenges to actually realizing that, and when you go into making that a reality, my thoughts are also that for the Final Fantasy series to continue to reinvent itself, to revitalize itself, and stay fresh to our players, this type of constant evolution is necessary in terms of the battle elements as well. So, those are the underlying thoughts I had while making that comment.

In the Ultimania supplement book, it's mentioned that the new trilogy was an opportunity to expand on the characters' backstories and add new scenes and details. What new scenes in Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth were you most excited to incorporate into the games?

Naoki HAMAGUCHI: In terms of something that was sort of new in Rebirth compared to the original is that in the original, we have that Gold Saucer date event that everyone is familiar with. And this time, [we] increased the variety of dates you can go on in terms of who you can go on the date with.

I believe we were able to answer the players' wants in terms of increasing that variety in this special event. The characters in Final Fantasy VII are so beloved by its fans. And so, in that way, increasing the number of characters that you can go on a date with, as well as the actual contents of the date, was something that I think was very positively received. Even in the Otakon panel where we engaged with the community, the Cait Sith date was brought up, and that's newly added, of course, during Rebirth. And there were a lot of fans that were very happy and excited about it.

Teruki ENDO: My favorite scene within Rebirth is the one with Dyne and Barret. This moment also exists in the original, but in Rebirth, this is portrayed in so much more detail, down to a point where we really see the characters' facial expressions. It's very dramatic, like a heartfelt moment that really gives me a new perspective on everything that happens in this scene. Even though I've done test plays, like the run-throughs of the game, so many times, this is one scene that I never skip. It's special to me.

Cutscene director Hidekazu Miyake mentioned that Cloud's big dance number in Remake was the most ambitious and challenging. Was Aerith's performance of "No Promises to Keep" similarly difficult to realize? Is there another cinematic sequence in Rebirth that takes the crown for the greatest challenge?

Naoki HAMAGUCHI: So actually, the most difficult scene in Rebirth, I believe, was Rufus's Inauguration Parade.

I'll go into why. First, we had to look for a person that understands parade formations. [Someone with that experience] was very rare to find. Then, we had to find actors who could perform these various sequences. So, with both of these [requirements], we had to look and have all of them before we started motion capture. It took a while to find these people.

An interesting story I'd like to share is that in that scene, all the soldiers, including Cloud, have guns in their hands while they're doing the parade. To mimic this, we created real gun models for all the actors to hold while doing the sequence. But then what happened is the gun models we made were so heavy, and it was impossible to move, you know, twirling around and doing all of those motions. So it became a problem. In the end, even though they made those models, they used umbrellas.

Do you know approximately how many motion capture actors they needed to get for that scene since a parade is usually so many people?

Naoki HAMAGUCHI: We had around 30 to 40 soldiers in the parade within the game. We can't fit all of those [people] in a mocap studio. So we had a group of six people that we would film in various areas doing the routine, and then we would put those all together through CG.

Fans have been trying to decode the secrets of the timeline based on the variations of Stamp the Shinra dog. Can you confirm if there's anything more to these different Stamps?

Naoki HAMAGUCHI: So when a player goes through playing Remake and Rebirth, it does come to a point where one can have many conjectures about what this means. The reason we included the different Stamps was to signal the different layers and different timelines within this world. So that acts as a mark for the player to see and say, "Oh, what's that?" So, these are shown in each timeline. We would see a Stamp, like on a bag of sweets, or it's like a doll in a gift shop. They're put in as little markers or Easter eggs.

What is the wildest fan theory you've seen about the trilogy so far?

[Everyone laughs.]

Naoki HAMAGUCHI: After the panel yesterday, we were chatting with the voice actors over dinner, and this exact topic came up, funnily enough. We were talking about Chadley, which is that character who supports Cloud in Rebirth. And we were talking about how, like, some people think that he's actually evil and will turn out to be the last boss in the final title. We were cracking up about that.

Yoshinori KITASE: I don't know if this is something unexpected or anything, and I guess there's not really a specific thing or theory that I can comment on right now. But we do hear a lot of players' different conjectures, saying, "Oh, how much will this story change from the original?" And I do want to comment that I don't think that's how it will be.

We've always kept the original in mind, and I don't think it's going to be a storyline that will betray the fans of the original [game]. But also, at the same time, [it's] been 27 years since the release of the original Final Fantasy VII. There are these things that we feel we can only do now in the remake project that can bring a new happiness, a new sort of feeling of satisfaction to the players playing this game now 27 years later. What this will entail exactly is something we hope players will experience soon.

Kitase-san, are there any plans to produce a physical version of Queen's Blood, given how enthusiastically received the card game is by players?

[Everyone laughs.]

Translator: They have been asked this a lot. It's in high demand.

Yoshinori KITASE: Actually, when we had new hires come into Square Enix. To get people excited, they created their own DIY, real physical version of Queen's Blood on their own. There's only one in the world. Unfortunately, we cannot share this information [of a physical retail version of the game] with the rest of the world yet. But [this in-studio version] does exist. And it's not just the cards, but they made like a stage. They've shared a picture of this backdrop they made using 3D modeling.

Which mini-games were the most challenging to implement, and were there any favorite games among the staff? Will there be new mini-games to look forward to in the next installment?

Naoki HAMAGUCHI: As to which one was the most challenging to implement, I would say Queen's Blood, of course. Within the various game mini-games included in Rebirth, there are some where a player might play once or a few times, but then there are also ones like Queen's Blood where they would play over and over again throughout the course of the entire game.

Seeing that [ Queen's Blood] was this type of mini-game, I knew that we had to put time and effort into creating something that would be satisfying to play in that way. While it was challenging to work on this, I think hearing the very positive feedback from the players, as you said, we succeeded in making this.

And for the ones that were the staff's favorite, besides Queen's Blood, I think Chocobo Racing was the one that was the big favorite. Since you don't really need any prior understanding of rules, you [can] just jump into it, and it's very tactile, I suppose. I heard a lot of the devs enjoying it.

In terms of Rebirth, we aimed to provide this mini-game experience where there would be varieties of it in which players can find their own favorite. I think we succeeded in doing so for Rebirth, but we don't look to do exactly the same going into the next title since we want to continue offering this very fresh experience. So, as opposed to just increasing the number of mini-games available, our focus is on providing mini-games like Queen's Blood or Chocobo Racing, where a player would want to come back to and play over and over again throughout the course of the game.

Which boss battle mechanic was the most satisfying to pull off, and which was the most challenging?

Teruki ENDO: I love all the bosses, so it's hard to choose. But if I were to pick one, it would be the Galian Beast.

With Vincent, I think this was very unique in that it was a boss battle that required the players to almost switch or flow between action-based and then strategy-based battle. You would go in between these [approaches] and have to maneuver between them. I think this was very satisfying and [we were] successfully able to implement this type of battle.

The Midgardsormr battle took more time to work on because this is a boss also present in the original. It's in the minds of the players. It has quite a presence, but it also comes up in the very early stages of the game for Rebirth. So I was conscious of striking this balance between it being not so hard that the player finds it extremely challenging to defeat this boss but at the same time making it hard enough so that it's impactful and it puts up a fight.

The end of Rebirth remakes one of the most famous cut scenes in video game history for new audiences. Some reactions post-game included confusion over how to interpret the new development of this scene. What reaction was the staff hoping to garner from players, and what message did you want? Or do you have a comment for players who feel this new version of events is confusing or unsatisfying?

Naoki HAMAGUCHI: First, I think this is a very good question.

Oh, thank you.

Naoki HAMAGUCHI: So, when I was play-tested this game and went through run-throughs countless numbers of times, I thought that players who were going to play Rebirth were going to have various perspectives and thoughts about the ending.

We had already announced from the beginning that this remake series would be a trilogy. So when we considered releasing three titles, of course, there will be some time between releasing one to two and two to three. I also discussed how we want the community [to interact] while they're waiting for that next installment.

Kitase-san and I were also discussing this, but we thought it's very enjoyable for the community to have something very worthy of intense discussion, like "What is really going on here?" That was something we wanted and expected going into creating this scene. In terms of the experience we anticipated and also desired, I think we are satisfied in that there are both negative or positive reactions to this scene.

Yoshinori KITASE: Also, to add to this and offer an alternate perspective, when discussing the scenario with [Tetsuya] Nomura and [Kazushige] Nojima, we were also talking about how in the original, it's showing Cloud's perspective, [his] feeling of immense loss, of losing someone that you love and having this hole in your heart. When considering how to depict this in the Remake series, we also thought about not only expressing this loss of someone who means so much to you but also this sense of a person experiencing loss, being unable to force [yourself to] forget this person and almost like, an inability to accept it—struggling with the possibility of losing someone. So that was something we wanted to show in Rebirth.

Regarding the original, its [first disc] ends with that huge loss. And I recall some people not even wanting to continue playing and changing over to disc two because they didn't want to play anymore because of that. It's such a huge feeling of loss and despair, but I do think there's a synchronization of feelings between the players and Cloud, struggling with "How do I deal with this feeling?" The feeling of loss and how a person struggled to take that on was happening. We imagined the players of [Rebirth] would also have that synchronous feeling.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is available for the PlayStation 5 digitally and as a physical version.