Square Enix Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura has revealed detail about Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, The First Soldier, and Ever Crisis during an interview.
In an interview with Famitsu (translation: DeepL), Nomura discussed Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. First he discussed Sonon, the new character coming to the game and the Final Fantasy VII universe. He comes from Wutai; hence his Asian appearance, and military motif to his clothes and armor.
Compared to Yuffie, who uses a giant shuriken, Nomura wanted him to be a bo staff wielding character, and as such his outfit was designed to be light and easy to move in. While originally designed to be “delicate and thin,” when next to Yuffie he decided to make the character more masculine; much like the difference between Yuffie and Cloud or Vincent.
While players will only control Yuffie in Intergrade, they can use combination attacks with her and Sonon to feel like they are a team. When fighting, players can switch between a “Spontaneous Mode” and “Collaborative Mode;” the latter of which has Sonon act under Yuffie (and presumably the player’s) instruction.
When asked about future DLC, Nomura explained that there would be no plans for additional DLC at the moment. Due to the “upgrade process“- bringing the game to next-gen systems- the additional parts from Intergrade needed to be separate DLC. They had intented to make a PlayStation 5 version of Final Fantasy VII Remake, rather than the enhanced port with additional DLC.
As previously reported, while players of Final Fantasy VII Remake on PlayStation 4 can get a free upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version of the game, the Yuffie campaign will be a separate purchase. The roadmap from setting up the PlayStation 5 game and development of Intergrade is going smoothly, and any DLC would be considered after development is complete.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade launches June 10th on PlayStation 5.
After this, Nomura was asked about mobile battle royale game Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier. Nomura explained his hopes that it would not only appeal to fans of Final Fantasy VII, but other demographics; something that is a challenge with a long-lasting IP.
“We feel strongly that we can’t rest on the laurels of ‘FFVII,'” Nomura explains, “and we’re developing ‘FFVII FS’ with the spirit of participating in the hottest genre as a challenger.”
Nomura explains his hope that the game will act as a catalyst for people to be interested in Final Fantasy VII, who do not otherwise know about it, or had ever played a Final Fantasy game. However, he states the team does not want to produce something half baked, and are “giving it our all in terms of content.”
Discussing the UI from screenshots, Nomura explains there are no job changing mechanics per-say (despite the first, sword and staff icons), but players can set up a “style” to use in battle. Each style has its own abilities and skill, have advantages and disadvantages, and can be set for each battle. The game will also have elements unique to Final Fantasy, to make the game stand out from other battle royale titles.
When asked what the most important aspect of Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier is, Nomura explained it was balance- though the tactile feel of the game was also important. He explained Producer Shoichi Ichikawa is a heavy player of battle royale games, and that he has been offering his input on how Nomura’s proposed ideas would affect the balance.
Nomura also asked Ichikawa to ensure the graphics would be at a level where players will not be dissapointed with the fact it is on a smartphone. A beta test is planned for the future.
Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier launches 2021 on Android, and iOS.
Finally, Nomura was asked about Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, “a chapter-structured single player game covering the whole of the FFVII timeline.” Nomua explained that each chapter released will be free to play, while weapons will be under a gacha system. Players can earn special weapons and costumes not seen in the original games the chapters are based off.
How these chapters will be divided up was also revealed. Currently Nomura is aiming for Final Fantasy VII to take around 10 chapters; leaving Midgar in chapter 3. “If you use that as a guide for other titles,” Nomura explains, “you can get an idea of what to expect.”
However, there will be original stories within Ever Crisis. This includes a story based on The First Soldier. Set 30 years before the events of Final Fantasy VII; players will see the establishment of SOLDIER, heroes in their younger days, and Shinra officers who will appear in future sequels of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Nomura states his belief that “the content will add depth to the characters that can’t be fully depicted in the main story.”
Nomura also explained how during the fight with the Guard Scorpion in Midgar, it seemed Cloud was fighting alongside Aerith and using summons. The game will have special dungeons, with “battles that can be challenged beyond the boundaries of the compilation.” This means powerful enemies that would not appear in the story otherwise, and with a party players can freely create.
The game’s music will be based on the original Final Fantasy VII, but arranged for the game. The game’s visuals are also inspired by the original; with chibi overworld characters, and more realistic proportions in battle. However, this does not apply for chapters beyond Final Fantasy VII, and those titles will have different battle systems as well.
“This time, I tried to keep the image of each title intact while using a unified format,” Nomura explains. “Naturally, we’ve received requests from people who want to play each of the FFVII titles on their current CS consoles, so FFVII EC is not a substitute for that, but it’s designed with the concept of allowing people to casually play each of the FFVII titles.”
Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis launches 2022 for Android, and iOS.
