Major Final Fantasy VII Remake staff, including producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Tetsuya Nomura, have revealed more information about the game’s development.
The news comes via Ryokutya2089 [1, 2], a Japanese blog dedicated to summarizing information from Famitsu. A recent interview with major Final Fantasy VII Remake staff.
These include producer Yoshinori Kitase, director Tetsuya Nomura, co-directors Naoki Hamaguchi and Motomu Toriyama, sound director Makoto Ise, music supervisor Keiji Kawamori, story and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima, and composer Nobuo Uematsu.
Comparing machine translation by Google Translate, and by translator @aitaikimochi [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] (thanks VGC) for some segments, we can piece together more information from the snippets of the 15 page interview.
Firstly, Nomura stated he was aware that fans were eager for the next installment, and he wanted to deliver the next installment quickly. Since a “line of quality” was established with the first tile, the developers are seeking to make the next game even higher quality. While fans should wait, when the next game is announced more details on the game’s direction will be revealed.
In addition, during a character popularity poll, Jesse ranked 4th. “I never imagine she was so popular” Nomura stated. Jesse along with several other characters were given larger roles in the remake.
After this, the blog post focuses on snippets of quotes from the major staff members. Highlights include how feedback on classic mode was too easy being taken into consideration, and how new character Roche was originally intended to appear in the final battle and Chapter 14.
However, Roche was cut from the former due to ruining the serious tone, and the latter due to there being no road for his motorcycle in that area. Him being removed from those scenes may encourage his appearance in future entries however.
The absence of the Avalanche hideout was also to show how distant Cloud and Avalanche were, with Avalanche presumably not trusting Cloud enough to show him it. Finally, development on the next installment has begun, though we are unlikely to see anything new for a while.
You can find all the translated quotes below.
Kitase: “The story of the new FF7 has just begun.”
Nomura: “When the feeler came into contact with Aerith, what did Aerith see? Can’t say yet.”
“The hand massaging scenes in the city can be racy. I wonder if the age-rating would have gone up if it went any further?”Hamaguchi: “Those saying they want classic mode at normal difficulty will used for future reference.”
“Development has already started. We’ll be waiting for a while, so please look forward to it.”Toriyama: “Roche was scheduled to appear in the final battle, but we removed it because it destroyed the serious mood. He was also planned to fought in Chapter 14’s slum area. It was there, but we abandoned it because there is no road for motorcycles in the slums.”
“The possibility of his appearance in the next work increased because he was removed (laughs).”
“Avalanche hid their hideout from Cloud to show the distance between Avalanche and Cloud.”Uematsu: “Hollow was written the first time I played the guitar.”
Nojima: “The FF series is no exception to this. FF7 remake continues to challenge and change.”
Ise: “[For simultaneous worldwide release] working on the voices [Japanese, English, French, and German] in parallel was hell at the end of development. The talk schedule was just barely there.”
Kawamori: (While considering using silence and no background music to be more realistic) “I made it in the direction so it will sound like the original FF7 all the time.”
Translation: Google Translate (adjusted)
Final Fantasy VII Remake is available on PlayStation 4, with console exclusivity ending April 4th, 2021. In case you missed it, you can find our review here.
Image: PlayStation
