Although the original experience was one complete game, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy project lead is adamant that multiple games was the only way to do the story justice with a modern retelling.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Demanded To Be A Trilogy
Final Fantasy 7 helped redefine the JRPG and the Final Fantasy franchise when it released in 1997 and it’s one of the most iconic video games of all time. With that sort of cultural weight, any attempt at a remake was always going to be a huge undertaking and would be viewed under very critical eyes by the gaming community.
That said, the Square Enix trilogy has been very well received by critics and fans so far. The decision to split the content up into three games definitely led to some raised eyebrows when it was announced, but it seems like the team is giving time, love, and attention to every facet of the original game, while still making lots of meaningful expansions and new areas of the story for players to explore.
In a recent chat with ntower, Naoki Hamaguchi explained why the project was always going to result in a trilogy of games:
“It wasn’t so much about ‘wanting’ to make it a trilogy – the accurate assessment is that, upon objectively evaluating the sheer volume of the story and the content that needed to be depicted, no option other than a trilogy was realistic.”
Hamaguchi was the co-director of Final Fantasy Remake and was then promoted to project lead for Rebirth and the final installment in the trilogy. It’s interesting to hear his perspective that the sheer volume of the story sort of demanded to be split up across multiple games.
It’s certainly possible to imagine a version of the game that could fit into one lengthy RPG, but this approach has allowed the team to expand the experience and offer a ton of additional content and character development that was not a part of the original. The game is also able to play around with nostalgic expectations and memories by carefully deciding when and what to change versus what to leave the way it was the first time around.
Be sure to check back soon for more details about the final installment in the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth are both available now. At this point, the official name and release window for FF7R Part 3 has not been confirmed.
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