In February 2024, I was lucky enough to interview Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Director Naoki Hamaguchi on the day that reviews for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth had just gone live. Over two years later, I was honored to sit down with Naoki Hamaguchi for a second time, alongside the Combat Director, Teruki Endo.
During our interview, Hamaguchi and Endo opened up about the pressures of delivering iconic story moments in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, teased a new Protorelic questline, and even discussed how Fortnite, of all games, influenced a key feature in the final entry of the FF7 Remake trilogy.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation’s New FITS Classes Explained
Brent Koepp: At PAX West, you recently revealed that you fought to have all four FITS classes unlockable from the start. Why was it important for players to have access to the new job classes early in the game?
Teruki Endo: We wanted all of them to be balanced out in terms of the characteristics and the way each class functions in the game. So we wanted to encourage players to try different combinations of the FITS system with each of their characters.
So because it’s all about the preferences of the players, we want them to try out what they feel that’s right for them. If we were to take the route where each FITS gets unlocked sequentially throughout the game, it gives less motivation for the players to try the ones that get unlocked later in the game. Unless it’s really strong, or really better than the previous FITS that gets unlocked earlier in the game.
Revelation Will Have More Synergy Abilities Than Rebirth
Brent Koepp: In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, synergy abilities were powerful attacks that showed off the unique relationships between different party members. How have you expanded on this in FF7 Revelation?
Naoki Hamaguchi: The biggest change from Rebirth, in terms of party dynamics, is the inclusion of Cid and Vincent. It goes without saying, but Cid and Vincent both have their own unique synergies with each and every one of the previous characters in Remake and Rebirth as well.
So in terms of the quality and overall number of synergy abilities that you get to see in Revelation, we’re going for even more than Rebirth. And I think the Rebirth players would remember or notice this, but certain synergy abilities came with effects or buffs to the stats and things like that.
We did make some adjustments and overhauls to this aspect of the feature for Revelation as well, as well as additions of new ones. One more thing that I would like to add is that fans might be able to get to see a really interesting synergy ability with Zack.
Every Party Member Is Designed to Offer 100 Hours of Combat
Brent Koepp: In the Final Fantasy 7 Revelation demo I played, combat is really fun. Each character is so enjoyable that you could just play the entire game choosing just one. However, in FF7 Revelation, the game now has a massive amount of party members to choose from. What were the challenges of balancing so many characters?
Teruki Endo: I’m really glad you brought this question up. Because as a game developer and as the combat director of this game, I do have this very specific design philosophy that I had when I tried to design the combat styles for these characters. So I’m really happy that you mentioned that even one of the eight party members that we have, like even one of them, already feels very complete to you and a character you could play the whole game with.
That’s exactly the vision that I wanted to have for this title. I want players to have at least like 100 hours with each and every one of the party members and still be able to enjoy their combat.
That’s the level of depth and engagement that I was hoping to achieve with the combat of these characters. But going back to the design philosophy that I have for Revelation, I certainly think it’s a good thing that the game has more characters and more weapon variations than ever before. But they also need to feel different.
Teruki Endo: Each character class and weapon has to feel unique and different. It has to play differently. And I feel like it’s exactly what we were able to achieve with Final Fantasy 7 Revelation. So I’m really glad I was able to do that. It’s something that I, you know, have been thinking about throughout my career, even before I joined Square Enix at my previous company. So I was really glad that I was able to take on this challenge for Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation’s Most Emotional Story Moments
Brent Koepp: Last time we talked, it was on the eve of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth releasing. During our conversation, we talked about the pressure you felt tackling the iconic “Aerith moment.” Do you still feel any of that pressure when it comes to any specific moments in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation? Or is there any scene in Revelation that is as emotional?
Naoki Hamaguchi: I will say that there is still certainly pressure to be responsible for those kinds of emotional and impactful scenes. As you brought up, the Aerith scene is a great example. But at the same time, this pressure doesn’t just apply to me, but this also applies to Endo here as well.
But the creators and core central staff in our development team, a lot of us were the generation that grew up playing and got inspired by Final Fantasy VII before we became developers and creators. So, yes, there certainly is that pressure. But there’s also a level of excitement to be able to work on this beloved series and to recreate these iconic scenes. And to have this opportunity to deliver like a reimagined version for our fans.
Naoki Hamaguchi: In terms of a scene in Revelation that is as emotional as Aerith’s Rebirth ending, I have two examples. So obviously, given that Revelation is going to be the conclusion of the FF7 trilogy, the final scenes or the ending of the game is something that we’re working very hard on right now. We’re trying to make sure that this fully delivers all the impact and the weight that we’ve been trying to deliver to our fans over the years.
Another example I can give is Cloud has this moment of introspection, and he finds out his true self. He finds out his own identity. That moment we consider as a very important moment throughout the series of Final Fantasy VII. So that’s a scene we’re also being fairly careful about re-creating.
Zack Will Play an Integral Role in Cloud’s Story
Brent Koepp: Can fans expect this Cloud moment to largely be faithful to the original scene? Or can we expect some new twists to the emotional arc?
Naoki Hamaguchi: With regards to Cloud’s introspection moment and how that’s going to play out differently from the original, I can’t really speak about that right now. But I will say that Zack is going to play an even more integral role in that story moment in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation. So, I guess one difference that we might be able to share right now is that when you look at the original Final Fantasy 7, Zack, you know, the game didn’t really get to have an opportunity to really dive deep into his character.
He does only have like a brief moment in the original, but for the Remake trilogy, he appears in all of the three installments: Remake, Rebirth, and Revelation. So he’s going to have an even bigger role in not just the overall story, but specifically with this important moment of Cloud’s introspection.
Naoki Hamaguchi: So that’s something that I want the fans to like really look out for. I think Cloud’s voice actor, Cody, recently made a social media post saying that even if you weren’t able to cry when playing Rebirth, you’ll definitely cry in Revelation, and, you know, I think I really agree with that. So overall, we’re really proud and confident with how this scene played out in the game. So I’m just really excited to see how the fans will react to it.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Will Deliver a Definitive Ending
Brent Koepp: While I adore the original Final Fantasy 7 story, I really loved that the Remake trilogy introduced newer mysteries, such as the Whispers. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth ended with some pretty massive twists and a jaw-dropping cliffhanger about Zack and timelines. Will Revelation wrap up these newer plotlines?
Naoki Hamaguchi: As you mentioned, throughout the previous two installments, Remake and Rebirth, we did introduce really new story elements that weren’t present in the original Final Fantasy 7. Specifically, we had the Whispers and Zack traveling in his own world that is separate from the world where Cloud and the main party is.
What I can say is, in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, we will expand on those elements and give a deep explanation for how those mysteries play into the narrative of the entire trilogy. But one more thing that I can add is that we are planning to give a clear and definitive ending in FF7 Revelation that ties everything together.
I want fans to know that our goal is to leave a really lasting and memorable impression for them. We want to deliver this really grand ending finale for the fans.
Revelation Could Honor Final Fantasy 7 Spin-Off Games
Brent Koepp: I know you can’t discuss anything about Final Fantasy 7 Revelation’s story. But is there anything you can tease about Revelation’s ending?
Naoki Hamaguchi: There is one more thing I can share, to give fans something to speculate about for the third entry. Given that Revelation is a conclusion for the trilogy, we did want to kind of look back into history. Specifically, the entire history of Final Fantasy 7. And, you know, maybe there are even some homages and elements that honor certain FF7 spin-off titles. So obviously, can’t really speak into the details of that, but just hope that the fans look forward to that as well.
Knights of the Round Will Have a Protorelic-Style Questline
Brent Koepp: One of my favorite features in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was the Protorelic questline featuring Gilgamesh. Can you confirm whether Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will have a new Protorelic quest, and what summons will it be tied to this time?
Naoki Hamaguchi: [Laughs] What I can say is, in Revelation there will be a specific storyline that follows in a similar vein to the Protorelic quest. We are putting a lot of effort into a Knights of the Round content within the game. It’s actually going to be quite a pretty good story experience for the players as well.
The reason why I wanted to do that for Revelation is because the whole Knights of the Round Materia is a fan favorite from players who played the OG FF7. We didn’t want to make it the same exact way as it was in the original game, where ultimately you just go to this random island and just pick up the Materia. If we were to make it as simple as that in Revelation, I felt that the fans would be mad at us, so wanted to make it a bit more interesting than that.
Fortnite Inspired Revelation’s Highwind Parachuting Mechanic
Brent Koepp: Recently, it was announced that Sora from Kingdom Hearts would be coming to Fortnite. Do you think we could see Final Fantasy 7 characters eventually come to Fortnite as well? And if so, which characters from the series would you like to see in the multiplayer?
Naoki Hamaguchi: So the Fortnite team are incredible and great partners to work with. You know, we already do have a relationship with them thanks to the Kingdom Hearts collab. That being said, it is a very difficult question to answer. What I can say right now is that, looking back at the history of Final Fantasy 7, fans might notice this, but we haven’t had a lot of very major collaborations with other IPs.
This is mostly because we wanted to be selective to protect the brand of Final Fantasy 7. But what I can say now is that we are, you know, considering a lot of, you know, different collaborations at the moment. So, you know, whether Fortnite is included in the list of potential collaboration partners, that’s something for the fans to look forward to.
Naoki Hamaguchi: In terms of which character I could see in Fortnite, I was thinking of Barret. You know, given that Fortnite is a game where characters have their own guns that they equip and play with. I was thinking about how Barret would work in that game, given that his entire arm is already a gun. So that’s different now.
Speaking of Fortnite though, I can also say that the whole parachuting mechanic in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation was inspired by it. You know, being on the Highwind and jumping off it to parachute into the map. That is something we directly took inspiration from Fortnite.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation releases on April 8, 2027 on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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