"Some of the choices that we make may alter what the player perceives about each character" - Naoki Hamaguchi on Final Fantasy VII Revelation's Story Choices, Vincent, Weapon Battles, and More
Just over six years after the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, Square Enix has revealed the final piece of the trilogy, titled Final Fantasy VII Revelation. Launching in Spring 2027, simultaneously on all platforms, this third game already looks like a drastic step up in terms of scope and scale, introducing Cid and Vincnet as playable characters, a seamless open world you can traverse with the Highwind, the threat of the Weapons, a fully imagined Wutai, and much more.
Coinciding with the game's announcement, we had a chance to sit down with Final Fantasy VII Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi. We talk about some hints on story details and links to spinoffs, battles with the Weapons, the job-like FITS systems, and much more.
RPG Site: Back in 2023, Tetsuya Nomura said in an interview that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake project will “link” to Advent Children. Is that still the case, and will players know how that happens when Revelation comes out?
Naoki Hamaguchi: I don’t believe we’ve publicly claimed or stated it’s going to be exactly that, so I’d like for players to play Revelation and see for themselves, what the conclusion of the journey holds, and see about that.
Naoki Hamaguchi: I don’t believe we’ve publicly claimed or stated it’s going to be exactly that, so I’d like for players to play Revelation and see for themselves, what the conclusion of the journey holds, and see about that.
RPG Site: I wanted to ask about the new job style system. When did that idea come around, like did you envision it at all when you were developing Rebirth and doing combat improvements? Did you know you’d want to implement this later on?
Naoki Hamaguchi: I think Battle Director Endo-San and I were aligned in this thinking that taking away something from the existing combat system wouldn’t fare well with our players who’ve really come to love the combat system. We thought more so that adding on and kind of evolving what we’ve built as a foundation would be better for this direction, and would make for a much more fun experience for players for this title.
So in this way, the players can choose, oh we want to take Cloud, who’s more like an attacker character, and make him Black Mage Cloud that’s an attacker. Having that ability to customize, we thought that would be the direction.
RPG Site: On that note, I’m curious about the costume changes. Final Fantasy 7 characters all have very iconic well-known looks. Why did you decide you wanted to give them costume changes, and do these apply across everything in the game, such as cutscenes
Naoki Hamaguchi: I think it’s totally true that there’s iconic looks with the characters for Final Fantasy 7, and yes the FITS as we call them are reflected in cutscenes. I try to think of it like how the battle experience that players may desire and controlling the characters, and then the actual kind of visuals, it can differ.
And in that way, the FITS, we wanted it to be able to be customized where players can choose the FITS, but the skins are also a different element you can choose. So for example, you might want Black Mage Cloud but in his original outfit he usually wears. In that way, the skin options can be accumulated in the game so players can choose their favorite look and style.
Naoki Hamaguchi: I think Battle Director Endo-San and I were aligned in this thinking that taking away something from the existing combat system wouldn’t fare well with our players who’ve really come to love the combat system. We thought more so that adding on and kind of evolving what we’ve built as a foundation would be better for this direction, and would make for a much more fun experience for players for this title.
So in this way, the players can choose, oh we want to take Cloud, who’s more like an attacker character, and make him Black Mage Cloud that’s an attacker. Having that ability to customize, we thought that would be the direction.
RPG Site: On that note, I’m curious about the costume changes. Final Fantasy 7 characters all have very iconic well-known looks. Why did you decide you wanted to give them costume changes, and do these apply across everything in the game, such as cutscenes
Naoki Hamaguchi: I think it’s totally true that there’s iconic looks with the characters for Final Fantasy 7, and yes the FITS as we call them are reflected in cutscenes. I try to think of it like how the battle experience that players may desire and controlling the characters, and then the actual kind of visuals, it can differ.
And in that way, the FITS, we wanted it to be able to be customized where players can choose the FITS, but the skins are also a different element you can choose. So for example, you might want Black Mage Cloud but in his original outfit he usually wears. In that way, the skin options can be accumulated in the game so players can choose their favorite look and style.
RPG Site: Everyone asks about Wutai and Rocket Town, but I want to know if we’re going to go to Bone Village.
Naoki Hamaguchi: Bone Village itself is not included, but North Wood and the Temple of Ancients, we’ll be able to revisit.
Naoki Hamaguchi: Bone Village itself is not included, but North Wood and the Temple of Ancients, we’ll be able to revisit.
RPG Site: I want to ask about Vincent, as his backstory is only vaguely hinted at in the original Final Fantasy 7, and then explored in more depth in the likes of Dirge of Cerberus. I know you’ve already said Deepground characters will be returning. Are Vincent’s backstory elements, like in Dirge of Cerberus, something we’re going to see in Revelation?
Naoki Hamaguchi: We can’t delve too much into the storyline just yet, but thinking of spinoffs you mentioned, like Dirge, our overall concept for Revelation is to pick up from those stories as well. So with characters like Vincent and Zack, those are explored. We can’t say just how much yet, but…..
Naoki Hamaguchi: We can’t delve too much into the storyline just yet, but thinking of spinoffs you mentioned, like Dirge, our overall concept for Revelation is to pick up from those stories as well. So with characters like Vincent and Zack, those are explored. We can’t say just how much yet, but…..
RPG Site: We saw Vincent and Cid having a lot of synergy abilities together in the trailer. And you already have this huge cast of characters with a bunch of synergy abilities together. How did you decide how to integrate Vincent and Cid into the part, and who they’d interact with?
Naoki Hamaguchi: This was the same for the FITS too, but with synergy we didn’t really design it in a sense where some attacks are better with these two characters than others. We really wanted players to be able to freely choose what they like and have that be equally available for their choosing.
So in that sense, yes, Cid and Vincent are joining the slew of characters and those synergy abilities and such. You know, from the creator’s side, that was kind of a challenge for us to make an improvement on.
Naoki Hamaguchi: This was the same for the FITS too, but with synergy we didn’t really design it in a sense where some attacks are better with these two characters than others. We really wanted players to be able to freely choose what they like and have that be equally available for their choosing.
So in that sense, yes, Cid and Vincent are joining the slew of characters and those synergy abilities and such. You know, from the creator’s side, that was kind of a challenge for us to make an improvement on.
RPG Site: One of the things you’ve mentioned in other interviews is that the Turks will have a much larger role. And at the end of Rebirth we see some fairly huge revelations for Rufus Shinra’s character. Is he a part of that? Will he have more of a larger role?
Naoki Hamaguchi: In terms of whether Rufus will be directly involved, and how much of it will be with the Turks about the storyline, we want player to experience that themselves. But, there will be revelations on what the relationship is between Rufus and Glenn, and ties to other spinoff works, within Revelation. It’ll also be a, you know, “Revelation.” So players will be able to have a better understanding of the world and the stories of these characters.
Naoki Hamaguchi: In terms of whether Rufus will be directly involved, and how much of it will be with the Turks about the storyline, we want player to experience that themselves. But, there will be revelations on what the relationship is between Rufus and Glenn, and ties to other spinoff works, within Revelation. It’ll also be a, you know, “Revelation.” So players will be able to have a better understanding of the world and the stories of these characters.
RPG Site: In the trailer we see a very brief shot of Ruby Weapon, and you’ve confirmed the underwater area. In the original game Ruby and Emerald weapon have specific gimmicks, like the time limit. Is that an element you’ve thought about carrying over? Will Ruby and Emerald have these unique gimmicks or mechanics in their fights?
Naoki Hamaguchi: For the specific battle logic of Ruby Weapon, and how much of it is an actual homage to the original game, we’d love for players to see themselves.
But I will say that players will be kind of engaging with the whole world map, that’s going to be a part of the battle with Ruby Weapon. And in terms of the battle design, we could have made it into something more like a minigame specific to the weapons, but we wanted to go in the direction more so of taking the foundational battle-like elements, and then adding unique mechanics that are specific to each weapon. So yes, in that sense, players can enjoy that.
Naoki Hamaguchi: For the specific battle logic of Ruby Weapon, and how much of it is an actual homage to the original game, we’d love for players to see themselves.
But I will say that players will be kind of engaging with the whole world map, that’s going to be a part of the battle with Ruby Weapon. And in terms of the battle design, we could have made it into something more like a minigame specific to the weapons, but we wanted to go in the direction more so of taking the foundational battle-like elements, and then adding unique mechanics that are specific to each weapon. So yes, in that sense, players can enjoy that.
RPG Site: With Revelation you now have this big seamless world with the Highwind. What lessons did you specifically take from creating Rebirth, into this new open world. What did you learn from the process of crafting Rebirth?
Naoki Hamaguchi: It’s not so much that like there was something we couldn’t do in Rebirth that we now can do, or tried to do, in Revelation. But more so like how we can expand upon the experience that we built in Rebirth.
So I think in Rebirth, we really covered the open world exploration of that experience, but in order to widen that and make it even more expansive, we thought about the exploration of not just horizontal but vertical and aerial space. So there’s more varied modes of transportation exploring the maps, such as parachuting down to explore, and as you raise a Chocobo, there’s even more ways and places you can explore with the Chocobo.
In that way, we really scaled up on the degree and scale of exploration that can be done from Rebirth, and I think it’s something that can be a pleasant, really exciting surprise. When I was creating the scenery, I actually could see different scenery with the flying Chocobo, and it was amazing.
Naoki Hamaguchi: It’s not so much that like there was something we couldn’t do in Rebirth that we now can do, or tried to do, in Revelation. But more so like how we can expand upon the experience that we built in Rebirth.
So I think in Rebirth, we really covered the open world exploration of that experience, but in order to widen that and make it even more expansive, we thought about the exploration of not just horizontal but vertical and aerial space. So there’s more varied modes of transportation exploring the maps, such as parachuting down to explore, and as you raise a Chocobo, there’s even more ways and places you can explore with the Chocobo.
In that way, we really scaled up on the degree and scale of exploration that can be done from Rebirth, and I think it’s something that can be a pleasant, really exciting surprise. When I was creating the scenery, I actually could see different scenery with the flying Chocobo, and it was amazing.
RPG Site: Two of the biggest pieces of information I’ve seen so far is that you now have story choices that alter the way the story plays out, and Zack having a larger role. But we also now have these different timelines introduced in Rebirth? Are those story choices going to interact with the idea of different timelines, in any way?
Naoki Hamaguchi: So, first of all, the end of the journey and the conclusion that Cloud and the companions reach within the Remake series. That is something we’ve conceived that’s not going to be altered by the player’s choices.
That being said, the sort of conclusions that is going to be reached is not going to be altered, and we mentioned that the main theme of this title is “resolve.” So this is more tied to the resolve that each character has in their heart going into the final battle, and some of the choices that we make may alter what the player perceives about each character, or understands about each character as they go into the final battle.
Those are not so much related to the core storyline, but it’s more about what we see and what we experience about the characters.
Naoki Hamaguchi: So, first of all, the end of the journey and the conclusion that Cloud and the companions reach within the Remake series. That is something we’ve conceived that’s not going to be altered by the player’s choices.
That being said, the sort of conclusions that is going to be reached is not going to be altered, and we mentioned that the main theme of this title is “resolve.” So this is more tied to the resolve that each character has in their heart going into the final battle, and some of the choices that we make may alter what the player perceives about each character, or understands about each character as they go into the final battle.
Those are not so much related to the core storyline, but it’s more about what we see and what we experience about the characters.
RPG Site: Now that we’re so close to the end, after all these years. I’m curious, when the game comes out and people have played the whole trilogy, what sort of the legacy you’re hoping it has. What kind of feeling are you hoping players have?
Naoki Hamaguchi: As you know, Final Fantasy 7 has these iconic and such beloved characters, and fans may be wondering the fate of certain characters within this story. But I truly wanted to make a game where, upon playing through the story, they would just feel glad to have been on this journey with these characters – just have that feeling.
Naoki Hamaguchi: As you know, Final Fantasy 7 has these iconic and such beloved characters, and fans may be wondering the fate of certain characters within this story. But I truly wanted to make a game where, upon playing through the story, they would just feel glad to have been on this journey with these characters – just have that feeling.