Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth producer Yoshinori Kitase says the upcoming third entry in the trilogy will stay true to the story told in the 1997 JRPG classic, but given how much time has passed, there will also be plenty of new stuff as well.
In an interview with Anime News Network (via ataikimochi), Kitase addressed concerns from fans of the original Final Fantasy 7 that the third entry, which will bring the story to a conclusion, will stray from the narrative fans know and love.
“We do hear a lot of players’ different conjectures, saying, ‘Oh, how much will this story change from the original?’ And I do want to comment that I don’t think that’s how it will be,” Kitase said. “We’ve always kept the original in mind, and I don’t think it’s going to be a storyline that will betray the fans of the original [game].
“But also, at the same time, [it’s] been 27 years since the release of the original Final Fantasy 7. There are these things that we feel we can only do now in the remake project that can bring a new happiness, a new sort of feeling of satisfaction to the players playing this game now 27 years later. What this will entail exactly is something we hope players will experience soon.”
Square in general has been very vague about what to expect from the final act of the trilogy, but that hasn’t stopped the developers from using some capital-B Big Words. Just last month, director Naoki Hamaguchi said it’ll “beat any expectation you have” just a few days after saying the threequel will be “one of the most loved, most popular games in the whole history of video games”.
As for a release date, that’s still yet to be announced, although in April Kitase said it’s possible it’ll be finished in three years because the dev team hasn’t been split up.
In the meantime, here are the best JRPGs you can play today.