It’s been a big year for Final Fantasy. That’s true most years, as the long-running RPG series always has something new going on whether it’s new installments or updates to the mega-popular Final Fantasy XIV. This year was a bit different, though, and it was all thanks to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Released back in February, the second installment of Square Enix’s ambitious remake trilogy adapted some of the most eclectic moments of 1997’s Final Fantasy VII with panache. It’s both unabashedly silly and a profound story about loss. It resonated enough with players to land a Game of the Year nomination at this year’s Game Awards. While it didn’t win the big one (Astro Bot got this year’s top honor), Rebirth was recognized for its standout soundtrack, and Square Enix announced a PC port during the show. It was one needed celebration for a series that’s had its ups and downs over the last decade. Now, it’s time for its creator to look back on that success and learn from it.
With a whirlwind year almost in the rearview mirror, Digital Trends spoke to Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi and producer Yoshinori Kitase about the project. It was a quiet moment after a busy year to finally reflect on Rebirth and how well the team was able to execute a vision it dreamed up back before it even was done making 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake. Fans seemed to love it, but did it live up to its creators’ dreams? That answer is yes — and they’re even happy with debates over its polarizing ending.
Looking back
When I played Final Fantasy VII Rebirth earlier this year, I found myself wondering how much of it was dreamed up back when the team decided to split the remake into a trilogy. At times, Rebirth can feel like it doubles back on some of the destiny-killing implications of Remake to tell its own story. According to Hamaguchi, though, the version of Rebirth we got was very close to the vision the team had for it before it had even finished the first game.
“About one year before the finalization of Remake, we had already determined what kind of game experience we would like to deliver with Rebirth,” Hamaguchi tells Digital Trends. “When we had begun development on Remake, we had already decided on the overall game design with the expansive world map filled with the contents that allow for a large amount of user freedom and choice.”
What’s more surprising is how much the team’s plan for Rebirth’s story also went unchanged from its original vision. At least philosophically, Hamaguchi says that the narrative we see in Rebirth — with all its oddball twists and turns — was always where the team wanted to end up. He’s not just talking about how the story itself unfolds; Rebirth’s thematic intent was set in stone early on too.
“Since we had initially announced Rebirth, we had always said that this title was going to follow the team’s journey up to Aerith’s fate. This was going to follow Cloud and his party’s journey and give much more of a look into their inner workings as well,” Hamaguchi says. “The core thematic element that we focused on was the theme of bonds. In this way, we felt that by allowing a deeper look into the relationships between characters, it allows for the players to further emphasize and immerse into the story. The bond theme is depicted in numerous ways, whether that be through the synergy attacks and within conversations that affect their affinity, the whole game design is centered around this theme. In this way, it allows the users to feel that these characters are very close to you, which further allows you to synchronize feelings when we approach Aerith’s fate.”
That fate would be a defining moment for Rebirth, and the team was well aware of that. Midway through the original Final Fantasy VII, Aerith is shockingly murdered by Sephiroth. It’s an unforgettable moment that sticks with the player as they immediately feel her absence in the game. After all, she’s the party’s primary healer, so the game instantly becomes much tougher with her dead.
Rebirth would have to offer its own interpretation of gaming’s most iconic moment, which is no small task. Even fans who knew the original game well weren’t sure if Rebirth would repeat history or allow Cloud to save her this time. That doubt — denial, even — was key to building a more emotionally complex moment that would make Rebirth’s ending stand on its own two feet apart from the original.
“In the original, this moment is one where you have this profound sense of loss in both the protagonist and the player,” Kitase tells Digital Trends. “But in Rebirth, it’s perhaps a little before then, when both the protagonist and the player are grappling with the notion of loss. They can’t even accept what could possibly be happening. We wanted players to synchronize with Cloud’s feeling at the time. This also leads into the player’s interest as we lead into the third installment.”
While those emotionally heavy moments create an emotional crescendo, as Kitase puts it, they’re only half of what makes Rebirth special. The other side of the coin is its gleeful silliness. Rather than shying away from the strangest moments of the original, like its opulent amusement park digression or Cait Sith in general, it was crucial for the team to keep the oddball comedy of the original intact. Rebirth excels in that respect, and that’s no accident; it’s thanks to a dedicated team of developers who had a deep respect for the original’s comedy.
“The reason I think Rebirth is so successful, both in its serious and humorous parts, is because much of the dev team were players and fans of the original Final Fantasy VII. That title had heavily influenced them as creators. When you approach this title as one fan of FFVII, there’s a certain perspective that one has. That was a general shared view that was helpful in generating these ideas. For example, that can be how Red XIII rides on a Chocobo or Aerith putting on shades. These are things that weren’t directives that I told our teams to create; they naturally were generated among our team thanks to their passion for the original.”
That thought warranted a follow-up: How many debates did the team have about how a wolf should ride a Chocobo?
“There were several patterns that were proposed initially, like him sitting sideways on the Chocobo!” Hamaguchi says. “But of course we had to gain approval from Nomura-san, who took a look and immediately said yes!”
“Everything we hoped to achieve … we were certainly able to deliver.”
While little details like this seemed to delight players, Rebirth has left players divided in the long-term. That’s thanks in part to its brain-bending conclusion, which replaces Aerith’s straightforward death with a surreal odyssey complete with a dreamlike prelude and an ambiguous conclusion. Some players have found the moment to be a profound statement on grief. Others see it as an overblown rewrite of an elegant ending. And others still don’t know what to make of it at all. Hamaguchi welcomes all of those reactions. In fact, the confusion is part of the point.
“As far as the ending of Rebirth and Aerith’s fate, we’re aware that there are a lot of interpretations from the fans,” Hamaguchi says. “But considering that this is taking the form of a trilogy and not just the end, we feel that by introducing that element that’s not revealing all, we’re creating a sense of intrigue that carries users into the third installment wondering what is happening next. This is what we had in mind as well, so everything we hoped to achieve, in that sense, we were certainly able to deliver.”
Rebirth may tell a tale of impending loss that stands on its own, but the team has a trilogy to finish. It doesn’t matter if you love or hate where it ends; all that’s important is that you’re curious enough to see what’s at the end of the unknown journey.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is available now on PS5. It is coming to PC on January 23, 2025.
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