Kitase & Hamaguchi On FF7 Rebirth's Accolades, Player Reactions, the PC Port & Excitement for Part 3

Yoshinori Kitase and Naoki Hamaguchi were interviewd at The Game Awards 2024 about Rebirth's awards accolades, player reactions to characters like Cissnei, Zack's expanded role, the PC port and Remake Part 3. Let's mosey!
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[@LoneWhiteMage]

I agree when you talked about trusting the devs with incorporating Compilation elements. They’ve done a really good job so far.

[@MagikarpUsedOmnisplash]

Cant wait for Rebirth Ultimania in English

[@garywood97]

Man, I can't overstate how excited I am for Part 3. The new story twists they've added haven't necessarily been perfectly executed, but they have done a great job of creating a story that both feels like FF7 but is also still surprising and suspenseful, and that has been such a brilliant thing about these games.

[@Noushauga]

it’s currently top 5 best selling on Steam Global right now 👀

[@LelanWellz]

CC we love all your content. Don’t feel like you only can do FF7 even though we do enjoy it.

[@kaylee42900]

It is interesting that myself (and other) called out how it felt like the moment didn't really happen (as a criticism of how it played out in the game) and it turns out that was intended. Neat.

[@BOSNI2R]

Dude really said "Blinded by the Light" 😁 Final Fantasy XIII

[@zacatkinson3926]

The only Jenova scene was them sitting by the water, remember Red 13 sensed Aerith in the field area, Thats the real ghost Aerith who was also a ghost in Advent Children. Rebirth's ending is very easy to understand, they are just showing multiple outcomes and realities, its schrodingers cat.

[@karemali6941]

Do we know if Zack is in the main world or not?

[@jesse1381]

We don't know yet but this is one of my biggest hopes for the next game is that he is.

[@TravaillesDuChanson]

@@jesse1381 Me too, most of all I hope he can reunite with Aerith

[@SamuelSabharwal]

I hope so so he can reunite with Cissnei

[@ExploitedWorker]

I'm almost certain that Zack's parts in the remake games are a post-death lifestream experience. Very doubtful they're going to change the story that drastically. So far the story is very consistent with the source material, just with some significant embellishment.

[@hayabusa09]

I hope they work on the lighting for the Pro version too

[@garywood97]

I'm pretty sure they will as an update. There was that short trailer when they showed the Pro, that did have one example of different lighting in a cutscene for Rebirth, but they haven't released that yet. It's probably gonna be a patch.

[@ETHomerin]

I am so excited for whatever happens in part 3! It's gonna be a fun ride. Presuming this goes into AC and Dirge; I don't recall seeing or hearing anything of Cissnei post-anything after Rebirth. She was created for BC and fleshed out in CC. These were released before and after AC and Dirge respectively. But I didn't see her or hear about her in 'Kid's Are Alright,' which was written later. There's a window of opportunity for the devs with Cissnei and some of the Turks from BC. I'm hoping Scarlet kills her for helping the party in Gongaga. We need some more death and killing of beloved characters. I'd like it to hurt a little bit! Lots of love to ya, Corduroy! Rock on! Keep making the vids!!!!

[@Kean_Bean]

Q: why would you use the Highwind if you have fast travel? A: Why would you use fast travel if you have a “Highwind”?

[@akinamori1615]

Theres most likely places where you can't reach and need Highwind. Fast travel is good for quest stuff but highwind is used for global exploration. Weird they didn't think about it.

[@fahriza88]

Because with the highwind, real moments can happen.. or under it..

[@LelanWellz]

CC when will you post the community theory/ questions video

[@CuriousCorduroy]

Either the week of Christmas or the first week of January!

[@Papa_Ul]

​@@CuriousCorduroy Thank you!

[@dreamphoenix]

Thank you!

[@zacatkinson3926]

I dont think the compilation is a mess

[@TravaillesDuChanson]

While the compilation is far from perfect, it is still Nojima's creation and is part of the FF7 Saga. I truly hope they decide to remake the entire compilation (not just on ever crisis) and make it accessible to all the fans so that everyone has the full series available to experience... All the way from - First Soldier - Before Crisis - Crisis Core - FF 7 OG - Novels - On the Way to a Smile - Novels - The Kids Are Alright - Movie - Advent Children - Dirge of Cerebus (including the lost chapter and the lore from the multi-player version). - Novels - Traces of Two Pasts Short Story - 2000 Gil To Become a Hero. I think those who are hung up on the Trilogy being as close to the OG is really missing out on the entire Saga whether they like it or not. While it seems new parts of the compilation keep arising due to the popularity of FF7.... I think it is important to have them all accessible for the new fans so they can decide what they like or dislike. Perhaps after part 3 is revealed many mysteries will be cleared and we can get a lot of answers that we are seeking but something tells me we will not get all the loose ends tied up just because the compilation is so huge. I feel like there will be DLCs, and perhaps they may leave some things open just so if they want they can go back and do a sequel to the trilogy completely tying up all the loose ends and narratives throughout the compilation giving the player a true satisfying closure to the Saga so it can be passed enthusiastically to new fans.

[@jesse1381]

They've done a fantastic job with Kyrie in particular. The only thing they could do better is switch the playable characters around more so that we see parts of the game through more eyes. It would be great to play a chapter as the Turks and have a Kyrie chapter too. If we see Evan make an appearance in part 3 I'll be quite impressed also.

[@TravaillesDuChanson]

@@jesse1381 Yea, I thought for sure we would see Evan in Rebirth, but no. We only really got Cissnei, Kyrie, Leslie, Kyrie's Grandmother, Mayor Zander, and a mentioning of Kunsel in Remake from the compilation... unless you also add in Avalanche HQ from Before Crisis. There is a lot of characters left out. Yes, adding Evan in would be a very good choice. Being able to have chapter switch ups would be interesting. Playing as Evan would be cool... they were going to do a meanwhile Turks chapter in Remake but decided not to.

[@xizilionyizzexeliqer3897]

Elena keeps getting beaten up it's getting funny now. I hope she steps up her game or a big reveal like she has taken the mentorship of Zangan and we get to see a mad martial arts mega fight one-on-one vs Tifa.

[@ThatBeingCed]

With how they handled the Tifa date at the gold saucer, I think part 3 will officialise Cloud Tifa as a couple... Square could try to push the Fanbase for a Zack/Aerith/Cissnei love triangle instead.

[@kaylee42900]

It's likely. Considering in the OG if you treated Tifa right they pretty much got together before the crater. Whether they make that official or make game decision dictate it I strongly suspect it will be a part of part 3.

[@jesse1381]

They don't want to anger either side so I don't see them pulling the trigger one way or the other. The way I see it is Cloud x Tifa x Aerith forever they'll probably just share Cloud or it'll never be resolved. Then Zack is getting the boot from the love square and Cissnei was brought in for that and Yuffie was written to like Zack as well. I wouldn't be surprised if they write Elena towards Zack as well if he's the one who rescues her from Don Corneo in the next game. They're doing everything they can to write Zack away from Aerith at least and keep Clerith happy with Zack's return.

[@Silverfish-qv8ig]

I don't think so. It will be player choice, as it always has been.

[@Sigma993]

I honestly cannot wait to replay Rebirth on pc. Personally the game was absolutely my GOTY. I'm so excited!

[@unnamedlegeon]

Ok the PC port is here, modders you know what to do. Bring Aerith back 😁.

[@lordaathras]

It's as Max said, we are all Cloud who are absolutely in denial regarding Aerith's death and are just not able to process it, i.e: block it out, refuse to believe it, etc.

[@SamuelSabharwal]

Mixing other worlds with delusions is just silly like how can you relate to Cloud being in denial when he’s being sent to other worlds and being told by Zack to save Aerith 💀. Also deepground is cool af and the 4 tsviets teamed up could legit threaten Sephiroth. Would be cool if they all jumped him

[@nickmurkel2469]

No Advent Children references unless it's to show that Denzel's parents survived, and he won't be getting adopted this time around. That was cringe censorship the first time and it doesn't need to be repeated.

[@justinwilkinson2656]

There was multiple advent children songs in rebirth, especially around the gears and gambits crystals and the forgotten city

[@nickmurkel2469]

@justinwilkinson2656 that's unacceptable news. A very bad sign of where they are taking things in the future.

[@justinwilkinson2656]

@nickmurkel2469 don't be such a prude, the remake trilogy is going in a great direction and I've loved everything they are doing with them, I have complete faith in hamaguchi to make the last game land amazingly

[@laceylately406]

There has been advent children references all over the place already. The party standing in the water in the forgotten city. Cloud and Aerith standing back to back within the white. Zack coming through the church door with the white behind him and the music is everywhere. Also, Kitase has given several interviews saying that this is still linking up to Advent children.

[@sakuracardcaptor4709]

He was never adopted. Duh! He’s one of Cloud’s family of friends.

[@Silverfish-qv8ig]

I'll be so sad if the Aerith being alive thing, was just fan-service/Cloud being crazy. It will be the first time the writing has been bad, as Cloud very rarely just sees imaginary stuff in the OG. The more I see, the more I think they are going with the unreliable narrator trope. The parallel universe element is more interesting to me.

[@Papa_Ul]

And following this trope is kind of silly once you establish that it may be happening. Basically in 1997 nobody expected it, and now everybody does, so what's the point?

[@Silverfish-qv8ig]

​@Papa_UlAnd in 1997, the twist was that he in fact, wasnt actually that unreliable. He was in Nibelheim. He did witness it. Sure, some of the details were transposed, but the core was based in truth.​

[@Papa_Ul]

@@Silverfish-qv8ig That's how all great plot twists are made: half-a-lie meets half-the-truth. He was in the town, but not as a SOLDIER. I can't see any serious plot twists coming in the 3rd part, but I hope to eventually see some. Any "twist" I can think of right now is predictable and unsatisfying.

[@Silverfish-qv8ig]

​@Papa_Ul Yea, fully agree. O look, he's crazy and imagined all of it. Great.

[@Silverfish-qv8ig]

​@Papa_UlPersonally, I would love to see a bit of a double bluff. Heavily insinuated all was mental gymnastics, only for the real twist to be that there is in fact, an alive Aerith somewhere, right at the end of the story.

[@jaybee4288]

I don’t want to be contrary but honestly I was disappointed by rebirth and by things like Zack and Cissnei along with all the minigame padding and story adjustments. I think most people just wanted a remake of FF7 with modern technology, that’s what was being requested all those years and why the project was greenlit. And it feels a bit like a bait and switch to please a niche audience rather than giving the main FF7 playerbase what they asked for. Think this is a big part of why rebirths sales weren’t great. That being said it was a good game that deserved nominations for production values alone, just a bit disappointing to me personally.

[@Erikthedood]

I can’t take people seriously when they say the game was “padded with mini games,” the original FF7 and most of the earlier numbered FFs up to 10 were full of mini games. Rebirth did the same and most of the mini games were actually fun and had gameplay variety. Like did you even play the original game? Also, I’m not really seeing you’re point on how it’s not a remake. It’s literally the original game remade with modern graphics and combat. How is that not a remake and how is it a bait and switch? Remake does not mean “exactly the same as the original in every way.”

[@ExploitedWorker]

As someone who played the original since it was released in 97, I would've been disappointed to see the game remade to be an upscaled version of the original. It's always been one of my all time favorite games, if not my #1 of all time, but I'm not going to pretend the original was perfect, and it certainly wouldn't have made much sense to see some scenes play out the same as the original. The original did have some consistency issues and most of it wasn't very fleshed out. I will say though, some of the remake stuff was unfortunate too. I definitely preferred how Dyne's story played out in the original, but that also comes down to how the rating systems work and changes they had to make to keep the rating they wanted. Honestly though, I would have preferred they just went with a mature rating and kept some of the darker stuff. But the games are still incredible as they are, and the minigames were mostly all great. Considering they're optional though, I can't really complain about the less interesting ones.

[@Papa_Ul]

@jaybee4288 I mostly agree. Remake was like 7 millions and Rebirth was apparently less than 3. It's like Final Fantasy XIII trilogy.

[@jesse1381]

@@jaybee4288 While your personal taste is noted, it's a stretch to say that most people for sure wanted a 1 to 1 Remake. Most younger fans have never played OG nor are they invested in the original story. It's a 27 year old game at this point that an entire generation had largely never heard of before. Many people experienced FF7 Remake as their first ever FF. The veteran purists are actually becoming the niche audience at this point as more and more millennials game way less as they are closing in on age 40 more or less. Zack has always had haters due to Clerith but you'd have to be a special kind of hater to be further mad at Cissnei's inclusion in the game which took absolutely nothing away from the overall experience. The excessive minigames sure, the repetitive rocks and towers fine, but you lost me at Cissnei.

[@Phantom.Zero-7]

Honestly I was always indifferent to a remake for the past 15+ years. As I knew it would be a damned if you and damned if you don't situation. I know that I wouldn't want a 1:1 remake as that would be boring and there are others that probably would had felt the same way and of course there would be people who would want that kind of remake. Thus there would be conflict. Instead I preferred they just do a FFVII-2 to close out the compilation. So this trilogy being a reimagining and a sequel works for me.

[@Silverfish-qv8ig]

Please, please minimise stuff from the Extended Universe. It's really not good, generally.

[@blackbelthistorian]

If you don’t understand the extended universe you miss things in the remake trilogy. You got everything from Before Crisis to Dirge in the remake trilogy and it all matters

[@Silverfish-qv8ig]

@@blackbelthistorian But surely the only things you miss, are from the inferior Extended Universe? And which of it matters? I like what they've done in pt 1 and 2 because you don't have to know the Extended Universe in order to enjoy it. But Dirge was awful, Genesis was beyond bad, Zack feels a little self-insert fanfic (all girls love him), AC was a poor film in many regards... Why anchor a part of an excellent remake trilogy on a sub-par extended universe?