There ’s no wrong mode to play Final Fantasy VII Rebirth .
Just a few days before the widely anticipate firing of the second entry in the Final Fantasy VII Remake serial , Final Fantasy VII Rebirth , I had the absolute privilege of sitting down with Director Naoki Hamaguchi at the Square Enix office in Los Angeles to pick his head on not only the character and relationship but the goofy side of Rebirth with its many minigames and new card plot , Queen ’s Blood .
This interview was conducted through an on - site translator .
An Interview with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Director Naoki Hamaguchi
Meg Koepp : It ’s very clear that you tried to go in deepness with the characters with the new Synergy relationship system . Was that because you want players to form an emotional attachment to the characters to make the worked up moment more hard - hitting ?
Naoki Hamaguchi : In term of create in - depth relationship among the persona , when we first received Nojima - san ’s initial scenario , we feel that when looking into the character ’ pasts and the fate that they carry and following them , we are journeying with these quality to the ending of Rebirth . In that way , understand the emotion and backgrounds that each carries just heightens these emotion that we find towards them .
When constructing the humankind persuasion of the secret plan , this is not something that is a film ; it ’s a biz , so you ’re able-bodied to interact in that sense , and so I believe that , as a game clothes designer , I find that we are much more fond to and find affinity towards gameplay when the existent world view and perfume thematically are also reflected and makes for a much more immersive experience for the player . That was something we had in mind , and also , considering Nojima - san ’s scenario and cardinal thematic elements of going into the character relation , it was very much keep in mind .
Screenshot by Prima Games
Reflecting on that and expanding on that paper to cover almost every constituent of the game , like the Synergy elements that you mentioned and combat in terms of affinity mechanics with the party members , even within the quest and the side subject , are put in a way that deepens one ’s intellect and relationship among the squad member . In that way , all of these elements within the biz tie back into this theme of continuing to grow these relationships . Since we were able to press out this and have it all tie into each other , this reflected positively with the very wonderful Metacritic grievance and that reception .
Synergy Abilities are more than just powerful attacks : they really showcase the fiber ’ personalities . For example , Aerith will take Barret ’s sunglasses . What are your pet characters to pair off together ?
Naoki Hamaguchi : In terms of my best-loved Synergy ability and pairing , I think Cait Sith and Red XIII together ; all their moves are very precious . When we look at the Synergy actions between Cloud and Tifa or Cloud and Aerith , they ’re cooler and very fashionable . But I mean the essence of Final Fantasy VII and its unique worldview and why masses really love it is due to a balance of serious plot line with these moments with comedic and laughable elements . Cait Sith and Red XIII together are very precious , and the attack are very entertaining , so I really love it that way .
Screenshot by Prima Games
The dark glasses you mention for Aerith and Barret ’s Synergy – at first , those dark glasses were not there . As we uphold to create these Synergy moves , on the dev side , we were thinking about what Synergy and this theme means . We fare up with a ton of different ideas , and this was just another idea that popped up during that time . That form of come about , too , where melodic theme come up as we work on them and are implemented as we continue to polish . That fun energy and hullabaloo we had make this can also be feel in that way .
evidently , the original game on PlayStation was very one-dimensional compare to Rebirth . Were there any challenges associated with take those surface area and making them into such grownup , unresolved - world regions ?
Naoki Hamaguchi : I myself have been working on various Final Fantasy - touch titles for about 25 eld now , and in that time , the title that I have exercise on have tended to be more linear in terms of gameplay experience , but then now , when think the Remake series and reconstructing this tale and looking towards gain this new audience and expanding on this , I do finger that it ’s necessary to enact a new gameplay experience that ’s going to be positivist for both this type of title and the franchise as well .
Screenshot by Prima Games
Looking at this within Rebirth , the world map was a keen vehicle or way to really expand on this . And so , of course , prevent integral that very much cinematic and enriching primary story , we are now ramify out into have varied side content , pursuit , and miniskirt - games that further enrich this experience by allow a young stage of exemption in which players can make their own option as to whether they wish to continue play the principal story and sticking to that . They also have the selection to embark into unlike pursuit at any time freely .
By providing this experience , I conceive people will be capable to unwrap this new Final Fantasy experience through Rebirth , and I think that having retained much of the stave from Remake into Rebirth was also very helpful in developing this scale leaf of a plot within the short sentence of four geezerhood . Both the team and I portion out the sentiment of feel quite sure-footed and very glad about this body of work . This is something that I cogitate could perhaps feed into other triple - A title as well .
player can spend 50 hours just playing side content alone . How of import was giving player side content that was n’t just “ go from point A to point B ” ?
Naoki Hamaguchi : Considering the main history and side message and the proportion , the side subject is 2:1 , almost double the intensity of the independent story of side content we were looking to produce for this . The abstract thought behind this is that by let this whole master taradiddle but also offering this side content that , in term of volume , excel perhaps even double up that of the main tale , we avoid having the actor sense as though they ’re made to play the master story because that ’s the only affair that is there .
In fact , there are tons of options ; there ’s freedom in choose side substance or the main floor . In that way , we had gone out from that notion of being made to spiel something and extend into more exemption of option in the gameplay and experience that will be unique to each person . Of course , filler - case quests were something that we would not wish to have as well . So , quite early on on , in the stages of development , we wanted these to be unique and wide-ranging , so we had determined the overall quantity of minigames and how in - astuteness we want to make each minigame as well .
With the quests , there ’s a miscellany of them ; someone may be play a minigame , and another might not be in a minigame but deal with an original Bos that you only encounter in this specific quest . Some may usher in a character from Remake that is reintroduce again , and now , we ’re going further into their history , where we teach more about them through these quests . So there are all these types of quests and side subject matter that each fulfill this role , and so by determining the overall structure and what type of content we wanted the players to get , we were then able to have this overview of how this was go to look like and from there , it made it much light to hone in on these details and settle what exactly we wanted to localize and create . Including this type of diverseness and the experience one can gain let us to go forward with fervour and wonder in experiencing each type . This make people want to adventure off - track and see “ what will happen if I go elsewhere ” outside the main account . While this was challenging and quite a feat for us , it was something we were aware of and took care to do within the dev team .
Another point I wanted to refer was that while there is such a huge number of minigames , no specific minigame team was solely working on them . It was more so that member would mold in bicycle-built-for-two ; they would be in cathexis of some other aspect of the game and also be ferment on a minigame . For Queen ’s pedigree , there was no specific Queen ’s profligate person who developed it , and really , the individual who worked on this was a battle deviser who had worked on boss battles but was also creating the Queen ’s Blood at the same time . Chocobo Racing was created by the person function on man mapping planning . So , in that fashion , having people somewhat hoodwink these other task on their own is the reason why we were able to create so many minigames . [ Laughs ] The snowboard minigame was so popular that people were fighting to work on it .
My personal pet side content is Queen ’s Blood – I love it ! Were there any challenges associated with making a new card game for Rebirth , and what made you require to include a card game ?
Naoki Hamaguchi : When we were take what eccentric of minigames to let in , we opine them in various category . Some may be one - offs that you play , and others may be long - term ones that player will represent throughout the game . When let the cat out of the bag about what sort of game would be suitable to be played throughout Rebirth , we looked back on the mainline title of the Final Fantasy series and escort that the long - full term game were card games . So we did cerebrate perhaps players will palpate some acquaintance in having this card plot in Rebirth .
That ’s where we commence , and within the dev team , there were quite a few creators who were big - time scorecard plot lover and big fans of poster games , so four or five of the carte du jour game hardcore lover formed a building block to discuss and make the rules for Queen ’s descent . It was , honestly , quite a long road to get Queen ’s Blood to what it look like today ; we played a gross ton of dissimilar card games , both forcible and practical unity , and made mockups with paper or used a childlike Windows program to exhibit the gameplay . It took about a year or so to really explicate and determine the overall game experience for Queen ’s Blood , so there was a mint of piece of work put into it , but I conceive since we took that time to really good go over what the plot would calculate and feel like , from there it was smooth sailing going into actually put through and developing it within the plot . It could not have been done without the support and wonderful ideas generated by the squad , and I ’m so thankful for that . It ’s become a terrific piece of music of work .
As a side , when working with the card game social unit , The Witcher 3 ’s Gwent board plot serve as a gravid reference book point for us .
What do you sleep with most about Queen ’s Blood ?
Naoki Hamaguchi : Around the centre of a Queen ’s Blood conflict , that ’s the percentage point where the card become quite important and essential to the gameplay and how it will unfold . Right around then , opponents have more card in their hands , so it becomes very difficult to put those cards down , and so it ’s very exciting and a lot of fun .
It is very clear that Naoki Hamaguchi and the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth team have a mountain of passion for not only the game and characters but also players and fans . This is something I felt shine from Hamaguchi - san when talking to him in person ; the love does n’t swop off when biz exploitation cease . This was later recall when I was given the opportunity to follow Advent Children with him and around 200 fans at a local movie theatre later that eventide , where he took the time to address the gang , give away t - shirts and signed posters , and pose for picture afterward for every single person in the room , no matter how long it took .
Though I ’d finished playing Final Fantasy VII Rebirthand I ’d written and scored my review article long beforesitting down with Naoki Hamaguchi , hearing about and see the complete devotion he , his team , and Square Enix as a whole have for the Final Fantasy VII community makes it so hard not to diminish even more in dear with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth . There ’s something truly special about knowing it was made by the secret plan ’s big fans . I aver this in my review , but it really is the best plot ever made , and I ’ll die on that hill .
