Part 2 is now in Full Development

[Aulayna]

Final Fantasy VII Remake‘s second installment has entered full development, according to a staff interview published by Famitsu this week.

The magazine spoke with several key members on the development team including director Tetsuya Nomura. Here’s what he had to say when asked about the release timing for the next entry in the project:


“We know that everyone wants the next installment quickly. We would also like to deliver it as soon as possible. Since we were also able to see the line of quality from the first installment, we hope to make the next installment even better in quality that can make for an even better experience. We would like to get it out as soon as possible, so please wait for it. I think we can clearly convey the direction when we officially announce the next installment.”


Producer Yoshinori Kitase notes, “The new story of Final Fantasy VII has only just begun.”


Other bits found in the 15 page spread note that (minor spoilers) the new character Roche was meant to appear at some point in chapter 14 to do battle. According to co-director Motomu Toriyama, this character has a high chance of reappearing in the next installment.


Additionally, parts like the Madam M massage scene weren’t allowed to go any further in order to keep the rating, and AVALANCHE’s hideout wasn’t added to show that Cloud didn’t have a close relationship with them yet.

Sauce: https://novacrystallis.com/2020/07/final-fantasy-vii-remakes-second-part-is-in-full-development/

I'm hopeful for a 2022-2023 release date with 2023 being more likely given everything going on in the world right now, given that some of the assets can be re-used - and on the precedent of the FFXIII trilogy installments came out 2-3 years after each other.

[Vyk]

A little confused why it wasn't considered in full development prior to this? I figured they would just keep on trucking as soon as they finished the first part. But I wouldn't argue that they didn't deserve a vacation if that's what they did. They certainly earned it. Or if they just held off to get their head around the Covid scene, that makes sense

[krissy]

reckon most people are involved in multiple projects and the timeline for this one isn't as pressing as other ones
i dunno
like i guess it technically just came out so there's no rush
but the ff13 timeline would be cool. hopefully it's just two more games at most and i say that as a big metal fan

[JJ Strife]

Glad to hear it. Would've been a bit worrying if it wasn't, given that it's leading directly on from the first, so it's not like they need to do much extra planning and recruitment.

Interesting to see they also confirmed they could see the whispers because of touching Aerith. So that must have been something Cloud passed on to the others then, because Tifa and Barret hadn't touched Aerith at that point.

That opens up the possibility that Aerith already understood what was happening from the very beginning, and deliberately passed on that power to Cloud and the others, because she thought it would be better if they could see them?

[krissy]

does rufus see them because he and cloud had that fight on the roof then? interesting

she definitely seems to know a lot more than she's letting on this time around... her and red xiii seem to have deeper knowledge that's not exactly given
and like aerith usually knows when someone returns to the planet fairly quickly... zack/ilfana's husband etc.
maybe it's an extension of that power

ahaha i was about to ask how jessie etc could see them but jessie for sure got cloud touches in asap after they got back to 7th heaven

[JJ Strife]

Surely we dont still need to use spoiler tags do we? I mean anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled, should probably be avoiding an FF7 Remake forum.

And yes, I think that's why Rufus could see them but Tseung couldn't. Which suggests that Rude and Reno can probably see them too. So I'm guessing when Elena appears in part 2, she won't be able to see them.

[Lord Golbez]

Meh...I'm sure there's going to be tons of plot holes from whatever explanation they give for seeing/not seeing them, which I won't care to explore, because the Whispers are bad and the less I see of them, the better.

[JJ Strife]

I would be fine with them not appearing again. Which might happen, given that they were technically destroyed.

But they're obviously not done with the timeline stuff, because Zack's obviously gonna be in the next part in some way. I just seriously hope it remains separate timelines. I really don't want them going back and force between different universes. I don't need silly metaphysics in this game at all.

[Wolf Kanno]

I imagine the Whispers will continue to return. Somehow beating cosmic time warping phantoms by punching them really hard in the face doesn't sound right. Not to mention it would be really weak of them to introduce such a controversial element into the games and not run with the idea. Course I'm firmly in the camp of the Remake being a stealth VII-2.

[Vyk]

I'm not offended, but for the record. I was here to discuss the development of the second game, and I got here by using "New Posts", not by navigating into the forum of a game I haven't finished. The home link just says "Final Fantasy VII" not "Remake". So I didn't come in expecting spoilers. In fact, I kind of assumed this was posted in the original FF7 forum for that reason

Edit: Wow, only now realizing there isn't a space for remake-only discussion. Shows how often I use the front of the forum. Didn't there used to be a sub-forum? Did they merge it at some random point when I wasn't paying attention?

[maybee]

“The new story of Final Fantasy VII has only just begun.”




Thought so. Just going to say here if it's not broken you shouldn't try to fix it.

[Psychotic]

Surely we dont still need to use spoiler tags do we? I mean anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled, should probably be avoiding an FF7 Remake forum.Yes please. I do understand what you're saying, but someone who has just started playing it might be looking around for tips and info too! Better safe than sorry.

[Lord Golbez]

Not sure why someone would look for tips under "Part 2 is now in Full Development," but noted.

[Psychotic]

That was more of a general principle for the subforum than for this specific thread, which was covered by "and info too".

[ham]

Pretty excited to hear about this. Hopefully, it'll come out soon enough for me to play it.

[JJ Strife]

Somehow beating cosmic time warping phantoms by punching them really hard in the face doesn't sound right.

Lol can you think of an end to that sentence that DOES sound right?

[Wolf Kanno]

Somehow beating cosmic time warping phantoms by punching them really hard in the face doesn't sound right.

Lol can you think of an end to that sentence that DOES sound right?

I mean a nice cup of tea and bit of dialogue could work. :cheers:

[Aulayna]

Surely we dont still need to use spoiler tags do we? I mean anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled, should probably be avoiding an FF7 Remake forum.Yes please. I do understand what you're saying, but someone who has just started playing it might be looking around for tips and info too! Better safe than sorry.

Speaking of, the sub forum description should really be updated at this point. :D

[JJ Strife]

Do we think the next game will come out on PS4 too, or will they just go entirely next-gen?

The transition period between consoles usually lasts about a year and a half. So I'd think that roughly lines up with when the next game should come out. That would be over 2 years between games.

[krissy]

ps4 hopefully with an hd upscale for ps5 and pc a year later :)

[Mr Gashtacular]

hopefully ps4 cos i only just bought one lol.

im glad full dev confirmed. i thought it would be a while longer.

[JJ Strife]

That's a weird point to buy a PS4! It's literally just had it's last exclusive.

[Lord Golbez]

It'll be years before PS5 goes for the price PS4 goes for now, so it's not that weird.

[Big D]

Meh. They've now all but confirmed that it's going to be a "new story", not an expanded re-telling of the original, so I'm basically going to tune out until the finished game hits the bargain bins.

A few months ago they assured us that part 2 was going to return to the original storyline. Either they were lying, or they had literally no idea what they were going to do and have spent that time writing something completely new.

Now, there's a certain appeal to the idea of an original story set adjacent to the FFVII universe. But the latest interviews have made it pretty clear that Testuya Nomura is calling all the shots on FFVIIR, and he's shown that he's just not capable of delivering of a coherent story that will actually lead to a satisfying conclusion.

If someone was taking bets, I'd put my money on more time ghosts, more universe-hopping time portals, and more giant time ghosts throwing increasingly-huge objects for Cloud to chop in half. Even if there are story beats and even entire scenes lifted from the original game, it'll just culminate in a bombastic clustersmurf where the heroes fight something huge - and probably Sephiroth too - inside some kind of magical portal outside reality, followed by a cliffhanger ending that doesn't really explain anything except an assurance that eVeRyThInG hAs cHaNgEd fOrEvEr.

...Sorry, it seems I've become just a tad bitter and jaded about all this.

[krissy]

tbf that's how the original ended too, but I do understand the worry of a kingdom hearts clustercuss mess

[JJ Strife]

Meh. They've now all but confirmed that it's going to be a "new story", not an expanded re-telling of the original, so I'm basically going to tune out until the finished game hits the bargain bins.


They haven't really confirmed that at all though.

They've said on numerous occasions that it's following the original story, and they've also said they want to keep people guessing as to what's going to happen. At this point I think the evidence suggests that's all they're doing. They just didn't want everyone feeling like they knew exactly what's coming next. But ultimately the thing we get will end up being 90% the same as the original, like with part 1.

Think about it. There was a degree of mystery in part 1, because we never knew how faithful it would be to the original, or what would be added, and how the characters would be portrayed etc. But if they'd just finished part 1 completely in line with the original story and no changes at all, we would've been left in a situation where we know for sure what part 2 would be like. I think that's what they really wanted to avoid. They don't like the idea of no major surprises.

[Lord Golbez]

In principle I don't have a problem with this. Unfortunately the way they went about it was so hamfisted and gratuitously metanarrative as to damaging to any future direction they want to take the plot In.

Also, while in principle I don't have a problem with making some plot changes, I do find the notion that major or surprises are of critical importance to be nonsense. The best parts of the FF7 Remake don't come from twists to the plot of the first one, but to fleshing out and reimagining the same sequences that were in the original. It's funny that on the one hand gamers will often want games accepted as art and yet in their demand of gaming they call to the lowest common denominator of plot demands, where unpredictability and twist is given primacy above all else. If the idea that plots without surprise are bad held such away in the rest of the artistic world we wouldn't still be seeing performances of Shakespeare today. No I'm not saying FF7 is at the level of Shakespeare, that's not the point. The point is that you don't have to be in constant mystery about where a story is going in order to enjoy it.

Personally I would prefer knowing that spoiler is still gonna spoilers and just watch how they get there in the retelling, but SE would prefer me to wonder whether spoilers will happen at all.

[Fox]

A few months ago they assured us that part 2 was going to return to the original storyline. Either they were lying, or they had literally no idea what they were going to do and have spent that time writing something completely new.



Or, you're jumping to conclusions based on next to nothing. So far the message seems to be "It's going to basically be Final Fantasy VII, but with some new stuff and some changed stuff". I wont be surprised to see some more moments of alternate timeline clustersmurf at some point, but hopefully not too much. I mean, the whole point of having the destiny ghosts was to get rid of them, so that they don't interfere in future (thus allowing plot points to happen in a different way, if that's what the developers want).

I don't expect them to be back, and seeing as they were the weakest part of Remake part 2 and beyond should be all the better for it.

[Wolf Kanno]

I feel you're being too optimistic to believe that the ghosts are gone for good to be honest. That's some Grade A KH Bulltrout that I cannot fathom that Toriyama. Nomura, and Kitase are going to pass on. The fact is, they didn't really need to make a plot point out of changing the plot, so I feel it's likely a safe bet the ghosts will come back with a vengeance, especially with the foreshadowing of Rufus seeing them and the not-so-subtle hints that Aerith and Sephy are both aware of how the OG plot is suppose to go.

I feel that it is safe to say that while the order of events from the OG will remain the same. The details and general subtext of the narrative will be very different from the original.

[Example]

True but what point would the ghosts serve now? They didn't need to make a plot point about changing the plot but they did it anyway. They can bring Sephiroth back to life as many times as they like because they think that's what the fans want, but nobody cares about the ghosts now that Nomura has enough creative freedom to do whatever he wants for the rest of the remake series.

[Aulayna]

Purely headcanon'ing here but there are ways the whispers could return...

Well the whispers are supposed to be the Planet's last line of defense to make sure destiny runs its course. Before the fight with Sephiroth at the end, he's seen absorbing all the whispers so there's a fan interpretation that this means he can now control the whispers fully (as there's some interpretations that some of the people whispers seen during the game were his manifestations).

We know from Dirge of Cerberus etc. that the Planet is disconnected from the greater lifestream of the universe, severed due to Jenova's corruption. It's speculated that post-AC Sephiroth's goal is to connect the Planet back to the greater lifestream of the cosmos. So if the planet had whispers as it's last line of defense, then perhaps it's possible that the cosmos does too - which adds credence to Sephiroth's quote from the ending of the remake "come, let us defy destiny together."

Now, we also don't know if destiny is a neutral force, or perhaps either being manipulated by some outside force (ala Fabula Nova Crystallis, and especially Type-0) or straight-up good/evil. So there could be a scenario in which there are whispers of the cosmos, and after either siding with post-AC Sephiroth, or defeating him, we end up with some curveball last boss that's had enough of our shenanigans ala Necron from FFIX. And as the FFVIIR Ultimania pretty openly admits that the remake series is the end of the VII Compilation story, perhaps that ends up with everyone ultimately sacrificing themselves, but leaving a brighter future for those who come after - free of the interference of any outside forces (as a brighter future is a pretty central theme to FF endings in general).

I wouldn't put anything like this past Toriyama and Nomura, and especially Kitase who originally wanted all but 3 party members of the players choosing to die during the parachute back into Midgar near the end of the OG.

[Lord Golbez]

'Nobody cares" never stopped Nomura from running a concept into the ground.

[Example]

Or literally anyone else at Square Enix.

[maybee]

Or literally anyone else at Square Enix.

Fans : Final Fantasy XIII is terrible

SquareEnix : Here's two more. If you don't like them. Tough shit.

[Example]

Don't forget Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core and that FFX novel everyone loved.

[JJ Strife]

Fans : Final Fantasy XIII is terrible

SquareEnix : Here's two more. If you don't like them. Tough trout.

To be fair, they did use the second game to pretty clearly address the criticisms of the first. I'm not sure what the third game was supposed to be doing though!

[krissy]

it was around the time the internet was asking for a new chrono trigger so it was a monkey's paw situation

I mean I loved it and platinumed it but that's irrelevant

[Bubba]

It'll be a good ten hours before we even reach Kalm.

[krissy]

it'll start with a mix of kalm flaahback and crisis core revamp maybe

[maybee]

Don't forget Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core and that FFX novel everyone loved.

Agree apart from Crisis Core. A lot of Zack fans adore that game.

[Example]

Don't forget Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core and that FFX novel everyone loved.

Agree apart from Crisis Core. A lot of Zack fans adore that game.

That still doesn't excuse everything else wrong with the game.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Please Look Forward To It ™️

[JJ Strife]

Lol the answers in this new interview are a bit more casual:

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/08/final-fantasy-portal-site-digging-deep-into-the-world-of-final-fantasy-vii-remake-special-interview-part-one

Cloud’s mother and Tifa’s father weren’t given names in the original Final Fantasy VII, but how about in Final Fantasy VII Remake?
Toriyama: “They both had names in the original Final Fantasy VII character design documents, so we decided to use them in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Now Cloud’s mother is officially named Claudia and Tifa’s father is Brian. Tifa’s dad, however, has no dialogue in Final Fantasy VII Remake, so during development we referred to him as ‘dead body.'”

[krissy]

I rushed here to post that quote lol

[JJ Strife]

Sadly nothing particularly interesting in the interview though. Nothing really about part 2.

[Lord Golbez]

Cloudia.

[OliviaM]

A little confused why it wasn't considered in full development prior to this? I figured they would just keep on trucking as soon as they finished the first part. But I wouldn't argue that they didn't deserve a vacation if that's what they did. They certainly earned it. Or if they just held off to get their head around the Covid scene, that makes sense
I was confused too