How might SE handle transitioning accomplishments from episode to episode

In my first game of recently acquired FFVII-R, which, because of a timely Covid infection (despite doing all the right things), I'm at the point where the game says to go ahead and get all the little things you want to do out of the way before the point of no return. So, I'm maxing materia, weapons, etc - doing all the quests, and generally just getting everything. Makes you wonder though: This is just Midgar. We've got a conservative three more episodes of plot. Without some sort of intervention on high, we'll be entering Kalm decked out like we ran a GameShark on the PSX disks. There are three options: SE plans for the power creep and ups the ante/adds more content appropriately, SE crudely bludgeons us with a plot-based deus ex machina to strip us of all the inconvenient power, or, future episodes are wholly independent of one another and data doesn't transfer at all. Not sure which is best, but the first would best pique my interest. I'm almost guessing it's option 3 and we start each episode from a baseline that SE deems appropriate for gameplay purposes. Maybe there are two options? One is a fresh start recommended for the enjoyable challenge level, and the other is what amounts to a new game + with the disclaimer that challenge will be ruined?

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Originally Posted by Garland

SE crudely bludgeons us with a plot-based deus ex machina to strip us of all the inconvenient power, or, future episodes are wholly independent of one another and data doesn't transfer at all.

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I feel like one of these will be likely. My best guess is you will just start over with a few token materia and a couple levels gained at the start of each game.

Given how much of the main game plot is left to go, I suspect they will go in a very different direction for future installments and ignore much of the main game, rather than expand on it as they did with FFVIIR.

While I went into episode one on the premise that future instalments would more or less be a similarly faithful to but greatly expanded upon telling of the original story. Now I'm a little concerned that FFVII-R's length is set in stone, and any fluffing out of one area means equal cuts elsewhere. The best case scenario is that they've planned the whole thing out with expansions and cuts that make sense. What FFXIII and FFXV should lead us all to worry about, is that reality hasn't hit SE yet, and while we all know this is going to be a 3-4 episode affair, the guy making the decisions at SE's FFVII-R department is under the impression that the game can take as many episodes as necessary to tell the perfect story, regardless of return on investment, and after episode three, which gets us maybe to Aerith's death, someone tells them to wrap it up in one more episode, and we end up with a botched, inconsistent story that wraps up abruptly and screams unfinished, perhaps leading SE to fill in the gaps with supplementary material like a youtube video or iOS mobile app. Can they pull off an extended story in the style of FFXIII, FFXV and FFVII-R? Precedent says no. The bean counters are probably already getting antsy.

I feel VII-R is going to keep off rails from now on. Like it will keep some high points from the main game, but like others have predicted, I'm thinking this series is going to pull a Rebuild of Evangelion and eventually become something very different about the halfway point. Episode 1 makes it fairly clear that Aerith and Sephiroth know the events of the game, and even the rest of the cast are getting deja vu moments and seeing glimpses of the future. I'll be surprised if the games try to follow the original plot after the Aerith Death point.

As for the topic. I'm thinking they'll pull a Suikoden here and let you transfer stuff over but not everything. Levels will probably be set lower but having an old save will grant you slightly higher off the bat. Skills on weapons may transfer over, but I'm thinking they may be nerfed or capped so you'll still need to re-level them, and some materia will transfer over as well. Most likely the enemy skills you get will also transfer. But it won't be a 1:1 transfer. I bet the party will probably start at level 21 or something. 28 if you have maxed levels in Episode 1 and the game will likely need you to reclaim some materia or level them up again. I bet some quests will also transfer over and be continued in Episode 2, but only if you completed them in the first game.

it'll start off with the kalm flashback so it won't matter at first, and then Yuffie immediately steals all materia and equipment and accidentally loses it when you chase her down for it and you have to build it all back up again
everyone back at level 7 bc w/e

it might be cool if enemies leveled with you (similar in idea to 8, but handled much better, obviously). that way you could go in either freshly level 7 or with your inherited previous levels/materia and have a slightly different tactic (but similar level of difficulty) against the same enemies.

They'll have Yuffie steal your materia to justify the power reset. The weapons and abilities don't really matter, since starting from scratch won't affect the continuity since everyone is always depicted with their default gear in all official artwork and stuff anyway. Like krissy said, they might start the Nibelheim flashback early as a convenient tutorial for newcomers, having Sephiroth explain the new game mechanics to the younger and inexperienced Cloud.

I think they just won’t. At all. No mention of the stuff you’ve gained and lost between games. It’s back to level 1 again, no explanations. It’s on PS6, two generations after the last one, so who cares :p

ff7re on ps7 would be funny