How the rest will be divided up (my theory)

[Lord Golbez]

I think it's kind of hard to push both Northern crater visits into the same game. That's covering a lot of material. I could see it if they only do 3 games, but with 4 or more, I'm more inclined to expect the first northern crater visit as the final section of the penultimate game.

[JJ Strife]

My thought on it is that your breakdown is cramming about 40% of the original game into the last part and including, at the absolute most, only 10% of the original game in the second part. Seems like a crazy way to do things, especially since there probably won't be any kind of world map so division by continents doesn't seem to have much value.

I agree if they don't go with a typical open-world, then there's less reason to have it align with each continent, and so they might have the next game end at the Gold Saucer, or Cosmo Canyon instead.

I still think the general point about geographical size is correct though, even without a standard open-world. The size and detail of the locations just dictates how long it takes them to make, and how much disc storage it takes. So the fact that it's 40% of the time spent in the original game just won't matter. Because that 40% requires almost no new assets, except a few new models (the Weapons) and a lot of voice acting/animation.

That 40% probably took them a lot less time to make during the original game too. It's just that we never knew that, because it's sold as an entire story, so you don't get to see how the development time was divided up.

It's all about appropriate start-points and end-points IMO.

Based on that, I think it will go like this:

Part 2 (FFVII Rebirth) - Kalm/Nibelheim flashback to Nibelheim/Mt Nibel (So starts and ends with Nibelheim)

Part 3 (FFVII Resurrection) - Rocket Town, Tiny bronco sea exploration, Wutai (compulsory), Gold Saucer Date, Temple Of The Ancients, Bone Village, Sleeping Forest, City Of The Ancients

Part 4 (FFVII Reunion) - Northern Continent, Icicle Inn etc, all the way to endgame (So starts and ends at the northern continent)

This sounds very plausible too! I definitely agree on the start point/end point issue. They definitely want each part to feel like its own standalone story, given that they haven't gone with "part1, part2, part3" subtitles.

The Nibelheim point also makes sense because they'll probably have storage space issues, like they did with Remake. So beginning and ending with the same location is helpful because it means they won't need to reuse it again in the game after.

[Fynn]

I honestly don’t think Nibelheim is a good place to end an episode since there’s nothing exactly climactic happening there during your first actual visit. You see the weird Sephiroth clones, pass through and... that’s pretty much it. Oh yeah and you get Vincent. Not exactly a good place to end a game imo, unless I’m forgetting something big.

[Jarvio]

I honestly don’t think Nibelheim is a good place to end an episode since there’s nothing exactly climactic happening there during your first actual visit. You see the weird Sephiroth clones, pass through and... that’s pretty much it. Oh yeah and you get Vincent. Not exactly a good place to end a game imo, unless I’m forgetting something big.

Well my expectation was that they'd add a tonne of stuff to it. And have Vincent as a guest like Red XIII was

[Jarvio]

But what does it imply on a deeper level for Part 2 to be called Rebirth rather than one of the other two titles you've selected?

Rebirth implies "new beginning". Seemingly Part 1 would make more sense to have been the Rebirth. Of course, Resurrection, means to "rise again", thus with fan and development team expectation, Part 1 could have been called Resurrection. I don't want to believe that SQEX would choose titles for 7R's subsequent installments that didn't also have the double meaning attributed to Part 1's Remake.

Well I was thinking Jenova Rebirth but who knows really. I just like the idea of 'Re' titles. They could also throw in some rebirth stuff with Zack in the gongaga parts, but I'd personally not want them to screw with that

[Lord Golbez]

I honestly don’t think Nibelheim is a good place to end an episode since there’s nothing exactly climactic happening there during your first actual visit. You see the weird Sephiroth clones, pass through and... that’s pretty much it. Oh yeah and you get Vincent. Not exactly a good place to end a game imo, unless I’m forgetting something big.

Nothing really big happens in the original, but it's a significant location to the story, so I could easily see that changing in the remake. It's also an area where you (optionally) see Sephiroth again and can have the Destruct materia chucked out. The famous line "I don't even know what a reunion is" is spoken there. The fact that you see Sephiroth potentially leaves it open for adding a
Jenova battle, but I'm not sure that would be a great idea. Also, it's probably the first time in the game where they really start casting doubt on Cloud's story (yeah there are hints before, but those wouldn't be as easy to catch on a first time through). Here Cloud is trying to figure out why the town he saw burn down five years ago is still standing and why none of the townspeople he questions about it know what he's talking about. It might not be a great location for a final battle, but its rich with potential for dramatic storytelling.

[JJ Strife]

It's been so long since I played the original, I don't even remember what happened with Nibelheim in the story.

How was it supposed to have been restored to normal, with new people? Did Shinra just rebuild it?

[Lord Golbez]

Yeah. Shinra rebuilt and replaced the residents with a bunch of researchers, if memory servers, which is why they lie that there was never a fire there when Cloud shows up and starts asking about it. A lot of this is completely optional dialogue though. I think there's some scene as you enter town, but other than that you can pass through straight to Mt. Nibel without talking to anyone, including Sephiroth. In fact, I remember testing this out and if you skip the Sephiroth scene here you can come back much later when it wouldn't really make sense and the scene still plays out. If I remember correctly, I did this on disc 2, but I might be remembering incorrectly on the timing.

[Mercen-X]

If Part 2 can take the story all the way back to the rebuilt Nibelheim, then Resurrection could make sense as a title.

[JJ Strife]

Yeah they could easily alter that to be the end of a game. Just have a battle in the mansion basement, or maybe in the reactor at Mt Nibel, just like the Sephiroth battle in Crisis Core.

[Mercen-X]

It's true, Sephiroth does make a canon appearance in the Shinra Manor's basement. Hell, he could finish the epic battle by pelting Cloud with an orb of materia and casually walking away.

[Mr Gashtacular]

I think a Jenova battle in the Mansion basement instead of the boat might be a really good one.

Then again, I guess a cargo ship would allow for more room. Maybe the Shinra lab could be expanded in size like the one in the Shinra building.


I think some kind of flashback battle featuring a younger tifa/cloud getting thoroughly hammered by Seph could also be some fun, along with a bunch of Tifa "i dont remember any of this" stuff.

[Wolf Kanno]

I need to confirm two things in the Remake before I'll post my thoughts on this.

[maybee]

Part 2 predictions :


Chapter 1- Traveling to Kalm
Chapter 2- Cloud's past
Chapter 3- Cloud past, Sephiroth burns down Nibelhiem
Chapter 4-Chocobo Farm, Midgar Zolom and Elena's introduction
Chapter 5- The Great Ninja Yuffie of Wutai !

Chapter 6- Helping Fort Condor
Chapter 7- Junon
Chapter 8- Rufus's Parade in Junon
Chapter 9- Junon Boat and Jenova
Chapter 10- Costa Del Sol

Chapter 11- Travelling to Corel
Chapter 12- Corel and Barret's Past
Chapter 13- The Theme Park and Cait Sith
Chapter 14- Corel Prison and Dyne
Chapter 15- Me, Gongaga ! Also hoping here for Cissnei as guest or saving Dyne.
Chapter 16- Traveling to Cosmo Canyon
Chapter 17- Cosmo Canyon and the Gi Tribe
Chapter 18- Traveling to Nibelheim with another Sephiroth last battle, because of course.


Part 3 predictions :


Chapter 1- Vincent Valentine
Chapter 2- Mt Nibel
Chapter 3- SIT DOWN AND DRINK YOUR GODDAMN TEA !
Chapter 4- Wutai
Chapter 5- Wutai, Don Corneo


Chapter 6- Some more Wutai
Chapter 7- Gold Saucer date
Chapter 8- Cait Sith Betrayal
Chapter 9- Temple of the Ancients
Chapter 10- Black Materia


Chapter 11- Aerith Leaves
Chapter 12- Finding Aerith and the Sleeping Forest
Chapter 13- The Ancient City, and Aerith death ?
Chapter 14- Snowboarding yeehaw
Chapter 15- Ice Ice Baby and Snow
Chapter 16- More Ice Ice Baby
Chapter 17- Cloud losing his mind, Sephiroth boss fight, that you lose.
Chapter 18- Weapons awaken


Part 4 :

Chapter 1 : Tifa in Junon
Chapter 2 : Escaping Junon
Chapter 3 : Mideel
Chapter 4 : Weapon in Mideel, Tifa leaves
Chapter 5 : Big Materia

Chapter 6 : Big Materia
Chapter 7 : Cloud and Tifa Lifestream
Chapter 8 : Cloud is cured
Chapter 9 : Underwater Reactor
Chapter 10 : Underwater Reactor

Chapter 11 : Going up in Space
Chapter 12 : Space
Chapter 13 : White Materia
Chapter 14 : Weapon heading to Midgar
Chapter 15 : Returning to Midgar
Chapter 16 : Midgar
Chapter 17 : The end of Shrina. Sephiroth battle, because of of course.
Chapter 18 : Vincent vs Hojo


Part 5

Chapter 1 : Underneath the Highwind
Chapter 2 : Characters saying goodbye
Chapter 3 : Final Cave
Chapter 4 : Final Cave
Chapter 5 : Final Showdown with Sephiroth
Chapter 6 : Lifestream saves the day


Chapter 7 : Zack Crisis Core 1
Chapter 8 : Zack Crisis Core 2
Chapter 9 : Zack Crisis Core 3
Chapter 10 : Zack Crisis Core 4
Chapter 11 : Zack Crisis Core 5


Chapter 12 : Advent Children timejump
Chapter 13 : Timejump part 2
Chapter 14 : Timejump part 3
Chapter 15 : Timejump part 4
Chapter 16 : Timejump part 5
Chapter 17 : Timejump part 6
Chapter 18: Sephiroth's return and Ending.



TL;DR version : Predicting 5 parts with a mini Crisis Core remake and mini Advent Children remake slapped on at the end.

[Lord Golbez]

If they actually end a battle with Sephiroth clocking Cloud with an orb of materia, I might just forgive them for the plot ghosts.