While fans wait in eager anticipation for the third chapter in Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, co-director Naoki Hamaguchi has revealed that he has already played through the yet-to-be-revealed title over 40 times.
Speaking during an interview with Nintendo Life on the team’s work porting the trilogy’s second chapter, 2024’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, to the Nintendo Switch 2, Hamaguchi was asked about the progress of part three, and although he was unsurprisingly quite tight-lipped on the matter, he did reveal that he had tested the title extensively throughout its development process.
“We’re very excited about how the game is currently progressing,” he explained. “I have already completed over 40 full playthroughs! I can’t wait for as many people as possible to experience the game for themselves, and myself and the team are working hard to ensure we can create an unforgettable gameplay experience.”
Additionally, Hamaguchi also reflected on the team’s progress in ensuring the final chapter would balance staying faithful to the original’s third act, while still offering something fresh for fans. “The greatest challenge was thoughtfully evaluating, title by title, how far to push ‘nostalgia’ and ‘innovation’ respectively, so they could work in balance,” he explained. “For players familiar with the original game, I think what matters goes beyond the story arc itself—it’s the relationships between the characters, and the emotions they felt upon discovering this world.”
“For players discovering FFVII today, we needed to update the presentation and design to align with modern sensibilities; otherwise, the experience itself simply wouldn’t resonate,” he added. “For this reason, we adopted modern approaches to visual expression while preserving the emotional core and character relationships that were beloved by many in the original game.”
With Hamaguchi’s comments, it does seem like Final Fantasy VII Remake part 3 is progressing pretty well, although the game has yet to receive any sort of gameplay or cinematic reveal, nor has it even gotten an official subtitle yet. Despite no concrete indications of the team’s progress, Hamaguchi also previously insisted that the title is “proceeding on time and on schedule”, with “preparations toward the announcement are steadily underway”, so hopefully, fans will just have to hold on a little longer before they can finally get their first proper look at the much-anticipated final chapter.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
