After promising a “bit more concise” structure for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, director Naoki Hamaguchi has clarified that the team isn’t cutting down on the overall amount of content.
Speaking to VGC, he explained that, “The original question I was asked there was, they said that there are some people who played Rebirth, the second game in the series, and they felt that because we’ve added in new story content, which wasn’t in the original Final Fantasy 7, to them it felt like the story was being stretched out.
“So they asked whether we were considering doing anything related to that in the third game. I feel that the pacing, the content, and the balance in Rebirth are exactly as I wanted them. I personally don’t feel it’s been stretched out; it doesn’t feel unnecessarily long. To me, I think I got that right, and I think a lot of people would agree with me.”
For Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, the goal is to ensure “the story developments move forward in a fairly speedy manner and with the right pace essentially, rather than feeling slow and drawn out.” However, he believes this may have been “misconstrued” as the developer cutting down on the overall amount of content.
“I think that may have been misconstrued by people; they may have said, ‘Okay, that means they’re going to cut down on the volume and they’re going to remove story content, it’s going to be a shorter game, they’re going to cut it down,’ and that’s not what I’m saying at all.
“It’s about making sure the pacing feels right,” he continued. “It’s not about cutting out content; it’s making sure that it feels right, the speed at which the story progresses feels right, and it is fairly quick and feels like you can get through it at a reasonable pace. But it has to feel right, so that’s what I mainly intended to say there.”
Given Part 3’s place in the original story, Hamaguchi’s goal to nail the pacing makes sense – it’s essentially the finale while also answering any lingering questions about the newly introduced mysteries. Either way, if you’re a fan of Rebirth’s additional content, you won’t have to worry about having less to do.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 doesn’t have a release date, though internally, Square Enix is aware of when it’s looking to reveal the sequel (at least according to creative director Tetsuya Nomura). It will simultaneously launch for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2, and is coming along rather well per Hamaguchi.
