FF7 Rebirth’s director says he wanted to avoid fan service and keep players guessing

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi has said that he wanted to avoid too much fan service in the RPG remake and to keep players guessing which elements would be changed.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Hamaguchi said that he felt the game’s ending, which is widely regarded as one of the most significant story moments in the RPG franchise’s history, was a “trap.”

“With the original game, I was just a fan. I played the game when I was younger, and I’ve got my perspective on that scene as just a single fan,” he said.

“I felt if I made a decision – it has to go in this direction, we have to do it this way – that would very much make it a fan-driven thing. Maybe make it more like fan service. I kind of want to avoid doing that.”

Both Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth change elements of the original game. While largely following the main story beats of the original, some characters, such as Zach, were given more prominence.

“The important thing is that the player will wonder whether it’s going to change or not,” he said. “So if it was all exactly as it was in the original storyline, you’d know exactly what was coming: there’d be no anticipation, there’d be no excitement.

“For people who played the game, they’d know exactly what’s coming next. It wouldn’t really be a fun experience. It might be nostalgic, but it wouldn’t be a fun experience.”

Speaking about the elements of the original game that were changed in the remake, Hamaguchi said: “The real purpose of these elements is to indicate to the player, this is where the story might change.”

“It doesn’t mean it will change, this is where it could change. You might see something new, you might see something different. And that really does help people to keep engaged with the story and keep having that wonder and that anticipation about what’s coming next.”

Earlier this year, Hamaguchi said he’s confident the third part will be one of the greatest video games ever made.

VGC’s review of the second entry, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, calls it “an excellent RPG with some of the best characters in the gaming canon”.

“While some open-world content skirts the edges, and the game’s main narrative is left somewhat deflated, the time spent with Aerith, Tifa, and the gang makes this a hugely enjoyable road trip you’ll be playing for hundreds of hours,” we wrote.