On the Final Fantasy 14 Fan Pageant in Berlin on Sunday, Final Fantasy 14 director-producer Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida invited Final Fantasy 7 Remake collection director Naoki Hamaguchi to the stage for a chat. Over this 75-minute Naoki’s Room section, the 2 Final Fantasy devs mentioned their motivations, upcoming FF7/FF14 crossover content material, and the way forward for the collection. Nonetheless, one remark could have quashed followers’ hopes for Final Fantasy 6, Final Fantasy 8, or Final Fantasy 9 ever getting the remake therapy.
The speak of remaking different FF video games got here up when Hamaguchi named Final Fantasy 6 as a giant affect on his life. “Final Fantasy 6 is the rationale I wished to work in the sport trade and it would all the time have a particular place in my coronary heart,” he stated. He added that at any time when he mentions this in interviews, it inevitably sparks hopes and headlines that Hamaguchi will remake FF6, one thing that he all the time has to deny.
Yoshida added, “I perceive followers’ emotions. However please give it some thought.” He then went on to clarify why these remakes could be such an enormous effort to develop and launch.
“Final Fantasy 6 is an extremely big sport, and the identical goes for different titles like Final Fantasy 8 and Final Fantasy 9. Since Final Fantasy 7 Remake, I perceive why individuals ask for these remakes. But when we did remake these different video games, we might in all probability have to launch them in 4 or even 5 installments.”
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Some have taken Yoshida’s feedback right here to pour chilly water on the possibilities of additional Final Fantasy remakes in the Final Fantasy7 remake fashion. They echo these Final Fantasy 6 director Yoshinori Kitase issued in 2024, when he unhappy a Final Fantasy 6 remake akin to that of Final Fantasy 7’s might take round 20 years to full.
Kitase stated that due to the depth of Final Fantasy 6, with a lot content material and so many characters, it could take twice the size of Final Fantasy 7 Remake to develop and launch.
Hamaguchi went on to shout-out the Final Fantasy Remake trilogy staff for his or her dedication and for sticking with him for over 10 years of growth. “Not solely was it a matter of timing, I feel it was a miracle that we had been in a position to get these individuals who had been prepared to stick round and preserve motivated to work on so many of those titles back-to-back,” he stated. “In order that’s why I can’t simply say, ‘Yeah, I’ll remake FF6,’ as it is not fairly that straightforward.”
On the finish of the speak, Yoshida identified that after they’d talked about the difficulties of remaking FF6 and different titles, there have been many feedback from livestream viewers alongside the traces of, ‘I would like this man (Hamaguchi) to make Final Fantasy 17,’ which Yoshida described as “the best reward you can get.” Hamaguchi replied: “Can I reply to that? If I do…” however Yoshida waved him away.
This promoted many excited feedback from viewers as to what this meant and if we will take this to imply that Sq. Enix has already determined to make Final Fantasy 17. Some have even interpreted this as an indication that Hamaguchi could already be slated to work on Final Fantasy 17, but it surely appears fairly tenuous to assume that, particularly contemplating he nonetheless has his fingers full with the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Revelation.
Yoshida then requested Hamaguchi for each his most tough and most rewarding experiences engaged on the Final Fantasy franchise. As a supervisor with an enormous staff of individuals, Hamaguchi stated essentially the most tough factor is to unite everybody behind the identical imaginative and prescient for the sport and be sure that they’re heading in the identical route. In accordance to Hamaguchi, essentially the most rewarding factor is having the ability to make these video games with the help of such an enormous, world fanbase. “I don’t assume something might make me happier,” he added.
Trying again on his profession, Hamaguchi reminisced about how he spent ages fine-tuning hearth results on Final Fantasy 12 when he first began out as a programmer at Sq. Enix 24 years in the past. “As a person creator, it’s very satisfying to get immersed in your work. Nonetheless, I feel that’s one thing you’re in a position to do extra earlier in your profession. Afterward, the satisfaction comes extra from main a staff and getting them to make the most of their talents.” he defined. “This doesn’t change how I really feel concerning the video games. I nonetheless need to make one thing wonderful.”
Yoshida and Hamaguchi then turned their consideration to the brand new FF7-themed content material coming to FF14 that their groups are collaborating on. This consists of the Keybound Brawler sport coming to FF14’s Golden Saucer in October, plus new Barret and Tifa-style outfits. The groups are presently engaged on the crossover raid Past the Lifestream, which can carry the FF7 remake collection to FF14. It’s scheduled to come out with model 8.01 of Final Fantasy 14 (launch date TBC, however set to drop earlier than Final Fantasy 7 Revelations comes out in early 2027).
Relating to Final Fantasy 7, Hamaguchi reiterated that the entire cause they began the remake trilogy was to carry FF7 to the subsequent era of gamers, lots of whom by no means skilled the 1997 PS1 basic. “We would like to introduce new gamers to Final Fantasy 7 in a manner that they will actually perceive what made the unique so nice. So we went into extra depth on the depiction of the world, the lore, characters and all these parts in the remake trilogy,” he stated.
All through the speak, each builders praised one another for his or her respective work and achievements, revealing they don’t want a lot sleep and are nonetheless enthusiastic and dedicated to the Final Fantasy collection. Yoshida praised Hamaguchi as being the primary at Sq. Enix in phrases of staff, process and schedule administration. In the direction of the top of the speak, Hamaguchi expressed hopes that he and Yoshida’s groups can collaborate extra in the longer term.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance author who beforehand served as editor, contributor and translator for the sport information website Automaton West. She has additionally written about Japanese tradition and films for numerous publications.