According to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi, entertainment should not seek to extort, preach to, or simply distract a given audience, but rather give them “the will to live today and tomorrow.”
Hamaguchi, whose other notable Square Enix credits include serving as a programmer on the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy and as a co-director on the previous Final Fantasy VII Remake – offered his take on the role of entertainment in human lives while fielding questions at a March 2nd roundtable Q&A session and hosted by Filipino news outlet Rappler and attended by various members of the island nation’s video game press.
Following a number of lengthy discussions on Rebirth‘s development, including how he approached implementing the title’s new gameplay mechanics (such as the ability to quickly switch characters on the world map rather than doing so through a series of menu prompts) and how its team looked to Sucker Punch’s Ghosts of Tsushima for inspiration as to how to handle their game’s open world mechanics, Hamaguchi was presented by Ungeek Editor-in-Chief Rob Yatco with a slightly more personal and reflective topic of conversation: “How does it feel to have such a great effect on gamers especially during this day, and do you have a message for those waiting for this kind of game?”
In turn, Hamaguchi asserted, “To answer your first question, I myself respect the original game very much. After almost 30 years, and remaking this game, having the responsibility of remaking this game is, the feeling that comes straight away is, I don’t want to let the title, let this game down, let the fans down. “
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Moving to address Yatco’s second inquiry, the Rebirth director then continued, “So this is a message to people that are aspiring to join the industry, having played this game. There are many [forms] of entertainment today, not only gaming but movies, streaming, Youtube. But the base is the same – it’s to give the people the will to live, today and tomorrow.”
“If the title you created allows people to have this feeling, then that’s a great feeling,” he concluded. “If you don’t forget this, then I’m sure you’ll also be able to create a game that has this effect on people.”
In lending support to Hamaguchi’s philosophy, thanks to his applying it to the recent Rebirth, the game has been met with overwhelming praise – its censorship issues not withstanding – from both players and critics alike.
At current, per video game review score aggregator OpenCritic, the game currently holds an average 93/100 across 112 critic reviews. Meanwhile, on sister site Metacritic, 1,545 user reviews have left the latest Final Fantasy title with a collective 9/10 score.
And that’s to say nothing of our own Peter Pischke, who in reviewing the game for Bounding Into Comics found himself absolutely blown away by its quality.
“It’s rare that I find find a game – or any story, in any format – that makes me think, feel, hope, and grieve the way Rebirth did, even after I stopped playing,” he wrote. “That’s an achievement that should be celebrated and experienced by all.”
NEXT: ‘Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’ Full Review: Perfection 27 Years In The Making