In further establishing the remake series’ existence in a new timeline separate from the original, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi has hinted that the upcoming sequel will feature a “big surprise” in its depiction of the FF7 franchise’s most iconic moment.
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Hamaguchi first offered this tease regarding Cloud and crew’s next adventure while speaking to Thai video game news outlet Gamebrott at the recent Thailand Game Show 2023 (translated via DeepL).
Broaching the topic of the Remake series’ numerous divergences from the original game, site writer Muhammad Faisal asked Hamaguchi, “Given that the development team has provided very little information about the game, many fans in the community have made various theories. The question is whether the development team is aware of the talk that has spread everywhere? And how do you react to the theories of the fans?”, to which the director admitted, “If asked whether the fan theory is true or not, we cannot explain it.”
“We as a development team see developments in the condition of fans in communities on social media,” Hamaguchi added. “So you could say that what you said there, we really accept it and feel happy about the activeness of fans in creating various kinds of theories that are discussed by the community.”
Following a brief note by Hamaguchi that “the mini games in Gold Saucer will still be maintained in this game. But some mini games such as Snowboard are still inaccessible considering the storyline in this game covers up to the Forgotten Capital location. We will include them in the next game,” Faisal took note of his mention of the latter location and pressed “As you know, the Forgotten Capital location is the most historic moment in the Final Fantasy VII series.”
Making vague reference to the outcome of the now famous confrontation between Cloud, Sephiroth, and the game’s resident White Mage, Faisal then asserted, “You know, the moment where Aerith is ‘it’. That moment left many gamers in shock in the original version.” before finally asking, “What do you think about the reaction of gamers to ‘that’ moment. And is there some kind of twist regarding the ‘it’ thing?”
In turn, Hamaguchi revealed, “So, that question and for all the gamers regarding the ‘you-know-what’ moment, we can confirm that we will be giving a ‘big surprise’. So you can look forward to that in the game.”
Though Hamaguchi unsurprisingly refrained from providing any further details regarding exactly how Reunion will differentiate its take on the Forgotten Capital meetings, given how the series’ most explicit use of its new timeline was to save Zack Fair from perishing at the hands of Shinra, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to speculate that Aerith may end up surviving the entire encounter.
Alternatively, in light of how heavily Final Fantasy VII Remake hints that Aerith is actively aware how events should play out, one could also make an educated guess that Rebirth‘s ‘big surprise’ could see the heroine willingly throw herself into her fate, rather than meeting her end at the hands of a surprise attack.
Whatever the change, fans can expect to receive a definitive answer to this mystery when Final Fantasy VII Rebirth hits PlayStation 5 consoles on February 29th.
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