Tons of new information from the FF VII Remake Ultimania !

[Cloudbahamut]

The Ultimania guide for FF VII Remake was released in Japan and features amazing in depht interviews with the developers including Nomura, Kitase, Toriyama etc.

They cover a LOT so I will just be posting the (for me personally) most relevant parts:



- There were segments planned for the Turks and Tifa after the Sector 5 reactor but they were cut for scheduling reasons

- Jenovas blood was purple in the Remake because the ratings boards had a problem with red blood

- Cloud does not visit Avalanche's hideout to emphasize that he is more distant to Avalanche in the Remake

- Materia cannot reproduce in the Remake after mastering it because the developers wanted to ensure that players could not create tons of the most powerful materia and would be forced to choose carefully which character to give which materia instead of just giving everyone the same materia, making the characters feel more individual. More materia like Flare will be added in the next installments.

- Corneo can not choose Tifa or Aerith as bride in Remake as it would have taken a lot longer to develop that sequence if you had two more sets of cutscenes.

- The scene in the flower garden in Chapter 14 (where you can have a conversation with Aerith, Tifa or Barret depending on how many quests you have done in chapter 3 and 8) was included as the Remakes version of the "date mechanic" from the original (the date you can have in Gold Saucer)

- They always planned to end the first game with leaving Midgar

- The game was titled "Remake" for a very specific reason by Kitase does not want to reveal it until the whole project is complete as it would spoil things....

- Nomura in particular was adamant about adding as much elements from the original as possible and keep all major story moments from the original in the Remake.

- Their goal was to recreate FF VII while making it feel new at the same time.

- Nojima also wanted to include elements from Crisis Core and Advent Children and wants to continue to do so in future installments.

- Biggs appearing in the ending again was more of a "mistake". The staff working on the videos would secretely add stuff and when Nomura noticed it he would tell them to remove it again but he did not catch everything and some things he did not approve stayed in. The Biggs scene was such a thing.

- Initially it was planned to have much less Sephiroth in the game and only hint at his existence but not actually showing him in the flesh (except in Clouds visions). There was also initially no Sephiroth boss battle but Co-Director Hamauguchi came to Nomura one day and convinced him to have a Sephiroth boss battle in Midgar.

- The conversation between Cloud and Sephiroth at the Edge of Creation was always part of the story and was initially meant to take place much earlier in the game. Nojima also said that conversation has no hidden meanings and should be taken very literally.

- The developers promise that most mysteries from the ending of Part 1 such as Aerith knowing the future, Zack etc. WILL be answered in future installments.

- Aerith says that she misses the Steel sky at the end because the real sky brought so much suffering to her (Ifalna and Zack went to the sky when they died, Jenova came from the skies)

- The Whisper domain at the end is described by Nomura as a realm where Fate does not exist. This is interesting given that the Whispers are protectors of Fate. Why do they exist in a world where Fate does not exist ? Though it could be he meant that in their realm the pre-determined destiny that the Whispers try to ensure does not exist and that in their realm people are not tied to fate but have the freedom to change their destiny.

- They have NOT yet decided how many Parts there will be and the next Part will not be announced before Summer 2021. Therefore earliest release for Part 2 would be 2022. The less Parts there will be the longer they will take to release.

- The next Parts WILL have a World Map ! They don't know yet how to actually realize this but they want it to feel much more open world then Part 1 and expand the locations as they did in Part 1.

- And now the BIG one: The ending of Part 1 will NOT create a completely new storyline or alternate universe. It will still be Final Fantasy VII and follow the storyline of the Original. In fact Kitase said that the future installments will have ALL the major storyline moments from the original and have all the stuff that fans have been eager to see. Some of it might be changed and expanded like in Part 1 but it will all be there.

- The developers follow the online feedback from fans very closely and promise to take that feedback into account for the next games. They want to create these games alongside  the fans according to Kitase.

- Nojima wants to add locations from Crisis Core into future installments such as Modeoheim or Banora.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Cloudbahamut

[Conor]

Was expecting a post-credits scene where Nick Fury (voiced and mo-capped by Samuel L. Jackson) appeared and invited the party to join the Avengers Initiative. I was very disappointed and as such will not be supporting this project in the future, they ruined everything. But that silver-haired chick Sephiroth is still hot.

[Montyzu]

Thanks for sharing

[Redgrave]

I just want to see best girl Yuffie and best boy Cid in the Remake style design within my lifetime. That and I want to see the Shinra Parade so that way we can see how funny it will be if you mess up certain parts of it.

[MarcusPunisher]

I just came here minutes after finishing the story, so I'm consuming any possible information lol.

[mako-heart]

oh boy i cant wait to see gackt again!!!!!!!!!!!

[xh117]

I can't wait to see what they do with Zack and what happens with the Cloud in that timeline.

[Edunstar84]

I need to replay Crisis Core...if I can find it and my PSP. 

[ShadowReplicant]

The amount of work that has gone into this book is staggering, I'm slowly making my way through it and it's worth every penny. The interviews are definitely a highlight.

[ShadeSplit]

12 hours ago, Cloudbahamut said:

- The developers promise that most mysteries from the ending of Part 1 such as Aerith knowing the future, Zack etc. WILL be answered in future installments.

 

I am shocked.

[Cloudbahamut]

On 5/14/2020 at 11:29 AM, ShadowReplicant said:

The amount of work that has gone into this book is staggering, I'm slowly making my way through it and it's worth every penny. The interviews are definitely a highlight.

I was so relieved to read that the next installments will continue to follow and adapt the story of the original as the first game did and will feature everything that fans have been wanting to see in the Remake for so long. Knowing that the changes from the ending in Part 1 will not result in a completely alternate universe version of FF VII with a whole new storyline that deviates from the original story completely makes the ending of the first game much more enjoyable now.

And damn I didn't think they really would go for an open world approach with a world map and everything in the next games. Can't wait to see how they want to pull this off with that amount of visual quality and detail.

[Lance_87]

"- Biggs appearing in the ending again was more of a "mistake". The staff working on the videos would secretely add stuff and when Nomura noticed it he would tell them to remove it again but he did not catch everything and some things he did not approve stayed in. The Biggs scene was such a thing."

 

 

"Needs more Sephiroth"

 

 

Anyway, i think i know why they don't want to reveal the meaning of "Remake"...

 

I guess that at the end of the final game, in a post-credits scene, it is revealed that the game is a simulation seen through of the eyes of the original, low poly protagonists  or maybe it's an endless cycle of whatever.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Lance_87