{"id":660328,"date":"2026-10-20T12:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T12:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/660328\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T12:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T12:16:10","slug":"how-final-fantasy-vii-revelation-strikes-the-balance-between-old-and-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/660328\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018Final Fantasy VII Revelation\u2019 Strikes the Balance Between Old and New"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re on the brink of completing one of the most ambitious projects in video game history, you’re probably stressed. If said project is the decade-spanning Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy<\/a>, a ground-up rebuild and drastic expansion of one of the most influential games of the last 30 years, you\u2019d probably be even more anxious.<\/p>\n

Naoki Hamaguchi doesn\u2019t seem stressed, though. When I ask the Square Enix studio head and game director how he\u2019s feeling as the release of Final Fantasy VII Revelation draws near, capping a series he\u2019s worked on for over a decade, the only reply is a wry \u201cI was just so focused, it really felt like it passed in a flash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamaguchi\u2019s calm demeanor is all the more surprising given the weight of expectation surrounding the project. The original Final Fantasy VII, released on Sony’s PlayStation in 1997<\/a>, was a pop-cultural phenomenon\u2014not the Japanese-RPG series<\/a>\u2019 first Western release, but undeniably its breakthrough title; one that arrived right as gaming was growing out of its kids-only niche and into a mainstream medium.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still regarded as one of the best Final Fantasy entries, and its tale of reluctant hero Cloud Strife and his scrappy band of eco-warrior friends battling an all-powerful corporation destroying the planet is more relevant than ever.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Square Enix<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Call It a Comeback<\/p>\n

A remake has been brewing since the PlayStation 2 era<\/a>, and even teased with a cinematic tech demo alongside the PS3 reveal<\/a>. Yet when Final Fantasy VII Remake<\/a> finally arrived in 2020, toward the end of the PS4\u2019s lifespan<\/a>, it came with a twist\u2014this wasn\u2019t the same game with modern visuals and mechanics, but rather a glimpse of an alternate reality, one where events could potentially play out differently.<\/p>\n

The idea was expanded on in 2024\u2019s second chapter, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth<\/a>, which saw characters hopping between timelines\u2014but Hamaguchi is keen not to label it his attempt at a Marvel Cinematic Universe\u2013style<\/a> Final Fantasy VII multiverse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started approaching these things, seven years or more ago, I don’t believe there were so many other pieces of media tackling those same themes at the time,\u201d Hamaguchi laughs. \u201cWe don’t really tend to use the word \u2018multiverse\u2019\u2014we talk about [the story being] \u2018multilayered.\u2019 Actually, the word that comes up most often is \u2018reunion.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you’re on the brink of completing one of the most ambitious projects in video game history, you’re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15761,74571,213,61,60,21620,196162,80,14799],"class_list":["post-660328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-console-games","tag-final-fantasy","tag-gaming","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pc-games","tag-rpgs","tag-technology","tag-video-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}