2025 has been a momentous year for the Final Fantasy series – both raising questions about how the series has declined, while simultaneously giving a glimpse at what its future could look like. Dawntrail provided a massive shift for the wildly popular MMO Final Fantasy XIV, Clive came to Tekken 8 to continue the series’ tradition of collaboration, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth pushed the franchise in an entirely new open world direction.
Experimentation has always been at the heart of Final Fantasy, and for Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi, that’s becoming more important than ever.
“Within the company, working on a Final Fantasy title, there’s not really a mod or certain protocol you have to follow. Every director has the liberty to create what they believe to be Final Fantasy,” Hamaguchi tells Inverse, “I personally feel this is a time in which the user involvement is much more desired when playing a game. Having the game be entirely story-based is not enough. So in that way, I think the more action-based way is very much desired within players.”
When asked if Final Fantasy can have ambitious new experiences and ones rooted in classic stylings, like turn-based combat, Hamaguchi says “An endeavor I would like to keep pursuing is toward new challenges, seeing how we can approach things in a new way.”
Of course, there’s always the chance Final Fantasy could have an entry that’s more of a classic throwback, but looking at Rebirth in retrospect, it makes sense why Hamaguchi would want to keep pushing forward. Rebirth is the most ambitious the franchise has been in a long time – with a massive open world, expansive combat with multiple characters, a menagerie of minigames, and complex emotional storytelling. It’s an utterly massive game sweeping in its scope and ambitions, but that’s a calculated move on the part of the development team.
“Considering this as a true digital entertainment trilogy, the first title [FF7 Remake] needed to capture the player’s interest. From the first title, however, the second installment is vital in its own way, in that how this is received determines the anticipation of the players going into the third title, and also how we land as the final title within a trilogy,” Hamaguchi says, “We took this approach of ensuring that going from the first to the second game there’s this major evolution of gameplay, and raises the excitement of players. In this way, we believe the approach we took was successful, and it’s what we desired as we go into the third.”
Warning: This article discusses spoilers for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Looking at review scores and the awards the game has already racked up, it’s fair to say the approach Square Enix took with Rebirth has paid off – but a lot of what makes the game special are the unique character moments it has, and the ways it expands on Final Fantasy 7 already complex lore.
No character is a bigger part of that than Aerith Gainsborough, the beloved flower girl that fans already know has a tragic fate. Aerith has a smattering of moments across the game, but there are a few in particular that really stand out. The first of those is her big performance of the game’s theme song “Promises to Keep” at the Gold Saucer. Interestingly, this whole sequence has been drastically altered from the original game, now playing out as the theatrical production of Loveless – which, as hardcore fans know, has some huge lore connotations.
“In terms of using Loveless, we wanted to tie this into the theme song of the game, and also scale it up to this epic production. This was more word Toriyama-san [co-director Motomu Toriyama] and the scenario team in what they made a specific directorial decision,” says producer Yoshinori Kitase, “In terms of why it’s Loveless, going back to Sector Seven and Midgar of the original game, we see a poster of Loveless in the streets. And this is something I think fans of the original have always been curious about. What is this play?”
Using Loveless lets Aerith have a headlining emotional moment – but its underlying themes set the stage for the tragic twist that’s coming at the end of the game. That ending is, of course, the most widely talked about, and debated, topic around Rebirth, just like it was in the original. But what’s fascinating about Rebirth’s ending isn’t the actual event itself, but the context that’s been layered around it.
There are connotations about the multiverse and different timelines, but at its core, the extra scenes are about giving Cloud and Aerith the space to say goodbye to each other, to appreciate the beautiful relationship that has been built between them, and perhaps even ease the guilt Cloud will inevitably feel. In particular, there’s a sequence where Cloud goes on a date with Aerith in an alternate timeline – a sequence that brings a quiet break in between some of the most raucous events of the game.
“There can be many different interpretations of what this scene truly means for each player. But Aerith has always been this sort of sisterly character pulling Cloud along and encouraging him,” Hamaguchi says, “She is feeling what is to come, and understanding her fate. She’s still pushing Cloud along and leading him in this way, and it shows her pure heartedness and inner strength.”
(I feel it deserves to be noted that directly after that answer, Kitase followed up with a simple “Cloud’s thought of deeply by two different women. What a lucky guy.” Hamaguchi and Kitase have as good of a dynamic as anyone you’d find in the game itself.)
There’s certainly a lot to reflect on with Rebirth, and fans will no doubt be debating story snippets and pieces of lore for years to come. But as much as there is to reflect on, for Hamaguchi, Kitase, and the rest of the team, the focus is on moving forward. The PC version is quickly arriving in January 2025 – which is honestly amazing, as Hamaguchi notes development of the PC version didn’t start until after the release of Rebirth. But Hamaguchi reiterates that the primary focus is getting the third game out as soon as possible, even if he wanted to linger with Rebirth a bit longer.
“I had the desire to create something like Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intermission, but restrained it to say let’s focus on the third game and deliver that as soon as we can,” Hamaguchi says “Having the excitement of the community is something we thought was vital in approaching this trilogy. We really desire to create this momentum and keep it going so that players feel as though they themselves are part of creating this story of remixing the series.”
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is available on PS5 and launches on January 23, 2025 for PC.
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