Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 director Naoki Hamaguchi has opened up about what to expect when the third instalment of the highly-anticipated multi-chapter game releases “not too far in the future,” including new gameplay mechanics and locations, some of which we have yet to visit in the remake series.
Talking to Bloomberg, Hamaguchi teased that allowing fans to visit Rocket Town and space is “one of the elements [the team] had to switch around with Rebirth,” as well as Wutai, not least because “Yuffie’s made a very prominent appearance, stating her case about her homeland. So if Wutai’s not featured, I think the fans are going to yell at me.”
Hamaguchi also revealed he has expanded on the Highwind “gameplay experience,” and “flying is a very large part of the third instalment.”
Sadly, he wouldn’t be drawn on Chocobo breeding — “I can’t say yay or nay on the actual breeding, but there is an element in the third instalment involving Chocobos that is a little different than Rebirth” — or whether or not we’ll go underwater — “[Motomu] Toriyama handled the submarine portion of the game, so perhaps he has injected himself into there. And I will leave it at that,” — but he did suggest that given how and where Rebirth ends, that should “hint” at how the third instalment will begin in the Great Glacier area.
He also suggested players give fantasy game Esoteric Ebb a try, describing it as very goofy and entertaining: “Disco Elysium meets Dungeons & Dragons by way of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett.”
Hamaguchi recently discussed the impact of expanding the platforms on which the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series is available, insisting that going multiplatform “will not in any way lower the quality of the third instalment.” The director said both the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox versions of the game’s prior instalments “have been incredibly well received and generated a lot of buzz online,” but did note some community concerns.
The director also recently teased that the “core game experience is almost complete,” and while he “really want[s] everyone to play it as soon as possible,” the team has now moved on to “refining and polishing.” And yes, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s Queen’s Blood card game is making a “powered-up” comeback for the final chapter in Square Enix’s remake trilogy.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
