Final Fantasy VII Remake Team Considered Making Cloud's Sword More Realistic

Naoki Hamaguchi explained in a recent interview with Julien Chièze that the Final Fantasy VII Remake team briefly considered giving Cloud a more realistic weapon design. The discussion came up during early work on the remake, where the staff evaluated whether Cloud’s oversized Buster Sword could undermine the sense of realism they were aiming for. Hamaguchi spoke about the internal debate and the concerns around weight and believability during development.

"While making Remake, there was this aspect of the weight…How Cloud swings it around with one hand that sort of felt like it would weaken the sense of realism, you know? So at the time, when we were making Remake, there was some discussion about whether we should give Cloud a more realistic version of the Buster Sword, but it was just too iconic, and if we’d made it just a regular old sword, players wouldn’t accept it. In the end we stayed faithful to the OG, a whole new generation of people fell in love with it, so I think it was the right call."

Hamaguchi confirmed that the identity of the original design ultimately mattered more than strict realism. According to him, altering the weapon would have risked breaking expectations of long-time fans, and the team saw that even newer players connected strongly with the classic look.

Source:

gamesradar.com

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About FINAL FANTASY VII

First released in 1997 on the PlayStation® computer entertainment system, FINAL FANTASY VII celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2022. The game is universally regarded as a hallmark title of the RPG genre. The original title received high praise for its epic storyline, unique characters, and movie sequences that utilized the most cutting-edge technology of the time. Since then, the game revolving around iconic hero, Cloud Strife and his pursuit of the antagonist Sephiroth has sold over 15.3 million copies worldwide and continues to receive widespread acclaim from critics and fans around the world. The popular game has even expanded into spin-offs, films and merchandise.

Now, Square Enix’s FINAL FANTASY VII remake project created by a team of original and new developers, retells the story of the genre-redefining RPG across three distinct, and standalone games. The first game of the trilogy, FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE is now available on the PC and the PS5® and PS4® consoles, will be available on Jan. 22, 2026 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, and Nintendo Switch™ 2 platforms. FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, the second game in the trilogy, has been praised by both players and critics across the globe, earning more than 125 perfect scores from media and 40 Game of the Year awards, and is available now for PC and the PS5® console.