Naoki Hamaguchi on Rebuilding Final Fantasy VII With Almost No Original Documentation
- ⚡Xe⚡
- Oct 30
- 3 min read
Naoki Hamaguchi recently gave an in-depth look at the processes behind the ongoing Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, highlighting the challenges of working with a game from the 1990s and explaining how creative decisions are made.
He explained that almost no design material from the original game remains, so the team relies directly on the original creators rather than archived documents.
"We're talking about the mid '90s... There's almost no documentation left over from that period at all, practically none."
"Obviously Mr. Kitase, Mr. Nomura, Mr. Toriyama, Mr. Nojima... They're all still involved in the remake projects and they're available very easily so I can go and check things against them."
"Even if there's no documentation, we can kind of get it from the horse's mouth."
He avoids treating the remake as a fan reinterpretation of the 1997 classic:
"What I really want to avoid here is... trying to overwrite the original game with my own fan perspective version of it and create a new version of the game which is essentially a fan fiction of it."
The whole team collaborates on the remake, but when it comes to the story, Kazushige Nojima has the final say.
"If you have too many people putting input into these things, it becomes a decision by committee, and it can lose the creative vision."
"The final authority on that in our case is Mr. Nojima, the story writer. If he wants to express something in the story... we have to show that."
The main story outline for the trilogy was decided early in development, though the boundaries between each game were refined later. Hamaguchi said adjustments and additions still happen when needed, citing Aerith’s performance sequence in Rebirth as an example introduced by Yoshinori Kitase.
"In terms of the overall plot, how the story was going to go... that was very much all down at the beginning when we started the project."
"The story was all there but where each game would start and end was still up in the air at that point."
"Mr. Kitase actually came up to me and said 'well, if we've got this theme song I'd really like to have that as something in the game where they actually sing'."
Hamaguchi also mentioned again that each installment deliberately changes its structure to keep the experience fresh.
"If we just tried to make three of the same game with a continuing story… I think there'd be a lot more fans who would drop out and become bored."
"People now know that they can expect new and exciting things from the third game."
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-⚡Xe⚡
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.
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