Final Fantasy Remake Director Says Last Game In Trilogy Will Be More “Concise”

Final Fantasy Remake Director Says Last Game In Trilogy Will Be More “Concise”

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was one of last year’s best-reviewed games, in large part due to its great character writing and robust action RPG combat. However, at the same time, not all of the feedback was positive. It was also criticized for poor pacing that stemmed from a bloated open world and plotting that further stretched out the original game’s story. In an interview with Screen Rant, one of the game’s directors, Naoki Hamaguchi, responded to those criticisms.

Specifically, he said, “Regarding time management in certain sections, especially in FF7 Rebirth, I honestly don’t believe that they were longer than necessary. I feel like nowadays, players just have too much to do and too much to play; they often feel the urge that something has to be concluded quickly.”

While that made it sound like the next game in the trilogy will be paced the same, he added, “As we work on the conclusion to the trilogy, we are striking a balance on how story arcs are told and spread out so as to ensure that the game feels a bit more concise.” While that answer isn’t quite as definitive as some players would probably like, it’s better than an outright denial of this situation.

According to the website HowLongToBeat, it takes around 49.5 hours to complete the main story alongside some of the side content in the original Final Fantasy VII and around 79.5 hours for completionists. By comparison, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which is just one game in a trilogy remaking the original, takes 91.5 hours to complete the main story alongside some of its side content, and 166 hours for completionists.

While the first installment in the remake trilogy, Remake, was also criticized for pacing problems, it took only around 41 hours to complete the main story alongside optional content, and 86 hours for completionists. Although it’s perhaps a bit ridiculous that the first handful of hours of Final Fantasy VII were expanded into a 41-86 hour game, in a vacuum, it at least felt manageable, in large part because it lacked a massive open world full of nightmarish minigames.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s elongated length arguably highlights a greater issue with many modern AAA games: they feature massive budgets that make them inflexible and risk-averse, all to appeal to some hypothetical player that may not even exist. If nothing else, let’s hope that the last game in the trilogy doesn’t feature a horrid android boy who yells in your ear when you haven’t sufficiently explored an open world with repetitive tasks.

 
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