Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Director Interview - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: February 26, 2024

Tim and Imran got the opportunity to sit down with FInal Fantasy VII Rebirth Director Naoki Hamaguchi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up and welcome to a very special kind of funny games cast. Of course, I am Tim Geddes. I am joined by Imran, the Don Khan. Hello. And I am very, very pleased to have some special guests today. We have Hanano Akiyama Hamaguchi-san's interpreter. And we also have Naoki Hamaguchi, the director of Final Fantasy 7 rebirth. He also worked on Final Fantasy 12, 13, 13, 2.

Lightning Returns Final Fantasy 13. and was a co-director of Final Fantasy 7. It is an absolute pleasure to have you here. Thank you so much. Thank you. Before we get into the interview and before we get into the questions, I just real quick, I want to say thank you.

Thank you, everyone sitting here and thank you everybody listening. I feel like this is a very big privilege for me to be able to sit here and then talk to him about Final Fantasy 7, a game that is so important to me in my childhood and to who I'm as an adult, so many of my friendships were formed

talking about the original Final Fantasy 7. So many of my adult friendships and close bonds have been made talking about Final Fantasy 7 remake and now rebirth. So video games are so cool and I just really want to appreciate how special it is to have such an amazing creative, somebody that is so passionate about this franchise.

And I just, first off, just want to say, thank you for allowing all of this stuff to happen. Yeah. Same for me. At my wedding, I came down to Final Fantasy 7 main theme because that's music that mattered to me my life. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. You're welcome.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very Thank you very very very and I'm very here

today so so you too as well I'm very excited and hope to have some great chats today. So let's get into

I want to talk Final Fantasy 7 I wanted to start really broad because this is a celebration you know we've been looking forward to remake for so long and then rebirth for the last couple years how are you feeling a week away from from this game coming out, glowing previews,

everybody's excited. How are you feeling about Final Fantasy 7 rebirth right now? Okay, so, and FF7 remake, and this, this time, it's a week, but, really,

the whole very positive that's very positive that, that's really like that, you're going to do you know what kind of your feeling? Well,

this Final Fantasy Seventh Reverse, it's, you know, I'm very, this re-make from from, very, like, and very, like, made-of-eat-and-all-and-all-all-all-all-all-all-kind-all-all-old-all- really, really, like, really wak-wwack-wack-were,

and, I'm just-wack-wack-up-webought-uped-you-cust-old, you know, many-media, media, or community, or, or, you're not, like, people with, this, you know, really, like, really, like, very, like, it's very, like, so, like, so, like,

watch-nodom and the kind of, really, really, so-of- me really, really, you know, I'm really

really to get back now, I'm, so, you know, rebirth itself, I feel that coming from the first title, remake, within the

remake series, it's really come along to become this super solid piece of work that I'm so excited for players now to, you know,

get their hands on and for it to really be released, into the world. So that's one point I'm really excited on on. And on top of that, you know, sort of interacting with media and, you know, kind of talking to the press through these months as well, I'm really feeling that excitement from everybody. And it's just really tangible, like very palpable that, you know, sort of media-wise kind of interacting and feeling the excitement as well. So in that sense, I'm very excited, you know, really stoked to have this

be released. So what does Final Fantasy 7 mean to you differently than the other Final Fantasy franchises? Well, Hamptychs, for you, the FFF7, you know, the other mainline numbering title to cover, what's different is. FF7 is, how are special? Um, so, um, well, um, um, um, um, that, um, that, um, uh, I, um, I, I'm Now, I've been 20 years

over Final Fantasy of franchise's of the project and I've been, all the title, I've been new title to this time,

this time, but really, like, the past the work in this way to make up to make up,

we're not and that, and so, so, more, more, more, two-sack,

to be, for this kind of, that's, it's, very, uh, special title in that's so for me personally, um, you know,

having, uh, games, Final Fantasy games at Square Inx for over 20 years now, all of the titles, sort of I worked on previously, were more so, you know, sort of standalone and very new titles on its own. And this is the first time for me, where, you know, I've been able to kind of develop and sort of reconstruct this title that's been beloved and, you know, coming from the past. and further on to now create something for the second title and third title moving forward.

So in that way it's very special and it's been a really new challenge experience for me. What were your first thoughts when you heard that the product is going forward that they're finally going to remake Final Fantasy 7? Yeah, that, um, that the, um, the, that's, um, the, the remake, uh, remake, uh, so, remake, uh,

make, uh, talk about, what's, that's, the first, the final fantasy seven remake project, was, uh,

I, I'm, not, like, uh, uh, , uh, , uh, , uh,

it was a quite a high time, and, uh, the, uh, the, uh, kind of, like, uh,

control of and then it's, it's quite, like, it was, uh, that was,

uh, at a minute, like, like, that was, that time, that was, , uh,

, I was, , uh, , I was, you know, this, , uh, , So in that, 20-year-Faranty

franchise, I've, I've, you know, I've, you've, I've, game creator to see what I've got to be experience with so that, so, that, like, on-guish to come, that's, I'm, I'm, I'm, so, I'm, I'm,

at the start of, when they were first beginning to discuss the remake project, I wasn't yet involved with, it then and once you know we started discussing and it was determined that this was going to be developed in office you know within Square Enix that was when I sort of entered the development and as for me you know playing Final Fantasy 7 Final Fantasy 6 those titles in middle school and high school I would say you know these games were exactly sort of led to the reasons why I became a game

creator myself and they were you know immensely inspirational and influential to me as a creator And so as a sort of, you know, Final Fantasy franchise, I believe it really helped me, you know, grow not only as a person, but as a game developer as well. So I think I felt at the time when, you know, sort of going into the remake project that this was sort of my time to give back to the series that really helped grow me and develop who I was. So being such a fan of Final Fantasy 7 growing up and now literally making it, is, do you think that that that's, is a benefit or a hurdle because you care so much and you know what matters to get rights? So, you know, that's when you're in the first of the player to be a player, that's, that's, this remake song,

for, um, that's, you know, maybe it is, or, um, some-a-gayer, and that's the merit in a kind of, that kind of, you are, um, well, uh, both of the main is, but, but, this time, like, the project was, uh, Kitasya No Mura, like, like, the original,

the, uh, created, uh, creator, like, uh, so, that's, like,

like, I'm like, like, like, fan of , you're, so, so,

so-so- do, like, to, not the, kind of, you're, you,

drastic to change to be more respect because I'm like like this because you're really

good balance and so in so that that were both good great

and I think I'm now I'm again I'm really I'm so of course you know with this there can be

both benefits and and hurdles being a player and fan of the original Final Fantasy 7 But being able to sort of develop this title and the remake series with the original sort of creators of FF7 present like Hitase San, Nomura, San, and also having people like me who were fans and players of the game at the time, I think we were able to establish this really great balance between the two of, you know, perhaps, you know, those creators kind of looking back into the original and seeing areas in which we could, you know, enact greater change. And then parts where I felt that, you know, we should preserve and sort of respect and honor that original title as well. So in that sense, I think creatively we were able to establish this really great balance between all of us.

And yes, that was so. Do you have some examples of some big things and then maybe some small things from the original that you were like, this is what Final Fantasy 7 is. We need to make sure that we get these right. So, that point, that's, particularly, Hamaguchi's from the original

from the remake series to make series to create, that's the big point from like that, more more little,

some, the same, the original, the original was, that's, to be, to keep,

to it, a big, small, small, and, what's one of the one of

some of some of things, like, examples of these things. Yeah, I think the first, the remake of the key, reverse, too,

you know, the the game of F7, the, you really, like, like, well, really, really,

like, user, or any other or, it's, or it's, it's, kind of, kind of,

kind of, like, like it's like that, or, or not being like that there, so, we're, we're,

we're we're in the time that we're not really , we're, our creator's our character's , more,

so we're, making, that's really, this is very important to that, I'm really important

for us to do and take on for this remake series, is that, For the original, the way that it developed and with the sort of technological sort of features at the time, there were aspects, certain aspects where the details weren't depicted fully. And so, you know, these are areas where players really sort of filled in the gaps with their own imagination. And, you know, of course, that sort of contributed to the gameplay as well. But this time, now that we are able to fully express these details,

I believe that something that we could do now and that I really really, wanted to work on was being able to fully express the original creator sort of intense and like our interpretations of how this scene would play out in sort of its full details and full glory was something I worked on. So, well, really, like, all of, game, through, the, all the whole pen, in a lot of things, co-wda-alled, like, detail, make it make it, really, really, if it can't even, I can't even, you know, at the first-first,

I'm, for some, for a game, in the juburn of play and people to see you guys to look at least the newfaus' the chair's city's where the original

in the parade and in the cloud is, like, it's a game, it's a more,

you're, much, you're making, more, big, game design, it's just like to just just like to timeing it, it's just to make a tight way,

and then to make the main, the game of the way of the way and how much that's in, more and more, more to make, like,

like, in that kind of making, making, so, so, so that's the first point

to, see, see, area that I'm I find like you know particularly impressionable that we were able to kind of hone in on to kind of show all of the details from the original now in the remake series is in that sort of first part we have the inauguration of Rufus Shinra and in the original you know you may recall that there was sort of that you know timing based mini game that one would do with pressing the buttons but now you know seeing that this is this sort of major moment where you know you know Shinra, this major corporation that really matters in the story, is now having this, you know, large parade for this new president. I felt that, you know, we were able to sort of now express this in and sort of modernize the game design as well. And so in that way, I believe we were able to, you know, sort of show this and sort of reconstruct this moment. So sort of all throughout the game, that's just kind of one example that I would really like people to notice.

But all throughout the game, there's sort of moments like that. So you're just talking about some of the mini games. There are so many mini games in this, in the full game that are so fleshed out and the world itself. This is a big game. This is a very, very, very big game. How was the turnaround so fast from remake coming out in 2020 to this coming out in the beginning of 2024 being as feature-packed as it is? Yes, yes, this

this, this this, the first of the main game and side content is a lot of much more

very powerful of the remake of 2020 from 2020 years in the year, we know, this whole

great thing, how much made that did not even so that so you're very, it's very

, I'm quite But quite, um, uh, the, uh, the, first of, like, uh, mini-game of,

uh, small-contents of volume, like, well, quite, uh, , and then, what,

what kind of , what kind of , uh, , what's sort of , what's, sort of, , uh, , and, uh,

, uh, , uh, volume, volume, or image kind of, quite, quite, uh, kind of, uh, kind of,

uh, kind of of the team, uh, made, really, uh, this was really,

this, uh, , very, , uh, , really, , uh, , really, I'm, really,

, I'm, , really, thank you, , um, , uh, , I believe that, you know, , we really owe this to, ,

being able to, to really hone in and determine the sort of mini-game contents sort of early on. So kind of within the first year of development, we kind of went into discussions and more or less figured out the sort of overall mini-game contents and also the numbers of mini-games that we were looking to develop already within the first year.

And from then, of course, you know, kind of honing in on, you know, kind of how it ties into the storyline its further details were sort of worked on for each team that handled those mini-games. But in terms of those sort of overall volume, like what we were trying to accomplish here with the mini-games, these were really sort of honed in and sort of sorted out within the sort of early stages of the development. So I think by being able to, you know, work in that way, I believe we were able to provide something really, you know, fold and, you know, dense, content-wise in such a short amount of time.

And so I really owe it to our team effort, and I'm very much grateful for that. So it was explained that like all these games have their own subtitles, like remake and rebirth. What does rebirth mean to you for this game? Um, kind of remake series in, oh, it's sub-title of

this title, what kind of what do you want to do? Well, this, this, this title, title is the game of core to that's, uh, so, uh, now, now, here,

here, this is, like, here, uh, talk about, uh, this thing, uh, key-word to be, uh, keyword to be, so, it, uh,

the game, uh, through, uh, was the, uh, what was that was that, what was that, to be able to be able to be able to be able to be sort of the side

the subtitle of rebirth really ties into sort of the core elements of the title this time and I think I really can't divulge the details at this point but it's something that really is a very core key word and a

key term that really ties into the main storyline so that's something I really hope for people to experience and see for themselves what rebirth means Did you know the title of rebirth when you were doing remake? And do you know the title of the third one yet? RIMAKO-to-its-you-the-make-of-the-threat-old, the title, the title,

was in the head of the title? And, still, the three-sac-no-sab subtitle to be made. This title of, uh, the title, uh, creative director's, no-mura, the role, like, like, to make the role in it. That's the reverse got

kept in the reverse of the time in the time two years, a year, two, that's about that you're going to know,

so maybe, maybe the word of maybe there's, but I'm maybe I'm not even

I'm not quite I'm so actually the subtitle for the series was thought of by Nomura son, the creative

director of the series. And I think for rebirth, this came up around like maybe the first or second year of development from him that he'd like to use rebirth. So as for the third title, like subtitle, maybe it's in his head already. We don't know. And, you know, I haven't asked yet. So there's remake, there's rebirth, there's whatever the third is. Last year, we also got Final Fantasy or Crisis Corps, Final Fantasy 7 reunion. I'm a big Zach fan. So I was really excited about that. Titling that reunion. Was that to tie it to this iteration of the franchise

and to separate it from the compilation of Final Fantasy 7 from before? So, so, yes, so yes, remake, and this, reverse, Crisis Corps, Reunion, more out of, but I, I mean, the Xax's of the fan, and the reunion, and the subtitle, was, um, this remake series to, uh, this remake series to, uh,

kind of to get to make, that, you know, there was, that's not directly that this this are not

that's not it's but it obviously it's more play that

more and you make and the more talk about the

format in the so we're so and sort of ties into the remake series with the reunion subtitle. You know, our belief is that it does, the story is very close and, you know, sort of lined

with elements of the remake rebirth in that if one were to play it, they would have a much more deeper understanding of the worldview, stories, and characters. So in that way, that was why the title was made in the situation. And then Final Fantasy 7, Avent Children is being released in re-released in theaters

in Japan, coming to America for the first time. We're seeing it tonight. Really excited about this. That obviously is intentional, but how intentional is it? Also, Advent Children, also, and in Japan,

and in America today, we're going to be going to be going to be the day. This is, but this again, again, again, again, again, is going to showe to do that is the other thing?

That's, so it's, that's, That's, it's, um, that, uh, what, uh, what, some, uh, what, it's, uh, , it's, uh, , obviously, you know, that's, you know,

that's, you're, more, uh, more than, uh, more than, uh, , a, uh, many, uh, , you're, uh, , you're, uh,

, the, you're, , uh, , final fantasy seven, and, you're, , you know, so, uh, so you mean, so, uh,

people who are just like, like, with you with, that's really like, you're very , people are

to be like, similarly, Advent Children, while we're not kind of, you know, creating some direct tie to the story itself, by, of course, watching the movie,

you know, one will be able to really understand, have this much deeper understanding of the details through the film as well. And I think generally, you know, you know, we were kind of thinking of this being a time for sort of all of the Final Fantasy seven series and its sort of related contents to be celebrated and among the fans, both old and you. And so I think this was a really, you know, great opportunity for us to kind of bring this back. What's your favorite piece of the Final Fantasy VII compilation? Like not including

your birth, because that would be unfair, but like what like between like Advent children and crisis core and all that? What influence do you and which do you like best? F7 compilation title series of reverse, and then, Advent Children, and Crisis Core, and,

particularly, you know, like, and, the action, that's one is, but the

one, but, but, but, the, C, C, is, you , the,

one, , like, , the crisis core, , is, , you, , like, ,

, , you, like, like to keep, like that's just kind of influence. I would say, you know, Crisis Core is a title where there are some sort of overlapping narratives for this current title as well. And so that was something that from the other dev team members too, we were all saying, okay, like, you know, let's kind of, let's all replay this so that we're familiar with the storyline. And then, Nojima's

writing stories, like, there are not quite there like, the story

that could be that that there's some might be so

some or maybe maybe that's kind of perhaps and I'm definitely

sort of Nojima's side stories as well, really took care as the dev team in a whole to kind of look over his stories as well to make sure none of those details are lost and we can kind of familiarize ourselves with all of the characters in the FF7 world. So with Zach from Crisis Corps, being on the key art, he's on the box,

what was kind of the decision making with the way the remake ended introducing Zach to new players that were playing remake for the first time, not having any idea who he's, was and then old players being like, oh my God, how much responsibility did you feel towards that character to lead to the decision to like prominently feature him this much? Yes. So, this is so, um, this reverse in o'clock, uh, cover art, in, so, uh, uh, uh, uh, show us is there's, uh, uh, reemak of the ending of

the whole, um, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, show us'clock in the end of the but, like, but, but then that's a project, you have a , you know,

really, like, very, many people are, there's a character in that this

this, this, and, this and we're coming in , and it through,

uh, , I'm, there's a, you know, feeler, there's , you're , you're, you're of the world-send of story,

like, or other things, users are, like, , through the of the work,

like, kind of, like, to tell us, to show to show to, so,

more, the, for the fans are people, to, get to get to

, you're a new, so, in terms of Zach, the character itself, himself is sort of going the original Final Fantasy 7 really doesn't go into so much detail

in his character and really his character was portrayed much in like deeper and in greater detail in the compilation titles so you know fans that played Crisis Core really grew to love Zach as a character and so you know we felt that this was sort of an opportunity for us to kind of further go into sort of depicting him and his character for this title as well.

And of course, I'm sure that there's a ton of speculation surrounding this character now with, you know, the whispers coming out, you know, people wondering, like, are there multiple timelines to this planet that's going on? So, you know, those are sort of the, you know, interesting parts to it as well. And I really felt that through sort of Zach, we really want to convey sort of Zach's truth through his character. And so I felt that this was a really great way for us to kind of show sort of a new aspect to his character that will be very much appealing to his fans. Kind of the opposite question, but Sephrov is also also in the key art. And he is probably the character who has the most changes and their motivations and thoughts, like actions throughout the series.

Why did you feel like there was a lot of pressure for trying to live up to fan expectations of like 20 years of who they thought this character was as you're writing new, are doing new things with them? Also, this cephyros, this character, this is here, this character, and, uh, kind of character,

um, this factuio, on this, user and players, to, um, have been that's a character that I think Sephiros'

of by the show by the how he what is what about what is

what he's about and he know quite and he how much kind of

kind of character that that the two years from

after now the so the now the sort

and the image the image to the other what

what what is the kind of that was that

? This is, actually, in the original Sephros' the way of the is the way to there's a little bit in the original

FX-7 that's sohirtu really much really very much the a body-to-

know-of- the user to give the user to give and the final the end-to-

get-to- get-to- the character because it's not so, that's not so, uh, the kind of, uh, cause it's,

you know, sohistor's character, you know, sohistor is really, like, so much, the same way

the same sort of, the, kind of the kind of, like, this is, you, It's quite the cloud of

in the way to show to allow to like the story in appeal to feel like so you

so you know so you know like the kind of the kind of you're in more make it

more story to get together and uh other uh, uh,

uh, uh, uh, kind of kind of kind of to the work, that's the

original thing compared to very top of there's a very much there's so in terms

of Sephiroth I think that these changes that we've shown through the remake series is quite intentional since

looking at the sort of original title and how Sepharoth was depicted there he's much more of this

sort of mysterious character where we don't really know much about him or you know see him

very much and that's kind of part of why he invokes such fear because he's just this sort of mysterious character that we don't know much about and sort of is an unknown power in a sense. But when we take remake, Sephiroth sort of within this world is already known throughout the people who live in the world of remake. So if we were to sort of deploy that sort of same way in which we did the original, I don't think the effects would be the

same. So for rebirth, you know, Sephiroth will sort of come out quite often and sort of confront Cloud in different ways to kind of like, you know, keep him in his mind. And so by sort of depicting more of his emotions, I feel that, you know, we're able to kind of incite the sort of new, you know, deeper sort of, you know, fear around understanding his nature, his background. And in that way, I think players will also grow to kind of, you know, perhaps even understand and really like him in that sense, too. So that was something that we took care of as well. With Rebirth having so many more playable characters and even starting with Intergrade, there was the team attacks. How did you balance so many different characters from a gameplay perspective but then also from a story perspective?

And do you see this as the group story or is cloud story? So, this, this, reverse in quite many of characters have been

and the intermission from from team attack and also put up there's

but this this game play use or uh,

uh, uh, uh, uh, play or the game not or

sort of the story or so story or the game it's also the reverse

story is the group of story, or? Cloud of the

world? Um, this reverse is the final fantasy seven is the

FFF7 Fountain franchise as so and it's but Fial Fent fantasy is

you want to enjoy people are many people but there's so it and it

not it's more more free more freedom-do-day-to-day-game what what you're playing, what users can't can't be able to

like, like, more, like, into Final Fantasy to do it can be more new game

experience that's going so that so in that story, the story, but, but also,

important, experience, the moment to this this is this is both are very

very good very good balanced and that's so so you this is

now now now that that that's how you how you

how you how much the new final fantasy of the franchise of you can't I'm very So I believe, you know, in terms of the sort of Final Fantasy 7 series and itself, I think there's a ton of people who just really enjoy the sort of worldview of it.

So of course, you know, we want to kind of keep that intact of what is really beloved with the series. And on top of that, you know, I believe that by adding this sort of element of, you know, exploration, sort of expanded exploration and the sort of new, you know, degree of freedom of choice of the players to kind of choose their own journey in what way they want to play the game, really, really. brings about this sort of new game experience now with rebirth. And so of course, you know, keeping this very, you know, like rich, you know, sort of cinematic story, like making that important, but also kind of adding this sort of new game experience, this element, I think we were able to really achieve this great balance that makes this a very much like solid title. So in that way, you know, now with rebirth are being released to the world very soon, I'm really I'm excited to see, you know, how players will kind of take this now.

And if they're able to kind of see this as this sort of new opportunities and new possibilities that sort of the Final Fantasy 7 and sort of the series can go. This episode's brought to you by Avatar Braving the Elements. We know you love talking about all things, TV, film, and pop culture with us. So there's another podcast that we think you're going to enjoy. It's called Avatar Braving the Elements and it's Nickelodeon's official companion podcast to Avatar, The Last Airbender. Y'all already know Barrett loves Avatar.

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You just want to support us for free. Please subscribe and rate Kind of Funny Game Showdown on your favorite podcast service now. Talking about that freedom of choice a bit, I think something that's very much. important to Final Fantasy 7 fans is the character relationships and the dynamics between them. Do you feel that there is like a canon pairing between Zach, Cloud, Tifa, Ayrith, or is that more the freedom of the player's hearts that they get to decide? And who is in your heart? This player's

like that is that particularly character of character's kind of character of the character

in the work in this and particularly the creator from the

Zaxx, Cloud, Tiffa, Aeris in the particularly what the

idea pairing to a kind of coupling is there or or

or that player's free and that sort of like that, uh, that, uh, a, uh, uh, coupleing,

to, you know, or, how much, how much, what is, uh, what is it, uh,

that, uh, coupleing, that's, um, that, the, kind of, kind of,

like, like, story is, what, I guess in sort of the pairing, is this sort of more like story related or kind of more, you know, like battle or romantic? The canon, I guess. The story of it, yeah. Okay, okay. Story-to-key-hmm.

Um, uh, some of the question, maybe, uh, one of the first question not quite, uh, remake reverse, to do you know, um, this movie, you know, this story, you know, uh, the story or, uh, the story or, uh, who's story, and if you're it's a story, and I think

game set up so that this this is that's that's the use

that's uh, uh, uh, uh, Aeros and Tiffa and the kind of

the game in the game in not in the game of the reverse is, uh, as a story as a story to

as a story to see that, that's a setkin it's. And I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, uh,

so, um, so, uh, uh, uh, , uh, , I'm really

really really really really I'm really kind of characters to, like, uh,

date, like, uh, I'm, like, uh, So I like-n-o-13-d-13 date-go-gare-sat-13-a-gare-s

So I think I didn't answer sort of the last part of that question that you asked previously about, like, sort of whose story is it? But sort of for both remake and rebirth, we really went into it sort of considering Cloud as the main protagonist. So sort of story-wise, you know,

we think of him as the main character. And in that way, with the affinity system, that is present, in it as well. It's sort of Cloud and the affinity with him and another party member. So, you know, there isn't something like an Eritifa affinity or, you know, kind of inter-party affinity. So sort of the story and the mechanism was sort of developed around Cloud in that way. As for sort of the pairing that I really like, you know, for rebirth, you're able to go on that gold saucer date that is very exciting. And while you can do that with various characters,

one that I personally really like is the date with Red 13. So I would have to say Red 13 for me. This is kind of like an aside, but while you were developing Rebirth, Seph Roth was put into Smash Brothers. Was there any, like, feedback from you about that? Did you take anything back from playing Sephraoth and Smashwethers back to Rebirth? So the other reverse-guer-the-success staff

was, no, no, no, no, but, we're just the other than like, we're, oh, that's what we're like, that's all right, like, that's just about, so, actually, with sort of Sepharoth and Smash Brothers, it was actually extremely, like, confidential that he was even going to be in it.

So none of the dev team knew, including myself, so it was more like when the whole world knew it, that's when we knew it. I had no idea. Working on the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy and now working on Final Fantasy 7 trilogy obviously different where

now you know that this is a trilogy going in where I assume 13 you didn't know is there anything that you're taking from that experience to this in the sense of it being a trilogy I'm sorry I'm going to the last time Hamaguchi's

FF 13 of three work in I'm going to be able to So, the seven of remake series as as the same, the three-sacred is, but this 13 of three-sacred in the three-sacquem

and, that's experience and learning, there are, there are, I'm, this, this, this,

this, this, work, my, career, to, you, it,

in, it, I'm, I would have been in the first of I'm, I'm, um, I'm a programmer, main programmer, or, like, like, a lot of, like, you're all about,

like, engineer, you're doing, like, the character and motion, from, the, more, the bion, from, um, uh, cut-shin,

like, that, like, so you know, like, so, like, , an engineer to , where, one-point, or,

really, really, really, really, really, really, really, in a way, like,

more-sucing-do-do-do-do-do-do-do what-do-do-do-to-day-try-tri-hent or, other people than, probably, like, very, you know, that's been,

so, I'm so in that so, this, this, this, this, sort of,

position, so, to, and, uh, very, what, this,

this, like, this, what kind of of, how kind of and how much kind of

, like, very, like, well, this, this, uh, , this,

for a, kind of, that's, kind of, very, I'm, , I'm, , I was working on 13, , um,

That was when I was a sort of main programmer for the title, but that was in sort of extremely fulfilling experience for me since I was really able to kind of, you know, really go hands in on many, almost many different types of roles. You know, at the time I worked on, you know, different sort of character motions, sometimes the graphics, sometimes the in-game physics, and even the cutscenes as well. And it really allowed me to sort of, you know, get be experienced in this sort of wide range of sort of elements of game development. And in that sense, I was really able to sort of gain a greater understanding of the workflow

and sort of see how long it takes to create certain, like, various parts of the game. And so I think in that way it really helped me going into rebirth, since I was able to now have the sort of broader perspective into, you know, the sort of overall timeline, how much time we need, how many people we need, to do to create these various parts. And so in that way, I think that that experience really helped me and really led to us being able to create this within four years of time. Were there conversations to have the save file from remake have more of a consequence

on rebirth than they currently do? I'm sorry, can you say that again? Were the conversations about having your save file from remake have more, ramifications in playing rebirth than they currently do. Um, uh, uh, take the save date, he's-to-hikin-to-keep-sue in-cuites, uh, remake-as-file

that reverse in-oite, uh, you're, the, uh, impact, that, uh, kind of, that, uh, kind of, that, uh,

talk about, that, the, uh, the, that's, the reverse in, it, more,

there are that's there's some of the game of or maybe, like, just a little

just a little bit to do you really have there's there's that the the story,

uh, like, uh, story and we're doing, uh, side content

or quest and the original was the original but Johnny's uh, uh,

Costa Delsor uh, grade up to go, that's, uh, that's the This one same other things are

that are used to be in the and in Johnny's Yaddeny in the remake to make the movie of all kind of just a little

kind of a little if there were if there's all a little of the one-the-but-the-but-the-luck-te-luck-tled-but all of all right, you know, that's just you're gonna be you know, so you know, currently,

with the sort of saved data from remake, players will be able to sort of gain certain summon material going into rebirth. So there's that, but there's sort of actually also sort of, elements that are not so much involved in, you know, sort of the, the storyline or sort of gameplay itself, but it's sort of almost like a little

Easter egg in a sense. With the original, I think there was a scene where, you know, Johnny is in Costa del Sol and he's running this hotel. And then, you know, it sort of keeps getting better and better. It's sort of like leveling up in a sense. And we did kind of put in this sort of, you know, mechanism where in remake, depending on sort of the amount of weapons that you're able to collect, going into rebirth, you're able to see all those weapons like in the hotel.

And so if he didn't collect all of them, like some will be missing and there'll be sort of like gaps and stuff. So that was a little fun thing that we've done. Now that Rebirth is out, are there any like older games that you're just kind of looking at and you're thinking like, yeah, I could probably, I'd want to reimagine that game too. So, Reverse's release magica but other other work in this remake

if you're like this you're going to that's that I'm what's my, it's not in the world

in the world. Is this for titles? Hamaguchi has been involved with any game like if you wanted

to like look at like Mario Brothers you would like I could be imagined Mario Brothers interestingly is

What, what's it? Like a game that would be some of the remake if you're more more than it would be fun to reimagine for today's generation. Yeah.

I don't know, I've thought about it. Yeah, what are most so it? Like, what are? Like, there's, like, there's like, like, like, like, this, um,

great question. I've never thought about this before. But, you know, kind of turning it around, do you have any, you know, games that you would like to see we're made? A very easy answer is Final Fantasy Six. I know Kitasei's already shut that down a little bit, but... Yes, that's very much said, but... It's really a really difficult development, right? Yes, we definitely get FF6 a lot from the players, but it'll be a challenging development, for sure.

What about Final Fantasy 10? What's the game? Yeah, it's a good game. It's very, I'm not, if I'm going to be if, I'm playing like, I'm pretty much

I'm pushing. Yeah, that's a great title as well. If I wasn't, you know, involved in the development, if I'm not the one making it, I would love to play that. Well, speaking of that, like now that we're here, are you going to be able to play games?

Um, you, um, that, um, this, this reverse is at the last, it will be able to play? Um, um, um, um, hougou-time, um, howmuch, time, um, quite, you know, like, kind of, like, kind of, like, you know, like, you're gonna, like, like, so, you're gonna, like, so, you're there were to be in the time there were, so Spider-Man 2

too are in the Balthar's Gate like at at the at the so I'm just to

I'm just that I'm didn't play didn't play so that I'm too, I'm just

I'm a I'm not really I'm doing it was this this time in this flight to

Yeah, so-so-go-fright-n't-friott-manyer to move, so, he'll go to flight to moment. Yeah, definitely. Towards the sort of later end of development, things are real busy. So, you know, there's a ton of titles that I really want to catch up on. You know, Spreder Man, too. Balders Gate, I really was only able to play, like, the first little bit for myself, so I want to get into it, Alan Wake, too.

Actually, like, right before my flight, coming to San Francisco, I was at home playing Bowder's Gate until the very last moment, and I would look at the time and be like, oh, time and be like, oh shoot, I'm going to miss my play. And I was playing it till the last minute. Are you watching anything, movies or TV? A game or TV. Yeah, yeah, you're playing

in a lot of time so, yeah, I do watch movies pretty often. Was there anything like any game or movie that inspired you while you were developing rebirth? That's, the reverse of the time in the media, in the media, particularly,

the fact of the hit-uped-hear-mick to be in that's directly, this, this, the remake of

a one of many media, I've talked about, but the remake of the project is Disney's, you know,

the Disney's, you know, the original-the-sadue was quite, the original-and-the-bi-jot-y-jou, and, the original-ff, seven, or, nine, or,

eight, or, like, that time 20-year-old-year-old of, like, the way, how to, how to do you

get-to-do- user's not-took-can-can-are-like and that's very good and it's very good very good I've been, I've got really, I've got to really, I'm thinking,

I'm a little element like, you know, really, like, the time of the time of, um, like,

like, more difficult, like, like, like, like, one of, what, what, like, de-forme-st-character, like, how,

uh, what, uh, now, the, uh, the, so,

like, so, like, , uh, , entertainment, and, like,

, uh, , , you know, uh, , So in terms of, in terms of creating the remake, one sort of movie that I looked at as sort of a reference or sort of inspiration was actually Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the live action film. And there are some actually commonalities between that and Final Fantasy 7 in that the original animation was released kind of over 20 years ago or so right around the same time as FF7, 8, 9, around that era. So I looked at as as something, that, you know, now having, you know, had like, you know, several decades, you know, 20 years or so

passed, and then now they're sort of like reconstructing it as this sort of new, you know, movie live action for its users that may have really loved the original work at the time. So in that way, I think there were some similarities. And so I looked at, you know, kind of going into how much, you know, detail or how much, like, you know, expression do you need to go into for it to be a really satisfying and fun experience for people watching. So that was one. And another movie I really enjoyed last year was the, I suppose, the title of My Element. It was the Elemental.

Elemental. Oh, Elemental. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, I think that it really did an amazing job of taking this really, you know, extremely sort of like relevant, you know, theme of, you know, of sort of like, you know, immigrants and the sort of struggle of fitting in, but also kind of expressing it in this very kind of magical, entertaining way that felt really kind of approachable and fun for, you know, children as well as to, you know, adults for people of all ages. So that was one of my top

films watching last year, for sure. About a month ago, I got to go to the preview event down in L.A. to play this game and the entire English voice cast was there and you were there. and so many games media. And I've been to a lot of preview events, but there was an energy in the room of people playing it and just the excitement and the stories of everybody bonding and stuff. Like, what was that like for you, having worked on this now for so long in the last game,

to be in the room and finally see people playing it and just being excited like that? I, um, I, um, I, um, I, um, the preview event in the time, really, that energy, that, the voice cast, you know, the fans, the media of people,

is the people are still excited is really, really, so that you're a powerful energy can't really, so that's the part of what kind of, what I think, would you? Yeah,

you're, I think, this is really, this is really going to this work in the way to so in that so in that so in that

many of people like, like, uh, the time the time the, that's,

you know, like, very, what I'm, I'm, uh, uh, ,

I think, like, I'm, like, I'm, it's good to think, and I'm

yeah, I think this kind of this work to make sure to do not to get to get to

kind of kind of kind of kind of kind of seeing something that, you know, I personally

feel very confident about, you know, putting into the world, but also kind of seeing this immense sort of passion, you know, excitement,

sort of happiness, satisfaction, from the players. Of course, it kind of gives me this feeling of, like, you know, accomplishment and happiness. I'm really glad that I made this game. At the same time, also the sense of, like, immense responsibility going into the third title to kind of be able to answer that same feeling for the fans, too. Ameron, do you have any final question here? What's your favorite mini-game of all the ones in rebirth? What?

The reverse of the most of the minigames are, what game is? Well, all the most, really, the most like-n-y-re-ly-re-to- Queen's Blood is the most like-a-kind of the most but, but, well, orthodox, so, just one just, like, kind of, like, kind of, you know, I, I, um,

I, I, um, I, I, uh, , I'm, uh, Final Fantasy, two, like, this one, this, a mini-game, a, a, a, little, in the game of GANBITGIRES

is called, sorry, if a English name or maybe it's a cut out and after

the robot to and then they're so it so so so

to do that strategy-te like mini-game to do so I'm very much, I'm quite quite quite quite quite

with, that's, uh, that's a, uh, you know, that's a lot of maybe it's a really sort of

user's kind of I'm just, you know, my favorite is Queen's Blood, but that's a pretty standard answer. So it's just to kind of throw in a little curveball here. I was also involved in the development for Final Fantasy 12, and some may remember

the game Gambit. But so for Rebirth, there's a mini game called Gambit Gears. And it's a mini-game, it's a strategic mini-game involving a sort of robot that takes place in the Cosmo area. But this was a mini-game that I was really heavily involved in from its sort of initial planning to sort of, you know, really further developing it. And I think for certain users, this will be really exciting and fun to play. So I'm pretty looking forward to seeing the reactions of the fans. The final question I have for you is a couple weeks ago in an interview you said that this is the most confident you've ever been in a game. Why is that? Thank you. So, it's a few weeks ago in the interview,

the key to the time the project in the work in the second the time of the game is the game is, I'm going to why do you? Well,

it's quite final fantasy the franchise if one one to the next title that's,

another new, uh, battle system from , like, uh, and to make sure, to make sure,

that's a many way, this is but, but in you know, one one of the

and the and the kind of the , to the , it's that's a , it's

, it's kind of, uh, but, this is, you , you know, make, make,

the, you know, the, , you know, , and, you're, in the other, I've in my own in my own in my own like, like,

so, there's, like, all of the new, a new approach, and re-and-

because, this this is this so in that this really, that really,

this this is really this, I'm really, really, really, I'm, really, really,

I think, you know, usually with sort of the standard Final Fantasy mainline series, you know, when it's sort of released into the world since they're sort of standalone titles on its own, of course, you know, each title may go into, you know, creating a sort of new battle system or sort of enacting some changes within the title that makes it unique. And that's part of its appeal as its, as its own FF title. But I think in some ways, uh, sort of developing single titles in that way, it can be challenging to sort of get feedback from the users and kind of develop from there. But in remake and in creating this sort of trilogy, we're able to release remake into the world and see the sort of responses from the users, kind of see how it sort of everything plays out.

And we're now able to kind of return with rebirth, being able to sort of include and sort of reflect on these, you know, feedback from the users, kind of include some elements that we may have wanted to include initially that we're now including new rebirth and sort of generally sort of, you know, make these sort of improvements and adjustments to it. So in that way, sooner rebirth, you know, really exists only because of remake. And so I feel sort of this, you know, utmost confidence in being able to create and deliver something of this, like, caliber and quality, you know, having gone through those processes. So I'm truly excited to see how it'll play out.

That's awesome. Is there any final thing you want to say? Hamaguchi's time, let me ask for the next. So, um, really, well, actually, more, after, like, all the, uh, uh, now, uh, uh, this book, uh, , yeah, I'm, uh, I'm, uh, I'm, uh, I'm just, you're, uh,

I've just a lot of I'm very not-to-y-go-no-go-go-go- -go-do-not-do-do and in the people to get-e-you-do to do-you-

and it's people to get to be so much, so, we're very soon close to launching this, you know,

long-awated title and I do believe that, you know, it's become a title that's, you know, going to be immensely satisfying and just, you know, know, truly fun to play. So I'm excited to see how people will receive it and would like as many people to play it

as we can. So I hope you will all enjoy. Well, there you go. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in stores. February 29th, you can check that out. Of course, we'll have our review up. We're going to have a whole bunch of stuff up. And by the way, Snowbike Mike is about to beat remake for the first time.

He's been doing his journey over on Twitch and YouTube. So you can check all of that out. It's been such a fun ride. Imron, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. And of course, thank you one more time. Thank you for being here. And thank you for your passion

in making this game and everything. Thank you. Goodbye.