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After 9 years staring at his face, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director's favorite character is Cloud: "I don't think there was a time that I haven't seen him in front of me"
Final Fantasy 7 has a standout line up of characters - in a series already bursting with loveable faces - but Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director didn't hesitate when choosing a favorite child.
"This might sound cliché, but it would be Cloud for me," Rebirth and Remake's director Naoki Hamaguchi said in an interview with Danny Pena. "And the reason is quite simple: I've been on the Final Fantasy 7 Remake project for about 8 or 9 years at this point, and I've always had Cloud there, visibly. I don't think there was a time that I haven't seen him in front of me, so he's almost like family to me at this point."
Final Fantasy 7 Remake was first announced a full decade ago, so Hamaguchi's likely spent countless hours sweating over the protagonist's new design, especially since the icon's been redrawn and fan art'ed to death over the decades. I guess I can almost understand picking him over Tifa or Tifa's girlfriend Aerith as a favorite.
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OG Final Fantasy 7 director and now series producer Yoshinori Kitase went a different direction, though. "I've had an affinity for Vincent since the original Final Fantasy 7 because I wanted to introduce a character that leans on that sort of horror atmosphere, so I asked the scenario writer at the time to introduce this character," he said about the gothic figure. "And throughout the Remake project, or in Rebirth particularly, he's more of a guest and doesn't really actively participate in the party just yet, so I'm really excited to see how he's going to be depicted in the third installment."
That third and final game in the remake trilogy is now fully in development as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's PC port is almost out in the wild. Hamaguchi recently confirmed that the team had finally nailed down the plot to wrap up the alt universe-spanning, sometimes meta, reimagining. We don't know too much else about the saga's finale, though Kitase said future Final Fantasy games can't afford to be exclusive to a single platform.
Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.
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