Square Enix director Naoki Hamaguchi considered giving Cloud Strife a more realistic sword for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but decided JRPG fans "wouldn’t accept it": "We stayed faithful to the OG"

Cloud Strife has once again narrowly escaped destruction, this time, due to his merciful creators at Square Enix. Final Fantasy 7 Remake developers initially wondered if they should give the steel-eyed swordsman a more reasonable weapon in the ongoing remake trilogy, but they thankfully decided against it.

Director Naoki Hamaguchi explains as much in a new interview with French gaming personality Julien Chièze, also featuring Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director Guillaume Broche. Final Fantasy 7 news account Shinra Archaeology Department translates from Japanese – Hamaguchi says Cloud's Olympic-sized Buster Sword "was just too iconic" to let go of.

"While making Remake, there was this aspect of the weight," Hamaguchi recalls thinking about Cloud's weapon. "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," Hamaguchi continues. "But it was just too iconic, and if we'd made it just a regular old sword, players wouldn't accept it."

Forget players – think of how poor Cloud Strife would feel to be separated from his comfort sword for the first time in decades. "In the end we stayed faithful to the OG," Hamaguchi says, for everyone's sake. "A whole new generation of people fell in love with it, so I think it was the right call."

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 lead says the Highwind is an important part of the upcoming RPG, and it sounds like Square Enix is close to deciding on a name.