Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2: Development affected by COVID-19, but shouldn’t have ‘big impact’

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 development “will temporarily drop below 100% efficiency” due to remote work, but the game’s creators are confident it won’t have much of an impact in the long term. In an interview with The Guardian, director Naoki Hamaguchi and producer Yoshinori Kitase were asked about the effects of COVID-19 on the launch of the first part. Kitase explained that “launching the game during this unprecedented situation has stumped us.”

He went on to discuss how the development of Part 2 has been affected by the pandemic: “Right now, the team is still making the next game through remote work. Our performance will temporarily drop below 100% efficiency because of this, but I do. I don’t think there should be a big impact in the long term. “

Previously, we’ve heard that the game’s co-director, Tetsuya Nomura, would prefer to adapt smaller chunks of the original FF7 at a faster rate. Some will hope that means we’ll hear more about a follow-up soon, with Square Enix set to announce new games in July and August.

As for what that Part 2 will include, the developers are understandably cautious. With some pretty major changes to the Part 1 storyline, developers were asked if the sequel will continue to stray from the original game’s storyline.

“I can’t tell you the answer to that now,” Kitase explained. “I understand that there is a lot of speculation among the fans; that is what we wanted and we really enjoyed watching these theories and guesses of what the ending means. We wanted the fans to continue the discussion on social media and their enthusiasm is high as we head towards the next match “.

What they will confirm is that, as expected, the classic villain Sephiroth will be an important part of the next installment, after he made unexpected appearances in the first part: “In the original game, Sephiroth did not appear in the story told section [in FInal Fantasy 7 Remake], but we changed it to appear from the beginning, to position it playing an important role in the entire Remake project. Sephiroth plays an important role in the ongoing story of the upcoming game, so I can’t reveal more information about him here. “

The creators of FF7R have previously implied that the upcoming game will not drastically change the story that fans already know, despite the notable differences in the first part. We give that first part a 8/10 review, saying its “opaque padding and tricky additions can stumble, but it still gives an exciting new life to a classic while standing out as a great RPG on its own. “

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Joe Skrebels is IGN Executive News Editor. Follow him on Twitter. Do you have any advice for us? Do you want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].