A Twitter user supposedly obtained the newly published Final Fantasy VII Remake: Material Ultimania Plus art book. They shed light on the development progress of the highly anticipated Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Although Square Enix has not officially announced release dates for Part 3 of the remake project, the book uncovers some interesting details.
According to details from the art book, the development of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was remarkably efficient for a AAA game. Director Yoshinori Kitase mentioned that the main game was finished in about three years, including a year dedicated to creating the DLC content. Kitase intends to stick to a similar timeline for developing Part 3 of the remake project.
This is always disheartening because it sounds like the developer is taking pieces out of the game to sell later. This is normally okay with Square Enix because you always get a really loaded game. Then there is the case of EA, who has locked the true ending of games behind DLC. One that doesn’t get mentioned enough is Dragon Age: Inquisition, where a lot of the ending doesn’t make sense without the Dreadwolf paid DLC.
The development process seems efficient, though. It looks like they’re just using this time to make extra content while they work on adding the voice acting and other parts. A big part of this is the fact that it’s a consistent team working on the project. Kitase highlighted that the staff who worked on Rebirth is staying for Part 3. This continuity with the team familiar with the project’s assets and systems is greatly improving the development speed.
Moreover, there are hints about the progress of Part 3. Tetsuya Nomura, one of the project’s directors, mentioned that the main story for Part 3 is already finished. Nomura also shared that he and Kitase plan to add a significant new element not present in the original Final Fantasy VII. This surprise addition is intended for the fans.
