The Ultimania for Final Fantasy VII Remake released today in Japan, and with it came a plethora of brand new information and artwork surrounding the Remake, such as character biographies, monster designs and stats, full body artwork and more.

Many fans who have obtained the book have taken to Twitter and have been translating various snippets and uploading them under the Final Fantasy VII Remake hashtag, revealing all the fun and interesting gems hidden within its pages. Some of the translated works include some interesting information in regards to the scenario planning.

Thanks to the efforts of Aitaikimochi on Twitter, some of these snippets have been translated:

“When I requested a scenario to Nojima, I first thought: If I am to create the Final Fantasy VII Remake, I would like to do it this way.” Said Director and Character Designer Tetsuya Nomura. “During that phase, I planned to make this be more than just a mere “Remake.” For example, the battle system this time around is in real time instead of using an ATB gauge, and with that, the story itself took a turn that isn’t just the basic Final Fantasy VII, but something new. That’s the kind of story I wanted to create.”

“As for me,” added Story and Scenario Writer Kazushige Nojima. “I knew that even though at the very core, this story is about Cloud, the works from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII have greatly increased [over the years], and I wanted to make something that takes all of those works and combine it into one. Each person who played the original version also has their own vision of the world of Final Fantasy VII, and I wanted to preserve that too. The results of those feelings are shown within the Remake’s story. These were all ideas I had, so in the beginning I would initially show it to Nomura-san, and I tried my best to explain them clearly to make sure he didn’t reject them (laughs).”

Alongside the scenario discussion, a question regarding the much talked about ending was asked within the book, and what the sentence “The Unknown Journey Will Continue” stood for.

“Initially there was another sentence that we were going to put instead, but under various circumstances we decided to change it [to what it is now].” Said Nomura. “Kitase told me there should be something that connects to what lies beyond the ending. I also wanted to put something there too, so we ended up using that sentence. I think some might think that the meaning of the sentence is unsettling, but we’ve already taken that into consideration.”

Additionally, FFVIIR’s Producer Yoshinori Kitase had a small snippet to say within the Ultimania in regards to how the team plans to proceed with future installments and what fans can expect from them and the games going forward:

“From here on out, we’re not drastically changing the story and making it into something completely different from the original. Even though it’s a Remake, please assume the story of Final Fantasy VII will continue as Final Fantasy VII always has.”

It goes without saying that the Ultimanias have always been an excellent source for small snippets of developer comments and insights, and this book is no different. It should be interesting to see how Final Fantasy VII Remake progresses into Part Two, and beyond, with the team following these ideals of creation and inspiration.

Sources: Aitaikimochi