While Final Fantasy VII often dominates the spotlight, its 1994 predecessor, Final Fantasy VI, remains the "holy grail" for many long-term series fans. It pioneered the "magiteck" aesthetic and delivered one of gaming’s most chilling antagonists in Kefka Palazzo. However, if a modern reimagining of Terra’s story ever breaks ground, it won't be under the direction of the man who spent the last decade rebuilding Midgar and the world of Gaia
In a new interview with GamerBraves, Hamaguchi-san talked about his love for Final Fantasy VI: "I grew up admiring Final Fantasy VI and VII as a child, and they were the titles that inspired me to become a game creator. They are undoubtedly at the origin of my creativity," he said.
This love for Final Fantasy VI, however, didn't translate into bringing elements of the game into the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy. "Because I am working on the Final Fantasy VII Remake series, I believe the 'origin' for this work should be Final Fantasy VII," Hamaguchi-san said. "I wanted to bring out the best of the original FFVII, so I don't recall taking many elements from FFVI for this project."
Although the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy director harbors so much love and respect for the sixth entry in the series, he wouldn't direct a Final Fantasy VI Remake. After being involved in the Remake trilogy series for 10 years, and finally seeing the end of it, rather than "spending another enormous amount of time to do another remake project," Hamaguchi-san would rather support a new young creator, who should definitely have no trouble developing a better remake than an AI-made one that caught the eye of series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi.
Naoki Hamaguchi's decision not to direct a potential Final Fantasy VI Remake, after having worked on the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy for over a decade, is more than understandable. While the development team has been rather creative in terms of gameplay, it was still constrained by the boundaries of the original game in some way, boundaries that would likely chafe anyone if they had to be kept in mind during creative work for over 10 years.
In addition, a Final Fantasy VI Remake would pose some massive challenges that the Final Fantasy VII Remake didn't. Recreating the entire cast of 14 characters for the game would be a challenging undertaking, as would expanding a story that often shifts between different characters to deliver an ensemble narrative. Still, much like the community, I would love to experience the World of Ruin open-world second half of the game with modern gameplay and visuals, which would be a monumental task, much like recreating characters and narrative.
No matter Naoki Hamaguchi's sentiment on a potential Final Fantasy VI Remake, we are unlikely to hear much about it until some time after the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy has concluded. With the game close to reaching a state where it can finally be shown, and with the original's 30th anniversary coming up next year, we are likely going to get the first glimpse at the conclusion of the trilogy, which promises to be explosive (and filled with air travel on the Highwind airship).
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
