Last week some of the Square-Enix staff, namely planning director Takashi Arakawa and Yoshinori Kitase (director, writer and producer) were present at a gaming event in Munich, Germany. Below is a translation (thanks to Tetsujin) regarding their writing of the scenario and possibly ideas for a sequel.

The German gaming site play3 interviewed them about the PSP game Dissidia.

- How do you make sure that no logical errors or plot holes find their way into the story and presentation of so many Final Fantasy games?

We have three measures that prevent that. First of all, a majority of the Square Enix staff already took part in the development of previous FF games. Secondly, we publish guide books in Japan that also serve us as reference archives. And thirdly, we have a couple of employees – like a young female colleague for example – who played through all of the FF games and really know all the details.

- How long does it take to  play through Dissidia?

- Arakawa-san: The Japanese version has a whole 40 hours of playtime. The US/European version allows to play through the game in a mere 10 hours by having branches in the game’s story mode. Apart from that, the balancing for the duels has been slightly readjusted. You can still play through the long version of the story mode if you feel like it, though.

- How do you develop for the PSP and how do you see the future of that portable system?

- Arakawa-san: Our development teams are in constant competition with each other. Every department has their own approach and tweaks the engine that fits their game the most.

Kitase-san: A majority of the Kingdom Hearts 2 staff has worked on Dissidia. The similarity between PS2 and PSP paid off for us. What else can be done with the PSP is something we will show with Final Fantasy Agito XIII. Apart from that, we still have lots of other PSP projects in the making.

Another article didn’t reveal anything new except for one interesting bit at the end:

“According to Kitase-san, a sequel would be ‘very interesting’. Maybe it’ll include Kingdom Hearts characters then?
‘Basically, yeah, that’d be possible. Although we’d have to discuss that with Disney, of course…’ ”

Source: VideoGamesZone, play3

So if you so happen to be in Ginza shopping district of Tokyo, definitely check it out!

Also, the new Famitsu PS3 features an article about Advent Children Complete.  Here are the cover for the magazine and scans of the article:

 Some highlights of the article:

AC was sorta ignored for a while after its release since they wanted to focus on other projects.

They wanted to pushh back the release until the blu-ray market grew big enough, but never expected it to be such a long project.

Nojima wanted fantasy elements for AC.

They wanted to depict the contrast between Cloud and the children, as well as Cloud’s own growth after his meeting with Denzel and the kids.

The upped the depiction of blood and Geostigma quite a bit, since they believed a more realistic depiction would give a more realistic impression of pain.

Since they had quite a bit of time left over, they arranged the songs to fit the scenes better. In AC they tried to fit the scenes with the songs, while in ACC they had the songs tailored to fit the scenes. And created the ‘ideal battle scene’.

Most of the staff didn’t want to touch anything FF7 related in the beginning, but Nomura took the lead(and made them into his slaves. And made onigiri for them in Hawaii).

5 years passed between AC and ACC. Most of the technology they’ve used is different.

They had trouble deciding how much of the new technology used in Versus 13 should be used in ACC.

They’re pretty much done with FF7, saying that it’s hard to think of any other important events that might occur in the universe. They still have ideas, but there won’t be any compilation news for a while.

Thanks to Defade for providing the information about the Famitsu article.

Source: FF7AC Reunion

Also, correspondence with the creators was included, and hitoshura has once again translated the interesting points regarding Advent Children Complete. Major thanks once again! To check out all the info, click on “Read the rest of this entry” link below the scans.

Source: FF Shores.com

- Nozue and the others changed parts they were bothered by, but there’s a lot of really detailed bits and you might not realize all of them if you don’t watch closely. As an example, some facial expressions are different such as when Cloud wakes up after being carried home by Reno and Rude.

- In addition to the climactic scene from the original 20 minute version, they’ve also added some direction linking the children with the phones from it.

- Omnislash ver. 5 has become ver. 6, including elements they originally wanted to have.

- Like the blood during battles, they wanted to portray Geostigma more realistically. They weren’t sure what to do with it for a long time, but from around the time of CC started to think it should be more realistic. With that ‘painfulness’ it just seems false, and you don’t get the sense that it is a horrible disease.

- They wanted to have Case of Denzel from On the Way to a Smile as a bonus feature in some form for a long time. It was decided at it would be animated from the start, and there were ideas such as having voice overs with still images, etc. before finally settling on animation.

- Episode Denzel being an animated extra has no connection with Last Order having being include on the previous DVD.

- Episode Denzel is about 26 minutes long. Nomura was in charge of character design for Johnny and Ruvie, and attended the voice recordings, and final supervising work. The OVA features chocobos; this is because the director is a big fan of FFVII, and wanted to add that to show that chocobos are alive and well after the disasters in FFVII.

- For the limited edition package, they asked the person who designed FFVIIAC’s limited edition package again.

- The regular edition is in a black plastic case. The PS3 bundle and FFXIII demo set have different package designs, but they have the same kind of case as the AC limited edition. Except for the regular edition, they are both limited edition version and there’s no plans at present for another pressing of them.

- The overseas release date hasn’t been announced (lol yes it has), but is planned to be released soon. The image of Cloud and Sephiroth facing each other is the cover for the overseas version.

- Nomura’s recommended order of viewing: Turbulence of FFVIIAC > Reminiscence of FFVII > Reminiscence of FFVII Compilation > On the Way to a Smile: Episode Denzel > ACC.

Also, some more info from the Dengeki PS3 interview has surfaced, and with it, some details pertaining to the particular story, “Case of Shinra” and Rufus and the Turks in ACC. Major thanks to hitoshura for providing this info.

- Nozue talks about how since it’s CG, they might as well do over-the-top things you can’t do in live action. There’s a lot of this in the new scenes, like the bike scene with Reno and Rude.

- (Nojima) Rufus is cool, and being a kind of ‘insider’ gets lots of dialogue.

- (Nojima) Case of Shinra involves the Turks, but Rufus gets a lot of attention as well. It covers what happened after Tseng was attacked by Sephiroth and nearly died, and what Rufus did after being saved from the WEAPON attack. Case of Shinra is the only chapter which begins during FFVII. This chapter is tied to BC and DC, so it was hard for Nojima to fully grasp the character’s actions and time lines. But it was interesting because it shows what’s going on inside Rufus’s mind.

Source: Square-Enix Japan, Cetra Connection, and Shienabent blog

- ‘Mog girl’ is really people within Square Enix, and Nozue and Nojima hit it off because of her.

- In the novel, Yuffie’s chapter was meant to be a brighter story, but that brightness conversely ended up bringing a sense of pain, so it turn out a rather sad story. Quite a bit of focus on Geostigma in Yuffie’s chapter.

- In Nozue’s interview he talks about the highlights for the characters: for Cloud, the scenes with the children; for Tifa, he had nothing but a hard time with her. In the battle with Loz, there’s a slight change to the appearences of the scene when the flower petals float in the air. There are a lot for Denzel, but the best is the scene where he meets Cloud.

- When asked if he wants to write a sequel to ACC, Nojima says that he’s interested in Cloud’s future, and in AC he’s still in his early 20′s so he can still take the lead role.

- And there’s still the surprise new scenes which haven’t been revealed.

- Tifa’s page talks about how she gives Cloud encouragement, and ends up creating the catalyst for him regaining the will to fight. I’d like to believe this also leads to her salvation.

- Marlene is “a girl who watches over Cloud, together with Tifa,” and Denzel is “a boy who grows, together with Cloud.”

- “In Nojima’s interview, he said he thinks that since Denzel idolizes Cloud, there’s going to be a period where he doesn’t pay any attention to girls.

- Cloud’s personality basically drags things on, but in the scene with Marlene he finally shows a cool, heroic moment.

Also, DillyDally has stated that info has surfaced that Vincent Valentine will make an appearance in “Case of Red XIII,” explaining his appearance on the cover of the book as well.

Source: 2chan

*UPDATE: Moved here from later news story.*

Also, some more info from the Dengeki PS3 interview has surfaced, and with it, some details pertaining to the particular story, “Case of Shinra” and Rufus and the Turks in ACC. Major thanks to hitoshura for providing this info.

- Nozue talks about how since it’s CG, they might as well do over-the-top things you can’t do in live action. There’s a lot of this in the new scenes, like the bike scene with Reno and Rude.

- (Nojima) Rufus is cool, and being a kind of ‘insider’ gets lots of dialogue.

- (Nojima) Case of Shinra involves the Turks, but Rufus gets a lot of attention as well. It covers what happened after Tseng was attacked by Sephiroth and nearly died, and what Rufus did after being saved from the WEAPON attack. Case of Shinra is the only chapter which begins during FFVII. This chapter is tied to BC and DC, so it was hard for Nojima to fully grasp the character’s actions and time lines. But it was interesting because it shows what’s going on inside Rufus’s mind.

Nomura, Naora, Kitase, and Nojima

(Note: Yusuke Naora, Art Director of the original FFVII, is not present in this creators’ commentary.)

FFVII 10th Anniversary Discussion

In 2007 FFVII hit its 10th anniversary. To find out the secret of its appeal, we went to the 3 central members of the development staff behind FFVII and the Compilation. How does FFVII look through their eyes?

Cloud’s Animations determined the image of the scenario

- It’s been 10 years since FFVII was released. I think the reason fans have continued to support it for so long is because it left that much of an impression on them, but what scenes stand out most in your memories as the creators?

Nojima: For me, it’s the scene where Cloud first appears at the start of the story. That scene used the cool standing animation Toriyama (Motomu Toriyama: FFVII’s event planner) made. If I remember correctly, it was named “Cloud showing off” (laughs). But when I say that animation I thought to myself objectively, “wow, this is great.” It was when I’d just started writing the scenario, and Cloud’s false persona was kind of determined based on that pose, and after that the image of the scenario started to solidify. Back in those days, a lot of different tasks would be going on simultaneously during production, so there were a lot of cases like that where the other staff would influence each other. All the important stuff was usually decided by talking it over in the smoking room (laughs). Nowadays since you’ve got the voice acting to record the scenario needs to be done first, so it’s turned into quite a lonesome task.

Kitase: That Cloud ‘showing off’ standing animation appears in the Nibelheim flashback as well. When the Shinra soldier asked about doing “the usual”, he does that pose. The same scene is in CC too, so I instructed the staff to recreate that animation (laughs). You were in charge of the Nibelheim events in FFVII, weren’t you, Nojima?

Nojima: That’s right. Right up till the very end we couldn’t get the bugs out of it, so it was pretty rough. Like when Cloud was waiting outside of the screen for his part in the scene, his hair would be poking out from the edge of the screen (laughs). Story-wise, the scene at the Northern Cave where Cloud talks while upside-down left an impression on me. I worked on the direction for that scene, but getting the characters to run to match with the movie scene was tricky, and I remember having trouble with it. The part where Cloud addresses Tifa as “Mrs.” Tifa, I made that hoping that the people playing it would be taken aback by the change in Cloud and it would really hit the player.

Nomura: The scene that sticks out for me is the scene when Tifa going into Cloud’s mental realm and he remembers the truth about what happened in the past.

Nojima: It was Katou (Masato Katou: FFVII event planner) who made the events for that part, and the movies were made by Ikumori (Kazuyuki Ikumori: FFVII movie designer). Ikumori was originally graphic designer for the maps, and this was the first time he’d tried his hand at movies. He said, “I’ve never worked on the movies before,” but looking at him now…

Nomura: Now he’s the movie director on DC and CC.

Kitase: Katou also did the event on the airship, the night before the final battle.

Nojima: Oh, the scene with the risqué line of dialogue? It was Katou who wrote that as well, not me.

- The line “Words aren’t the only way to talk someone how you feel,” right? That was quite a mature conversation for a FF game.

Kitase: But I remember having to get another version that was too intense toned down.

Nojima: The original idea was more extreme. The plan was to have Cloud walk out of the Chocobo stable on board the Highwind, followed by Tifa leaving while checking around, but Kitase turned it down. But even with the line in question, maybe at that time none of us thought it would be something so important (laughs).

In the original scenario, Zack didn’t exist

- Mr. Kitase, which scene do you find most striking even now?

Kitase: Like Nomura, I’d have to say the climax in the mental realm. The scene where the mysteries regarding Sephiroth and Cloud all become clear. I didn’t know until we were in the latter stages of development that Cloud’s memories were Zack’s. First of all, when I originally checked the scenario, the character of Zack didn’t exist. Zack was a character who came up as Nojima was building up the mysteries. So until that part was complete I was left wondering just how he was planning to solve this, and all the while making the event scenes, still in the dark about the truth.

Nojima: But with Zack, I didn’t simply bring him in just because it was needed for solving the mysteries. When I joined the development team, the concept of Aerith seeing her first love again in Cloud was already there, so I brought him in to link that with solving the mysteries.

Nomura: About the concept of her seeing her first love again in Cloud, at first we were thinking of making that man Sephiroth. When I got the request for the illustration of Zack we were already near the end of development, so when you look at it now it’s not even coloured, and I can’t really deny that it feels like quite a sudden request.

- Had you thought about the truth of the mysteries regarding Cloud and Zack from the very beginning?

Nojima: No, I thought of it as I went on with my work. So at the beginning there wasn’t much foreshadowing. The foreshadowing scenes, I asked the staff in charge of the event scenes to add after development reached a point where an outcome for the mysteries came into sight.

Kitase: In those days it was easy to go back and change things around later on. Lately, with the workload involved in making the graphics, it’s hard to ask people to change something once it’s been finished.

Nojima: Well, even back then, there were some people you could easily ask to change an event later on, and people who were difficult to ask, so the locations of the foreshadowing might be biased. I only went to the people who were easy to ask, and the foreshadowing is focused at the scenes they were in charge of (laughs).

Red XIII: Four-Legged Bane of the Event Planners

- I think one of the things that have helped maintain FFVII’s popularity is the uniqueness of its characters. How did you go about creating the characters?

Nomura: At the very start of development the scenario wasn’t complete yet, but I went along like, “I guess first off you need a hero and a heroine,” and from there drew the designs while thinking up details about the characters. After I’d done the hero and heroine, I carried on drawing by thinking what kind of characters would be interesting to have. When I handed over the designs I’d tell people the character details I’d thought up, or write them down on a separate sheet of paper. At that time, I still wrote everything by hand as well.

- So in exactly what order did you draw the characters?

Nomura: The first ones I drew was Cloud and Aerith. Next was Barret.

Kitase: And then Nomura said he wanted to have a four-legged character, and drew Red XIII…

Nomura: After that I think things kind of stalled for a while (laughs).

Nojima: Because you said you wanted to have a four-legged character, it was a real struggle to make the cut-scenes. Like, ‘how is he supposed to climb a ladder?’ and ‘when he turns around his tail and his body end up going into the wall’ (laughs).

Nomura: The scene with Red XIII standing on two legs on the transport ship was funny.

Nojima: The scene where he says, “It’s hard standing on two legs” (laughs).

Kitase: You named Red XIII, didn’t you, Tetsu (Nomura)?

Nomura: I thought a name that didn’t sound like a name would be interesting, so I combined a color and a number. The reason I chose 13 was pretty much because it’s an unlucky number. The official details for the character and his real name ‘Nanaki’ was something one of the other staff did.

Kitase: It was probably Akiyama (Jun Akiyama: FFVII event planner) who thought of those.

- This is something I noticed before, but to type in ‘Seto’, Nanaki’s father, in Japanese with the keyboard set to kana input, you press the keys ‘PS’. I was wondering if this perhaps was where the name came from…?

Kitase: Did he think that deeply about it?

Nojima: If it was Akiyama who was in charge of that, I wouldn’t put some deep-rooted reason like that past him (laughs).

Yuffie and Vincent, who were almost cut at one point.

- Yuffie and Vincent are secret characters who you don’t have to get in your party, but I was surprised that they had so many cut-scenes prepared for them.

Nomura: There was even a time when some people thought we should cut them because we didn’t have enough time. But we somehow managed to veto cutting them, and as a result they became the secret characters they are today.

Kitase: The main reason for there being so many cut-scenes for Yuffie is down it the strong attachment that Akiyama, who was in charge of them, had. Her appearing in a battle and talking with her afterwards, all those were his ideas, and as development moved along the scope steadily got bigger and bigger.

Nojima: It’s really annoying when you try to save after the Yuffie battle and get tricked (laughs). For the story in Wutai, I made the parts related to the main story, but the events in the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods were the work of Tokita (Takashi Tokita: FFVII’s event planner).

Kitase: Those bits do have a Tokita-feel to them.

Nojima: Tokita is involved in the theatre, and the characters who appear there have the names of people involved with the theatre like playwrights.

- Who was in charge of Vincent’s cut-scenes?

Kitase: I remember making the event where he joins you in the Shinra Mansion, but his episodes themselves was Nojima, wasn’t it?

Nojima: I did write his episodes. The back story for Vincent and Lucrecia was around from the start, and I remember linking that with Shinra. In the end, Chiba (Hiroki Chiba: FFVII’s event planner) crammed the Vincent-related events in right at the last minute.

Kitase: Chiba is in charge of DC’s scenario, but thinking about it now maybe it turned out that way because he worked on the events with Vincent in FFVII.

Nojima: However, despite Vincent not having many scenes due to him appearing in the latter half of the story, he has a fair amount of dialogue, and when he does show up he talks a lot. Even though really he’s meant to be a quiet person (laughs). Even now I have a problem when creating scenarios, where even though the character is a cool and silent type, I end up making scenes where they just keep on talking and talking. Roles like Barret, who appear from the start and have a lot of lines, most of the time, basically don’t know anything. But characters like Vincent, or Auron in FFX, it tends to be the case that the quieter they are the more they know about things, and they just end up with more expositional dialogue. I still haven’t found a solution to this problem.

The reason FFVII’s characters have continued to be loved

- When thinking of the character’s stories or working on their designs, do you have any kind of tried and tested methods, Mr. Nomura?

Nomura: Maybe not a method in particular. For FFVII’s characters, they’re the result of wanting to make varied, and in a sense going for an orthodox balance. In the recent FF games, I now receive the profiles of the characters before handling the designs, so I don’t worry about the character building much now. I think FFVII was it as far as me thinking of the character’s stories first goes.

- The characters of FFVII seem to be especially popular even out of the entire series, but where do you think the reason for that lies?

Nomura: Hmmm, I wonder? Nothing really hits me. Well, I guess that each character has their own individual episodes which are well told. You might say their personalities are too strong (laughs).

Nojima: Yeah, they were made nearly excessively individual. For example, once you’ve decided Aerith speaks like this, it starts to escalate in that direction. And like Cloud’s cool standing animation we mentioned before, all the staff in charge of the events took in anything that seemed interesting. Even Cloud’s “not interested” catch phrase comes up so much you start to think, you won’t normally say it that much (laughs).

Kitase: Everyone used it, didn’t they?

Nojima: In that sense, their characters were definitely strong. In FFVIII onwards, the height of the characters increased, and we starting to be conscious of realism. And when that happens, there are times when you start comparing them to real life people. But with FFVII’s height, even in 3D, you still don’t really get that sense of reality. Maybe in that aspect they were like cartoon characters, which was a plus. I think, maybe they had a kind of easy to remember quality as symbols.

Kitase: When I first read Nojima’s scenario, I felt strongly that his image of a heroine was fresh. The hero didn’t have a typical personality, single-minded or righteous, and Aerith lived in the slums. Those things were really fresh. And having 2 heroines, Aerith and Tifa, and having the hero waver between them, at the time that was something new. And Sephiroth too, who appears from the start and is the final enemy, and is sort of a rival. For me personally, I think those things which weren’t in past FFs might be the secret to its popularity.

Nomura: In regards to Sephiroth, I wanted to avoid having the kind of plot development where you get to the end of the story and suddenly this boss you’ve never heard of yet just appears. With FFVII, I wanted to do a story where you’re chasing someone you’ve known was the enemy from the get-go. As for the heroines, during development some people were of the opinion that compared to Tifa, Aerith has fewer scenes and didn’t really stand out, so we also increased her appearances.

Nojima: As a motif for them, Tifa is “the childhood friend who’s been with you since nursery school”, and Aerith is “the girl who transfers school mid-term and quickly leaves for another school.” Since she doesn’t have many scenes, you’ve got to make it so that the transfer student has a big impact. That was what I thought.

Feelings about Aerith, the tragic heroine

- You can’t talk about FFVII’s heroines without talking about the tragedy that befalls Aerith at the Forgotten City. That event was a very memorable scene not only for the FF series, but all RPGs.

Kitase: In the past FFs as well, important characters died and went away. Like Galuf in FFV for example, they followed a pattern where the character would go down after giving it his all in a fight. In this case, often it went that the characters think something like, they’ve tired so hard, and just accept the death and overcome it. When creating stories I think that is an option, but in FFVII we were thinking, could we take this a step further? Bring out a sense of loss somehow? What I didn’t want to have was the kind of story development where even when a character dies there’s no sense of loss, on the contrary it just raises motivation and pushes you forward.

Nojima: Kitase’s loss talk has been consistent since back then.

Kitase: And with a lot of stories, before they die there’s a lot of dramatic preparations, aren’t there? Like a “pre-prepared excitement”, or “using this as a step to fight evil further”, those are the kinds of developments I wanted to avoid. In reality, death comes without warning, and you’re left feeling dazed at the gravity of the loss… Rather than wanting to fight evil, you’re just overcome by a great sense of loss, like you just want to give up everything. I was in charge of the direction of that scene, and I tried to bring out that sort of sense of realism.

Nomura: It’s related to ‘life’, one of the themes of FFVII, so it’s not portrayed as a “death for excitement’s sake” but expresses a realistic pain. Death comes suddenly, so I think the emotion there wasn’t excitement or anything, but sadness.

Nojima: Speaking from a scenario standpoint, FFVII is ‘a story of life cycling through the planet’, so someone needed to be part of that cycle. In other words, although what happened to Aerith isn’t really based on logic, as far as the story goes, maybe one of the team was destined to lose their life from the very start. But how that one became Aerith wasn’t decided through a notice as is popularly mentioned. It was decided after everyone, including myself, racked our brains about what to do.

Truth hidden in the abbreviations of the Compilation titles

- 7 years after the release of FFVII, the Compilation began, but it was a surprise that Advent Children, the sequel, was a film.

Kitase: Originally the AC project came about when the staff said they wanted to make a film.

Nomura: But having that film work being based on FFVII was decided from the beginning.

Kitase: They’ve made several of the movie scenes for games before, so they have the know-how. But an independent film was a big challenge for us, so we had to be ready for it being considerably difficult. When thinking of what subject material we work with while having that readiness, we came up with FFVII. At first it was only planned to be 20 minutes, but before I knew it there were fight scenes, and finally it grew to 100 minutes… (laughs).

Nomura: After we started the project, there was a period where it was put to one side for a while. At that rate, the project itself seemed like it would just go up in smoke, so I put my hand up and said I’d do it, and started again from there, adding in fight scenes and so on.

- Was the formula for the Compilation’s titles, AC, BC, CC and DC, planned from the start?

Kitase: In order of release BC comes first, Advent Children was the first title we decided on.

Nomura: For BC’s title, Taba (Hajime Tabata: BC’s director) and Itou (Yukimasa Itou: BC’s producer) came to me saying they had a good idea. “How about linking with AC, and Before Christ (B.C.), and going with Before Crisis?” I just gave an nonchalant “sure, why not,” but I never thought it would end up being a formula (laughs). So, next we skipped C and went for DC. Then planning for CC suddenly began. Kitase came to my office one day and told me, “think of something” (laughs).

Kitase: That was how it all began. At then, we were thinking of a PSP port of BC. At the time, you could only play BC on NTT DoCoMo mobile phones, so we wanted to let a wider spectrum of players to have a chance to play it. So personally, I was planning releasing it on the PSP with basically the same graphics as the mobile phone version, even if we did fill in the story a bit. However, when I told Tetsu about this, I hadn’t realized at that time that that wouldn’t be enough (laughs).

Nomura: Since at first I was told it’s BC on the PSP, I thought of calling it “Before Crisis Core”. But at that time we’d already decided on having Zack as the main character, so we said, “since it’s going to be different from BC, we don’t need ‘Before’ in the title, do we?” So we took off the “Before”, and by chance it fitted the CC which we had skipped.

Kitase: When I saw the cut-scenes of the completed CC, the quality was good enough to release on the PS2, and I never expected it would be this good. With CC, I had only read part of the scenario when I worked on it, so when played up to the ending myself, as a consumer, I was moved, like “aah, so this is what Zack’s story was like…” (laughs). When I saw the ending, I though to myself, “all the titles have come together nicely. I’m glad we did the Compilation.”

New FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Cover

The Revised Edition of the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania will be release in Japan in April 16th and it will cost 1,900円.

Also, hitoshura has provided some quotes from the Dengeki PS3 interview:

- The novel comes out on April 16th. It includes Cases of Barret, Red, Yuffie, and Shinra, with changes to the existing Tifa & Denzel chapters. [It says 'FF13 novel' but talks about FF7's characters, and gives OTWTAS release date, so it's probably a typo]
- In the Case of the Lifestream, we’ll learn the secret as to why Sephiroth is so obsessed with Cloud
- It’s quite different from the original version, as the overall impression is different.
- It’s a lot easier to understand
- In the FF7 flashbacks **** does the narration, which’ll bring fans to tears. (The name is purposefully blocked out)
- There’s so much new footage you could call it a completely new film. There’s some scenes foreshadowed by CC.

Source: FF7AC Reunion

Dengeki PlayStation will bring us another interview with Tetsuya Nomura, along with Motomu Toriyama, Kazushige Nojima, Takeshi Nozue and Nao Ikeda about Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete and Final Fantasy XIII. It will also brings us some visuals of both FF VII: ACC and FF XIII.

The issue will be released on April 2 on Japan, so keep an eye here.

There’s also a new Tetsuya Nomura interview in this week’s issue of Dengeki PlayStation which offers insight into the creation of Advent Children Complete, its story, and a more definitive answer regarding the future of the Compilation of FFVII. Hitoshura did an amazing job translating this interview. Click on “Read more” to read the full interview.

Source: FF7AC reunion

- FF7ACC’s release date is almost here, but what’s it like watching the completed video?

Nomura: I’ve repeatedly checked parts of it throughout the development, so even the new scenes I’ve got gotten used to seeing. But, when watching everything put together, since the changes from FF7AC have been incorporated into it as a whole, I could watch it with a fresh mind. I think the film itself has also ended up more expressive. More so, people can enjoy watching it in the clear visuals it was intended to be in thanks to it being on BD (BluRay Disk).

- On the subject of start of production, did you start straight on FF7ACC after production of FF7AC?

Nomura: Relatively soon after. We had decided early on to have it on BD as well, but at that time the BD market saturation was still low. So while waiting for the right moment, we started adding various scenes.

- What basis did you use for deciding on the added scenes?

Nomura: Parts that the FF7AC staff were bothered by, or the replacement of parts which he unfortunately had to cut, those were what we set about on first. We decided to wait for the BD market to develop, and if we were going to end up making the consumers wait, we started seriously thinking about overall reforms, and with the aim of making it easier to understand at the core, it finally reached quite a sizable amount even with just the added scenes.

- Does it feel like several of the added scenes are to a degree collected together in terms of time?

Nomura: I see it as the new scenes being scattered throughout the story as a whole. There are some scenes which are collected together to an extent, but there are some finer parts too, and these together with the whole make up the “approx. 30 minutes of additional scenes”. As I said before, first I had the staff list the parts which were switched from FF7AC. At that point there was quite a fairly large amount, but we added to it with these. This time we’ve focused on “gaps”, so we actively added exchanges between characters, such as the points from FF7AC where it was hard to understand what went on between the scenes, and made it easier to understand. Scenes such as the Reno and Rude conversation in the Healin Lodge is an example of this.

- Hearing about it again, there’s a lot of work gone into it.

Nomura: Maybe even I don’t quite understand all of the added scenes (laughs). It was a massive work load, but it’s been some time since production finished, so I feel like it’s reached a conclusion.

- Now that it’s on BD the video has gotten clearer, and you can see the fine details such as dirt of the characters.

Nomura: The portrayal of dirt and blood I think inevitably needs to be shown to strive for realism. I think there might be some scenes which are a little provocative to the viewers, but we worked on those without hesitation. During the battle with Bahamaut SHIN in the middle of the film, scars on its face and armor and such are shown clearly, so I hope people will watch closely. It might be hard to notice while the film is playing, but it’s quite vivid if you pause it and look at it.

- Was the blood and dirt shown in FF7AC?

Nomura: No. A lot of work was put into FF7AC, but those things weren’t included. With the move to BD this time, we could fuss over and express those things as well, so I think it’s more befitting for a complete version. If I can say so myself, it really is beautiful. Stuff like the texture of clothing, when you’re watching it, it feels like something you can actually touch, they look soft or hard. When watching the video, I don’t think it looks like something that was made over 3 years ago.

- Is there anything that’s changed from last time, now you’re making it for BD?

Nomura: There was only difficulties. For the resolution, it was originally made in HD so that wasn’t a problem at all, but with FF7AC, put simply our company’s CG output format has evolved. Even the same character models would look like a different person when outputted, so matching things with the previous visuals was tough. With our videos when a new one comes out people say that ‘the model has changed’, but mostly that’s due to the output, like differences in the lighting. Occasionally the model itself does change, but it’s a fairly large amount of work, so we don’t usually do it, and this time too we didn’t change them. Also, there might be some scenes which look like the colour of the scenes has changed, but some scenes have been touched up, and there’s also the effects of being HD, so scenes which before were dark and hard to see now look clear. Like these differences in how things look, we’ve made some fine alterations here and there, so please try to check these details. We haven’t exactly counted them, but over 1000 cuts making up about half of the overall film has had some alteration or another.

- Where would you say the highlights of the added scenes are?

Nomura: Highlights, I guess all of it. But, as one of the scenes I wanted to add to FF7AC, there’s exchanges with the children. I decided to add scenes with the children this time. At the end there’s a scene of the children heading for the church. This was the main scene from the illusive 20 minute version that Nojima wrote right at the very start. As well as that, there’s also the scenes Nozue added to the highway battle.

- You say scenes with the children, this reminds me that there’s also a new conversation between Cloud and Marlene.

Nomura: That scene, I believe I thought of the plot for it, but I was confused about where to place it. At first, I tried putting it in the Forgotten City after they walked away holding hands, but the conversation didn’t link well, so I put it somewhere else. I think that has turned out to be quite a nuanced scene.

- Were the touch-ups based on your instructions, Mr. Nomura?

Nomura: Not really. It was influenced by Nozue and Nojima’s opinions as well. There are some additions which I had some special feelings for, and so Rufus speaks for me. That is the line, “people like memories,” but please try to guess what it means.

- Are there any other parts that have been added or changed?

Nomura: Some of the music has been changed. Due to adding events, there are some scenes where the music we used last time doesn’t fit the length, so the songs for those have been arranged. Nozue gave quite a few detailed instructions for the music. The battle at the Forgotten City, and the last battle with Sephiroth has been changed. Also, most of the sound effects have been remade.

- Speaking of sound effects, it seemed like unique sounds were added for Sephiroth’s introduction scene or when he’s readying his sword.

Nomura: I just took that to be the sound effect for the Masamune’s eerie glow, so I’ve not really gone to the guy in charge and asked.

- Denzel appears in a lot of the added scenes, doesn’t he.

Nomura: We didn’t particularly plan to have Denzel in the forefront especially. The idea of including scenes with the children was tied to Denzel. Incidentally, amongst the children who are featuring in FF7ACC, the VAs for Denzel, Marlene, and the girl with the moogle doll are different. Because all of their voices have changed now.

- The bonus OVA seems to show Denzel’s past.

Nomura: The story up until Denzel meets Cloud and everyone else is included. I think a lot of people who saw FF7AC were like, “who’s Denzel?” Denzel’s past was only shown in Nojima’s novel, so after a lot of thinking I decided to try adding it as an OVA. Last time, I made it a point to omit explanations like that, but in FF7ACC we’ve done the reverse and tried to clear up those doubts even if just a little.

- What was the idea behind omitting explanations?

Nomura: That was because FF7AC wasn’t a game, but a film. Nojima often says this, but a game explains the story through lots of dialogue, but this isn’t actually very cinematic. So we thought that if the possible visual expressions have come this far, then we should try to express things through visuals and gestures, and hold back on the dialogue as much as possible. We made FF7AC based on this concept, and as a result even when scenes that were hard to understand came up we left them as there were, and thought the consumers could enjoy filling it in. This time over 10 years has passed since FF7, and in order to make it understandable to a new generation, we’ve compensated for the points that were hard to understand in the original by adding dialogue and scenes, so I think things like Geostigma might be easier to understand.

- One of the appeals of this title are the bonus features, such as the demo of FF13 and the PS3 bundle, and bonus videos.

Nomura: And the novel Nojima wrote (16th April release, 1470 yen) is being released simultaneously, so please check that out too. It’s mainly set in the 2 year gap between FF7 and the film. I haven’t read it all yet myself, but it’s quite interesting so please look forward to it. Red XIII and Vincent’s conversation is a must-see.

- Are there other bonus features apart from the animated feature?

Nomura: There’s a trailer which puts all the Compilation titles so far in chronological order, so you can check them in a single go. This was for the people who don’t know about FF7, or don’t know about every title in the Compilation. The voice acting from CCFF7 and such is well used, and it’s come out quite elaborately-made, so please make sure you check that out. I’d like to add that I recommend that people watch it in order of that trailer, then the OVA, and then the main film. In the OVA and the main film, there is some overlap with Denzel’s flashback scenes, but the way they’re shown is different so it’s interesting to try comparing them. I heard the director of the OVA really respects FF7, and he said that just showing it in the same way as the main film would be boring and considered linking the direction with the film.

- What is FF7AC to you?

Nomura: It’s not easy to put into words, but for now that it’s a title which gave me a new experience. If I’d have been making a game in a game company as normal, I don’t think I would have been invited to international film festivals or anything. And the know-how we fostered during the production of FF7AC has fed back into game development. So it’s also a title which has had an influence on many areas. In FF7ACC, there’s a sense of gratitude for this by dressing up FF7AC through using BD. And of course given the consumers who supported FF7AC a chance to see it in this form.

- What about the future of the Compilation?

Nomura: I’ve got a lot of ideas in my head, but for the time being the Compilation has come not to an end, but a pause. I’ve also been talking with Nozue about doing something new, and I occasionally get messages from Kitase too saying he’s thought of something (laughs). I can’t say a lot right now, but for now please hold on and enjoy FF7ACC in HD and the FF13 demo. This year we’ll also have Kingdom Hearts and the release of FF13.

EDIT: Hitoshura has now translated the interview completely. Not just key points anymore. Below is the actual dialogue that could be made out from the scan. Enjoy reading Tetsuya Nomura’s thoughts on Advent Children Complete! Big thanks to Hitoshura for squinting his eyes out for this!

– You get a very different impression compared with FFVII AC.

Nomura: Thank you. I’m glad to hear you say that.

– I thought the graphics have gotten more detailed, such as dust floating in the air or the texture of the character’s skin being more realistic.

Nomura: Well, those are the kind of effects we wanted to have originally. Now that we’ve switched media from DVD to BluRay Disk, we’re able to show these with HD video quality. So the video is clearer now.

– With the added scenes, are they scenes you couldn’t add in AC and ones you decided to add after AC was completed?

Nomura: Yeah. What we decided early on wasn’t so much addition, but mainly small changes. For the added scenes, those were thought up later along with the overall composition.

– Rufus’ dialogue has increased as well.

Nomura: That was needed to explain the world’s situation so it’s easy to understand. As a result, there was a lot of voice over added overall. On the other hand, there are scenes when the same voices are used but the video has been remade.

– Were there any troubles when recording the new scenes?

Nomura: Well, Cloud and Sephiroth are used to it now, so that went smoothly. However, for the child roles such as Marlene and Denzel, because their voices have changed they have all been recast and everything recorded again.

– Some of the background music is different as well.

Nomura: For the tracks in the main film, I had some of my own wishes, but those were the parts Nozue (co-director Takeshi Nozue) was especially insistent about. The parts he said he want to change have been changed. They’re not so much new tracks, as much as arrangements.

– The sound effects also sound great.

Nomura: All the sound effects have been replaced from the original. In addition, more depth has been added to the sound of Cloud attack Bahamut, and sounds added to the crowd scenes. I think the number of sounds in a scene is more than what was in the original. We’ve retouched even rather fine details.

***

– I’ve seen a lot of the added scenes, but which scenes did you particularly want to include?

Nomura: I personally requested that the portrayals of the children be increased. In the film, we’ve included scenes of Cloud is talking with children such as Marlene and Denzel. Because I wanted to show depth, like the mental changes in Cloud. [???] tried our best not to include heavy explanations, but this time we’ve made it easier to understand. In addition we’ve added dialogue which [???] FFVII, and there are parts where we’ve made it so you can more deeply [???] the story.

– Reno and Rude in particular have more appearances, and I think their changes stand out.

Nomura: Nojima (scenario writer Kazushige Nojima) seems to have found those two easy to write (laughs). There are sides of the story which only members of Shinra can tell, such as what’s going on in the world. Also, another reason was that we were concerned about the gaps and modified them. The scene in the first half where Kadaj beats up Reno and Rude and goes to Rufus is an example. This time, we’ve added a scene of Kadaj making his way into the building, and I think improved on those gaps. For the other scenes as well, we rewatched AC and while thinking about the gaps between scenes, made additions and modifications to work on the gaps.

– I see. It was already revealed in the trailer, but at the start a scene of Elena and Tseng being attacked at the Northern Crater as been added too, hasn’t it.

Nomura: I think a lot of people wanted to see the details of that scene. That’s an image of Kadaj’s gang recorded on a camera Elena is wearing. The scene of them getting clothed, I thought there’s probably people wondering why remnants would be wearing clothes, so it was added to show that.

– As well as the addition of new scenes, there are a lot of scenes which have been replaced.

Nomura: Time has passed since the original, and after envisioning seeing it in HD quality, we changed all the parts that seemed a bit lacking. Originally after AC was completed, Nozue and the others corrected all the bits that bothered them themselves. But it was too detailed, and I think maybe you couldn’t notice all of it (laughs).

– So it’s the fruits of the creator’s dedication. There were some unexpected additions as well.

Nomura: We’ve included some surprise scenes, and scenes to stimulate the audience’s imagination. After the release of AC, a lot of “Compilation of FFVII” titles have appeared, so there are parts made with encompassing all of those in mind.

– Definitely, there were scenes which hit home more if you’ve played Crisis Core. Were there any requests from Nojima, who is one of the key people behind the Compilation?

Nomura: ‘Request’ might be a bit strong, but there’s a scene added at the end. This was original the climactic scene from the ‘illusive 20 minute version’ Nojima wrote at the early stages.

***

– The battle scenes also felt different compared with when I saw AC.

Nomura: The composition of the battle scenes, with the exception of the final battle and highway scene, haven’t been changed. However, with the changes to the sound effects, and direction changes such as the characters getting injured or clothes getting dirty, they might come across differently. In particular the Bahamut battle, where as the battle goes on it gradually loses its armor. I hope people will look out for these.

– In the battle scenes that have already been revealed, Cloud was surrounded by a blue light, and was injured and bleeding.

Nomura: The blue light is a Limit Break (laughs). The reason for showing blood was because I thought that if there’s no blood, the “pain” doesn’t feel realistic.

[Illegible]

[???] you can’t feel that this is a cruel disease. The cruelness of this disease is also portrayed in the bonus OVA.

– What was the reason for having an animated short based on the Denzel chapter of the novel as a bonus this time?

Nomura: If you watch “Reminiscence of FFVII”, you’re able to get a good enough grasp on the story from FFVII to AC, but for Denzel or Geostigma it’s lacking. I thought it was needed to get a deeper understanding of that aspect.

***

– Is there anything left to do as far as AC goes?

Nomura: I really feel we’ve done everything we can.

– The Compilation of FFVII has come to a stop with this. Will there be a next Compilation title?

Nomura: We’ve got ideas. But, it’s come to a stop here. I don’t think anything will be happening for awhile.

– Do you want to make another film?

Nomura: I would like to. I and Nozue have a project we’re thinking of. But with the current situation around here that might be difficult.

[skipped non-AC questions]

[text partly obscured, little guesswork done]

– Finally, do you have a message to the people looking forward to AC Complete?

Nomura: At first, we were planning to just replace some of the visuals and release it. But while waiting for the BluRay Disk market to develop, we decided to add more scenes, so I think people have waited quite a while for it. It’s become something that even people who have already seen the original can enjoy, so please watch it. The BluRay market is going to continue to grow. I think it’s a shame if people haven’t had the chance to see HD quality video yet, so I hope they will take this opportunity to experience it.

Source: FFVII AC Reunion

Dirge of Cerberus Interview Part 1 – The Birth of DC

Yoshinori Kitase – Producer
Takayoshi Nakazato – Director
Tetsuya Nomura – Illustrator/Character Designer
Hiroki Chiba – Scenario

Please tell us what is involved through the course of making Vincent the main character in this game.

Kitase: I really like the original characters of FF7, and his name always made a presence in my mind. And this time, since we were thinking about wanting to make a gun action game, we decided on Vincent, who uses guns as his weapon of choice.

Nomura: I heard it from Kitase that he wanted to make a FPS (First Person Shooting) game, and that he wanted to use characters from the past FF series. And though within those characters in the past FF series, there were many suitable candidates; I have in mind that Vincent is the most suitable out of all of them, so I suggested it as well. There were others like Yuna, Barret, Irvine, basically, we’ve thought about all the past FF characters who used guns as their weapon of choice. However, with the release timing of AC and BC, as well as the mass depth and mysteries that are being covered [in AC and BC], it would be great if we can use Vincent as a way to smoothen [elaborate] the plot; and that’s what we thought about and it came true.

The genre that is called FPS, is not a really common thing [system] to the Japanese gamers. So during the development of this game, are there any uncertainties that are in mind?

Nakazato: When we made our press conference during the Square-Enix party, people who got to come into contact with this product were shocked. We realized [have in mind] that there were people who mainly play KH type genre of RPG, and the way they finish off an enemy is by approaching them up front to attack. However, in FPS, you can’t just run up to the enemy and assault them. So bearing in mind this experience, we realized the concept of FPS is not very well instilled in most gamers’ mind. Since we have this issue, we figured that we should include a Easy mode for people who just play pure RPG to understand and manage through this game.

Kitase: And to balance it out with the issue mentioned [by Nakazato], there was a dispute in terms of where the focal point should be, until the very end [of the production]. We didn’t want to make it into a first person POV, so we decided that at least we have to see Vincent from waist above, and able to see somewhere from his shoulders when the camera rotates. Though it is better if we want to make it like a real FPS and have the camera set around the height of the shoulders, there are still people who are new to the whole FPS concept and it is better to give them a full character view so that they can control the character easier. Moreover, when and how characters should be seen, and how it must not be seen on the screen, in certain instances, is quite difficult to manipulate.

[Basically, he is saying how hard it is to go from one view to another view without making the players having confusions as to exactly which one they should stick to, so they spent a lot of time debating and disputing this issue.]

Nakazato: Yes, to obtain a balance in that area was hard. Especially we don’t even know who is standing next to Vincent, and with considerable trouble [effort] about Vincent moving around, we have to make him look fascinating. And because we wanted to see it, so we added visual effects along with the mantle.

[He is saying how it is hard to present Vincent when he is in full view on the screen.]

This is about Vincent’s mantle. It seems that it’s the same mantle that is seen on Grimoire. What is the origin/concept of this mantle?

Kitase: Oh right. So when I was talking to Nomura about the design, I said, “Make something that people could see on the first sight that they are father and son.” From then on, it became a discussion about whether or not using the mantle is a good idea. Grimoire’s scarf somehow became Vincent’s turban [the hairband], it’s basically the same thing, but it’s worn in a different way. And that’s why we think that if we put something that can relate those two together, when people see it, they will go, “Oh! This is the father!”

Nomura: When I was asked to make a conceptual drawing about Grimoire Valentine, I was only then told on the spot that he is the father of Vincent, which made me quite shocked and surprised *laughs*. However, I am not exactly the person who is responsible for the making of Grimore Valentine [/I don't have the final call]. Instead, it was Nakaaki, the sub character and mechanic designer who drew the general appearance of Grimoire; but since [we have different styles] the look [on the face] is far different than Vincent’s, so Grimoire’s facial detail had to be redrawn by me. About his clothing, it’s basically what Kitase have said [so I won’t repeat the same speech again].

The gun that Vincent uses is quite impressive and striking. Are there any specific designs or origins about Vincent’s gun, Cerberus?

Nakazato: Oh, there aren’t any bases. When Nomura who is responsible for character design brought me the conceptual drawings, Vincent is already seen with the gun. I saw it and said, “Oh, so this time it’s this type of gun.” *laughs*

Kitase: After all, since this is a Gun Action game, the gun he’s holding must be special in a way. Bearing that in mind, we decided that it should be somewhat different than the previous productions.

Nomura: If Cloud has his Buster Sword modified, and this time, it’s Vincent who is being the main character, I want to give him some sort of weapon to show this significance. Vincent used to be one of the Turks, and Turks are said to be Shinra’s dogs… However, Vincent is no longer [a personnel] working for Shinra, instead he is bound by his past, so it came to me that he has an image of being chained in some form. Also, with regards to Vincent’s diabolic image, while we are talking about the hell hound, Cerberus, we think that it is quite suitable for him. So when that image became concrete in my mind, I drew it out with 3 barrels to imply the idea of the 3 heads Cerberus has, and everything started to take its place. And what is left is the revolver [bullet chamber], there are three of them too. Even though it is said that in most occasion there can only a limited number of bullets coming out, in this game, I worked with an interesting idea, “If there are 3 barrels, there must be three revolvers.”

Dirge of Cerberus Interview Part 2 – Behind the Scene settings

Yoshinori Kitase – Producer
Takayoshi Nakazato – Director
Tetsuya Nomura – Illustrator/Character Designer
Hiroki Chiba – Scenario

Mr. Nomura, you are the one that is in charge of all the main character designs. Is there anything that you have to especially keep in mind?

Nomura: This time, I kept in mind that I have to draw a lot of people that represent the world of FF7. Therefore, I can’t just go and say, “I feel that this character should be like THIS!”, I have to consider the many factors these characters have on each other, whether or not they fit in together with each other. Though there are times that I work with Nakaaki and other new designers in this project, in terms of female clothing, they are given to female designers.

[It is said that the world of DC] seems to be much broader compared to the world of FF7.

Nomura: Yes, it seems so. Nakaaki and other members who were involved used to be the test players of FF7 a long time ago. A little input from them might be interesting. Since this is a spin off, I don’t think there is any way that we can do so.

[This is really confusing, but I think what Nomura is saying that, the way DC’s world seems to have a broader scope is that, he considered adding some new influence from the old testers of FF7, but at the same time, he put a control on the amount of new ideas that are being implemented in the story.]

So in a sense, can we say that Nomura is the one who does the design, while Nakaaki and the others put on the flesh and bones?

Nomura: Perhaps so. Take Shalua as an example, she was first drawn by Nakaaki, then it was given to female staff, and at the end of the process it was given to me and I added the finishing touch to it, so it’s basically a 3-step process.

Is there a certain expectation you want to see for characters who appeared in FF7 [but weren’t really clearly shown back then in conceptual art]?

Nomura: About Lucrecia, since the leftover [remaining] information for her in FF7 was not found, it was really hard to recreate her. So we relied on guidebooks’ tiny little portraits, and the many drawings that fans did of her. Then we look at Sephiroth, the son of Hojo and Lucrecia, of course he looks more like Lucrecia [than Hojo] *laughs*. Based on all these points, this is how we establish the current Lucrecia that you see in DC today.

The crystal object that Lucrecia has been sleeping throughout DC, is it possible that she could be alive?

Chiba: She is still alive. In FF7, she became an entity that possesses a body that won’t die [perish] “that easily,” so she was always inside the crystal. However, it is not to say that it is entirely impossible for her to come out of the crystal, as Lucrecia was just in a state of sealing herself inside. Furthermore, that crystal is a product of Lucrecia herself. However, those who have seen the ending will understand that words can be [properly] communicated to her.

Kitase: Though it is not certain whether or not it [Lucrecia’s feelings/words] can be transcended to Vincent, he constantly visits her place and talks to her. In DC, Lucrecia’s feelings can be passed through [understood] by Shelke [with SND], but the last tear that we see Lucrecia shedding is implying the undermined uncertainty, “Did it really get through?”

[Carried on from above] what exactly is the idea [strength] of this crystal? Was it based on the same principle for the coffin that Vincent slept in when he was in the Shinra mansion?

Chiba: It is being protected [guarded] by something that is much stronger. Since Vincent just wakes up and open the lid *laughs*.

[This question is asking about the strength of the crystal and how easy it could be broken open and accessed. Compared to Vincent’s coffin, it’s something that is much stronger and harder to break.]

About the character that “does not want to establish direct contact,” Reeve has this comment about this individual as “someone who wants to compensate for [the debt he owed to] the planet.” So is it possible that the person behind WRO’s funding is “him”?

Chiba: I think it must be him *laughs*.

Kitase: Since there is a similar dialogue that appeared in AC, please try to make a connection between that mysterious comment [and this one, the person (?)].

If there is really such a contributor as Reeve said, then Cid’s Airship units, after all are also funded by the same person?

Chiba: In the case of Cid, to say that he received the money directly from that person is a bit…well it wouldn’t really make sense because of his [Cid’s] personality, but I think it’s more of passing the money from Reeve to Cid. Whether or not Cid still has some [qualms (?)] about that person, it’s quite a delicate matter *laughs*.

What is the contributor doing as of now?

Kitase: Basically what he is doing in AC, and it’s going to extend for quite a while [meaning he will be doing the same thing in the future for quite a while]. For some reason or the other, since he still has this bad impression upon him, it is still not clear whether or not the reason of his support is [simply] just to help out.

Nomura: No matter what is going against the planet and how he wants to compensate, I think he is trying to establish some sort of profit as his primary goal. Even in DC, he says it’s for the sake of amending his debt to the planet and helped out financially, but I think I’m afraid [it’s just another way] he used to put his own goal forward.

Dirge of Cerberus Interview Part 3 – The Mysteries of Tsviet

Yoshinori Kitase – Producer
Takayoshi Nakazato – Director
Tetsuya Nomura – Illustrator/Character Designer
Hiroki Chiba – Scenario

Okay, the next question is, about the new characters, Tsviets, do they have a model that they are based on?

Chiba: I was thinking, since Vincent being the main character this time, along with characters like Yuffie, Cait Sith, Cloud, et al. from FF7, they needed some people to fight against. Keeping in mind that they are soldiers who are different from Sephiroth, and making a balance out of here and there, we came up with Vice, Nero, Rosso, Azul, and Shelke, while Nomura designed and shaped them.

Kitase: I told him and put this across – “Make it [this character] look [feel] like this.” For example, requests like: “Make Nero look like a psycho.”

Nomura: About Nero, I was being told, “Restrict him [for me]“. As I am not responsible for writing the scenario and background information for the characters, I was very loose [on the details] on the design of the characters. Though I have also received information about Nero, when I saw that it has “suppressing his own strength therefore binding his own hands,” I started to have funny ideas, because right after that, it says, “shoots things with his two hands” *laughs*. Moreover, the information also has “riding on a motorcycle” written on it. Does Nero really ride on the motorcycle without his hands on the steering control? *laughs* And that caused me quite some trouble, so I decided to give him a pair of wings with hands on it.

Why is it that Nero has to have his two arms restricted, not to mention that his face is being wrapped up with bandages?

Chiba: Throughout the years while he was in DG, he got used to not using his hands, got used to being in control, got used to being locked up, got used to being restricted. About his bandages, that person [Nero], seems to be the type that will leave [leak] something [here I assume it’s his darkness] wherever he goes, so the image of him needing something to keep it [his power] blocked came to place *laughs*. We also had this idea earlier that Nero’s mother got trapped into darkness when Nero was born. Basically everyone in Tsviet received some form of “adjustment” in DG one way or another, but what exactly is the thing that everyone was subjected to, when you enter the multiplayer mode, you shall find out.

In the Tsviet, everyone was given a name along with a color, why is it that Shelke is the only one labeled as “Colorless”? Is there some sort of meaning behind this?

Chiba: This will become clear once people have played the multiplayer mode. If people have gone through halfway of the multiplayer mode, Shelke’s secret will be understood.

Does Tsviet only consists of 5 people?

Chiba: “What if there are people who survived?” That is something that we do not know. Since Tsviet is a name given to those people in DG who are ranked as Elites, and those 5 people who survived through the last three years [FF7 to DC] are exceptionally stronger than normal warriors. In multiplayer mode, players can become Tsviets too.

It seems that Azul and Shalua made an appearance during BC. Is it possible that more DC characters are going to be seen in BC?

Kitase: As BC is heading towards its better state [in terms of the plot], I doubt that there will be any more links [with BC and DC]. However, since this whole project is a “living thing” under development, it is uncertain what will become of it.

This is about Weiss. Why is it that he was “sleeping” [throughout DC]?

Chiba: Actually, after the unification of DG, Weiss’s whereabouts became unknown. Nero, who kept this information from the rest of the DG and continued on ruling and controlling the rest of the DGs. And after that, it’s the background story… of how he met up with Hojo.

It seems that while Weiss is in a state of sleeping, it created a chance for Hojo, who is [supposed to be] dead to come into contact to him.

Chiba: Weiss is basically a character that contains all the special abilities [good stuff] of the DG soldiers. That is why he is able to use SND as Shelke used hers, and that is also how Hojo caught hold of him and used him in reverse.

Kitase: After the meteor disaster, the once broken network was being restored during the timeline of DC. The revival festival of Kalm is a celebration of the restoration of connection along with a chain of events. And with the successful hook up of the network, this leads to the incident of Hojo.

Nomura: In very early stages, we planned to have Weiss with cables stuck inside his body. And then draw him without wearing anything on his top half. We also planned to have these cables hooked up to a computer, which is used by Hojo.

You could take it [think] that the Omega that was created when Nero and Weiss become one is because of Hojo when Nero was being distracted. Omega is born from the pure Lifestream, so does that mean the Omega we see in DC is completely different form than the original Omega [that was described in Lucrecia’s reports]?

Chiba: It is a completely different object than the original Omega that was expected [to be born out of natural causes]. As a result of being a completely different object than its original form, you can also say that the way in which this artificial Omega was created [the reversal process] brings harm and devastation.

[This question is basically asking the difference between the real Omega and the artificial Omega that Hojo tried to replicate.]

Dirge of Cerberus Interview Part 4 – And then thereafter…

Yoshinori Kitase – Producer
Takayoshi Nakazato – Director
Tetsuya Nomura – Illustrator/Character Designer
Hiroki Chiba – Scenario

After the incident, we can see that Shelke is living with Tifa and people leading an ordinary life. It appears that she does not have to rely on Mako baths anymore. If that is true, could we please hear about the reason behind this?

Chiba: I was thinking if it could be her sister who might have been revived in the ending gave her the strength [to live on without Mako baths].

Kitase: When Omega was defeated, the thing [that resembles Mako-snow] that rained down was the Lifestream. It will be great if that person [Shalua] can wake up.

Chiba: We are going to elaborate more on that if there is a sequel. *laughs*

Nakazato: And I want to make her grow up a lot more [rapidly]. *laughs*

What kind of life is Shelke going to lead after the game [in the future]?

Nomura: I think she wants to be with Vincent. Though this is how it’s said, based on Vincent’s personality, I don’t think he will adhere [stay] with her. Even if she is unable to leave yet unable to stay, I feel that she will be in a relative distance around Vincent.

Her look in ordinary clothing [the one she wears at the ending] is quite shocking [astonishing].

Nomura: I was thinking, “Am I going to use that ?” Although I was being told to draw the ordinary clothing, since I was thinking if it will be good to get something out during the scene of reminisce. Lastly, while having tea at 7th Heaven, although she came out [shrewdly] looking as a Soldier and said “Hey” [meaning she didn’t feel comfortable to wear the DG uniform in front of Cloud and people], it seems that at the end she wants to reserve it [DG clothing].

[Here it’s basically saying how Shelke wants to save her DG clothing even though she doesn’t belong to DG anymore.]

It is said that her clothing is based on a concept of “something cute”, is this true?

Nomura: Nope, rather, I was aiming for the “ordinary girl” look, and I just followed that idea and drew. At the end, I just wanted to show that she returned to being someone who she really is.

Please tell us the character(s) that you are fond of in DC.

Nakazato: I like Azul [very much]. When Chiba was writing the scenario for me, to the stage where we decide on the voice actors, I felt that this is the way [the image] that Azul should be.

[He’s saying that everything matches Azul perfectly from head to toe.]

Chiba: Since I am the key [as in the most important/critical person] to the making of the scenario, I have to say I like Shelke after all. In terms of her expression, the way her face is portrayed is in tremendous detail. “Move towards this way a little bit” and “This time stay like this”, they really did a rather fine job of making her.

[He is saying how her movements are so delicate and the way that they made her expressions are done with a lot of details.]

Nomura: It’s probably Rosso. Though we are speak of characters that are not originally in FF7, and there are also quite a few members in coming from Tsviet, Rosso is probably [of all the Tsviet] on quite a different line [level] when I drew it. I think Rosso is definitely one of the unique creations that I have out of all the characters I have drawn.

Kitase: After all, I think Reeve was quite amusing *laughs*. In the first reunion [of Reeve and Vincent in DC], we didn’t think about making a human copy or anything interesting for him. Though we didn’t intend to have that scene in the script, I tried and said, “Let’s do it.” From then on, we have setup a character profile for him. Although it wasn’t an openhearted laugh [joke], we want to see a “Wow, this guy’s amusing” actions expressed by Reeve. And since in the previous production [FF7] we weren’t sure what kind of person Reeve is, we imagined that he’s someone that doesn’t have a lot of people following [in contact with] him. Therefore, this time around, we revamped his position in DC. During the production of DC, we were also in the middle of AC’s production. When I heard Nomura ask, “Is Reeve going to make an appearance in AC?” I said, “Only his voice, but not himself.” And since I liked the idea, I did what I like [I went ahead and made it come true in DC]. And since the overall story of DC is quite heavy [serious], we thought about Yuffie and pondered if she can become a character for some comical relief.

Dirge of Cerberus Interview Part 5 – Collaboration with Gackt

Yoshinori Kitase – Producer
Takayoshi Nakazato – Director
Tetsuya Nomura – Illustrator/Character Designer
Hiroki Chiba – Scenario

Please let us know what aims made you decide on collaborating with Gackt.

Nakazato: Though we have a lot of candidates when we were deciding who we should get [to sing the theme song], at the end we wanted to aim for someone who can make a huge impact. Then we thought, “It would be great to have the person who sings this theme song match and represent the image of Dirge of Cerberus.” At the end it became a favor that we asked from Gackt.

Nomura: Though that’s how it is for the songs, we have actually been thinking if he should do some voice acting on another compilation title. But since it couldn’t come true over there [the other compilation title], it became something like “Why don’t we try this on DC and have a theme song instead.” Although there are many female artists’ images that can represent the female characters of the FF series, after the talk about wanting to have a male artist, Gackt, who was one of the candidates, was being suggested. It became a thing which I feel is the most suitable towards the world setting of DC. Not only is he someone who [closely] sticks to my own world setting; to a certain extent in the world of FF7, it is also has a meaning of a thing that is being finished. Though it is not sure whether or not that side [Gackt] has experienced uncertainty, he accepted and agreed willingly [upon our request].

Not only responsible for singing the theme song, but also appearing in the FMV, are these all decided at the same time when [you made the decision to collaborate with Gackt]?

Kitase: While we were going ahead and [making sure that we go along as we have planned earlier in the talk] trying to get Gackt to sing the theme song, and since he is going to appear in the promotion video as a character, we were thinking about having Gackt do some voice acting, “Wouldn’t it be interesting if we can hear his voice too?” The atmosphere of Gackt and our image of the characters in the FF series are quite similar, so I felt why don’t we let him make an appearance in the state as it is? We also considered [about how we will be able to make] this piece interesting if Gackt didn’t only make a voice contribution, but also appear in person.

We heard Gackt also gave some suggestions on [G’s clothing] design. What kind of suggestions did he give?

Kitase: For example, when Nomura was in the middle of designing the clothes, we were wondering if the coloring should be white or black, we also have many other variations in mind. But at the end, Gackt chose red.

Nomura: In the beginning there were black, white, and red. Even though I say black, Kitase says white, we still decided that it’s better if we respect the wish of whatever the wearer’s choice is.

Upon the completion of the design, is there such a thing like “I want to create something [with an image] like this”?

Nomura: Since that costume was planned to have a theme of “One-wing,” according to the design, it will become a coat that has feathers wrapped around the patches [squares and tiles] section. It’s basically a design where the whole body is almost wrapped with feathers. [Could we say that] after we incorporated his [Gackt’s] ideas, it somehow became his design as well? And what is left is that, since it was not finished at the time, we just drew it as an unfinished design.

[He is saying how there were certain things that were decided before they consulted Gackt’s idea, and after they consulted Gackt, it was still a very basic concept which they were not really certain about. It only became a confirmed design when it was at the last stage of the production.]

Kitase: Though at the very beginning when the prototype of the clothing design was out, there were going to be black belts with the images of wing[s] hanging fully from the design, we listened to the ideas about the length and balance of the decorations given by Gackt, since he will be the one wearing this costume in action. There were many instances and things that happened when he tried to put the costume on but he couldn’t move. *laughs* And since this time, he will be appearing with a CG character at the same time, we’ve paid special attention to the design [overall impression] of how he looks afterward wearing the costume, so that we could make sure the head and body balance are the same for both Gackt and Vice [the CG character].

It feels that the theme song [Redemption] and [Longing] matches the theme [of DC] quite well. What kind of request was made to Gackt when he was composing these songs?

Kitase: About the ending song, our request in the beginning was to make it a ballad. We knew that Gackt has a lot of wonderful ballads [amongst his songs], so when we first got together and talked it over, we requested the same type of ballad that Gackt has been doing. In the middle of the production, Gackt was saying [suggesting] aside, “How about making it sound like this?”, and that’s how Redemption came to be.

Nomura: Since I have been thinking for a while to have a song as intensive as this, I passed it with no objection and accepted it.

Chiba: I wanted to see [and bring out] the game scenario and game play no matter what, and when I saw Gackt’s image, I said to myself “This is it!” and that essentially became how I feel.

Nakazato: Before Gackt [started on something], we sent him all the related information including the ending sequence to him, we asked him to compose a song that can express the things that happened in that scene. When we have to master-up [final touch up] this game, Gackt’s Live [the song] became extensively heavy [recording], and we didn’t have enough time to spare and play the scene all over again. However, as more staff personnel are moving over to the Hakata site, we [finally] get to have a chance to check over the whole video.

Section 1 – Mass SOLDIER Desertion

Q1-1: Please tell us the full story behind the incident.

A1-1: Genesis, who had learnt the truth about who he was, was approached by Hollander who offered to save him from his deterioration on the condition that he assists him in his plot for revenge, which he agrees to. To build an army capable of opposing ShinRa, he took the SOLDIERs who would form the basis for the Copies to Banora… and that’s how it went.

Q1-2: Angeal seemed to have received word of the incident during Zack’s training, but did he realise at that point that Genesis have turned traitor?

A1-2: The only message Angeal received during the training was that a mass SOLDIER desertion had occurred, with Genesis at the head, and that operations in Wutai had been suspended. He expects that the reason for Genesis’ desertion has something to do with his ‘deterioration’. But with the other SOLDIERs making assumptions about what he was planning to do by deserting, he doesn’t come to the definite conclusion that Genesis has turned traitor on them.

He has known Genesis for a long time, so he’s conflicted between anticipating that Genesis may have betray them, while also wanting to trust in Genesis and denying his doubts, by not wanting him to have betrayed them and thinking he wouldn’t turn traitor. When he was deployed to Wutai, he didn’t assume that there would be Genesis Copies there either.

Q1-3: Please tell us about the events that lead up to Angeal’s disappearance during the mission in Wutai.

A1-3: As mentioned in 1-2, Angeal encountered Genesis while he was still unable to fathom Genesis’ true motives.

At this unexpected meeting, Angeal hears the details of what was happening from Genesis, and tries to persuade him to return to ShinRa. But Genesis refuses Angeal’s requests, and instead suggests that Angeal assist with the plans for revenge against ShinRa and invites him to Banora where their base is.

Angeal plans to persuade Genesis and solve the problem on his own, and wants to avoid getting Zack involved. So, judging that it wouldn’t be feasible to persuade Genesis before Zack returns, he consents to going to Banora with Genesis. Angeal has no intention of aiding Genesis, and accompanies him because he plans to gradually persuade Genesis in Banora.

Afterwards at the apple mill, Angeal hears about the situation from Genesis, and also learns the secret of his birth. Upon learning that he is a monster, Angeal loses the pride he had as a SOLDIER, and is driven to despair. Thus, despite having refused to aid Genesis and Hollander, he also cannot return to ShinRa, and begins to agonise over what course he should take from then on.

And as a result of Hollander and Genesis extracting some of Angeal’s cells, Angeal’s Copies appear during the attack on Midgar. Due to the timing, while Angeal had given in to despair and didn’t know what he should do with himself, the extraction of his cells went relatively trouble-free.

Q1-4: How far back was Genesis’ injury in the training room happen from the mass SOLDIER desertion? And was it this event that lead to Genesis learning the truth about who he is?

A1-4: His injury happened several months prior to mass desertion. Time passes from when Hollander sees Genesis’s injuries and begins his research into the deterioration and they until move into action.

When Hollander went to seek Genesis’ aid, he also revealed the secret of his birth. Thus, while his injury did lead to it, the exact timing of Genesis learning the truth was a little while after his injury.

Q1-5: Having being forced into a sinecure in the science department, does Hollander set his plans for revenge into action upon examining Genesis’ wounds?

A1-5: Yes. Despite losing the power struggle, Hollander couldn’t leave ShinRa and continued be employed for years by the science department while practically living in disgrace. So his evaluation of himself and his dissatisfaction towards ShinRa was building up. Then, spurred by Genesis’ injury, he learns of the ‘Copy’ phenomenon and he realises he can use this to get his own back on ShinRa and Hojo. However, the power he had (accidentally) obtained was greater than he had expected, and things soon escalated to not only getting his own back on ShinRa, but into a full-blown plot for revenge.

Q1-6: When did Hollander disappear?

A1-6: Roughly the same time as Genesis. After Genesis overthrows Banora, he sets up the equipment in village apple mill and begins producing Copies. The Copies that appear in Wutai were created in Banora, but their reason for being there was not to attack Wutai, but to seek the aid of Angeal, who was coming to Wutai.

Section 2 – Jenova Project

Q2-1: What is the time difference between the start of Jenova Project S and Jenova Project G? And out of Genesis, Sephiroth and Angeal, is Genesis the eldest?

A2-1: Project S and Project G began at roughly the same time. They were lead by Hojo and Hollander respectively, and the department head Gast has little participation in either project.

The order of their births goes Angeal & Genesis > Sephiroth, but it’s fine to think of them as being around the same age. Angeal and Genesis were created at roughly the same time, and were deemed as failed projects when they were babies. Project S took the results from Project G and added further improvements, so Sephiroth’s birth was later than Angeal and Genesis’.

Q2-2: At what point in time was Project G deemed to be a failure?

A2-2: The verdict on the outcome of project had already been made when Angeal and Genesis were babies.

The Jenova Project was originally started with the aim of creating an Ancient. They didn’t get the data they had expected from Angeal and Genesis, and they were considered failures (although Hollander states in the game that Angeal was a success, at the time Project G was seen to be a complete failure). At the same time Project G was frozen, and abandoned.

On the other hand, Sephiroth showed the anticipated merit, and was deemed a success. Thanks to this Hojo seizes control of the science department, and Hollander loses his position within the department.

Q2-3: What are the crucial differences in the experimental processes for those born from Project S and those born from Project G?

A2-3: Put simply, it’s a difference between when the Jenova cells were injected into the body, and the concentration and purity of the Jenova cells.

Sephiroth was implanted with Jenova cells at the embryonic stage. Angeal was born from an ovum from Gillian, who has Jenova cells, and developed in her womb. Genesis was born from a fertilized egg cell unrelated to Jenova, and at the embryonic stage was implanted with genes from Gillian, who has Jenova cells.

In other words, because Sephiroth received Jenova cells with a high level of purity at an early stage of development, he ends up inheriting Jenova’s abilities the best.

Q2-4: Why did Gillian say “Genesis can’t kill me”?

A2-4: When Genesis, who wants to stop his deterioration, returns to Banora he kills all the villagers, but leaves Gillian alive. This was because he had heard from Hollander that they would need Gillian (her assistance) to stop the deterioration.

Genesis continued to request that Gillian assist them or cure the deterioration, but as Gillian considers the experiment itself a mistake, she obstinately refused. Because of this, Gillian concluded that they must not be able to kill her, as she can cure the deterioration.

As Gillian eventually takes her own life Hollander becomes, for all intents and purposes, the only remaining scientist who could stop the deterioration. Gillian is one of the scientists involved with Genesis’ birth, but as for if she could actually have stopped Genesis’ deterioration or not, we’d like to keep that a secret.

The aid from Gillian that Hollander was supposing to gain was not her genes, but refers to her scientific knowledge and information. But because he was unable to get any information at all from Gillian, researching it on his own becomes Hollander’s only recourse for stopping the deterioration.

Section 3 – Banora

Q3-1: – Tell us about the establishment of Banora village please.

A3-1: The history of Banora village and Jenova Project G is below.

• At first Banora village was a site ShinRa wanted for Mako mining. (Once ShinRa discovered Mako, it surveyed many places for mako, and this was one of their developments.)
• But under the circumstances was impossible to continue construction. In order to continue with the mako mine they would have to conceal it, so ShinRa constructed Banora village. ShinRa officials were instated on the board of town trustees to keep it under surveillance. Eventually, ShinRa loses interest, and the town is liberated.
• The Jenova Project begins.
• Project G is labeled a failure. Wishing to distance herself from ShinRa, Gilian is caught trying to flee with Angeal. After that, mother and child are transported to Banora, and are secretly kept under surveillance. At about the same time, Genesis was brought to foster parents in Banora, also secretly kept under surveillance.
• When Genesis was growing up, he found the remains of the mako mine under Banora by chance, and used it as his secret playground.
• Before Zack headed to Banora, Genesis and Hollander had converted the village to be the base for the production of copies. Hollander would conduct his research underground in “Cursed Jail Cells” and “The Screaming Fang”.
• After Zack returned from Modeohiem, Genesis used it as his base. In that space, he worked intensely to create more copies to re-organize his army. With Genesis as the leader, further remodeling was added to the facility.

Banora village was like the freezer for Project G, functioning as a place to keep those involved with Project G confined.

Banora was given subsidized funds to hide the construction of the mako facility and as well as for the surveillance of Gillian, Genesis, and Angeal. As they were expected to demonstrate special abilities, it wasn’t only to survey the progress of Project G but also to conceal the information about the inhumane experiments being conducted.

The villagers were not told that Gillian, Angeal, and Genesis were connected to ShinRa, though a few people knew of it such as Genesis’ foster parents and the town trustees.

As for Angeal and Genesis, the secret of their births was concealed from them. The papers of the Jenova Project were important secrets of ShinRa, and the very existence of the project needed to be concealed.

As for Gillian, ShinRa attempted to offer her hush money, but she refused to accept. She considered her involvement in the experiment to be a mistake and wished to distance herself from ShinRa, including her past as a ShinRa scientist and the secret of Angeal’s birth, even hiding it from Angeal’s step-father. Angeal’s step father had a weak constitution, made a poor wage, and acted very compulsively, but Gillian still refused the money from ShinRa.

Q3-2: There are those called “G Series SOLDIERS,” are these other children created within Project G besides Genesis and Angeal? Were they all born in Banora, and were they monitored with the anticipation of them joining SOLDIER when they were older?

A3-2: Of the children born because of Project G, Genesis and Angeal were the only survivors.

It was Genesis’ foster parents duty to observe him, and to stay in communication with ShinRa. It is feasible that Genesis received an education from ShinRa because of his parents. However Genesis’ feelings had changed, and it can be surmised that they came to a point where they didn’t mind deceiving ShinRa for the sake of their son. On the other hand, since Gillian considered a relationship with ShinRa to be foolish, she completely refused to allow Angeal to go into SOLDIER’s special training. At any rate, they weren’t given the systematic specialized education for becoming a SOLDIER and their relation to ShinRa was still kept secret.

However, through ShinRa’s information management, public opinion came to be “ShinRa should undertake protecting our livelihood” and “SOLDIERs are the allies of the citizens, fighting to protect their peaceful way of life.” Particularly, Banora as a village closely connected to ShinRa had many supporters of the company. For that reason, not only Genesis and Angeal, but many of the villagers took jobs related to ShinRa, recognizing it as making them a success in life and a winner.

Following that trend, Genesis volunteered for SOLDIER and as his close friend, Angeal volunteered as well.

Q3-3: Please inform us about the creation of the cave under Banora that serves as the Last Dungeon. We could see some remnants of the human testing that went on there, were these experiments the vestiges of Project G, or from a different set of experiments?

A3-3: As we said in Answer 3-1, the underground cave was originally the site for a ShinRa mako mine, and Banora village was established to conceal this.

Genesis found the cave by chance during his childhood, and used it as his “secret base.” However, it was only used as a child’s playground at this point, as Genesis didn’t have any type of ambition at this point. And after Genesis joined ShinRa as a SOLDIER, it wasn’t used at all.

Just before the start of the game, when Hollander and those who wanted revenge against ShinRa started mobilizing, Genesis suggested to use this cave as a base, and they started consolidating there. As Zack and Tseng were investigating Banora village, Hollander was advancing his research to make even stronger copies. Those traces of human experiments are not part of Project G, but are traces of the research used to organize the army of copies that would take revenge on ShinRa. However, after Hollander was captured by ShinRa the experimental facility was abandoned.

Just before Zack arrives on the scene at Modeohiem, Genesis attacked Hollander, trying to get the medical process to treat degradation out of him. Up to that point Genesis had only cooperated with Hollander under the condition that he would give him the medical treatment for degradation, and once he found this out, their positions were reversed. Genesis put Hollander under his control. From thereafter Genesis would use the underground cave as his base, and under his command it would be remodeled and have additions built into it, at last reaching it’s current design.

Section 4 – Actions of Holland and Genesis’ Army

Q4-1: In Modeoheim, Holland says that even Hojo doesn’t know where the Jenova cells are hidden. However Hojo does actually know where they are; was he deceiving Hollander?

A4-1: The hiding place of the Jenova cells is confidential, so information about it is strictly controlled. Therefore even the fact that Hojo knows where the cells are is concealed. So rather than saying Hojo was deceiving him, it’s more that ShinRa was hiding the information.

Q4-2: In the later stages of the story SOLDIER members are dispatched to mako reactors around the world; was the Genesis Army attacking the mako reactors in search of the Jenova cells to stop the deterioration?

Q4-2: At the time of the Junon attack the Genesis Army were searching for the Jenova cells, and when Zack escapes from the ShinRa manor they were working to distract ShinRa and scatter their military forces.

Genesis begins to act to find the Jenova cells after the events in Modeoheim, but as he was standing by while upgrading his base and producing Copies and such, there were no actions publicly.

By the time Zack is taking his break in Costa del Sol the Genesis Army’s preparations are complete and they begin their search for the Jenova cells. As part of their strategy, they start rebellions across the globe to distract ShinRa and scatter their military forces.

Section 5 – About Angeal

Q5-1: Angeal is in fact Hollander and Gillian’s son by blood, which makes Hollander and Gillian very similiar to Hojo and Lucrecia, but were they married? Or, did Gillian only provide the experiment with her egg and womb, which means that they were only working together? So, in truth which man was “Angeal’s father” in terms of Gillian’s actual marital status?

A5-1: “Angeal’s father” was Gillian’s husband. They met after she escaped to Banora with Angeal, and then married. Gillian kept the truth about Angeal’s birth and the related research a secret from her husband. Angeal, being young and having no memory of that past, considered the father he had growing up to be his real father.

As far as any marital relationship between Hollander and Gillian is concerned, that is a secret.

Q5-2: After Genesis’ wound, Angeal helps stop Sephiroth from donating blood. From the looks of things, could it be that at the time of the wound that Angeal knew about his and Genesis’ birth?

A5-2: At the time of the blood donation, Angeal did not know the secret of their birth. In the production, it seems as though when Angeal stops Sephiroth and volunteers himself, Sephiroth and Angeal are both making their requests, “I’ll do it” “No, I’ll do it” in effect each blocking each other.

Finally, Hollander declines with, “Sephiroth can’t preform the blood transfusion” and instead selects Angeal. with Angeal not thinking that, “He selected me because I’m a G-Type SOLDIER,” but rather coming to the conclusion of, “Sephiroth can’t preform the blood transfusion so he selected me.”

Section 6 – About Genesis

Q6-1: Please tell us about the parents who raised Genesis, the land owners of Banora.

A6-1: As was answered in A3-1, Genesis was sent to be fostered by the landowners of Banora, who were affiliated with ShinRa.

Despite being under observation, after living as parents and child for so many years Genesis’ ‘parents’ eventually become attached to him, and are willing to betray ShinRa to protect him. However, his foster parents’ true intent doesn’t get through to Genesis, and kills even his parents.

Q6-2: What was Genesis’ objective?

A6-2: His objective was to cure the deterioration. He looked for the way, and as mentioned in A4-2 and A4-3 he took various actions towards that goal. However, as he was unable to take Cloud’s cells, and with the death of Hollander, he lost the way to stop his deterioration, so as his final recourse he turned to the Lifestream.

Q6-3: After Genesis is collected in the ShinRa helicopter you can see a sheet of paper saying “To become the dew that quenches the land; to spare the skies, the seas to sands; I shall become an unspoken offering.” Is this phrase from the lost final chapter of LOVELESS?

A6-3: The final chapter of LOVELESS is missing, and nothing official exists in the world of FFVII. Experts study it, and there are currently various theories about it. The phrase you mentioned is the final chapter of LOVELESS as Genesis conceived it, and reflects Genesis’ state of mind.

By being defeated by Zack, Genesis is able to regain the pride he had as a SOLDIER, and with Sephiroth and Angeal now dead, he decided that it is up to him, who has being left behind, to protect the world. And so, in order to prepare for the day when a crisis threatens the world, Genesis seals himself in the flooded chamber on his own volition. This is the true meaning of Genesis’ version of the phrase from the final chapter of LOVELESS, and at the same time the true meaning of the secret movie in DC (see A7-3).

Section 7 – Connection to Dirge of Cerberus

Q7-1: In DC’s G Reports, it says that “G”, one of the ‘two taboos’, bears an epithet signifying ‘unique’. What does this mean?

A7-1: The ‘two taboos’ refers to Sephiroth and Genesis. In comparison to Sephiroth, the strongest and worst SOLDIER who tried to seize the life of the planet, Genesis was considered a unique SOLDIER who sealed himself away to protect the planet.

The ShinRa Company, in an effort to conceal the relationship between the company and Genesis who had threatened the world, relegated information regarding Genesis to the highest level of secrecy and forbids even the use of the name ‘Genesis’. Thus some of the scientists who knew detailed information on Genesis began to refer to Genesis as “G, to whom has been added a word signifying ‘unique’”. This is just like how Weiss, Nero, Rosso and Azul were given codenames corresponding to colours.

As for what exactly the name meaning ‘unique’ is, that’s a secret at present.

Q7-2: In DC it is said that “the appearance of G changed the course of Deepground (DG)” and “SOLDIERs branded with epithets of colour are the hell spawn of G”. Does this mean that Weiss and the other Tsviets with colour epithets who were created in DG were created using the results of Project G for reference?

A7-2: Yes. Only the DG SOLDIERs who have been injected with Genesis’ genes could become a Tsviet with a colour epithet.

Q7-3: You call tell from the voices that the two men who appear by helicopter and recover Genesis are DC’s Nero and Weiss, but what do they mean when they say “apparently he’s a brother of ours” and “however… will he agree to it?”? From DC’s hidden movie you can interpret that Genesis has been laid to rest in the cave under Midgar up until he awakens, but…?

A7-3: The ‘elder brother’ is used in the figurative sense. If they are injected with Genesis’ genes, that creates a connection, a bond between the cellular units. That is what is meant by ‘brother’.

In CC Nero and Weiss are on a mission to recover Genesis, so in this case “will he agree to it?” means “will he agree to join us or not?” But, as in the response for A6-3, Genesis rejects it and decides to have himself sealed in the water-filled chamber below Midgar.

To someone who has only played DC, when they watch the secret movie in that game they will take it as “an ominous being sealed in a water-filled chamber has been release onto the world”, but if you watch the movie again after having completed CC then one could go 180 degrees and interpret it in a completely different way.

Section 8 – About Lazard

Q8-1: Consolidating what you hear from people and the contents of his emails, is Lazard the illegitimate child of President ShinRa and a woman from the slums, and Rufus ShinRa’s older half-brother?

A8-1: Yes. Because his mother was abandoned by President ShinRa, Lazard holds a grudge towards him. So he joined the ShinRa Company and continued to be on the lookout for a chance to get his revenge on President ShinRa. This is his motive for cooperating with Hollander.

Q8-2: Was Lazard’s rare visit to the battle field, when he normally only does desk work, so he could make contact with the Genesis Army?

A8-2: It was to evaluate Zack. Officially, it was to evaluate his abilities as a SOLDIER 1st Class, but in actuality it was a secret investigation into the risk of Zack standing in the way of his plans for revenge against ShinRa.

Q8-3: When did Lazard ally himself with Hollander?

A8-3: Right after Hollander treated Genesis’ injuries.

Lazard’s motive was to get revenge for his mother who had been ignored, but he had no actual means of putting it into action. He’s thought of using SOLDIER in some way, so I think he would have make use of his position and visited the science department on several occasions. There he discovered Hollander, who was moping around and moaning, constantly hoping to regain his status, but he too was powerless.

It was at that time that Genesis’ injury occurred. By treating Genesis’ injury Hollander became aware of the Copy phenomenon, and he reported this to Lazard. Taking advantage of Hollander making contact with him, Lazard decides to use him in his revenge, and reveals his plans for revenge against ShinRa to Hollander. So in this way it is in Hollander and Lazard’s mutual interests, and so they align with each other.

Q8-4: At the end of mission 8-5-6 “Treasure Info #6″, Yuffie says that a blond haired man brought a list of SOLDIER members to her father. Is this referring to Lazard? Or is it Rufus ShinRa, in light of the events of BC?

A8-4: We’ll leave that to your imagination.