Zack's death

[Kermitu Kleric Katie]

How do you think they should show Zack's death scene? I would like it to be more like the Crisis Core version, where Zack faces countless soldiers all for his best friend Cloud, dying due to the overwhelming numbers, and all the while he heart wrenching Price of Freedom is playing in the background. The OG version was kinda underwhelming as it had no music(sad music really helps make a scene sadder. Aerith's death wouldn't be nearly as sad had, say, Descendant of Shinobi or the Chocobo Theme been playing instead) and it made Zack seem kinda wimpy by having him lose to 3 shinra solders due to a simple gunshot. Of course, I'm not saying it should be exactly like the CC version, as things like, say, actually controlling Zack and ending the scene with a J-pop song as it cuts to the credits, wouldn't make sense in a remake of the OG, but it should definitely take cues from the CC portrayal of the scene. And hopefully they still play The Price of Freedom, as I thought that song was the best song in CC and fit thee scene very well. What do you guys think? How would you like to see the scene portrayed.

As a side note, I think they should also make the scene itself easier to see. Like maybe have an NPC hint that you should return to Shinra mansion or put it in a place players are more likely to find it, or maybe even make it a non-optional and have it play during the story (ike right after the LIfestream sequence for example).

 

[Starling]

Like it or not, seeing Zack fight to the death isn't all that important when showing Cloud's perspective, which would be somewhat limited. I think they'd be better off suggesting there were more MPs offscreen while only showing the ones that end up actually gunning Zack down, sticking closer to the OG depiction than the CC one. I've said before I enjoy both versions for different reasons and I'd like to see something more akin to an updated version of the OG scene than basically the same thing as the CC one.

The music should stay subdued or absent to reflect the tone the OG scene conveyed. I feel that lack of music helps convey that it wasn't meant as a big heroic last stand, but rather Zack desperately trying to make it back to Midgar with Cloud and dying before he could make it, with the sheer hopelessness and cruelty of having fallen short by so little. You can also feel the sense of loss within that silence. Silence can be an important tool to convey that kind of thing. I mean, have you ever heard of negative space in art and what it's for? That kind of thing seems to be under appreciated more often than not.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I hope they stick to the original version as closely as possible. Zack was the hero of Crisis Core, but in FFVII he is only a minor, flashback character - although one with major significance to the plot.

 

[NikolaiBroketheZoom]

• I read somewhere that they were initially going to tone down the blood in CC, and I'm glad they didn't. Seeing Zack in that state fucked Cloud up.
  
  
• In the OG IIRC, the scene was optional. It's very important, so I think it should be a little easier to come across.
  
  
• I think the death scene in the OG was better. Cloud didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Zack, he didn't get any confirmation or comfort. He just took Zack's sword and made the decision to "continue Zack's legacy". By having Zack verbally tell Cloud to become his living legacy, I think it cheapened Cloud's character a bit TBH. Taking on Zack's memories should be Cloud's coping mechanism, not Zack's dying request.
  
  
• As for music, I would be fine with both subdued/no music or sad music. I cried like a big ol babby at the CC version, and the OG version left me feeling almost uncomfortable by the end of the scene, watching such an important event in Cloud's life with no background music. I think both versions worked well in different ways in this regard.

 

[Flare]

I think even if CC is canon (which I consider it to be), that they can still make it pretty dang close to how the og portrayed it and make it come off excellent. I mean, It's from Cloud's POV, so he doesn't see the whole fight between Zack and the army, and then afterwards he doesn't remember things the best during the og, so it would make sense that even if him and Zack exchanged words, he wouldn't remember it later on.

 

[Starling]

There's also a chance Zack thought he said more than he did, considering he got shot in the head a few times and by all rights shouldn't have still been conscious by then. Cloud's memories really do work best as a coping mechanism rather than being explained way by a dying request. On a related note, a common problem I have with the way Zack's death tends to be described in fanfics is that they often feel like they're missing the point or using it to add unnecessary angst to the story.

 

[Theozilla]

I think an interesting way to do the flashback, particularly the Zack's death, would be to have the cinematography literally be from Cloud's first person perspective, with the "camera" being situated to be Cloud's own POV. They could do a lot of stuff such as blurring images, making the "camera" go out of focus, and slurring dialogue to simulate Cloud's experience.

It could also be used to try to please/compromise with OG-only/primary fans who prefer the minimalist scene version by having the sensory "glitches" used to (as Starling previously mentioned) make the more melodramatic CC elements (I prefer the CC version FYI) more "subtly suggested and/or "muffled" for lack of a better word (e.g. blacking out the screen/cloud blacking out but hearing the audio of the several Shinra soldiers battling Zack, then regain visuals when only the final three are left, and during the conversation scene maybe have the audio/dialogue muffled/slurred partially (but keep significant words clear) when Zack is talking).

 

[Random Nobody]

The original is better to me just as a matter of taste, but I also think that it's better suited thematically. Two of my biggest beefs with the Compilation (I honestly do not like it that much) are the massive tonal shift away from the OG and the wash of oversimplification (of characterisation, of morality, in favour of conceptual simplicity and meaningless abstraction), and I really think that the retcon of Zack's death is one of the things emblematic of that.

Nobody in SOLDIER was a hero. Every single one of them was a villain, whether they realised this or not (in fact you could make a very good argument that ALL the playable characters in the world of FFVII are villain protagonists), but irrespective of moral arguments, Zack getting this maudlin, melodramatic, superheroic death and metaphorically (literally?) being lifted up on angel's wings to heaven (what?) seems counter-intuitive to what Kitase was trying to achieve in 1997. Kitase himself said that the abruptness of Aerith's death was meant to convey his own feelings about the passing of his mother, and to that end, he also clarified that "death comes suddenly and there is no notion of good or bad. It leaves no dramatic feeling, but great emptiness."

Zack's death was pointless, dirty, thoughtless, quick, gruesome (think about the state bodies are in after they are riddled with bullets). It was meant to be fundamentally unfair, and resonate with a renewed tragedy once you realised how swiftly it was forgotten. It was meant to make the player feel uneasy because, like Aerith's death, it intentionally denies the audience any sort of catharsis.

I mean, I get why they changed it because it would be annoying as hell to play through all CC and get cutscene killed by three guys with guns, but the entire thing is just lukewarm to me.

 

[Ite]

It was Sakaguchi's mother, but nobody knows who that is.

"Why" will play. I will bet you a solid dollar they will find a way to work in the "Why" melody somehow.

 

[Jason Tandro]

I think there's a happy medium between the underplayed OG and the "lets see how much feels we can pack into one scene" Compilation version. I actually feel a moment similar to how Aeris's death was handled in the OG would be best. Things get silent and quiet at the moment of death and the fading away of sound and color as life ends and THEN in the aftermath start playing the sad music.

 

[hleV]

I feel like the reason for Cloud being left alive was half-assed and unconvincing. In OG Zack appears to be dead after getting shot and I think they should keep it that way in the Remake, however perhaps Cloud should also appear dead when the MPs are around. Or maybe the MPs should be shown being informed that Zack is the main target, while Cloud is mostly irrelevant (or perhaps Hojo doesn't want him dead if that doesn't contradict the story).

 

[Roger]

Yeah, i'd have Zack kill a whole bunch of soldiers and make Cloud seem like just one more body among them.

 

[Clement Rage]

I reckon they'll compromise. Both versions were valid, they were aiming at different things. They're not completely incompatible, that giant action scene could have happened offscreen.

I feel like the reason for Cloud being left alive was half-assed and unconvincing. In OG Zack appears to be dead after getting shot and I think they should keep it that way in the Remake, however perhaps Cloud should also appear dead when the MPs are around. Or maybe the MPs should be shown being informed that Zack is the main target, while Cloud is mostly irrelevant (or perhaps Hojo doesn't want him dead if that doesn't contradict the story).

I liked that, as I recall, there's no reason given. That works, because you can speculate. They reported Cloud as escaped, which he clearly wasn't, so what? Too many scruples to bring him back to Hojo? Sickened by all the death and unwilling to add to it? Wanting him to suffer? Genuinely wanting him to get away?

I'd rather they left it in.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I was just thinking about this the other day, because this scene is a pretty big thing for me (with it being my favourite moment from the original and Zack being my favourite character). That being said, I wanted to break down a few things.

• The original game's version is bleak and shows how Cloud is left confused and hopeless.
• Crisis Core's is meant to play on your emotions coming from the final mechanics of the DMW, and stitched together with Aerith noticing his death (which we know she would) as well as showing a more heroic and Zack-centered version of him returning to the lifestream.



That being said, I want something that is different than both of these for the remake, and really does the whole thing justice and adds more to it.



We know more about Zack, so there's more to pull on for his flashback, such that it deserves to be an event of its own in the story where Cloud goes back to the ShinRa Manor to trigger his busted little brain into remembering what actually happened, and then maybe he can actually go tell Zack's parents the truth about what happened to their son.


The flashback needs to be a clear indication of the actual series of the events, so that the player gets to see what happened, and we get to know that the whole time Cloud is barely functional from Mako poisoning. Whether we get a little Cissnei cameo or offhanded mention by one of the troops about the army vs. Turks for the rescue vs. kill orders might be a good hat-tip to them, but you don't want to bog it down or cut away from Zack/Cloud at any point.

It still leads up to the event where Zack is dragging little coma-Cloud along and gets attacked. How much of that fight is offscreen doesn't matter, but seeing the three who directly gun him down at point blank is important, because that's the shocking moment where it all comes down. Then you get Zack's final speech -- as delivered in Crisis Core --followed by Cloud's mumbly replies and then we see the whole scene of Zack dying. At this point, it's made clear that Cloud comes around and his VERY first moment of real clarity is snapping back to reality, covered in blood, kneeling at Zack's body, with the Buster Sword in his hand -- and then unleashing that harrowing scream from his lungs while overlooking Midgar.

At THIS point, I want to see a an intercut of tiny moments of Cloud's memories of the events we've seen, but this time from his POV as he drags his way with the Buster Sword to Midgar. Hazy shots of various points of their escape and little fragments or a few of Zack's last words cutting through the blur to him, so we know what he sees during the whole thing and what he didn't (vs. what we as the audience saw). Then as he keeps stumbling forward, I want this to tie directly into him finding his way below the plate of the Midgar and ending up in the Sector 7 trainyard and being found by Tifa, where we see the flashes of memory from the events that we have just seen the REAL version of construct themselves into the amalgamated persona that Cloud has at the start of the game, and we end knowing how the "fake" Cloud came to be, and why those things in particular shaped him how they did.

Overall, I think that this gives a more complete and satisfying version of the events, but also gives the opportunity for the darkness to have some closure if we can bring the knowledge that we know Cloud has to Zack's parents. I think that some sort of lingering emphasis on the location where Zack died is a good way to split them up, and maybe you can get the first in the ShinRa Manor, and the connecting bit after going to that spot overlooking Midgar, that way you still get the bleak "he's dead just outside of where he tried to get" feeling of the ending, but also get the connection to how it formed Cloud as a part of that whole story in line, and it also serves to establish the location there that we see at the start of ACC as somewhere he'd still feel connected to.





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[CrashOuch]

Yeah, I think it's gotta be somewhere in the middle of the OG and the Compilation. It has to be shocking enough and it shouldn't be downplayed too much, you need to understand how much of a horrific event it is and how traumatised it leaves Cloud to explain him 'taking on' Zack's personality. But definitely in CC it's too over the top and too much from Zack's perspective to work in the remade version.

 

[Lex]

"Why" will play. I will bet you a solid dollar they will find a way to work in the "Why" melody somehow.

A month old, but hey I just noticed it

I wouldn't bet on it. It's widely believed that "Why" is the reason Crisis Core is one of only a very small handful of PSP games not available digitally (and Crisis Core is in the top 5 of best selling PSP games ever) due to rights/ licensing issues, which are all kinds of fucked up in Japan (see Zero by Bump of Chicken in Final Fantasy Type-0 HD). Releasing that game on PSN would make them a shitload of money and cost them nothing, so that song is pretty much the only fathomable reason it's never been put up.

That's not to say they wouldn't work in some kind of orchestral cover of the song, but even then I would expect them to cover another motif from Crisis Core.

I envisage them doing the flashback scene more flashback-like rather than the actual scene we see in the original game. Think Cloud's flashbacks during AC - flashes that tell the story but not one long scene. This is assuming they include the flashback sequence at all. I mean I don't see why they wouldn't, but it wasn't in the original Japanese game after all.

 

[hian]

"Why" will play. I will bet you a solid dollar they will find a way to work in the "Why" melody somehow.

A month old, but hey I just noticed it

I wouldn't bet on it. It's widely believed that "Why" is the reason Crisis Core is one of only a very small handful of PSP games not available digitally (and Crisis Core is in the top 5 of best selling PSP games ever) due to rights/ licensing issues, which are all kinds of fucked up in Japan (see Zero by Bump of Chicken in Final Fantasy Type-0 HD). Releasing that game on PSN would make them a shitload of money and cost them nothing, so that song is pretty much the only fathomable reason it's never been put up.

That's not to say they wouldn't work in some kind of orchestral cover of the song, but even then I would expect them to cover another motif from Crisis Core.

I envisage them doing the flashback scene more flashback-like rather than the actual scene we see in the original game. Think Cloud's flashbacks during AC - flashes that tell the story but not one long scene. This is assuming they include the flashback sequence at all. I mean I don't see why they wouldn't, but it wasn't in the original Japanese game after all.

I was pretty sure CC's licensing issues stemmed from Gackt's involvement in the project - or
rather the expiration of their licensing agreement with him.
One track can easily be replaced - the face and large amounts of recorded dialogue on the other hand.

 

[Dragonslayer Ornstein]

Old death had more oomph to it because it was messed up and unglamorous. The new one is so hollywood it basically subverts the gritty reality of what they tried to do with Aerith's death before.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Like I said in my other reply, the differences are because the death scene in the OG & in CC are there to achieve completely different effects -- both of them emotional -- but one of them as a tragic conclusion of events with a painful but optimistic outlook going forward, and the other as a sort of gut-wrenchingly hollow look back to how things came to be. That's why my earlier post postulates that the scene in the remake will find a sort of middle ground (and hopefully expand on it to that end), and also because of the tonal difference, not to mention the licensing issues, I can't see "Why" making it in to that scene.

Also - I'd be INCREDIBLY surprised if the scene didn't make it into the game, specifically because of the fact that Crisis Core is such a huge game, that leaving it out would feel like an incredibly glaring omission -- especially since it's so integral to Cloud's backstory and the development of the initial persona we meet of his at the start of the game.




X

 

[hian]

Also - I'd be INCREDIBLY surprised if the scene didn't make it into the game, specifically because of the fact that Crisis Core is such a huge game, that leaving it out would feel like an incredibly glaring omission -- especially since it's so integral to Cloud's backstory and the development of the initial persona we meet of his at the start of the game.

Crisis Core, as a game, is kinda irrelevant though if we imagine for a moment that SE plans to make this game as a stand-alone reboot of the original made to also catch a lot of new potential fans.

Crisis Core related plot omissions would only feel glaring to people who played Crisis Core, and there aren't all that many of them really, relative to the sales of the original and relative to how many sales the remake is going to have to aim for to cover its eventual production costs.

I don't really see how integral the scene is either - at least any scene above and beyond what you see in the original, since Cloud doesn't actually exhibit a "Zack" persona at all needed justification or expansion in the original.
That aspect is a theory that's been tacked on in aftermath by people over-thinking the plot, which even directly contradicts the very game that expands upon that plot-point, namely, Crisis Core.

Crisis Core Zack and FF7 pre-memory-fix Cloud has almost nothing in common personality-wise. Cloud is a jaded professionalist who exhibits mostly self-interest and a pretty grey moral compass except for when he's directly spurred on by either Tifa or Aerith, while Zack is your typical happy-go-lucky Shounen Manga hero who's out to save the day. They're literally night and day. If anything post-memory fix Cloud has more in common with Zack.
All that may just be shoddy writing though.

The only part of Zack that Cloud ever significantly took on himself was the Nibelheim Flash-back, that he was a 1st Class Soldier, and that he'd become a mercenary.
All of this is pretty much covered in the original, and doesn't need expansion upon to make sense within the structure of the original narrative.
(EDIT :
Also, this makes more sense in many ways - because if Cloud took more of Zack's persona, the discrepancies would cause unendurable cognitive dissonance pretty quickly because Cloud wouldn't know enough about Zack to rationalize the gaps in his knowledge.)
That being the case, depending on time and resources, I don't think there is much reason to assume that we'll see much more to Zack in the remake than we did in the original, except perhaps that the Zack's death flash-back will be mandatory rather than by choice.

If they do decided to change and ret-con a lot of the plot though - they might decide to shoe-horn Zack into the story more prominently.

One thing I can see happening, especially considering the costs of making the base for a huge game like this - is that additional story portions might be added as DLC, such as a prequel sequence with Zack, or a sequel sequence borrowing from AC and DoC etc.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Crisis Core, as a game, is kinda irrelevant though if we imagine for a moment that SE plans to make this game as a stand-alone reboot of the original made to also catch a lot of new potential fans.

While it's made to catch a lot of new interest in potential fans, you don't have to do anything but look at the reaction videos to know who the core audience of this title is gonna be.

Crisis Core related plot omissions would only feel glaring to people who played Crisis Core, and there aren't all that many of them really, relative to the sales of the original and relative to how many sales the remake is going to have to aim for to cover its eventual production costs.

Yes, but there's no way that they're not integrating small pieces of the rest of the Compilation that they've been creating for the last 10+ years, because that is a MASSIVE part of the people who'll be buying this game.

I don't really see how integral the scene is either - at least any scene above and beyond what you see in the original, since Cloud doesn't actually exhibit a "Zack" persona at all needed justification or expansion in the original. That aspect is a theory that's been tacked on in aftermath by people over-thinking the plot, which even directly contradicts the very game that expands upon that plot-point, namely, Crisis Core.

Crisis Core Zack and FF7 pre-memory-fix Cloud has almost nothing in common personality-wise. Cloud is a jaded professionalist who exhibits mostly self-interest and a pretty grey moral compass except for when he's directly spurred on by either Tifa or Aerith, while Zack is your typical happy-go-lucky Shounen Manga hero who's out to save the day. They're literally night and day. If anything post-memory fix Cloud has more in common with Zack.
All that may just be shoddy writing though.

The only part of Zack that Cloud ever significantly took on himself was the Nibelheim Flash-back, that he was a 1st Class Soldier, and that he'd become a mercenary.
All of this is pretty much covered in the original, and doesn't need expansion upon to make sense within the structure of the original narrative.
(EDIT: Also, this makes more sense in many ways - because if Cloud took more of Zack's persona, the discrepancies would cause unendurable cognitive dissonance pretty quickly because Cloud wouldn't know enough about Zack to rationalize the gaps in his knowledge.)

That being the case, depending on time and resources, I don't think there is much reason to assume that we'll see much more to Zack in the remake than we did in the original, except perhaps that the Zack's death flash-back will be mandatory rather than by choice.

I think that's because you're overwhelmingly inaccurate in your analysis of what happened. One, there are some quite notabledifferences between pre-timeskip eager puppy attitude Zack had prior to really knowing Cloud, and his post-timeskip more worn but remaining optimist character.

Cloud's initial persona wasn't ever a copy of who Zack actually was as a person, but more of who he was TO CLOUD. He was the person that Cloud looked up to and who he imagined himself being like when he didn't make it into SOLDIER like he wanted, and it's those bits and pieces stitched together, and reinforced by Cloud's existing memories of their actual interactions that made what happened to Cloud's mind in the OG.

Those flashback scenes have been shown from Advent Children through Crisis Core, so there's a clear emphasis on them being a pretty integral part of the story itself, let alone who Cloud is and the mental issues that he suffers from upon recovering. That's why I see there being a zero possibility of them not being in the game, and I think that while we may get a little expansion based around the existing Compilation content, and a maybe a new point-of-view or something similar, that we wouldn't have any huge new bits of content around them, just a different delivery of the story that might tie everything together more completely than the original game did.




X

 

[Roger]

Crisis Core was popular, as was Zack. Just look at Advent Children Complete and Birth By Sleep to see how they capitalised on his character afterwards. They might be moving away from the Compilation a bit with this installment but Zack'll still be important, count on it.

 

[NikolaiBroketheZoom]

Wow, I didn't even think about Zack being written out of the game :/ Honestly I love Zack so much, I would be really upset if he wasn't properly mentioned. And I've said it before, but I want some closure regarding his fucking parents in fucking Gongaga who still think their fucking baby boy is still alive! Even two seconds during a credits montage to show Cloud opening their door, formally introducing himself, and then presenting them with the Buster Sword would be plenty. THEY THINK THEIR BABY IS ALIVE. THAT'S NOT OKAY .

 

[Starling]

Considering the main reason there was so little mention of Zack in the OG was because they came up with him later in development, I figure they'll probably add what they didn't have time to include the first time around. While a few compilation nods could work, the main focus is the OG and the tone it was going for. While there's likely to be a few compilation nods, I'd rather they not detract from that but rather add to it.

 

[hian]

While it's made to catch a lot of new interest in potential fans, you don't have to do anything but look at the reaction videos to know who the core audience of this title is gonna be..

I'm not sure I buy that. I'm not even sure it's safe to say that expanding on Zack's story is even relevant to that since, most of the old-school FF7 fans I know didn't play Crisis Core, and didn't like the compilation.

You can't have your cake and eat it too - If this game's core audience is going to be the old-school FF7 fans, then CC once again becomes pretty irrelevant - just look at the time-difference, and sales of the two titles. I don't think you'll find a lot of overlap in the two fan-bases.
If anything, most people I know who really enjoyed CC hadn't played the original FF7, or joined the boat with AC.

Yes, but there's no way that they're not integrating small pieces of the rest of the Compilation that they've been creating for the last 10+ years, because that is a MASSIVE part of the people who'll be buying this game..

I would say there is "a lot of way" they'd completely forgo it, or entirely rewrite most of it - Firstly, because really, the compilation doesn't mesh well with the original - meaning that some rewriting is going to be necessary in either case, to make the material integrate better.
Secondly - this is a remake/reboot - saying they have to integrate the compilation as is makes no more sense than saying they have to keep it 100% true to the original.
If they're moving away from the original in certain ways, which they are, they can just as well be moving away from the compilation too.

I also think you really overestimate the reach and appeal of the compilation. The one with the biggest reach and popularity is AC with somewhere between 4-5 millions sales world-wide - meaning that it still hasn't been bough half as much as the original game.
The rest of the compilation even less - some, such as the novellas, even border on niche.

I think that's because you're overwhelmingly inaccurate in your analysis of what happened. One, there are some quite notable differences between pre-timeskip eager puppy attitude Zack had prior to really knowing Cloud, and his post-timeskip more worn but remaining optimist character.

Which still doesn't resemble Cloud much in any way - so what's your point?

Cloud's initial persona wasn't ever a copy of who Zack actually was as a person, but more of who he was TO CLOUD. He was the person that Cloud looked up to and who he imagined himself being like when he didn't make it into SOLDIER like he wanted, and it's those bits and pieces stitched together, and reinforced by Cloud's existing memories of their actual interactions that made what happened to Cloud's mind in the OG.

I don't think I've said anything to the contrary - and I think you're actually making the point for me here.

Yes, he was being what he thought a 1st Class Soldier should be, using what little he know of Zack - and granted the huge personality differences and the lack of expansion on Cloud's supposed Soldier life, the natural conclusion of that is that Cloud really didn't know all that much about Zack in context of the original - perhaps, even to the point that when the original story was written, Cloud and Zack might have met for the first time on the Nibelheim mission (the Japanese dialogue, to my mind, seems to indicate this, due to the lack of familiarity, and social-bond signifiers between the two the few times they speak).

This is why Zack's story doesn't need expansion to make sense in the original, and therefore won't need it in the remake either.
I am not saying cut Zack out here - I am saying it's not necessarily necessary to make a larger tie in to CC to make the remake feel complete in its own right if its focus is primarily on the original narrative.

Those flashback scenes have been shown from Advent Children through Crisis Core, so there's a clear emphasis on them being a pretty integral part of the story itself, let alone who Cloud is and the mental issues that he suffers from upon recovering. That's why I see there being a zero possibility of them not being in the game,

As do I. I never said I didn't think they'd make it into the game - I'm simply saying that it's not more or less unlikely that the scenes we do end up getting will be more in line with the original than the compilation.

and I think that while we may get a little expansion based around the existing Compilation content, and a maybe a new point-of-view or something similar, that we wouldn't have any huge new bits of content around them, just a different delivery of the story that might tie everything together more completely than the original game did.

I think the same thing. I am simply saying that it isn't inherently necessary, and that people shouldn't get disappointed if that doesn't happen.

If SE had come out and said "We're remaking FF7, and making the definite version tying together the entire FF7 universe!" then I'd be thinking more along your lines.
However, they've just said they're remaking 7 - not the compilation, not the universe, not the franchise - just 7.
I take that to possibly mean exactly that - that we're just getting 7.

After all, regardless of development progress etc. it would cost them nothing to confirm a tie in with the compilation.

The fact that the narration in the trailer suggests changes though - suggest to me, that they might actually be doing a down up rewrite of the entire story - not as in changing everything to something else entirely, but as in cleaning up the mess
(Sephiroth's Masamune coming and going into the plot, and magically
going from Sephiroth's hand into the Mako pit, then suddenly being in Shinra Building, then back to the Jenova/Sephiroth for the death of Aerith for instance - makes no sense, needs to change etc.)
and so maybe we'll see an entirely new death sequence for Zack - or an entirely different integration of how Cloud came to be Cloud.

It isn't impossible. It might even be likely.

So, to summarize - I am just saying I don't think anyone should bank on this game trying to integrate compilation material as is.
There really are good reasons to think otherwise.