The Official "How many parts?" Thread

[Tetsujin]

There's been quite a bit of discussion in other threads about this, I think it's high time this topic got its own thread Look, it even comes with a poll!
How many parts do you think the Remake project will ultimately have? Where will the splits occur within the story?
Thoughts about how each part is broken down by chapter? Post them here too!

I had been saying it's either gonna be three or four but since completing part one and seeing how much they're expanding everything I'm firmly in the camp of believing it's gonna be four parts.
Here's my chapter-by-chapter breakdown that I first posted back in April:

Spoiler: FFVII REMAKE PART 2

Chapters:

1. Nibelheim Flashback
2. Kalm / Chocobo Farm (Sidequests)
3. Swamp
4. Mythril Mines
5. Journey to Junon (Fort Condor? Yuffie event?)
6. Junon
7. Cargo Ship
8. Costa del Sol (Sidequests)
9. Corel Mountains
10. North Corel (Sidequests)
11. Gold Saucer (YAY MINIGAMES)
12. Corel Prison / Chocobo Race
13. Gongaga
14. Journey to Cosmo Canyon
15. Cosmo Canyon (Sidequests)
16. Gi Cave
17. Journey to Nibelheim
18. Nibelheim / Shinra Mansion
19. Mt. Nibel / Mako Reactor (Final Dungeon, new event serving as the finale)

Spoiler: FFVII REMAKE PART 3

Chapters:

1. Opening (Escape from Mt. Nibel? Materia Keeper Boss?)
2. Journey to Rocket Town
3. Rocket Town (Sidequests)
4. Journey to Wutai
5. Wutai (Yuffie / Corneo Event)
6. Wutai (Sidequests / New main story event?)
7. Search for the Keystone
8. Gold Saucer Part II: The Saucening
9. Journey to the Temple / Jungle
10. Temple of the Ancients
11. Bone Village / Sleeping Forest
12. Forgotten City
13. Journey through the mountains
14. Modeoheim
15. Icicle Inn (Sidequests)
16. Snowboarding! 8) + Journey to Gaea‘s Cliff
17. Gaea‘s Cliff
18. Northern Crater
19. Center of Northern Crater (Final Boss)

Spoiler: FFVII REMAKE PART 4

Chapters:

1. Junon / Attack of Sapphire Weapon
2. The Search for Cloud
3. Mideel (Sidequests?)
4. North Corel Train Heist
5. Mideel Part 2 / Lifestream (moved up a bit because 4 chapters without Cloud is already like 8 hours without the main character lol)
6. Banora (some new shit)
7. Fort Condor Defense (Avalanche HQ event?)
8. Junon Underwater Reactor / Submarine
9. Rocket Town / Spaaaaaaaace
10. Sunken Gelnika / Emerald Weapon Surprise Story Boss!
11. Padding goes here
12. Gold Saucer Part 3: New Zany Events Await! (sidequests)
13. Search for that weird key (sidequests?) / Back to Forgotten City
14. Diamond, Ruby and Ultima: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!
15. Assault on Midgar (Upper City)
16. Assault on Midgar (Corkscrew Tunnel / Sector 8 / Sister Ray)
17. Northern Crater (Upper Parts)
18. Northern Crater (Lower Parts)
19. Center of the Planet (Final Boss Rush)

20. Secret Chapter: LOVELESS - Genesis Returns

 

[Makoeyes987]

It's gonna be 4, at worst 5 parts. The creator's already cast aside the expectations of this being as little as 3 parts by explaining the consequences of dev time and content, and then outlining their wishes of not taking too long with the project.

It's just not gonna be a trilogy and certainly not a duo. It'd be nice if it were 3 parts but I'm betting it's gonna be at least 4.

 

[Keveh Kins]

Pad me softly, Square Enix

 

[KindOfBlue]

Sorry for derailing that other thread! I’m leaning more in the direction of 3 parts but I wouldn’t mind 4, I think anything more than that might be too much...

I guess I’ll repost my hypothetical part 2 chapter breakdown (stupid jokes included):

1. Kalm, Nibelheim
2. Grasslands Area, Chocobo Farm
3. Mythril Mine
4. Junon Area (I think Yuffie will be non-optional and maybe Fort Condor could be pushed back until later?)
5. Junon
6. Cargo Ship
7. Costa del Sol
8. Corel
9. Gold Saucer 1
10. Corel Prison
11. Gongaga (Me?)
12. Cosmo Canyon
13. Nibelheim (for the next game to end this early, I think there’d be a lot more padding needed to fill up time so I’m not too keen on this being where FF7R2 ends, also I think Vincent will be non-optional)
14. Rocket Town
15. Gold Saucer 2 (Electric Boogaloo)
16. Temple of the Ancients (I guess we could end here but it doesn’t quite feel like an ending spot to me)
17. Bone Village, Sleeping Forest
18. Forgotten Capital
19+ “In youuuuu and I...there’s a new laaa-haaaaaaand...”

If we go as far as Northern Cave, then I guess we could go

19. Icicle Inn
20. Great Glacier, Gaea’s Cliff
21. Whirlwind Maze, Northern Cave
22. NOMURA, NOOOOOOOOOO...!!

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I don't even have a preference any more. I'm all just, bring it on, man. Bring on all the craziness.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Can't wait for when Chadley scans the bestiary data from Part 1 within the Shinra headquarters and sees a hidden message inside it that reads, "THEY STILL CANNOT REJOIN THE PLANET."

Cue Reeve/Cait Sith and Chadley wondering what it all means so they digitally examine the data... With a datascape Cloud Strife.

Final Fantasy VII: ReCoded

Cloud has to free them from their hurt and remember.... To thank Jessie.

 

[BlueCollarNerd]

4 parts OG game with new locations, events, and cut material.
1 part AC
1 part DoC
1 part Completely new sequal to G's awakening

4+1+1+1= 7
The math is simple guys, figure it out

 

[Mayo Master]

I've always been in the 4-parts camp, even before Remake was out. If the OG structure is followed, I'd stop part 2 at the temple of the Ancients and part 3 when Meteor is summoned. Now, with the way Remake ended, I have reservations about the OG progression being followed - in which case, all bets are off.

 

[Theozilla]

I used to be in the camp of thinking/wanting it to be a trilogy, but after finishing the Remake and in particular the devs’ comments from the first Ultimania semi-shooting down the assumption it will be three parts, I am definitely in the camp of four installments being the safest bet currently. And my hypothetical breakdown for a four parter is basically identical to @Tetsujin ’s outline as well.

I also now think that if the Remake project isn’t four parts, the second most likely option is about equally tied between three and five parts, with the deciding factor being which strategy SE goes with: smaller installments but faster release schedule or bigger installments but longer release wait times.

 

[ForceStealer]

I'm still on the "fewer parts the better" train. 3 still feels the most natural with a break at hte Northern Crater. But 4 is probably the most realistic, if only because after that you're gonna start to seriously run into the issue of people losing interest. I think that's already gonna be a problem after 3. (if not 2, lol)

 

[Odysseus]

My gut still says four, but the place my mind keeps going to is just "there's no telling." There's so many possibilities it's basically impossible to make an informed guess. I think after part two it will be easier to tell, because we'll have an idea of how they handle the less structured world beyond Midgar.

 

[Tetsujin]

I think after part two it will be easier to tell

I think by that time we'll probably have official word of how many it's gonna be

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I just don't think a part should end with Aerith's death. I think whichever part it is - 3, 4, 5? - should begin with the party's journey north in pursuit of Aerith.

 

[Odysseus]

Do you think Bone Village makes a good opening area? I'm just not sure how they'd approach it, the gap between the temple and Aerith dying is mayyyybe 40 minutes in the original game, which is why I don't view the temple as a good ending spot, because it isn't one. If anything I'd end at the Gold Saucer return trip and start at the temple, but I don't think that works well either. If Aerith dying isn't the ending, the north crater should be. That's the sequence of events anyway, Cloud starts losing it at the temple, then that builds when he almost kills Aerith, then it reaches its crescendo when he loses himself and gives Sephiroth the black materia. Breaking up that sequence of events would harm the pacing I think.

 

[Clement Rage]

Nibelheim to Nibelheim seems like a solid path for part 2. Beyond that, not so sure.

 

[FFShinra]

7 baby.

Part 2 - Kalm to Cargo ship
Part 3 - Costa Del Sol to Nibelheim
Part 4 - Rocket Town to Northern Crater
Part 5 - Junon to Cloud's Memory
Part 6 - Rocket Plan to Battle of Midgar
Part 7 - Endgame (I am assuming large enough for its own part based on the devs possibly adding a lot of new content throughout the other parts that would require resolution in Part 7).

That said, I can be talked down to 6 or even 5. But I definitely think its more than 4.

 

[KindOfBlue]

I don’t know how a group of middle aged men would feel about dedicating the rest of their professional lives to a project this long if they went for 7 parts

Did they ever really “shoot down” 3 parts? I took their intent to be “you’ll find out when you find out”

 

[Odysseus]

Can you even imagine how the players will feel if it's friggen 7 parts? The audience drop off would be huge.

 

[FFShinra]

I don’t know how a group of middle aged men would feel about dedicating the rest of their professional lives to a project this long if they went for 7 parts

Did they ever really “shoot down” 3 parts? I took their intent to be “you’ll find out when you find out”

You could say that about Final Fantasy itself.

Can you even imagine how the players will feel if it's friggen 7 parts? The audience drop off would be huge.

SE would still make their money.

And like I said, I can be talked down to 6 or 5. I just think SE is gonna go for symbolism.

 

[Odysseus]

I think that's a terrible idea and that's all I really have to say about it.

 

[FFShinra]

*shrug*

Not saying its what I want. Just saying thats what I think it will be. I'm more keen on 5 parts personally.

 

[Stiggie]

I've been replaying with my best mate and through that I've been looking at it kinda with fresh eyes, trying to compare it to remake. And honestly, I think we all overestimated how far we'd get in part 2.

Holy shit there are a lot of set pieces.


Current graphic unique models cost time....shitloads of time. One of the lucky parts of Midgar was the amount of general crap they could reuse, like random construction materials.


But now everything is almost unique, and they'll want to make the most out of each thing they make, they don't want to spend millions of dollar on something that you visit once for 5 minutes. This means that stuff will change to reflect the amount of effort they're gonna put in. And I think the most obvious "victim" for that is going to be the gold saucer.

People want the gold saucer to be huge, that can't disappoint, which means SE will have to put in resources, which means that the gold saucer will have to earn those resources by being a center stage for the things that happen.

If we look at how things will be expanded on, the most obvious thing then becomes Barrets story. I think that will be huge, I also think that there is a massive gap between Sephiroth related events after the ship encounter. All of that will be used to massive expand on Barret and the golden Saucer.

So we have Kalm, Nibleheim, Chocobo Ranch, Mithril Mines, Ford Condor, Junon, The ship, Costa del sol, Mount Corel, Corel, Golden Saucer, Corel prison, Golden Saucer, Gongaga, Cosmo Canyon, Nibleheim.

All of those are massive set pieces, I'd be impressed if we even get to nibleheim at the pace we're going if all those set pieces are going to have to earn their cost through hours played. I'd be SHOCKED if we go further.

I can see it ending with Barrets story and the gold saucer visit, I can see it ending with Cosmo Canyon, and I can see it ending at Niblheim to press the game in between the first two nibleheim visits.
And AT MOST I can see us reaching the Gold Saucer again, but I don't see us going further.

And I absolutely don't think we can get the rest in one game. We can go through the temple of the ancients, bone town, the city of the ancients, Aeriths fate, snowboarding, Nibleheim again, and end at Sephiroth with Cloud giving the black materia and meteor being summoned. But we can't get to the end.

Which means we'll have one final game where we start as Tifa, hunt for huge materia, battle weapons, find cloud, save cloud, go to midgar, rap up all the new plot points remake has thrown up, and go to fight sephiroth.

4 games, I can't image less, I doubt it'l be more.

 

[Tetsujin]

7 baby.

Part 2 - Kalm to Cargo ship
Part 3 - Costa Del Sol to Nibelheim
Part 4 - Rocket Town to Northern Crater
Part 5 - Junon to Cloud's Memory
Part 6 - Rocket Plan to Battle of Midgar
Part 7 - Endgame (I am assuming large enough for its own part based on the devs possibly adding a lot of new content throughout the other parts that would require resolution in Part 7).

That said, I can be talked down to 6 or even 5. But I definitely think its more than 4.

Well I think it's safe to say that Kalm to cargo ship is not going to happen because at that point they basically have to make up the entire plot for that game from scratch since there is nothing happening between those locations. They'd be intentionally roadblocking themselves by creating an entire filler game when they could just devote that time and money to remake more of the actual FFVII story instead.

 

[Odysseus]

That's three locations and a filler minigame lol, it's not comparable to Midgar at all.

That said, I do think fort condor and its conflicts with Shinra will be the focus of a chapter. I think the people defending the reactor will be Avalanche and that's where the party will reunite with Biggs.

 

[FFShinra]

Well I think it's safe to say that Kalm to cargo ship is not going to happen because at that point they basically have to make up the entire plot for that game from scratch since there is nothing happening between those locations. They'd be intentionally roadblocking themselves by creating an entire filler game when they could just devote that time and money to remake more of the actual FFVII story instead.

They could. But they could have done a straight remake in Part 1 too and they deviated. I really do think they'll spend time expanding on existing lore and the new elements added into the ending (whatever way that may be). The OG FF7 is not going to be a strict map.