cold_spirit
he/him
- AKA
- Alex T
I want to be clear from the start, the following is not what I think Square Enix will actually do in future remake parts. Instead, I want to answer for myself "What if I was in the director’s chair?" This mental exercise is just for fun. I will abandon all expectations for Part 2 when it finally releases and listen to the story the creators want to tell, not the one I want to hear.
Let's inspect Remake’s chapter structure before diving in. Each chapter in Remake introduces a new location. These locations are self-contained and most are only visited once. The only exception to this is Chapter 14, which takes place entirely across three locations from earlier in the game. Here’s a quick breakdown to show what I mean:
Chapter 1 - Mako Reactor 1
Chapter 2 - Sector 8 plate
Chapter 3 - Sector 7 slums
Chapter 4 - Sector 7 plate
Chapter 5 - Corkscrew Tunnel
Chapter 6 - Sector 4 underplate
Chapter 7 - Mako Reactor 5
Chapter 8 - Sector 5 slums
Chapter 9 - Wall Market
Chapter 10 - Slum sewers
Chapter 11 - Train Graveyard
Chapter 12 - Sector 7 pillar
Chapter 13 - Sector 7 underground facility
Chapter 14 - Sector 5 slums, Sector 6 slums, and slum sewers
Chapter 15 - Sector 7 plate aftermath
Chapter 16 - Shinra Building (Lower floors)
Chapter 17 - Shinra Building (Top floors)
Chapter 18 - Midgar Expressway
All "town" chapters in Remake (e.g. chapters 3, 8, and 9) have complimentary "battle areas". These battle areas break up the story-heavy nature of towns with combat scenarios. For example, the Sector 7 slums in Chapter 3 features the Abandoned Talagger Factory as a battle area for sidequests. When thinking about chapters in future parts, a battle area must be considered for each town. Kalm can not just be a chapter where you talk to NPCs and buy equipment. There needs to be a combat scenario to keep players engaged with the game’s core mechanics. In Kalm's case, the surrounding badland could serve as a suitable battle area for sidequests. I would continue centering chapters around locations. In other words, future parts wouldn’t be open world.
Let’s talk about Zack. I would make him a playable character starring in his own chapters. From a combat perspective he’d be a jack-of-all-trades, primarily because he’d be fighting alone. One aspect from Crisis Core I would love to explore is Zack’s ability to mimic limit breaks from other characters. In that game, Cloud’s Meteorain became Zack’s Meteor Shots and Aerith’s Healing Wind became Healing Wave. The idea here is to have Zack learn abilities as he encounters new characters, replacing the existing system of learning abilities from weapons (there’s no way I’d let Zack equip anything other than the Buster Sword).
From a story perspective, I’ve written at length in the past about what I believe is happening in Remake. I won’t reiterate all that here. Looking forward, my idea is to use Aerith's disappearance in the Terrier timeline as Zack's motivation to pursue Sephiroth. Additionally, the mako-poisoned Cloud would be drawn to Sephiroth due to the power of reunion. Using that as his lead, Zack would travel with Cloud, partly to keep his friend safe and partly to avenge/rescue Aerith. Their travels would take them along the same route that the main party is traveling in the Beagle timeline. This new story involving Zack would be shown in three parts: first in Midgar, then in Under Junon, and finally in Gongaga for the finale. Further discrepancies between the Beagle and Terrier timelines would be shown as well. For example, Zack would see Jessie on TV performing at the Gold Saucer and Gongaga would not be scarred by a past mako reactor explosion. At the game’s finale, the party and Shinra (in the Beagle timeline), and Zack and Cloud (in the Terrier timeline) would all converge at Gongaga, each in pursuit of Sephiroth for different reasons. It’s here that the next step in Sephiroth’s grand new design would be revealed.
Continuing the chapter count from Remake, here's my breakdown for Part 2:
Chapter 19 - Nibelheim Incident part 1
Chapter 20 - Nibelheim Incident part 2
Chapter 21 - Kalm / Badland
Chapter 22 - Chocobo Farm / Wetland
Chapter 23 - Mythril Mine
Chapter 24 - Midgar (Zack chapter in Terrier timeline)
Chapter 25 - Fort Condor
Chapter 26 - Ninja Girl
Chapter 27 - Under Junon / Polluted Coast
Chapter 28 - Junon
Chapter 29 - Cruise Liner
Chapter 30 - Under Junon (Zack chapter in Terrier timeline)
Chapter 31 - Costa del Sol / Vacation Coast
Chapter 32 - Mt Corel / North Corel
Chapter 33 - Gold Saucer
Chapter 34 - Desert Prison
Chapter 35 - Gongaga / Jungle
Chapter 36 - Gongaga (Finale in Terrier timeline)
A few notes:
For future-future parts, Part 3 would cover Cosmo Canyon to the Northern Crater and Part 4 would cover the Weapon attack on Junon to Meteorfall. It’s here where I’ll be my most controversial: Each future part would deviate further from the original game, not unlike the Rebuild of Evangelion series. Part 4 especially would feel like a totally new experience. By then, almost all of FFVII’s world and characters would be established and feel familiar to fans. It’s the story’s outcome that would change dramatically. I won’t dare detail here what I think should happen. Most people are caught up on whether Aerith will still die (for the record, she’ll live). My sights are set a bit further. All I’ll say is that if “loss” and “vengeance” are some of the core themes of the original game, then this new series for our current time (and “last hurrah” from the original developers) should be about “catharsis” and “forgiveness”. And when I say that, know that I’m specifically looking at Cloud and Sephiroth.
Let's inspect Remake’s chapter structure before diving in. Each chapter in Remake introduces a new location. These locations are self-contained and most are only visited once. The only exception to this is Chapter 14, which takes place entirely across three locations from earlier in the game. Here’s a quick breakdown to show what I mean:
Chapter 1 - Mako Reactor 1
Chapter 2 - Sector 8 plate
Chapter 3 - Sector 7 slums
Chapter 4 - Sector 7 plate
Chapter 5 - Corkscrew Tunnel
Chapter 6 - Sector 4 underplate
Chapter 7 - Mako Reactor 5
Chapter 8 - Sector 5 slums
Chapter 9 - Wall Market
Chapter 10 - Slum sewers
Chapter 11 - Train Graveyard
Chapter 12 - Sector 7 pillar
Chapter 13 - Sector 7 underground facility
Chapter 14 - Sector 5 slums, Sector 6 slums, and slum sewers
Chapter 15 - Sector 7 plate aftermath
Chapter 16 - Shinra Building (Lower floors)
Chapter 17 - Shinra Building (Top floors)
Chapter 18 - Midgar Expressway
All "town" chapters in Remake (e.g. chapters 3, 8, and 9) have complimentary "battle areas". These battle areas break up the story-heavy nature of towns with combat scenarios. For example, the Sector 7 slums in Chapter 3 features the Abandoned Talagger Factory as a battle area for sidequests. When thinking about chapters in future parts, a battle area must be considered for each town. Kalm can not just be a chapter where you talk to NPCs and buy equipment. There needs to be a combat scenario to keep players engaged with the game’s core mechanics. In Kalm's case, the surrounding badland could serve as a suitable battle area for sidequests. I would continue centering chapters around locations. In other words, future parts wouldn’t be open world.
Let’s talk about Zack. I would make him a playable character starring in his own chapters. From a combat perspective he’d be a jack-of-all-trades, primarily because he’d be fighting alone. One aspect from Crisis Core I would love to explore is Zack’s ability to mimic limit breaks from other characters. In that game, Cloud’s Meteorain became Zack’s Meteor Shots and Aerith’s Healing Wind became Healing Wave. The idea here is to have Zack learn abilities as he encounters new characters, replacing the existing system of learning abilities from weapons (there’s no way I’d let Zack equip anything other than the Buster Sword).
From a story perspective, I’ve written at length in the past about what I believe is happening in Remake. I won’t reiterate all that here. Looking forward, my idea is to use Aerith's disappearance in the Terrier timeline as Zack's motivation to pursue Sephiroth. Additionally, the mako-poisoned Cloud would be drawn to Sephiroth due to the power of reunion. Using that as his lead, Zack would travel with Cloud, partly to keep his friend safe and partly to avenge/rescue Aerith. Their travels would take them along the same route that the main party is traveling in the Beagle timeline. This new story involving Zack would be shown in three parts: first in Midgar, then in Under Junon, and finally in Gongaga for the finale. Further discrepancies between the Beagle and Terrier timelines would be shown as well. For example, Zack would see Jessie on TV performing at the Gold Saucer and Gongaga would not be scarred by a past mako reactor explosion. At the game’s finale, the party and Shinra (in the Beagle timeline), and Zack and Cloud (in the Terrier timeline) would all converge at Gongaga, each in pursuit of Sephiroth for different reasons. It’s here that the next step in Sephiroth’s grand new design would be revealed.
Continuing the chapter count from Remake, here's my breakdown for Part 2:
Chapter 19 - Nibelheim Incident part 1
Chapter 20 - Nibelheim Incident part 2
Chapter 21 - Kalm / Badland
Chapter 22 - Chocobo Farm / Wetland
Chapter 23 - Mythril Mine
Chapter 24 - Midgar (Zack chapter in Terrier timeline)
Chapter 25 - Fort Condor
Chapter 26 - Ninja Girl
Chapter 27 - Under Junon / Polluted Coast
Chapter 28 - Junon
Chapter 29 - Cruise Liner
Chapter 30 - Under Junon (Zack chapter in Terrier timeline)
Chapter 31 - Costa del Sol / Vacation Coast
Chapter 32 - Mt Corel / North Corel
Chapter 33 - Gold Saucer
Chapter 34 - Desert Prison
Chapter 35 - Gongaga / Jungle
Chapter 36 - Gongaga (Finale in Terrier timeline)
A few notes:
- The Nibelheim Incident's opening truck scene would be greatly expanded into its own chapter. After the initial monster attack, Cloud and Sephiroth would be forced to clear out a nearby dragon's den before continuing their journey to Nibelheim. It’s here that Sephiroth would teach players the game’s core mechanics. This chapter would also serve as the game's demo, similar to Mako Reactor 1 in Remake.
- Kalm would be the first truly explorable town with sidequests, coincidently placed at the third chapter just like the Sector 7 slums in Remake.
- A chocobo riding minigame would be developed to cover the party's escape from the Midgar Zolom, coincidently placed at the forth chapter just like the first motorbike minigame in Remake.
- Dungeons (e.g. Mythril Mine) would be given their own chapter to provide padding between towns.
- Zack’s chapters would be purposefully placed one-third and two-thirds way into the story, slowly building up the mystery.
- Fort Condor would not have a RTS minigame like the original game. Instead, the party would be directly involved with defending the condor using the game’s core mechanics. Fortunately, the RTS component has already been moved to INTERmission with the Fort Condor board game.
- Recruiting Yuffie would be a mandatory event that takes place on the lengthy road between Fort Condor and Junon. It’s here where she’d steal the party's materia. The benefit of moving this iconic scenario to Part 2 would be to free up Wutai in the next part, which I imagine will be vastly different due to the escalating conflict between Wutai, Avalanche, and Shinra.
- Under Junon and Junon would be separated into different chapters due to the degree in which their aesthetics differ, similar to how the Mako Reactor 5 bombing mission was separated into three visually distinct chapters in Remake.
- Junon would be Part 2’s halfway point, similar to Wall Market in Remake. Likewise, Junon would feature a number of activities such as an underground coliseum.
- The cargo ship has been turned into a cruise liner, as per the description in the novella “Traces of Two Pasts”.
- Affection points would be implemented throughout the game to determine who the player spends time with at the Gold Saucer, similar to the resolution scenes in Remake.
- The Battle Square would be the game’s second “coliseum”, similar to the Shinra Combat Simulator in Remake.
- A second chocobo riding minigame would be developed to cover the party's escape from the Desert Prison, similar to the second motorbike minigame in Remake.
- Obtaining the buggy would allow players to travel to previous towns and complete new side quests. This would function similarly to the chocobo stables in Remake.
- Gongaga in the Terrier timeline would have an industrial aesthetic and culture. This would be in sharp contrast to Gongaga in the Beagle timeline where the people are deeply wounded by the past mako reactor explosion.
For future-future parts, Part 3 would cover Cosmo Canyon to the Northern Crater and Part 4 would cover the Weapon attack on Junon to Meteorfall. It’s here where I’ll be my most controversial: Each future part would deviate further from the original game, not unlike the Rebuild of Evangelion series. Part 4 especially would feel like a totally new experience. By then, almost all of FFVII’s world and characters would be established and feel familiar to fans. It’s the story’s outcome that would change dramatically. I won’t dare detail here what I think should happen. Most people are caught up on whether Aerith will still die (for the record, she’ll live). My sights are set a bit further. All I’ll say is that if “loss” and “vengeance” are some of the core themes of the original game, then this new series for our current time (and “last hurrah” from the original developers) should be about “catharsis” and “forgiveness”. And when I say that, know that I’m specifically looking at Cloud and Sephiroth.
Last edited:
