No future DLC plans for Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade; Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis chapters will be free; more tidbits [Update]

Famitsu has published a new interview with Tetsuya Nomura—co-director of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, and creative director of Final Fantasy VII: First Soldier and Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis—who shared new tidbits about all three titles.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade

• “As mentioned in his introduction, Sonon comes from Wutai and is working with Avalanche, which is why his character design has an oriental appearance with military style clothing and an armored motif. I also came up with the idea to have him fight with a style of martial arts using a quarterstaff to balance with Yuffie’s style, and so I made his outfit look like it was easy to move around in. Originally he was designed with finer features for a softer “pretty boy” look, but I thought that him being paired with Yuffie would add a new dynamic that differed from what you got with Cloud or Vincent, so I changed him to the more masculine character you see now.”
• “The player only controls Yuffie, so the system is set up to create an awareness of your ally fighting alongside you, as you maneuver around the battlefield, watching for combination opportunities with Sonon. You can also choose between two different control modes, one where Sonon acts independently and one where he follows Yuffie’s commands to act in unison with what she is doing. The little icon represents that you can push L2 to switch between combo modes.”
• “There are new materia and summons just for the episode featuring Yuffie.”
• “Due to the nature of the upgrade system, it resulted in us having to label the new Yuffie sections as ‘downloadable content.’ However, the original intent was to create a PS5 version of Final Fantasy VII Remake and not to produce downloadable content. Accordingly, we do not have any plans for downloadable content at this time. Sorting out the development environment on PS5 for Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, meant that moving on to developing the sequel was much smoother. We are now prioritizing the roadmap for completing the next game, so if we do need to think about more downloadable content, then it will probably come after that is finished.”

Final Fantasy VII: First Soldier

• “We set about developing Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier with the gumption to compete as a new challenger in what is the hottest gaming genre right now. I think that many in the core audience for this genre will not know about Final Fantasy VII or maybe even never have played a Final Fantasy game at all. I do want people to discover an interest in the world of Final Fantasy VII from this game, but it goes without saying that if we are going to do it properly then there can be no half measures, and we are putting everything we have into getting the content of the game right too. It is a genre that we do not really have any experience in, but also one that a lot of Final Fantasy VII fans might not have tried before, so I hope that we can all take on this new challenge together.”
• “The main Final Fantasy VII game does not have a job system, but we have added a lot of classic Final Fantasy elements to give Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier its own strong individuality within the battle royal genre. As you have correctly inferred here, each player on a team can select a job-like play style called a “style” for a match and these icons represent the styles chosen. Each style has its own unique skills and abilities, and you can change the one you set for each battle. There are advantages to continuously using the same style, but we will reveal exactly what exactly those are at a later date.”
• “We do have plans for a closed beta test, so please watch out for more information on that in future.”
• “The game’s producer, Mr. Ichikawa, was also the one of those who proposed the original idea and he himself is a big battle royale player. He will really be the voice of the player base on the team and provide expert opinions on what needs focus and where the fine tuning needs to be.”

Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis

• You will be able to play the chapters released for free. The monetized element is basically loot boxes containing random weapons. Some of the special weapons also come as a set that includes new costumes that were not in the original games, adding in a new way to enjoy the story that you won’t have seen before.”
• “We are trying to fit the story of the original Final Fantasy VII into 10 chapters. To be a bit more specific, the team will escape from Midgar in chapter 3. I think that should give you an idea of how much the other titles will cover as well.”
• There will be completely new, original episodes. “The first one will be a new episode we are working on that covers the story behind Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier that was announced at the same time. The events of Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier take place around 30 years before the Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis main story, and go into the founding of SOLDIER, so it goes without saying that you will see some of the legendary heroes in their younger days, as well as younger versions of the future Shinra executives and other characters who will appear in the Final Fantasy VII Remake sequels.”
• “The game has a story mode where you will follow Cloud and the gang on their journeys, but also features special dungeons and battles that go outside of the timeline delineated by the various compilation titles. These will allow players to enjoy taking on the mightiest enemies from the series using their dream party, in ways that the story battles do not allow.”
• “The music is all based on the originals, but has been newly arranged for Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis.”
• “We have also seen that people want to be able to play the various different series titles on the current console hardware, so the design concept behind Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis is not intended to be a replacement for that, but a convenient and casual way to touch on these games.”
• Regarding all the recent news on Final Fantasy VII: “It seems like I will be having a busy time for the foreseeable future, not just this year but next year and the year after that.”

Update 2:45 p.m.: Square Enix has released an official translation. The bullets above has been replaced with the company’s officially translated quotes.