Final Fantasy VII Remake's Yoshinori Kitase talks development progress and FF6 remake desires

Final Fantasy VII Remake is clearly quite a way off, if the words of Producer Yoshinori Kitase are anything to go by. Kitase spoke to Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, offering a typically vague update on how work on the much-anticipated remake is progressing.

"We’re currently brushing up the scene from the announcement trailer," Kitase says, translated by Siliconera. "We can now see the line of quality that we’re aiming for more clearly, but there’s still a ways to go." The team’s goal, he says, is to carry this effort through the project’s multiple episode releases.

One line of questioning from Famitsu was on how Square Enix planned to plug the gap and keep people engaged between the full-sized game releases that'll make up the FF7 Remake series. If you've forgotten, the remake will contain everything from the original game but will be split into three parts - think how Lightning's story was split between FF13, FF13-2 and Lightning Returns. 

"Final Fantasy VII expanded through a compilation. We don’t have any fundamental plans on that for now, but since the game volumes won’t be something that we can release in just a few months, we’d like to think of a way to supplement those gaps to maintain interest."

Kitase also took time in the magazine to say that he's keen to keep in touch with fans in a similar way to how FF15 staff communicated with fans regularly throughout that game's development with 'Active Time Report' live streams. 

The most interesting new tidbit on the game came in the form of talk about its battle systems, where Kitase revealed the Battle Director from Kingdom Hearts II is working on the game.

"The base of it is solidified," Kitase said. "Tetsuya Nomura is a given, and Mitsunori Takahashi who worked on the Kingdom Hearts series and Dissidia Final Fantasy series are going to work hard on it. There’s still a lot that I can’t say but we won’t be removing any parts of the original Final Fantasy VII that was well-received."

Kitase wrapped up the FF7 talk by confirming that he intends to show off the game again this year or even possibly have it playable at an event. 

At the close of the interview Famitsu requested Kitase remake FF6. Kitase was the co-director on that game alongside FF9 and FF12's Hiroyuki Ito, so he's the right man to ask.

"We’re currently working on Final Fantasy VII, so…" he offered. "I’m also asked the same from company staff, but I’m keeping it pending for now."

Final Fantasy VII Remake is coming, sometime, eventually. It's announced for PS4 only right now.