Final Fantasy VII director Tetsuya Nomura and producer Yoshinori Kitase revealed in an interview with Dengeki Playstation that Final Fantasy VII can add “Fully Voiced” to its list of back-of-the-box features, alongside “Episodic” and “Really Happening”.
In the article (which was translated by Gematsu), Nomura confirmed that “Basically, it will be fully voiced. [They] still haven’t decided the voices of the characters that weren’t in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children”.
Of course, the number one question on the lips of every die-hard ‘core fan of the JRPG titan, famed for its gritty plot and serious tone, was whether or not the cross-dressing section of the game would be included. Well breathe easy, Kitase and Nomura cautiously seemed to confirm that “…since it’s different from that time and social situation, we need [to] implement the reproduction of original events carefully.” With Nomura adding “Ah, the Honey Bee Inn… (Laughs.)”
Beyond that, the interview had a few other interesting little points of note. Whether or not the game would be open world was met with an uncertain response, with Kitase saying that he “[doesn’t] plan on fussing about whether it’s a so-called open-world or sandbox.” But that Nomura wanted to “…express an environment character actions affect the scenery.” [sic].
Minigames will return, but the exact nature and scope is still up in the air, which makes sense since the game is episodic and the minigame hotspot, the Gold Saucer is introduced more or less just prior to the halfway mark in the original Final Fantasy VII.
So that’s the last of this week’s slow drip-feed of news about Final Fantasy VII Remake. Nomura finished the interview by saying that the release date was still unconfirmed, since he wanted to focus on Kingdom Hearts 2.8 and World of Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy VII Remake will be released for the PlayStation 4 some time in the future, presumably, unless Square Enix has discovered how to time travel.