Among the ideas that Square Enix had come up with during the development of Final Fantasy 7 Remake was apparently one that involved shrinking down protagonist Cloud’s iconic Buster Sword into a more reasonably-sized weapon. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi spoke about this in a recent interview with Julien Chièze, where he also detailed how the development team was trying to take the game’s sense of realism into account.
“While making Remake, there was this aspect of weight and how cloud swings it around with one hand that sort of felt like it would weaken the sense of realism, you know?” said Hamaguchi, according to a translation by Final Fantasy 7 fan Twitter account Shinra Archaeology Department. “So at the time, when we were making Remake, there was some discussion about whether we should give Cloud a more realistic version of the Buster Sword.”
Ultimately, however, the development team decided to stick with the original design of the Buster Sword owing to how iconic it was. Hamaguchi also noted that there was a chance that fans of the original would have rejected the design if it were turned into just a regular, normal-sized sword.
“But it was just too iconic, and if we‘d made it just a regular old sword, players wouldn’t accept it,” he said. “But in the end we stayed faithful to the OG, and a whole new generation of people fell in love with it, so I think it was the right call.”
In the same interview, Hamaguchi had also noted that development on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 has been going on quite well, with the “core game experience” being “almost complete”. He said this while also noting that a major keyword for the development of the third game in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy will have “Highwind” as a key word.
“In that vein one of the really important keywords this time, like you mentioned, is ‘Highwind,’ without a doubt,” he said. “And already at this point I’d say the gameplay experience itself is basically complete, and we’re really now in the phase where we’re seriously building things out to completion. And I’d say we’ve gotten to a point where I, as the director, am feeling super confident about the game in its completed form.”
Hamaguchi has also spoken about the potential title for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3. He noted that he was in discussions with creative director Tetsuya Nomura about the game’s name, and that they have narrowed the potential title down to two names. The game’s official name is slated to be decided by the end of the year.
“Me and Tetsuya Nomura have already narrowed it down to two, within the year we will decide on which one,” said Hamaguchi in the interview. “Within this year it will be set.”
In the meantime, Square Enix has also been working on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade to more platforms – namely Xbox Series X/S and the Nintendo Switch 2. This release is slated to happen on January 22, 2026, and will be followed up with the release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth later on.
