Development Staff of Crisis Core -FinalFantasy VII- ● PART 5
It was supposed to be a port of BC…
——How did the CC project start?
Tabata
First, Nomura and I decided on the title and the general direction of the project, and then Imaizumi came in as a producer, and he and I coordinated the project. The official start of the project was around the spring of 2005.
Kitase
Tabata was already working on the Compilation of FFVII with BC, so I asked him, “Can you work on this project, too?” In the beginning, I didn’t imagine CC in its current form, but rather a port of BC for the PSP, or a lighter extension of it.
Tabata
Two days after I heard from Kitase, I was surprised to hear the announcement, “Production of CC has started” (laughs). However, at the time, BC had just started to be distributed, so it was hard for me to think about porting BC at that time.
Nomura
At that time, I was also consulted about the project, but like Tabata, I didn’t want to port it, so I suggested to them that if we were going to make it, we should make it as a completely new title.
Tabata
When we decided to actually start the game as a new title, we knew we had to work with the people who had made FFVII from the very beginning, so we immediately asked Naora to join us.
Naora
At the time, I was still somewhat involved in the production of AC and was also supervising BC, so I was confused about the timeline of the story. “This is in the past because it’s a BC story, but it proceeds in parallel with this story…” or “Midgar should be in this state at this time,” and so on (laughs).
Nojima
I also received an order for a scenario [script] around the same time, and at that time, Tetsu-san (referring to Nomura) was talking about battle ideas and the like.
——It seems that the D.M.W. was Nomura’s idea.
Imaizumi
Two years ago [2005], around January, Nomura called me into his room and strangely talked about pachinko for about two months straight (laughs). He said, “It’s good to have an RPG that depends on luck once in a while,” and I was thinking, “Yeah, that is something.”
Nomura
For a long time, I had been thinking, “How can I incorporate the part of pachinko’s luck that I can’t interfere with into a game?” and so I came up with this system. In the first proposal I wrote, I was thinking of something like action points as a substitute for pachinko balls. For example, when you take one step, you lose one point, and if you don’t keep adding to it, you’ll get stuck.
Tabata
SP (Soldier Points) are a remnant of that.
——Wasn’t there a plan to make it possible to stop the reels by pressing [a button]?
Nomura
There wasn’t. [When it comes to] pressing buttons, it is something that people who are good at it can do well, but people who aren’t able to do it really can’t do it [well].
Tabata
I wanted to incorporate elements of “hoping for luck” into the game, such as getting the best image [in the D.M.W.].
——Nomura, as the person who proposed the idea [of the D.M.W.], is the result what you expected?
Nomura
I think the slots are a little too [easy] to match up. Those settings could have been set at a harder [level].
Tabata
There was a time when the balance [settings] made it harder to get the correct combinations than it is now, but people who weren’t good at battles complained about that. The current balance was the result of the many comments from people who got the technique but couldn’t pull it off, or cleared the game without getting Ifrit once.
——The D.M.W. is also smoothly incorporated into the narrative direction of the ending.
Nomura
I originally came up with the D.M.W. as a way of making battles look more dramatic. In the last battle, I tried to express “the gradual loss of memories that I want to hold onto” in the form of mental images appearing and disappearing, and I tried to show that Zack’s spirit was beginning to break down in the form of “the reel not stopping easily”.
The original concept was a 30-minute anime program
——Nojima, did you have any difficulties writing the scenario this time?
Nojima
The ending of the story was already decided, so it was easy to build towards it directly. I heard that the theme was “inheritance,” so I decided to go with the flow of “a sword being inherited”. The characters in the story were very familiar to me, so I was able to enjoy creating the story despite its content.
Tabata
The scenario Nojima gave us was so good, we decided not to make it light just because it was for a handheld device, and the scale of the project grew a lot from there.
——CC can be enjoyed for quite a long time. How did you decide on the size of the game?
Tabata
I used DC, the compilation work that came out before CC, as a guideline, but I wanted to make the game longer than that, so I tried to keep the playtime at around 100 hours. However, because CC is designed for a handheld device, we didn’t want to simply increase the volume of the game, but instead designed it in such a way that users can think about how they want to manage their time.
Imaizumi
Nomura said that we could incorporate elements like being divided into 30-minute segments for the commute to work or school, so that “even if you lose on the way there, you might win on the way back”. So, initially, I was trying to structure it like a 30-minute anime program.
Nojima
The order was to make it like an anime program, so I tried to divide the scenario into short chapters and focus on props so that I could create something to highlight each time.
Tabata
However, when I read the scenario submitted by Nojima, I began to think that dividing the story into 30-minute segments would be wasteful. So we changed the game so that the main story can be enjoyed as a normal FF game, and the missions and other parts that you want to play can be played more frequently.
Kitase
Speaking of anime, LO, which came in the limited edition box of AC, was created as a way to see if anime could be used as material for CC.
Tabata
There was also the idea of using animation for the production of the D.M.W. In the end, it was rejected because the process for developing the game didn’t match the process for creating the animated materials.
——The story in the full version can be divided into 10 chapters, excluding the prologue. Were there more chapters initially?
Tabata
There were about 12 chapters in total, but when Nomura’s ideas were added to Nojima’s draft scenario, it became quite a long story. I said, “This can’t be released on a single UMD, it has to be released as a two-disc set,” but the company said that was a no-go.
Imaizumi
I really wanted to implement it in two parts, so I went there with a detailed proposal and had prepared a theoretical argument to ask for it, but I was flatly told that it was a no-go considering we hadn’t even finished one work yet (laughs).
Nomura
There was even talk of a trilogy (laughs).
Nojima
Initially, the story was divided into two parts, one before and one after the capture at Nibelheim. The scenario in the full version feels like a digest version of what happened after you were captured.
——In the scenario, [elements] such as Project S and Project G are established to add depth to the story of FFVII.
Nojima
Those areas were inspired by the “Compilation of FFVII”. In the same way that the producers and directors came up with a lot of ideas for the material in FFVII, we could call it a ” Compilation of the Jenova Project” derived from the Jenova Cells (laughs).
——How did you decide on the characters and scenarios that would appear this time?
Nojima
First of all, it was decided that Genesis, a character from DC, would appear in the game, and Nero and Weiss, also from “DC”, were assigned a specific scene to appear in. Also, the “first owner of the sword,” Angeal, was needed as a new character, so I proceeded with creating the story with the premise of introducing them.
Tabata
Since there are people who played DC, it would not be good to conclude CC, which was to be released after DC, without any connection to DC. From the beginning of the project, Nomura and I had been talking about how we should make sure that the link between the two was clear.
Nomura
The idea that “at the end, Nero and Weiss will come to collect Genesis” has been around since the beginning. The appearance of Genesis in DC was so sudden that I thought I should follow it up a bit more. Also, DC introduces Deepground (DG) SOLDIERs, and if we didn’t show any evidence of their existence in the past, DC would stand out from the rest of the Compilation.
Tabata
The DG SOLDIERs in DC originated in the CC era, so we introduced Nero and the others as DG SOLDIERs.
Naora
It’s amazing how you can go back in time and reveal [something that was] foreshadowed [earlier] (laughs).
Zack was very easy to move [work with]
——Since Zack is the main character, did you write the scenario while thinking back on Zack’s various actions in FFVII?
Nojima
I was involved in AC and BC right before [CC], so I was already remembering a lot of things when I made CC, and it wasn’t hard for me to think back on it. Besides, Zack was very easy to write. In FFVII, Zack appeared in very few scenes, but he had some memorable behaviors like squatting and moving restlessly. I knew from the beginning, “this is how he works,” so it was easy for me to shape his personality.
Kitase
Even though I was involved in the production of FFVII from the very beginning, I hadn’t really been able to grasp the image of Zack until now. In FFVII, he doesn’t appear much, and he doesn’t have voice [acting]. I created the events related to Zack that were added in the international version, but I still didn’t understand him. I had always imagined him to feel similar to Cloud, but for the first time I learned “he was that kind of character”, which was refreshing. Zack has been popular for a long time, and I never understood why, but now my ten-year mystery has been solved (laughs).
Nojima
I had an image of the character from the time I made FFVII. [I wonder if] the voice [acting] helped me convey that image to Kitase? Also, as I was writing Zack’s situation, I thought that Zack’s characterization must have later become Tidus’ in FFX (laughs).
——So not only did Cloud inherit elements of Zack, but Tidus as well (laughs).
Nojima
Both of them are characters who don’t consider things too deeply and have a clear understanding of right and wrong. I think they are similar in the sense that they… suffer and worry when they encounter something they can’t adopt a clear position on.
——After Angeal’s separation scene, which becomes a point of agony for Zack, his hairstyle changes to the one familiar from FFVII and other games.
Nomura
Originally, I was planning to keep the same hairstyle, but I wanted to make a stronger connection with the main story of FFVII, so I decided, “I’ll change Zack’s mood in the middle”, and was able to weave it into the turning point of the story.
Tabata
At first, all the production staff mistakenly thought that “when he’s a 1st [Class], his hairstyle changes”. Since that’s not the case, I explained to them, “His clothes change when he becomes a 1st, and his hairstyle changes when the episode with Angeal ends. This is a point where we’re trying to depict growth.” But when I looked at the pictures that came out about a month later, I saw that Zack’s hairstyle, which was supposed to be the first one, was still the second one (laughs). I was worried the whole time if it would be fixed properly before the master upload [final release].
Aerith’s story should be connected to Zack as much as possible
——I think there are many FFVII fans who were delighted to see in CC what they could only imagine from Aerith’s account of “having a first love” in FFVII.
Nojima
From the very beginning, I had decided to repeat the meeting with Cloud, as in “falling into the church from above”. Even though I call it romantic love, both of them are still young and I couldn’t spend too much time in-game depicting “how they came to like each other”, so I made it seem like they suddenly met and fell in love. Personally, the greatest joy for me was being able to get the “one date” line that Aerith says to Cloud in FFVII as Zack’s line in the scenario. In FFVII, I thought it was just a casual line, but because of that, people said that “Aerith is frivolous”, so I was a little concerned about it. I feel like I was able to defend Aerith by shaping Zack’s words into something that she [later] adopted.
——Aside from the “one date” line, the part about selling flowers in the slums and wearing a ribbon was also due to Zack’s influence.
Nojima
I wanted to connect Aerith’s defining moments from FFVII with Zack as closely as possible. I also tried to include many other lines and scenes that made me think of FFVII. I thought it would be great if I could stimulate the player’s “heart to play FFVII” by including many familiar scenes, such as the opening scene where Zack appears on top of a train. However, I was troubled by the virtual space in the opening simulator. As in, “I wonder if it’s possible to have such an amazing thing before the age of Cloud and the others?”
Naora
The fact that technology is advancing in spite of the fact that we are going back in time was a source of trouble for me. The background graphics staff for DC and CC overlapped in terms of members and progress, but when I drew the pictures for DC, which is in the future, and then drew the pictures for CC, [the technology] became more and more futuristic, and it was difficult to control that.
——Anyway, Aerith is very patient, isn’t she? I didn’t realize she had been sending letters for four years.
Imaizumi
We had already recorded the voice-over for the last letter at the beginning, but since it was a shocking scene in the scenario where Zack becomes aware of the time skip, we reworked it and asked the voice actors to come back just to rephrase that part.
Nomura
For the letters, I also adjusted how their transportation methods weren’t the same. At first, I was going to have the canine Angeal Copy in the church carry all the letters, but then I thought that would be too much work for a dog with dozens of letters, and I felt sorry for the poor thing. We talked about the fact that it was already deteriorating and looking frail (laughs). So, she entrusted the last one to the Angeal Copy, but until then, she had asked Tseng to do it.
——In the second half of the story, there is a nice scene where Aerith tells Zack about her 23 tiny wishes.
Nojima
It is nice. I’d be a little uncomfortable if she did that to me (laughs). As for Aerith’s 23 wishes, I think Zack could memorize about 10 of them. I tried to make it a number I couldn’t remember, so there are 23 of them.
Genesis was a piano player!?
——The character Genesis is played by Gackt, and he has a lot of lines and appearances.
Imaizumi
Initially, Genesis was supposed to be defeated in the first half of the story and never [be seen] again. However, he was set up to be deeply involved with SOLDIER, and I worried that ending things so abruptly after confusing Shinra wouldn’t work well, so I asked Nojima and we decided to move it to the end of the story.
Tabata
However, the framework of the story with the theme of “inheritance” was already in place at that point, and simply increasing the number of Genesis’ appearances would have confused the story, so I decided to set him up as a “Loveless” fan in order to establish his personality.
Imaizumi
At first, there was a proposal to make him a piano player (laughs).
Naora
When I heard that “song” was his keyword, I drew an image of myself playing the piano, but I was told that was not the case (laughs).
Nomura
There were many ideas, such as playing the piano, humming, or appearing while playing a reed flute, and I would tell them to redo it: “You’re too aggressive” (laughs). We decided it would be better to have a character that quotes poetry rather than forcing a connection to music.
Tabata
If we were going to choose a poem, I thought we should use “Loveless” that Cid talked about in FFVII, so we expanded it into the poem [in CC].
——In addition to Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth have a single wing on their backs. What is the meaning of the different colors and positions of their wings?
Nomura
I wanted to have different varieties of wings so that the three of them wouldn’t look like [they were in] the same family. Sephiroth is a special being, so Genesis’ wing is on the opposite side of it, and Angeal’s wings are on the same side as Sephiroth’s, because he is a special person who is the origin of the Buster Sword’s legacy. However, only Angeal’s wings are white, which symbolically means “he did not fall in a negative direction”. In other words, Sephiroth could have been like Angeal, too. The color coding is based on Sephiroth, who headed in a negative direction, and Angeal, who did not.
——The “dumbapple” that appears in relation to Angeal and Genesis also plays an important role.
Tabata
Since the backstory of “Genesis and Angeal have known each other since they were boys” was decided, the dumbapple has existed as an item that connects them.
Nojima
I thought it would be nice to name it something tasteless like “albatross”.
Naora
The dumbapple was the first thing I designed for CC. I was told it was blackish in color, but all I could think was, “No matter how I look at it, I don’t want to eat it” (laughs). I also made the dumbapple tree at Banora in an unusual shape, since I heard it was symbolic. Since there was a possibility that the characters would be standing on top of the tree, I thought it would be boring to have them stand on an ordinary tree, so I bent the trunk to give it a distinctive silhouette.
Nojima
Originally, in the episode about Banora, I wanted to write about how “a land of poor but serious workers will not raise bad people”. In the FF series, you don’t see a lot of ordinary people working seriously (laughs), so with CC focusing on the theme of human relationships, I wanted to focus on episodes related to the characters’ hometowns from the angle of the soil in which their personalities were nurtured. That’s the origin of why I chose to have Angeal receive the sword from his hardworking father, and also why I chose the framework of “Cloud and Zack are both from the countryside”. In using the dumbapple, I also wanted to express the good side of Genesis——that in the past, he used to be a good person who was raised in a proper family.
——Banora and Modeoheim are locations that first appeared in CC. How did you reconcile the new locations with the ones that originally were in FFVII?
Naora
There was a request for “more new locations”, but the number of production staff was a bit tight. Even though it’s the same world as FFVII, it feels strange to go back in time a little bit and see all these new places appear, and the atmosphere of the scenario is more like a road trip movie, so I think it turned out to be a good compromise in the end. In terms of ideas, I didn’t have much trouble because I knew exactly what the motif of each place would be from the scenario stage, such as the dumbapple for Banora. However, for Banora, I was later told “there’s a cavern underneath”, so I had to make a lot of adjustments… (laughs).
Nojima
The location of the underground cavern was moved around a lot. At first, it was set underneath a town, but then the town itself was deleted (laughs).
Cissnei’s real name is…?
——Among the characters, Cissnei, originally a character from BC, brings out a good feeling, doesn’t she?
Tabata
Cissnei is the character that we created when we were considering adding the Player Turk from BC, and we thought, “let’s get a key player from BC since CC will be involved in that story”.
Nojima
There were many candidates for the name, and I suggested a few, but at first I almost settled on “Tian”. But everyone rejected it, saying “No. She’ll be confused with Tifa” (laughs).
Tabata
“Cissnei” was Nomura’s idea.
——What does Cissnei mean when she says, “Not my real name,” in the second half of the story?
Imaizumi
In BC, users choose their own names, so I thought it would be bad if “Cissnei” became her official real name, so I decided to use “Cissnei” as a code name.
Kitase
We had to add that line near the end of the voice recording, right? I used to go to the studio to listen to them, and I remember being surprised: “What’s her real name?” (laughs).
Nojima
In Costa del Sol, when Cissnei and Zack appear in swimsuits, there was supposed to be another commotion there after the fight on the beach. However, due to the technical specifications, we couldn’t have them change their clothes, so we almost had them walk around town in swimsuits, which we thought was weird, so the whole event was cut.
Tabata
Nojima said, “That’s where the atmosphere changes,” so we decided to remove everything and go to Junon right after the event.
——Did you intend to depict Zack wavering between Cissnei and Aerith?
Nojima
No, I didn’t. I created Cissnei as a character who can encourage Zack, who has become a little depressed after going through various events, by saying, “You’re not alone”. I think Cissnei herself is lonely, or has a hard time prioritizing her duties, but even in those times, she never forgets to look at things in a kind and human way. A lot of brutal people appear in the story (laughs), and Aerith, who carries the soft side of the story, never leaves the slums, so I’ve presented her [Cissnei] as someone who is both mobile and has kind words to say.
Tabata
Cissnei is a character linked to BC, but in CC, I couldn’t really describe “what the Turks are doing at this time”, so I put that story in the Reno special chapter in BC, where the Turks are the main characters. In BC, you can see “Sephiroth and Zack have started making these changes” from the Turks’ point of view.
How are each of you attached to Crisis Core?
——Since you created FFVII ten years ago, did you all have any attachment to the development of “CC” this time?
Imaizumi
This story touches on the core of FFVII, so I felt it was worth doing. When I started working on it, I noticed there were a lot of things that I wanted to avoid being too definitive about, so I made many parts vague. I also remembered many things from the time of making FFVII. For example, I was surprised to find that my cab fare exceeded my salary, and I was the same age as Cid at the time, but I was shocked to find that Cid’s back-story sheet for development said that he was “around middle-aged” (laughs).
Naora
In my opinion, Midgar is the focal point of FFVII. Midgar is completely destroyed in DC, but I told the background graphics staff, “CC happens back in time, so we’re going to say it’s under construction”, and they did a great job. I feel like the wish I had back in FFVII to “play more in Midgar” has come true this time. At the recent FFVII 10th Anniversary event (“FINAL FANTASY VII 10th ANNIVERSARY Gallery” held in Tokyo at the end of August 2007), we displayed a 3D model of Midgar, and I was really excited to show the guests around Midgar (laughs).
Nomura
I had a strong feeling of “It’s finally coming out. It’s been a long time”. I participated in the initial planning stage, observed all the voice recordings, consulted with Nakazawa (Takatsugu Nakazawa, Battle Planning Director) once the battles were tentatively created, and adjusted the direction for ending operations. I was involved [with it] intermittently, but the whole production process took about two and a half years. When Imaizumi found Ayaka, who was in charge of the theme song for this project, she hadn’t debuted yet. That’s how long we’ve been working on CC.
Kitase
At first, when I asked Tabata to take over the project, I was thinking of putting him and the other young staff members who were not in FFVII in charge of the project. But around last fall, Nakazawa and Kobayashi (Masaki Kobayashi, battle programmer) joined the production team to strengthen the battle system, and I myself started to work on the events as well. Then I started to feel, “As expected, I’ll have to do it myself”, and from the beginning of this year until the master-up, I worked without weekends for the first time in a long time. I was in charge of the Nibelheim area, and I tried to imitate the camera angles as much as possible, remembering the difficulties Nojima had in moving the characters in FFVII.
Nojima
From Nibelheim on, the story becomes the one that everyone knows, so it took me a few tries to decide how to express it. For example, I wondered if it would be better to just play the movie in a fragmented form, or if the player would actually want to move around since they would be playing from Zack’s perspective instead of Cloud’s.
Kitase
Also, there are several Compilation works that depict the Nibelheim Incident, but each one has a slightly different nuance and direction. I incorporated some of them, but if I thought, “this isn’t right”, and went back to the original description of FFVII… So I proceeded with the work carefully.
——Kitase, you were also in charge of events such as the sniper game and the Seven Wonders, right?
Kitase
Since it’s an RPG, there are naturally things to play around with outside of the main story, and we were told that “we’ve thought of everything, so don’t worry”, but when we got to Nibelheim, it was the only place where we hadn’t prepared anything to play around with. So, as a last resort, I inserted something like “The Seven Wonders of Nibelheim”. However, I was told that the numbers on the safe were “too complicated to understand”.
Imaizumi
But they’re really difficult.
Kitase
If an old-school person makes it, it will be unfriendly and give few hints (laughs). Oka (Masaru Oka, Director of Event Planning), who was in charge of maps for FFVII, joined the event staff around the same time as I did, and we made the mini-game for infiltrating Modeoheim, which was also said to be “difficult”. We talked about how veterans are the ones who let the players figure out the solutions to puzzles they [the developers] couldn’t be bothered to solve.
——Imaizumi and Tabata, how was it making CC together with the development staff of FFVII?
Imaizumi
I joined the company around the time FFVII came out, and at the time I never dreamed that I would be involved in FFVII in this way, and I feel grateful that I was able to do this because it marked “the 10th anniversary of both FFVII and myself”.
Tabata
I had a lot of fun working with the people who created FFVII, and I was able to develop it with a lot of self-discipline. During the development process, Nomura showed me an in-development copy of AC, and at the end there was a scene with Zack and Aerith, and that’s when I started to feel the pressure… (laughs). I thought that if I didn’t take everything that Nojima and Naora wanted to express in FFVII and make CC a “beautiful past” for AC and DC, which are in the future in terms of the timeline, the original creators as well as the fans would be upset.
Nomura
However, I’ve heard many people say that they were all the more moved when they re-watched AC after playing CC.
Tabata
If you can say that, I’m satisfied.
And the long-awaited remake is available on…?
——This time around the ending is very appealing to those who like FFVII.
Tabata
I discussed with Nomura about all the details, such as the tempo of the direction and the manner of expression, and absorbed his opinions. The section from the last battle to the staff roll was worked on for about three months.
Nomura
For the movie where Zack talks to Cloud while he is lying in the rain…, I had them make the movie according to the storyboard, and then while watching the finished movie, I specified the timing and movements of everything, such as when Cloud stands up and when he looks back. I wanted to create something that would deeply move people even though they knew the ending. Also, in the first version of the movie, Zack had fallen in a strangely beautiful way, so I said, “This is impossible,” and had it redone.
Tabata
It can’t be just mud on the ground when someone is being shot right at the location. Since we are depicting a tragedy in a realistic way, such a representation would not be good for a dramatic work. That was, I think, Nomura’s greatest concern.
Kitase
Nomura said that it could be rated C (for ages 15 and up) by CERO (Computer Entertainment Rating Organization), and I insisted that it be rated B (for ages 12 and up), and Imaizumi, who was caught in the middle, held his head in his hands (laughs).
Tabata
When the movie started to take shape, we said, “it’s funny that it’s raining and no blood is being washed off, isn’t it?”, and when the blood started being washed off, we said, “it’s weird that there’s no blood on his ears when it’s all washing off like this”… We really made fine and detailed adjustments without compromising.
——The movie after the staff roll is exactly like the one that leads into FFVII.
Nomura
It’s often misunderstood, but that wasn’t an adaptation of a previous PS3 technical demo, but a movie created from scratch for CC. This time it was pre-rendered, and the previous demo was done on an actual PS3. I mean, the PS3 is so amazing that it looks the same.
——There is also a subtitle at the end of it that says “To be continued in FFVII”, and the world has been asking for a remake of FFVII…
Nomura
Hmmm… If I were to do a remake, I’d probably make a surprise announcement one day. Without informing any media beforehand.
Kitase
The CC project was also announced two days later, and the scary thing about being a member of this team is that you never know when something will happen (laughs). However, I was very satisfied when I saw the ending of CC…
Naora
The moment I saw the ending of CC, I felt as if I had settled a score. I’m also interested in the future after DC, since it’s currently the last one in the timeline, and I’m wondering what will happen to Genesis.
Tabata
I’d like to see it remade. Because I want to play it myself (laughs).
Nojima
I want to see Heidegger and Palmer with today’s technology (laughs).
Kitase
Palmer gets hit by a truck, right? I don’t know how I would express it myself… Sometimes I think about it seriously, but if I wanted to remake it in this day and age, there would be all sorts of issues, like the explosion of the mako reactor and the scene in the Forgotten Capitol, so I’m not sure what to do. I thought, “It’s a bad idea to start with the opening, but it’s FFVII, so I can’t leave it out.”
Nomura
I don’t have a problem with a higher rating for the presentation I should show.
Nojima
I feel that Cloud’s lines in the Forgotten Capital would be a bit off-putting if performed by a realistic Cloud today.
Kitase
No, I thought that would be rather good if I did it with current voices and acting.
Imaizumi
It’s starting to feel like a meeting (laughs).
Nomura
In my mind, I feel that the remake of FFVII is the final card, so I also wonder if I can really play that card so easily.
Kitase
So when Tetsu says, “Let’s do it,” I can just think, “He’s retiring, huh?” (laughs).
Nomura
The last duty (laughs). That’s a joke, but I have a lot of things on my mind, and I’m not ready to declare them thoughtlessly yet.
——Kitase, you’ve already declared in the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania that “I’ll be with FFVII for the rest of my life”.
Kitase
I’m already prepared for that. Nojima will have to be involved with it for the rest of his life, I’m sure.
Nojima
I want to keep traveling around the world with the Cloud panel like I did in AC (laughs).
——I look forward to seeing what new things all of you will create for FFVII.
Nomura
The new work in FFVII is called “Dr. Hojo’s Mysterious Mako City”. Hojo will give you all sorts of riddles, so keep collecting the hint materia (laughs).
Imaizumi
That’s a good one (laughs).
(Recorded at Square Enix in mid-September, 2007)
“I got involved in FFVII in the sense that “I’m also celebrating my 10th anniversary at the company”.“
“For the fans of AC and DC, we tried to link [CC] to each Compilation work.“
“If Sephiroth hadn’t fallen in a negative direction, he might have become like Angeal.“
“I’m most pleased that I was able to include “one date.”“
“For me, Midgar is the focal point of FFVII.“
“I was very careful in deciding how I would incorporate the depictions from the original and the derivative works.“
Producer
今泉英樹
Hideki Imaizumi
Story secrets only I know
I asked Gackt to appear in CC at the launch of DC, but he said, “I’m the protagonist and I sing the songs, right?” So we started work by clearing up that misunderstanding (laughs).
Director
田畑端
Hajime Tabata
Story secrets only I know
At the end of the “To be continued in FINAL FANTASY VII” message, I tried to put “for PS3” as a joke, but of course Kitase and Nomura got really mad at me and I had to stop (laughs).
Creative Producer & Character Designer
野村哲也
Tetsuya Nomura
Story secrets only I know
I was told to draw Lazard as a villain, so I initially drew him looking like a jerk in terms of facial expressions, etc., and used a more unfashionable color scheme for his clothes. The weird vertical stripes are a remnant of that.
Scenario
野島一成
Kazushige Nojima
Story secrets only I know
Lazard appeared in place of Heidegger. It’s hard to imagine Sephiroth obeying Heidegger’s orders. I made Shinra’s upper management have overly powerful personalities in FFVII (laughs).
Concept Art Supervisor
直良有祐
Yusuke Naora
Story secrets only I know
The title screen of CC is based on a doodle I made on the spot in about five seconds for an event at the end of 2005. The finished version is very popular, but the original picture is too awful to show (laughs).
Executive Producer
北瀬佳範
Yoshinori Kitase
Story secrets only I know
The sniper game at Nibelheim was initially based on shooting Shinra soldiers. I was very picky about the CERO rating, but I almost got a “C” because of this part I was in charge of, and I had to fix it.