Original Final Fantasy 7 director hopes the JRPG series continues after the Remake project trilogy ends, but reckons it may be without him

Yoshinori Kitase hopes that Final Fantasy 7 continues after the Remake project ends with Part 3, though he doubts he'll be involved if that happens. 

The official Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Ultimania has been released in Japan, expanding on the game's story and lore while providing some developer commentary and art. We got something similar for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, so you know fans have been flicking through for interesting tidbits now that it's Rebirth's turn.

As Aitai Japan CEO and translation enthusiast Audrey summarises on Twitter, Kitase "has hopes" that the world of Final Fantasy 7 "may continue on even after finishing the FF7 Remake Project trilogy." Of course, Part 3 needs to be wrapped up before Square Enix can meaningfully think about anything like that. 

That said, if another game in the Final Fantasy 7 world happens, it will unlikely feature Kitase himself to any significant degree. Audrey shares that Part 3 may be his last involvement due to age. 

Not taking that as a negative, Kitase apparently wants to close the trilogy well, hoping that Cloud and company will be happy by its conclusion. As Audrey says, "He wants to finish the trilogy on a positive note without leaving behind any unfinished business, but that’s just his own personal opinion on the matter." 

Kitase has served as a director on several Final Fantasy games, such as 6, 7, and 8. Since then, though, he has more commonly held producer roles as he grew in seniority at developer Square Enix. It's a legendary tenure that's stretched back to 1991, though everything must come to an end.

It remains to be seen how Final Fantasy 7 might continue. The beloved JRPG is no stranger to spin-off games, such as 2004's Before Crisis: Final Fantasy 7 or 2023's Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis. Then there's the odd flick like 2005's Advent Children.

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The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Ultimania is out now in Japan. We typically get an English version of tomes