Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura was recently interviewed to give his thoughts about the title before release. Read on to learn about his views on "Nomura-isms," his responsibilities, and his concerns for FF7 Rebirth.
Tetsuya Nomura Tells All Regarding FF7 Rebirth
Last Interview Just Before the Game’s Release on February 29, 2024
Yesterday on February 7, 2024, Tetsuya Nomura, the Director of FF7 Remake and now Creative Director of FF7 Rebirth, was interviewed by Japanese news site AUTOMATON regarding FF7 Rebirth weeks before its launch. Throughout the interview, he tackled his duties within the development team, the changes made to deviate Rebirth from the original, his concerns about fan reception regarding said changes, and his thoughts on the term "Nomura-isms."
Contrary to popular belief, Nomura himself doesn’t want games to take longer or be delayed, and has always asked for his projects to come out as soon as possible. As such, he is very excited for FF7 Rebirth’s release on February 29, 2024, and is ecstatic for fans to get their hands on the game.
"I just want everyone to play it as soon as possible!"
Nomura’s Responsibilities in FF7 Rebirth
When asked about his position as Creative Director and the duties that came along with it, Nomura explained that he basically "continued to work on the same aspects I worked on for FF7 Remake." However, since most of the foundation for the REMAKE trilogy was already completed in FF7 Remake, he relegated a lot of aspects to other staff. Had nothing to do with the battle system, but only offered advice about certain aspects "I felt particularly strongly about."
He continued to explain that the world of FF7 has grown and expanded to an unimaginable size across different media, and so instead of tunnel-visioning on the next singular title, he looks at the world as a whole when developing the game. " That does not mean that I’m not involved in detailed aspects, but rather that I am responsible for the direction of core elements and the overall game." His job is to look at the bigger picture and ensure that the ongoing series is going forward with a plan in mind.
FF7 Rebirth Differences From the Original
As recently in FF7 Rebirth’s Final Trailer, new characters were seen throughout and have raised excitement as well as eyebrows regarding their additions. Nomura was asked about his intentions regarding these new characters, and he explained that, though they appeared as nameless and faceless in the original, they still had roles to play. For rebirth, they made sure to flesh them out as supporting characters to "give the story a sense of depth."
Nomura continued, "Our intention is to depict even the smallest details in the world in order to reveal new things in the story, so we have also introduced new characters to that end."
Other new elements would be a new town named Side Junon. This was one of the new places and areas of land that were not present in the original FF7 but were chosen to be added and populated with NPCs. The adaptation of small towns in FF7 such as the original Junon paled in comparison to Midgar. Therefore, to make the world more "convincing," these locations were expanded and added.
Concerns About FF7 Rebirth Story Changes
With these new additions to the game, Nomura was then asked if he had any concerns about fan reactions that might not be too keen with the changes being made to their beloved game. He responded that he, along with the other project leads Yoshinori Kitase and Kazushige Nojima, discussed fan concerns intensively back during FF7 Remake development. Nomura himself didn’t let it bother him, and instead relished in the challenge of remaking FF7.
"More than 20 years have passed since the original game. In that time, each player has probably developed their own image of what FFVII is. However, it was precisely because of this that I wanted to take on the challenge of remaking it. I think that you will be satisfied if you play through the trilogy to its conclusion."
Nomura on "Nomura-isms"
To round off the interview, Nomura was jokingly asked about his style as a creator, and how much "Nomura-isms" eventually made their way into FF7 Rebirth. Nomura laughed and said he doesn’t know. He revealed that he frequently watches people discussing, commenting, and reviewing his projects and found that people often associate lines and scenarios he didn’t even write as "Nomura-isms!"
Regardless of the long-tenured meme of "crazy convoluted plot happenings" being thought of as Nomura’s doing whether he had a hand in them or not, he doesn’t let it bother him, and rather focuses on how people enjoy the games by the end.
"Overall, I think that ‘Tetsuya Nomura-ism’ is something that the players have established regardless of whether I was involved in that aspect or not. Sometimes players who are playing something I had absolutely nothing to do with go ‘This feels so Nomura,’ and I’m thinking ‘That wasn’t me…’ (laughs). However, players’ feelings and impressions are their own, and if they feel something while playing the game then I think that’s fine. Either way, I’m happy if people enjoy the game."
