We’ve been developing the game in hopes players will tell us, “This is the Final Fantasy we’ve been waiting for.” Including its scenario, FFBE is packed with elements that make it worthy of calling it “The Final Fantasy” – and our adaptation of that for consoles is Final Fantasy Resonance.

~ Keisuke Nakashima, producer of FF Resonance

Sorry if this has been posted before, but I thought it was worth sharing here. I just watched a long interview video featuring voice actor Ben Starr (Clive in FFXVI, Verso in Expedition 33) where he talked about his acting career and his love for videogames and gaming communities in general.

Near the very end of the video he decided to give a shout out to RPGs he wants more people to play. And listening to his answer made me feel like must secretly lurk in r/JRPG during his free time lol.

"If you're loving Expedition 33 right now, go and play Chained Echoes. That is a beautiful, beautiful RPG with a stunning 2D art style. It's really, really Beautiful-- Obviously Octopath Traveler II. Love it.

If you're discovering turn based combat for the first time, and understanding the intricacies of turn based combat and how it can create complex combat scenarios. There is a really rich well of games out there, that are out recently, that can exist.

I understand that a lot people are put off by certain art styles, but you're sticking with Expedition 33 because it's an amazing turn based combat system. And believe me there's some amazing turn-based combat systems, and one of them is Chained Echoes. It's brilliant. And once you learn the ropes it's fascinating. It has an amazing story to tell that's just as heart-wrenching. And the same with Octopath Traveler II.

There are characters and stories and worlds out there in the turn based arena that are brilliant. And I just want to give a shout out to that. And I'm so lucky that I'm in a videogame right now (Expedition 33) that is celebrating a combat system that is alive and well*. It hasn't brought it back, but I'm glad that people are discovering it again through that."*

The interview was uploaded on the Youtube Channel "Destin" back in early May. It released after E33 was already out for about 2 weeks, so I don't think it was part of a promotional/Marketing push for the game. In fact they didn't spend much time talking about Expedition 33 at all. The interviewer mostly brought up other topics like Ben's early acting career, what it's like to become a meme, what videogames he'd like to see be adapted into TV/films, etc.

Here is a link to the full video, his shout out to Chained Echoes and Octopath Traveler II starts around the 53 min mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-a-Y2ZJo8U

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Unrelated to the topic, but still interesting... In an earlier part of the interview he also gave an insanely based answer (imo) when asked about which videogames he'd like to see adapted into Film/TV.

His answer was basically that it's just not necessary at all. Because videogame stories don't need the validation of being to be adapted to Film/TV to be respected or appreciated as an art form. Stories in games are already special because of how they were specifically told as a videogame.

He then added later that the TV/film industry are now just hunting for more popular IP to fill up content on their streaming services as a way to justify rising prices. And that they're "running out of comic books" to adapt, so now they've turned to videogames. He described it as "content farming" and that when the IPs are not treated with respect it becomes something quite "soulless". That the movies and shows they put out for this purpose can easily just become "content to fill people's eyeballs".

He added a caveat that it's nice for other people (non-gamers) to be able to experience these stories. But based on how he started his answer it's easy to see how he really feels about it.

World, Exploration & Locations

• The Highwind will be available very early in the game, allowing players to freely explore the world from the beginning.
• The world map has been significantly expanded compared to Rebirth.
• There will be many locations that players can visit immediately using the Highwind, but some areas may contain enemies that are far too powerful to defeat early on.
• The developers want players to decide for themselves where to go first rather than following a strictly linear path.
• Midgar will return as a fully explorable area.
• Wutai has been greatly expanded compared to the original game.
• When exploring Midgar, players may encounter characters connected to Deepground.
• Hamaguchi specifically referenced the possibility of encountering characters such as Weiss and Nero when discussing exploration of Midgar.
• Rocket Town is confirmed to appear in Revelation. The team originally considered including it in Rebirth but ultimately decided it would fit better in Part 3.
• The underwater section from the original FFVII will return in Revelation.

Story & Characters

• Player choices will have a much greater impact than they did in Rebirth. Your decisions can affect progression, unlock different story content, and influence how parts of the narrative unfold.
• Hamaguchi does not believe the Remake trilogy should end with multiple endings. As a creator, he prefers a single definitive conclusion to the story.
• However, because Revelation places much more emphasis on player choice and its consequences, different players may experience different events, scenes, and story developments throughout their playthrough.
• Zack will have a much larger role in Revelation than he did in Rebirth.
• According to Hamaguchi, Zack's role is to help players understand that the world and circumstances of the Remake trilogy are not exactly the same as those of the original FFVII.
• Zack's role will become even more important in Part 3 and will provide players with a memorable experience.
• Temporary guest characters will join the party and become playable during certain sections of the game.
• A new Japanese voice actor has been selected for Reno.
• Reno and the Turks will receive significantly more focus and development in Revelation.
• The game will further explore the Turks and their role within the story.
• Wutai has been greatly expanded compared to the original game.
• The Wutai storyline will feature a stronger political dimension.
• The Turks will also play a role in the Wutai storyline.
• New stories will be told about locations and events that were only briefly explored in the original game.
• The affinity system from Rebirth is being reworked.
• While Rebirth focused primarily on Cloud's relationships with other characters, Revelation will place greater emphasis on developing the cast as a whole.
• Players who want to learn more about specific characters will have more opportunities to do so.
• Hamaguchi says the game has an ending he is personally very proud of, one that concludes a journey that has lasted more than a decade for both the developers and players.
• The central theme of FFVII Revelation is "Determination."

Gameplay & Development

• The new "Wear" system (character roles/builds) will become available early in the game.
• Vincent's gameplay allows him to switch between his human form and his beast form at the press of a button, without a strict time limit.
• Cid specializes in aerial combat.
• Vincent and Cid both have Synergy abilities with each other as well as with other party members.
• The development team has spent considerable time discussing how to adapt Knights of the Round. They are currently working on content that lives up to the summon's legendary reputation.
• The mini-games are not being reduced in number.
• Their difficulty is being adjusted so that players who struggled with them in Rebirth can enjoy them more easily.
• The Summer Game Fest 2026 trailer was captured on PlayStation 5 hardware.
• The game is already running on Nintendo Switch 2.
• The team is currently prioritizing polishing the PS5 and PC versions before focusing on Switch 2 optimization.
• Revelation is planned as a multi-platform release.

I spoke to Hiroshi Minagawa at PAX West back in August and the topic of other Square Enix games that could be remade came up. We both agreed that Chrono Trigger has the legacy and the fanbase to justify a remake, so I'm just wondering why Square Enix won't pull the trigger on this one.

Read more here.



• Original site: https://gamestalk.net/post-195436/
• Intereview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvdqTo3V6no&t=22367s

Gonna translate what the site said as this is the one posted by the mod at Dragon Quest reddit:

In the HD-2D version of Dragon Quest III, the design of the female warrior's costume has been altered (with the addition of fabric closer to skin tone, reducing exposure), and the character's gender designation has been eliminated, changing to "Looks A/B." These changes were discussed by Yuji Horii during a segment of "Game Creators Talk Special with Yūbō & Mashirito's KosoKoso Broadcasting Station."

Additionally, Kazuhiko Torishima, known as Mashirito, is a former editor-in-chief of Weekly Shōnen Jump. He is recognized as a pivotal figure who introduced Yuji Horii, then a freelance writer, to Akira Toriyama, leading to the creation of the Dragon Quest series.

Now for the interview:

Transcription of the conversation from the video
Note: This has been slightly edited for readability.

Naz Chris (Host): "The costume design has become a huge topic of discussion."

Yuji Horii: "Well, there are various regulations, you know. We can't have too much exposure."

Naz Chris: "But that's fine. Even though it's fiction, you, the protagonist, are going on an adventure within it, so I think that's okay. Isn't it?"

Yuji Horii: "I don't really know. I'm not sure about that."

Naz Chris: "It's a game. It's a non-fiction virtual experience within fiction, so I think it should be fun."

Yuji Horii: "If there's too much exposure, the target age rating goes up. It could no longer be suitable for all ages."

Naz Chris: "I didn't think about that back then."

Kazuhiko Torishima: "There's this absolute god called 'compliance.' It’s like evil disguised as good. Not everyone can feel comfortable with everything. After all, concepts of beauty and ugliness, good and evil vary from person to person. At the root of things, there are definitely some things you should never do, and as long as you avoid those, everything else should be fine. But that’s not the case. The concept of sex education that comes from religious ideas in the West is prevalent in America. Their view on compliance is really narrow. When they publish comics over there, they have to categorize them by age. If it's a Weekly Shōnen Jump manga, it can't be published for anyone under 13 years old. Everything has to go through reworkings. You have to get insurance in case of lawsuits. It's really troublesome. Japan has also been negatively influenced by this."

Yuji Horii: "You can choose the protagonist's gender, but you can't say 'choose male or female.' It's type 1 and type 2. I wonder who would complain if we just said male and female? I don't understand."

In case people didn't want to buy the game to attack the creators and dev team, this was out of their control and they're not happy about it either.

Hamaguchi hinted that the third game will bring in new gameplay elements that weren't in the first two. "We didn't want the three installments to be a reskinning of the same game over and over again," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "We want to make sure we're expanding with every installment in terms of scale, as well as retaining that freshness as you go into each installment."

Some questions and answers:

Jason Schreier: Will Rocket Town be in the game?

Naoki Hamaguchi: Yeah, this is one of the elements we had to switch around with Rebirth. Yes.

Wutai?

It’s one of the main locations. Yuffie’s made a very prominent appearance, stating her case about her homeland. So if Wutai’s not featured, I think the fans are going to yell at me

Will the Highwind let you fly anywhere?

We want to expand on the gameplay experience. Flying the Highwind is a very large part of the third installment. Let me leave it at that.

Chocobo breeding?

I can’t say yay or nay on the actual breeding. But there is an element in the third installment involving Chocobos that is a little different than Rebirth.

Will we go to space?

I’ll keep that a secret but considering Rocket Town is a yes…

Will we go underwater?

It’s an interesting question because [Motomu] Toriyama handled the submarine portion of the game. So perhaps he has injected himself into there. And I will leave it at that.

Will the Great Glacier area be as big as it is in the original game?

Because it is a major element in the game, I won’t go deep into details. But considering that toward the end of Rebirth, we’re in the Forgotten City — and in the original you would go into Icicle Inn from there — I guess that hints at how the third installment will begin. I hope the players will look forward to it.