Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth dev team admits it wasn't sure it could "put it all together in time"
"As a creator, it was fun, but the workload was also pretty tough."
Several of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's most senior developers have admitted it was "tough" to make the highly-anticipated sequel.
In a lengthy and candid interview with several of Rebirth's most senior developers – including its director, producers, and key designers – the team pulled back the covers about the highs and lows of development, admitting that at times, the studio "honestly wasn't sure that [it] could put it all together in time".
"When I first saw how much content would need to be created for this game, even just for the combat, I honestly wasn’t sure that we could put it all together in time - from the huge amount of character abilities to the summons and the systems that allow you to fight alongside them, to the rich variety of enemy types that keeps the game feeling fresh whenever players enter a new location, to the boss battles that we crafted to have their own distinctive feel, and each and every one of these elements featuring its own rich variety of gameplay and visual elements," explained battle director, Teruki Endo.
"But the development team put their all into making something great, and as a result of this, we were able to put everything together in a way that showed great attention to detail in every aspect."
"The development of this title was really tough, but even during development, the staff were unanimous that the experience is worth the effort that we put in," added environment director, Takako Miyake.
"So much so that during development, whenever we were wandering around inside the game environment in order to check that everything was working properly, we would sometimes forget that we were supposed to be performing checks, and just get lost in enjoying the game."
"As a creator, it was very fun to work on, but the workload was also pretty tough," Hsueh Huei Liao, lead user interface artist, conferred (thanks, GamesRadar). "Even so, the UI team worked hard and without compromise on each and every one of them, to such a high standard that each one is almost like its own standalone game."
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth released at the end of February exclusively on PlayStation 5. If you are still wondering if this game is for you, be sure to read Eurogamer's Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth review, where our Ed called it "an overstuffed but lovable re-imagining", awarding it four out of five stars.