Final Fantasy 7 Remake Sequel - 10 Bold Predictions

Final Fantasy VII Remake is on course to be one of the most successful PS4 launches in the console’s history, bringing Square Enix’s iconic franchise back into the mainstream once more. Praise for the game has been almost universal, though the reaction from audiences is more divisive than critics, given the sheer amount of changes from the beloved original.

A combination of pre-orders being delivered early and a sheer lack of anything else to do right now has ensured that players have started to finish the game in their droves. This has already put anticipation for Part II at fever pitch, as many jump straight back into the postgame hard mode to build on the itch scratched by the expanded 30-50 hour Midgar storyline and side content.

Given Square Enix’s track record - which has seen us go from one major Final Fantasy game every year or so to around two per decade - it’ll probably be several years before we see a "part 2" of the remake. When that day finally comes, however, expectations will be high and here are ten things that the next game will potentially incorporate.

From this point on, there will be extensive discussion of spoilers, both from the ending of the remake, and from the original Final Fantasy VII.

What do you want to see happen next?

One of the most controversial additions to the remake has been the ‘whispers’. These spectral figures, which didn’t appear in the original, show up throughout the game’s eighteen chapters to influence events, preventing and forcing certain actions by the leading characters. Their appearance is very confusing at first, and many originally mistook them as an artistic reinterpretation of the hooded Sephiroth clones.

It isn’t definitively explained anywhere, but between Red XIII’s description of their nature and the fact that the game’s Kingdom Hearts-esque penultimate boss fight is against the Whisper Harbinger, a manifestation of fate, the prevailing assumption is that the shadows were a meta representation of the series’ fanbase, attempting to ensure the remake’s story panned out exactly as it did in the original game, twenty three years ago.

This explains plot developments such as Barret being revived from his skewering at the hands of Sephiroth, and Cloud being forced onto the second reactor bombing when Jessie was initially set to take his place, as these didn’t/did happen in the original respectively.

By defeating this manifestation, the party seem to have created an alternative timeline, meaning that all bets could be off plot-wise going forwards.

Glimpses offered into what we knew to be the future (such as Aeris’ death and Red XIII running with members of his own species) could now be undone, and the fallout of this will certainly have be explored and explained in an expository fashion to more casual players.