The Alternative Look on Final Fantasy VII Remake's New Direction 

"Could kill for a shower." Inspirational quotes by Tifa Lockhart.

95% of the game was like perfect and well executed and heavily character driven. I have faith in square

I did watch the 2.5 hr video of Max's levels and I am totally on board with his theories. I love that he mentions that people were reaching out to him with their theories and it got him thinking on a very deep level. The ending was a huge SHOCK. I put the game down and went to bed upset right before I fought the "big boss" at the end. I am glad that the next day I was over it and finished it. I feel like this ending is bringing a lot of us closer together because quite a few of us are working together to interpret the game. That's what makes it so special. Always love your attitude, NSD!

if we can’t take barret to the gold saucer i’m gonna be very disappointed

I have always looked at it this way, We're talking about the original Writers of FF7 here, (Kazushige Nojima Yoshinori Kitase Tetsuya Nomura Hironobu Sakaguchi) HOW are we going to know what the original writers had in mind in 1997, this may very well be their original Idea they had in mind for FF7 but was limited by the technology back then, (even though they were leaps and bounds ahead already) Now that they have the technology to make it happen, we may be witnessing the REAL birth of FF7. People fret and freak out if things aren't what they think it should be or that some of the cannon has changed, Like I said, we're talking about the ORIGINAL WRITERS here, they have a right to change the cannon and make their dreams of FF7 to THEIR liking, I have MORE than enough faith in them, look how beloved the original is, These writers have all the talent in the world and have proved it once already, I think we should give them more than enough credit to do it again, and the REIMAGINED of FF7 is already proof they have it in the bag, and YEA, I think it's more than a REMAKE! That's my two cents!!

I have a feeling this topic regarding the ending of ff7 remake is going to be discussed for a loooooong time

I'm glad you are looking at the positives. I feel that some are reading into it too far, it's better we just wait to see what they actually have planned for part 2 rather than speculating too much!

It almost feels like they remade the experience of playing final fantasy VII for the first time too. No matter if you played the original to death or if this was your first time playing, we're all in the same boat in that we don't know what's coming next. This keeps things fresh for all of us imo. Even if they decided to do the rest of the game with next to zero new elements we still wouldn't really know what was coming because we know they don't have any problems with changing things!

Okay my dudes, I just watched a 2,5 hour podcast with Maximilian Dood and he has the wildest theorieswith evidence for them. That was so mind blowing what he said OMG

Me: wow the end of ff7r make so many new possibilities! Everyone else: bad game!

Nothing wrong with making speculations on this and that, but overreacting to the changes isn't worth it. At this point, it's best to just wait and see how the whole ALTERNATE FF7 saga unfolds bit by bit. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience (or re-experience) one of gaming's greatest stories ever... that no one should ever pass up.

I loved the ending personally, and i just hope the next game is more open, lengthy and has more weapons and level 99 cap at least. How soon do you think they might tease the next part?? I would love a video about that and about ff16 theories, like is it gonna come in between ff7 parts or until that saga is finished?

Liked the ending.. my concern is they're gonna make Zack survive and play a much bigger role than he should. The whole point of Zack was that he died a HERO and passed the torch to Cloud. To retcon all of that would be so lame

You gotta think about the scope of Gaia and breadth of characters that can be used to propel the narrative in new territory. Making Vincent and Yuffie mandatory members with better characterization. Wutai having a larger role in the fight against Shinra. The other Turks from Before Crisis making their appearances. Rufus being aware of the whispers could also change how the intend to tackle their pursuit of the promised land. The world itself remains intact, but what we do and where we can can change dramatically and that’s exciting.

I've watched multiple theory videos about what is going on with this ending. But there is a question that I don't think many people have stopped to ask: What if the Reunion succeeded? Yes, Sephiroth is created from Jenova cells. Yes, we have fought PIECES of Jenova. But what if Jenova was returned to her full power with all of her parts reuniting? What if Sephiroth isn't trying to relive the timeline, but instead revive Jenova so that he can live on in her and achieve a theoretical 'ultimate form'? In addition to that, what if Aerith knowing the future and her new powers isn't so much a 'time travel' as the future Gaia deciding "You know what? I messed up. Humanity doesn't need to go extinct." and sends her future conciousness memories, and only the memories, back. We know absolutely jack and squat about the true power of the Cetra, so who's to say that she and Ifalna aren't doing the will of the future Gaia, while trying to circumvent the will of present Gaia? What if the overarcing storyline is one of trying to undo past sins? What if it's exploring the successful ressurection of Jenova? And my personal favorite...what if there is NO BLOODY TIME TRAVEL!!!

After the masterpiece that was this game, I actually have faith in Square, for once...

After finishing my second play through I have discovered something. Most of my malcontent comes from what wasn't included, but nothing I expected had been explicitly excluded. I want more answers, and that feeling is what square wanted to end this game with. The whispers and Sephiroth were injected into this story to let us know something isn't right in this world but it's not time for us to know yet. Also there's lots of content from the compilation that seems like it will be more firmly linked to the original story this time around. I'd say my confidence had risen to 98% for the moment. They might just pull everything together this time around.

I liked it. It's a more modern take on the story. The ending was good. I think a lot of people forget that the gameplay mechanics and story telling has evolved since 1997. They don't want change but change is a good thing. I reckon you're right about the story remaining the same but with the overarching themes they introduced playing part in the story. Excellent video as always!

Wrote this in reply to another comment but I think people who complain about some fans being negative and hating anything new are just as intolerant as some of the so called haters. Listen to both sides before jumping to conclusions. My perspective is that 'theory crafting' by fans sets up an enormous potential for disappointment especially if the story becomes more about 'subverting expectations' than actually about the story itself. The problem with meta narratives is that your story becomes a story about a story rather than being a story in itself. I've seen this happen so many times with different franchises with 'alternative timelines', multiverse, or where 'subverting expectations' becomes a dominant idea. You have to look at the mess Game of Thrones, LOST, the Terminator series have gotten themselves into with elements of these various ideas. I hope SE know what they're doing or the this could be very messy.

I admit that I was totally losing my cool in the final chapters of Remake. It seemed so random. But then I thought about it for a couple days and realized how much potential had opened up with this new direction, how interconnected everything actually was, and became really excited. Then I listened to the EZA podcast with Max and i LOST MY DAMNED MIND. In retrospect, I'm happy that there's been a shift in the narrative, that we've deviated from the original. It's created a sense of wonder that i haven't had playing a Final Fantasy title in a LOOOONG time. I'm equal parts excited and scared and it feels pretty amazing. I can't wait to see where this new journey will lead us!

I’m in the same boat as you and maximillian. I embraced change and the inclusion of characters like roach, even to the degree that you and soldier 1st think he should have been the final boss. But.... the way the new plot elements were mostly implemented soured my overall enjoyment of the game, that being the “Plot Ghost”. I haven’t played the original game in probably over 10 years so I’m extremely fuzzy on the small details and just remember the major story beats. With that said, I tried to go into the game with the mindset of a first timer and with that mentality, literally every time the story ghost appeared, there is seemingly no rhyme or reason to what their doing (until the end). So in essence, you have this weird supernatural element added to the original story with no context to it, but it also IMO contrast to the grounded/gritty setting and subverts it in a negative way. I didn’t mind them the first couple times of if they were used more sparingly but they appear too often and usually during emotionally impactful moments to boot. When Shinra was trying to collapse the plate and bigs was on his deathbed but the ghosts were there gatekeeping, I was like now is NOT THE FING TIME lol (in retrospect they were probably healing him so he could live, which I don’t know how I feel about cause his character literally existed so that we could feel the weight of his death and our terrorist activity). Even upon experiencing the ending as a first timer you would still not have no context to what their doing without having played the original game, which is kind of a slap in the face. What I will acknowledge about the plot ghost is that they do enrich a second play through after going outside of the game to watch RU-vid videos that try to make sense of what their doing. Maybe this is modern storytelling. With that said, I have literally not seen nor heard anyone say that they enjoyed the whispers of fate and how they were implemented. So they add this intriguing meta narrative but they intrude upon and subvert the tone/feel/and impact of key moments of the original story. Not a worthwhile trade off IMO especially considering they could have changed story beats and added characters like roach and kyrie without this obtrusive new element.

Im glad you`re the way you are, open minded. You`re not stubborn and you havent allready decided what you think of this whole thing. This is why your channel is my favorite final fantasy channel

I was concerned that they were changing the combat system. I got over it. I was concerned that it would be in multiple parts. I got over it. I was concerned that the first part was ONLY Midgar. I got over it. I was VERY concerned about the ending... now the more I think about it, the more I actually like it. I had already accepted that it wasn't going to be a 1:1 retelling, now I'm actually super psyched that there are gonna be surprises and new story along the way. If the story and characters are treated with respect, it will be good no matter what, I'm not gonna just write something off because it is different to what I expected or even to what I thought I wanted at first. tll;dr I got over it.

I feel like they've opened up an infinite number of possibilities to fully immerse the players into the world that wasn't possible in the original, and I'm happy to see where they take the story now that they've changed that one part at the end

I really want to see how Zack's story continues where it was supposed to end and how that would have impacted the original FF7's story. Like what happens to Avalanche, Aerith and the others. I'm a bit more interested in Zack as a protagonist than Cloud. I still need to play Crisis Core for myself tho; only watched playthroughs.

Personally, I'm done with all the theory-crafting until we get a statement from Square.

I'm happy letting nomura have the reins for this game, i loved it. My biggest issue with the game is the way nomura ends his games though. he always wants the player to question what the hell is happening at the end of each of his games, and i think. that works when a game tells the full story. when there is a beginning middle and end, even in the end is chaotic and hints at more, its still an end. Everyone knew this end ISNT an END to a story but the rest before the next part, and i think Nomuras ending falls flat because of it. Plot-wise i'm incredibly excited, and the voice acting, the graphics, the additions to the story are all so wonderful. but i have concerns for story structure, but those concerns are rooted in a different way to view storytelling in games than the director. My theory for the explanation of the game isnt time travel, but instead, We're inside cloud's subconscious, trying to process everything after handing the black materia to sephiroth and falling into the lifestream, but before Tifa shows up to help piece him back together. Sephiroth's ego is coming in uninvited and trying to manipulate cloud into accepting life as a puppet, and aerith's ego is also intervening to save cloud from that fate. The Whispers are the fragments of clouds memory. things as they should be. and sephiroth wants them gone in order to remake cloud as a perfect puppet for sephiroth's will, Aerith determines that clouds memories need to be locked away because the trauma is calling him to slip into sephiroth's clutches. Like she says in the original, "why don't you REALLY worry about it, and let me handle sephiroth". I don't think Future sephi/aerith make much sense, considering some major plot points that get ignored in the 'visions of the future'. Why Isn't sister-Ray attached to midgar when meteor falls in the visions, why are there no images of WEAPON. Both those things happen after sephiroth and cloud fall into the lifestream, but would absolutely be known to any time travelers. but they just arent ever shown. The last event we get perfect detail of, is the Reunion, when cloud touches marco. right before the events that lead to my theory. Sephiroth's overarching goal seems to force cloud to be haunted by his trauma, "run away, hold on to that hatred, i am your everything" all pretty textbook examples of people with unresolved trauma, obsession, avoidance and internalizing negative emotions are very much ways people cope with trauma that hurt them long term. While Aerith is encouraging cloud to let go and move on "you can't fall in love with me, it won't be real, everyone is going to die it's how you enjoy the moments that matter". she wants to do what tifa successfully does later on in the original, work cloud through his trauma. If i'm even remotely close to the mark, i think the end of part 2 will be the Temple of the Ancients. not the end of disc 1. and that game 3 will start out with the bone village and the city, go through to the reunion and then it'll cut to the Tifa/Barret stuff, and end with Cloud returning to the party, probably his big speech on the highwind. and game 4 will be the rest. Structured this way, with how game 1 ended, there will be a big confrontation with sephiroth at the end of each game. In the temple we have the scene inside with the Dragon, as well as the scene outside with cloud being controlled. In cloud's subconscious with tifa we can re-enact the cloud sephiroth conflict, how it really happened in nibelheim. and obviously in the center of the planet we have the canonical fight. Either way i'm excited for more voice acting from the cast through the rest of the parts.

Ive already clocked up 61hrs. Cant put it down. I have an open mind for the next installment.

I am cautiously optimistic, as long as they don't go the Kingdom Hearts route and add so much the original plot gets lost. :p

Been sick, but now I’m better. You’re the greatest NSP!!!

I like to think Square Enix designed the Whispers with the fans in mind. Blindly attacking anything that tries to knock the original story off course. Only by ridding themselves of these interfering entities could Final Fantasy VII spread its wings into new territory.

Subscribers: Yeah, but did you- NSP: In b4 linking Max’s discussion on EZA

No matter what your opinion is on the ending of part 1, you can't deny that the game as a whole was a beautiful experience. I think that it'd be really hard for them to mess up the future games after seeing what they did here

I am on the camp of neither hating nor loving the new ending. I find it very intriguing but also somewhat concerning. With that I mean I can see it being amazing but also terrible as well. It all depends on part 2 for me. Square can either totally knock part 2 out of the park with this ending or totally screw up. So I am on the "Wait for Part 2 to actually form an opinion about the ending" crew.

FFVII Remake should keep the exact same formula for Part 2, just with open-world elements for the overworld of Gaia. I really loved the Remake... I have faith

I can't wait to see part 2 open world my gosh I hope its large like the original with detail n tress with ocean Jesus I cannot wait.

Just got done listening to the 3 and a half hour podcast about FF7R with Mike and Solider, really enjoyed ur guy’s input throughout, nice job prince and keep up the good work..

So I got a theory... it's not much... but here, and maybe it adds up with someone else's theory. The after credits scene of "Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children: COMPLETE" Zacks original grave is no longer a grave but where a heros story begins, then it shows Zacks sword in the church. Could that be the final resting point for... bare with it now... Cloud? Arieth, and Zack both survive the new story of 7? Idk. Or maybe it's just Zacks new grave site. I'm over thinking EVERYTHING.

Thanks for the shout-out! This is a great video, and I'm glad you made it after we talked.

I liked the ending but I'm worried on how time travel and the multiverse will be handled in the narrative.

Would be cool to see Cloud teleport to the world of Ivalice for a short period of time and see how Cloud ended up there in FFT. It could be a like a mini game stuff!

Personally, i don't believe the whole company or the remake team or even nomura himself is insane enough to completely rewrite the main plotline of the og. It seems like they aware of the whole "i hope we can save aerith" and "i hope zack and aerith could reunite" thing and try to please both, fans that doesn't want change in the story and the one who does.

Like you said, it depends on the next game. If it turns out great then the ending will be viewed in a positive light.

OG FF7 = Marvel Comic universe FF7R = Marvel Cinematic universe

I have a FF7 tattoo. It's my favorite game of all time and It's not even close. That being said....I can not wait to see what's next because I have no idea what's going to happen. And that excites me more than anything has in a long time.

They’re gonna nail the next game as well no doubts in my mind at all either just be glad we get to experience it in the first place

For the time-traveler/ FFVII-2 theory, I love that the game hints throughout the story that Aerith knows more than she’s suppose to know and Sephorith is desperate on changing destiny in favor this time around. Ugggh! I’m so pumped!😳🔥

People are honestly overreacting to the ending. It was never gonna back a 1:1 remake. Also this is what remake means Make something again or *differently* so technically they made it differently. So technically it is still a remake

Seeing the past and the ancients makes me really want to go back in time and explore what they showed us

I think you guys are looking to far into the ending. Here’s my take: MAJOR SPOILERS ON OG GAME AND THE REMAKE AHEAD you’ve been warned. 1. Once you go through the “Whisper door” (we’ll call it) you are in a rift between the world and the unknown. Everything that happens in there is inconsequential to the world because it’s adjacent to the world as we know it. The whisper fight, the Sephiroth fight. All of it. However my explanation for it in general is they either didn’t want you to leave Midgar (you being Aerith) or they wanted to keep Sephiroth’s remnant (I’ll get into that soon) there which obviously fails whether it’s one or both. It serves as “opening the door” to leave as we’ve seen them stop you from going places a bunch before (Sector 7 when Jessie is hurt, the plate etc) so they had to be overcame. 2. Zack. If you look at the game when you’re seeing the Zack flashback it’s night in your area and his flashback it’s mid afternoon sun bright in the sky. I don’t think this is time travel or multiverse or any of that. Remember first where Zack dies, it’s not IN the fight with the literal TON of Shinra forces. After he beats them he drags Cloud to the edge of the cliff (we see as he walks past Aerith) and they are on the edge overlooking Midgar when he is done in which they didn’t show, they leave Cloud to die because he has mako poisoning and don’t find it necessary. All of the Zack scene lines up and honestly if we take what we know about whispers (how they impose memories or visions of the past or future into characters minds at different points in the game) this looks to me to be just that, a memory of the past imposed on in this case Aerith probably due to her close relationship to Zack so she’s effectively seeing how he died for the first time. I don’t see any parallel that shows him being alive or a new timeline per say because again, remember when in that sequence and how he died. AFTER the fight pulling Cloud to the edge to look at Midgar while injured which completely lines up with what we saw. 3. Sephiroth. I don’t see any reason to assume he’s time traveling either in this. I mean it IS Nomura and we know how much he loves that with Xehanort BUT hear me out. Original game you constantly saw visions of Sephiroth. Shinra building, freight ship, etc etc. by later in the game what do we learn? They weren’t really him. It was remnants (guys in black cloaks that can’t talk minus saying reunion with tattoos on their arm) like Marco snd the guy from the children’s hideout, yes? He is merged with the planet somewhat in his chrysalis of mako in the northern crater and uses that fuse and his link with them AND Jenova to control their minds and bodies and create an image of him (much like when Cloud walks to the elevator all messed up saying Jenova and mother, no?) we even see at the roof of the Shinra building post Jenova fight that it’s Marco who was basically possessed by Sephiroth before he jumps off the building with Jenova’s remains. That being said if Sephiroth is tapped into the planet he also has the planet’s knowledge imparted to him by the life stream all of which lines up with the original. I just don’t see any link to him time traveling and see absolutely no link to Aerith being a time traveler either. If we take what the source material provides us and apply it to what we have and what we know from this game this is the most concrete theory in my head. To draw another line to back it up. Advent Children. How did Sephiroth posses Kadaj? Through Jenova being absorbed into him and the life stream. When he is defeated what does he say? “I will never be a memory” saying that he will return as he is one with the planet now. Where do we get that idea? Go back to the end of the original FF7, when you kill Sephiroth his life stream is red, it touches the lifestream around you and turns IT red ideally Cloud played into his hands and made him one with the planet just like he said he would be. He will never be a memory because as long as there is lifestream he has an ability to resurface if conditions are met. Where am I going with this? I’ll tell you. Again. He is trapped in the northern crater encased in mako at the site where Jenova become the “calamity from the sky” injuring the planet and creating this massive crater so near to the planets heart, being trapped there and encased in mako (thanks Cloud) he is tapped into the planet, the lifestream and as such has access to the planets memory which we know from the original. Using this he can meet certain conditions and possess the remnants of Hojo’s experiments and walk the earth which again he did a bunch in this game. So in my eyes? Time travel unlikely. The same use of the planet and being ungodly powerful? Yes. 4. Aerith being a time traveler. All I have to say for this one is that I have seen nothing at all that points to this even a little. Call me a skeptic but feel free to enlighten me and I’ll look at it objectively from both sides like I did before commenting all this. 5. There was no big baddie at this point that constituted the end of an RPG game so they needed to make one (ex whispers and Sephiroth fight) and to wrap up some plot (conversation with Sephiroth at the metaphorical edge of the world) and leave us with a wow factor to keep us talking, playing and carry us over to the next installment. TLDR; I don’t buy into multiverse or time travel, Zack isn’t alive that was whispers showing Aerith memories of his death, Sephiroth isn’t time traveling he is using the lifestream and planets knowledge to do what we know he can do, just better Any confusion feel free to reach out and I’ll be happy to absolutely nerd out over this game.

Have you seen the east allies spoiler discussion for FF7R with Maximalian Dood? They throw around some really interesting ideas as to where the story may be going and I'd highly recommend checking it out if you already haven't.

I'm mixed. I'm fine with mostly everything revealed at the end except for the Zack scenes. Rewriting the past is always messy and it also just ruins Zack's journey and some of Cloud's backstory.

To note, I am pretty sure this is original Aerith with visions of the future. Am pretty sure only Sephiroth has fully experienced the compilation.

I think we forgive Square Enix’s transgressions way too easily. At the end of Part II, it’s gonna be the same B.S. and we’re gonna be saying the same thing: “well... the ending was not what I expected... but let’s wait until part 5 to see where this is all going.” I’ve said it on another thread before, and I’ll say it again: using “multi-verse” as a story mechanic is so trite, lazy and unnecessary. FF7 doesn’t need all of this and it dilutes the story. I’m all for changes and enhancements that don’t change the CORE themes and plot. It feels like SE is changing that and were just falling for/accepting it. And to clarify - because I know there will be people who have no reading comprehension skills who will misinterpret everything that I’ve written and respond to this anyway - I actually really liked the game. Probably the best FF in AGES. HOWEVER... what’s implied by the ending is a change in the core themes and plot. THAT is the problem. If SE wanted different themes and plots, they should have made FF XVI with all this multi-verse, time-traveling B.S. in mind. I’ll play Part II for sure, but if it’s some ridiculous off-the-rails multi-verse nonsense then I’ll just go back to the original... which is still better than the remake 23 years later.

I still believe the team is pouring love into this and wants to faithfully recreate our favorite moments and develop amazing characters. There are definitely some pacing things that might need adjustment and they may even intend to drastically alter the final ending, but this first game, weird time travel ending aside, gave me hope for the future.

I wasn't a fan of the ending, it made me realize even more that it was more of a reboot instead of a remake... The ghosts/whispers being the most unecessary additions, interrupting pivotal scenes and taking the spotlight, rending those scenes less impactful.

How every other developer unlocks a good ending: just make right decisions on ur next playthrough that may be cryptic on ur next play through. Squenix: wait 23 years and then replay it on ur next playthrough

Some thing from 20+ years ago can't remain the same forever. Like or not the changes have already come.

Everyone freaks out of the unknown, it gives you goosebumps and take you away from the comfort zone of the known

Remake was my first FF7 experience. After beating the remake I went to finish the original on PC. The story is OK, but I think the remake can clean up some of the silly stuff out such as Cid, Cloud and so on being launched into space and coming back to the planet in an escape pod.

Ideas for the Sephiroth and Aerith backstory: Sephiroth makes a device for Aerith that allows her to communicate with squirrels, then the squirrels catch on and they end up having to pack up and move to another reality.

what video?? when u say “yes, Ive watched that video” what video? i wanna watch it too

Thank you. Theory crafting is all and good and really fun, but I love it when people recognize that we truly know nothing of what part 2 will be, instead of acting so smart as if we have figured out everything. lol. We can only speculate. Some hints might be core truths and other red herrings. We will never know until part 2 comes out. I have my reservations, I cannot really say I am completely open to a full convoluted AU and Time-travel story-line. But, I have hopes that they can make it as simple as possible. We will just have to see.

I personally loved the game right to the end, and at least liked the ending. My only concern is, that they put "too much" paralel timeline stuff into the next games. I hope that if they want to use multiple timelines, than that they stick to maximal 2 of those and that these never really physically ovelap at least until the very end and than only maybe with Cloud and Zack, but not 2 Clouds and 2 Tifas etc. For everything else I´m open to what they have to offer, but I´m willing to give them a chance to show us what they have in their bag, and that´s mostly thanks to how good 90% of the first game was in my eyes. But then again I´m also a PC pleb who uses 7th heavenmod to mod the shit out of the OG and play it that way :)

I agree with your positive perspectives, I’ve got faith the second one will at the very least be fun in terms of gameplay, along with the character writing still being top notch.

Concerns video: 39 minutes long. Bright side: 6 minutes. Sure.

I have faith in the direction they’re going. I’m all for it all. Keep us all guessing square!

i loved it. the only concern i have with it is the fact none of the team acknowledged that they were just tricked and gave him what he wanted. if they do not acknowledge it in part two i can see it becoming a problem

NSP, I just want to say thank you for being so faithful to the rest of us fans during this entire process. I feel like through your channel I've been more in touch with the FF7 universe and fans than I've ever been, and it's been so refreshing to hear a true fan of FF7 address the remake in such a respectful manner. I played the original FF7 back when I was 9 years old thanks to my older sister picking up a Greatest Hits copy of it for her playstation. That was 15 years ago and since the moment I first played it I have held this story, universe, and characters so close to my heart. Like many fans I also loved so many moments of this remake, but again, as so many fans, I was absolutely devastated by some of the events that transcribed during the ending. Obviously everyone has discussed the hell out of this ending already, but I think we can all agree that we are nervous that Square could ultimately end up changing the core values of 7 which made us, the fans, keep this story alive for 23 (15 in my case) years in the first place. Anyway, just wanted to say that this has been such an incredible community to be a part of during this journey, and as apprehensive (among other emotions...) as I am about what could happen next, I look forward to hearing what you and this channel will cover as we move on. Thanks.

I'm glad you have an open mind towards this Night Sky Prince. And I feel, had this been a 1 for 1 remake, we wouldn't have as much excitement, talk, and growing of the FF7 community like we are seeing/experiencing at this point in time. Loving your content. I'd vote for you if you were running for President 😂

Someone in another video had a theory that blew my mind. That the three whispers/arbiters aren't Cloud, Tifa and Barrett but are actually Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo. They're controlled by Sephiroth and when defeated, they summon Bahamut. Just like the whispers. But that's only assuming Advent Children is still canon. I don't know if it is or not. Either way, even if it's dead wrong, it makes you think.

"And yes I've seen THAT video" What video? Someone please tell me or this is going to drive me crazy!

I think we'll still see the major key events, but they might happen in different ways or in a different order. I'll be interesting to see if they do a thing where it splits from Cloud's and Zack's perspective in another timeline and the end result is realizing that the way to truly beat Sephiroth is to knock him back to his senses where he allows himself to be absorbed into the Lifestreame and the end is him reuniting with Genesis and Angeal as friends again. How that could work is my theory right now is this is Sephiroth some time after AC and Dirge screwing around with the Planet's memories since being in the Lifestream but not absorbed by it is letting him act outside of time.

I must confess: I loved the game as a whole, the only thing that really disturbed me was this ending being so close to KH's plot. That really concerns me because we don't actually know how they're going to proceed with certain things. I'm worried about this "characters dying but not dying" stuff, because it feels a lot like fan service. I'm not a big of that. If Aerith survives there's no Holy, if Zack's alive there's no Cloud. I like the idea of different timelines and the idea that somehow things are gonna happen quite close to the original but still with different things going on, I just hope they really bring the moments that were crucial and meaningful to the Remake. I like the idea this is a kinda sequell at the same time is a Remake of the first story but I just hope they don't screw this up because of fan service and because they have to sell toys and things like that!

I like to think of this as treading into something similar to Legacy of Kain. With Sephiroth playing the role of Kain, and Cloud playing the role of Raziel. Heavily modified of course.

Overall i liked the ending BUT i didn't like whole thing with the whispers and the ghost things and i didn't like the boss fight with that whisper giant but the Sephiroth fight was brilliant

Honestly. The biggest take away from "that" video, is the idea that we shouldn't be so worried about the quality of the next games... Look at all they got right? You think that's just gonna go out the window? The new direction makes the future uncertain, but also interesting. The entire game we've been playing for the past week-ish is evidence that they are doing their best. I'm not worried. Just can't stand that wait. I think that's plenty of time to whip up a discussion between you and Max right? I just think you both are very passionate. I'd love you see you guys talk

5:26 #TheNightSkyPrince4President!

I am more so of a purist. So I was very disappointed with the ending of the game. However after thinking it over, the theory crafting starts, and my perspective on the game keeps changing every 5 minutes. Also after watching Maximilian Dood's recent podcast, I feel more comfortable that my own personal theory was on the mark and that makes me hopeful. I wouldnt have minded if Square wanted to re-imagine Final Fantasy 7's story to take it to a whole new direction - so long as the time travel stuff wasn't involved. But if Square is truly wanting to meet us halfway by building a new over arching plot on top of the plot we already love, then I am excited to see what's next.

I'm kinda disappointed witht he end, because they changed everytjing there just to not show the most epic scene in FFVII that is when sephiroth killed almost all in Shinra and instead of that purple thing it should be en blood every where, all before here was good, but all they did to not show blood in the game was dumb.

I definitely loved the direction of the new ending, but if I have 1 concern it's that the next game(s) might be unable to fully express the THEMES of the original story (loss, sacrifice, spirituality, environmental destruction, etc). While all these themes appear very much present in the first game, it's certainly possible the next entries could fall short of developing this story in a way that satisfies those themes. Here's hoping!

I got a feeling pt2 we gonna either play or be shown more of zack that has to be explained

One thing I didn't quite get with this "changing fate"-stunt they pulled, what made things steer off course in the first place? If these whispers keep intervening whenever the characters do something that would potentially change the story, what made the characters have the chance to actually change the story? Take Wedge's survival for example, why did he survive in the first place, if it was his fate to die? Or why wouldn't Cloud and Aerith escape the church in the first place, if it was their fate to do so? Why did the whispers have to intervene??

Honestly I think it's pretty exciting to see how they might bend the original story and take it in different directions, there is one thing that must remain though. Aerith. Must. Die.

I have said in before, I say it again. Sephiroth or especially Aerith are not time-traveling/know the future. Literally every line of Aerith implying she knows the future/original game plot, saying "This isn't how it's supposed to be" and "we change (fate), make it right." Was added in the english dub/translation. Aerith saying to Sephiroth "Everything about you is wrong" was originally "You're making a mistake/are mistaken." Her "not how this is supposed to be" was continuing her previous sentence in the japanese one for the first, saying "Sephiroth only cares about himself and the planet, he will do anything to protect it. But I think that's wrong." Her line about "we can beat him, we will" at the end was just a suggestion to Cloud, "Let's go after him." ..I'm really annoyed with english translation changing so much.

Wait, what is "that video?"

I don't think it's about time travel. I think it's about fate. You can't delay the inevitable. The end result will be that everyone who was supposed to die, will die. And everything that's supposed to happen, will happen. HOWEVER!!! I do expect a lot of "what if" dlc over the time we wait for part 2.

This video is the equivalent of the crying wojak wearing the smiling mask.

I’m happy to finally find someone who isn’t complaining about the ending. I’m interested to see where it goes myself. Excited even. Plus, this could be an opportunity for people who haven’t played the original. It’s still a classic that should be played. If the story is a bit different then people can still play it for the alternate plot. I’m also not surprised that Nomura decided to pull a “Nomura” on the remake. Alternate timelines and universes seem to be his obsession after the KH3 train. I’m honestly more surprised that everyone else is surprised about the possible change of direction.

Its more of a retelling of the story, where there was more stuff hidden in the original coming to light stuff we didn't see. Just my opinion.

Loved the ending AND have concerns too. Sometimes it's not so black and white. I think the ending is incredibly powerful, fresh, and certainly interesting. The concerns are about the changes they could make but when 95% of the game is so damn good I don't really see them throwing all the moments we loved out. I just think that story is being represented in a new light which is fine by me. So I loved the ending my worry is changing a particular death in a later part. It needs to happen.

What is “that video”?

I remember playing the original and not understanding very much of it. But I remember thinking a lot about it. A whole lot. Trying to understand things. Trying to make sense of the very convoluted story. After many years I think I got a pretty clear image of it. What this game is remaking is not only the story. It is that proces as well. I can't believe they have made me think about a game so much again. It is crazy how much time I spend on understanding this ending right now. It reminds me a lot about when I played it the first time. So well done to SE of not only remaking the story, but remaking my experience of it. That is quite a feat. I am so afraid what will happen with the story. But also so very excited.

I'm on the camp that doesn't like the time travel stuff, and if I had to think of a positive... I guess the fact that the Whispers are dead now is something I like, though that wouldn't be a concern if they didn't exist in the first place. It brought me out of the experience seeing how they just fix everything that goes wrong, removing any kind of tension. Why should I believe that losing would lead to a game over, if the whispers save everyone in the cutscenes when they're about to die? That disconnect really brings me out of the experience. Everything else in the game that isn't related to time travel shenanigans is amazing.

I am pretty sick off the Final Fantasy community whining that it's not 100% the same as the original. At least Square Enix is trying to give old fans something new to look forward too. And give new fans the opportunity to enjoy the original story and characters in a new daylight. If you want the same game as 20 years ago. Just put some mods on it on pc and play that. If the remake would have been the exact same as FF7, there would be no reason too play the original anymore.

Even though Aerith clearly knows more than she’s letting on, i don’t think she’s a time traveler. More like the planet and whispers are feeding her intel on what Sephiroth is doing. Sephiroth however, for sure traveled through time.

I loved the ending, my only concern is that they make the story as confusing as kingdom hearts one. (I like kingdom hearts)

I feel like the cosmaunat variety hour explained the ending really well, and got me even more hyped for part 2

I love like 90% of the game till the end. The ending now gives me fears like what if the killed Rufus or the Turks, I would be so pissed off if they did that. I wouldn’t mind to see if they show/mention Genesis.

I did notice that Wutai is mentioned a lot more in the remake than the original at that point in the story, along with the new plot point that Shina is looking to stir up conflict with them again. I think it's a safe bet that Wutai will be a much more plot centric location in the following games, perhaps with a war even breaking out.