Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Includes the Entire FF7 Compilation

The Final Fantasy 7 Remake project has always been about more than simply remaking the original game, and the closer we get to the last part, the more Naoki Hamaguchi has made that even clearer. During an interview at Gamescom, the director explained that one of the main goals of the entire Remake project is to bring the entire Final Fantasy 7 Compilation together into one new story.

And yes, that includes Advent Children.

FF7 Revelation Includes Advent Children

During the interview with FYNG Gamescom, Hamaguchi explained that the team wants to create a new version of Final Fantasy 7 that incorporates the full universe surrounding the original game. That includes Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, Before Crisis, and the other Compilation titles. So basically, they do not want to treat those as completely separate pieces of FF7 history anymore. When the remake trilogy ends, it will pretty much mean the entire universe will be one. Sort of.

“The theme that we have set ourselves for the whole of the Remake project is we want to create a new FF7 from scratch which includes all of the settings of the wider universe, compilation products, Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, Before Crisis, all the others.”

When asked specifically about Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, Hamaguchi made it clear that the movie is also part of that vision.

“It does include Advent Children, that is part of the overall story.”

That is already a pretty significant confirmation, but Hamaguchi then made a distinction that makes the situation way more interesting.

Including Advent Children Does Not Mean Ending With Advent Children

Advent Children has always been special. It was always a little bit blurry when it came to deciding if the movie is really canon or not, but now, it is pretty clear that it is. But according to Hamaguchi, there is a difference between the Remake project relating to Advent Children and including Advent Children as part of its story. And even if the latter is happening, that does not necessarily mean Cloud and the rest of the party are destined to reach the same ending we saw in the movie. Hamaguchi explained that one of the things the team wants players to discover for themselves is if the adventures of Cloud and his friends ultimately lead to the same conclusion as Advent Children, or if the Remake project takes things somewhere completely different.

In other words, Advent Children is canon to what the team is doing, but its ending is not necessarily the one you will get in Revelation. And that is a pretty big distinction.

“That’s one of the big things we want people to see and enjoy in the game. It does include Advent Children, that is part of the overall story, but whether it turns out that the ending, the results of Cloud and his team’s adventures takes you to that same ending or whether it goes somewhere else is something you will have to find out while playing the game.”

The team could potentially incorporate elements, characters, events, and ideas from Advent Children into the new story, and still take Cloud’s journey in an entirely different direction by the time Revelation reaches its conclusion.

Considering everything the Remake project has already changed, it should not come as a huge surprise.

The Entire FF7 Compilation Is Coming Together

This also gives us a better idea of what Square Enix means when they talk about creating a new Final Fantasy 7 from scratch. They never just took the 1997 game and rebuilt it. The Remake project was always an attempt to bring together decades of FF7 material into one big story. Crisis Core has already become an important part of the modern FF7 story, and characters and concepts from the rest of the Compilation have found their way into the Remake project over time as well.

And now Hamaguchi has explicitly confirmed that Advent Children is part of that picture too. The really interesting question is therefore no longer “Does Revelation lead into Advent Children?” but “What does Advent Children look like after Revelation?”

Because if the team is including the movie’s story in this new version of FF7 but is not necessarily recreating its exact ending, there is clearly still plenty of room for things to go in a very different direction, and that is probably exactly what Hamaguchi wants us to wonder about. For now, we will have to wait until Final Fantasy 7 Revelation releases to find out if Cloud’s new journey eventually brings him to the same place we already know from Advent Children, or if Square Enix has something completely different planned.

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