The introduction of Sephiroth’s character inFinal Fantasy 7 Remaketakes a different approach from that of the originalFinal Fantasy 7. InRemake, Sephiroth appears almost immediately, showing up by the game’s second chapter. In the originalFF7, however, it takes several hours before players actually see the character on screen, and in the meantime, he is only mentioned indirectly by the game’s cast.
When the team behindFinal Fantasy 7 Remakesat down for a recent interview with theSquare Enixblog, they received a question asking why they decided to change Sephiroth’s introduction. And in response, Producer Yoshinori Kitase reiterated a rather peculiar inspiration behind Sephiroth’s character.
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According to Kitase, Steven Spielberg’s hit movie,Jaws, inspired Sephiroth. Kitase enjoyed the way the movie handled the shark. He liked how it didn’t reveal the monster right off of the bat, and instead built it up as this terrifying presence through indirect elements such as referrals made by the characters. Kitase took this same approach with Sephiroth when it came to the originalFinal Fantasy 7.
And the reason why the team didn’t use this same method again inFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeis actually quite simple: Sephiroth is just too famous a character now. The original game had the luxury of introducingFF7’s castwith a clean slate. No one playing the game knew who the characters were, so it could build Sephiroth up the same wayJawsdid the shark.
But now Sephiroth’s anonymity is gone. Everyone knows who he is, even people who’ve never playedFF7untilRemake, so trying to build him up by “hiding him” as Kitases puts it, wouldn’t work. SoRemakedidn’t bother.
Instead, the game introducesSephirothright off the bat as a hallucination experienced by Cloud. While this approach may not be as effective as the original introduction, it still works in establishing Sephiroth as an ominous entity. And it does so becauseRemakehas an advantage over the original title: its graphics. It can display character emotion better than the original ever could.
When players are introduced to Cloud’s character inRemake, nothing phases him. He keeps a calm and relaxed demeanor through everything. He isn’t phased by the idea of dying in a fiery explosion while and he and Barret escape from a soon-to-explode Mako Reactor, and he isn’t even phased by the chaos in Midgar after the reactor explodes. The story establishes very clearly thatCloudis a hardened killer.
However, the moment Cloud simply hallucinates Sephiroth for the first time, his confidence crumbles. The very idea that Sephiroth could be alive terrifies him to the point of shaking. This reveal allows the player to understand just how imposing Sephiroth is. And thus, the approach works for both players that have in-depth knowledge of Sephiroth’s character, and those that simply know him through his infamy.
