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How ‘Final Fantasy VII Revelation’ Strikes the Balance Between Old and New

Save this story. If you’re on the brink of completing one of the most ambitious projects in video game history, you’re probably stressed. If said project is the decade-spanning Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, a ground-up rebuild and drastic expansion of one of the most influential games of the last 30 years, you’d probably be even more anxious.

保存这篇文章。如果你正处于完成电子游戏史上最雄心勃勃的项目之一的边缘，你可能会感到压力。如果这个项目是跨越十年的《最终幻想7》重制版三部曲——对过去30年中最具影响力的游戏之一进行的彻底重建和大幅扩展——你可能会更加焦虑。

Naoki Hamaguchi doesn’t seem stressed, though. When I ask the Square Enix studio head and game director how he’s feeling as the release of Final Fantasy VII Revelation draws near, capping a series he’s worked on for over a decade, the only reply is a wry “I was just so focused, it really felt like it passed in a flash.”

然而，滨口直树（Naoki Hamaguchi）看起来并不紧张。当我问及这位史克威尔艾尼克斯（Square Enix）工作室负责人兼游戏总监，在《最终幻想7：启示录》（Final Fantasy VII Revelation）即将发布、为他工作了十多年的系列画上句号时，他有何感想，他只是苦笑着回答：“我当时太专注了，感觉时间过得飞快。”

Hamaguchi’s calm demeanor is all the more surprising given the weight of expectation surrounding the project. The original Final Fantasy VII, released on Sony’s PlayStation in 1997, was a pop-cultural phenomenon—not the Japanese-RPG series’ first Western release, but undeniably its breakthrough title; one that arrived right as gaming was growing out of its kids-only niche and into a mainstream medium.

考虑到该项目所承载的巨大期望，滨口这种冷静的态度更令人惊讶。1997年在索尼PlayStation上发行的原版《最终幻想7》是一种流行文化现象——它并非该日式RPG系列在西方的首发作品，但无疑是其突破性之作；它出现之时，正值游戏产业从儿童专属的小众领域成长为大众媒介。

It’s still regarded as one of the best Final Fantasy entries, and its tale of reluctant hero Cloud Strife and his scrappy band of eco-warrior friends battling an all-powerful corporation destroying the planet is more relevant than ever.

它至今仍被视为《最终幻想》系列中最优秀的作品之一，其讲述不情愿的英雄克劳德·斯特莱夫（Cloud Strife）与他那群坚韧的生态战士伙伴对抗摧毁星球的全能企业的故事，比以往任何时候都更具现实意义。

Don’t Call It a Comeback. A remake has been brewing since the PlayStation 2 era, and even teased with a cinematic tech demo alongside the PS3 reveal. Yet when Final Fantasy VII Remake finally arrived in 2020, toward the end of the PS4’s lifespan, it came with a twist—this wasn’t the same game with modern visuals and mechanics, but rather a glimpse of an alternate reality, one where events could potentially play out differently.

别称之为回归。重制版的构想自PlayStation 2时代就开始酝酿，甚至在PS3发布时还通过一段电影级技术演示进行了预告。然而，当《最终幻想7：重制版》最终于2020年在PS4生命周期末期问世时，它带来了一个转折——这不仅仅是拥有现代视觉效果和机制的同一款游戏，而是一个平行现实的缩影，在这个现实中，事件可能会以不同的方式发展。

The idea was expanded on in 2024’s second chapter, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which saw characters hopping between timelines—but Hamaguchi is keen not to label it his attempt at a Marvel Cinematic Universe–style Final Fantasy VII multiverse.

这一构想在2024年的第二章《最终幻想7：重生》（Final Fantasy VII Rebirth）中得到了扩展，角色们在不同的时间线之间穿梭——但滨口并不愿意将其贴上他试图打造漫威电影宇宙风格的《最终幻想7》多元宇宙的标签。

“When we started approaching these things, seven years or more ago, I don’t believe there were so many other pieces of media tackling those same themes at the time,” Hamaguchi laughs. “We don’t really tend to use the word ‘multiverse’—we talk about [the story being] ‘multilayered.’ Actually, the word that comes up most often is ‘reunion.’”

“当我们七年多前开始着手处理这些内容时，我不认为当时有那么多其他媒体在探讨同样的主题，”滨口笑着说。“我们并不倾向于使用‘多元宇宙’这个词——我们谈论的是（故事的）‘多层次性’。事实上，出现频率最高的词是‘重聚’（reunion）。”

That word may resonate with fans of the original, where test subjects experimented on using cells from an alien named Jenova, including Sephiroth, were drawn to each other (and that’s the shortest possible explanation).

这个词可能会引起原版粉丝的共鸣，在原版中，那些被注入外星生物杰诺瓦（Jenova）细胞进行实验的测试对象（包括萨菲罗斯）会被彼此吸引（这是最简短的解释）。

Does that hint at where Revelation’s increasingly complex, layered narrative may be heading, with cosmic variations on Final Fantasy VII’s events all merging? Hamaguchi won’t be drawn, but offers that developer Square Enix is “looking at it from the perspective of these layers coming back together and reuniting—quite a unique perspective within the lore that we have.”

这是否暗示了《启示录》日益复杂、多层次的叙事走向，即《最终幻想7》事件的宇宙变体正在融合？滨口不愿透露更多，但表示开发商史克威尔艾尼克斯“正从这些层面重新汇聚和重聚的角度来看待它——在我们现有的传说中，这是一个相当独特的视角。”

Build Back Bigger. Other lore changes include the vastly expanded three-act structure of the Remake trilogy, which allows—or sometimes necessitates—reshuffling characters, locations, and events, placing many out of sequence from the original.

重建得更大。其他传说方面的改动包括重制版三部曲大幅扩展的三幕式结构，这允许——有时甚至是必须——对角色、地点和事件进行重新洗牌，将许多内容置于与原版不同的顺序中。

One of the biggest examples is the nation of Wutai, home of Yuffie, a teenage ninja who becomes an ally to Cloud. In the original game, she was an optional recruitable character, and Wutai was two huts on the world map, with only a few screens worth of houses and temples to explore when players entered it. In Revelation, it’s vast. This Wutai is a thriving city with people to talk to and secrets to uncover; you’ll even need to use Chocobos (Final Fantasy’s signature yellow bird mounts) to explore. It’s also somewhere players can actually believe is caught in a war with Midgar, the urban megalopolis where Remake took place. A lot more is going on here than there was back in 1997.

最显著的例子之一是五台（Wutai），它是克劳德的盟友、少女忍者尤菲（Yuffie）的故乡。在原版游戏中，她是一个可选的招募角色，而五台在世界地图上只是两间小屋，玩家进入后只有几屏的房屋和寺庙可供探索。在《启示录》中，它变得非常广阔。这里的五台是一座繁荣的城市，有可以交谈的人和等待揭开的秘密；你甚至需要使用陆行鸟（最终幻想标志性的黄色鸟类坐骑）来探索。这也是一个让玩家真正相信它正陷入与米德加（Midgar，重制版故事发生的都市大都会）战争的地方。这里发生的事情比1997年时要多得多。

Some may think that holding Wutai (and Rocket Town, another key location) back for the third Remake entry was a way to pad out the equivalent of the original version’s third disc, which mainly left players to mop up side quests and chase down some optional boss battles before the finale. However, Hamaguchi says the opposite is true—even after two 100-plus hour previous games, he was worried about how much was still left to fit into Revelation.

有些人可能认为将五台（以及另一个关键地点火箭村）留到重制版第三部是为了填充原版第三张光盘的内容，原版第三张光盘主要让玩家在结局前完成支线任务和追逐一些可选的BOSS战。然而，滨口表示事实恰恰相反——即使在经历了前两部各100多小时的游戏后，他仍然担心还有多少内容需要塞进《启示录》中。

“I did see people online talking about things after Rebirth, saying, ‘Are you going to have enough to fill up another game? What’s gonna happen?’” he says. “I was sat there like, ‘No, this is the opposite problem!’ I’m looking at everything we’ve still got to put in, and how are we going to get it in there? We actually had to be quite careful with what we put in there to avoid having too much content.”

“我确实看到网上有人在讨论《重生》之后的事情，说：‘你们还有足够的内容来填满另一款游戏吗？会发生什么？’”他说。“我当时坐在那儿想，‘不，问题恰恰相反！’我看着我们还有那么多东西要放进去，我们该怎么塞进去呢？我们实际上必须非常小心地选择放入的内容，以避免内容过多。”

Endless Fantasy. Revelation may still feel crammed, though. It brings in the final two playable characters from the original game, aeronaut Cid Highwind and were-beast gunman Vincent Valentine, expanding party options and battle combos. It also adds its own twist on the memorable Emerald, Ruby, and Ultima Weapon super-boss battles—incredibly challenging fights against literally god-tier foes, often with strict constraints to test players’ skills.

无尽的幻想。不过，《启示录》可能仍然会让人感到拥挤。它引入了原版游戏中最后两名可玩角色：飞行员希德·海温德（Cid Highwind）和兽人枪手文森特·瓦伦丁（Vincent Valentine），扩展了队伍选择和战斗连招。它还对令人难忘的绿宝石、红宝石和终极武器超级BOSS战进行了自己的改造——这些是对抗真正神级敌人的极具挑战性的战斗，通常带有严格的限制来测试玩家的技能。

Along with the sizable new areas, the world is far more open, with returning locations from the prior two games promising extra story avenues and battles to pursue when revisited. Players can soar the skies in Cid’s airship, the Highwind (points for personal branding), before parachuting back down to explore further. “I’m not sure if there’s anything other than Revelation that is really an open world on a truly ‘world’ scale, on a planetary scale,” Hamaguchi boasts.

除了广阔的新区域外，世界也更加开放，前两部游戏中回归的地点在重访时提供了额外的故事路径和战斗。玩家可以乘坐希德的飞空艇“海温德号”（为个人品牌加分）在天空中翱翔，然后跳伞降落进行进一步探索。“我不确定除了《启示录》之外，还有什么游戏能真正做到在‘世界’尺度、行星尺度上实现真正的开放世界，”滨口自豪地说。

On top of that, Hamaguchi has previously said it may take multiple playthroughs to see everything in the game. That might sound like a daunting time sink to some, but Hamaguchi isn’t fazed. “Personally, I don’t have any reservations,” he says. “I do understand that there were some people who said there’s too much content in Rebirth,”

最重要的是，滨口此前曾表示，可能需要多次通关才能看到游戏中的所有内容。对某些人来说，这听起来可能是一个令人望而生畏的时间黑洞，但滨口并不感到困扰。“就我个人而言，我没有任何保留意见，”他说。“我确实理解有些人说《重生》里的内容太多了，”