While Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake managed to overcome the odds by pleasing both newcomers to the series and fans of the original game, it did so in part by going ‘off script’ and offering players a notably unique twist on the original story. Things diverged rather dramatically by the ending credits, with the appearance of certain characters throwing everything we knew about the remake into question. The folks at Square Enix seem pretty pleased with themselves in that regard, with the Final Fantasy VII Remake devs aiming to continue to ‘subvert player expectations’ going into Part 2.

In a recent interview that took place during the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference (DEDEC), Final Fantasy VII Remake co-director Naoki Hamaguchi and Producer Yoshinori Kitase spoke about the team’s drive when creating the first game and what the plans are for the story moving forward (thanks, Siliconera). Hamaguchi revealed that it was important for the remake to be story-driven, going so far as to say that it didn’t need to be an open world as long as the story was a strong one. Kitase chimed in by revealing that it was very important to satisfyingly subvert player expectations, something that wouldn’t have happened had we received a cookie cutter copy of the original.

Changing things up in the first part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake won’t be the end of it, of course, with Kitase stating that he and his team want to ‘surprise’ the player base with something that they can enjoy that also lives up to their expectations, as lofty as they may be.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2 is currently in development.

So, thoughts on the commentary by Naoki Hamaguchi and Yoshinori Kitase? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!