Before games are put into the hands of QA testers, more often than not it's the developers themselves that put a game through the ringer to see how it's ultimately shaping up. As this is the situation, it's not at all uncommon for a developer to have played the game they are working on a lot of times, but for Naoki Hamaguchi, the director of Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII: Remake Trilogy, he has truly sunken some considerable hours into the upcoming third and final part of the saga.
In an interview with the Brazilian publication, Omelete, Hamaguchi expressed that he has already played through Final Fantasy VII: Revelation a whopping 40 times and that each time he experienced a certain scene, it brought him to tears.
After translation as per VGC, Hamaguchi stated: "There's this scene that's quite essential to the story of Final Fantasy VII where Cloud goes through a moment of introspection and discovers his identity, and how it fits with Zack and Aerith. I think the way we portrayed that in Revelation turned out very well, and we're eager for fans to see it. I've finished Revelation about 40 times, and every time that introspective scene with Cloud made me cry."
The fascinating part about this development is that we're expecting Final Fantasy VII: Revelation to be a rather enormous game. Both Remake and Rebirth ended up being massive games that could easily eclipse 50 hours, with the expansive nature of the titles growing with each successive instalment too. With this being the case, it wouldn't be a surprise if Revelation was the biggest of the bunch, and yet, Hamaguchi has already rolled credits 40 times. Respect.
Final Fantasy VII: Revelation will launch in spring 2027 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch 2.