Final Fantasy 7 Revelation: Hamaguchi Won’t Repeat the 2012 Mistake That Outraged Fans
Since 2020, Cloud and crew have been taking fans on a wild ride through a titanic trilogy. But as the finale approaches, one burning question has haunted the community: will we have to cough up extra cash to see how the story really ends?
The memory of Final Fantasy 13-2—and its true ending locked behind DLC—still stings. Fully aware of this lingering distrust, Naoki Hamaguchi, director of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, made a point of reassuring players in an interview with Automaton Media. The same Hamaguchi who once shared his Highwind ambitions is now tackling an even touchier subject: promising a complete ending, with no mandatory paid content.
Image credit: Square Enix
A complete ending in the base game
Naoki Hamaguchi’s words leave zero room for doubt. “The story will conclude in the main game. We’re serious about wrapping up the series with FF7 Revelation, and that’s our guiding principle in development,” he declared. A clear, uncompromising stance—a sharp contrast to recent industry trends where crucial story beats get locked behind post-launch paywalls.
The specter of Final Fantasy 13-2 obviously loomed large. Back in 2012, the game sparked outrage by hiding its real ending in paid DLC, leaving those who stuck to the base game stranded on a maddening cliffhanger. With Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, the dev team seems to have learned their lesson. Hamaguchi isn’t just making vague promises—he insists that the entire project is laser-focused on delivering a fully integrated ending, no compromises. For a trilogy that’s taken seven years and rallied a passionate fanbase, that commitment means everything. Especially since the game also plans to bring back beloved content that longtime fans have been dying to see.
Optional DLC focused on characters
While the main story’s ending won’t be locked behind extra content, Hamaguchi isn’t ruling out DLC entirely. But he’s got a clear vision: no artificially stretched-out storylines—just fresh explorations of the world through specific characters. “We’d probably like to create some kind of character-focused spin-off, telling new stories for a particular hero,” he explained, citing the Yuffie-centric Episode Intermission from Final Fantasy 7 Remake as the blueprint. That DLC delivered a short, personality-packed campaign without ever stepping on the toes of the main plot.
The possibilities are wide open, and fans are already speculating. Some ideas on the table:
- A prequel starring Vincent Valentine or Cid Highwind
- Tifa’s training atop Mt. Nibel
- Sephiroth’s early SOLDIER days
- Alternate adventures in the Lifestream
Still, Hamaguchi is careful not to overhype. “At this point, I feel like both the media and the fan community expect DLC. That said, nothing’s set in stone yet, so we can’t confirm anything,” he admitted. The door’s open—but it won’t gatekeep the core experience.
A promise that answers the community’s call
Hamaguchi’s transparency comes at a time when trust between gamers and publishers is at an all-time low. Chopped-up endings, must-have season passes, content sliced out just to be resold later—the list of grievances is long. By getting ahead of the curve, the Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director is sending a loud and clear message: this trilogy’s finale won’t be a piecemeal product.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth already sparked debate over the sheer amount of optional content, with some players grumbling about too many open-world distractions. With Revelation—which promises a fully explorable, interconnected world from the get-go thanks to the Highwind, and continents each boasting their own unique gameplay systems—the stakes are even higher. Hamaguchi seems to get that the wild ambition of a planet-sized open world should never drown out what makes Final Fantasy 7 truly legendary: its story and its characters.
Slated for 2027, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation shoulders nearly a decade of hype and sky-high expectations. The DLC roadmap may still be a mystery, but one thing’s for sure: Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and the rest will get their ending in the game fans buy on day one. Everything else? Pure bonus.
