Square Enix’s original Final Fantasy 7 has never received a proper remaster with the original source quality backgrounds and other additions, and now we know why. Just like a lot of games from the late 90s, most of the original game is completely lost.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi explained that Square Enix has kept “almost no documentation” from the original game’s development.
Now working on the third and final entry of the remake trilogy—which is said to be proceeding well—Hamaguchi was asked if the team is able to reference old documents and assets to assist with development.
“Data management wasn’t done to modern standards, so yeah, there’s basically nothing.”
Naoki Hamaguchi on original Final Fantasy 7 assets
“We’re talking about the mid ’90s… There’s almost no documentation left over from that period at all, practically none,” Hamaguchi replied, explaining that “game development back there was a lot more Wild West – a lot of material was just not kept.”
“Data management wasn’t done to modern standards, so yeah, there’s basically nothing,” the director explained. “There’s some character design sketches I think we’ve still got and obviously anything which was published separately, so the Ultimania guides have a few of the original documents in there but in terms of stuff like… for example part way through development written documents, design documents, etcetera… Yeah, there’s practically nothing to work on.”
Back in 2013, when Square Enix began recreating the original Kingdom Hearts game for PlayStation 3, it was revealed that most of that game’s assets were also lost. Speaking on an E3 video at the time, series director Tetsuya Nomura explained the game “was lost, so we had to research and dig out from the actual game what was available.”
For Hamaguchi’s team, the mission is different: the new remake trilogy is a brand new game with modern AAA visuals, and a brand-new gameplay style. Hamaguchi explains that the new games are not “trying to overwrite the original game” or try and create a “fan fiction version of it”, which he admits would be easier if Square Enix archived the original game.
“I could just obviously look through that documentation and go, okay, this is what the original intent was, it’s all down here,” he explained. “I’ll just try and copy that and any changes will be based on that. As I said, unfortunately, none of that documentation is around.”
Hamaguchi explained that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy is unique due to the fact that its creators “are very much still involved in the project” with the director saying “even if there’s no documentation, we can kind of get it from the horse’s mouth”
While Final Fantasy 7 Remake has made some sizeable changes, the project is certainly not tarnishing the original. With the team behind the game aiming not to cut any content for its finale, the series should end with a brilliant modern interpretation of a beloved classic.
