The current trilogy of Final Fantasy 7 (FF7) remakes will connect with Advent Children, a movie that had many questioning whether it was part of the established canon.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trilogy and Advent Children
Speaking with GamesRadar, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth producer Yoshinori Kitase confirmed that the development is incorporating the Advent Children movie into the storyline of the remake trilogy. “We are finally going to link up with Advent Children, that is going to be part of canon,” Kitase said. “The overall storyline, the developments, will not go wildly out in a way that will not add up to Advent Children in the end. I don’t think anyone wanted that, that’s not what we’re looking to create here. [But] to make sure it doesn’t become stale and people know exactly where it’s going, [that it] doesn’t just follow the original word for word, we add in extra elements which add that little bit of doubt.”
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Kitase elaborated that, as fans likely already know, the development team is looking to completely rework the storyline of what is widely regarded to be the best game in the Final Fantasy franchise. “Getting the right balance of that is so key,” Kitase explained. “Ultimately, we’re not trying to change the Final Fantasy VII story into something really different. The overall balance wouldn’t really allow for that anyway.”
This isn’t the first time fans have received confirmation that Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children will play some kind of role in the narrative of the latest trilogy. Speaking to The Guardian, director Tetsuya Nomura confirmed the link between the game and the 2005 movie that he also directed. “If you play right through to the end, it will link up [to Advent Children] so you don’t need to worry about that,” Nomura said. Of course, how that comes to pass is still a mystery.
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While it seems almost impossible that someone hasn’t heard of Final Fantasy 7, the movie based on the animated world and characters is a little more obscure. Advent Children effectively serves as a sequel to the original game and stars many familiar faces, such as Cloud, Tifa, and even the villainous Sephiroth. Set two years after the events of FF7, the plot follows Cloud as he attempts to protect and cure a young orphan named Denzel, who’s been afflicted by a deadly plague known as the Geostigma.
Oddly enough, it received better reviews than you might expect from a movie based on Final Fantasy 7. Most critics found it a touch unapproachable, given how much lore is almost required reading, but fans hold it up as a good sequel to the game. You can grab it on DVD and Blu-ray if you want to check it out before Rebirth launches on February 29, 2024.
