In a new interview, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi has hinted at a big surprise at the end of the game, one that puts a new spin on the original JRPG’s iconic and tragic plot twist. For anyone who didn’t play the original Final Fantasy 7, consider this your final spoiler warning. For longtime Final Fantasy 7 fans who began sweating when it was confirmed that Rebirth will end at the location of the Forgotten Capital, now is a good time to put some antiperspirant on before you read further about that scene.

Back in the original Final Fantasy 7, the death of Aerith at the hands–and incredibly long sword–of Sephiroth is still one of the defining moments of that game. At that point in the game, Aerith had become a key part of your party and was fully fleshed out as a character, allowing her death to have the maximum emotional impact on players.

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Speaking to Indonesian gaming website Gamebrott and translated by Final Fantasy mega-fan Audrey on Twitter, Hamaguchi was pressed about the fate of the last Cetra in the new Final Fantasy 7 timeline. While Hamaguchi obviously didn’t reveal what the ending will be, he did hint at a “big surprise” is planned for that particular scene.

Of course, that surprise could be anything. Final Fantasy 7 Remake essentially broke the continuity of the original game and it’s hinted that Aerith is aware of how events in the original timeline unfolded. The first game ended with the message that “The Unknown Journey Will Continue” and Final Fantasy 7 Remake co-director Motomu Toriyama hinted at an even bigger divergence from the established story in Rebirth. His fellow co-director, Motomu Toriyama, also added fuel to that fire by saying that parts of future installments of the remake will “differ significantly from the original,” with Remake’s Honeybee Inn scene serving as a good example of how the new storyline will be updated and modernized.

Only the development team on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth knows how this new story will play out, and for everyone else, it’s going to be a long wait until February 29, 2024, when the game launches exclusively on PlayStation 5. For more Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth news, you can read up on how the game has up to 100 hours of content and how importing save file data from Final Fantasy VII Remake won’t be supported.

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