Writing Shinra Characters Was Difficult in Final Fantasy VII

Square Enix uploaded an interview with the Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis and Final Fantasy VII development teams that focuses on the Shinra Company. It goes over all of the history behind the scenes in regards so Shinra before moving on to talking about Ever Crisis. Yoshinori Kitase, who wrote and directed the original Final Fantasy VII, discussed the evolution of Final Fantasy as well.

Final Fantasy VII stood out among its contemporary JRPGs for its setting. As opposed to previous high fantasy games, it took place in a very modern-looking city with skyscrapers and more advanced technology than players were used to from Final Fantasy. According to Kitase, this is because the team started to feel the limits of what stories they could explore in a classic high fantasy setting. He started to talk about fan letters before he kind of trailed off, but it seems that fans at the time were also a little bored with the setting. When the team sat down to come up with other concepts, one of the ideas focused on police organizations, which got them thinking.

So the team decided on a city for the setting and a company for the antagonist. But there were still many challenges facing them. For example, why are Cloud and the others fighting against Shinra in Final Fantasy VII? How does one make the conflict seem justified on the protagonists’ end? It was also difficult to balance the Shinra employees. They weren’t monsters or robots, but people. So they had to be evil enough that it doesn’t feel bad emotionally or mentally to beat them up. However, it would also be unrealistic for a company Shinra’s size to only have evil employees. It was difficult for the team to balance the Shinra characters so they’d remain a threat you want to defeat while also having likable or sympathetic characters.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is available for the PS4, PS5, and Windows PC. The sequel, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, will come out on the PS5 on February 29, 2024. The exclusivity arrangement for it will end on May 29, 2024. Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is on mobile devices and is in development for the Windows PC.