Final Fantasy fever was felt throughout this year's Otakon. With Final Fantasy VII being such an evergreen title, the cosplays and photoshoots were naturally aplenty. But it was the two Final Fantasy VII Rebirth panels that brought everything to a fever pitch. With battle director Teruki Endo, game director Naoki Hamaguchi, the legendary Square Enix director Yoshinori Kitase himself, and a slew of other cast members sharing the stage, these panels provided quite the spectacle for longtime and new fans alike.
The first of the two panels was held Friday night in a smaller panel room. This made for a more intimate Q&A session with the fans and Endo, Hamaguchi, and Kitase onstage to discuss Rebirth. This allowed for some intriguing dialogue. A lot of conversations focused on the transition from Remake to Rebirth and updates and changes made from the original PlayStation classic.
"In terms of the Final Fantasy series overall," Kitase said, "It's about the dramatic relationships between the characters. And for Final Fantasy VII in particular, there's this big theme of a cycle of life shown through the Lifestream. So for Rebirth, we are leading up to depicting Aerith's fate. For this, we took care and attention to detail, and I'm sure that everyone has their own thoughts on what the last scene means, so is anyone curious to know what it means?" When the audience shouted, "Yes!" Kitase pulled the rug right from underneath everyone. "Please wait a couple of years!" he said, causing the audience to giggle.
Hamaguchi is a fan of the original game, and there was one thing from the original game he hoped would translate well in the newer games. "I could talk about this all day," Hamaguchi began, "but if I were to pick one scene, it would be The Gold Saucer scene. When we first received the initial plot from the original scenario writer, I noticed the main theme for Rebirth is 'bond.' The central theme that we really honed in on, and I think we really provided the players [was] a journey into the characters' emotions through the many options and quests that guide them through the game and then pay off at the Gold Saucer scene."
The conversation eventually moved on to gameplay features, like the battle mechanics and the open-world environment. When it came time to discuss the mini-games, a fan commented on how cool it would be if Queen's Blood had its own video game. More on that later.
The second panel was held at the peak of early Saturday night, right in the vast halls of Otakon's Main Events. Endo, Hamaguchi, and Kitase shared the stage with almost all of the English voice-acting staff and even Japanese seiyuu Yumi Kakazu (Yuffie), Hideo Ishikawa (Cait Sith), and Shūichirō Umeda (Chadley). Unfortunately, Paul Tinto (Cait Sith's EN VA) and Matthew Mercer (Vincent) couldn't make it, but video clips of them answering fan questions found their way into the panel.
The first topic up for discussion was the recording experience. When asked if the Final Fantasy VII gang meeting in Midgar to start their journeys paralleled the voice actors' own, Erica Lindbeck, who plays Jessie, said she initially remembered being so worried. "I spent four years with Jessie in the back of my mind," Lindbeck said. "I thought I was only doing just a few lines for the game trailer, like A) 'Is this game actually going to be made?' and B) 'Am I going to continue to be Jessie?' Because that happens all the time. But getting that phone call, I got so excited. They kept bringing me in. They're so cool, seriously there's not a diva among us."
Cid's English VA, J. Michael Tatum, added to the mix. "I'm not sure what I'm doing here," he said. "I'm just waiting for someone to pinch me." Speaking of his role as Cid, he recalled getting inspiration from an unlikely place: his own father. "I remember calling my father the night before the audition so I could get it down. I called him because he had that special West Texas accent down. When my brother listened to Cid's voice, he asked, 'Are you paying Dad's royalties?'" The audience laughed at that.
But the most memorable moment came from Barrett's English voice actor, John Eric Bentley. When discussing the more emotional scenes with Barrett's adoptive daughter Marlene and his old friend-turned-rival Dyne, he mentioned that it showcases a side of Barrett that nobody ever gets to see. To do that, "I think of my sons and how much they mean to me," Bentley said. "But then people also ask, 'How did you do the scene with Dyne?' There are many different methods, but I had to go by memory. And because I played the original game, I understand the relationship that Barrett had with Dyne. They were best friends."
This is where Bentley started to get emotional and raw. "So I thought about how I lost my Dad in 2017." Bentley teared up at the mention of this. "My dad passed in my arms, and that's who became Dyne for me. I didn't want Barrett to be a caricature. I wanted him to be real and not be a polygon that shook his fist when he got angry. I wanted to do justice to what was my very first RPG. I wanted to do it right." An overwhelming standing ovation ensued.
The latter half of the panel was dominated by fan questions picked in advance. One of the first asked if Yuffie's English VA Suzie Yeung could sing an improvised song on stage for the fans (which left me having to fight the stupid urge to shout "Free Bird!"). Another question: "What was one of your favorite lines to record as Barrett, John?" The pick couldn't have been easier. "You better be worth every penny, merc!" Bentley shouted in Barrett's voice.
But there was one burning question that weighed heavily on everyone's mind. "How does Chadley feel about Cloud in a dress?" After rousing a chuckle from Shūichirō Umeda, he responded, "I bet he thought Cloud was soooo beautiful. He was like, 'Don't stare at me like that!'"
A question involving everybody's favorite mini-games caused the cast and crew to talk about Fort Condor, Tifa's piano, and the like. But the conversation eventually veneered into—you guessed it—Queen's Blood territory. This raised the same question from the last panel: "Can you make Queen's Bood its own game?"
"I've received so many requests for this," Endo said. We are now preparing our better version of Queen's Blood for the next title, so I hope to be able to share more in the near future."
Square Enix released Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on the PS5 on February 29, 2024. Both panels took place at Otakon 2024, held on August 2-4 at the Walter E Reed Convention Center in Washington, D.C.