I Believe Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Is an Ending — And That's The Problem

Naoki Hamaguchi stood in front of the cameras and said the words every remake trilogy fan has been waiting for: Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is the end. Not just of a game, but of this whole saga that Square Enix has been stitching together since the PS1. He also said he 'senses immense expectations,' which is the most polite way I've ever heard someone describe having the weight of twenty-five years of fan expectations on their neck.

Here's my position: I believe him. And that's exactly why I think it won't be the end.

Let me explain. When did you last play a Final Fantasy 7 thing that was truly final? The original rolled credits in 1997. Then came a movie, a prequel, a mobile game, a sequel that was actually a compilation of stories, and then the remake itself — which turned out to be a trilogy that isn't so much a remake as a quantum re-read of what the original might have meant. The word 'final' stopped meaning anything in this universe a long time ago.

I've written before about how the disc situation for Revelation is a weirdly telling detail. A game this big might not physically fit on a disc, and watching Square Enix squirm over that felt like watching someone realize their living room furniture no longer fits through the door. But the deeper point is that this remake trilogy was never really about retelling the game. It was about creating a container big enough for all the accumulated baggage of an entire franchise. The ending of Revelation likely won't be a period. It'll be a semicolon — the sentence continues in whatever form Square Enix needs it to take next.

What's interesting is that the director's language already gives this away. He's careful to say this is the end of the remake trilogy, not the end of Final Fantasy 7. That's not a hedge; that's a road map. The Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 is a monster that doesn't die. It reincarnates, like a job class in its own game. I'd be more surprised if we didn't see a Remake interquel or a prequel starring Sephiroth before the decade is out.

The unexpected connection here is Chrono Trigger. That game had a dozen different endings, and none of them felt like an insult to the others. They were just points on a dial you could spin. Final Fantasy 7 is the reverse. It has one canonical story and an infinite array of retellings, sequels, and sidestories, all trying to edge closer to a version that feels 'right.' Chrono Trigger taught us that endings are arbitrary. Final Fantasy 7 has spent the last two decades teaching us that endings are a franchise strategy.

But I don't want to be cynical. There's something genuine about Hamaguchi saying he wants to end this trilogy cleanly. I've beaten Demon's Souls three times despite not enjoying it, and I know what it feels like to want closure on something you've invested years in. The fans deserve an ending that lands. The question is whether Square Enix can resist the gravitational pull of their own IP.

So who is this for? It's for anyone who has watched a beloved story get stretched, twisted, and retrofitted until it barely resembles what you loved. It's for the people who still remember what it was like to hold the black discs of the original, and for the kids who grew up on the Remake's theatrical combat. It's for everyone who knows that a 'final' chapter in a fantasy series is just the beginning of the next series.

Whether Revelation actually ends anything remains to be seen. But I'll be there on day one, expecting the ending to be magnificent, and also expecting the announcement of the next extension within the first year. Because that's what Final Fantasy 7 is now. It's not a game. It's a promise that never says goodbye.