Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth could have rolled credits much sooner in the story if the game's writer stuck to his original idea.
Tidbits from the bulky Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth explainer book continue to trickle outside of Japan as developer interviews get unofficial translations. The latest details explain that scenario writer Kazushige Nojima originally toyed with ending the game when Tifa falls into the mako reactor, roughly halfway through our universe's version of Rebirth.
According to ShinraArch, a social media account dedicated to translating Final Fantasy 7 news, Nojima "resisted the idea" of ending the sequel at the Forgotten Capital. Nojima supposedly felt that closing on Aerith's fate would be "poor form," while calling Tifa's fate into question could serve as a better hook for a third game.
Plans changed "for the sake of fewer parts to the project," and in hindsight, we can all be thankful that speculation around Aerith's fate wasn't elongated by several years. The Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy already plans to stretch one classic into three separate parts and ending Rebirth that much sooner would have almost certainly guaranteed a fourth one, too.
I also have a sneaking suspicion that Rebirth's current ending is a much juicier cliffhanger than Tifa's fate in the Gongaga mako reactor would have been. Decades-long fans would know for sure that our favorite bartender wouldn't be dead in such an anti-climatic fashion, and as it stands now, Rebirth's finale remixes one of gaming's most infamous scenes.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth players have been divided about the changes made but engrossed in piecing it all together anyway. The fact that the Ultimania explainer book can't even explain what's happening only makes the future even more exciting.
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