Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director wasn't expecting the RPG to reignite the 'yellow paint' discourse, but will "take on board the valuable feedback for future games"
Mar. 12, 2024“I didn’t think that the ‘yellow paint’ would be something that would be discussed on social media”
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Responding to the yellow paint discourse,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s director says he will “take on board the valuable feedback for future games.”
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi was likely expecting the second chapter of this modern retelling to be a hot topic in the run-up to launch as fans discussed everything from the sizable overworld packed with mini-games to the new party members and combat moves. What Hamaguchi certainly wasn’t expecting, though, was a lot of the conversations to be about yellow paint.
In an interview withRedbull, when asked for his response to thefierce debate over the telegraphing techniquethat erupted following the release of the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demo last month, Hamaguchi replied, “I didn’t think that the ‘yellow paint’ would be something that would be discussed on social media.”
There’s no denying that it serves a valuable function, but for some, having smatterings of bright paint all over the place is immersion-breaking, and with it being such a divisive feature, Hamaguchi hints that he and the team may consider other methods for guiding players in the future.
“For things like camera options, where people have a wide variety of preferences and there’s no one right answer, our basic approach is to offer various accessibility options,” the director explains, “so I would like to take on board the valuable feedback we have received towards this for future games.”
Those future games, of course, include the conclusion of Cloud’s story which is currently in the works. In a separate interview, Hamaguchi recently confirmed that"key elements" of the third and final part of the Remake trilogy are already coming togetherthanks to all the world-building in Rebirth.
It remains to be seen how much yellow paint there will be in part 3, but its inclusion in Rebirth hasn’t stopped it from becomingthe series' highest-rated entry in 23 yearsand the second-highest-scoring Final Fantasy on Metacritic overall.
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