Cloud Strife has once again narrowly escaped destruction, this time, due to his merciful creators at Square Enix. Final Fantasy 7 Remake developers initially wondered if they should give the steel-eyed swordsman a more reasonable weapon in the ongoing remake trilogy, but they thankfully decided against it.
Director Naoki Hamaguchi explains as much in a new interview with French gaming personality Julien Chièze, also featuring Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director Guillaume Broche. Final Fantasy 7 news account Shinra Archaeology Department translates from Japanese – Hamaguchi says Cloud’s Olympic-sized Buster Sword “was just too iconic” to let go of.
Forget players – think of how poor Cloud Strife would feel to be separated from his comfort sword for the first time in decades. “In the end we stayed faithful to the OG,” Hamaguchi says, for everyone’s sake. “A whole new generation of people fell in love with it, so I think it was the right call.”