Final Fantasy VII Rebirth releases on February 29
Image via Square Enix
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Square Enix creative director Tetsuya Nomura confirmed in an interview with Dengeki Online on Thursday that the late Keiji Fujiwara will still voice the character Reno in the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth game.
When asked by the news outlet, he explained:
“Reno will still be voiced by Keiji Fujiwara. We learned about his death right before filming for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth began, and we couldn’t bring ourselves to do it right away.”to find a replacement. So I asked the script team to use Fujiwara’s previous recordings so he could take on the role of Reno again, and they adapted it for me. However, I want to apologize to all fans, especially foreign fans, because this means that Reno will appear smaller in this game. In the next game, there will be a new cast [cho Reno] and Reno will play a larger role.”
Nomura also revealed that the decision to recast Barrett’s voice actor from Masahiro Kobayashi to Mahito Funaki stemmed from Kobayashi’s desire to retire from acting.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth releases worldwide on February 29, 2024 on two discs for PlayStation 5.
Square Enix describes the game:
After escaping from the dark city of Midgar, Cloud and his friends begin their journey across the planet. New adventures await in a vast and vibrant world – race through the grasslands on a Chocobo and explore vast environments.
Square Enix is also offering a “double pack” that includes both Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Square Enix released Final Fantasy VII Remake on PlayStation 4 in April 2020 after a delay from March 2020. The game is exclusive to PlayStation until April 10, 2021. Final Fantasy VII of the game Intergrade Remake Edition with additional content launches in June 2021 on PlayStation 5, in December 2021 on PC via the Epic Games Store, and in June 2022 on PC via Steam.
Fujiwara passed away at the age of 55 after battling cancer in April 2020. He was known for voicing Axel in Kingdom Hearts, Ardyn in Final Fantasy XV, Reno in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Final Fantasy VII Remake, and ACDC in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
Source: Dengeki online via Siliconera