Final Fantasy 7 Remake delivered on almost everything it promised, bringing fans of the classic game a revamped and reimagined story. So far, only the first episode is out, but some players have already beaten the game and are taking Cloud into New Game Plus. Naturally, the question on everyone's mind right now is how many episodes the game will have, and how long it will take for all of those pieces to come out. Though there is no concrete answer to these questions yet, with the knowledge of exactly what the first episode included, an educated guess can be made.
For the uninitiated, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming in an episodic format, so the game that just released is only the first part of the full story. Eventually, the remake promises to re-imagine the entirety of Final Fantasy 7's story, and it is now clear that it intends to do so in far greater detail than the original game did. That said, there has been no reveal date for episode 2, so even though many are already wrapping up their time with the game's first episode, it is still unclear how long they will have to wait before getting to enjoy the second episode.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Episode 1
Final Fantasy 7 Remake's first part takes place entirely in the city of Midgar, just as the beginning portion of Final Fantasy 7 did. The city of Midgar is the capital of the Shinra Electric Power Company and acts as a sort of representation of the entire world of Final Fantasy 7 and an embodiment of its themes. Gaia, the world of Final Fantasy 7 is a dying planet, and the state of Midgar represents that hopelessness at the mercy of corporate greed better than anything else in the game. This is likely why the first episode focuses solely on this portion of the plot.
That said, it is worth noting that the original Final Fantasy 7's Midgar portion of the game was really just the intro, and could be cleared in five hours or less with relative ease. That was a major cause of concern for a while once it was announced that the remake's first episode would only feature Midgar, but those concerns have been laid to rest now that fans know how long it takes to beat FF7 Remake. The first episode of the remake takes approximately 30 to 40 hours to beat, which is 6 to 8 times longer than the original Midgar section.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Episode 2
The original Final Fantasy 7 was comprised of three separate discs and altogether took players around 50 hours to beat. The fact that the Midgar portion of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake is almost 50 hours on its own is absolutely bizarre. From a straight math perspective, it is possible that the remake could be split into six parts, two for each disc, each adapting about 5 to 10 hours of the original game in great detail, but honestly six parts seems highly unlikely, especially when considering that the third and final disc of the initial release was just the last dungeon.
Episode 2 of Final Fantasy 7 will more than likely end where the first disc ended, with the now infamous death of Cloud's companion, Aerith. Traditionally, the first disc takes around 20 hours to beat, so if the first episode of the remake already comprises 5 of those 20 hours, then sticking the rest into episode 2 would admittedly be challenging, but not impossible. Square Enix went into much greater detail about the Midgar arc than it originally did with the game's first incarnation, but it probably won't expand upon the entire story in such a way, rather focusing on just the important parts.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Episode 3
The second disc of Final Fantasy 7 is a lot shorter than the first, amounting to around 10 hours of gameplay typically. That said, it still seems likely that this will be split up into more than one episode rather than appearing all together as one big game, especially when considering that the shorter portion of the first disc managed to get its own episode. The beginning of the second disc picks up right after Aerith dies and introduces Final Fantasy 7's toughest bosses, the WEAPONS. Though these will likely remain optional, it will be amazing to see them in the game.
Final Fantasy 7 Episode 4
More than likely, Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be split up into four separate parts. Where exactly the third part will end is as of yet unclear, but somewhere around Sephiroth's summoning of Meteor would make sense. The final episode of the remake will likely encapsulate the ending of the second disc as well as the final dungeon which is on the third. That said, the events of the third disc are probably going to be vastly expanded beyond just a final dungeon, so that could explain the justification for making an entire game out of it. Just as the original game did, this final episode will end with the party facing off against Sephiroth in one last climactic battle.
Of course, this is mere speculation based on the materials on the original discs. Depending on how Square Enix expands or cuts content, as well as how it diverges from the original story, this could all be for naught.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Episode 2 Release Date
Final Fantasy 7 Remake will definitely have at least three episodes, as there is simply no way the rest of the game could be crammed into one episode unless the story takes drastic cuts. Four episodes seems like a good sweet spot, but depending on just how much Square Enix decides to elaborate on certain parts in the story, the game could end up being a lot longer. Supposedly, Square Enix doesn't know how many episodes FF7 will be.
Regarding Final Fantasy 7 Remake's Episode 2 release date, it is difficult to say. Although the first episode didn't come out for five years after its initial announcement, it is highly unlikely that the following episodes will take the same amount of time. Square Enix already has all of the mechanics and systems in place to create the rest of the story, stating it wouldn't take near as long, so it simply needs to design the remaining portions and apply the existing framework to it. It really depends on just how much detail Square Enix plans to go into on this remake.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is available now exclusively for PS4.
