It’s obvious enough to argue that Zack is now alive because Cloud and his crew fought the Whispers and disrupted the previous timeline. That much is basically confirmed by a few details during the ending sequence involving Zack. For instance, we see Whispers floating around Midgar and we briefly get a peak of a cartoon logo featured throughout Final Fantasy 7 which is now slightly different than before. All of that points to classic alternate timeline shenanigans.
Even if we accept that is what’s happening, we’re still left with questions that need answering.
If Zack is alive in this new timeline that has been created, does that mean he is retroactively alive? In other words, is Zack alive somewhere in Midgar after our heroes escape the Shinra Electric Power Company? If so, then where is he? Why wouldn’t he be with Cloud at that point in the adventure? For that matter, why would the events of this new ending specifically result in Zack being alive in the first place?
All of that brings us to the final point of this discussion…
Final Fantasy 7 Remake: What Comes Next?
The ending of Final Fantasy 7 Remake is basically Square Enix’s way of telling us that they plan on making some major changes to the original game and that even hardcore fans shouldn’t know what to anticipate.
In terms of story structure, though, it’s still entirely possible that our protagonists will still head towards the town of Kalm just as we saw in the original game. Interestingly, it is there that we see several vital flashback sequences that cover the points we talked about above. Whether or not those flashbacks will be impacted by the alterations to the main timeline will be fascinating to see.
By and large, though, it’s basically impossible to predict where Final Fantasy 7 Remake goes from here in terms of plot or gameplay content. That makes the prospect of this remake more exciting than ever, but it also means that previous theories concerning how the original game will be divided into this multi-part release structure must now be thrown out of the window.
Do you have thoughts and theories about the Final Fantasy 7 Remake? Did we miss something in our breakdown that you think fans have to know about? Let us know in the comments below.