8.0 speculation

[Cleretic]

To be fair, the VII:R series sits in this weird space where it's neither a sequel nor a remake despite the title and premise. It's more or less a deconstruction of remakes; YMMV on how it's going, but it's hard to remember that Cloud was himself a deconstruction of RPG protagonists of his time who became so iconic he replaced the archetype.

No, I think Remake is in that stage, and Rebirth decided that being interesting was not product-synergistic.

Remake's got genuinely really interesting things to say about what the point of remaking such a seminal text even is; the entire conflict of the game is essentially a metanarrative about whether or not they should make big, sweeping and interesting narrative changes to a story everyone knows, or if they should just give the people a bigger version of the same thing they bought thirty years ago because that's obviously what they want. And the end of Remake makes it seem like they've underlined 'things are going differently now, we are making A New Thing that is unlike what once was'.

...and then Rebirth just gave people a bigger version of the same thing they bought thirty years ago, but with more expanded universe references. Remake wanted to be Rebuild of Evangelion; Rebirth has decided it's better to be another Spider-Man reboot.

[RagAndBoneLady]

I'm excited for atleast a little Roegadyn lore in our Norse-Nautical themed expansion. 8'DDD

... It's still early days? Maybe they just don't want to explicitly say any Roe-expies are "Major character" worthy too? Maybe we're super secret awesomely significant characters they don't want to name yet?

No but truly I am so happy something got past the board otherwise this whole thing would be so much more painful. ;v;

[Cilia]

...and then Rebirth just gave people a bigger version of the same thing they bought thirty years ago, but with more expanded universe references. Remake wanted to be Rebuild of Evangelion; Rebirth has decided it's better to be another Spider-Man reboot.

... ish; there are a lot of changes to how Rebirth does the globetrotting sequence of VII, some subtle (Dio letting you clear Barret's name instead of throwing you into Corel Prison on specious reasoning) some not (Gongaga now being mandatory and a mashup of the optional visit to it's Reactor, the first North Crater visit, and the Mideel sequence of the original game).

I doubt it's going to make a significant difference in how the story ends, but they are bending and rearranging things; YMMV on how it's going but personally I don't like it and wish they'd just stick to updating the original (the Resident Evil remakes show this can be executed and executed well) or go completely off the rails and do their own thing.

A bit off topic, but anyway. I really don't know what they could throw at us in this series but different Jenova forms and Safer Sephiroth as the final boss (natch), so I'm going to be cautiously optimistic.

[MikkoAkure]

I really don't know what they could throw at us in this series but different Jenova forms and Safer Sephiroth as the final boss (natch), so I'm going to be cautiously optimistic.

Considering 4 of the alliance raids we’ve had ended in a fusion boss, we could see Safer Sephiroth as the penultimate boss but then Genesis swoops out from nowhere with 0 context, scoops up Sephiroth, and then fuses with him to become the TWO-Winged Angel as a new Gackt track starts playing.

[RavLandslide]

I'm excited for atleast a little Roegadyn lore in our Norse-Nautical themed expansion. 8'DDD

This might just be massive cope because I am also a Roegadyn, but I genuinely do feel like this is a sign that we are going to Aerslaent sometime, relatively soon, the reveals combined with the fact that Bluomwyda and Argmhus are not found in Limsa anymore nor have they returned with the other B-list Scions says a lot in my opinion.
I also want to add that a lot of people are saying that Hoary Boulder could be swapping jobs to become a Bastion, but I think one of these two might also have a chance at that.

[MikkoAkure]

This might just be massive cope because I am also a Roegadyn, but I genuinely do feel like this is a sign that we are going to Aerslaent sometime, relatively soon

A finger on the monkey’s paw curls and Aerslaent is relegated to just being 1 dungeon. Just like Ala Mhigo city, Xelphatol, or Paglth’an.

[RagAndBoneLady]

This might just be massive cope because I am also a Roegadyn, but I genuinely do feel like this is a sign that we are going to Aerslaent sometime, relatively soon, the reveals combined with the fact that Bluomwyda and Argmhus are not found in Limsa anymore nor have they returned with the other B-list Scions says a lot in my opinion.
I also want to add that a lot of people are saying that Hoary Boulder could be swapping jobs to become a Bastion, but I think one of these two might also have a chance at that.

Oh wow, the pair have actually departed?

Well, that's exciting to hear. Here's hoping! 8D

[Cleretic]

I also want to add that a lot of people are saying that Hoary Boulder could be swapping jobs to become a Bastion, but I think one of these two might also have a chance at that.

For what it's worth, the evidence that seemed to 'lead' this one was that Trailer Roegadyn has close to Hoary Boulder's hair color, believably a similar skin tone (when accounting for the fact he's in a very warm-colored area), and the lion badge on his sash is, weirdly, the exact same lion that appears on Hoary Boulder's armor.

That character most likely isn't Hoary, because he's using a different face (Hoary uses face 2, Trailer Roe is face 3), but the evidence is conspicuous. Like, even if the obvious answer can't be correct, we have to be asking the right question and he's somehow related. Maybe it's Dad Boulder?

[Cilia]

Considering 4 of the alliance raids we’ve had ended in a fusion boss, we could see Safer Sephiroth as the penultimate boss but then Genesis swoops out from nowhere with 0 context, scoops up Sephiroth, and then fuses with him to become the TWO-Winged Angel as a new Gackt track starts playing.

Ugh, I hope not. Deepground I can live with, but Nomura's fanboying over a J-Pop star hijacking what's otherwise a decent plot is not something I want to relive.

[RavLandslide]

Aerslaent is relegated to just being 1 dungeon.

Still more than the Far Reach will seemingly ever get!