Final Fantasy VII Remake was supposed to appeal to both fans of the original game and to people who are new to the series. This turned out not to be the case, as scenes from the end of the game will make no sense to anyone not familiar with the lore of Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.
Near the end of Final Fantasy VII Remake, the player witnesses a scene where a mysterious man with black hair is facing off against Shinra soldiers. The man is wearing the same uniform as Cloud and fights with the Buster Sword, but he has jet black hair and speaks with a different voice. This man is Zack Fair and fans of Final Fantasy VII will recognize him, but people new to the series won’t have a clue, as Final Fantasy VII Remake never bothers to explain who he is.
In Final Fantasy VII, it’s revealed that Cloud isn’t who he says he is. It turns out that Cloud never made the cut to join SOLDIER and was only hired as a regular grunt trooper by the Shinra Electric Power Company. Cloud was dispatched to the town of Nibelheim along with Sephiroth and a member of SOLDIER named Zack, as there were problems with the reactor there.
It’s in Nibelheim that Sephiroth discovers the twisted truth behind his birth and he goes nuts, wiping out the entire town. Sephiroth travels to the Nibelheim Mako Reactor and Zack tries to take him down, but he is defeated in the process. Cloud succeeds in killing Sephiroth by tossing him into the Mako Reactor, and Shinra troops arrive to take him and Zack away.
Cloud and Zack are experimented on in the nearby Shinra Mansion for years until Zack manages to break them out. Cloud is in a catatonic state, so Zack has to protect him while they make their way back to Midgar. Zack is confronted by an entire legion of the Shinra army and he dies trying to fight them off, in order to save Cloud’s life. Cloud stumbles across Zack in his final moments and is bequeathed the Buster Sword. Cloud starts to believe that he was Zack and that he had made the cut for SOLDIER in the past, due to the after-effects of the experiments and Mako poisoning. When the party witnesses Zack defeating the Shinra troops in Final Fantasy VII Remake, they are seeing an alternate timeline where he survived and managed to bring Cloud back to Midgar.
Zack would go on to become the star of his own game. In 2008, Square Enix released Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - for the PlayStation Portable. Crisis Core was an action RPG that acted as a prequel to Final Fantasy VII, showing the final days of the Wutai War, the early incarnation of SOLDIER, and an entire subplot involving a character named Genesis that would continue into Dirge of Cerberus. The fans also got to see a growing romantic relationship between Aerith and Zack fair in Crisis Core, though the two were separated and died before they could meet again. It was established in Advent Children that the two were reunited after death in the Lifestream, so they did have a happy ending. Crisis Core is one of the best games on the PSP and it’s carried by the character of Zack, who acts as a stark contrast to the cold/moody Cloud.
It’s unclear whether the alternate timeline scene showing Zack’s survival will be referenced in any sequels to Final Fantasy VII Remake. It’s possible that the scene was just included as fanservice for longtime fans of the franchise. There is also a possibility that this alternate timeline with Zack could be explored further in future games or in DLC, but nothing is certain as of the time of writing.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is available now for PlayStation 4.
