Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi hasn't been shy about his admiration for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, this year's JRPG-inspired hit, even going as far as calling it his game of the year. But the growing trend of successful AA games has him itching to try the same thing... if only he could ignore his important role at Square Enix. With a AAA game, Hamaguchi explains that "whatever direction you look at it, whatever element you take, it's at a very high quality." Think of how much stuff is loaded into Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, for example - mini-games, vehicles, tournaments, side quests, photo modes, hidden bosses, etc. Meanwhile, in Hamaguchi's view, AA games usually "pick one aspect of one element and really push that and... take that to a high level" since money for development is limited, of course. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director's GOTY pick, and not just because it features JRPG-inspired combat: "It gets all of the elements in it right" Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director says the team could do a "completely new IP" or maybe "something new within the Final Fantasy series" after finishing Part 3 of the JRPG remake Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director would love to work on "something completely new" after a decade of FF7, but if he had to choose another remake it would be Final Fantasy 6 The FF7 Remake trilogy lead then told us he "would love to try and make a game like that [AA], which is really focused on one area, pushing the boat out, and making that one aspect as fun as possible"... but only if he "completely ignored the reality of it - the position I have in the company, what they want me to make, the requirements of my position and that kind of thing." Still, despite Hamaguchi being on the AAA RPG conveyor belt for the foreseeable future, he wants to support developers working at a smaller scope, mainly because it's good for the industry. "If I've got a chance to work together with some of the people who make these kinds of games, I think that'd be really great as well," he says. "So from an industry, I think it's really healthy, and I like seeing those AAs coming." Final Fantasy 7 Remake director promises Part 3 news "in the not too far future" and tells fans he's "running straight to my hotel room and back to checking some of the levels"