Tetsuya Nomura has explained that Crisis Core Reunion has redesigned the Buster Sword simply so it matches more closely with Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Ever since Crisis Core Reunion was revealed last month, there have been several questions regarding whether its a remake or a remaster, with Square Enix's answers placing it somewhere in the middle. One curious change that could be spotted within the opening seconds of the Crisis Core Reunion reveal is that the Buster Sword has been changed to match the Final Fantasy 7 Remake design.
This instantly led to theories that Crisis Core Reunion will be changing the game's ending somehow and that the Buster Sword being different was a sign that it'll link to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth somehow. Nomura has since clarified in an interview with Gamespot that it was simply to keep it in line with Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Nomura said, "The Buster Sword design originally in Crisis Core is based on the Advent Children design; however, this time around the design for the Buster Sword is going to be based on Final Fantasy 7 Remake, just to make sure that Crisis Core Reunion is aligned with Final Fantasy 7 Remake and there's no discrepancies there in design.
Nomura continued, "With the remake being based on the original Final Fantasy 7, we wanted to sort of keep that all aligned, where Crisis Core is a peripheral story to the original Final Fantasy 7's story." This explanation also seems to go along with the fact that Nomura has stated that there won't be any changes to the Crisis Core story in Crisis Core Reunion
As fans of Final Fantasy are no doubt aware, this isn't the first time that the Buster Sword has been redesigned. The original, which was used in Final Fantasy 7, is much more simplistic and only has one colour on the blade. The second design, used in Crisis Core and Advent Children, is much more intricate, with a stylised golden handle that seems to split into two shades for the blade. Finally, the blade was redesigned for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, combining elements of the two previous designs into one, while also adding in some of its own detailing.