Thanks. For those that don't read Japanese (and want to drop it in their favorite MTL or what have you), here's the relevant interview answer from creative director Jonathan Dumont:

――ネタバレは避けますが、ゲームのオープニング時の映像はちょっとびっくりするような、怪しげな感じでした。本作をクリアーするころには、その謎は解決するのか、あるいは謎に近づくことができるのでしょうか？

ジョナサン 　これは現代編の新しい出発点です。時間とともに発展するストーリー部分があるため、今後の複数のシリーズでも続きのストーリーが語られることでしょう。ここで目にするのは、長年のファンにとってすばらしく感じられる部分であり、新しい物語を予感できるはずです。また同時に、新しいプレイヤーにとっても非常に期待を持ってもらえるようなコンセプトになっていると思います。

Can we get a link? If you mean https://www.gamedeveloper.com/, they've only had one article specifically on Shadows this year and it's about a service platform for the series, not the story.

What's the source for this?

It's definitely one of those that can take a little while to click with the player. I had the advantage of being deeply interested in the setting. It made me miss living in Oregon so, so much. Aside from that, I really came to like the characters by the end of the original game and Before the Storm.

I've continued to enjoy the series--yes, even the newest one--aside from LiS 2, which felt like misery porn after a while. That said, all of the games excel at getting the quiet moments right, and it's worth taking a moment to pause when the game offers the chance.

"The original NES hardware literally only had around 55 colors that were pre-programmed in and no other color was allowed," Wozniak explained. "We broke this rule by adding 5 colors to help with a few things the NES palette lacked⁠—namely, darker and desaturated colors. But we justified that decision by treating it as compensation for the fact that everyone is playing these games on much brighter, higher fidelity screens than the CRTs of the past."

This is a great example of how some retro-style projects get it and some don't. The successful projects are the one that have the feel of the games you used to play in the context of today's gaming, not the ones that do a historically accurate, 1:1 conversion. There's an art to it.

I'd be very surprised if Tactics is getting a full remake; this is likely more of a case of "remake/remaster" tending to be interchangeable terms in video game media and casual gaming discussion.

I'd expect to see something like the Tactics Ogre Reborn treatment. Final Fantasy Tactics desperately needs an orchestrated soundtrack like that project's.

Great to hear! I struggled a bit with the first two Sky games but the Crossbell games completely blew me away. Azure's one of my all-time favorites.

By the way, if you haven't seen it, there is a major scene for Randy (along with Wazy and Rixia) if you select him for the final bonding event in Azure. Easy to miss stuff, should be findable on YouTube, etc.

If it makes any difference, I don't have major compulsions/FOMO to do open world content. I even regret doing as much of the Enemy Skill farming as I did. So it felt well and truly optional to me. I set most of it aside.

Thanks for bringing this up. I drift in and out of Rimworld every now and then and I just realized I never did pick up this DLC.

How'd you like Crossbell?

I had major problems with Remake myself, mostly stemming from punishing encounter design and them padding out a 6+ hour section into a full game. The catwalk lights, the lab, and other stuff obliterated the pacing, and it was painfully obvious how much better the dungeon design based on the original content was when compared to the new stuff.

The good news is, in Rebirth, that 1:1 remake feeling is front and center if you want it, instead supplemented this time by optional content. I felt like I had much more room to put together materia builds, and it has one of the best video game soundtracks I've ever heard. I'd be over the moon if they did a version of Final Fantasy VI that felt like most of Rebirth did.

Except for the limit breaks. Why they didn't give those full target tracking and allowed them to whiff is an outright bizarre design decision (along with the constant splitting of the party).

Still the longest not-live-service game I've ever played, although Pathfinder: Kingmaker gave it a run for its money recently.