Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth leaves Midgar behind with the hint of a wider world
The second part of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy shows the promise and beauty of new locations, even if the battle system is mostly unchanged.
If you thought that Square Enix was going to rest on its laurels following the release of Final Fantasy 16 earlier this year, think again, because fans know that the prestigious Japanese publisher is hard at work developing the next game in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake saga. The first game, originally released exclusively on PS4 in 2020 before coming to PS5 and PC later, had the benefit of surprise, proving to everyone that the sacred text that is Final Fantasy 7 was ripe for re-examination. With Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, however, the pressure is on to avoid that difficult second album syndrome.
I recently got to play roughly an hour or so of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s early sections – one covering the period before the first game’s events where Cloud and Sephiroth worked together as allies, and another taking place soon after the main group’s swift exit from Midgar. In both instances, it was refreshing just to be out of that blue-hued cyberpunk city at last. Final Fantasy 7 was a beautiful game, but it suffered from a few sections plagued by samey underground tunnels and industrial architecture.
From both the sections I played, no such problems seem to be present in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Take the first section I played, where I got to control Cloud – and for the first time ever – Sephiroth. The chapter focussed on the two (alongside Tifa) exploring an underground mine in search of the source of Mako. The environment in Mt. Nibel was natural, dark and moody, lit only by the alluring green glow of the structures emitting the precious power resource. This tone perfectly suited the mystery that is Sephiroth in the moment, too, who handles pretty much like you’d expect – as a nimbler and more elegant swordsman compared to Cloud’s classic heavy-hitter approach.
The battle system in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth hasn’t drastically changed from Final Fantasy 7 Remake; it’s still the same expert blend of both real-time action and then pausing the action to distribute commands to other party members, engage limit breaks or switch fighting styles. Unlike Cloud’s ability to switch from Punisher to Operator stance, Sephiroth builds what’s known as Aura to unleash a selection of manoeuvres ranging from a simple pierce to either Infernal Gate, Sword Dance and others depending on his positioning. These work alongside a further range of abilities that can be accessed when you pause the action, before selecting a specific target.
Why Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's six week delay is a good thing
The mission at Mt. Nibel culminated in a battle against a huge wall-crawling beastie known as the Materia Guardian within a cave, where I was forced to switch from Cloud to Sephiroth and back again whenever one of the two got grabbed. This epic battle was also a chance to test out the pair’s synergy ability, Dualblade Dance, which really solidified the duo’s potential to work together. All throughout the Materia Guardian boss fight there were some cinematic moments where Square Enix makes clear just how much Cloud respects Sephiroth, despite the latter always demanding more of him.
This small glimpse into Cloud and Sephiroth’s past relationship will surely only heighten the impact that occurs when the two ultimately come to blows later on in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Obviously the iconic villain’s role was purposely limited in the first game outside of the final battle, yet from this little section where I actually got to control the white-haired arch nemesis, there’s plenty of potential for both new and old fans to learn what makes him tick.
Into the wild
The second section of my demo thrust me into the open wilds of Junon – one of the many new explorable regions Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is set to add. It was here where I was able to take in the hint of this sequel’s less linear structure at my own pace, first visiting a local chocobo farm before eventually getting to ride on one to get around quicker, picking up scents that could be followed in order to dig up useful items.
In between exploring I found myself engaging in multiple combat challenges sprinkled throughout the area, tasking me to defeat wild enemies to earn XP, and rewards that would be enhanced if I completed them within certain parameters. Most of these boiled down to simply ‘defeat all enemies within the time limit’, ‘stagger an enemy’, ‘pressure an enemy’ and so on, but options like this worked to make the environment feel alive in a way that Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s linear paths never did. Even from just my brief time with the preview demo, it’s easy to see how one could get lost scrubbing a region to find and do everything.
Obviously with the group having grown significantly at the end of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, there will be times (such as this section in Junon) where there are more than three members in your party. Rebirth never overwhelmed me by asking me to control Cloud, Barrett, Tifa, Aerith and Red 13 all at once; instead it gave me multiple configurations of groups to switch between. You still only control three members at any one time in battle, but can better prepare by choosing a team setup designed better for, say, ranged or magic play.
I was mainly interested in seeing how Red 13 played in the party seeing as, much as is the case with Sephiroth, he makes his playable debut in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. A final fight in the Junon section against a giant fish called Terror of the Deep proved a perfect opportunity, even if his moves like Siphon Fang and Wild Charge proved a bit useless against a boss who was prone to unleashing water blast from up high and creating whirlpools from underneath the wooden dock. I’m curious to learn more about how Red 13 can be used to enhance a team, but thank heavens Barrett’s ranged attacks were there to save me in this battle.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth by its very nature doesn’t look set to introduce a lot of new combat systems. That said, its heroes finally breaking out of Midgar after spending 20 to 30 hours there already feels instantly refreshing, and is primed to give this next piece of Cloud’s story an air of excitement about it.
Square Enix already proved with Final Fantasy 7 Remake that not everything is quite what it seems with the story players thought they knew, and I’d expect much the same from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Regardless, this more open approach to exploration and story is much appreciated, even if it remains to be seen whether this can sustain across an entire game.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
