If it ain’t broke, the saying goes, don’t fix it. That makes Square Enix’s job with the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth an interesting one. After all, the developer broke Final Fantasy VII on purpose with Remake and now it’s begun the daunting task of not just fixing it, but crafting new bespoke parts that make for a good fit with the original game.
Granted, Square has a lot more freedom to do so, thanks to a barn-burner of a canon-busting climax for FFVII Remake, but if anything, that means that the job is even more precarious. I was able to play a demo of FFVII Rebirth at a closed-door event, and having put a bit of time into it, it’s at least obvious that Square is up to the task and taking some big swings. Whether those swings will connect with the audience in the same way that the original game did is up in the air.
The demo was actually split into two sections. The first will be familiar to FFVII veterans: the flashback sequence where Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth set forth from Nibelheim to investigate why the local mako energy reactor is broken. The part of the section that I played didn’t include the full flashback—no iconic shot of Sephiroth burning Nibelheim to the ground just yet—but already there’s a sense that we’re going to get more time with pre-Jenova Sephiroth. Here, he’s a tight-lipped but steadfast leader, with Tyler Hoechlin giving his portrayal just enough personality to make the turn we know is coming hurt just a little more.
Gameplay-wise, the sequence pulls off the same storytelling shorthand as the 1997 version of the sequence, with a wildly overpowered Sephiroth, which, in the context of Remake’s real-time gameplay, makes him an absolute monster in battle compared to Cloud and Tifa, laying the tough enemies dotted across Mt. Nibel to waste. The big worry was that this would wind up being less effective, having already faced Sephiroth on even ground at the end of Remake. But the melee skills available in Rebirth are different enough to make even flashback Sephiroth feel like a different breed, and being able to take full control of him is a unique little thrill.
One notable addition is the Synergy system. Recalling Persona 5’s All-Out attacks, Synergy builds up in its own dedicated meter, and when full, two or more teammates go buck wild on the entire field of enemies. They’re flashy, and devastating, and they charge up just leisurely enough where players can’t just spam it over and over, keeping Remake’s careful balance intact.
But you’ll need the extra help. The demo’s second half is a tiny piece of the open world that opens up after our heroes leave Midgar in Remake. The area isn’t large enough to allow you to do much outright exploring, though it was worth wandering around aimlessly just for the sheer feel of the place. The world on the way to the military stronghold of Junon is no mere empty green field, but a pasture with Midgar’s trash and abandoned construction projects strewn all around the place, and infested with monsters picking their next meal out of the debris.
Cloud and company start off roaming around the area on black chocobos—and, no, I couldn’t get a definitive answer on whether you’ll have to breed them yourself again—but frequently would need to jump off to deal with a beast in their way. Their exploration felt not too dissimilar from Final Fantasy XVI in that regard, but actually taking down larger prey felt a lot more like Monster Hunter than FFXVI’s’s Devil May Cry-inspired action. The enemies were trickier, and additional rewards for expert gameplay were abundant, especially when accomplishing certain things during the fight (staggering enemies, clearing under a time limit, and so on).
Despite the significant rewards, though, all that was optional. The critical path led our heroes to the slums of Junon, and a massive fight where Yuffie brings a giant boss, the Terror of the Deep, to town. Yuffie’s very presence was a surprise this early on, and sadly the demo ended after the Terror is dead, but even this tiny tease points toward a game that holds even less fealty to the original Final Fantasy VII’s beats than FFVII Remake.
The open-world segments do seem like a harbinger for FF7 Rebirth to play as a much looser experience than before as well. It remains to be seen how well that meshes with the gameplay we know and love already, but from what we’ve seen so far, it’s likely the tip of the iceberg in terms of surprises for players waiting for Final Fantasy VII to feel familiar again.
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