Square Enix is touring its highly anticipated RPG, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, to let the world sample what was demoed at Tokyo Game Show a few weeks ago. Its most recent stop brought it to New York City during New York Comic Con. Behind closed doors, Square Enix invited select media to give the upcoming action-RPG a spin. Our early impressions are incredibly promising, as Rebirth builds upon Final Fantasy VII Remake's excellent foundation by widening the game's scope and combat options. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is shaping up to be a monstrously large PlayStation 5 game, and one we can’t wait to play when it launches on February 29, 2024.
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4.5 Outstanding See all (5 items) (Credit: Square Enix)A Bigger World to Explore
The Final Fantasy VII Remake was set entirely in Midgar, a sci-fi metropolis fueled by the planet’s literal lifeblood. Shinra, a corrupt megacorporation, owned the city and influenced every aspect of Midgar life. Cloud and his ragtag party of eco-terrorists explored Midgar’s affluent upper city, as well as its tragically impoverished slums, on a mission to dethrone the corporate overlords. Due to its Midgar focus, Final Fantasy VII Remake had linear story beats.
With Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Cloud and company venture beyond Midgar and into a wide, open world that's packed with optional activities to enjoy as you journey to your next objective. This includes monster hunts, side quests, hidden secrets, and simple resource collecting and crafting. For context, Remake also had optional elements, but they often required a trip to a particular NPC or VR simulation to initiate.
The Rebirth demo I played mainly focused on exploration outside of Junon City. It featured four optional monster hunts, a quest-giving NPC, treasure to find via your loot-sniffing Chocobo, and innumerable materials to collect for potion crafting. There were a few notable areas that appeared traversable, but they weren't accessible. We were told that our Chocobo could eventually take us to those spots, but not at this point in time. If the game world is as dense as the demo, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be a staggeringly large release.
(Credit: Square Enix)Refreshed Combat
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth retains Remake's core combat mechanics and animations, with each character having a unique move set and distinctive play style. For example, Cloud is a sword-toting melee warrior, while Barret is a gun-wielding fighter who excels at ranged combat. On top of that, Rebirth introduces move refinements to make them more robust than they were in Remake. Cloud’s heavy-hitting Punisher stance, for instance, has longer combos and attacks faster than it did in Remake. Aerith’s magical projectiles fire faster, too, and her magic-enhancing wards last much longer after you summon them.
Like in Remake and Final Fantasy XVI, consecutive attacks and weakness-exploiting skills build a target's stagger gauge. When full, the enemy falls prone and all successive attacks deal increased damage. Every enemy operates by these rules, so learning their weaknesses and the best method to stagger them is tremendously rewarding.
Rebirth allows all characters to parry attacks now. In Remake, characters could enter a defensive stance, but this only reduced incoming damage. This still works the same in Rebirth, but you can now also time your block in sync with an incoming attack to nullify the damage. A successful parry adds to your assailant’s stagger gauge, and can even interrupt the enemy's attack, giving you a retaliation window.
(Credit: Square Enix)Likewise, Aerial combat has received significant upgrades. It’s still janky, in that your party members lack a jump command in their core move set. You also have no direct aerial mobility outside of auto-tracking combos. However, all characters now have aerial team attacks they can perform at any time. When blocking, your attack and special attack buttons are replaced with team attacks that serve as either launchers or ranged attacks. When controlling Tifa, for example, her team-up attack with Cloud sees her springboard off his sword toward an enemy. This alleviates some of the frustration with aerial combat, giving you a more direct means of attacking out-of-reach foes.
Synergy Attacks, introduced in Remake’s Intermission DLC chapter, make their way into Rebirth. Only the kleptomaniac ninja Yuffie and her partner Sonon could perform these coop attacks in the DLC, but they have been extended to the entire party. Think of these as Double Techs from Chrono Trigger. Using them, two party members launch a unique synchronized attack on a target. They differ depending on the characters performing the attack, and effectively act as Limit Break-tier super moves that can devastate or outright kill a foe. For example, Aerith and Cloud’s Synergy Attack unleashes a barrage of magically enhanced sword slashes. Synergy has its own unique gauge, which each character builds by attacking.
Why You Should Game on a PCA Promising Glimpse
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth shows incredible promise, and the demo is only a sliver of what is to come. Thanks to developer updates, we know that there are new playable characters and an entire second continent to explore. The upcoming RPG is shaping up to be a massive adventure, and we can’t wait to play the full game when it launches on February 29.
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