Final Fantasy VII Remake set the tone for what gamers may anticipate from this three-half retelling of the beloved 1997 Square RPG. The glorious updates to the fight system, the improbable expansions on character relationships, and the stellar manufacturing values instructed us Square Enix is just not taking the accountability of remaking one among its most iconic video games flippantly. However, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth seems to be to take a number of elements of the expertise to the subsequent stage, largely due to its emphasis on aspect content material.
Following the occasions in Midgar, as depicted in Remake, the social gathering emerges into an unlimited, open space. In the unique recreation, this was depicted by an overworld map, however in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, gamers stay in the identical perspective as the remainder of the sport as they transfer from one focal point to a different. After the extra restrictive strategy to Final Fantasy VII Remake, the brand new sense of openness is refreshing, and one thing the group was deliberate in integrating, notably when you think about how way more open this phase is throughout the unique title.
“Seeing that Remake is set in the world of Midgar, in which the player can explore within that area, we leaned heavily on story elements and were focused on a more narrative-driven game for Remake,” director Naoki Hamaguchi says. “Now that we’re entering into the outside world and going forward in that direction, I have this desire to depict more of that feeling of exploration, and I very much feel that this was able to be accomplished for Rebirth.”
While you are exploring, you must plan on having the chance to get pleasure from a ton of aspect content material. Hamaguchi estimates that roughly 80 p.c of Rebirth’s exploration-primarily based content material is aspect content material, whereas the mainline story makes up the remaining 20 p.c. If that makes you are concerned that Rebirth lacks story content material, Hamaguchi says you’ll be able to chill out; even merely specializing in the primary storyline, he estimates it’ll give gamers round 40 hours of gameplay. Meanwhile, in the event you deal with a good quantity of aspect content material, gamers can anticipate to spend round 60 hours in Rebirth, whereas probably the most devoted sidequesters can stay up for upwards of 100 hours of content material.
But it is not content material bloat for the sake of inflating these playtime hours. The developer additionally needed to make sure it delivered a various and significant expertise to gamers. “When looking at these larger titles in which there is a more expansive world that has these large amounts of side content, some players may feel these have a large quantity of side content, but perhaps the actual experience is not as varied,” co-director Motomu Toriyama says. “For Rebirth, we took care of having this select number of side content, which we truly worked to develop in depth. This was a large consideration for us, allowing players to experience various forms of gameplay through the side content. In that way, I believe we were able to achieve a distinctive flavor among similar titles.”
When I ask Hamaguchi for his favourite RPG exterior of the Final Fantasy sequence, with out hesitation, he names The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Red’s 2015 masterpiece that many contemplate one of many best video games of all time. That title is understood for its significant aspect content material, which is so sturdy that its storylines even match these of the primary story.
“Regarding titles like The Witcher 3, which has that open-world role-playing type element, we did some extensive research into these types of titles and looked at it as a baseline in which Rebirth should be a type of title that can stand alongside it and have the type of content that would be satisfying to its players,” Toriyama says.
Those who performed Final Fantasy VII Remake will acknowledge one of many outstanding sidequest givers: Chadley. The youthful researcher as soon as once more desires your assist studying about Materia, and he’ll reward you with further summons. As you progress by the world, he asks you to look into sure happenings by occasions known as World Intel.
The rewards sound value it, however from every part I hear from the builders, the story would be the driving pressure behind pushing gamers to sidequests. To make aspect content material extra significant, Square Enix expanded the affinity system. This below-the-hood mechanic takes your actions in the direction of a personality and interprets them into how sure scenes – such because the famed gondola date sequence – play out. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s aspect content material is a crucial driver for this mechanic, with every sidequest bringing in a secondary protagonist from the social gathering. Completing a sidequest improves Cloud’s affinity with the given character (to study extra concerning the sidequest I noticed, head right here).
“We wanted to give players the freedom of choice in deciding whether they wanted to dedicate themselves solely to the main storyline and, like, no sidequests at all,” Hamaguchi says. “Or there might be people who want to delve into the side content and go really in-depth into the character relationships and understand the story deeper, or just the balance of those two. We wanted to give that freedom.”
The unique Final Fantasy VII includes a ton of minigames – notably throughout its center part – and Rebirth is not any completely different. One of probably the most concerned and steady minigames is Queen’s Blood, a aggressive card recreation you’ll be able to play towards NPCs in Rebirth.
While the group stays tight-lipped concerning the precise mechanics, we all know it’s a strategic card battler with collectible and deck-constructing parts. “In terms of the number of cards, there is a massive amount – enough to be, like, its own card game almost,” Toriyama says. “Part of the fun will be collecting these cards. Queen’s Blood is more of a strategy-and-thinking kind of card game, but I took a look at some of the gameplay when you are toward the end, and you have collected all of the cards, and it has the potential to become a very flashy, fast-paced card game; it almost has the instant-ness of a shooting game in which your opponent may put down a card, then you will instantly put down a card while putting down another. It’s very fast. Of course, this is on the maximum difficulty level of the card game, so I believe there are only going to be a few players that play at this intensity level.”
The different minigame I received a have a look at is a piano exercise. Through exploration, Cloud can discover sheet music for compositions throughout the world. He can then sit on the piano and play the songs utilizing the 2 analog sticks and a few buttons. The piano minigame additionally includes a freeplay mode, which lets you carry out any track you need. I watched a developer play a well-known Japanese track utilizing the in-recreation piano mechanics. It seems to be prefer it’ll take numerous observe to get that good, however the mechanics appear deep, and the group desires gamers to embrace the flexibility to play any track they like and share their performances on-line.
I did not get a have a look at the chocobo racing, however the group touts its enhancements and modernizations to be extra in step with what gamers anticipate from a contemporary type; gamers can equip their chocobos with stat-boosting gear, and the various kinds of chocobos carry out otherwise. Toriyama tells me the Rebirth group even briefly thought-about collaborating with the builders of 2022 kart-racer Chocobo GP for the minigame however ultimately determined to go its personal route. With Gold Saucer and Fort Condor nonetheless but to be mentioned in-depth, I can solely think about the minigames ready for gamers once they enterprise to these areas.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth arrives on PlayStation 5 on February 29. For extra on the sport that took house “Most Anticipated” at this yr’s The Game Awards, click on the banner beneath to go to our unique protection hub!
Parts of this text initially appeared in Issue 362 of Game Informer.
Discussion about this post