Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Is Worth The Wait

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is most probably the most anticipated RPG title alongside ‘Rise of the Ronin’ and ‘Black Myth Wukong’ scheduled to release in 2024. It’s no secret that some of us wish that we got the entire game in one package, instead of splitting it up into several parts. In fact, this is what Square Enix has wanted to do for several years now, unfortunately, they have succeeded in doing that in the remake of our beloved 7th instalment of Final Fantasy.

But alas, the first part of the game that was released back 3 years ago was densely packed with so much quality content. And a rerelease with a new DLC called Intermission a year later, that brought Yuffie as a playable character, becoming a story tangent leading up to the main story. Selling over 7 million units so far. Call it as you will, but that’s more success for Square Enix than Final Fantasy 16 got this year. Ouch.

That game still has time to catch up. As for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, it is the second part of a planned trilogy after the first part ‘Final Fantasy 7 Remake’ which was released in 2020, but I want to touch on what’s really making the wait for part 2 to pay off. What will Rebirth offer us after the long wait? How it will deal with the story, now that we know it will take place in an alternate timeline? Returning characters, and newer ones.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Story

For those who haven’t played the first part yet, of course, there’s spoilers ahead. Right at the end of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, we saw Aerith helping to clear off the mass confusion, and the game ended with Zach clearly alive and fighting off Shinra soldiers while carrying Cloud to a safe place. So, it might be a clear-cut guess for the gamers who have played it, that where the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth story will kick off.

What could have made anybody’s head spin only led to one conclusion, this is not going to be the same story as the older games. So, the entire FF7 canon plot can easily be Retconned to whatever the writer wants it to go. But the trailer made one thing clear; characters like Sith, and Red XIII from the original will return here, and be playable. Heck, the demo that’s out now lets you play Sephiroth.

That would make sense since that is a prequel story and acts as a fit-in between one of the chapters of the new game. Yuffie’s story takes place in-between the first game, before ending with a cliffhanger leading to Rebirth, we know she’ll join Cloud. The biggest surprise here? Zach is also slated to be playable as well.

Different Game And Exploration

The gameplay showcase didn’t exactly spell “major gameplay changes”, it will be somewhat the same game. But rather with big changes to skills, new mechanics and characters to try, and larger open-world areas to explore. In fact, countryside exploration will take us to a lot of interesting places. For starters, the Chocobo farms. Even a baby that followed Cloud is in one of the showcases.

The last game’s main story lasted close to 30 hours of time, with extra side content taking around the same time to finish up. Wholly 60 hours of experience to boot. Rebirth will push past 100 hours of game time. Really ups the scale and will follow a much less linear mission structure coupled with the freedom to explore.

Plus, we’re getting upgraded visuals, as mentioned the scales will be bigger, and that applies to the graphics as well. The places the team will go to will have the beautiful green side of the planet. Around villages, there will be mountains, rivers, waterfalls, and caves that will have enchanting yet dangerous creatures to fight.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Features

They’re using Unreal Engine 5 to make the game; the development team will reap whatever they can get out of this while running it exclusively on the PS5. It’s going to be full-on eye candy, and I mean 100 hours of that. Wow, for a 2nd part of the trilogy, this one is really stretching the budget. We’re talking about 7 main characters, with active voice lines that weren’t in the original.

Most of the out-of-reach places will be taken via Chocobo rides. Just like the original did, except in close third-person. Also, in the trailer we have seen new vehicles like a Segway. According to director Hamaguchi Naoki, the canine-like playable character Red XIII will add a new look to the combat system. Man, just talking about this game now, I really want to get my hands on it. Sadly, I haven’t gotten my hands on a PS5 just yet.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is presently slated to be playable solely on PlayStation 5. It won’t be available on PS4, with Square Enix presently centered around the most recent age of consoles. Be that as it may, the first part ‘Final Fantasy 7 Remake’ of the reboot trilogy was at the end available through Steam, so there is an opportunity for it could advance toward PC following an underlying time of control center selectiveness.

Get That PS5 Ready

I might not have a PS5 yet, but if you’re reading this with the hopes that you get the game or both it and a PS5, then you have around 5-6 months of waiting to do. The game’s slated for release on February 23rd, 2024. For people who’ve waited with bated breath for over 3 years now is kind of a lot.

But hey, the juicy details provided should make it more worthwhile when you do get your hands on it. And for the PC players, we’ll have to stick with having faith that Square Enix will port it after a few months. Intergrade was ported over a year after the base game’s release. Even if sales weren’t notable, it leaves some food for thought that in the future, they might do their best to change that for good.

Lead designer, Tetsuyo Nomura, even stated that you don’t necessarily have to play Remake in order to enjoy the upcoming sequel. I guess it’s up to decide whether that’s a fact or not. But then again, if you’re itching for some Final Fantasy now, maybe give that one a go. Heck, if you haven’t played the original 1997 game, that’s one more reason to play it.