The release of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is one week away, and with the review embargo set to lift we will soon have a clearer picture in terms of potential. But as most mere mortals still have seven days to kick the dirt as we await full launch, here at Novastream, we thought to unpack five burning questions that will dictate whether potential turns into a generational title honouring the 1997 hit.
How will the game’s style suit Open World mechanics?
Remake worked well as a more linear game due to the focus on Midgar as the only playable section. In Rebirth, we are pushed out into the open world with an emphasis on exploration alongside the combat mechanics. Cloud’s movement in Remake did not really suit the open world as it was focused on rails outside of smaller ‘town’ hubs, but in Rebirth we see climbing, Chocobo navigation and vehicles for traversal. While the original could be considered open world in parts, how will this connect with Rebirth’s pacing? Fetch quests impacted Final Fantasy 16 and the side missions were one of the areas that lacked polish overall, but videos and interviews have stressed that all of the mini-games and side missions in Rebirth will be unique and exciting thanks to inspiration from the likes of Witcher 3 and the Horizon series. We shall see how this operates.
How will Party Management operate?
In Remake, the game chose which characters partnered Cloud in battle. There were never more than three in a party, and this operated on story-based needs. In Rebirth, there will be 7+ playable characters at any one time. Gamers will have the opportunity to pick and choose their party, but how will this operate from a narrative perspective? A recent example such as Baldur’s Gate 3 has specific dialogue and reactions to scenarios based on who is in your party. But as player agency will not be to Larian’s level in Rebirth, will the party only separate during battle sequences? Will this see the more powerful characters take precedence? Replayability will be enhanced based on how well this function operates.
How will the story differ to the original?
This article is spoiler-free, but there is no denying the timeline-style shift that has been incorporated into this new trilogy following Remake’s conclusion. Characters such as Zack will have deeper inclusion and the fate of some party members may actually change, but the degree to the changes has most fans both eager and nervous. Without knowing exactly where the second instalment of the three-part series will end (we have a vague idea in terms of location, hint hint) there is also likelihood that some of the bigger story beats could be saved for the final game. Either way, we encourage fans to be cautious when navigating social media over the coming weeks.
How is the ‘Skill Reset’ explained and what new weapons/skills will be available?
By the end of Remake, my characters were stacked with powerful materia and armed to the teat with the biggest and best weapons available. Now, to start Rebirth with such strong abilities and items would not be the common opening for a sequel. There will therefore be an explanation as to why all combat aspects have been reset, and this may tie in to the ending of Remake. Even so, losing everything just to gain the same strong weapons and materia would be repetitive. With an open world setting, there is no doubting that the options, collectibles and spells will be more varied. Will new weapons still be locked to a single character, or will there be further customisation? All will be revealed, and the power of the PS5 will ensure enhanced ‘wow’ factor.
Will character diversity and player choice work as planned?
The state of play highlighted the focus on characters both narratively and via combat. Every character can combine with any other character for powerful moves, each with its own skill tree. But will these attacks open up variety or be fairly similar in approach. Depth is the question. Being able to choose a romance character for the date mission – will that be restricted to a Tifa vs Aerith choice, or will Yuffie and Barrett and others also be factored in? Can Cloud be removed from all battle sequences if preferred, or will he still need to be involved in certain fights? Player agency is the buzzword, but there is a balance when the game remains tight in its story focus (there will be one ending that ties the game to its next instalment). How far this extends will soon be known.
There is no doubt that there will be many more questions regarding the game, and some will be answered via the reviews (stay tuned for Novastream’s review following the game’s release). But some questions will require completion to be covered. With a 50-hour story and 100-hour platinum, we will be talking about Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth for months to come.
