Sometimes it’s nice to just get out of the big smoke and into the countryside, isn’t it? Maybe visit a little seaside town and relax by the ocean? That’s…. kind of what Avalanche get to do in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and we got to go hands-on with a couple of demos that Square Enix prepared for Tokyo Game Show 2023.
Whether you loved it or loathed it (or were somewhat indifferent to it), Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth continues with the same action-first combat style of Remake. You’ll run around in battle areas, doling out light attacks in real-time to build up the ATB meter and then let you use skills and spells, and swapping between characters to make use of their respective ATB meters and abilities.
Rebirth expands on this, though, with Synergy, bringing two characters together for a powerful attack to unleash on an enemy or combined ability. Synergy Skills are used while guarding and don’t use up ATB charges, giving you two options that change depending on your battle buddies, which could be a charged up and more powerful attack or a more defensive counterstrike. Then there’s the confusingly similar sounding Synergy Abilities, which are equivalent to the ultimate Limit Break attacks.
We used the first half of our demo, with The Fated Mt. Nibel Mission, flashing back to a time where Sephiroth and Cloud were partners within SOLDIER, heading up to a mako reactor at the top of the mountain. It builds up to a battle with a Materia Guardian, with Sephiroth’s raw abilities very much on show.
You can switch to play as Sephiroth during this time, slashing with Masamune and with branching finisher moves available to cap off a combo attack, and with fun attacks available under the Commands menu. With Cloud and Sephiroth combined, they can perform the Double Helix, attacking in tandem and with a real cinematic flair befitting of an ultimate attack.
Where Final Fantasy 7 Remake was a fairly linear game, something that was true to the opening act of the original game, Rebirth promises to be much broader and expansive thanks to new open-world areas that you can explore.
We had an abbreviated sample of one of these areas while heading to Under Junon, riding round in a fairly rocky and desolate area around the heavily guarded city on the back of a Chocobo, and this came with a few key examples of what to expect once the shackles are taken off in the full game.
In particular, you’re able to chase down Fiend Sightings and do battle with some monsters of the local wilderness, with some skill challenges to complete as you do so. They’re a great way to keep your skills in check and try out different team compositions as you’re given goals to pressure and enemy, stagger an enemy, defeat them within the time limit, prevent them from using an ability, and more.
Also out in these areas are baby Chocobo, who you can follow as they lead you to secrets, like Chocobo stops that you can re-set, and a Chocobo ranch where you can customise your Chocobo’s looks, with different hats, body armour and legs – some of these can be customised further with colour sliders, which is pretty neat.
Oh, and yes, you can pet the baby Chocobo.
After exploring the surrounding region, it was time to head to Under Junon itself, the fishing town that now exists directly underneath the huge city that doesn’t just put it in shade, but almost completely blocks out the sky. Pretty much as soon as you step inside the town’s boundary, you’ll be drawn to the cries for help from a young girl who leads the gang down to the docks where you’ll see Yuffie – wait… Yuffie? – in a little boat being menaced by a giant sea creature.
The Bottomswell boss battle is back, and again exemplifies the action-heavy direction that this game’s combat takes, though dealing with flying enemies at range is something I don’t really get on too well with – blame me being rusty/out of practice with FF7R. What I will say, though, is that its grand finale is just about the most gloriously silly thing that will happen in a big budget game. And yes, it does involve a dolphin.
The middle chapter in a trilogy is always a difficult prospect, but Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth looks like it’s absolutely pulling it off. The more open world areas are certainly going to be enticing after the linearity of Remake, while the new Synergy attacks add another avenue for over-the-top cinematic attacks to showcase the game’s graphics, and then there’s all the mini-games, story beats and locales that were teased within the release date trailer last week. Needless to say, anyone that enjoyed Final Fantasy 7 Remake needs to have Rebirth on their wishlist for 2024.
