Introduction
The launch of 1997’s Remaining Fantasy VII on PlayStation signaled a seismic shift within the online game panorama. The transition from pixel artwork to completely animated pc graphics was a large sufficient leap forward, however the great thing about this basic title was rather more than pores and skin deep. That includes a stellar solid of beloved characters, a rock-solid fight system, and a narrative with the potential to instill feelings starting from awe and pleasure to grief and anger, the legacy of Remaining Fantasy VII is well-established within the RPG style and the video games trade as a complete.
Within the a long time since, expertise has advanced, as have traits. What was as soon as the head of expertise and visible constancy now seems to be dated, and the attitudes of contemporary avid gamers look extra in the direction of motion than the standard RPG fight featured within the unique Remaining Fantasy VII. However the love for Remaining Fantasy VII, its world, its message, and its characters by no means light. And followers started clamoring for a contemporary tackle the basic.
That prevalent fan request was lastly met in 2020 with Remaining Fantasy VII Remake, the primary of three elements reimagining the occasions of Remaining Fantasy VII with trendy visuals and gameplay. The vital acclaim and robust fan reception confirmed that Sq. Enix wasn’t taking the duty of remaking its beloved RPG calmly. With the second half, Remaining Fantasy VII Rebirth, on the horizon, we flew to Tokyo, Japan, to satisfy with Sq. Enix, get our fingers on the sport, see unique gameplay, and speak to core members of the event staff about why this second entry is upping the ante in practically each approach.
Warning: This text contains spoilers for the unique Remaining Fantasy VII and Remaining Fantasy VII Remake.
Remaking FF7
The Prelude
The bottom beneath Sq. Enix’s Tetsuya Nomura’s toes trembled. In his time since serving as a personality designer and visible director on Remaining Fantasy VII, his legend has grown considerably. Along with engaged on practically each acclaimed Remaining Fantasy sport since, Nomura additionally helped create the Kingdom Hearts collection and has turn into a figurehead and luminary throughout the stacked ranks of Sq. Enix’s secure of builders. However this 2015 journey to Los Angeles, California, was totally different.
PlayStation’s E3 2015 livestream had simply revealed a teaser trailer that includes the long-lasting Remaining Fantasy VII protagonist, Cloud Strife, strolling by way of Midgar in superb, trendy, HD graphics. The dream of so many followers – a contemporary remake of the basic RPG – was lastly realized. The followers weren’t the one ones feeling the load of the second, although, and it was not simply the bottom that was shaking; it was Nomura’s whole physique.
“There have been no workers members round, so I used to be sort of simply off to the aspect, standing there alone,” Nomura says. “After I heard the cheers from the gang and the eagerness, I grew to become overwhelmed, and I began shivering. I used to be strolling like a fawn, simply overwhelmed by the depth of the gang. I believed, ‘This has turn into such a giant deal,’ and I wished to cry.”
The highway to this second was lengthy and arduous however one thing Nomura had dreamt of for years. Working as a staff of 1, Nomura had spent a part of the 2000s imagining what a contemporary remake of Remaining Fantasy VII may appear like. Sadly, not a lot progress was made since the remainder of the staff members have been tied up with different tasks.
Round that point, followers began clamoring for a modernized remake of Remaining Fantasy VII, and the builders started listening to about it from media members. Yoshinori Kitase, who has labored at Sq. Enix since 1990, serving as director on beloved video games like Remaining Fantasy VI, Chrono Set off, the unique Remaining Fantasy VII, and Remaining Fantasy X, was inundated with questions throughout a collection of 2009 interviews.
“We have been on the U.S. media tour for Remaining Fantasy XIII, and we took on a bunch of interviews, and we obtained a ton of questions from reporters asking, ‘When are we going to make a Remaining Fantasy VII remake?’” Kitase remembers. “Simply listening to that so many occasions, I did assume that we’d do it at some point, that’s for sure.”
Kitase returned to Tokyo and approached Nomura about making it a actuality. As two of the creators of the unique Remaining Fantasy VII, they seen the writing on the wall; fan and media demand was at a fever pitch, and Sq. Enix was starting to embrace the concept of contemporary remakes for traditional video games greater than ever earlier than. They knew they needed to act.
“Inside Sq. Enix, step by step, remakes have been being made, and these concepts for remakes have been arising in different departments,” Nomura says. “If we weren’t going to do Remaining Fantasy VII, others have been going to do it, so we needed to stand up and do it! We had the sense that we needed to guard Remaining Fantasy VII and need to be those taking this on or another person goes to do it. I believed it could be a bit troublesome if different groups with out us took on the venture.”
Nomura and Kitase are a pair of legends throughout the Remaining Fantasy and Sq. Enix fandom, however they wanted assist to make it a actuality. To create the staff, the duo tapped into Sq. Enix Artistic Enterprise Unit I, the group traditionally liable for most of the most beloved Remaining Fantasy titles. Kazushige Nojima, who joined Sq. Enix in 1994, engaged on video games like Remaining Fantasy VII, VIII, and X, in addition to the Kingdom Hearts collection, and Motomu Toriyama, who joined Sq. Enix in 1995 and labored on the unique Remaining Fantasy VII along with Remaining Fantasy X, XIII, and extra, signed on to co-write the remake.
“I had all the time hoped to be part of the title if and when a remake was to be made,” Toriyama says. “I used to be very blissful when listening to the information [that we were making one].”
However the improvement staff behind this venture couldn’t simply be members of the unique dev staff; most had left the corporate or have been engaged on different tasks. “I might say the vast majority of the dev workers and manufacturing members are those that have been gamers of the unique, not creators,” Toriyama says.
Two of these builders who began as followers of the Remaining Fantasy collection earlier than becoming a member of Sq. Enix are Naoki Hamaguchi and Teruki Endo. Hamaguchi joined Sq. Enix in 2003, engaged on titles like Remaining Fantasy XII and the XIII trilogy. After serving as venture supervisor on the cell title Mobius Remaining Fantasy, he joined the Remake staff as a co-director. Endo obtained his begin within the late 2000s at Capcom, working totally on the Monster Hunter collection, however when he heard a few remake for Remaining Fantasy VII, as a fan of the unique, he couldn’t resist becoming a member of the staff as battle director.
“I used to be working for one more gaming firm once I heard they have been on the lookout for members to be concerned on the battle aspect of making this sport and felt like this was a fantastic alternative through which I may make the most of the abilities that I had gained to this point working within the trade,” Endo remembers.
With the core staff assembled, Remaining Fantasy VII Remake was underway.
Making of Remake
Remaking a Basic
When a sport is as beloved as Remaining Fantasy VII, modernizing it with out alienating followers of the unique is usually a difficult proposition; for those who maintain issues too near the unique, then you definately don’t sustain with the most recent traits, squandering the chance to create one thing distinct. Conversely, for those who push issues too distant from the supply materials, you threat alienating those that made Remaining Fantasy VII so well-known within the first place.
In accordance with Toriyama, the members of the staff who skilled VII as followers, like Hamaguchi and Endo, are extra protecting of the supply materials than those that labored on the unique title. Kitase fearful these youthful workers members could be too loyal to the unique title, however his issues eased as soon as the staff began working. “This concern was all for naught as a result of this was clearly not true,” Kitase says. “We have been in a position to work collectively very effectively and notice all of our visions and a sport that may be accepted and loved by modern customers, in order that was great.”
The staff labored collectively to steadiness the outdated with the brand new, to create one thing that definitively retells the story of Remaining Fantasy VII with trendy conventions whereas not going too far in both course. “For me, it actually comes right down to contemplating what it was that the gamers loved and beloved within the unique title,” Endo says. “In fact, we anticipate a variance in every participant’s depth and span of what they get pleasure from and the issues that they love, however on the finish of the day, I do need to belief my very own instincts and ideas on what I beloved and loved taking part in the sport.”
For Endo’s half – the battle system – he opted to mix motion with the extra conventional Lively Time Battle (ATB) mechanics from the unique sport, through which characters can act as soon as a meter fills. The consequence appeals to each new and longtime gamers. “Seeing that the Remaining Fantasy collection has a robust give attention to its characters, I imagine the motion enhances this and lets the gamers be additional immersed into the characters as they play,” Endo says. “Together with the strategic battles that I imagine are key to Remaining Fantasy VII, I wished to see how finest I may combine these two components of the command and strategy-based battle with the motion that enables for that on the spot immersion.”
Although Endo wished to introduce motion, his need to steadiness it with the standard ATB components struck a chord with Nomura. “I do have this concept of how Remaining Fantasy battles ought to be and may really feel,” Nomura says. “We need to nonetheless maintain this technique component, through which the participant will take into account the fundamental weaknesses of enemies throughout battle whereas utilizing these motion strikes and being engaged, intact. That was all the time my core perception in how we should always method Remaining Fantasy battles. […] I believed this was really important to this sport; I didn’t need it to be a sport the place it’s a reflex-type motion or reflex-based battle; we wished to mix all of those components.”
The battle system of Remaining Fantasy VII Remake garnered acclaim, nevertheless it’s not the one piece of the title that modified. The visible leap ahead is straight away recognizable, and the story acquired quite a few upgrades. As a substitute of retelling the complete Remaining Fantasy VII arc in a single sport, Sq. Enix opted to launch the remake within the type of three video games. The primary title, Remaining Fantasy VII Remake, retold the get together’s preliminary push by way of Midgar – a bit of the unique that takes about 6 hours to finish – throughout a 30 to 40-hour title.
This choice got here from Nomura, who recognized early on that absolutely capturing the occasions of Remaining Fantasy VII in a contemporary approach and with sufficient depth to do the story justice wouldn’t be potential in its unique one-game kind, to not point out the drastically totally different format the sport takes following the get together’s emergence from Midgar. “To recreate the world of Remaining Fantasy VII because it was within the unique immediately in its full quantity, the one approach for us to understand this was to divide the titles or else it merely was not potential,” Nomura says. “We needed to divide it, or we will’t do it proper.”
Remaining Fantasy VII Remake’s prolonged keep in Midgar absolutely fleshed out characters beforehand relegated to minor roles like Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie and additional developed the personalities and relationships of the principle characters like Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Aerith. “When the remake venture was first determined, at that time, we had already felt that if we’re going to tackle this collection, it’s crucial that we depict the characters a lot deeper,” Nomura says.
Remaining Fantasy VII Remake was launched on PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020, incomes an 87 out of 100 on critiques aggregator Metacritic, together with an 8.75 out of 10 from Recreation Informer. And now, with the standard bar set excessive and fan expectations even greater, that very same staff units out to push the well-known story ahead as Cloud and his pals step exterior of Midgar and enterprise into a large world stuffed with journey and intrigue within the second act of the Remake collection, Remaining Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Rebirth’s Modifications
Breaking Out
Following the occasions of Remaining Fantasy VII Remake, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, and Purple XIII have escaped from the restrictive confines of Midgar. This precisely displays the development of the story and format within the unique Remaining Fantasy VII, because the get together emerges from Midgar’s shut quarters and linearity and into an open and explorable world map.
The longtime Remaining Fantasy builders have had this in thoughts ever since Remaining Fantasy X modified how adventures on the earth progress. “We began off expressing this world that you would be able to enterprise by way of with a world map; that was the way it was beginning with Remaining Fantasy I,” Kitase, who serves as producer on Rebirth, says. “However beginning with Remaining Fantasy X, after we entered into this real-time 3D world, that is when the world map improvement ceased or halted to a point. With X, it was the fashion the place a participant selected a degree or an space they wish to go to and traveled there. In that sense, the sensation was that, because it’s real-time 3D, it’s not fairly potential to create this full world map anymore.”
Whereas Remaining Fantasy XV did transfer nearer to the unique world map imaginative and prescient when it was launched in 2016, Kitase assumed that Hamaguchi, serving as co-director on Rebirth, would need to proceed with that conference of different latest Remaining Fantasy titles. Nevertheless, they each felt it could be a disservice to the unique to not embrace an interconnected world map for gamers to discover, significantly as soon as the journey opens up a lot within the portion depicted in Rebirth.
The staff members, together with inventive director Nomura, have been blissful to listen to the world map was again, permitting gamers to freely discover the huge, open wilds within the unique sport. “Ever for the reason that world map disappeared, I actually had this bizarre feeling, and I all the time thought it was unusual with no world map,” Nomura says. “I believed that you would be able to’t actually have an RPG with no world map, and particularly for Remaining Fantasy VII, to completely expertise this world, we will need to have a world map; we will’t be with out it.”
The ensuing journey in Remaining Fantasy VII Rebirth is a vastly totally different expertise that options huge, explorable areas and pushes gamers towards aspect content material. “Seeing that Remake is ready on the earth of Midgar, through which the participant can discover inside that space, we leaned closely on story components and have been targeted on a extra narrative-driven sport for Remake,” Hamaguchi says. “Now that we’re getting into into the skin world and going ahead in that course, I’ve this need to depict extra of that feeling of exploration, and I very a lot really feel that this was in a position to be completed for Rebirth.”
The openness of exploration is refreshing after the customarily corridor-like construction of Remake. In accordance with Hamaguchi, gamers ought to look forward to finding a ton of aspect content material. In reality, he estimates that roughly 80 p.c of the sport’s exploration-based content material is aspect content material, whereas the mainline story makes up the remaining 20 p.c. If that makes you are worried that Rebirth lacks story content material, Hamaguchi says you possibly can loosen up; even merely specializing in the principle storyline, he estimates it would give gamers round 40 hours of gameplay. In the meantime, for those who deal with a good quantity of the aspect content material, gamers can anticipate to spend round 60 hours in Rebirth, whereas probably the most devoted sidequesters can look ahead to upwards of 100 hours of content material.
But it surely’s not content material bloat to inflate these playtime hours. After I ask Hamaguchi for his favourite RPG exterior of the Remaining Fantasy collection, with out hesitation, he names The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Purple’s 2015 masterpiece that many take into account one of many biggest video games of all time. That title is thought for its significant aspect content material, which is so robust that its storylines typically even match these of the principle story.
“Concerning titles like The Witcher 3, which has that open-world role-playing kind component, we did some intensive analysis into most of these titles and checked out it as a baseline through which Rebirth ought to be a sort of title that may stand alongside it and have the kind of content material that may be satisfying to its gamers,” Toriyama says.
Those that performed Remaining Fantasy VII Remake will acknowledge one of many outstanding sidequest givers: Chadley. The younger researcher as soon as once more desires your assist studying about Materia, and he’ll reward you with further summons. As you progress by way of the world, he asks you to look into sure happenings by way of occasions known as World Intel. Throughout my hands-on session, Chadley requested me to seek out and defeat sure enemy varieties as I journey by way of the sprawling open panorama. With every drawn-out battle, I obtain aspect goals to finish that can assist additional Chadley’s analysis.
The rewards sound price it, however from every part I hear from the builders, the story will be the driving drive behind pushing gamers to sidequests. To make aspect content material extra significant, Sq. Enix expanded the affinity system. This under-the-hood mechanic takes your actions in the direction of a personality and interprets them into how sure scenes play out. Remaining Fantasy VII Rebirth’s aspect content material is a vital driver for this mechanic. All sides quest brings in a secondary protagonist from the get together. Finishing a aspect quest improves Cloud’s affinity with the given character.
I witnessed this firsthand in an unique hands-off demo as Cloud and his get together journey to the Crowʼs Nest, a city that wasn’t within the unique sport. This sister city to Beneath Junon options simply as many anti-Shinra residents, so as soon as they discover out Cloud and his pals are in Avalanche, they welcome them with open arms. In my demo, because the get together returns to the city, the Crowʼs Nest’s residents greet them with cheers. It’s because the staff simply accomplished a aspect mission the place they retrieved an merchandise for one more resident. After taking a stroll across the space, Cloud talks to an individual who informs him of a mercenary working out of a close-by lighthouse. In fact, Cloud decides to research.
Exploration
On the Highway Once more
Within the unique Remaining Fantasy VII, the mountains round Junon forestall you from passing, however Cloud is way nimbler in Rebirth and may climb up and down ledges to achieve the specified areas. As well as, gamers also can name Chocobos to experience and ease traversal. As you journey by way of the varied areas, you encounter totally different Chocobo varieties, every with distinct skills. One class can fly, whereas one other can use jet propulsion to hover over water. The Chocobos on this space are referred to as Mountain Chocobos and may scale particular partitions to achieve excessive ledges or descend quickly.
On the way in which to the merc, I get a way of the battle kinds of the 2 new get together members. Purple XIII is agile and fast and makes use of the guard mechanic to fill a meter for his new Vengeance Mode, which will increase his velocity and assault energy. In the meantime, Cait Sith brings probably the most distinctive fight fashion but to the Remake collection, together with strikes that play off the luck mechanic from the unique sport. Cait Sith can combat individually or summon a Moogle to experience round on. When on the Moogle, Cait Sith has a completely separate moveset than when he’s solo, comparable to a Moogle Mine assault, the place bombs unfold throughout the battlefield. He also can dismount and use his solo strikes, whereas Moogle will proceed attacking as managed by A.I. Moogle has a separate HP meter, and if he takes an excessive amount of injury, he’ll vanish till Cait Sith summons him once more.
After reaching the lighthouse, gamers meet Kyrie, a personality initially showing within the Remaining Fantasy VII novel The Children Are Alright: A Turks Aspect Story, however who has since appeared in Remake. In Rebirth, she’s attempting to get her new mercenary enterprise off the bottom, however she isn’t probably the most well-equipped for the job, so she pops up around the globe, and it’s as much as you to help her.
After questioning why no clients have come to acquire her companies, the get together realizes that the theme track she’s been taking part in attracts enemies, which has scared off any potential shoppers. On this case, it’s a collection of Flans adopted by extra highly effective White Mousses. Hamaguchi, who’s taking part in the demo for me, takes the chance to name Titan, one in every of Rebirth’s summons. The hulking creature joins the get together in battle, tearing by way of the White Mousses and serving to full the mission.
Purple XIII is the secondary protagonist for this mission, and due to his animal-like look, Kyrie desires to make him her pet. Clearly, he shoots her down, and as she runs off to her subsequent submit, Purple XIII seems to be at Cloud and remarks, “I wouldn’t want her on my worst enemy.”
Cloud and Purple XIII’s affinity will increase for finishing this mission, probably affecting story beats and aspect content material. “We wished to provide gamers the liberty of selection in deciding whether or not they wished to dedicate themselves solely to the principle storyline and, like, no aspect quests in any respect,” Hamaguchi says. “Or there may be individuals who need to delve into the aspect content material and go actually in-depth into the character relationships and perceive the story deeper, or simply the steadiness of these two. We wished to provide that freedom.”
One other approach you possibly can enhance affinity is through the use of a Synergy Means between two characters for the primary time. These two-character assaults use a Synergy Gauge that costs whenever you use ATB for a personality. Every potential character pairing has a Synergy Means with a customized animation and impact. For instance, pairing Cloud and Cait Sith ends in one of many zaniest assaults the place the Moogle grabs Cloud’s Buster Sword whereas Cloud rides on its again. I beloved seeing what every mixture resulted in and these further strikes add additional layers of nuance to an already-stellar system. However most significantly, the notion of Synergy Talents performs right into a central theme of Rebirth, which is the deepening of the relationships between the get together members.
Sephiroth
The One-Winged Angel Returns
But it surely’s not simply the get together members whose backstories and relationships are explored additional. Sephiroth, the principle antagonist, additionally has a extra important function this time. “Remake covers your encounter with Sephiroth, and now inside Rebirth, we wished to make Sephiroth into this very clear antagonist and goal for the characters to go and pursue all through their journey in Rebirth,” Kitase says. “Inside the unique sport, Sephiroth just isn’t seen very a lot throughout the world map, however on this title, we put this component ahead.”
Throughout a hands-on sequence, I performed by way of an prolonged model of the flashback, which options Cloud and Sephiroth teaming as much as discover Mt. Nibel and discover the mako reactor. At this level within the story, Sephiroth remains to be a heroic determine, and Cloud is a naïve and inexperienced Soldier, so the 2 are teaming as much as full this mission. In the meantime, a younger Tifa serves as a information however not a celebration member. Sephiroth is a strong drive, slashing by way of enemies and dealing large injury with the Masamune. He’s not fairly as overpowered as he was within the unique sport’s corresponding flashback, however he’s a blast to play. Although Sephiroth’s solely playable in a tiny a part of the sport, they invested in growing his gameplay, even giving him a Synergy Means with Cloud.
“When growing Sephiroth as a personality who gamers are in a position to management in a restricted space, we’re nonetheless contemplating that you simply’re in a position to play as this very iconic character,” Endo says. “Taking this into thoughts, I actually took care into offering the kind of assets and value as equal to these of different playable characters into growing Sephiroth in a battle sense.”
The staff had to make use of warning when approaching its dealing with of Sephiroth. In any case, he’s one in every of gaming’s most iconic and influential antagonists, so naturally, followers can be sensitive about any substantial modifications. “We felt it was essential to have this very clear depiction of how he got here to be the person who he’s now in Rebirth,” Hamaguchi says. “At the same time as a developer creating this sport, seeing Sephiroth uncover the reality and fall additional and additional into darkness – like falling from grace – and depicting this in his expressions and actions, I may really really feel dangerous for him. All through the course of Rebirth, I imagine gamers won’t solely develop to narrate to and perceive Cloud, but additionally Sephiroth by way of this sport rather more.”
Seeing Sephiroth’s rise to prominence as a extra highly effective adversary to Cloud and the remainder of the get together will probably result in a extra impactful depiction of the occasions the place Rebirth’s story involves a detailed: the occasions on the Forgotten Capital.
The Iconic Scene
Reborn Solely to Die?
Remaining Fantasy VII Rebirth might function aspect content material and minigames galore, however the principle story will undoubtedly go away its mark. Since Rebirth brings the story as much as the purpose the place the get together reaches the Forgotten Capital, gamers might want to reckon with Aerith’s story arc after taking part in a sport constructed round deepening the connections between the get together members. After I requested the event staff about this scene, the beforehand jovial temper dropped right into a somber state. Whereas the staff is tight-lipped about how the occasions will play out, it insists it has achieved one thing that can shock even the gamers who’ve performed by way of the scene in query a number of occasions.
“Starting with the unique Remaining Fantasy VII, after we had began engaged on it, it was already determined from the get-go that ‘life’ could be the central theme surrounding Remaining Fantasy VII,” Nomura says. “I knew that we needed to depict life and demise inside this title. Previous to Remaining Fantasy VII, there have been different titles the place characters have skilled tragedy, however lots of them have come again or been revived indirectly. However I imagine that loss is one thing that occurs unexpectedly, and it’s not one thing so dramatic or drawn out, however is one thing through which an individual that you’ve simply conversed with is out of the blue gone and by no means to return again. I imagine that the one who dies shouldn’t return on this title, and that’s what we did with the unique.”
These accustomed to the scene know all too effectively the emotional affect the occasions may have with deepened relationships and a lot better technological capabilities to specific the total scope of the occasions. The way in which the builders tease the way it performs out, I can’t assist however be curious and speculate about the way it would possibly differ from the unique. In any case, the Whispers that helped management the destiny of Remake are gone; perhaps issues can play out otherwise this time. Or maybe I’m simply setting myself as much as be damage once more.
Very like the characters within the Remaining Fantasy VII Remake collection, who’re not ruled by predetermined destiny, the builders speak as if the probabilities in Remaining Fantasy VII Rebirth are infinite. And after what Sq. Enix completed by way of Remaining Fantasy VII Remake and the way the staff explains its method to Remaining Fantasy VII Rebirth, I’m inclined to imagine them.
This text initially appeared in Situation 362 of Recreation Informer