If there’s anything that gets a fanbase riled up, it’s a Square Enix gameplay reveal. While it constantly feels like there’s another Final Fantasy game releasing, with FF16 right around the corner andFF7 Rebirthonly a scant few months later, it’s still a time for celebration.
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With the latest Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trailer now out in the wild, it’s fair to say people are heavily scrutinising every little detail of the trailer. The original game was already happy to play around with your expectations of the story, and this new trailer already has plenty of hints within it that you might have missed.
7Another Alternate Timeline
Right from the opening of the trailer, we’re hit with whole sectors of Midgar in ruins, and many of our beloved heroes being dragged away unconscious in helicopters. Wait a second, that’s not how the last game ended! In fact, not even the original game featured such a segment.
Is this giving rise to the idea of another timeline splitting off from the original? There is no sign of Cloud present, so it could very well be that this isthe same timeline we see at the end of FF7 Remakethat features Zack surviving alongside Cloud. This would explain why he isn’t present, and for the dramatically altered events.
6The Return Of Chocobo Breeding
One of a duo of mascots for the Final Fantasy series, you’d be hard-pressed to find a game in the series without Chocobos. The original Final Fantasy 7 had an obsession with the feathered creatures, letting you breed them, to create the perfect Chocobo of your dreams.
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The trailer itself has plenty of Chocobos, seemingly able to be called on command. What might have missed your eyes was Cloud walking right into the Chocobo farm, massively expanded. Could this be an indication that we may see Chocobo breeding return in all it’s in-depth, convoluted glory? We hope so.
5Open World
‘Open world’ is an interesting term to attach to Final Fantasy games. Many people would classFinal Fantasy 15as the first open-world entry in the series, yet many of the PS1 and earlier entries had a massive overworld you could explore at your own pace. Even the original FF7 featured one.
Well, it seems Square Enix has decided to combine the pair. While not exactly confirmed, their own description of exploring an expanisive world mixed with the open field and expanded compass shown in the trailer seem to indicate a fully open world for the second entry in the remake project.
4Group Attacks
Party tactics have always been at the core of Final Fantasy. Party composition was everything, determining your strengths and weaknesses. The original FF7 had its own ways of showing this, with unique Limit Breaks giving each character defined abilities as well as choosing their position in battle.
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While the combat and how you swapped between characters was one of the most beloved aspects of the original Remake, it seems Rebirth is going even further. Party members can synergise even further now, able to activate shared group attacks tha unleash devastating damage.
3Expanded Mythril Mine
In the original Final Fantasy 7, the party first heads to Kalm after escaping Midgar. Here, they bring everyone up to speed on their knowledge, primarily of Sephiroth and Nibelheim. Afterwards, they head out to the Mythril Mines to track him down, only to be halted by various beasts and even the Turks.
In Rebirth, some of these seems to have been changed around and even expanded. For one, the Turks engage in battle with the party after introducing Elena. Elsewhere, we see that Red XIII and Barret have been seperated from the party and are engaging in some battles of their own. The Mythril Caves are an important first step into greater Gaia, so it’ll be interesting to see what liberties they take here.
2Sephiroth’s Misdirections
Sephiroth has gotten a certain reputation over the decades following his original debut back in 1997. Many people depict him as obsessed with Cloud beyond reason, as if they are inextricably tied. EvenKingdom Heartsshows this rendition of Sephiroth and Cloud, even though in the original FF7 Cloud is nothing more than a fascinating anomaly to the One-Winged Angel.
Well, in the Remake, Sephiroth is obsessed with Cloud, though this time it seems to explicitly because he’s aware of his actions from the original FF7. It’s meta and a bit hard to wrap your head around, but it makes sense. Rebirth seems to be going deeper on this, twisting Cloud and Tifa’s mangled memories even further. We see Sephiroth slashing at Tifa in the trailer while discussing how he killed her. Yet he doesn’t mention her by name, so who exactly is “her”? Sephiroth knows much more of what is going on than anyone else, and he knows it.
1Two Discs
As the grand finale of Summer Game Fest, it’s fair that you might have missed a few details from the trailer that might seem obvious in hindsight. It was a major reveal, even if it was partly expected. Though Rebirth seems to be expanding on both the original game and its predecessor, it’s also taking a few perhaps unwelcome cues as well.
Right at the very end when the updated release date was revealed, there was also a slightly smaller “on 2 discs” you might have missed, just like the original. Now, there’s always a possibility that the game is simply massive and truly requires that much space. Cool if so! More likely, it’s going to be a major strain on your storage space for what could’ve been a more condensed package.
