Square Enixis building up to some bigFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthnews. The upcoming sequel is likely to be featured at one of the many events at Summer Game Fest this month, with the publisher having spent the past few days releasing facts on social media that answer certain questions and raise even more. The most recent question in particular is quite silly. Apparently it’s fine and dandy to play Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth without finishingRemake.
Obviously Square Enix is going to say it’s okay to play the second entry in a series of games that cost millions to make, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Chances are that it will include a compilation of cutscenes in a similar manner toGod of War RagnarokorStar Wars Jedi: Survivorthat handily breaks down everything that happened during the last game so newcomers can get caught up. This will suffice, but it’s hardly the ideal solution.
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Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a complicated game on its own terms without having to think on how its myriad changes and presumed knowledge are bound to influence the coming sequels. It is far more than a reimagining of the 1997 classic, seemingly aware of how all of its events unfold as it weaves them into this new interpretation. As a consequence, we have already seen characters like Sephiroth and Yuffie make several appearances despite having not even left Midgar. Right now, Cloud and the gang are walking down a highway in search of answers we won’t have until Rebirth arrives. Oh, and Zack Fair has come back to life.
Fresh-faced fans wouldn’t know what Zack’s deal is unless they also went out of their way to playFinal Fantasy 7: Crisis Core Reunionlast December, the events of which are more than likely tied into the new canon being established by Rebirth. He’s back to life thanks to a bunch of ghosts who spent much of Remake trying to reverse the fate inflicted upon our heroes in the original game, an ultimatum that Sephiroth also kinda sorta knows about. Probably. It’s a whole mess, and not preparing for Rebirth is a recipe for confusion.
For context - I’ve played the original Final Fantasy 7 multiple times, Remake twice, Crisis Core once, and watched Advent Children several times as a kid, because deep down I still think it’s the coolest film ever. I’m reasonably well-equipped to take on whatever Rebirth throws at me, and I still have zero way of predicting where exactly Square Enix intends to take things and how it will deviate from the existing canon. Let’s be real, it’s going to get very weird very quickly, and we’re all going to be a bit lost.
Rebirth apparently “makes preparations” so it’s possible to skip Remake altogether, and I so badly want to know if this will extend beyond the strategy of throwing a bunch of cutscenes at the player and wishing them luck. That won’t be enough, and Square Enix must be aware of the can of worms it’s opened with this sequel. While Remake takes place entirely within the realm of Midgar - which you leave before the end of the original game’s opening disc - it is fleshed out to an astonishing degree and spends dozens of hours building out a sense of place and developing characters. You assemble a party that reflects your style of play and
grow closer to your favourites while completing side quests and slowly ascending up to Shinra HQ.
In terms of actual happenings it’s rather slight, although it’s the smaller details that make Remake worthwhile, many of which those jumping straight into Rebirth will sorely miss. I also have to ask: how are you going to market a game like Rebirth when its entire existence is built on reliving the reimagined events of an RPG that first came out over twenty years ago? That’s one hell of a unique product even when you take into account our media landscape filled with sequels, reboots, and remakes. Unless you want to be more lost than intended, please have some respect for yourself and actually play Remake before getting into Rebirth. You have until the end of the year, or longer if it gets delayed, and I swear on my life it is well worth your time. It’s a damn sight better than a clumsy cutscene montage.
Whatever the answer, I don’t envy the marketing department staring down the barrel of this unwieldy challenge, and it’s only a matter of time until the sequel breaks cover and we learn exactly what it has planned. Maybe it isn’t the second part of the Remake after all and goes in a completely different direction. Maybe it isn’t even a Final Fantasy. Anything is possible.
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