Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (29th February 2024)

[Julius]

Let's freakin' mosey! 

This does look like the Promised Land 

Seems to be a similar deal to the first game in that it will be a PS5 exclusive at launch. No details beyond that, though I imagine it'll be a similar deal to what we've seen with Remake, coming to PC after some time has passed. We'll wait and see about elsewhere I guess?

In addition, the Remake project has also now been confirmed by Kitase to be a trilogy. 

Edited September 14, 2023 by Julius

[drahkon]

Can't wait.  

Hope the first part's DLC will be on sale again until then. Still have to play it  

[Julius]

Holy crap 

We're touches all the wood getting this and XVI within six months of each other

[Julius]

There are some more details sneaked into the updates given on the Final Fantasy VII Remake Twitter, namely that there are already some working on the game following rebirth (i.e. the untitled game to end the trilogy):

Honestly, the turnaround on this game - whether it makes next Winter or not, but let's hope it does - is going to be insane. Kitase mentions change in structure being key to this, but still, even targeting Winter 2023 would mean we potentially see a sequel to Remake in just 3.5 years (I imagine they already had some working on it to some extent beforehand, mind), which considering the impact COVID has evidently had on everyone in the gaming industry, delaying many projects by 12 months or more, is crazy. I imagine having the game be based on another game certainly helps, but still, it'll be one heck of a feat if they get this out door by the end of next year or by the middle of 2024 in my eyes. 

The Remake project pipeline and everything they've got going on around it is insane, too. I mean, we got VII Remake in 2020, Intergrade/Episode Intermission last year, Crisis Core remaster this year, potentially Rebirth next year. We could get an Intergrade sort of deal in 2024, another remaster (Dirge of Cerberus maybe?) in 2025, and possibly Ever Crisis done and dusted and ported to consoles (please!) before the final game in 2026 or 2027?

Oh lord, that'd be 7 years of Final Fantasy VII, wouldn't it? 

Also...the last game is totally going to be called Reunion, right? 

28 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Hope the first part's DLC will be on sale again until then. Still have to play it  

Same, think I'll be saving it for next summer to be fresh on it going into Rebirth  I might need to replay OG VII again too I think! 

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

Also...the last game is totally going to be called Reunion, right? 

Nope, Crisis Core Remake took that already.

This is totally getting at least one delay. Calling it now.

[Julius]

18 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Nope, Crisis Core Remake took that already.

Yeah, I know. It's probably a good enough reason to not go with it. 

Thing is, if it were titled in a normal way (i.e. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - Reunion), I think Final Fantasy VII Reunion would be completely fine. It's just the fact that it's Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion (I seriously can't believe they kept the titling scheme the same ) that means searching for "Final Fantasy VII Reunion" is going to have a whole lot of crossover (you know...in case it didn't already) that potential muddies the water a bit for branding. I mean it is Square Enix, so goodness knows. 

Be a shame though, Reunion would be a perfect title in the context of the story. 

Remade, Reunite, Revenge, Rewind, Retold, Return, Requiem, Retread, Re:Mix 1.5 + 2.5 + 3, Re:Minder That This Is FF Not KH, Re-Remake, Re:Verse, Revengeance...so many possible titles to go with if they stick with the trend of these first two games in the trilogy.

Or they don't and they just call it something boring like Finale instead 

18 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

This is totally getting at least one delay. Calling it now.

Spoiler

It's not that I disagree, it's that we don't need these negative vibes just 2 hours after the announcement 

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Julius

[Dcubed]

So the plot revolves around rewriting history and preventing Aerith’s death, as we all expected.

Can’t help but feel that this is in somewhat poor taste.  Feels kind of offensive to the original game and its most iconic moment… though I suppose the entire thematic threadline of this new FF7 series is to throw a middle finger to existing canon, so it makes sense that they’d go this route.

Quote

Be a shame though, Reunion would be a perfect title in the context of the story

The third & final episode will probably be called Final Fantasy 7: Reunion.  It’ll also probably involve the original game and Remake timelines converging in some way, which is where the title will get its double meaning from.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Dcubed

[Sheikah]

So the plot revolves around rewriting history and preventing Aerith’s death, as we all expected.

Can’t help but feel that this is in somewhat poor taste.  Feels kind of offensive to the original game and its most iconic moment… though I suppose the entire thematic threadline of this new FF7 series is to throw a middle finger to existing canon, so it makes sense that they’d go this route.

Absolutely, it was a really silly decision to change Aeris's fate, in my opinion, as well as complicating the story and rewriting it. People love FFVII's story so why change it? Her death was a very significant moment and greatly affected Cloud's personality and the rest of the story.

The rewriting and complexity has Nomura all over it. You only need to look at the story of Kingdom Hearts to know the man shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the remake, or any game for that matter.

[Julius]

10 hours ago, Dcubed said:

So the plot revolves around rewriting history and preventing Aerith’s death, as we all expected.

Can’t help but feel that this is in somewhat poor taste.  Feels kind of offensive to the original game and its most iconic moment… though I suppose the entire thematic threadline of this new FF7 series is to throw a middle finger to existing canon, so it makes sense that they’d go this route.

I mean, we've known that since Remake released 

It's a tricky one for me, and I don't have the nostalgia some have for VII seeing as I only played it for the first time 5 years ago (it's already been that long?!), but a remake of something of the scale of the original Final Fantasy VII just isn't feasible in one game with today's audience expectations for AAA titles, so splitting the title up makes sense. Once you do that it's still a case of paring the game back compared to the original for a modern day effort, and I think you end up with 4-5 titles off the back of that if being faithful was the route they went, meaning the remake naturally needs to make the experience more linear anyways for story structure and flow, but also just for the scale to be suitable. That means needing to build out characters more, adding more to do, and so on, so very quickly the game just can't be a traditional remake. 

I think another aspect to think about too is that the original VII kind of saves going off the rails for its final third (where, personally, I think it becomes a bit weaker than the preceding two thirds of the game, but that's besides the point) whereas everything else I've seen in terms of Compilation stuff - I've watched Advent Children, seen quite a few cutscene and gameplay snippets of Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus - and I think it's that final third of the original game going off the rails which set the tone going forwards. That Remake ended up falling in line with that isn't all that surprising to me? It's ending absolutely caught me off guard a bit, and I wasn't a fan immediately at the time, but it grew on me as I took more time to think about it. 

If there's any problem I have with the Remake project, it's that Ever Crisis didn't release before Remake. I played original VII prior to release and I was caught out by the sudden mania towards the end of the game, which was certainly hinted at, but they went nuts with it and that's what caught me out; how many went into Remake completely unaware that it wasn't just a more fleshed out remake? 

Anyways, I think the move they made was bold, which deserves credit, and at least they clearly have a plan for it. In an age of crossovers and multiverses, heavy nostalgia plays, especially with a fanbase as devout as Final Fantasy's and VII's specifically, I don't think it's all that surprising that VII's Remake project looks to be the first in the gaming space to really attempt something of that scale and with the history and characters to try it. Going in a different direction to the original means that while they can revisit similar beats, they're not beholden to them, and with that expectation set now, they have more flexibility to tell their story and can capitalise on new ideas too. 

3 hours ago, Sheikah said:

People love FFVII's story so why change it?

I think some will make an argument that the original game will always be there, but I'd argue that this simply isn't a faithful retelling of VII's story. They've changed enough to where we don't know exactly what's going to happen, the original is now more of a reference for structure and the main beats (or has been so far) and they are now basically doing a post-mortem and subversion on their own work from 25 years ago. I think that in and of itself is pretty fascinating (though fascination =/= actually pulling that off successfully). 

3 hours ago, Sheikah said:

The rewriting and complexity has Nomura all over it. You only need to look at the story of Kingdom Hearts to know the man shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the remake, or any game for that matter.

Kazushige Nojima is cited as the lead writer for Remake, mainly because he's frequently credited first and is the one seen writing supplementary material for Remake outside of the game.

Don't forget that Nomura didn't know that he was directing the game until the announcement trailer was shown internally, and there are four writers and two other directors alongside him, as well as Kitase to report to, so I don't think one person can be held accountable; if anything, I think it just goes back to wanting (and having) to try new things with current technical limitations meaning a true remake of the original game with AAA production values isn't feasible.

No doubt he had some level of signoff as one of the directors and would have been heavily involved in figuring this thing out, and I do think he set the tone for what the project ended up being with his previous work on Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children, but heading in that direction and having that tone wasn't strictly his decision. 

EDIT: to add and just to make it clear, I don't think Remake is flawless, and I don't want to seem like I'm blindly defending it; I enjoyed it a lot, but if you didn't, I can understand the frustration. This post is more me trying to say that I can see why they went the direction they went in, not that that's necessarily the right or best direction to have gone in. 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Julius

[Mandalore]

I enjoyed remake a lot and I've got no nostalgia for the original. The combat and soundtrack were great, they more than made up for a few flaws. I didn't have a clue what was going on half the time, so I guess the story part wasn't that important to me.

Looking forward to Rebirth and Crisis Core.

[Happenstance]

I loved the original and I loved remake. Thought they did an amazing job remaking a beloved game while not just rehashing everything all over again. That original story is still there but this gives a new direction so we don't just know what's going to happen. It was my favourite game of that year and I loved watching the mystery unfold as I was playing and noticing more and more differences.

[Mandalore]

There were parts where I was thinking I wish I had played the original back in 1997. Stuff like the Intro, certain character cut scenes and the Shinra Building must've been pretty special.

[Dcubed]

27 minutes ago, Mandalore said:

There were parts where I was thinking I wish I had played the original back in 1997. Stuff like the Intro, certain character cut scenes and the Shinra Building must've been pretty special.

I think the original FF7 is still really impressive to this day.  I first played through it proper in the mid 2000s and was blown away even then!

The way that the game seamlessly mixes & transitions between the FMV and the static pre-rendered backgrounds always was, and still is, enormously impressive and well done!

Edited June 17, 2022 by Dcubed

[Julius]

Kitase has said that development is going smoothly and that they're working on nailing down a release date:

Think the proof will be in the pudding – if we haven't seen it crop back up by the end of September, I'll start being sceptical about it making its "winter" slot (again...whatever the heck that even means), but by all means it sounds like it's on track! 

[Julius]

Early 2024, let's mosey!!!

Hype lives! & it does so on TWO discs!!! 

Edited June 8, 2023 by Julius

[Dcubed]

Disc 2? No, 2 discs!

[Glen-i]

6 hours ago, Julius said:

Hype lives! & it does so on TWO discs!!! 

Looks like more FF7 Remake, and that's fine by me.

I was pleasantly surprised by the first game. My only real complaints were the hilarious amount of detours Cloud had to make (Stretching the 10 hour Midgar section over an entire game will do that), and Red XIII not being playable, which was an utter travesty.

I just hope the overworld traversal is not open world, please take cues from Xenoblade, because that strikes the perfect balance in my eyes.

Do that, and it'll no doubt be a hit with me.

Spoiler

No more Dementor rip-offs keeping this game from going off the rails with the retcons now. FF7 die hard fans are dead, and I'm looking forward to seeing what crazy stuff goes down.

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Glen-i

[Julius]

February 29th 2024!!!

This, Granblue Fantasy Relink and Persona 3 Reload all in Feb guys...

WHYYYYYYYYYYY

Edited September 14, 2023 by Julius

[Julius]

The Collector's Edition looks nuts

Quick, someone hide my wallet! 

[Dcubed]

 

PC version ~3 months later?

Nice

Edited September 14, 2023 by Dcubed

[Julius]

A wonderful piece of promo art:

 

16 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

 

PC version ~3 months later?

Nice

Oh, nice catch, yeah that's great news! 

[Julius]

Some words from Kitase and the team (oh, and the game's director, Hamaguchi, is saying the game could take as long as 100 hours):

Yeah, I think I'm just going to spend 100 hours in the Gold Saucer alone 

 

Also, the game's PS Blog entry confirms a lot more details on the game - well worth a read - including confirmation that Sephiroth WILL be playable in the same section he was playable in the original game, and also confirms where the game ends (it's exactly where you'd probably expect the second entry of a trilogy retelling the events of VII to end). 

Edited September 14, 2023 by Julius

[Glen-i]

4 hours ago, Dcubed said:

 

PC version ~3 months later?

Nice

Very pleased with this. Remake was surprisingly good, so I'm up for more blatant retconning shenanigans!

[Julius]

So this is kind of insane: both the standard and deluxe digital versions of the game are the aforementioned twin packages, which bundles in 2020's Final Fantasy VII Remake at no additional cost (for pre-orders up to release):

That genuinely might be one of the smartest moves S-E has made in the last decade, and what a freaking steal! 

(and yes the version of Remake is Intergrade)

Also, forgot to mention this after the first time watching the trailer...Vincent is 100% Matt Mercer, right? Nuts that he gets to be Ganondorf and a party member in VII's Remake project within the space of a year if so, good for him! 

[drahkon]

That trailer was everything.

Cannot. Freaking. Wait.

8 hours ago, Julius said:

Also, the game's PS Blog entry confirms a lot more details on the game - well worth a read

That made me even more excited. Day one for sure!