Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is going to be a really divisive game. Final Fantasy VII already has a rabid fanbase and the Remake sorely divided that. Some just wanted Square Enix to remake the original and leave the new plot twists aside. Then there are those who want new stuff! Zack being potentially alive is still making me scratch my head.
Whatever the case…nothing groundbreaking (at least for the plot) made an appearance at the TGS Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo, which we got to try thanks to Bandai Namco and Square Enix!
There we were given two choices; attempt the Nibelheim mission with Cloud and Sephiroth or do the Junon mission. We did both of course.
In the Nibelheim mission, it’s pretty much as you’d remember it. Mining gear, lots of deep and dank caverns to traverse through…and Cloud misremembering things. Yup, in the remake Cloud still thinks it was him and Sephiroth that cleared out the caves, and not Zack.
Cloud and Sephiroth were the only playable characters in the demo…yep, Sephiroth is playable this time too. Most of the combat’s just as you remember from the first game…except now you can team up with your team members to execute Synergy moves.
We saw quite a few in action but the Cloud and Sephiroth ones stood out the most with their tandem combos and killer slashes. It was VERY cool in action.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s Mount Nibel didn’t really offer much in challenge. Just a few regular monsters and then a big boss near the end of the section. The boss wasn’t really a big challenge and Cloud and Sephiroth had no issue whittling down its health and then finally killing it off.
Then it was off to the Junon mission!
Junon in the game is hugely different from the original!
To reach it in the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo, Cloud and company (we had Aerith and Red XIII as our party member in this part) could ride chocobos! Entirely optional mind you but seeing a beast like Red XIII ride a chocobo was hilarious!
After a couple of minutes riding the chocobo, the party finally reached the lower part of Junon in the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo. You can see the huge Shinra cannon perched up top (glimpsed through openings in the rock wall) as the party navigated the docks.
This part really reminded me of Final Fantasy XIV, the Satasha Seagrott! The first ever dungeon in the game. The final boss even reminded me of the Sahagin that plagued the map. It dashed in and out of the water, shooting jet streams of water and even caused a whirlwind in the center of the arena that pulled in the characters.
The battle’s much tougher than the boss at Nibel and it was only with judicious use of Synergy moves and Limit Breaks (thank you Aerith for your Healing Wind) that we won.
The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo didn’t really divulge anything new, but we did learn that the game’s shaping up to be just as good as the Remake.
Now if only February 29 2024 is next week…
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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