Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Game Informer Dive Deep Part 1

Covering the Prelude, Remaking A Classic and the World Map.

FFVII: Rebirth GI Cover Art by Tetsuya Nomura

Game Informer sat down with the developers of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. A cornucopia of new information was unveiled. And the developers expressed their feelings about the development of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

We will be diving deep into this massive interview. Since there is a lot of information to go through, I will be dividing all in separate articles. And let’s get started.

The Prelude

Nomura conveyed his feelings during E3 2015 livestream. The ground was trembling beneath Nomura’s feet. Once the livestream revealed that infamous teaser of Cloud as he walking through the streets of Midgar with Barret. The scene was shown in HD confirming the long-awaited dreams of many fans. Final Fantasy VII was being remade at last.

The crowd lost their stuff in grand jubilation. The remake of the greatest game was in development. Nobody felt the weight of the remaking Final Fantasy VII more than Nomura. The FFVII Remake’s development was now public knowledge. But the ground no longer shaking; it was Nomura whole body.

Remaking a Classic

The Old and New

The team expressed that they had to walk a very fine line. First, they wanted to preserved the spirit of the original Final Fantasy VII. Interestingly, Hamaguchi and Endo were the ones who wanted to protect the original game. They both have first experience of the game as fans.

But having a remake being the same as theoriginal game was not going to cut either. According to Kitase, the developers were able to combine the old and new elements together. We already have proof with the first game of the Remake trilogy. So, I say that they have accomplished this mission splendidly.

Battle

As for the battle part, Endo wanted to combined the ATB system from the original game with action elements. Endo’s vision of the battle system struck a chord with Nomura. Nomura went to say that they wanted to keep the strategic elements of Final Fantasy. He didn’t want the game just to be a reflex type of action game nor a reflex based battle. So, they decided to combine both.

The World Map

Return of the World Map

Ever since Final Fantasy X, the development team wanted to make an explorable and open world map. Once Final Fantasy entered the real time 3D space, the development of such world maps has ceased to some degree as explained by Kitase.

Starting with X, world maps were reduced to a style where players were picked locations to travel. Having an open and explorable world map was not possible in real time 3D space. As creating a real time map in 3D were difficult to implement.

Even with Final Fantasy XV coming the closest to having a 3D world map, Kitase initially thought that Hamaguchi wanted to go with the world map style starting with X. But Hamaguchi shared a similar desire to Kitase on creating a 3D world map.

Both men felt that not having 3D map would be a disservice to the original game. In addition, Rebirth is starting at a point in the original where the party explores the open world. They wanted to preserve the spirit of adventure and exploration in the original game.

Nomura was pleased that the world map was returning. He expressed that he always had a strange feeling about the absence of a world map. He felt that you can’t have an RPG without a world map. More specifically, Final Fantasy VII is the one game that he felt could not exist without a world map.

Side Content

Hamaguchi explained that since the setting of Final Fantasy Remake was Midgar. The team decided to focus on the narrative of the game. Players could only explore Midgar which was large. However, Midgar is limited to compare to the outside.

Now that the party is outside of Midgar, Hamaguchi expressed his desire to create a feeling of exploration. And the developers will be moving forward with this feeling. The openness of the outside world will feel refreshing compared to Midgar.

Hamaguchi informs us that there will be a ton of side content. In fact, he estimates that 80 percent of that content will would explorable. For reassurance, he tells us that Rebirth will not be lacking in story elements. The remaining 20 percent of the game will be main story content.

If some players wanted to focus on the main narrative. It would take about 40 hours to complete the game. Completing a decent amount of the side content with the main story would take 60 hours. Finishing all of the side quests and main story will take players over 100 hours.

Inspiration from the Witcher 3

Witcher 3 is Hamaguchi’s favorite RPG outside of Final Fantasy. To ensure that the side content is not bloated, Hamaguchi took inspiration from Witcher 3’s meaningful side quests. The Witcher 3’s side quests were so strong that they matched the strength of the main story.

Toriyama, Hamaguchi and the rest used Witcher 3 as a baseline for Rebirth. Toriyama stated that Rebirth should be a title that can stand alongside the Witcher 3. More importantly, players should be satisfied with the content they produced for Rebirth.

Reaction

Nomura

Reading about Nomura’s experience during the E3 2015 really tugs at my heartstrings. Personally, I was tearing up and going wild with excitement with the announcement of Final Fantasy VII Remake. In fact, it was the happiest E3 moment for me.

Learning that crowd’s reaction the teaser announcement affected Nomura, makes me happy. This is man who created Kingdom Hearts, a series that is near and dear to my heart. Nomura is also the one who created Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and many other characters. It must be incredible for Nomura to see how his works had inspired a lot of people.

Nomura and the developers don’t get enough credit for the works they created. He and the others passionately created these awe-inspiring games. And they care so much that every little detail is preserved and enhanced to the extreme.

Also remaking a memorable game like Final Fantasy VII is a difficult task. But CBU1 proved that they can accomplish this. The FFVII Remake is a resounding example that they can recreate one of the greatest games ever.

They are able to remain faithful to the original while expanding on many aspects. And they are introducing new elements and surprises. While adding other elements from the whole compilation of Final Fantasy VII. It’s truly an exemplary feat.

World Map

I am excited that the world map is returning. Learning that the development team has an intense desire to bring it back is music to my ears. I missed having a true world map in Final Fantasy.

While FFXV came the closest to having a world map. It felt barren and the side quest were not good. In fact, I can not remember a good side quest from FFXV. However, I feel the development team took what FFXV did and evolved it even further.

I am glad to hear that the side quests will be meaningful. We have the Witcher 3 to thank for these side quests. Witcher 3 is Hamaguchi’s favorite RPG outside of FF. Hamaguchi is taking inspiration from that game’s side quests. After all, Witcher 3 has the best side quests in gaming.

FFVII Rebirth’s side content makes up 80 percent of the game exploration. So having meaningful side quests are a must for this open world. It is also reassuring that these quests will be a strong as the main narrative. I thought FFXVI did a great job of this in the later stages.

Overall

I am loving reading and dissecting every part of this Game Informer piece. It is exciting to discover the developers’ passion and care for this trilogy. It is also reassuring that they are thinking about every single aspect of the Remake trilogy.

I can’t wait to dive more into this huge article. There are still a lot of juicy details to go over. So, stay tuned for FFVII Rebirth breakdowns.

In the meantime, how do you feel so far about the Game Informer article? Are you more excited about Rebirth? Does this article give you better sense of developers' intentions? Leave your comments below.

Source: Game Informer Issue 362 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Cover Article