Sony’s State of Play had some heavy hitters, including Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the second part in the Remake trilogy. It received a release date and extensive new gameplay, which looked very nice. In a new PlayStation Blog interview, director Naoki Hamaguchi spoke about the combat system, including the new synergy moves.
“This new mechanic allows the player to use synergy commands and abilities freely at any time by using up a gauge charge in a similar manner to Limit Breaks. So, through the battles, players will feel the relationships and bonds that have developed between the characters even more so than in the previous game. We’ve also added skill trees as a new element of character growth.
“You can unlock synergy abilities through the skill trees, too. Many new Materia with new abilities not seen in the first game are available as well, so players will have even more options to customize and build character load-outs to their taste.”
There’s also Red XIII, who was present in the previous title but not playable. This time, he is, and on top of possessing an Active Time Battle gauge like other party members, there is also a “revenge gauge.” It charges based on enemy attacks guarded against.
“The development team challenged themselves to give Red XIII a new play style that felt different from the other characters,” said Hamaguchi. “His revenge gauge charges when he guards against enemy attacks, and he can spend that charge to use various abilities once the gauge is filled. We’ve designed Red XIII as a new type of character that requires the player to strike a balance between offensive strategy using the ATB gauge and defensive strategy using the revenge gauge.”
Cait Sith is also playable, but Vince Valentine’s status is unknown. Will he also be playable or accompany the party? Creative director Tetsuya Nomura didn’t confirm either but did say, “The original party members are all present in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. In the previous title, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Red XIII became an accompanying member in the second half of the game, but he will become an official, playable party member starting from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
“Similarly, there are characters accompanying members in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, that will become official party members in the next title.” Long story short: play the game to find out.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth releases on February 29th, 2024, for PS5. It ships on two Blu-ray discs and offers about 100 hours of content.
