Whether it’s the new party members or mini-games, Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has much going on. Its world is pretty big, with Cloud and friends searching for Sephiroth. In a new interview with PlayStation Blog, director Naoki Hamaguchi said the team emphasized “exploration-focused game design” and wanted to “create that feeling of going on a journey while traveling around the world in pursuit of evidence of Sephiroth’s movements.”
Like its predecessor, fans can expect to see several familiar locations reimagined in new ways. Regarding pressure to meet fan expectations, Hamaguchi said, “As Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will take players to various locations across the whole world, we needed to re-create the massive Final Fantasy 7 world map that would also incorporate places such as towns and dungeons within itself.
“To do this, we dug deeply into the feeling of each different region and reflected that in the graphics, creating areas that look and feel quite diverse. On top of that, we designed chocobos unique to each region that have their own abilities (e.g. mountain chocobos that can climb sheer cliffs and sky chocobos that can fly etc.), so players will need to utilize their chocobos to fully explore each area. I hope players have a lot of fun with this aspect of the exploration!”
Producer Yoshinori Kitase said the team sought “the right balance between old and new scenes” but also wanted to “take on more new challenges than we did in Final Fantasy 7 Remake with some of the new scenes. I am confident these new scenes will be wildly enjoyable for fans and newcomers alike.”
As for the world map, Hamaguchi says it’s “vast and expansive”, to the point where some locations don’t appear in the main story. “Volume-wise, the amount of side content in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is nearly double that of the main quest content.
“Players who want to enjoy Final Fantasy 7 setting on an even deeper level can explore all the corners of the world, discovering many different and exciting experiences such as new stories, battles, and mini-games to play.” The best part is that you can return to previous regions, even if the main quest progresses past an area, so it’s possible to return and mop up any remaining content.
It was also a given, but Hamaguchi has confirmed that player levels and abilities won’t transfer between games. “We have announced that the Final Fantasy 7 remake project will be a trilogy and that each entry will be a standalone game in its own right. Because of this, each game’s balancing is done independently, and a player’s levels and abilities will not carry over from one game to the next.” That being said, fans who played previous titles will start with some “special bonuses.”
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches on February 29th, 2024, for PS5. Head here for more details on the available side content, including the Gold Saucer, and here for more combat details.
