Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth became well-known for the disparity of quality in many of its minigames, from beloved ones like Queen’s Blood to more contentious ones like Jumpfrog. When asked whether the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will have a similar focus on minigames, director Naoki Hamaguchi noted that the remake wouldn’t be faithful to the original if it didn’t.
In an interview with Game Informer magazine, Hamaguchi said: “One of the identifying aspects of Final Fantasy 7 is the abundance of minigames and side content, so if I weren’t to stay true to that, I don’t think I would be able to call this a faithful remake that stays true to the original. So, yes, we are going to have a lot of minigames and a lot of side content.”
He went on to note that the development team has been “very mindful” about the feedback they got from Rebirth’s minigames. This means that, along with the minigames being more polished, they will also include things like difficulty settings and the ability to skip a minigame. He also revealed that most rewards from the minigames won’t provide combat benefits, so that players who don’t like them can simply avoid them rather than being forced to play them due to the potential for gear improvements.
“With that being said, we’re very mindful of the feedback we received for FF7 Rebirth, so we did make a lot of adjustments so that fans can play the minigames and side content sections a lot more smoothly. There will be difficulty settings implemented into the minigames now, and if players feel that it’s not their cup of tea, they have the option to just skip the minigame section, too. And also, most of the rewards are not going to be tied to combat items, either, to give them a feeling of ease.”
The decision likely ties into Hamaguchi’s desire to also ease open-world fatigue despite Final Fantasy 7 Revelation having a world that’s “even bigger than it was in Rebirth.” Just last week, the director said that, due to the larger world, the team wants to ensure that players have enough guidance throughout their time with the gam that they don’t have trouble finding gameplay aspects enjoyable to them.
“There are a lot of open world games out in the world right now, and [the idea of ‘open world fatigue’] is a very important concept to me. It depends on personal preference and different perceptions, but for me personally, I know I’ve had the experience where I’ve been thrown out into an open world game and not known where to go, not known where to begin, and not known what to do. But at the same time, the concept of being thrown into this wondrous world where anything goes is amazing.”
This aspect of providing players with guidance about where they can go to discover things more easily is especially important since the open world in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will allow players to jump off the airship Highwind with parachutes to go just about anywhere.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
