Final Fantasy XVI is less than three weeks away and unless you’ve been living underneath a rock and ignoring the entire internet, you’ve probably noticed it’s being talked about quite a bit in the past few weeks. It’s a highly anticipated title, especially for those who have experience with Naoki Yoshida and the Final Fantasy XIV team. But, with all the buzz surrounding Final Fantasy XVI leading up to its release, the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth team has remained quiet, especially considering the game is due to release this winter.
It’s very likely Square Enix is keeping news on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth light, so that Final Fantasy XVI gets the spotlight. But that silence has been broken, even if it’s not much of an announcement. In a tweet posted by the official Final Fantasy VII account, game producer Yoshinori Kitase confirms that development on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is progressing smoothly and according to plan. He also said, the team is working on nailing down a release date for the game.
Now, we wouldn’t expect Kitase to openly say anything differently, but it’s reassuring since we’ve basically heard nothing about the title since it was announced a year ago.
Update June 3, 2023: It appears the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth team is counting down to an announcement of sorts. For the second day in a row, at the exact same time, another tweet was sent out with another Q&A, this time touching on world we can expect to see outside of Midgar: “Players will be able to journey across the wide and multifaceted world with a high degree of freedom, experiencing a myriad of different stories along the way,” said director Naoki Hamaguchi. We suspect a new trailer will make its debut at Summer Game Fest, because the seventh Q&A would land on June 8. For now, we’ll keep updating this post as new tweets are made each day.
Update June 4, 2023: The third developer comment, though not as exciting as the first two, touches on some of the key elements people can look forward to in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s story. Kazushige Nojima provides the answer, stating, “Players will witness a chain of narrative developments that lie at the very heart of the Final Fantasy VII story, while discovering each character’s destiny.”
Update June 5, 2023: The fourth developer comment is an interesting one, with co-director Motomu Toriyama stating that the team has made preparations so players who did not play Final Fantasy VII Remake can enjoy Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. This is likely to be a feature similar to the recap included in God of War: Ragnarök, but we also imagine the majority of people buying Final Fantasy VII Rebirth have played Final Fantasy VII Remake.
Update June 6, 2023: Developer comment number five reveals a little bit of information on the battle system in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Battle director, Teruki Endo, confirms the sequel will have new party members that will join in battle, and that players will be able to cooperate with other party members in even closer ways than before. Those who played Final Fantasy VII Remake and its EPISODE INTERmission DLC starring Yuffie, know how the combat system was already evolving compared to the base game. We expect even more changes to be made for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, considering who should be joining the party in the sequel.
Update June 7, 2023: The sixth developer comment may appear to be the most obvious and perhaps unexciting one yet. The question is “Will Final Fantasy VII Rebirth have new original music?” Of course, the answer is yes – there are many new tracks being created for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, in addition to new arrangements of tracks from Final Fantasy VII Remake. If there’s one thing Final Fantasy games are renowned for, it’s their music. So, it goes without saying that there will indeed be new original music in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Update June 8, 2023: Either Square Enix is trolling the community, or Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is getting a trailer today during Summer Game Fest.
