Final Fantasy VII Rebirth First Impressions | Really good materia

Since 2020’s excellent Final Fantasy VII Remake, fans have been eagerly awaiting a follow-up. How does Square Enix improve upon what was already considered one of the best reimaginings of a classic? After getting an extended hands-on with it at Tokyo Game Show 2023, here are our Final Fantasy VII Rebirth first impressions.

The playable build was a cut-down version of 2 sequences in the game. One is a linear mission with light exploration and a boss fight at the end while the second allowed me to explore a piece of the Junon region as a glimpse of the open-world systems. It is confirmed that whatever content that was present is only a fraction of what will be available in the final release.

I’ll only be briefly mentioning minor details regarding the 2 parts of the demo but rest assured, there will be no major story spoilers here. Final Fantasy VII’s story is something that deserves to be experienced in your own terms whether it be through the original classic or the interesting direction the Remake has gone in. 

Fantastical sights

It goes without saying, that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth looks absolutely phenomenal. The graphical fidelity, art style, and visual effects being presented on-screen make this one of the best-looking games ever made. 

I primarily played using Graphics Mode which runs the game at 4K resolution in 30 fps. As far as I could tell, there were no significant graphical bugs or performance hiccups. Even when the action ramps up and every particle effect in existence splashes onto the screen, the game feels smooth, impactful, and satisfying. And even when I was only able to see a small portion of the Junon region, Square Enix was practically flexing at just how beautiful it looked. If you thought that Final Fantasy VII Remake couldn’t look any better, Rebirth proves you wrong on so many levels. 

Performance mode prioritizes running the game at 60 fps. While I normally choose this with the majority of the games I play on PS5, I found that it does compromise Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s visuals a bit too much. There was a distracting amount of rough edges and pixelated surfaces at times. It could’ve been due to the TV being used at the hands-on station but I found that running Rebirth on Quality Mode was a much more enjoyable and immersive experience. 

Combined arms

The first part of the demo was titled “The Fated Mt. Nibel Mission” where Cloud and Sephiroth go to Nibelheim to investigate a malfunctioning Mako Reactor. This plays out like a usual linear mission where you progress through a corridor-like area with a few light exploration elements. 

In a technical sense, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth plays exactly like Final Fantasy VII Remake. Controls, UI, animations, etc. are all carried over. You still run around, smashing boxes for loot, sitting on benches to heal wounds, etc. What Rebirth does to set itself apart is the new additions to the already excellent combat system that mixes real-time and command-based inputs. 

The star of the show here is the all-new Synergy System. This enables each member of the party to work together to create devastating amounts of punishment while also taking in and at times, countering incoming attacks. 

Synergy Skills are powerful moves that can be executed without the need for ATB charges. All you need to do is hold the right bumper button and you can choose what to do with a particular member. Your options will depend on whatever character you’re controlling at the time. While there are more spammable abilities like the Dualblade Dance which enables Sephiroth and Cloud to send a fury of slashes toward the enemy, there are also more strategic ones like Voidshatter which is a charge attack that has to be timed right otherwise, you’re leaving yourself wide open to take damage.  

And yes, you read that right. Sephiroth is a fully playable character in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. And yes again, he plays exactly like what you’d expect. He’s fast, powerful, and so much fun to use in combat. I found myself using him more than Cloud when it came to combat. Especially with the boss fight at the end of the level. Sephiroth is basically a cheat code and I love every bit of it. 

Synergy Abilities act more like ultimate attacks. Once your Synergy Gauge is filled, you can execute an incredibly powerful attack with a fellow party member. Remember the hair commercial moment between Cloud and Sephiroth in the most recent Final Fantasy VII Rebirth trailer? That’s a glimpse of what can be done with Synergy Abilities. 

It’s also in this part of the demo where Square Enix shows how good they are when handling modern iterations of iconic characters. The writing and the banter between the cast are generously sprinkled all throughout the runtime without it feeling too forced or too little. Just the right amount. As soon as Sephiroth called Cloud a “puppy”, I knew fans were going to be enjoying a lot of moments in the game. 

Massive Fantasy

The second part of the demo titled “The Open Wilds of Junon” is exactly what it describes. This is where I was able to see how Final Fantasy VII Rebirth handles the open world. As I said, the region looks jaw-droppingly amazing. Playing through it is what ties it all together in one exciting package. 

Loading in (in a swift 5 seconds, by the way), a quick setup is given and I was set to explore on my own. I was immediately given a chocobo of my own to ride on which acts as the primary transportation across the open world. 

Controlling the chocobo feels great. Definitely beats riding a horse in just about every other open-world game. Thankfully, the game allows loot to be picked up without having to go on foot. You can transmute these materials for useful items such as health potions and Pheonix Drafts. 

Setting out into the wilds, it’s pretty standard open-world stuff. There are landmarks to discover, NPCs to converse with, shops to go through, and enemies scattered around. I’m not exactly sure whether or not there will be significant random encounters in each region since my session was over before I could explore further. What I did experience are random combat challenges that can be accomplished against particular enemies. These are optional objectives that will provide you with more World Intel once accomplished. The tasks can revolve around defeating enemies within a time limit, preventing them from doing particular moves, or something as simple as just staggering them. These are great ways to encourage players to change their gameplay approach every now and then. 

Waiting on the final fantasy

However brief my experience was with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, I immediately knew that this is a sequel that’s worth all the hype that’s been rightfully building up since the Remake’s launch in 2020. 

Square Enix has the opportunity to create the best remake trilogy in gaming history and Rebirth is the resounding proof that they’re on the right path. Do not go into this expecting gameplay innovations, its predecessor already did that and so much more. Go into Final Fantasy VII Rebirth thinking that you’re going to be reunited with beloved characters to experience a beloved narrative that’s all built on top of an excellent foundation that is only further being refined to near perfection. February 29, 2024 can’t come soon enough.