Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the second installment of the remake trilogy, will be released on February 29, 2024 on PS5. In this work, Claude and his party leave Midgar and venture out into a larger world. This time, we interviewed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth co-producer Toriyama and Hiroki Endo, the battle director, at Taipei Game Show 2024 and asked a lot of questions related to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
The following honorific titles are omitted
- What was the inspiration for this new Join Skill?
Endo: We thought about adding the teaming skill when we were developing Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and we finally realized it when we were developing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, in order to strengthen the connection between the combat and the story.
- Can I use the Synergy Skill in both Action and Classic modes?
Endo: Yes, but in Classic mode, the system will automatically control the action, but the player can also choose to intervene themselves.
- Will the worldline in FF7RB intersect with the worldline resurrected by Zax? If they intersect, how will the works shape Lis, the heroine of the double world line?
Bird Mountain: I can understand that this part is the most important part of the players, please forgive me for not revealing it for the time being.
——This time, the ** drama Loveless has been added to the Golden Disc Playground, is it inspired by "Final Fantasy 6"? Is this plot in the main story or in the side story? Will it have any impact on the subsequent development of the plot?
Bird Mountain: FF6's opera plot is very famous, and we were affected in some way during the development phase. But we are more like restoring the loveless in the original work, so that players can experience this ** drama. This part belongs to the main plot, and the characters with the highest favorability with Claude at this plot node will be played in **drama**. However, who will star in this will not affect the subsequent development of the plot.
- This physical version uses a dual-disc format, so will it need to change the disc to play at a certain stage like the original?
Bird Mountain: No, the contents of both discs will be installed on the console at the beginning of the installation, and there is no need to replace the discs after that. The content of FF7RB is too rich, and we still worked hard to barely cram the content into two discs, otherwise it is completely possible to launch it in a three-disc format.
- Many players were surprised to see the ending of the first part of the remastered version, can you describe the mood of players when they see the ending in FF7RB without spoilers?
Bird Mountain: This part is not convenient to answer, but in addition to the main story, there will be a lot of side content for players to explore and play, please look forward to it.
- This time, we found out that Crimson 13 can also ride chocobos, but Crimson 13's body structure is quite special, which makes him look very strange when riding. Why let him ride on a chocobo?
Bird Mountain: At first, we wondered if Crimson 13 would be faster if he came down and ran directly, but he was also a member of the team, so we wanted him to be able to ride chocobos with the rest of his teammates. The way he rides a bird is something we designed to make him look interesting. If you have played the original game, players should know the secrets of Crimson 13, and in this game, players will also be able to know many of the unknown sides of Crimson 13.
- How do you get the Synergy Skill between the characters?
Endo: The teaming skill will be unlocked at the beginning of the game, and then the story will be advanced and the side quests will be completed, and after these conditions are met, they can be unlocked gradually, which has a very high degree of freedom for players to match and choose. If you want to use a lot of teaming skills, you can unlock the skill tree in this direction, and you can use a lot of teaming skills in the early stage.
- With the addition of a huge world map, how will the development team balance the experience of the main and side routes?
Bird Mountain: This time, the map is very vast, and the system will give clear guidance to the main story part. In addition to the main story, each area has a wealth of exploration elements and side quests, and players can freely choose whether to proceed or not. In addition, this time there will be a variety of cutscenes not only in the main story, but also in the side quests.
- The previous game launched a trial version before the release, and this game will be released next month, will it also launch a trial version?
Bird Mountain: Please look forward to the announcement in the future.
- The collaboration between FF7RB and Apex Legends is very surprising, how did this collaboration come about?
Bird Mountain: We have a lot of Apex Legends players in our development team, and there are also quite a few FF7 fans in Apex Legends. We were both very interested in this kind of cooperation, so we hit it off.
INTERVIEWER What changes have been made to ff7rb compared to the first remaster? Are there any changes based on player feedback?
Endo: As far as the combat part is concerned, the first remastered combat system is built with all the necessary elements, which also makes it difficult to expand the combat part further. We've expanded FF7RB to give players the opportunity to try out more new ways to play in this game. As a result, we've made various subtle adjustments to the characters that appeared in the first installment, and it's going to be a very different experience overall. There were a lot of voices from players at the time who wanted to further broaden the gameplay, and this part was in line with my personal feelings, so this idea was naturally realized in this game.
Bird Mountain: In terms of story, the biggest difference is the world map. In the previous game, the player could only go on adventures in Midgar, which was limited by many limitations. This time, players have come to a vast open world, and they can freely choose to advance the main story or complete side elements.
- In the original game, Yuffie and Vincent need to meet certain conditions to become teammates, will there be such a setting in this game?
Bird Mountain: In this work, Yuffie will definitely join the team, but it still retains the elements of answering questions in the original work, so that Yuffie can join the team without a sense of disobedience in this work. As for Vincent, he won't be joining the combat team in this game yet. Like the original, it's a very mysterious existence.,It's handsome but it's also a weirdo.。
INTERVIEWER There are many characters who were not very important in the original game and many scenes were added in the first remaster, so will there be such characters in FF7RB as well?
Bird Mountain: There will also be many supporting characters in FF7RB, including many of the supporting characters who were present in the first remaster**. In addition, there will be many new supporting characters, so please look forward to it.
INTERVIEWER How long does the process take?
Bird Mountain: The main story is about 40 hours, and if you want to complete the side elements, it will easily exceed 100 hours. We were also shocked by the scale of the game during the beta phase, which is probably the biggest in the series.
- Why can't the combined skills be used at any time like inherent skills, but need to accumulate a special scale to use them?
Endo: We want to encourage players to use all characters, as both characters need to accumulate teaming slots at the same time in order to use teaming skills. The reason for this design is that in the first remaster, there was a kind of fun that emphasized the whole party and all the members of the party fighting together more than if one character was used until the end. We wanted to deepen that fun in FF7RB, so we designed the Join Forces skill. There are many players who are not good at switching characters to fight, so we have also added AI-hosted magic crystals so that the AI can automatically activate actions such as teaming skills.
- FF7RB is more open than the original, so will the order of completing tasks be different from the original?
Bird Mountain: The main quests are in the same order as the original, but not everything is the same as the original. For example, the chapter system is introduced like the previous work, and there are many contents that stir up the atmosphere of the story in each chapter, and there are also many new elements that did not appear in the original work. Players who have played the original game or not will be able to experience the freshness.