When it comes to games coming out in 2024, it will be hard to top the hype for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. It took quite a while for the original remake title to be released on PS4, but once it did, it was rather legendary. Square Enix put everything they could into this remake saga so that it would stand out visually, have advanced gameplay mechanics, and still feel like the original, but be expanded in ways they couldn’t do before. The result was one of the system’s best titles, and now, the sequel has the same hype attached to it.
Typically, that kind of hype would be hard for certain teams to overcome without lots of hard work. But according to the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director, Naoki Hamaguchi, in a chat with Bloomberg, the team was able to come together in various ways to solve problems and make the game great:
“It was quite clear who to go to if we had a certain question or problem we were trying to solve. We were able to work together as a team, achieve this great flow and tempo of game development.”
The irony of his role as director is that he was just a teenager when the original game arrived on the PlayStation 1. But he worked to be a great game developer and was a co-director on the first remake title. He said he wants to “put his best foot forward” to not only lead the team but also help those of a younger generation who didn’t play the original PS1 title to come to enjoy the remake saga, even stating that his youth might be a way of helping that happen.
Some small clips were posted over the weekend, showing that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will bring back Chocobo Races! Fans might even recognize one of the racers in the clip:
As for the game’s plot, Cloud and the Avalanche crew have finally left Midgar and are on the hunt for Sephiroth. But that won’t be easy as the One-Winged Angel is aiming to not only destroy the planet in his own way to “save it,” but he’s trying to rewrite the destiny that the planet has set for him. Making matters more complicated is Shinra, who are still trying to get to the “promised land” through Aerith, and the fact that Zack Fair is still alive somehow.
All of this, and more, will come to a head when the game arrives on February 29th on PS5.
