Now that we’re officially into 2024, the countdown to many big games for the year can officially start. And, naturally, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be one of the biggest “countdowns” players have. The title will be released on February 29th, which is appropriate for several reasons. The biggest one is that it’s coming out on the “extra day” of this year since we’re in a leap year. Why does that matter? Well, the team kind of took that mindset when making the second part of the “remake saga,” as they took “leaps” with some of the content of the game so it could get fleshed out more.
In an interview with Game Informer, the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth team discussed the scenes and moments from the original title that got expanded upon, given the time and resources they now had. For example, Avalanche member Barrett has a daughter named Marlene, but her true father was his friend in Avalanche named Dyne, whom Barrett thought died after an attack from Shinra. However, in the original game, they eventually meet up again, and the remake will expand that scene heavily in a way that really moved the team:
“I thought certain scenes could be cut, but hearing Nomura-san and Hamaguchi-san’s opinions on how they want to keep this, I conceded. But when you see it all come together, the final product and that scene – especially the Dyne scene – I think, ‘Wow, this is amazing!’ It’s crying-worthy. I feel glad it’s in there.”
Why you might not think that such a scene is “important in the grand scale,” the opposite is true. While the original PS1 classic is just that: a classic, it was also a game that was held back by its time period. Thanks to the remake saga, they can put more effort into the game and its characters to make everything more robust and fun.
They did that with the first game by fleshing out some of the other Avalanche members, like Jessie, so you could feel more connected with them before certain events happened. The upcoming title will even bring entirely new cities into the mix for you to explore to give you a greater sense of how grand the planet Gaia is.
The real question is how much they will “expand” a scene with Aerith and whether players will cry when it plays. We’ll have to wait until next month to find out!
