One of the reasons that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was so hyped before its release in 2024 was that the game’s story would go beyond Midgar and finally touch on some of the deeper and more unique elements that helped make the original game so special. The title was truly about mixing past and present together, and so the remake had to do that and then take things up to the next level. The shock that many people got when they played the game was how the title started, with Cloud revealing “how he met Sephiroth” via a trip to Nibelheim.
This is a bit more complicated than we’re saying, though, but we don’t want to get into spoilers just yet. Needless to say, this was an important set piece within the story, and director Naoki Hamaguchi knew it had to be presented the right way. In a special interview with the Square Enix website, he talked about what it was like bringing it to the PS5. Ironically, he said it wasn’t hard in some ways but more difficult in others:
“We didn’t have to do much to redevelop Nibelheim. We’ve gone back to the village several times, including in CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII-, so over the years it’s slowly been expanded out. What we did have to expand massively, though, is the level of detail.”
To some, that merely would’ve meant upping the “visual detail” since the game was pushing the power of the PS5 and trying to be the best-looking game the franchise had ever put out. However, Naoki knew that to truly capture the gamer’s imaginations and make them feel something special, he had to go even further:
“If we just did a one-to-one replica of the original FINAL FANTASY VII, or even CRISIS CORE, it probably wouldn’t resonate with people the way it should. So, we had to add that extra level of detail. In order to recreate the Nibelheim as people remember it and give this part of the story the same feeling as the original, we had to add many extra details. We had to show things in a much more comprehensive way.”
That, in and of itself, is the core story of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s development. The team wanted you to not just “experience the game in better visual detail” but have a more “comprehensive experience” so that it would resonate with you more.
The game is now out on PC/Steam for those who want to try it.
