Recently it was the Summer Game Fest 2023, and we could see many new trailers, materials, and gameplays of some interesting upcoming games like Marvel Spiderman 2, Mortal Kombat 1, and so on! But I would say that one of them is the one we were more excited to watch a preview of. Rumors were true! and we could see an unexpected trailer that show us a little bit of the story and gameplay of the project called Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which would be the second part of FF VII Remake. When I decided to try the first part because at that time I had the chance to play it for free, I was glad that I had that opportunity and try this amazing game with a unique gameplay experience. So in celebration of this great revelation of the second part, where we finally can see how the unknown journey continues, I want to talk about my experience with this awesome project from Square Enix.
Story:
The main character of this game is Cloud Strife, an ex-first-class soldier from Shinra Electric Power Company, where the scientists created the mako reactors, which provide a wealthy source of energy to the sectors of Midgar. Midgar is the capital city and is divided by a plate. People from up the plate are the ones that work for Shinra or the ones that are not poor like more in the middle class. People under the plate are the poor ones that have to manage to survive and they live in slums. Also, these plate is divided by sectors and that is how they divided the people who work for Shinra, like for example, Jessie's parents live in the same sector and neighborhood as other workers from Shinra, her father worked in one of the reactors. Also in the slums, some sectors have their specific functionalities like sector 6 which is the Wall Market and is the lawless part of Midgar's underground dedicated to shopping and different kinds of entertainment like the arena fights. The Wall Market is ruled by the local crime Lord called Don Corneo.
Cloud is a mercenary and is hired by the eco-terrorist group called Avalanche. The purpose of this group is to destroy the Mako reactors because what people from Midgar don't know is that those reactors are killing the planet. After destroying the reactor of sector 1, Cloud meets again with Tifa Lockhart, his old friend from childhood. This is how the game starts, in which the story and past of many people are going to collide together and realize the bigger thread they have. For example Cloud, Barret Wallace (Leader of Avalanche), and Tifa, meet Aerith Gainsborough who is a descendant of the Ancients. She helps Cloud and his friends in some situations, and Shinra wants her because they believe she is the key to go to the Promised Land, which is the land of the Ancients (or the Cetra) where there is supposed to be an infinite amount of Mako energy.
This is how while you go through the game, some fragments and mysteries of some characters are going to get revealed to realize that the real threat is Sephiroth, who is known to be the most powerful soldier from Shinra and is celebrated to be the hero in the war between Shinra and Wutai. He was also an experiment, in which he was infused with Jenova cells when still in the fetal stage. His purpose is to rule over the planet with Jenova.
If you are a fan and played the original game, of course you know more about what this game is about, just that they create an original and big twist, and bring the whispers, which are arbiters of fate. Their mission is to enforce destiny and make things happen like they are suppose to be, it doesn't matter if it is for the good or bad. This was something big and a creative idea to give more essence to the Remake, many people were shocked by this idea and how it changes little bit some facts from the original story, because the main plot is not just fight Shinra and Sephiroth but also is going to be to fight these Whispers in order to try decide their own fate. As a consequence, many characters who are supposed to be death can be saved and who knows, maybe some who are not suppose to die in the original story might going to in the following sequels.
When people saw this, they were surprised and want to know more about what would be the new end for their so beloved characters including also the ones who are not playable like the Avalanche members: Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie Rasberry.
Gameplay:
I liked very much the gameplay of the game, is simple but fun, and each playable character has their own abilities, strengths, and weakness. In this world, magic does also exist and they can use some items called materia that have different categories depending on their color. You can shoot fire or ice, improve the magical abilities of the characters, or even add some specific movements to them. So, to fight some enemies, you have to be creative and smart about how to use these materia and how you want to distribute them to the characters.
Also, there are other items and types of equipment that you can find while exploring this fantastic world. So there are many features in the game, which you have to make the right use of them to win because also the enemies have their different weaknesses and strengths, and the beauty of this game is also to discover them on your own.
Another great addition is that we have the limit breaks for each character which also give us nice cinematics.
Finally, you can also invoke legendary creatures, like Ifrit or Shiva, using summon materia, some of them you can find by exploring, and others by defeating them in a simulator.
With all of this one would think that it is too much, but actually, they manage to create a nice and comfortable gameplay.
Side quests and activities:
If you enjoyed playing this game and want new challenges, you would want to try the side quests where there would be special enemies to defeat, and, of course, you will get special awards too after defeating them. Also, there are other challenging activities like the simulators and arena battles with their rewards too.
Intergrade:
I think the creators know that the fans loved the game, and to give us something new while the second part is still in development, they had the great idea to introduce Yuffie in the project, and new interesting gameplay and story to experience, in which with her partner Sonon, they have to infiltrate into Shinra headquarters while in a specific moment from the main story. We also can watch short previews from Cloud and the company that will lead them into the second part.
Crisis Core:
I have to say that I didn't know that before this, there was another story, and I think I was lucky for that because this game gave me a lot of surprises and questions that led me to investigate and play Crisis Core to understand better the story. And, at least in my opinion, I like when this happens to me because I enjoy discovering things by myself and assembling the pieces together. I could understand better the story, and see how Cloud ended with the buster sword. Of course, after that, my first thought was that the creators are insane! I keep asking myself if Zack Fair is alive or not in this new version or timeline of the story.
Animation:
As I like also to watch anime, I always wanted to see and try a video game that looks like this kind of animation but with advanced and fun gameplay a nice plot, and other features that make a game nowadays a great one. When I tried Final Fantasy VII Remake I immediately said: This is the one!
Soundtrack:
And if everything else wasn't enough, this game has also nice soundtracks, especially, of course, the ones used for fighting. I would say that one of the better ones that people loved is "Let the Battles Begin!" and the one from the DLC called "Descendent of Shinobi". Of course, I would never forget the theme that is played at the end of the game, which is "Hollow" performed by Yosh, and the one who composed this and all the soundtracks is the great Nobuo Uematsu.
What's next?
Obviously, the second part named Rebirth, in which the new trailer looks awesome with new places to explore and it looks like you are going to get more freedom. I am so excited to see and play the new game when it comes out which I am sure that it will contain a lot of surprises and other things we were waiting like Cloud finally meeting with Yuffie, or if something happens with Zack. But well, I suppose that the second part will answer more questions that we have or even better, give us new ones!
Here is the trailer of Rebirth, the second part of the big project whose directors and producers are Tetsuya Nomura, Naoki, Hamaguchi, Motomu Toriyama, and Yoshinori Kitase:
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