Final Fantasy VII Rebirth got a big new trailer and release date at the September 2023 State Of Play broadcast. And since then, more details emerge for the sequel to Final Fantasy VII Remake, and the second of a trilogy or remakes (sort of) based on the 1997 PS1 game.
In particular, a new roundtable interview with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Producer Yoshinori Kitase, Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura, Director Naoki Hamaguchi and Music Supervisor Keiji Kawamori by PlayStation Blog details what’s the cut off point to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s story.
According to Tetsuya Nomura, FFVII Rebirth will include locations up to “The Forgotten Capital”.
This means that the game should cover the entirety the rest of Disc 1 from the PS1 release (or Part 1 in other non-disc releases of FFVII). And that should mean that Rebirth might include that scene. Yes, that one scene that made players of the original lost their marbles. Or as Nomura describes “The Forgotten Capital” in the interview, “where the greatest fate of Final Fantasy VII awaits you.”
But given what we know of this trilogy of “remakes”, it’s possible that the story won’t be played beat-for-beat like the original. Case in point, Rebirth won’t see you visiting Wutai yet, as that will be reserved for the next game. So who knows what we’re going to see by the end of Rebirth. Nobody expected how the last game ended.
The previous game, Final Fantasy VII Remake, only covers the opening chapters where right up until Cloud and the party leaves Midgar. For Rebirth, expect to explore more of Gaia which includes locations like Junon, the Gold Saucer and more, albeit with some changes.
This makes Rebirth, on paper at least, to be one massive game when compared to its predecessor. The scope is definitely bigger, which explains why the physical copy of the game has to be shipped in two discs.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be out on February 29, 2024 for the PS5.