Highlights
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is set to launch in early 2024 and will continue the story of Final Fantasy 7 Remake within a less linear space - something that could fix a big issue from the first game.
- The previous game's side quests were slow and unmemorable, dampening the overall experience. With just a few small locations to explore, it is no wonder that good quests were tough to deliver.
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has the opportunity to improve on this aspect and provide more substantial and engaging side quests, taking advantage of its larger and more diverse environments.
Though Final Fantasy 16 is still fresh on the minds of fans, the promise of more exciting adventures with Cloud and company is the main event for a lot of people. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is set to launch in early 2024, carrying on the tale that Final Fantasy 7 Remake started but bringing with it a less linear space for the crew to explore.
An open area can sometimes mean less emphasis on quality storytelling, but the tale told in 1997 is one of the finest in gaming, and while Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will deviate from it slightly, there is enough evidence in the promotional material to assure fans that the magic may not be lost. However, the upcoming release has a big opportunity to make another positive change, correcting a critical component of the 2020 title that dampened the experience a little: the side quests.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Was a Flawed Masterpiece
Taking on a beloved classic and subjecting it to a modern remaster is a tough thing to get right, so a full scale remake may seem like an impossible feat. Thankfully, Square Enix achieved something great with Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and it wasn't without its fair share of development problems. Players get reintroduced to Avalanche and follow them to Shinra HQ, before reaching the conclusion which implies there's more in the world than initially met the eye. The story, combat, and characters are great, but there is a problem.
The side quests in Final Fantasy 7 Remake are slow, and never amount to much past being a way to make Cloud stronger. The story more than justifies having additional things to do, as much of the emotional weight of the narrative comes from the hardships that the poorer people in Midgar have to go through. Still, the lack of memorable side quests is a shame, as the uninteresting optional activities feed into the game's inadequate pacing, which makes getting to the next epic story moment feel like a slog.
Cloud's Next Adventure Can Be Less Linear
The streets of Midgar's slums are tight, cramped, and offer little room for maneuver. Because of this, there are not many parts of it that are open, as most locations are made up of a few branching paths connected by long hallways. The city is gorgeous, but to stretch out a ~6-hour segment into a worthwhile RPG, things have to be done to pad out the narrative. Unfortunately, within the confines of linear locations and so few areas that offer any kind of breathing room for the party, that was unable to be done. Finding a way to wedge (no pun intended) side quests into the small, linear levels in Midgard would have been tough for any developer, but there's still no denying that they just weren't memorable in Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
With Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the adventure continues away from Midgar, and in doing so it reaches the part of the original 1997 classic when players can engage in the overworld, finding new places to explore and discover. This means that it should be able to accommodate more layered and dense side quests, making them feel more substantial and like they fit in the world rather than just serving as a checklist and a means to gain levels. Final Fantasy 16 suffers somewhat from the same issue, which could imply that the next chapter in Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and Barret's journey won't fix the problem, but it should, for the good of the game and fans all over the globe.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches early 2024 for PS5.
