Highlights
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Final Fantasy 16 have different combat systems, with Rebirth retaining ATB gauge and materia system while FF16 opts for a more fluid and visceral style tied to Eikons.
- FF7 Remake had some amazing battles that players may have missed, either due to locked content or difficulty levels. FF16, on the other hand, is designed to be among the easiest games in the series, making it accessible for newcomers.
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth may introduce challenging optional bosses from the original game, providing potential difficult challenges for players. It remains uncertain what changes Square Enix will make to keep the combat exciting and challenging in Rebirth.
Though Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is still some time away from being released, comparisons between it and Final Fantasy 16 are inevitable. While both entries in the series have their fans, the combat systems for both games differ beyond the surface level. While Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will retain the ATB gauge and materia system from Final Fantasy 7 Remake, the latest entry in the Final Fantasy series opted to go with a more fluid and visceral style to combat while mixing in abilities that were intrinsically tied to the Eikons that wielded them.
Despite the combat systems being among the best in the Final Fantasy series, neither FF16nor FF7 Remake are free from criticism. Both entries had cinematic scuffles that took full advantage of the respective graphics engines, but the best battles of FF7 Remake were a bit cumbersome. Between being locked behind a simulation that enabled players to fight Summons such as Shiva and Leviathan, or behind a paywall in the case of Weiss the Immaculate being tied to the Intermission DLC, Final Fantasy 7 Remake had some amazing battles that players may have missed. While some of those encounters in Final Fantasy 7 Remake have varying levels of difficulty, that was not the case when it came to FF16.
Final Fantasy 16 Was a Combat Cakewalk
It's no secret that Final Fantasy 16 is among the easiest games in the entire series by design. While protagonist Clive Rosfield rarely fought alone, his Eikonic powers grew stronger through the course of the game and rendered him a one-man army that took down colossal foes such as Titan and Odin. In addition, special accessories such as the Ring of Timely Strikes can give players more time to react to avoidable attacks, thereby changing the difficulty of some encounters from challenging to trivial. This design philosophy makes Final Fantasy 16 among the best entries for Final Fantasy newcomers, but the accessories and Eikonic Feats can make Clive seem too overpowered for some battles.
The difficulty gets ramped up a fair bit in New Game Plus and Final Fantasy Mode, but the equipment and Eikonic combinations that Clive can use are carried over from a completed FF16 save file. This may seem counterintuitive at first glance, but players who opt to forego some pieces of equipment or stick with specific Eikons may have a different experience compared to more thorough players. While it remains to be seen if Final Fantasy 16 will get any DLC or additional challenges, the potential is there for Square Enix to consider.
Ramping Up the Difficulty in FF7 Rebirth
Though Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will carry over the combat systems from FF7 Remake, there is also the possibility that the next chapter of this saga will have plenty of challenging optional bosses for Cloud and the crew to take on that also appeared in the original version of Final Fantasy 7. Bosses in the original release such as Lost Number in the Shinra Mansion and the fierce serpent called the Midgar Zolom could translate to some difficult challenges. Between players who either never experienced them before in the PS1 version, or Final Fantasy series veterans who are eager to see how some foes will look in modern graphics, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will have no shortage of potential boss battles.
Given the precedent set by Final Fantasy 7 Remake, there are absolutely no certainties on what will stay the same as the original game, and what will change in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth as a result. Though the ending point of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth remains up in the air at the time of writing, only time will tell what Square Enix will do to keep the combat challenging and exciting as the saga continues.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches in early 2024 for PS5.
