I absolutely loved Final Fantasy VII Remake. That game absolutely had some problems, and I know a lot of people have issues with the liberties it has decided to take on the story, but the game made me realize how big a place in my heart the original 1997 release held. After finishing the original, I was definitely on board for the wild ride. So I have been waiting with bated breath for any more information of the inevitable and announced next part, which has been teased over and over.
But at least part of that wait is over, as Square Enix has finally given a trailer for the next chapter in the Final Fantasy VII Remake saga, titled Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Here’s the whole thing below:
A date for next winter is given and a target platform of PlayStation 5 only. That said, maybe last year’s Intermission DLC which featured Yuffie as the protagonist was part of getting the tech to run on modern platforms — well, PC (Epic and Steam now) and PlayStation 5. There has yet to be an Xbox version of Final Fantasy VII Remake and it does not currently look like there will be.
That said, that’s all the news we have for Final Fantasy VII Reunion at the moment. If you have never played or finished the 2020 game, I’d say you’re probably done with this news article! Because after this paragraph, I am going to start talking about where I think the next few games will go. I’d suggest going to finish this game before you keep reading. You’ve been warned!
When Final Fantasy VII Remake ended, it became clear that the game was not in fact a retelling of Final Fantasy VII, but a sequel cycle where Sephiroth had already been defeated. Somehow, he was able to travel to a different universe where his plan had not failed, and proceeded to try and create a world where he would succeed. Spirits whose only job were to keep the story the same, however, were interrupting Sephiroth from doing this and were also stopping Cloud and his party from understanding what Sephiroth was up to. Of course, this meant that Cloud’s party got rid of those spirits, so now Sephiroth can act unimpeded.
After that, it seems like the flow of time had been interrupted and backlashed into the past, meaning Zack was never killed right outside Midgar. At the end of the Intermission DLC, we see Zack has finally made it back in town and walked into the church where his girlfriend Aerith hung out, but she’s not there when he arrives. Instead, he finds a lot of people suffering and seeking aid, possibly implying that he somehow ended up there after the plate crash and after Aerith had already left Midgar.
I suspect that Reunion is going to play out mostly similar to how we remember Final Fantasy VII, but with enough changes to make us wonder exactly what’s going on. Is Zack walking around contemporarily to the main party now? That alone could significantly change things, especially if he’s still on the run from Shinra or he’s making a bee-line for Nibelheim to unearth evidence against Hojo. Sephiroth still needs Cloud in this world to go wake up his original body, so he still has to lead them on a very similar journey to the crater.
This is the second game and they have already announced a third in the trilogy, and I suspect the final game will really throw everything off the rails. But to make that part more impactful, we’ll mostly play it by the numbers in Reunion. Of course, this only speculation, so we’ll have to see where it goes. With Nomura no longer directing this game, maybe precedent does not really count for much here.
