Last week, when Sony announced that they would be doing a State of Play for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, I knew it was time to go back and clear Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion out of my backlog. As many of you know, Final Fantasy games can take a while to beat especially if you are an adult with multiple responsibilities. Even with that in mind, I decided to sit down and start Crisis Core with the intention of beating it before the 2/6/24 Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth State of Play. Luckily enough, that goal was achieved six minutes before the event. So what could we expect from The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth State of Play?
If you have not already watched it and want some potential spoilers, you can check out the trailer down below. The final trailer showcased new enemies, old enemies, and the return of different Final Fantasy 7 characters. At the end of the trailer, it revealed that a Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demo would be available for fans to play to get a taste of what to expect. But what would the FF7 Rebirth demo be? Would it be Cloud and the others exploring Midgard? Would it be the Chocobo sequence that they briefly showed off?
The Demo
Story
Once you boot up the demo, you discover that it is Cloud’s retelling of the events that happened at Nibelheim and how his view of Sephiroth changed. If you are familiar with Crisis Core, you will realize that this retelling is similar but not exact to the events you experienced. The town is more dimensional and flushed out rather than a small town with little going on; the overall layout is similar enough that you can navigate but still different in that it feels new and refreshing. The demo offers the chance to interact with the different villagers and learn more about Cloud’s past.
During a scene with Cloud’s mother, you get a distorted interaction; this interaction gives the idea that Cloud’s memory may be altered or distorted. In fact, as you play through the demo, you will notice similarities but will wonder why certain things aren’t mentioned. Where is Zach? Zach, the protagonist of Crisis Core, is partnered with Sephiroth on this mission while Cloud is there to assist. Genesis and Hollander are not mentioned at all, even the monsters Cloud and Sephiroth kill when heading to the reactor are different.
If you skipped Crisis Core, then obviously, these details will be things you don’t even think about but you will still sense that something is off. The interactions between Cloud and Sephiroth seem strained and unusual. The memories seem almost like they are someone else’s. The demo ends with the village in flames and the two staring off. There are plans for a second part of the demo to be released closer to the game’s release so we might learn more.
Gameplay
Coming back to the modern style of FF7 Remake after playing Crisis Core can be a bit challenging. Characters do not move as you expect and because of all the chaos tracking enemies can be difficult. The game does give players the option to play on either active or classic. Classic follows the turn-based combat style of Final Fantasy while action has the player control all of the character’s actions. Players can also choose between easy and normal.
While playing the demo, there were a few visual and controller issues that we experienced that detracted from the overall experience. Some of these factors were easily fixable while others were not. The game’s use of haptic feedback can be annoying. I don’t want to feel like I am strangling my controller in order to complete a task. Second, the amount of vibrations within the game. Yes, some may want this but it feels like it is too much; I turned it off within the first 5 minutes. Next is the lighting issue; at times, you will walk one way and it will switch between light and dark for no apparent reason. Finally, there are tracking and camera movement issues. Hopefully, they will fine-tune the camera movement settings because at base speed it felt all over the place.
Demo Gameplay
The demo gives players insight as to why Cloud hates Sephiroth. While exploring, Cloud can learn about some of the other characters in FF7; this will potentially impact his relationship down the line with them. Early on, you can choose to enter Tifa’s house and explore the property. Players can choose to enter Tifa’s room, search her closet, and even play the Piano. The piano minigame is fun but does take a bit to get used to; this is potentially due to the command layout or the brightness of the box but it is a fun mini-game.
Combat on Action mode is a bit chaotic and can take a bit to get used to. Even after playing the demo for almost two hours, I still do not feel like I have a full grasp of it. Movement on the terrain was fluid and it was fun watching Cloud climb boulders with ease. Arguably, watching Sephiroth and the other characters automatically jump down a cliff or teleport back up was even more funny. The only gameplay element I actually hated was using the Mako vacuum to suck up fumes
What truly stood out was Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s graphics On multiple occasions my jaw dropped at the beauty of the level design. When comparing the demo to Crisis Core Reunion, Crisis Core feels like it was released over a decade ago despite releasing in 2022. The sheer level of detail they put in not only to the characters but also to the monsters was astounding; even the terrain and random items were highly detailed making the scenery almost feel like a movie or a photograph at times. If you want to truly admire the high level of detail, open photo mode and inspect the different aspects.
Takeaways
At the end of the day, the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demo did exactly what it was supposed to do, get us excited for the game’s upcoming release. The first part of the demo is available for Final Fantasy fans to download while a second part will be coming in the future. From playing the demo, I can say that players will need to modify their sensitivity and settings before playing through FF7 Rebirth. The story presented in the demo caused more questions than it did answers but illuded to something more going on. The overall visuals within the demo indicate that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will be a beautiful game.
If you are on the fence about getting FF7 Rebirth, then you should try out the demo on both Active and Classic in order to figure out what works best for you. Let us know what you thought of the demo.
