Square Enix Answers 6 Burning Questions About Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Having played Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, I spoke to director Naoki Hamaguchi, producer Yoshinori kitase and creative director Tetsuya nomura in order to get answers to some pressing questions. That includes how much narrative ground Rebirth covers, the decision behind splitting it between two discs, and if there’s any form of data transfer between Remake and Rebirth.

What Was Remake Compared To Rebirth? 

Rebirth launches on February 29, a couple of months shy of Remake’s fourth anniversary. According to Hamaguchi, Remake’s development cycle was around four years, making the turnaround for Rebirth, a much larger game, seem relatively quick. It’s especially impressive since Square developed and released the PlayStation 5-exclusive Intermission story expansion and Intergrade upgrade in between. 

Hamaguchi credits working on Intermission/Intergrade for the smoother dev cycle, as it allowed the designers to become more intimately familiar with the PS5 (which Rebirth is exclusive to) and finish Rebirth within a similar timeframe despite its larger scope.  

“But at the same time, we were able to keep the development time [down] and be able to release in sort of this normal or standard time while having this immense volume of content,” Hamaguchi says through a translator. “So that’s something that we’re very confident about and very proud of.”

Rebirth covers how much of the story? 

When I asked what Rebirth’s stopping point will be, Tetsuya Nomura confirmed the story runs up to the end of the Forgotten Capital (a.k.a. The City of the Ancients) Nomura emphasizes, however, that Rebirth won’t follow events the same way as Remake. 

How do you transfer data from FFVII remake? 

Square Enix confirms that there is no sharing of progression between Remake or Rebirth. That means you won’t be bringing over the gear and materia earned in the first game. 

“While there is sort of this story that they are following throughout these different titles, [Rebirth] is sort of supposed to be a standalone on its own,” Hamaguchi explains. “So there’s no particular sort of growth parameters or abilities that you will be carrying over from the previous title.”

Hamaguchi reveals that Rebirth players who have saved their data from Remake/Intergrade will get an unknown summoning material at the beginning of Rebirth. 

Why two discs? 

Square has split Rebirth into two discs because it is such a large game. Hamaguchi says that 150GB is the size of the game, 100GB being on one disc while 50GB are on the second. However, you won’t be swapping discs like fans did with the original. The PS5’s architecture requires that players install both discs to play the full game. Then, you will only need one disc to complete the game.

Hamaguchi explains the decision to split Rebirth in this way had less to do with rekindling nostalgia and more as a method to preserve the team’s lofty vision for it. Square had always envisioned Rebirth as a massive, highly detailed world more immersive than Remake’s revamped Midgar. The designers would have had to reduce the content or ideas in order to fit the game on a Blu-ray, which is why doubling the number of discs was the only solution.

What minigames are being expanded?

Final Fantasy VII’s lighthearted mini-games make up much of the game’s charm. The recent State of Play Trailer was a good way to see them all again, and I asked Square which mini-games they were most eager to return to. Hamaguchi mentions Rufus Shinra’s inaugural parade. 

Cloud infiltrated the celebrations as a Shinra to lead the march by pressing buttons at the right time. Rebirth lets players collect the soldiers they want and then decide on how to organize them. This allows for a more interactive approach, resulting different ways of having the parade proceed. 

“So this time around, we’ve really changed some of the aspects of the original mini-game, kind of taking its elements but also really elevating that to match the standards of today and for this deeper, more fun, interesting experience,” Hamaguchi says. “And that’s something that we would like the users to experience as well.”

What’s Up With Vincent? 

Vincent Valentine’s brief appearance was an exciting highlight of the Rebirth story trailer at September’s PlayStation State of Play. We won’t reveal the character’s nature for newcomers, but he, like Yuffie, was an optional party member in the original game, so I asked Square if that would be the case again. Nomura confirms Vincent joins the group as part of Rebirth’s main story this time, but, unfortunately, he won’t be playable. 

Nomura explains that the warrior is simply a companion to the group, as Red XIII was in Remake. Nomura explained that this was the case as, in the first, Vincent is introduced to the group at the tail end of the story. Based on that answer, it sounds like we won’t be wielding Vincent’s power ourselves until the yet-to-be-titled third entry arrives. 

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be released on PlayStation 5 at midnight, February 29, 2019.