Game news Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: what can we expect for the last opus of the FF7 Remake trilogy?

The Highwind, the open door to a truly open world

With the release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirththe trilogy follows a gradual evolution. While we became familiar with the universe, the issues of this trilogy and, above all, the city of Midgar in the episode Remake, Rebirth, he, introduces us to the world and the different biomes that we can visit across the planet Gaia. Thanks to this openness, the formula was able to take a step forward and migrate towards a semi-open world structure. Therefore, we can expect an even more open formula in the third and final opus, notably because our group will have to swap Cid’s Tiny Bronco for Shinra’s Highwind. For developers, this is a new challenge, especially because Naoki Hamaguchi, lead director of Rebirthwants to ensure that the map can be explored as much as the one we explored in the 1997 episode.

What should remove a thorn in the side of the developers is the work already accomplished in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in terms of universe. As Hamaguchi revealed, a large part of the design of the third opus has already been done. Tetsuya Nomura, creative director of Final Fantasy VII Rebirtheven revealed that development of this final chapter began in June 2022. This could also be a clue to the release of “Part 3”, reducing the launch window by a few months and possibly even giving us hope for commercialization in 2027. Well, that’s another subject! To return to the way of reviewing exploration methods, in comparison to RebirthHamaguchi wants “ absolutely address the question of what we can expect from our experience with the Highwind to explore the world “. It must be recognized that the perspective of flying over the regions of Gaia to go from one point to another will be one of the key arguments of the sequel to Rebirth. It could well be that we will have, within a few years, the open world that we so hoped for for the license Final Fantasy.

One of the most incredible casts in the Final Fantasy universe, and perhaps even more so in the FF7 Rebirth sequel

When communicating around Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, this was one of the points that made fans raise eyebrows: only Red XIII (Nanaki, his real name) and Cait Sith would be part of the new playable characters in this opus. Obviously, there is also Yuffie who joins the gang but, given that she represented the main heroine of the DLC Intermissionthis is not counted in the new characters of Rebirth. What about Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine then, but that can easily be understood. Once again, the combat system proposed by the trilogy Remake will have to go up an extra notch, and we needed (at least) two additional characters for that and to keep some under control. However, as we saw with Rebirthit’s not just the original 1997 team that is playable: Zack Fair was also entitled to his controllable sequences.

From a storyline point of view, the sequel to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth could indeed offer us the ultimate adventure, paying homage, if a release in 2027 materializes, no less than thirty years from Final Fantasy VII, in the various and varied forms that we know. Given the conclusion of Final Fantasy VII Rebirththe third part actually has all the keys in hand to expand on the original plot and revolutionize it as you wish by drawing from the multitude of characters who are now inseparable from Final Fantasy 7. Many players will say it, the characters of Final Fantasy VII are the centerpiece of this adventure. Therefore, discover or even find familiar faces – Angeal, Genesis, Weiss, Nero, Elfé, Evan (Rufus’ half-brother) and many more, for example – is one of the possible perspectives for the third part of the project Final Fantasy VII Remake.

See Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on Amazon

At the same time, we know and we don’t know where the post-FF7 Rebirth takes us, and that’s what’s beautiful

Of course, the section which will succeed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth must keep in mind that he still has the content of CDs n°2 and 3 from 1997 to be (re)adapted to conclude this remake project. Undeniably, we should expect the group to begin the crossing to the Ice Cube Village and the Great Glacier – therefore, a new biome to explore in line with those of Rebirth -, climbs to the top of the North Crater to attend the Reunion, before returning to Junon, Corel, Fort Condor, Nibelheim, Cosmo Canyon then Midgar, obviously passing through Mideel. Because, yes, as we could see with Rebirthsome small adjustments have been made to streamline the narration and better distribute the different adventures between the different sections. We noted, among other things, that the Fusée Cité (Rocket Town, in the original version) had voluntarily been put aside in Rebirth to favor the green and optional region (in the original game) of Gongaga, the native stronghold of Zack’s character. And then there is also all the Wutai portion that was set aside for further treatment – there is indeed a lot to say! – in the third part.

Therefore, we should surely expect a similar strategy in the third part, more particularly in the way of fleshing out certain areas more or less set back in the original experience. We noticed this with Remake : the Creative Business Unit 1 has made a specialty of extrapolation, as evidenced by its dozens and dozens of hours spent in Midgar in the opus released in 2020. With that in mind, we can therefore imagine discovering a Fusée Cité, a town of Mideel as well as other passages in a more detailed way. For the moment, the course of events is still a well-kept secret from the developers, but we can expect some changes. In the same way, due to an unpublished scene from Final Fantasy VII Rebirthwe can already ask ourselves a question: SpoilerDisplayHidewill we still have to face the Weapons in this last portion? While knowing the pacifism with which one of them protected Tifa within the River of Life and the role they have to play in the destiny of the planet, we could have surprises . And then, icing on the cake, there is obviously SpoilerDisplayHidethis story about these worlds (the different timelines, in short) which flow through the River of Life and which are full of promises regarding the narration and which increase tenfold the field of possibilities on what may contain the after Rebirth .

An even more developed lore connected to the Final Fantasy VII remakes

We had already pointed this out through the numerous papers that we wrote to accompany the release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthbut borrowings from the lore that developed around this episode are legion in this second part. There are even references to other games that are embedded in the different scenes, like the blue ice that Elena holds when the TURKs fly over the Corel desert: a tribute to Square’s other great license Enix, dear to the heart of Tetsuya Nomura, Kingdom Hearts. Besides, speaking of Tetsuya Nomura, we can deduce that everything that was created around Final Fantasy 7 had and will have (surely even more) importance in the third part. It was the Japanese creative who himself highlighted this idea by mentioning that the ending would indeed be connected to the animated film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Thus, between literary elements (novels and short stories, like the one recently published about Cloud), filmic and video games, we will therefore have to keep up to date to tackle the future Rebirth in the best possible conditions.

Through this last stone of the “Final Fantasy VII, remake version” building, we must therefore expect a sort of interconnection linking all the projects to a certain extent, either superficially (by slipping in slight references) or by including much less trivial details. Recently, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth proved it very clearly by doing the junction with Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis and the chapters of The First Soldier. Without necessarily going into details, in particular to avoid spoiling your discovery, the mobile game has taken a completely different turn since the release of the sequel to FF7 Remake and greatly deserves our attention. It is not for nothing that the teams decided to isolate the Wutai part of the game, and we understand better why. Even more even when we’re done Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth ! Broadly speaking, we should indeed expect a war between the forces of Shinra and those of Wutai, made up in part of one of the branches of the Avalanche group, and this is perhaps what Sephiroth was looking to create from the beginning. There is no doubt that between these new events, the adventures which will make us once again survey the four corners of the planet and the surprise twists and infinite possibilities suggested by the end of Rebirththere will be reason to firmly wait for the true conclusion of the remakes of FF7.