Last September, we had the opportunity to put our hands for the very first time on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second part of the remake project of this cult episode (read our impressions of the time). Ahead of its launch, Square Enix once again offered us the opportunity to approach the beast, this time during an event organized in London at the end of January, where producer Yoshinori Kitase and game director Naoki Hamaguchi made the trip. Even though we were a little pressed for time, it still allowed us to play the whole Chapter 1 and discover the beginning of Chapter 2has Kalm then with the group’s first steps into the vast open area of the Prairie Region. For this session, we opted for the French dubbing, which did not disappoint us for a single moment and should satisfy a majority of players, who could otherwise choose between Japanese and English. To leave you with the pleasure of discovery, we will avoid dwelling too much on the plot details. in the lines below. Note, however, that elements of the original FFVII and the end of Intergrade will be discussed. And, no, we unfortunately did not see the shadow of Zach in this start of an adventure, which raises many questions among fans.
All the period elements have been perfectly transcribed and sublimated.
Since it is a direct sequel and the end of the PS5 version of FFVII Remake showed us the group arriving near Kalm, we could have believed that the beginning of the adventure would resume exactly at that moment. Well, not quite, because after a cutscene reminding us of the events that occurred at Midgarwe are directly treated to the flashback of the incident of Nibelheimwith at times some comments from the group or even their appearance at the inn acting as a transition. All the period elements have been perfectly transcribed and better yet, sublimated by modern staging and current technical means, with a few details as clues as to the truth of what is shown to us. And, yes, the remarks and choice of dialogue when entering Tifa are still there! The voice dubbing also makes the situation much more comical. The developers have also been generous by adding a mini-game with the pianowithout any challenge to achieve in the present case, but which should come back later during the adventure.
Some changes were however made, notably in the staging of Sephiroth in relation to the villagers, making his actions thereafter all the more dramatic. Moreover, the rise of Mount Nibel has been extended with several passages, including one before the bridge serving as a tutorial. The first demo that we played previously was inserted before our arrival at the reactor, allowing you to enjoy the SOLDIER of 1D Classwhich is, as a reminder, playable during this section and delivers a feeling of power much greater than Cloud, without falling into excess. However, we noticed a rather curious choice in the last room. In the original game, the valve to close is located directly there. From now on, we have to go out again to realize A QTY using adaptive triggers. Everything suggests that this is a way for developers to hide any loading or modification of locations, which is actually quite clever. Changes were also made to the Shinra Manornotably in the access to the basement, while the monologue of Sephiroth now reuses elements from that of Crisis Core.
As for the fire scene, that too was stretched out and may come off as slightly frustrating. Since we were pressed for time, this must not have helped. Indeed, Cloud moves extremely slowly due to injurywhich allows us to stage the NPCs in parallel with our movements with notes of the theme of Sephiroth, but at the cost of seeing our character dragging himself. In addition, the passage which seems logical for progression is blocked and a landslide then makes us turn back. In short, it’s just a detail, but there was undoubtedly better to do. On the other hand, Cloud must shortly after crawl on the ground in suffering, requiring us to use the adaptive triggers again, whose harshness goes hand in hand with the situation, emphasizing our helplessness. The game being only PEGI 16don’t expect to see too much bloody violence on the screen (there is still some blood at times), which is quite a shame, as the camera shots serve to mask certain atrocities.
Now let’s talk about Kalmwhich has almost nothing to do with the city of origin very dull. It is now full of life and details in its streets, not to mention that it is larger, even if we were not able to visit everything due to an unprecedented story event leading us quickly to take an underground passage leading into the open area, with the scene already seen in the trailers. During this brief stay, we were still able to visit a few shops and climb to the top of its panoramic bell tower in the company ofAerith on the occasion of a date.
This Final Fantasy VII Rebirth already has everything to please.
Moreover, it was offered to us by the hostel manager Broden A deck of Queen’s Blooda new strategic card game of which we will be able to find adversaries through Gaia, each of which allows you to obtain additional cards as a reward. We had time to play a game, which we won purely by luck, even if by reviewing our recorded game we were apparently able to grasp the basics. Each of our cards has a value (top right) added on the line where it is placed, a number of pawns necessary for its placement and a geometric shape with a white box indicating its location and several yellows where pawns will appear. Once it is no longer possible to put cards on the field, it is time for the score to be carried out by line, the player with the greatest number collecting the points of the latter, the overall score the highest winning next. As saying that this additional activity may well occupy us for many hours !
Many new scenes come give more depth to the relationships between the members of our groupespecially with regard to the “love triangle” Cloud, Tifa And Aerithwhose evolution we look forward to following. Limited time dialogue choices can increase our affinity with specific characters and unlock access to special events. Replayability could therefore be considerably increased for fans wishing to discover all the possibilities.
Another new feature linked to the tasks carried out with our companions, THE Team levelwhose evolution will unlock new abilities in the codex of each member. Kezako? This is’a skill tree specific to each character, visibly quite summary in terms of branches and whose abilities are unlocked via P.A.. The subtlety will come from the fact that you will have to go to a bookstore or a kiosk Maghnata in order to access it, a rather curious choice at first glance that it will only be possible to judge over time.
A whole weapon improvement system has also been integratedwith abilities to personalize them, whose locations are unlocked by increasing their level and which are distinct from materials. If this seems a little too complicated, three auto-enhancement settings (balanced, attack and defense) can be chosen depending on your playing style. Additionally, by using a weapon regularly we will increase its specific skill. When its mastery rate is at its maximum, it will then be possible to allocate it to our other offensive equipment. Obviously, we have only seen the basics, but this suggests lots of good things regarding the aspect RPG. A synthesis tablet is also offered to us, serving as its name indicates to design objects like potions using the resources gleaned. The more we use this system of crafting and the more we gainEXP, unlocking even more possibilities. Incidentally, and this is a fairly minor flaw in the end, certain NPCs introducing or mentioning the functionalities described above gave us the impression of coming from a video game by pronouncing certain sentences that sounded very tutorial or tip, c It’s a bit of a shame.
We were therefore able to explore the open world for a short while, where in addition to the various creatures to fight, we could carry out all kinds of activities. Discovery of Treasure caches, turn activations for Chadley (yes, at the Ubisoft) revealing points of interest on the vast map, capturing Chocobos, excavation of objects on the backs of these mounts, investigations of areas to search for relics, taking photos with beautiful panoramas, combat simulator… the additional content will not be lacking, but it remains to be seen if it will not be too redundant over time. Indeed, we can understand that this first zone serves to introduce us to plenty, but it should not end in an overdose.
Our new impressions: Can’t wait!
With content that promises to be gargantuan, splendid graphics with great richness in detail, an aspect RPG which promises to be very advanced and very gripping fights, this Final Fantasy VII Rebirth already has everything to please. Its scenario mixing known and sublimated elements with new narrative material should keep us in suspense if these first hours are a good indicator of what will follow. We are therefore looking forward to setting out in pursuit of Sephirotheven if the outcome risks proving fatal.
You can pre-order Final Fantasy VII Rebirth from the following retailers:
| Alexandre SAMSON (Omega Law) Responsible Proofreader – Editor | ||
| Addicted to Assassin’s Creed and Destiny, big fan of RPGs and passionate about video game experiences in general. Reader of comics (DC) and various mangas (One Piece!). Chemist by training and Whovian at heart. | ||
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