Several new interviews have come out about the Crisis Core remaster and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which were officially announced last month.
Since their announcement, there has been much speculation on how Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core Reunion might tie into the remake and how much Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will diverge from the original.
These new interviews shed some more light on the matter.
Gematsu has a nice round-up of the key information, as well as links to the individual interviews.
Although they’re officially referring to Crisis Core as a remaster, it sounds like they’ve done quite a lot. The assets have been replaced, combat has been adjusted to make it smoother, with combos and shortcuts, and the camera can be freely controlled.
However, when it comes to the story, it is a “faithful reproduction” of the original Crisis Core, and “no new story has been added as a result of Final Fantasy VII Remake.”
Fans have interpreted this in many ways (including some who are convinced they’re lying).
Now let’s talk about what the interviews covered regarding Rebirth. First, their rationale for calling it Rebirth instead of Remake 2 is that… calling it Remake 2 might make fans think there will be a 3, 4, 5, etc. They also want the title to give the impression that you can play Rebirth without having played Remake.
Okay… I don’t even know what to do with that first part, but this is the same company that picked the title Bravely Default 2 to make sure fans wouldn’t think it was a direct sequel…
The second part of that is surprising, though. Apparently they believe the story in Rebirth can be enjoyed on its own without the context from Remake. (Then again, companies tend to insist you can start with the newest entry no matter how reliant it is on its predecessors.)
Rebirth will be massive and vast, but they haven’t revealed whether or not it will be open world yet. That will be part of the next batch of information about the game.
More importantly, they assured fans that the trilogy will not trim down the story. Some of the progression is different, and “the order in which you visit some places may change,” but their policy is to not cut content. It will also contain new mysteries, but they’ve tried to avoid deviating from the original, which is… interesting.
That comment in particular has led to a new wave of arguments over whether this remake is telling a completely new story or if it is still following the original’s plot.
I’m curious about where they’re going with this. I’m also looking forward to the next time they release information about Rebirth, since it sounds like it’ll deal with the world. I’d prefer for Rebirth not to be open world, but having large zones to explore would be nice to see.
What do you think about the latest Crisis Core and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth interviews?
