Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis Beta Delayed to Summer

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Dec 122022
 

It’s been a while since we last heard about Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, the upcoming mobile game intended to cover the entire Final Fantasy VII Compilation.

It was supposed to receive a beta test this year, but that never happened.

Well, a new trailer has finally comes out, and it turns out the Ever Crisis closed beta test has been delayed to summer 2023. That’s quite a delay, especially for just the beta.

The new trailer shows a glimpse at how you’ll select episodes to play through, combat from different points in the timeline, and a few other scenes, including a look at the Chocobo Farm, where it seems you’ll be able to trade medals for a Chocobo.

(Seeing the “Draws” menu option reminds me that this is unfortunately a gacha game, but I’m still hoping it won’t be too intrusive.)

We also get another look at short-haired, younger Sephiroth at the end of the trailer.

A few scenes show characters fighting in scenes where they don’t belong, but previous interviews had implied that’s a thing for replaying chapters, so I’m not too worried about it. I have mixed feelings about Ever Crisis since I’m not a fan of gacha games, but I’m still interested in seeing what it will be like.

What do you think of Ever Crisis’s latest trailer?

Crisis Core Remaster Will Remain Faithful, Rebirth Won’t Cut Content

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Jul 082022
 

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?

FFXVI Confirms AI-Controlled Party Members, No Open World, and More

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Jun 222022
 

The awaited Final Fantasy XVI interviews have appeared and provided us with a lot of interesting new details and answers to questions we’ve had ever since the previous trailer.

Probably the most important information comes from the interview with IGN, in which Naoki Yoshida addressed the question of party members.

Final Fantasy XVI will have AI-controlled party members who “participate in battle, as well as trade banter with Clive.”

So while it sounds like there won’t be other controllable characters, fans who were mainly concerned about the lack of a party for story reasons should be pleased to know Clive won’t be a solo adventurer after all.

We’ve already speculated that Benedikta and Hugo might be party members, but another possibility is the puppy shown in the first trailer. According to Yoshida, the puppy is “more wolf than dog” and is named Torgal. He wouldn’t say if Torgal is a party member or not but said we’ll have to “wait and see.”

Curiously, a detail from the interview with Famitsu, translated here, is that you will have a “buddy” in every battle with you who can be issued commands. Right now, Torgal seems to be the best candidate for that role.

One more important answer from IGN’s interview is that Final Fantasy XVI is not open world. Instead it has an “area-based game design,” which for me brings to mind the sort of games I prefer, ones that aren’t fully open but still have large areas to explore.

Now, some story details came from GameSpot’s interview, which revealed that Final Fantasy XVI will follow Clive in his teens, in his 20s, and in his 30s. Due to these time skips, details about the world will be revealed through side quests and an in-game compendium. Final Fantasy XVI will be “a complete experience so that no other tertiary content will be required to enjoy or understand it.”

This interview also touched upon the M rating, which Yoshida said is basically so that they can explore mature themes without feeling limited.

Meanwhile, the interview with Game Informer revealed that the one-on-one Eikon battles we saw in the trailer will actually be quite unique, with each of these battles having its own system.

As examples, Yoshida suggested one Eikon versus Eikon battle might be “reminiscent of a 3D shooter,” while another could be “like a pro wrestling match,” and a third might “transform an entire area into a battlefield.” These battles all have their own UI, which was hidden in the trailer to avoid spoilers. So the Eikon battles sound like they might be quite interesting and unexpected.

The Game Informer interview also mentioned that a third trailer will be out this fall.

Finally, the PlayStation Blog interview revealed that the game is “fully playable from start to finish” and the remaining time is required for voiceovers, playtesting, and debugging.

There is a lot of information spread across all these interviews, and I didn’t cover it all, only the pieces that stood out to me the most. I’m happy to know we’ll have at least an AI-controlled party and that it isn’t an open world game. What do you think about the latest Final Fantasy XVI details?

(Meanwhile, there was a Nintendo Direct today focused on Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which I didn’t watch since I don’t want to see too much of the game ahead of time, but I did see that it’ll get a story expansion DLC like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 did. If it’s as good as Torna, that’s fantastic news!)

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