After playing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for the first time (read my full review here), I spoke with Director Naoki Hamaguchi, Producer Yoshinori Kitase, and Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura to find out a few things. We sought answers to hot questions. This includes how much narrative scope Rebirth covers, the decision behind splitting it across his two discs, and any form of separation between Rebirth and Rebirth. Includes whether there is data transfer.
How did the development of Rebirth compare to the remake?
Rebirth will be released on February 29th, a few months before the remake’s fourth anniversary. According to Hamaguchi, the development cycle for Remake was about four years, so it seems like the development time for his Rebirth, which is a larger game, was relatively quick. This is especially impressive since Square developed and released his PlayStation 5 exclusive His Intermission story expansion, and his Intergrade upgrade in between.
Mr. Hamaguchi appreciates the smoother development cycle of Intermission/Intergrade. Because this allowed the designer to be more familiar with his PS5 (which Rebirth is exclusive to) and allow Rebirth to be completed in a similar time frame despite its larger scope.
“But at the same time, we were able to protect our development time.” [down] We have such a huge amount of content and can release it in some kind of normal or standard time,” Hamaguchi said through an interpreter. “That’s something we’re very confident in and very proud of.”
How much of the story will Rebirth cover?
When asked where Rebirth will end, Tetsuya Nomura confirmed that the story will continue until the end of the Forgotten Capital (also known as the “Ancient City”). However, as anyone who has finished Remake will know, Nomura emphasizes that events in Rebirth will not proceed in the same order or manner as in the original game.
Can I carry over data from FFVII Remake?
Square Enix has also confirmed that no progress will be shared between the remake and reverse versions. This means that equipment and materia earned in the first game will not carry over.
“There’s kind of a story that they’re following through these different titles; [Rebirth] As such, it is meant to be standalone,” Hamaguchi explains. “Therefore, there are no particular growth parameters or abilities inherited from the previous game.”
However, Hamaguchi reveals that players with Remake/Intergrade save data will receive an unknown summon materia at the start of Rebirth.
![Final Fantasy VII Reverse PlayStation 5](https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2023/09/14/44d1fb35/ff7_06.jpg)
Why 2 discs?
Rebirth is so big that Square split it into two discs. Mr. Hamaguchi says that the game is 150 GB, and each disc has 100 discs, and each disc has 50 discs. However, fans will not be swapping discs like they did with the original version. Due to the PS5’s architecture, players will first install both discs to install the entire game. Then he will need only one of them to play the whole game.
Hamaguchi explains that the decision to split Rebirth in this way was made more as a way to maintain the team’s lofty vision than to rekindle nostalgia. Square always envisioned Rebirth as a larger, highly detailed world that would be more immersive than the Midgar remake. Therefore, cramming it onto one His Blu-ray would force the designers to scale down the content and ideas, so increasing the discs to two His Blu-rays became the obvious solution.
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What minigames have been expanded?
Final Fantasy VII’s fun mini-games are a big part of the game’s appeal. While it was nice to see some of them return in the recent State of Play trailer, I asked Square if there were any particular minigames the team was most excited to revisit. I did. Hamaguchi calls for Rufus Shinra’s inaugural parade.
In the original, Cloud infiltrates the festival disguised as a Shinra soldier and presses a well-timed button to lead the procession. Rebirth takes a more hands-on approach as players gather their soldiers and decide how to deploy them, resulting in different versions of how the parade progresses.
“So this time, we’ve significantly changed some aspects of the original mini-game, incorporating elements of it, but elevating it even further to deliver an even deeper, more fun and interesting experience by today’s standards.” ” Hamaguchi says. “That’s what we want our users to experience.”
![](https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2023/09/20/e2834c1d/ff7rebirth_vincent_tease.jpg)
What happened to Vincent?
Vincent Valentine’s brief appearance was an exciting highlight of the Rebirth story trailer at September’s PlayStation State of Play. I won’t reveal the character’s personality for the uninitiated, 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 confirmed that Vincent will be joining the group as part of Rebirth’s main story this time around, but unfortunately he won’t be playable.
Instead, the brooding warrior simply accompanies the party, like in the remake of Red XIII. Mr. Nomura explains that this is because in the original story, Vincent joins the party at the end of the story. Based on that answer, it looks like we won’t be wielding Vincent’s powers ourselves until his yet-to-be-titled third work arrives.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launches on February 29th for PlayStation 5