Hiya!

I was expecting Square Enix to show a lot of new stuff about the upcoming Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth during the recent Tokyo Game Show but I didn’t expect them to go that above and beyond in their presentation! I was already happy with the trailer and how some popular gamers got advanced previews with a demo build as they already showed enough. A lot of the stuff they did show during the Tokyo Game Show presentation was covered by the gamers who went to the Square Enix offices to try out the demo, for sure. However, the presentation did give us additional bits of info, like a good idea of how big the world map will be, a quick view of the town of Kalm, some sidequests, returning characters like Chadley, a piano minigame and many more. In short, there was a lot to process!

However, there was one thing I did notice and was very apparent in both the Tokyo Game Show preview and the demos the gamers got to play and that would be how much Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth plays a lot like a Western game. More specifically, it looks like it drew a lot of inspiration from the Horizon series of video games. While that can be a good thing since Horizon was a gorgeous game, I can’t help but think they took just a smidge too much from it.

First off, I do get why the folks over at Square Enix and especially Naoki Hamaguchi drew a lot of inspiration from the Horizon games. Those games are incredible in their own right and they are a whole lot of fun to play. Horizon is an open world game where exploration is a key part of the experience as, in those games, you’re not just walking around open fields all the time. No, you’re scaling cliffs as well as swimming through oceans and rivers, meaning you’re traversing through different kinds of terrain, making the experience a little more immersive and exciting as the areas and the hazards are going to be different.

So, I don’t really think it’s a bad idea for Hamaguchi to take some of the elements from the Horizon games and add them to the upcoming Rebirth. I am concerned, however, that they took too much from those games and did not bother to do something more creative with Rebirth’s gameplay. Take the part of the Tokyo Game Show presentation where Cloud has to sneak up behind chocobos to catch them. I don’t know Japanese but, based on context clues, it looks like Chocobo Billy hints that Cloud would be able to sneak up on those giant ridable chickens since his hair looks like the bushes chocobos like to hang around. Well, in the Horizon games, the main character, Aloy, has red hair, which is ultra convenient as all of the bushes she can hide in have a red tint on them. Sounds familiar?

That’s not the only big similarity in gameplay I saw during the Rebirth showcase. Chadley tells Cloud to go activate some Shinra towers as it’ll help him explore the area and, in turn, that would reveal important points in the map. This is also much like in Horizon, where Aloy would have to scale a giant giraffe-looking mech to reveal more of the map. Yes, the Rebirth demo looked like it was very simple as Cloud just walked up to the tower to turn it on. However, I’m betting some towers will be placed on some hard to reach places and some of these areas will be crawling with enemies, much like in Horizon. The side quest where Cloud has to use a chocobo’s strong sense of smell to track something down feels a whole lot like the tracking sidequests of Horizon as you have to follow an invisible trail but you have just the thing to make something invisible visible. Even the new resource collecting system in Rebirth where Cloud will have to pick up items to synthesize consumables like potions and the like is so familiar because you did the exact same kind of thing in Horizon.

Once again, let me reiterate how much I love Horizon and I know I will also fall in love with Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth when its released. The thing is, I don’t think they really did all that much to make it feel different from Horizon. They didn’t really put a Final Fantasy spin on these mechanics to differentiate them from Horizon. To be fair, I wouldn’t really know what to change or add to these systems to give them a more Final Fantasy flavor. Then again, I’m not the creative director of a big, upcoming triple-A sequel to one of the most anticipated games of next year!

Thankfully, not everything shown off during the Rebirth Tokyo Game Show was essentially copied from Horizon. There were some unique elements sprinkled in as well. The hunting sidequests do feel different as there are various goals to meet with each hunt. The idea of having some weird AI tell you more about the flora and animals around Cloud as he explores is much better than having to open up some dumb encyclopedia in a sub-menu. I’m also digging the new piano minigame. I just know this is going to eat up a lot of my time as I am a frustrated musician and this will allow me to live my dream to play Aerith’s Theme on a piano!

I realize my gripes are going to feel very petty by the time Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth comes out as I just know I’m going to be one of those gamers who will be playing the game and will scour the lands of Midgar trying to collect every loose piece of scrap so I can make one more potion and I will be hiding in those very same bushes, trying to get that elusive super-quick chocobo so I can win all the races at Gold Saucer. I know this because I spent more than 100 hours playing Remake so I could unlock every cutscene, every outfit for Cloud, Tifa and Aerith and get every cutscene. Yes, even the one where Cloud visits Barrett in Aerith’s flower garden. That’s how dedicated and in love with Remake I was. I don’t see that changing in Rebirth because, just from this tiny peek into the game, I’m already in love with it and I can’t wait to plunk as many hours as I need to squeeze everything the game has to offer.

Byee!

What do you think of how similar Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is to the Horizon games? Let me know in the comments section below!