Hiya!

So, I said a while back I was going to get a PlayStation 5 for Christmas because I thought they were going to drop the price of the “fat” version of the system as the Slim version was being released for the Holidays. It turns out it was just being released in the first world areas. Us third world countries, such as the Philippines, will have to wait for, as the rumors suggest, until April for the Slim version of Sony’s latest console to arrive at our shore, meaning my predicted price drop will come true then. This is why I still haven’t availed of a brand new PlayStation 5 yet.

Well, after watching the dedicated Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth State of Play show, I may just have to bite the bullet and get one. So, what did they show during the Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth-centric State of Play that got me so hot and bothered? Well, frankly, everything!

Honestly, I was kind of shocked as to why Sony didn’t just include a smidgeon of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth information during their original State of Play. After seeing the dedicated one for the game, I understood why they did this. One, they didn’t want to steal any thunder from Hideo Kojima’s announcement for Death Stranding 2 and his new video game-movie hybrid. Second, which is the most telling, is that they really had a ton of things to show off! Yes, Square Enix totally deserved a separate show for Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth!

Based on the State of Play, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is going to be huge! We all knew ahead of time it was going to be this world spanning adventure but I don’t think a lot of us could have predicted how big the world was going to be. I remember playing the original Final Fantasy VII and, while the open world was large, I don’t think it holds a candle to how much Square Enix expanded the world in Rebirth.

This is very evident in the towns littered throughout the world. In the original game, they were just really small areas, which did make them seem quaint. However, places like the Gold Saucer, which is supposed to be this Disneyland-esque wonderland just felt weird as you would need to go through tubes to get to the different areas. That doesn’t seem to be the case in Rebirth as even the main lobby looks humungous! Even tiny towns like Nibelheim looks like you would have to spend at least an hour to fully explore it, instead of the few minutes it took me in the original.

There’s also the abundance of minigames, which may not tickle your fancy but it certainly does mine! I’ll tell you a secret: I spent probably a fourth of my playthrough of the original Final Fantasy VII at Gold Saucer playing the minigames there because I wanted to collect as many tickets as I could. I’m betting this will be become my new obsession with Rebirth. I can already see myself spending hours on the piano minigame, trying to perfect each and every song, despite my thumbs getting all numb from all of the twisting and turning I’ll need to do! Hope it’s not going to be too arduous as the video gameplay appears.

It also looks like Square Enix worked on the side quests as it looks like they added a ton of them! That’s because a lot of them will be dealing with not only helping out the various NPC characters throughout this already expansive world, but it does look like how you deal with these side quests, like who you take with you, will also factor in with some kind of bond system. They didn’t go into details but there’s now something called a Folio system where you can unlock team attacks between specific people.

It doesn’t seem like it’ll just be a bond between Cloud and another party member as well. The State of Play showed off some additional team attacks, like Aerith putting on shades before teaming up with Barret, Cait Sith riding on Red XIII’s back and even Yuffie doing some Naruto shadow-jutsu when partnering with Aerith. As someone who played Final Fantasy VII: Remake and got a 100% completion rate, this will be problematic as I don’t know how much time Rebirth is going to suck in order for me to get everyone’s bond to collect every single team up attack! Still, it should be a fun process to find out!

There’s also the matter of the date at the Gold Saucer. This is an extremely big deal for Final Fantasy VII fans as it’s pretty much their chance to ship Cloud with whomever they wish, leading to the debate regarding who his canon love interest is. In the original game, I believe you could date Aerith (which is who I’m picking), Tifa, Barrett and Yuffie. Well, they hint you can take Caith Sith and Red XIII because, while they’re talking about the dating aspect, they show a screen depicting the other party members with little emojis floating above them. You can clearly see one for Caith Sith and Red XIII! So, you know I’ll have to replay the game several times just so I can see what their dates will look like!

Speaking of the party, they’re not just window dressing in the open world anymore. No, they suggest they will be a necessity when exploring the world as each of them have individual abilities to help you get around. Barrett obviously shoots stuff but Tifa retains her grappling gun, which she can use to get to high up places. I want to see how this differs from Red XIII’s climbing ability and Yuffie’s swinging ability. Maybe it’ll make more sense when we see these in action.

However, the most interesting thing they did reveal from the Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth State of Play were the story bits which is not related to the original version. Sure, they showed Dyne’s dilemma as well as the Temple of the Ancients. However, there’s a ton of stuff which were featured that didn’t appear in the original. The mere fact they had a lot of returning NPCs from Remake show up in Rebirth means Square Enix will make the story even more expansive! The original Final Fantasy VII was already a big game. What’s Rebirth going to be like to 100%? The mind boggles!

What really hurts me right now is I really want to play even just a smidgeon of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and, if I already owned a PlayStation 5, I could be doing that right now instead of how this State of Play made me pine away for this game. That’s because they announced they just released a demo for it! Sure, it’s only for the “intro” level and the wider, open world version will be made available sometime in the future. Still, I can’t help but be envious of the gamers who are getting a taste for Rebirth right now!

If the State of Play’s job is to get people hyped up for the game, this did an excellent job. Why? Well, guess who’s getting a non-discounted “fat” PlayStation 5 this month? This gal!

Byee!

What did you this of the Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth-centric State of Play? Let me know in the comments section below!