Final Fantasy VII Rebirth State of Play Trailer Breakdown
Let Me Have The Game Now Please
The most recent State of Play timed around TGS was pretty decent and it ended with an explosive new trailer for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I usually try to manage my hype but when it comes to Final Fantasy all bets are out of the window with me and I genuinely am incredibly excited with how this game is shaping up. I can’t wait to be playing in February. Below is a trailer breakdown of what I believe are the events in the trailer. As a result, there will be spoilers for Final Fantasy VII Remake, the original and Crisis Core. Here is a link to the trailer, let’s get right into it.
00:00 – The trailer opens up with a ruined city. Could be Midgar or related to the scenes shown in the last trailer where the main cast is being carried off in stretchers. Elmyra is commenting on it talking about how everyone thinks the world is ending. Zack can be seen carrying Cloud. Looks like it’s Midgar and after the events of Crisis Core. The words “The world will be saved but will you?” are shown on screen. Is this referring to Aerith dying? Or possibly how the player might feel after the events of this game? Possibly even Zack being alive. Aerith even says she doesn’t like the world, perhaps she is referring to the state of the survived world. Could even be an alternative world.
00:14 – Junon appears on screen and it looks stunning, it’s during Rufus’s Inauguration Ceremony. In the original game, there is a minigame where you have to take part in the Shinra Army marching through the streets to celebrate the inauguration. Since the release of this trailer, Square Enix has confirmed that the minigame will return and will be expanded. I love a bit of Final Fantasy whimsy. Junon has a gigantic cannon in the town which is fired and it makes me think it could be related to attacking Ultimate Weapon similar to what happened quite late in the first game. It has been confirmed since that Rebrith will finish at the Forgotten Capitol in the original game and that the order of events is changing slightly. Sephiroth even talks about a new world order suggesting again that this game is some kind of sequel to the original.
00:27 – There is a montage of the party running around the open world. I am not entirely sure what the first area is but it looks like it could be a Mako Reactor in the background. If it is a reactor then I think it is Mt Corel or Nibelheim. During this montage a few buildings can be seen inside a mountain, this could again be the same place or the start of showing Under Junon. This is followed by the Planetary Observatory in Cosmo Canyon, which is Red XIII’s hometown. In the original game, you learn more about the world here and Red’s past. There is even a sign that says Cosmo Canyon.
00:32 – Shows fighting from the game including Red XIII being fully playable.
00:41 – During this segment, you can see Sephiroth finding out about who he truly is in the events of Nibelheim. He sees a monster created from the Jenova Cells in the Mako Reactor. The darkness of these events is then contrasted with some levity by showing Cloud talking to a cat sitting on a stuffed moogle called Cait Sith who says he wants help find Sephiroth. I wonder if they will hide his true identity in this game. It’s an interesting one, you find him in the Gold Saucer in the original game but the backgrounds sort of look more like Kalm to me. I guess though this scene doesn’t necessarily need to be the first time they both meet.
00:57 – Cait Sith can be seen fighting so he is playable in this game. Interestingly it looks like you can switch between having the big fluffy moogle underneath him or the cat fighting on his own. After this, you can see the crew in a red car. This is probably the one they get from Dio after the Gold Saucer jail events which in the original game, it allowed the party to travel on shallow bodies of water.
1:02 – Speaking of traversal it’s time to see various methods of transport. Black Chocobos are used to climb mountains, Green Chocobos to fly and a Segway to go around a beach town which I would presume is Costa Del Sol can all be seen in this section. Interestingly it looks like the Chocobos' abilities are slightly different to the original game. For example, Green Chocobos climbed mountains in the original rather than flying. Black Chocobos were able to cross water and mountains. Voice over is someone telling presumably Cloud about his “brothers having a get-together”. I think this will be related to the men in black capes and Reunion.
01:07 – In this section, the party find out about how SOLDIERs suffer from Cellular degradation. Interesting Aerith is in this shot and the person telling them is a Doctor. The main Doctor in the original events of the game is the Doctor who helps Cloud after he falls into the lifestream. This was originally in Mideel, which in the original game is well after Aerith died. With Rebirth finishing at the point where Aerith died in the original and the Weapons continually cropping up I think it means this is a change of order of events. Sephiroth taunts Cloud presumably in his mind again. Perhaps Cloud’s identity issues might even be addressed in this game.
01:24 – The Midgar Zolom appears which you have to get around once you leave Kalm in the original game, before reaching the Mythril Mine. The camera is close to the snake which to me suggests you have to fight it the first time you see it. In the original game, you get a Chocobo and just run away from the snake instead.
01:28 – This looks to be the boss fight Under Junon where in the original game you save the little girl from a Levithan-looking monster called Bottomswell. It’s sort of like a water snake. This is followed by the confirmation of Yuffie being in the party as she is doing a synergy attack with Barret, followed by another synergy attack with Caith Sith and Aerith, and a final one with Cloud and Sephiroth in Nibelheim during the dissection in Kalm where Cloud fills the party in on the events that happened.
01:48 – we see some summon monsters, namely a gigantic, beautiful Alexander. The second summon monster I had to look up, I think it’s Kujata running around which is sort of like a bull that has fire attacks, this is followed by the recurring intense and impressive Odin.
01:59 – The party including Yuffie are going to the Gold Saucer in a cable car. Andrea is back possibly because he was so well-received by the community, I hope Cloud gets to dance with him again which made me giggle so much in Remake. A part of me hopes and wonders if he will have a bigger part this time. I wouldn’t be totally against him being a guest party member for a little bit. Chocobo Racing is shown which I reckon could be a minigame played anytime, once the events of Corel Prison in the original game where you have to race and win to get out of there. Another minigame follows which isn’t too dissimilar to Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots followed by a motorbike minigame both of which were in the original game.
02:17 – The trailer then cuts back to story content. Zack is carrying Cloud and here we see Kyrie who is seen in Remake as the Town Crier spreading Shinra’s propaganda after the Shira dropped the plate on Sector 7. Interestingly Zack forces her to hold Cloud for a second so I guess she has met Cloud before which wasn’t entirely clear in the first game.
02:22 – back to Junon and this is the inauguration for sure. I can’t figure out who the person in the hood is and I think I will get annoyed when I do find out because it should have been obvious to me.
02:29 – Tifa is floating in the water talking about the Weapon. This will likely be linked to the Underwater Reactor events in the first game and her talking about Ultimate Weapon, it looks a lot like Sin from Final Fantasy X this time. The voiceover who mentions that the weapons appear when the planet is in grave danger sounds either like Biggs to me, or even Vincent as he appears in the next scene.
02:35 – Vincent appears unsurprisingly. Yuffie and Cait Sith are here so it suggests it’s relatively late in the game. I wonder if they will first introduce him in the Nibelheim flashback in Kalm. It’s been confirmed that he won’t be playable in this game. Possibly another AI character like Red XIII was in Remake. Various fight scenes are being shown whilst Sephiroth is talking about Reunion. Some of this looks like the North Crater but that seems too far into the game unless the ordering of the events has changed. Midgar buildings float in the background too. Maybe it’s some timeline trickery like that in Remake's final chapter.
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