Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s new trailer was undoubtedly the star of the show in Sony’s September 14 PlayStation State of Play presentation. The highly anticipated second installment of the Final Fantasy VII remake looks better than ever and damn, that trailer was packed full of fascinating morsels.
Three minutes in length, the trailer showed a number of recognizable highlights but also some wild, unexpected twists that confirm the second remake project has far greater ambitions than merely recounting the events of Square Enix’s 1997 PlayStation RPG classic.
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Read on for 14 details from the trailer you may want to freak out over. But if you’re new to the world of Final Fantasy VII or otherwise haven’t played the original, we’ll keep the super spoilery details to a minimum just to be safe.
Zack?!
Rebirth’s previous trailer showed us Midgar in a rough state, with the bodies of our Avalanche pals being carried away on stretchers. Those of us who enjoyed the original Final Fantasy VII know that the end of its Midgar chapter didn’t end with our heroes in such a predicament. What’s more, this new trailer shows Zack Fair who…well, we’ll spare newcomers those specifics, so for now let’s just say that he’s, uh, somewhere he really shouldn’t be. We see him carrying Cloud into Midgar, and he later hands the hero off to Remake’s Kyrie Canaan.
This is all quite surprising and mysterious. The end of Remake showed us a number of characters who seemed to be in better condition than we remember them being in the original game. What exactly is going on with this is anyone’s guess. However, at the end of this new trailer, Sephiroth does say: “It’s upon us. The Reunion. When worlds merge.”
Interesting!
Get your marching boots on
The original Final Fantasy VII was packed with tons of minigames and other unique sequences spread out amongst all the turn-based combat and PTSD storytelling. A lot of us fans love it for this, and the trailer showed off one such key sequence: the marching section in Junon. Who’s doing the marching and why? Well, as you can see it’s a bit of a parade for Rufus, President Shinra’s son. If you know what’s going on here, then you know.
Cosmo Canyon
The home of a certain member of Cloud and co.’s crew, Cosmo Canyon not only has one of the best themes in Final Fantasy VII, but arriving there also sees our friends undertake a critical, poignant moment of self reflection, re-dedicating themselves to their ideals and each other.
Technically speaking, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Cosmo Canyon reimagined recently. If you played Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion, during a certain section of the game you got a quick preview of Cosmo Canyon in the distance. This time around, it won’t just be tucked up on top of a mountain in a corner of a screen though.
The Nibel Reactor situation
The Shinra Electric Power Company spread out over the planet, soaking up Mako energy wherever it could. One such area was Nibelheim, the home of another one of our protagonists. And in this snap we get a quick glimpse of a defining moment for the game’s big bad.
Whether this sequence sticks to the original presentation in the 1997 game or does…whatever the hell Crisis Core did with this scene…remains to be seen.
Cait Sith!
What’s more absurd and adorable than a cat with a Scottish accent, riding a giant stuffed moogle, who shouts at his enemies with a darn megaphone? As expected, Cait Sith will be showing up in Rebirth, and we even saw him joining the party to do some combats.
He’s a bit of a character. Again, if you know, you know.
The Buggy
After the Midgar chapter of the original game, Cloud and friends are sent out in an overworld area that spans the entire planet. As the game progresses, the party gets a few vehicles, one of which is the buggy.
The new trailer showed off this classic eight-wheeler vehicle, all set to rip up the road and maybe even cross unwalkable bits of water.
Chocobos with unique abilities
Chocobo breeding was a pretty important feature of the original game; it was essential for accessing some otherwise impossible-to-reach areas. Depending on the color of a bird’s feathers, they had different types of terrain-traversal abilities. Rebirth seems to be keeping at least part of that tradition alive so far.
In the new trailer, we saw a dark gray Chocobo vertically climbing up a wall and a green one taking flight.
Cloud’s riding an, um, Segway?
The trailer showed off Cloud zipping around on a damn Segway in an area that looked very much like Costa Del Sol. We can also glimpse a “Distance Traveled” meter in the lower-right. Those of us who played the original know that arriving in Costa Del Sol comes after some, uh, intense moments, so maybe yeah, sometimes you just need to hop on a personal transport vehicle to ride around in order to forget some of life’s biggest traumas.
The Midgar Zolom
The big snakey boy returns. The Midgar Zolom is a pretty intimidating foe, one who you’ll have to find some clever means of getting around. Or, if you’re brave enough, the original game lets you confront it as well. And uh, that often didn’t go well.
Back in the ‘90s the Midgar Zolom lived in fear of me, because I had a friggin’ GameShark and it didn’t stand a damn chance against my endless Limit Breaks. This time, um, it may be looking for some revenge, and I’m all outta game-breaking cheat codes.
Materia Keeper
Oh this thing. Back in the late ‘90s, the Materia Keeper basically halted my progress in Final Fantasy VII (it was part of why I ended up getting a GameShark). This rough and tough boss (who was much more doable without a GameShark, once I built out my characters correctly), can put up a good fight. Good thing Cloud seems to be joined by Sephiroth for this battle.
Why are these two sworn enemies fighting alongside each other? Well, that’s for us OG vets to know and you newcomers to find out!
Gold Saucer
It’s party time! Things are rough for Cloud and friends. Misery is around every corner, and everyone’s got a tragic backstory. Thankfully, the Gold Saucer looks set to return with many fun activities to do. Surely, nothing bad will happen here.
Arcade minigames!
As mentioned earlier, Final Fantasy VII was well-loved for its minigames. Some of them were packed into arcade machines that were happy to take your gil (or some other form of currency). We got a quick look at a couple, including G-Bike racing and a fighting game. The trailer showed off the original blocky, chibi characters with cubes for fists that we all knew and loved from the classic game. It’s a nice touch that instantly brings to mind the original.
WEAPON
Swimming around in a sea of green, Tifa catches a brief glimpse of one of the Kaiju-esque WEAPONs. These things absolutely do not mess around.
Vincent Valentine
We shouted this one out after the trailer premiered, and we’re still excited to see everyone’s favorite gun-wielding moody goth dude return.
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Vincent Valentine is a man of mystery who just wants to be left to sleep in his coffin. I won’t say much more about him, but if I had to guess, this dude is a total Type O Negative fan.
And those are our highlights for the latest Final Fantasy VII Rebirth trailer. It also finally shared the release date:February 29, 2024, exclusively on PlayStation 5. What are some of your favorite moments from this peek at Final Fantasy VII’s next chapter?
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