In just over a month, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth—the second part of Square Enix’s massive Remake trilogy—will arrive, continuing to retell and reimagine the epic tale of Cloud Strife. The original Final Fantasy VII was a watershed moment for RPGs, if not the entire medium, and fans longed to see it get a glow-up for over twenty years before the first installment arrived in April 2020.
Final Fantasy VII Remake, however, only covered the opening hours of the original game. Once a 6-10 hour introduction to the larger conflict (or roughly 30% of its entire script), this section introduced Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith, and Red XIII, while laying the narrative framework: the evil Shinra Corporation is draining the planet’s literal lifeforce, and everything hinges upon their fallen hero, Sephiroth. Remake took this iconic yet short segment, and spun it into a self-sufficient 30+-hour quest of its very own.
Now Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will take up the torch and give a similar treatment to another chunk of the PlayStation classic. We know by comments from Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura that this “sequel” will cover locations “up to the Forgotten Capital,” albeit in an altered order from the original plot—or in other terms, for those of you who played the game back on PlayStation and had to worry about swapping discs, it will cover up to the end of disc one.
And… if you’ve played the original, chances are you have an intimate knowledge of what event goes down at the Forgotten Capital. One of the biggest questions about the entire remake project is how that moment will be handled, and it seems like that might be cliffhanger that we’re left on.
Anyway, after Midgar, disc one of Final Fantasy VII was rife with memorable set pieces and captivating moments of both character- and lore-building. We’re free of “that &^#$# ‘pizza'” (as Barret would say) and the Planet’s skies are wide open before us, giving the remake a plethora of great scenes to reimagine and expand. So, without further ado, here are the five moments from the original game that I can’t wait to see recreated in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth:
(Disclaimer: Spoilers for the original Final Fantasy VII follow, as well as my best speculative guesses for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth as a longtime fan; I have not had the privilege of demoing the game yet. If this crosses into your personal spoiler territory, turn back now!)
5) The Kalm Flashback
The Nibelheim Incident, as recounted by Cloud in a flashback right after leaving Midgar in the original, is the most pivotal scene in Final Fantasy VII, and one of the most iconic in the entire franchise. Not only do we finally get some details on the mysterious Sephiroth, we also see a bit of Cloud and Tifa’s history together, and the events in their hometown five years ago are a turning point for the entire story.
In the 27 years since Final Fantasy VII launched, we’ve headed back to the Nibelheim Incident almost ad nauseum (later in the game, in the Last Order animated short, in Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, Ever Crisis, and even in the lost, Japan-only mobile game, Before Crisis). Despite the repetition, I’m excited to see this new take on this formative moment, because it will surely help contextualize the new Remake continuity. So much hinges upon what went down in Nibelheim on that seemingly innocuous mission, and how the characters remember it.
4) Cosmo Canyon
Along the journey of Final Fantasy VII‘s first disc (yes, I’m going to keep referring to it in this old-fashioned way), we pick up more comrades, and also visit their homelands. Of these diversions, Barret and Red XIII arguably get the most substantial treatments—emotional looks into their pasts and what makes them tick, which help prepare them for the rest of the struggle ahead. While both segments are sure to be powerful in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, it’s Red XIII’s pit stop back home in Cosmo Canyon that takes the cake for this list.
Up to this point, Red XIII is an enigma. He has a deeper understanding of the Planet’s plight and a different lens through which we can see the world, and besides that, you can’t help but wonder what his deal is as quadrupedal dog-like creature. When the party is forced to detour in his homeland of Cosmo Canyon, they meet his (very human, very non-quadrupedal) grandfather Bugenhagen and learn the bigger stakes of the conflict in his wicked home planetarium.
We also dive deeper into Red XIII’s past, including a trip through a haunted cave. The memorable boss fight there, and the heart-wrenching scene that follows, will surely be a treat in the expanded Remake style.
Furthermore, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is going to make this questline even more impactful. As director Naoki Hamaguchi has teased, the game has essentially created two versions of every quest in the game to reflect the change in Red XIII’s personality after his humbling homecoming.
3) The Golden Saucer Date
The Gold Saucer, with its cheery theme and dazzling colours, seems like a feast for the senses in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth‘s trailers, functioning somewhat like the reimagined Wall Market did in Remake. We know many of the original game’s minigames will be modernized, which is a big selling point for the game in itself.
In the original game, the party’s first trip to this casino ends on an abrupt, sour note—but it’s the second trip that has catapulted it halfway up my list.
On this trip, the consequences of Cloud’s dialog choices catch up with him; depending on how he’s responded in multiple situations up to this point, he will be asked out on a “date” by either Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, or Barret. The scene changes considerably depending on who his companion is, but offers compelling insight into both our hero and his guest as they tour the facilities like a gondola ride or live theatre.
I can’t wait to see how Final Fantasy VII Rebirth reimagines the Escheresque design, the puzzles, and the boss fights against the Demon Wall and Red Dragon.
It’s likely that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will handle this scenario like Remake handled the wardrobe options for the Don Corneo mission: certain key choices will directly lead to certain outcomes, and likely with a trophy on the line for seeing all of them.
Judging by the trailers, that aforementioned live theatre performance will include much more than just Cloud and his date, and will also be where “No Promises to Keep,” the new theme for both Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Aerith, will be integrated into the story… along with some truly outlandish costumes for our heroes.
2) The Temple of the Ancients
One of the last locations on Final Fantasy VII‘s first disc is the Temple of the Ancients, where our heroes use Aerith’s heritage as an Ancient to activate the lost ruin and obtain the Black Materia before Sephiroth. It’s a formative moment, as Sephiroth and Jenova’s plan is laid bare, and allies leave the party. Cloud also learns (in a horrible way) that Sephiroth may have more power over him than he imagined.
Outside of its importance to the story, the Temple of the Ancients is an awesome dungeon. I can’t wait to see how Final Fantasy VII Rebirth reimagines the Escheresque design, the puzzles, and the boss fights against the Demon Wall and Red Dragon. We might also get a new take on some background lore which was removed from the English version of the game, where Sephiroth explains the origin of summon materia.
We haven’t exactly seen any hints of the Temple of the Ancients in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth‘s promos to-date, but if the game covers locations up to the Forgotten Capital (a.k.a., “the City of the Ancients”), it’s all but certain we’ll head there next month. I also wouldn’t be surprised if some real plot bombs are dropped on us at this climactic point as well.
1) Junon and the Cargo Ship
After leaving Midgar, the next big “set piece” moment in Final Fantasy VII is the party’s arrival in Junon. This sun-bathed coastal town has a divided population like Shinra’s capital in Midgar, but an entirely different atmosphere. From the desperate plan to get to the higher level, to going undercover in President Rufus Shinra’s inauguration parade, to sneaking aboard the Cargo Ship and fighting Jenova for the first time, it’s a roller coaster of a sequence in every way.
Trailers for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth have given many glimpses of these iconic moments—the boss fight against Bottomswell (or “Terror of the Deep” as it’s now known), the marching minigame, and even new NPC aboard the Cargo Ship—but it’s surely only the tip of the iceberg.
Knowing how Remake expanded its lore to better incorporate later elements of the original game, we might even get a heavy nod to the Gelnika plane that the party could visit on the ocean floor in disc 2. Plus, Jenova was originally fought for the first time on the Cargo Ship; with that honour already claimed by Jenova-Dreamweaver in Remake‘s Shinra HQ, how will Final Fantasy VII Rebirth update the classic boss formerly known as Jenova-BIRTH?
After the gloom of Midgar in the opening hours, and the hodge-podge of areas encountered between the two cities, the events in Junon were a genuine thrill in the original, truly blowing open our perspective of the world and plot. And so, it’s currently the section I’m most eager to see reinterpreted in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
(Plus… who isn’t excited to see Barret’s sailor pajamas, or Red XIII doing his best human impression while wearing an infantry uniform?)
Though, as I’m currently retracing my steps through the original in preparation, this list could potentially be shaken up several times before Final Fantasy VII Rebirth arrives on PlayStation 5 February 29th. In the meantime, stay tuned to CGMagazine for more coverage of this upcoming blockbuster—and if you’d like to read more of my rantings on everything Final Fantasy, check out the weekly Wark Digest newsletter from Final Fantasy Union!
