5 Things We Should See in FFVII: Rebirth

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth has been on my mind a lot lately. With Crisis Core: Reunion having been released this month, and Rebirth reportedly slated to release in 2023, there’s a lot to think about. Like all fans of the original Final Fantasy VII, I have a variety of things I’d love to see in the second part of the Remake trilogy. Here are 5 things I’d love to see in the next installment.

Playable Sephiroth –

After the climactic finale of Final Fantasy VII: Remake, Sephiroth’s motives are unclear. What is clear, is that we’ll likely get to experience the flashback to the Nibelheim incident that led to the death of Cloud’s mother and marked Sephiroth’s true descent into madness. In the original Final Fantasy VII, there was a very short period where Sephiroth was playable in a limited fashion. I’d love to see the team at Square Enix retain this section, or if you’d like to get a little crazy, expand on it.

How interesting would it be to not only get to experience Sephiroth’s combat prowess firsthand but perhaps even take part in the Nibelheim incident? Yes, it would paint a very grim picture, and would be somewhat unsettling to actually take part in the atrocities, but wouldn’t that make it even more fascinating? Perhaps we could even get a glimpse of how Sephiroth perceives Jenova speaking to him.

Gold Saucer –

On a lighter note, I’m probably one of the few people that like the mini-games in the Gold Saucer from the original FFVII release. Even more than that though, I love the story beats that take place there, from Cait Sith’s introduction to the theatre performance with your chosen date (always Aerith for me). This could be an opportunity for Square Enix to replicate the magic of the Honeybee Inn scene too, replacing dancing with a dramatic theatre performance.

Taking things a step further, I could see the Gold Saucer’s battle arena being a fun way to get new weapons, armor, and materia on your way to the next stage in the story. Plus, with the enhancements to how vehicles and things control, maybe the Chocobo Racing might actually be enjoyable this time around!

Vincent Valentine –

Now, I love Yuffie as much as the next person, but the character I’m most interested to see get the “Remake” treatment is Vincent Valentine. I’d love to see him become part of the group with enough time to really flesh out his combat mechanics, unlike Red XIII who joined Remake just In time for the game to end. Since Vincent was originally an optional character, I’d love to see how Rebirth integrates him properly into the story. Especially since he is integral to later parts of the canon such as Dirge of Cerberus and Advent Children.

Plus, I’d love to see how Vincent’s limit break mechanic will work this time around. In the original game, you lost control of Vincent as he transformed into one of his transformations. Will his Limit Break make him similar to a summon? Or will Rebirth rework his ability set somewhat to make him a more beneficial member of the team in terms of utility?

Returning Characters –

There are several “minor” characters that I would love to get a glimpse or two of in Rebirth. We know that Biggs and Wedge survived the fall of the plate, and we didn’t see Jessie’s body after the fact, so she may have survived too though it is unlikely. It’d be great to at least get some sort of reference to their status as things progress. There is also Andrea Rhodea, who stole the show in a lot of ways during the Honeybee Inn sequence.

Outside of characters we’ve already seen, it would be nice to see characters referenced in Crisis Core: Reunion have a place in the main timeline. Fans of the wider Final Fantasy VII Compilation know that somewhere around the timeline of Dirge of Cerberus, it is discovered that Genesis survived the events of Crisis Core. It would be interesting to see if his presence is felt in the wider scope of the Remake Trilogy from here on out since Zack is confirmed to be alive.

Timeline Deviation –

I’m just going to come out and say this now. I think Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth killing Aerith off would be cheap. We know they’re trying to throw us off with various changes, and retconning (if you can call it that) Aerith’s death just makes sense. At the time, nothing like that had been done narratively in an RPG before, unless you count Chrono’s death in Chrono Trigger.

If they had to kill someone off, it would be interesting to see them take a jab at one of the other major characters. Barrett was on the receiving end of Sephiroth’s sword in Remake, so we know they aren’t afraid to shock us with surprises. All death talk aside though, if they really want to tell the story, but present it in a new way, give us some surprises. Show us Wutai from a new perspective, and make it mandatory instead of optional.

There are so many things that Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth could do to continue the amazing momentum that Remake set. I loved my time with Final Fantasy VII Remake, and the Intergrade DLC only sweetened the deal for me. I have high hopes that we’ll see some really interesting stuff out of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth this year.