Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Will Offer a 'High Degree of Freedom' on PS5

So we can visit the different areas in any order. How video gamey.

Hopefully it's not full old world like 15, but have open areas like 16 seems to be doing.
Wonder how much playtime the flashback with sephiroth will take? Will it be only a couple of hours or longer?

My assumption of the reason why they made this statement was to show that they’re still working on FF7 Rebirth. While that sounds obvious, SE has gone kind of silent on the game and we were supposed to have a release date slated this year and we don’t.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I know why they’ve been quiet (FF XVI is out this month), but I would have been fine with them waiting a month or so after XVI is out to talk more about it.

Unrelated to this topic. there’s a rumor going around on Twitter that Square Enix is unhappy with FF16 preorder numbers so far and they’re lower than 15. If this rumor True I don’t know what Square expects the game is launching on one platform that a lot of people still don’t own,Plus FF15 was so bad people are probably waiting for reviews and word of mouth before buying it.

Sounds pretty hype I can't wait to finally start seeing trailers and gameplay for this

Doubt it'll be open world as much as I'd love for it to be but it seems like they're taking into account just how much the game opens up after leaving midgar

I do not expect an “open world” experience, but I do hope for a bit of it. By this I mean a big map outside Midgar instead of preset level/regions. I guess some might consider that “open world” but not looking for any of the “padding” Easter egg hunts and activities, simply a large area to traverse, fight, and a few off-the-path locations here and there.

I'm more worried about the narrative (time travel / flashback / flashforward...) than world structure and traversal. a cohesive story is much better than (possibly) convoluted timelines; obviously.

I’d appreciate an actual feeling of a journey. We didn’t call JRPGs open world for having a world map, this is no different. If the world is turned into corridors then it completely undermines the entire narrative reason for dropping you into that world after leaving Midgar, it’s supposed to feel like a whole new world outside of that oppressive city.

Can't wait! Final Fantasy fans are eating good these days. Unless you're a turn based purist of course then... RIP I guess.

@4kgk2 FFXV wasn't that bad

So I saw someone who said “if they make these updates daily then update 7 will end up on June 8th.” Besides being my birthday that’s also Summer Game Fest. So honestly if we do keep getting these updates daily it wouldn’t shock me if Update 7 relates to Summer Game Fest and it’s something like, Question: When will Final Fantasy VII Rebirth release? Answer: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will release December 9th, 2023. And that’s the part that’s like in the green text they’ve been doing.

@RedRiot193 ff15 story and characters sucked the gameplay was good though.

@4kgk2 nah characters were fine. Has one of the best villians in ff ever. And ignis is a big fan favorite. Story wasn't presented well. But if you played royal it does improve a lot and the world and lore of xv is actually really good.

Sorry square I don't believe you, you also said the remake will stay faithful to the original story

A single twitter comment from someone to calm down the fan base? Ironically, this is way more communication than what Sony usually offers.

Absolutely CANNOT wait for this game!!! Zero interest in XVI from me—THIS is the Final Fantasy that I am excited for! Can’t wait to see what unexpected twists and turns await us when revisiting these iconic characters. And this new info about freedom bodes very well for this particular fantasy 🤞🏼🤞🏼

@4kgk2 Exclusivity has nothing to do, I would love to say the reason why, but I wont

We don't need Xbox fans to worry about sales of FF7 Rebirth or FF16, I'm pretty sure it will sell very well. Instead, I'm more worried about the sales of Redfail and Starfail, which will definitely fail without a platform that has a majority of gamers like Playstation.

I'm missing turn based combat in FF7R. I was amazed by graphics, but when it came to battles it was one big chaos. I tried, really tried, but after beginning (scorpion fight) I just wrapped it up and rather run original FF7. So I have zero interest in any sequel.

Now i can wander off and gap squeeze to my heart's content.

@Shadcai I hope it's a 2 minute cut scene. That was the second worst part of VII to Midgar itself.

All I wanted to do was escape the damned city and journey the world map. Seeing it in an advance US players guide in the UK blew my mind as a kid in 1997.

I finally escape Midgar and they make me play an hour-long flashback before I can go anywhere? No thanks.

"traversal and navigation across Midgar"??

As far as I know this game takes place on the planet of Gaia, after you leave Midgar city. I haven't heard anything about going back to Midgar.

I'm really looking forward to this game but that answer describes almost every RPG ever made. They could have just said "you can travel to different towns and do sidequests" and it would have meant the same. It's like saying "there will be a wealth of options to strengthen and fortify your characters as they conquer increasingly challenging scenarios and foes" instead of, you can level up.

@PC_Peasant
Well this post is straight cringe, and I don't use that word often.

@Cloud39472 Hey, Dissidia Opera Omnia is turn-based & still being updated, and there's a chance Ever Crisis (apparently ATB-style despite the flashy Remake-style graphics for battles) will actually launch and have its service last longer than First Soldier did . . .

@Rgeneb1 It's vague, sure, but wouldn't, for instance, apply to FF X or XIII & remember how much flack the latter game got on that count.

I always felt the more memorable parts of FF7 were where you followed a linear path. Aimlessly wandering around the empty world map got a bit tedious, especially without a locked orientation so you didn’t know up from down. There’s side paths with optional content, and then there’s vast spaces of nothingness except an Easter egg cutscene on an undetermined point.

And now an even vaguer "Developer comment number 3" is up, this time about the story.

This is the second statement from developers in a few days. It sounds good to me because instead of giving full emphasis in the FF XVI (which would be the logical move), Square-Enix teams seems to "compete" for attention and the message is "Hey, our game is also awesome". Much praise was given to FFXVI by those who have the opportunity to play, including this site and I believe that other teams in SE want to call for a bit of the attention too. For me, both games will be a must play for RPG fans with have a PS5.