Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Exploring a New World
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will include «brand new cities» that were not present in the original PlayStation 1 game, according to Square Enix. In an interview with Game Informer, director Naoki Hamaguchi expressed his desire to expand the original Final Fantasy 7 and create a deep and expansive world. This explains how the company plans to deliver the promised 40 hours of story content, along with additional endgame content.
«In Rebirth, we added cities like Crow’s Nest, completely new cities that didn’t exist in the original game, to deepen and create this vision of the Rebirth world,» said Hamaguchi. «We arrive at this area after completing a mission, and the place unlocks. The inhabitants already know that Cloud and the group are part of Avalanche.»
Crow’s Nest is a city similar to the lower Junon from the original Final Fantasy 7, with a similar anti-Shinra atmosphere that players will only discover if they explore beyond the main mission. «Part of the game design we assumed for Rebirth is that in the main story, you’ll save Yuffie, and from there, you’ll head towards Junon, and then you’ll advance to Costa del Sol,» said Hamaguchi. «But, for example, by hearing the stories of the anti-Shinra living in Under Junon, you might think, ‘What about this area called Crow’s Nest that I’m hearing about? Maybe I’ll feel like going there, exploring it, and embarking on a parallel adventure on my own to save the people.’ We want the player to be able to have these different adventures and embark on their own journeys according to their interests.»
Another important novelty from the interview is that, in addition to taking quests and sidequests in each location, you will also be able to play cards. Yes, just like any respectable open-world game. Although the director kept as many details as possible under wraps, it seems that we will have some kind of mini-game similar to The Witcher 3’s Gwent or RDR2’s poker. The director assures that it is «a strategic card game.» Honestly, if they copy and paste Triple Triad from FF8, we won’t be mad.