The recentFinal Fantasy 725th anniversary event was filled with tons of new content related to the franchise, includingThe First Soldier, Crisis Core,andEver Crisis. The big news to come out of the event is no doubt the Crisis Core Remaster and the first official teaser ofFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the official name forFF7 Remake Part 2.
The event didn’t show off too much, but it did tease the more open-ended environments players will see inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s world. It also ended with the reveal that it will release in the winter of 2023. This means fans of the franchise still have quite a wait ahead of them, though the wait for part 3 could perhaps be shorter than the wait for part 2, asFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3is already being worked on. This, of course, gives fans plenty of time to check out the first game if they haven’t, but according to Square Enix, they don’t have to.
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In a social media post,Final Fantasy 7 Remaketrilogydirector Tetsuya Nomura said that anyone playing the game wouldn’t need to play the 1997 original, nor would they need to playFinal Fantasy 7 Remake. In fact, Nomura posted that “Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is being designed so that people can enjoy this game whether they know the original game or not. In fact, new players might even enjoy starting their Final Fantasy 7 journey with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.”
This is because, Nomura continues,Cloud is beginning on a new journeyand leaving Midgar, experiencing fresh and new content all the while.Final Fantasy 7 Remakewas, more or less, a self-contained project that greatly expanded on the first section of the original game, so it makes sense thatFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthwould give players a similar experience.
Of course, there’s plenty ofFinal Fantasycontent, and specifically evenFinal Fantasy 7content, players can enjoy in the meantime.Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldierand Ever Crisis explore the franchise in unique ways, while theCrisis Core Remastercould offer a deeper look into Zack Fair’s new story. If someone hasn’t playedFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, then they still have plenty of time, but they don’t have to is the nice part.
2023 will be a busy year forFinal Fantasyfans regardless. It seems Square Enix intends to end the year strong withFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, but the hype is real forFinal Fantasy 16too, which has a summer 2023 release window. It seems next year fans will embark on Clive’s new journey and start Cloud’s new journey too, with or without prior knowledge of the subfranchise.
