With Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, director Naoki Hamaguchi and his development team took everything that made Final Fantasy VII Remake great and upped it to eleven to deliver one of the best entries in the entire series. Topping the second entry in the series will be extremely difficult, but it seems like publisher Square Enix is attempting to do the impossible, and improve the one element of the game which can be truly considered perfect with Final Fantasy VII Revelation launching during Spring 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2: the hybrid combat system.
"I am pretty confident to say that in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the hybrid combat system reached a perfected state, so to speak," Hamaguchi-san told Eurogamer. "But with that being said, if we were to just continue to adopt the same exact hybrid combat system from Rebirth into Revelation, a lot of people are probably going to feel that it's a bit stale. It's not offering anything new or refreshing, so we did want to add something new."
To spice things up, Final Fantasy VII Revelation is adding the FITS (Function Integrated Tactical Suitwear) system, which is essentially a Job system that will allow players to choose between different classes for each character. This inclusion was discussed with combat director Teruki Endo from the earliest stages of development. What's really interesting about the system, other than attempting to improve perfection, is how deeply rooted it is in the idea of giving players more freedom throughout the experience. This approach is the exact opposite of what Final Fantasy VII Remake offered, which was, in more ways than one, an "on-rails" experience.
"I guess you become guided to select certain characters in certain situations," Hamaguchi-san said. "The system didn't truly offer that freedom of choice when it comes to the character choice. So we were thinking, what could we do to address that?"
In Final Fantasy VII Revelation, player freedom won't be limited to character customization, as it will be possible to explore the game's substantial open world with little to no restrictions. Despite this, players will still get enough guidance to not feel completely lost.
"It depends on personal preference and different perceptions, but for me personally, I know I've had the experience where I've been thrown out into an open world game and not known where to go, not known where to begin, and not known what to do. But at the same time, the concept of being thrown into this wondrous world where anything goes is amazing," Hamaguchi-san said.
This balance will be struck by some clever mechanics: when jumping from the Highwind airship, which is really set to redefine the series' scope as teased before the game's reveal, icons will be shown to indicate where locations, mini-games and so on are located. However, once the parachute is open, players will have to go by memory.
"That's another example of the guidance we're giving players, without directing them too much. The world is even bigger than it was in Rebirth, so it is more important than ever for us to ensure there's enough guidance here, so people have no issues enjoying what this game has to offer," Hamaguchi-san explained.
Although the Final Fantasy VII Revelation director did not specify if waymarks will reappear once the party lands, I am very excited for this approach to open-world exploration. Although I did not mind the waymark-heavy experience of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the chance of being able to experience more of the series' beautiful world without being constantly reminded where to go is definitely enticing.
As this approach to open-world is what makes FromSoftware's Elden Ring and Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel such great games, it will be very interesting to see how this middle ground will improve the groundwork laid down by Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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