Catch up on the story so far in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s latest trailer

There’s a whole lot going on in the Final Fantasy VII trilogy, with plenty of tweaks and reimagined lore. While you’re probably already playing through or recently finished Remake in preparation for Rebirth, PlayStation Blog and Square Enix have teamed up for a quick recap story trailer to refresh your memory. Check that out above! Final Fantasy VII Rebirth arrives exclusively on PS5 February 29th.

In our September preview, we had this to say about the open-world aspect of Rebirth-

Once I got into the open world section, I really didn’t know what to do, mainly because of how vast it all was. You’ve seen the trailers, so you know the scale looks absolutely massive, and I can confirm to you it is. We didn’t see much of the map given the old “fog of war” trick covering places you haven’t been, but I could certainly scroll quite a ways around, giving me the impression we ain’t seen nothing yet. Just the area I was in felt huge, and I’m sure many points of interest weren’t even in play yet, meaning there’s even more to explore.

Here, I had the option of going on with a few different party members, with my choices being Red XIII, Barrett, Tifa, or Aerith. The best part of the start of this area is riding the chocobos, and your entire party does it, even Red XIII, which made me laugh. It certainly makes exploration easier, and you can still pick up items while on chocoback. They even have gear for customization, so I’m sure there will be a lot to earn as you play FFVII Rebirth. There are also Chocobo Stops you’ll find in the wild. Once you raise the sign for them, they function as fast travel points. Oh, and you can pet the little chocobo chick that’s there.

While I didn’t find a ton of side quests in the world (some stuff has to be saved for launch, people), I never felt far from the next POI. The worst thing about any open world is for it to feel empty, and whether it was creatures to fight, jobs to complete, or materials to gather (Chocobo can also smell around and dig for things), it felt balanced in the exploration. My only caveat would be that I only really engaged in timed tough encounters called Fiend Sightings (it was the only activity I saw available on the map), so hopefully there’s more variation on the map as a whole. Again, the scale and scope is here, so there’s plenty of opportunity to fill it full.

This section of the demo ended with my party taking on a big boss, and boy was it fun. Just like the Materia Guardian I mentioned earlier, there are so many stages to what is going on, blending the cinematic with some great tactical fighting. It’s awesome to see how they’ve managed to keep a little bit of that calculated feel in the combat, even with the swap from turn-based to action. Cloud, Barrett, and Red XIII had their hands full with this “Terror of the Deep” casting a Water Cell constantly that would trap a party member, or grabbing one in its tail fin. Figuring out the best way to take on these creatures is a blast in FFVII Rebirth, especially if you’re like me and hit a moment where almost your entire party is downed and you bring it back from the brink of defeat.

The entire demo is backed by an amazing soundtrack, and I can’t end this preview without calling it out. We all love the music behind the series, and what they have here is special. Simple exploration is made better by it, and the battle sequences feature moving crescendos that heighten your senses. I’ve often talked about how a good soundtrack is important, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s already seems to be a masterpiece.

Stay tuned to GamingTrend for more Final Fantasy VII Rebirth news and info!

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