When I was a young teen many moons ago, I had a friend who lived in my grandmother’s apartment who had a PlayStation. Remember the gray one that had the memorable startup sound? He had a game I hadn’t had the pleasure of owning called Final Fantasy VII and it was surreal. I had played several JRPGs on other consoles like the SNES or SEGA Genesis, but I don’t remember playing anything like FFVII up to that point. Decades later I can still remember some of those times hanging out with that friend and going through Junon, Wutai, and riding Chocobos.
I played the original in bits and pieces with my buddy at the time, but after that, I never got around to picking up a copy for myself even though I regret not doing that. It has a cult following as one of the greatest in the RPG genre, so I know enough about it to be familiar with the game. Certain sections of the game are vague to me, but I prefer it that way since it feels new and mysterious.
The day the demo dropped for Final Fantasy VII REBIRTH I was ecstatic. I couldn’t wait to continue the story from REMAKE, and I was not disappointed. The infamous Nibelheim event is the focus of the gameplay and it allows you to play as Sephiroth while he teams up with Cloud. It’s short-lived but enjoyable, though I would have liked to battle with him more.
The demo is highly focused on the story but there are enough monsters and even a boss at the end to satisfy the urge to fight. Sephiroth’s character is very interesting in how he came to his conclusion and went, in my opinion, insane and burned the village to the ground. This happened similarly to the original game but with added depth since more interaction is given between the village and Cloud.
I have no complaints with the music or graphics as they were similar to the original game. It felt like I was just starting where I left off. Compared to the full game that has now been released, several of the new features are not available in the demo. It’s fine because that keeps it simpler and I could just enjoy the emotional roller coaster that happens at the end between Cloud and Sephiroth. It kept things mysterious and I was excited to see what happens after I finished it.
It’s about an hour or so to beat, including the very short sequence that includes Cloud’s party meeting Yuffie and getting to Junon. I was glad to play it but that was so short, it felt more of a tease than part of the demo.
Let me know what you thought of the demo in the comments below!
You can play the Final Fantasy VII REBIRTH demo on PSN here , purchase the game here or watch my stream of it below on Youtube.