Final Fantasyis such a long running series that it can be tricky to decide where to jump in. Do you commit to the time sink and start off with the first game, immediately jump into the golden era and start with 7, 8 and 9, or cast all that away and start your Final Fantasy journey with the most recent entry and work backwards?
It’s a tough call, butFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthdirector Naoki Hamaguchi belives that anyone who’s interested in the adventures of Cloud and the gang should jump in with Rebirth first, claiming the original PS1 game that released back in 1997 is “difficult” to get into these days. In an interview withGadget Match, Hamaguchi says that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has been “meticulously” developed so that complete newcomers will get a good sense of the story and what’s going on.
“We understand that FF7 is a difficult title to get into today,” says Hamaguchi. “But the game is developed very meticulously so it won’t feel unnatural when you start playing. All the tutorials will be there.We have created everything carefully so that even a new player can enjoy the game.”
It’s a statement that’s sure to ruffle the feathers of the Final Fantasy faithful, especially sinceFinal Fantasy 7isn’t actually all that tricky to play these days thanks to console rereleases on PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. It’s possible that Hamaguchi could be talking about all the extra spinoffs that contain a lot of deep info about the characters in Final Fantasy 7 that are built into Rebirth, though none of that is particularly important for someone to know if they want to jump into the original for the first time.
The only way the original is considered lesser to the remake is in the graphics department, which is understandably pretty rough when compared to modern day titles. Being one of the first ever games to utilise 3D character models does end up aging Final Fantasy 7 pretty badly, though quite how that affects your experience with the story is a mystery.
If we step away from the marketing perspective, Hamaguchi probably doesn’t actually think Rebirth is the best place to jump into the series. At the very least, go start with Final Fantasy 7 Remake to ensure you understand Rebirth a little better, even if Hamaguchi is adamant its fine tio jump in as a new player. Better yet, go play the original Final Fantasy 7, and then you’ll get to appreciate all the wild changes to the story that Rebirth is likely going to make.
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