Summary
Much more than just a continuation of the story from the first game,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthdefinitively sets itself apart as a bold new chapter in theFinal Fantasy 7 Remaketrilogy. Beyond taking the party out of the confines of Midgar and into an expansive and dense open world,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthskillfully enhances many of the aspects ofRemake, iterating and improving on the first game’s systems. One of the main areas in which these changes are most immediately noticeable is inRebirth’s combat, which greatly expands onRemake’s through the introduction of Synergy Abilities.
WhileFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeopted for a real-time combat system, players could still slow time and input manual commands for Cloud and his companions by utilizing menus during combat.Final Fantasy 16would abandon this system in favor of a single-character focus and greater emphasis on action, losing one of the things that many expect from aFinal Fantasytitle in the process: party management.Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s introduction ofSynergy Abilitiesfeels like the perfect middle ground between the series' turn-based past and its more real-time action-focused future, bringing the best of both worlds into its engaging combat.
Synergy Abilities in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Make Party Composition Easier
UnlikeFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, in which players spend a considerable amount of time controlling Cloud and one or two pre-set party members,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthimmediately allows players to have Cloud accompanied by two companions of their choosing. And, rather than presenting players with a choice between four party members and risking a kind of “option paralysis” from having to choose between which ones to bring into battle, theinclusion of Weapon Skills and Synergy Abilitieswork in tandem to make that choice much easier. Right from the start,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthemphasizes strategic party management.
Monitoring everyone’s weapon growth and choosing party compositions based on ideal Synergy Ability loadouts makes the choices involved in party composition more clear-cut, and the abilities themselves have considerable effectiveness in combat from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. Synergy Abilities grow based onparty member affinity with Cloud as well as their Weapon Level growth, meaning it behooves the player to regularly switch up companions and discover teams that work.
This is made even more manageable through the ability to preset up to three teams and easily swap between them, even amid combat.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Emphasis on Party Management and Synergy Presents an Ideal Series Middle-Ground
For all the ways thatFinal Fantasy 16’s embracing of real-time character action combat managed to cater to a wide variety of players through its accessibility and fluidity, there were still plenty oflongtimeFinal Fantasyfansthat lamented its streamlined approach. One of the most glaring omissions made by its combat system to move the series forward was its abandoning of the traditional party structure that has been part of the franchise since its beginning. By placing importance on synergy between party members within a real-time action combat system,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthfeels like a true bridge between the series' turn-based past and real-time future.
Whether theFinal Fantasyfranchise continues to embrace real-time combat in future entries remains to be seen. But, in terms of a system that seems to blend the best of the series past and present a comfortable middle-ground between turn-based and real-time combat, it’s hard to argue againstFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthdialing in that balance correctly.
A key component of that balance is the Synergy Abilities. They aren’t only an essential component of high-level play in challenging encounters; they punctuate the importance ofCloud’sFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthcompanionsand their bond.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
WHERE TO PLAY
Discover a vibrant and vast world in this standalone entry in the Final Fantasy VII remake project. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second entry in the Final Fantasy VII remake project, which retells the story of the genre-redefining RPG across three distinct games. Iconic heroes Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith and Red XIII have escaped from the dystopian city Midgar and are now in pursuit of Sephiroth, the vengeful swordsman from Cloud’s past who was thought to be dead. This new adventure can be enjoyed by all players, even those who have yet to play Final Fantasy VII Remake or the PlayStation original. Expect a new standard of cinematic storytelling, fast-paced combat and rich exploration across a vast world.
