The best Final Fantasy games to play before Rebirth

Are you able to imagine it’s 2024 and Final Fantasy 7 remains to be an enormous entry inside the bigger Final Fantasy sequence? It began in 1997, when Sq. Enix launched the unique FF7 on PlayStation 1, full with 3D graphics. Quick-forward roughly 27 years and it’s now probably the most acclaimed video games of all time and has seen quite a few variations and spinoffs since its preliminary launch.

Right here’s a brief sampling of the choices obtainable to Final Fantasy 7 followers. You’ll be able to play the unique RPG, which has been ported to fashionable consoles. There’s the gloriously corny CGI film Introduction Youngsters, which is about two years after the occasions of the unique recreation. Facet character Zack Truthful even has a whole dang prequel set before the occasions of Final Fantasy 7 that Sq. Enix remastered. Different characters like Tifa and Aerith don’t have their very own games, however they do have whole novels devoted to telling their backstories. And none of those examples contact the varied rereleases of the unique Final Fantasy 7 and its associated spinoffs.

The launch of a lot Final Fantasy 7 media may immediate a type of… disaster… for followers. The creators haven’t clarified what’s canon and what’s not, and it has gotten to overwhelming Marvel ranges of intricacy. Nonetheless, it doesn’t have to be so difficult. With the discharge of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, now generally is a nice time to revisit older games so as to put together. On this listing, we’ll offer you a spoiler-free rundown of what associated media may assist enrich your expertise of Rebirth based mostly on characters and plotlines within the recreation and what the story touches on.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake

The place to play: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4

As a substitute of simply updating graphics, the event staff at Sq. Enix opted to use the unique Final Fantasy 7 as a supply of main inspiration and cut up it into three totally different games for a full-on remake trilogy. The first two titles are Final Fantasy 7 Remake and now Final Fantasy Rebirth. (Sq. Enix hasn’t launched any particulars on the third installment but, however developers say it’s on its way.) Out of all of the games on this listing, Remake is an important recreation you must play before diving into Rebirth, which picks up proper after the occasions of Remake.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake follows the story of Cloud Strife and his involvement with the rebel group Avalanche within the metropolis of Midgar. As well as to introducing gamers to the primary solid of characters you’ll be enjoying as in Rebirth, it additionally offers an intimate have a look at Midgar and the residing situations that end result from Shinra’s rule. Rebirth picks up in the course of the motion from Remake, simply as Cloud and associates flee the town.

Rebirth doesn’t hassle to give gamers a full-fledged recap of who’s who and what you want to know, though you don’t essentially have to play Remake to take pleasure in Rebirth. You do get snippets of what occurred before, so it’s possible simply sufficient to get an concept of the main actors on this world and the staff’s bigger mission. Nonetheless, there are simply so many emotional beats that can hit more durable or will make extra sense in the event you do play it, and in the event you actually need to save time, you may skip Remake’s DLC, Episode Intermission. I personally loved it, however Rebirth does an honest job of displaying the additional Yuffie backstory.

Final Fantasy 7 (1997)

Picture: Sq. Enix

The place to play: Home windows PC, Nintendo Change, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4

Final Fantasy 7 Remake departed from the unique story informed in Final Fantasy 7 in a number of methods, zooming in on the primary part of the sport set in Midgar. Rebirth departs from the unique story much more by simply utterly switching up the order the staff visits sure areas and among the occasions. Due to this, the unique model of the sport just isn’t wanted to play and luxuriate in Rebirth. In actual fact, I’d argue Remake is each extra vital to play to perceive Rebirth’s story and in addition extra pleasing.

Nevertheless, enjoying the unique provides you with a strong basis of the characters and world that impressed your complete franchise. These games nonetheless share the identical fundamental solid of characters and most of the locales that seem throughout games. Additionally, fashionable ports of the sport for consoles like Nintendo Change include loads of quality-of-life options — you may velocity up fights or use battle enhancements — that make it comparatively straightforward to beat with out having to grind ranges or fear about logistics.

Disaster Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion

Picture: Sq. Enix

The place to play: Home windows PC, Nintendo Change, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4

Disaster Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion is a remastered rerelease of Disaster Core: Final Fantasy 7, a prequel Sq. Enix launched on PlayStation Transportable roughly 16 years in the past. Each variations of the sport inform the identical story roughly and comply with the lifetime of Zack Truthful, Cloud’s good friend from the military, and the occasions that led up to the start of Final Fantasy 7.

The relationship between Disaster Core and Final Fantasy 7 generally is a bit complicated. Remake and Rebirth are actually taking the story down a special path, so it’s unclear if it’s a prequel to the unique FF7 or the newer trilogy of games. Sq. Enix’s web site describes it as a prequel to the original game, however Tetsuya Nomura also said in an interview that the staff was “positioning Crisis Core Reunion as a prequel” to your complete three-part remake trilogy and that the story is vital.

No matter the place it stands within the timeline, you must nonetheless play it. Its story reveals why Zack performs such an vital position within the bigger Final Fantasy 7 world and divulges much more about his relationship with Cloud. It additionally offers an amazing window into Sephiroth’s life before the occasions of FF7 as effectively, which issues as a result of, effectively, his motivations information your complete destiny of the planet.

My solely caveat is that this: When you’ve solely performed Remake and are unaware of the main story beats from the unique FF7, then you may want to maintain off enjoying Disaster Core. Sure elements may be best skilled with the newer reimagined story, nevertheless it’s all the time there if you need to dive in.

Different shoutouts

Picture: Sony Footage Dwelling Leisure

Rebirth pulls generously from the solid of characters that seem within the wider Final Fantasy 7 universe. You may be assembly individuals and scratching your head questioning what the hell is up or the place someone got here from. There’s Glenn Lodbrok, who seems as a personality within the now-shuttered battle royale spinoff recreation Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier, and seems within the free-to-play gacha recreation that collects a number of tales from throughout games, Final Fantasy 7 Ever Disaster. These aching for extra Vincent Valentine can decide up Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7, nevertheless it isn’t obtainable to play on fashionable consoles, which makes it laborious to get. Hell, you may even brush up on a few of your Midgar historical past by enjoying the Final Fantasy 7 Remake maps in PowerWash Simulator.

And these are all simply video games. You may get even deeper with other forms of media. Superfans of Tifa Lockhart and Aerith Gainsborough can learn an entire novel about them and dive into their full histories as characters. Final however not least, there’s Introduction Youngsters. I personally adore that film and all its foolish antics, however I’d say keep away in the event you haven’t performed the unique and have been as soon as blissfully unaware of a sure main plot level like I used to be.

Ultimately, although, approaching a recreation with a lot “required reading” generally is a bit a lot, and albeit, it’s simply not possible relying on how a lot spare time you have got. Due to that, I wouldn’t put an excessive amount of stress on experiencing all of it. Begin with the tales and gameplay that curiosity you, and you may go from there. I personally suggest to my associates that they only play Remake, sans its DLC. It’s all non-obligatory, and typically the best Final Fantasy expertise is one once you’re getting into on vibes solely.