Stunning new Final Fantasy 7 Remake trailer revealed
Cloud doing exercises confirmed.
A brand new Final Fantasy 7 Remake trailer has landed ahead of Tokyo Games Show, and it's full of surprises.
Following on from the more action-focused E3 gameplay earlier this year, the trailer recreates some more eccentric aspects of the original game. In particular, we get to see the slums and Wall Market area, the darker, seedier under-belly of the game's central city, Midgar. Here we see some bizarre mini-games recreated, and later, the introduction of a mysterious new character.
New clips of its battle system are revealed. We get a debut for fan-favourite battle summons, like the diamond-dusted Shiva, a glimpse of what could be a chariot-riding Odin and the fiery Ifrit. Old faces make a glossy return in the remake as well, with fan favourites Reno and Rude swaggering into a ruined church.
All of it looks stunning - right down to the designs of Cloud, Tifa and Aerith, all shown banded together. Visually, the church area looks comparable - or arguably superior - to its appearance in the 2005 movie tie-in, Advent Children, which is an incredible feat.
A new character is also briefly shown. Described simply as "a soldier," this blonde-haired newcomer is seen riding a motorbike during a chase scene, wielding a longsword. His exact connection with the main cast is not yet known. Potentially he's another member of SOLDIER - the military force Cloud once belonged to, though it'll be curious to see if he ties into the game's wider plot arc.
Whether this is a sign Square Enix intends to radically change other parts of the story is unclear. Until this point, much of what we've seen of the game has broadly stuck to the beats of the original. Indeed, stylish tweaks are made all round to the existing script, to spectacular effect - including President Shinra's first appearance being as a giant, looming hologram.
A few mini-games are also revealed too. Here, the entire cast is shown squatting and lunging at a gym, to a beat with button prompts. This links back to the 1997 original, which had Cloud doing exercises as part of a challenge to progress through the game. Other quirky asides include what appears to be a darts mini-game, with Cloud lining up a shot at a board. We even see him turn into a frog (note the tiny buster sword on his back) - as a result of a status-effect spell in battle. It's all utterly barmy seeing it realised at such a high level of detail. Even so, it's great to see Square Enix embracing the often bizarre asides of the original.
Another key part of introducing the slums is revealing Don Corneo - a pimp that presides over it. It's the first time seeing this enemy, and Cloud, Tifa and Aerith's goal here marks one of the more memorable episodes in the original game. It'll be fascinating to see how this segment turns out when Final Fantasy 7 Remake releases next March.