The gaming community did not waste a second exploring the new open areas in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. New areas lead to new side content like optional quests and minigames and while these are all welcome additions to a highly anticipated sequel, the game director realized they went a bit too far.
There is a fine line between adding enough filler content to keep the player base from reaching the next main objective and another where it becomes too overwhelming and distracting. Game director Naoki Hamaguchi immediately worked on the sequel after shipping Final Fantasy 7 Remake and revealed which concepts would be carried over to the third and final chapter.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Director Admitted That They Went Too Far With the Minigames
Open-world games tend to have more to offer than traditional linear games which could greatly affect the pacing. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is much larger than the first part of the trilogy since it takes Cloud and the party outside Midgar to pursue Sephiroth and thwart his plan of global domination.
It would make sense to provide the party with the necessary gear and equipment to accomplish this dangerous task and the game developers wanted the fans to pump the breaks now and then and live in the moment. More minigames were introduced in this project such as a card game known as Queen’s Blood, a few racing simulations on motorcycles and Chocobos, and more. Hamaguchi stated that most of these may not make the final cut of the final chapter and for good reason.
One thing perhaps that maybe needs looking at, is that there was a certain number of people who said there were too many minigames in Rebirth, and ultimately I can see their point of view – but I do think we made the right decision in terms of the breadth and the volume of content for the minigames in Rebirth.
Not everyone is interested in taking time off from the main storyline and getting sidetracked with minigames. Perhaps Hamaguchi will trim the amount of minigames and other optional content in the final chapter to wrap up the trilogy nicely with a bow.
So I don’t think we failed at all in that decision of having such a broad amount of content there. It was what was needed for the game, but certainly looking forward to the third game and to other games, if you asked me “would I do the same number of minigames” I don’t think I would.
The player base can only take in so much, especially for a game like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth which is already grand in scope and scale. Players might get burned out from playing minigames and accomplishing side quests that could encourage them to see the campaign through to the end.
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Rouvin Josef Quirimit is a Content Writer, an avid gamer (on his PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch), and film enthusiast. He was fortunate to grow up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was enamored by the storytelling of a shared universe full of heart and spectacle. His love for movies led him to great single-player games and he intends to cover major franchises for years to come!
