《最终幻想VII 启示录》上手前瞻：战斗与剧情开局表现

I love Final Fantasy VII. Rebirth, the second part of the Remake trilogy, quickly became my favorite video game. And yet, I went into a preview of Final Fantasy VII Revelation with some trepidation. Would I still enjoy combat with my favored party member out of commission? Would the story pick up well from a doozy of an ending? And how much could the first chapter tell me about the game? My preview of part of Chapter 1 put me at ease. Final Fantasy VII Revelation is off to a wonderful start.

My introduction to Revelation kicked off with the party’s journey to the Northern Crater to find Sephiroth. My preview wasn’t the very beginning, but essentially the game’s first dungeon through the snowy Icicle Frostbelt. Immediately, pilot Cid announced he’d fight alongside our heroes, a cheeky nod to his becoming playable alongside Vincent Valentine. The game looks great, down to the detail of Cid’s hair follicles on his stubble.

Fitting in Some Summons

The FITS system, a new twist on the classic job system, isn’t unlocked this early in the game. But for the sake of this preview, the developers added it. I got to check out Cloud in the Summoner FIT, which fit-tingly allows him immediate access to multiple summons.

Once I built up my ATB bar, I could bring out one of three summons: Ifrit, Shiva, or Titan. Expending a bar let me bring out a summon for a short while to empower standard attacks. But if I wanted a devastating attack, I had to use Blood Pact. Aside from costing another bar, it would also sacrifice a chunk of HP.

After giving it a go, I found it a fair trade. It didn’t use as much HP as I thought. I’d say it drained maybe 15-20% of my total. But the damage it did, especially against the end-of-chapter Jenova Deathmourner, proved fairly significant. And, of course, I could just cast Cure to get back the lost HP. Not bad.

Cid Highwind, Jumpin’ Dragoon

I’ll confess, I was not impressed with Cid’s combat—at first. He attacks with repeated swings of his polearm. Occasionally he’ll knock enemies into the air. When he goes blue, you can keep pressing square for more attacks. I found him a bit too floaty and easy to just spam. But Cid, I owe you an apology. I was not familiar with your game.

Cid also has a seemingly innocuous ability to “mark” enemies by pressing triangle. Hold it down, and he’ll mark up to five enemies. They’ll take extra damage, and that’s nice on its own. But if you switch to his special attacks, there’s one called Dragoon Jump. Select it, and he’ll attack every. single. targeted. enemy.

During the Jenova fight at the end, the boss occasionally protects itself by summoning hordes of tentacles. Previously, these might take a while to clear out. But with Cid? Mark ‘em, use Dragoon Jump, and watch the pilot descend from the heavens. Bam, tentacle gone. Bam, another one bites the dust. And another one. You get the picture. It’s an incredibly satisfying combo to pull off, both in implementation and animation.

I didn’t play as much as Cid as I did Cloud or Vincent. But whenever mobs appeared, I immediately switched to him so I could tee off that combo. And he’s not a one-trick pony. He has a nice limit break and some fun synergy attacks, including Galian Steed. This sees him jumping on the back of Vincent’s Galian Beast form to ride into battle.

Vincent Valentine, Beastly Gunslinger

So let’s get to Vincent, shall we? If Cid took some time to warm up to, Vincent immediately felt intuitive. He employs a similar timed mechanic of attacking then tapping when he glows. But in this case, you tap square to shoot and then hit triangle when he briefly glows red to follow this up with a massive shot. The developers previously talked about exchanging ideas with the Clair Obscur team. The fruits of this exchange feel most apparent with Vincent’s attacks.

But Cid isn’t the only one with a special attack. Final Fantasy VII fans will know that Vincent can take multiple forms. Holding down R1 changes him into his Galian Beast form. The stoic gunslinger becomes a humongous monster that can dominate the field. The tradeoff is that it lowers his HP. So it’s a fun attack to use sparingly.

And Vincent’s limit break is hardcore. Gates of Hell does exactly what you’d think. Vincent switches to his beast form and rends open the ground. I used this attack to finish off Jenova Deathmourner, literally sending the monstrosity to hell. It was metal.

The Early Revelations of Final Fantasy VII Revelation

Now that we’ve talked about the combat, let’s get into the story. The first chapter of Revelation is juicy. Cloud and friends arrive at the Northern Crater to hunt down Sephiroth, after the loss of a key party member. But first, they have to traverse the Icicle Frostbelt.

The genius of Revelation’s opening is that it quickly sets up stakes for just about every character. In the grand scheme, they all want to stop Sephiroth from summoning Meteor, which would devastate the planet. Cait Sith puts it in perspective, explaining that the rock that created the Northern Crater was a “wee pebble” by comparison. Yikes.

But there are personal worries as well. As the group traverse the Frostbelt, they encounter more of the mindless robed figures. Barret worries Cloud will become one of them. Tifa is also concerned about Cloud, who grows distant in his pursuit of Sephiroth. It’s quietly heartbreaking as he brushes her aside. At the moment, he has eyes for someone else: Sephiroth, who greets Cloud with an uncomfortable hug.

But there are unrelated concerns as well. Yuffie, ever the wildcard, expresses annoyance at undertaking this mission when her homeland of Wutai could be under attack. Even with the major threat of Meteor, there are other forces at work against our party. A minor character from Rebirth also appears in dire straits. These events add an extra layer of urgency to the proceedings.

The section ends with an impending—dare I say—revelation. Sephiroth’s influence on Cloud grows. But Aerith, working in mysterious ways, won’t let Cloud give in that easily. So Sephiroth tries a new approach, taking the party into a flashback of Nibelheim, five years ago. If you played the original title, you know what goes down here. Either way, it should have fans eagerly anticipating how Revelation lives up to its name.

My Thoughts on Final Fantasy VII Revelation So Far

My short time with Final Fantasy VII Revelation left me eager for more yet confident that Square Enix may stick the landing. Last month, my colleague Scott got to go hands-on with a different section. He remarked that if the first two games didn’t click for you, Revelation probably won’t either. And I’d say that’s true. However, the new Cid and Vincent mechanics rewarding perfect timing may win over some players who wanted just a bit more combat variation.

Comparing Revelation to the 1997 original, this section seems to adapt the Whirlwind Maze, here called the Icicle Frostbelt. Again, this is the first dungeon of Revelation but not the very beginning, so there’s likely a section at Icicle Inn preceding. Still, the first chapter seems to have shaved off a few sections from the trek to the Northern Crater. Personally, I don’t mind. That section did feel lengthy. And I’d rather Revelation focus on the highlights than adapt everything for the sake of it. It really ups the ante here. I’m excited to see if the full game keeps the stakes high come spring.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation releases on April 8th, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.