Final Fantasy VII Revelation preview from IGN shows new Jenova form
IGN Senior Tech Editor Jacqueline Thomas recently offered players their first detailed look at a story-intensive segment of Final Fantasy VII Revelation, the highly anticipated conclusion to the remake trilogy.
Her hands-on preview, conducted on 2024-09-24 at New York Comic Con, focused on a linear early-game section set in the North Crater, culminating in an intense boss battle against a new form of Jenova, dubbed Jenova Deathmourner.
Final Fantasy VII Revelation preview: North Crater
This demo diverged significantly from earlier showcases, which primarily highlighted the game’s expansive open-world elements and flying capabilities aboard the Highwind. Instead, Thomas navigated a more focused, dungeon-like experience, giving players a glimpse into the narrative intensity that defines pivotal moments in the final chapter.
The preview immediately plunged players into Chapter 1 of Final Fantasy VII Revelation, with the party arriving at the North Crater. Thomas noted how this initial area felt less like an introductory segment and more akin to a late-game dungeon, complete with characters already equipped with advanced Materia and gear. This framing suggests that even early areas will offer significant challenge and depth.
As the party descended into the crater, the environment itself proved a striking element. The crystalline labyrinth of the North Crater showcased stunning visual fidelity, continuing the impressive graphical trend established by Remake and Rebirth. Thomas reported the visuals were breathtaking, even without enabling the “Graphics” optimization mode, reinforcing the series’ reputation for visual excellence.
Revamped Mechanics Enhance Customization and Convenience
A significant highlight from the preview involved new ways to interact with core game mechanics, particularly Materia. Thomas discovered an updated Materia leveling system that introduces “Materia fragments.” These fragments can be consumed to instantly add to a Materia’s AP ratio, providing a more direct method of progression compared to the traditional combat-based AP absorption.
While the full game will clarify the rarity and acquisition of these fragments, the demo provided 200, allowing for immediate upgrades. This new system promises to offer players greater control over character builds and strategic enhancements. It represents a subtle but impactful evolution in how players will evolve combat systems in the upcoming title.
Streamlined Item Transmuter Experience
The Item Transmuter, a crafting feature from Rebirth, makes its return in Revelation with a crucial quality-of-life improvement. The frustrating requirement to unlock auto-loot after completing the campaign in the previous installment has been removed. In Revelation, auto-loot is enabled by default, allowing players to gather crafting materials seamlessly without repetitive button presses.
This change significantly streamlines the material gathering process, letting players focus more on exploration and combat. It’s a small detail, but one that players will likely appreciate, reflecting developer attention to player feedback regarding gameplay flow.
Combat Encounters and Party Dynamics
The demo featured a default party consisting of Cloud, Cid, and Vincent, allowing Thomas to experiment with the new characters. Cid, in particular, stood out with a rhythmic combat style where successive attacks after a brief, mist-shrouded pause unleashed stronger, enemy-staggering blows. This unique mechanic adds a fresh layer of tactical engagement to the party’s lineup.
Despite the fresh mechanics, the overall difficulty in the early Chapter 1 segment appeared somewhat lenient. Thomas noted that standard enemies were easily dispatched, and even larger foes with mini-cutscene introductions succumbed quickly to a couple of ATB abilities.
This ease aligns with Game Director Naoki Hamaguchi’s previously stated intent to make the platinum trophy easier to achieve in Revelation, suggesting a potentially more accessible combat experience for a broader audience.
Summoner Job and Synergy Attacks Explored
Cloud’s assigned “Summoner” job in the demo revealed an interesting integration of summons into combat. For a single ATB segment, players could summon Ifrit, Shiva, or Titan to augment Cloud’s attacks with elemental explosions. The true innovation, however, lay in the synergy attacks tied to these summons.
Unlike previous synergy abilities that required building up a bar across multiple characters, summon synergy attacks in Revelation only demand ATB from a single character. This simplification means players can deploy powerful summon-infused abilities more frequently. However, the demo’s low difficulty meant enemies often fell before these advanced synergy attacks could be fully charged or unleashed, leaving their full potential somewhat underexplored.
Confronting Jenova Deathmourner in the North Crater
As the party delved deeper, the narrative intensified with encounters against numerous Sephiroth clones and Cloud’s signature visions. These encounters escalated, with creatures fusing with the clones to form monstrous new enemies, leading to a showdown with Gigas. During this fight, Thomas nearly activated a powerful Ifrit-Cloud synergy attack, a fusion of Ifrit’s Hellfire and Cloud’s sword, but Gigas fell before the animation completed.
The demo’s climax arrived when a mass of Sephiroth clones surrounded a mysterious purple glow, culminating in a cutscene revealing Jenova Deathmourner hatching from one of the clones. This new form of Jenova served as the demo’s primary boss, offering a multi-phase battle reminiscent of previous Jenova encounters but with a fiery twist: tentacles that rendered the boss invincible periodically breathed fire.
The Jenova Deathmourner Boss Fight
The fight against Jenova Deathmourner required tactical engagement over three distinct phases, finally allowing Thomas to utilize multiple synergy abilities from characters like Cid, Vincent, and Cloud with Shiva. These bombastic attacks, much like those in Rebirth, proved visually impressive and crucial for managing the boss’s mechanics. The emphasis on dodging fire and targeting tentacles during specific windows provided a dynamic challenge.
While the overall difficulty of the demo was noted as potentially light for an early chapter, the Jenova Deathmourner fight presented a more substantial challenge, showcasing the game’s potential for strategic depth in its more critical encounters. It served as a satisfying conclusion to the linear segment, hinting at the grand scale of battles awaiting players when the game launches.
Anticipating the Final Chapter
Final Fantasy VII Revelation is positioned as the epic conclusion to the ambitious remake trilogy, set for release in April. Jacqueline Thomas’s preview underscores the game’s commitment to delivering both expansive open-world exploration and tightly-scripted, story-driven sequences. This balance ensures that the narrative intensity, a hallmark of the original PlayStation classic, remains at the forefront.
The enhancements to Materia progression, the streamlined Item Transmuter, and the refined combat mechanics all point towards a game designed to be both engaging and player-friendly. With significant anticipation building, fans can expect Revelation to flesh out elements that might have felt rushed in the original, offering a comprehensive and compelling finale.
Its blend of innovation and faithfulness to the source material makes it one of the most keenly awaited releases in the upcoming game releases calendar.
Game Director Naoki Hamaguchi’s vision for a more accessible yet deeply rewarding experience appears to be taking shape, even if the early demo’s difficulty left some room for adjustment. The game promises to be a monumental capstone to a beloved saga, and previews like this offer valuable insights into its evolving design.
For those interested in replayability and long-term engagement, these early design choices are critical indicators, similar to how Doom Eternal was crowned top replayable FPS for its continuous action.