From one of the world’s most successful video game franchises comes, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. Made for Android and IOS devices, this edition ventures into territories that developer – Square Enix has never walked before. So without further ado, here what it’s all about.
Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldiers is a prequel with the story set about 30 years prior to the story of the original Final Fantasy VII game. Besides the storyline, one of the biggest talking points around this particular installation of Final Fantasy is the gameplay.
“The First Soldier” strays far from what developers and veterans of the FF franchise are used to in that this game follows a battle royal structure – a move that is not well received by some commentators. However, Tetsuya Nomura – creative director behind the Final Fantasy VII remakes – justified this bold move by emphasising the need to grow the franchises audience, though he does concede that Square Enix isn’t very well versed when it comes to the battle royale genre.
“the fan demographics for long running IP series do tend to become quite fixed, making it something of a challenge for us to appeal outside of that existing fan group.” as Nomura said to Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu.
He also emphasised that he and the team behind “The First Soldier” as not just shooting blindly in the dark about this release and, the development process was done with “no half measures” – confidently adding that the game producer, Shoichi Ichikawa, is an avid is battle royale player. Basically, Nomura has put together an experienced team with the objective of making FFVii: The Last Soldier an enjoyable mobile gaming experience with top tier visuals to go with it.
“I can safely make my reckless proposals, knowing that [Ichikawa-san] is there to keep them in check,” Nomura said.
As for the act of playing Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, Nomura explains how the game works by using a “job” system adapted from older versions of Final Fantasy. Each ” job” or “job style” works in a way that is quite similar that of the characters on Apex Legends, giving players special skills and abilities – based on the job they have chosen to complement their individual playing style. Furthermore, these skill sets and abilities can be tweaked in the preparation period prior to engaging in battle.
Final Thoughts
What players can expect from Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier’s battle royale style gameplay is a lot of trigger pulling action, cool magical spells and, taken straight from the previous generations of FF, the summons.
Yes, as much as Square Enix has opted for a new approach to gameplay, nostalgia is still a very key ingredient to this particular recipe. Being that the game is quite a way different from others that came before it, resistance is to be expected – so adding some fond memories to the pot could go a long way in so far as taming the feral purists. With this recipe, Square Enix hopes to gain an edge over the competition – who seem to use a more “cookie cutter” approach to their offerings.
