Final Fantasy VII Revelation Hands-On Preview: Hold Me Closer, Sephiroth

Two weeks ago, my colleague Matt Wardell got to check out Final Fantasy VII Revelation at the Tokyo Game Show. Now, at NY Comic Con, I also got a chance to sit down and play the same demo Matt did. I also had the chance to check out the new Romancing SaGa 3: Destines United preview, which you should also take a look at. My thoughts and impressions of this demo do mirror Matt’s, so please feel free to read his preview piece along with his other TGS previews from two weeks ago.

The demo was a short 30-min romp through the first section of the Northern Crater followed by a boss with Jenova Deathmourner. (Yes, its name has been changed.) This is a special chapter called The Party Assembles, taking place right where the last game left off. Cid and Vincent are both playable, and the party has access to the FITS system: the new job system that lets characters equip jobs to specialize in certain ways. For the demo, the FITS system was locked for each character, meaning Cloud and Yuffie had access to Summoner, Tifa to Black Mage, and Barret and Red XIII to Knight. I believe Cait Sith had the Warrior FIT on, but honestly, I couldn’t be bothered to put him in my party and try him out, mostly because of time constraints and because I wanted to try out Cid and Vincent. As always, I don’t want to spoil the plot, so this preview mostly focuses on the gameplay and new systems of Final Fantasy VII Revelation.

Cid is pretty combo-heavy. His normal spear attacks combo into each other gracefully and eventually launch the enemy into the air, which Cid follows up on in combat. While in the air, Cid’s Triangle attack turns from Mark Lance (an ability to mark one to five enemies for increased jump damage) into the classic Jump attack and dives down on the enemy from above, impaling them to the ground. You can also activate other types of jumps, such as Dragoon Jump and Rising Dragon via his ATB abilities as well. Cid is definitely the character to go to for more aerial-focused attacks.

Vincent, on the other hand, is mostly ranged; his normal attacks power up his Triangle attacks into other moves that combo into each other. However, Vincent really becomes a terror to enemies when he transforms. Holding R1 in battle or using the Galian Rage ATB ability allows Vincent to transform into his Galian Beast form. In this form, Vincent becomes melee-focused with increased attack and a Triangle attack called Damnation that does massive pressure damage. If Damnation lands with perfect timing, it becomes the move Damnation Prime, inflicting increased pressure and damage. The drawback is that the longer you stay in this form, the more stacks of chaos you collect. Each stack reduces Vincent’s max HP, up to a total of 3 stacks. Vincent becomes a glass cannon in this form, but it isn’t that hard to transform back and forth to balance the stacks.

For the FITS, they add a bit of depth when characters wear them. Summoner, for example, lets you enchant your normal attacks with summons to give them elemental affinity, almost like a Mystic Knight attack, but much flashier. You can control the summons with the Blood Pact ATB ability, but that’s about it. Knight and Black Mage kind of split up Aerith’s previous role in the party. They both can cast wards on the battlefield: the Knight defensive ones that reduce damage and Black Mage offensive ones like Dualcast. Basically, you still have access to Aerith’s unique ATB abilities from Remake and Rebirth in this game, just minus Aerith. Knight can also taunt enemies, while Black Mage also had the ability, after casting three of the same spell, to cast a level four version of that spell for massive damage. I am assuming the FITS will get more powerful abilities and roles as the game progresses, but even if not, they help each character have more options, which is always nice.

The demo has a miniboss, which actually gave me a quick laugh. The mini boss is actually a Gigas, which, if you played the original, is a super rare enemy that only spawns in two scenes that can’t be accessed ever again after you finish. It was kind of nice to see this enemy finally get the attention he deserves, since most players never even encountered him in the original. The demo ends with a fight against Jenova Deathmourner, which wasn’t too difficult but still has the same fire affinity it had in the original game, which is a nice touch.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but the demo left on a cliffhanger, which makes me want to play the game even more. Hopefully they will release this demo for everyone to try at some point closer to release. The conclusion to this massive three-part undertaking is only months away, but it feels like an eternity. Final Fantasy VII Revelation launches April 8th, 2027, on all platforms. We’d like to thank the team for this event and the opportunity to try it!