Tetsuya Nomura, lead developer of the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Kingdom Hearts 3, took the stage at the Magic Monaco 2017 this weekend and showed the audience a few screenshots from both games, and gave more details on the progress of the games.
Starting with Final Fantasy 7 Remake, there were shown two pictures that belonged to the beginning to the game, where Cloud and Barret infiltrate the Mako Reactor 1. One of the images shows the characters fighting the Scorpion robot that acts as the first boss, and one detail in that picture is what has sparked the most speculation online.
If we pay attention to the combat menu, we’ll see the word “ATB” and a bar beside it that fills over time. Of course, fans of the original game and other classic Final Fantasy entries will remember that ATB was used in those games as an acronym for “Active Time Battle“, which was the combat system that allowed the player to perform attacks once the action bar was filled.
Does this mean the combat in the Remake will imitate the original? Most definitely not, since the gameplay we have already seen and Nomura himself confirmed that battles “happen without interruption,” much like Final Fantasy 15. Now, that doesn’t mean that ATB can’t be present in some form, and this screenshot could be a clue pointing that the combat will showcase a mix of the classic system and a more modern approach, for example, in order to perform some special actions apart from the basic physical attack. In fact, next to the ATB bar we can see a triangle symbol representing a specific action. Apart from that, Nomura also confirmed that the scenario in that boss battle would be partly destructible.
On the other hand, the screenshot from Kingdom Hearts 3 showcased main character Sora fighting a new gigantic model of Heartless. The picture shows an even more advanced level of detail compared to previous material and the picture of Sora in the combat HUD definitely looks the most mature in the whole series.
Nomura said that the battle happens in Thebes, a town from the Olympus world, and at that moment the Keyblade is able to turn in “a lot of things,” like the shield that we can see in the picture or even a chariot, which is called the Power Form.
For just a few screenshots, we sure got a few new details on the game, although we definitely expect a much more in-depth showcase of both titles at one of this year’s big gaming events, like the upcoming E3.
Check out the rest of pictures below:
